hey friends! sorry my past few blogs have been so short/quick and blunt.
in short there arent really words for outreach and DTS, and how God is moving. A few weeks ago i got a word from my really good friend about my ministry here saying we were 'planting seeds on thorny ground' but that the seeds WOULD reep a harvest in Gods timing. God is good, God is an amazing provider for me but somehow still i manage to feel overwhelemed emotionally and like i have to handle things on my own. I know that when i come home-God WILL provide me with a stable christian community that can disciple me. God has been teaching me that it is OK to use my giftings and to step out of the box
flood relief, major switch of plans, university ministry, trying to build relationships when i feel drained myself and have put off spending time with god and its exam week. this is all part of gods plan? this is outreach....
this is all worth it-some things cannot be described so please forgive me when i cannot answer the question 'how was god moving/what did god do in thailand????'
its the beginning of a new year, and i am definately changed. this year has been very much a process of good times, hurt and pain, and learning to see god as who he really is again and i could not be more thankful. God redeems all things and i have met people that have been so amazing to me that i do not deserve. I am eternally grateful for the people, leaders i have met on DTS
you guys are frickin, frackin awesome.
and Jesus who brought me here-there is absolutely nothing more i can say. you know the words that i dont know how to express so thank you for that too :)
2 weeks left of outreach..... what on earth am i going to do with myself????
-Chelsea
Psalm 82:3-4
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
paint, art & praying!
Hey Friends!Merry Christmas from Thailand!!!!
This past week we have continued doing campus ministry and going out to the university everyday to build relationships and meet people. We have started an ongoing project at WonGen Cafe and the University students. We are painting a mural on the one wall and are hoping to invite all the students to take part and share in painting it, this will be an awesome opportunity to connect with the students further and learn what they really like and go into deeper conversations the students then 'what is your name? do you speak english?'
I am starting to meet more people through the english class, it is awesome to meet the people i have met on more personal levels and get to know them better.
This past Saturday & Sunday night, (Christmas eve & Christmas Day) our university team were finally able to go to the redlight district here in chiang mai. i had the opportunity of meeting someone i hope to become very close to and hear more of their story the nights that we are fortunate enough to go out there. the people involved in prostitution are people, have stories that could be just like ours.....
my heart aches for this person and the people who have purchased her... but i also know the power of prayer.
psalm 82:3-4
This past week we have continued doing campus ministry and going out to the university everyday to build relationships and meet people. We have started an ongoing project at WonGen Cafe and the University students. We are painting a mural on the one wall and are hoping to invite all the students to take part and share in painting it, this will be an awesome opportunity to connect with the students further and learn what they really like and go into deeper conversations the students then 'what is your name? do you speak english?'
I am starting to meet more people through the english class, it is awesome to meet the people i have met on more personal levels and get to know them better.
This past Saturday & Sunday night, (Christmas eve & Christmas Day) our university team were finally able to go to the redlight district here in chiang mai. i had the opportunity of meeting someone i hope to become very close to and hear more of their story the nights that we are fortunate enough to go out there. the people involved in prostitution are people, have stories that could be just like ours.....
my heart aches for this person and the people who have purchased her... but i also know the power of prayer.
psalm 82:3-4
Thursday, December 22, 2011
chiang mai university?
it's amazing how God often has a change of plans quite often than we do..... As some of you read from my last blog, the majority of us believed we were going to be working with 'LOVE ACTS': the ministry that works with teaching english to the girls in the bars in the red light district. Our second day here, after a day of rest we were told more about the ministry and were told to pick between 'Love Acts' and 'WonGen' the university ministry that they are involved in.
The heart of this ministry is to show Jesus through their actions and through loving people, through building relationships and serving. Several other of these ministries are based on 'prevention' (some of the girls in the university are involved in prostituion at some point short term for the sole purpose of making money, for 3/4 hours a week.) In the building we stay in is a coffeeshop which is directly across from the university, I was constantly reminded of the atmosphere of the coffee shop back home and how much i adore it and what it did for me.
We were told to pray and ask which ministry to do.... and God convictingly told me 'WonGen' the university one. God spoke to me and showed me how i needed to be there and not apart of Love Acts. Our team may still have the opportunity to go to the slums, and to go to the red light district. .
On Monday & Weds nights we help to teach english, and during the days we go to the university to find people and start conversations/try to build relationships with them and hang out with them 'outside of school.'
It is coming slowly, we have only been doing this for a few days now so i cant really describe 'God did THIS!' type of newsletter.... It feels weird that i am doing this type of ministry rather than LOVE ACTS, but i know there is a reason for it. So i just have to listen to God and know that he knows what i am doing.
While we are here, it is about seed planting... we may never see the fruit. But the fact is there WILL be fruit someday and that is a beautiful thing. God WANTS his kids and he wants this nation, he loves them just like he loves any other country....God is preparing GREAT things
and i know that our work is not in vain.
Lighthouse In Action Website
The heart of this ministry is to show Jesus through their actions and through loving people, through building relationships and serving. Several other of these ministries are based on 'prevention' (some of the girls in the university are involved in prostituion at some point short term for the sole purpose of making money, for 3/4 hours a week.) In the building we stay in is a coffeeshop which is directly across from the university, I was constantly reminded of the atmosphere of the coffee shop back home and how much i adore it and what it did for me.
We were told to pray and ask which ministry to do.... and God convictingly told me 'WonGen' the university one. God spoke to me and showed me how i needed to be there and not apart of Love Acts. Our team may still have the opportunity to go to the slums, and to go to the red light district. .
On Monday & Weds nights we help to teach english, and during the days we go to the university to find people and start conversations/try to build relationships with them and hang out with them 'outside of school.'
It is coming slowly, we have only been doing this for a few days now so i cant really describe 'God did THIS!' type of newsletter.... It feels weird that i am doing this type of ministry rather than LOVE ACTS, but i know there is a reason for it. So i just have to listen to God and know that he knows what i am doing.
While we are here, it is about seed planting... we may never see the fruit. But the fact is there WILL be fruit someday and that is a beautiful thing. God WANTS his kids and he wants this nation, he loves them just like he loves any other country....God is preparing GREAT things
and i know that our work is not in vain.
Lighthouse In Action Website
Thursday, December 15, 2011
moving on to Chiang Mai...
Hey guys! it has been awhile since i left you guys a post so i thought i would briefly share what i have been up to.
Tomorrow we leave for Chiang Mai, which also means outreach is half over..... this also means we start doing the 'hard work!' Alot of our time here we were led by hearing God's voice. It was very difficult at times, but we had the opportunity of building relationships with some really incredible people. It taught me alot about myself and really being obedient to God. During the most part we were being impatient, we just wanted God to move in really big and crazy ways-and he didnt do that until the very end. it required patience and alot of prayer and obedience on our part. We werent asking for it when it happened, but it did.
Working in the red light districts was difficult, all we did was prayer walk. The most difficult thing for me was being obedient to Gods voice. For me personaly, i wanted to go up to every single girl and talk to her.... but that was not what our team/our God was asking us to do. We were prayer walking-and IF God asked us to talk to people-then we were supposed to be obedient to that. 'our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities.' Sometimes, those strongholds really have to be demolished before something can move in the physical realm. Prayer is the only thing that can change that. How many people walk into these places like buddhist temples and patpong/nana plaza and are willing to take a stand and be bold enough to pray and say NO to the things happening there? Gods love is strong enough.
we have to believe (and at first this is something i really struggled with) that when God isnt asking us to do a thing, that it means that he IS and always has been taking care of these people.
we have to take time with god and pray, we have to invest time in our relationship with him otherwise itll leave us empty-as i experienced for a little while being here. but god is never the reason for things like that, its always us. i am excited to go to patpong for a final time tonight because i know that god will be working in ways that i cannot see. now we are off to chiang mai where we will be working in loi krah with 'light house in action' with a ministry of theirs called 'LOVE ACTS' where we will be teaching the girls in the bars english.... so that one day when they get out of there, they will have that skill of speaking english.
xoxoxo
Chelsea
Psalm 82:3-4
www/theabolitionistdts.org
Tomorrow we leave for Chiang Mai, which also means outreach is half over..... this also means we start doing the 'hard work!' Alot of our time here we were led by hearing God's voice. It was very difficult at times, but we had the opportunity of building relationships with some really incredible people. It taught me alot about myself and really being obedient to God. During the most part we were being impatient, we just wanted God to move in really big and crazy ways-and he didnt do that until the very end. it required patience and alot of prayer and obedience on our part. We werent asking for it when it happened, but it did.
Working in the red light districts was difficult, all we did was prayer walk. The most difficult thing for me was being obedient to Gods voice. For me personaly, i wanted to go up to every single girl and talk to her.... but that was not what our team/our God was asking us to do. We were prayer walking-and IF God asked us to talk to people-then we were supposed to be obedient to that. 'our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with powers and principalities.' Sometimes, those strongholds really have to be demolished before something can move in the physical realm. Prayer is the only thing that can change that. How many people walk into these places like buddhist temples and patpong/nana plaza and are willing to take a stand and be bold enough to pray and say NO to the things happening there? Gods love is strong enough.
we have to believe (and at first this is something i really struggled with) that when God isnt asking us to do a thing, that it means that he IS and always has been taking care of these people.
we have to take time with god and pray, we have to invest time in our relationship with him otherwise itll leave us empty-as i experienced for a little while being here. but god is never the reason for things like that, its always us. i am excited to go to patpong for a final time tonight because i know that god will be working in ways that i cannot see. now we are off to chiang mai where we will be working in loi krah with 'light house in action' with a ministry of theirs called 'LOVE ACTS' where we will be teaching the girls in the bars english.... so that one day when they get out of there, they will have that skill of speaking english.
xoxoxo
Chelsea
Psalm 82:3-4
www/theabolitionistdts.org
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Bangkok Lately.
As some of you might have read from my last blog, we spent our last friday doing ministry prayer walking in one of the many red light districts in Bangkok. There are 3 red light districts that Bangkok is famous for, and it has several other smaller ones in the city. We went to Nana Plaza and another street full of women from the middle east: women who are promised work from foreign countries, and end up in Thailand to work in the bars and brothels.... It is all to common in Bangkok and there are several different districts like this. Different streets with different girls IE: one street will be full of girls from japan who are trafficked, while another could be full of girls trafficked from Holland. My first reaction from being in the red light district was a very strange one...
We first went into the middle east street (we went around 8pm, so there werent alot of girls standing around) which wrecked me apart. Even though we never saw any prostitutes in this districts (although i did see a few ladyboys/girls on their way to work @ nana plaza) it wrecked me to see all these women. I was sitting in a place like thailand, yet there were more beggars than usual and women wearing purdahs everywhere. Because there was such a language barrier i didnt really feel like i could help them.... i looked at them and gave them an empty smile and in my breath i prayed for them. And then we went to nana plaza..... Nana plaza is one of the top 3 most famous red light districts in Bangkok, outside of the main strip clubs and brothels there are a row of bars. Inside these bars there are hundreds of men all with prostitutes, acting as if they were on a date. Men that do not have a love deficit in their lives do not buy women for sex..... tangibly seeing with my own eyes how many of these men were buying a prostitute and it was being treated as normal, shows me how much God is needed in a place like this.
In the redlight district itself, you went into a small sidestreet that had loud booming music. There were signs everywhere advertising "next ________________ show in 15 minutes" there were 3 tiers that you could go up with stairs. On each floor, there were about 12-15 stripclubs/brothels covered with a curtain. I don't feel the need to elaborate what i saw because God deserves the glory out of this situation, Gods heart is for every man in that place. Gods man is for every hurting girl who is terrified every day that they go to work.....
Thailand is not like the United States where you can call an anti trafficking hotline when you see trafficking happen, its just everywhere. I believe the only situation is people being obedient when God calls them to 'GO' to these places.... our testimonies can be redeemed and that is certainly true for me. For me, my first time being in the red light district/nana plaza i feel like i shut down and let God down alot... But i know that i have grace for the next time i go. Evangelism is not about pleasing God but its just about bringing Gods kids back home/expanding Gods family and his love and i just need to remind myself of that....
THESE PAST FEW DAYS....
these past few days, as some of you may have read when we came to thailand alot of the ministries we had planned to work with fell through. We will be going to one of the several red light districts again once or twice. So far what we have/will be doing is focusing on the 7 spheres of influence....
-family
-media
-business
-arts
-education
-government/law
-religion
if we do not have something set up for the day of having a tour of, a ministry, this is what we do for the day... we pray into which sphere god wants us to impact and what he wants us to do for the day. this is very much what our time in Bangkok is going to look like, and our time in Chiang Mai we will be working more heavily in the red light districts the majority of our time with a ministry there teaching the women working in bars english. we are very much being led by the holy spirit in all of what we are doing in Bangkok, it is a struggle for me personally but i believe will be a very rewarding one.
please continue to pray for our team & myself during this time. yo ur prayers & spiritual support for us is greatly appreciated as we are a light in these dark places.
Psalm 82:3-4
-Chelsea
[me and some of my team members on a 'tuk tuk' (similiar to a taxi, common in thailand) during the temple tour!!]
We first went into the middle east street (we went around 8pm, so there werent alot of girls standing around) which wrecked me apart. Even though we never saw any prostitutes in this districts (although i did see a few ladyboys/girls on their way to work @ nana plaza) it wrecked me to see all these women. I was sitting in a place like thailand, yet there were more beggars than usual and women wearing purdahs everywhere. Because there was such a language barrier i didnt really feel like i could help them.... i looked at them and gave them an empty smile and in my breath i prayed for them. And then we went to nana plaza..... Nana plaza is one of the top 3 most famous red light districts in Bangkok, outside of the main strip clubs and brothels there are a row of bars. Inside these bars there are hundreds of men all with prostitutes, acting as if they were on a date. Men that do not have a love deficit in their lives do not buy women for sex..... tangibly seeing with my own eyes how many of these men were buying a prostitute and it was being treated as normal, shows me how much God is needed in a place like this.
In the redlight district itself, you went into a small sidestreet that had loud booming music. There were signs everywhere advertising "next ________________ show in 15 minutes" there were 3 tiers that you could go up with stairs. On each floor, there were about 12-15 stripclubs/brothels covered with a curtain. I don't feel the need to elaborate what i saw because God deserves the glory out of this situation, Gods heart is for every man in that place. Gods man is for every hurting girl who is terrified every day that they go to work.....
Thailand is not like the United States where you can call an anti trafficking hotline when you see trafficking happen, its just everywhere. I believe the only situation is people being obedient when God calls them to 'GO' to these places.... our testimonies can be redeemed and that is certainly true for me. For me, my first time being in the red light district/nana plaza i feel like i shut down and let God down alot... But i know that i have grace for the next time i go. Evangelism is not about pleasing God but its just about bringing Gods kids back home/expanding Gods family and his love and i just need to remind myself of that....
THESE PAST FEW DAYS....
these past few days, as some of you may have read when we came to thailand alot of the ministries we had planned to work with fell through. We will be going to one of the several red light districts again once or twice. So far what we have/will be doing is focusing on the 7 spheres of influence....
-family
-media
-business
-arts
-education
-government/law
-religion
if we do not have something set up for the day of having a tour of, a ministry, this is what we do for the day... we pray into which sphere god wants us to impact and what he wants us to do for the day. this is very much what our time in Bangkok is going to look like, and our time in Chiang Mai we will be working more heavily in the red light districts the majority of our time with a ministry there teaching the women working in bars english. we are very much being led by the holy spirit in all of what we are doing in Bangkok, it is a struggle for me personally but i believe will be a very rewarding one.
please continue to pray for our team & myself during this time. yo ur prayers & spiritual support for us is greatly appreciated as we are a light in these dark places.
Psalm 82:3-4
-Chelsea
Thursday, December 1, 2011
first few days in Bangkok/Flood relief.
one week ago today we landed in bangkok. originally our plan was to start right away working Nana Patpong, the red light district in Bangkok but many of the red light districts we were planning on working with fell through... not even a day & a half after we came here we ended up doing flood relief for a week.
It was incredible to see mould so thick on some of these walls and smell it so thick and to see the people actually affected. People who still actually want to keep everything even thought it re3ally isnt what is best for them [fridges that reak, one of them even had maggots in it in one of the houses] because its sentimental or because they6 actually cannot afford to get a new one. The area we went to the flood waters had just receeded two weeks before-some of the people there had just picked up and moved because the waters were so bad. It was amazing to see how God used this opportunity for us as a team..... He knew that none of our ministries and other plans had really worked out, i personally was really worried about that. But through that opportunity we became alot closer as a group. We never once said or even thought 'that is gross... i am not going to clean that!' we just though there is a job to do and i have to help these people.
One of the thoughts that passed my head was, if Jesus were here.... he would be scrubbing these floors 15 times harder than i would. Please pray that Byrd & his emergency relief team will get more people-the longer this area goes unreached/uncleanded, the harder it will be & more unlivable for these people.
This time in Thailand so far has been amazing. I wish i had photos to show you but in a giving session we had at the base just before our mobile tour, i felt the Lord press on my heart to give away my camera. So i have no camera and no personal computer here. It took a really long time to sink in that i was in Thailand but i am very thankful for Thailand and that i was able to see every aspect of this country.. the brokeness of natural disaster as well as the beauty of the natural hustle and bustle outside of our building (it is actually NEVER quiet here!! :)
Tomorrow night we start doing our ministry in Nana Patpong, and i am terrified. I am excited in so many ways but i know that once i am there my heart will break in so many ways. My heart and greatest desire is for these girls to KNOW that all religions are NOT the same, that they do NOT deserve what is done to them and that they are princesses.....
i have no idea where this verse is found, [i belive it is in luke?] but it says...
"and in that moment when you have no words, the holy spirit will put words in your mouth and give you words to speak when you have none"
i know and have full faith that God will do that for every single one of my team members tomorrow night-because we will probably need it!
i will give you updates when i can, we have been doing internet alot so even though it is easy for me to get internet-i do not check my stuff that often!
Please continue to pray for me and my team while we are on this journey!
Your prayers and support in this way mean alot to me!!
much love
Chelsea.
It was incredible to see mould so thick on some of these walls and smell it so thick and to see the people actually affected. People who still actually want to keep everything even thought it re3ally isnt what is best for them [fridges that reak, one of them even had maggots in it in one of the houses] because its sentimental or because they6 actually cannot afford to get a new one. The area we went to the flood waters had just receeded two weeks before-some of the people there had just picked up and moved because the waters were so bad. It was amazing to see how God used this opportunity for us as a team..... He knew that none of our ministries and other plans had really worked out, i personally was really worried about that. But through that opportunity we became alot closer as a group. We never once said or even thought 'that is gross... i am not going to clean that!' we just though there is a job to do and i have to help these people.
One of the thoughts that passed my head was, if Jesus were here.... he would be scrubbing these floors 15 times harder than i would. Please pray that Byrd & his emergency relief team will get more people-the longer this area goes unreached/uncleanded, the harder it will be & more unlivable for these people.
This time in Thailand so far has been amazing. I wish i had photos to show you but in a giving session we had at the base just before our mobile tour, i felt the Lord press on my heart to give away my camera. So i have no camera and no personal computer here. It took a really long time to sink in that i was in Thailand but i am very thankful for Thailand and that i was able to see every aspect of this country.. the brokeness of natural disaster as well as the beauty of the natural hustle and bustle outside of our building (it is actually NEVER quiet here!! :)
Tomorrow night we start doing our ministry in Nana Patpong, and i am terrified. I am excited in so many ways but i know that once i am there my heart will break in so many ways. My heart and greatest desire is for these girls to KNOW that all religions are NOT the same, that they do NOT deserve what is done to them and that they are princesses.....
i have no idea where this verse is found, [i belive it is in luke?] but it says...
"and in that moment when you have no words, the holy spirit will put words in your mouth and give you words to speak when you have none"
i know and have full faith that God will do that for every single one of my team members tomorrow night-because we will probably need it!
i will give you updates when i can, we have been doing internet alot so even though it is easy for me to get internet-i do not check my stuff that often!
Please continue to pray for me and my team while we are on this journey!
Your prayers and support in this way mean alot to me!!
much love
Chelsea.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
time changes & the incheon airport!
we arrived in seoul early this morning, the time change is ahead so here it is wednesay november 23, 2011. i'll never ever know if november 22, 2011 was an exciting day or not because i completely missed it (you will all have to let me know how november 22 went) and even weirder..... when we get to bangkok tomorrow because of the time differences it will be wendesay november 23, 2011 all over again. i get to live two days twice. today i am a day younger i guess you could say ;)
it is kinda cool that im in seoul, the majority of the people from my ywam base back home have been to seoul and done short term missions there. many people through that came to do the ESL program our base offered and i got the opportunity to meet alot of cool amazing people i am proud to call awesome friends-i wish i could visit them, but although we have a close to 12 hour layover..... we are staying in the airport the whole time because it would be to expensive for us to leave/get a visa for just a day.
because of the major time differences from the states, (15 & 17 hours...) the very best thing for us is to stay wide awake during our layover and flight to bangkok. \also to have slept during our entire flight to seoul (thank you jesus-i was able to do the majority of the time!) when we land in bangkok it will be 9pm-and we will be exhausted and READY to sleep! this is important because we start doing ministry right away the very next day. Im not altogether sure what this will look like, but im sure that it will be easy and then taken harder ie: going into the redlight district once we have regained more of our energy.
internet cafes are great but they also have time limits :)
what is great about having alot of time that i have to be awake is that i can spend it exploring new places
ie: cool looking airports. as well as spending time listening to music and with god.
im halfway there!!!! :D and it feels \really surreal!
Psalm 82:3-4
Chelsea
it is kinda cool that im in seoul, the majority of the people from my ywam base back home have been to seoul and done short term missions there. many people through that came to do the ESL program our base offered and i got the opportunity to meet alot of cool amazing people i am proud to call awesome friends-i wish i could visit them, but although we have a close to 12 hour layover..... we are staying in the airport the whole time because it would be to expensive for us to leave/get a visa for just a day.
because of the major time differences from the states, (15 & 17 hours...) the very best thing for us is to stay wide awake during our layover and flight to bangkok. \also to have slept during our entire flight to seoul (thank you jesus-i was able to do the majority of the time!) when we land in bangkok it will be 9pm-and we will be exhausted and READY to sleep! this is important because we start doing ministry right away the very next day. Im not altogether sure what this will look like, but im sure that it will be easy and then taken harder ie: going into the redlight district once we have regained more of our energy.
internet cafes are great but they also have time limits :)
what is great about having alot of time that i have to be awake is that i can spend it exploring new places
ie: cool looking airports. as well as spending time listening to music and with god.
im halfway there!!!! :D and it feels \really surreal!
Psalm 82:3-4
Chelsea
Monday, November 21, 2011
today, we leave for thailand.
this is the most surreal and weird feeling in the entire world. i have looked forward to this for so long, but now that it is finally here it feels quite crazy! these morning the india & nepal team left at 7am, so ofcurse we got up at 630am to send them off... it is crazy that we won't see them for a whole two months! after these 4 months of growing and learning we really have become family.
I still have several people to call (sorry joc, molly, dad & karen, and everyone else!! today has been very busy!!)
But nevertheless i am so greatful and blessed for this opportunity. God provided all of the rest of our outreach fees for our team in a single day, he is so faithful and he is SO GOOD! There are a number of things going through my head... the last three days i have been frustrated and overwhelmed (OCD and liking things a certain way starting to kick in....) It never really works out when you are packing for 2 months, nevertheless goiing on outreach! things never are going to be perfect! Coming to the point of near tears a few times made me realize how i have grown. I'm not ever gonna be perfect but i choose to trust God. God knows what is going to happen on outreach and he KNOWS that im ready for it as much as i think that im not-and i am ready for this next giant jump
SIDENOTE:
dear family and friends!
please share this blog with your other friends so they can hear about what i am doing/pray for me!
this blog will be for more 'personal' updates and my e-mail updates will be for less frequent informative ones.
please send me an e-mail if you want to be added to that list :)
much love!
-Chelsea
child.of.eden65@hotmail.com
please pray for our safety as we travel tonight!!
this is the most surreal and weird feeling in the entire world. i have looked forward to this for so long, but now that it is finally here it feels quite crazy! these morning the india & nepal team left at 7am, so ofcurse we got up at 630am to send them off... it is crazy that we won't see them for a whole two months! after these 4 months of growing and learning we really have become family.
I still have several people to call (sorry joc, molly, dad & karen, and everyone else!! today has been very busy!!)
But nevertheless i am so greatful and blessed for this opportunity. God provided all of the rest of our outreach fees for our team in a single day, he is so faithful and he is SO GOOD! There are a number of things going through my head... the last three days i have been frustrated and overwhelmed (OCD and liking things a certain way starting to kick in....) It never really works out when you are packing for 2 months, nevertheless goiing on outreach! things never are going to be perfect! Coming to the point of near tears a few times made me realize how i have grown. I'm not ever gonna be perfect but i choose to trust God. God knows what is going to happen on outreach and he KNOWS that im ready for it as much as i think that im not-and i am ready for this next giant jump
SIDENOTE:
dear family and friends!
please share this blog with your other friends so they can hear about what i am doing/pray for me!
this blog will be for more 'personal' updates and my e-mail updates will be for less frequent informative ones.
please send me an e-mail if you want to be added to that list :)
much love!
-Chelsea
child.of.eden65@hotmail.com
please pray for our safety as we travel tonight!!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
prayer please!
(below: bangkok red light distrct)
i thought i would do a quick praise report followed by asking for prayer..
my praise report is that on Tuesday of Last week (November 7) all of my outreach fees finally came in!! as well as the little extra that i needed to be living off of in Thailand. I was living off of a little less than $20 in my account and things were starting to look a little tight-but God provided and i know have the funds for the things i need to go overseas!
PRAYER REQUEST!
PLEASE be praying for the rest of my team that does not currently have there finances & outreach fees! We leave this Monday for outreach and have very limited time, but i know that God is a God is a God of miracles!
Pray that
-cheques would go through
-God would provide exactly what they need
-God would bless the people on BOTH sides for their faithfulness for giving (time doing this DTS & giving there finances)
-people would give whatever they have & follow God's obedience
Again, we are going to Thailand & India/Nepal for our Outreach! The India team leaves early monday morning and the thailand team (us) are going to be leaving late monday night. Pleast also be praying that God would be preparing our hearts!!
Thank you all so much for your continued support!
Psalm 82:3-4
-Chelsea
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Road Trippin! (Mobile Tour in California)
(WEEK 14 UPDATE November 6-12, 2011)
Hey Guys!
This past week as some of you might know me and my fellow DTS students were inCalifornia California
We spent our time speaking at different youth groups & colleges about our DTS’s (Compassion & Abolitionist), human trafficking, and our own personal testimonies (how God has changed our lives, and what we have gotten out of DTS.) It was incredible to meet so many awesome people, for lot of these it was their first time hearing about ‘YWAM’ or ‘DTS.’ It was awesome to see peoples reactions that there are options out there besides just the ‘white picket fence life.’
At one of these events where we were speaking, afterwards the leader of the youth group asked if we could take a few minutes and grab one of the students and pray for them. The young girl I was praying with was awesome, it was amazing how God used that situation not only to help her but to bless me so much through it as well. She was at the same point in her faith, that I was at for the majority of DTS. It was crazy for me to see how God redeemed my own story and struggling with what I believed, to be able to relate to her and help her with what she was going through.
Hey Guys!
This past week as some of you might know me and my fellow DTS students were in
We spent our time speaking at different youth groups & colleges about our DTS’s (Compassion & Abolitionist), human trafficking, and our own personal testimonies (how God has changed our lives, and what we have gotten out of DTS.) It was incredible to meet so many awesome people, for lot of these it was their first time hearing about ‘YWAM’ or ‘DTS.’ It was awesome to see peoples reactions that there are options out there besides just the ‘white picket fence life.’
At one of these events where we were speaking, afterwards the leader of the youth group asked if we could take a few minutes and grab one of the students and pray for them. The young girl I was praying with was awesome, it was amazing how God used that situation not only to help her but to bless me so much through it as well. She was at the same point in her faith, that I was at for the majority of DTS. It was crazy for me to see how God redeemed my own story and struggling with what I believed, to be able to relate to her and help her with what she was going through.
Well, it is finally here! We leave for the city of
During these past few weeks I was quite fearful about going to be honest. The factor of finances and downright fear that I would be inadequate when it actually came to showing the love of Christ to these girls was getting to me. I have been so blessed to be here, and I began to say to myself everyday when I got up “God if it isn’t your will to send me on outreach…. Thank you anyway for what you have done!” While I was on the mobile tour, God provided all of my fees plus the finances that I needed to live off of while overseas! God has began changing my heart and breaking my heart all over again for Thailand, and I know the authority I have through Christ and I am beginning to get excited to go!
(me and a few of the girls at the beach)
PRAYER REQUESTS:
-For the remainder of my fellow students & staff who haven’t received their finances yet. (All of our outreach fees are due this Monday November 14)
-God would continue to prepare my heart forThailand
-My Personal Health Problems: these past few weeks I have had really bad insomnia. Please pray that this goes away before I travel toThailand
-That we will build further in our friendships during this last week, before separating overseas
-That I would keep my focus during the ‘last push’ and week of classes.
Thank you all so much for your continued love & Support!
Psalm 82:3-4
-Chelsea
PRAYER REQUESTS:
-For the remainder of my fellow students & staff who haven’t received their finances yet. (All of our outreach fees are due this Monday November 14)
-God would continue to prepare my heart for
-My Personal Health Problems: these past few weeks I have had really bad insomnia. Please pray that this goes away before I travel to
-That we will build further in our friendships during this last week, before separating overseas
-That I would keep my focus during the ‘last push’ and week of classes.
Thank you all so much for your continued love & Support!
Psalm 82:3-4
-Chelsea
Saturday, November 5, 2011
DTS! Weeks 1-13!
September-November 2011
(WEEKS 1-13!)
First of all I want to apologize to all of you guys for being so bad at keeping you up to date & sending formal updates! Right now I am sitting at the base… a late night of packing before our promo tour!
It feels like last week was my very first week here and I was just getting used to awkward first impressions and hellos, and it is all ending! The next time we will be at the base-it is preparations for
So far out of DTS… The most impacting week for me was ‘Intimacy to Advocacy’ with speaker Morgan Perry. During this week she addressed the issue of the only way we can EVER be advocates for something is if we are in true intimate relationship with God and his will because God is the solution behind every problem. It is important to be proactive and act in these situations/do something, but not if those actions are the main focus and not Christ.
Morgan talked about how this example was shown exactly in Jesus’ life. During once class, we read the entire gospel of John outloud. We saw how Jesus never tried to do anything by himself and everything he did was through his heavenly Father. Jesus never cared about doing miracles, healings, etc. all he cared was about seeing the kingdom of God
WHATS COMING UP…..
November 6-November 11
November 6-November 11
This next week, our DTS will be going to a variety of churches & colleges to promote the base on a mobile tour in California
At each event, one of the students will be sharing a small portion about human trafficking, our own personal testimony, & a testimony about what we have gotten out of the school so far. During one of the events I will be sharing my testimony! At each of these times there will be an opportunity for us to talk to the people before/after and see what they thought. The purpose of this mobile tour is to get more people potentially interested in doing a DTS on a more personal/relational level. It also gives us as DTS students actual experience for if we go into missions, experience with what it is like speaking to churches, raising support, etc.
THAILAND!
THAILAND!
There are 7 students and 4 leaders, we will be in Thailand
PRAYER REQUESTS…..
-Protection
-Team Unity
-Team Unity
-Financial Provision For Finances
India/Nepal team still requires $11,000.00 in finances
-Spiritual Discernment in Thailand
Thank you all for your prayers & support thus far! I cant wait to tell you guys all aboutThailand
Thank you all for your prayers & support thus far! I cant wait to tell you guys all about
-
Psalm 82:3-4
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Week 11 Update! (Mark Davies-Discipleship)
This week we had Mark Davies teaching us on Discipleship and how to Disciple others, it was very good and convicting at times! (i hope we have you back Mark!!)
having a intimate relationship with God is truely the Key of EVERYTHING! =]
Love & Blessings!
-Chelsea
having a intimate relationship with God is truely the Key of EVERYTHING! =]
Love & Blessings!
-Chelsea
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Week 10 Update!
Hey Guys.
i thought i would write you an 'actual post' of how i have been!
God has been doing alot, but sometimes it is still easy to feel overwhelmed and feel like 'more God, why aren't you doing more?' it's so easy to be overwhelmed and forget.
I got a bunch of music from my good friend Hope, and i came across this song by Misty Edwards called 'Rend' (listen to it here!)
theres never not an approprate time to pray for something, i mean really we talk under our breaths all the time about things that are not important or relevant: why not make our words COUNT and talk to God. Far too often we use prayer as a last resort. I used to love intercession and for a long time that fire burnt out-prayer should be our first resort.
Thailand is in5 weeks. The abolitionist tour is in 2 and a half. wow. time is flying, it's crazy to seem like we will all be split apart!
{the abolitionist tour is when we as a group will go to different places in california to promote YWAM Vegas, speak about human trafficking and promote the abolitionist DTS for a week and a half!}
it's crazy to think that DTS is ending soon... then the thing that we knew would happen is happening! half of us are going to India/Nepal, and the other half are going to Thailand. It's different now that we all personally know eachother and we are truely eachothers spiritual family. its weird because the time is going so fast, i am trying to make everything going so quickly and fast! i am just trying to make every moment count with the people who are going to india-it will be weird having no contact with them for 2 months. (we will get updates on how they are doing, but nothing really as far as actual communication. we will be mainly doing ministry all the time and too busy)
Financialy i still need God to provide the big last push, as well as money for me personally to live off of. Please pray that God continues to financially provide this! (if you are interested in supporting me, wanting to know where the money is going when you support me: please send me an e-mail)
and last but not least... here is what i learnt this week at DTS!
sorry for typing so much, i think that its important to do 'real life' updates occasionally to and not just video :)
Love & Blessings!!
-Chelsea
i thought i would write you an 'actual post' of how i have been!
God has been doing alot, but sometimes it is still easy to feel overwhelmed and feel like 'more God, why aren't you doing more?' it's so easy to be overwhelmed and forget.
I got a bunch of music from my good friend Hope, and i came across this song by Misty Edwards called 'Rend' (listen to it here!)
I really love my music. I really love God. My heart breakds for people and i cant imagine how Gods heart breaks for people. DTS so far has been good, and in situations from before when i would have thought 'this is terrible I HAVE to go do something about it.' (keyword there i/me) im realizing now that thats not true. where did i ever get this stupid idea that i love and care about these people more than God does? when did i stop trusting God? then i realized i dont trust God enough.
when i pray for these people, they are in Gods hands and he IS taking care of them-sometimes thats all thats in our power to do. Sometimes were called to go to the nations [more often than not] we just need to be obedient and follow through from it. I felt so convicted, and i still feel that way sometimes. the verse.
One thing i have been trying to live out is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18(ESV)
'16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.'when i pray for these people, they are in Gods hands and he IS taking care of them-sometimes thats all thats in our power to do. Sometimes were called to go to the nations [more often than not] we just need to be obedient and follow through from it. I felt so convicted, and i still feel that way sometimes. the verse.
One thing i have been trying to live out is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18(ESV)
theres never not an approprate time to pray for something, i mean really we talk under our breaths all the time about things that are not important or relevant: why not make our words COUNT and talk to God. Far too often we use prayer as a last resort. I used to love intercession and for a long time that fire burnt out-prayer should be our first resort.
Thailand is in5 weeks. The abolitionist tour is in 2 and a half. wow. time is flying, it's crazy to seem like we will all be split apart!
{the abolitionist tour is when we as a group will go to different places in california to promote YWAM Vegas, speak about human trafficking and promote the abolitionist DTS for a week and a half!}
it's crazy to think that DTS is ending soon... then the thing that we knew would happen is happening! half of us are going to India/Nepal, and the other half are going to Thailand. It's different now that we all personally know eachother and we are truely eachothers spiritual family. its weird because the time is going so fast, i am trying to make everything going so quickly and fast! i am just trying to make every moment count with the people who are going to india-it will be weird having no contact with them for 2 months. (we will get updates on how they are doing, but nothing really as far as actual communication. we will be mainly doing ministry all the time and too busy)
Financialy i still need God to provide the big last push, as well as money for me personally to live off of. Please pray that God continues to financially provide this! (if you are interested in supporting me, wanting to know where the money is going when you support me: please send me an e-mail)
and last but not least... here is what i learnt this week at DTS!
sorry for typing so much, i think that its important to do 'real life' updates occasionally to and not just video :)
Love & Blessings!!
-Chelsea
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Week 9 Update!
Phil Gazley was here this week teaching us on missions!
it was an amazing eye opening week, this week Pat Caven is here-it has been a good week so far!!!!
i will give a more thorough traditional 'writing' post in these next few days...
Love & Blessings!
God Bless
Chelsea
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Week 7 Video Update! [Morgan Perry]
it was such an honor meeting this woman and seeing all God has done in her life and accomplished! Unfortunately when she does her Sex+Money screenings in Las Vegas, we will be on our international outreaches.. She is such a genuine down to earth person-thank you Morgan for answering all my many questions!
it was so awesome to meet you and i can't wait until one day when we cross paths again!
{video update!}
Love & Blessings,Chelsea
Saturday, September 24, 2011
some prayer requests!
this is one of the few songs God gave me before doing this DTS. I first heard it a few weeks before coming to the Abolitionist DTS in Las Vegas-during one of the manty times i had considered not coming. I remember how faithful God is and how much prayer has the impact to change things & situation. We hold spiritual authority because God died for us, and he made us conquerers. I am writing this blog as a sign of mainly prayer support.
I once heard one of my really smart YWAM leaders say to me (while i was venting about finances) "I would rather have 100 people be praying for me, and have no financial supporters at all-than to have ALL financial supporters and no prayer support."
Being part of YWAM means you have to raise your own support-which is never easy.
This is a blog asking for prayer & spiritual supporters, reply in a comment underneath this blog or send me a personal e-mail saying "i read your blog and i want to support you spiritually
through prayer" for those of you who would like to further support me financially, i can e-mail you further on how to do so.
My outreach to Thailand is in 7 weeks. as for finances: our base has legal reasons with their accountant and days that certain amounts of money has to be in. If you would like to know the details of what i have to raise and by which dates, please send me a personal e-mail and i will give you further information about that.. the total amount that i have to raise for my DTS is $3,500.00 USD. I also require to raise my own finances ($650) for the few weeks i will be spending in the states after my DTS to live off of, which includes my flight back to Canada.
I know that my God is 'Jehovah Jireh,' he is the same God today as the one who sent manna from the sky (literally) and quail in a desolate desert for the israelites where there was nothing else for miles. I believe that the Lord will be my provider during this season-just like he was the weeks and even days before coming here to Las Vegas.
Please pray that God would start to prepare my heart mentally & emotionally for all of the things i will see in Thailand during my two month Outreach. (From Mid-November until Mid-January 2012.) In Bangkok we will primarily be working with sex-workers (prostitutes) in the Red Light District, as well as ministering to the johns (the people who purchase the sex.) We will also be doing regular types of evangelism in the slums doing various skits & intercession. Many YWAMer's have seen alot of success doing this type of ministry because the people like to stop and watch things like skits/people openly singing and doing worship in the streets.
In Chiang Mai, we will mainly be working in a restoration home (safe house) with rescued trafficking victims. This type of ministry will be focused on building relationships with the women and teaching them about God. We will be in each city for 3-4 weeks each, and we are trying to make this outreach as spirit led/unplanned as possible. We want to go where God wants us to be, and this trip to be about him and his work, not ours.
In a jotnote-here is the things you can pray for:
-Finances
-that the seeds planted during outreaches, would bear their fruit.
-team unity
-against any kind of spiritual warfare
-that God would prepare our hearts for the things we are about to see.
Thank you so much for your support!
God bless you guys!
my personal e-mail: child.of.eden65@hotmail.com
my facebook page/facebook updates: here
Saturday, September 10, 2011
bi-monthly update!
(week 4&5 of DTS-August 28-September 10, 2011)
{dancing around before going to pray for people at last nights local outreach}
The past two weeks we have had speakers 'Jerry Praetzel' (Plubline/Forgiveness & Repentence Week) & Brenda Lewis (Identity Week) here! i will talk about both of these in just a little bit, but first i want to talk about a little more pressing issue which was our local outreach from last week (as well as last night)
OUTREACHES
Last week we switched things up a little bit from doing our normal outreach at the strip and went to a place called 'First Friday.' This is an event that takes place on the first friday of every month where alot of locals go to (as opposed to tourists, like the strip) artists come here to showcase their talent and work. Hope and myself had the opportunity of talking to a very broken man and he ended up giving his life to the Lord that night!
This man was sitting on the ground next to a man playing his guitar with bells on his feet i knew we had to go to him, Hope was a little freaked out but something in me knew we had to go talk to him. I told him we were there to talk to him and tell him what God had done in our lives and that was it-he had just instantly started pouring out his life. He asked us to pray for him if God would give him a girlfriend (he really emphasized on that point)
His story was that he and his high school girlfriend had came to Vegas, to get a better life. He decided he wanted to become a lawyer at Yale (and he was very smart) he had the ability to read really big paragraphs and understand all of what he was reading. He wanted the ability to financially provide for his girlfriend. He was on and off alot about his story so it was really hard to understand. During that time he was going to Harvard, his girlfiriend started becoming a stripper and eventually she went into prostituition and would get him to drive her to these places of meeting up with the johns/fighting people at bars for her. He would try to tell her to stop but she would not (during this time we did not tell him we were doing a human trafficking missions with YWAM-but clearly God wanted us to talk to this man for that reason) There are many psychological reasons to trafficking and it isnt easy to just tell a girl 'stop doing this'
Over the years he dropped out of college and gained $150,000.00 in debt from going to Yale. He told me he didnt like being a lawyer, and he didnt really know what to do for a job. He seemed to be cringing and having alot of stomach pains in his body. He said because he had a really 'sexually active' lifestyle he couldnt get out alot and he was generally fearful person/wasnt as corageous like his friends were. He mentioned at the beginning when we told him that we were missionaries that 'I think the bible is an important book, me and my friend watch a tv show about the bible where they read a bible verse and explain it a few times each week because i think its a really important book to know'
I explained to him 'prayer is JUST talking to God, its saying: "Jesus i need your help with this right now... please him me" nothing complicated and its important.' This man's name was Andy and had ALOT of stuff over him. Please be praying for this man ALOT! For God's protection and grace over him (and favour for a good job!)
Our local outreach last night was at Freemont Street! the atmosphere at that place between the daytime and during the night is literlally that-black and white. Most people doing evangelism would have looked at the street and slowly backed off and walked away but not us-i was SO excited! God protects from the front and behind and satan has no authority over us.
I will share two stories from this night. As i was holding the sign up at this point i had one man who i saw from a distance look right at me and walk up to me, so i set the sign down (if you set the sign down on the floor you can be charged for solicitiong & be fined $200 in Las Vegas, so we had to set it on our feet and have the sign NOT touch the ground on the floor at all.) The man walked up to me and i said 'Hi sir, is there anything i can pray for you for?'
and he simply said 'no... my life is just a little off-track right now. i want prayer but i just need to get my life on track.' I wanted to stop him, i tried saying to him "are you sure i cant pray for you??" but he kept on walking."
Part of me is extremely mad at myself. I know that feeling of feeling totally undeserving of God's love, seeing the look of sadness on that man's face along with the bag of alcohol he was carrying and feeling unworthy. Should i have said "god will take you as you are, and there is nothing you have to change about yourself." Should i have started crying right then and there-because i certainly felt like it. I pray that God's peace will be with that men and will comfort him, and that other people will come in his life to keep planting those seeds.
The other person i actually approached, i was by myself (Cathy came up later on) and said "So, what do you think of those people offering free prayer?" He said to me 'I used to go to prayer/God, and for a period in my life I didn't, nd now i didn't. I think what you guys are doing is really important because alot of people grow up not being loved by their mothers like i was-God is so important and you could be changing lives tonight because you are doing this." He wouldn't let us pray for him, but he was really encouraging to myself (i think the incident with the man i mentioned above happened right after this-funny how God works.) It was overall a reall good night, people who normally weren't open to God came and got prayer. i had some people joke around and walk by and say 'Hey, im feeling sick you should pray for me' I don't know if they felt too embarrassed to stop or if it was a joke to them. But i still said 'Ok, i will' and i prayed for them right as i they walked away. Most everyday people just don't understand the concept that Some Christians arent 'religious' and they actually genuinely care about them and how they are doing :).
DTS LIFE....
These past few weeks i've gotten alot of my chest, and now it is just a process of learning more of who God really is in my life and trusting him more. One thing God has been really faithful in is providing in weird ways..
Financially i need my outreach plane ticket within 3 weeks, and my dad & karen were believing for the finances to come in when my dad told me 'I felt like God was telling me to give you that money for your plane ticket from the inheritance we just got from Grandma' (which i didnt even know about)
I needed an addition on my helath insurance while i was in the states because i only paid for enough until November, and someone who has been sponsoring me offered to sponsor me for that above what she normally has been giving me.
I posted on my facebook page 'does anybody know anywhere you can get an affordable hikers backpack?'
and my friend's husband happened to be selling his [he only used it for his DTS once] and it was in really good condition for 100$ (hikers backpack's are normally around $150.
Prayer Requests:
-Finances
-i have $4000.00 to raise for my DTS/Outreach by 12 weeks from now (November 18)
please prayerfully consider financially contributing if you are able, and spread the word. If all of my facebook friends were to donate within there means of what they were able-even just 10$ each! I would be able to go to Thailand! without financial support i will not be able to go on outreach
-for God to provide the money for me to have a flight back to Canada..
-Health
-many people in my base have been getting sick lately, please pray against this!
-as well a married couple (two of our leaders) just found out they were expecting! please pray for the health of the baby in the next few months, as well as when they go on outreach!
-Vulnerability & unity
-that God would keep moving & doing his 'heart surgery' on us, and keep us vulnerable and open to what he wants to do in our lives.
I love you all-i know i didnt mention the speakers too much because what we did on outreach was what was most pressing on my heart-but they were awesome. I did learn something! Plumbline focused on how we need to focus on God as the centre of our lives otherwise we will swing to wide spectrums of sin/pride in life which arent good... we have to stick to God being our plubline [god being our truth/the plumbline] and having a life of constantly in forgiviness and not letting Stant have a foothold on us!
Brenda talked about how our identites/our careers/our pasts-dont define US! wordly things dont-the only thing worth defining ourself as is 'I'm a child of god!' We listened to a sermon called '10 Sheckels & a Shirt' by Paris Riedhead. Are we letting God just be the 'sprinkle' on our lives or are we actually obeying him and fully serving him?
VERY convicting and SO GOOD! I highly recommend that every single church lets their congregation hear this message. It was done in the 60's and one of his only sermons ever taped and still extremely relevant today. I can get my hands on it for you if you would like :)
OUTREACHES
Last week we switched things up a little bit from doing our normal outreach at the strip and went to a place called 'First Friday.' This is an event that takes place on the first friday of every month where alot of locals go to (as opposed to tourists, like the strip) artists come here to showcase their talent and work. Hope and myself had the opportunity of talking to a very broken man and he ended up giving his life to the Lord that night!
This man was sitting on the ground next to a man playing his guitar with bells on his feet i knew we had to go to him, Hope was a little freaked out but something in me knew we had to go talk to him. I told him we were there to talk to him and tell him what God had done in our lives and that was it-he had just instantly started pouring out his life. He asked us to pray for him if God would give him a girlfriend (he really emphasized on that point)
His story was that he and his high school girlfriend had came to Vegas, to get a better life. He decided he wanted to become a lawyer at Yale (and he was very smart) he had the ability to read really big paragraphs and understand all of what he was reading. He wanted the ability to financially provide for his girlfriend. He was on and off alot about his story so it was really hard to understand. During that time he was going to Harvard, his girlfiriend started becoming a stripper and eventually she went into prostituition and would get him to drive her to these places of meeting up with the johns/fighting people at bars for her. He would try to tell her to stop but she would not (during this time we did not tell him we were doing a human trafficking missions with YWAM-but clearly God wanted us to talk to this man for that reason) There are many psychological reasons to trafficking and it isnt easy to just tell a girl 'stop doing this'
Over the years he dropped out of college and gained $150,000.00 in debt from going to Yale. He told me he didnt like being a lawyer, and he didnt really know what to do for a job. He seemed to be cringing and having alot of stomach pains in his body. He said because he had a really 'sexually active' lifestyle he couldnt get out alot and he was generally fearful person/wasnt as corageous like his friends were. He mentioned at the beginning when we told him that we were missionaries that 'I think the bible is an important book, me and my friend watch a tv show about the bible where they read a bible verse and explain it a few times each week because i think its a really important book to know'
I explained to him 'prayer is JUST talking to God, its saying: "Jesus i need your help with this right now... please him me" nothing complicated and its important.' This man's name was Andy and had ALOT of stuff over him. Please be praying for this man ALOT! For God's protection and grace over him (and favour for a good job!)
Our local outreach last night was at Freemont Street! the atmosphere at that place between the daytime and during the night is literlally that-black and white. Most people doing evangelism would have looked at the street and slowly backed off and walked away but not us-i was SO excited! God protects from the front and behind and satan has no authority over us.
I will share two stories from this night. As i was holding the sign up at this point i had one man who i saw from a distance look right at me and walk up to me, so i set the sign down (if you set the sign down on the floor you can be charged for solicitiong & be fined $200 in Las Vegas, so we had to set it on our feet and have the sign NOT touch the ground on the floor at all.) The man walked up to me and i said 'Hi sir, is there anything i can pray for you for?'
and he simply said 'no... my life is just a little off-track right now. i want prayer but i just need to get my life on track.' I wanted to stop him, i tried saying to him "are you sure i cant pray for you??" but he kept on walking."
Part of me is extremely mad at myself. I know that feeling of feeling totally undeserving of God's love, seeing the look of sadness on that man's face along with the bag of alcohol he was carrying and feeling unworthy. Should i have said "god will take you as you are, and there is nothing you have to change about yourself." Should i have started crying right then and there-because i certainly felt like it. I pray that God's peace will be with that men and will comfort him, and that other people will come in his life to keep planting those seeds.
The other person i actually approached, i was by myself (Cathy came up later on) and said "So, what do you think of those people offering free prayer?" He said to me 'I used to go to prayer/God, and for a period in my life I didn't, nd now i didn't. I think what you guys are doing is really important because alot of people grow up not being loved by their mothers like i was-God is so important and you could be changing lives tonight because you are doing this." He wouldn't let us pray for him, but he was really encouraging to myself (i think the incident with the man i mentioned above happened right after this-funny how God works.) It was overall a reall good night, people who normally weren't open to God came and got prayer. i had some people joke around and walk by and say 'Hey, im feeling sick you should pray for me' I don't know if they felt too embarrassed to stop or if it was a joke to them. But i still said 'Ok, i will' and i prayed for them right as i they walked away. Most everyday people just don't understand the concept that Some Christians arent 'religious' and they actually genuinely care about them and how they are doing :).
DTS LIFE....
These past few weeks i've gotten alot of my chest, and now it is just a process of learning more of who God really is in my life and trusting him more. One thing God has been really faithful in is providing in weird ways..
Financially i need my outreach plane ticket within 3 weeks, and my dad & karen were believing for the finances to come in when my dad told me 'I felt like God was telling me to give you that money for your plane ticket from the inheritance we just got from Grandma' (which i didnt even know about)
I needed an addition on my helath insurance while i was in the states because i only paid for enough until November, and someone who has been sponsoring me offered to sponsor me for that above what she normally has been giving me.
I posted on my facebook page 'does anybody know anywhere you can get an affordable hikers backpack?'
and my friend's husband happened to be selling his [he only used it for his DTS once] and it was in really good condition for 100$ (hikers backpack's are normally around $150.
Prayer Requests:
-Finances
-i have $4000.00 to raise for my DTS/Outreach by 12 weeks from now (November 18)
please prayerfully consider financially contributing if you are able, and spread the word. If all of my facebook friends were to donate within there means of what they were able-even just 10$ each! I would be able to go to Thailand! without financial support i will not be able to go on outreach
-for God to provide the money for me to have a flight back to Canada..
-Health
-many people in my base have been getting sick lately, please pray against this!
-as well a married couple (two of our leaders) just found out they were expecting! please pray for the health of the baby in the next few months, as well as when they go on outreach!
-Vulnerability & unity
-that God would keep moving & doing his 'heart surgery' on us, and keep us vulnerable and open to what he wants to do in our lives.
I love you all-i know i didnt mention the speakers too much because what we did on outreach was what was most pressing on my heart-but they were awesome. I did learn something! Plumbline focused on how we need to focus on God as the centre of our lives otherwise we will swing to wide spectrums of sin/pride in life which arent good... we have to stick to God being our plubline [god being our truth/the plumbline] and having a life of constantly in forgiviness and not letting Stant have a foothold on us!
Brenda talked about how our identites/our careers/our pasts-dont define US! wordly things dont-the only thing worth defining ourself as is 'I'm a child of god!' We listened to a sermon called '10 Sheckels & a Shirt' by Paris Riedhead. Are we letting God just be the 'sprinkle' on our lives or are we actually obeying him and fully serving him?
VERY convicting and SO GOOD! I highly recommend that every single church lets their congregation hear this message. It was done in the 60's and one of his only sermons ever taped and still extremely relevant today. I can get my hands on it for you if you would like :)
i know that this update was long but thank you so much for taking the time to read it!
Love & Blessings
-Chelsea
-Chelsea
Thursday, September 8, 2011
a blogpost for the peeps back home!
"Before God could bring me to this place He has broken me a thousand times. I have wept, I have groaned, I have travailed many a night until God broke me. It seems to me that until God has mowed you down you never can have this longsuffering for others. We can never have the gifts of healing and the working of miracles in operation only as we stand in the divine power that God gives us and we stand believing God, and having done all we still stand believing." -Smith Wigglesworth
You can feel free to read this if you want, but from now on my blogs will be just me 'ranting.' Blogs are about people truely saying what they want to say and i haven't been honest or doing that-so if you dont want to read my word vomit then you are in no way obligated ;)
{i apologize for my bad gramar in advance}
This is blogpost about nothing really unparticular. I am saving what each week is about/speaker notes for my newsletters... So, What has been on my mind? What is REALLY going on in this big empty head of Chelsea's?
Alot of you who knew me before knew me as the person who was really hard to read. I was an expert at controlling my emotions and even if i had come out of a really hard circumstance, i wasn't gonna let it show on my face. i was stubborn and i was a fighter. I have learned that when you hide certain memories from your past and when you want to hide one emotion in your life, you simply cant burry them all. God created us to have ALL of our emotions out in the open-we were not created to control our emotions. Because of that when you start to deal with things, every single emotion that has been burried will come out. It's a messy process.I tend to not deal with things, and that has been something God has been working on me ALOT these past few weeks...
Forgiveness & healing.... they are terrible and they are incredible at the same time. We aren't always perfect people no matter how wrong of the things they have done to us. I am so happy and thankful for every single one of my amazing DTS students & staff here.... most importantly-I'm thankful for Jesus!
I've heard stories from some people how they go to DTS and they don't feel like they connect with anybody, and they feel uncomfortable/awkward the whole time. I admit that i felt like for the first little bit that i was here. Fast forwqard a bit, if i never had these awesome brothers & sisters and christ and was dealing with all this on my own-this DTS would have been without a doubt been miserable for me & i'd have probably wanted to go back home by now atleast 8 times. God has brought several stuff on my heart and said 'you need to deal with this and forgive these people' some of them stupid little things, some of them things i thought i had forgiven the people from when i truely hadn't (ouch.)
a saying i had never heard before i came hear was 'DTS means Die To Self' it truely does.
Learning to trust God on finances is byfar the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. The first week i was here $400 came anonymously in the mail (whoever sent that money and whether you are reading this blog or not, words simply cannot describe how thankful i am for you.) It gave me the confirmation of 'i AM where i am supposed to be at this point in time, God is going to provide!'
speaking of money -thats a whole nother blogpost.
I currently don't know alot about which types of ministries we will be doing in Bangkok so I can't announce them. However, in the city of Chiang Mai we will be working in a safehouse calle 'Abba House' which works with rescued human trafficking victims and sharing the gospel and fellowshipping with them. We will be in each city for 3-4 weeks each before heading back to Vegas.
Once i know more-i will post about my outreach/exactly what we're gonna be doing and exactly how much i need to raise. right now i am not sure yet but it is roughly $4,000.00 that i have to raise still.
But i just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have financially supported me so far, and those of you who are praying for me back home. God is wrecking me apart, but it is certainly for the better and i am becoming so much closer with him. It's difficult and many things that were part of my life that werent from him and needed to be cut out-had to and they were very hard processes but God is bigger than that and he's a source of comfort.
ps-i have written some of you back home postcards/letters to some of you guys!
i just havent gotten around to actually getting stamps and mailing them out yet! *oops*
Love you guys alot & i miss you!
Love & Blessings
-Chelsea
the abolitionist dts
my e-mail address: child.of.eden65@hotmail.com
my facebook support page: here
You can feel free to read this if you want, but from now on my blogs will be just me 'ranting.' Blogs are about people truely saying what they want to say and i haven't been honest or doing that-so if you dont want to read my word vomit then you are in no way obligated ;)
{i apologize for my bad gramar in advance}
This is blogpost about nothing really unparticular. I am saving what each week is about/speaker notes for my newsletters... So, What has been on my mind? What is REALLY going on in this big empty head of Chelsea's?
Alot of you who knew me before knew me as the person who was really hard to read. I was an expert at controlling my emotions and even if i had come out of a really hard circumstance, i wasn't gonna let it show on my face. i was stubborn and i was a fighter. I have learned that when you hide certain memories from your past and when you want to hide one emotion in your life, you simply cant burry them all. God created us to have ALL of our emotions out in the open-we were not created to control our emotions. Because of that when you start to deal with things, every single emotion that has been burried will come out. It's a messy process.I tend to not deal with things, and that has been something God has been working on me ALOT these past few weeks...
Forgiveness & healing.... they are terrible and they are incredible at the same time. We aren't always perfect people no matter how wrong of the things they have done to us. I am so happy and thankful for every single one of my amazing DTS students & staff here.... most importantly-I'm thankful for Jesus!
I've heard stories from some people how they go to DTS and they don't feel like they connect with anybody, and they feel uncomfortable/awkward the whole time. I admit that i felt like for the first little bit that i was here. Fast forwqard a bit, if i never had these awesome brothers & sisters and christ and was dealing with all this on my own-this DTS would have been without a doubt been miserable for me & i'd have probably wanted to go back home by now atleast 8 times. God has brought several stuff on my heart and said 'you need to deal with this and forgive these people' some of them stupid little things, some of them things i thought i had forgiven the people from when i truely hadn't (ouch.)
a saying i had never heard before i came hear was 'DTS means Die To Self' it truely does.
Learning to trust God on finances is byfar the hardest thing i have ever done in my life. The first week i was here $400 came anonymously in the mail (whoever sent that money and whether you are reading this blog or not, words simply cannot describe how thankful i am for you.) It gave me the confirmation of 'i AM where i am supposed to be at this point in time, God is going to provide!'
speaking of money -thats a whole nother blogpost.
I currently don't know alot about which types of ministries we will be doing in Bangkok so I can't announce them. However, in the city of Chiang Mai we will be working in a safehouse calle 'Abba House' which works with rescued human trafficking victims and sharing the gospel and fellowshipping with them. We will be in each city for 3-4 weeks each before heading back to Vegas.
Once i know more-i will post about my outreach/exactly what we're gonna be doing and exactly how much i need to raise. right now i am not sure yet but it is roughly $4,000.00 that i have to raise still.
But i just wanted to say thank you to those of you who have financially supported me so far, and those of you who are praying for me back home. God is wrecking me apart, but it is certainly for the better and i am becoming so much closer with him. It's difficult and many things that were part of my life that werent from him and needed to be cut out-had to and they were very hard processes but God is bigger than that and he's a source of comfort.
ps-i have written some of you back home postcards/letters to some of you guys!
i just havent gotten around to actually getting stamps and mailing them out yet! *oops*
Love you guys alot & i miss you!
Love & Blessings
-Chelsea
the abolitionist dts
my e-mail address: child.of.eden65@hotmail.com
my facebook support page: here
Monday, August 29, 2011
August Newsletter!
I sincerely apologize for not keeping my facebook & blog as updated I would like! (With the relevant information from lectures and stuff!) These past few weeks have been very full of excitement but very tiring at the same time.
It is a very eye-opening experience for me seeing this city with all of the glitz and glamour stripped away, and seeing broken people everywhere you go. You don’t have to go far; they are sitting behind a slot machine or whether they are drunk on the Las Vegas strip looking like they are having the time of their lives. They are all broken people trying to get away from their problems who in reality-just need God…
Las Vegas is a city with many spiritual strongholds and people with hardened hearts resistant to ministry, but even so God is moving. The teaching I am getting is really challenging me so far, but in a lot of good ways.
I am meeting several amazing people here! There are about 10 staff and 13 students on base and this is the biggest school they have ever run! There have been a lot of really recognized YWAM speakers who sought out our DTS and wanted to be a part of it and speak here (so some of these names may sound familiar to all of my YWAMers back home!)
~ABOUT MY BASE~ The neighborhood my YWAM base is located in is one of the worst 3 mile radius in the entire city of Las Vegas, and out of America as a whole. Our base is called ‘the pier’ and is our vision is that by 2028 we will have ended poverty in this neighborhood by sharing the gospel and reaching out and helping the people in their need (food distribution programs, etc.)
A Pier is something that people go to in order to seek relief from their problems, and come back home refreshed from. That is our vision for our community with crime, where crack addictions are uneasily common and the prostitutes who frequently walk roam the day…
~MY FIRST FEW WEEKS HERE~
(August 8-12: Phil Gazely, Human Trafficking)
This speaker will actually be coming back to our school a few times to teach us. It was an incredible to meet someone who is there and actually knows what is happening in the world. Contrary to popular belief, sex trafficking is NOT the most common and outraging in the world, it is actually labor trafficking and there are actually far more males trafficked than women. Statistics aren’t reliable, they are estimates and they shouldn’t be quoted as fact/truth.
In human trafficking it is impossible to make sure you rescue every single person, but we’ve seen amazing solutions when the law takes a stand and has fair punishment. In Sweden, the Johns (the people who purchase prostitutes) are charged and it is actually a federal offense and they can face 10 years in prison. They got rid of the demand for sex because there is a very high punishment that people aren’t willing to pay, and human trafficking in that country was virtually eliminated.
In human trafficking it is impossible to make sure you rescue every single person, but we’ve seen amazing solutions when the law takes a stand and has fair punishment. In Sweden, the Johns (the people who purchase prostitutes) are charged and it is actually a federal offense and they can face 10 years in prison. They got rid of the demand for sex because there is a very high punishment that people aren’t willing to pay, and human trafficking in that country was virtually eliminated.
This week we also share our testimonies with everyone as a group in 15 minutes or less… It took a little over 2 days for the group of over 20 of us students and staff and was very hard for some of us, but it really helped us to see where each of us were coming from and how God lead us to come to this school & also connect with each other as a group.
(August 15-19: Paul Childers, Hearing & Obeying the Voice of God)
Paul spoke about how to discern our thoughts and tell if our thoughts our coming from. He talked about the many ways that God speaks (through visions, dreams, sometimes an audible voice) but the most common ways is through OUR thoughts. If the enemy uses the exact same way to speak to us and spiritually attack us by putting those things into our head, why wouldn’t God himself use the same way to speak to us but to speak wisdom and truth?
(August 22-26: Jeff Pratt, The Father Heart of God)
This speaker was SO amazing I cannot even describe it. He mainly focused on how God sees us and how loved we are. He talked about how our seasons of captivity (trials and tribulations) are there for a specific purpose. We must embrace them and realize ‘God wants me here so that I can learn from this, and he will take me out of it in HIS timing.’ Something like ‘God sees me as HIS child, HIS wife, etc.’ is so simple… but it’s spoken too much and has lost its meaning. I am very slowly discovering and becoming aware of how much God loves me every single day, and it is a process.
Currently, I would currently like you to prayerfully consider financially supporting me. Before leaving on this DTS, the Lord came through and blessed me with enough finances to cover my flights, etc. and the majority of my lecture phase. However I still alot to go!
I am asking for all of my friends/family that I know to graciously donate $10.00 or to donate whatever amount is on your heart so that I will be able to go to Thailand on outreach!!
Please send all money to: (make all checks out to YWAM Las Vegas and write 'Chelsea Buettner' in the memo slip blank)
Chelsea Buettner
C/O YWAM
P.O. Box 36606
Las Vegas, NV 89133 USA
Strip since alot of us are into photography! it was alot of fun =] )
DTS on Freemont Street. We made a new friend with a very
sweet man and had the opportunity to talk to him! )
please like the facebook page that i have to get more frequent updates here
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