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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