A Whole New World! A Hundred Thousand Things to see!

Sunset in Lahaina!

       Where has the time gone! I'm writing from outside of my house as the sun is reflecting on me, i am reflecting on my time here.  funny hahah. It is a week and a half away until i leave here for my next mission in Bangladesh! (I leave on the 7th of December)

Manny's Moustache Marathon!

    I haven't wrote in a while, but life has been super busy! about a week a ago we had a media fast for a week a monday to a monday which was really good! I'd highly encourage everyone to at least try it sometime. you really realize how much time you spend on the computer and it is crazy how much wasted time it is!

on the boat to Molokini!

    Catching you up previously to my last entry, that same weekend I did a snorkling/sailing adventure with my school! One of the old staff gave us a really good deal and it was such a good time!
    We had Ben Cordy come in and talk about different worldviews. So interesting! and we aslo focused a lot about apologetic stuff to apply it not only to our outreach locations but when we get back home with one of the biggest movement beliefs around today: atheism. It makes me sad for my friends who have bought into Darwin's theory and also or the school''s who claim this is a fact. I could go really deep into this stuff since iIm super passionate about it, but i will leave that for another time. It makes me sad that people believe in evolution where really it doesn't have any proof. They just want to believe something so bad so that they won't turn to God. Romans 1:18-21 God desperately wants His people to come know him and many today are so ignorant to their creator. Yeah, but i just loved that week! That week on Monday, I also had a chance to lead worship for the hour on monday morning, with my friend Juice! It was really awesome! I am also excited because on my bangladesh team, I am coleading being the worship leader with my room mate kelsey!
     That saturday, you've all probably seen the video or pics but I also was a part of the ywam coffee house and talent show! I was i two acts! So you can probs guess but had worked on them both the day of all day. ONe of them i did with my friends Kashanna, Hannah everett and Kylie. We were called the glocals- haha funny;) We were glow-stick people and the room was all dark and all you could see were our glow-sticks dancing around! i think there is a video of me on my page if you want to check it out! It was awesome!

Juice and I with some props from the evening!

      The second one was like a dream come true! For those of you who don't know, i am a major major Disney girl.! hahah so i ended up doing a four song disney medley with Justin again! We started off as lions for The lion King, then transformed into Pocanhontas and John Smith for the Colors of the Wind, Then he was ariel and i was Flounder, and finally we finished with the classic A Whole New world as Jasmine and Aladdin! So fun! and we worked so hard on our costumes! It really paid off and it was so fun! When it was over, although it was around 7 min. long after it was over it felt like a musical had finished and i didn't want it to finish! It was so fun! Our whole school was pretty creative with other acts including lots of deece vocal skills and par -core routines, hillibilly twang, impersonations of wisconson, thriller, chinese and Emmy (one of the leaders here) dedicated a song to us called YWAM Maui Girls where she used the tune of california girls by Katy Perry.
     Then on Sunday, we had Invisible Children come to Waipuna and present. It was so moving and I really hope I will be able to see the day that Joseph Kony is found and put behind bars!

My Bangladesh Girls at Twin Falls after Cliff Jumping one day!

      LAst week,we had meredith from our base talk about spiritual warefare for 3 days. It was her first time ever speaking at Dts and she did great as well! Learned a lot once again, It is awesome to know that  we are on the winning team. God has already won! Also it was a good reminder that God is not on the same playing field with Satan. He is a lot more powerful with no limitations while Satan is a jerk that knows he is going to lose. We also learned a lot about Lucifer's history as being an ark angel of the worshipping angels.

Making perogies!

      Loretta the head cook had me prepare 300 perogies! Such a process! But it ended up working out really well! I taught 3 others to be my helpers-there was flour everywhere and I'd say for my first time ever making perogies ever bymyself without Grandma's help, they were fantastico! It was funny how much i felt the pressure to make them perfect! I wanted my Grandma there so bad to help! I guess that is what it is going to feel like to be a mom one day! I wanted people to really like them, since they are my favorite food and all!

Me with Martin and Ingrid from Norway! They brought me some
Norweigan chocolate!

My Bangladesh team and I at Thanksgiving!

         Then it was the weekend! I feel like i am recapping so many weeks and weekends, so I apologize if you aren't able to keep up with my life! It was a four day weekend! Just what i needed!  Wednesday was our Thanksgiving dinner! I love how much everyone loves dressing up here! Every time we get the opportunity to dress up, all the girls get crazy! it is quite the experience having 26 closets to choose from! Surprisingly, I don't think I have lost any clothes! wooohoo! The meal was incredible! The cooks went all out! we had yam with marshmellows (just like my mom makes them), buns 9yum!) steamed vegetables! gravy (fort those that like it) , and then homemade pumpkin, banana cream and almond pie for dessert with icecream! I was stuffed! There is soo much good food here! so many days I am just overwhelmed with the goodness of it, but with the fact I got to go on more runs! We took lots of pictures, did some sing-alongs, and every country represetned with their national anthem. Some of my favorites, besides us north american countries were Norway, Finland , and China. So cute! We ended the night with everyone all of the SBFM and DTS watching Elf! My favorite!
         This weekend Laura and I were self-designated fun extraordinaires! We took it upon ourselves to plan outrageous stuff for our second last weekend here! Not once this whole weekend i didn't sleep in  past 8:00. Thursday as plans were changing, we had a more lazy day. At 1:00 in the afternoon we decided to have a movie Marathon! By 1:30 in the morning, we successfully watched the three, extended versions of The Lord of tHe Rings! It was so epic! Also it was quite ironic because the boys had to leave the girls house by 11:00 so it was like 15 girls left in the end just watching Frodo finish the ring good and for all! Some of the boys went camping out a beach in Kihei and they were watching Twilight!

On Saturday! we went crazy over this rainbow!

Sunset in Lahaina

        Friday, I planned a trip to Lahaina and got 12 girls in total to come with me! We managed to get to the bus stop each by hitching in groups of three all arriving there just in time with two minutes to spare at 9:17! I planned the bus routes (when to get on, where t switch where to meet up) My dad's good planning adventure skills were definitely inhierited into me! With it being Black Friday, we did some shopping in Whaler;s village, in Kan'napali then  went to Lahaina to the beach and then for supper at Cheeseburger in Paradise! So many memories came back to my head from when My mom and dad took my sisters and I! I could even point out the exact table! Inside i was able to even find a Saskatchewan license plate! woo! go roughriders! although i heard their season was awful! that is too bad! Then I stayed on the beach and watched one of the prettiest sunsets ever! The oranges and pinks filled the skies and reflected magically over the ocean water! After that we had it perfectly planned out to  meet up with the town run vans in Kahaluli and i ended getting a sweet deal on a Justin Bieber DVD at Walmart! Gotta love it! unfortunately his christmas album has not yet gone on sale yet so I am going to wait on that but I want it so bad!  the motto for the day that Kaley gave me was "When you want something done, Kozan gets it done!"

Road to Hana shot

Road to Hana

        Saturday around 20 of us drove in trucks to Hana! I would for sure recommend this to everyone that comes to Hawaii! it was so cool! All along we did some steller cliff jumps as a group, saw some amazing sights, waterfalls, and more! I didn't do the big jumps that day but i was content with what I did:) We also swam in these black sand rock beaches which were really fun. One time i def thought i was done for! This ginormous wave from Poisidon came and like enngulfed us! thank goodness i was able to get out! haha We also did this one excursion where you swim in a black cave! One of the scarriest things i have ever done for sure! But again- worth every minute! The road was maybe my favorite part! One moment you were in an amazing rainforest scene to Mars to Africa! Being in the back of Tim's truck with ma gurls was so fun! We saw the most amazing rainbow ever! i was "wowing" ever minute at what I was seeing before my eyes! The rainbow was like 3 quarters full of a circle! I am not sure how to describe it but parts went into the ocean and then in the trees, and it was the most vibrant thing ever! i could actually see tons of purple in it! On the way home it was pouring! I was just in my bathing suit for a long time because honestly i was not that cold, then the sun went down and i started to feel it but kept telling myself i wasn't! the other girls thought i was crazy but i was such a fun ride back! we were singing songs into the rain like :Wannabeee by the Spice Girls, some Disney classics  etc . On top of that Kaley and I both had our own personal pan pizzas from Pizza Hut!

My Church group at Waipuna!

inside Waipuna

    Sunday was awesome too! It was our last church service at Waipuna! :( I really am going to miss them! I loved having the opportunity to serve and love on the kids. The church prayed for us and released us as well! After church we had our weekly gathering free sample stop at Cost-co and then we went to Paia Bay! The waves were a ten foot swell and swimming in them was so fun! I found a way where i didn't die every time they came! I became very good at swimming underneath the waves! (pro-surfer) ;) Then a group of us ate out at Flatbread Pizza Company to conclude this amazing long weekend!
      So that brings us to today! man where has the time gone. I can;t believe i have only a week and a half here left and then it is off for a new adventure.. This week is the final week of our lecture phase and we have the pleasure of having Ron carlson speak to us on Post Modernism! We get to be with the SBFM for this week so toay i got to sit with Ingrid and Emmiline and Catherine form Scotland! It looks like it is going to be a great week!
    Here i am not wanting to look in the future even though I am excited. Time is going by so quickly and I am pysched for the Plans Jesus has for me, but i have a feeling that this week is going to be super long, busy and emotional as we are all departing into our new homes. If you could continue to pray for us over this week that we are able to get everything done this last week and not feel the stress, but to also cherish each other's company so much! Also for God's blessing over each of our lives that He reveals to us what He wants us to pursue even after february because there are some people who are worried about that! God is gracious and good:) I am Yours forever. Take me as you find me as Your daughter to be your vessle on this earth living out your will for me:)
   Love you all! thanks again for your support! have a great week! -jac
  



 

My identity in christ!

      As the rain is sprinkling overhead, the beauty of the evening sets in. The sun falls down over the rain-forest. It falls quietly and quickly giving each of the trees a chance to say goodnight to the Maui island. The stars approach patiently above each waiting for their special time to reveal themselves. Stars fly, sparkle, twinkle and encompass the night to light up my vision. God is beautiful, vast and an artist.
    Hahaha the little poet inside of me;P

purple!

 My oh my my friends, where does the time go by! i can;t believe how fast this time is going by! Aloha! so another week has gone by! I just finished the Holy Spirit week here, which was really awesome as we had Maria Daughtry for a second time come. I learned a lot!

me and my roomies! 

   The week before was a great week, i only wish I could have wrote about it earlier. We FINALLY had our first Canadian speaker! hahah It's funny how half our school is made up of Canadians and we hadn't had a canadian here at all yet! His name was Dave Overholt from Hamilton, Ontario:) He is such a sweet guy and a wonderful refreshment.
    These weeks have been filled with crazy content and emotions that I had not had a ton of time to process. Dave was such a funny guy! The whole group was overjoyed to find out this wouldn't be such an emotional week:)
     He talked about the 5 identities we have in Christ which were:
 1. I am a child of the King
2. I am His ambassador
3. I am an alien
4. I am a Temple of the Holy Spirit
5. I am his Bride
     Dave is a pastor of Church of the Rock, where the average age of his church is around 24. He has a passion and gift working for young people, and his energy and love for disciplieship definitely showed. God for sure spoke through him and energized us all with his humor and funny jokes. God really showed the father-heart of himself through Dave with the way he talked about the love of his daughter It was such a special week and loved every minute! It was really hard saying goodbye to Dave because He really connected with all of us:)
    At the end we did a little mission statement this is what i wrote
  
     I am a child of the King,
his daughter to GO and bring
joy to His children, for He has
 accepted me as I am. I am called
to be MORE than of this world
But to be a history maker. <3


such a great week:)


    This week we had Maria Daughtry come back for Holy Spirit week, and I learned so much about the Holy Spirit it rocked;) we had such amazing times of worship to hear and be open to the Holy Spirit works and it was really cool to see God move through the room. It was a hard week, but God has really been speaking to me and I will continue to pursue that. I love worshipping though; it is the best!
   My friends Juice, Melissa and Kaley have been helping me to learn the guitar a little bit more so I am loving that.
     Last weekend, a group of four of us went on an adventure in the Kula (cool- er , haha get it!? But it is also the towns name- area of town) We got dropped off by the lovely Martin from Norway at a pumpkin patch. Unfortunately for us it opened at 11:00 and it was 9:30! uh oh i hadn't done my homework lol. We had some time to kill. Luckily I had remembered that people had talked about a lavender field that was nearby. So we got a car to pull over for a hitch and he drove us there. This was probably one of the squishiest hitches i've ever had but it was a lot better than the 3 mile up hill hike we would have had to do in the blazing Maui weather!

my trip to town:justin bieber's new cd! please mom!

in the lavender fields!

     Once we got there it was absolutely gorgeous and excellently free! We went on a scavenger hunt and then got a prize of lavender shortbread cookies (interesting) We had some awesome photos! what a view. Then it was time for the patch. We easily found a hitch down the hill from a paraglider who was really cool but he had a really quiet raspy voice, which was weird.
     The patch was so pretty too! There was a sweet corn maze, ponies, horses, delicious pumpkin smoothies and pretty views. I got two pumpkins and we had such good hitches! Then i got to surfing! not for very long but it was the first time that i actually had luck with tries and it was good waves! I stood up- haven;t really got a wave yet, but I'm going to try again tomorrow! Kelsey from SBFM took me out-she is super nice!
     After surfing, I went to the weekly soccer, and then after soccer we had worship on the beach! It was so cool! Random people came by and we got a chance to pray for them or just talk to them. However, by being in Paia of course we have those people that are just a lil weird come over- we had one guy ask if he could play Juice's guitar and sing a song. So we let him play and he said that he wanted to play a song  of this one christian guy that was really inspiring and everything and then he played and it was about this guy leaving his wife.. hahah it was a random moment but God allowed us to focus right back in on him after that all occurred. There is such power in worship. It goes hand in hand with this book we read called Fire and fragrance by Andy Byrd and Sean Feucht. Now we are reading Crazy Love which i've heard is super great! i've had a hard time trying to find time to read. Reading has never been a big thing for me, but I'm trying to be diligent!

Me and Laura getting festive with some halloween rings

        Through that worship though, i felt God put this thought in my head that the sound would spread into the town like a dog whistle where we can't hear it but they will from a distance:) it made me laugh! On monday it was halloween and we didn't do anything to celebrate but me and my roomates got finished with other weekly cleaning chores so we ended up getting to watch The Great pumpkin! it was sweet and super funny that I would highly reccomend it.
       Then on tuesday we had our weekly Intercession at 8 in the morning and this time i got to do a presentation on Canada with two other girls and our Dts base prayed over all the areas of education, governement, buisness, family, church and media (including justin bieber) ;)
     It's occured to me that perhaps some of you are wondering what a usual day looks like for me-yeah? well if you want to know here it is! if it doesn't interest you then you can skip over this part!
    Monday
7:30- vans leave for worship (worship starts at 8:00 in haiku)
9:30-chapel talk( thoughout the lecture phase of DT, we all have to do a chapel talk on anything that we want to talk about, for mine i talked about the joy of the lord a few weeks ago)
10:00-lecture
12:30-lunch
1:15-laundry run in Paia
5:00-dinner
5:45-House Cleaning
7:00-team time


Tuesday
8:00 -Dts intercession (prayer over a topic)
9:00 Jesus Time
9:30-chapel talk
10:00-lecture (our lectures are 2hours and 15 minutes usuallt with a break or two!)
12:30 lunch
1:30-work duties (can be kitchen duties, hospitality (making snacks and blessing people), maintaince, office work, babysitting)
5:00-supper
7:00-outreach prep


Wednesday
8:00:-Apologetics
9:00- Jesus Time
10:00-Lecture
12:30-lunch
1:30-outreach to the community - (we have helped out street evangelize to people around the island, have gone to highschools, we run a skate-park ministry as well)
5:00 supper
6:30-town run


Thursday
8:00- base intercession
9:00-chapel talk
9:30-Book Study
10:00-lecture
12:30- Lunch
1:30-growth group
5:00-Dinner
7:00- lecture till 9


Friday
7:30-worship in Haiku
9;30 Chapel talk
10:00-lecture
12:30- lunch
1:30- work duties
5:00-supper and evening off


Saturday
Freeeweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
 Sunday
9:30 - leave for church at Waipuna chapel and then we get back at around 1 :30
supper at 5:00!


so yeah on top of that we have ur weekly homework and duties but the days are packed! it's great to have this downtime on the weekend! the girls are watching maid in manhatten in the next room so I might go join them soon!
   Anyways I LOVE recieving mail and packages so if you would like to send me some that would be delightful! also if you want a postcard, give me your mailing address! love you all guys! God is great!

pictures of the first weeks!

 my whole dts!

miss you guys!

 my roommates!

 my send off crew~ <3

 me and matt in the vancouver airport

my group in exodus hitching around the island!

I am set FREE oh oh oh oh!

    well hello everybody! how are you all doing>! so again the weeks are just flowing by! i can't believe it. there is always just so much info and things we do that it is just hard to process! Last week, (i'm not sure where exactly i left off, BUT it was called Hearing the Voice of God week and it was awesome! we had a woman named Maria Daughtry, and she was so good, it's been funny because the last three weeks have been women speakers, 2 of the speakers are woman around the age of 41, the first one reminded me (FAITH DUtton) reminded me so much of my mom. She would be sweet to speak here sometime i think:)
     Anyways, last week was awesome. Maria, is always trying to listen to the Lord speak and will listen to see if someone from our group is being highlighted to pray over right in the middle of lecture. The very first day this happened, and one guy named Martin was prayed over and it was crazy like he screamed, and was crying and shaking. God's present was sooo crazy present in the room. Some people were really scared though, but it was awesome and Martin told us the next day what God was saying to him and explained it so people calmed down. :) I learned a lot and it became clear to me that throughout my life, God HAS spoken to me, I just haven't recognized it. We went through a list of about 14 different ways He can reveal things to us, and it was crazy to see just how God wants intimacy with us. He talks to everyone differently by going with what you'd connect with! that is crazy!
     God spoke to me a lot and I had some great new revelations and freedom over my life from things that were holding me bondage! Last thursday night, we also had a giving night and it was so awesome. Between our group, the people that had to still raise funds for their outreaches totalled over $20,000, and at the end of the night we had raised over 10,000! it was incredible! We just allowed God and the Holy spirit to work in us and it felt so good. There is DEF a reason that God asks us to give! it is awesome! I laid down things in my life that were keeping me and my home-boy Jesus  from growing deeper in a relationship.
     We also did some fun ways to experiment hearing the voice of God by trying with our friends to allow God to speak prophetic words through us. We were asked by Maria to come to the front and be blindfolded and then a person came in front of them and they were asked to seek God to give them a word fro the person in front of them. It was so cool! everybody had something that  spoke to them. For me, a guy named Dillion gave me a word that really connected with me, it had to be God! it was so cool, he said that i have a passion for music on my heart and that he could see guitar and singing and to just keep playing for the Lord. i've never had anything that personal, and it was what i had been praying about so it was sweet! it was a great week and i learned so much!
    This week was called NEw Hearts and our speaker was Janet. I just am so happy with all that i am laerning about God's character and who is to me. New Hearts focused a lot about going deep with the issues you had in your life and cutting away the root that is holding you back from going deeper with God. At first i had the attitude that i had dealt with everything already in the last two weeks. I mean they had been really emotional! But i just came with a open heart and allowed the holy spirit to do some more work in me! We had two nights out of the week were prayer ministers came from around Maui and prayed for us, and it was just so amazing to see God just work through the room. I am going to try my best to walk out what i have been taught and remember that the doors have been closed! I am set free oh oh oh oh!- sons and daughters- such a good song! (look it up!) pretty much sums up how i feel!
     This last weekend was so fun but jam packed with things we did! We volunteered at a marathon and were at a water/gatorade stop at the 2 mile stop at the 10 km run! the only tough part was that we had to leave the base at 5:30 in the morn, but it was worth it. The night before was a meteor shower, so i stayed up till oneish watching and i saw my very first shooting star! it was beautiful! and i didnt feel tired the whole day. we got free t-shirts and snacks, and me and and a few girls decided it would be fun to wear some fun outfits! we went to savers-which is the american v.v. and you know me, i like to go all out! so i had to get some fun  stuff to wear at this event! so i got purple stripped tights, suspenders, and purple eyeliner, OH and i black out my teeth with some black tooth wax that i got for 99 cents there so it was worth it. in the morning, i put my hair up with a bottle in it like cindy loo-hoo. I HAD to dress up, it's in my blood! and i am super excited for this other marathon that is coming up which is just between ywam, called manny's mustache marathon and we get to dress up super 80's.
       I loved helping out though! we had so much fun at the water station, we were the most enthusiastic one they had ever seen! there were five of us girls at this one and we had about an hour before the runners came by the time we got everything set up- so what did we do? what we do best-rapped, made videos, planked, laughed. it was so good! and there was this one leader on a green quad that came by and everytime we would chant his name, kirk! kirk kirk! kirk! every biker that came by before the race, i had to ask them if they were world renown, and there were a few! jk they were local but some of them had done the ironman. Lots of the runnners were from all over the world! believe it or not but lance armstrong was there! we didnt see him but he was preparing for the triathalon that was on sunday! pretty cool hey?!
     Sunday was a sweet day and church was really good! i go to waipuna hope chapel and sat in the service this week instead of hanging with the kids, but a missionary spoke to us about being beacons of light to the world and it was sweet. And then we went back with my bangladesh team at night to hear him talk about muslims and how they are not all the same. We need to treat each muslim with love, and there are differnt degrees to today's muslim people. under 7% of them take violence as a means to deal with stuff. He really challenged us to look at the news differently with new eyes, and not judge. It was super encouraging as well as we watched furious love tonight and that just made the fire grow inside of me for the excitement to really do something with my faith! I'm so pumped for Bangladesh!
     Oh yeah! and i also had given my chapel talk on tuesday! it went super well and i talked for 20 min on the joy of the lord as our strength (neh. 8:10) it went awesome!
     Man i am just falling more and more in love with jesus and i can't wait to see what else God will do with my life! for now, i am just sitting in Paia, waiting for my laundry to dry. have a great week! talk to you soon!

66 books, 1 story!

    So another week has came and gone, and boy did that ever go by fast! It has been a busy week! The days were packed with lectures with our speaker Tom the base director about the bible overview! Holy molly, so much info! But I learned a lot and I am proud and excited to say that after that week of a total of 15 hours of lectures (2 and a half hours long), I have never been more excited to read the Old Testament; like it came to life! We really focused a lot of our attention on getting the beginning story of how everything started straight before we went on to the new testament.
    Before we studied, we took a test to let us know how well we know our Bibles, and there were lots of questions on it. A lot of them based on order and length of events. I bombed! haha I believe I got a 9 out of 32! For many others: the same result! I've been going to church pretty much all my life, and i know lots of stories and sunday school lessons but it was crazy to think, wow i actually have so much to learn. and i did!  It was pretty hard, but i bet if I were to take that same test again i would pass for sure!  The first three days we pretty much studied Genesis and Exodus in detail. We went over the short summary of the bible 1. Creation 2. The fall 3. Redemption pretty detailed and then all the stories. I know i have tried to promise myself to do it before, but i would really like to read the whole bible. I have never got around to it but I would really like to. Not only does it help you learn more about God's character, it gives you truth and spiritual nurturing for the soul. I had never really thought about it before but our speakers have challenged us saying if you want to evangelize to non-christians, be prepared and a common question or argument that they can throw at you is, "how can you preach on something that you haven't even read?" another analogy that hit me was something like "you don't just start a book from page 125 without feeling like you missed something." ouch. so i have realized just the importance of being able to know why i believe what i know and how.  Of course you don't need to read the whole bible in order to be a christian. Our faith should be much more than that of seeing how much we can learn. It's not about knowledge! It's about having a true and genuine, best friend, honest, open relationship with the Lord.
    Don't hate me if I fail, but I'm going to try to read the whole bible in the next year! and ya'll can keep me accountable of that!
    We also focused a lot on God's holiness and Love. From the week before I had learned so much about what God's love is and it's been really cool to have a whole new revelation on this. God's holiness shows up all though-out the bible and how he is a just God who is patient. Especially with all of the patience He had on The people of Israel. He picked them as his chosen people in order for them to bless the nations. In judges (the "yuck" chapters), it's crazy to think that God waited THAT long before pouring His cup of wrath onto the nations.
    On that note: the cup of wrath is such a crazy subject! I am glad we as believers don't have to fear that anymore! :D And for him to send all of those prophets, signs and teaches to get them to stop, wow they did some crazy evil stuff!
    ALSO i found it really cool to understand that with the 10 plagues that they weren't just random. God wanted to destroy one by one all of the egyptian god's Showing them that His power succeeded all!
    Looking back through the Bible it is so cool to see how God fulfilled His promises and covenants and how we are in this exciting time of waiting for Christ to come back! Gosh it was such a sweet week.
    Last weekend, one of my fellow friends here from the Philippines  got in an accident while we were at the beach. We were doing some body boarding and some of us were just swimming and the waves were sooo big. My friend wasn't looking when one of the waves came down on him and his chin/face hit first and then his legs kicked back. One of my other friends who witnessed saw him get out of the water right after it happened, they called out his name and he fainted into the water. Immediately 2 of my friends responded and got him  out of the water. He had lost conscienceness but thankfully we had our madeline a nurse from switzerland with us and she new how to handle everything. Someone called 911 and the whole shabbot was there almost instantly. It was scary but, i always knew he was going to be alright. Our group was praying for him the whole time: on the beach and after we left. Madeline got to go with them so that he would be able to have someone be familiar with him while he went and she could be used. His cousin is one of the leaders here so when he first got the phone call he was scared but immediately the whole base prayed. My friend, Ben from the Philippines ended up only having a few slipped disks thankfully and we were all happy, with a minor concussion. Praise God!
     This week is so exciting! It is the hearing the voice of God week with Maria Daughtry! already we had our first lecture today and it was sweet! one person was prayed over and you could really feel God's presence in the room. it freaked some people out but once we get more into the week, i think we will all have a better understanding of how God speaks to us. :) God is moving here in Maui!
    ALso another fun thing that is happening this week is that it is Angle/mortal week! so we al selected a name from the people that are here and we are like their secret santa for the week! any suggestions for cool gestures are welcome!
     God will def provide for everyone. We are getting to that time where we all need to make our payments, and many of us including myself have to still get some in. Ben had to end up paying for the medical fee which took the place of a lot of his outreach money, but it will all work out:) God will provide. If you could support any of us here with our outreach fees that's be amazing but waaaaay more importantly if you could keep us in your prayers as we are preparing our mind, body, heart and souls to be able to reach people on our teams. thanks so much! Love you all!
  
    

My Address!

Hey everyone! had another good day as we are learning about the bible fundamentals this week.:)just to let you know, in case you wanted to send me a letter, my address is
PO. Box 790237
Paia, HI. 96779

Have a good weeek! 

Restored< REnewed, Refocused

     Aloha! It's the weekend again! This time I felt like the week went by super fast. but it was so fun! Our topic was on relationships! The speaker was real cool and from Australia! Ps. i have gotten pretty good at copying lots of accents here: such as Scottish and Aussie:)
     Last weekend i went to this magical place called the bamboo forest! bamboo in Maui? I know! I was just waiting for a panda to jump out! it was actually so cool though and we got to do some cliff jumping! if you know me, you have probably heard me say that I have a fear of two things, Cops and Bears. worst fear: bearcop. hahah yeah... anywho! so I believe that my third fear really precise is jumping off things that you can see the bottom of. Why so specific is because I really want to go skydiving once in my life but i think that would be fine! you can't see where you are going to fall, you have help and it's just a jump. bungee jumping too, I believe there is something about those harnesses no matter what you do< just mentally help you prepare better.
   Sorry about that tangent there. I think sometimes I like to think by just writing my mind out. So anyways, we did some cliff jumping and i jumped off like a  15-20 footer! i think haha it didn't actually know for sure! but it was freaking tall! to get to the major  cliff, we had to hike through the bamboo with bare feet and the rivers which was like a 30 min. hike. I LOVE this kind of stuff. The very first rock we had to jump off was so small like 5 feet and i was scared! i like couldn't make myself to do it! it took me like 20 minutes to convince myself i could do it, but it came with the death scream, eyes shut and body tense reaction of course! The water I jumped into was the most calming thing i ever felt. PTL I made it safe and sound but this deserted water lake was so pretty. Like I could almost have my wedding in it!
      Then we got to the big cliff where I wasn't too sure if I wanted to jump but my friends encouraged me and i did it! a lot of people went higher than me  (those turkeys) but i was proud of myself after getting nervous again and a scream of chills, being able to make myself jump felt great. Daniel, my Norwegian/ Korean friend was scared to and i was really happy that he went. cause really there was no way down but to jump! Martin, also another Norwegian, dove from like 30 feet up! it was nuts but he is a risk taker! If you ever come to Maui though, definitely give the bamboo forest a try, it's absolutely stunning!
        This weekend I want to better manage my time to be able to do my homework well without leaving lots for Sunday!
      Our week like I said, was on relationships with  Faith Dutton as our speaker. It definitely was not your common dating 101 course. Actually she spoke on what a healthy relationship looks like with all the relationships you have in life. she spoke on emotional dependancy, manipulation, unhealthy same sex and opposite realtionships, fleeing from sin, condemnation vs conviction, self worth and others. I could really see God speaking through her and i felt empowered by what she shared.  She reminded me a lot of my mom with her being 40, blonde with blue eyes and threee kids, but just a lot cooler! jk mom:) i love you! (you guys should have coffee someday)! She really challenged all of us with the way we thought about things. I loved her teaching on really what TRUE love is. It isn't selfish and a lot of what she said, i want it to really stick with me. Love is genuine an if ever that one day happens, i will be prepared to date with putting the other person's best interests in front of my own. :) Yesterday we had a sharing time where we split boys and girls and went before God of areas that we felt convicted in our lives and asked for forgiveness in front of a group for accountability. Another awesome thing about sharing with people is that it offers You a sense of humility and reason to tell Satan off by saying that You had already dealt with the sin. Let me tell you, God moved through the group. Including myself and after it finished, I just felt so much peace to be able to have opened up and be prayed over. I was humbled and feel free and filled with joy. I don't even know how to explain it, but by listening to hear what God was trying to release me of and being able to bring to the light to confess to the lord was so amazing. God was here. Don't you just love a good cry with the girls!
       I am really glad this topic came out so early because really i think it will make the atmosphere of our base incredible if people take these principals to living a God driven relationship between everyone.
      I am heading to the beach mates! but thanks for stepping in to be apart of this journey with me! have a great day! and thanks for reading, and please keep me in your prayers!
     Anyways, I am going surfing now! wish me luck!

BANG LA DESH!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yeah thats whats up!)

       Aloha! Hey everyone! i have an exciting update! i am going to bangladesh!! yea yea! i'm pumped! before i tell you the deets, i let you know how these last ferw days have been:) i have had a crazy weekend! so filled with lots and lots of activities!
       On Saturday, I was so active! i got up early, ate breakfast and then got a hitch into paia to surf! it was a pretty windy day but we didnt know what the waves would be like! so me and my friend Hannah from australia to share between us for 20 bucks with all the straps and wax that we needed:)we headed out with the boys to Paia bay which was beautiful! Unfortunetly after an hour of trying to get some waves, we couldnt catch any becasue the waves didnt break good and it was a little bit tooo windy. The guy that rented the boards to us told us that we could bring them back if we couldnt get any waves:) and he was a christian, from cali, named justin... anyways hahah besides that point we returned them and we have a credit that justin gave us for the next time we go out. we hitched back to paia then got ready for the weekely socccer game at 4! it was so fun! i think there was like 40 of us that played! i still got my kick! i played defense against some sbfm guys from sweden and all over and it was cool! i dont think i''ll play barefoot again though.. i broke a nail! just kidding i'm not THAT much of a wuss. and then after we got home, btdubb, our team killed, we had a game of vball! a tounramant actually:0 our weekends are pretty cool we have all saturday off every week and then other than church on sundays we have time to chill on sunday too! but lots of that time soon will be full of work projects and Jesus time and homework!
        Sunday I went to my church that I was assigned to for the first time and it was so cool! i got put in the children's church which was a separate building then the church:0 there was like 15 kids all under eight, and i really bonded with this kid named Owen:0 he was so cute, and i hope we can stay buddies. he is four  :) we played games, had snacked, sang songs with actions of course and had a lesson he is so cute, he put up his hand to pray and then when it was his turn he turned to me all embarrased and said "i dont know how to pray!" and i was like say thanks God for my family. and he did in the most quiet voice ever but it was super cute:)
      After we said our goodbyes to the kids, we wenty to Costco, and let me tell you friends in saskatoon, our samples dont even compare. there samples are like servings and there was actually a different one everywhere. I was so full off those but i still split one of those 2$ pizza slices  because they looked so good:)
     The rest of the day we hung out at the base finished our journals that we had to do, and spent some time with God.
Yesterday we had our first  session and this week it is on the basics of christianity:) it was awesome because i feel feel like i am getting so much knowledge to back up my faith and to prove that christianity is real. Matt is a sweet teacher. i love  learning and i think i have a real passion for learning new things. Random, but i am learning Norweigan just cause haha it's been really fun so far i got the alphabet down as well as some sentences and and numbers:) yea yea it's fun but i love learning new things about God and the bible!
        So last night we found out where we were going! the way they told us was really cool , and it shouldnt have surpirsed me how much surpirsies and creativitiy they put into it! they told us to sit aorung the pool. Then they tapped our heads if we were on the team that was being told. we all had to close our eyes and keep them shut. when we were tapped we put our feet in the water carefully while keeping our eyes closed. then, after everyone from one team was picked they said the people whose feet are in the water can open their eyes. We didnt know where we were going yet, just who we were with.
I was the last group that they did this too, and i had to covver my eyes because i was so excited! i looked around and saw a few people but becasue it was dark out, i couldnt tell everyone.
    Right after they told us to sit in the groups that we were called in and then the leaders sat with us and annouced we were going to bangladesh! there are 9 of us students and two leaders and it looks like it is going to be a great group! it was hard to realize that i wouldnt be with all of these people that i had made such great friends with and only these 11 for three months. but i still have lots of time here to build great other friendships also really get to know my team! i am so excited and please pray for our team to stay positive and that team unity would be awesome and for God to use us in amazing ways here and there! anyways other people have to use this computer so i will tell you more about this country antoher time! love ya'll! thanks for your prayers and God bless you!

Decisions decisions!

I forgot to mention! today we were told about the locations we could go for our outreach and the options are Bangladesh, China, or Nepal. i have to make the decision by tomorrow night (Thursday) so i you could please join in praying for me that would be the best! i really want to make my decision based on where God wants me, so i am open to whatever, they all have so much to offer! anyways, thanks in advance everyone! love you! -jacs!

So many adventures! So many surprises!

    Hey ya'll! so i just got back a few days ago from my adventure which happened to be three days long! really cool experiences filled with lots of surprises. the first thing we did was get up at 6 in the morning and they checked all of our bags to see if we brought something we weren't supposed to; this meaning only the necessities! we had some lovely breakfast and off we went to begin our first team challenge! of course, once we got split up into groups the creativity inside me burst out and we won the group cheer/ name challenge.
    we were the mighty moses's.. moseses? not too sure how to spell that, but our routine consisted of some killer roundoffs by miss austraila, parting of the red sea, a renditon of we are the titans (moses) AND  we whip our hair back and forth. let me tell you, we blew them right our of their seats! 
     Soon after that, we got prepared for a scavenger hunt around the island, full of hitch hiking, and random photos around the various big cities, man was that adventureous! the more hitches we got, the more points we got! we got four hitches and the last one we had, we had to cram our team of four into the back of a car, with a baby in the car seat in one seat and the four of us squished into two seats! we ended up gtting second out of the eight teams which was pretty good still!
    after that, we found ourselves on Mount I'ao where Auntie mamal told us about the island's history and how she has found it difficult to grow up with here cutlure being lost. that place was super pretty with chinese and phillipin inspired countries:)
      finally they piled us into the two 15 passenger vans which held 45 of us crammed in total and.. k wait let me tell you about these vans! Apparently a  van just retired before the beginning of our DTS, named Gumbi which was the same one as one of the other green ones. The green one that carried us there had on seat row and the rest were taken out to make more room for the students! there are rusted holes right in the middle of the floor! Hello road! dont worry none of us fell out, they arent THAT big! it's actualy quite fun in tight quarters like that! and with no air conditioning you really do begin to really get to know some people. :) the roof is like falling in too and we joke that its a sign that people were trying to escape! hahah it was tons of fun and despite the other van being completely normal, i always ended up being in the "fun" van!
        The location we ended up going to was absolutely gorgeous. right by the ocean, we set up our tents, got firewood, and made bathrooms! -It was outdoor school alllllllllll over again:)
        God did some amazing stuff in those three days where all 45 of us strangers from around the world became great friends:) we all shared our personal testimonies which really was a great opportunity to get to know people right off the bat to be vulnerable with one another and really challenge each other. we had quiet time every morning, and my favorite spot was up this mountain cliff side that i climbed and overlooked the ocean which was super beautiful. I wrote down my expectations for my DTS and i really want to learn how to hear God's voice, and to be challenged with my knowledge from the lectures to come. Also i want to be able to bring my faith back home and really help my friends with their relationships with Jesus:)
      That first night, i didnt have a good sleep at all. i felt like i stayed up all night because i wasn't very comfortable. in the morning we realized we didnt open any of the vents in our tent so it was like a sauna! plus, the ants here are bazurk! but i was feeling good because the next night i could be prepared to change it to make it better now!
      Another hard thing about those three days was the food. I mentioned before but this journey was called exodus, and in exodus the Israelite's live off the same food for 40 days, so that's we we did. all we had was the same cup and chopsticks for every meal with hot water and plan oatmeal for breakfast and icheban noddles for supper and lunch. it really was humbling to see and experience how other people live in the world to say, and we are so privileged:) however we were hungry and our stomachs were not always satisfied. but it was fun:)
     Every day we had quiet time with God and had campfire worship sessions, and ever since last Saturday night, i have loved the worship here. It is so free and God has really spoken to me:D i can't wait for what's to come ahead.
      Some other highlights we had included some "dirty games" with mud, river swims, the view, personal time with god, cave climbing, laughing until we would explode! it is so cool, to think that it was just three days but it felt like a lifetime of fun. there was no one to tell us what time it was, people opened up and we just had so much fun! i got my homies from Washington, and my Aussies, Swiss, Chinese friends, danish and fellow Canadians and Americans now a part of my famjam:) it is so cool to see how God all brought us to Ywam Maui; we all have a story.
       On Tuesday i was expecting to stay longer, i didn't think it was going to be done, but after our hike in the mountain, they said they needed to get more water before we hit our next location. So we go to this place, with all of us just so tired and dirty, the doors flew open and people cheered at us as we walked in. I was completely shocked! i love surprises and i actually was like is this a dream!? the other part of the base were all dressed up and here we were dirty with mudd on our faces and just hungry out of our minds! they put garbage bags on the seats we were at with name tags cause they knew we'd be dirty. I felt so special.
     it took me a while to snap back into it, but when they announced the meal, OMG. my mouth was like drooling from excitement! we had salmon, coconut rice, chicken  Norwegian tomatoes, wild rice and the most amazing dessert. I loved it! i was so hungry but my stomach must have shrunk because i couldn't eat a lot! then after they washed our feet and each individually wrote us cards of encouragement. I had a girl named Ashley wash my feet and it was so awesome, she was one staff that i hadn't really gotten to know yet, but she said she has been praying for me ever since i was looking into the program. In the card she explained how God wanted to show me that he was my protector and she prayed for me. it was so touching, she prayed for me long and deeply that i felt so blessed. we ended the incredible Tuesday night off with amazing worship:)

   It's crazy to think that i have yet to be here a whole week yet! so much has happened and i can't wait to see where Go will take me in the upcoming weeks and lectures! please pray for me as i am wanting to grow closer in my relationship with Jesus, and be willing for what he asks of me! love you all! and thanks for being there for me! until next time!

Maui wowie!

i am loving every minute of this place! it is 10:30 hawaii time at the moment and my first day here has been an absolute blast! yesterday i had quite the adventure with flying all by myself. I will admit i shed a few tears but it was all good, just a new experiance. .. side note, every seen the Lizzie Mcguire Movie? well there is this one scene where Lzzie is saying goodbye to her parents and is just about to go in line to go on her plane to Italy, and then turns back and gives her mom a hug. a very emotional hug, yeah well that was me with my fam and friends:) hahah who knew i would cry! (shocker) By the way, thanks to everyone that came out to say goodbye:) that was really special!
   Flying was actually a lot of fun! it was really cool, but i ended up being on the same plane as Matt Metan! we chatted it up, had some cool walks outside and yeah it was good to do the whole visas thing together. speaking of the visas, man the room where they take you in the customs in Vancouver, man do they ever make it look like a serious/stern place in there. they got the sound proof walls, crying babies, hard chairs to sit in and loonnnnnnnnngggggg waits. plus all the lights are dimmed and everyone looks like they want to cry. me and matt being positive petunias made the best of it and talked and laughed at the atmosphere going on. when i released from the detention center, i had a descion to make. either i go make the phone call my mom wanted me to maker as soon as i landed (which by the way was already an hour and a half overdue) or wait for matt and risk splitting up. i didnt have a phone or any way to get contact! it was right out a movie -haha not really. but it ended up working out. the pay phone was really far away so i literally sprinted away to it so i wouldnt miss him. i did tell the security lady what he looked like but i couldnt trust here and her yellow jacket. matt was another 30 minutes after me which of course ya know made me nervous, i was like hey did you know if he left?" but no one knew so it was kinda frustrating. finally he walks out, sweat is dripping form my face wondering what had they done to this poor lad. but he was totally cool, a lil frantic becawsue his plane was about to take off in ten minutes. sowe said our goodbyes and parted ways! i think he will have a killer time in cali! it was cool to get to know him a bit! ps, in case you ever have to apply for a visa, you don't get anything physical-like document wise hahah i came out after my like hour of me being there after they shut the security door on me i was like wait, wasnt i supposed to get something? well i don't know where it went but it must be on your records or something who knows.
    anyways that seemed like a really long story.. sorry if i took too long to explain something so simple, but if you know me, i LOVE detail!!  the only thing that could have been better was my 4 1/2 hour layover in vancouver, i ddint know a ton of what i could do, but i do love the duty free. my dad taught me to never trust a store they are only trying to make you buy something, like when you go in a store he thinks if they showed people something like poodle skin or something, that becasue it's in fashion that people would buy it! but i think when there is no taxes, well thats another story so i bought myself some lipgloss:) really though with a dead ipod, no cell or laptop who find yourself with a lot more time to pray:)
    when i got on my flight to Maui, it was hilarious. Literally, a hawaiian version of sam germain. SO RANDOM! like actually he was really funny, like glasses and sweepy hair and such man you had to see it. the way he talked too! hahah man oh man, i was upset i didn't pull out my camera but i should've. he was on his honeymoon and he was 46, (sam things are looking good for you if your like him- he had no gray hairs!)
    I had lots of time to myself on the plane, other than talking to my new pal, i had time to doodle. i'm an artist, it what i do. jk but i really enjoyed the wordsearch! of course when you have so much time to yourself, you think about what you forgot and hahah i forgot quite a few things like my sunglasses and a watch. but it's been all good so far. i did however with the help of my flight attendant kathryn i got some scrap peices of paper from the airplane and i wrote my thoughts and prayers and excitment. including a pic of what i thought the house would look like! so i had envisoned this three story white house on a secluded hill with the birds flying over my head and a "notebook porch around it. the hill was kinda like a hills are alive kinda hill.. plus there were volcanos in the back and an ocean in the distance with the boys house on another secluded hill kinda like a castle. it was fun using my various color options in my new case i bought:) loved it!
     Finally i had arrived. walking alone, i headed for the baggage claim to see what my life had in store for me! i couldnt help but smile, i mean wow this was a pretty big adult thing to do! it was cool walking toward the light... anywho so i am walking and i am approached by two wondereful people named jen and juice:) they were young and two of the leaders that i would meet! they were so kind and welcoming! two girls were on my same plane that i hadnt realied until that moment. people had been arriving since tuesday so we were some of the last to come in. jen and juice (justin) were both young and hip! looking like they lived in maui and such! we grabbed all of our luggage and hopped into some sweet 15 passenger vans, we were pretty hungry so went headed up for a mcds run:) -yep it's big here too! it hit me, man i'm actually living in maui!!!!
     By the time we made it to the base it was pretty late, so we were all pretty tired but there were a few other students that stayed up for us! the night not gunna lie, was pretty challenging. i used my handy dandy headlamp to find my bunk and hopped into bed. but couldnt sleep to well, maybe i was just excited to meet all these people in the morning or what i wasn't too sure! there were a few times were i swear  swatted away some huge bugs the size of my big toe off my face, but it was all good, didnt make a scene. my room is the smallest compared to the others,one has 18 girls and the othere has like 6-8 i think? so i actually got lots of storage room but we are all gunna party in the party room so no one will feel left out.
     this morning was so awesome, pretty much as soon as i woke up some girls asked if i wanted to go to the baby beach. -it's this beach that you can wear two pieces to because the boys arent allowed to go there. so of course i said fo sho! got all dressed and went out the door.
    so they do a little something different here in Maui, they hitchhike everywhere! at first when i was reading the package it sounded like it was optional or at leas something you do not that often. but unless you can either get a ride from the staff, that is a pretty fun and safe option. mom and dad, don't worry it is ACTUALLY safe! haha and we can't go unless there are three girls or at least one guy. we tried it out split up in groups of three or four and the 18 girls that went manged to somehow all find a way there, it was so awesome! lots of canadians representin' and states, there are also new friends i have made with finland people, scotts, phillpines, chinese (theyso cute) and australians! man do i love accents! te beach was so nice t be able to relax and get to know all these girls! surprisingly to myself i have an astonishing memory when it comes to memorizing names here. i am sure i have met 50 people today and have retained at least 70 % it was really warm today too- def won't get unused to that!
       It was a pretty chill day untill the evening with gettting to know everyone by the pool and living room, it's such a cooll house!/ area! i'll tell you more later about the house. so we had to get ready by 4:30 tonight for supper which was a real nice chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies and fruit. did i mention we have fresh orange, lemon and lime trees here in the yard? yeah just sayin ;) it was really cute when some people had never seen cantolope or mashed potatoes or even gravy! i mean i'm not a really big gravy fan but i mean this meal was so common in my culture that it was really interesting to see how others reacted! i'm gonna guess that we are going to have lots of mulitcultural food while i'm here. we also all dressed up for supper which was really cool and fun , haha one funny moment before supper this guy is name is daniel and he is from Norway but he's chinese and he has a norweigan accent :) haha it's prrety cute, we girls call him chuckles. out of the 8 boys that are here he is def the most social one. so i was showing him where i lived on the big map int he open space and i was like hey what are you ging to wear tonight!? are you excited to dress up? is response- uhmm i knida already dressed up.. and he walked away.. haha we are cool though it was funny .. you had to be there i guess lol
   then they took us to a secret location after and surprised with a party! they opened up the doors and screamed at us haha suzy my scottish friend almost had a heart attack. there we all got introduced to everyone on base and to the leaders and to the people doing sempf.  then they called us all up one by one to recieve a lay. it was so special:) i felt special! we all felt special. there was such good dessert! they had those homemade oreos that danos mom make back at home, these ones were so moist. if dano hasn't given you those try, you are truly truly missing out! then we had the most incredible  worship session ever. I believe God is going to sdo some amaing things in my life that i can't wait to see happen! We found out after the celebration that we are going on a hiking trip tomorrow! we don't know how long, but there was a very limited supply list of things that we could bring so i am looking forward to it!
       please pray for me and my team as we go off into this adventure tomorrow morning at 6! ps we are behind Saskatoon time by 4 hours.so i have to got get some sleep but wow bloggin is actually so much fun! haha more will come when i return i apologize if this is incredibly long! i feel soo soo thankful though, god has blessed me with this incredible experiance with such amazing people! i can't wait for the adventure to continue! like wow.. i'm living in MAUI!!! it's unreal! alright well love all ya'll! hoep that gives you a good update! praise god!

I'm off to Maui! Be Still and Know...

Crazy fun day. Filled with adventure, tears and overcoming fears! 


Sept 9th- the day my YWAM adventure began. I think this whole passion to go on a DTS (Discipleship Training School) has been in the works for years. Going solo, I am up for the challenge and pumped to meet new friends, explore Maui, grow deeper in my faith and serve others on the Island, but also on the missions part of the DTS. Not sure which country God's Spirit will put on my heart. India? China? Bangladesh? Phillipines? I met a former Maui Ywammer: Ehjae Chan for lunch and she inspired me with her stories. yeah, she didn't spoil all the fun by telling me EVERYTHING, but what she did share... wow- I am even more pumped.  One of the things she shared with me was her journal that they made the first week of DTS. She decorated it with the words "Be Still and Know"... so cool. So awesome to have so many friends join me at the airport for a big send off. This last week was a week filled with fun and goodbyes. I know the next 6 months are going to be hard missing my fam and friends from Saskatoon, but I know that through this blog- we can stay connected! Even better is the way prayer connects us- no matter where we are at in the world. Packed up- Check. Said goodbyes- Check. Open for God to do a new thing in my life? Check!!!


“Be still, and know that I am God!I will be honored by every nation.I will be honored throughout the world.” Psalm 46:10