Merry Happy Christmas Eve

Ahoy-hoy y'all!

This weekend er a series of awesome events.

# 1 Winter drive-in with my boys. I love you all SO much, and ska miss ya like crazy! But It was epic, and our new tradition ... Det next hour, I er wearing multiple pairs of socks to Avoid freezing my Toes off again:) 

# 2 Last shift at work! It was sat to say goodbye to the people, Saying Goodbye To The workload om? Not quite so sad. :) 

# 3 Christmas EVE! duh. Got two Chillax with family, and I'm now working on my quilt!  

Keep on tracking along people, just 12 DAYS TILL HAWAII!

Much love, and MERRY CHRISTMAS

Becca 

2 weeks left!

I am UNBELIEVABLY excited! But better still, I have good news! I am just a few hundred dollars short of having my ENTIRE TUITION FEE PAYED-OFF! Thanks to all who have given to me, it means the world to know that you want to be a part of this journey, and I will think of you all while I am on it! You are truly a blessing to me : )

Thanks to a dear friend, I have reunited with my quilt-making, and aim to complete it in just 3 days! God-willing it will still turn out beautifully : )

I am about to run-off to work (only 3 shifts left!) and then its time for a packed-full social life for the next 2 weeks. 

Unfortunately some "goodbyes" have already had to happen, with people scurrying around for the holidays, but as my friend Anners put it "You have to say 'goodbye' before you can say 'hello'." So we're gonna run with that one for now. 

Love you all dearly!

Enjoy the holidays folks, and I will talk to you soon,

Becca 

oh the fruit

Hi!
I am JUMPING UP-AND-DOWN with excitement and nervousness. I leave for YWAM in just:
3 weeks.
Can you believe it? I can't.

This week I was asked what I am most excited for. I could rattle off a whole list of things, but I've realized what is most important to me. And I am very happy with my answer:

I can't wait to hyper-speed my relationship with God. I have this idea of who I am designed to be, but there's this junk in the way that is 'blocking' me from getting from "here" to "there". I believe this will be the "to-there" part. I can't wait to grow deeper and deeper in love with God, and who He's created me to be, and to honor him by being exactly that!

As for the other tons of things on my list?
I get to meet all these AMAZING people that will be a part of and staffing this school. I get to be fully engrossed in God. I get to eat fruit ALL THE TIME!

If you don't believe how excited I am about the fruit... I google'd for a solid 30min, the local fruit in Hawaii... just so I know exactly what to look forward too

I get to be by one of my all-time loves: the ocean! I get to see a place I've never been too. I get to walk in the sand. I get to have a new sense of independence. I get to worship God all the time (I try now, but its just going to be a totally different atmosphere). I get to be ministered to. I get to minister to others. I get to free myself from anything holding me back.
I mean really. Wouldn't you be excited too?

Now, after saying this, which is my main brain-wave when thinking about YWAM. I do feel like saying a little something to friends and family who are with me here.
I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU! I love you all so much more than I can even explain or probably understand. I wish I could pack you up in my suitcase and bring you with me. AS much as excitement is absorbing most of my thought-time, there is still way more space than I would like, that is filled with sadness that I am leaving you.
I'm sure there will be a bunch of tears of all different sorts (consider yourself fairly warned) when I have to say goodbye, and when I come back as well.
But I am trusting and praying that our lives be abundant and full of joy and friendships and that we have a bazillion number of stories to share whenever we can.

So with that, its time for bed.
Blessings and Love,
Becca

 

 

small & mighty

Just under 4 weeks now folks!
It is insane, how excited I am... and everyone else for that matter! I'm having to make a conscious effort not to be jumping up-and-down on a regular basis... but who knows, maybe that will just become my exercise for the day if I can no longer keep it under control!
Most of my checklist has been checked, in terms of preparing to go. I've got all my medical records and Tuberculosis clearances, insurance has been bought, and flight has been booked (well in advance of now). Its actually kind of sad that everything's done. This likely sounds weird, but with nothing to keep me racing around with things to do, I feel like a sitting-duck, just waiting for this amazing chapter in my life to finally get here! The next few weeks are bound to go by quickly though, as I cram in as much time with my friends and family as possible before I leave. Especially with all my uni-friends all coming back the same week, my schedule is bound to be packed full. Thank Heavens!
For a while, I was feeling really discouraged by the amount of money that's come in for this trip, but with prayer from a whole bunch of people, my encouragement has gone way up, and I've been getting a lot of responses with helping me financially! So you all know who you are, and I thank you dearly! You've been a huge encouragement to you, and I am sure God will bless you hugely for it! 
As you regulars will know, I've been connecting up with the youth on facebook. We've all been experiencing an amazing amount of support and our prayer network has been so incredible. I'm actually just going to brag slightly about it, because I'm just so proud of us...the leaders and speakers have noticed how unusual and exciting it is to see what we have going, and everyone is really excited to see how God will be using this group! Apparently a "small but mighty" team has been the resounding description for us, and I think its awesome! It looks like there will be about 40 of us. So in my opinion, its the perfect size group!
I am about to pass-out from exhaustion, and I wouldn't want to drop my new laptop (uh-huh! I gots meself a good deal, and in perfect timing, as my old one is on the brink of dying out on me!). 
Alright then, nighty-night!


God bless,
Becca

team mates

5. weeks. left. . . 

As you may well imagine, this thought has been running around my head a lot this past week. Sunday, is when it really sank in. I have 3 weeks left of church (we take 2 weeks off to be with family over Christmas) and that same week, I have to say goodbye to one of my best friends. That pretty much sucks. I cannot wait for YWAM but having to say goodbye is becoming a very sad reality and its happening much faster that I would like. 

Up until yesterday, I was willing just to sit on the couch and ball my eyes out until all tears were gone, and then just move on with my life and get all excited again (maybe some of you can relate to what I mean?). But yesterday I started to sort through the "why's" of my feelings. Here at home I have an amazing network that has and would still be there for me no matter what. They love me and I love them, and we can count on each other to be there "barefoot in an ice storm" as my mother would say. That is pretty much as loved and secure as you can feel. . . When I go to Hawaii, I can expect to learn and grow, make friends and be in community, and ultimately hyper-speed my relationship with God. Being loved the same way I am here though, that's a hard expectation to put on people. It took realizing that I was afraid that wouldn't happen, to realize I actually believe it will.

At the beginning of the week I was mad at God. I was frustrated with how much money I've raised, and that I was this sad about leaving. . . I don't generally do well with negative emotions. Eventually I hashed things out in my journal, and felt a bit better that at least I had been honest with where I am at (that is SO important!). I headed to a homegroup meeting last night, and I just sat in the driveway and asked God to clear-out the rest of the muck, and to give me a chance to give someone else a word.

Well, he did both!

The night focused on praying against discouragement, particularly for the women. Everyone of us was prayed for and it was amazing! I was able to help encourage the women of my church, and I was so blessed by what they spoke over my life. God has a nack for hearing what you ask of him, and bringing it about in the best way possible way. I'm not going to go into all the different words and pictures, but I will tell you the theme of them all: God is so wanting to partner with me in every way. With finances, learning and becoming his daughter. 

I truly believe that is a universal theme, for me it was spoken through very  specific words about my life, but its true for everyone. 
God wants to play on your team, you just have to pick him for it.