Half Way!

Well another few weeks have flown by again! I'm now over half way through my time here, which is crazy! It's gone by so fast!

The last few weeks have been much calmer then the weeks before that. At least in that there have been no major events to report (since my appendix is now gone that can't cause any more trouble! Lol!). Definitely a good thing!

We have been super busy though! We've had a lot of events and stuff happening here on top of all our classes.
Last week as a class project to practice our leadership skills and how to work together we put on a outdoor movie night for everyone here on base. We planned everything from getting a projector to buying snacks to advertising. It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the night!

I've also just been learning a ton! Our teachers have been amazing and on top of that God has been teaching me so much! In class we've been learning a lot about how important it is to take care of what God has already given us, and how from that place of stewarding our gifts well we can then help and lead others. We've also been learning about the importance of our word and how everything we say should be speaking life over people, never speaking to bring them down.
And then God has been teaching me so much about relying on Him. Trusting that when I know what He wants me to do that I can move forward in that in confidence and that I can trust Him to walk with me through it.

So things have been busy, sometimes hard, but so good! I'm still loving it here! And I can't wait for what God has in store for these next 6 weeks here!

~Rachel

I get to call these amazing people friends! It's pretty awesome! :)

Did that really happen??? (Things have been crazy!)

Well, where do I even start??? The last two weeks have been crazy!!! So much has happened!

Two weeks ago we drove 5 hours to western Colorado, to another one of YWAM Denver's locations called Electric Mountain. It was a beautiful drive there and the base itself is gorgeous! We were right in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere and all the colors of the trees were changing. It was so beautiful!

We spent a week up there. Since we were in the middle of nowhere it was nice to not have any distractions and just be able to focus on learning and growing in my relationship with the Lord and being able to grow deeper relationships with the other members of my school and the staff. I feel like we all became more of a family while we were there. It was a good time of refreshing, relaxing, learning and fun! While we were there our days consisted of classes about Bible study, and being a Bible centered leader. Then in the evenings we'd sit around the fire outside, or play games, ride on the ATVs or just hang out. We all loved it there and didn't want to come back. But our week did come to an end and we headed back to the Denver base.

Then this past week took an interesting twist! The week started out normal. We had class on Monday, we were learning about identity and our strengths and how to use those. Then on Monday evening my stomach wasn't feeling good, I woke up on Tuesday and it still hurt but I also had a weird pain in the area where my appendix is. The pain didn't go away, so Tuesday evening my roommates took me to the ER. It turned out the my appendix was inflamed 3 times the size it should be and they told me I should have it removed so it wouldn't burst. So on Tuesday night last week I had surgery. What!?!? Definitely not what I was expecting to happen last week! The surgery went fine and my friends stayed with me and took good care of me! They're great! So then the rest of my week was spent resting and recovering.
It still kind of feels like a dream. Like, did that really happen? It's just weird! But I am doing much better now! Still healing from the surgery, but I've been getting back into the swing of things and definitely have a lot more energy now! I'm moving in the right direction!

So yes it's been a crazy couple of weeks. Definitely not what I was expecting to happen! But even with all that it's still been great! And God just keeps showing me and reminding me how truly good He is! So, crazy, or unexpected, or whatever I'm still loving it here and can't wait to keep growing with God!

Rachel