My adventure so far

Before you start reading i am going to point out that there might be spelling mistakes and grammatical errors but that is just a way of proving it was 100% written by me :) Also i know this is quite long but please read it. i promise they will not be this long from now on !!!

Almost exactly 14 months ago i made a small decision that changed my life completely i said yes. Now i know this seem like a word you say every day but when you say it to the right questions it is life changing. the funny part about this story is a did not even know i was answering a question it took me a few more months to work this out. well last year in august after being told i was too young to be a chaplain, my uncle suggested i do a YWAM DTS (Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School). Now i had no idea what this was but it sounded like lots of fun so i deiced to go my mother found me one in Hawaii so it did not take that much convincing. i would be spending 3 months in Hawaii learning about God and Missions and then spending 2 moths somewhere else in the world doing mission work then after that i planned on becoming a summer camp councilor in Canada. So when i got on the plan on 1/1/13 that is what i thought i would be doing little did i know i was saying yes to God and following the plan he had for me i just thought i was in for a really fun 10 months that i would make lots of friends. (which happened but to extends i could not even imagined). On the 3rd of January i arrived at the university of the nations in Kona Hawaii to start my DTS. From day one this was life changing i met the most amazing people that have become family and everyone of them has impacted my life. i have done things i never even could have imagined doing for example, i had s'mores for the first time. this might seem like a little thing but did i mention we toasted the marshmallows over lava! I had sailing lesson just off the coast of Hawaii, during most of these lessons i saw dolphins or whales no sharks though :(. but during one of these lessons i was swimming out the back of the boat with 2 of my friends and then we heard a noise looked up to see a whale about 1Om away, so now i have been swimming with whales. I also went cliff jumping off a 50ft cliff. although these thing where absolutely amazing life changes events the best thing that happened on the little island in the middle of the Pacific is, i gave my life back to God. Even though i did not know it at the time when i left for Hawaii that i was saying yes to God, or that i was so far away from him at the time i left, i am so thankful he chased me down and dragged me back to him. There was a moment during the 3 months in Hawaii when i felt God telling that maybe the summer camp was not for me and i sure stay and staff with YWAM and he rekindle my passion for sign language and the deaf. so  after my DTS finished i planed to stay and staff YWAM Ships in Kona but i had a lot more adventures to go before then. so in the first month in Hawaii i found out that my 2 month outreach would be to central america Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Mexico aboard the Caribbean reach a boat owned by YWAM Ships. my team had 9 students and 1 staff.

Our little team got on very well and where very excited when we got on the plane and fly to Panama. after a very long flight and a small mishap with the first one of our team to get on the boat fulling into the water we where aboard the boat that would become our home for the next 2 months. we met the amazing crew who where so amazing words can not describe them and the captain and his wife. after traveling for 2 days we where then told that boats water maker was broken and we had very limited water so we could not shower this did not make for a happy team but we all got over it (well kinda). One of my favorite thing we did in the first few days was to get into the water scrap the bottom on the boat clean (not only cause we got some sort of cleaning in the water). i have always wanted to do this as my father had told you a never a real sailor until you have clean the bottom of the boat or gotten into the water to detangled something caught around the props. after a few days we set sail for out first long sail this included night watch little sleep but no sea sickness which was a huge miracle. I knew going to live on a boat for 2 moths would be so much fun but like always i thought i would be horrible sea sick, however i felt God asking me to go so i said yes and i did not sea sick once :). We saw so many dolphins, birds, phosphorescent plankton, turtles it was so cool best of all the stars where breath taking and this was just a 3 days sail. we arrived in a small port in Golfito, Costa Rica which would be our home for the next 3 weeks due to boat issues (our engine did not work) but this delay allowed us to visit every primary, high school and university in the town and surrounding areas. we also met up with some other teams and help disturb bibles to every house in Golfito. this was so much fun and we got to experience the joy and hospitably of the locals. we also help fix up a house for one of the people that worked in the marina. It was crazy to see God move in the town though out team in just a small amount of time. after our amazing time in Costa Rica we set sail again and headed for Guatemala which was a 5 day sail.

Somehow we were ahead of scheduled so our captain decided to stop the boat 70 miles of the coast and we jumped in the water with turtles dolphins, sting rays and even a sward fish that swam right at one of the crew and my self it was awesome.

 also on this sail i saw 2 sharks so i was the happiest person ever even though i was not in the water at the time :(. we arrived in Guatemala to find out that a congressman would be coming to visit our boat and we would be doing a little presentation for him then we where heading into Guatemala city to stay at the base their and work with them. This made one very busy afternoon but it was lots of fun and so worth it as we made made friends with he congressman and he even took us into the city and bought us dinner. we then went to the base and had an amazing time there playing soccer with kids who live in slums handing out hot drink and sweet bread to the homeless and as it is Central America playing soccer with them on the street at night. we also made 200 hotdogs and went to the hospital to hand them out to people and pray for those waiting to hear about family members. after 5 days in the city which included a day in Antigua were our congressmen friend bought us a steak lunch, we went back to the boat and did some more ministry in the port city were the boat was. After a few days there visiting school churches and youth groups we also got the privileged of hosting out host of the boat for a meal so in a very small boat kitchen i was now cooking dinner for 30 people i LOVED every second of it after dinner was all done and the people where happily fed we were hanging out when my leader came up to me with a sad look on his face and i was worried i had not cooked enough dinner, then he informed me that the group would be back for breakfast and him being Canadian he apologized but i was so happy i got to fed lots of people again :) after this we set sail again for Mexico.

This sail took a total of 6 days and God had his hand on out boat that is for sure as we arrived with almost no fuel and because of this we had to stop in Acapulco to fill up which was not originally planed but when we arrived there we found out it the place we were going was not a port of entry so we would have had to go back. We spend the night it the bay there then headed on the next day. the view at night there was stunning and the photos we have do not do it justice.

 when we arrived we had a very sad farewell as we left the boat behind and went to stay in people house from the church we were doing minisity with. Mexico was lots of fun and we did a lot of street ministry which involved setting up a sounds system on a corner or in a park and doing some songs and a testimony a short skit and a sermon. we also helped fixed up a church floor. after only 10 day in mexico we were on a plane (well 3 planes) heading back to Hawaii ready to be reunited with the other team and share our stories. it was so surreal to be heading back and even more surreal when our time was over and we said goodbye to the people who in just 5 short months had become family.

I how ever stayed in Hawaii to Staff in the ships office this was a very interesting and fun month that i staff there. After the month my Visa was about to expire and it was then i felt God saying remember you have a Canadian visa go learn sign and staff there. So on the 27th of June not really knowing what i was going to be doing in Canada i said yes anyway and went. i fly into Vancouver and had 3 night accommodation booked at the most dodge place i have EVER been too but not much plan other then a sign language course that started on the 21st of July in Toronto with no real plan or idea where i was going to stay i prayed to God and had an amazing transcanadian journey meeting some of my DTS family along the way and spending some time with them. I did the sign language course and met some awesome fun people that even though they might not have believed in God they were very excited to hear about my travels. During this time i emailed a few different YWAM bases around Canada and after Vancouver was the only one that replied to i applied to staff there so after my course finished i went back to Vancouver where stating in September i would be staffing a 6 month DTS which would include staffing an outreach.

these are just a few story's of the countless i have and just a few of the amazing thing i have done in the past 10 months. Saying yes to God was the best decision of my life and i am so thankful to all the amazing people who i met that also said yes as my life would not be the same out every one of them including my incredibly supportive family.

i also want to say that the past 10 months have not been all fun. I have had some hard times as well especially being away from my family for so long including my brother becoming a dad for the first time. There was also a few times where i just wanted to get on a plane and go home but i knew that staying where God wanted me no matter how hard it is is the best option and i know my life wont always be carefree it will have sacrifices and i am prepaid to make them i ready to say yes to God what ever His plans are for i know they are a lot better then mine.