Dear Friends and Family,

When people ask about what I miss about North Dakota, it is a very easy question to answer. Because what I really miss is the people I know and love there. I just want everyone to know I miss you but am glad to be here. God is really working in me and changing me for good.

This week our speaker was Lisa Ryan. Due to the fact we have a thanksgiving break, she only spoke two days and will speak this Monday as well. Lisa spoke on the Nature and Character of God. She is an amazing speaker! :)

She had us start with a non-based opinion and had us come up with things that if there is a creator, the creator would have to be. We had two lists, Nature and Character. So we came up with those things, and had to have a good argument for why the creator would have to be those things before we could put them on the board. Some things we came up with were: One, Superior, All-Knowing, Relational, Loving, Personal….. We put a good many words on the list but not all that we could because that would go on for a long time. Then we researched the top 13 religions. To find out what they believe about God. As went through them, one by one we saw that their view of God was wrong or lacking. The Two closest religions were Islam and Judaism.  They had all the Nature of God right. But they were lacking on the Character of God. The one religion whose view of God that was spot on, was Christianity. Both the Nature and the Character of God were what we deducted that God had to be.

Lisa did a great job speaking and I am excited to hear her speak this Monday. :)

It was thanksgiving break, so I was able to see my family. :) We had a blast, ate way too much food, laughed like crazy, and just enjoyed life. It was really good.

I lost my notebook with my last two weeks worth of notes. I was unable to find it, so right now I am praying that God puts it into the hands of the person who really needs it. This might not seem like a big thing to lose, but it felt like I lost part of me.

Prayer requests: Funds (this doesn’t just mean me, but everyone on my team and the Peru team.), Good Relations (on the team, and with everyone we meet), Authority (that all of us would know, believe, and use in our authority in God), Heath, and Safe Travels.

Love,

Haleigh

Week 9

Dear Friends and Family,

Time is really flying here. In the time that one day should pass, a whole week does. We leave in three weeks! It seems like we just got here yesterday. But I am excited for outreach! It will be really cool to see how God will grow me even more.

This week we learned about Spiritual Warfare. Jeff Herringshaw taught us again. He is a really good speaker.

When one thinks of spiritual warfare they usually think of driving out demons or like healing the sick. And while that is a part of spiritual warfare, it is not the main battle grounds. This week we learned that there are three major battle grounds. They are: Mind, Heart, and Tongue. A person’s thoughts come from three different places; Themself, God, and the devil. If one knows God, knows who they are in him, than they can know what thoughts to follow. The devil likes to control though fear and he likes to condemn you. Fear is the opposite of faith. God doesn’t condemn you, he will convict you though. Condemning thoughts have no hope. Convicting thoughts gives you a way out and hope. The battles fields of the heart are attitudes and emotions. One has control over their attitude and emotions. Something you can do is to be thankful. The battle ground of the tongue: words have power. The bible says that ‘Reckless words pierce like a sword’ Proverbs 12:18a. The power of words is spirit power plus heart power. Negative words will destroy. We need truth plus love in our words. All three of these things tie together. If you let the enemy come in a little way, it is a lot harder to drive the enemy out. Spiritual warfare doesn’t have a time frame. It happens all the time. Every time you speak, think, or feel.

If Satan can get you to believe that you are worthless, a failure, or without authority; then you will not be the person in God that you could be. Satan loves when that happens. Jesus fought back and has authority over the earth and he gave that to us, his followers. We need to stand in our Christ given authority.

It was a really good week. Jeff taught us lots.

One of the things we did this week that was really cool is that we had a time of music and intercession for our outreaches (Peru and South Africa). We filled a white board up with words of things that we didn’t want on our outreach. For example: Anger, Discouragement, Illness, Oppression….. The list was very big. And when we looked at it, it just felt ugly and awful; it brought the room down. Then we began to erase and replace the words with stuff that was the opposite and that we wanted on our outreaches. Like Peace, Health, Love, Trust… And we put more words on it than were on before. The change was amazing. When one looked at the board now, they were given so much hope and encouragement. It now gave light to the room.

My Grandfather’s funeral was last Monday. It was hard and cool. Hard because I am grieving him, cool because it was a celebration of his life and that he is now in heaven. I miss him, but I am happy for him.

Prayer requests: funds (It is biblical to ask for money), health, travel safety (for outreach and for thanksgiving break), deep friendships, and patience.

I am sending my love to all,
Haleigh

Dear Friends and Family,

This coming Monday means that it’s only four weeks tell we leave for South Africa!!!! I am so excited! It is hard to believe that it is so close. Soon I will be back and this DTS (Discipleship Training School) will be over. This time has gone by so fast and I have learned so much. It has truly been AMAZING! I would recommend YWAM to anyone. You learn so much and it really changes your heart.

This week our speaker was Doug Easterday. He talked about ‘The Father Heart of God’. He told us about how we often have a distorted image of God; due to our families, our father, education, media, and church. They don’t portray God correctly and therefore warp our image of God. And if we don’t see God correctly than we can’t connect with God the way we should. And how it is not a onetime process, knowing who God is takes a lifetime of searching and even more.

The Bible talks about how us, as humans are made in God’s image. (For the record, God is not a he or a she, as the English language would have us understand. But God is God. So both male and female can be in the image of God) If I have self-hatred towards my body or who I am, than how I view God is warped. I need to love who I am and how God made me, to be able to know God more completely.

He also talked about the need to forgive. How forgiveness is not an event or an act but something we need to continue to do all the time. If we don’t forgive, then we cannot connect to God the way we should. He also told about forgiving and blessing. Like when we are driving and a car does something that we don’t think they should do, to forgive and bless. He said that the cars around him have better driving, and that he also is blessed by blessing.

This week like all the others was truly great and it was a well of so much information.

My Grandpa Phil passed away this Tuesday. It is hard not having him around anymore, but I am so happy that he is in heaven. He had so much pain the last couple years of his life, yet not anymore. He is in the presence of God. I am so happy for him! Though I am sad for me because he is not here, I miss him. I am going through the grieving process right now and am holding on to the fact that I will see him again.

Because my grandpa past, I got to see my family. I haven’t seen them since I started DTS. Even though it was for a sad reason, it was really good to see them. I missed them so much.

We learned on Wednesday that one of our fellow student’s visa expired and was denied for its renewal. All of us are really going to miss Andi. We know that God has so much planned for him and will use him in great ways. And that God will make this situation work for his glory. We will hold Andi in our heart.

Homework Helpers went really well. I have so much fun with the kids. There were a lot of younger kids, fifteen of them. And only three 4^th and 5^th graders, we would like more older kids. So many younger kids are coming that we are changing up things so we will have more room for them

This Friday we had what is called the “Love Feast”.  Last week all of us, (the students) got an invitation to it. We weren’t told much about it, besides that it would be fancy. We all dressed up for it. Basically this is how our staff show their love of us and they honored us with this feast. The food was excellent! They gave us all roses and words that they received from God, for each particular student. It was really cool and a lot of fun. As much as us the students enjoy it, I think the staff enjoy it more.

 Prayer requests: Funds for outreach (This is really important; we only have three weeks to get all our money in. We really need prayer for this.), That more 4^th and 5^th graders would come to homework helpers and that they work hard on learning and getting their homework done, Team unity, For my family as we grieve for my Grandpa, That we will really practice forgiveness, Andi (That God will really use Andi and that He works good out of this), and forgive (and keep forgiving) whoever denied Andi his visa.

Thanks for all your prayers. Prayer is a really powerful tool. It makes such a difference. I miss all of you and cannot wait till I see you again. In the meantime I send a blessing from God to you. And a giant hug your way. Thanks for your support. I really couldn’t do it without you.

Love,

Haleigh

It's November!!!!!

Dear Friends and Family,

It’s November already. We have past our half-way point in our training school. It is not long until outreach.

This week our topic was bible study. We had Mark Herringshaw as our teacher. He was really good. We learned some historical facts about Israel. Like geography, and other things. :) We spent the first four days learning, and on Friday we all had ten minutes to preach about a pericope (its means a story about Jesus or something like that). It was really awesome to tell a story and to hear everyone else’s story and how they interpret it. I learned lots on Friday, both telling my story and hearing others. I think it grew us closer as a school because everyone told their story from their heart and it was very personal and one could see how to apply it on our own life. :)

One thing he did that was cool was that he put honey on everyone’s bible and told them to lick it off. It is Jewish a custom that they did to their children on the scrolls to teach them that the bible is sweet. It comes from Psalm 119:103 “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”. It was really cool, and something that I am not likely to ever forget.

He taught us not to dissect the bible, but to let it to dissect us. To go to the bible as learners and let it, teach us.

It was a really sweet week. More mental than emotional this week, which was nice.

Homework Helpers went really well this past week. The kids really want to be there. We have two girls who are coming 10min before we really start, just to hang out with us and get home work done. It is a blessing to be there and spend time with the kids.

 Prayer requests: funds for outreach, homework helpers (kids to come, that they pay attention and do their work, and that we have openings to talk to them about Christ), outreach preparation, health, and that share Jesus in the way we live and love each other.

I am sending my love towards all. I pray that you have a great week and that God works in your life and because of you works in the lives around you.

Love,

Haleigh