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

Week 6

Dear Friends and Family,

Every time I sit down to write there is so much that has happened, that it is impossible to tell all. So like every time, I will just tell the highlights. It’s so hard to pick those though. Oh Well, here I go.

Our speaker this week was Barbara Sandiford. She is a really great speaker. We were blessed to have her speak to us. She talked about ‘The Divine Plumbline’. The author of ‘The Divine Plumbline’ is DR. Bruce Thompson.

A plumbline is a simple instrument made of metal used by a bricklayer to keep the wall straight. God has his plumbline for our lives. If we follow that line, our walls will be built straight, on the cornerstone of Jesus. A lot of time though, we build our walls not on Jesus, and they are crooked, they do not follow God’s plumbline. We build our walls out of Rejection or Rebellion or sometimes both (A swinger). She also talked about how we needed to forgive those people who are the reason we built our walls.

Monday through Thursday we talked about all this stuff (and more). On Friday (today), we had a ministry time, where we all tore down all the walls that we had built. This is a continual process. It’s not something you can just do once, it’s something that you have to work on and maybe do again. But speaking from me, it felt so good doing it. Some bricks on my wall I didn’t know they were even there, others were quite obvious. It felt so amazing to get rid of them. They were hindering my relationship with Christ, and needed to be gone. This doesn’t mean all my bricks are gone. I am sure that I have a few still there. But I am going to be working at getting rid of them as well. Something she said is “Focus on God and we become like him”. This is the whole reason I am here at YWAM. To focus on God. There have been some tough weeks here, but I can see myself changing. All the hard times here have been good for me, a time of growth.

One of the bricks that I dealt with was fear, fear of the unknown, fear of man. I have so many fears. And they did not come from God. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control”. This does not mean that I have no fear in my life, but that I am dealing with it. I am still afraid of things but God is bigger than my fear. And with Him I can get rid of my fear.

Update from Homework Helpers. We had less 4^th & 5^th graders this week. Only three of them. But they worked hard and completed their homework. It was a good and fun time.

On Saturday we had an event called the Howdy Hoedown. It was so much fun. My cousins Andrew and Tasha came. We did square dancing, that was awesome. After that was over the school had its own little dance party. We had a great time. :)

We went to a conference called Daybreak. It was about human trafficking. It talked about a lot of the things we learned last week and served to reinforce my opinion that one cannot just sit around. Find out what God would like you to do about it and then do it. You can do something, it is possible. If we sit around and do nothing, than we are helping the enemy. I am still figuring out what is my spot, where is my role, to play in ending human trafficking. But rest assured, I am not gonna sit and let the enemy when. If all you can do is pray, you are still playing an important role.

Prayer requests: That more kids show up for Homework Helpers, that the kids that come will be diligent with their work, Funds will come for outreach, Growth, the ending of human trafficking, and that God’s love will just shine out of us.

I love and miss you all. Thanks so much for supporting me. You can’t imagine how much it means to me. I am sending to you all, love that I have received from the Father; I am giving it to you.

Love,

Haleigh 

Dear Friends & Family,

It’s official. I have been here at YWAM for almost a month. Tuesday will make it a month. :) So much has happened. I thank God for all of the changes he has made in my life already. And I know that there are more changes to come.

This week we learned about Social Justice & God’s Goodness. Karisse Schilling was our speaker. She is an amazing speaker. God has really given her a heart to end human trafficking. Social Justice covers a lot of injustices but we mainly learned about human trafficking because Karisse is most familiar with that subject.

For those who do not know what human trafficking is I will start with the definition.

Human Trafficking is:

- The recruitment, transportation, or harboring of a person

- By means of threat, force, or deception

- For sex, labor, slave-like exploitation, or the removal of organs

There are over 27,000,000 victims of Human Trafficking today. That’s more than any other time in history.

Trafficking victims are generally young, seeking opportunities and/or poor. A lot are trafficked by a close family member or friend. Trafficked victims are usually taken into an unknown culture.

We learned a lot of statics this week. But we also learned that we just can’t sit around and do nothing. This is a big problem and for it to end we have to play our part.  Something Karisse said is “the enemy’s tactic is to overwhelm, paralyze, and distract us”. Doing nothing about this, is just what the enemy wants us to do. And there are a lot of things you can do, even if it seems little, it is worth doing. We learned of someone who taught some villages how to grow food. And because there was no longer a hunger issue they were less at stake for being trafficked.

Something you can do right here at home is make sure what coffee and chocolate you buy is slave-free. A lot of cocoa beans and coffee beans are harvested by slaves. If you look, there are some out there that say they are slave-free. There are not a lot, but now there are at least, now there are some. You can also write to companies like Hersey’s or Nestlé’s and tell them you want to know that the chocolate you are eating is not produced by slaves.

My challenge to you is to do something. Research this problem. Tell your friends about this. Facebook about Human Trafficking. Do what I did, write a blog about it. There is something you can do. We are all pieces of a puzzle, and in order for the picture to be complete, we all must play our part. Every part matters. Find your part, and do something. Human trafficking is not something that can be ended overnight. This will take time, but it can be ended.

On Tuesday I did my local outreach with homework helpers again. It was a lot of fun. I really enjoy math and like to helping the kids figure out they’re math problems.

A Praise report: on Thursday we learned the plane ticket prices, instead of being $2,200 like we thought they would have to be. We now have plane tickets for $1,600. This is a really good price for the season we are flying in. And plus we leave 5 days sooner. :D So that means we leave for outreach on the 12^th of December. We also thought that we might have to fly in like pairs, but we get to leave as a group. This is totally a God thing.

Prayer requests: Funds for outreach (I cannot say enough how we need prayer for money to come in. If you are in a place to give, and God tugs on your heart, please give. If you can’t give, pray for God to tug on someone who can give.), the kids who attend homework help (for them to be diligent working on their homework and that we have opportunities to share the gospel with them), for good health, and that outreach prep would go well.

My blessings and love to all of you. I miss you all.

Haleigh

Dear Friends and Family,

The end of three weeks has come, and the fourth is starting this Monday. Time has gone so fast here. It's really been AMAZING!

The subject this week was the Holy Spirit. David Melander was our speaker. He was really good. Holy Spirit week was different as one couldn't take as many notes. Half of our class was lessons, and the other half was waiting on the Holy Spirit. It was a really cool week.

I have learned so much this week that it would take forever to tell you all of it. One of the big things that God told me is that I need to delight in him. He gave me the verse Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." God really wants me to delight myself in him.

On Sunday I got to go to my Grandparent's house and celebrated my Grandfather's 85th birthday. I had so much fun with my family. We ate a lot of stew and just hung out together. :)

On Tuesday I did my local outreach. I am with the Homework Helpers at a trailer park. It is a lot of fun. The kids are really cool. I enjoy helping them. Sometimes it is hard for me to explain math because I understand it so well. So I guess I am learning too.

We went street evangelizing last evening. It was really cool. We prayed to God before we left, looking for things that would lead us to treasure (people). We did and it was cool to actually find some of the stuff. We brought hot cocoa with us to hand out. We ended up sitting on the sidewalk with a guitar and singing. Its really cool how guitars bring people. There was this one person who ended up playing us a song. He was really good. Well there was a couple people who played songs for us. It was super neat.

Prayer requests: funds for outreach, for joy as we do our work duties, that everyone would be in good health, that everyone would grow in the Lord, and that outreach planning will go well.

I am sending my love to all. I miss all of you. I am learning so much, thank you for supporting me.
Haleigh