Daily Schedule!

click images to enlarge them.

worshiping on the beach on night
work duty! driving a bobcat :D
crazy tree..which i found out soon was filled wiht tons of ants!
--one of the first YWAM Kona buildings..its being restored to hopefully be used once again.
next to a pool on the coffee farm/botanical garden
MONDAY:

6-7:15 --is breakfast
7:15-8:00 --is quiet time
8-9:00 --all the schools come together for an all campus worship
9-12:00 --lecture/class
12:00 LUNCH
1-2:00 --photo critique (photo assignments are always due sunday night)
2-3:00 --more photo evaluation
3-5:00 work duty
5:00 DINNER
6:30-8:30 --photo class

TUESDAY:
6-7:15 --is breakfast
7:15-8:00 --is quiet time
8-9:00 --worship/prayer/intersession (just photogenx dts)
9-12:00 --lecture/class
12:00 LUNCH
1-2:00 -- skills development(or sometimes free time)
2-3:00 -- FREE
3-5:00 work duty
5:00 DINNER
6:30-8:30 --local outreach

WEDNESDAY:
6-7:15 --breakfast
7:15-8:00 --quiet time
8-9:00 --worship/prayer/intersession
9-12:00 --lecture/class
12:00 LUNCH
1-2:00 -- small groups
2-3:00 -- FREE
3-5:00 work duty
5:00 DINNER
6:30-8:30 --movie night with just our photogenx class usually a movie on a world issue or injustice..this week we watched war dance which was about stuff in Uganda

THURSDAY:
6-7:15 --is breakfast
7:15-8:00 --is quiet time
8-9:00 --worship/prayer/intersession (just photogenx dts)
9-12:00 --lecture/class
12:00 LUNCH
1-2:00 -- photo review and work on assignment
2-3:00 -- FREE
3-5:00 work duty
5:00 DINNER
6-8:00 Ohana gathering...this is an all campus+community worship night every thursday night :) its pretty fun :)

FRIDAY:
6-7:15 --is breakfast
7:15-8:00 --is quiet time
8-9:00 --worship/prayer/intersession (just photogenx dts)
9-12:00 --lecture/class
12:00 LUNCH
1-2:00 -- skills development (or sometimes we have it free)
2-3:00 -- FREE
3-5:00 work duty
5:00 DINNER
evenings are freeeeeeeee!! :D

On Weekends then we somtimes have "photo excursions" where they take us to different places on the island to take pictures and explore. This past Saturday I went on one.. we went to a coffee plantation which i was really excited about. and we saw one of the first YWAM buildings on this island and also we went to a place called the painted church which is one of the first brightly colored churches i believe and then ended the day snorkeling! i swam next to TURTLES! so awesome :)

Some other things i do in my free time/weekends are go dowtown, go to the beach, go to the market, HOMEWORK HOMEWORK HOMEWORK, go to the 24 hour prayer room, worhsip on the beach, climb trees :) and other random stuff :)

Donations

Hey everyone! i will blog more soon about this week :) but i want to let everyone know of the donate button i added to my blog..its really easy and you just click on it and put in your credit card information and then the donations go straight into my account! super easy way to donate..thanks again!! much love!

random photos

some photos from my first week.  you can click them to make them bigger :) also check out my facebook for many more

PODCASTS YO!

you can listen to my lectures! they are all recorded on podcasts! :) the latest one..the hour long one is Susi one of the founders of photogenx telling her stories..shes german. if you have time listen! shes an amazing story teller!
CLICK HERE to go to them..

More Injustice/ Work of Photogenx

yesterday i class we learned of Hankani.. Susi Childers one of the founders of photogenx/my school leader.. told us of when she went to brazil into the amazon jungle..the story is incredible! just the journey and animals along the way..swimming through rivers with boas, alligators, and stink rays, hiking for hours being told to look in front of you so you dont step on snacks and at the same time manage to look above for  the hanging snakes haha she is such an amazing woman and God has taken her on so many adventure because she had been faithful in following his leading. i hope someday God will use me the way he has used her :) anyway..so she went into the amazon to photograph this un-reached tribe who have never been photographed or shared the Gospel. one funny story she told of her time there was that when we arrived they asked (in their language..there were translators) to see her butt! because they all have the same skin same hair color same hair cut and wear butt flaps and walk in lines when they go hunting so how they tell each other apart is my their butts haha so they wanted to see hers to see if she had been to their tribe before haha she didnt want to but then asked her self what would jesus do..would jesus show his butt? there is that verse in the bible that says something like be a romans to the roman a jew to the jews and so on..in order to position yourself in a place to preach the gospel you must become like them and adapt to their culture. so..she showed them her butt haha and they said "nope shes never been here before!" hhaa. so anyway she spend a short time with this tribe and then went back home...later, a year later maybe or few months she felt God calling her back to that tribe..so she took some DTS students with her and they went back in.. this time tho the tribe was not as accepting..it rained..they had to pay thousands of dollars to be flown in because the law wouldnt allow them to go back in through the jungle..all this crazy stuff went wrong and susi was back at the missionary base the last night..frustrated, and wondering why God wanted her to come back..spend all this money and nothing is going right. when suddenly this little girl ran up and started hugging her. Susi, being tired, didnt want to play with her..this missionary came up to her and was like.."this is Hakani..do you know her story?"..and this lady went on to tell her about human infanticide within the same tribe Susi had just been working wiht..they buried children alive if they were twins or deformed or anything..they believed they had evil spirits in then and they buried them alive because they believed the last breath would release the evil spirt and they wanted that to happen underground so it wouldnt go into someone else. PLEASE PLEASE read Hankani's story.. of how she survied this..http://photogenx.net/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=118  ... the awesome thing is, she lives on the Kona base :) she is just a crazy little girl hah so happy and smiling all the time which s a miracle because she sat alone in the same spot for two years..barely eating..couldnt move..being beaten and laughed at. to see her like this  now is such a joy :) we hula danced together last night! :) she is now 13 or 14 i believe but she looks alot younger because her leaning and development was stunted. Since that visit Susi and Photogenx have pushed to get the brazillian law to do something about human infanticide in their country and have succeeded. photogenx also complied all the photos and stories and Hakani's stories into a  book that  has been put in tons of countries and shared all over the world so raise awarness for this issue..its crazy how much God brings out of obidiance to his voice. here is a video that was made about the issue as well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbjRU6_Zj0U


ALSO: photogenx sex+money branch that works with child trafficking is trying to win a grant to pay for a new project..vote for them once a day everyday! so they get it!!  its easy! thanks :)
CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

Break Our Hearts With What Breaks Yours God..

.." what one generation allows, the next generation embraces.."

we talked today about injustice throughout the world especially in areas of human trafficking and Female genital mutilation. 27 million people are trapped in slavery..300,000 children bought and sold. 14-17,000 in the USA. more slave NOW than ever.
: 400$ to buy a cow in India.. .$30 will buy a child
: american men where the ones who would go over to the other countries and do this type of stuff because they didnt dare do it on american soil..but now they dare. there is a lack of holiness and a numbness to these things in this day and age.
:150 million women are genitally mutilated. such a large issue in South Africa..every women is required to be circumcised...they are cut up and then stitched up..their wedding night and birth of children are the most painful night. one of my leader susi childers was on a trip in south africa and met some of these women..thats where the voice for the voiceless brach of photogenx came from.. below are some clips..please watch and open your mind to the injustice around us. the pray. pray that God will bring hope, healing and restoration. pray that he will raise up leaders within the political system that can do something about this..

HUMAN TRAFFICKING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjEFtjVMCHY

HEARING GOD's VOICE..and OBEYING.

this week our topic of focus was/is hearing God's voice..Paul Childers the head of photogenx was our speaker for the topic.. Monday we just shared our testimonies during our lecture times..it was really neat to see how open everybody is with sharing..we shared things we wanted to leave behind and expectation we have for the upcoming weeks. We learned alot this week so bear with me..its kinda a long post :)

: God is a respector of all individuals..he can speak to/through anyone..young, old, minister or student
: Faith pleases God even if your wrong. If you feel The Lord has spoken you will never know wether its him or your own thoughts until you act on it.
: God is a communicative God..look in the word and try to count the number of times is says.. "and God said..." he is always speaking but we look to other things and aren't always listening
: First you must submit to him and position yourself in a place where you can sync with him and "download" what he has to offer
: God isnt interested in a plan..he is interested in a relationship..he isnt as interested in giving you a blueprint as he is in giving you the next step..a friend gave me this analogy.. "its like God giving you a candle..you can only see one step ahead..you have to keep asking for guidance as you move along..if God were to give you a torch you would just pick it up and run and miss out on things around you God may have for you..you would no longer need to ask for his guidance because you have huge torch that can light the way..so i think God desires to give us this candle..this next step..so that we keep coming to him and asking for his guidance and for him to speak into our lives.
: I've been learning just how incredibly imporatant it is to really seek after God and listen and ask for him to speak to you..it makes me re-think everything i thought my future would hold..i need to be asking God what he wants and where he wants me and be open for whatever it is he may say. this is a daily thing...we need to always be in communication with our father..he has so much to tell us :)
: its been really neat to hear the stories of the leaders of PhotogenX and how God spoke to them and how they obeyed his voice.. :) so many crazy stories from the speakers :)

INTERCESSION.
now isnt that a scary word ;) i love intersession..i love being prayed over and i love learning to intercede for others and other things.

: it was described to us as this, prayer is more "one on one" in a sense. Intersession..if you break the word down..means to go between.
   >> you are joining together and going between to forces..wether is sickness and health..or  chaos and order..two forces..praying against something and for the other
: Ezekiel 22:30 ..so i looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land..

: i think alot of times we think of intercession as this crazy prophetic scary time..when people do weird things haha..i also believe that God can speak words through  anyone  for another..
in 1 Corinthians 14 says "eagerly desire spiritual gifts, ESPECIALLY the gift of prophecy..everyone who prophesies speak to men for their strengthening, encouragement, and comfort."
: they gave us some "guidlines" and principals for effective intercession.
   >> take time to ask God what he wants you to pray for.. praise him..make sure your heart is clean before him..acknowledge that you can not really pray without the direction of the holy spirit..deal aggressively with the enemy..come against him withe the all powerful name of jesus and word or God. knock him down :) ..wait before God in silent expectancy listening for his direction..in obedience and faith speak what God brings to your mind, believing, keep asking for direction in relation to whom or what you are praying for, expecting him to answer.
: we went through the bible and looked at all the different things God speaks through..animal..bushes..people..visions..dreams..hand on wall..angles..friends.parables..bible..miracles.gentle wisper..audible voice. God is a communicative God :)
: we then worked on putting this into practice..praying for each other and asking God for words of encouragement and then sharing that with the person and discussing whether it was right on or not. its cool to see how much God speak when you really start to listen

so anyways those are a few thought/notes i took i class..sorry for the extensive post...this first week of classes is pretty busy..we are also reading a book called "Is that Really Your God" by Loren Cunningham and founder of YWAM..and we are reading through the book of matthew..AND we have a photo assignment due sunday. :) i will soon post my schedule so  you can see what each day is like.. we are also focusing on discussing injustices and how to use photography to change that..and having times of intercession to pray against these issues.. i will do my next post on that and how YOU can help :)

thanks for reading!! continued prayer is always appreciated :)

More of the island life..

wow so it definatly feels like its been longer than a week :) we are already such a family..i feel as though i have known these girls and guys my entire life :) i think i left off with the beach day on saturday..Sunday then we took a shuttle to a local church. it was right by the beach so you could hear the waves crashing as you worship..it was so pretty :) Sunday night then some of us went downtown into Kona and walked the streets and got some ice cream and went down to the pier. it was so pretty and fun. still getting used to the idea that this is my home :) and i LIVE here. on this island haha. soo cool! he is good :)

the trees here are so cool! ..my dorm and room.. top bunk is mine :)
         

Downtown Kona

at night..

why hello there kona :)

so i made it to the big island of hawaii! :)  whoohooo! Kona is beautiful and there is so much i want to do here! yesterday was mainly registration and standing in long lines waiting to get our ID pictures taken haha :) later at night a bunch of us girls walked to walmart..ended up being farther than we though my on the way back luckly we got picked up by some fellow Kona ywam staff and piled into their pickup truck. my teamates are awesome and its so fun to put faces to the names i've seen/talked to on facebook. we are already so close and like a family :) today then was more orientation. the hawaiian culture is so neat and i'm excited to lean more about it. this morning we had a hawaiian protocol and we had to "ask permission" to be on the land. all the students gathered and took off our shoes..at the sound of the conch shell we followed some local hawaiians across campus into the main meeting area (ohana court) and they had a ceremony of blessing over us and we presented them with our cultural gifts we brought along with us. and did some hawaiian chants. so cool! i love the culture its really neat and hopefully i can learn some more words other than aloha and mahalo :)  after that was more orientation..meeting our PhotogenX school leaders and getting to know the other students.. with all the DTS's combined there are around 41 nations represented! so many different cultures and people gathered in the same place its so awesome..the base is also run in korean so we have a korean translator there anytime someone is speaking which is interesting..kinda makes everything take twice as long haha. tonight we had another ceremony where the hawaiians along with some americans and koreans did different dances from their cultures and a student from each culture represented on base held the flag from their culture. lots of cultural and orientation stuff going on haha. i'm still alittle jet-lagged and very tired so sorry if none of this makes sense :/ tomorrow we will be at the beach all day! thanks for all the prayers and support! they are defiantly felt! sorry i dont have more/better pics..its been so crazy and i havent had time..soon i will have more tho!

<<--heading

across campus after the sound of the conch shell

<<--hawaiian gretting

<<--night ceremony..we as students representing our nations

<< the base sign

<<--a local we met when me and some girls went for a walk..he was hand making leis out of flowers he picked

<< fellow students and teamates :D

quote..

"When i stand before God at the end of my life, i would hope that i would not have a single bit of talent left. and could say, i used everything you gave me."

-erma bombeck