I'm Home!!!

Hello everyone!!!

Alright so I have now been home for one week and 3 days and I couldn't be happier :D...but I will get into that later.

I believe I left you all off right after graduation. I was one of the last people to leave the base which was nice and sucky (I know that is not a word :P) at the same time. I got to hang out with almost everyone a bit longer, but I also had to stick through almost all of the tearful goodbyes. It was difficult to say goodbye to everyone, but I was so excited to start my next adventure. That Monday morning I left to get on the train to Glasgow airport where I would wait for about 3 hours for my first flight to London and then when I got to London I got to wait for yet another 3 hours for my flight to Belfast, Ireland. To my great surprise I actually arrived in Belfast and managed to find my way to my hostel without getting incredibly lost :D Yay me!!!

My first hostel was Lagan Backpackers where I stayed for 4 nights. While I was there I became friends with all the staff and one of the staff's friends :D I wound up hanging out with them every night...I had so much fun! While in Belfast I visited the peace wall and went on the Giants Causeway tour. I also visited the botanical gardens and of coarse some of the local pubs :) Belfast is an amazing city and I really hope I get to go back some day.

After Belfast I hopped on a bus to go to a lovely sea side village in Northern Ireland called Newcastle. This visit was the main reason I decided to even go to Ireland. About an hours walk away from Newcastle is a place called Tollymoore Forest Park and this is where I wanted to go most of all. This park was by far one of the most beautiful and most GREEN places I have ever seen in my life. I have posted lots and lots of picture on facebook already of everything :) I used my time in that park to spend some amazing quality time with God...and I loved and needed every second of it :D

When my time in Newcastle was done I hopped on yet another bus and headed to Dublin. When I got there things did not go quite as smoothly as they could have haha. I had to switch currency from the pound to the euro seeing as I was no longer in Northern Ireland but in the Republic, and then I had to find my way to the hostel. The directions sounded easy but this city was a lot bigger and a lot more confusing than the rest I had been in before. In the end with all my bags I decided to give up on finding a bus and took a cab lol. I arrived at my hostel which actually felt more like a really hip hotel. There was a lift (elevator) and key cards and a cafe. The only thing making it not a hotel was that I had roommates and public bathrooms haha. My time in Dublin was a bit more relaxed seeing as I had nothing planned. I wound up exploring the Temple Bar District a bit and of coarse made a visit to the Guinness Factory!!! I poured a "perfect" pint of Guinness and got a certificate for it which I am quite proud of :P

The day had finally come where I got to go home!!! Unfortunately due to the latest airport shuttle leaving at 6:20am I had to arrive at the airport a whole 7 hours too early!!! I flew from Dublin to Boston, Boston to Denver, and Denver to Fresno. I cannot even begin to explain how excited I was when I landed in Boston. I believe I had one of the dumbest grins on my face of all time because of the simple fact that I was back in America...and of coarse that my phone worked again :P hahaha!

So after a loooooooong day traveling I arrived in Fresno. I was both unbelievably exhausted and anxious when I finally got to Fresno! Walking into the terminal I knew that my parents and my friend Leah would be there to greet me so it was everything I could do to not sprint through the terminal area. However, when I walked into the main building I was greeted not only by them but also by my friend Sarah :D Needless to say I was a puddle...a laughing puddle haha! I was laughing, smiling, and crying my eyes out while trying to give everyone hugs simultaneously :P I couldn't believe I was actually getting to hug my parents again!!! After I was able to calm down we got in the car and went to Taco Bell of coarse lol!

Now most of the hype has died down but occasionally I will find myself marvelling at just how amazing it is to be back home...or just how wonderful it feels to hug my mom and I have to hold on for just one more minute. Since I've been home I have gotten to hang with my family, play with my nieces, and catch up with friends. Not to mention talk to school counselors and look for a job. Everyday life is calling me back and while that may seem so ordinary compared to what I have been doing I am so excited to see what I can make of it...and I will hopefully have the encouragement from all of you to keep pushing for greater things.

I learned so much while I was away with YWAM it has actually seemed difficult to try and sort it all out. I'm sure there are things I haven't even realized yet but there are a few that immediately come to mind. God has shown me his love. He has shown me his love for his people and for me :D God had been teaching me how to open up and trust again. I believe that a big part of this time was so God could teach me about myself and who I am in Him. He has shown me just how much passion I have built up inside of me and has shown me what I can use it for! He has revealed to me how I view the world and how that can be beneficial or destructive depending on which lens I choose to use. There is so much but there is one thing I know for sure :) I know God sent me out for a reason, and while I know some of that reason...I know that I will continue learning more of why in the future. But God has also called me back for a reason and I know that He will be with me every step of the way :D

God bless you all and thank you for being with me on my journey :D I'll be around now if you have anything to ask me about or just chat! So happy to be home I have missed you all so much! Thank you for all your prayers and support they have meant the world to me.

-Kaitlyn Vaccaro

Graduated!!!

Hello everyone!

First off I am so sorry that I haven't written in so long. Since getting back from Turkey things have been extremely hectic and busy! Our first week back was entirely set on debriefing us from our 8 week long outreach. Basically it gave us a chance to sit down as an entire group and discuss what happened while on outreach and anything in particular that we wanted to bring out into the open. A lot of things were brought up and it was extremely helpful to get a chance to openly talk about how we felt during the entire time of outreach.

Our second week we had lectures on 'Purpose and Calling'. We talked about hearing from God about what we should be doing next in our lives after DTS is over and also possibly figuring out a long term goal. It was helpful to listen to their suggestions and also to hear their encouragements and faith in us all. That Thursday we all had to prepare a 10 minute speech on a passion of ours that God has sparked in us during this school. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to pick out what I wanted to talk about. God has really been building up my heart for teenagers/youth throughout this school. I also feel like I am supposed to go back to university and possibly study psychology :) I got a change to speak out loud the love and passion I hold for the youth of today...not to mention I got to hear all of my other classmates talk about what they are passionate about! It was an amazing thing to get to hear even more of my classmates hearts and how God has inspired them :)

At the beginning of our third week it really started to hit us all that we were starting a long list of lasts times. Last work duties, last lectures, last times being together as an entire group...it goes on. Some were excited while others were sad but all in all it was very exciting. Monday and Tuesday we talked about going home. Our leaders gave us all some very good advice about how to process counter culture shock and how transitioning from an environment like DTS back into everyday life can be difficult. Those two days were jam packed with our feelings about going home and practical advice about how to handle all the possible situations we might face once back home.

Wednesday was here...Graduation Day!!!!! We all woke up and headed into the Arran Lounge where the staff were meeting that day. They split us into groups and had all the staff pray for us, and pretty much send us off to where ever we might go after DTS. After that we broke off and started to clean! Even though some of us are staying for a few extra days, we all had to pack our bags and deep clean our rooms...plus some extra spaces around the base to bless the larger community. That took up almost the whole day (this is a very large building haha) and then with 2 hours left all the girls ran upstairs to get clean after cleaning and get ready to graduate!

The dining room was set up beautifully and it went very nicely with all the people dressed up beautifully as well :) Our DTS leader, Lee Howard, made us a delicious dinner with cheesecake for dessert!!! During the actual graduation we gave thanks to the many people who helped out our school throughout the last 5 months and our leaders said some lovely things about our school as parting words. Once that was over the leaders called us up one by one to give us our graduation certificates and we each had to grab the mic. and give a 3 minute testimony about something God has done in our lives during DTS. It was wonderful to hear every ones testimonies (Eileens made me cry haha). I talked about how God has been restoring my faith and trust in Him in many different ways :) It was a great moment to be able to tell a group of people how much God has done for me in my life in such a short amount of time!

After the testimonies they called us up and we were prayed for by the base leader and then we were led in a short time of worship. Then the pictures started haha! We took lots of pictures and let a Chinese paper lantern loose into the skies (funny story...ask me about it later if you want to know more haha), and then we all gathered in our newly cleaned classroom to sit and have time as a school. We talked about our favorite memories and what we could remember from our first day...it was a lot of fun :)

Today we decided we wanted to spend our last day as a group together so our leaders were lovely and drove us all into Glasgow to an art museum. The art was beautiful and I got to see a man play the biggest pipe organ I have ever seen in my life!!! Then we went into the west end of Glasgow and had lunch and went to some local shops. It was a nice relaxing day and I am glad to have gotten the chance to go out with everyone one last time :)

Tomorrow the first of us leaves...Jess is heading back to South Africa at 10am, and Jared and David head out tomorrow evening. Over the next few days people will be leaving slowly and there will be many goodbyes to be said :( I will be leaving Seamill on Monday morning around 7am to catch a train to Glasgow Airport and start my journey to Ireland!!! I will be in Ireland for a total of 8 days and will be flying back home out of Dublin on July 14th :D Personally I am so excited to come home and start this next journey of my life knowing that God is right there with me to help me through :)

Well folks that is all I have for you right now but I will be home in less than 2 weeks now so if there are any questions I will be around to answer them soon haha. I love and miss you all and will try to write again soon depending on how the Internet is in the hostels I stay at haha! God bless!!! Bye :)

-Kaitlyn xoxo

Outreach is over!!!

Hello everyone!!

Wow, I haven't written on here in almost 2 months and I am so sorry about that :( Unfortunately while we were in Turkey to keep us more focused they limited our computer time to 1 1/2 hours a week. I would have written on my blog but I wanted that hour and a half to talk with my family on skype so I apologize if you have been wondering what was going on.

Ok! So I am officially back in Scotland now! We arrived in Glasgow last night around 9:45pm. The flights went very smoothly and I am very happy to be back in the small village of West Kilbride. :)

OH Turkey...what can I say about you?! Istanbul is an interesting place...it honestly feels like any giant city you would find, except there are mosques EVERYWHERE!!! In fact the flats we were staying in had a mosque right next to it. I don't know if any of you know that in the Muslim faith they have to pray 5 times a day. In order to make sure they remember the exact times when they should pray the imam(Muslim priest) sounds the call to prayer from loud speakers at the top spire of the mosque. One of the times when this happens is around 5 am....and it is LOUD!!! So in case you haven't caught on...every morning at 5 we were all woken up by the insanely loud call to prayer hahaha!

Also I did get to go see the Blue Mosque and the Hagia of Sophia (one of the seven wonders of the world) and the Topkapi Palace! They were absolutely breathtaking! The artwork is amazing...I will be posting pictures soon I hope :) Oh and we also got to go to Ephesus which was brilliant! It was so cool to be in a place so old. The ruins were something to behold :)

As far as our ministry went...I'm going to try and explain this without sounding really chaotic haha. Our weeks were fairly structured with a specific schedule. I'll tell about my week because we all seemed to have a different one. Sundays we would go to church and some of us would help with the worship (it was a church for long term workers in Istanbul). Mondays I was part of a prayer team that would go and pray around the city (I loved Mondays). Tuesdays were our days off which were much needed because we only had one day off a week. Wednesdays was doing local EV (evangelism) work around the city. It never looked the same twice haha. Thursdays we would go to a place called the Jubilee Cafe and would pray and worship there for awhile before going out to do more EV work in the afternoon. Fridays I would help out with a Jewelry ministry. Refugee women make the jewelry and then we would go over to a ladies house and check to make sure they jewelry was up to standard and then label and package it so it could be sold and they would make money. Fridays were my favorite day :) Then last but not least Saturdays I would go out with a small group and do EV work in the city wherever God seemed to be calling us to go.

I know this is a somewhat vague description of what we would do but seeing as I just got back to Scotland my brain kind of hurts trying to remember every little thing we did haha! :P Overall it was a great trip and I consider it a complete success :) God did amazing things and He really did teach me a lot about different cultures.

Now we have 2 1/2 weeks left here to talk about what we learned and what we feel like God is calling us to do when we get back home. Then I have about a week and a half of Scotland and then Ireland after that and then I come home on July 14!!!

I will write again soon with more details of how Istanbul was but at the moment I am still trying to get unpacked and organized in my thoughts haha! I miss you all so much and I will talk to you again soon :) God bless you all!!!

-Kaitlyn

Quick Update

Hello Everyone! Just a quick update since I don't have so much Internet time around here. Things are going very well. We are helping out all around the city :) I love it since I love volunteer work. The only downer is that it is soooooo hot around here right now. Summer has arrived in full force and you can especially feel it while riding on a crowded bus in the middle of the day haha!

Next week we have a long weekend and they are taking our whole group to Ephesus for 3 days. It will take 10 hours to get there but I am excited since so much history is there. Oh and I made a friend today named Rabia and I can't wait to meet her again. That is all the time I have for now will update again soon if I can. Love and miss you all!!

-Kaitlyn

In Istanbul!!!

Hello everyone!

I am so sorry it has taken me so gosh darn long to write on here again but we have been busy to say the least. Ok so we arrived in Istanbul 2 Saturdays ago ha I can't remember the date. Well anyway...we arrived around 2am Turkey time :P and then drove to our new home. We are staying in two separate flats (one right on top of the other). They are actually very nice flats and we are in a pretty good area...very close to a lot of stuff. Unfortunately there is a mosque very near our flats so the call to prayer goes off every morning around 5am...ugh! I'm starting to get used to it but most of the time it will wake me up haha!

Our first week here went pretty good :) The city is beautiful and there is a lot to see! Sometimes it seems like any other city until you get a good look from a high place and see all the mosques! They are absolutely everywhere haha. Even though I am not a Muslim I cannot deny the beauty of those buildings...they are gorgeous. One fun thing has been that because we don't have cars over here our group has to take the bus everywhere. Oh my....Turkish buses are extreme. Rarely do you actually get a seat so you are stuck squished between a bunch of hot and sweaty people trying really hard not to fall over because these Turkish bus drivers LOVE the brake and gas pedals!!! And just in case that isn't difficult enough us girls are not supposed to look men in the eyes because being western women that would be considered us making an advance lol....so while we are trying desperately to keep our balance in a crowded (and I mean crowded) bus we are also having to keep our eyes lowered lol....most of us have become accustomed to wearing sunglasses on the bus, it makes things a bit easier :)

One of our days last week we got to go out and see the Blue Mosque...oh my was that amazing! I took lots of pictures so don't you worry :) That building was so huge and detailed I was left speechless! Along with seeing the Blue Mosque we have also had some opportunities to just explore Istanbul which has been equally fun and stressful trying to find our way around in a place that speaks no English haha. Basically everyone here has adopted carrying around a Turkish/English dictionary with us wherever we go :) While here we still have work duties and I am part of the food crew. So it is our job to come up with menu's and to do all the shopping...I am starting to get the hang of figuring out a grocery store where everything is written in Turkish haha. Oh and if anyone has any good recipe ideas that can serve 9 people that isn't crazy expensive send them to me at Ldnhappy22@hotmail.com Thanks :)

We have gotten to work with a group that makes jewelry (lots of fun) and we also got to go to a picnic with an English club and I got to chat with this really nice Turkish man for awhile :) Oh and yesterday my group met this really nice Turkish lady who spoke no English but got really excited when she found out I'm from California and invited us all to tea next Sunday at her house :D I'm pretty excited I hope that we get to go! Other than that we are still getting into the groove of things and starting to get a regular schedule. I can't wait to see what amazing things will happen :) I love and miss you all so so much...I really hope everything is going great for you back home!
-Kaitlyn

Still In Scotland

Hello everyone!

Oh how plans have been changing! Haha! Flexible has been the theme of this last week. SO for those of you who don't know my team was supposed to leave for Turkey last Saturday but due to a volcano erupting in Iceland all flights were grounded and we were not able to leave. Since then we have been trying to book a new flight to Istanbul but things have not been going so smoothly. As of now...we are booked on a flight for this coming Saturday so if you could please be praying that that does actually happen haha. We are all feeling very ready to leave and go to Turkey :) Other than that things have been really good. Technically outreach has still started so we have been helping out around the Seamill base with cleaning and other practicalities. Along with that we have been doing quite a lot of worship and prayer times a long with some extra lectures from a few guest speakers so that has actually been pretty fun :) Right now we are pretty much relying on God to tell us what to do next haha which is the whole point right?! :D I know this post is extremely short but I have limited time on the internet now so I will have to leave you with that. God Bless you all and please keep my team in your prayers and that we will make it to Turkey safely on Saturday! Love and miss you all!!!

-Kaitlyn

Stirling!

Hello again everyone! So last week we had a fairly unorganized week. Tuesday and Wednesday we were joining in on a Seamill staff meeting called Face-to-Face which was basically lots of prayer, reading scripture, more prayer, and encouragements for the community. It was very nice to be a part of it. Thursday we all hopped into the base cars and drove to Glasgow where our school staff took us to a Mosque. The building was absolutely beautiful! We had a very nice man take us on a tour of the Mosque while telling us about the Muslim faith and some of their practices. It was very interesting to me being that I knew absolutely nothing about it. The prayer room was about as big as a football field...it was amazing. One interesting point was that all the girls had to wear head scarfs...it was actually kind of fun to sort of submerge into the different culture.
On Saturday I pretty much just hung out around the base. I spent most of the day reading because we have to read 3 books on a reading list while we are in Turkey...and I would just prefer to read all 3 of them now before we leave so I don't have to stress out. I'm on my third book right now and it is my favorite! It is called 'The Heavenly Man'. If any of you have time to read a book soon this book is amazing. It is an amazing story about how God protects, provides, loves, etc.
Sunday was the best! Bre and I took the trip out to Stirling cause I have been wanting to see the William Wallace monument. Stirling is such a beautiful little city. When we got to the location of the monument we realized we would have to hike up a gigantic hill just to get to the foot of the thing. Then once we reached the monument we would have to climb up 246 steps on a narrow spiral staircase to get to the top! It was so much fun...I'm quite sore now but it was completely worth it. When you would run into someone on the staircase we would have to flatten ourselves against the wall so they could get by haha! When we finally got to the top the view was absolutely breath taking! It was a gorgeous sunny day in Scotland and you could see all of Stirling from the top of the monument! I took a lot of pictures and I have already posted them on facebook so check them out :) I was so happy I got to go see the Wallace monument...I will never forget it!
This week we have been learning about missions because we are leaving on Saturday for Turkey! Yay! I can't believe it is so soon! It doesn't seem real. I will only be able to get online once a week from what the leaders tell me so I will update as often as I can but I'm not sure how often that will actually be. But just so you all know...due to Internet security issues while in Turkey I will have to refer to some things differently on here from what they tell me. I am a student with University of Nations with a bible school and we are in Turkey to learn about the culture and such. When I refer to God I will be saying Dad....So if I say Dad is doing some amazing things...while my daddy(Larry) does do some amazing things...I love you daddy...that isn't what I am talking about haha!
I started packing tonight and I am actually going to go try and finish that right now. I hope you all are doing well back home! As always I am missing you so much...I can't wait to tell stories of what will happen in Turkey. Love you and God bless!!
-Kaitlyn

Edinburgh

Hello again everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Easter :) Well today marks the last day of long weekend for us here in YWAM...and what a great long weekend it has been! Thursday was our last day of lectures on Spiritual Warfare which was surprisingly not that terrifying haha. I am quite happy to report that the week went very well and only a few times did I get uncomfortable (which is saying a lot :P).
Friday morning(6:20am) Kari and I left the base for the train station where we would start our long journey to Edinburgh. Ok it wasn't that long...Two 1 hour train rides really wasn't so bad haha. The trains here are actually very cozy. We arrived in Edinburgh around 9:30am and then had to proceed to find out which bus, out of the practically 50 buses we could take, was the right one to get us to our hotel that was about 4-5 miles away from the city center. Luckily some nice locals helped us out and directed us to the right bus stop :) Because we couldn't find any hostels with openings due to the busy weekend we were staying at the Holiday Inn. It was so nice! Kari and I both loved the fact that there was a pool, hot tub, and sauna to relax in. We also had our first experience with UK television :| Wow! I don't know if we just got the bad luck watching UK soap operas or if it was their actual regular programs but Kari and I spent the whole time watching them laughing and making fun of every scene haha.
Throughout our stay we just explored the city :) Edinburgh is the most beautiful city I have ever seen! There is so much history there. All the architecture and buildings are very old and absolutely breathtaking. There are monuments and statues on practically every corner documenting Scottish history. It was so much to look at...I wish I would have had a month there instead of just 2 1/2 days. Edinburgh castle was amazing to look at. We didn't actually get to go in cause it was a little pricey and SO crowded we decided that pictures from the outside would suffice. I think my favorite was the Scott Memorial...it was incredible to behold! I will be posting pictures later on today :)
It was a much needed break from base life and I am so happy I got to go :) We both needed the chance to relax and not be worrying about what task we must complete next or where we have to be in the next hour. It was good to just go with whatever seemed good at the time. We both got a chance to just sit and talk about God and life and what God has been teaching us since arriving here. It was a lot to process but in a relaxing and beautiful environment :) I hope that if any of you every get the opportunity to go to Edinburgh that you will go!
Up next is a chaotic week with no particular subject. Then the week after that is our last lecture week on missions...and then Saturday the 17th we leave for Istanbul, Turkey! It is coming up so fast I can't believe it. I haven't heard much about how the Internet situation will be like there but I will be trying as often as I can to update on my blog while I'm there. Well that is all for now folks...be looking out for pictures of Edinburgh on my face book very soon! Loving and missing you all like always :) God bless

-Kaitlyn

New News :P

Well hello everyone! So much has happened since I last wrote...I hope I can remember it all haha :) Last week we had a wonderful lady, Joe, teaching us on relationships. It was an amazing week and we learned a lot about how we as individuals process things and how God wants to be in relationship with us. It was really eye opening to realize what was holding us back from that relationship with God. I also got a chance to meet with Joe on a one on one basis and that was extremely helpful to be able to have a chat with her. She was such an amazing and understanding lady...I was sad to see her go at the end of the week.
That weekend a group of us girls went into Glasgow for a sort of combo birthday-day haha. Kari and built up some birthday money from a week prior, Eileen's birthday had been on Friday, and Hannah's birthday was on Saturday (although we were under strict instructions not to celebrate that one lol). It was a very productive day and a lot of fun! I found some amazing skirts at some charity shops which was the highlight of my day :) At one point we were in the west end of Glasgow and Kari and I spotted a Cold Stone Ice Cream shop!!! :O We were so excited we just had to get some cake batter ice cream...however we went in to find they did not have that flavor nor any other of the ones we loved so much :( It was very sad ;) haha!! The next day was spend mainly relaxing and getting some practicalities done like laundry, letter writing, etc.
Monday we were starting the new week with classes on spiritual warfare. We were supposed to have a speaker, Paul Bell from the US, teach us but when he arrived his visa was the wrong sort and he got deported :( So instead of that we have Mariette back (the lady who taught us in week 3 about the Holy Spirit). But before we get into that I want to take you back to Monday morning with me. Every Monday morning we have base worship...not my favorite thing to do for reasons I will not totally get into at this moment lol. In a nut shell I have had a really difficult time since the start of DTS feeling like there was something not ok with the way I worshipped God because my participation level had been questioned (I'm not very loud). During the worship service one of the base staff members came up to me and said that she felt God was leading her to tell me that (and I am paraphrasing) I do not need to feel insecure about how I choose to worship Him. That he just wants me to worship Him and spend time with Him and that is all that matters. I was absolutely amazed! I could not believe that that had just happened, because that was exactly what I needed to hear. I actually had tears come into my eyes. God is so good you guys! I was struggling so much and I have been praying a lot since I got here asking God if what I was doing was wrong or if I needed to change something...and what does God do? He answers me through someone I have never even spoken to about my insecurities! Amazing :D
Anywho...so Mariette is teaching us on spiritual warfare, or spiritual authority as she calls it. It has been an interesting week. Mariette and the rest of my class are very good at getting side tracked so the week has been very scattered and unorganized. I have been learning a lot but it has also been somewhat difficult because I have a hard time focusing when things are all over the place lol. Tomorrow is our last day on the subject so I am pretty curious as to what will happen in the 4 hours of class tomorrow.
Friday starts the long weekend!!! Yay!!! Kari, Hannah, and I are going to Edinburgh for a few days and I could not be more excited. I keep hearing what a beautiful city it is and I cannot wait to see for myself what everyone has been telling me. I'll be sure to come back with lots of pictures for you all (since I hear there are beautiful castles)! Well I am off for now but I will update again when I get back from Edinburgh hopefully...or at the very least I will post all the pictures on my facebook :) Loving and missing you all like always...God bless!

-Kaitlyn

P.S. only 2 weeks until we leave for Turkey!!!!

Midterm Outreach

Hello everyone!!!

Well this last week has been extremely eventful to say the very least. Last Saturday my DTS split up into 3 groups to go out into Scotland for our midterm outreach. My group was 7 people(including the leader) and we went to Benbecula. It is an island way up north in Scotland and it took about 11 hours of travelling to get there haha. We actually had to leave at 3am on Saturday so we could make our ferry that would take us to the island. The drive there was quite interesting because Joakim, our leader, does not like to slow down at turns...and pretty much the entire drive was windy roads haha. We were all trying to sleep but our heads kept getting slammed into windows and were being thrown around! It was pretty funny to talk about later on once we arrived in Benbecula.
We met up with a lady, Sylvia, who helps out at the local church and with the youth clubs on the island and she helped us get settled in. Our group was split into 2 houses(both were very nice) and oh my were we spoiled the whole week. Everyday we had home cooked meals and dessert twice a day. All of us were making each other do sit-ups cause we were eating so much haha!
Sunday was a pretty average day...just went to the church and met some of the members which was very nice. Monday was when all the fun started :D We got to meet the senior youth club, and they were so amazing! They were so welcoming and were just a lot of fun to be around! That night we just got to know each other a little bit and then played telephone pictionary and we had giant sumo suits so that was hilarious. My favorite was in telephone pictionary my phrase somehow went from "a giant falling from the sky" to "the pelicans are hijacking the ferry!" hahaha...it was brilliant :D
The next day we did a program with the junior youth club called 'rocky road'. We helped with playing games and telling the story of the Passover. That was pretty fun although some of the kids were extremely hyper-active and were very difficult to keep in line. After 'rocky road' the senior youths came to hang out with us again, but this time a lot more showed up with was fantastic :) The majority of the night was spent playing music. Dylan, one of the senior youths, is really talented at the guitar and singing and some of the others like Haley and Nicole love to sing along with him. By the end of the night we were all singing along with Dylan to a bunch of random songs...it was a good time :)
Wednesday night we were helping run a bible study for the church. We were all really sad cause we wanted to hang out with the senior youths again, and then Sylvia called us and said that Dylan and Mando wanted to come to the bible study! I was kind of nervous because I had never done a bible study let alone helped run one before, but it wound up being a lot of fun! Monica, Jess, and I were in the group with Dylan and Mando during the bible verse discussions. We were having such a good time talking about God and how great He is, and at one point Dylan looked at me and said "I think we are the only ones having fun...I just looked at one of the other groups and they all yawned simultaneously" haha! When we were getting called back together in one group Dylan was saying to me that it was really awesome to have people who could laugh and have fun while talking about God. He is so used to it always having to be this completely serious, down, stone faced matter. He also mentioned that he really appreciated that we weren't pressuring him to talk during the discussion. I was so excited when he told me this because that is what we were trying to convey throughout the trip so far! We were wanting to bring the Joy of the Lord to Benbecula and that was immediate confirmation that God was doing just that :D It seemed very evident that almost all of the young people on that island had a view that to be a Christian means you have to be old and boring haha...so I'm very happy that we have started to break that stereotype.
Thursday we worked with 'rocky road' again which was much easier that day thank goodness haha. We talked to them about Moses crossing the red sea. That night we got to be with the senior youth club again...and that night miracles happened :D It was again just an average night with them. We were goofing off, playing games, playing music, etc. A group of the teens were playing football and right near the end Dylan got tackled and seriously injured his leg/ankle. He could not put any pressure on it, couldn't walk, and was in a lot of pain. Sylvia gathered us all together and said that this would be a good time to pray for healing. I will admit I was skeptical but I said ok and went to pray for him. Right when I sat down to put my hand on his leg I felt like God was telling me to knock it off and stop doubting Him. I suddenly realized that I had been limiting God and after that I knew that it was totally possible for Dylan to be healed. While we were praying for him I started to get really warm which was weird since I wasn't moving and right when I thought that Dylan said that his leg felt warm! I later found out that Monica felt really warm too. After praying for a few minutes we asked Dylan how his leg felt...he said it felt good...then he got up, started hopping around on the injured leg, then ran over and kicked the football across the pitch!!! Ahhhhh!!! Haha God is so cool!! I felt like at that moment God was saying to me...'I did that cause I can!'. It was an amazing moment and God could not have timed it more perfectly...every youth was in the room watching it happen and seeing was God can do. Dylan was so excited he was jumping up and down with me(I could not stop smiling haha)and we were just freaking out about how awesome God is!
Later that night after we had all gone home Sylvia called us and told us that Dylan wants to start up a youth group (because the youth club isn't a christian thing) so we were all so excited to hear that!!!
Friday was our last day and that night we got to meet with the senior youths one more time. Fiona wound up singing some of her songs and a few of my group gave short testimonies about what God has done in their lives. After that was done we offered prayer for everyone if they wanted it in a prayer room in the building. I was so surprised cause a lot of them got up and practically ran to the prayer room haha! When the night was over and we were leaving we found out that 2 of the youths had given their lives to Jesus!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!! I was so happy!!! It was really difficult to say goodbye to them all...I will miss them so much :( But on the bright side we created a facebook page for them so that we can keep in contact with them all :D
It was such a great trip and it was really faith building for me. God is just revealing himself to me more and more each day and it is so wonderful :D I will be posting LOTS of picture on my facebook later today from the week if you are interested in seeing some of the amazing people we met. I love and miss you all more than I can say! God bless

-Kaitlyn

P.S. OH! So someone sent me a care package containing a black set of scarf/gloves with the American flag, a calendar, and stationary. I love it all but the problem is...is that I have no idea who it is from :| There is no note and no where on the box does it say who sent it. I would really like to thank you, who ever you are haha. so...Thank you :D

The weekend

Another weekend has gone! Friday was our day out since they had to cancel it last week due to weather and lack of drivers. They took out my DTS to Inverary...I'm pretty sure that is how it is spelled haha. We spend some time in that village up in the mountains and actually got to see a castle without scaffolding all over it lol! That is the castle I posted a picture of :) The gates to go up to it were locked so we had to make do with the zoom features on our cameras, but it was gorgeous none the less! After we left there they drove us to a few other smaller towns on the way back for some sight seeing and shopping. At one point we stopped at a place called Rest and be Thankful which I have been hearing people talking about since I arrived in Seamill. Unfortunately when we arrived at Rest and be Thankful it was covered in snow and ice and there were winds so strong that were actually knocking us over haha! It was absolutely beautiful at the look out but none of us lasted long since the wind and the cold were positively insane haha! When we got back to the base it was then time for the Battle of the Bands! The base was trying to raise money for the Gate house (a house right next to the base they are trying to buy) and I know they raised quite a lot of money by the end of the night..so Yay! There were 4 bands put together by the staff + students and they were all hilarious and amazing!!
Saturday Hannah and I went into Glasgow to see Alice in Wonderland! We were so excited we did our make-up all crazy and I actually managed to get some pig tails going on :P While we were waiting for the show to start we went around Glasgow and I got to buy some tea! Yay! Hannah found the complete works of Shakespeare in a small bookshop for really cheap so that made her day. Then the movie time came! First let me say that Scottish commercials are just odd. Hannah and I spent the 30 min of commercials before the movie with extremely puzzled looks on our faces haha! The movie was fantastic!!! I loved it...so much fun I advise you all go see it :)
After the movie we were heading back to West Kilbride and when we got off the train in town 2 Scottish guys started talking to us...which was actually quite difficult since they both had very strong accents and talked really fast! They kept trying to let them get us a cab and we kept having to convince them that we actually did enjoy walking haha! They were both very sweet...and also very handsome ;) It was a wonderful Saturday in all!
Today was very relaxing :) I have spent the entire day up until now reading and it has been so wonderful! I have not had a full day dedicated to reading since I got here so it was much needed! Well now it is time for bed because I am exhausted. I'll write again soon :) God Bless

-Kaitlyn

Eventful Times

This is a picture of a statue next to a war memorial in the village...I thought it was beautiful! :) Alright! So this week we have a guest speaker, Mike from Northern Ireland, who is teaching on the Father heart of God. Although...I wouldn't really call him a teacher, but instead a story teller :) This week has been so much fun! Mike has the most amazing stories about how God has provided, protected, and given him opportunities to minister(Sometimes all 3 at once haha). He was raised in Zimbabwe so most of his stories come from there and all of them are fascinating! He is brilliant at giving practical examples of how the Father loves us and it has been truly eye opening and a lot of fun. I don't feel like I'm going to class but instead to a fun story time :)
This last weekend we went out to Glasgow on Saturday and did some shopping and went out for pizza hut. On a side note, the people here have a terrible idea of what toppings on a pizza should be! We asked for pepperoni and olives and we got barely any pepperoni and one olive per slice. It was sad :( Not to mention that the pizza hut didn't have ranch...another disappointment for Kari and I lol. Then on Sunday I went into Largs by myself to go to the Charity shops. I didn't find much but while I was waiting for the train I got to strike up a conversation with a sweet lady, Rita, and talked with here for about 30 min. It was so awesome to meet a local and just chat with her :) And she told me I had a lovely accent which I found quite comical haha.
Other than that things around here have been quite normal. We have our midterm outreach coming up, and my team has decided to go to a place in Scotland called Benbecula. It is waaaaay in Northern Scotland and is actually an island. I am told it will take about 12 hours to get there. That was actually a moment where I realized the huge culture difference because all the Americans in my group shouted "ROAD TRIP!!! :D :D and the others said something to the effect of..."uuugghh" haha! I can't wait I hear it is beautiful there. Today we had our local outreach in Largs. Hannah and I went on a walk together around the town to try and meet some people. Hannah smiled at one man and he actually stopped and commented on what a lovely smile she had. We were so happy we stopped to talk to him, and then he asked where we were from. The moment Hannah said we were from the States this man had such a look of hatred in his eyes...it was shocking. He said that he was completely anti-America and if there was one rouge nation it was America and stormed off. We were so shocked...it broke my heart that this man could so quickly hate us after he was so willing to be friendly just because of where we were from. We wanted to find him again and ask for forgiveness for whatever or whoever made him feel that way but unfortunately we didn't see him again :( It was such an eye opening experience to be on that side of such a hateful prejudice. We spend some time after that praying for him while we walked around the town. Near the end of our time in Largs Hannah and I decided to go to the store so I could get some carrots for the ranch dip my mommy sent me (Thank you Mommy!) and we would up chatting with this older gentleman, James, for about 40 min haha! When I asked him if there was anything we could pray for him about he immediately started going off about how religion was a joke and if God loves us than why does he allow so much pain and actually went so far to tell me that my savior would not save me if I was about to be hit by a bus...which I thought was an interesting example lol. Hannah and I got to discuss this in a little detail but every time we would make a point he would change the subject. In fact Hannah and I said very little which led us to believe that James just needed someone to talk to...which was completely confirmed because we tried to leave at least 15 times (our leader was outside waiting for us to go back to the base) and he would just keep talking about the poor road systems and how alcoholism is a huge problem haha. It was sad we had to leave because he was such a nice man who just wanted time but in the end Susan(our leader) had to come and pull us away because James kept on talking even while we were walking away...it was sad but I'm glad God blessed us to be able to meet and talk with him. If any of you could would you please pray for James and the other man we met?
Well that has been my week so far :) Eventful and normal all at the same time haha. Missing you all like always and I will write again soon :) Lots of love and God bless!!!

-Kaitlyn

My week so far :)

Hello Everyone!

I am currently writing this on Microsoft word because it has been snowing like crazy all day today and the power decided to go out the second I brought down my computer to write to you all! No fair! While the snow is beautiful there is a powerful wind behind it…and me being the brilliant thinker that I am decided that it would be a good idea to walk into the village to get some money and some food from the Co-Operative since I have a few hours of free time before local outreach tonight. I will never do that again in this kind of weather haha! By the time I got back to the base my shoes, wool socks, cuddle duds, pants, jacket, scarf, and gloves were soaking wet! When I walked in Allison saw me and her eyes did something like…O.O lol! So bad plan on my part…although I did accomplish my mission in getting money and food 

Ok! So other than my adventures today here is what has been going on around here. Last Friday the October 2009 DTS arrived from their outreach in Istanbul, Turkey. They will be here for the next 2 ½ weeks, which will then mark the completion of their DTS…so Yay for them  That Friday some of the girls from my DTS and a group of their DTS went out to the Hydro where they were doing karaoke night. Some people sang and all of us danced like idiots while they were singing haha so that was a lot of fun! Last weekend was quite lazy for me, which was actually much needed! Our previous week of lectures was quite intense learning about the Holy Spirit and had left me with a somewhat burnt out feeling. I pretty much just hung out around the base and the village with some of the October DTS students which was a lot of fun. They have so many good stories and are just awesome people. Sunday night we actually had quite the extreme game of Uno…but played with Swedish rules which are far too confusing to even begin to explain (half the time I didn’t even know who’s turn it was lol).

Monday we started with a new guest lecturer named Ina from South Africa. She is here to talk to us about Sin and the Cross. I was very nervous going into this week because just the sound of it sounds intense! I am so happy to say that so far I have really enjoyed this week and have been learning a lot about God and about me  Tomorrow is our last day of lectures for the week because Friday is something called our “day away”. The staff is doing an excellent job about keeping what we are going to do that day a secret so after Friday I will let you all know what our “day away” consists of…although I do know it has something to do with taking us out and showing us more of Scotland.

Well that is pretty much everything as of now…if any of you want to know something about my experience here so far that I am not addressing please feel free to write me and ask  Although for the next 2 ½ weeks it will be a little bit hard for me to write much since the October DTS people number at around 17 not including staff so the computers are somewhat difficult to get to since they have been out of touch with their families for so long. I love and miss all of you so much…as per usual haha and I will let you know what is going on around here again as soon as I can. God bless!

-Kaitlyn

P.S. One of the DTS staff members, Vincent, is leaving for good tomorrow  He is going back home to Nigeria because there is something like a civil war going on in his home town of Jos and some of his family members and friends have been killed due to it. If you could, would you please pray for him and his family because apparently more of his family is in danger of being hurt or killed and Vincent is going to be walking right into it. Please pray for protection and wisdom for Vincent and his family while they are dealing with what is happening in Nigeria. Thanks.

My Mailing Address!!!

Ok here is my mailing address just in case some of you lovely people would like to mail me letters or anything really haha.

Kaitlyn Vaccaro

The Seamill Centre

9 Glenbryde Road

Seamill, West Kilbride

KA23 9NJ

SCOTLAND

It has been a long week and the other DTS is going to be arriving from Turkey sometime tonight so I will try to let you all know how that goes sometime this weekend...but seeing as we will be a much more packed house with more students trying to use the computers I can't guarantee it. Loving and missing you all! God Bless

-Kaitlyn

Just some stuff

Hello again everyone!
Alright so last weekend was super fun! Kari, Bre, and I went into Largs (little sea side village about 15 min from West Kilbride) and had a nice little shopping day. I struck gold in a charity shop (thrift store) and got The Hobbit, all 3 Lord of the Rings books, The Host, and Silence of the Lambs (the book), for £6!!! I love books...so this was wonderful! I am now half way through The Hobbit and after that I am actually going to attempt to read all the Lord of the Rings books so wish me luck lol! Sunday was more of a lazy day which was much needed! Kari and I went into the Glen and took lots and lots of pictures which I will be posting on facebook very soon so look out for those.

This week we have a teacher...Mariette...who is teaching us about the Holy Spirit. It has been a very interesting and exhausting week so far. Mariette is an extremely passionate teacher and she has us do more practical excersizes that actual lectures haha. Needless to say with all that pretty much all of us students are about ready to just fall over ;) Although on a brighter note I went for a walk today in the Glen and found an amazing little spot right next to a mini waterfall that seems to be a great place to just chill out and relax by! I was super excited when I found it so I think that shall be my space to go to when I just need to relax and mull over the things of the week or just spend some alone time with God :)

Today we had practical ministry again and my group did a prayer walk around Largs which was actually lovely and relaxing. Before we got back in the car to go back to the base I convinced Susan (our leader) for us to run into the gorcery where I got a case of Pepsi and some chocolate bars haha! Yay!!!

Oh! My mom sent me a care package awhile back...and it finally got here!!! Hurray!!! I have to say...getting care packages is SO exciting around here :D So if anyone ya know wants to mail me stuff that would be ok ;) Haha I know the cost of shipping sucks but letters or anything are so much fun to get! I will post my address on here later just incase anyone wants to mail me a letter or candy....;) hahaha

Ok well I am on the student computer right now and a line is forming to use it so I must be off. I will try to right again soon :) Missing all of you and hope all is well!

-Kaitlyn

Outreach!!!

Ok everyone they have finally given us an answer to the 'where the heck are we going?!' question...Istanbul, Turkey! As far as dates when we are going that is still unclear...at least to me haha but we are all so happy that we finally have a place to go and to start learning and praying about :) So Hurray and I'm sure God will do amazing things while we are there!

We started local outreach on Wednesday and I am in a small team that goes into the town Largs to help out with the local youth in a youth cafe called the Helter Skelter. Unfortunately the owner of the cafe had to leave for America on very quick notice because his daughter had been involved in a car accident :( ...and also the people there have to look over some child protection stuff to make sure it's definitely OK that we volunteer there. So instead of that we went into Largs and handed out free bouquets of flowers to people for valentines day. When I gave mine away to a lady it took some convincing that I wasn't asking for money and I didn't have any hidden agenda rather than wanting to give her flowers haha. I thought it was kind of funny but in the end she seemed quite happy to receive them so that was nice.

Today has been a good day so far...we started class a bit later today so that was nice to be able to just sit for a moment, listen to music, and read my bible. We also started a group exercise thing that they call triplets (so we split up into groups of 3 in case you didn't catch on ;) ) and just hang out and talk together about anything really. I loved this exercise, not to mention it gave us a chance to get outside being that it is a beautiful sunny day here in Scotland!

In about an hour we have work duties and then a good chunk of our group will be leaving for the weekend to go and help out at a program called Fire Starters in Glasgow for the weekend. A few of us have decided to stay here, including me, to spend our weekend in other ways. Personally I just want to relax haha. Also, being that I have weekend work duties we cannot go too far so castle hunting will have to be postponed for another weekend. However, Kari and I are now thinking about going into Largs and hanging out there for a bit and searching the local book stores and any other stores this cute ocean side village holds :)

I hope all of you back in the home land are doing well. Missing all of you and I am loving the comments you are sending me!! :) God Bless

-Kaitlyn

Many New Things

Hello everyone! So lots of new things have started this week. Yesterday we started our home fellowship which is essentially families in the community taking us in for a night of fellowship and also an opportunity for us students to be in an actual home haha which is very nice (and as an added bonus the house I go to is heated!) It was very nice to meet the family who are actually quite involved in the Seamill base. Their names are Ula and Elena (and I am basically positive I am misspelling those names).

However, even with the fun of that we did have some sad news yesterday. Sam (one of the students in the DTS) decided to leave and go to a different school which he left for about an hour after lunch yesterday :( I am sad he is gone cause he was a great guy, but I am super proud of him for making the decision he felt was best for him :) It took a lot of courage to go somewhere he felt God wanted him and then after only a week realized God was calling him somewhere else and he obeys...so bravo Sam, even though we will miss him.

Tomorrow we start local outreach, although they haven't told us which groups we will be in yet. All of the options sounded like a lot of fun so I'll be happy wherever they decide to put me. Other than that we are basically just starting to feel what a normal week in YWAM is like. Thus far they have kept us very busy and I see no change in that pace any time soon but I suppose that has its good and bad traits. Luckily since we have weekends free I will use that as my time to unwind. Kari and I are thinking about going castle hunting this weekend so that would be fun. I'm up for anything that doesn't require any seriously deep thinking haha! Ok all I was going to write more, but I got caught up talking with the family and friends on skype and lost all train of thought because I am so sleepy! I will try to write more again soon! Loving and missing you all! Goodnight

-Kaitlyn

Free Day!

Ok everyone I have been asked to post some pictures so here are 2 pictures. The building is the YWAM Seamill Base where I am staying and the other is the beach that is a 5 minute walk from the base itself :) Pretty huh?!

I have uploaded a lot more on my facebook page so if you can find me there you will see lots more of the area and of my fellow students :)

So yesterday was the start of our first weekend here in Scotland and it couldn't have come at a better time. Most of us were pretty burnt out from combos of jet lag, extreme-make our brains hurt-lectures, work duties, and meeting many new people...so to put it in simple terms we needed a break! A big group of us took the train to Glasgow yesterday morning to do some exploring and shopping. We broke into 2 groups at first and then after 1 store in the big city Kari (an awesome girl I've gotten to know here) and I split off from the big group to explore Glasgow on our own...and we had FUN! Between the two of us we found some amazing local stores and while shopping we got to sight-see all the gorgeous architecture throughout Glasgow :) Throughout the city there are tons of street performers who were all very talented. We saw a guy juggling flaming batons and a bunch of musicians...some playing bagpipes with an accompaniment of drums (it was so awesome!).

After a long day of shopping we decided that although we are in a different country and should probably explore the different food options, we really wanted some greasy delicious American food haha! We actually found a TGI Fridays!!! It was soooooo good lol! After that it was time to return "home" for lack of a better term. It was a great day and felt nice to get out for a bit.

Today is another free day before starting up again tomorrow. I have spent most of the day kicking back and reading Sarah's book, which I am almost done with :) Kari and I walked into the village a bit earlier to go to the Co-Op(grocery store) to pick up some juice and snacks. Missing all of you and I will write again as soon as I can...or when something profoundly interesting happens ;) Keep commenting please I love it!

-Kaitlyn

First week=Complete!

Hello Everyone!

Week 1 is officially complete! Yay!!!!!!! I tell ya...with all the lectures and work duties it seems like I have been here for a month : We have already had quite a few guest lecturers in this short time. It has been a lot of fun getting to see all of their different approaches and personalities when it comes to teaching. I can tell I am going to enjoy the lecture phase.

If I had to give this week one word it would be overwhelming! Everyone here is so amazing and so loving...however their approach at church is much more charismatic than I am used to. God has definitely called me to go to a base that will push me out of my comfort zone haha! It is refreshing to see such a body, or community as they call it here, so on fire and hungry for God. To my family and close friends, you all know how I make a very big deal out of personal space...so it has been slightly awkward for me when I am bombarded with people wanting to lay hands on me and pray for me all at once haha! I do appreciate the support but it has been interesting to say the least trying to get used to that lol!

A bunch of us students are going to head into Glasgow tomorrow because we are all in much need of some fresh air and different scenery! A couple of the staff members are coming along which is good so us tourists won't get hopelessly lost in the big city :) I am hoping to get some shopping done for snack foods and a watch! My cell phone is dumb and will not even tell me the time over here...and asking everyone else for the time is getting slightly obnoxious.

We have been told that hopefully next week we will find out where our main outreach location will be...so Yay!!!!!!!! Lee has said that Turkey and Cambodia are good possibilities so we shall know very soon I hope!!!

Alright my friends I am absolutely exhausted and we have a long day of exploring tomorrow on our first weekend here in YWAM! I will write again once I find out where our outreach location is! I miss you all and thank you for commenting and writing me...it makes my day when I get emails :D

P.S.
Here are some new words I have started to adopt since being here..
-Petrol=Gasoline
-Car Park=Parking Lot
-Corridor=Hallway
-Hoovering=Vacuuming
-Beak=Bill(on a hat)
-Boot=Trunk(on a car)
-Wellies=Rain Boots

I made it!

Hello Everyone!

Sorry it has taken me so long to let you all know how I am doing. The staff at the base had to check our computers to make sure they were up to date on anti virus software, and they didn't do that until earlier today sooooo this is the first time I have gotten to turn on my computer.

So I left LAX on Friday the 29th and after a lovely 17 hours of traveling I arrived in Glasgow, Scotland! My first thought when I was walking to grab my luggage and looking out the window was...Wow, this place looks exactly like Fresno. It was slightly unnerving actually haha. Thankfully I got on the bus to take me to the Central Rail Line and actually managed to figure out the right change in pounds on the first try! Yay me...the bus driver seemed proud of me haha. On the way I discovered that Glasgow is actually gorgeous with all of its amazing architecture! Once you get into the city itself it is amazing. When I got to the tracks I met up with a girl named Allison who is also a student in this DTS and we took the train together to West Kilbride, which is the sweet little town I am staying in. When we arrived some of the YWAM Seamill staff met us and brought us to the YWAM Seamill center which honestly looks like a castle...and is as drafty as you would expect a castle to be ;) I'll be posting pictures soon of the base and the people in it.

Over these last couple days we have taken a couple walks into the village, the beach, and a famous Scottish Castle which I cannot even begin to remember the name of lol. This place is so beautiful! These last few days have been sunny and people have been slightly confused about it. However, around 3 pm today the rain finally came and it only helped the beauty of this charming sea side community :)

Today we started class which was more of a orientation than anything but still fun none the less. We had about an hour and a half of worship this morning which was one of the most powerful experiences of my life thus far. God was in the room and there was no denying it! Being around so many people so hungry for God is such a beautiful thing to see. It is definitely encouraging to us students that we have such wonderful and passionate staff members to watch over us and teach us about our Lord :)

Well that is all for now I will update again as soon as I can...but right now I have to go back down to the classroom before bed for a response meeting. I am already missing you all so much. Please write to me! My email is Ldnhappy22@hotmail.com. God bless you all!

Here I go!

Hi everyone!

So I'm off to Seamill, Scotland in just a few days! How exciting! It seems unreal to me that this is finally happening. God has been pushing me to go to YWAM for so long now...and I resisted that push for so long that it seems crazy that I finally gave in, and I thank God that I did :) I am so...I suppose the word would be curious about what God has planned for me and all of my fellow classmates while we are there. For those of you who don't know my story, I felt a calling to go to YWAM for about 2 years and kept resisting that call. I made excuses like I needed to finish school and I couldn't risk giving up my job at that time. One day God called me yet again to go to YWAM and that same week I found out that the company I was working for was going out of business. Again, that same week I found out that although I thought I would be able to graduate with my AA in general ed. that semester, I found out I needed additional units and a class no one had informed me I needed in my 2 1/2 years of college. If that isn't God setting me up and no longer taking No for an answer than I don't know what is!
I know that these coming months will be a definite challenge for me. I know that I will get home sick considering I have never been away from my family for more than 2 weeks before. I know that I will be challenging my comfort zone because I am already doing that ;) People have been saying to me how courageous I am for taking this leap...but to be honest I do not feel so courageous. In all honesty I am totally freaking out haha! However the excitement is outweighing the scariness of it all. I have faith that God will guide me and show me amazing things while I am away.
Please everyone pray for me and everyone else at the Seamill base for safe travels and finances! I've said it before, but I get lost very easily so please pray for me! I will be leaving LAX on Friday the 29th and arriving in Scotland on the 30th. I do not yet know where my outreach location is, but once I know I will be sure to tell you :)
God bless all of you! I will write again once I have arrived!