A Year in Review: 2016 - Delight

Even though we're nearly a month into 2017, I thought a look back to all that Jesus did in 2016 might be good!

At the end of December 2015, I asked Jesus for a word for 2016 - a word that I could hold onto, a promise from Him, something to look back and see if it had happened. He gave me Psalm 37:1-9, but highlighted verse 4 which says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart." The word I felt He was speaking for the year was delight. He confirmed that word through prophetic words given by others and by the growing desire in my heart to just be with Jesus, no matter where I was or what I was doing. I wanted to find my delight in Him!

So, with this in mind, I jumped into one of the craziest years of my life!

February DTS 2016's first family photo!

January - We had a week of Face to Face as a community. We gather 3 times a year to seek the Lord together as a family at YWAM Seamill - face to face with God and face to face with each other. Jesus spoke a lot about our identity as individuals and as a community. It was a really amazing week together, and it definitely set the stage for the rest of the year.
Our Nations Ministry Team went on a two week outreach to Cyprus. They did quite a bit of pastoral care for long-term missionaries there and evangelism on the streets and in a refugee center.
January was also a month of preparation for us on the DTS staff team as we got ready for the February DTS to come!

February - The DTS trainees arrived and lecture phase started!! And thus began one of the craziest seasons of my life.

Heading to Glasgow for midterm! 

March - The DTS was in full swing, and Alex and I co-lead a two week outreach to Glasgow with the DTS. We partnered with the church we were staying at to minister in their neighborhood, worked with Glasgow City Mission to serve the homeless and refugees in Glasgow, and did a ton of street evangelism on the main shopping street in the city as well!
YWAM Seamill had staff teams sharing the love of Jesus in the middle east for most of the spring!

Northern Ireland

April - This was a huge month of breakthrough for me personally. We got back from the outreach
in Glasgow and started lectures with the DTS again. Jesus brought so much inner healing to me over those last few weeks of lectures. It was a really incredible and exhausting time!
I got to go to Northern Ireland for a personal retreat for 4 days. The YWAM base I stayed at is located next to the park that was the inspiration for C.S. Lewis' Narnia! It was a very refreshing weekend of silence and solitude and hiking around some beautiful land.

April is also when Wayne and I started dating!!! That was a really good topper to the month!
And then two days later, I left with a team of 4 trainees to lead their long-term outreach in Budapest, Hungary. Alex and another staff member lead the other 4 trainees on their outreach to Central Asia.

May - Outreach in Budapest! It was such a privilege to lead the team there and to watch each of the trainees grow in their faith, boldness, and their walk with Jesus. It was a very challenging month for me, but I saw the faithfulness of Jesus like I've never seen before.
The YWAM Seamill community had the second Face to Face time for the year which I was sad to miss!

June - We were in Budapest for nearly 3 weeks of June and then headed back to Scotland to rejoin the other half of the DTS for the last 3 weeks of their school. It was really fun to be back together, to hear all of the stories from both outreaches, and to see the growth in the people we hadn't been with for 7 weeks.

The Flanigan siblings!

July - July was crazy. The DTS graduated on the 7th, and I left in the wee hours of the morning to head back to the States on the 8th. I first went to Virginia for my brother Cole's wedding where I was with all 5 of my siblings for the first time in several years! Then on the 12th I flew to Oregon for 3 weeks to catch up with everyone there and to rest after an intense few months.

August - I got home to Scotland on the 5th, and Wayne and I were finally in the same place for more than two weeks since we started dating! It was an interesting month of transition though. I went from full time staffing a DTS to not really sure what my job was as Wayne and two others prepared for the September DTS to come.
YWAM Seamill was also hosting a 6 week school called the Leadership Development Course. I was only there for the last 4 weeks of it, but there were some legends in our mission here during that time. It was encouraging and inspiring to be surrounded by them!

September - And things got crazy again! We had another time of Face to Face as a community for a few days at the start of the month. Then September DTS trainees came on the 17th, and our house was filled with activity again. Wayne is the leader of this school, and it's been such a privilege to get to walk with him in his new role and to see him grow in his leadership skills.
Rachel and I began to pray and prepare for the January 2017 DTS.

Two of my favourite people in my favourite place

October - This was a great month. One of my best friends from Oregon, Hannah, spontaneously flew to Scotland to visit for a week! It was so crazy having her here, meeting Wayne and the people I live and work with, and seeing what life is like here.





Wayne and I were bought a car and got to bring it back from England on a little road trip!
The September DTS went on their two week mid-term outreach to Stockholm, Sweden, and Jesus did incredible things through them! They came back with a new passion and fire in their hearts to see people know Him!






November - We hosted a two week retreat for long-term missionaries in closed/difficult countries called Homecoming. We host it every year, and it is always such a special time.
I flew to Brussels to meet my mom there and to show her where I did my DTS! Then we went to London for a couple days, and then I brought her to Seamill! Talk about surreal.

 



My mom met Wayne. Wayne asked mom if he could marry me. She said yes. Wayne asked me if I'd marry him. I said yes. And now we're engaged!! Highlight of the year for sure :)

December - My mom went back to Oregon on the 5th, Wayne and the September DTS left for their 10 week long-term outreach to Cyprus on the 10th, I turned 23 on the 12th, and YWAM Seamill closed for the holidays on the 16th.
I chose to stay in Scotland over Christmas instead of going back to Oregon so I could rest after the craziness of the year. Although I love spending Christmas with my family, I think it was really good to just stay here. There were only two of us in the house for most of break, but it was restful and refreshing.

And that is a very condensed version of a really full, hard, and beautiful year! Thank you, Jesus, for your faithfulness, your trustworthiness, your grace, and your love in 2016. And thank you, dear friend, for journeying through it with me!

Budapest Outreach Week 6 Update!

I can't believe how quickly the last few weeks have flown by. It feels like we just got to Budapest, but we're actually already finishing up this outreach! Just 8 days left in this beautiful city... Crazy! 

Central Europe Staff Gathering Family Picture!
We're in there somewhere!

Last time I sent an update we were just about to head to Vajta for the YWAM Central Europe Staff Gathering. We had an amazing and exhausting week at the conference. It was such a privilege to be able to hear from YWAM's founder, Loren Cunningham, but I think even more of a privilege to get to spend the whole week with the teens of YWAM! They are such a special group of people who also give so much as missionary kids along with their missionary parents! We had an amazing time worshipping with them through music and creative arts, sharing devotionals, hearing about their lives and all of the adventures they've already been on, and just hanging out being goofy with them! We played lots of games, went swimming, and enjoyed meals together too. We were all sad when our team had to head back to Budapest! 



It's been pretty crazy since we've been back in the city. Rachel (our DTS school leader) and Dani (another staff member) came from Seamill last Monday for a pastoral visit and were with us until Friday! It was so great to have them here in Budapest and it was a huge blessing to our team. 

Testimonies!

I just want to share a few highlights from the last couple of weeks:

The first happened yesterday during our street evangelism time... Anna got to lead a man to Jesus!! She was so excited!! She was just sharing with him about what Jesus had done in her life, and he decided he wanted to have that in his own life! She is hoping to reconnect with him next week. Please pray they'll be able to talk again and that he will continue to seek and encounter Jesus in these coming days!

Celena giving her testimony while Gabor translated

Another cool thing has been seeing how relationships we've built are growing, and we're seeing fruit from them! Celena met a guy in the first or second week we were here named Gabor. He had just come to Jesus a couple weeks before we came. He's actually homeless and living on the streets, and before meeting Jesus, he was addicted to drugs. Jesus immediately set him free from his addiction, and he has been experiencing so much more joy and freedom since then! Over the weeks, Gabor has been coming to the Friday night cafe, and Celena and the others have really been pouring into him. This last Friday at the cafe, he told Celena that he wants to become a pastor and tell everyone about Jesus. That night they got to pray for another guy at the cafe whose knee was completely healed, and Gabor was the one who prayed! He is so on fire for Jesus! And he actually joined us yesterday for our street evangelism time. He translated the gospel and shared his testimony through the microphone, and was hard to keep up with in his enthusiasm to just walk up to people on the street and tell them about Jesus' love! And all of this was his first time doing any sort of evangelism... Jesus is so good!

I also want to share about God's faithfulness to what He spoke before we left Seamill. He had spoken a lot about friendship/relationships and also encouraging the local church, and He's been faithful to bring opportunities to us for both! This Sunday we got to share at the International Baptist Church of Budapest. They gave us twenty minutes to share testimonies and some music. Celena and Kevin shared testimonies about what they've seen Jesus do in this city, and I got to share a word of encouragement from the things we'd gotten in prayer for their church. Sharing in churches is one of my favourite things, and we all got really positive feedback from the people there. I think it was also a really good experience for the trainees to share in a church before heading back to their own churches this summer! 



A personal highlight for me was getting to spend time with Dan and Katy Beth Searls a couple weeks ago. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I remember looking at the bulletin board at Labish Church and seeing the Searls' prayer card. I thought to my 8 year old self, "It would be so cool to go visit the Searls in Hungary someday!" Fast forward around 14 years... It happened! Jesus is SO ridiculous. I randomly ran into Dan and Katy Beth a few weeks ago in Budapest, and then two weeks ago my team and I got to enjoy a beautiful Sunday with them. We were so blessed by their hospitality and joy, and I'm slightly overwhelmed by how much Jesus loves to answer even the most passing, seemingly unrealistic, thoughts and desires of our hearts.

Some ways to pray! 

- Good health for everyone! Celena has had a pretty bad cold for a few days now, but she's pressed on like a champ! A couple others have had sore throats/stuffy noses too, so please pray for a healthy last 8 days!

- Continued passion and energy for the ministries we're involved with 

- More salvations and people encountering Jesus!!!

- A good finish: that we can leave Budapest without feeling like there are loose ends or things left incomplete 

- Breakthrough in a couple of relationships, especially with Bryce's buddy Laszlo. He is so close to giving his life to Jesus, and we are all praying that he will make that decision while we are still here! 

- That we would become even closer as a team, in ministry and at home; that we would know how to encourage and build one another up and how to really pursue Jesus together! We've really been asking Jesus how we can end this outreach well and strong individually and as a team. It's so easy to just coast through the last couple weeks of an outreach, but none of us want to do that! 

Thank you for supporting us in prayer! It has been such a privilege to serve Jesus with this team in Budapest! 

Cheers!
Katy

Budapest Outreach Update!

Thank you for praying for us!

Our first week in Budapest was amazing. The weather is great, the city is beautiful, the people don't really speak English, and the team has been doing really well! It was mostly spent getting to know the city and how YWAM works here, but also getting right to work. There is a team from YWAM Lausanne in Switzerland that is also doing their longterm outreach here. They will be in Budapest until the 26th of May, so we've been joining them in what they are doing in the city. It's been really good to have another team here so we can see how ministry works best in this city! They are a team of 11, so it's also been really fun to have other people to hangout with since we are such a small group! 

We do specific street evangelism twice a week on Monday and Thursday afternoons. It's really different from what we normally do at Seamill, but so far it's been really fun and lots of good conversations and opportunities to pray for people have come of it! We set up a couple of speakers and microphones in the metro stations and then just go for it - singing, banjo playing, testimonies, gospel presentations, and the other team does a couple of skits. And of course, you can't forget the Cupid Shuffle dance to draw a crowd! Our four trainees are so bold - they will literally talk to anyone about anything and end up sharing Jesus with whoever is in front of them. They are incredibly self-motivated and willing to do anything!

We have been working with homeless people on the streets on Tuesday afternoons, giving them sandwiches, chatting with them, and praying for them. I think this will be one of our group's favourite ministry times!

We work with refugees on Wednesday mornings who are staying at a homeless shelter in the city. They are mostly from Northern Africa and Afghanistan. It's a great opportunity to just talk with them (most speak at least a little English). We will hopefully get the chance to go to a refugee camp outside the city a few times while we are here. 

We also got to hangout with a bunch of Roma gypsy kids for several hours for two Sunday mornings. It was complete chaos but a lot of fun with dancing, Bible stories, and Anna's face painting! 

We spend quite a bit of time with the YWAM staff team here in Budapest as well. We are joining them several times a week at the YWAM coffeehouse for base worship, intercession, cleaning, and their Friday night cafe ministry. I think we have all felt incredibly welcomed and immediately included in their lives and work here. It has been an amazing first few weeks, and I am so impressed with Kevin, Bryce, Anna, and Celena's willingness and boldness. We are all doing well and are so excited for what Jesus will do in the coming weeks and thankful for what He has already done in the short time we've been here! 

The last two weeks, we continued on with what we were doing the first week  It has been really good to have consistency in the ministries so we're able to build friendships and relationships with people!

Testimonies! 

From Katy:

Two weeks ago we also had the opportunity to partner with a small international church as they organized a "crusade"-like evangelistic event that took place last Friday and Saturday night. We helped them pass out over 1,000 flyers on Monday morning, and then the 5 of us joined their prayer ministry team for the Saturday night meeting. Jesus showed up in some amazing ways! Over the weekend at least 8 people gave their lives to Jesus, at least that many were healed physically in some way, and about 70 people heard the gospel! The turn out wasn't quite what was hoped for, but as the pastor said when we first met with him a couple weeks ago - if even one came to Jesus, it would be totally worth it! 

A Hungarian girl and I got to lead a man to Jesus on the sidewalk outside the venue. We talked with him for about 30 minutes, sharing God's heart with him, praying for him, leading him in a salvation prayer, and then got to pray for him to be filled with Holy Spirit! When we first were talking with him, he said he was so angry and wanted to kill everyone. He was not in a great place... But as we talked with him, he was filled with peace and left completely changed! 

Inside, the four trainees were having a party. They were praying and prophesying over people, seeing people getting healed and coming to Jesus. 

That Saturday night, our team was part of four people coming into relationship with Jesus! Thankfully there were enough Hungarians for us all to partnered with someone who could translate. It was so fun to be able to do ministry with people who are so committed to seeing the gospel spread in their own nation! 

From Bryce about cafe ministry on Friday nights: 

Outreach has definitely been a challenge for me, but also very rewarding. I'm sure I could tell you stories for hours, but one in particular is very special to me. During cafe ministry our first week, I met a guy named Laszlo. He's Hungarian. I saw him outside the cafe peering in, and I hoped that he would come into the building, thankfully he did. He looked lost so I thought I would introduce myself. We got to talking, and long story short, he's not a Christian, but he's whats called a straight edge (they don't do drugs or drink or anything like that). He is now a good friend, and has continued to come to the cafe on Fridays and we have been able to hangout outside of those nights. He had never heard the gospel before, and I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to share it with him. When I did, it was outside the huge basilica in Budapest, at night, with all the lights shining on it. I also shared some scripture with him and he responded to it well. He went home and read the parable of the lost son in Hungarian and said " these stories are true, thank you man". He hasn't accepted Jesus YET but there's still more time. Pray that he will choose Jesus!

And here's a testimony from Anna and Celena from street outreach (they're an evangelism power team!!): 

Our testimony is about how God's presence really surrounds us, that he works in us and gives us the energy to do what's needed when needed. He really showed us that you don't have to have the strongest faith, or be feeling your best to be used, but he will even use people who don't even know him yet!

On one of the street Evangelism days, we went up to this random guy (we'll call him Joe), found out he spoke English and probably talked with him for about 2 hours. He didn't know or believe in God, but by the end of our time with him he had no reason not too. We were able to speak life over him, pray for him, tell him the gospel, tell him our testimonies, answer his questions, and tell him how Jesus is sooo worth it! It was really amazing because as we were talking to him we were both filled with so much joy talking about our Father and our tiredness or sickness went away as we spoke. You could see the light in his eyes and how his expressions and attitude changed the more we talked. Joe said he wanted the joy and boldness we had, so we got to pray for him and tell him how... (Jesus! ) and he was saying how no one ever comes up to him (a stranger) and just talks to him, especially about Jesus. 

As Joe was talking about that 5 different Hungarians randomly came up and talked to us, and since we don't know Hungarian, he ended being used by God as a translator. And every person talked about Jesus! Joe heard so much about Jesus and was speaking it out, practically preaching without even realizing it! He probably heard the gospel three times and each time he spoke it out! 

The presence of God was just getting stronger and stronger, and at one point a drunk guy got super angry once he entered the atmosphere of God's presence. He was yelling and being really rude, and ended up pouring his beer on our friend Lorrie's head.. Yet Lorrie responded in love and just said that Jesus loves him... And then the man just walked away! Then this lady came up and told Joe that she had been praying for the drunk man to just walk away. So Joe realized how the man had left even though he was so ready to fight. But Joe witnessed Lorrie's love and faith, and we got to explain all of this to him. You could tell that he was amazed, a little confused but really thinking. Sadly he was leaving for London so we couldn't stay in touch, but I think Joe left with God working so deeply within him that he was already a a changed man. He took a Bible and as he walked away, another lady walked up and stopped next to us for a second. They were playing the song "Oceans", so I turned to her to talk and looked her in the eyes. She immediately started sobbing. And she wept in mine and Anna's arms as we prayed for her. There were others who were nearby who randomly broke into tears as well. The place we were in was just so filled with the presence of God that you could see him working visibly not just in us and the people we talked to, but in random people walking by too. ~ Celena + Anna

Thank you for praying for us! Continue to pray for boldness, ease of communication even with different languages, for us as a team to go into deeper intimacy with Jesus, and for people to encounter Him through us! 

We love you all! 

April Update - Budapest Outreach and Glasgow Midterm Outreach!

Hello friends! 

This last month has been full of trial and error, growing and learning, being stretched and changed, and finding breakthrough and freedom in Jesus! I'm falling more and more in love with Him everyday and finding that He really does want to make His home in me as I learn to make my home in Him. This has looked like letting go of a lot of old lies and twisted mindsets that I've believed for most of my life and giving them to Jesus so He can give me His mind, His heart, and the identity He won for me on the cross. He really does want to redeem our pasts and make them into something beautiful. I pray you see Him do the same in your life too! 

Budapest Outreach (April 30th - June 18th)

         
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I can hardly believe it, but I and four DTS trainees (Bryce, Anna, Kevin, and Celena) leave for Budapest, Hungary, in less than 2 weeks!! 13 days! 

So, what does outreach in Budapest look like? 

We will be doing a lot of creative street evangelism (skits, dances, art, music, etc followed by a translated presenting of the gospel by one of us) and helping YWAM Budapest run an outreach through a coffee shop on Friday nights. Hungarian culture is very centred on the arts so skits and art are very effective forms of reaching out. We will also be doing a lot with the local Hungarian church in various ways. As I was praying about outreach earlier this year, God really highlighted the importance of encouraging the local church which is actually a huge part of YWAM Budapest's vision for ministry. It's been really cool - nearly everything I felt God speaking in prayer about this outreach are things YWAM Budapest is focused on, even down to the coffee shop ministry and working with the local church! It's a beautiful city and I can't wait for our team to be there bringing the love of Jesus to its streets! 

While we are there, we also have the incredible privilege of being at the Central Europe Staff Gather (CESG) which is being held in Hungary this May. We will be helping with providing youth ministry for the YWAM kids in the mornings and afternoons. It is going to be such an amazing week! The dates for the CESG are May 23rd - 27th. YWAM gatherings are pretty much my favorite events ever because you get to connect with some incredible people who have the craziest stories of what Jesus is doing through them in the nations. And to top it all off, Loren and Darlene Cunningham, the founders of YWAM, will be the main speakers in the evenings!! I've wanted to hear them speak since before I even did my DTS, so this will definitely be a highlight of the outreach for me! 

There is a lot of prepping that still needs to happen before we head out. Since I've never been to Hungary, there are a lot of unknowns about this outreach and a lot of stuff that I'm going to have to figure out as we go, but it's going to be good! 

One way you can be involved with this outreach would be through finances! The cost for me for this outreach is about $1500. If you would like to give financially towards the trip, a simple way is through PayPal at https://www.paypal.me/katyflanigan, or for other ways of giving click here. 

The other area to be involved in is through prayer! 

Praying for Outreach: 

- Pray that we as a team would gain God's heart for Budapest as we prepare to go.

- Pray for wisdom and grace for me as I lead this team! 

- Pray that we will really grow together as a family before we go

- Pray that all the small details come together

- Pray for us as we prepare a program for the CESG youth ministry times - that we would have God's heart for these amazing YWAM teens!

Glasgow Midterm Outreach!

"In unity, we listen to God and without fear we choose to release His reality in Glasgow" - our vision statement for midterm outreach

Thank you for praying for the DTS as we headed into Glasgow for our mid-lecture phase two week outreach. One thing that I really loved about this outreach was that we got to minister to Scottish people every day for two solid weeks! I already love this nation, but my heart for Scotland and its people definitely grew while we were in Glasgow! 

                      

We spent most of our evenings at Glasgow City Mission serving the homeless and refugees of the city. It was such a great experience and the highlight ministry times for pretty much the whole DTS team. There are so many stories I could share from those evenings, but I think as a leader of the team, my favorite part of City Mission was seeing the trainees grow in courage and in their love for people of all different spheres of life. They would fearlessly pour into anyone there, whether they were homeless or a staff volunteer or didn't really speak English well. They were asked to share testimonies at the last minute, did really random jobs, and had interesting conversations, but they just went with it - even if they didn't really know what they were doing! It was amazing to watch them grow in confidence as the days progressed. ​

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We did a ton of street evangelism, and seeing the trainees step out in crazy boldness was incredible. They would seriously go up and talk to anyone about Jesus anytime, anywhere - praying for them, sharing prophetic words from Jesus, and speaking life into others. They made me want to be more courageous in evangelism! 

On our last night we did outreach with Light & Life in the city centre. It was an amazing night! 8 people gave their lives to Jesus and around 50 people came in from the streets for prayer, healing physically/emotionally/spiritually, and prophetic words and art from God's heart through us. The trainees did a little bit of everything that night and many of them got to pray and talk with the 8 people who came to Jesus!

All in all, it was a great outreach, and I learned a ton about leading a team. It was really good to have the opportunity to get the kinks out in leading - practicing putting together a schedule, contacting ministries and organizing things, keeping track of where the team is spiritually/emotionally/physically, making sure there was food, sorting out transportation... all of it! Definitely good to have that opportunity before heading out on long term outreach. 

Northern Ireland - breakthrough and personal retreat

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Last weekend I took a personal retreat to YWAM Rostrevor in Northern Ireland. The location was pretty spontaneous, but the entire retreat from location to the retreat itself and everything in the week after midterm outreach that lead up to the retreat were totally arranged and planned by Jesus! 

            

         
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The week before I left, the DTS lecture theme was spiritual authority. During that week, I got so much personal freedom and breakthrough from things I've lived with and fought against in myself since I was a kid. A lot of it was insecurities and lies I had believed for a long time. But, not anymore! I had a really intense prayer time with one of the guest speakers and friend from the base two days before I left for Ireland and they fought for my spiritual and emotional freedom. Jesus is so good and faithful! I am a completely different person than I was two weeks ago. I have so much peace and freedom and joy. And it was such a blessing from Papa to be able to leave for the retreat with all of that garbage dealt with and gone. I was able to just rest in Him and enjoy myself without the things that had haunted my thoughts and emotions for years. 

It was a beautiful weekend. I got to go hiking in the "mountains" (really, they were just tall hills...) where CS Lewis was inspired to write the Chronicles of Narnia! I was able to just spend time with Jesus on my own. I could sleep in, read books for fun, catch up on journaling and processing, and wander around in the woods whenever I wanted. It was the most refreshing weekend. Rest is a good thing!

Life until Budapest:

We have two full weeks of lecture phase left! The time has flown by. This week's theme is Missions and one of my good friends here in Scotland is teaching. It's going to be a really fun and crazy week. I'm excited to see the trainees catch God's heart for the world and the lost through Michael's teaching. 

The last full week is Evangelism. And then we're outta here! A good two weeks to kick off longterm outreach. 

Basically, life is going to be full of preparing for outreach, learning skits and dramas, making sure everything is organized, catching up with friends here I won't see for a couple months, and being fully engaged with what Jesus is doing in the lecture times! Yay! Bring it on. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. I couldn't be doing any of this without you! I would love to hear from you :) 

Be blessed! Cheers!

Katy

Snail mail:

Katy Flanigan

9 Glenbryde Road

West Kilbride

KA23 9NJ

Scotland

November Update! Amsterdam!

Well... November flew by. Not really sure where the time went... But! Thank you for praying for me! It was an incredible month, full of learning, growth, revelation, and exploration!

The beginning of the month was pretty crazy. We were preparing for Homecoming (a two week retreat for frontier missionaries from the field to come rest and be refreshed before heading back to their ministries) and as a DTS team we were also getting ready to head to Amsterdam!

The week of Homecoming that I was here for was really great. It was so cool to hear stories of life in other nations, what God is doing in some really tough places, and to hear how He was using such humble people to change the world. We hosted legends - heroes on the field. It was such a privilege to get to serve them and to just be around them! There were about 15 people who came, including some families. It was really fun to have little kids running around the house too!

One of the many beautiful canals in Amsterdam

Amsterdam: DTS Workshop
Amsterdam was incredible. I am so glad that we were able to go! Alex, Rachel, and I headed over on the 15th. The first week was the Discipleship Training School Workshop. Again, it was like being in a room full of legends. There was about 50 people from 11 or 12 bases from around Western Europe. Some of us have never staffed a DTS before, others have literally been working with DTSs for decades. We learned again the basics and foundations of DTS - why we do them, what the core vision behind it is, and how we do them well. We walked through the values of a DTS and YWAM, and went in depth with what being a disciple of Jesus really means.

Me and Rachel. She's the best.

I really enjoyed that first week we were in Amsterdam. I feel much more prepared for the upcoming school because I have an even better understanding of what DTS really is! And I know even more now that it is definitely the type of ministry God created me to do. It was also such an encouraging and refreshing week. We were busy with sessions and activities from 9am-9pm pretty much everyday, but it was so good to be around like-minded people who are passionate about seeing others grow in their relationship with Jesus.

It was a great time of reconnecting as well. There were several friends from YWAM Brussels and Herrnhut who I haven't seen in over a year or more at the workshop. YWAM really makes the world a whole lot smaller! It was so good to hear what Jesus has been doing in their lives since I last saw them and to share our hearts for the nations and discipleship! It was also so good to make new friendships with people from other bases from all around Europe. One night we had a base presentation night where each base shared very briefly about DTS at their base and other ministries their bases are doing. I love DTS because each one is so unique! Snowboarders, Sailing, Fine Arts, Justice, Core DTS... It just shows how God loves to be creative in reaching the world through His creation! It was exciting to hear about where each base is thriving and where they are still learning how to grow.

I also got the chance to reconnect with one of my DTS staff and his family, who I haven't seen in almost 3 years! They live in a town outside of Amsterdam, so I got to spend last Saturday with them. After hearing so many stories during the DTS workshop and learning more about being staff, I have a much greater appreciation for all my DTS staff did for me and my school!

Amsterdam: Team Outreach!

The Seamill DTS Team: Alex, Rachel, me, and Wayne!

Then last week we started our team outreach. Our fourth team member, Wayne, joined us Sunday night, and we got right to it Monday morning. Before we left, we felt God leading us to go to Amsterdam to, first of all, give us the tools and better equip us for the DTS, second, to grow in boldness in sharing the gospel, and then also to grow together as a team in our relationships with Jesus and our understanding of the Bible. We also felt very strongly that during both the workshop and on the streets we were to give away what we carry in our hearts because we are blessed to be a blessing - freely we have received from the Father, so freely we must give.

In the mornings we would spend about 4 hours together worshipping, praying, and studying the Bible together. It was so good. We each received so much revelation and vision during these times in the mornings. We spent most of our Bible reading time in 1 Peter, and I don't think we even got to the third chapter because Holy Spirit just kept showing us more and more in the first two chapters!

After lunch, we would head into the city center which was only about a 15 minute walk from YWAM Amsterdam, and then a couple of the evenings we went out to the streets as well. I'll just share a couple of my favorite encounters from the streets with you.

Amsterdam - bikes and old churches

Storytime!
On Monday morning while we were praying about ministry for that day, I saw a picture in my mind of a certain pub on a street corner in the city center. In the picture, we had prayed for healing for a man's leg and he was sitting on a particular bench and it was dark outside. We went out Monday afternoon and split up, talking with whoever we felt to led to share with about Jesus. We had a really great afternoon and decided to go back out after dinner. As we were heading back into the main part of the city, I remembered the picture, so Wayne and I headed to the street corner pub with the bench and just waited for Jesus to show us the guy! I approached several people, but none of them were interested in talking with us or receiving prayer. Then both of us saw the same guy, and we knew he was the one we were waiting for!
His name was Alef and he was Dutch. Wayne approached him first and I followed. We asked him straight away if he had any pain in his legs or his back and if we could pray for him if he did, and to both he said yes! We had him sit down on the bench and prayed for his legs. One was definitely shorter than the other. Although we didn't see his leg grow out, he did say that his back pain was gone! We started chatting with him about his life, and I asked him if he had a personal relationship with Jesus. He was really open and said no, but the only reason he didn't was because he couldn't believe that the Son of God would really become human. He also shared that when he was little he went to Sunday School but felt completely rejected by the church because he was always being punished for being naughty.
Now, at this point, I got super excited because this was my chance to give away what God had just given me the day before. On Sunday afternoon during a team worship time, Holy Spirit showed me how much I still needed the Cross and what Jesus had gone through to purchase my redemption. A huge part of what He showed me was about how human Jesus really was. It was really intense, but through this revelation I realized how desperately people need to know what Jesus did for them! So, just one day after learning this myself, I was able to share this with Alef - how Jesus grew up and probably stubbed His toe and scraped His knee, how He grew up in a town that no one liked, worked hard as a carpenter, hung out with the outcasts and the people no one liked, did the complete opposite of what the religious people said was right, and then died an excruciating death to save us and set us free. It was amazing to watch how Alef changed as I spoke! You could see the wheels turning!
Then I felt he should read the Gospel of John. Turns out Alef's middle name is John. And we told him how John was the beloved, the very loved one of Jesus. And that he was very loved by God too. Everything in Alef changed in that moment. We prayed for him one more time, and when we left he said he was going to read John and think more about having a relationship with Jesus.

Cafes and coffee shops are probably my favorite place to do evangelism. We had an amazing time in a Starbucks on Tuesday afternoon, sharing prophetic art with several people. Prophetic art is a really cool way to share God's heart with people. Rachel and Alex are very artistically gifted, and they would see a picture from God for someone, draw it out, and then share what it meant with whoever God showed them to give it to. I think it's a really awesome type of evangelism because not only do you get to share God's love with people, but they also have something to take home with them to remind them of what He said. While they were doing that, Wayne and I had a 3 hour conversation with a guy from Chicago named Knute. It was ridiculous and hilarious and so filled with Holy Spirit. I don't think I've ever had a conversation about Jesus like that with a total stranger before. It was so life-giving and refreshing! Knute was a really spiritual guy but was more into a buddhism-like spirituality than with Jesus. But we got to pray with him, prophecy over him, and share our testimonies with him! And Alex gave him a really cool piece of art too.
We went back to that same Starbucks on Thursday afternoon and handed out a bunch of hand-written notes and pictures to people. It is always so fun to see how people react when you tell them, "Jesus loves you, He see you, and He wants you to know that! (And here's a tangible way to remember!)"

All in all, our time in Amsterdam was amazing. I learned so much and we had a ton of fun just running around and goofing off, telling people about our incredible king Jesus!

Yay Christmas :)

We got back this last Friday, and we've had a three day weekend to rest, hangout and catch up on newsletter writing. :) A great way to start a very busy next month! Christmas parties, village yuletide nights, FireStarters weekends, my birthday(!), and then two weeks of holidays, visiting friends and chilling out! Yay December!

Thanks for keeping me in your prayers and for your continued support. Couldn't be doing this without you!!

The view from YWAM Amsterdam's Prayer Tower

Amsterdam stands with Paris

Make Yourself at Home

"I've loved you the way My Father has loved Me. Make yourselves at home in My love. If you keep My commands, you'll remain intimately at home in My love. That's what I've done - kept My Father's commands and made Myself at home in His love." John 15:9-10 (Message)

Make yourself at home in My love.

Jesus' sweet invitation. How beautiful is that?!
He asked me what I thought He meant by "home". This is what I came up with:

Get comfortable with His love, know it inside and out like my own home. Own it and make it yours - this love is mine. I am my Beloved's and He is mine. He has been inviting me to make myself at home in Him. To throw my bean bag chair in the middle of His living room, rummage through His cupboards, sing in His kitchen, walk in His gardens.

It's so beautiful and I'm just beginning to learn what this invitations means. I don't think I've even scratched the surface.

All I know is, I'm so in love with Jesus, and this invitation has changed my life. The God of the universe has invited us to never leave His Presence, to make ourselves at home in His love.

And it's not to get anything from Him. Yes, intimacy leads to impact. All ministry flows from intimacy. But may we never pursue intimacy to only get things from God. He is so much bigger than that. May we long to know Jesus simply because He's Jesus, the One who's worth it all.

When you're at home you can be completely yourself, completely at rest. Striving and performance ceases because you're with family. They know your crap. They know your joys. And they want to hangout with you anyways. Jesus says, "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Or. In my paraphrase:
"Stop trying so hard and working from your own strength. Plop yourself down on My couch and let Me teach you. It's really not as hard as you think. It's so simple. You just walk hand-in-hand with Me and watch Me. We'll change the world, but let's hangout while we do it. The more time we spend together, the more you'll become like Me and you'll realize how simple it all really is. I love you. Make yourself at home in that - I love you."

And then He said something terrible cheesy and silly, but oh so profound to this kid from Oregon: "You're a mobile home of love." Yup. All the hippy cheese.

A camper cart bike. How epic is that. 

But seriously. I literally am the temple, the dwelling place, the carrier, the host, the home to the Presence of Love Himself. I was created to be the living, moving, breathing conduit of the manifest Presence of God to bring His ridiculously beautiful love to a lost and dying world.

It all starts with being at home in His love. How can I tell someone about something that I haven't really experienced or don't really truly know? And if I don't have His love in me and I'm not literally just breathing for love for Him, everything I do is nothing. I'm nothing. "I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." (Philippians 3)

So yeah. He's inviting you to make yourself at home in His love. To know Him, to delight in Him, to simply be with Him all the time, any place, anywhere. And everything else will come naturally from that place.

October Update: DTS Team, Local Outreach, and Amsterdam!

Hello friends!

Greetings from Scotland! Thank you for your continued prayers and support. These last almost two months have been so good, so full of Jesus, and so rewarding already. Thank you for being a part of it! 

This is the ginormous house I live in, 
aka The Seamill Centre

It's hard to believe I've been here for nearly 7 weeks already. Time here has absolutely flown by! Every day has been completely different and always full, rarely a dull moment! Living on base has been so life giving and encouraging. Everyone here is so passionate and longs to know the Presence of Jesus in every moment of every day. You can read a short blog post I wrote for YWAM Seamill's website about my first month on staff and being in community here at this link: 

 Joining New Staff

I'll just give you a quick synopsis of what life's been like here. I am part of the DTS staff team (currently consists of just three of us) and my "job" is registration. I get to email with potential DTS participants - answering questions, checking in, and giving encouragement! I love being able to communicate with them because I get to share in their excitement and in their dreams of what Jesus could do in their lives. 

As staff we have been preparing for the DTS to begin in February. We meet together once a week to specifically intercede for the coming school. Intercession has become one of my favorite times of the week because it's during these times that I really find God's heart for this school. And let me tell you, God is super excited for February! Our theme for this DTS is Inheritance - what is our inheritance in Christ and how does that affect our lives here on earth? What does being "blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" mean? I believe a lot of the blessing of our inheritance comes from knowing our identity as sons and daughters of God because it's the children, the heirs, who receive inheritance. It's some pretty cool stuff and the Bible is chalk-full of promises of what our inheritance could be. We have received revelation after revelation about inheritance as we study it together and individually.

Our DTS team (Rachel, Alex and I) get to go to Amsterdam for nearly two weeks at the end of November (from the 15^th- the 27^th or so)!!! We will be attending a DTS Foundational Workshop at YWAM Amsterdam from the 15^th-20^th, and then we will stay an extra week to do outreach in the city, do some team building, and to seek the Lord’s heart for what He wants to do in the upcoming school in February. I am really looking forward to meeting other DTS staff from all over Europe and to be better equipped to staff on the school.

That’s all cool, Katy, but what has God been doing? Fantastic question! So glad you asked. :)

My office space :)

I have had the opportunity to join the leader team for a youth ministry organization called FireStarters. FireStarters’ vision statement is “A generation set on fire for Jesus to be sparks of revival.” And basically, I get to hangout with middle and high school students from all over Scotland for an entire weekend once a month. They come from Friday night to Sunday afternoon to learn more about Jesus, their faith, evangelism, prophetic art, worship and to study the Bible together. There were over 40 gathered for the first weekend that happened earlier this month! I love it. I get to just hangout with teens, pray with them, walk with them, and hopefully help them know Jesus more! It was really cool to see several of the kids really get touched by Holy Spirit and receive breakthrough in their relationship with Him. They have a huge hunger to see revival happen, to see salvations, to see Jesus do miracles, signs and wonders through their prayers of faith, and to grow in their own relationship with Him.

God has also been opening doors of opportunity in the community of West Kilbride. A couple weeks ago, Rachel, Alex and I went out for local outreach. We spent time praying and worshiping before we went out. We all received words of encouragement and pictures from the Lord for specific people in the village, but we didn’t know who they were for! We wrote and drew them out so we could give something tangible to whoever we met.

We talked to a lot of people, but I still didn’t feel to give any of them the picture I had drawn. Then Rachel and I went into the pharmacy, and Jesus told me to give my picture to one of the pharmacists. I got to share what He had put on my heart for this lady, and she was blown away. I was blown away! It humbles me every time that the Lord would choose to speak to someone else through me.

Our outreach in the village has mostly been about building relationships with people here. The Scottish people are story tellers, and their stories they will tell if you stop and listen! Many of the conversations I have with people are no less than 15 minutes because they are such a relational culture. I was talking with an older gentleman named Norman in the ice cream shop and ended up just sitting in his booth with him because he kept talking! He didn’t even blink an eye when I sat down! I saw Norman again at church last Sunday and we talked again for at least 15 minutes.

It’s really cool to have this kind of relationship with shop owners as well. Business is rather slow during the week, so it’s a perfect opportunity to talk with bored shop owners!

Jesus has been teaching me a lot in the last month. It’s kind of crazy, but everything that I have felt Him speaking to me and challenging me to grow in personally has come up in our corporate community times. God is not a god of random or coincidence – He knows what He’s doing. He’s been inviting me and our community to deeper intimacy with Him, to be disciplined in guarding our time with Him and to fight for those sweet moments with Him. He has also been inviting me to dream with Him about why I’m in Scotland, right here, right now. How does He want to use my passions, gifts, and dreams for this nation to bring revival here? I’m just starting to catch His vision, and it is so exciting!

And so… this is how you can be praying!

-       Pray for more opportunities in the community, especially to simply share the Gospel and pray with people

-       For courage to speak up and step out when those opportunities come!

-       Pray for the next FireStarters weekend (November 6-8), for deeper connections with the kids

-       Pray for finances for my team as we go to Amsterdam and for accommodations for the week of outreach because we don’t actually know where we’re staying yet

-       Pray for me that I would fall more and more in love with Jesus

-       Pray that I would continue to find my place here at the base

-   For more dreams, ideas and bigger vision for what Jesus wants to do in Scotland!