Seriously, good luck. So much is going on in this blog, I apologize in advanced.
I have a problem. Half filled journals are taking over my life. Why do I start new ones before previous ones are finished? I really don’t know. One day I’ll finish one. Maybe.
I honestly don’t know how to go about explaining to you what has happened the last two weeks; but I’ll give it my best shot.
Brenda Lewis came and taught on the topic of Identity. She may just be the sweetest lady I have ever met in my whole life. After this week I think if anyone were to ask me what I want to be when I grow up I’d say Brenda. But apart from her being extremely rad she had a ton of great stuff to say. We spent the week digging out our dreams and desires for our lives. At first I felt really uncomfortable about this because I didn’t know what my dreams were. I, like many, had been taught dreams are just dreams and they have no place in the “real” world. But this week we learned that dreams are there for a reason.God uses our dreams and desires to do great things through us. We just have to be willing to follow those dreams with God in the lead. After we all loosened up a little it was like being in a room full of little kids. We started sharing our dreams and how that would look to further Gods kingdom. Eyes began to light up and smiles were contagious, we were dreaming again. Some became full time missionaries in a certain country, others traveled the continents, some had beautiful little families, others adopted slum kids, some wrote books, made documentaries; the list went on and on.
On ministry night we listened to an old sermon by Paris Riedhead. Paris spoke on how humanism has taken over our thoughts and actions. We do things for people and not God. Even when we go out and help people/do mission work we are helping them to relieve them from suffering. And by no means is that bad, it’s great; but we’ve lost the point of it all. We must serve God, not people. God deserves our service, He deserves our love, He deserves us, He deserves those broken people. God doesn’t fit in any box we as humans try to put him in, He’s so much bigger. Paris also talked about the lines we draw in the sand for God. “God, I will serve you and love you as long as you keep my family safe. Once you’ve crossed that line, I’m done.” Of course anything could go in that space but we draw these lines without even realizing it at times. God paid the ultimate price for us, why don’t we give Him everything He deserves? We all became so convicted by the end of his sermon. I was amazed by how humanistic my heart had become and how many lines I had in the sand without me being aware of it all. We sat around in a circle and repented for not doing what we do for the right reasons and sang songs of worship for our great God, simply because He DESERVES it.
Last week Phil Gazley came back and spoke about the Holy Spirit. So many notes, so much information. But that I’ll have to keep to myself.
I’m excited for this coming weeks’ speaker. Morgan Perry was a part of the making of Sex & Money. I’m so excited to pick her brain and find out everything she knows and listen to the stories she has.
We continue to go to The Shade Tree every week and build relationships with the women there. We also continue to street evangelize every Friday night. Every person I meet has a different story; a beautiful, heartbreaking story.
We're in the process of planning for our trips to India/Nepal and Thailand. There is a ton of information about all that, but I'll save that for another blog. I'm still in need of $3,000. If you'd like to send me support you can send a check made out to YWAM to:
YWAM
C/O Arielle Gomora
P.O. Box 36606
Las Vegas, NV
89133
or go to PayPal and send it online to my email address. ariellegomora@yahoo.com
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Home Is Where You Are
Now I know I should have done this a good month and a half ago, but I never really got around to it. So here it is now. This is where I live. Its desert if I've ever seen it.
Inside( Keep in mind this building used to be a drug rehab center..):
Inside( Keep in mind this building used to be a drug rehab center..):
My room
Creepy hallway.
Part of the dining hall/hang out room
Still the dining hall/hang out room
Stage in the dining hall/hang out room.
The conference room where classes are held.
I didn't get any pictures of the lounge or the prayer room so I'll do my best to describe them both. The lounge is where we hang out, go on the two ancient dinosaur-aged computers, read, watch endless episodes of The Office, and have mini dance parties. It looks like a living room. The prayer room is a small little rectangular room with pillows, drawings, a world map, and music. Very simple, but so cozy. It might be my favorite room in the whole house.
This is my home for at least a few more months, and I'm growing to love it more and more every day. :)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
God Is Doin' a New Thing
As of Tuesday, the teams are split and we’re headed towards preparations! I will be going to India and Nepal around Thanksgiving time with five other students and a few staff members. The picking of the teams was completely God led. We all prayed about where we felt God was telling us to go and the teams split even down the middle. It was a bittersweet feeling seeing the names written down knowing our new family will have to split up in just a few short months. 
Everyone was squeaking with joy because we finally knew! And when our leaders began to tell us details about the trip we were like little kids on Christmas. As of right now I know my team will be flying into Mumbai and staying in the city for 2 weeks working with girls in the red light districts there. After our stay there we will be flying to Katmandu, Nepal. We will be in the city for an amount of time (no idea how long) but most of our time will be spent in remote villages. What I didn’t expect was that there will be snow. Funny since my last post was about how big of a baby I am with weather changes. Should be fun without heat and electricity. But honestly, despite the frigid weather, I’m so unbelievably excited for this opportunity. Some staff goes to the outreach locations to establish communication with the people we will be working alongside with. When one of the staff members was setting up these communications he came across villages without a single child under the age of 12 because they had all been trafficked. A sickening thought. God is needed so bad in these areas and I’m so excited and honored that God is using me to be a part of the expansion of His kingdom.
This week has been a very difficult week simply because of the topic of the teachings. Jerry Praetzel was here and he spoke on Forgiveness and Repentance. Talk about uncomfortable. But again, God never called us to be comfortable. Those just might be two of the hardest actions ever. For me at least. But God tore down walls, opened hearts, and His glory was shown through it all. Praise God! My heart was turned inside out and deep stuff poured everywhere. Not exactly a pretty sight. But stuff I didn't even know existed, or my memory had completely suppressed. I was able to see things I didn’t even know affected me because I was so blinded by hate and bitterness. I am so proud of my brothers and sisters in Christ here as well. Their hearts are striving for God, so bad. And it’s so apparent when I see Him working in each and every one of them. I was asked last night what I was going to do for my birthday. And knowing the topics we were on I shrugged my shoulders and joked “You know, probably a little repenting and such.” That got a giggle or two but I really did. And God has released me from all that was keeping me from Him. I just pray that He continues to do so. I just want to be closer to Him.
Tonight is an outreach night and we will be going to The Shade Tree, a women’s shelter. http://www.theshadetree.org/ I look forward to this every week, but this week especially because I feel like Papa has done so much in me this week that His love is just going to explode out of me and into the hearts of these women who have been hurt so bad. But needless to say I am ready for the weekend and a little rest after all this.
Prayer Requests:
Finances.
Two of our staff (Joshua and Stacy Stateham) just found out they’re having a baby! So pray for health and calmed hearts for all of them (baby included). :)
Everyone was squeaking with joy because we finally knew! And when our leaders began to tell us details about the trip we were like little kids on Christmas. As of right now I know my team will be flying into Mumbai and staying in the city for 2 weeks working with girls in the red light districts there. After our stay there we will be flying to Katmandu, Nepal. We will be in the city for an amount of time (no idea how long) but most of our time will be spent in remote villages. What I didn’t expect was that there will be snow. Funny since my last post was about how big of a baby I am with weather changes. Should be fun without heat and electricity. But honestly, despite the frigid weather, I’m so unbelievably excited for this opportunity. Some staff goes to the outreach locations to establish communication with the people we will be working alongside with. When one of the staff members was setting up these communications he came across villages without a single child under the age of 12 because they had all been trafficked. A sickening thought. God is needed so bad in these areas and I’m so excited and honored that God is using me to be a part of the expansion of His kingdom.
This week has been a very difficult week simply because of the topic of the teachings. Jerry Praetzel was here and he spoke on Forgiveness and Repentance. Talk about uncomfortable. But again, God never called us to be comfortable. Those just might be two of the hardest actions ever. For me at least. But God tore down walls, opened hearts, and His glory was shown through it all. Praise God! My heart was turned inside out and deep stuff poured everywhere. Not exactly a pretty sight. But stuff I didn't even know existed, or my memory had completely suppressed. I was able to see things I didn’t even know affected me because I was so blinded by hate and bitterness. I am so proud of my brothers and sisters in Christ here as well. Their hearts are striving for God, so bad. And it’s so apparent when I see Him working in each and every one of them. I was asked last night what I was going to do for my birthday. And knowing the topics we were on I shrugged my shoulders and joked “You know, probably a little repenting and such.” That got a giggle or two but I really did. And God has released me from all that was keeping me from Him. I just pray that He continues to do so. I just want to be closer to Him.
Tonight is an outreach night and we will be going to The Shade Tree, a women’s shelter. http://www.theshadetree.org/ I look forward to this every week, but this week especially because I feel like Papa has done so much in me this week that His love is just going to explode out of me and into the hearts of these women who have been hurt so bad. But needless to say I am ready for the weekend and a little rest after all this.
Prayer Requests:
Finances.
Two of our staff (Joshua and Stacy Stateham) just found out they’re having a baby! So pray for health and calmed hearts for all of them (baby included). :)
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