Where's Waldo?

There is a few things that I can share...
First, I have been working a lot. The girls are fantastic and teach me things, daily. Second, money has started to come in from my support letters, which is very exciting. Especially because I know some of the people giving me money don't have a lot to give. Which makes the gift even more special to me. For example: I was at bible study on Thursday night and I was talking to a girl about my finances (which was $40) and she gave me a $10 note and said, "I know it's not a lot but take it". That brought so much joy to my heart.

I am leaving for WV this week to go speak at my Uncle's church. PLUS I get to see my brand new cousin! (: I will probably end up going by myself, but it will be fun. I like road trips, they make for excellent Jesus time!

God has been teaching me to wait on His timing in everything. Anxiousness goes hand in hand with that for me. I keep having to remind myself to not be anxious about ANYTHING not just the future or finances. The small things is what always trips me up, the being late, or fighting with a family member, or whether or not things get done and lack of sleep. It's very comforting when I actually apply it to my life. Lately questions of the future have been on my heart, which is helpful for learning this lesson. It's probably the best time because I have complete peace with things that I never thought I would. (vague I know, but trust me it's good)

God has also provided me with amazing friends. That are girls! It's tough sometimes but totally worth it. The girls I hang out with are all in different stages of life so it's nice to see what functional, God-based relationships/families look like and it's nice to be reminded I'm not the only girl who doesn't live for guys.

I also have been challenged recently about how I display Christ in public. Do I go places ready to share what Jesus did for someone? Do I have a Christ-like attitude at 0530 when I go to wawa before work? Do I help someone when I see them struggling? I have found myself getting wrapped up in my own little world so I'm trying to make myself more aware of the fact I live for Christ, not myself. Which is tough, but worth it.

I do have a few prayer requests:
Continuous peace about my trip, finances, leaving my friends and family.
Consistent times with Jesus, that I would realize how much I need Him.
Challenges would be faced with confidence in Christ.


Thank you for taking time out of your day to read about my life, it means a lot!
Have a fantastic day and spend sometime with Jesus! It will be rewarding.

<3 to you all,
Shann

Movies

I am speaking at my home church on 22 May. I'm sharing about 5 minutes about my past trip and my upcoming trip. I also, after weeks of dumb computers, have made this video to show some visual of what God did while I was over there! Thank you for your continued support through this adventure! The weekend before that I am speaking in WV at my Uncle's church to share what I am doing as well. I'm excited about that because I will get to see my cousins, Aunts, and Uncles!

I'm already starting to get letters back! One of which is from a family I babysat for during the summer I turned 13! Now the little girl is 13 and 2 more kids were added to the bunch. It's fun to catch up with people!

VISA UPDATE: I forgot to put my middle name on the application so I had to get my passport notarized. By the time I got it all worked out it was approved within 12 hours!!!!!

God has put such amazing friends in my life over the last few months. I have never really had friends that we can joke around and be completely silly with and then have a serious 3 hour conversation about how amazing our God is. ALSO!!!! I am watching two little girls while their mom goes back to work. Keegan is 3, Ryann is 2 months. They are such a blessing.

I have a few prayer requests:
That I would follow through 100% with speaking about my trip, no half hearted stuff.
That a plan ticket would be provided
God is glorified through my words and actions over the next few months.
And that people would see why I'm doing what I'm doing, to glorify Jesus.
One last one, that my heart would stay focused on Jesus.


Side note: My brother is a firefighter and was fighting in a structure in our neighborhood and the roof collapsed. He WALKED out of the building but apparently was over heated and threw up. His officer told him he was going to the hospital. He has a mild concussion, but no burns or other serious injuries. Matthew, for those of you who know who he is, called me and told me just in case I hadn't heard that Zach was being transported but to his knowledge was ok! Matt then said that my brother was a good firefighter and that he was proud of him. (: It's good to hear from someone who has been doing it for 12 years that Zach is doing a good job. This was such a blessing. Zach is currently sleeping on our couch and is safely home! Thank you to all of those who prayed for him!


Okay, I believe that that is all for right now. Let me know if you have any questions!
Love you all!
Shannon

Testing Video

Accomplishment

Well, I have my visa. Is it the right one? I hope so. They have changed the visa application process so I'm praying that it's correct. Out of my hands now, though.
I'm still looking for a plane ticket. The cheapest one I've found happens to have a 14 hour layover in LAX so I can visit my family! Such a blessing.

I miss the ladies in Australia.

God has been doing awesome things in my life. I, after much debate, have pulled my membership at the volunteer fire department and turned in my gear so I am completely done. It was good while it lasted but God has other things for me. It's been good so far.

I have people in my life that have been with me through a lot. It's kinda cool how things change and your lives run into each other. Jesus, you are quite the character.
I have lost, yet again, my bible. It's starting to distress me.

Last, I am almost completely healed from my surgeries. Blessing.

Support letters have been printed. Pledge cards have been made. A trip to WV for support raising is in the works. Visa is being processed. Addresses being printed is next!

Thanks for taking time to read. (:

Round two: where you go, I will go!

As of Feb. 16 2011 I have received my acceptance letter for going back to Australia for 18 months! This time I will be going as a volunteer leader. The break down of the 18 months will be one Beach 2 bush starting in August 2011. Some of the responsibilities I will have are leading a small group of 3-5 girls. We will meet once a week in a group and one on one to pray for each other, encourage one another, and just to process what God is teaching us. Along with small group, a few of the tasks that could be given for the first 6 months are: kitchen manager, finance receipt person, or equipment person. Also toward the end of the 6 months I will be co-leading a group of students to a different country for a missions trip. After we get back from the mission's trip there will be paper work galore to finish up so the students can graduate from their Discipleship Training School. After the first school I will go on the phase 2, or logistical phase. I will be helping out the YWAM Brisbane community by being kitchen manager for the whole base, receptionist, hospitality for our guests on base, or maintenance. Really it's where ever the base needs help! The logistical phase will be around 6 months long. Then I will volunteer lead another school starting in August 2012. I will be doing the same thing as the first school but with different students! There is so much more that goes into this process but this is just the brief overview to get yall updated.

A few things I want to clarify:

I'm going back to Australia but this is NOT a vacation.

This is not a job, everyone at YWAM Brisbane raises their own support.

I raise my own support because I trust this is what God wants for me and I trust HE WILL PROVIDE.

I am in need of prayer support. There is a lot of emotional stress that goes into this and I would love to know people are standing by me praying and fighting for God's will in my life.

I am also in need of financial support. I am needing $4,000 for visa, airfare, and insurance before I leave in June, but because I will have room, board, and food while I'm staying on base I am required to pay rent. I will be needing approximately $600 a month.

I have been praying about how to ask people to support me and I really feel like I need around 24 people who will pledge me $20 or more a month for 18 months. That way it's not a large sum coming out of one person's pocket.

Asking for money is always a humbling experience. I believe God will provide the money, but it's hard to balance when to find a job and when to trust. I am willing to babysit, petsit, or clean house to get a few extra bucks before June.

Please pray and ask how to support me in the next step of my life.

I want to just take a minute and thank you for those who supported me last trip. It was seriously one of the hardest most rewarding things I've done in my life. God showed himself to me in ways I could not of imagined and gave me comfort and hope. I am absolutely in love with our Creator and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve Him in this way, again. I could not have left my family and my comfort zone with out knowing I support from my friends and family back home. Thank you for praying for me, sending me emails, letters, and money. Even the smallest things go such a long way.

Many of you know that I just had surgery on the 28 of Feb and will be having another one in about 2 weeks. That gives me a lot of time to dwell on what needs to be done and even more time to stress! One of the things I have been meditating on to help me not freak out is Psalm 34. In verse one: I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Verse 7-9: The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!

God is good, be blessed by Him today!

Thank you for taking time out of your life to read what God is doing.

If you have questions let me know!

Thank you again!

God is good, all the time.

Airlie Beach:

We are currently staying with YWAM Whitsundays at a beautiful house in the rain forest of Australia. A few of my class mates went to the Great barrier Reef. There are pictures on facebook, just proves our God is beauty and creative.

I have all my money for outreach and I leave on November 29th. Last week we were in Chinchilla. It is an outback town. We stayed in the church and we participated in the community youth-group. We played on a huge piled of mud and water slide. Myself and two other people spoke. (rewind) when we were planning the Saturday message we were praying and everyone said that they felt Dusty, Meagan, and Shannon should share. I was a little skeptical so we prayed again and I asked for God to confirm who was supposed to speak. I asked for that familiar tingly feeling...as soon as I was done praying I got that feeling!! So I prayed about what I should talk about, I looked through my journal, and prayed some more. I was stumped at what I should talk about. So I ask my outreach leader, Jen, what I should do. She asked if she could pray for me and I said yes. After she prayed she told me just to go spend time with God and not to worry about it. So I did just that. As I was reading through Luke I read the parable of the Farmer and the Seeds that were sown and I realized that that was my life! So I prepared a testimony based off the 4 "seed growths" of my life. It was such a testimony of how God can provide practically!

Another amazing thing is that one of our students was healed and completely watched over by God in an incident. I can't go into much more detail as of right now, but I will update asap!

God has been teaching my forgiveness. How He is jealous for me.

A revelation that I had while I was sitting on a rock watching the waves crash and spray mist:

A few weeks ago I was talking to an amazing women of God and I was telling her, Christina, that I thought it was going to be boring when we went to Heaven because worshiping for forever MUST get old. She shared with me that she believes we were created to worship Him in everything so the things we are good at are the things we will do for him for eternity. So as I was sitting on a rock over locking clear blue water, wind blowing, and waves crashing I realized that the ocean was created to worship God. All it does, 24/7, is crash. Over and over and over. It glorifies God by simply being. It never gets boring to watch. It never stops. It is amazing to look at it and its an aw factor. So I realized that I have more value to God then the ocean and I was also made to worship Him by simply being. Doing the thing that HE created to do will never get boring. So I am now pleasantly pleased to say that I am EXCITED to go to heaven and forever do amazing things for my God and Creator. But even better then that......I GET TO DO IT HERE!!!!!!

There is so much else He has done but it's too much to write here.

Thank you for reading and supporting.

Love you guys!!!!!

Overview of life of a YWAMer!

Okay, so this is week 9 of my Discipleship Training School and I have not written anything to you guys. So I will give you an overview of what leaps and bounds I have made and what the next three months looks like!!

The first week was "The Character and Nature of God". Which just means we learned about Him from the beginning. We reviewed what He has done for us and wants to do for us. This week was good for me because I realized that God is a personal God. He wants to converse with you. He wants to have your whole heart. One of the biggest things that I learned was that I am no better than anyone else. I have no right to judge. I have no right to withhold forgiveness because the God of creation forgave me!!!

"Partnering with Jesus" was another topic. This week was just a challenge to take ownership of the things God gifted you with and walk forward with them. Don't sit and wait and say "Oh God, open doors for me while I sit here doing nothing". I have to be consistently pursuing the gifts and talents I was made with. And when we have gifts we shouldn't segregate ourselves but we should work to the top because when we use our God given abilities it's ALWAYS the best!

"Father Heart of God"- this week was very exciting! Everything that an earthly father has done, didn't do, or half heartedly did is NOT the way God is! He gives us the best, all the time. He never fails. He disciplines us at the right times. This also addresses any authoritative issues you have. I have a great earthly father, but he's not God. I'm very blessed to have an earthly father who supports me, corrects me, and tells me to go for my heart's desires! There is just something about the GOD OF THE UNIVERSE being interested in me. My life. My heart. Relationship with me! So mind blowing!!!!!

"Fear of the Lord"- This phrase is so often tossed about. What does that even mean? To fear God is to walk in awe of Him. (Rodney Atkins "I've been watching you" is a perfect illustration of that. How we do that is by obeying His laws and walk in Him. And walking in Him looks like not gossiping, not slandering, not lying, not stealing. Which are all typical "Christian" things to not do but if we are honest with ourselves..it's STILL something we do!

"Hearing the Voice of God"- This term scared me. haha. Hearing God's voice?!?! Whooooooo I don't want to experience that! But it's not just an audible "Shannon you need to do this" type of thing. He speaks to us through the living word! The bible. Typical and cheesy, yes. But SOO true.

"Intercession"- this means to pray for others. To stand in the gap for people who don't know how to or didn't know they needed to. Moses does this on behalf of Israel. Moses goes up the mountain and the Israelites fall away and "God's anger is kindled" (I don't even want that in my life let me just say!!!!) and so Moses begs God to not just smite them all!! So amazing. And so I've developed a passion for asking God on the behalf of others! To ask God for His heart for a person or nation. In this I've also learned the power of speaking words out. If you say "I like Shawn" then you are going to think in your head that you like Shawn. Because the more you talk about it the more you've created a relationship in your mind with someone. And so the more we speak things of encouragement and fighting for other people it does things!!!

"Missions & Worship"- Wow. Such a good week. Our speaker is a 28 year old man that has let God do so much in his life. He is currently in Indonesia learning the language and ministering to the locals by living in awe of God! In this country it is very illegal to preach the Gospel! And this was our first lecture on the beach! So beautiful. This week really just showed how much God cares about the nations. He wants us to be fruitful and multiply. He says that if we follow Him He will bless us and our future generations. SO good. awalskdfjasldkfjas!!!! And so this week I was challenged with knowing "All NAtions" that God talks about in the great commission. I didn't know many of the countries! There are a lot. (that sounds dumb, I'm aware!!) And the thing about missions is that it exist because worship (personal worship) does not exist! So mind blowing.

That is just a very brief overview of the subjects we are learning about. I can't even begin to describe what it's like to live in community, more specifically live with 11 other girls, my personal walk with God, and the passion I've developed for reading the Bible!

This coming week we are talking about making Jesus Lord. Our speaking is Mark Parker. He is loud. And one of the most passionate people I've ever met! So exciting. If you could just keep me and my team in prayers this week that our hearts would be open to hearing why Jesus should be Lord in our lives would be great!

Next Monday (12th?) we will be leaving for 5 weeks and I will be out of contact. If you have any questions before I leave feel free to ask! During these 5 weeks we will be making a 15 hour bus ride! woooot! Once we get back from our 5 week road trip we are on base for 2 weeks and then we leave for our 7 week outreach and then come back to base for a debrief of a week and then GRADUATION!!! January 21st is that day. Then I leave on the 22nd and arrive the 22nd. (messes with your mind!)

I can not even begin to describe what I've learned since I've been here. So much to tell not enough words!!! Thank you all for your support and prayers and just being there for me! I greatly appreciate it!

I love you all,

Shannon