week 6
Well it's official! We’re half way through lecture! Week six was a week I didn’t expect. One of our awesome staff members here at YWAM North Cascades spoke on relationships, and talking with friends about it last week none of us really knew what it was going to be about. We definitely learned a lot more than I was anticipating and this was easily one of my favorite weeks yet. We talked about anything and everything relationships, starting from God’s purpose and example of relationships to confrontation and being rebukable to marriage and pretty much everything in between. Jordan gave us a lot of time to process which was great, but buckets I didn’t anticipate using that much brain power but it was nice immediately having real life application instead of saying “oh I’ll just write this down and come back to it later” I think most of us were pretty much dead by wednesday. Dead in the best way but dead nonetheless. It was a challenging week, and it changed my view and opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn’t realize or think of before. I gained a lot this week, but I think I spent a majority of my free time by myself going on drives and stumbling upon parks and things. Mostly just to process things and talk to God. Jordan did a great job of reminding us that we need to go to God first. And I have been guilty of not doing that. It’s something I realized I have to do so I don’t get my feelings hurt. We talked about protecting our hearts briefly this week and I’m finally coming to terms with the fact my heart deserves protecting. So that’s pretty cool.
Arguably the best part about this week was outreach prep. Each team set up a different adventure to tell the other team about their country. Both teams brought the same level of energy and it was thrilling seeing how the countries we’re going to function. Between games and food and cardboard tuk tuks and puppet shows I learned a lot about where we’re going. It’s bittersweet knowing we all won’t be together, but I’m extremely excited to hear and share all our stories when we get back.
I feel like after last week this update is kind of lame, but in all honesty this week was more of a week of deep thinking and application. Not that the other weeks weren’t, but my brain is still churning through most of the information. This week led to good thoughts and good conversation, and man am I grateful. Despite the challenge that was this week, we were able to have a lot of fun. We celebrated Marlie’s birthday on Friday with kickball and worship at sunset. And then the DTS students went swimming and exploring at Whatcom County falls on Saturday while the Advance students helped with a wedding. The scenery was beautiful! The water was cold but my heart was warm. I absolutely adore the people I get the honor of doing life with right now. And I was overwhelmed with gratitude on Friday evening as we were worshipping just for everything that God is doing in our lives and the clear intentionality God had behind placing every single person here right now. It just brings my heart so much joy. I’m excited for the next 6 weeks and then the next 8 abroad after that. It’s going to be absolutely incredible.
Until next week,
Lauren <3
