August 2010 newsletter

Summer 2010 update

This summer we saw God do some cool stuff: many people came to know the Lord (we figure over 20), we saw God heal people’s physical and emotional wounds, we even saw some of the students give their lives to Christ! We also saw God grow and stretch and amaze about 120 youth. It was a great summer, we saw a lot of fruit from our work for the Lord and I know there is a lot of fruit that we will never see.
I learned a lot about obedience this summer. The only right reason to do anything is to do it for the glory of the Lord. I’ve been reading a lot of the gospel of John this summer. In chapter 14 it talks about how we have authority in the name of Jesus Christ to do the same miraculous things that Christ did while he was on earth. Then it says that if we love God, we will obey Him, and to do this, we can’t rely on our own human strength, we rely on the Holy Spirit working in and through us.
This summer really challenged me. It made me think about why I serve God, it’s not because it is easy or because I get any glory out of it, it is because living my life for God pleases and blesses Him and it brings Him glory and He is completely worthy of it! I faced some challenges this summer. I had some stuff going on in my personal life that made it really hard to concentrate, but by depending on God, I made it through and God still used me to do His work here in Vegas, mentoring youth and teaching them that God can do amazing things through them if they would just let Him.
Even though at some points I wanted to just give up, I didn’t because God is stronger than anything in my life or anything the enemy can throw at me. My theme verse for the summer was 2 Corinthians 12:8 “my grace is sufficient for you; my strength is perfected in your weakness.” This summer I grew so much in my character and in being fully dependent on God. I can’t wait to see what God shows me in this next season.


Student Testimonies...

“I liked the trip a lot. It helped me learn to witness to people. The trip helped me get out of my comfort zone because I usually don't talk to strangers as much. I felt like the trip changed me and helped me get closer to God. Overall it was a very nice experience and I hope to go on another mission trip soon.”
“I think the biggest lesson that I learned was just how much God loves us. I’ve always read about it and listened to sermons about it, but I don’t think I’ve ever experienced it as blatantly as I did during this trip with YWAM. This trip was such an amazing experience and I’ll always remember it.”
“When I went down to Las Vegas my life was changed forever I realized that my life was actually really good and I could make a difference in other people’s lives. I realized that I was actually living the good life compared to most. My experience in Vegas this summer helped me realize that not only other countries but our own needs help. God has put it in my life to talk to people I know and also those that I don’t know to help people as much as I can and bring as many to the lord as possible. I have been called to the Indonesian islands in the future and I believe that we are all called to missions where we live and we should never let anyone tells us not to do what God puts on us to do and this summer God has put more things on my heart than ever before and my life has changed drastically towards the strengthening of His kingdom here on earth.”