So Here We Are...

Just as You said it should be...

It's absolutely amazing to look back and see where God has taken my life. Who would have ever thought that life in missions would start from an (intense) heart tug. AHHH God is so good.

I arrived here in Kona on September 26th, 2012 and I thought that I would have had time to settle in and that I would be eased into this huge change in my life. Yes, I have physically been here before but, I just haven't been here before. I came here wrapping up as much as I could in New York. With the help of my beautiful Mom, I was able to have my car sold. I packed my things and here I am. Giving it my all. It was hard leaving New York because I knew it was different this time... Saying goodbye was harder. So, when I arrived in HI all I wanted to do was rest for a week or two and then "allow" God to do his transforming work. Yea, right.....

I was looking for a breath of life and it felt like He just dropped me in a tub filled with ice. It definitely woke me up. It was time to get to work. It's only the end of week 3 and if you took a look at my personal journal you would wipe the sweat off your brow and realize your heart was beating through your chest. In sports therapy, an ice bath is a training regimen usually following a period of intense exercise. It's only so you can continue your training even after a time that you were put through indescribable strain! Even though it hasn't been easy, leaving family, friends, church, home, etc...I wouldn't change it at all. There's a faith, a blessed assurance that comes when you know you're doing exactly what you were created to be doing in this moment in time. No matter how difficult it was to get there. So here I am, just as He said I would be.

Hawaii is beautiful and most importantly, the people are precious. I have had the privilege of getting to know many of my Leadership Track (LT) classmates. I think there are about 60 of us altogether! Many of them have staffed other schools like Community Transformation, Fire & Fragrance, Engage, and All Nations;AllGenerations.  We went away on a retreat this weekend and I feel so much closer. It's a blessing to see us becoming one big family out of many. E pluribus unum, right?! So in we all went; straight into this massive teaching right off the bat. Selflessness, servant hearts, loving grace, unoffendable hearts, and it continues...

Flipping through my notebook, these lines exhibit the atmosphere thats been created over the past 3 weeks...

[If you're offended, just read 3 lines up again :)]

• If God's called you, He's qualified you. He wouldn't call you to something you could not do but, He would call you to something you could not do without Him.

•  Moses grew up surrounded by darkness. He had the option to become great in Pharaoh's house but, he chose to be a son of God.

• God is not slow; He is patient

• Your corporate revival experience is sustained by your personal revival experience

• "A heart for" is killing us...

• How deep of a friendship do you have with someone you never talk to?!

    
****Family is not based on function but covenant...They belong.****

• Encouragement is putting courage in each other's house.

&....The Gospel of Jesus is like water. No man made it + no man can live without it. Water companies do not make water relevant, no man can live without it. 

That's it for now. That's my life. Our lives here on this campus, and then across the globe. 

Just as He said it should be. 

Just...thanks!

Thank you...thank you to all my friends and family who support me all the time. Especially throughout my journey with YWAM. I love you so much.

Life is good, transitioning back home was rough but it's been nice to see a lot of old friends & missed family :) If I haven't seen you, let's make plans.

I miss my kids in Africa. Family in Kona. Loved ones from all our journeys. Man...the way God has just changed me, changed my heart. I wish I could sit with all of you one by one and just talk about this love that's so real. Who thought life could be so amazing by giving it all up for benefitting the world?! There are people dying out there and I know God has called me to be at least one of the ones to help in some way, any way at all. I love this.

God has been really faithful to say the least :)

I will update soon with more details but, here I am just sitting and thinking of you guys and all God has done in my life and how you all have been a part of my life. Somehow you have helped me get to where I am now. And I couldn't be happier to thank you.

Goodnight & talk to you soon.

Love, Nickie

Ahh The Wonder of It All...

Where do I even begin...my God how I have realized how little I knew about who God is. But the amazing way I have come to know Him this year. Wow. Just wow, oh wow.
Life is amazing getting to know how God is working all over the world. How much bigger than myself is all of this I have been blessed with many opportunities to be stretched in doing so much for God. Since my last update our team has had the opportunity to minister at Maputo's(the Capitol city of Mozambique) largest church of 3,000 members. I cannot even begin to describe how the power of Holy Spirit came in that place. People were truly wrecked by God's calling on their lives. I was in awe of the way people felt so loved and just hearing story after story of God's goodness!
We went to 2 different Iris Ministry bases one was quite large, haha. And I got many braids and even more hair pulled out of my head, haha. Honestly, I just truly enjoyed spending time with the children...I think I would've done anything they wanted. They're so innocent and just receive love and give love so beautifully. I love to even think about them. God has really made some gorgeous kids! Lol. The other base was small, family style, with 40 children most of whom have AIDS. Actually one girl was suffering from seizures from malaria the day before we left.
I've come to realize how real the need is here...it's heart breaking and I am glad that I am at least one doing whatever I can through the strength of God! He's opened so many doors.
One of the doors has been to a helicopter!!!!! For Mercy Air (google them! It's such a wonderful ministry!) we bring out a medical team and pray and heal physically and spiritually! The best, huh?! Ahhh I LOVE IT!
I must go...Internet time is up. I love you all..I love Africa and Hawaii and missions! And New York haha

Greetings from Africa!

Hi everyone!! I've got a few precious moments to share about my amazing time in Africa. Internet here is a RARE commodity and I'm visiting a missionary couple's home for a break in between teaching classes here.

So the 50 hours travel time was intense but that includes some really nice time in Dubai :) I miss everyone back at home and my OHANA from YWAM Kona. I pray everyone is having a great outreach and wonderful times at home in NY.

Since the moment we've arrived in Mozambique, there has never been a dull moment!!! Running out of water almost everyday in our 3 bedroom home for 16 people means showers, flushing toilets, and washing dishes is playing Russian roulette, hahaha! On days we wash our clothes is even worse!!! Some tough decisions have to be made lol. But I am SO HAPPY!!!!

God is doing so much here and I love Africa! We are constantly stared at and the people are very curious but we use that to God's advantage because we get to love on them! Our first assignment has been to help this missionary couple here in the bush. They have a one room school house for 35 children and another large outdoor building for church and music lessons they give. Everything they do is part of their ministry. We have a 25 minute walk to their property everyday from our base.
I am the official teacher for these children using my English, Spanish, and Portuguese! It's so fun, I LOVE them all and it's been amazing just having the opportunity to hug and teach and love these little ones. Actually, one of the "mommas" from the community joined the class as well. Many don't know how to read or write and if they do, it's not proper.
Poverty is a huge blanket on this country even though we are in it's capital.
We have gone into the city and ministered having some make decisions to make Jesus, Lord of their lives. We are here to serve the YWAM team and missionaries here who are really working hard and have brought devotion to a whole other level for me.
Thank you to everyone who supported me in getting here! I pray for each one of you and thank God ALL THE TIME for you all!
I must go, it's time for our second session: while I teach, the boys are building a bathroom(septic tank and all) outdoor sink area, the girls are painting the church, all while we play with the hundreds of kids that come out from the neighborhood.

With love,
Nickie!!!

You See, What Had Happened Was...

I am a believer.

I wonder about things way too often sometimes. I usually think about things in a million different ways and think of two million different outcomes. This usually happens until I realize how crazy I've driven myself and how I've let the fear of people and their opinions drive my conclusions. When in fact, I know that it's only one person that I need to be counting on. He's always the answer to every question. Always the rhyme and reason. So, here are a few things that have happened in the past week...

I've been wanting to be used by God in every way. I want to be there for people, love them, pray with and for them, be available, partner with God to help people. So there we were: Talitha, Esther, and Myself. We wanted to go to the beach. We rarely get any "free" time between class, worship, lectures, homework, and ministry. So Saturday was our chance to get our toes in the sand. We were stopped talking about how we were going to get to this beach since it was pretty far. Talitha says a prayer asking God for "someone really nice" to give us a ride. We were just standing there when I look and see this lady with her 12 year old daughter walking towards us. The mom starts waving us down. I call the girls and we walk over to her. She asks us where we are from and proceed to tell her about YWAM. And she tells us her whole family went to YWAM and they've lived on base ever since. She asks us where we are headed because she has to go to the post office anyway. Our stop was right along the way. SWEET!!!!! As soon as we are getting settled and sharing our YWAM stories, this woman just begins to pour her heart out. She moved back to the base in pursuing God and they were so eager to "just do something" for God that she says they didn't wait for Him to say yes. They arrived and almost immediately her husband became VERY ill. So much so that he had to be flown back to the main land (aka where the rest of us live haha). Her family just started to crumble. She left her job, the family was split, they were losing money and peace by the day. She was very sad. My friends and I could tell that she was just so broken from all of this. The very car we were in became a place of comfort. We began praying for her and with her. We just cried out on her behalf. This was all before we even pulled out of the parking lot, haha.

Monday night was time to get to know some other people. It was just going to be a normal night for me but Gid had other plans. I got to meet some people who had been abused, in every sense of the word. Details too horrifying to describe but what God did that night was another kind of indescribable. Sometimes people that are broken think that they're supposed to be. I don't agree with that. The words that God gave us to share with these people and the visions we received were just proof of a God that wants more and loves more than we could ever imagine. Tears of joy, healing, and new found hope were running down faces. This is the kind of stuff that I live for. Luke 4:18!!! God showing up and just wrecking the plans of the enemy. It's a humbling honor to be with God and seeing the stuff He's doing.

This week I received my outreach location. After much prayer and anticipation, God has called me and a team of 14 others to Mozambique!!!! We are going to the "bush-bush", as Heidi Baker likes to call it :) I will actually be working with Heidi Baker in Iris Ministries :D (I didn't know that until yesterday!) I am so happyyyyy! These are orphan children and we are actually going to be living in the poorest part of the entire country. There is great need in the entire surrounding villages. I will post pictures and more updates but just think: those commercials on tv about helping the poor have nothing on this part of Mozambique. The need is GREAT! God confirmed through 3 people on our team. He said we are to go to "the poorest part of the nation". So I'm getting ready! Ready to help lives know true change in Him. God has to help me get there, I am in need of $3,500 in order to make it there. But I have to give HGod glory because I started off with needing $12,000! And He has provided every single cent through people like you.

You see, what had happened was...God had a plan and here I am.

Thank You :)

Life is like a box of chocolate covered coffee beans

*DELICIOUS*

Happy Sunday Everyone!!
It's a beautiful 80 degree day here in Kona. You know, being here I want to find a church that I can hear God in. There are several vans from various churches that come to the campus to pick up students so we can visit. This has become really important to me. I miss my church at home and I am hearing about all of the incredible things that God is doing there! His presence is felt and there have been numerous healings! God is pretty cool, huh? Haha. So last night I was asking God where He wanted me to go and not just because they're serving lunch (which is really vital for poor university kids!), but where I would be with Him. It's a really great feeling knowing that you are in a place God specifically chose for you to be. So I opened up my bible and read a verse that confirmed the name of the church I felt like I should go to this morning. Sure enough, I got there and the message pertained directly to what I have been feeling. No, everything is not perfect in life but God knew exactly what has been troubling me and He wanted to talk to me today through this message. It was like taking a deep breath, sitting and relaxing in a conversation with Him. As if I were sitting down listening to Him tell me the exact steps I needed to take and the things I needed to be reminded of that He is doing to get the situation handled. What better Father, right?

It's funny...I'm sitting here writing this blog and have my music on shuffle and the song right now is saying: perfect love, his name is Jesus. Perfect love, love, love. His name is Jesus. And like most of you know, I don't toss anything up to coincidence anymore. He knows how to speak to us and I am so grateful to Him and His love for me :)

I miss you guys and I hope you're all doing well. I think of you all randomly and rerun memories together with each of you. Honestly it's a beautiful thing. The other day I was missing a friend of mine and I went to sleep that night and had a vivid dream with them. I woke up feeling as if I had spent the whole day with them. I took that as a gift from God. I'm praying for you guys and am truly excited about how He is moving in everyone's lives. (If you want to email me personally I would love that! urias.melissan@gmail.com )

I see God moving here constantly. It's funny watching people pray for others on the sidewalks of campus and then having the person start laughing because God just healed them from things that were not going away beforehand. There's a community of faith very strong here. "As iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend" Proverbs 27:17. We all kind of have this unsaid agreement that we're being prepared for hardcore battle against the things of the enemy. We have teams going out even to North Korea. If you don't know, there is intense persecution for even uttering the name of Jesus in most countries we're going to be sending our friends to. Please keep us in your prayers.

As for battle in Kona, there is a serious Meth drug problem here. I've already had an encounter on the street with 3 addicts just being silly and mocking me as I walked by. We are praying for them and I would like an opportunity to show them God's love. I'm not afraid. I don't know how to explain it but, I just feel and can see the heaviness on them. Ok I feel that God is saying this to explain it to us: it's as if someone has a cut and they don't know it until someone points out, "Oh! You're bleeding!" except this is all over their body. We'll see what happens!

This has been a week filled, jam packed with emotional healing and new revelations, and much more. Things that needed to be given over and talked about with Jesus. It was hard but worth it. I know there is so much more for my future and the future of the church. You all saw how excited I was before I even left, you can't even imagine how I am now. It's so much more. I'm running and can't stop :)

Oh! I forgot to add, after church today, the person who gave us a ride decided to take us on a tour of the Hawaiian coffee lands. So we traveled throughout the Kona coffee farm lands and stopped at several different farms to sample and it was surreal!!!!!! SO beautiful and delicioussssssss!!!! I felt like that was another gift from God. All for wanting to go to the church He wanted me at!!! An amazing time here so far :)

Round One

Today classes officially began
It's 10pm here which means it's 3am at home and I am EXHAUSTED! However, I cannot fall asleep with out writing to you about today. This is only because I have NO idea what tomorrow brings and today was just that good that I don't want to leave anything out. First off, let me just give you a bit of information that is vital for later in this post: worship was exhilarating. The presence of God was so evident, it was beautiful.

We went to class after worship service for one of our 12 speakers, Donna Jordan. We have twelve 1 week intensive courses. YWAM flies in speakers from all over the world (missionaries, evangelists, preachers, etc..There's a rumor going around that Heidi Baker is our surprise guest speaker in 2 weeks! I hope it's true) just for them to pour into us. Donna Jordan is presenting the course "Listening to God". It was incredible. She covered 1) God is preparing the Bride- You and I and 2) Relationship With God- 4 levels. She said the greatest treasure is God; Not materialism. Family with Him. He's our Dad :) I've heard this over and over again: "Live for eternity. Not for down here." But really, I pray you guys get this. This is truth! What are you doing down here that's preparing you to come face to face in a big embrace with our God? Everything you're doing should be working up to that because that's all we have now and in the end. Without Him we are nothing and for Him we do everything. Anyway, that's my little tangent. Back to class, she stood at the front of the room, windows surrounding us, the wind blowing a perfect breeze, and there was a stillness in the air. Silence and an ease. Standing there she told us of how there were angels lined all around the classroom. And that they were there because Jesus was there, He was walking around us. And she said she has FOUR angels. One big army one who stands in front of her and 3 others, intercessors, who stand behind her. Now, I don't know if some of you remember how I always say I believe I have 2 angels with me. Well her statement confirmed my belief. I always said I have two and people would laugh and say things like oh you think you're special?! Yes, in fact I do. Just as special as you were when He formed you in your mother's womb and just as special as you were when He took the time and laid out the plans He has for your life, too. Yeah, WE ARE SPECIAL. And it also is based on the fact that Psalm 91 says He will send His angelSS to hold you... I love my AngelS :)

She said that Jesus loves us and that Jesus wants to know us as His friends. But that it would cost everything. I sat there thinking, you're not kidding. She said we must be willing to let go of what you know as worldly greatness, approval of man, and their standards of "righteousness" to seek truth:Jesus. Who is willing to become a friend of God? And literally throw away every comfort for the promises that we're made over your life? She told us she has been married for 41 years. We all said wow and gasped and some applauded and she stopped us and said, "Yes, you can do it too. You have to die. Everyday. Die to yourself." If that's how marriage works here, it should be even more so with our God, right? She said picture this...you go to my wedding. The groom is waiting at the alter, the bridesmaids come down the aisle, the flower girl comes down, then the doors open to reveal the bride. And here she is in jeans and a sweatshirt, walking slowly, looking to the left and to the right to see if there is someone better sitting in the seats. How do you think you would feel if you were the groom waiting and watching your bride do this to you?

God is so good you know...Donna asked my friend to share a story about what God did this morning during worship. So as I am standing there praising God, God opens my spiritual eyes. I saw two angels come down right behind my friend J who was standing literally diagonally to my left. They came straight down and one stood behind J and the other walked in front of him. I asked God what are they doing? And I saw J more clearly and the angel was pulling off this old stiff armor off of his right arm. The angel removed some more parts and a once very stiff almost non-present J fell limp into the angels arms behind him. The angels then moved him straight to the back and I watched them carrying J's limp body. I asked God what are they doing? Where are they going? Because I could no longer see Bc of the crowd. As I'm watching all of a sudden two doors burst forth and all I see is light and J standing right in the middle of this. And with a huge smile on his face, he takes off running towards the alter. Completely exuberant. I shared this with J after service and I could see goosebumps on the side of his face but he didn't say much except wow, thank you. Later on in the class, J comes up to me and asks to sit to discuss what happened this morning. He proceeds to share about how he was always very skeptical about people saying they've seen things and whatnot but that he just shared with his group and they talked about it and those people shared how God can work in various ways and that then he went and spoke to Donna. She further explained some things and asked J if he could share the story. And with the grace of God, J said it was not just his story it was ours. He then told me his side of things and how during worship he let go and felt like he was loose and . So what I saw, he was physically feeling and spiritually going through. So he kindly asked me if it would be ok with me to share. I said ABSOLUTELY! I just knew that God wanted to do something. So we shared this encounter with over 80 people in our class. For God's glory and honor. Lord so amazing....love so amazing.

Arrival of the Fittest

HI EVERYBODY!!!
I pray you're all doing well. Well here I am in YWAM Kona and I find myself just lost in thoughts of how good God has been to me. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I am SO happy here.

Classes have not started yet (Monday 1/9/2012 they will) but we have had some beautiful moments of worship, prayer, and lots of fellowship! I'm getting to know a lot of people. You know me, I can't get enough. I love getting to know people :) Surprised? Definitely not, hahaha. I got to know 2 girls as my roommates: Esther and Cassie from Los Angeles and Alberta, Canada. Then I got to know 4 more girls as roommates at 2:30 in the morning NY time after 14 hours of travel and after I had unpacked EVERYTHING and was getting ready for bed. That was when the blessing in disguise revealed itself in the form of the rooming manager knocking on our door and kindly informed us there had been a mistake and the 3 of us needed to pack everything up and move to another room. And then there were 7 beautiful ladies. I am now happy to have gained 6 new friends [and some sleep lol]. Praise God He is good because one of my new roommates is, you guessed it...BRAZILIAN! I am ecstatic! God is doing something in me with Brazil (that's probably an entire blog in the future). So, my roommates are: Esther Cho from South Korea, Esther Choi from LA, Saundra from London, Talitha from Brazil, Mitzi from Texas, and Cassie from Canada.

You can feel the electricity in the air here and hear the constant chatter of things being hoped for. It's so overwhelming. I feel like crying because I KNOW that God is just going to do incredible miracles because that's what He does! Surprised? Definitely not, He's awesome. I can't wait. I've already had the opportunity to share personal testimonies and pray for people. My first honor, besides the one of walking on campus into this part of my destiny, was last night. Since there are over 50 countries from all over the globe represented in YWAM, we had a ceremonious welcome luau. Because my Discipleship Training School (DTS) is All Nations All Generations, we got to hold the flags. There were over 50 of us. I remember praying as I made my way to receive the flag: Lord, let this flag whatever country it may be, let this be a prophetic sign from you. Let it mean something more to me. Speak to me as I receive it. I turn and am handed a red, white, and blue flag: Puerto Rico. :D God picked me, to bring up my mother's land. How Loren Cunningham put it,"We call up the nation of Puerto Rico to enter in and burst forth in the mighty movement of God." I took off running.

I love you all. God is AMAZING.