Living The YWAM Life

Recent Update & the Marathon!

2012-01-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Aloha Friends & Family,

Currently we are just finishing our second week in our lecture phase for our January (Discipleship Training School). We had a week of teaching on Hearing the Voice of God, and there have been some changed lives as students begin to realize that they can hear His voice. The teams have been decided and it we have a team of 11 going to Cambodia, and two teams of 9 one going to India, and the other going to South Asia & Thailand. We decided over a week ago, and since that time my mind has been set towards getting them visas (PLEASE PRAY!).

This time around is a little different. I will be support staffing the India team. What that means is I help the team with logistics, discipleship, and any other areas the outreach leaders may need help in to get the team prepared for their time in India. I am not too sure of the exact places and ministries these teams will be involved with, but I do know they will be leaving on March 29th from Honolulu and returning on June 11th.

On a more personal note, the other exciting thing that is taking place is I will be taking part in my first marathon!!! It is the 2012 North Shore Haliewa Marathon. It will be on April 15th. I am currently on my 7th week of training. There is 18 weeks total, and I am so excited!! If you are unfamiliar with the distance it is 26.2 miles. There is a whole story behind why I am doing it, and I will explain more on my next post, but to sum up why I am doing it it is because of JESUS!! He has given me strength, determination, and VICTORY!!!!

To conclude, I would just like to say thank you to all of you for your love, prayers, and support. You are awesome! I love you,

Andrew

Our Awesome DTS

2012-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Hello friends & family!

Today marks the first real sabbath day that I have had since I have arrived here in Hawaii. I have been going non-stop with different things that have been needing to get done. I have had to schedule airport pick-ups, collect money, go over rules and guidelines in the school, shop for school materials, attending meetings and go over budgets. But enough of all those minor details, THE STUDENTS ARE HERE!!! There is a total of 23 of them! 8 guys and 15 girls! They're great, friendly, and have really cool testimonies already. We had a time where they shared why they were here and what they were doing before. Some really came to find God, others wanted to do world missions, but everyone's answer were just so encouraging. There is something different about our DTS (Discipleship Training School) students coming in now than say a couple of years ago or more when I attended my DTS. These students are just so hungry for God, desperate for His presence, and are just relentless to see God. I am encouraged myself to do the same. The cool thing that has been happening is the students have been having times of spontaneous worship EVERY NIGHT since they have been here! I have never been part of a school where students have done that! I am excited to see what God has in store for them. I know He wants to have His way with these students and deposit something in each one of them that they can take to bring revival wherever they go!

This upcoming Friday we will have a time where the students will pray and ask God which country, which we present to them, that they feel like God is calling to them to go for their DTS. Afterwards, it will be a lot easier to facilitate discipleship since staff are assigned to specific teams. This week we will be having a speaker, Danny Lehmann, speaking on spiritual disciplines and the Gospel. He will share on things like quiet times, fasting, evangelism, bible memorization & reading, etc. He is going to finish by sharing on the Gospel to the school to just lay a firm foundation for them.

We did have a day of resting an socializing yesterday when we took a school trip to Bellows beach. Our school spent a few hours over there which was a nice time to get to know the school better. Here is a picture of our day....

Other than I have been chucking along with logistical business for the DTS, marathon training, and trying to practice resting! My niece, Shiloh Hope Davenport, was officially born on January 12th at 7:58 am!! I am so excited to have my first and probably only niece!! Too bad she is about an oceans distance from me! Oh well, I guess I will see her this summer. Thank you for your prayers and love!,

Andrew

2012-01-07T17:57:00.000-08:00

Hello Support Team,

I wanted to give you a little update on the current events happening here at YWAM. I returned to Hawaii on January 2nd and was immediately put back into full swing. I came a day late from when our DTS staff training began and there has been a lot to do.

The first thing that I have been doing is working on one of our buildings which has been completely remodeled due to mold damage. That is the problem with Hawaii is the humidity makes it such a good environment for mold to breed. The building we have been working on is called the Creek House, and it is for student housing. It is going to our single ladies this quarter. The thing is as I am writing this it is still not completely done and ready to be moved in. Our students begin to arrive on Tuesday. So there has been a pressure now to get this house done so we can give our students a place to live. We do believe that is will be liveable and ready. It just means longer hours of working and weekend work as well. Here is a picture of some of the work that has been done and the building so far as it stands remodeled

The interior

The building close to completion

Other things that we have been doing here is preparing for our January 2012 DTS. Right now we have 24 students. There is 8 guys and 16 girls that are coming on Tuesday & Wednesday from all over the world to take part in our school. We have been praying for them, seeking God for what He has for them and also getting some logistics squared away. Right now we really think that God is wanting to pour out His anointing on them in the area of worship and call them to a higher place. He is desiring to call them to His presence. I am definitely excited to see how this plays out. Our Aloha Day (welcoming day) is officially on the 12th (thursday). We will be introducing them to the base, Hawaiian culture, and of course the beach! I am excited to see what God is going to pour out this season of 3 months before these students go on their outreaches.

Please just pray that God will have His way with these students and from the minute they land on this island they will experience the culture of heaven! Thank you for praying and I will keep you posted on more of what is to come and what God is doing. Thank you for partnering with me and support me in this ministry to see world changers for Jesus raised up! Blessings on you all,

Andrew

Happy New Year!

2011-12-28T13:49:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas from the Davenports!

Well as the holidays comes to a close, so does my time in California. It has been one of the most relaxing times I have had yet. I realized yesterday that just not having anything on the agenda is perfectly okay with me because usually I have meetings, teachings, and appointments left and right. The other thing that has been really refreshing for me is time alone here and there. I am very good at being an introvert, and I find it a time of "filling" when I am alone at times. It is quite hard to get that time alone when I live in the community of YWAM. It was a nice change of pace being back here at home.

So now on to the next chapter of my time in Honolulu. That is our winter DTS (Discipleship Training School). This school I will again not be going on an outreach, but I will be doing the job I have been doing for the last year and a half which is helping with the administration of the program. I have this school in the winter and our spring DTS I will be staffing and then from there I am unsure. There is the possibility that once our winter DTS goes on outreach that I could be going on the pastoral visit. I am still unsure but there was talk of that before I left this last time. Hopefully within the next couple of weeks I will update you with what I am doing next!

I will be spending my New Years Day either in Santa Clarita, California waiting for my baby girl niece to come! Please Lord!!! Or in San Francisco where I will fly out the next day. Please pray along with me that my niece will come before I leave back for Hawaii!!

I hope everyone has an awesome New Year, and I will see you all in 2012! Love you all,

Andrew

California Living

2011-12-21T08:57:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

I wanted to update you a little bit about what is going on with me. For one, I am in California visiting friends and family. My parents have recently moved houses and now are living in Winton, California. I have been settling in for the last week or so. I have enjoyed their nice new house which is not out in the country. I keep joking with my brother and saying that they live in civilization now. There old house was 27 miles away from the nearest town. So even being here is a little bit of a shock to me, but not too much since I live in the major city of Honolulu. I will be here in California until January 2nd.

So far since I have been home I have been down to Santa Clarita to see my brother, sister-in-law, and nephews. It is always such a joy to see them. I had the opportunity to spend the day with my dad, brother and nephews and take a trip to Knotts Berry Farm. We got to go on some rides, play games, and Levi won a prize for playing a soccer game! Here is the happy little boy after he got his prize...

The plans for the rest of my time here is to rest, spend Christmas with my family, see some friends, and be on baby watch. My sister-in-law is pregnant and due at any moment with a little girl. My first niece ever!!! I am really excited to meet baby girl! I am just praying and hoping that she comes before I leave. I would love to meet up with anyone who has a free moment to catch up! Please text or call me at 209-985-1706.

I know that one thing that I am making a priority during this short time is being in prayer about what I am going to be doing next. I am seeking the Lord and trying to listen to his voice and get some direction from Him. I am hoping to make some decisions soon because my commitment to YWAM Honolulu will be up in July this upcoming year. When I get back to YWAM I will be a day late to our Winter Discipleship Training School (DTS) staff training which will go from January 1st to the 10th. Our DTS begins on January 12th!

I know that is such an informational update, but more on a personal note. I just feel so excited for this upcoming season. Revival is a reality and it is happening everywhere! God has a plan and purpose no matter what we are committed too and how glorious is may feel. I have no idea what it is going to entail, but I know that God is with me and I am excited! I love you all! Thanks for reading,

Andrew

I'll Be Home For Christmas!

2011-12-11T00:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Well God did it again! We needed the finances to see everyone of these students go on outreach, and we have sent all of them out! We have our 3 teams out in Taiwan, Nepal & the Philippines. They have been out there for about a week. I have heard from each of the teams that they are loving the countries that they are in. The Nepal team is currently working in Kathmandu doing some prayer walks, they are headed out to villages tomorrow to do some open air evangelism to some of the locals. The Philippines team is currently working with a squatter community that have been affected by flooding. Our Taiwan team is also doing some open air evangelism as well in Taipei.

Taiwan Team Doing An Open Air

If you were not aware, around the 2nd week of November, our school needed about a total of $69,000 in order to see everyone go on outreach. Some of these students had no idea where this money was coming from, and others had some kind of idea but still were not confident in it. There were points were we fasted as a school, went down to Waikiki and played worship music on a guitar with our open guitar case to collect money, we took offerings as a base, asked friends and family, and whatever we felt like God wanted us to do. There was time of doubt, time of question, time of faith getting built and getting taken down, but God remained faithful! Every penny came in! On the day before all the teams left we still had 2 girls who needed about $2000.00 each (a total of $4000) . We were all thinking of plan B s for these girls because it didn't look like they were going on outreach, but then at 10pm that night this couple came on base. Earlier that day we took one last offering as a school to see how much we could get for these girls and we got a total of $2000.00!!! So we needed about $2000.00 more. Then this couple had met one of our girls, that needed money, at church that day. Our student told this couple how she was going to Nepal tomorrow and how she still needed money along with her fellow teammate. So this couple gave her a ride back to the base. Then around 10pm they came back to base and found our Discipleship Training School (DTS) director and passed him a $1400.00 check!!!! I mean God provides and He is never late with it either!!! I love it!!

On a completely different note, but just as cool, I will be heading back to California for Christmas this Monday (12/12). I will be there until January 2nd. Then I will be heading back for staff training for our winter Discipleship Training School (DTS). I would love to see you if you are around in California for Christmas. I will be up north at my parents' house and down south in LA at my brother's house. I love you all,

Andrew

Change Of Plans

2011-12-03T15:23:00.000-08:00

Aloha everyone,

There are currently 2 days until our outreach teams leave from Honolulu. Our Nepal and Taiwan teams leave this Monday at 9:30am. Then our Philippines team leaves on Tuesday morning around the same time. We are still waiting on about $4000 to come in for 2 of the girls that are on the Nepal team. Since they do not have the money in yet, they will probably be leaving later and meeting their team there once their money does come in. We had our teams commissioned this past Thursday. Our base leaders, staff and friends from the community prayed over the teams, and prophesied things over them that they felt like the Lord was saying to them. It was a pretty awesome time of encouragement and releasing of these teams. The 3 teams will be returning from their outreach on February 21st.

Nepal Team

Philippines Team

This brings me to inform you all that I will not be going on the pastoral visits which were planned in the end of January. The reason being is the director of the Discipleship Training School (DTS), my boss, will be going instead. She will be going along with our school leader. These two ladies will leave and the other DTS director and myself will hold down the fort of our winter DTS beginning in January.

So until then, I will be spending the next week (up until December 11th) finishing up the logistics of this fall DTS. Then on December 12th, I will be traveling home to be with my family for Christmas until January 2nd. From there I will come back to Honolulu to begin the preparations for our winter DTS. I just wanted to say thank you for all your prayers and support going into this pastoral visit and into this past fall DTS. God is not done with these students as they leave for outreach. He has great things that He is going to do, and these students are so full of faith that great things are to be expected. Love you all,

Andrew

All Things Are Possible!

2011-11-27T17:37:00.000-08:00

Aloha Friends & Family,

I just wanted to give you all an update on what has been happening in Youth With a Mission Honolulu. I have been on an extensive break for the last 4 days due to Thanksgiving. We had a really big & delicious meal on Wednesday night as a community. Then on Thursday night, myself and some of my close friends had a smaller Thanksgiving dinner. I definitely have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful that God has brought me to this place. He has called me to a life where everything that I do points to Him, and that I do have a community here in Hawaii that is like my family.

Our base has enjoyed 4 days off for the holidays. We have not had any lectures, meetings, or anything scheduled. It has definitely been a restful weekend. However, this upcoming week is the last week before all the outreach teams leave. They will be leaving next Monday & Tuesday. What that means for all staff is BUSY! I could go on and list the different task and things that need to get done, and believe me I could bore you. I made a list of to do's today, and it totaled about 20 or so. Although if there is one thing that I realized about being on staff that I keep reminding myself of is that busyness leads to burn out. Our leadership team for our base had a prayer meeting the other week. When we prayed, the Lord convicted our hearts in that meeting that all of us on the base were creating a culture of busyness where our tasks became more of a priority than God and others. I know for myself it ran deep into my heart because as the administrator of the Discipleship Training School (DTS), all I think about is task, task, task!

So, this week I am deciding to do something different. I am prioritizing Jesus! I have found in past experiences that when I prioritize Jesus first, I get more done! Which is so counter to what my mind thinks. To my mind, it thinks that time with Jesus cuts out of time where I could be getting more done. However, something shifts in the spiritual realm when Jesus is made the priority, and when I say in my soul, "Oh God, I could be doing so many other things that I need to get done, but I choose you because I want you more!" I have come to know that it pleases His heart, and from that I seem to get more done throughout the day and have more productivity in my schedule. I don't understand and I cannot wrap my mind around it. So yes, this is the exercise that I am choosing to do.

Also, as mentioned in an earlier blog, I am still in need monetarily for the pastoral visit. I am still in need of about $1000.00 or so. Please, please, please continue to pray along with me for this provision!! Our DTS school needed $69,000 about a month ago to see every person go on outreach that was scheduled to go, and now we are down to $12,000 left needed.God has brought provision in through random sources! All things are possible with God!!! Thank you for praying! Love you all,

Andrew

DTS Update & Pastoral Visit

2011-11-11T10:23:00.000-08:00

Aloha everyone,

Well it is a rainy day here in Hawaii. It is a perfect time to blog because I cannot do a whole lot. Today on 11-11-11, I thought it would be a great time to update you on life here in Hawaii.

To start off, I will update you on more of a personal note. I am selling my car :( It is a sad day because I cannot handle the financial responsibility of it anymore, and I felt released from God to do so. But it was such a huge blessing during the time that I did have it. I am giving it to a fellow YWAM girl who has decided to master the beast. Along with that, I am looking into coming home to California for Christmas this year but there is a possibility that that won't be happening. The reason for that is because I have no money. It seems to be the story of my life, but I am praying for some finances to come in. I would love to visit my little niece who is expected to be born around mid-December! I am so excited about that!

With our Discipleship Training School (DTS), it is currently finishing up its 7th week into the lecture phase part. There is 3 more weeks left until the 3 teams go on outreach to the Philippines, Nepal and Taiwan. A personal testimony of this school is that I have staffed 7 DTSes and I have NEVER! seen a school that is so bold, have a passion for evangelism, and are just going for it. We have local outreach every Wednesday afternoon to the University of Hawaii and Friday night to Chinatown (homeless outreach). I lead the Friday outreach, and I am just so proud of these students because they listen to the voice of God, are bold in preaching the gospel, they are praying for the sick, and we are seeing Jesus break out! So far we have encountered healings, prophetic words given to people, and salvation!!! It is so encouraging and such a blessing to hear. Revivial is a reality and it is happening! God is looking for a generation who is willing and all these 22 students and our staff are saying "yes" to His Spirit! Here is a picture of our Discipleship Training School going on right now...

The last thing I wanted to share with you is something I have the privilege of doing. With every DTS team we send out, we budget money aside for a pastoral visit. Now, a pastoral visit is when leadership of the base take a trip out to the various countries we send our teams out to, and take care of them as they need it. It is a real blessing to the team and outreach leaders to help them get refreshed, have renewed perspective and have them know that they have any kind of support they need. I know from past testimonies that every team that has had the opportunity to have a pastoral visit says it is such a huge blessing to them.

With that said, myself, the DTS director (Chris), and the school leader (Chelsea) are all planning on going to Nepal, the Philippines & Taiwan in January for a total of 2 weeks. We will be visiting every team and meeting with each person on the team, taking people out to eat, and just helping the teams out. So with that said, with travels, visa, and ground fees, the cost is looking to be around $2300.00 for each of the 3 of us to go. The DTS program is able to cover about $1300.00 of it which means I need to raise $1000.00 to go. This leads me to ask you, if you would be willing to prayerfully consider partnering with me to go on these pastoral visits to bless the 3 teams and to give them refreshment. Also, I wanted to ask if you would be willing to pray alongside with me that the money would come. I believe God is a provider, and He loves to give good gifts to His children! (Matthew 7:11) He is bigger than the economy and He knows our needs way before we even do! He is big enough. Thank you so so much for praying! It would even be a huge blessing for me to get back out to the mission field!

Thank you so much for reading! I love you all,

Andrew

The 411

2011-10-30T17:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to update you on some current things that are happening around here at YWAM Honolulu. My past week has consisted of...

1) Logistics! - I have been trying to take care of the things needed to be done for this DTS to go on outreach. The 3 teams leave on December 5th & 6th. I have basically been filling out visa application, taking visa pictures, reserving plane tickets, collecting money, and some other random things

2) Praying for the future- Trying to figure out what is next. It has almost become this frustrating, burdensome thing that I just wish I could figure out. However, I feel as though the time gets closer and closer God is going to show me what it is.

3) Resting - I do not want to do things on my own strength but on God's strength. I have been processing a lot with God about the burn out I has last July. I have made some assumptions as to why I burned out last time. The major thing is I got more concerned with works that I did with loving Jesus. Also, I tried to do a lot of things on my own strength rather than relying on Jesus.

4) Being honest with God - I don't really know what has spurred this on, but God has just been reminding me that the idea of salvation is relationship with God. In a relationship, honesty and vulnerability are desired. So that is what I want to be with God.

On a fun note, we had a Disney themed Ohana (family) night recently. We all dressed up as Disney characters. I thought I would leave you with this fun picture of my attempt as trying to be a lost boy from Peter Pan. I am a raccoon by the way. Thanks everyone for reading! Love you all

Andrew

Half Marathon: Victory!

2011-10-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Aloha everyone!

It has been a pretty crazy 2 months so far. I was just reflecting on where God has been taking me on this journey and I feel like this is the first time I actually get to process it. I have been staffing our fall 2011 Discipleship Training School (DTS). I am doing administration work, and preparing the school logistically for this Lecture Phase (September to November) and the also logistically for the outreach (December to February). I have been so use to doing this job that it really hasn't phased me in the littlest. This is the 4th school I have administered so I am not too stressed out by the tasks I need to do. It is the outside things that I can see the hand of the Lord in.

One of the things is something that I posted in earlier blogs. God has walked with me through a season of overcoming the sin of gluttony. He has taken me from a conviction about finding my #1 comfort in food, idolizing it, and choosing it over Him. He has taking me on the road of taking care of my body, and as of October 15th, 2011 I completed my first half-marathon!! It is 13.1 miles. Now before I rejoice in the accomplish I just want to make the disclaimer that it is all Jesus that did this through me. I stated before that I weighed a peak of 275 pounds as of mid-August. I couldn't even run 2 miles, and to think that I could even go 13! is miraculous in itself. God has redeemed me. He has shown his faithfulness and grace. He has allowed me to have victory and his joy has truly become my strength. As I was running it, He was speaking to me. He spoke, "Victory is at the finish!" and, "My joy is your strength." I finished in about 2 hours and 49 minutes. I will tell you, I could not help but be so excited over how good God has been to me. Here are some pictures of the before & after marathon....

Before the marathon

After!!

I got the privilege to run this race with another YWAMer, Josh, who has ran marathons prior and helped me to train for it. I have found a love for running, so much that I am doing another one! Thank you everyone who has prayed for me through this journey!

Quite honestly, with this under my belt, I felt like it was a message to the powers and principalities of this world that work against Jesus and the victory He brings. It was a message of, "I HAVE VICTORY THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!!! and you no longer have authority over my life in this area!"

I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers and encouraging support! I love you all!

Andrew

Aloha!

2011-09-08T22:40:00.000-07:00

So I am currently sitting here in Starbucks, and as I walking over here I was thinking what to put on this blog for my latest update.

The first thing I can say, is I have returned back to Honolulu. It is unlike any of the other dozen of times I have returned because this may be the last time I come here. As some of you may know in August 2010 I made a 2 year commitment to YWAM Honolulu to work an addition 2 years with out DTS (Discipleship Training School) as the administrator for the program. I felt like God wanted me to go into a season where I was not the one necessarily going out into the mission field, but I would be more of the sender. The reason why I am bring this up is I have finished my first full year of that 2 year commitment. I am not beginning my 2nd half. I am not too sure what to expect, what countries I will help teams prepare to travel to, what kind of students that God is going to bring through, or even so where I will be headed to next year.

I know it is still a year away, but you would be surprised with how many people have already been asking me, "So what are you thinking after this year?" I felt like this year God has promised me that He is going to give me vision for the next year. I know this to be true because He hasn't failed me yet. He is all about our destinies more than we are.

Being here in Hawaii has been pretty intense so far. Some of my friends that I staff with here have gone this past summer to do a 5 week seminar at YWAM Kona (the big island). It is called the School of the Circuit Riders. They came back pretty fired up and in love with Jesus so intensely. I will say coming back to Hawaii after being home in California for 2 months, I felt a little overwhelmed being back here; like I was experiencing culture shock. I haven't been in the heart of ministry and a full-time job that is centered with loving Jesus for quite some time. To hear people talk about revival, Jesus, or FIRE!! I was a little resistant at first. I am still on this journey though of trying to examine my heart and see what is the root of this resistant. The weird thing is when I look at them, my heart longs for what they have. It longs for the depth in relationship wit Christ because for some reason I feel like the just the surface for me has been scratched.

I began to tell everyone here how last year of my commitment, I was burnt out of ministry. Somehow I associated Jesus with ministry and it became more of a job than a passionate love. When I went home part of me did not want to come back because I just didn't want the burned out feeling anymore and I was so turned off by "ministry."

I really don't know what God is up to right now. He is up to something because I can feel healing. I can feel Him moving. Some people have confirmed that they can see God doing some kind of work in me. It is redemptive. It is healing. It is exactly what I needed but I have no idea what it is. I want more though. Yeah.... that's really all I can say right now. I can't see anyway around this than to see what Jesus has in store for me. Thanks for reading. Love you all,

Andrew

Summer Fun

2011-08-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's been almost 2 months and it is time to call summer an end. I have been enjoying the mainland since I arrived here. I have travelled to New York, Philly, Las Vegas, LA, and up here in Northern California where my parents are. Where did all the time go? I really enjoyed seeing some familiar faces and relaxing.

I leave on August 28th on a plane to go back to Honolulu for a committed time of 1 year. I am not sure what this new year is going to bring. It's kind of hard to write this because this time at home has been really good, but it has been really hard too. It hasn't been the easiest times for these past 2 months. God has just been revealing a lot of my own heart and areas of which I need healing and need to deal with. The first thing is I realized this summer that I am an idolater. I am not being hard on myself more than just sharing the convictions and revelations I got from the Lord. I idolize food which is a major thing I am dealing with. I am a glutton and my whole life was based around food. When I would think about food I thought most of the time no big deal it really isn't that big of a sin. So I have been doing an online course (for free) called The Lord's Table. It's really amazing and has changed the way I look at God and food. It's also helped me take care of my body. I have lost 20 pounds so far and it really really is the Lord. I have tried so so so so many times to do this on my own strength with little to no avail.

I also realized that my heart has grown lukewarm towards the Lord. I am still processing this with the Lord but I realizing how much I tried to keep this in the darkness so that everyone around me thought I was okay and had it all together. That whole having it all together is such a bunch of garbage. I really don't and God is who sustains me. I am a work in progress but God works all things out for good and His glory! There is a couple other personal convictions and revelations that have been happening that I am still processing, but in saying this it hasn't left me much hope & excitement to return back to full-time ministry.

I realize though that God is much bigger than my situations. God has never called me to have it all together in order that I may serve Him. I was running last night and I heard God speak to me clearly. He said, "Andrew, I am not looking for a people to change nations and the world, but I am looking for people who will love Me. I am the one who changes the nations and the world and I use people who love me." It was just a sweet time with God because even though I could sit here and tell you how inadequate I feel and so unworthy; my job is just to love Jesus.

So this summer has been relaxing which is what I was looking for, but has been also challenging, but this challenge just isn't a 2 months challenge that is only for my time at home. It is a challenge that I will carry until the work the Lord has started in me is completed. Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Thank you for your love and support,

Andrew

New York!

2011-07-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hello from Catskill, NewYork

For about the past week and a half I have been travelling from Hawaii to California and then to New York. I have been in New York since July 1st. We had a wonderful Monteverde family reunion. It's my mom's family. A lot of the family members have already left to go home, but I am still here hanging out and enjoying the scenery, the grandparents, the parents, and the great dane dog my aunt has.

It's actually been a pretty full time here because we are always doing something or going somewhere. There isn't a whole lot to do in this area because it is like the country part of New York, but it is nice to know that I do not have to do anything. It's been so great to see family I haven't seen for a few years, reconnect and see how they are doing.

Since the reunion part has calmed down a little bit, I have been doing a lot of processing & debriefing of this past year. The Lord has been faithful to meet with me this week and just ask me a lot of questions. He has also given me perspective on the bigger picture of what has been happening in ministry. It's pretty cool to see how much of a hand the Lord has had on my life since August of last year, and how much he continues to have that hand of guidance on me. I think for me I always question and sometimes doubt whether or not what I am doing is what the Lord wants or wills for my life. One thing I am realizing about our God is he is so reassuring of the calling on our lives. He is so quick to show us that we are in his will for us, and he does guide us to glory. It's been really redeeming, refreshing and life-giving to process some of these things that I have put aside for so long.

Another event that is coming up is my 25th birthday which is actually the day I leave New York and return back to California. I know I am still really young, but I am having a hard time accepting the fact that I am 25 years old. I think it is just a little different for me because the life I have chosen to live is so different than most people my age. The best way to put it is I am going through a quarter-life crisis. I am also processing a lot of this with the Lord, but up until this point I felt like I have nothing to show for in my life. I don't have my college degree, no wife or children, no place of my own, no job, and still living off of support while most people my age are established on their feet and have a lot of major life things going for them (i.e. marriage, kids, steady income/job). For me, this is really humbling, but God again is giving me his perspective of Mark 10:29-30 which says, "Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." I am beginning to realize that this is the only option for my 25 years on this earth. This is truth. This is the truth for my life, and it has to be true because if it isn't then everything that I have given up is worth nothing.

So, in saying that, I have about a year left committed to YWAM Honolulu. Afterwards, I am free to do what I want. I am in a really big crossroad in my life, and I will probably be spending some time asking God what he wants me to do. I have some options, but I am not going to say what it is for sure. If there is one thing I have learned so far in this life is that everyone has a plan for your life. People have the recommendations & suggestions. I want to be directed by the Lord so that when things become difficult, hard, or uncomfortable I can say that it is because of Him that I am here, and that is enough.

I am just saying, New York is great! I am getting some good revelations and I am able to process some of the big life things that have been so clouded out by work and ministry. God is good! Love you all,

Andrew

The Last Week

2011-06-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I have about one week until I go home back to California & New York! I am really excited to see my family, and be reconnect with people back home.

Here in Honolulu has been pretty laid back. Our school leader, Chelsea, has gone home to get some R & R because she is a little burnt out. So myself and Ian, the director, will be finishing off our April DTS before they leave for outreach on Monday! Today I will be taking some of the girls on that team to get their last rounds of vaccinations before they go. I also am finishing up some of the last minute logistics for this school (i.e. first-aid kits, student finances, and getting money ready for the outreach team).

I am looking forward to the 2 month break I will have before I dive back into a new quarter and year. My goal on coming home is to rest, center myself around Jesus and be a Mary instead of a Martha (Luke 10:38-42), and heal from a lot of things that have happened this last year. I have just feel like I have had a Martha spirit this last year, and my heart has been to work and work and work to strive for the love of God instead of just receiving it. In my spirit I felt like God may love me more in my tasks, and what I could accomplish. That has led me to burn out. I am wanting to go into this next year with a Mary spirit where I sit at the feet of Jesus and the things I have to do, etc. comes from the outflow of that.

If I were asked if I was burnt out, I would say yes. I am barely hanging on here. I can tell I am burnt out because I am already mentally checked out, I am lacking passion in what I am doing, and I have just grown a little bit irritable. Please pray for me in this area, as I know the Lord is patient, kind and loves us through the rough seasons. I know that this time at home will be refreshing so I can come back this next year in full swing and with a different approach to how I will handle ministry. I wasn't sure if any of you were aware but our years here in YWAM run a lot like they do in a school. We begin in August and go until June, so we are almost done with our year. Thank you for all your love and prayers this last year here in ministry. I'm looking forward to seeing some of you soon,

Andrew

The Last 3 Months

2011-06-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

For my most recent post, I thought I would fill you in on the last 3 months because in 2 weeks I will be closing yet another chapter in my life and beginning a new one. I thought as a update on my blog I will just kind of process the last 3 months to give you an idea.

The biggest thing/change that has happened is a special friend came into my life. I won't say her name for her own sake, but I really really liked her. I still kind of do. She not my special friend anymore. She felt like it wasn't the right time and she wasn't in a good place for it all. This literally happened a week ago after 5 months of investing in it. I think when this ended it just shook me to the core of everything. I think every insecurity that I possessed surfaced. Lies that I realized I didn't believe came to surface. One thing that was good is that God comforted me. Right after everything went down, the first thing he spoke to me was from Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." I don't know what else to say but God is so faithful to me. He is so faithful and patient. I mean you can ask some of my close friends here because I wasn't that fun to be around this past week. I may have pushed some people away, but God is so relentless, so persistent, so patient to wait for me.

The other thing has been the 3-month DTS (Discipleship Training School) lecture phase that has been going on since April. We have approximately 2 weeks left until the team goes on outreach. It's been both a blessing and a trying time. There is 5 female students who are all going to the Philippines. It has been one of the most relaxing quarters for me as a leader. I am only collecting money from 5 people as opposed to 35 in some schools. There is only one outreach which means only one set of visas and plane tickets, as opposed to 3 or 4 teams in other school. Also, since there is no men in this school, there has been little to no need for discipleship on my part. I am still trying to figure out if there is other reasons why the Lord has walked me through this season of easier ministry. I love it, but at the same time I like being filled with things to do. It is a blessing to be apart of this ministry to see young people discipled and then sent out to the nations.

Since this is such a relaxing quarter, I thought that this would be an opportune time to take care of my body both physically and spiritually. If you were to ask me right now if I feel like I were succeeding at that I would say no. It has been disappointing, but also giving me a reason to press into the Lord more because I feel like I cannot do this on my own strength and will power.

I just think this season has been a really good one to reflect on the situations and the circumstances I have been in, and realize that the Lord is the center of it all. I am not. People or a special friend are not. Jesus is. I know I would consider this to be a season of harder times, but I know the outcome of this is that the Lord is really doing a work within me. It is also so much bigger than me.

So for ministry updates, these 5 awesome girls and 2 leaders (Jason & Stephy) will be leaving for Manila, Philippines on June 27th. I am actually picking up their visas today. The will be going to the cities of Manila, Baguio and Cagayan de Oro. They will be speaking in churches, working in slum ministries, doing tons or kids ministries and evangelism. They will be returning to Honolulu on August 25th. Thank you for your prayer and support towards me so I can also support them logistically. I love you all,

Andrew

Teaching Next Week

2011-04-17T16:28:00.000-07:00

Aloha,

D-day is tomorrow! I begin teaching Galatians at 10:30am for 2 hours! I'm pretty excited to do it. I am actually sitting in a coffee shop right now about to study but as per usual I am procrastinating. This will be my second time teaching in the Biblical Core Course (BCC) here at YWAM Honolulu. I think if there was one thing that I really truly enjoy teaching on it is the Bible. I love Galatians more specifically because it is such a revolutionary book that tells about the FREEDOM! we have in Christ. I mean we are no longer bound by a 660 plus Old Testament laws, legalism, and sacrifices for our sins! Jesus came to release us from that and he has given us grace. It's a pretty sweet book once you dive into it. I love teaching too. I will be done teaching by Tuesday night. I am given, I believe, about 9 hours to teach a 6 chapter book. Pretty stoked about that.

I just wanted to ask that you would be praying for me during this next week as I prepare to teach. I know I am well knowledged with this book, but if there is no revelation from God, then I don't even want to go up there and try. I really want people to know what Christ actually did for them. Thank you for your prayers! Love you all!

Winter DTS Outreach Team Pictures

2011-04-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Team Mongolia (3 Guys, 5 Girls)

Team Indonesia/Philippines (3 Guys, Girls)

Team Brazil (7 Guys, 7 Girls)

Spring DTS!

2011-04-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

My life has been crazy around here in YWAM! This past wednesday we sent off our 3 remaining Brazil team students to Brazil. It was 3 Canadians and they were having a tough time getting Brazil visas. The finally got them, and had to go 2 weeks later than the rest of their team. I have been working on getting those, changing the already booked plane tickets, and trying to transition to this new quarter.

I am currently in a new quarter. It is our "April quarter" which basically runs from April to June. During this time we have a Discipleship Training School (DTS), and then we have a Biblical Core Course (BCC) running on the base. I am still the DTS Administrator this quarter. I am working with the DTS: getting plane tickets, visas, handling the money, etc. It is actually a breeze this quarter. If you weren't familiar with how our year works, the April quarter is when we get the lowest number of students that come. We currently have a DTS of 5 students; all girls! So my job is pretty simple. Not to mention this school we will be sending only one team to the PHILIPPINES!! What makes this deal even sweeter is that there is a Philippines consulate on the island!

So you may be asking yourself, "Hey Andrew, what the heck are you even going to be doing with your time?" Well, glad you asked. First, I will be teaching for the second time in the BCC. I did this last year when I staffed the school. I will be teaching the book of Galatians again! I love that book! Then I intend to take the rest of the quarter to rest. These past 2 schools (the fall and winter schools) have been intensely busy, and I wanted to take this quarter as an opportunity to rest my mind. I am also trying to get my body back in shape because if you weren't aware, my body is a floppy mess. I am currently into my 2nd week of my diet and it's going really good right now.

Earlier in my blog I mentioned something about going to Mozambique, Africa this summer. I hate to announce it, but that team and outreach has been disbanded. Our base is no longer sending a team out there. So, saying that, I have some options how I would spend my summer.

#1 - Go home to California for a bit and see the fam and friends

#2 - I was praying about possibly going to Nepal for a month. I would go for the month of July and into the first week of August. I would go by myself and hook up with some of the friends and ministries I worked with before. It would be my own outreach. The only problem is finances. I think the whole thing would cost me around $2400. Currently, I have none. Please pray with me because I would really love love love to do this! Also, if you would like to partner with me in this, then please contact me and let me know. Thank you!

That's really all I got. I do love you all! Thanks for reading!

Counting Down The Days!

2011-03-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

Well Aloha Everyone,

It has been a crazy last 2 weeks here at the base, but before I divulge into ministry topics. I just thought it would better to tell all of you how I have been. To start, lately all I could focus on is work/ministry. I have been so overwhelmed and dedicated so much of my time to getting the tasks of DTS done and finished. I was doing it so much that I was neglecting my own personal self in every dimension. I was physically not exercising. When I finished the day, all I could think to myself is how tired I was, and all I would do is vocalize that to other people. I would catch myself announcing to the air how tired I was and really just complaining. I realized this was coming from my spirit. I have neglected my body and health. I have the typical problem of not being able to stop eating!

Spiritually, I have been lacking too. I have neglected my relationship with God. I can see myself trying to do things on my own strength instead of relying on Him. I give him my second best, and I have been realizing my zeal, my passion, my heart for the Lord is not as strong as I want it to be. I was journalling yesterday and all I could seem to write down to the Lord is how much more I want intimacy with him. I want to know him more. I want to be fully devoted to him in my mind, heart, emotions, and spirit! I feel like I have so much more that I could, and it just starts with me being faithful to meet with him daily.

Mentally, all my mind goes towards is work, to do's, and I go to bed thinking what tomorrow's agenda looks like for me. I haven't checked e-mail lately, remember to call my own mother, or just take a sabbath. I think why I am even sharing this with you is to ask for prayer from all of you. I can feel that I'm on the verge of burn out. I think for me I know in my heart that the Lord does not call his children to burn out. He doesn't set us up to fail. I believe that the reason this is happening is something is wrong on my end. I need to prioritize my schedule to center around Jesus. I don't know what this is going to look like or even where to begin, but I don't want to just talk about it anymore. I want it! I want to do it!

On the ministry side of things, the teams leave on March 30th. Visas look like they are on the way to being completed. I just have Mongolia, and a few Indonesian visas to complete. We are doing baptisms on Friday. We were going to do baptisms this past Friday, but do to what happened in Japan and the tsunami warnings, we had to postpone. I know one student has already asked me to baptize him which is seriously cool. I don't know what it is with this school, but I love them so much! I am going to miss the boys on the China/Mongolia team a lot because they are the ones I've invested so much time in.

Thank you for reading, praying, and loving me. I love you guys. Blessings on all of you!

Andrew

Recent News at YWAM Honolulu!

2011-03-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

I just thought it would be a nice time to go ahead and tell you of some of the cool things that have been happening here, and what is going on with me more personally.

With the ministry, our DTS is going strong. We just had our September 2010 DTS return from their outreaches. They went to India, Cambodia, Taiwan & Nepal. They had nothing but good reports of what God had done in those nations in and through them. It was amazing to hear some of their stories and also to just see how some of them changed altogether. It was a real blessing to see that and be able to be a part of that in some way. I wanted to remind you all that you were also a part of that as well, and I wanted to say THANK YOU!! for being a part of it.

With the current DTS that I am involved with here, we are getting rocked by the Holy Spirit. We have had 3 intense weeks of teaching (Worship, Intimacy & Intercession, and the Holy Spirit) and it just has been a time where He (the Holy Spirit) has been able to minister to each one of us. I know in one night of ministry even me being staff here I was getting rocked by the Holy Spirit! He is so so good! I love being apart of what God is doing here. I have a small group of 4 boys. I can just see God rocking their worlds and giving them this immense hunger for him. I love it and it is such a privilege and honor to come alongside God and really be apart of what he is wanting to do in these guys lives. I was just thinking the other day of how much God doesn't need us at all to change peoples' lives, but he chooses to use us out of love. It still blows me away.

On a more logistical note, I have been working on visas for China, Brazil and Indonesia. They were going really smooth until recently when I got a lovely e-mail from the Brazil consulate asking a ton of questions are requesting some more documentation. It made my stress level go up. I am a little worried/nervous, but now that I think about it, why am I? I mean God is bigger, he called these teams together, he wants to use them and he loves the people on these teams? I don't know why I don't let my worry/stress be turned into prayer. I just wanted to ask if you could please pray for these visas that they would be able to get them. Right now I am having problems with the 2 team leaders of Brazil, 2 Canadian students on the Brazil team and potentially a couple more students. Thank you for your prayers!

Okay, well I believe that is all as far as ministry goes. Thank you for reading! I love you all,

Andrew

Just One Of Those Days

2011-02-17T19:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone,

You know those days when you wake up and it just seems like it is so hard to get yourself out of bed because you feel completely unmotivated. I would say today, if not this week, has been one of those days.

I have just been feeling completely overwhelmed/stressed out and I think everyone around me is beginning to see it. It is never my heart to make those around me feel the burdens that I carry. However, now, I feel like I cannot help it. It all begins with discontentment issues that I have been dealing with again. I love my job as the DTS Administrator, but man does it stress me out at times. With visas, money, constant logistical things that arise up, and meetings I just feel like it is so much and I was beginning to be burdened. Also, I donʻt have as much contact or influence in these studentsʻ lives.

When we were at a worship time a few days ago, the worship leader just told us to be honest with the Lord. He said the Lord desires a genuine relationship and doesnʻt want that fake smile relationship. He also said that people like David and Jeremiah in the Bible, knew how to express how they felt and in that they chose to worship the True Living God. I will say, I told God how I felt, and God, who is so incredibly good to me, said "Read Matthew 11:28-30" which says

²⁸ “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

and I began to cry. It just is so amazing to me to realize that my God never called me to carry those burdens. I donʻt know but it really made me love Jesus so much more to know that He has given freedom from the burdens I put on myself. Yeah so I just wanted to share that with you and tell you how being here has been. Usually the reason why I am not keep the updates coming is because I have just been feeling so overwhelmed.

Thatʻs all I have for now. Blessings,

Andrew

Staff Outreach to Mozambique

2011-02-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

Aloha Everyone,

This summer for the months of July and August YWAM Honolulu is giving all staff the opportunity to do a staff outreach to the nation of Mozambique. If you are not familiar with where that is, it is in Africa! Here is a map of where it is

We will be going for about 4 weeks and working with Iris Ministries. Part of the reason we feel we are suppose to go is because revival is happening in this nation. They are having nearly 100% deaf-ear healing. People are being raised from the dead regularly, and this nation is getting transformed by the power of love. Our leaders here at YWAM Honolulu believe it is a good idea to go here to learn first, and then be apart of what God is doing in this nation. The link to Iris Ministries is www.irismin.org. As of now I am 100% committed to going right now. The only thing that I would need to pray into and start looking into is finances. I am guessing this trip is going to cost somewhere around $2500.00. I just wanted to ask that you would keep this in your prayers. Also, if you could pray into partnering with me financially in this trip to partner with God in what He is already doing in this nation. Thank you for your love and support,

Andrew

Jesus Is So Good!

2011-01-28T21:08:00.000-08:00

I love how Jesus orchestrates everything together. I have this strong desire to just be in the Presence of the Most High God! There is just so much that I can say right now, so I will get started.

#1- This week in our DTS we had a teaching on 'Hearing the Voice Of God.' I absolutely love love love this teaching! It is just a reminder that our Heavenly Father speaks to His children. He is bending over backwards just to speak to us because He loves us and wants relationship with each one of us. It is also becoming such a reality that our God speaks to us and we can listen to Him just like the birds are chirping. Just as we can hear those birds, we can hear the Father's voice. His voice is always so good too!

#2- We found out outreach locations today. We have 3 teams going out this school. We have a team going to Brazil. One team going to Mongolia. The last one going to Indonesia and the Philippines. We also found out that there is 14 people going to Brazil (7 guys and 7 girls). Then there is 9 people going to Mongolia (4 guys and 5 girls), and 10 people going to Indonesia and the Philippines (3 guys and 7 girls).

This school, I am not going on an outreach, but I will be support staffing the Mongolia team. This means I will be coming alongside the team and helping to prepare them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Also, I will be running the guys small group for that team too. I am really excited because they are a good group of guys too.

#3- Jesus has been faithful to me personally with answering some prayers that I have been praying for lately. I will share with you the details as the Lord leads me to share them.

Thank you so much for all your love and support. Blessings!

Andrew

Week #2 Of January 2011 DTS

2011-01-23T14:34:00.000-08:00

Aloha Everyone,

I wanted to share with you something that is a trademark of YWAM Honolulu DTS and I think it is the same for any DTS that is run around the world.

When students come from different parts of the world, not matter what background they come from they always come with "baggage." I am not talking about baggage in regards to luggage you bring on a trip, but spiritual, emotional, and mental baggage. They come with insecurities, abusive relationships in the past, miscrued views of the Lord, and lies they believe about themselves and God. The funny thing is sometimes the students don't really even believe that they have that baggage they carry. They tend to put up this facade and act as if they "have it all together." I even did this when I came to do my DTS back in September 2007.

It really takes a work of the Holy Spirit to break these students down and show them that they in fact they do not have it all together. It also takes revelation from God to show them how much they want the Lord.

You're probably wondering why I am even talking about this. Well, I bring this up for a good reason. They students don't become self-aware of this baggage they carry, and they're hunger for God until I would say week 4 to week 6 of the DTS (Discipleship Training School). What is unique about this school is that a majority of these students are coming to this realization in week 1 and week 2! God is good!

The reason for this being is because we did a little trip called Exodus. It was a 3 day, 2 night basically rough and tough camping trip. Why we took these students on this exodus is because we wanted to show them their need for the Lord. We gave them the basics: food, water, shelter, no make-up, no brushing teeth, no showering, tons of worship times, times with the Lord, devotions, small groups, fun team activities. We didn't tell them how long they were going to be out there or even what time it was. Even myself as a staff being there had a realization of how much I was depending on technology, finding comfort in hygiene, and relying on the things of this earth to sustain me instead of the Lord. With all this to say, this school bonded and became unified within this weekend. We all realized our need for the Lord, and a lot of our facades came down and we got to know each other. It has to happen when people smell, haven't showered and don't necessarily look their best.

So that happened a week ago in our DTS along with a week of teaching on the cross of Jesus, and true discipleship. It was an amazing week! God is good, and that is really all the news I have for now. Blessings and love,

Andrew

Picture Of The January 2011 DTS Staff

2011-01-11T21:36:00.000-08:00

I have the privilege of staffing with these 11 amazing people!

Late But Good Update!

2011-01-11T21:15:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family,

I took a break from blogging due to the holiday season, but I am back now! For those of you who were not aware of it, I went home to my beautiful set of parents that I have in California. The reason you mostly likely weren't aware of it is because it was suppose to be a surprise visit for my brother, sister-in-laws and nephews. My parents were in on the surprise so I didn't inform that many people. I was home for a total of 15 days, and they were probably some of the most well needed days of rest that I needed. I've told a few people that my favorite part of the whole trip was Christmas morning seeing my 2 little nephews, Levi and Tytus, rip through their presents and be so excited at what they got. Oh man, I wish I could go back to that!

Currently now, I am back at it again here in Honolulu. I've been here for about a week, and it is yet again another busy time for myself as the DTS (Discipleship Training School) Administrator. I think as soon as I boarded the plane to go home to California, my administrative mind shut off instantly. I didn't want to have to plan, organize, facilitate for a little bit. It has take me a few days to turn my mind back on towards doing that kind of stuff again.

As of now, our ministry here is preparing for a new DTS beginning on Thursday January 13th. That is when we will have our Aloha Day! This quarter is a little different because we have a large school! January quarters tend to be smaller in the number of students we have but this time we have 27 students (14 girls, 13 guys). They are coming from the US Mainland, Canada, and Europe! Some of them are arriving now as I am writing this. I'm really excited to see some of the things that God is really going to release with his Holy Spirit. We have some amazing speakers this quarter and with all this to say, I am yet again very excited to come alongside the Lord to make disciples for the nations! I'll keep you updated on where the teams will be going this school, and the cool things that God does in this season.

As for myself, the Lord is really doing and stirring some things up in myself. I am wanting to be desperate of God! I want intimacy with Jesus and I don't want to settle for anything less than that. We had this man speak in our staff training who challenged the question, "Imagine, enjoyable prayer! Imagine, enjoyable fasting!" I don't know about you guys but for the longest time I prayed because I had to or it was the Christian thing to do. But prayer is our communication to God. It is our intimacy to the Father. He wants to be in relationship with us! It's blowing my mind even as I am reading it now, but I want to know God as He can be known!

All this to say, God is so good! I love Him! Thank you for reading. I love you all,

Andrew

Pictures Of The Fall DTS

2010-12-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

September 2010 Discipleship Training School

Team Taiwan & Nepal (3 Girls, 8 Guys = 11 Total)

Team Cambodia (9 Girls, 6 Guys = 15 Total)

Team India (4 Girls, 3 Guys = 7 Total)

Preparing Our Thanksgiving Meal Imu Pork (We Cook It In The Ground)

Our 30th Year YWAM Honolulu Celebration

The Imu Pig After It Comes Out Of The Ground - SO Good!

Haka Dance From Samoa

Fire Dancing

More Fire Dancing

Hula Dancing

My DTS Administrator Desk - My 2nd Bedroom

Evangelism Night At Waikiki Beach

Some Crazy But Fun Times With Staff

Baptisms At Magic Island

Fall Discipleship Training School (DTS) Coming To An End!

2010-12-03T12:07:00.000-08:00

It is a bittersweet feeling. I am so happy that these teams are going to be going out into the nations to change lives for Jesus and also to have a short mini break from ministry. However I am bummed they are leaving and also that I am not going to be going with them. Our 3 teams are going. They all leave for Cambodia, Taiwan/Nepal and India on December 15th for 10 weeks. All of the outreach leaders of those specific teams have planned ministries, spoken with contacts in those nations, set up places for their teams to stay, and just really poured themselves into their teams.

I, on the other hand, have been Mr. Behind the Scenes. I feel so content with getting no recognition for what I am doing. I'll be honest, I hate being center of attention, so I have found contentment in doing this. Currently, I am buying the rest of the plane tickets out to Asia for our teams. We are going through a travel agency. We still need at $5000.00 more dollars to come in for our teams. Please keep praying for that. Also, I have put together the first-aid kits for each team that they will be taking those with them.

Another fun thing that myself and the school leader, Ian, get to do is plan next week's schedule. It is what we call outreach prep week. What we try to do it make the living conditions very similar to what it is like on outreach. We take away cell phones, ipod, laptops. We make bedtime 9pm, and wake them up at 5am. We make them eat random food that they may not never necessarily eat here in America. We tell them that they cannot leave base alone, and they cannot hang out with the opposite sex alone. We also will be doing team challenges and team building exercises too. It is a really good preparation week. Yeah, then promptly following that week they will be heading out. Also, last night we just had our Commissioning Night here where we laid hands on all of the teams and prayed for them. It was such a good night and God really spoke to a lot for each team.

So as of this school, I just wanted to send you a huge THANK YOU! for all of your love and support for me while I was a part of this school. It is such a huge privilege to be doing this role. I definitely see how crucial this role is to make this ministry work and I feel honored that God had given me this position. I am starting to really see the importance of an administrative role. It is really what helps move a ministry along. Thank you for being a part of this with me. I love and miss you all. Thanks for reading,

Andrew

Prayer Update!

2010-11-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

Aloha Everyone,

If you weren't aware, I have just currently sent out my latest newsletter this past week. If you would like a copy of it sent to your e-mail, please let me know. My e-mail is andrewdavenport@live.com. On this newsletter, I spoke of a short 3 week trip that I have the opportunity to go on to Asia. I would be visiting our outreach teams that we are sending out from our base here on December 15th. I will be in Thailand for a week, Nepal for a week, and India for a week. I also have an opportunity to go to a conference in Thailand for 5 days that talks of YWAM leadership and Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). My base director, Mike Heath, recommended it for me to go.

With all this said, I will need some finances from my own pocket in order to go. I need anywhere from $700 to $1000 to go on this 3 week pastoral visit. The DTS here on the base will loan me, I believe, around $1500 to go towards my plane ticket, but with that I need to apply for a visa, and ground fees for this trip. This trip's main objective is to be a blessing to our missionaries that are going out there.

I just wanted to ask for your prayers towards this. I don't have $700 to $1000 to go towards this. Please pray for God's provision. I also wanted to ask if you would please consider partnering with me in this trip. I just ask that you would seek the Lord and ask if maybe you are to give to towards this. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. If you have anymore questions please feel free to contact me about. I really appreciate it. Blessings to you,

Andrew

Update On DTS

2010-11-02T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to go ahead and give a brief update on what is going on here at the YWAM Honolulu DTS (Discipleship Training School). We are currently in week 6. Time has flown by! And my work load is increasing. Our outreach teams are leaving on December 15th. We just found out from our travel agents, and they will return February 22nd.

I am currently working on getting the visas for the India team. However the process to go through is a little crazy. It involves birth certificates, driver's licenses and things of that sort. The thing that is really good is the Cambodian, Nepali, and Taiwanese visas are all on arrival. Which basically means less work for me, and simpler travel.

This week in the DTS we have a woman named Donna Jordan speaking. She has been in YWAM since the 70's. She is very prophetic, and let me tell you, I love this woman. When she speaks I just feel like Lord speak to me so much. She is bringing a very simple, but powerful message on listening to God. It has to do a lot with the Holy Spirit, and in saying that she is revealing to us the power of the Holy Spirit. I haven't sat in a whole lot of lectures in this school, but week is one week that I try to make a point to listen to.

Other than that, I have not a whole lot of new news to report on. For me, I just ask that you would pray for me a fear of the Lord. That I would love the things the Lord loves, and hate the things that He hates. I also ask that you would pray for a filling of the Holy Spirit for me. I just want to be a man after God's heart who lives in love, truth and holiness. I ask that you would pray for me that I would be a man who submits to Christ, returns to his first love (that being God), and rests in Him. I just want so much more of God. I do not want to settle for anything less than Him right now. Thank you for your prayer and support. I love and miss you all,

Andrew

Week #4

2010-10-20T13:10:00.000-07:00

Hey Friends and Family,

I just wanted to give a quick update on the things that have been going on here at YWAM Honolulu. This week in our DTS (Discipleship Training School) we have a man named Dave Burr speaking on the topic 'Character & Nature Of God.' This is a very foundational week for the DTS students as they learn more about who God is and his characteristics. I think it is one of my favorite weeks because I realize how amazing our God is, how I cannot contain him and how I cannot "put my finger" on him. We usually watch the Louie Giglio video which shows the different planets and how big God is. If you haven't seen it I would highly recommend it. You can watch it on YouTube, just type in his name.

Another fun thing that happened, which actually happened last night, was our Ohana Night. Ohana is Hawaiian for family. We had a family fun halloween costume night. It was basically just a large dance party. I am part of the crew that helps to prepare for this night, and I got the privelege to host it. It was pretty fun. Here is some pictures of the night...

I was a spartan cheerleader off of SNL along with another girl who dressed up as the girl cheerleader.

On a completely different note, I have an upcoming trip I wanted to share with you. In January, around the 3rd to around the 27th, I will be taking a trip to Asia. I will be doing what we at YWAM Honolulu call a pastoral visit. Our 3 DTS teams will be going to Cambodia, India, and Taiwan/Nepal. About midway on the 8 week outreach that these teams are on, someone from our base goes to visit them to do a pastoral visit. A pastoral visit is mostly for the outreach leaders. It is for encouragement, we process with them, connect with their contacts in that country, bless them, and just give them a breath of fresh air. This time around our base director Mike Heath and myself will be doing that. So we will be going to all 3 of these countries and also a week long conference for DTS training in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I am really excited to visit teams and go to the conference! Our DTS program here will be covering some of the fees that I need for plane tickets, visas and ground fees to an extent. I believe between Mike and I, we get $3000.00. But I think it will cost us a little more. So please be praying for me in this area. That I will have enough finances to visit the teams. Thank you!!

That is about it for me here. I really appreciate all of your love and support from all of you. Thank you for reading. Love you all,

Andrew

Update on Fall Quarter

2010-10-13T13:44:00.000-07:00

Aloha Again,

I wanted to give you a current update on the things happening here at YWAM Honolulu. It is an exciting quarter! I love my job, I love what the Lord has called me to do, and I love what the Lord is doing.

We are currently in our 3rd week of DTS (Discipleship Training School). Our speaker this week is a man named Aaron Larson. He and his wife are speaking on the topic of 'Sex and Relationships.' They are also talking on the subject of purity and how the Lord calls us to purity.

I do not sit on too many lectures and school times with the students because my job is more behind the scenes. I am currently working on getting visas for 15 people in the country of Cambodia. I also am organizing our school camping trip on the northeast shore at a little spot called Malaekahana. It is beautiful there. I am also working with our travel agency here on getting tickets for 28 students. It is all coming together. Next week I need to arrange the students for doctors appointments to get the necessary shots the need for the countries they go to. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) recommends shots for people to get before the travel to various countries. My job is to research these shots for the different countries, schedule doctors appointments, and make it all come together.

It may sound like not that fun of a job, but I really do love it. I am starting to realize how crucial the job of the DTS Administrator is because without the job none of these teams would be going on outreach. I am so thankful that the Lord has called me to this job! Speaking of thankfulness, something the Lord has been showing me in being content with the job that I have is having a grateful heart. So, I am making it a practice of my life everyday to thank the Lord for everything that I have.

Thank you for your prayers and support for this ministry. I have an update on a possible trip to Asia I will be involved with in January for 3 weeks, but I do not want to overwhelm you with information. Again, thank you for your prayers and support. I love and miss you all,

Andrew

Here is some pictures of our quarter so far....

Our Aloha Day

Lecture

Worship in our Tin Cathedral

Aloha!

2010-10-03T15:27:00.000-07:00

I just first have to say that God is good and I love him!

It has been a really crazy week (by crazy I mean good). We have kicked off our first official week of lecture for our fall DTS here at YWAM Honolulu. The topic for this week is 'Hearing the Voice of God.' This has always been one of my favorite topic of teaching in our DTS here. It's so radical, so living giving, and so life changing when we realize how much our Father speaks to us truth, love, and about our identity. I am beginning to realize how much the Father bends over backwards to just speak us, and we as his children only need to tune our ears, minds, and hearts to his voice. I feel like I fall more in love with the heart of God during this teaching.

I am also seeing how much the students' lives are being changed, molded and transformed into the destiny that the Lord has intended for them. The reason for this is half of them didn't even realize that God speaks to them. I am so so so excited to see how the Lord just ruins them for the ordinary! Next week, we have our very own Danny Lehmann speaking on 'Spiritual Discipline & Evangelism.' I am excited to see more transformation in the hearts of these students.

On another note, the teams have been fully decided, prayed about and like I said in the previous post, we have 3 teams. One is going to Cambodia, another to India, and the third going to Taiwan and Nepal! Cambodia has a total 15 people on that team, India has 8 on that one, and Taiwan and Nepal have 12. I am so excited for each team and how they are going to be changing those nations. I, at this point, am contacting travel agencies to look for cheap tickets to these locations. I will be applying for visa to all 35 of these people and the different countries that they go too. I am also involved in helping some of the new staff in preparing them for leading their very first outreach. I am also handling thousands and thousands of dollars to purchase their plane tickets. Please pray for the logistics over this school, and that everything will go smoothly.

On a more personal note, I have been struggling a lot lately with discontentment in being the DTS Administrator. The reason for this is because I basically have this tainted view of my job that I am just stuck here in America, and that I am an eternal staff that will stay on the Honolulu base. However, the Lord in his mercy and grace has shown me different. He has been showing me a verse in 1 Timothy (6:6), which says "but godliness with contentment is great gain." I feel like the Lord is saying I am allowing this discontentment to be in the way of the things he is wanting me to gain. So I have needed to submit myself even more to him and say I am content in Him. Please continue to pray for me in this area. Thank you for all your love and support!

Aloha September 2010 DTS

2010-09-22T17:55:00.000-07:00

Aloha Everyone,

Well as the title of the blog said, our fall 2010 DTS (Discipleship Training School) has begun! Our Aloha Day is tomorrow (09/23)! We have a total of 29 students in our DTS this time around. A total of 15 girls and 14 guys from all over the world (Canada, South Korea, the mainland, Norway, and more). Our staff of 14 is working hard to prepare to get ready for these students, both spiritually in prayer and logistically.

(This is a picture of the DTS staff for the Fall 2010 DTS)

As of this week we have officially decided as a staff and a program where the outreach locations will be for this school. I am pleased to announce the three outreach locations. They are Cambodia, India, and Taiwan/Nepal! I ask one thing, please please please do not share this information with anyone until next friday! The students are not allowed to find out until they get a teaching on Hearing God's Voice. They don't get to decide outreach locations until next friday anyway. Thank you for your confidentiality.

As for my involvement with these outreaches, I will be booking plane tickets, getting visas for the teams, and getting the teams logistically prepared for the outreach. However, I will not be going on outreach with the teams this time. It is really sad for me to say this because I desperately want to go, especially since there is a team going to Nepal this time around. I will possibly be going to visit these outreach teams in January with our base director, Mike Heath, for a few weeks.

That would be all of the news that I currently have. It is going to be an exciting week and months to come with getting to know the students, discipleship, and seeing nations changed for Jesus! Please pray that I may have favor with the students, and that the students will be radically transformed by Jesus.

One more piece of info that I forgot to mention is our school theme. Every DTS we host here in YWAM Honolulu the staff of that DTS pray about a school theme which is usually a Bible verse that specific for that particular school. This time our school theme comes out of Ephesians 3:17-19 - "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know Christ's love which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." We have felt that the theme is love. That the love of God would be to the fullest, and that these students would have a grasp of that love. Please pray with us as we are in this ministry of seeing these students encounter the radical love of God. Blessings to all of you,

Andrew

Hey Everyone

2010-08-29T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's been about 2 weeks since I have been back in the beautiful city of Honolulu, Hawaii and things are being to get started. Our annual YWAM Honolulu Staff Seminar begins Monday (8/30), and it will be going on for 2 weeks. It is required for all staff to attend and the purpose of this seminar is to get some teaching on leadership and what it means to be staff at YWAM Honolulu. The leadership of our base is putting this seminar on. During this short 2 weeks of the seminar my main job is basically a facilitator of this seminar. I am going to be doing a lot of the administration work for this; doing basic communication and organizing different events that will be taking place during this seminar. The seminar ends on September 10th.

Right after the seminar for another 2 weeks (from September 10th to September 23rd), we will be having our DTS (Discipleship Training School) staff training. We have 11 staff, 7 of which are brand new staff and have never staffed a DTS before. It will be a challenging time for both them and us a senior staff considering we have to help train them. I will really have no huge role during this time other than administration role. Then on September 24th we have our Aloha Day. Students come and then kicks off our fall DTS. It is coming fast!

Some things that Lord has really been speaking to me lately is to just serve the staff, the leaders, the base, and the students. It has just been serve serve serve! It is also going to be really hard for me because this time around I will not be going on an outreach. It will be hard to be really investing in relationships with these students that come for the fall DTS, watch them grow tremendously in the Lord, and then watch them leave for outreach. I have actually had a really hard time being okay with this for about 2 months. I think I am slowly coming around, but it is hard for me. If there is anything to pray for for me it would be this area. I think the next time I would make a trip to Asia would be in January, but it would only be for about 2 weeks at most.

On a completely different note, I am saving up for a camera! I have about $100.00 to put towards a camera, but the camera I am looking to get is $260.o0. In hopes to get this I will be able to take more pictures and give you all visual updates of my life and what I actually do. I am also currently doing the workout program P90X. It is an intense fitness workout for 6 days a week. One of my friends here bought the DVD pack and we are currently doing it together. As of today I am on Day 7. Well, that's all the current news I have right about now. Thanks for the support, prayers and love you guys are giving me. I really appreciate it! I love you all,

Andrew

Aloha Hawaii!

2010-08-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Well as my the title gave it away. I have returned to the beautiful state of Hawai'i. It is a sunny 88 degrees out, humid and the day is young. I am just waiting for any visitors from home back in California who would like to come out and visit.

On a more ministry related note, I am back in the game here. I begin work on Monday with already my first meeting this afternoon. The rest of staff for our September quarter doesn't get here for about another 10 days. During that time I will be helping on base with various tasks (working in the kitchen, in our office, and some administration work for the seminar we are running). From August 30th to September 10th we have a seminar running on the base called the "YWAM Honolulu Leadership Conference." It is a mandatory fun time for all the people who are going to be on staff here at YWAM Honolulu to have teaching on leadership, know how to deal with conflict, what it means to be on staff here at YWAM Honolulu, and really get everyone on the same page. Myself and some others on base (about 5 people total) are going to be the facilitators for this seminar which basically means we're putting this seminar together (getting speakers for the seminar, arranging the schedule, deciding what needs to be covered in the area of leadership, etc. It will be a good time for our base staff here, both new and old, bond and get to know each other as well.

The next thing after that is the Discipleship Training School (DTS), which I just found out doesn't start until September 24th. That's some time away from now, so between then and now consists of the leadership seminar, and DTS Staff training. We have about 5 new DTS staff coming on to our DTS program, and myself and the school leader, Ian Gosnell, will be helping to train and facilitate the staff of the DTS program. There is about 11 staff total for the September DTS, and 30+ students coming in (more are still applying). Praise God!

Please continue to pray for me and my ministry. Some prayer points for me would be

1) God would provide financially for me (I am still looking for about $200 more a month to sustain my needs here working in full-time ministry).

2) A heart for the DTS program and the students. Also for wisdom, discernment, and strength to be able to do this school.

3) A heart that continues to put God first, not ministry. I just want a heart that loves Jesus so much!

4) Also that God would give me more vision for Nepal. I am looking to go to Nepal within the next 1 to 2 years, and I need more of a plan. As of right now it is to just go.

Thank you again! I love you all! I just wanted to say it was a really great experience I had back home in California, and it was so good to catch up with some of you and talk. For those that I didn't get the opportunity to see, I am so sorry and the next time I come back to California will hopefully be around Christmas time. Be blessed,

Andrew Davenport

New Update

2010-07-06T00:59:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Well, the latest at YWAM Honolulu is that we are on the last week of the SBSCC (School Of Biblical Studies). It has come to an end and what a journey it has been. We have looked at 12 different books of the Bible: Philemon, Ephesians, Galatians, Mark, Acts, Genesis, Kings, Romans, Hebrews, Amos, Revelation and a Old Testament Overview. Now we are on what we call our teaching week. This week is designed to give the students a chance to take one person from our base here out to coffee and teach them the inductive Bible study method that the SBSCC uses. They are also required to go over the book of Philemon with their student. The twist on this week is that the person they are teaching is going to be grading them on how well they communicate the information to them. It is going to be a fairly stretching time for them as not all of them are experienced with teaching. The reason why we do this is because part of what we believe in the SBSCC is that since the Lord has deposited all the wisdom and understanding of Scripture to them, they are not to hold this information to themselves but share it with everyone. This week will be an application of that.

Since this school, I have seen a lot of these fairly new Christian students really grow in understanding and become more solid in their foundation of their faith. I know in some ways it is not easy to see how much they've changed on the outside, but there is no doubt that the lives of these 15 students are not the same. It is almost impossible to read and study Scripture and not have your life changed. So that you are aware, you have had a hand in 15 students spiritual growth with their Father through your support. I can see a lot of these guys more secure in who the Lord is to them and who He says they are. It is honestly changes like these that I live for in YWAM Honolulu. To see lives changed by the Scriptures is why I do what I do here and I wanted to thank you for allowing me to be here, and investing in this ministry.

So since this week is the closing week of the school, this week will involve house cleaning, processing night, the final test on all the books we've studied, a fun beach day, and of course graduation which will be on Sunday July 11th at 6:30PM. From that point on, the students will be taking off, some back to their homes in the US, Canada, Europe and others on outreach to India or the Philippines.

As for me, I will be going home. I mentioned this earlier, but a week from Wednesday will be the day I will arrive in California to visit family and friends. If you happen to be in the Modesto or Los Angeles area from July 14th to August 18th please let me know. I would love to reconnect with you, pray with you, study Scripture with you, or just hang out and talk. I am open to whatever you want to do. If you are not in these areas during these times, but somewhere in California, please let me know and I can attempt to meet you somewhere.

Well, that is all I have at this time. I hope to see some of you this month. Thank you all for your love and support during these last 3 months. It's been a really good time. Love you all.

Random Updates

2010-06-18T18:38:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to give a recent update on life here at YWAM Honolulu. There is new information some pertaining to ministry other info not really pertaining to ministry.

1) I got a new car! Well, not really new but I've never had a car here before so it is a new experience. It is a 1996 Buick Century 4 Door V6. I got it completely free from a family that was moving off base to go back to Kyrgyzstan as long term missionaries. That is exciting. Here is a picture of it with the previous owner (it was the only picture I had).

2) I have just moved houses. I live in the base staff male housing, as opposed to school staff housing. My house is called the Mauka house. Here is a picture of that too.

3) Our school here will be studying the book of Hebrews this coming week after an amazing look at the book of Amos and other various prophets. On a side note, when we were studying Amos it was cool to see God in this book and how he hates injustice and wants to carry out justice in the nations and in people's lives. At the same time, there was a glimpse of God's mercy and grace in this book and how Amos pleaded for the people of Israel and God relented his punishment on them.

4) Along with my new car, I am officially working to get my Hawaii state Driver's License as of next week. It's weird, but I still call California my home. The main reason behind me doing this is my California license expires next month and I figured since I was in Hawaii more often, I might as well get it.

5) There is about 3 weeks of the SBSCC (School Of Biblical Studies Core Course) left, with graduation on the 11th of July. This school is finally coming to a close and a lot of the students are running on low fuel. Please keep the 15 students in your prayers, that they may have endurance to continue to press onwards and finish with excellence. Thank you!

6) Today is one month until I turn 24, and it feels weird to know I will be in my mid-20's. I will be in California though when this happens.

That's about it for me because not a whole lot is happening over here in the midst of all the lectures we are in and various other tasks I am doing around base. For example, I am part of the Events crew here on base since the past 3 months I have been planning base functions, graduations for schools that we run here, and welcoming days we have for new schools and students. It's another role I have on the base on top of staffing the SBSCC, but my primary role is the school staff.

I'll a planning on keeping you updated with my plans for this summer and my future goals coming up. Thank you guys for your faithfulness in your friendship and support of me being here in YWAM Honolulu. May the Lord bless you,

Andrew

Update On the School Of Biblical Studiesn Core Course (SBSCC)

2010-06-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well Hello Everyone,

It has been a while since I have updated. It has possibly been because it has been a pretty crazy day here at YWAM Honolulu with our current SBSCC. It is about 7 weeks into the school, and it has been a pretty crazy time. We have had some adventures with the book of Romans lately, and some of the controversial things that this book has to say like predestination or free will and many other topics. It has been a really good time to just get challenged by a specific belief that may be contrary or conflicting to what we believe. It definitely opens up the mind of a person. It has been a pretty fun journey so far, and SO SO SO fascinating to me to see the character of God portrayed consistently in the different books of the Bible. Currently the students are studying the book or Kings (1 & 2 Kings) with our wonderful SBSCC director Mrs. Cary Solima (my boss). I personally love to see how God was in the Old Testament and to see his faithfulness to His people.

Thank you all for your love and support for me during this year. I look forward to see many of you this summer. I officially bought my plane ticket. I will be arriving to California on the 14th of July all the way up to my return date to Hawaii on August 18th. I am currently working on a newsletter to send out to let you all know what my next step will be. Thank you all again for taking the time to read this blog, even though sometimes I slack on updating. I love and miss you all and can't wait to see you. Blessings,

Andrew Davenport

Teaching In The SBSCC

2010-04-29T19:06:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for your love and support for me over these last few weeks. As of Monday, I finished teaching. It was a total of 9 hours altogether. It was a great experience to do something that I haven't done here at YWAM Honolulu. I really enjoyed teaching the book of Galatians in a School Of Biblical Studies Core Course (SBSCC). It was something I haven't done since my experience in the Philippines back in July of 2008.

On another note, this school is off to a great start as the 20 of us (5 staff, 15 students) are diving deep into the word of God with a new book each week. As of right now the school is studying the book of Ephesians, and next week starting Monday we will begin to look at the book of Mark. For any of you who are unfamiliar with what a School Of Bibilcal Studies Core Course is, first of all, I apologize for not clarifying that, and I would like to take the opportunity to tell you what this school is all about.

This program (or school as YWAMers like to call it) is a 3-month program that is designed to further equip people in YWAM with a further understanding in the Word of God, and who He is! I took this school back in April to June of 2008 and it changed my life. Even though I have known about God my whole life, the Bible and this course helped me understand who He really is and who He says I am. In this school we look at 12 different books of the Bible (each of different types of literature i.e. epistles, prophet book, gospel, historical narrative, etc.), the approach we take to studying each one of these books is called the Inductive Study Method. It is oppose to deductive in the way where in deductive you approach the text with an agenda and interpret the scripture on how you want it to be interpreted for your particular situation. The other way is inductive where we approach the text or scripture and let it speak for itself and then apply what it says to our lives in 21st century. We acknowledge the fact that it was written to different people 2000+ years ago and not to "Andrew Davenport." A famous quote in the SBSCC is that the Bible was written "for" you but not "to" you. So we come to the scripture with that attitude. We look at the historical setting at the time it was written, the situation of the original reader back then, and how the truths of that book apply to them. Then we apply it to our lives from there. I love it and it has changed the way I personally have looked and studied the Bible.

So these students will dedicate these 3 months to looking at Scripture for what it says with various homework that they have to turn in weekly. That means long study hours (about 30 hours), and 10 hours of lecture each week. The end result is far worth it.

This school is what we call a Secondary school in YWAM. The first school that any person would have to do in order to enter into YWAM is the Discipleship Training School (DTS). This is the other school I was involved with when I went on outreach to Thailand, Nepal (both times), and India. After the DTS program is completely a second school that people can take in YWAM is a SBSCC, but the prerequisite is a DTS.

I hope this explanation helps to show you how I am spending my time in YWAM. My role as staff of this school is to help these students dig deeper, help with homework, help walk out the revelations they've received from the Lord, and to also grade their homework. I also have more of a specific role as the one doing the administating for the school. I have adopted/inherited my mother's gifting of administration, and I am not doing all of the logistics of this school while handling the budget. It is definitely stretching and growing me in a different way.

I wanted to thank you all for your love and support during this season here in YWAM Honolulu. It is definitely an exciting time here with the SBSCC to equip and disciple young people. Please continue to pray for me in the area of finances and what the Lord has in store for me afterwards. Please pray that he will speak clearly and guide me to what is next. Thank you again.

My prayer for all of you comes from Ephesians 3:17-19. My prayer is that Christ may dwell in your hearts (or continue to) through faith as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Have a great week,

Andrew

SBSCC Has Begun!

2010-04-15T23:34:00.000-07:00

Hello All,

Recently, we had our Aloha Day here at YWAM Honolulu which kicked off our School Of Biblical Studies Core Course. It is an exciting time where 20 of us will dig deep into the Word of God and have new revelation of who He is. I am personally excited to see how God moves in the lives of these 15 students and 5 staff. We have students from as far away as Denmark, England, Canada and mainland US. It is an exciting time, and Monday begins our teaching of the book of Philemon. On Friday (a week from tomorrow), I will begin teaching on the book of Galatians. I am nervous/excited to share what God has shown me through this book. I will be teaching Friday, Saturday and Monday for a total of 9 hours. I ask that you please continue to pray for me and this school as we dig deep into God's word.

On another note, I am still in need of financial month to month support as I have mentioned in my previous newsletter, so I ask that you would please keep that in your prayers. Please ask the Lord if this is something your are suppose to help contribute too. I am still in need of about $250.00 a month. Thank you again. Please feel free to contact me in anyway. I love and miss you all!

Andrew

Back In Honolulu!

2010-02-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

Hello All!

So it is safe to say that I have returned back to the states! It has been an amazing 10 week outreach in Nepal and India. It was bittersweet to know that I was leaving because it would be a while until I returned, but good to return and see friends and family again. The Nepali people have taught me so much this time since I had been there about humility and valuing relationships first over anything else. The believers in that nation have also taught me a lot to not take my relationship with God so lightly, but take advantage of every moment.

India on the other hand was good, it was chaotic, and a very spiritually dark place. It was good experience overall and the Lord did a lot of amazing things, but let's just say my heart still belongs to and in Nepal. Speaking of what the Lord did, our team of 11 got to witness things we weren't expecting, but things that showed us that God did reign in the nations of Nepal and India. We saw physical and emotional healing over people's lives. We also saw people's rededication of their lives to the Lord amongst the believers both children and adults, and both families and individuals who have been Hindus or Buddhists their whole lives say yes to Jesus! It seriously moves my heart to see the Nepal and Indian people be reunited with their Father in Heaven and worship Him in their own native tongue. It is moments like this that keep me going to do what the Lord has called me to do. Let's just say, God is good, and he is moving. All glory to Him for what is happening in India and Nepal.

Other than that our team had a really fun time traveling, and being together. We traveled so much! God took us to 7 places amongst India and Nepal as opposed to a planned 4 places my co-leader Melissa and I thought we were going to do. Beforehand, we planned to visit Kolkata, India; Kalimpong, India; Kathmandu, Nepal; and Dadeldhura, Nepal. But God had his hand on our trip and took us to all those place including Darjeeling, India; Dharan, Nepal; and Acham, Nepal. It was exhausting, but God had us in each new place for a particular reason. Our ministry in those places ranged for King's Kids ministry (children's ministry) in Kolkata, to going to leper colonies to pray for people in Kalimpong, to running a 5 day long Kid's camp in a village up in Darjeeling. Our team at one point split up in half with me on a team of 5 and my co-leader on a team of 6. My co-leaders team went to a distant village for some evangelism, and to encourage a group of believers. I on the other hand stayed back at the YWAM base in Dharan with my team of 5, and helped the Discipleship Training School (DTS) at that base prepare for outreach. In Kathmandu we went to a few Hindu and Buddhist temples around the city and did prayer walks, we also did friendship evangelism with some of the locals there. Out in Dadeldhura and Acham, our ministry was stictly gathering a crowd by doing Hawaiian dances (Hula, thanks to the girls), then doing an evangelical drama, then sharing with that group of people who had never seen white people or heard the name of Jesus before, about the love of God. It was powerful.

A cool testimony of that time was the last day of village ministry in Acham, we did an open air program and 9 families became believers! in a village were there was none! Because of that a new church sprung up because of the new believers. One of the families who had become believers allowed our team to come to their house. The husband was the town doctor and he had high status and influence in the village. His family said they wanted to tear down all their idol posters, their statues of idols, and incenses dedicated to their Hindu gods. We go take them all down and BURN! them for that family! It was powerful! God is so good!

On another note, as for what's next for me and outreach pictures, those are coming up. I am still experience wonderful jet lag, and need to recuperate before I get those going, and make more decisions as to the next step. If you have any questions, or are wondering details about how the team was or anything, please feel free to e-mail me at andrewdavenport@live.com or call me on my cell phone at 209-985-1706.

Again, I wanted to take this opportunity for say thank you for being a part of sending me out, whether it was financially or spiritually in prayer. You had a part in this outreach, and lives in India and Nepal will never be the same because of the obedience in what you have done. Thank you again, my words cannot express the heart of gratitude that I have towards you. Please just know that God is at work, and he is moving outside and within American soil. He is so good! I love you all and miss you. Be blessed,

Andrew

2009-12-26T02:16:00.000-08:00

Namaste Friends and Family!

Namaste Friends and Family! Day 3 here in Kolkata, India, and let me just say WOW! I did not know so many people could live in one place. The crowds are countless, and of course I stand out being 6'2" with blond hair. I get many stares from the locals, but I absolutely love it here. I love the busyness, the smells (which aren't always pleasant), the food, and of course the people. I can just feel being here God's immense love for the Indian people.

Since I did come late my co-leader, Melissa, has been a rock star taking care of our already sick strucken team, while leading them to our ministry here. Our team has been involved with Children's minsitries, loving on them, and preforming skits and dramas for them. They have been able to see a few of the children come to know the Lord during their time here. However, we will be leaving on Monday for northeast India, to Kalimpong/Darjeeling area and working with various ministries up there (not too sure yet what they are). I am so excited, and it is amazing to see what God is doing out here. I hope you had a great Christmas and have a happy New Year. Be blessed, Andrew

Off to Outreach

2009-12-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family,

I am hoping you have gotten my latest update via e-mail. If you have not received it and would like to, then please e-mail me your e-mail address at andrewdavenport@live.com and I will go ahead and send it to you. This current newsletter mentioned plans in the future to go long-term to one of my most favorite countries in the world, Nepal. The details are on there, and more details are to come on later updates.

Well, I am currently still sitting in Honolulu, HI. I was suppose to leave for outreach on December 13th, but unfortunately one of the students on my team had a delay on getting his Indian visa (he is from Canada). So my co-leader, Melissa, took the other 9 students on our team to Kolkata, India today while I am waiting for the visa to process and then fly out with the other student. It is projected that I will be able to leave for outreach earliest on Wednesday and latest would be Friday or Saturday. I am a little bummed that I didn't get the opportunity to go with the rest of the team, but it will be a nice little relaxing break I will have before I go out there.

However, when I do go out to India and Nepal, my cellular phone will not be working, and I am actually leaving it here. The best way to hear about updates or to get a hold of me is either through e-mail, or contacting me through facebook. I am sorry if communication won't be consistent, but I will try my best. I want to inform you as much as I can.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for supporting me the way you have. Please continue to pray for me while I am out there. My expected return date is February 23rd. I hope to hear from you all. I love and miss you,

Andrew

6 Weeks Until Outreach

2009-11-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends and Family,

So for this week we had a wonderful time in DTS. We had a few speakers this week speak on the intimacy of God and a little bit on intercession. It has been a very powerful week, and each of us, both students and staff, have had major encounters with the Lord. I feel like I am a student all over again because the Lord is showing me so many new things and ministering to my heart in way He hasn't in the past. I absolutely love this week, and there is so much stuff I got from this week that will last for a long time.

As far as my funds for outreach, I am still in need of quite a bit. Please continue to pray, I am trusting the Lord to provide. He is good. I am in the process of making a new newsletter. I just need to do some touch ups to finish it and then I will e-mail/mail it out. It will give you a good idea of what the next step for me is after this outreach, and what the Lord is leading me. I know I stated this in my last blog update, but it is closer to coming together. Thank you again for all the prayers and concerns. If you would like to receive this newsletter, then please e-mail me your e-maill address or mailing address.

My e-mail is andrewdavenport@live.com

I miss you guys, and love you. Be blessed in the Lord,

Andrew

Hello Again!

2009-11-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd take another opportunity to update you on how things are going with the Discipleship Training School (DTS). So this next week, we are having a week on intercession. The students will get an idea on how to minister to the heart of God through the act of intercession (prayer). It's going to be a good week for them.

Also this week, my co-leader and I are going to try to be wrapping up some last details of our outreach to Nepal and India. We are still a little unsure of when we are going to each place and hopefully we will be trying to resolve that. Also, we need to prepare our team and get some things together with them like dramas, dances, speeches for preaching/teaching, and also having each person on the team get a bigger heart for the countries of Nepal and India.

I also have some exciting news, my family is coming here for the first time to the island of Oahu. My mom, dad, sister-in-law, brother, and 2 nephews will be visiting my before I go on outreach in the end of November. I am excited to see them, and it will be very nice to see them before I leave for outreach. It will also be a nice vacation to see them and have a break from DTS for that week. Another random note, I have begun sending out letters just recently, and I have about 6 more to write, and should have the rest of them out this week. They have more details of the upcoming outreach I am going on. I am also hoping to send you out a newsletter before I leave on outreach on what I am doing next after staffing Discipleship Training Schools. Okay, that's all I have for now. Take care and love you all.

Update on September Quarter

2009-10-24T14:32:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family,

Lately I have been writing support letters and sending them out, but I haven't had time to write everyone. I will be hopefully getting that done shortly and sending them off.

This week in DTS has been pretty intense. We've had a week called "Openness and Brokenness" where the students come open before God and allow God to meet them where they're at. They deal with a lot of lies, wounds (that have happened in the past), and behaviors they have started based off of lies. It was a really good week because it was just a time where the Lord could really flood each person with truth, and the students could find their identity in them.

It's good too because lately Melissa (my co-leader) and I been doing lots of things with our students to get them ready for Nepal/India. We've been doing team building activities, prayer, research on the country, and various other things to get to know each other. I am getting such a bigger heart for the team, and God is totally invading our team. Also, as far as funds for the outreach I just found out the other day about how much this outreach is going to cost. I am looking at

$1600 for the plane ticket

$100 for the Nepali visa

$75-$100 for the Indian visa

So about $1800 total. I do need it the full amount by late November. Please please pray for me. Also, I wanted to ask if any of you would be interested in supporting me financially for this trip. I wanted to ask if you could please prayerfully consider it, and partner with me in what God is doing already in Nepal and India. You are just as much a part of this trip as I am. Thank you again for all the support you have already been giving me both spiritually and financially. It is so nice to know I have you backing me up.

Well that is all I have now. Thank you again for reading this, love you all,

Andrew

Namaste to Nepal Again!

2009-10-02T19:30:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family!,

The news is out now. I will be going to the nation of Nepal again!! I have just figured out who is on my team, and I have a team of 10 people (no including my co-leader, Melissa, and myself). I have a married couple, 6 single girls, and 2 single guys. It is the biggest team I have ever lead, and I am excited!! I am not too sure where in Nepal I will be going, but I know the Lord is calling us o go. Also there is a possibly that we will be visiting the country of India as well for a few weeks. Other than that, there is not much more to report on that. Please please please pray for me because I am nervous, and excited. We begin to start the lecture phase of our DTS and during that time we will be prepping the team to go to Nepal. I love you guys, and thank you for taking the time to read this. You're awesome,

Andrew

Hello Hello September Quarter

2009-09-23T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hey guys,

So I have been a busy busy DTS staff lately. Everything with praying for the school, getting things ready for students to come, moving rooms, and picking up students at the airport. I am pretty swamped. But it looks like the waters have finally calmed down, and so begins the new quarter. I have news. I am officially going on outreach. I cannot mention where yet until a week from now. If you do want to know just call me at 209-985-1706 and I will tell you in secret, or just wait a week. I am so excited. It is sad that this will be my last DTS for a while. I also have plans to send out a newsletter that will talk of my upcoming plans for the future, and also a little bit about this outreach I will be partaking in. I miss you guys, please continue to pray for this school, that the Lord would really blow these students' minds, and also me for my upcoming outreach and also as a discipler for these students. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I love you all,

Andrew

End Of SALT Seminar, On To DTS

2009-08-29T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hey friends and family,

The Staff And Leadership Training (SALT) seminar has finally come to an end. I got my diploma yesterday which would make my 3rd YWAM school I have completed. I feel like I am done with schools in YWAM for a while. Over all, that seminar was very good. I learned some pretty good tools on leadership to take with me to leading Discipleship Training School (DTS) and future leadership roles I will be in. It is good because I learned what kind of leader I am, and how to apply it when I lead next.

Next on the schedule is my 3rd and probably final Discipleship Training School (DTS). It begins on September 24th. That is our Aloha Day and when the students begin to arrive. I have heard some news, and I am leading my 2nd outreach team into Asia or the Pacific Islands. I am unsure where, but I will find out in the next 2 to 3 weeks. When I find out where I am going, I will inform you all where it is and more details what ministry I will be doing in that country. As for the next 3 weeks before I start this DTS, I will be helping to serve the YWAM Honolulu base in anyway they need. I again wanted to say thank you for all of the love and support you have shown me since I have been here. I love you guys, and miss you. You are all welcomed to come here and visit whenever you would like (or at least when I am not on outreach). Be blessed, and feel free to call me or write me whenever you like,

Andrew

209-985-1706

Andrew Davenport

2707 Hipawai Place

Honolulu, HI 96822

andrewdavenport@live.com

Picture Of The Staff And Leadership Training Seminar Students and Staff

Week 2: SALT

2009-08-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Hey again,

I just wanted to update you on what has been going on here on the beautiful island of Hawaii. Well I discovered a new church here that is awesome. They infuse the word of God and truth with the Holy Spirit. Is is so awesome, it's called Christ Fellowship. Also, the island of Oahu here got hit by a tropical storm which meant rain, rain, and more rain for about 4 days straight. When the sun came back out, it was a glorious day!

Another thing that happened is I played a little guitar in our worship time here on base for the first time. It was fun and nerve racking at the same time. I would really like to do it again. Step 2 would be me singing and playing all by myself, haha! I am hoping to send out newsletters or some kind of update via mail soon. This will entail a future plan of what I am going to be hopefully doing in the next few years, and where the Lord is leading me.

As far as the Staff and Leadership Training (SALT) seminar. I am learning a lot about myself and how I lead. The thing I learned mostly this week is that a effective leader knows their giftings, and excels at operating in those giftings. They don't try to be something they're not. We also talked about the importance of taking a sabbath as a leader, and valuing the giftings of those people that you are leading. It is so sweet. I am loving it so far. There is so many other good things here. It is weird that there is only 2 weeks left! I am excited because the last week we are going to have Daniel Lehmann come and prophesy over us.

So there, you have it, that is the latest, hot off the press. I would really say this school has been very beneficary to me as a leader. Thank you again for all your support and prayers. I will update you with September Discipleship Training School (DTS) as it comes along and where I will be heading out to next. I love and miss all you,

Andrew

Staff And Leadership Training (SALT) Seminar

2009-08-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

Hey there friends and family,

If you reading this, then know that I have arrived safely to Hawaii back onto our little 3 acre property here in Manoa Valley. It is really exciting to be a student again, and not a staff for this short amount of time. Immediately when I came back to base, I had gotten thrown into lecture the next day, work duties, and homework assignments. I have to present a devotional to the whole school (22 students, 6 staff) on Thursday of next week. It's pretty crazy because I am not much of a public speaker, but I am ready for the challenge.

In our SALT seminar we have been talking about what it means to be a leader. It is someone who is has contagious praise, does first then teaches, has an attitude that knows Jesus is worth it, and is striving for authority/more leadership. It is really cool because the Lord is also revealing to me different thoughts and ideas I had about what it meant to be a leader, and changing them. Also, during our time here we are taught the different leadership styles, and how to just be secure in our leadership style, not to be envious or covet anothers' leadership style because that style we have was placed in us by the Lord. It is pretty encouraging and just teaching me to be confident in the giftings the Lord has been giving me while appreciating the giftings the Lord has given to others.

Just to sum it up, it is pretty cool so far. The co-founder of Youth With A Mission, Darlene Cunningham, is speaking this week. We have only been in this seminar in a few days. I am excited to see what else is coming from the rest of this seminar. Thank you so much guys for your love and support. Love you guys,

Andrew

Back To Hawaii

2009-08-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hey there,

I just thought I would let you know that today is the last day in Omro, Wisconsin. I leave to go back to Newhall, California today. I will be there for only 1 whole day until I head back to Hawaii. I will be arriving there on the night of the 3rd. I also wanted to update you on my finances for the Staff And Leadership Training (SALT) seminar. I am fully paid up! The Lord has been so good to me. I have no idea where a large portion of the finances have come from, but I do know that He has been so good. When the seminar comes along I will be updating you on what the Lord is showing me and doing in my life.

As far as where I am traveling to next, I am unsure still. I still need to figure out if I will be leading an outreach team for this upcoming September school, or for the next January school. I haven't heard any news from the director of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) yet. I'm kind of at the edge of my seat waiting to hear news back from her. I will definitely keep you posted on the inofrmation as it comes to me. Thank you all for your support and love! Thank you for blessing me with prayers and finances! You're awesome!

Last Week in Wisconsin

2009-07-24T06:25:00.000-07:00

Just an update,

Today I will be leaving to go to the mid-west of the United States to the state of Wisconsin. I am traveling to the the good ol' town of Omro. I will be traveling with my brother, sister-in-law, and my two beautiful nephews Levi and Tytus. I am really excited for this week long trip to this state. I will be attending the Monteverde family reunion. That is my mom's side of the family. I am not too sure what the week entails, but my Uncle has it all planned out for us. I am also excited to escape from California's 100 plus degree weather for a bit. I return to California on the 1st of August, but then I leave shortly on the 3rd of August to go back to Hawaii for the Staff and Leadership Training (SALT) Seminar that is being run in YWAM Honolulu. Please continue to pray for me as I am still in need of finances for this seminar.

Well, there is not too much more to report on this end other than the fact that my nephews are absolutely adorable and I have been spending the last two days with them. They are definitely a handful. Again, it was really fun to see all of you I have visited this time around that I have been home. For those I didn't get a chance to see, I am sorry and hopefully next time around we can meet up. I am thinking next time I will be home is either around February or latest next summer. I love all of you guys, and thanks for taking the time to read this.

Update From Home

2009-07-13T18:18:00.000-07:00

Hello Again,

Week 4 of being home and it has been a very relaxing time for me here. I have been just visiting various people and catching up with friends and family. It has been very enjoyable to be home. I have about 2 weeks left at home before I head back to the good old state of Hawai'i. For those of you who aren't aware. I am hoping to do the Staff and Leadership Training (SALT) Seminar that our base in Honolulu is putting on for the month of August. This seminar is geared towards training people in their leadership potential and helps them become more of and effective leader. It is common in YWAM for many young people to be thrown into leadership, and for some of us it is our first time ever. This is what the seminar is geared towards. It is designed to build us up. From what I know, there is some big people from YWAM coming for this month to help and speak in the seminar. The cost for the seminar is $500.00 for the whole month. It includes housing, food, and different fees for the lecture part.

Please pray for this for me, for this is something I would really like to do. I still need finances for this time in my YWAM career. Please pray and ask God if you feel led towards coming alongside of me financially. I am trusting the Lord for this. The SALT seminar begins August 2nd.

As for more information beyond this, I have been getting quite of a bit of people asking me how long until I am back home in California for good. The honest answer I have at this time is I don't know. I really have plans in my heart to one day live overseas and in a foriegn country as a missionary. When this will happen, where in the world, and what I'll be doing is uncertain at this point. I have some ideas, but I need to ask the Lord before I make them public. I am open to anything, and for God to do anything He wants to do in and through my life. It is really all for Him because He is worth it. As for now, all I can see is what the next year holds and that is where my feet will be walking. I cannot see in the distant future because He is a lamp unto my feet (not a huge spotlight that I can see everything). Thank you so much for your love, support and understanding as I make my way towards this chapter in my life. You all are so valued by me. I can't say thank you enough. May the roots of His love grow deep in you,

Andrew

Acts 2o:24 - "However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying the gospel of God's grace."

Hello from California!

2009-06-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

Jirmashi (Christian Nepali Greeting),

As some of you may or may not know. I am home in California! I will be here until the 3rd of August, or sometime around then. I don't know for sure because I have yet to get a plane ticket. I am praying for one because I need to get back to Hawaii. I am sending out July 2009 Newsletters soon. I already have them written up, and ready for editing, but not enveloped yet. It will tell you all what happened in Nepal, and the next step for me. I will say I miss Nepal. I have had mulitple dreams about it since I have been back, and I feel a call to go back. When that time is, I am not too sure. I just have to see what God has in store for me.

I wanted to apologize for not keeping this blog updated and letting you know how things have been going. I will try my best over these next few months until I am called to go to Asia once more. I miss all of you, and would love to visit any of you if you have free time. I love and miss you guys.

PLEASE PRAY!!!

2009-03-22T00:33:00.000-07:00

I just have a quick thing I wanted to ask for. Please pray for the married couple on my team, Pasha and Tiffany. They still need money for outreach. About $2966, to go. The deadline for the money was on Friday, but if they can get it in before we leave they can still go. It would just mean that they're on a different flight altogether. So, I just wanted to ask if you can please pray!!! We leave for outreach on the 30th.

Our team is going to Waikiki Beach (a very tourist beach) on Sunday night. We're going to play worship with an open guitar case and hopefully raise some money. We're going to go, not with money as our main objective, but to just worship the Lord for the money he has already provided and for who He is.

Please also pray and ask God if maybe you're suppose to give to them. Thank you so much! I love you guys!

Andrew

ONLY 2 WEEKS LEFT!!!!

2009-03-16T23:48:00.000-07:00

PRAISE GOD!!!!!

I have all of my money for outreach!!! Thank you for the prayers that you have been sending my way as well as finances!!!! I will be leaving now on the 30th of this month with my little team. Please keep a few more people in your prayers. 3 people on my team still need money for outreach: my co-leader Kathryn, and the married couple on my team, Pasha and Tiffany. With all their needs summed up it comes around $4000. They need it in about a week in a half. Please pray, God is in control of every source of money, and he can make money come in ways we don't even know or expect. The odds aren't against Him because He is above the odds.

On another note, we are finishing up the last few weeks of lecture phase here in Honolulu. This week we have a man named Steve Doerkson speaking on the power of personal testimony. It is to help the students prepare their testimony for outreach because they have to share it a lot on the mission field. Kathryn and I are also preparing our team for outreach with different skits, songs, dances, children's games, sermons, and intercession times. We have only two weeks left and we are trying to get as much done as we can.

If you were to ask me if I was ready to leave for outreach today, I would probably say, "I'm not too sure." I don't think there is a specific feeling that I am suppose to have, nor do I think there is a certain amount of tasks I need to finish to be prepared. I just kind of go, and when I am there I tend to get the things done I need to get done and feel the way I need to feel. Personally, I am real excited to go on outreach because I feel like I come "alive" on outreach. I love trying new things, being in a new environment, and meeting new people from a different culture. I am real excited to see what happens. I feel like I just need to go, now!

I wanted to thank all of you who have been so supportive of me since I have begun staffing here at YWAM Honolulu until now. I definitely could have not done this full year of staffing without your help. I am excited to have outreach stories to tell you. You all are just as much a part of this trip as I am because you have covered me in prayer and allowed me to go on outreach which is just as important as me going. THANK YOU ALL!!! I will try to do one more update before I go to Nepal, and hopefully I will have enough internet access there in Nepal to update this blog and let you know some of the cool, weird, and funny things that happen. I love you very dearly, be blessed,

Andrew

P.S.- Here's a update of what I have been doing with my free time, and yes I grew in the mustache

Outreach Prep, 3 More Weeks!!!

2009-03-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

So this upcoming week is what we like to call, "missions week," or "outreach prep week." We as a staff are going to set some rules and implement some things to try to make it feel like we're on outreach. For example, we are taking the students' cell phones and laptops away from them. Then we are not allowing to leave our base without going with someone else, and no guy and girl couple can go off by themselves. It is a completely spontaneous week where anything can happen. We also like to do team building activities with each team to create more unity. It's really fun. The staff also have the same rules applied to them too. This brings me to the fact that I will NOT have my cell phone on me for a whole 5 days. I wanted to let you know just in case. I will have it again on Friday the 13th.

We have about 3 weeks left in America before we get shipped off to the three different locations of Mongolia, Indonesia and Nepal. Our team is trying to learn as many dances, skits, songs and so on for the ministries we're involved with in Nepal. It's going to be a hectic last 3 weeks, because we need to get things done. We're also trying to cover our team, Nepal, our contacts and the individual people we encounter with in prayer.

Random side note, I did find out the exact dates I will be leaving for Nepal and returning. I will be leaving on March 30th for Nepal, get there the 1st of April in Kathmandu. Then I will be returning to Honolulu on the 2nd of June. A couple days over 2 months. I wanted to tell you (careful with this info because my team still doesn't know and Kathryn and I wanted to surprise them with it), we will be spending about 3 days in Bangkok, Thailand for what we like to call debriefing. It's like a time to wind down before we come back to America. Plus it is a fun activity to do before we return. Debriefing is always the last few days of outreach.

That is all I have for this time. PLEASE PRAY!!! Our team still has about 4 people that owe about $7000 for outreach, I myself am still in need of about $800 for outreach in 3 weeks. Pray for our team, and the people we will be encountering in Nepal that they will be open to the gospel. Thank you so much, I love you guys,

Andrew

Update on Outreach

2009-02-18T14:17:00.000-08:00

Namaste (Hello in Nepali),

Kathryn and I will be working with 4 contacts in Nepal, three of them which I have NO IDEA where they're located. We had just e-mailed them to figure out where they are located in Nepal so hopefully I can tell you where they're at but in the order of which we are working with them it is...

1. YWAM Kathmandu - Possibly working with an HIV/AIDS house, and doing open air ev.ngelism with skits and performances

2. Heather and Maika- She is American and he is from Fiji, the m.nistry they are mostly involved with is children's m.nistry and ch.rch planting

3. Mr. B- We have no way to get in contact with him other than through our 4th contact but I do know he lives in Bardia. He is mostly involved in village m.nistries with ev.ngelism.

4. Padam and Prabina- They are affiliated with Mr. B and they are involved in all kinds of m.nistries like hospital m.nistries and village m.nistries. What our team is going to be doing specifically, I do not know.

I don't have all the details of the specific things we are going to do, but hopefully I will get the details to you as soon as I have them.

On another subject, I know I have mentioned it to you already. But I am definitely in need of outreach funds. I have about 6 weeks left until outreach. I am going to need about $1200 still for the rest of my trip. So please keep this in prayer for me. I just really want to starting seeking the Lord for this. Thank you for doing this for me. Also, if you also feel compelled, I just wanted to ask if you can please pray to see if the Lord is calling you to give towards this trip to Nepal. Thank you again for taking the time to read this and for keeping me in your prayers.

I love you family, be blessed

Andrew

You Know You Live In Community When...

2009-02-14T13:25:00.000-08:00

So I took some pictures around my house to entertain you guys with. There is real pros and cons to living in community when you have about 70 people living on 3 acres of property. I hope you enjoy this blog because it makes me laugh. I love you guys.

YOU KNOW YOU LIVE IN COMMUNITY WHEN...

1. Your room mate decides to hang his underwear over your bed

2. Your roommates are grouchy

3. Your bed needs to get tied to a wall because it is being

held with zip ties

4. You find other people are using your toothbrush

5. Laundry is found in random places

6. The shoe rack in your house becomes home to more

than just shoes

7. Dishes are found everywhere

8. When finding your shoes become a treasure hunt

9. When you have to tape your extension cords to the wall

Going to Kona, again

2009-02-08T17:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Family,

So it has been a crazy week. I have updates on Nepal outreach April-May 2009. It looks like Kathryn, my team and I will be working with YWAM Katmandu, and YWAM Bardia in Nepal. I have a few contacts in that country and the possibilities for ministry are endless. We are still praying to see where God is calling our team to what ministry. It looks like we may be working with an HIV/AIDS home for women and children in Katmandu for sure. That is something we feel called to. As for the other things, we are still trying to settle with the different ministries we have the option to work with. We literally have every possible option of ministry.

I am also looking into other logistical things like, budgetting, plane tickets, transportation in Nepal, housing, food, etc. It looks like, to stay there, it is going to cost us somewhere in the range of $10-$12 per day per person. As far as plane tickets go, we are looking at paying for a $1600 plane ticket with a $100 visa to get into the country. PLEASE PRAY!! Right about now, I only have about $500 saved up. So I am still going to need $1200. I am not worried. I've seen God provide way more. Please just keep this in your prayers.

On another note, I will be going to the University of Nations, YWAM Kona on the Big Island for a week again. It is a lot like last quarter in September. It is what we call the Gathering, where all the YWAM bases in Hawai'i get together on the Kona base and we have a week of lecture there and connect with the other bases. The fee for this is about $200, which I am still needing to pay the Discipleship Training School (DTS) back for, but it is required for me to go. There we will be hearing someone for the Bethel Church in Redding, California speak. I am not too sure who. But I will be there until Friday.

My outreach team is doing so good. I love everyone on my team. I am hoping to post pictures up soon. I am not too sure when we will have time to take a team photo. I am hoping the week after Kona. I really am excited about Nepal. I don't think it has really hit me yet that I am going, but when it comes I will be SO excited.

Also, the teams got back from outreach from the past September school, and our base has been a little crowded. People are literally sleeping in our computer room. So I'm sorry my blog took a while, but they have graduation TONIGHT! and then the leave to go home. It is so exciting to see how much each student has changed from the moment they got to Hawai'i. Well that's all I have to report. I hope you have a good Valentine's Day. I love you all.

Andrew

January 2009 DTS Has Begun!

2009-01-24T18:38:00.000-08:00

Hello my beloved friends and family,

I just wanted to give you an update on how the current school is going. We are currently at 22 students. We have about 5 male students (one being married) and the other 17 are girls (one also being married). It is pretty sweet. We decided teams this past Monday.

The news is in, I am going to NEPAL!! I have my current team of 7 students and my co-leader Kathryn. I love Kathryn. She's awesome. Here is a picture of her.

If she found out about this, she'd probably kill me, but oh well. Her and I actually have no idea what we got ourselves into. We have never led a team on outreach before. She went to India on her DTS outreach and I went to Thailand and the Philippines. So I think we have some idea. We also are going to be contacting YWAM Nepal soon (in the next week) to see what ministries there we can work with. Right now we have heard some things and we're not too sure what is available. We could possibly work with HIV/AIDS orphans, do mass evangelism, friendship evangelism, preaching or hard labor. Basically we are trying to be like what we told our team on Friday and that is BE FLEXIBLE. We are all about advancing God's kingdom in Nepal and not in it for our own personal experiences. So, I am excited. Plus I've talked to past leaders who have led teams there and we're talking living in mud huts, no electricity for a while, washing clothes in a river, eating with my hands, and not taking a shower for a while. I AM EXCITED! I love outreach. So that leads me to what we are doing in Hawaii. Kathryn and I will be attempting to unify our team, preparing them for outreach and covering Nepal and our team in prayer for the next few months. So please pray with us.

As far as lecture goes, we have and amazing speaker next week that I've never heard of but I've heard lots of good stuff. His name is Keith Martens. He is speaking on Spiritual Authority and according to people who have heard him speak in the past, there has been deliverance from things in peoples' lives that have heard him. So that will be good for the school. That is all I have for right now. I love you guys, and I will let you know details of Nepal as they unfold. May you hold fast to the hope you have,

Andrew

Back In Hawaii

2009-01-03T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family,

Well I wanted to say thank you to all of you who really showed me hospitality during my visit to California over this past December. It was definitely a relaxing, fun time to reconnect with a lot of you. I am so sorry for those of you who I did not get a chance to visit. I am hoping to be home again either in late June or early July. It really all depends on the budget and if the Lord wants me to go home or continue to serve the base.

On another note, I am back into it again. I am currently in staff training of the 2nd Discipleship Training School (DTS). The only thing with this January school is that we only have 1 week of training in comparison to the September school I was apart of that had 2 weeks. Well, with this school, I will be leading my first outreach team. I am a bit nervous and a bit excited too. I won't figure it out until this Monday hopefully. I am looking at a couple of different options, but I'm still not sure what is the right option. I am trying to seek the Lord on this one because I want to make sure I go where He wants me to go. I just ask that you please be praying for me as I make this decision. I will let you know the answer as soon as I figure it out.

Other than that, things seem to be going as well as the last school. We have a different leadership coming over the DTS this quarter, but it will be definitely exciting to see how the Sovereign Lord uses this leadership (the 14 staff members). I am excited and pumped to see how this school goes. The students start coming in on Tuesday and our Aloha Day is on the 8th of January. It's coming fast. Thank you again for your prayers and support that you have been giving me. I am appreciating everything that you guys do for me. It is only my request that I can somehow return the favor. So, I ask that you can please let me know how I can come alongside of you to help you out in anyway.

Please feel free to call or e-mail me whenever you have a chance. I am going to put some of my contact information again so you can get a hold of me when you would like. My e-mail is andrewdavenport@live.com and my tele # is 209-985-1706. I just want you to know that I would truly love to hear from you. It is a joy to hear from people back home and it is totally cool that you can call me whenever you like. I am hopefully going to have a newsletter sent out by the end of this month once the school is on its way. Okay, well that is all for now. I pray you guys would be filled with the Holy Spirit and your life would be Spirit led, I love you my brothers and sisters,

Andrew Davenport

P.S. I have just a few request for you to keep in prayer

1. Outreach funds, I will probably need about $2000 and I already have $500 Praise God!

2. Humility in my heart in every area

3. A more positive attitude (I've been a little pessimistic lately)

4. Just a heart of love towards the students and the people I work with here on the base

THANK YOU!!!

Preparing to go home!

2008-12-08T18:43:00.000-08:00

Aloha to Hawaii for 3 weeks!

Just a reminder, I will be leaving tomorrow around lunch to come back to good old California. I just wanted to again say that I am completely open to spending time with any of you back at home. My goal for this time is to really take advantage of these weeks to rest and regain strength for the next school. During my time at home I am planning on praying specifically on where God would like me to lead a team to, and also with that, more male students.

Here in YWAM, we have always had more female missionaries then males (go women!), and because of that we really begin to lack men on the mission field. With each Discipleship Training School we run here, we get such limited men who apply to our schools. With this school, so far, 3 men are accepted and about 6 we are waiting for them to finish applying. Needless to say, we would like more. As the old saying goes, "The more the merrier." This is really the case because there is 7 male staff that are going to be apart of this January school, and there is only 3 students. So we need more because we have enough staff to accommodate more.

All of the January staff will be praying on there own in our different homes for more male students, the students that are already accepted, the spiritual aspect of the school, the logistical aspect of the school, the staff that are going to be apart of this next school, and the YWAM Honolulu base itself. As many leaders in YWAM Honolulu have said in the past, we will be on our faces before the Lord to really cover this school in prayer and cry out for more male students.

I would like to ask for some help in this area. Please, if you find time, pray for our upcoming school and also for more guys to apply to this January school. Thank you again, and I look forward to seeing some of you in a few days (and yes, I am SO excited to come home!). See you soon,

Andrew

Counting Down the Days

2008-11-25T18:14:00.000-08:00

Hello again,

It's been a while since I have posted a new blogger. I am in the process of sending a newsletter. I just need to find a colored printer to print it off. I am planning on sending it out before I leave to come home to California. It is just going to mention some of the things that have been going on so far.

It's been really laid back lately here at YWAM Honolulu. The support staff of this school were asked to phase out of the school and let the outreach leaders take lead of the school. Since I am no longer as involved with this school like I once was, I feel bored. I was so use to having things to do, and now that I don't I am unsure what to do with myself. I am trying to help wrap up any last things with this school to get these 4 outreach teams on their way. The start to leave this Sunday and the last team leaves on the 2nd.

I won't be back in California until the 9th. So, if you would like to hang out, I would enjoy that a lot. I miss friends and family from back home so much. From the time the teams leave until I get home, I will be prepping the start of the next Discipleship Training School in January. I'm actually nervous to start this school because I have to lead a team. I just keep thinking that God thinks I can do it, so it means that I can.

Okay, well that's all I have for this time. Thank you again for the love and support you've shown me through this school. Only 3 more to go! I love you,

Andrew

P.S. - At the top is a random picture I thought you would enjoy. I let some of the students give me a face painting and this is the result...

Here's Some Random Pictures

2008-10-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

The Breakfast Line: I am clearly NOT awake!

The Kyrgysztan Team that I support staff (with their 2 leaders)

The DTS Staff: My co-workers and crazy friends

Half Way Point!

2008-10-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

So, we have reached the half way point in the lecture phase of my first school. It is about a month and a half until the students leave for Kyrgyzstan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, and the Philippines. It is been an intense crazy last couple weeks. We had a speaker recently come in name Andy Byrd who spoke on intercession and the power of prayer. I think everyone on this base is excited about praying and wanting to pray for healing on every person they see.

There has also been some major breakthrough in this school in the spiritual realm. We've seen all night prayer meetings, people giving up their fears to God, and just a complete surrender to God to allow the Holy Spirit do whatever He wants. I honestly can say that I am really excited and I'm loving the things that I am seeing done in this school. Next week, we have a speaker named Amy Sollars who is speaking on the Holy Spirit. I'm am excited!!!!

A praise report, one of the guys on my Kyrgyzstan team who was short $900 for the rest of the lecture phase saw it come in by an unknown source! Also, every Friday night we go evangelizing on Waikiki beach. A student prayed for healing over a deaf guy and guess what....HE GOT HEALED!!!! It is an exciting time.

As for me, I am trying to find my place in the path that God is taking this school on. Jealousy of the relationships some of the students and other staff is something I still struggle with on a daily basis, but I am giving to God on a daily basis. I also am in need of more financial support, but I am trusting that God will provide. So if you can, please pray for me in this area. On a side note, I am coming home for Christmas. I plan to be coming home on December 9th to the 28th. SO, with that, if you would like to hang out let me know. I would love to. Well, that is all I had to report for this time around.

If you would like to e-mail me, please do. I love receiving e-mails. My e-mail is andrewdavenport@live.com. Okay, I love you guys,

Andrew

ONE MONTH DONE!!

2008-10-09T19:32:00.001-07:00

Well hello friends and family,

We are currently done with month one here. I have been a busy boy. We had a staff meeting the other day and we came to the conclusion that we all as staff have been relying on our own strength. We needed to come to a point to leaning on God and His strength. So, we are going to have a corporate worship time as staff to really center ourselves around Him. It has been so good though. I have had a bunch of one-on-one times really trying to meet the students where they're at and helping through their spiritual journey. I won't lie I am just tired physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. I feel like a Martha in that story of Mary and Martha in the Bible. I have been running around serving and not sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing the words coming out of his mouth. So if you could please pray for that I would greatly appreciate it.

Another thing I love to do is really bring affirmation to these students lives just by encouragement. I notice in a lot of "guy lingo" a tendency is to avoid speaking truth into people's lives and that is something I really want to break. Basically, to sum that up, I just want to love on the guy students and hopefully show God's love.

Other than that there is not much to report on the whole subject of DTS, we are going to the Big Island this sunday. We're heading to the Kona base for a week on what they call "The Gathering." It is just a time that all the Hawaii YWAM schools come together from Maui, Honolulu and Kona for worship and teaching. It is to unite YWAM Hawaii.

Thank you again for all the love and support you guys have been showing me lately. It is greatly appreciated to know that people back home still stand behind what I am doing. It is definitely encouraging. I love you guys

Andrew

Spiritual Discipline

2008-09-28T16:57:00.001-07:00

So this week has been a crazy one. The students are finally dealing with a lot of the things that they have been holding on to and experiencing more and more of God's freedom. We had a the speaker, Danny Lehmann, and he touched on spiritual discipline and evangelism. It was very good because he talked about the issue of pride and having intimacy with God.

It really rocked a lot of the students' worlds because it just let them realize their motives behind a lot of the decisions they make. I also get the opportunity to read over 5 of the guy students journals that they write in weekly, do one-on-one's with some of the guys, and pray for a lot of the students. If I didn't mention it earlier, some of the staff really felt like the only way the "battle" was to be won for these students is with prayer. It reminded me that there is nothing I can do to help these students move along spiritually except through prayer. There is times too when I ask myself and God, "What am I even doing here?" I am realizing I am not a student anymore, but I still sometimes don't feel like a staff. I am definitely loving it though. It is sad to help support the Kyrgyzstan team too and not being able to go on the outreach with them. I know my time is coming though.

I really also ask for just prayer in the area of letting things happen as they are. I am getting jealous for my students and I want them to hang out with me all the time. It isn't happening so I get a little jealous. It is also hard because sometimes I feel like I am trying to do things on my own strength and not on God's strength. I again ask you for prayer in that area. Thank you again for your support in this area. I wanted to thank you again for being so supportive. I love you guys and I miss you.

The Students Are Here!

2008-09-17T12:45:00.001-07:00

Well, we are in mid-week 1. It is intense here. There are 37 students here and to be honest I am overwhelmed. There are 12 guys and 25 girls. I've been kind of nervous around the students lately. It has been pretty good so far with lecture. We are explaining to them about how a DTS works. The lectures have also consisted of an introduction, and how these students need to pursue God with everything they have. We also mentioned to them that what they put into this school is what they are going to get out of it.

Another thing that the staff had the opportunity to do is, as an act of humility, we got to wash the students feet and pray over them. While we were praying we got to get words for them too. It was a night where the Holy Spirit broke some things in the school and brought more freedom to these students lives. It is crazy because some of these students come from a very conservative or not so spiritual background. So some of these students never got to experience stuff like this before. It was a really good night.

Another thing that really is hard is some of the students are being attacked by fear and anxiety. They are really feeling out of place. We as staff are really trying to fight for them to stay, so we had a fasting and prayer lunch time yesterday. It was really good because God totally made them feel more at ease here. Other than that, the outreach teams get decided on FRIDAY!!! It is exciting. I will keep you posted. I love you guys and thank you again for all your love and support!

P.S. There was a staff video made for Aloha Day. It is basically a video introducing all the staff on base to the students. Well, long story short, it is on You Tube under "YWAM Honolulu" or "Aloha Day Video" if you want to look at it. I am in it for a brief moment.

1 Week Left!!!

2008-09-07T01:26:00.000-07:00

AHHH!!! The students start to roll in in about 5 more days. Aloha Day is officially this Friday. I am getting nervous, but I am excited this week. This next week coming up is going to be filled with PRAYING PRAYING PRAYING! I definitely need to pray for the students, the school and other odd and end things. We just had a 3 day base wide staff conference on relationship and how to build relationships. It was definitely helpful in how to build healthy relationships, deal with confrontation, and how to handle stress. So far, everything is seeming to fly pretty smoothly.

On a more serious note, for accountability reasons my quiet times with God and prayer times have been lacking. I am become more and more desperate. I blame it on being too busy. There is also the whole social aspect of living in YWAM that you don't want to miss any social events, so you pull away from God. Please pray for me in this area. Thank you guys. Well nothing too new to report, but this next week is going to be intense. I also ask for your prayer just in the area of smooth sailing of this school and with God moving intensely in these students lives.

I just wanted to again thank you for reading this. I know it is not the funnest thing to read about someone else's life, but I really do appreciate your concerns. I love you guys. Take care,

Andrew

Staff Training: Week #1

2008-08-31T00:57:00.000-07:00

Hello Again,

Well, week 1 of staff training has come to a close. We have a little less than 2 weeks before the students start to arrive, and I am excited! We found out that this school we are sending 4 different teams out to Asia and the locations are Bangladesh, Cambodia/Thailand, Krgyzstan and the Philippines . We as a staff of 17 have been praying and we really feel like the theme for this school is "Decide: The Time Is Now." Implying to drop everything and follow the Most High. We as a staff really just feel like there is going to be an unleashing of the Holy Spirit upon this school of 37 students. We have had some great speakers come in so far for staff training speaking on the power of words, servant leadership, time management and confrontation. God is really bring conviction to our staff of leaders.

Other than that, everyday brings me a step closer to this school, and quite honestly I keep asking God, "What am I even doing?" I won't lie; I am completely nervous but excited at the same time. It is going to be cool. We also have these things called Break Out Groups where the staff have the opportunity to teach on something they're passionate about. I really want to lead a break out group because I have a passion to teach, and I have some ideas. I just really want God to lead me in this direction. Please pray for me in this area. Also, I ask for prayer in FAITH! in every area of my life. Thank you again for taking the time to read this. I love you all. Take care.

Contact Info

2008-08-23T13:18:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to tell you this because I am completely open to talk, write, e-mail, or whatever. I love hearing from people.

Address:

Andrew Davenport

2707 Hipawai Place

Honolulu, HI 96822

Cell Phone:

209-985-1706 (California #)

E-mail:

andrewdavenport@live.com

Starting DTS (Discipleship Training Course) Staffing!

2008-08-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends and Family,

Well after spending a month of base staffing at YWAM Honolulu doing handy work, I am now going to be starting DTS staffing on August 25th. It has finally approached and I really thank you for all the prayers and support you have given to me. I cannot do this alone, and that is really my motto for this whole adventure. It is only by God that I have even made it this far.

So for the next two weeks what it basically will look like is MEETINGS MEETINGS MEETINGS! To be honest, I still don't know what to expect or how this is going to look like. I am actually happy about that because it is a little adventure. There's this joke that goes around with all YWAM staff that we're not Youth With A Mission anymore, but we're Youth With A Meeting. I am really excited to start, and all my fellow staffers have arrived already and we're gearing up for it.

As for the Philippines, I got back on July 31st. I am sorry if I haven't had time to contact you about my adventure there. BUT, it was amazing! I went with my friend Ian, and all we did the whole time is teach. We taught the Bible: Philemon, Ephesians, Galatians, Hebrews, Mark, Jonah and Revelation all in 3 1/2 weeks. Good times. It was nice because the Filipino believers really need grounding in their faith and that was Me and Ian's goal in the midst of that. I could really tell they were hungry for more after we left. It is amazing to see the power of the gospel in that.

So to conclude, things are going good thus far. I again cannot thank you enough for all the love you have continued to show me. As far as my financial situation...I am still in need, but I am really trusting our generous God for that. I continue to ask for you support in prayer and whatever ways you can support me. I love you guys and I will be praying for you.