WEEK FIVE. 2/8 - 2/14 freedom & love

Week five, I took a dive. (:

Brian Brent was our speaker this week and he was SO good.  We got a freedom manual, which Brian co-wrote, and through it we broke away from different areas in our life which held us back from full freedom. 

pineapple fried rice in a pineapple <3

When strongholds, areas in life where sin concentrates, develop, we need to break those strongholds.  They prevent us from being free with our Father.  We can break free from this sin by repenting, receiving, rebuking, and replacing.  Basically, recognize the sin, turn away from it, receive God's love and forgiveness, return to the place of authority by continuously separating yourself from that sin, and then replace all those lies in your life with the truth about who you are!  You are dearly loved. (:

I draw faces on napkins.

So in short, that's what I learned this week haha.

On Monday, my outreach team did original design for each other.  Original design is super cool because it shows what God was thinking as he created YOU and what His purpose and plan for your life is.  Basically, as a team we asked God what he put into another's life, and then we tell that person what we heard. 

When my team prayed over me they got that I was a fighter, always wanting more of God.  That I was a lighthouse, people we're attracted to my light and that it guided others in the right direction.  And that I noticed all people, even the ones who are usually overlooked.  Original design is so fun and encouraging, and it's just great to see how much love and thought God put into you as he created you!

Autumn, Sunset, and I

Ministry Night was cool because I feel like I've been holding back a bit from letting myself encounter the fullness of God, just since I don't really know what I'm getting myself into.  But then I had this revelation that he is PURELY LOVE.  I'm not afraid of love at all, and so I just let his love overwhelm me and I felt so much joy!  It was awesome (:

Throughout this week His love has become like a theme for me.  Lisa suggested that I read 1 John and now I can't stop reading it haha, I read it every day.  One of my favorite verses in it is 4:12 which says "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."  That verse has made God so much more real to me, to know that He is love and that I can see him through love every day!

Friday night we started our 24 HOUR burn, which means 24 hours of worship in the prayer room.  It started at 8 pm Friday and until 8 pm Saturday, someone was in the prayer room, playing music, worshiping the Lord.

I joined the security team with Kyle ;)

I had my own set with, Tim, Aria and Celine.  It was really cool because originally, Aria and Celine were just going to play while I sang along, but Tim just so happened to have the same set time as us.  So we got put together randomly, and it ended up being such a great time of worship.  Now we meet regularly, once a week.  Tim's a really good guitar player so he's helping Aria become a stronger leader.  Celine and I have fun singing spontaneously, whatever's on our hearts.  Worshiping with these guys has been such a blessing!

not really, but we'd make a
great team haha (:

In a Burn you dedicate a lot of time to the Lord, and you can't expect anything back.  Yet, of course, if you ask to encounter Him, he's going to reveal things to you, so I got a lot out of it(:

During the last two house of the Burn, we had corporate worship.  A world map was placed out on the prayer room floor.  I looked down at the map and I just saw of all of the love God has for these nations!  And then I saw everyone in the prayer room joined together, God smiling down at us, we were joined by His love.  I made that my prayer, that by the end of the night we would be joined together by His love. 

my dreads turned 6 MONTHS old on the tenth!

Then we prayed over our outreach teams and stood where our country, the Marshall Islands, was on the map.  It was a lot of fun.  First, we prayed for unity and then we were told to pray for LOVE! 

I was so excited because at the start of the week I had the revelation that God is love, and I had been reading 1 John all week, and then we close out praying for God's love to pour out, on us and on all of the nations.

With His love came so much joy.  As Matt was leading worship, he told us all to join arms... and so everyone was joined together through God's love, like the picture I had seen earlier!  Our Father loves so much.  I pray everyone experiences His love , even just the smallest bit.

If it's in your heart to partner with me or to continue to support me please do!  I only have 6 more weeks until I go on outreach to the MARSHALL ISLANDS!  You can donate through my paypal OR If you'd like to DIRECTLY donate to my account (not through paypal or checks) you can through this link HERE.

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Lecture Funds: 4235.00 /4235.00 !!!
MARSHALL ISLANDS Funds: 2031 / 4000-6000
Total Funded: $6,266.00 


My Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/claudiasanborn
My Vine: https://vine.co/u/1118831502415835136 (I post little videos throughout the day :)
Our lectures: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/engage-dts-2015-podcast/id957501119?mt=2

WEEK FOUR. 2/1 - 2/7 our first corporate week

Hey everyone!

This week was corporate week, meaning that all the different DTS' had class together.  It was nice because we got to meet people from other schools, like Ships, or Fire and Fragrance.  We also had a different speaker every day of the week.  I've gotten used to the schedule here, so a little change was nice (:

Autumn was rooting for the
Seahawks (:

Backtrack to the weekend, Super bowl Sunday, Autumn and I went to a friend's place off base to watch it, but it turned out that the TV didn't even work so we "kinda" watched the superbowl on the computer.  It was more like a jam session/hangout.  Autumn and Steve played guitar and ukulele and I worked on a dread for Austin. (:

Those guys who live off base, Kris, Austin, Micah, and Steve, have a homeless ministry here in Kona.  On Monday nights, they have Feeding With Friends, where they just love on the homeless and feed them, and they go out to the streets about once a day (: The homeless community here in Kona is large and with that there's drug problems.  So many people go out into the world from this YWAM base, but these guys recognize the need for Jesus's light here in Kona.  I'm usually pretty busy, but I hope to go out with them sometime and get to know some of the people on the streets!

ready to learn haha

Monday night Ministry night, of course SOMETHING happened.  It's always so eventful!  Tonight they asked that we pray for healing over people.  A lot of people got healed from back and neck pains.  I walked over to Erika (Monika's sister)  and as I put my hand on her to pray, I immediately broke down in tears.  And later I prayed for Monika as well, and there's something about these sisters.  They're always falling when they encounter the Holy Spirit (:  So I was BEHIND Monika as she was falling, and I didn't know what I was doing so I kept holding her up... eventually I let her fall haha.  After the healings the prayer room just erupted in JOY.  People were laughing and smiling.  Monika fell a second time, and the smile on her face just looked like the epitome of joy.  It was so beautiful!  But yeah, that was like the best night ever.  It was just so much fun. 

On Wednesday, Danny Lehmann spoke and we took communion.  It was the first time taking communion since I've been here, which was nice because I've honestly missed it so much.  I used to take it every week at my home church (shout-out to evc <3 )

Me, Autumn, Yohan, and Ryan

Thursday, Darlene Cunningham spoke!  It was so cool to hear from a woman who lived out her life in complete obedience to God.  She talked about having an unoffendable heart, which doesn't mean that things don't bother you, but instead that you are quick to forgive, love, and bless the people who hurt you.  It was good to hear because I had been struggling with something someone had said, but God just confirmed that I needed to let it go to Him and forgive them!

Honestly, week four was difficult for me.  Corporate week made it hard to focus, I haven't been getting enough sleep, and a lot of things were going on that just made things hard.

With the weekend God brought peace and rest.  And just to let you guys know, week five was a lot better (:

Morgan braided my dreads(:

I'm still very much in need of funds so that I can buy my flight tickets to the Marshall Islands!  So if it's in your heart to partner with me or to continue to support me please do!  You can donate through my paypal OR If you'd like to DIRECTLY donate to my account (not through paypal or checks) you can through this link HERE.

Also, if you'd like to listen to my lectures and hear what I've been learning, feel free to listen to our podcast!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/engage-dts-2015-podcast/id957501119?mt=2

Thanks again to everyone who's keeping up with my journey and who's been supporting me! (:

Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:15

Lecture Funds: 4235.00 /4235.00 !!!
MARSHALL ISLANDS Funds: 1300 / 4000-6000
Total Funded: $5535.00 


My Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/claudiasanborn
My Vine: https://vine.co/u/1118831502415835136 (I post little videos throughout the day :)
Our lectures: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/engage-dts-2015-podcast/id957501119?mt=2

WEEK THREE. 1/25 - 1/31 I'm going to the MARSHALL ISLANDS!

Week three, no biggie (:


Jeff Waalkes was our speaker this week.  He spoke on obedience to God, and how He called us to a life of adventurous obedience.  Some things I got from this week...

in a tree, happy as can be

"Hear me and obey" simple as that.

Pride = thinking of YOURSELF anyway other than how Jesus thinks of you. Too HIGH or too LOW.

Move from knowing about God, to knowing God. 

So WEDNESDAY, we go to workout Wednesday as usual, but this time we're meeting up at the soccer field, opposed to the regular Ohana Court workout.  We get up to the field and there's bowls of paint and rice on a table.  I get handed a paper with "Kayleigh-Red."  And then Lindsey, one of our school leaders, announced that we were, in fact, finding out our outreach locations!  At the "GO" we all run with little cups of paint.  I pour my red paint on Kayleigh and shortly after I get paint poured on me too.  RED PAINT.  I look around to see who's on my team.  I only see girls... 

goofing

Okay, so at first I was really freaked out about being on an all girl team.  I thought we would need guys to protect us and lead us...  I've always been somewhat sexist but I'm coming to understand that God has so much planned for women and he uses them in ways just as powerful and life changing as anyone else.  So I'm excited to be on an all-girl team, to see what we can really do through God.  My leaders are the beautiful Belinda and Lisa.  I honestly love all of the girls on my team.  I can't wait to get to know them better <3

But even more than an all girl team, I was worried about where my location was.  I had put New Zealand as my second choice, but I did NOT want to go there.  I felt like God had been assuring me the whole week that he would send me to the Marshall Islands.  After we met up with the all girl team, we had to eat through a bowl of rice, and find a flag at the bottom of the bowl.  I didn't know what country the flag was of... but I asked all the girls, and they each said Marshall Islands was their first choice!

Marshall Islands team! Me, Jenn, Lisa, Belinda, Linnea, Kayleigh, Hyehyun, and Victoria (from left to right) 

After a confirmation that we were in fact the Micronesia/Marshall Islands team, I broke down crying, tears of joy and relief.  God is so faithful!

Then Belinda and Lisa told us there was some news... instead of Micronesia we would be going to Fiji!  The old plan was to sail to Micronesia, but YWAM Ships lost a boat a little while back, so instead we would fly to Fiji.  BUT going to Fiji is also still only a possibility because we think it's important to spend all of our time in one location, so that we can build strong relationships with people and show them the consistency of God's love. <3

too happy (:

Something always happens on Friday during class.  It's like the whole week is just building up and preparing us for that point.  Jeff asked us, what is holding you back from hearing and obeying God?  He told us to get an object, which represented what we needed to give up. 

As I walked to my room, I thought, what should I give up? ...and somehow I just knew, my favorite pen.  05 MICRON pen.

One-by-one we all went up to the microphone.  When I went up, I was shaking.  And I said that my favorite pen, represented my IDENTITY, my FUTURE, my DREAM, that I had planned for myself.  I want to be an artist, a teacher, a mother, a wife, I want to live in a tiny house in Santa Monica... but I laid it all down for God, so that nothing would hold me back from the life he has PLANNED for me! 

My lovely team <3

After I gave up my pen, I got to take a little bouncy ball, which represented the consistency of God, his love and his faithfulness.  Then Belinda came up to me and let me know that God was proud of me for letting go, but he put those desires and passions in my heart for a reason and he wants to bless me with those things (:  Good vibes

Weird side note, a couple of days before Friday, I lost almost ALL of my pens.  All but one of my microns, my highlighters, and my writing pens... I was super bummed out about it.  I searched everywhere and I remember digging in my navy backpack, feeling the dust at the bottom of it.  A couple days after I gave up my 05 MICRON pen, I found them all in that navy blue backpack!  Super weird haha... 



So yeah!  I'm going to the MARSHALL ISLANDS!

Much thanks to everyone who has been supporting, praying, and reading my blog.  I love you all and can't wait to come back home and tell everyone what God has done. (:

Lecture Funds: 4235.00 /4235.00 !!!
Outreach Funds: 500 / 4000-6000
Total Funded: $4735.00 

If you'd like to DIRECTLY donate to my account (not through paypal or checks) you can through this link HERE.

My Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/claudiasanborn
My Vine: https://vine.co/u/1118831502415835136 (I post little videos throughout the day :)

WEEK TWO. 1/18 - 1/24 hearing God's voice

playin' dutch blitz with Matt, Morgan, and Monika.

I've been here for two weeks. woot woot.

Our speaker this week was David Gava.   He started the first day with a normal lecture on what steps should be taken to hear God's voice, and then when class was about to end he asked if there was a Melissa in the room... at first I thought "who?" but Missy was sitting next to me.  David spoke over her, words from God, and it was really cool to see blessings being poured over her like that.  I KNEW he was going to speak over Autumn too.  It was so funny, we all had a feeling he would (:  Right when David 

was about to dismiss us to lunch he asked if there was an Autumn in the room.  He knew she was from Oklahoma.  He told her she would do great things through God. It was really cool and I'm so happy for Autumn!!!

Tuesday, Monika caught me a moth.  If ya'll didn't know moths are my favorite bug.  Just because I feel like most people look over them, and how beautiful they can be.  People notice the butterflies, but not the moths.  But God notices the moths, and he put a lot of work into making them the way they are <3  Our custodian, Matt, let us use his Mason jar, so I kept it in there for the day and let it go at night.



the moth we caught in (:

Wednesday. We had workout Wednesday that day.  Yeah so on Wednesdays we workout as a school, and it was so hardcore that day.  We did different 2 minute exercises at 8 different stations... by the end everyone was sweating like crazy, breathing real hard. AND THEY TOLD US WE HAD TO WORKOUT TO AN AB VIDEO... it was a funny 80s video but I honestly was so out of breath, I didn't even try haha (:

A couple sit ups into the video, it stopped working. It switched to an emergency broadcast screen... and it changed to a new video.  Our OUTREACH LOCATIONS!  I immediately starting crying happy tears as the names of the countries were displayed on the screen.  Micronesia, Philippines, New Zealand, Central Asia, Middle East...  They told us we had TEN minutes to ask the Lord where we should go, and hear his answers. 

so tired from the workout

I walked to a nice shady patch of grass, laid down and looked up at the sky and I said "Speak Lord, for your servant is listening."  I kept hearing Micronesia/Marshall Islands, so I put it down and immediately felt peace about the location.  I asked Him to speak again, and I heard New Zealand... my last choice for an outreach location... I thought, "maybe I should put down the Middle East, that's what Autumn's putting."  But I knew He had said New Zealand so I put it down anyway.  I asked Him once more, for my third location, and I heard one of the Middle East locations, put it down, without much thought. 




Autumn and I after a beach day (:

All throughout that week, I was struggling with the fact that I put down New Zealand.  I really didn't want to go there.  I felt like I heard God say "Don't worry.  I'll send you to the Marshall Islands."  But how could I be sure it was His Voice?!?!  And getting the Islands became a big deal for me, because if I didn't, does that mean I can't hear His voice at all?  Eh, I dunno, maybe it sounds silly but it was a big deal to me (:

The rest of the week was pretty stressful just because many people didn't feel at PEACE with the outreach locations they put down.  I struggled a lot with the bestie Autumn <3  Sometimes things just don't work out the right way, and I feel like we had the wrong focus on the outreach locations, but we came to realize after lots of praying and talking, that WHEREVER God sends us, it will be GOOD.  There are broken people everywhere, and I'm growing a heart for all of them.

Hearing the voice of God is different for everyone.  For me personally, I hear him in my thoughts, through creation, through symbolism, and through other people.  I know Autumn can often hear what He has to say through music lyrics, super cool.  I love how He is different for everyone; it makes the relationship so personal.  Yeah, it's pretty chill (: <3

Okay one last thing, Friday night we had a BURN.  From 8pm to 12am we were in the prayer room, worshiping, reading the Bible, using the time as we felt we needed to.  It's called a burn because our hearts are on fire, if you didn't catch that ;)



Autumn, Jana, Erika, Matt, Me,
 Graham, and Monika at panda express

I went through the whole four hours just feeling good, but close to the end I saw Sena, an Engage staff, go up to Autumn and pray for her.  And I just thought, I want God to use me as he uses her.  I want a strong relationship with Him... my thoughts reflected over our relationship and I asked him "may there never again be a dry season in my life."  May I always be with you, the FULLNESS of you.  I'm tired of this shallow relationship based on hype.  Then, Sena came up to ME, and told me God wants that.  He's reaching out His hand, and wants me to grab hold of EVERYTHING he has to offer, the fullness of Him.

I'm never letting go.

That Sunday, it rained for the first time.  I was sitting under a large tree, with some other people.  We were having a little jam session, super natural and raw.  As it rained we sang "come down, down, down, down."  The rain came down, and the fullness of Jesus came down on me as well. <3

Good stuff.

His word for me this week was peace.  When I put down Marshall Islands, I felt at peace.  When I accepted the fullness of him, I felt at peace.  Thanks for giving me peace<3

To everyone who actually reads this, thanks.  Shoot me a message, comment, or something because I'd love to hear from you all!  And just to let you all know my due date for $2,500 towards the outreach location is due on this Friday, the 6th.  If it's in your heart to support me, please do because I need the funds!

If you'd like to DIRECTLY donate to my account (not through paypal or checks) you can through this link HERE.

"For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you,
 Do not fear; I will help you." Isaiah 41:13

Lecture Funds: 4235.00 /4235.00 !!!
Outreach Funds: 100 / 4000-6000
Total Funded: $4335.00 

My Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/claudiasanborn
My Vine: https://vine.co/u/1118831502415835136 (I post little videos throughout the day :)