blink of an eye!

Good evening my loved ones!

I'm excited to tell you that I have officially completed the school portion of my Discipleship Training School in Cartagena, Colombia! I can hardly believe that I've been here four months!

The last two weeks were truly a blessing.

The first of the two included a pretty intense teacher who, before becoming a Christian was a guerrilla (like the FARC in Colombia) in Peru. He told us of all the horrid things he had done all the women they had raped and the people they had massacred. One day while with his companions, he found himself in a police trap. The police shot him twice as he was running away, and he could not walk any further. So, they captured him and took him to a prison and told him he would be killed the next day for his crimes. He prayed that night saying: God, if you are real please save me from being killed tomorrow morning, and I promise to serve you all the days of my life. So, the next morning the guards came to him and explained that the documents that proved he was guilty of all the crimes had been lost and he was free to go home. Needless to say this miracle got his attention, and he completely gave his life to Jesus that day. Ever since, he has been serving God with his whole life. He has some very tragic stories to tell, even ones after he became a Christian including losing his daughter, but his One True Love and Audience of One is the Living God even still. It was very encouraging to hear what he has been through and witness his love for Christ despite the hardships.

Oh and I forgot to tell you how the India night went! It was really fun! Everyone looked so beautiful dressed as Indians with all of their beautiful materials and make-up. We unfortunately didn't eat any food with curry in it, but we had some yummy sandwich type things with stew in them (all though the word 'stew' is repulsive to me, I did like this stew). We also watched some Bollywood (Hollywood India..check it out) videos and made up some dances. Lots of fun!

Then, on Thursday night Jim arrived late and brought us lots of love, hugs and food! He stayed with me at the base the first night and was able to see how every thing works there as we still had class and activities on Friday. And on Friday night we had a really beautiful prayer service with feet washing, praying for different nations, nailing letters to the cross and the like. It was really special to have him there and being a part of that. Many of the students were touched by his generosity and love. Many of the students only wish to have a wonderful dad, and I'm blessed enough to have two!! :) But anyway, Friday night we went out to dinner with Jesse and our friend Jonathan from Venezuela. Then Jesse and Jonathan went back to the base, but Jim and I stayed in our cute little hotel. Oh and the air conditioning was just so cold!!! I woke up four times in the night I was so cold! Isn't that funny? I'm used to sweating 24/7 I guess. Haha! But anyway, basically Jesse and Jim and I just lounged around all day in the hotel--just relaxing and getting some stuff accomplished before we leave on outreach. I have to say there were a couple things that were key during this weekend: a packet of doublestuff Oreos (which we later came to realize that Jesse and I ate the whole pack! Don't do it. But just between you and me, I still love them just as much as before I ate a half a pack. Oh, and try it with peanut butter.), someone doing a laundry for us, an unoccupied bathroom and ceviche (which is like seafood and other things uncooked but cooked with the acid in lemon juice or something like that) Oh my goodness, we had such a good time with him! It was at first difficult to try and mix my two lives together--Jim from home and then everything here.. But honestly, I was just amazed to watch him give and give and give. He truly came to just give us a break and to spoil us rotten--and that he did!

This past week, we had an American teacher named Dean Harvey-age 81. Wow, he had some really challenging things to say. What a knowledgeable man! He just really knew and studied the Bible. By the end of his first teaching we were all bawling. Coming with many new, deep perspectives on old teachings, he was difficult to follow at times. But all week we sat on the edge of our seats as he spoke because although many of his points were contradictory to what we had previously learned, he totally backed everything up with a thorough Biblical study.

Basically I received a new revelation of how much God's heart breaks when his loved ones die without knowing him. It gave me a new motivation to really work for God and His Kingdom during this upcoming weeks on outreach. I am sure that these weeks will have challenges and growth and difficult choices, but I have a better understanding of God's heart for the lost which encourages me to press on.

We watched the Passion of the Christ last night and took communion. Unlike most other Good Fridays, this one really touched me deeply. Normally, I want to be touched by what Jesus did for me more than I actually am, but this time God really touched my spirit. It's incredible the way He lived completely perfect and died for me--the pain he felt physically, as awful as it was, is nothing compared to the weight of all our sin on Him spiritually and emotionally. There's a song that has this verse in it: "carried to the table". It's talking about taking communion, and I just kept thinking of what a beautiful picture it is to envision Jesus suffering so much, raising from the dead and then picking me up and carrying me to the communion table to share with Him. What incredible sacrifice and love!

Well, times up again. Tonight we are saying goodbye and celebrating cowboy style! Yeehaw!! Better go fetch my lasso.

Who knows when I'll be able to write again as I will be leaving for Argentina in 3 short days! I appreciate your support and prayers while I am away, and I will update you as soon as I can!

Blessings,
Chelsie

Oh the Life of a Learner!

The past two weeks have been jam-packed full of stuff! Which, I guess, is always the case. The first of the two weeks was our second and last mini-outreach. My group ended up staying here in Cartagena. Working with a 24/7 prayer/praise ministry in our classroom, investigating child prostitution in the city, and going into various poor neighborhoods presenting a leadership campaign and a princess campaign (Don't worry, I'll explain.) The first two days Saturday and Sunday were spent in the hot-box of a classroom learning a new dance that we would be presenting to different neighborhoods every afternoon of the week. Saturday we spent 5 hours dancing in the sweltering heat. I...well...didn't have a super positive attitude during these first days and fought it a lot. Eventually God made it clear to me that if I was going to survive, I had to change my attitude, because, to be honest, it was far from what I would have wanted to do the day after a long week.

As I fasted and prayed, I made the decision to cheer-up and see things in a positive light. From that  point on, God really blessed me with the grace to carry it out. For the rest of the week, I continued in this way, walking in peace and joy! Now, it wasn't easy, but it was a real encouragement to see what God does when we give Him absolutely everything. I grew a lot in my ability to communicate with others in Spanish and got along well with my group.

Each morning we practiced the dance and had prayer and worship time with music and painting and dance (this was really cool). Then we worked on researching and coding a map of vulnerable areas in Cartagena for child prostitution and statistics of the like. In the afternoons we visited various neighborhoods in these 'danger zones' within the city. We presented young people and children with the idea that they CAN rise above their circumstances to be the leader, to be the change amidst generations and generations of hopeless destitution.

Later on in the week, God spoke to me about Psalm 45 which talks about girl of royalty and how the king was enthralled by her beauty. We developed this idea in an effort to minister to the girls of these neighborhoods--to resurrect the truth that they are highly valued princesses of the King of Kings! I absolutely loved this part, as did all of the precious girls we ministered to. We french-braided their hair, gave them lotions and spa treatments as well as painted their nails. And they soaked. it. up. Coming from nearly nothing, and being treated like a piece of meat by the people in their societies has taken its toll. Child prostitution with the young girls is common in all of these neighborhoods because it's a quick fix for a dire need. For example, often times, if the family doesn't have food, the mother of the house will trade her daughter's body for food to the guy working at the corner store. So, to be able to provide them with a new way of thinking, that their value is from God, was really a special opportunity.

On Friday night we went to the Center, the tourism trap, where you can find most of the prostitution and lots of drug trades. We walked in pairs covering the area with prayer from 12am-almost 3am. It was at first a great struggle to have the energy to go on, but God really provided us with encouragement and strength all the way. It's a place filled with desperation and longing, so our prayers were powerful!
On Saturday night (the last night) our leaders held a special banquet dinner for us as princes and princesses of God. It was a really fun time to dress up and to be pampered a bit. :)

Moving on to this past week. We had a couple different speakers. One couple spoke to us about how God has put a special purpose and gifting into our generation. They explained that this is our time to prepare ourselves for something BIG, because the world cannot wait for another generation to bring hope and change. So, I spent a lot of time in prayer for my generation but most of all for my family specifically...my grandparents, my cousins. Because I know God has something very special in store for my family and I love them oh so very much!! :)

We also talked about shaping our character to reflect Christ and remaining sexually pure as a testimony for God. All of this was also related to preparing our generation for what God has planned for us.

I enjoyed this week very much. We did a bunch of random stuff and it was more relaxed. I bought my plane ticket for Argentina which was quite the ordeal, but during the whole shin-dig I got to skip class several times AND I got to try this funny little fruit called mamon or something. You break open the shell and out pops this little sour jelly ball...but there's a big seed in the middle. Bummer. Oh and I also tried this incredible jugo de papaya con leche (which essentially is a papaya smoothie with milk). Oh it was just divine!

Another funny thing. We are now in the beginning of the rainy season...just like ya'll are experiencing right about now. And the mangos off our mango trees in the backyard are just LOADED with mangos! In fact I have something with mango in it almost every day! But anyhoo, about the rain. For the first time since I've been here, it rained a MONSOON! I've never seen anything like it! The street turned into a river and Jesse and I went running through the streets bare-foot! We could have white-water rafted almost!! Everything in the house was soaking wet, and I even did all of my cleaning chores in the kitchen barefoot...(they don't have safety rules in the kitchen..at all, haha!).

But, anyway, I have to go dress up like a girl from India now. We are having our India Alliance night. It should be interesting to see how Colombians fix Indian food. :) And they layed out all of these beautiful rugs for us to sit on and candles and mints...oh it should be fun!

And one more thing. I know I just briefly mentioned my outreach to Argentina and Chile before. But the time is coming fast when we will be actually flying out, 17 days to be exact!! Each week we will be in a different city of either Argentina or Chile, working with churches and serving other YWAM locations. It will be a crazy but wonderful experience I am sure! I know this is last minute and I don't want any of you to feel like you have to support me, but I think it's essential that I give you all an opportunity to be a part of what God is doing here. Those that go on the mission are no more important than those who pray for the mission and those that give to the mission. God wants us all to work together. So I appreciate your prayers and support. If you feel led to support me financially during this outreach portion of my ministry school, you can send money to my parents who will put it into my bank account.  Their address is:
Kemi Laing
15676 Poplar Lane
Vicksburg, MI 49097

Thank you all for taking the time to even read this blog! It blesses me greatly to have you backing me in all of this! Love you all!
Chelsie