There's a lot I could say about the Philippines, a lot more than anyone would want to hear probably. There's been a lot of feelings, many 'is this real?' moments, witnessing freedom, redemption, revelation, and joy. Day after day experiencing new heartbreaks, new compassions, new friendships. I'm beyond thankful. I've learned so much this past month. We've done many different ministries, each of them unique and wonderful. Gods been working a lot in the Philippines, he's changing lives daily. I am convinced there is a Jesus revival here and it's only going to grow. The ministries we've been working with are incredibly fruitful and the people running the ministries are remarkably compassionate, hardworking, faithful people that God is using in so many life changing ways. My team had the privilege of working in a variety of ministries, in Butuan Philippines, from preaching in police stations to VBS to sharing the gospel and playing with children living on the street to hospital visits, youth leadership camps, street evangelism, preaching in churches, preaching in prison, and preaching in young adult groups. I cannot possibly express the entire trip to you my friends. But I will try my best to give you one day, give or take a few moments. You wake up a few times, each time too tired to fully open your eyes, yet fully aware of the fairly silent house releasing you to fall back asleep. Until very suddenly and abruptly the sound of a golden bell pierces through the morning light sending your body into a quick 10 second panic. When your heart slows back down you gently get out of bed, wipe the sleep from your eyes and as kindly as your deep, scratchy morning voice allows, wake up Kaylie and Maya for breakfast. You turn, follow Simea out the door, slowly stomp your way down the staircase (as your good friend Cres sings a tune to you as if you are in some kind of beauty pageant) to find yourself in the dinning hall, sadly, still half asleep. Thankfully, your friend Ate* Naome is a very gifted cook and your eating delicious fried rice and vegetables for breakfast. You finish eating around 7:30 and have time to get ready, spend some time with God, and read your bible. You open your mustard yellow bible to Ecclesiastes and you learn about joy. As 8:30 rolls around your team and the YWAM Butuan staff are out the door, excited to meet Pastor Ronelle at the prison. You climb into the back of Kuya* Nelsons truck, sit on the left bench next to Alec, curious thoughts begin to race through your mind. You wonder what it might be like to minister in a prison. You remember being a child and visiting your cousin in prison, how he'd make you laugh and smile and the flowers on the pathway towards the large glass doors. Yet somehow the memory is overshadowed with a pressing heartache. What is there to expect except hopelessness? Trying to recall any good stories you've heard about prison. You can't... Paul! The Apostle Paul's stories of prison, how he ministered all throughout his time. Every circumstance he used to the gospels advantage. You start recalling the chapters you read just minutes ago, how king Solomon wrote that all is vanity, in all things a man should take joy in the lord.* And now all you have is a heart full of hope. There are ministers in chains in this prison, just waiting to be awakened. Which of them will realize Gods call in their life? Which of them already have? And how can you encourage them to count all this world has as vanity, including their time in prison, and hold fast to the joy their creator has and knowing him and working with him in the circumstances they have. You begin to get pumped. The truck is making its way through a beautiful flowery neighborhood as it stops directly in front of a very tall metal gate. You follow about 15 other people out of Kuya Nelson's truck, through the gate, your right hand gets stamped, a quick pat down by a female guard who's grinning ear to ear (very excited to meet some foreigners), through a smaller gate, and your in a small catholic chapel. You see rows of wooden benches leading up to a white tile stage with statues of Jesus and mother Mary. Your team and the YWAM Butuan staff take your place sitting or standing on the stage, and eagerly wait for the crowd to flow through the doors. You notice one of your students seems off. You go sit by her on the small white stairs and ask if she's okay. Her eyes don't look angry, don't look sad, yet still heavy. "I don't want to be here" she explains, "This is everything I try to avoid." She retells how she's been struggling with everyone staring at her*. How she hates being the center of attention. And here it'll be even more extreme. You can tell that this isn't how she really feels, she believes in freedom, she's compassionate, she would do anything to glorify God. No, this is just uncomfort getting in the way of her seeing the truth. "Can we pray?" You ask. She nods her head. You pray over her. As soon as she opens her eyes you can see Gods spirit has given her his outlook and taken her own away. You can see in her eyes the passion that's usually there. These men and women she's going to share her testimony with are no longer eyes ready to objectify, judge, or desire her. No, she can see them now for who they truly are, children of God, who need to be encouraged, uplifted, and loved. Men and women who need to know Jesus and the love of our creator just as much as she does. And God will use her testimony to speak to at least one of them if not all. She's ready. She's pumped. Thank you God. The crowd begins to flow through the doors and find their seats. There's so many different people. Very young, very old, everything in between. Joyful, laughing, smiling; stoic, hardened, hopeless; and everything in between. About 15-20 women are sitting in the front. Close to 140 men fill the rest of the room. You lock eyes with a pretty woman in the front row, rosy cheeks and a timid smile. There's a different spirit about her than the rest of the girls. You think maybe she's new here. You wave and mouth 'Hi!' With a smile. Like a mirror, she reflects the same; only there's a hint of shock in her eyes. Pastor Ronelle starts the day off with a prayer and a song. Your team and the YWAM Butuan staff join together in the classic YWAM Honolulu Pate Pate dance. The crowd goes wild. You can't help but giggle at their level of encouragement and applause. Your team starts with a skit called lead me to the cross. Kaylie begins to share her testimony, Kuya Nelson translates for her. She starts by briefly explaining the skit; how much Jesus deeply cares for us, how he takes our burdens for us, how he heals the sick, how he heals our hearts. She begins to tell of her life, her relationship with her father and how getting to know Jesus drastically transformed her perspective on everything. The crowd intensely listening, eyes wide, gazes locked. Kaylie preaches of the freedom that Christ brings. Maya, Simea, Alec, and Paul preform a skit called 'In the Light'. Again the crowd goes wild. Again you can't help but giggle. You're up. It's your turn to share your testimony. It's something you don't feel very comfortable with yet. For the past few months it's been a struggle. Usually what people want to hear is your life story, you're kind of sick of it. You want to glorify God and testify to all he's done in your life. But how do you find a way to do that without confessing the sins of your loved ones for them to complete strangers? A balance has been hard for you to find, the words to say seem as if they don't exist. And the reality of your still youthful mind has become sour on your tongue. But you've tasted the goodness of your God and you didn't know how bitter your life truly was until you did. So you will try your very best to portray the miracles of Gods grace in your life no matter how awkward or strange you might sound in trying to get the words out. Kuya Nelson is translating for you, you quickly realize he's a very good translator. You also realize you keep cutting him off and your brain needs to slow down. The moments seem so fast, you can't really hold on to a thought of your own. The only thing you seem to notice is the man on the roof outside listening in. The words seem to flow out of your mouth like honey and you realize you've finally found it. Deep satisfaction warms your heart as you share of your fear of God and how his grace replaced that fear with love. You encourage the crowd that if they feel afraid of God not to run from him or blindly serve Him, but to get to know Him. You promise them that you are a living testimony, He will prove himself faithful to them and His love will conquer all of their fears. 'Amen' you think to yourself 'God is good'. You know that what you spoke to them was not your own, but God's spirit within you. Because how many hours did you spend trying to find those words to say and here they were flowing out of you like a song. 'Thank you God!' You can't wipe the smile off your face. You take your seat again on the stage as the YWAM Butuan staff preform a skit. Again the crowd goes wild! And again you can't help but giggle. Maya begins to preach a message of encouragement and freedom. She sings the crowd a song, 'Come to the Alter.' When she is done preaching Pastor Ronelle says a quick word and prays over the men and woman. Then he invites anyone who would like to surrender to Jesus to come to the front. About 40 people begin to come to the front and kneel before the stage. Your team and the YWAM Butuan staff go throughout the crowd praying over them as God's Holy Spirit ministers to their hearts. Many of them begin crying and praying out to God. Lifting their hands and lifting their voices in surrender to the love and grace of Christ. The freedom in the room is visible. A heaviness is being lifted. After the prayer, you wish you could hug the girl with rosy cheeks, hear her story and pray with her personally. Sadly they all have to leave and you don't get the chance. But you can see in her eyes, Gods spoken something to her heart today. Something you hope she'll hold onto. Some time after lunch Kuya Cres rings the bell and it's time to go again. The team follows him down the street, Lester as well. You get two trikes* and make your way to a community called Resurrection. Kuya Paul meets you there with two buses. As you wait, the buses quickly begin to fill with excited children. Once the buses are full you ride to Pastor Jordan's church. You enjoy singing songs, performing skits, teaching bible stories and playing games with all the kids you could ever wish for. Two beautiful, tiny, little, girls attach themselves to you and take turns dancing with you and twirling around and around. Eventually one refuses to let you put her down, the tight cling of both her arms and legs reminds you of your youngest brother Jack and you don't dare let her go. Her smile and bright eyes, both mischievous and joyful. Her laugh you're convinced would end wars and cure world hunger if only we'd all stop and listen. Because it's absolutely impossible to remain cold and silent with such helpless joy, uncontrollable bliss, in your midst. Her dark, dark, brown eyes; her short, silky black hair; her oversized, soaked, pink, shirt that hangs as a dress; and her tiny fingers that wrap so devoted around yours; you hope you'll never be able to forget. If only you weren't so terribly horrible with accents and could figure out what her name is. On the ride home the two little girls fall asleep in both yours and Kaylie's lap. You can't help but petition God for their future, for their hearts and for protection. Kuya Paul is doing an absolutely amazing and praise worthy thing in their community. You pray that these girls will be under his protection, under his watch their whole lives. That they won't be caught in the cycles of their families, that they will come to truly know and love Jesus. That they will devote themselves to him the way they clung to you today and that God will bless them with abundant life. That they will be joy filled, deliverers of hope and truth everywhere they go. As they get off the bus and run home, they turn to wave goodbye about a hundred times. As you wave goodbye, you feel cheerless, assuming this is the last time you'll ever see them. (Little do you know, you'll enjoy them again before you leave.) After dinner you spend sometime in the living room, playing cards with Lester, listening to Kuya Christoph's stories, asking Jessie all about her whole life, soaking up wisdom from Kuya Dennis, laughing at Kuya Cres's puns and trying to keep your eyes open. As 10 O'clock hits, the lights are shut off, you slowly climb up the stairs, trip on your own feet once or twice, get laughed at by Kuya Rey, walk down the hall and in your door. Delighted to be in your little home with your three girls, your heart is full, your hopes high, yet your thoughts are just a bit hazy. Moments after your head meets your pillow your days officially over. I really hope you enjoyed your day in the life! I sure do miss it already. Thank you so much for reading, praying, and in these ways joining me in what Gods doing. If you want to please, please, please pray for YWAM Butuan, for their staff, for their ministries, and for their upcoming DTS school. They are such incredible people, devoted to God. If you'd like more specific prayer points or details on how you can get involved personally with their ministries, by means of financial support or visiting them, DO NOT hesitate to ask me! Also please continuing praying for my team. We've been in Indonesia for a week now and have five more weeks! We are very excited to see all God is doing in this country and how we can help. If you have any questions, encouragements, prayer request, please message me! I'd love to talk. God bless you, Alexandria Notes
*Kuya is a Phillipino term of Respect that means Older Brother. The counter is Ate which means Older Sister. **Ecclesiastes 1:14 3:11-13 12:13-14 ***Everyone has been staring at her because she is tall, white, and blonde with blue eyes. Her nationality is very rare to see in Butuan and is associated with movie stars. But she's just an average American, sudden fame is hard. ****A 'trike' is used like a taxi, it's a motorcycle with a metal frame and an extra wheel attached. Typically could fit 7 people.
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YWAM Honolulu DTS Values The list above was created by YWAM Honolulu's current DTS Director Spencer Lemer, if it sounds like an incredible lifestyle to you as you read it, you should hear him say it aloud; the man is inspiring. His purpose behind these lists is that as DTS staff we might whole heartedly live out the YWAM DTS Values enabling us to fully impart the Vision to our students; in the hopes that they will in fact adopt both the Values and the affects of our Vision into their own lifestyle. Friends and family I'm starting again! From now until the middle of June my time volunteering with YWAM will be fully spent on the spiritual growth and discipleship of 20 very excited students. We are currently in the middle of our first lecture week, the topic being Nature and Character of God. Already the students are coming across radical revelation in their faith and relationship with Jesus. Being completely honest this group of students is very interesting to me, I feel an ever growing expectation of the extent God is going to transform their lives and by way of this transformation, impact the countries, cities, families they came from as well as the countries they will be traveling to. I have an expectant excitement that I don't believe I've ever felt before. At the beginning of every quarter we have a 'Testimony Night', always one of my very favorite events. During this night each DTS staff member and student answer a few questions in front of the class, giving a brief life background and testifying to the relationship they have with Christ and how it came to be. We held this night last Friday, just a few days after the students all arrived, though the stories; hardships and blessings, countries: accents and beautiful faces, and personalities: timid and animated, all varied greatly the spirit of this school as a whole became very apparent. This is the most hopeful group of people I've ever had the pleasure to be apart of. In their hope resides immense power and I am sure their hope will be fulfilled in this time for the God they hope in is faithful always. We will be revealing outreach locations to the students and forming teams within the week so be expecting a very excited update soon enough! If we have kept in touch at all you might recall that when I got back from leading my last team of students to Cambodia and Japan I started running the kitchen for all the volunteers and students here at YWAM Honolulu. With a team of 3 other girls my age and some help throughout the week from students we enjoyed cooking 3 meals a day for about four months or so. I think the girls I worked with, Tiara, Abby and Anna, would agree with me when I say that although the quarter was trying and the work load was hard, we authentically enjoyed our time serving the base and we learned a lot about patience and love through each other and that any work we do, if done out of love for the Lord will become enjoyable. If I may I'd like to praise these three beautiful, hardworking, compassionate, grace-filled girls and say thank you for all the love and joyful work last quarter. Because these girls have become so dear to my heart and I thank God because of them, if you do, as you pray for me please remember these girls as well. Abby and Tiara are serving another quarter in the kitchen as volunteers here in Honolulu. Anna however has moved to the YWAM base in Kona where she is helping with a DTS there and serving in anyway she can. Anyway, we made this video for you a few months ago so you could get a glimpse into our lives day by day working in the kitchen. Sorry I've been so bad with updates and haven't gotten it to you until now. Hope you enjoy it! I can't thank you enough for your prayers and support. Please if you have any questions or just want to catch up or you have prayer request so I can be praying for you as well, do not hesitate to message or email me! Love and blessings to you and your family, Alexandria Lively streets, fog machines, helpless intoxication, light shows, and me; a sober-minded, joyful stranger in the midst of Pub street, Siem Reap, Cambodia. Sadly, fear paralyzed me that night. Hate silenced me. I fell at the feet of judgement, when I should have stood strong in mercy. I let hostility blind me from the truth, from love. On May 6th 2016, the team and I decided to go out dancing, a very good choice. While twirling, while praying, while laughing, while effortlessly enjoying one of the most memorable nights of my life, it took one twirl and the world stopped before me. One look and my heart shattered within me. In his eyes he’s giddy, in hers she’s broken. My breathing faltered, my bones rattled, my mind raced. But what would I say? What could I say? “Does he know what he’s doing?!” I couldn’t stop thinking. His hand on her back, I saw them leaving. I found my self running. I found myself on the street pacing, as he’s waiting. Hate, compassion, judgement, mercy - all wrestled internally. In that moment fear crippled me. I prayed, regrettably, violently. Three of my students, worried, came out after me. I shared with them the act of sex trafficking we were witnessing, and that we had to do something. We prayed. Yet still fear raged. I spoke to my co-leader and the male student that was with us, believing it would be more appropriate for them to approach this man than us. The next moment, the beautiful young woman pulled up on a motto, the gray haired man saddled on the back and they began to ride off. I believe by the hand of God, a rush of tuk tuks (taxis) pulled in and blocked off the entire street. My student went and stood right in front of their motto, giving my co-leader enough time to get out just one sentence to this man. A sentence I couldn’t bare to speak myself. As fear and hate became me, as I prayed my violent prayers, my co-leader spoke truth into this man’s heart in just one sentence, “I think I’m supposed to tell you that Jesus loves you.” I can tell you honestly that that night haunted me. That though I never saw that man again his face, his eyes, have replayed in my memory. That the anger I gave into that night took awhile for me to truly release. I see now that what I failed to believe is that love and mercy always triumph over judgement, over anger, over fear, over hate. Though I wanted to believe, so badly, that my hate and that my violent prayers could be justified, I know that they weren’t. I knew that then too, I just couldn’t believe it yet, I couldn’t live by it. I believe that if Jesus had been there in the flesh that night he would have told me to put down my stones. He would call the gray haired man and beautiful young woman by name to tell them he loved them. He would look them in the eyes not with anger but compassion and embrace them. He would forgive them of their sins and command then to sin no more. Because the truth is that though God is a just God, he delights in mercy. God is love, and he’s chosen to love us and still he chooses to love us. Every time. I know the truth is that the hate I chose to suffer in that night will never be justified. Because that man has not done any worse offense to the name of God then I myself have, has not fallen any further from God’s grace then I myself have. The truth is that that man is a child of God. That God loves him and longs for him to know the truth and live righteously in freedom. That he was created for eternal relationship with his creator. And as I chose hatred, in silence I blocked that relationship, by the grace of God, my co-leader chose love and by speaking truth opened a door in that man’s life. The rest of that night the gang and I, restricted by the language barrier, chose to ‘safety dance’ with the rest of the beautiful young women in the bar. Trying, the only way we could figure, to keep them safe for just one night. We danced and laughed with them, tried to talk to them as much as was possible, and prayed over them and for them. I pray today that their lives have changed. That God’s grace has overcome everything else they face and that they can joyfully testify to his love. Though God has taught me many a things in this past chapter of my life, I believe perhaps, by way of my team and moments throughout ministry, the most monumental is that my whole life I had been believing in and living by the worlds standard of love. Which is simply and tragically, devastating nonsense. I believe that love is by no means a feeling or emotion. Affection, compassion, and attraction are feelings and emotions, that can be godly and righteous, and are an absolute gift when acted on appropriately. The world’s turned love into a self serving, cynical shell of what it truly is. Love is purely a choice and an act. Love is patient, kind, gentle, honest, slow to anger, gracious, generous, selfless. I believe that true, perfect love is eternal and relentless and can only be given by the one who is true and perfect. I have been expecting love, expecting value and fulfillment from people who legitimately can not give it to me. God alone can truly love. In him alone can my soul and heart be satisfied and fulfilled. In his perfect love is where I find my confidence and worth. And by his perfect love for me I can choose to love people the way he does. I see now that my love for people should not be dependent on my feelings or emotions at all, but solely on God’s choice to love, should I act in love. The night of May 6th I did not choose love. I pray that the next time that choice becomes a battle within me, by God’s wisdom I will choose love and by his grace I will act in it. I’m excited to learn more about God’s love and choosing to follow him in it. Two months ago I graduated said DTS team of 11 students, whom I couldn’t be more astonished by and thankful for. Stepping into staffing their DTS God told me that the next six months were going to be a time of refining, growing and strengthening for me personally. I had no idea at the extent God had planned for me. I have been tested, pushed, pulled, confronted and relied on in ways I’ve never been before. Even so God’s shown me joy I didn’t believe was possible, given me wisdom in areas I thought I had all figured out, and shown me true peace in the fact that he is ALL that matters. I don’t believe I have ever enjoyed, loved, and appreciated a specific group of people as much as the team I led to Cambodia and Japan. The amount of testimonies I have to each one of them pursuing after God is praise worthy. (Hallelujah, Amen, God is good!) The effect that witnessing them strive after God’s goodness, seek after his truth, obey his callings in their lives, and commit to following him in love, has had on my heart is incredibly breath taking. Throughout their DTS I got to see them grow so much. I know that many of their lives and relationships with God have been completely changed for the better. So, if you do, as you pray for me, please pray for them as well as they change the world in the name of Jesus Christ. Currently, I have a year left with my commitment to YWAM honolulu and I’ve been praying about what I might do afterwards. Blessed by my grandmothers restless need to see, experience, and live in new places, I had been praying about leaving YWAM Honolulu to call some other state or country home for awhile. It was in these prayers that God showed me how dearly beloved this base is to me. That every passion he’s put in my heart to pursue I can fulfill at this base. My jobs here at YWAM honolulu enable me to minister to my own generation, my own country, as well as the growing church in unreached nations. This organization and this base is absolutely astonishing to me and I couldn’t be more thankful for the way they’re impacting the world. So I believe I will be here a lot longer than we all expected. (so get on a plane sometime and come visit me in the land of white sand and rainbows.) That all being said, I am very excited about my next chapter of life at YWAM Honolulu, I have volunteered to run the kitchen as well as special events. What does that mean, you ask... Everyday I am feeding all these hungry missionaries for the next five months and every now and then throwing them a bomb party. Speaking of all these hungry missionaries, I am stoked for our september quarter coming up. There will be a flood of new faces, new lives to transform, new students to disciple, new christ followers to change the world one heart at a time. I do believe we are expecting around one hundred people to be living on our base, which is crazy. (Three of which will be returning students from my last team, which I am overjoyed about and cannot wait to see them.) We’ll have Three different school’s running, the ol’ faithful Discipleship Training School (DTS), a School of Biblical Studies (SBS), and a School of Missions and Evangelism (SOME). If you’d like to get involved in anyway, whether by donating, praying, volunteering or coming to do a school please just talk to me and I’ll get you all hooked up. A few things you can pray for:
Thank you deeply for all of your prayers, support and simply reading this newsletter. It sincerely means so much. Love and blessings to you and your whole family, Alexandria Brents. |
YWAM Honolulu Mission Statement
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