Ahh the end of another week...it's Sunday but i haven't felt like i've really had a weekend...i'm always so busy!! i know i say this every week but it's ridiculously true...lol. This week's lecture topic was repentance and forgiveness week. There had been a lot of hype around base about this week because at the end of the week, friday's application is crazy. Basically each person writes down all of the sins they feel like God is convicting them of, or all the people they feel they need to forgive, and each person gets up in the front of the room and repents--praying out-loud to God for forgiveness. It's an incredibly humbling experience, but at the same time, so freeing. I actually went first in my class--a nice big step for me :D--and afterward i felt so much closer to God. It was like i could see more clearly His ridiculous amounts of unfailing love, grace and forgiveness. It's even harder for me now to fathom how God could sacrifice so much--sending Jesus to suffer horribly and die on the cross--just for me. There's no way i could ever even come close to deserving anything like that but He did it anyway.

One of the things that really hit home for me was what our speaker called the Key to Repentance--we need to look at sin in regards to how it affects God and not only us or our reputation, appearance, etc. God hates sin and basically if we stay in sin, we are saying to God, 'I hate you and i love my sin so much that i will walk away from you in order to have it.' That was really a turning point in the week for me--i needed a revelation like that so i could see that i wasn't the only one affected by my sins--someone much more important than me was hurt so much worse by my actions.

Another thing i really liked was our speaker's analogy of sin: Sin is like a brain tumor--if it's only covered up, it will ultimately destroy us. As i said last week in my blog, these new ways of looking at sin are so good for me because i'm getting the focus off of myself and onto someone much more important.

So now that I've repented, i'm perfect!! ...no i'm totally joking-obviously. I know that I'm going to fall into sin again but i think i have a much clearer view of a lot of things-especially what God has done for me...and i'm completely motivated by that picture of perfect love and grace. I'll have to keep reviewing my notes...!! :D

This weekend my DTS had a fundraiser--a car wash!! It was Saturday morning and afternoon and i had the morning shift--it was so cold!! We ended up bringing in about $450 dollars for our outreach fees so that will help. that's the other big thing that happened this week--we found out our outreach location options...and costs... :S. Things aren't completely solidified yet but I'm pretty positive of my location. There were two different options--Botswana/Indonesia and Swaziland/Thailand. There are also a couple of places that our whole group is going to be at together--so i'll try to explain this so it makes sense... :D

Week 1: group together at YWAM conference in Cape Town, South Africa

Week 2-3: groups separate doing outreach at diff locations in Cape Town

Week 4-5: together having lectures at YWAM base in Muizenburg, SA (suburb of Cape Town)

Week 6-8: separate in Botswana or Swaziland

Week 9-11: together in Malaysia

Week 12-14: separate in Indonesia or Thailand

Week 15: report-back week in Perth

We leave for Cape Town as a school the weekend of September 4. I felt God leading me toward the Swaziland/Thailand trip so i'm pretty positive of that location--like i said earlier. I'm really excited about our outreach...our group is extremely blessed this year because we have 4 different places we're going for outreach while normally the DTS's only go to one location for the whole 3 months! The only bad thing about so many locations is that the cost increases. :( The total of my trip right now is $5150 australian dollars ($4215 american dollars). There is a possibility that the cost could still increase slightly, depending on when we get our plane tickets booked, but that's a pretty good estimate. right now i have about $1800 american dollars so i have a little way to go... :S if anyone feels the need to donate... :D but really--checks can still be made out to Hillcrest Evangelical Free Church and mailed to:

Rachel Steckly

3302 Pioneers Rd.

Milford, NE 68405

We will be continuing to fundraise as a DTS and i'm going to be asking God for strategies and ideas for me personally to fundraise, but any donations would be so appreciated!! Thanks so much guys!

love, rach

so week 2...it's been so busy!! i thought that once i got into some form of a routine, things would slow down and i would have more free time...apparently that is just not so! one of my friends said that it will only get busier from here with weekend fundraisers and activities and such. Crazy!! :D At this point though (saturday afternoon), i have all of my homework done for the weekend-yay! It was so nice to be able to sleep in past 5:45 this morning--and it may become even more rare. :( ha.

This week our lectures were all about the character of God. Richard Blake was our speaker...and amazing one at that. i loved the way he explained things very clearly and in terms of me and my relationship with God today. He also presented some good challenges. one of the reasons i decided to do missions with YWAM was because of the lectures and teaching phase--i like their mandate to "Know God and to make Him known." so naturally, i loved this week's topic because i really want to strengthen my relationship with God and in order to do that i need to know and learn His character and ways. It was definitely good background information. one thing that really stood out to me and was the fact that God is a theistic God as opposed to a deistic God. He's very personal and involved in our lives--he "interferes" and directs us. I don't know about you but it would pretty much stink if we were created and then left alone to fend for ourselves in this crazy, mixed up world.

Another thing that was really interesting to me that Richard said is that the Bible is incomplete. That struck me as strange at first, but the more i thought about, the more sense it makes--God wrote it for us but in order for us to really understand it and get the most out of it, we need God to intercede and help us out with meanings and applications. I really like looking at it in that light because it's kind of like a puzzle or a mystery...it also requires a deep and personal relationship with the author...which is my original goal! :D

Richard also introduced a new phrase equal to sin--relationship destroyer. I really love this description because for me, sin has almost become--not cliche--but maybe over-used...? Anyway, i really like that description because it creates an actual picture for me--i can actually imagine the damage it would do--destroying a relationship--not only with God but also with whoever is involved. It makes me think even more about the things i do or say before i do or say them.

My favorite challenge of the week from Richard was the verse 1 John 4:20--if anyone says,"I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. It really made me think about how i relate to others and how i treat them. Our relationship with God is directly related to our relationships with humans. Think about it... : ).

Friday's class was pretty intense--our 2 hour lecture session turned into 6 hours and 15 minutes. Our application for the whole week was praying and getting a word from God about which of His many attributes we either had a false view of, or needed to work on. We then proceeded to stand up in the front of the room and we prayed for each person in the class(about 40 people). It was incredible how God moved each person and revealed himself to each of us. My weak area turned out to be understanding the enormity and depth of God's love for me and the fact that no matter where I am or what's going on in my life, He is always enough for me. Prayer from you all for revelation of that love would be amazing... : ).

Well, that's pretty much it for now, sorry this week's post was so long...!! haha talk to you all soon,
Rachel

hello all...first week...it was crazy...to say the least! :D today (saturday) my DTS and the other July DTS took a nice little trip to the beach. it was a little chilly but after we were there for a bit the sun came out and it was gorgeously warm. ha. took a little nap...it was nice. i'll get some pictures up on facebook sometime soon...i have homework this weekend... :( i seriously feel like i'm in college still. ha. i just thought i'd let you guys know that the address here is

PO Box 8501

Perth Business Centre

PERTH, WA 6849

AUSTRALIA

although i did hear that it's fairly expensive to send packages...i don't know how letters are. :) Some friends and i are going to a movie in a little while...this is one of the only things/businesses in Perth that's open past about 9 or 10. Everything closes down during the week at about 5:30p and only a little later on the weekends...weird. lol anyway...more later.

hmm..yeah i just noticed that times and dates are off...since it is currently 2:20 on wednesday july 8...oh well. :) just know that there's a 13 hour time difference. ha

So it's the middle of my first week...we've been doing a lot of introductory things...it's going pretty slow right now but i think it will continue until i get into a routine. that should come pretty soon... :D i still am missing everyone at home and stuff but am enjoying meeting new people. tomorrow morning my DTS starts with exercises at 6:00 am!! that will be interesting. :D lol. there are currently 13 students in my school with 3 leaders. there's one more that's supposed to get here on saturday...then we should be pretty much complete. the first few days were pretty challenging for me just because of all the unfamiliarity and such. i think this blog is probably sounding pretty random but oh well... :) i've put some pictures on facebook...i might try to get some up on here but we'll see...this is a little more complicated for me right now. haha. Right now i'm praying that God would really reveal himself to me and show me his beauty so i'll just have that complete desire and desperation for him in my life. I really want to use the lectures that we'll have every day to draw close to him and learn so much more about his character and also for him to know me more. i found out the other day that i'll actually be doing homework!! i'll have 3 book reports and a presentation..oh and a weekly journal. lol i thought i would be out of school for a while. :D well i'm out for now...i'll try my hardest to keep up on this blog but who knows with me... ha!

So we'll try this blogging thing out... :D I've officially started this trip. I was sad to leave everyone but I'm pretty excited about the new things i'll encounter. I guess it's just the first couple weeks of adjustment i'm not really looking forward to...those of you who know me really well know that i'm not the biggest fan of change. :) Your thoughts and prayers would be greatly appreciated--especially for these first few weeks. I'm looking forward to my 6 hour layover at LAX followed by the 14 hour flight to sydney...not. Hopefully it goes by at a decent pace. ha. Well maybe i'll get bored in LA and write some more...until then...