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