Introductions

  Greetings!! For those of you who haven't met me, or my daughter, before, let me introduce ourselves to you. I'm Tori, and I'm twenty years old. I have a three month old daughter named Auden Cassandra. She's lovely. This is a blog about a mission trip. We are going to shake this world up, and this first post is to explain a little about me, my daughter, where we are going, what we are doing, and how you can help, because yes, we need support!! I am going to be doing the uncomfortable and asking for money later on in this post, so please be prepared. But I'd first like you to thoroughly know what I am asking you to give for, so here it goes!

So let me give you a little back story before I jump into this whole YWAM trip thing. I was raised in a believing home my whole life, but walked away from my faith and my family shortly after I turned eighteen. I began to party, medicating myself with alcohol. I put myself in unsafe situations and I payed for it. I was such an angry and hurting person, and I stubbornly stayed that way for two years. Even though I would never admit it, I was beginning to ache for something. I didn't really know what, but I just wanted out. I was self harming, and a lot of times I thought about just ending my life. I hated the way I was living, and I hated myself. I came so close so many times. I began to wish I could talk to God. I thought He just didn't really care, and I really wished that He did.
 Mother's day of 2012 changed all of that forever. I found out I was pregnant. I knew that was the end of life as I knew it, and I think some part of me was actually relieved. I began to determine a way out of my lifestyle and try to find a stable way of life for my daughter. In July I moved to a maternity home, a place for unwed mothers. It was located in Puyallup and it was accurately called New Beginnings. I lived there for the last six months of my pregnancy and it was a transformative time for me. I went to church. I found my way back to the loving arms of my savior, I found healing, purpose, friends and family. During a fund raising banquet for the adoption ministry, one of the topics that came up was a sort of side ministry, which was ministering to orphans and widows in Africa. The speaker addressed the fact that we are all called to care for "the least of these". And it lit a fire in my heart to serve. Over the months that have followed God has only confirmed that calling over and over, and I feel a sort of urgency, to reach as many people as possible with the love and forgiveness that Christ has for all, because, you see, it wasn't that long ago that He sent people to reach out to me when I thought the only thing left for me was death. I have read somewhere that the christian life is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food. I am just a beggar, who wants to share the food that has been given to me, with everyone I can.
 SO! That is where YWAM comes in! Let me share a little bit about what YWAM is. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission. The YWAM base I will be going to is in Lakeside, Montana. Here is a link to the website if you'd like to check out what this base looks like:
http://www.ywammontana.org/

The "program" I am going for is called a DTS, which stands for Discipleship Training School. YWAM explains DTS as this:
" DTS is a two-part discipleship course standing as an introduction to missions with YWAM. Students spend three months in the classroom exploring foundational discipleship topics, engaging in intercession and daily worship, and devoting time in our focus tracks to developing their skills and passions. The duration of DTS is spent in a community setting, cultivating an environment that values learning from and growing with one another. Two months of outreach then provide a glimpse of cross-cultural missions as teams work along side of existing ministries."

The first phase is called the Lecture Phase. This phase is explained as follows: "The format of DTS focuses on one subject per week, giving students an overview of discipleship as well as opportunity to apply learned principles to their lives.

Lectures may address topics such as:
The Character and Nature of God
Worldview
Prayer and Intercession
Hearing God's Voice
Relationships
Bible Study
Spirit-led Evangelism
World Missions
Identity in Christ
One week of DTS lecture phase is set aside for "Mini-Outreach", when you will get a taste of ministry in an urban setting. Previous Mini Outreaches have gone to Seattle, Portland, Missoula, Spokane, Bozeman & Bellingham."

As you can imagine, I simply cannot WAIT To get crackin' on this phase. Oh man, I love digging into the word and discovering more of God. This sounds like paradise to me!!! So my day to day routine these first few months would look something like this: 

Monday through Thursday:

08.00 Worship

08.45 Intercession

10.00 Lecture

12:00 Lunch

13:30 Small Groups, Outreach Meeting, or Tracks

15:00 Work Duties!

17:00 Dinner

19:00 Twice a week evening meetings, otherwise free time.
Friday

08:00 Worship

08:30 Lecture

10:30 Tracks

12:00 Lunch

13:00 Tracks

17:00 Dinner

Evening Free 
Saturdays and Sundays will be for attending the local church of my choice. 

What will Auden be doing during this time? You may wonder. Excellent question. People who want to do YWAM when they have small children must bring a nanny. God is still working on that part too. I haven't found anyone yet, but I know He will bring the perfect person along. (If you think you might be that perfect person, please let me know!!)
Our nanny will have Auden during the lecture phases, and there is a nursery where they can hang out if they wish. I'm so excited that Auden and mommy will be serving God together during this time! I wouldn't let her miss it for the world. Some people might raise their eyebrows at taking a baby on a mission trip, but children have their place in the Kingdom of God as well! It's never too soon to start living for Him. 

The second phase of DTS is called the Outreach Phase, and that's when our nanny will leave us, because the lecture phase will be over and I will be available to have her all the time again. So this is what YWAM says about their outreach phase:




"To sum up your outreach experience in a paragraph hardly gives it the credit it deserves. Outreach phase of DTS is eight weeks of opening your eyes to the needs of the world and showing them Jesus in response. Every outreach is different, and could look like anything from building a fresh water supply in Indonesia to playing metal shows in Berlin to talking about Jesus over smoothies with Thai college students. You'll get to see what it's like to work with long-termers overseas, and come away with compassion and vision of your own.

As far as location is concerned, we can't tell you that yet! On the first friday of your DTS, you will have the opportunity to choose your outreach location from the options presented. You and your team will spend time together each week getting to know each other, praying for your trip and making any necessary preparations."

Doesn't that just get your heart pumping?! I can barely sit still I'm so excited! Oh man, God is going to use me to do great things, and I can't wait!!!

Now, this trip, it's easy to doubt the possibility of going, because I'm starting an expensive endeavor with nothing. But I think that's just how He likes to work, because it gives Him room to do all the work. Because He's good like that. But I have almost nothing that I need! And it freaks me out a lot of the time! It's going to cost around ten thousand dollars to go, between getting there, and paying for Auden, her nanny and I to be there on base, not to mention the money we will need for typical things that babies and humans in general need. I need to get passports, I need to figure out if I'm flying or driving, immunizations, whew! It's easy to stress out thinking about it! But I have to trust Him! He wouldn't call me and then not get me there. 
So that's where I am asking for help. I need support guys. I need you to be generous, and allow God to work through you please, whether it's in giving money to get us there, or just spending time praying for our little family as we seek to go out and radically change the world for Christ. This isn't me wanting to go on a little vacation; see the world, all of that. This is genuinely the purpose I have found for my life. I am here to serve a life sentence. I just want to go out for Him until the work He has for me is done. This is serious, guys!
SO! I am going to be putting a little paypal button down below so that you can click on it and give what you feel led to give. I ask that you ask God to direct your funding, because He always knows what's the right amount :D
If you don't like to send funds online, then you can mail a check! Feel free to email me for an address!

If you would like to email me with questions, please do! My email address is torijosonshinegirl@gmail.com

I will be posting updates when I have them! God's blessings and love on all of you!!

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO TORI AND AUDEN'S YWAM MISSION: