im back!

I made it back to Las Vegas after a long day of flying (halifax to toronto to denver to las vegas). It seams to be cheaper with the more stops you have, which i dont mind too much. i flew in on tuesday the 22nd in the evening, greeted by all the other YWAM staff that live on base with me. it was great to see their lovely faces again. i was grateful for not having any problems getting a 3 month visa while in immigration in to. suuuch an answer to prayer; ever since i missed my flight in january to las vegas, i always get extremely nervous and shaky when going through immigration.
on wednesday, most of my day was spent sitting in an empty bunk room with brett and sam (my co-staff for Mission Adventures) while sam talked .. and talked some more, about what we'll be doing the next while, and within the next 2 years .. expectations, the whole 9 yards. sam left on thursday for the weekend to go to LA for a youth specialities conference where theres a YWAM MA booth and tons of other ministries booths for youth pastors to look at for missions trips. hopefully he'll get to meet some youth pastors/leaders to come to vegas for a week. while sam was gone, myself and brett called, and called, and emailed and called youth pastors/leaders to tell them about the MA program, trying to get more teams. and reading as well .. im going to be the main registrar for teams so i have a lot of info to read up on, and just other general things for the MA program to read about.
this weekend is when the DTS students for the next DTS are arriving!!! it starts on monday .. the dts only has 3 students .. all girls! just waiting on one last one to arrive in a couple of hours. it'll be nice to have some other girls living at the base .. me and andrea are out numbered by the male staff that live on base .. 4 to 2.
OHHH. how could i forget to mention.
yesterday, andrea and I bought a new member to our YWAM family. his name is puddles and is a fat big gold fish .. with one funky black eye. because of his size, i think we need to buy him a new bowl. the one we bought him is a 3$ glass bowl for a kitchen, but seams to be a little bit to small for him. hopefully he doesnt die sooon .. im hoping that if he plans on dying soon, that he dies within the next 48 hours so that we can get a full refund at walmart.
other than that, not a whole lot else is new! got moved back into my room with andrea .. its nice to have such a large room, and only have to share it with one other person! the other day we also moved around one of the offices in order to put myself and brett by sams desk so its a bit easier to work that way. alllsssoo, recently ive been learning how to drive the 15 passenger vans, which is quite fun!! not as hard as i thought it was going to be .. i have yet to try parking, so i bet that'll be a treat in itself. it'll be great to be able to drive instead of having to depend on other people to drive me places when i need to get something, go somewhere, etc.. paying for gas for such a large boat sucks tho.
one last thing; yesterday afternoon/evening, 5 of us went to fremont street (usually about a 20 min walk) to join up with our friend who was leading a 'las vegas stop child trafficking now' walk. we thought that since it wasnt very far, we could walk to the walk. turns out, we got lost (understandably) and walked for 45 min .. to far. aventually we found the cross street (n. 8th) we were looking for, and as we walked up, they were all just leaving to start the walk. great 'protest' to be able to be a part of!!
i'll try my best to keep this thing updated .. maybe some pictures too !
:)
blessings !
beth!

update on my life .. whats next!

HELLO. Another post from Beth!! This is a long one, but there's some pictures to keep you entertained! Please take some time to read this important blog if you haven't already received this via letter/email. It's basically what I've been doing for the past year with some stories, and what I'm going to be up to for the next while! Love to hear what you think, so shoot me a email! :)

PAST(Jan.-April)
After graduating from high school a semester early, I left for Las Vegas to do a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM is an international interdenominational Christian organization that equips youth to share the gospel all over the world with the goal of “knowing God and making Him known”. For 3 months of my DTS myself, 6 other students and 3 leaders (from 5 different countries) stayed in Vegas for “lecture phase”. Lecture phase is the first half of DTS devoted to hearing from different speakers every week on various topics.

This was a great time for me to take a season of my life away to focus on God and learn more about the person that I am and becoming.

(April-June)
At the end of April we left for 2 months of “outreach” to Turkey where we traveled around from city to city. This was time for us to apply things that we had learned previously and experiencing life on the mission field. While in Turkey we ...
· Passed out Bibles (NT)
· Childcare at a YWAM conference
· Shared our testimonies with non-believers
· Taught English
· Helped during services at international churches
· Met English speaking students on university campuses and built relationships with them
· Building work for a small church
· Working with the fulltime missionaries
· & many other fun and exciting things!

*At Zeus’s Temple. We got to see tons of ruins and famous sites (Like the Blue Mosque, Ephesus, and Ayo Sophia)*

While in Turkey, God opened my eyes to another part of the world. Being in a country that is so influenced by Islamic ways (which we were reminded by every morning at 5am and four other times during the day) was something that we had to adjust to. At the beginning of the trip, I doubted the effectiveness that we could have because of our lack of Turkish. Throughout the trip I was reminded again and again that God is bigger than any language barrier, and He was still able to use us in unimaginable ways. I saw this through our campus ministries where God seemed to lead us directly towards English speaking students. Near the end of our trip, two of my team mates and I were able to share the gospel with a man who didn’t speak English. Using a Turkish Bible, we were able to show him verses and further explain the gospel. As the man’s eyes started to fill up with tears, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how BIG of a God we serve. These types of experiences get me excited about taking the gospel to new and unreached areas of the world.

(June)
We then returned to Vegas for one last week of debriefing. We had our graduation as we finished DTS.

I said goodbye to my DTS mates the same day I started another season in my life.

(June-August)
I then started a season of discipling youth. My summer consisted of staying in Vegas at our base on staff with Mission Adventures (MA). MA is a program that disciples and equips teenagers to do missions; within their city and around the world. Every week a team (usually a youth group) came in from all over North America. We fed and housed them at our base and taught them about evangelism and how to do it effectively. We took them out on the streets of Las Vegas to apply it all; to share Christ through different types of evangelism.
Last year I was an MA student in Las Vegas. It’s the program that got me into doing missions and a DTS. My goal for the summer was to do the same thing for other youth; getting them excited about missions.

*MA Summer Staff 2009*

FUTURE
Recently, God has put it on my heart to make a commitment to the Mission Adventures program. My heart is to show youth the calling on their lives; to teach them to do their part to fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19) and show them how to live it out.
What will I be doing as MA staff for the next 2 years?
· Hands on work; planning outreaches, lessons, preparing the base for teams, and discipling students to walk out evangelism and fulfill the Great Commission
· Mobile tours; travelling to churches in North America to promote MA and recruit future teams
· Helping plan and organize local outreaches for short term teams that will pass through our base

CURRENTLY
I’m home in Nova Scotia to visit family and friends and recuperate from the last 7 months. I’m also home to inform everyone about the next big step in my life, and invite people to get on board with what God’s doing in my life. In September, I’ll be returning to Las Vegas to start my commitment.

LASTLY
Thank you all for your support; through prayers and finances. I know that I wouldn’t have been able to do my DTS without all your help. So thank you, from the bottom of my heart!! If you’re interested in continuing to receive my newsletters once I return to Vegas, I’d be more than willing to send it to you either by mail or email.

Prayer Points
· Safety as I return to Las Vegas and live in “Sin City”
· For the Mission Adventures program to reach its full potential
· God’s guidance as I start support raising
· To use my talents and abilities to glorify God

Want to help? Well, here's how & why!

As I mentioned, I am making a 2 year commitment at YWAM Las Vegas to the Mission Adventures program. YWAM is a non-profit organization; all its full time workers are responsible for raising their own support/funds for living. We all live a faith based life style, which is only possible through people who partner with us. Everyone is called to reaching the world (Matt.28:19); “Go into all the world” is a command for all of us. However, some of us go physically, some go in prayer, and some also partner with those going physically with the gift of giving. In order for me to effectively join staff and complete my tasks as a Mission Adventures Staff member, I will need around $900 a month. (If you would like to see a copy of budget to see where these funds are going, feel free to contact me!)

My goal is to have:
· two supporters at $100 monthly
· two supporters at $75 monthly
· three supporters at $50 monthly
· eight supporters at $35 monthly
· five supporters at $25 monthly

(for a total of $905/month)

Would you please pray about partnering with me through prayer, partnering with taking on part of the financial burden monthly, or just a onetime gift? I am new at this and at the moment without any supporters, but I trust that God will put it on people’s heart to agree with what I’m doing and want to get on board!

If you are interested in helping me out in ANY way, PLEASE contact me! (tax deductible receipts are available for all donations). Anything is greatly appreciated and needed. Thanks again! :)

email: konrathbeth@gmail.com