So, I am a horrible blogger...I really do hope to get better at it...but we'll see. The more I don't blog, the more guilty I feel cause I know people like to know what's going on in my life...so hopefully that guilt will keep me blogging regularly this fall lolAlright! Well, it's been quite an insane spring, and summer for me. Starting on May 12th, I have been out of the country, then back in the country, then doing Joshua Generation, then finishing our Discipleship Training school and seeing my friends leave, and now I am hanging out with my family in Grove City Pennsylvania till the 15th! So, now in this blog I'm gonna try and answer some questions that you, the reader, are probably wondering! Let me give it a shot...:)
first question (that i think you might be wondering?)
"How was outreach in the U.K.?"
Outreach was wicked awesome!!! We went to Belfast, N. Ireland; Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Walsall, England. Now, it's really hard to say my favorite place we went...cause they were all awesome in some way, but if I would say my favorite place we went to where I saw the Spirit of God move the most, was probably Walsall, England. When we were traveling to Walsall, I got like super sick and was throwing up and it was bad and I had no energy, and it also just happened to be the 4 hottest days of the year while we were there. We worked with a church that was going through some really hard times, but despite their hardships, they hosted us, took care of us, got us into 2 schools (5 days each school) and treated us like we were, well, themselves. It was an experience of the body of Christ I will never forget because it was their love for God, and for us, that kept our teams energy up. About the schools. Our team split up into two teams and for 5 days went into the school and taught in the Religious Education classes. Now, what I mean by "taught" is we performed our drama that presents the Gospel, then shared the gospel, 1 on 1 with the students afterward, and prayed with many students to recieve Christ for the 1st time. Now, getting into a school and sharing the gospel is amazing in itself, but this is gonna blow your mind. Both of these schools were over 50% Muslim schools. That means we got to bring the message of Christ straight into the Muslim Culture in Walsall. Boy, did God rock the place! It was incredible!
That is just one of the hundreds of stories about our 5-6 weeks in the U.K.. One ending statistic for you: out of our 6 weeks there we saw 1229 people accept Jesus for the first time and 68 re-dedications. Now if that ain't something to stand up, freak out and praise God about, then I don't know what is!!! Praise Jesus!!!!!!!
"How (and maybe what) was (is) Joshua Generation?"
So, after we got back from our radical time over-seas we had one week to finish preparations for our summer camp called Joshua Generation. This was a 10-day boot camp, 10-day outreach missions trip for students from age 12-19. During boot-camp, there are sessions during the day teaching the students how to hear from God, do devo's, evangelize, and many other things. The afternoon consisted of different classes, like music class, drama class, gym, all preparing the students for outreach. Then, every night was a time of worship through music, dance, art, whatever and we would have a speaker, and as far as I can remember, every night during boot-camp was a critical night for our students. I have never seen teenagers give their lives so fully to Christ and actually get what "surrender" really is. For me during JG was a really interesting time as well. I got a huge dose of leadership tossed at me, as I was in charge of an entire room of young men, and also in charge of worship some nights, teaching some worship and drama classes, and I tri-led an outreach team for 10 days all over Boston. I have never had that much responsibility. Ever. It was hard, frustrating, stretching, but, so very worth it. I got to see myself being used by God in a powerful way, and also made friendships that will last my lifetime. Our students really went for it hardcore on our outreach despite being young, afraid (sometimes), hot, tired, annoyed, and burnt out. But each one of them let the love of God fill them every day so that they can go out on the streets and tell people about that same love! There were 5 outreach teams out of us 140 staff and students and during thosed 10 days, 1666 people recieved Christ for the 1st time, and 440 people rededicated their lives!! HOORAY! JESUS rocks!
"So what now?"
Well, our Discipleship Training School ended on July 29th, and our now-graduated students left for home starting the next day, and disappeared one by one after that. Some went home, never to return to us, but most, yes, most, have heard from God to stay on staff with YWAM Boston. 9 of them to be exact. This makes me so happy cause these people are going to bring so much to our Staff, we're just gonna explode!
"how long do you plan on being with Ywam?"
Well, if you didn't guess, I am staying on staff for this next year, and well, am also planning on being here for as long as God calls me to be here. So, right now, indefinitely. Learning and education is a very important thing to me, but God has called me to be in Boston right now, so I have put that on hold for now. All I know is this: I will continue to live my life as a slave to Christ, leaning on Him in every way, surviving only because He allows me to.
I would like to publicly and generally thank everyone who has supported me in prayer and finances in the past year! You have enabled the work of God through your dedication and sacrifice and are a huge part of the Body of Christ in my life because of that. Please continue to keep me in prayer! I will be writing about my finances in another blog, for that is not what this blog is about. So until next time (which I hope to be next week), God be with ya :)
Aaron Reeves
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