HERE IS MY TEAM!!!! YAY!
I am beyond blessed with the opportunity to help lead this team to Ch!n@*. Our team is double the size of the "normal" size our base sends out, so this team is equipped with three leaders instead of two. God has truly orchestrated the dynamics of the leaders and all of our differences/gifts we bring to the team; and I am so excited to see how He will work through our team of 19 people :)
The weeks are already starting to fly by, and soon the first month of school for the students will be finished. Before the school began, the staff prayed asking the Lord what the main theme was going to be for the school as a whole. We all felt that the theme of this school was going to be brokenness, and how God wants to restore and shine through brokenness for His glory. After getting to know these students, we have found that many of them are broken from difficult circumstances. Yet, it is so exciting to see how God is taking wounds and brokenness in exchange for healing and redemption. As a whole, this school is so hungry for Truth. Hungry to walk in more intimacy with God, hungry to hear His voice, and hungry for heart change...perfect :)
One of my favorite things as staff is getting to know the students, walking with them in life during this time and at the same time challenging them in their relationship with God. For example, I just walked with one of the girls on my team to a little store down the street to buy a snack, and got to hear how God was bringing new freedom in her life. Awesome.
I thank God for His timing with the brokenness He has brought me through, and now able to have better insight with the students that I am honored to work with for the next five months. Throughout my time at YWAM, He has opened my eyes to see the brokenness of my heart from wounds and disappointments in life... to see how I had formed walls toward God and other people from these wounds. And from these places of brokenness, God has been faithful to root out lies and heal wounds. I have never experienced such freedom and healing that has brought new revelation of His unending love, and also brought me into deeper levels of trust that wounds kept me from completely entrusting Him with these areas. Isn't it funny how our mind and heart can say and believe different things? We can know truth about God's character, and scriptures to back it up... yet do we believe it in our hearts? I am believing more and more how we have to fight for our hearts and for the hearts of others.
I also want to share my financial needs in this blog. I am still about $2,000-2,500 short for this time as DTS staff (depending on the flight ticket to Asia, which is more than expected). If you are interested in helping me financially, please make checks payable to "YWAM Maui" (for a tax receipt) or "Violet Stoltzfus" if you are not interested in a tax deductible receipt. Thank you for your consideration and for your encouragement that comes in more ways than just financially :)
Thats all for now! Thanks for reading!
~Violet
*spelled differently for security purposes
