Mission Adventures

Another summer is here, and our mission Adventures program is well under way. This year I am not working full time with it because of all the work to do this time of year for DTS, instead I am working there just 2 or 3 days a week.

The mission Adventures program is designed to equip teenagers for their missions trip. They come to Seattle for 4 days of training and then go onto either into the city here, or to San Francisco, Costa Rica, or Mexico for a week. It is an opportunity for the kids to get their hearts right with God before going overseas to minister to others.

During the 4 day training there are times of worship - singing and also other creative worship such as painting and writing. We also have times of teaching, based on the four P's, something that the Mission Adventures team was given when praying about the program many years ago (taken from Psalm 51). God spoke about teaching on PASSION, PURPOSE, PASSION AND PROCLAMATION. Since MA began over 60,000 young people have been trained using this pattern.



As a part of the training in Seattle we also cover issues of injustice in the world and try to make the young people more aware of the world around them and help them to find God's heart for the people involved. We cover topics such as bonded labor, prostitution and sex trafficking. It has been great to see the response that these times have had.

Last summer we introduced a prayer room to our program, having the kids sign up for hour slots throughout the day and night for the whole time they are in Seattle. We have a prayer room again this year, with a few different elements, but again we have seen the kids be excited about getting up and out of bed at 3am to spend an hour with God. I hope and pray that their experiences in that room will transform not only the cities and people they are praying for but also that it will transform their relationships with God as they learn to make time to sit in his presence and listen. This is one of the most exciting parts of the summer for me.

I have been involved in a lot of cooking so far this summer! Making meals for 50+ just isn't a daunting prospect anymore. We have a joke list of ways to know you are in YWAM - One of them is that when you are asked to cook a meal for 80 you don't flinch, but you don't know how to cook for just 3 or 4!!! Another thing on our list which I am also reminded of this summer as I wait our on the street to be picked up is...You know you are a YWAMer when you travel around in a 15 passenger van, and you don't think it is odd if there are only 2 of you in it!!!

We have a great summer staff this year and they are doing a great job, but it can be really tiring so please pray for strength for them as they invest in the kids who come through Mission Adventures this summer. Please also pray that the kids who come through will not forget the things they learn and the things God is speaking to them, that their lives will be transformed. The theme of the summer this year is 'Detox', and my prayer is that their lives will be totally rid of the junk that keeps distance between us and God, an that they will be transormed and ready to go and to be the people they were created to be.