Japan! Konichiwa!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but I did not want to put up a new post until we were more settled in Chiba. I am currently in Narashino-shi, Chiba. It is on the southern, more eastern side of Japan. We are staying at Narashino church,  it has a very small congregation, which is not surprising because only 2% of Japan is christian. But because of that, you know that the christians you are meeting are serious about their faith because it is very much not normal to be a christian. It is very hard in Japanese culture to be "not normal" because it is very obvious if you are. Everyone follows the crowd here, and if you don't, your basically an outcast. Which could be a good thing if being a christian was the normal thing.
I love it here so much, we are staying on the fourth floor of the church and the family that runs the church live on the first floor. They all speak english, so that is such a blessing. They do all the translating for us and make it easier for us to understand the culture. The couple, Masako and Cyril have three boys; Joshua, Danny, and Mikey. They are such a great family.
Sorry this is all so scattered, just bear with me.
Japanese lessons in the mornings  are amazing, it has helped so much, and the eldest son, Joshua, has been teaching me more on the side. It is quite a challenge learning this language, because it is nothing like english and even has a different alphabet. Actually, Japanese has three alphabets so it gets even more confusing. But I am making some progress, I can read most of the first alphabet, and I am now moving on to learning the second one. I want to learn the alphabet before I learn anything more because they say it is much easier to learn Japanese, in Japanese, if that makes sense.
The ministry we have been doing is challenging and sometimes quite frustrating, but God is good and I know He called us here for a reason. So far we have been passing out tracks on the streets and caroling and really getting to know and serve the members of the church. There is so  much rejection in passing out tracks, but I believe God can use anything to draw people, so if passing out tracks brings people to Christ, then I will pass out tracks until my hands freeze off. Oh, yeah and it is very cold here, and normally i would not mind, but there is no central heating here except in stores. So you are cold all the time, unless you are getting groceries. But God is good, because when in my weakness He is made strong. We have recently met a young man named Kai, who seems to be seeking (we only know this because he speaks some english) and came to the church Christmas service yesterday and then spent the rest of the day with us. Please pray for him to be greatly impacted and feel very loved by us and ultimately fall in love with Christ. I believe God has a calling on his life and if we came here just to show Kai who this mighty Savior is, then it is all worth it.
We have two more weeks here in Chiba and then we head up north to Ishinomaki in the Tohoku region, where the tsunami primarily hit. It is supposed to be much colder up there and have much more devastation and poverty. Please pray for our transition and the health of our team, because at least one of us is always ill since we stepped on the plane to Japan. I believe God is going to do great things \here. This is His country and He wants to bring it back to Himself.
I love you all and hope you have a great time celebrating Jesus' birthday on the 25th!
Naturally,
Demi-san

Japan! Konichiwa!

I am so sorry that it has been so long since I last posted, but I did not want to put up a new post until we were more settled in Chiba. I am currently in Narashino-shi, Chiba. It is on the southern, more eastern side of Japan. We are staying at Narashino church,  it has a very small congregation, which is not surprising because only 2% of Japan is christian. But because of that, you know that the christians you are meeting are serious about their faith because it is very much not normal to be a christian. It is very hard in Japanese culture to be "not normal" because it is very obvious if you are. Everyone follows the crowd here, and if you don't, your basically an outcast. Which could be a good thing if being a christian was the normal thing.
I love it here so much, we are staying on the fourth floor of the church and the family that runs the church live on the first floor. They all speak english, so that is such a blessing. They do all the translating for us and make it easier for us to understand the culture. The couple, Masako and Cyril have three boys; Joshua, Danny, and Mikey. They are such a great family.
Sorry this is all so scattered, just bear with me.
Japanese lessons in the mornings  are amazing, it has helped so much, and the eldest son, Joshua, has been teaching me more on the side. It is quite a challenge learning this language, because it is nothing like english and even has a different alphabet. Actually, Japanese has three alphabets so it gets even more confusing. But I am making some progress, I can read most of the first alphabet, and I am now moving on to learning the second one. I want to learn the alphabet before I learn anything more because they say it is much easier to learn Japanese, in Japanese, if that makes sense.
The ministry we have been doing is challenging and sometimes quite frustrating, but God is good and I know He called us here for a reason. So far we have been passing out tracks on the streets and caroling and really getting to know and serve the members of the church. There is so  much rejection in passing out tracks, but I believe God can use anything to draw people, so if passing out tracks brings people to Christ, then I will pass out tracks until my hands freeze off. Oh, yeah and it is very cold here, and normally i would not mind, but there is no central heating here except in stores. So you are cold all the time, unless you are getting groceries. But God is good, because when in my weakness He is made strong. We have recently met a young man named Kai, who seems to be seeking (we only know this because he speaks some english) and came to the church Christmas service yesterday and then spent the rest of the day with us. Please pray for him to be greatly impacted and feel very loved by us and ultimately fall in love with Christ. I believe God has a calling on his life and if we came here just to show Kai who this mighty Savior is, then it is all worth it.
We have two more weeks here in Chiba and then we head up north to Ishinomaki in the Tohoku region, where the tsunami primarily hit. It is supposed to be much colder up there and have much more devastation and poverty. Please pray for our transition and the health of our team, because at least one of us is always ill since we stepped on the plane to Japan. I believe God is going to do great things \here. This is His country and He wants to bring it back to Himself.
I love you all and hope you have a great time celebrating Jesus' birthday on the 25th!
Naturally,
Demi-san

Taking Off

And so the day approaches...Tuesday, early  morning I board the plane to Honolulu airport and then to Japan from there. It is so strange to be saying goodbye to these people that I am still getting to know. And as we are leaving others are arriving from their outreaches, I get to see a glimpse of what I will be experiencing when I arrive back here in Kona three months from now for a week of debrief. It is causing me to desire closer and more intimate friendships, which is perfect because that is exactly what I will be experiencing for the next three months ;)
I just found out that we will be having Japanese lessons every morning for the first month from one our lovely hosts, how sweet it is of her to be taking out time of her schedual just so that we can get around more easily. I am so excited, I love learning languages. She teaches ESL so we will also be helping her with that during the day and doing other things to help her church. I have no more details other than those, but I will post them as soon as I get more.
God is so good, I find my stability in Christ so I have no fear of change or of what is to come. It really puts me at ease to know that I know the Creator of the world and He knows me, i have no reason to worry. What an honor, yeah? (<<<had to throw in a little hawaiian) This week I have been talking to some friends about the fact that we are untouchable as christians, because our treasure is not in this world. This means nothing can really affect us! what an awesome thing! hahaha
This fires up my heart to live a life of no fear.
I love you all and miss you so much, but on the mission field is where my heart thrives.
I will have no phone for the next three months so please email or facebook to get ahold of me ;)
naturally,
demetria

Ready!!

Just about two weeks until I leave for Japan with the eight other people on my team. I am so excited, but there is still a lot I need to get ready. I still do not have all the warm clothes I need and other essentials. It will all work out I'm sure, its just that it is causing me to be much more busy than usual.
Last weekend I hitchhiked to Hilo which is on the other side of the island, it took us about three hours to get there, but it was a blast. We brought our hammocks and slept in a banyan tree, which is a huge tree that looks like it could be just a bunch of trees clumped together, but it is all just one tree. They are incredible. Sleeping in the tree was not such a blast because it rains so much in Hilo, so we were wet and cold. I did not bring a sleeping bag because the one I have was much too large to bring, so I brought a thin towel. I was freezing. But the next day we had breakfast at a sketchy diner and then walked around downtown
Hilo. It was nice to be away from the YWAM campus and be in the 'real' world again. But Hilo is a really sad place, it looks like a tsunami hit it and nobody tried to fix it up. The buildings are really old and covered in moss and grenery. Most of the people are homeless hippies, infact one of the guys who was traveling with us talked to this Korean man who did not have a home and then bought him lunch. I felt so helpless because I knew that most of the people in that Hilo were in the same situation as this Korean man. And we couldn't buy everyone in Hilo lunch. We took the bus all the way back to Kona, it only costs a buck! We got back in Kona on Saturday night. It was a wonderful trip, but I don't think I ever want to go back to Hilo. The rest of Hawaii was absolutely beautiful, lots of rolling green meadows, waterfalls, and mountains. :)
This week our lectures will be with the other YWAM DTSers in our main 'Ohana Court.' One of our speakers will be Andy Byrd, a young, really energetic speaker. I cannot remember who the second will be.
Well I have to go to lecture now. Please email me if you have any questions :)
Naturally,
Demetria

Roots and Fruits of Pride

Hello! I am so sorry that I have not posted in a while, I am always crunching on time here, there are always things to be doing! But God is good!
Last week our speaker was Matt Rawlins, he was amazing, he spoke on the Fear of God. This totally rocked my world because I thought to fear God meant exactly that, to be afraid of Him. But Matt turned my whole perspective and gave me the biblical view. To fear God is to revere Him, that means to be in awe of His majesty and power, to be aware of His greatness! Matt also gave us the truth that he lives by, "God is big enough and God is good enough." The way he explains this is, everything is made up of nature (the 'stuff' we are made up of) and our character (how we react to the world around us). God's nature is His greatness, He is omnipotent,and omniscient (sorry for my bad spelling). Think about the universe and the millions of galaxies in it! He created all of that! It shows how great and large He really is. That just what God is. (Our God is big enough.) But God's character is who He is. He is holy, good, gentle, kind, just and loving. (Our God is good enough.)
So if our God is always big enough and always good enough, what have we to fear? I am so excited about this! What an amazing God we serve!

This week our speaker is Faith Dutton from Austrailia. I love listening to her speak with her accent, its such a blessing. She is speaking on relationships. But not just with the opposite sex. She is speaking about our relationship with God, friends, and family also. Because God is a God of relationships. He wants us to have a great relationship with Him and with the people around us. How cool! I can't get over it!
She started out talking about looking for your soulmate. She used this quote which I will never forget, "Stop looking for, 'the one,' and instead be, 'the one.'" Do you want a spouse who has integrity? Start working on how honest you are. Do want a spouse that is selfless? Start putting others before yourself! I love this. It has really put a fire in my heart for righteousness in everything I do.
Faith also brought up the point that most of our sin is stemmed from pride. I struggle with some of this because I believe most of our sin stems from insecurity, but I am open to whatever is really true. Here are some of the things she brought up that shows if you have pride in your heart:
"The Roots & Fruits of Pride,"
by Floyd McClung
1-"I am better than you" attitude
2-Insecurity or low self-esteem (she says this is a root of pride and not vice versa because when you think you are not pretty enough or good enough according to the world's standards you are looking God in the face and telling Him that He messed up on you (the God who has never made a mistake. ever.), His creation.)
3- Ungratefulness
4- A judgemental spirit
5-Envy (rejoice for others instead of being jealous of what they have)
6-Self-Pity (the answer to self introspection and pity is humility)
7-Fear of Man
8- Touching God's glory (taking credit for all things good, instead of giving glory to God "from whom all good things come")
9- A reserved attitude toward others (lack of vulnerability)
10- Unteachable Spirit
11- Sarcastic Humor (Sarcasm is an evil but subtle tool of destruction, especially in the western world. In the guise of laughter, it tears down.)
12-An Independent Spirit (Pride promotes rebellion against authority. Humility gives us the freedom to support someone we don't agree with)
13- Impatience with others
14- Unforgiving attitude
15-Organizational comparisons (Pride says, Our group is better than their's)
16- Island Mentality (Pride says that it doesn't need anyone or anything else. Humility longs for others in an attitude of servant-hood)
17- A Spirit of Comparison (Comparison has only one goal-to see who's best)
18- Encourages Disloyalty (gossip.)

This has really helped me point out and acknowledge the pride in me, so that I can pursue a more humble spirit. Faith was a wonderful speaker and I am so grateful that she spoke this week.

Faith left on thursday, so on friday we had a speaker who was speaking for only one day on Cross- Cultural Communications. It was a overview on how to view other cultures and be respectful. And to also really be like a child in new cultures, trying to learn the culture to the best of your ability and not to be afraid of looking like a fool. I love studying new cultures so this was super exciting for me.
In my attempt to ready myself for Japan, I have been downloading Japanese music and watching some anime and learning some key phrases in Japanese. I love it. So much. I am super excited to go to Japan but I am also going to miss all my YWAM friends who are going to other places for those three months. It is a challenge to get really close to people in three months time and then have to seperate. But now I have good friends from all over the world! What an exciting experience!

This weeks speaker is speaking on destiny, I wonder how this will be...
Naturally,
Demetria

Pic!

This is some of the people from my Compassion DTS out for dinner!

I'm going to Japan!

Yes, this is the moment we've all been waiting for...Where I'm going on outreach from mid December until the beggining of March! We just had it revealed last night, and I am going to Japan! I do not have all the details yet, but I do know that it will be quite cold while we are there, so it looks like mom and dad need to send me my winter boots! The Lord is so good! This specific outreach will be very close to a redlight district, so we will be able to work with women in the sex trade! My passion!
When we were writing down where we wanted to go on outreach last wednesday, right before they told us the choices I ask my Father where He wanted me to go, and a J popped in my head. "J? Are you sure....?" I began thinking of all the countries that started with J, but I never thought of Japan until they told it was one of the choices, and it was the only one that started with a J. I never ever thought God would send me to Japan, but here we are...I am so excited to see what the Lord will do! The total cost of the trip is 5,500 I think, so that means I have around $2,000 left to raise...And I have no more people to send support letters to and no time to fundraise, so please pray God would provide me with peace and patience! This could turn into a story that is glorifying to Him! I am positive He will provide the money if He wants me to go :)
All is great here on the YWAM base besides that, I have been getting really close to some of the other girls and I have also been hanging out with a couple of locals who have been backpacking and cycling around the island! One of them is an IronMan!
This week our speaker is talking on Hearing the Voice of God. I really like him thus far, he is totally Biblically accurate and never does anything without the Holy Spirit's leading first. His talk yesterday caused many of us to cry, and I do not cry easily. I have a feeling this is going to be a freeing week, I am praying that many chains that are on people lives and my own would be broken this week. Please be praying the same!
Soli Deo Gloria!
Naturally,
Demetria

Prayer, the Kingdom and friendship.

Hello! My first week in Kona has been an amazing one. God has really been calling me to prayer. We have a 24/7 prayer room here on campus and I have been spending a lot of time there praying. I actually get excited to go and pray! I used to think praying was so boring and useless, but I am beginning to see the power of prayer. I will pray something and immediately it will happen! And just spending time in intercession for people and certain issues really puts you in a partnership with God, fighting with Him for the sake of His Kingdom. This week we had a lecture by Don Stephens about the Kingdom of God, it really changed the way I treat daily life. Everything matters! Every single thing we do can glorify our King! It also has taught me to put the Kingdom first and my own desires second, which is a much more fulfilling way to live. I have been going to the beach almost everyday because I am obsessed with the power and majesty of the ocean. But also because at least a couple of my friends are always there. I have been getting so close to people here, everyone just wants to have heart to heart conversations. I have confessed some of my most secret and dark sins to my close friends here and they have done the same with me. It has strengthened our bond in Christ and helps us to hold eachother accountable. I love it here, but I am a bit homesick. I would do anything for a hug from my mom and to see my little brother and sister smile at me again. But the Lord is sufficient for me, so as long as I have Him, I am more than content. I will update on more next week :) Much love!
Naturally,
Demetria

Pictures!

My dorm room that I share with seven other girls! One bathroom and one sink! My bunk is on top to the left!

                                           My view from outside my dormroom door! Our outside cafeteria is just up those stairs.

                                       Outside of the dormrooms!

           Me outside of our YWAM Coffee Shop-it was a stormy day!

Greetings from Kona!

Hello everyone! I have now been in Kona for two days! I had a connection in PHX from OHare, and I arrived in Kona around 2 p.m.(hawaii time). It is around 85 everyday and feels even hotter when you are in the sun, but it gets cool around midnight so sleeping is not so bad. The only place I have been in that has a central airconditioning was a Starbucks! We had orientation most of the day on Thursday, I must have met like 50 people! It was wonderful though, everyone is so welcoming and loving. Also, everyone is connected by the Holy Spirit, so you feel even a deeper bond when you are talking to people.
On Friday we had our first class of Compassion DTS, there are 89 students in the class! It was absolutely wonderful though, I can tell that I am going to learn so many new things! We had worship that night also, with the whole YWAM group (over 500 people) and it was amazing, everyone gets really into it. Today, (it is 7:30 P.M. in Kona right now) our whole Compassion group went to the biggest beach on Hawaii (which isn't actually that big) and spent the day there, just getting to know everyone, but we also cliff jumped! I got sunburnt on my face :( but thats ok! I have been making such good friends, all from totally different parts of the world: Norway, Iceland, Canada, Haiti, Texas, Paraguay and list goes on and on... Tomorrow we have church if we find a local church to go to, I may be going to the oldest one of all of the islands of Hawaii! I really want to  meet a lot locals so I can really get involved here, so please pray that I would make many local friends! Also, that I would really focus on God and glorifying Him! Thanks, love you all!
Naturally,
demetria.

P.s. ill be posting some pictures soon!

(any questions? i would love to email! (demasdemi@gmail.com))

donate button!

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=YU8WGE4RBM57G&lc=US&item_name=YWAM%20Outreach&item_number=Demetria&currency_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonHosted

click the link above to donate to my outreach!
I have currently have $3,800 left to raise.

Blogger drives me crazy.

I am trying to upload a "donate" button onto this blog through paypal, but for somereason it will not work, any suggestions? This way people can easily donate to my outreach for YWAM. Help!
Naturally,
Demi

Why I chose to do a YWAM DTS...

Hello again! I'm going to tell you all about why I am doing a YWAM DTS in the first place!

Well, let's see here...It all started with my awesome Uncle Tom and good friend Jessica. Uncle Tom has been all over the world as a missionary and is actually in New Zealand right now. My Uncle Tom has had a huge influence on my life by the way he lives his life. He had done a DTS on the Kona base himself and loved it and always told me all about it, so I've always had a good impression of YWAM Kona. My good friend Jessica is only my age, but lives a life worthy of the calling to which we have been called, so I greatly value her opinion. (so anyways..) One day I'm driving in the car with my good friend Jessica, telling her all of my problems (as usual). It was the beginning of March and school was getting out in June. I was a graduating Junior (i took a bunch of homeschool classes along with public school so that i could graduate early) and had no idea what I was going to do the upcoming Fall. All I knew was that I had a strong calling towards missions and I definately did not want to go to college yet. So Jessica, being the thoughtful friend that she is, suggests I think about doing YWAM. I did not like this idea because I wanted to do something solo, and I knew that YWAM involves being on a team. But, again, I value her opinion, so I took it into consideration. As we were talking I got a call from my Uncle Tom, who I had not talked to in like three months, so I chatted on the phone with him, even though I was still in the car with  Jessica (only because she is so sweet and realized how rare an oppurtunity it was for me to talk to him). I told him about my big problem and he thought about it and asked me if I had considered doing YWAM. I wanted to laugh and ask him if he was in cahoots with my friend Jessica, but the seriousness in his voice kept me from it. I told him I had and that I would pray about it. A couple of weeks later I was praying and just chilling with God and I mentioned the YWAM thing, and immediately there was great peace in my heart about it and this knowledge that I was supposed to be going in that direction. So I took that as a, "Yes, go," from God, and started filling out applications for the DTS in Maui. For those of you who don't already know, Kona and Maui are not the same thing. Kailua Kona is a city on the big island of Hawaii and Maui is a smaller island just to the left of it. There are YWAM bases on both islands but the Kona base is the largest YWAM base out there. I did not care about the size because I just really wanted to go to Maui, I had been there two years prior, loved it, and actually met a bunch of YWAMers there. Including some of the leaders who are on the Kona base now. So I decided that I was going to apply to the Maui DTS instead of the Kona. It took me around a month to get everything I needed to apply for the Maui DTS and then I was finally able to send it in completed. About a week later I get a call from a lovely woman from the Maui DTS site saying she had received the application! I was estatic, but my joy was soon destroyed because after she said that, she also told me that she had noticed my birth date and there was a problem with it. I was born on March 4th, 1994, making me 17, this specific YWAM base only takes students who are 18 or older (for insurance reasons). My heart sank, "But Lord, I really thought you wanted me to go after this?" But the Lord is good, and had other plans in mind. I asked the lovely woman if there were any other YWAM bases that took 17 year olds and she said yes! Where?- I asked, "That, I dont know," she says. So I got off the phone with her and did a little of my own research. And found out that the Kona base took 17 year olds! No strings attatched! It's funny, because before I applied to the Kona base I asked the registrar peeps THREE times (all seperate emails) if they were sure that they accepted 17 year olds who were born in March. :) So here I am, getting ready to pack my bags for Kona. Who knew.

If you're are interested in doing a DTS with YWAM Kona or are just curious to what it is like, check out this website: University of the Nations

If you're interested in what the Compassion DTS in Kona is like (the one that I am doing) click on this link:

Compassion DTS Sep. '11

And if you're REALLY curious, here is a link to the type of stuff I will be doing everyday during the lecture phase of the DTS (in Kona):

A Day in the Life

Preparing for YWAM

(^^^me being excited^^^)

So I will start YWAM in 28 days and am extremely nervous. In a good way! I just made the first "rough draft" of my packing list so I can revise what I do and do not need. I have been praying that God would be preparing me mind and body so that I can live this experience to the fullest! Please pray this also for me! I have to put in my first deposits into my lecture phase of the DTS tomorrow, so that is a bit exciting, even though I will be two days late on that...I will be posting how a came to decide to do a DTS with YWAM soon, so stay tuned!
Naturally,
Demetria

Just made this blog!

Hello everyone! I just made this blog and am super excited about it because I am not very good at technology but I managed to make this!-so enjoy! Here is where I will post my thoughts, experiences, ideas and etc during my YWAM experience. Please feel free to follow me with your email so you can see when I make new posts! Thanks much!
Naturally,
Demetria