THANK YOU!

My wonderful small group surprised me with a farewell dinner last night at a Mexican Restaurant here in Chicago! I was so overwhelmed with the outpouring of love from these girls! I was just blown away that they put a dinner together and also so graciously donated to my mission. They truly are an amazing group of women and we are so blessed that God brought us all together. I am going to miss them so much!!!! Here is a group picture from last night!

This experience has been so incredible so far and I haven't even left yet! The entire process of support-raising has been so humbling, but I have been overwhelmed with the interest people have shown in what I'm doing, and their GENEROSITY! I have raised about $2,000 thus far, and combined with my bonus from work (huge blessing there) I am just over 50% of the way to my end goal of $8,000. Praise God, and THANK YOU to everyone for your support. I can't tell you how thankful I am for your gracious gifts.

Preparing for YWAM has given me the opportunity to talk to many people about my faith. This is something that I haven't always felt the most comfortable talking with people about, especially in settings outside of church-like work and social activities. However I can see that God is already using this experience as a gateway to connect with people and talk to them about Jesus. It's also been an opportunity to reconnect with people who I've been out of touch with. Once word spread that I was leaving to do missions, I received an outpouring of support from old teachers, friends, acquaintances and relatives who I don't talk with all that often. What a wonderful blessing it has been to get back in touch with these people, share what God is doing in my life, and hear all about their lives as well!!

In the upcoming weeks, please pray that the Lord would continue to provide financially. Pray that conversations about my trip might bless someone else and plant seeds of faith in their own lives. Pray that last-minute logistics would come together like packing, figuring out how I will refill my prescription meds once I'm abroad, getting stuff moved out of my apartment, etc. Pray that in the midst of all the craziness, I will not lose sight of the purpose of the trip before me and that I may hear God's voice as he prepares my heart for what lies ahead.

Please let me know how I can be praying for you as well. I pray the Lord's blessings upon all of you and may His love and peace be with you and your family this holiday season.

With love and gratitude,

Brittany

Have a little Faith

What a wonderful, inspiring story and what a beautiful little angel :)

If you are going through a difficult time, I hope you will be inspired by this and know that with some faith and perserverance you too can overcome!

http://faiththedog.info/videos/faith-oprah

In everything give thanks...

What a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I hope that everyone had a wonderful, safe holiday with family and friends, and found some time to reflect on all that you have to be thankful for.

My weekend was extra special because I had the honor of witnessing my best friend marry the man of her dreams! At the wedding reception, I felt like I was in one of those movies where they show the happy times in slow motion to fully capture the essence of the moment. After I gave my maid of honor speech (which I was very nervous about, but it went really well!) I was able to relax and just take everything in. I just kept looking around at all the people; Ashley and her new husband Mike just glowing, my best girlfriends from home embracing their husbands and passing around their new babies, my parents, Ashley's parents, old and new friends, neighbors, relatives. It was the perfect scene for one of those slow motion moments, where everyone is together-laughing, dancing, celebrating. It was so cool to see just how much things have changed-we've grown up, we've welcomed new husbands and babies and friends into our lives, we've changed jobs, we've moved, we've gone through heartache and loss- but the underlying friendships and relationships remain. I couldn't have been more thankful in that moment. God has put some pretty amazing people in my life and what a sweet blessing that is!

The wedding also was a chance to have some great conversations about my upcoming trip. I was so amazed at the way that so many people took an interest in what I was doing, and wanted to hear more and know how they could support me. Again, this is just another testament to how God has filled my life with amazing people who truly care.

It's been a crazy year, and a tough year for so many people in this country and in this world, but ultimately there is still SO much to be thankful for.

**Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).**

More Info about Honduras

Hi Everyone! Destination Paradise just posted this update on their website about the location-change to Honduras. Check it out:

November 2009 JANUARY SAILING DTS IN ROATAN YWAM DP is excited to announce that the next SAILING DTS, starting in January 2010,will be held just to the south of Belize, in the Central American -Caribbean nation of Honduras. The beautiful beaches, outstanding sailing, and crystal clear waters of the Bay Islands of Honduras await the fortunate students on this upcoming Discipleship Training School. One of the things that make YWAM Destination Paradise unique is that students are very effectively mentored in and exposed to Godly leadership principles in amazing environments; places where people want to be, doing adventurous and exciting things that people want to do, namely sailing or scuba diving. By sending the SAILING DTS to Roatan and the Bay Islands, YWAM DP is certainly going to deliver on an amazing place to be! The event that actually forced the decision to take the Sailing DTS out of Belize was a recent boarding of our boats by Belizean customs officials. They asked for paperwork that we did not have, nor did we need according to other government officials. The paperwork we have for the boats is the same as every other sailing charter boat in the country of Belize. Making a long story short, the Belizean Customs department required us to either pay full customs duty on the boats (32.4% of the value of the boats) or take the boats out of the country. We recently sailed both boats down to Utila, in the Bay Islands where they are now. There are efforts underway now to see Belizean laws either clarified or changed that will hopefully allow us to return to Belize with our two sailing cats. But for now, we are very excited about being in the Bay Islands of Honduras and plying these waters for the time being. Please pray for the students of the January Sailing DTS and the exciting and amazing experience that awaits them coming up soon! By the way, there is still some space in that school, so if you or someone you know is interested in a bunk aboard the boats, now is the time to get that application in!

From Belize to Honduras...

Hi All!

I have a bit of an update for everyone in regards to my DTS. Last week I found out that the location of the lecture phase has changed due to disagreements between government officials in Belize. It sounds like they cannot reach agreement on the specific paperwork that is required to keep the sailboats in their country. Therefore, the lecture portion of my DTS will now take place one country to the south of Belize, in the beautiful Bay Islands of Honduras. We will sail to the pristine beaches and crystal clear waters in and around Roatan, Utila and Guanaja, off the north coast of Honduras.

Apart from the fact that I can no longer use the line "Better Belize It," I am not overly disappointed by the change in plans. I know that anywhere anywhere in that part of the world is going to be beautiful, and most importantly God is going to move in us and use us no matter where we are! The location of the lecture phase is only a means to an end of learning and growing in Christ.

Many of you have asked me how you can specifically be praying for me as I prepare for the trip. One big thing right now is telling my work that I will be leaving in January. I plan to do this in the next week or so, and am feeling really nervous about it. I have been incredibly blessed to have worked for such a great company over the past 3 1/2 years and it's going to be extremely difficult to leave! I am nervous about letting my team down and really just want to leave on the best terms possible, so prayer is definitely needed that my co-workers will be understanding and that there will be peace in my heart about the situation.

Another thing to be praying about is raising the support necessary for this trip. So many of you have been so gracious and generous already with your time and resources and I can't thank you enough for that. As I move into the final few weeks before I leave, please continue to pray that the rest of the support will be raised. The Lord is so faithful and I am confident that He will continue to provide.

Finally, though I don't know all the details, I'm sure that there is a lot of work that is having to be done by the DTS staff and crew to prepare for the change in location/plans at the last minute. Please pray for those staff members who are currently working out the logistics to make this trip happen.

Thank you again for your love, prayers, and support!

Blessings,

Brittany

64 days and counting...

Welcome to my new blog! If you are visiting this site, it means that you probably received my letter in the mail, so I'd like to say THANK YOU for taking the time to read it and for your interest in what I am doing with YWAM and the Destination Paradise DTS!

I look forward to keeping in touch with everyone through this blog both while I prepare for the trip and once I am there. If you haven't already, please check out www.ywam.org and www.destinationparadise.org to learn more about the organizations, their core beliefs, values, and intents.

Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. You make me smile and I am so blessed to share in this experience with you.

Love,

Brittany