Saturday, November 6, 2010

Okay, it's been three weeks since my last post, but I promise it's because life here's been crazy busy. Since my last update we had a good week of classes about the Holy Spirit and about having a committed life to Christ. The classes were great, but what happened the next week was even better.

Two Saturdays ago our entire base left for Buenos Aires for the national YWAM Conference. When we arrived on Sunday we were met by about 500 other missionaries in YWAM. And this conference was meant to serve two purposes. 1: We celebrated 50 years of God working through YWAM to further his kingdom and 2: We wanted to discuss what work God still has for us to do in Argentina and what he's already doing through us. The conference was an incredible experience, we got to hear from the founders of YWAM, Loren and Darlene Cunningham, and we got to hear from a lot of other speakers who have spent their lives in missions and in relationship with God. I have to admit I was a  little put off at the beginning of the week, but by the end of the week God was teaching me things i hadn't even started to think about before the conference. I came home ready to hear more from God and he didn't disappoint me.

Our first class back from the conference was taught by Richard, a Englishman who somehow joined our team at the conference. I believe he's been one of the pioneers of YWAM in Argentina helping to get a lot of the bases off the ground. Nevertheless he's an extremely intelligent man of God who who a deep commitment towards having a personal and intimate relationship with God so that's what he taught his class on, and as he taught I started to really feel a lot of conviction towards my own relationship with Christ and I realized how much I'd been treating Jesus as a business partner and not a true friend and my King. So that class ended that night and for the next few days we had a guest speaker from Atlanta, Georgia, and her name is Romona. She's been with YWAM since the first school and is one of the leaders in the ministry. And wouldn't you know it her class was all about how to develop an intimate relationship with Jesus, and she didn't know about the class that Richard taught. So during this past week I've had some breakthroughs in this area and I feel like I'm finally able to just relax and be comfortable with God instead of always asking for something or focusing on work, but now I can truly enjoy his presence.

And for the final class God decided to show me a stumbling stone in my life that I had no idea I had. Our last class this week was about renouncing things of this world that hinder us from God, such as materials, money, friendships, family, or even ministries. The class wasn't talking about abandoning all of these things but making sure we prioritize them right. So at the end of the class we were asked to go to our rooms and grab something that we felt was distracting us from God. So I grabbed my iPod and I thought we'd pray for God to help us let go and that would be it. So the teacher tol us we're going to pray, and We're going to see who God wants us to give this too, and my heart sank. But the second we started praying I knew exactly what God was doing and I knew that he was right. So many times in my intimacy time with God I would listen to Christian music to make me feel closer to God, and what that was saying to God is that I'd rather have Christians talk to me about God than to hear from God myself and I knew I needed to let go, but even more incredible than that the day before the class even started I felt like God wanted me to give my iPod to this certain person, but I thought that he meant at the end of the trip and in my heart I didn't want to. But after I gave over my prized possession the person told me about how they had earnestly prayed the week before for an iPod, and they hadn't told me that. So while God was answering someones prayer he was helping me to grow at the same time. I was able to give up my prize possession and praise God at the same time.

Also the DTS that was on there outreach came back and so we've been able to meet new missionaries and hear about all the work God did on their outreach. The two students from that class had their graduation last. They talked about how much growth they've experienced during their entire DTS and it's shown me that even though I feel I've come a long way I believe that the path ahead of me is far longer and I'm more excited to keep going.

So over these past weeks I've definitely felt called more by God, and I've felt closer him. I've felt his Spirit moving and I keep feeling more inspired by his Word. It's been great to have these classes, and late night talks about faith, love, sin, God and all the other things that everyone's been learning about. It's so evident in a place like this that God speaks to us all differently, so I'm able to see others ways of expressing their faith and at times just by hearing others speak from their hearts I've realized where I've been totally wrong in my faith. God's definitely at work here, and it's exciting. God bless everyone.

                                                                                        Matt. 25:21
                                                                                      -Matt Hursh

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