He is Greater!

1 John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

This week was on spiritual warfare which was really interesting to me because I don't know if I was just unaware of it or just never really heard a message on it before, or paid much attention to it. I never really fully understood how much is happening in the spiritual realm and how much it truly can affect us if we are not aware of what is going on. It is not to scare us when hearing about lectures on the spirits like angels and demons, but rather prepare us and educate ourselves on what the devil will try and do in our lives, but then remember that God has already won through Jesus's sacrifice on the cross and that we do not have to allow the devil to affect us or bring us any harm, as it says in 1 John 4:4 from above, God is bigger than the devil and He is in us! I still don't understand a lot of it, but what I did learn this week is how real and active the holy spirit can be in our lives if we just ask him to come. The speaker made it clear that it is not that the holy spirit is not always with us, cause he is once we ask Jesus into our lives and become baptized in the holy spirit, but each and everyday we can ask the holy spirit to come into our lives and lead us into a deeper relationship with God and can be used to carry out His work. The speaker spoke on speaking in tongues and prophesying as well which I knew about but never really experienced first hand. I am still learning a lot on this topic and find it very interesting!

This weekend was really good :D It started out early being that it was Thanksgiving. Thursday my class had a big turkey dinner that was delicious! Friday was good because I was able to just relax and do a bit of reading and catch up on rest.

Our classroom set up for Thanksgiving

Well decorated tables

Turkey Dinner!

Me and Melissa being our usual model selves :D 

Me and my small group leader Melissa! (a different Melissa :D)

Then being that it was a long weekend and we had so much free time me and my roommates decided to rent a car and go exploring the island a bit! Saturday we went to Waipi'o Valley where we had to hike down to a huge waterfall (called Hihilava - definitely spelt wrong :s). It was sooo nice! It was my favorite kind of hiking to.. where it wasn't really a path but more of hiking through the jungle and over big boulders and through rivers! I would do it again in a second! Oh ya, and when we got to the waterfall we got to swim in the pool at the bottom! It was just like in the movies :D. Then we went over to the other side of the island called Hilo and had some dinner. On our way back to campus we stopped at Manua Kea, which is where there is an observatory where people can go and look at the stars. We got there at 10:07 and it closed at 10 so we weren't able to look through the telescopes, but the let us stay and just look at the stars. It was so amazing. There were so many stars (really close too!) and it was such a clear night. It would have been sweet to see them through the telescopes because the ranger guy said that you can see some of the different galaxies and such, which would have been amazing, but it was still totally worth it to go up there! I would definitely recommend it :D It also just opens your eyes to even just get a glimpse of God's hugeness and ability. Like if He can create something as amazing and huge as the stars (in which we only see a tiny fraction of), just imagine what else He can do. If we would think about Him in this way in all situations, we would never worry about silly things, like whether or not He will provide our finances/food/opportunities (whatever it may be) when we need them. Of course we have to do our part, but He ultimately provides all our needs! (Philippians 4:19 - And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus) When I often hear things like this being said, like He will always provide, I often find myself asking, why? And although it seems simple, it's because He just LOVES us that much! We are His children and He ultimately wants the best for us, no matter what we might think is best! Also I definitely always ask the question how? But for that one I still haven't figured out... I don't think I will ever figure it out. God has unending ways of doing things and often we don't understand, therefore He won't necessarily tell us how He may do something, we just have to trust Him!

And so the trip begins!

cool road side picture lol

our ride

amazingness - Waipi'o Lookout... this is at the beginning of the hike

Yes, these are my roommates :D

This picture is trying to say - haha look at them having to walk sideways down hill because it is steep! :D

again - wow

beautiful! 

The waterfall from a distance 

We literally were hiking through the jungle

More of the jungle :D 

We had to walk through water that came up to our chest! I held my backpack on my head! Outreach preparation!

Another part of water we had to cross - 3 total (Both ways)

End reward!!

looking up at the waterfall

swimming in the waterfall - closer to the waterfall we couldn't touch the bottom, and we could actually go behind the waterfall and jump of the rockface.. but i didn't jump, cause i could climb up :( but i did go under the waterfall!

The waterfall was within this big rock face that looked like a huge wall. This picture is looking up at the top - it is soo cool :D

umm, I'm just looking up at how amazing it is haha

Dinner at Ken's house of pancakes... I got a grilled cheese :)

Inside!

Long day, oh and I was the driver! don't worry I am just fake sleeping here 

Sunday me and two of my roommates went to a beach. I do love going to the beach but I can never stay too long lol. I don't know if it's that I don't really like just laying out in the sun and just relaxing, but would rather like to get up and do something.. I'm not that good at staying still and relaxing haha. But when we went to the beach it was sooo windy and the waves were huge. I only ventured out to the water once cause when I went in I got tossed through a wave and got sand in every crevasse :s. I tried to lay down and read a book for a bit, but then sand was blowing on me and getting in my eyes haha. Oh man.. but it was still fun.. I can't really complain at all.. I am in Hawaii!

Mile 88 Beach 

I don't know these people, I am just trying to capture the big waves.. it didn't really work

So I would say that this weekend was quite a success and one that will definitely be a highlight of my time here!
Time is going so fast! I leave for Colombia in 2 weeks!!!
Please just pray for me and my outreach team for preparing to go to Colombia and Chile in that all goes well and everyone is just excited and not nervous, worried, or anxious.
Thanks
Love you all!
Rachael

Partnering with the CHILOMBIA team!

Hey everyone! Time has been flying by and my team leaves for Colombia in less than a month! It is getting really exciting, but at the same time a little sad when thinking about leaving all my friends here that are going to other outreach locations. But it's pretty amazing to see how many nations just this quarter of DTS's are going to be reaching. Throughout the last 2 months we have been learning a lot about the character of God and through that how we are supposed to live out our lives. This week of lectures was on Destiny by Design. It was probably one of my favorite weeks. Ever since thinking about coming on this DTS, I felt like I wanted to come so that I could grow closer to God and through that, understand and learn more about what God is calling me to do with my life. The week started out with us thinking back to what things we used to love to play while we were young right up until what we enjoy doing right now. I remember that I always loved playing house and taking care of other people... I loved playing outside, building forts and attempting to make treehouse, I LOVED baking and helping mom cook and clean, and I really liked making music videos and skits. As I got older I continued to love to be outside (hiking, running, sports..), and I still really enjoy baking, taking care of people, and helping out where ever I am needed. After doing this exercise we did a little personality test thing... Surprisingly out of the options of Inward/Outward, I was inward, out of step-by-step or big picture, I was step-by-step, out of planned or spontaneous, I was planned, and out of head or heart, I was head. If you don't know me that well.. these are not surprising at all and anyone who knows me probably could of guessed all these answers. After the personality test, we answered some questions and found out what our motivational gifts were. All the motivational gifts were mercy, leader/administration, giving, exhortation, teaching, serving, prophetic/perceiver. My top two were giving and serving. Going through all these tests and trying to remember things about what we used to love to do and what are talents and passions are now were done in attempt to lead us to a conclusion about what God has ultimately created us to do. God knows us each individually and has instilled in us things that we love to do and things that we are good at for a reason. Jeremiah 1:5 says - "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations". In this scripture it is specifically talking about how God knew Jeremiah from before he was born and created him with the talents and gifts particular for his calling as a prophet, and in the same way God knows each one of us and gave us gifts and talents to live out the calling He has for our lives.
I don't feel like I know 100% what God has planned for me (which is ok cause I am learning to take one day at a time and not be too focused on my 'planning' personality trait) but going through this week has definitely helped me understanding more of what I love to do and what direction God wants me to go in. I have always loved being with kids and I know that God has given me the gift of caring for children and taking care of them and so for a while now I have felt that meant teaching. Although that could be the case, this week I felt God showing me another bigger plan that he has that wouldn't be my nice comfortable choice that I would probably go for. Throughout university I have had a growing desire to help people in extreme conditions of poverty and people that lack opportunities to change their ways of life. I feel specifically I want to work in poor communities (locally and/or globally) in developing better education facilities and systems. This could mean helping start schools in areas where education was never an option, or could mean going to an area where the education system is falling apart. I have always been able to take charge when necessary and I feel like God has given me this for a reason. Also, a very important aspect of "my big dream" is that I want to empower the people of the community to stand up and take charge of the changes that need to made. I don't want to go into a community and make a change, leave, and then have it fall apart. On the other hand of my dream would be that I definitely want to share with them who God is and show it through my actions. Ultimately I can help try and make changes happen on education level through the world's eyes, but if people don't come to know their creator and who they are in God, these worldly successes won't last or be fulfilling. I want to see children and their families rise up and become who they are in God. I want everyone to know who they are and know how their lives can be with God. I have lived an extremely blessed life and I want others to know that they too can have that and share it with others.
I know my dream is big, and it definitely can change depending on what God wants for me, but it has been really interesting to see what God is showing me about how the talents, gifts, and desires He has placed within me that is ultimately there for the purpose is is calling me to.
Prayer Requests: I would like prayer for not becoming overwhelmed with what I feel like God wants me to do, but also remember that I just have to take one day at a time. Also just being confident in what God is telling me and not get confused with what I, or other people, feel about it.

Team Chilombia! Carly, Kelsey, Weston, Noah, and Javier are all from the US, Grace is from South Korea, Swantje is from Germany, Marita is from Norway, and Brad is from Canada! (and I swear I wasn't frowning in the picture, it just looks like that :s)

Also, I wanted to tell everyone a little more about my outreach. We leave for Colombia on December 12. We are flying from Hawaii to LA, and then from LA to Bogota, Colombia. About mid-January we will be heading off to Chile! And this week we decided as a team that we are going to be taking a longer trip there due to cost. We are going to flying from Bogota to Peru, then from Peru to the border of Chile we are taking a bus, then from the border of Chile to Santiago we are taking another bus (i think we are taking a taxi in between the two buses) and then from Santiago to Pichilemu we are taking another bus... We will be travelling over 55 hours and that doesn't include any break downs or any other hold ups that are bound to happen... This is going to be a very long trip.. please pray for us! But actually I think it will be a fun adventure with more opportunities to talk with people... being that they will be stuck on a bus with us ! haha. (plus for some reason I have always wanted to go to Peru.. so even though we are only driving through, I still get to go! :D). Within the two countries we will be doing various things such as, sport ministries (soccer, volleyball, and surfing - I think I'll probably come back home a pro surfer ;)), church visits, spending time with the Guambiano people in Colombia, mini DTS, a VBS, and whatever else we are led to do! If you would like to join me and my team on this adventure it would be greatly appreciated! We need both financial support and prayer! Outreach fees are due this coming week and we know that God has the ability to provide :D The total amount that is still needed for the team is just over 6000$. The prayer requests are numerous but here are just a few :D

• Unity among the team 
• Safety and sanity during the traveling :D
• openness for the people we meet 
• boldness in each activity we do and knowing that God is our leader so we have nothing to worry about
• Continual growth in our faith and being open to what God wants us to do (there are a lot of planners on the team!)

Thank you all so much ! If you have any questions about how to donate or any other questions about what I am learning or about the outreach please feel free to ask! You can facebook message me or email me as well  -  rachael_adams14@hotmail.com

Rachael :D

Umm... Relationship week

Wacky Tacky Friday!

Magic Sands Beach

Me and my friend Eunhee being really cool

So this weeks lectures were on relationships. The lectures were really good and I did learn a lot but I feel like I don't really want to discuss the lectures, but would rather just talk about how my week has been going. I feel that this week I have been a bit attacked in the way that I have felt a bit discouraged. I am not even really sure where to pin point it but that shows right there that there isn't even a real issue. I know for a fact that I am growing closer to God here and really gaining a hunger to know Him more, and to the devil that is something scary. He wants us to be as inactive as possible, and for me, he knows that if I feel not worthy or unable to accomplish anything or to feel like I am not needed then I will become inactive. I am definitely and introverted person and it takes me a while to warm up to people and let them get to know me. For this reason it has been a challenge here continually meeting new people and having to get to know them closely. I get uncomfortable and somewhat shut down on who I really am. I definitely feel a lot more comfortable here as I have become really close with my roommates (they are actually the best roommates ever, I feel very at home in my room) and I have gotten to know many of my classmates, but it is getting to the point where I have to leave everyone I have become close with and go on outreach. I love my outreach group very much, but again I don't really know them that well and I have to step out of my comfort zone once again and open up and get to know them and let them get to know me. I really like my comfort zone, but I know that God is working on me in this area. My whole life has been a big comfort bubble and I know that in order to fully follow him, I have to give up my right on being comfortable. I don't necessarily like it but I know it is right. I definitely don't want the devil to succeed in making me inactive and feel like I can't accomplish things because I am 'quiet' or let him lead me to believe I don't belong where I am, because I absolutely know that's a lie. I want to become the vessel that God has made me to be. I really don't like not knowing anything about my future, but again I believe that is something that God is working on in me. I believe He wants me to learn to depend and trust in Him even if it I don't feel like I want to or don't feel His presence. He is always there and I know I just have to remind myself that because the devil will definitely try and distract me and discourage me.
Prayer requests: I would like prayer on staying positive during times where I feel like God is not near and I don't feel Him, and really become quick to remember that He is ALWAYS there and that there will be times of trials and testing of my faith (James 1: 2-4 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.). Also I would like prayer of becoming more confident in myself and who God made me to be so that I don't feel so shy or whatever it is, and open up to people knowing thats ok.
I want to completely depend on God for all that I need. I want to have a relationship with Him in that I go to Him for all decisions and are able to know what He wants me to do.
Thanks so much everyone for continuing to pray and support me... it means so much to me to know that I have family and friends back at home behind me. I know that not everyone has that and so I just wanted to make sure everyone knows how thankful I am!
Love you lots

This week started off with my class volunteering at a halloween event for kids in the city. It is put on every year by a local church and this year about 9000 people showed up! Each of us had a job, mine was the hotdog stand where we had to put the hotdogs in the buns.. and thats about it... After that I went and helped out a dart board booth. Here are some pictures of the night! 

Me and three of my roommates - Gabby,  Melissa, and Madisen

This is Carly, she is going to Chile and Colombia with me!

This is a random kid that I took a picture with because he was also a nerd :D

This is the stage area at the event

It was really fun and was a good place for kids to go instead of trick-or-treating. 

Lecture this week was on the fear of God. Something that really stuck out to me were the statements 'God is Big and God is Good'. These are statements that are obvious but very powerful. It is important for us to remember just who God really is. It happens all the time that we try and make God out to be a god that is there when we need him and there to make our lives easy and will be ok with what we want our lives to be like. But that is not the case. God created the entire universe and knows every star by name! (Isaiah 40:25-26, "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.) His power and ability should not be minimized by what our minds can think him up to be. If we truly choose to be a Christian and live the life as one, He wants us to give our lives to Him and 'take up our own cross' and live in obedience. Another idea that the speaker discussed that stuck out to me was the concept of value. He gave an illustration by asking us which one we would choose and showed us a 5$ bill and a 20$. It was obvious that we would choose the 20$ because of the higher value. Then he related this idea with the value of ourselves and the value of God. It is unfortunate when we don't place the correct high value on God and believe we are more valuable and therefore choose ourselves over God. We need to realize the God is the most valuable individual in the universe and that we need to choose him, as He is big and He is Good. This topic of the fear of God can be a little intimidating, especially if one has a problem with authority, but it is a very important topic. Understanding He is more valuable and powerful than we could ever imagine creates in us the respect and awe that He deserves. Along with the fear of God, it is very important to understand that God is also a very intimate God that loves each one of us unconditionally. The verse that explains this clearly is one that many learn from a very young age - John 3:16, For God so loved the world he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. He gave the ultimate sacrifice for us sinners so that we will be able to spend eternal life with Him in heaven. 

The speaker said that we need to see the two characteristics of God 

His nature - Reverence 

(His nature shows who he is 'wired' to be in that he is Lord of all and the creator of all things - this is just who he is... it never changes)

and 

His character - Intimate

(his character is the choices that he makes - like he has chosen to love us even though we are sinners. He doesn't have to love us, but each and every day he chooses to love us and continually forgive us)

Both are necessary to understanding in trying to identify who God is. We can't just see him through his nature because that would just lead to fear of him, which he wouldn't want because fear doesn't lead to action. No one would want to choose God, they only would because they are scared of him. In the same way we can't just view God from his character side. This would lead us to believe that he is our buddy and will just be there when we need him and the rest of the time we can just forget about him. 

Trying to remember God both as the creator of the earth who deserves our respect and obedience and on the other hand a Father who loves us very much and is ready to forgive us whenever we ask is a task that needs to be refreshed daily. We can't minimize either one, there needs to be a balance. 

A few other important parts of this week was I finally got to skype with Hannah!, I got an app called kik that allows me to message other people even though i don't have a plan (my username is rachael12- so get it and add me :D), I found out I can use my phone to Facetime through email, and it was one of my roommates birthdays on Friday! For her birthday we went out for dinner, which was nice:)

Me and my roommates before going to dinner for Kathryn's Birthday 

That's it for now! 

Rachael