If any of you would like to send words of encouragments or just notes, feel free... I love getting mail!
Mackenzie Ochsner
c/o Youth With A Mission Denver
12750 W 63rd Ave
Arvada, CO 80004
Thank you for all your guys' love and support through this journey in my life! Its truly a blessing to have the opputrtunity to follow my dreams and desires while passionalty pursueing God. I absolutly love it here! So thank you, without many of you this time wouldnt be as easy.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
PREPARE THE WAY
As some may know, I am preparing to go with part of my class to the Philippines for my outreach phase of DTS. This, I am beyond excited about because its one of the places God layed on my heart and its a two month mission trip.... which is a little slice of heaven for me. So as we approach the departure time form Colorado, we weekly prepare for this outreach phase.
One night a week we have outreach training, which is basically learning of skits, plays, puppet shows, and other "tools" we need to put into our toolbelt for reaching all sorts of people when in the Philippines. Not being an actress, God took this time as an oppurtunity to put me in every skit we do. One of them, Fix You, is all about redemption and Gods restoring love; how He can take a broken, abused, unloved, etc. person and make them new again through Him. And yes, it is to the Coldplay song. They warned us that by the end of our outreach phase, these songs will no longer be appealing to us because they will be so overplayed. All well! Our other skit, so far, is called Family. I play the older sister (fitting huh?) in a 5 person family. Through the process of the song the family starts to break apart as satan enters into their lives. Its very dramatic and after watching the other teams perform it I can understand how it could have a huge impact on people. Its a very common problem or topic in this world today, which is really sad, but at the end the family, individually, runs back to God and becomes restored. Which is a hopeful and happy ending! Its cool because not only do we get to act and participate in this but leaders constantly tell us stories of how mid way through God starts putting specific crowd members on your heart, and you get to do ministry time afterwards. I honestly can not wait!
One other part of outreach prep so far is the puppets. I also got selected to participate in this, which is actually really neat. At first I was bummed because it seemed like a lot of work and I would rather be doing something a little more hands on but soon I(because puppets arent hands on, right?) realized that those were both horrible excuses. Putting your hand in a puppets mouth, crouching behind a curtain, and choregraphing puppets to music is truly a ministry in itself! Our puppet team consists of six of us, each having our own character. And we all have different personialties so its really enterataining to sit back and watch us. We have three performances down so far, and currently get to look for new songs to do. It will be a great time and I am so excited to see the mile wide smiles on the children and adults faces when we use a piece of cloth and string to entertain them!
So far that is our major preperations that are taking place. We have also started working on our testimonies and learning how to relate our life stories to other people. Taking the bad or heart breaking and turning it into a story of hope and redemption. Words can not express how excited I am for this trip. God is already starting to prepare the hearts of His children there, and we get to be the vessels of His love and plant the seeds. It will be one of the most amazing experiences ever!
One night a week we have outreach training, which is basically learning of skits, plays, puppet shows, and other "tools" we need to put into our toolbelt for reaching all sorts of people when in the Philippines. Not being an actress, God took this time as an oppurtunity to put me in every skit we do. One of them, Fix You, is all about redemption and Gods restoring love; how He can take a broken, abused, unloved, etc. person and make them new again through Him. And yes, it is to the Coldplay song. They warned us that by the end of our outreach phase, these songs will no longer be appealing to us because they will be so overplayed. All well! Our other skit, so far, is called Family. I play the older sister (fitting huh?) in a 5 person family. Through the process of the song the family starts to break apart as satan enters into their lives. Its very dramatic and after watching the other teams perform it I can understand how it could have a huge impact on people. Its a very common problem or topic in this world today, which is really sad, but at the end the family, individually, runs back to God and becomes restored. Which is a hopeful and happy ending! Its cool because not only do we get to act and participate in this but leaders constantly tell us stories of how mid way through God starts putting specific crowd members on your heart, and you get to do ministry time afterwards. I honestly can not wait!
One other part of outreach prep so far is the puppets. I also got selected to participate in this, which is actually really neat. At first I was bummed because it seemed like a lot of work and I would rather be doing something a little more hands on but soon I(because puppets arent hands on, right?) realized that those were both horrible excuses. Putting your hand in a puppets mouth, crouching behind a curtain, and choregraphing puppets to music is truly a ministry in itself! Our puppet team consists of six of us, each having our own character. And we all have different personialties so its really enterataining to sit back and watch us. We have three performances down so far, and currently get to look for new songs to do. It will be a great time and I am so excited to see the mile wide smiles on the children and adults faces when we use a piece of cloth and string to entertain them!
So far that is our major preperations that are taking place. We have also started working on our testimonies and learning how to relate our life stories to other people. Taking the bad or heart breaking and turning it into a story of hope and redemption. Words can not express how excited I am for this trip. God is already starting to prepare the hearts of His children there, and we get to be the vessels of His love and plant the seeds. It will be one of the most amazing experiences ever!
BUSY, BUSY, BUSY
I just realized I haven't blogged in a while... oops. Sorry everyone!Its been a crazy couple of weeks here at YWAM. WE are constantly doing something or helping someone, which makes the weeks fly by way too fast! We actually just looked at the calendar and in two weeks we go to Cali and then three weeks after that we are on outreach. I am going to the Philippines in a little over a month... Wow! It just amazes me how fast everything has happened and how in a blink of an eye it will all be over, but I will be a completely changed person throughout that time. Which excites me!
So a little bit about these couple weeks... As i mentioned before we have classes daily. Last week our director and his wife spoke on relationships. And not just romantic relationship, but every kind of relationship under the sun. It was sooo cool and I learned so much! Along side the teaching we each read a relationship book and i read "When God Writes Your Love Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy. I would recommend it! It was one that challenged me to hand over my "love story" pen and stop trying to write it myself but instead letting the author and creator of love do it for me. This week is a new speaker on Blessings. Specifically, how at any moment you can be blessing or cursing someone with your words without even knowing it. He has had some really good points and its really cool to see how more genuine and open our community/family here is now. Well, that's just a quick update... I will post more later toady on the ways God has shown up here!
So a little bit about these couple weeks... As i mentioned before we have classes daily. Last week our director and his wife spoke on relationships. And not just romantic relationship, but every kind of relationship under the sun. It was sooo cool and I learned so much! Along side the teaching we each read a relationship book and i read "When God Writes Your Love Story" by Eric and Leslie Ludy. I would recommend it! It was one that challenged me to hand over my "love story" pen and stop trying to write it myself but instead letting the author and creator of love do it for me. This week is a new speaker on Blessings. Specifically, how at any moment you can be blessing or cursing someone with your words without even knowing it. He has had some really good points and its really cool to see how more genuine and open our community/family here is now. Well, that's just a quick update... I will post more later toady on the ways God has shown up here!
Monday, July 11, 2011
SO FAR...
Well, I have officially been here at YWAM for two weeks; and what a ride it has been! I have learned lots, seen Gods hand at work, met tons of new people (and life long best friends), and had loads of fun. Where to begin....
July 4th- our first holiday weekend which meant 3 days off, full of fun and no curfew. With such nice, hot weather here I soaked up the sun by working on my volleyball skills, chatting up all the people i still hadn't met, and barbequing. It was so much fun! We then, as a group of probably 30+, walked down to a soccer field and watched fireworks. Of course we got there early, so we started playing Ninja Warriors. And all I have to say about that is all those long and never ending hours of Ninja Warrior at Junior High Camp finally payed off! And then I ended the night with a beautiful, long lasting and spectacular firework show.
July 5th to 8th - A week full of our first classes and work duties. A normal day consists of waking up at 7, having breakfast, quiet devotional time, worship/intercessory prayer, classes for 2 hours, lunch, classes for 2 hours, work duties (which is nice cause I don't have any during the week ;)), dinner and then free time. A jam packed schedule but its so good! And the speaker for the week was amazing. A local pastor from a church of 4,000 taught on the different characters of God, which were all very good.
July 8th- We went camping... okay I went lodging haha. Our whole plan was to all go as a group and sleep in tents somewhere, where we would have bonfires, play in the forest, and do all the other normal camping activities. But since I seemed to bring the rain here with me when I came out here, we went up to our mountain campus where we got to choose between a dorm bed or tent. And since I felt others needed the tenting experience more than I did, I slept inside. The weekend was a blast. One morning a small group of us hiked these huge mountains/hills/rocks (10,000 feet high or so), what a work out. It did end up raining, hailing, thunder and lighting but that made everything that more fun. We played board games... I learned the 8 hour long game of Risk. We did puzzles, which made your eyes cross. And played a game called "Body! Body!" in the dark. Oh, the Australians and Denamrkians experienced there first s'mores next to me that night too! At the end of the weekend we all smelt like smoke, were exhausted, but left with deeper connections and friendships.
Today- Today we continued on with our daily schedules, which started with a new speaker who honestly leaves me speechless. He has an amazing style and is teaching on the Fathering of God. Lets just say he makes the room cry every session... its that good! But tonight we start our community outreach, which I am super excited for! All's we know is that we are in groups and get to go out into the city and do different tasks. Some of us helping out elderly neighbors, others doing street ministry, and so on. I am beyond thrilled to see what God has in store!
So, so far that has been my experiences here. Each day is filled with a new task and obstacle. All part of Gods plan to stretch me and draw me closer to Him. I have met one of my best friends here, together we are a duo. She is amazing... we can even finish each others sentences. But ultimately I look forward to getting up in the morning and seeing what God has for me that day. He reveals Himself through sessions, staff, letters, and ministries, each one being a delightful surprise! So I guess if you had to sum it all up I am doing great! I love it here, know that this is exactly where God wants me, and am growing each day spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Thank you all for your support and prayers through this all! I love hearing your encouragements, so feel free to post here or send me mail. God has truly blessed me and I am so excited to share all the experiences with you guys!
July 4th- our first holiday weekend which meant 3 days off, full of fun and no curfew. With such nice, hot weather here I soaked up the sun by working on my volleyball skills, chatting up all the people i still hadn't met, and barbequing. It was so much fun! We then, as a group of probably 30+, walked down to a soccer field and watched fireworks. Of course we got there early, so we started playing Ninja Warriors. And all I have to say about that is all those long and never ending hours of Ninja Warrior at Junior High Camp finally payed off! And then I ended the night with a beautiful, long lasting and spectacular firework show.
July 5th to 8th - A week full of our first classes and work duties. A normal day consists of waking up at 7, having breakfast, quiet devotional time, worship/intercessory prayer, classes for 2 hours, lunch, classes for 2 hours, work duties (which is nice cause I don't have any during the week ;)), dinner and then free time. A jam packed schedule but its so good! And the speaker for the week was amazing. A local pastor from a church of 4,000 taught on the different characters of God, which were all very good.
July 8th- We went camping... okay I went lodging haha. Our whole plan was to all go as a group and sleep in tents somewhere, where we would have bonfires, play in the forest, and do all the other normal camping activities. But since I seemed to bring the rain here with me when I came out here, we went up to our mountain campus where we got to choose between a dorm bed or tent. And since I felt others needed the tenting experience more than I did, I slept inside. The weekend was a blast. One morning a small group of us hiked these huge mountains/hills/rocks (10,000 feet high or so), what a work out. It did end up raining, hailing, thunder and lighting but that made everything that more fun. We played board games... I learned the 8 hour long game of Risk. We did puzzles, which made your eyes cross. And played a game called "Body! Body!" in the dark. Oh, the Australians and Denamrkians experienced there first s'mores next to me that night too! At the end of the weekend we all smelt like smoke, were exhausted, but left with deeper connections and friendships.
Today- Today we continued on with our daily schedules, which started with a new speaker who honestly leaves me speechless. He has an amazing style and is teaching on the Fathering of God. Lets just say he makes the room cry every session... its that good! But tonight we start our community outreach, which I am super excited for! All's we know is that we are in groups and get to go out into the city and do different tasks. Some of us helping out elderly neighbors, others doing street ministry, and so on. I am beyond thrilled to see what God has in store!
So, so far that has been my experiences here. Each day is filled with a new task and obstacle. All part of Gods plan to stretch me and draw me closer to Him. I have met one of my best friends here, together we are a duo. She is amazing... we can even finish each others sentences. But ultimately I look forward to getting up in the morning and seeing what God has for me that day. He reveals Himself through sessions, staff, letters, and ministries, each one being a delightful surprise! So I guess if you had to sum it all up I am doing great! I love it here, know that this is exactly where God wants me, and am growing each day spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. Thank you all for your support and prayers through this all! I love hearing your encouragements, so feel free to post here or send me mail. God has truly blessed me and I am so excited to share all the experiences with you guys!
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