Holy cow....Life is EXTREMELY BUSY!!! Things are going really well here and honestly I feel like this is exactly what I have been waiting for since the day I got here!!! We have a Discipleship Training School team from YWAM Jamaica here. The team of 11 are keeping us on our toes! It is so much fun to have an outreach team here where I have longed to see involvement for so long. It is by no means easy to create a schedule for 13 people to stay busy each and everyday! It has it's challenges like I've never had to deal with before but it is all Good. I love the opportunities that we've been able to have in the community! We've done a few work projects for some people, and organizations here. We have seen some awesome ministry opportunities open up for us through having this team here. It is really cool to see that all that I thought this team would bring is actually happening. I felt like when we decided to have this team come way back in November it would give us a boost into the community and with churches around the island. I have met some very key people in a government housing project that we have been praying on how to get in the door. Through walking around in the community praying for people, and just having conversation we learned about a garbage clean-up that took place over this last weekend. I met the head office woman who has to approve all activities that take place in the community. A VERY IMPORTANT WOMAN TO KNOW both now and for the future ministry opportunities. I we have met some more pastors that are very interested in having a partnership. 2 are interested in having a presentation to get the youth informed about YWAM. One wants us to come at least once a month to keep the relationship going and seeing where it goes. It will obviously be a lot of work but I can say that it is finally what I have been longing for. Having connections and partnering with churches and other organizations to reach out to the community. It is SOOOO awesome to have the base hopping with people and constantly alive! I am so excited to see what God has for us next, about half of these team members have expressed interest in coming back for some time to be on staff. It will be interesting to see if any of them are actually receiving word from God or not! It is my prayer of course that God has his will and the perfect people will come back.

We also had a time this last week called a Silent Retreat where we cut out everything, no talking, music, nothing but sitting silent before the Lord all day. We had our bibles, and journals and stayed away from people all day! IT was so cool, and I had a great day learning about new things about me. I also did a hardcore verse study where I had 2 verses and 6 different versions of the bible to read, and 2 dictionaries and tried to get the most out of them. Of course there was WAY more than I expected and after spending hours literally like 3 hours I have only touched the tip of what they really mean. I am so excited to see what can come out of the Word when you are diligent is reading it! Ok I will try my hardest to keep this posted up weekly.

Well it has been a few weeks but that is ok. I have GREAT excuses as to why I didn't update this. I was on vacation!! Man what an awesome blessing it was to have an opportunity to be in Montana for Christmas, after being away for the last 2 years!! Although I was severely disappointed with the lack of fresh snow it was awesome! I was able to actually relax on this vacation! Thank you all so much for the fun and encouragement that you gave to me! I came back to St. Croix with a cold and still have bits still floating around in my sinuses and throat but for the most part I was nice and refreshed when I arrived!! I was however a bit disappointed when I was forced to change into shorts and a t-shirt and my tan was extremely faint! I was able to work outside digging this week so i can proudly say my color is returning!!! Things have gotten pretty busy here which is a good thing. I find myself walking around the property wondering when in the heck I'm going to have time to do this or that because there just isn't enough daylight. We are preparing for a DTS team from Jamaica to come on the 18th for a month. So that is keeping me busy as Cherilyn and I try and set up their whole outreach! It should be a very good time not only for them but for us to become more connected in the community and hopefully create more relationships! It is an exciting time to see what God wants us to do and although it seems like such a huge task he is slowly and faithfully bringing more and more opportunity our way!!

I had a great experience tonight while walking back to the base from dinner. As i was talking with my new roommate in the parking lot someone walked in front of us and turned around all the sudden and exclaimed "Hey TJ!" Now I know that is just pretty simple and not all that exciting but I always enjoy those moments when I can be out and run into people I know. I tend to expect it when I am in MT but here it seems so unlikely that I will actually know the people I pass so when it happens I soak it up.

I was also blown away by God this week! I had an awesome opportunity to be waken up in the middle of the night 2:30 to be exact by a friend. And as we talked for some time and then ended the conversation I felt like I needed to pray for them. As I lay in my bed at 3:30 I felt the urge to get on my knees and pray even more intensely. I wasn't to thrilled about getting out of my warm bed but knowing full well that if I wanted to see God move I could spend time on my knees for my friend. I moved down and began once again praying and my mind was completely filled with thoughts and there was just one phrase that kept coming to mind. I tried to keep praying but for some reason I couldn't stop thinking upon this phrase and what it means and so I turned on my computer and began to type out what I thought would be a few lines of thoughts. 2 1/2 hours later at 6 am I finished writing and was completely taken back by what I had just written. I hope to one day be able to share it with everyone but for right now it is between myself, God, and the friends I was praying for because I felt it was directly from God to them. SO AWESOME and I look forward for another opportunity to be used in such a powerful way!