YWAM CAMP RECAP

PART 3

Hello friend!

Welcome to part 3 of the YWAM Camp Recap! If you haven’t read part 1 or 2, please do so!

It was now Wednesday; we were already halfway done! It felt like the time was going by quickly and slowly. I had made so many amazing friends who are now family, and it felt like we had known each other for longer than just camp. But as for the time, it was flying by! Yes, I was starting to feel homesick; missing my family, my dog Zoe, and my house, but I didn’t want this week to end! Putting those feelings aside, it was time for breakfast and quiet time! I went to the BTC for my time with Jesus, which was amazing! I finished the book of Acts and started to read Romans. The Lord was popping verses off the page left and right, and I felt so refreshed and equipped for the day! Afterward, I went to the DTS interest meeting at 8 am. If you don’t know what DTS is; it stands for Discipleship Training School. It lasts 6 months, and for the first 3, you are at a YWAM Base, studying the Bible and being trained. For the other 3 months, you go to a nation with a team, and live on mission! Before camp, I had been going back and forth about what to do after high school. Doing a DTS sounded fun, but I didn’t know if I should go to college first. One of the reasons I was so excited for camp, was so then I could pray about doing a DTS in the actual space I would be in. There is just something about being in the space you are praying about! The night before during worship, I asked the Lord to speak clearly about what to do after high school. Almost immediately, I heard:

“This is where you are supposed to be; I want you to do the DTS right after high school.” I felt the peace of God just cover me like a weighted blanket, and it was AMAZING! So, I went to the interest meeting they were having that morning! (Coincidence? I don’t think so!) It was incredible and was 100% confirmation of the call I felt!

The morning sessions were phenomenal! First, Asher Berg spoke about preaching the Gospel. He taught us that we don’t have to wait, God is calling all of us right now to go and live out the Great Commission! He doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called! Asher even said that Jesus isn’t just inviting us, it is a command and our purpose in life to tell people about HIM! We learned some great practical points to keep in mind when evangelizing: 1. Rejoice when Rejected, 2. Celebrate Salvations, 3. Be Joyful Evangelists, 4. Know who you’re Preaching to, 5. Make it Personal, and 6. Don’t water down the Gospel! Asher also taught us the five-finger Gospel, and had us practice saying it to the people around us!

After Asher spoke, two students came up to speak about Jesus Clubs! First was Gus from Waves of Revival Church in Boston, MA! He did an amazing job, and spoke about being transformed by Jesus. He said that there is a difference between a change and a transformation. He spoke about how God wants to use us in the darkest places, and that we don’t have to feel inadequate or like we don’t belong. Gus compared us to a puzzle; He said that we will always fit into God’s puzzle, and can go and show our passion for the Lord because He has got our backs! Next was Noelle. Her message was absolutely fire! She has inspired me so much! She is 17, just like me, and got up in front of all those people and proclaimed the truth about Jesus! Noelle spoke about being called, just like it says in Matthew 28. “It is time to cancel the enemy,” and step into the calling that God has on our lives!

“I am done with people going back to the cross and taking back what He died for! It is disrespectful!” -Noelle

“Jesus has equipped you. So when the enemy comes at you and he says this and this you can say no, God says this and this and this. And He proved His love to me when He died for me on the cross! Also, get feisty with the enemy! Be like: ‘No enemy, what do you think you’re trying to do right now?’ ‘Sit in that chair and watch me worship God!’ Take back territory!

The enemy is such a loser! He’s so L! He literally got kicked out of heaven!” -Noelle

To all the girls reading this, we are not inadequate, and we do have a voice. Let’s use the voice that God has given us to step into our calling, and live out the Great Commission! Let’s show people what it’s like to live life with Jesus, and live empowered by the Holy Spirit every single day! Noelle even said to let her speaking be a permission slip to do the same- which is to tell people about JESUS! If you are reading this Noelle, thank you so much for inspiring me; I am forever grateful for the Woman of God you are, and the example that you have displayed to all of us girls!

It was now Wednesday night, but it was a little different than all the other nights. It was the Love Feast/ Talent Show! Everyone dressed up nice- girls in dresses and boys in nice button-ups, etc. This part is just for fun, and then we had a talent show! At the very beginning of camp, a cabin from each team volunteered to perform! We had 4 judges, and they even built an extension to the stage so it went all the way out to the judge’s platform! It was called “Commissions Got Talent” or CGT for short! I had never seen an actual talent show or performance competition like that before, and it was AMAZING! The performers did an amazing job!

I started Thursday off by going to the prayer room with Ania. There was ambient music playing and almost no one in the room. It was such a sweet time with ABBA and Ania! For the first session, the girls and guys split up. The girls stayed in Ohana Court, and we talked about being Brave Love Women! We women carry the Brave Love of Jesus, the question is are we going to say yes to our woman of God calling? Misha spoke about getting rid of all the things holding you back from stepping into that calling. First, we identified what they were, and then paired up in groups of two to confess. I paired up with Destiny and confessed that what was holding me back was comparison, self-hate, feeling inadequate, and fear of man. I had struggled with intense comparison and self-hate since I was 8 years old. I was a slave to it and it kept me so focused on myself that I wasn’t ministering to others! I had felt freedom from it before, at different worship nights or camps, but had always gone back to it. I had also been feeling inadequate about sharing the Gospel with people. After I confessed, Destiny prayed over me and during the prayer, I felt like a weight was being lifted off! Afterward, I felt so good and free! Misha then asked those who felt freedom to come up and share what they are now free from, and at this point, I literally had no voice. You could barely hear me and it took every effort I could muster to just say one sentence. And so, I thought to myself, “Oh I won’t go up because no one is going to be able to understand me.” But in that moment, I heard the Lord so clearly say;

“Ella, you have felt free from this before. Now, you can either go up, share, and truly be free, or you can go back into it.” Well, there was no arguing with that I truly wanted to be free! So I went up and shared, and I’m not kidding you, when I was done I felt like the root of comparison and self-hate was ripped out of me. It was the weirdest and most freeing feeling I have ever felt in my life! God then brought me to James 5:16; which says

“Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” (NLT)

There is power in our confession. For so long, I had tasted freedom from comparison and self-hate, but I didn’t confess that to other believers. Confession is bringing things to the light, and I had been hiding those insecurities in the dark. I was giving Satan a foothold in my life. But when I went up and confessed to everyone what I had been struggling with, Satan had to let go and leave because everything was in the light now! Also, the fact that I was declaring that I am now free, holds me accountable. When I went home, I got baptized, so now not only had I declared my freedom in front of my camp family, but my church family! I can’t go back because all these people now know that I have been freed! Jesus nailed comparison and self-hate to the cross, how could I go and take them down again? Since then, I have not struggled with any of those things! I encourage you, friend if you are struggling with anything, to confess it to someone. Whether that be a parent, trusted friend, mentor, pastor, or a whole congregation of believers, when you bring it to the light is when you can truly be healed. Take it from me, someone who hid it in the dark; believed the lies, and lived in bondage for 9 years! God has an amazing plan and purpose for your life, and He doesn't want you to be stuck in shame, insecurity, depression, fear, or anything else from the pits of hell! Confess it, so that the family of faith may be able to pray over you. Then allow God to heal and free you, so that you may be able to live the life He has planned for you!

That night was Holy Spirit night. Felippe spoke and invited the Holy Spirit to come and baptize us with Him! It was an amazing night! Ania got baptized in the Holy Spirit and fell, Kaden did as well, and so many others. Someone came and prayed over me, and she said that she believed that the Lord just wanted to have a new depth and intimacy with me. So I just sat at His feet for who knows how long, and it was one of the most refreshing experiences I’ve ever had. No one wanted to leave!

That night back at the cabin, we were all wrecked (in the best way possible) by the Holy Spirit. The flame of our faith was fanned, and we never wanted it to die out. We had one more full day left, and were going to embrace every moment, so we could go back home dripping wet with the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for reading friend! I hope this encouraged you today! Stay tuned for the grand finale of the ywam camp recap- coming out next saturday!