Update #5

 Hello Everyone! 

We are officially done with lecture phase here at YWAM Montana! It is now time to GO! The two Taiwan teams are headed out this weekend, and we leave Tuesday morning! 

This past week was filled with so many emotions- both good and bad. It is so sad to say goodbye to half the school, but I am so excited for what the Lord will do through them as they go out on outreach. 

As I look forward to and prepare for outreach in Cambodia, I am filled with so much excitement and anticipation. The Lord has given me His heart for the nation and the people of Cambodia. I have so much love for them already, and can not wait to meet the Khmer people. 

In Cambodia, we will be staying at YWAM Battambang for the full two months. While we are there, it sounds like we will be doing some work projects around base, teaching english, sports ministry, church planting, working with children at risk, and whatever else the Lord leads us to. 

I have done a lot of reflecting this week as it was the last week of lecture. I feel like a whole new person from who I was at the beginning. I have gained a whole new understanding of who God truly is and I have experienced His character in ways I never have before. I have learned what it really means for God to be my cake and everything else is the icing and happy addition. God is going to do some crazy things with me, and take me to great places. I feel like all that the Lord was teaching me and showing me throughout DTS was leading up to the very last day of DTS, and that day was basically the first day of the rest of my life. The Lord showed me and spoke to me about how He wants to do big things with my life, far greater than anything I imagined for my own life. 

I want to share this amazing testimony about what the Lord did in my life on the last day:

Throughout the week the Lord was continually giving me His heart for the 1040 window and the unreached people. He made it so clear to me that that is what He is calling me into. On Friday, we had a time of responding, and in this time, we were stepping into a boat and proclaiming what the Lord was calling us into and how we were choosing to respond to this. The song "Oceans" kept running through my head specifically the lyrics,"You call me out upon the water to the great unknown where feet may fail." I knew that with all the Lord had been doing in my heart the past week, I was supposed to step into the boat and respond. Before hand, the speakers were saying how they felt like the quieter people should be the ones to step into the boat first. As we prayed, I felt like I was supposed to go first, but that was not something I typically did, so in my stubbornness, I decided I would just sit there with my eyes closed and wait for others to go first. But during that time, no one went up. Instead, Liz, one of the speakers came up to me and asked, "Ashley, do you have something to share?" I obviously did, then she said, "We really feel like you should be the first one to step into the boat." That was not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I knew she was right. At this point, my heart was pounding, but I walked into the boat in obedience. I spoke what I felt like the Lord was asking me to while in tears, then stepped out in so much freedom. I feel like the fact that I went first and walked in obedience in that way was just as, if not more, powerful than me declaring what the Lord put on my heart. I had so many people speak into me regarding my obedience and what the Lord is going to do with me. I feel like that day broke off so many chains that I was working on all of DTS. It was such a special day of growth and freedom. I am so excited to walk into all the Lord has prepared for me whatever that may be.  

I am also so thankful for the snow that we received this week! I was really hoping to be able to get more snow before we leave, and the Lord blessed us with some this last week! We had some fun late night snow ball fights, and I've enjoyed just sitting and watching it in all it's beauty.

Prayer Requests: 

• Obedience- based discipleship
• Multipliable work
• Contextualized approach
• Coming in as a learner
• Missional VS. Attractional Model
• Safe travels
• Against sicknesses
• The two Taiwan teams
• That we can learn the Khmer language!

Our flight leaves at 3:45 on Tuesday, which is 5:45 PA time. we will have 30+ hours of travel. We are actually skipping December 6th in a way because of how the time zone switches work which is pretty funny. Hope you all enjoy your December 6th for us! 

I will not be writing updates while in Cambodia, but I will be trying to communicate with my family every now and then, so you can check in with them for some updates until I get back! 

I miss you all and I am praying for you guys continuously! 

Blessings, Ashley :)

We did a "Jericho walk" as a school on Friday to practice carrying all of our stuff and get prayed over and commissioned by the campus... In the snow

Final school wide worship session on Friday.

Lauren showing excitement about the snow and being done with Lecture phase.

The Cambodia team <3

The EBPN elective. I feel so blessed to have been part of this elective. This was such a special group, and one of my highlights of Lecture Phase.