God's heart, relationships and spiritual warfare.....

So the lecture phase is almost halfway done. what. the. heck.

I can honestly say that DTS is changing my life, and I am being completely transformed.

I am really starting to understand and comprehend what it means to love and follow Jesus, not just what it means to say you 'believe in God'.... It's obviously hard and challenging because it requires giving up rights. But all good things!

Firstly.... I'm going to Indonesia!!!!!!! :D In the middle of September we will be jetting off to Bali and Surabaya for 7 weeks. While we are there we will be doing evangelism, kids and sports ministry, teaching English, jail and red light district ministry and maybe and probably other things?? It's outreach :) who knows. It's so awesome. I have paid off neeeaaaarly all of my monies for this (which has some how been provided for... I don't even know how....) however I need $300 more for the final payment. That is £177.30. I have about $50 in my bank account which is really fun to teach me to trust in God a lot!! Missionary life. If y'all wanna help support me get to INDONESIAAA then hit me up! Cool story- one of my friends here needed $1200 within hours so that she could go on outreach and stay for the rest of lecture phase.... she went to the accounting's office to check how much she specifically owed and she was told that there was an anonymous donation for $1800!!!!!!! What the heck. I know God'll provide my mere $300 :) 

((Team Indo Selfie))

3 weeks ago our whole DTS moved up into the Rocky Mountains for a week of lectures on 'The Father Heart of God'. Our DTS really bonded a lot (since there was no-where to run off to) and we spent many nights by the campfire making smores, or playing games, or laughing a lotttt. That was also a really hard and emotional week as God was convicting me of a lot of stuff that had to be dealt with. What better place to process stuff than in the mountains though? It was perfect. During that week we climbed a mountain (high elevation hiking is really fun) and I ate biscuits and gravy (not simultaneously, though i wouldn't have complained. Also England needs to adapt to the biscuits and gravy life! it's so good)(it's not an actual biscuit, don't worry. google it.)

After that week mine and a few other small groups took part in 'service saturday' which is where all students on base go into different community projects and help out for a few hours. We went to 'habitat for humanity' and did various jobs which included shiftin' wood, cleaning up the warehouse and the yard. It was pretty sweet.

The week after that was 'Relationships' week. The teaching and what I got out of that week was so intense and it changed my whole perspective of everything. seriously. Half of the week was spent on relationships with just other humans in general, which doesn't sound as interesting and juicy as romantic relationships but that foundational teaching was so insightful and important it altered how I view so much. A few things that I got out of that week: False humility is possible- thinking less of yourself isn't humility- It's pride. // It's SO important to love others based on their value and NOT based on their behavior and actions. // The problem and root of every issue in the world ever is because of relationship, or lack of. // And most importantly, Love is a choice. :) 

This week is 'Hearing God's Voice ///// Spiritual Warfare'. It's awesome. Though I've heard from God very clearly in the past, I can't ever remember having specific teaching about this topic. I am learning so much. My hand is about to fall off from all the notes that I am taking. I used up a whole biro pen in 2 weeks. ooopsssssss. One of the biggest thing that I learned this week is that every action that I choose now affects eternity. This millisecond of life compared to millions of years of eternity should be used wisely.....

All in all..... I am getting completely ripped apart from the inside out. Some days I feel naked because God's taking away all the bad stuff that I've made my home, to replace with good stuff. Having it gone means that I feel lighter but also more vulnerable. It's scary. And a big faith test. But God is definitely the most trustworthy ever. everrrrr.

Lots of love from the Mile High state xoxox

cheeky update

DTS is great

I love it here. I haven't genuinely been this happy and content in months... It's so quickly felt like home and I've felt more comfortable here than back home at the Lodge (oops?!). There are about 35 students on this DTS and about 15 staff (random guess) and they all have become family so quickly (apologies for the cliche). Seriously though, the fact that I've been here for just over 2 weeks is blowing my mind- it feels like it's been months, but also only a few days which is guess is why people say that DTS flies by..

The first week we were here was just orientation week which gave us time to get to know each other better, and then last week our first lectures started and the topic was the character and nature of God. This week was taught by Pastor Blake Mattocks who was an amazing and humble guy- he really showed me God's heart and who He is through his teaching. Just a few topics included in that week were honesty, obedience, contentment, courage, forgiveness, kindness and others..... It's been really challenging and humbling to see each characteristic in depth more.

On one of the first nights here, our school had a session of learning about rights and ultimately laying them down to Jesus since he gave us everything anyways. Afterwards during the processing time I could have cleared out a small section of the Amazon rainforest through my tissue consumption... It was so hard to give up some things that I held so close and hadn't seriously considered ever giving up. Thankfully my amazing small group leader walked me through some of that processing.... It really showed me that I need to constantly lay things down to God because holding things close will actually move me backwards instead of pressing forwards.

This week the topic is 'Fear of the Lord'. Our teacher is Mark Davies who is on staff here- just one of the things that we learned that really stood out to me was that there are absolutes and relatives... an absolute is that Jesus is Lord, love must be a main priority, Jesus is the only way to salvation, etc. Other things like music preference, tattoos, alcohol, movies etc. are all relatives (defined by our conscience and convictions). To force our own convictions upon others of what we believe is right or wrong isn't loving. However it's important that absolutes stay priority and the focus of our lives... once the relatives take over and become more important to the point of disunity and division then there's a problem! Moral of the story: love one another and God over anything else. This was pretty cool to see and apply.

(Inserted inspiring picture of a lake that we hiked up to see last weekend)

DTS is challenging but I love it. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. I'm having to face a lot of hard things in my heart face on. I am also asking God and myself a lot of hard questions because I don't want that half-hearted faith stuff. My friends are awesome and supportive and I know that with God is the safest place to be.

This next week we'll be away in the mountains learning about the Father heart of God. Yay. Thanks for all of your prayerzzz and love! I really appreciate.

If you want to send me mail (which you do) then my address is

YWAM Denver
Elisa Leage DTS
12750 West 63rd Ave,
Arvada CO 80004

xoxoxoxox