Tuesday, December 27, 2011

When words fail, love speaks

Musical Chairs with the glue boys on Christmas Eve 
Lindy, Simona. and I on Christmas Eve!
God-Time in Nicaragua. :) 
Mariano and Cesar (the two boys at the home)
My little friend Louis! What a cutie! 
Performing one of our drama's to Coldplay's Fix you!
Cute Nica kidlets!!
A beautiful old church and a beautiful sunset in downtown Masaya. God, you are so beautiful! 
Me and my saving friend Illian (more to this story later)
explosive fireworks on Christmas Day-Night
The Nicaraguan Market!
More later. Just some pictures for now. Love you all lots!

<3 GKW

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Safe, Sound, and Submissive

Hello one and all,
I am sorry that I really haven't had a chance to update until now! I have not been in in access to internet for more than a couple of minutes and it is usually not on a computer, it is usually on a mobile device. We have been BUSY here in Masaya, Nicaragua! That's where I am, by the way! If you don't already know about this, look at my previous blog posts.

God is good. We got down here in travel with barely any glitches. We only had one hold up and that was temporary and easily sorted out. Our luggage all arrive, and with us too! So, I am on a team of 23 people. 3 leaders: Will and Erika Strickland and Kevin Looper. They have done a great job at leading a very varied team. Alliteration? Yes.

We are staying at a boys home home for previous street kids. Mariano, our contact and translator is super great and we felt welcomed right off the bat. They have been SO incredible at hosting us. Attending to our every whim, actually! For example, we had an incident with a scorpion at which Jayeon (my lovely south korean cutie) does not have a good impression of. Nubia (noovia= Mariano's mother and the main worker here at the house) came into our room and shook out all of our bedding and clothing to make sure there were no more scorpions for us! So gracious and so kind. They have cooked all of our delicious meals and cleaned and been so amazing. For example, this is some of the delicious food I get to eat!

Anyways, we have spent our last many days having a lot of fun, and loving on a lot of people. Our first night we simply spent relaxing at the boys home. After a red-eye flight and long layovers and no sleep in the airport, we were all very exhausted. I love it here though. It really does remind me of my time in Belize in Feb 2010 with Project Serve and Youth For Christ. Being here makes me miss my little best friend Lindy (but there is a girl Lindy on my team as well, so I guess that void is filled at least in name! She is a sweetie) I really do love it here already and it hasn't even been a whole week. What a great thing to have God just softening my heart towards and entire country. He really does set our hearts on the right things at the right times.

After we did that, our first day was spent simply touring around Masaya. We went to an old prison/castle where prisoners of war were kept. Nicaragua has been a very war-torn country and has only really been peaceful over the last couple of years. So we visited that,. It was weird to be in the exact same place where so many people had been tortured. So this (below) is a picture of the view from there. Pretty. Also, there is a volcano in the background. COOOOL, hey? Ps: they, in america, would say "coooooool, huh?" Blegh. When it rains, it rains acid rain because of the volcano. We also took a walk through the streets of Masaya.
We have spent time with the boys at the home. We have also done a couple of kids ministry days. I am the one in charge of kids ministry along with my buddy Nate. We do little fun skits, puppets, games, share testimonies with them, and simply love on them with God's love the best we can without knowing their language. I am already picking up Spanish. There are a few people on our team who are helping us to learn more quickly.
Pretty sunset view across a lake on our Masaya walk
We have worked with lots of ninyos (kids). And it is a lot of fun. I love to hug kids. I have realized that my favourite thing is taking a child who is in tears and making them have a broad smile on their face! Best feeling in the world. SO nice to be able to share Christ with these kids, even without words!!
Volcano Swimming
We also swam in volcano water! So it was nice and hot water. Lots of fun bonding with our team and spending time just loving each other. The work that we have done is rather exhausting.
God is teaching us all a lot about what it means to be humble and to serve others through the strength we can get from Him, not from ourselves. We are open and willing to do whatever He wills from us! God have your way with our team.
worship on outreach
If you are a "talking to God" type, or even if you are not, please pray that we would have safe travels, no bugs, no sickness, and just a crazy amount of energy to be able to pour our all into all of the ministries we are invested into.
Anyways, I will write more on our adventures later. Feliz Navidad (MERRY CHRISTMAS) to all of you back home or anyone following. I love you all a lot. We are having a great time. God is great.
Cheers. I love you all. I miss youz (well, most of you)
Just joking around. God bless you all in this Christmas Season. I am excited to spend next Christmas with you, or so I hope.

Adios! Hasta Luego!

GILLIAN K WALKER

Monday, November 28, 2011

home for the holidays

I just had an amazing visit here back in Saskatoon! I had the chance to unexpectedly come back home for American Thanksgiving. It has been such a blessing to be around familiar places, people, and things! I haven't ever truly lived outside of Canada for more than a few weeks, so I haven't really experienced missing my country. I can no longer say that. Even though I was only home for a few days, I got to throw a great surprise birthday party for my dear Cody (he was completely shocked), have great visits with friends, be with my family, relax, set up some Christmas decorations, and participate in the first advent supper!
I am excited, however, to head back to Denver. There are sweet things ahead in our program! On December 17th, we are headed out on our outreach to Honduras and Nicaragua! How amazing!! We affectionately like to call our team the Nicaduras team. Since I am in Nicaragua for Christmas. I had Christmas in November. Oh home sweet home! Here are a couple of pictures from my visit:
I will try to keep updating this blog. I apologize for my lack of diligence in keeping it up to date. Especially when I am on my mission, I will try to do better!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

La Musique


The program that I am in here in Denver is a MUSICIANS dts. There's a little bit of emphasis on the musicians part there. It has been really an amazing experience to be in an environment where everyone in my school loves music or is themselves a musician. I don't know that I've ever really had that opportunity anywhere else. The school itself is not centered much around music, but more-so directed at people who find a passion in music. I would definitely categorize myself as such. I love music. Every single thing about it.

I can pin-point in my memory the day when I truly developed an appreciation for it. I was at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Regina around Christmas time and the radio was playing. The song "Breakfast" by the newsboys was playing and I did not know the song yet, but I just wanted to sing along and dance to it. I probably did both. The amazing thing about music is that it moves people, in one way or another. Whether they are moved to dance, sing, clap, sway, change, or simply stop and listen, it doesn't matter. The point is that music causes movement.

Another thing that has been so amazing being here in Denver is that there are so many people from different cultures represented. Music is this universal language that we can all share! How beautiful is that? "When words fail, music speaks." I mean, we have people from the United States, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Korea, Switzerland, Canada (woot woot), Kenya, and I probably forgot some.

Today I got the chance to share a song I had to write about wisdom. So I want to share it with the outside world, too. My friend Austin helped me out by playing the Jimbe (sp?), so props to him for the beats! Anyways... the song is about finding the fear of the Lord (the beginning of wisdom Prov. 9:10) when we come to the River of Life... no matter where we are at in our lives. We can be distant from God and He'll still grant us wisdom in those times too. It's an open invitation to come into a relationship with Him. It was fun writing this song. I hope you enjoy it!

Ywam is really great this week.

And here are the lyrics:
When our tongues were mixed, not by the tower, but by the lion
When our eyes weren't fixed on Him, we were false idoling
When the stones were small, but the faith was bigger than a giant
When the walls were thick, but we blew them down with the trumpets

When I fall: There's a River
When I call: There's a River

The River's deep. The River's wide.
There my soul is satisfied
I'm diving in. I'm going deep
Heavenly treasure I am seeking

At the bottom I find
The fear of the Lord can be mine
If I choose to swim in stride
I can come to the River any time

When our hope grows thin, like thie pictures on the magazines
When we spend our time on the useless, wordly things
When we come as one, and lift up Holy hands
When we lift our prayers, trusting God to heal this land


When we fall: There's a River
When we call: There's a River

Ther River's deep. The River's wide.
There my soul is satisfied
I'm diving in. I'm going deep.
Heavenly treasure I am seeking

At the bottom I find
The fear of the Lord can be mine
If I choose to swim in stride
I can come to the River any time
 

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

snow blows

We had a snow "storm" here in Arvada last night. I wasn't the happiest camper, but many of my friends who had not seen snow yet were very excited. I generously let them be the excited ones, so that my intense happiness would not drown out there enthusiasm (note sarcasm).


Luckaly I get to go to extremely warm countries in a couple of months!!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

one month!

I have been out of Saskatchewan now for an entire month! I miss it but I can call it home here now, too.

"But if home is where the heart is then my home is where you are. And it's getting oh so hard to spend these days without my heart!"

I love and miss you all back in the motherland.

Friday, October 21, 2011

snail mail

SEND ME MAIL BECAUSE I LOVE GETTING IT AND I WILL SEND YOU MAIL BECAUSE YOU PROBABLY DO AS WELL!!!

Gillian Walker
Ywam Denver
12750 W. 63rd Ave
Arvada, CO
80004
USA

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I am somewhere in between

I drew this today in class to represent what I feel that God's done in my life this week. Crashed over me and all my short comings and covered me with His love. He is a great God.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011

what's new scoobydoo?

It was just over three weeks ago that I left the beautiful city of Saskatoon in the review mirror to dive headfirst into an adventure down here in Colorado. It was not all that easy to leave the comforts of home, family, and friends, and I will admit I cried a few tears as I drove off. However, looking back now, I wouldn't trade even just these three weeks for anything.

In so many ways it feels as though I've been in Denver for months on end, and in a lot of other ways it feels as though I got here yesterday. God is doing amazing things in my heart and in my life. I've met so many amazing people here. I've also experienced some crazy stuff that I think if you would have asked me before I left; I would have told you would never happen. God is good. It's like He's been preparing my heart for this intense time for the last couple of years.

For those of you who are very confused about what I am doing and I haven’t told you about it at all, I apologize. Let me explain a little bit. I am living in Denver, Colorado (or, well, Arvada, which is basically just a sub city to Denver) with an organization called YWAM (Youth with a Mission) doing a program called a DTS (discipleship training school). Essentially, it is a 5ish month program where I get to learn how to “know God, and to make Him known”. We have weekly modular classes on different things each week (for 12 weeks here in Arvada). Some different topics include: The Character of God, Relationships, The Father Heart of God, The Heart of Worship, The Holy Spirit, Spiritual Warfare, Worldview/Kingdom view, Lifestyle of Repentance, and Missions and Evangelism. THEN in mid December I will take off with a team of my choice to either Honduras/Nicaragua or to Brazil for six weeks to put into practice all of the things we’ve learned and to do service work and tell people who have never heard about Jesus!

So I got here and the first week was all quite a blur! We basically had sessions and things going on all day everyday with maybe five minute breaks in between. It was all super intensive. We had worship (which is so amazing, by the way). There were sessions on: the flow of worship, relinquishing your rights up to God, intercession and what it means, and a lot of “bonding time” with our school. I felt pretty overwhelmed coming out of a tight knit community at camp where I lived for four months into a different one where I didn’t know a single person! Also, switching from being the teacher to being the taught has been quite the adjustment. The people here were all so welcoming and wonderful but it has just been so different from everything I’ve ever been used to.

God has really been drawing me closer to Him and teaching me how much He truly loves us in SPITE of ourselves. “He loves us as we are, not as we should be, but He also loves us way too much to let us stay this way.” Sometimes when I think about how HUGE God is, it freaks me out and humbles me until I feel as though I’m smaller than an atom. Then He comes and reminds me that He loves that little atom and He made me exactly as I am (every little part) in order that I could live in relationship with Him. It’s perplexing. He’s so infinite, but so personal! He is unfathomable and I love getting caught up and mystified by it all!

I've built some really sweet friendships and relationships as well. My specific school (the musicians dts) is made up of... I think 17 guys (nate, freeman, alex, zach, mats, taylor, jon, jake, michael, yannik, sam, sungboam, tim, ryan, graham, patrick, austen) and 10 girls (maddy, kiny, sujin, yvonne, jayeon, bri, brittany, lindy, simona, and myself). I have an amazing small group (yvonne, jayeon, bri, and I). Our leader's name is Erika and she is superbe and quite word-nerdy. She likes to put/smudge words together, just like me. All of the staff are really amazing, as well as my classmates. I have a lot of fun with them!

Week 2 we had a guy named Egbert de Zwaan come and talk to us about The Character of God, a lot of what I learned is summed up above! Ha! Looking a bit at who God is and how perfect He is has made me think about what it truly means to draw near to Him. To sit at His feet and just be in awe, wanting to learn all that I can about Him so that I might be even just the faintest reflection of how great He is on this world that we live in.

Week 3 we went to this conference called the “Acts 1” conference. If you do not know the story of the book of Acts, chapter one, it goes a little something like this: After Jesus ascends to heaven the disciples gathered together in “the upper room” and waited for God to show up. They had no idea how He would do it, but they waited together, anticipating greatness. Then whoa whoa whoa the Holy Spirit showed up and they were empowered and enabled and filled to start spreading the gospel. Cool, hey? That’s where the Christian church started.

So this gathering was in a way sort of a “waiting on God” thing. We went and spent 3 almost full days (other than meals) just worshiping in song, in fellowship, and in prayer; listening to whatever it was that God had to say to us. The main reason ywam did this was because they’ve felt a big move in what God wants to do through ywam in the US, so they are looking to God to prepare them for it. It was a really neat time because basically God did a lot of correcting in people’s hearts (including my own). I will admit to being a bit of a skeptic about some of the stuff that ywam does (the more Pentecostal/Charismatic stuff) but who am I to put a limit on what God can do? He’s all powerful. All I know is He is moving and it’s exciting.

I feel like I got a lot of freedom from some apathy and rebellion I know I’ve had on my Christian walk with God. With that freedom, a spirit of just clarity, discernment, and a renewed passion for THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST was renewed in my life. It’s so easy to simply live a happy-go-lucky Christian walk without ever taking Matthew 28:18-20 to heart. I want to be the kind of Christian who takes that charge seriously and proclaims God’s love to everyone.

God is good. I’m growing in ways I didn’t know were possible. I’m truly thankful for this focused time to just develop and solidify my foundation and relationship with Him. I don’t want God to be an after-thought in my life. I want Him to be the base on which I build my life. Of course I miss home a bit (especially certain people who I’m sure will know how much their friendships mean to me and realize that this is written about you). I hope to come home a transformed person who is rooted and established in God’s love and who has a heart for what God has a heart for.

One verse that God has blessed me with is Zephaniah 3:17:

“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

It is a great God that we serve!!

God Bless until my next long rant,

Gill Walks

where you live should no longer determine whether you live -bono

THIS IS WHERE I LIVE!
 In our backyard, there's a beautiful lake!

 This is the base.

 I like to take walks in the rain around the lake with starbucks because it's pretty out.
 Someone thought it would be funny to edit this sign from "no skateboarding" into "go skateboarding" HA
 I live here. I didn't even have to clean it for the picture (take note, maman)