"The Lighthouse"

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After the Prayer Walk DC, God opened up a door for the ASL ministry team of YWAM DC to move into a house in NE, DC! We know that faith can move mountains and prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective! It has been just over a month that we have moved into "The Lighthouse", an amazing house 5 mins away from Gallaudet University in Washington DC.

We were so blessed to have the support of Jason Hershey, the YWAM DC director in the whole process of moving in. He told us to go for it, helped with all the leasing and helped on moving day! Above is a picture of our team in front of our house, with Jason and Josh (another YWAM DC staff) in the back, who helped us move in. 

Pastor Dave Owens of Embassy Church honored the ASL ministry team by "sending us out" from the NW side of DC to the NE side of DC at a Sunday morning service. Dan was thanking the church for supporting us and being amazing partners the last two years as we lived in their building. Then Pastor Dave Owens lead the whole church in praying for us as we moved on to the other side of D.C. 

Moving! Moving! Moving! 

Dan rented a huge Uhaul. All morning we packed the Uhaul. 

We ate lunch. And then all afternoon we unpacked the Uhaul. 

Kimberlee Hershey, Jason's wife, send flowers to our house for our crew the day we moved it! We found a glass bottle and put them in water right away to decorate our home. 

Olive is attentively paying attention as her dad, Dan, is leading the first team meeting at our new house. She has her own spot for our team meetings. 

The week we moved in, we decided to have a BBQ, cooking hamburgers and hotdogs to get to know our neighbors. We cooked and gave out 100 hamburgers and about 40 hotdogs in 3 hours. There was a mixture of deaf people and hearing people, neighbors that we had invited and others who just smelled a cook out. A few came back for seconds until we eventually ran out of meat! 

We were received so well and really believe that God brought the key people he wanted us to meet last night. Many people opened up their homes to us for the summer when they barbecue. The word I heard over and over was "family". "Welcome to the neighborhood, you are family."

We met our next door neighbors at the BBQ. They really enjoyed the brownies we made. 

We see them everyday and are getting to know them. 

They just got a pool for their kids for the summer and all LOVE holding Olive. 

Maurice and Rahnisha are in the picture above and Emoni is holding her in the picture below. 

The BBQ was definitely a GOD IDEA, as we see many of the people we met that night in the neighborhood. We are developing relationship with many of them and I have personally had the opportunity to pray with a handful. 

Back Row: Josiah, Liza, Destiny, Caleb, Dan, Carole and Olive

Kneeling: Danni and Renca

We are so excited about where God has placed us and what He wants to do through us here!

Prayer Walk DC

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God loves Washington D.C. and the people of DC! And so do we. 

A few months ago, Dan was praying and God put it on his heart to do a prayer circle around the city of D.C. So he shared his heart with Jason Hershey, our base director and they decided the whole YWAM base would participate in the walk! So Dan planned, made maps and we divided up into team to walk around DC, a total of 48.5 miles! There was seven different "legs" of the walk and the whole base met up for dinner just before the last "leg" to pray together (picture above). Below is a picture of the schedule. 

Throughout the walk, there was many prayers and revelations of what God wants to do in DC. I believe the biggest one was God's desire for unity among the body. Just as a team, we shared the joy of walking around DC, as not one person could do that alone, God desires all the churches and believers in DC to come together to see his plans happen in the city! When we arrived at Lincoln Memorial, we all climbed to the top and screamed "JESUS" three times to end the prayer walk. We believed that this prayer walk shifted things in DC and we know it did for us personally (more details in the next blog!)

Thanks for Renca Dunn, we have pictures of each of the seven "legs" of the walk. 

Section 1 team (7.5 miles) 

Section 2 team (7.5 miles) 

Section 3 team (7.5 miles) 

Section 4 team (8 miles)

Section 5 team (8 miles) 

Section 6 team (8 miles) 

Section 7 team (2 miles)

Olive Brave's Birthing Story

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Olive Brave's Birthing Story:

God preparing the circumstances for a greater blessing 

 . . . to give you the fullness of what He has planned for your life, He will use the season of waiting to prepare you as a vessel, and also to prepare circumstances around your life so that you will be able to step forward into the proper sphere when His release comes to you.  He's waiting so that He can crown you with an even greater blessing." 

Bob Sorge Secrets of the Secret Place Ch. 32 The Secret of Waiting

After the revelation of waiting, I declared to myself and others, God is preparing me and preparing the circumstances of birth for greater blessing! And He totally did! The last blog, I shared how God had prepared me by changing my perspective with waiting another week or two and getting my heart set on meeting the daughter God was giving to us.  This one will be focused on how God prepared the circumstances (an amazing support team) around Olive's birth for a greater blessing!

Labor began on Tuesday evening, February 17^th, when I started to feel contractions while playing a game with Dan. At this beginning stage, I labored at home with Dan by my side. Melissa, my Doula, came in the middle of the night and supported me all the way until all I gave birth.  She helped greatly with talking to the midwives and knowing when to go to the hospital. Contractions continued for hours until, finally, my water broke around 5 o'clock on Wednesday. After calling, we were told it was time to go to the birthing center at George Washington Hospital.

   

(Alex, the midwife that delivered Olive, Melissa, our doula, and Allison, the student midwife) 

We arrived at the hospital at 7pm, exactly when there is a change in the midwife shift (At GW Hospital, there are 8 midwives and many student nurses, so I did not know which ones would be on duty when I got there).  I was in the waiting area when my FAVORITE midwife walked in for her shift! In addition, the student midwife, Allison, who was working was one that I had met and LOVED! My heart rejoiced as I knew I was VERY comfortable with them both!

               Kimberlee and Olive                      Kimberlee and her children visiting Olive

As the evening progressed, I labored long and late into the night. It had now been over 24 hours of constant labor, and I was beginning to be discouraged about the birthing process. Again God’s timing is perfect in all things. At this point, my good sister in Christ and my best friend, Kimberlee Hershey, was able to come to the hospital to be with me. She was able to come because her 5 kids were asleep for the night. God sent her at just the right time.  Her presence changed the atmosphere of the room and shifted my focus!  She basically prayed over me for the last 5 hours of labor! With renewed focus and support, I made so much progress! 

Soon after Kimberlee got there, the midwives checked me as I thought it was time to push. However, I was only 7 cm dilated, and it was not time to push.  Honestly I was so disappointed.  It had been so long, and I was tired without food. As I looked up and saw Kimberlee, I remembered our prayers and declarations from earlier in my labor when we walked together at the base. I just declared things like I was created for giving birth or God is in control and I only need to surrender. This reminder of declaring God’s truth inspired me to stand up and scream: 

"I am not disappointed! God is in control! I am making progress! My cervix is opening and the baby's head is coming down!" 

I screamed it as loud as I could multiple times. As I declared truth, something amazing happened. I started leaking bloody fluids which meant my cervix was opening and the baby's head was coming down! The power of prayer was evident, and I know God received so much glory!

Kiera, our amazing nurse who was so calm through the whole process! 

(On a humorous note, another nurse came into the room asking if I needed a doctor because I screamed the baby's head is coming down, and she thought that I was about to push out a baby! LOL Everyone laughed and my doula said you have to be careful what you scream around here. It was a good moment of laughter.)  

From that point, everything shifted! We changed relaxation music to worship music, and I worshipped.  I completely surrendered to the process and the instructions of my nurse, doula, and midwives.  Following their instructions, quicken the process greatly! God chose the right midwife, doula, student midwife and nurse for me!  It was with their wisdom and guidance, as well as Dan and Kimberlee's support and prayers that I can look back with joy on the birthing experience. 

Dan was actually sitting behind me for the birth. I was between his legs as that was my favorite position to push. Literately we birthed the baby together! I cried when they put Olive Brave on my chest; they were tears of pure joy. Olive, who was on my chest, grabbed Dan’s finger and held it as we both bonded with her for the first time in person. It was amazing. 

After the moment of taking it all in, I started to speak all the words of identity over her that God had given us as well as the words others have spoken or prayed for her.  It was beautiful.  I treasure this experience in my heart, I can proclaim that Olive’s birth was an amazing testimony to God’s perfect timing, to His attention to every detail in our lives, and to His incredible faithfulness to us.

A few more pictures of Olive at the hospital!

What's up in DC?

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Feb 27th, our amazing 5 students graduated from the ASL DTS! 

It was a great night with many who came and celebrated with us! A night of laughs, testimonies, growth stories and gratefulness of what God has done over the last 5 months! Congrats to each one! 

So when the team was in the Philippines, what was team in DC doing?

 

 We have a simple weekly schedule, which includes team meetings daily, serving the YWAM base in different areas and individual ministry.  Below is our team schedule and areas where we serve on the base and GOOD NEWS with pictures. 

The Team (Liza, Josiah, Kari, Carole and Dan) 

Monday-ASL Team Meeting
We come together on Monday mornings for a time of worship and sharing testimonies of what God did during the week, encouraging and challenging each other!

Tuesday-YWAM Family Night 
This is an all YWAM Base event, that happens on Tuesdays nights where the community of DC is invited.  It is a time of worship and having a speaker share with our community.  Dan is on the rotation to led worship. They scheduled him early in the schedule, giving him a longer break for allotting time for baby to come. 

Wednesday-ASL Bible Study
Dan is leading a bible study, based on how we learned to study the bible in our bible school in Costa Rica, digging really deep.  We are studying 1 Peter, going through observation, interpretation and application.  Observation is what is in the text, interpretation is putting ourselves in the original readers/hearers shoes and application is what it means to us individually and how we can apply it to our lives. 

Thursday-YWAM Staff Meeting 
A weekly base meeting, where Jason Hershey leads a time where we share about what God is doing in each of our lives and ministries as well as prayer for each other.  In the picture below, Dan is interpreting and the empty seat is mine as I am taking the picture. :)

Friday-ASL Worship and Prayer set 
A 2 hour time slot that is completely devoted to worship and prayer.  We have been praying for the Philippines team, each other's ministries, events that are happening in the Deaf community and around the world.

  

Serving the Base
Each one of us serves the base in different areas, which helps the base continue to run!

 

So for about 10 hours a week each, you will see our team serving around the base.
Dan and I clean up everyday after dinner, Liza is our hospitality person and does laundry for our visitors and general base towels.  Kari does all the food shopping for the base and Josiah cooks lunch (which he is a pretty good chef!) and takes care of the base vehicles.

Individual Ministry
For about 20 hours a week, each of us has time for our individual ministry.  Something that God has placed on our hearts that we want to partner with him to see happen in DC or a way to bless other people and share the gospel and love of Jesus with others. Dan meets weekly with each staff to process how their individual ministry is going.

Dan's Ministry-Video and Editing 
Currently he is editing a professional DVD for the our Summer Burning Embers Tour Performance for the Deaf community to use in youth groups and churches as well as individuals sharing Jesus in a creative way with friends.  He has completed the first phase of the editing and showed it to our team for feedback.  Currently, he is working on the captions for people who do not know ASL and then will burn it on to a DVD to give out! 

  

Carole's Ministry-Championing Others Around the World

My heart is to connect and support other YWAMers and pastors/people (both Deaf and hearing) who have the heart for the Deaf like us.  Dan and I have learned a lot pioneering the ASL DTS and starting ministry for the Deaf in DC and desire to share with others so they can start further and go farther then us! I have the opportunity to encourage and champion dreams God has for the Deaf in other people. In January and early Feb, I had the opportunity to VideoPhone/Skype/Call at least 2 times a week with a new person from outside DC and spur them on in what God is calling them to do.

Parenthood-Olive is a month today, March 19th! 

Since Olive has been born, my time has been occupied with the joys of motherhood! Changing a lot of diapers, breastfeeding, sleeping when I can, midwives and pediatrician appointments and trying to take a shower everyday (which does not always happen :) I have been learning so much everyday.  

It is such a joy to be partnering with God and seeing His dreams and our dreams becoming a reality! 

GOOD NEWS

Last but probably the most exciting news around here is that Josiah and Liza are engaged! 

Josiah Smith and Liza Brandow were both students in the ASL DTS where they met and became friends, both served on the second ASL DTS this fall and are current staff here in DC! They are officially the first ASL YWAMers to fall in love!

 On February 2nd, Liza's birthday, Josiah got her a red velvet cake and we celebrated as a YWAM base at dinner.  Afterwards, Josiah took her out on a date to an ice skating rink (Liza's favorite activity).  The night was so cold and windy that they were the only ones on the rink!

 

 Then he took her to National Harbor and they went on the Ferris Wheel.  On the top of the Ferris Wheel on the third turn around, Josiah got down on one knee and asked Liza to marry him.  And filled with so much joy, Liza said yes with laughter!