I cut pizza with scissors.

Has anything ever happened to you that was so crazy you were left speechless and almost in disbelief?

Have you ever seen something so beautiful you felt like you shouldn't touch it because you might ruin it?

Do you ever look at the sky?

¿Usted mirra al cielo?

Have you ever heard of Jesus?

¿Usted conoce a Jesús?

We should be just as comfortable asking the first three questions as the fourth one. Are you? Am I?

"If you believe that without Jesus you will be separated from paradise and God forever, how much do you have to hate someone not to tell them their possible fate and share the solution?" -An Atheist

Before I came here I believed in God but I didn't really know how I felt about Jesus. If you feel similarly pick up this book "More than a Carpenter" I am on page 49 out of 120. It has already revolutionized my view of Jesus. He is the best thing that has ever happened to man kind and he only lived to be thirty three, and only three of his years were spent in ministry.

Imagine then what you could do with your eighty-ish years of life.

There are two weeks left before we all go on Outreach Darwin/Bali.

HERE I COME!

Fantastic Friday

We went to the July DTS graduation. Before it began I was just sitting on the internet trying to get college applications done and I got looking at my own facebook photos. It was just making me miss EVERYTHING. When I got to this picture. I just started to cry.

This is my dad and I with my car after a 26 hour strait drive from Orlando Florida to Merrimack New Hampshire. Everything I own is in that car. My bed and my surf board (that is still broken) is on top. I lost it. I was just angry at God that everything I love is so far away. The graduation started with praise songs. I just couldn't do it. I went outside and just talked to him for a while and then he reminded me of something I learned in Orlando. "IF YOU DON'T MISS IT THEN IT WAS NOT GOOD." At that point things were back to ok. I went back in an was able enjoy what God had done in and through them. I also noticed that I am on the right DTS. God is awesome at timing. We are going to blow their graduation out of the water!

At the end Mario made an announcement that there would be a dance party at #2. I decide I didn't want to wear a shirt so I went home to change and make myself an ice coffee. Then I set out of the walk to #2. I decided to walk by 77 to give Christian a call because I had a few things to tell him. When I tried to call my phone card said it didn't have enough money on it. Which was very because I put 10$ on it that very same day. So I called the customer service line to try to figure out what was happening. I ended up talking to the customer service guy for 45minutes. He is twenty year old Philippino. He lives in Manila and loves corn ice cream just like I do! His father is a pastor and he knows people who have done YWAM. I got to refresh his our look on Jesus I think. We talked about how sometimes it can feel like something you have to do because your family does it. But really it is this crazy thing that deserves our love. I ended up missing the dance party completely. God is so funny how he uses us. I never did get ahold of Christian I was only able to leave a message but I was able to be used by God even though only a few hours ago I was very upset with him.

I also got 12$ for free on my calling card and he is sending me a SIM card to put in my Australian cell phone that will enable me to call the US for 4 cents a minutes from a cell phone!

God is good.

Romans 1:20

This week we ran 24 hour prayer for 5 days. We each had a group of about four people in a two hour prayer slot somewhere in the day or night. But you were not limited to that two hours. You could pray all day and all night if you wanted. I learned more strait from the lips of God last week than from any other week from the lips of man. After reading over all of my notes from the week this is my conclusion:

God you are BIGGER than real; more powerful than tsunamis. You are cooler than aliens; more extravagant than galaxies. There is so much more than what we hear with our ears and see with our eyes. Help me to see what you see. Help me to hear what you hear. Help me to see right and wrong the way you see it and not through my cultures eyes. Anoint me with truth, fill me until I over flow with wisdom.

Angels are always with us. Often there are so many with us during a time of worship there is no more room for humans in the building. They all have names. I asked God the name of my guardian angel and he wouldn't tell me. God is wise. I would have thanked the Angel instead of Jesus for protecting me. I thanked my angel anyways. Haha

God and my love for him is bigger than my love for my cowboy boots. They fit perfectly and where my mothers when she was my age. I almost had to give them away because they are that good.

God has given me a love for everything hand made, for hand sewing, for cooking healthy meals, for the sky, for picnics, for writing letters, for explaining new concepts in multiple ways, for getting onto an individuals level that thought no one would ever understand, for bringing joy out of everything and now strait up crazy love for Him. Now it is my job to use all of those things for his glory. Especially letter writing.

I believe prayer is going to become a much larger part of my life. I love just hanging out with God. I always learn something new. Here are a few examples:

What a simple thing and a huge relief it is to admit you were wrong and ask for forgiveness.

How purely wrong gossip is and how easily it pretends to be something else in our culture. Ex: People magazine, The real world, Tabloids, and Desperate house wives.

How real and horrible Satan really is, and how he work over time just to trip us.

How easy getting rid of Satan is.

How a random bad mood is not just "normal" it is an attach of satan to make you less productive and lazy. And it works!

How simple but difficult true faith really is.

How real healing the sick is.

If we can heal the sick, we can also raise the dead.

How present angels are.

How much he wants to help us with every decision in our lives.

How much he loves me.

Romans 1:20

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God has made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities, his eternal power, and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God."

Remain Faithful Available and Teachable

Last week was just a reminder that this Christian life is a journey. It is a constant renewal of our love for Christ. It is crazy to me how huge and constant God's love for us is. We so easily get distracted and so easily get attached by the devil. And yet he never stops loving us. I just think its sweet that as soon as we say "get away from me satan in Jesus name" he has to leave.

Last weeks lectures where pretty basic. It wasn't a lot about God at all. It was about Relationships. So we talked about conflict resolution, doing singleness well, boundaries, communication, personality types and some other things I already know about. During class I actually made a new lap top cover by hand. Hand sewing helps me listen and stay concentrated. It is also very calming. I have really begun to enjoy not having a sewing machine.

I did learn a few things from lectures though. One is that there is no mention at all of what Eve looked like. It does not even tell us that she was beautiful. It does not tell us what size boobs she had. What her pant size was. How tan her skin was. It just says that when God saw it he said it was good. I also noticed that woman was made last. I was almost offended at first. But I think it shows us our worth. This world puts woman's worth at the level of a maid. She cooks and she cleans but our place is so much more important than that. God made the world and man and then he saw that there was a piece missing. Woman is that missing piece. We fill in all the cracks. There is so much value in that. It just brings a smile to my face.

I have also started reading my Bible with breakfast. Because I ALWAYS eat breakfast. It has been really cool. I didn't realize how much I had enjoyed it until went to the largest sand island in the world for the weekend and left my Bible at home. I missed my breakfast with God.

Seek first to be understood and then to understand

There is sand in my bed.

Eight days ago I was Baptized. It was not planned in advance. On that Sunday I let a lot of things go that I was holding onto to and that were holding me back. I handed God, with the help of friends, ALL of my burdens, ALL of my sin, ALL of my shortcoming, and ALL of my fear. As I handed him things, one by one he took them. One by one they disappeared. He took them with mercy and love in his eyes. When it was all over I was weak enough that I let myself fall into his arms. Through Callie's arms I felt the true embrace of the God who can look at me now because I have been covered in his only Son's blood. Not to sound morbid. But honestly. At that point I knew it was time to make that public statement that GOD IS REAL. And I want my life to be a testimony to that fact. As we started to drive towards the ocean there was an EPIC rainbow. I have never seen one so wide and bright. As I looked at it in the middle of this drizzling dismal dreary day God said "Don't worry Hannah the sun will come out." We drove to the ocean with a hand full of my YWAM family and accidentally ended up at the exact place I first touched the Australian ocean. God is not cheep, he appreciates the details. I was baptized in the name of The Father The Son and The Holly Spirit. As we left the beach the sun came out.

Right before I started to write this I asked God where I should read in the bible I closed my eyes expecting to have to wait for an answer. Before they were even shut for a moment I got Titus 3:5-6 and it says: "He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior." The reason I think that is so cool is because that is a summery of what I have learned here. It is also a conformation of what I saw only an hour ago while I was praying with my friend. I saw God standing in the laundry mat waiting for me to come wash my one pair of clothes. I wondered why do I only have one pair? And he answered "So you keep coming back Hannah."

Last week was jam packed with information. They squeezed Spiritual warfare and Jewish roots into four days. Honestly I think that is almost criminal but our speaker Joel did a fabulous job.

Spiritual warfare:

I learned that in Jesus name I have authority over fear, over bad moods, over negative thoughts, over lust, over bad dreams, over disappointment, and even over demons. I learned that we need to be aware and alert. The world is a battle ground, but we are not alone. We have the most powerful God living inside of us. We bring the presence of God with us everywhere. Therefore we have no reason to fear. I also was reminded that our enemy is not flesh and blood so if we find ourselves fighting amongst ourselves like a lot of American churches do. That means the devil is winning. He is sitting on a beach somewhere drinking a cocktail just stirring the coals every once in a while. Devision in the church makes the devils job way to easy. This is the time we need to band together as the church. We desperately need to restore unity. In church history the best way to restore unity is to be persecuted. Do you want that? Do you want the police to start arresting christians? Is that what it is going to take to bring us back together or do you think we can pull it together. I have faith that we can pull it together. I believe the church has way more potential than it gets credit for. But it has lost its first love. Christ. Lets bring it back around. Lets refocus and let the fire burn in us. "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it" (Matt. 11:12) Lets be forceful. Lets be intentional. Lets be unified. I am going to soak America in prayer until it is dripping wet. We need it. We need to admit that we are not ok.

Jewish roots:

One of the coolest things he said was what we should all be saying to the jewish nation. "Thank you for this wonderful book. If it was not for you we would never have it. I pray for your nation, And I love you." I have never in my life thought to thank them. But without God's people we would never have to word of God. I just think that fact is so precious. Another thing he described that I thought was cool was how the gospel has gone around the world in a westerly direction out of Israel. And that it how God wanted it. He actually wouldn't let Paul go into Asia. He had to go west. God wanted the Gospel to go west and make its way back around to Israel. You can see from history how it burned across europe and into american and now the cutting edge of the gospel is in china. We are seeing the greatest numbers of Chinese coverts in these recent days than ever in history. And in time it will get back to Israel and the first will be last. I think that is such a wonderful picture of God's order and faithfulness.

One of the most powerful things I learned though, is that as a christian our inheritance or job is not only the great commission. "Go into all the world and preach the gospel." We are also commanded in the word to do greater signs than even Jesus did on earth. We are commanded to "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, and cure the lepers." No one ever told me that it was my job to heal the sick. I was always told pray and read the Bible and maybe you could be called to be missionary work. But NO that is not good enough. We are told to HEAL THE SICK! Have you ever seen a healing? Well you better because that is our calling. Our job is to do signs and wonders to make the people wonder. Cool huh?

Jesus Lover of my Soul

Today I received an unbelievable level of joy, pure groundless almost ridiculous joy. It just became contagious. I just wanted to share it with the world. So I hugged everyone, skipped to the IGA (24 hour grocery store) made brownies, went to the dentist where they had these sick chairs from finland, bought a black dress for 8$ and spent 2 hours reading my book with God on the beach. Just to conclude with a nacho salad. It was one of those days that it is easy to praise God because you feel it. It is nice to have that kind of a break sometimes. I like those days.

I believe I am starting to figure out the reason for "quiet times." I always thought it was this forced painfully lame thing christians where required to do. I found out this week that no where in the Bible does it say "You must spend 30 minutes a day reading the Bible and praying to God or you can kiss your salvation goodbye!" Quite time can be some of the coolest moments of the day. It can look like anything. You can sit outside a coffee shop and watch all the people walk by and just ask God how to pray for these people. Or you can walk on the beach in silence just listening for God to put things on your heart. Or you can read your favorite or least favorite Bible story and ask God to show you something in it that you have never seen before. God understands me and all He wants is to hang out with me and you of course. Why? Because He loves his creation. Try reading Song of Solomon yourself. That is how God sees you. Through the head over heals eyes of love. I wish everyone let God put those kind of arms around them. So many feelings like fear, insecurity, pain, neglect would literally disappear if you just knew what kind of powerful love you have in Him. God made romance. Imagine that.

This week I learned that to hear God. You have to stop and listen. Listen longer than you pray for. Listen longer than is comfortable. Stop your mind and just listen. Listen until it hurts. Listen until you hear. Wait your time listening. He understands us better than we understand ourselves. He knows how much I love getting letters. He knows how much I wish someone would take me on picnics with heart shaped PB&J's. He told me the other day to go on picnic with him, just him. I am so excited just to hang out with him. This is so new. Sweet as.

Callie, don't worry I will blog about Sunday later. I have to Journal about it first.