All the way from VA beach

(This post is a continuation of the last post and should have been published months ago but school took precedence.)



Continuing with tours, on another day, we had an opportunity to do the tour in the Capitol building.  This tour was not any different from the tours that are given on a daily basis in the building.  In a previous post, I wrote about a different tour we had done as a group with the wife of a former Congressman.  That specific tour was done in a very different way than the tour done with the youth group.
The tour guide gave us many different historical details from the construction of the building, the art on the walls, monuments of historical figures, intricate details of the architecture, and the significance of different rooms in the building.

After the tour, Jason, the leader of YWAM DC, discussed the implications of the things we heard during the tour.  It was also a debriefing time for the youth group students to share what they felt the Lord was saying to them.

As well as praying in some of the senate buildings, the team spent some time at the steps of the Supreme Court building life-sieging for the ending of abortion. God is stirring passion among the younger generation. 

From Indiana

During the last few weeks of my time in YWAM DC we had two youth groups come through that partnered with us in ministry.  The first group came from Indiana and joined us for about a week.  Here are some of the things we did.

One of the things we did was a monument tour.  This tour is not like the other tours in Washington D.C.  While most tours will give the historical aspects of the monuments, this tour includes the Christian perspective.  Our guide for the night is also the leader of YWAM DC.  He often asks the question, "Where was God in all of this?"  He tells his personal journey with God as well as giving the history of America with God in the picture.  While most of the youth group students have learned about the history of the United States without Jesus, this was a chance to revisit history with the perspective of God.

This tour was a very long one.  We went from the Lincoln Memorial all the way to the Jefferson before returning to the vans.  We cover various topics from the Civil War and abortion to God during the founding of the United States of America.  We walked well into the night touring the monuments for several hours and pondering the implications of God and country.

 One of the ministries that we did was putting together school supplies for the under-privileged in the lower income areas.  The ministry center that Washington House of Prayer runs out of a place called the Gatepost located in southeast Washington D.C.  This part of D.C. has many people living in government housing and the demographic is predominantly African-American.  We assisted the pastor of the Gatepost put together bags of school supplies.  Most of the children are at risk to drop off and supplying materials for school allows them the change to succeed.  The pastor mentioned that when a student does not have proper school supplies, teachers do not give as much attention to them putting them at greater risk of not completing school.

For this week, most of our times was facilitating their outreach instead of actually working directly with them.  We provided worship times and rides around D.C.  All in all, it was good preparation for the next time that was going to come.

Course Correction

I was hoping to write this blog from an airport lounge or maybe even from Tajikistan letting you know that I had made it safely or was on my way to my final destination, but as with all things with the Lord, my plans are subject to change with what the Lord wants.

Map of Pakistan

Yesterday, I talked with my outreach partner Tim and we decided that we were not going to make this trip.  During the phone call we decided that it would be best to not make this trip.  Pakistan is still on out minds and we hope to make a trip out soon but as of now it is postponed.  We still believe that the Lord spoke to us about going to Pakistan and these things have not changed.

There were a couple factors for me that prevented me from making this trip.  One of the reasons we cancelled the trip was due to the lack of finances by this past Sunday.  Our goal was to leave Sunday and return by the 18th or 19th of August.  By the end of this time I was still $2800 short.  Another factor currently is that our visas are still being processed at the Pakistan Embassy.  The normal process should not have taken as long but for some reason there seems to have been a delay.  There were other factors in the mix but these are the two main reasons.

Both Tim and I will be losing money for the visa process fee and hopefully we will be receiving our passports back from the embassy very soon.  Through all this we feel we have done our part to be obedient to the Lord with preparing ourselves for this journey and should the opportunity arise again, I shall be attempting another trip to Pakistan.

In the mean time, I will be at Washington D.C. House of Prayer/ YWAM DC until school starts.  We currently have a youth group outreach team visiting us from Indiana.  They will be here until Friday and will be doing ministry with us.  Next week, there will be another youth group outreach team. This team will be from Virginia beach and has been said that they are a radical bunch.  Both of these teams will help till the ground for revival in America as well as the David's tent event in the fall.  I will hopefully be posting more information on David's tent very soon

On a different note, I feel that my blog has primarily been used to send out little posts for support raising and although it is necessary, I feel it takes away from the point of this blog.  I created this as a way to give out updates on what I am doing in missions.  To be certain, I will always have financial need doing missions but that is not the main purpose for this blog site.  So unless it is a special circumstance, I will try to leave my financial support information on a separate page while updating the main post with different events and activities that I have, am, or will be participating in.