M.A.D. Grad!!! WOOOO!

It is official!! I made it! From the first week of October all the way through to the first week of May I have been studying Dance at Brisbane Australia’s YWAM base. I took part in a 6 ½ months long DTS (Discipleship Training School) because God led me to do it and even though I went through struggles and doubts and hardship, it has been the most life changing and incredible growing experience of my life. Right from the beginning of DTS I knew my life was blessed and I knew I had a lot to be grateful for but until I actually had to be away from my family, across the world, living as a full adult on my own in a place I knew nothing about, I had NO idea just how incredible my life was/is/was going to get. I am so excited because God has shown me so much and in the last half year so much of my head knowledge that I would use to try to be super spiritual and better than everyone around me has become heart knowledge. And I have come to this amazing realization that I know nothing in comparison to what I could know about God if I just continue to fall more in love with Him. I am not as cool as I thought I was and I don’t know as much as I thought I did. But I DO know that God is amazing and pursuing a life with Him is the only thing I really want. Christ is enough for me. I have been humbled (and could always do with more of it) and I have been tested. I have been hurt and I have been mended. I have been a failure and I have been victorious but through it all, I would have been NOTHING without the help and the provision of my Father. My entire school has come such a long way and everyone has been transformed by Jesus and it has been amazing to watch. But the time has now come for us all to graduate DTS and be put back into the real world. We spent this past week having lectures on re-entry and we are about to say our goodbyes and then it will be time to take EVEYRTHING we have learned and bring it home. But more importantly than that, it is time to go home and CONTINUE to grow in the Lord. He has taught us all so much but He is done with us. Not at all. Our mission is not over now, our assignment is just changing to fit into a new location. God still has a lot for us and I am SO excited to see where everyone in our school goes. We may be saying goodbye, but saying goodbye is just opening a door to saying hello again in the future. God is so amazing and I am SO ready to live my life for Him forever. I will fail sometimes and I will stumble, but I will always come back to Him because I KNOW He will never leave me. THANK THE LORD! <3 I am excited to say that I will be home in Arizona once again on Sunday evening! So for now I ask for prayer for safe travels, I ask for prayer for deeper desires to go deeper with God and I ask that you all pray for new opportunities for me and everyone in my school as we begin our new journeys at home and all over the world. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support and always being by my side with encouragements! I am so appreciative! I love you all! See you soon! After our graduation tonight that is! ;D Blessings, Christianna Marie!

Easter Fest Success!

Over the last 6 months I have been on this crazy adventure spending my time in Australia and Malaysia. Through this journey I have experienced God in ways i would have NEVER expected and I have seen lives change completely. Including my own. When I first felt led by God to go on this far away journey, i definitely did not expect Him to change me in the ways He has. I expected Him to simply show me how to use my arts as my ministry. And while He HAS done that, He has also done SO much more! He has shown me the meaning of love in ways I never even knew were possible, He has shown me the importance of laying down my rights and being grateful for EVERYTHING. Not just the small or little things. He has shown me the true meaning of being a blessing in order to be blessed. He has shown me the importance of relationships whether they be family or not. He has shown me how to have His heart and eyes for people and how to love them! He has proven to me His everlasting presence and I have learned how to hear Him on a daily basis!!! I did not realize 6 months ago how much my life was going to change but I am SO grateful that it has! And i would not trade one second of this adventure for anything. I wouldn't trade it for easier routs or for comfort. I am SO thankful for everything that has happened. Last week my school was in Toowoomba Australia where we were helping set up and work at Easter Fest which is one of the largest Christian Music Festivals ever. Through this tiring and hard working week God revealed to me His enormity in a brand new way I had never thought of before. On one of my breaks I was standing up on a hill looking over the festival with a couple friends and I was watching this enormous crowd sing and dance and celebrate God all together under one enormous tent called Main Stage. While we were standing there one of my friends from DTS just looked around and said, "It is so encouraging looking out over all these people and realizing that we really are not the only ones in this world that are so in love with God. Sometimes I forget He really is the God of the Universe." I don't know what it was about what He said but it shot me through the heart. At that moment I had a HUGE revelation about how big God is and how people literally ALL over the world are also part of this family that is fighting for God's love and glory! I was so encouraged and I got so excited!!! It is so easy for us in this world to center everything around ourselves but we all need to just look out the window rather than in the mirror and realize that we are not here for us. We are here for God. And there is no better way to live this life! This past 6 months has been SO hard and I have gone through some of the most difficult moments of my entire life but through it all, God is faithful. He has a plan and He uses every situation to bring glory to Him. And because of that fact, I am SO beyond willing to go through trials for Him. God is SO good, SO worthy, and SOOOOOOO faithful!!! Just Love Him!!!! He already loves you. :) Thank you all SO incredibly much for all of your prayers and support over the last 6 months! I ask for that to continue if you are willing! I only have 10 days left of my DTS in Australia and then I begin my journey home where a totally NEW adventure will begin. Because of this I am asking for your guys' feedback. So if you could, please let me know if you want me to continue this blog for when I am back home or whether you want me to make a totally new one. I am willing to do either but I want my readers to be the happiest. :)Thank you all SO much! I will see most of you in 2 weeks time!! I love you all! AND HAPPY EASTER! HE IS RISEN! <3 <3 Blessings, Christianna Marie

Welcome Back To Aussie!

Well Friends and Family, my first week back in Australia after my outreach in Malaysia has come to an end and it has been quite a busy week! But a very good one nonetheless! The majority of this week was focused on a while MAD School debrief. We spent all week sharing stories with one another all about out different outreaches! It was a time of laughter and praising the Lord for the AMAZING work He did in Malaysia, Peru, Ventuatu, Japan, and Australia! It has been SO amazing being back with my whole school again and with the entire base! Over the last 6 months, all of us really have become one big family and being able to come together again has been a breath of fresh air! It is hard to believe that we will all have to say goodbye again in just three weeks time. It is bittersweet as is expected. Now that our debrief has come to end, we are now preparing for our final local outreach here in Australia. Easter Fest in Toowoomba Australia. It will be a full week of setting up, Chai Tent, evangelism, kitchen work, walking around and doing just about any type of work you can think of; as well as doing some performances! We leave for Toowoomba early in the morning Tuesday and we will be back by Monday the following week. I am SO excited to take part in Easter Fest! It is a HUGE event and you should all look it up. God does some amazing things at this musical festival and I know the experience will be irreplaceable. Some things I am in need of as of right now from my supporters and prayer warriors are for finances in order to be able to get through the next three weeks here in Australia. I am asking for your prayers for God's provision as well as any donations you may feel led to give. As you know, I hate asking for money but sometimes there is no where to go. However! I KNOW God will provide! He has done so EXPONENTIALLY in the past and He always provides what is needed. So continue to keep me in your prayers! I am so excited to finish up my DTS but sad at the same time. Time FLIES by when you are growing in the Lord and having an amazing time. I love you all so much and am so thankful for you all! Always keep an eye out for more Blog Updates! Thank you all! MANY Blessings <3

-Christianna Marie

Team Malaylay - Half way there!

Hello friends and family! I am so happy to say that my team and I have officially made it half way through our outreach here in Malaysia and it has been an adventure I will never forget! We have been so blessed to be able to meet so many people and speak in front of so many people. We have built strong relationships and we have impacted greatly by the sweetness of all the Malaysian people. While I could easily spend all my time writing about the entire last three weeks, I am going to just focus on our last week because when God moves as much as He has been, you don't want to miss out on all the amazing details simply because you have too many stories. So! In the last week we have been many places and have seen and heard many amazing things! At the beginning of the week we were told that we would be spending most of the week in a village helping out on their farms and then during the weekend helping out with church. However, because of certain happenings, our plans changed and we didn't end up going to the village. So for the week we were waking up and spending our mornings praying and talking with God, asking Him what it is He wanted us to do for that specific day. So the first day we spent time doing evangelism in the city. The second day we did a lot of interceding for Kuching in the park that is right outside our house. Most of the week was actually spent interceding and praying for the people all around us. It was not only a good time for getting pictures and words for Kuching, but during this week we actually grew a LOT more as a team. We were getting words for each other and we were able to witness God heal a twisted ankle on our team in an instant! We then spent an evening in the park handing out homemade cookies and building local relationships with our neighbors. And i was very excited because for the first time in a long time I was able to take this time to do some prophetic art work in the park. God's inspiration is irreplaceable. The on Friday we as team decided that we should split up into our evangelism partners for the day and do whatever it is God was calling us to do for the day. So Austin (my evangelism partner) and I were praying and he felt like God showed him a pictures of a wedding and/or a celebration of some sort that we were going to be a part of. So w chose to walk out in faith, we got dressed up and set out for Friendship Park just to see what God had in store. During this day we did not find any celebrations but what we did end up doing wound up being very powerful and rewarding. We were able to spend the day praying over and blessing the whole park. We were able to speak truth out over the whole park as well as sing worship songs throughout the park. It was such an amazing day. It was beautiful seeing God's glory on earth :) Then on Saturday we went to a village where we met some locals and spent the evening in someone's home. We were able to have fellowship with them, they fed us more food than I have ever had in my life! And I was able to share a testimony while Austin shared a short message. It was a wonderful time of making relationships. THEN SOMETHING CRAZY AWESOME HAPPENED!!! The people who were hosting us that evening told us there was a wedding going on up the street and we were welcome to join!!!! SO WE WENT TO A WEDDING! Just like God told Austin we would do the previous day! Needless to say I was super pumped! God works in amazing ways and it was so encouraging! After the wedding we went back to the church we were sleeping in for the night. The next morning we were able to walk to a waterfall in the morning and we got to have our morning quiet time surrounded by God's glorious creation! We then went back to the church and were fed even more food for breakfast! Followed by the church service led by Eliza who shared a testimony and Lisanne who shared a message. After the service we had MORE food at their church's potluck! (we got rather fat this weekend ;]) And after we said goodbye to most of the village people, us and some of our new friends went back to the waterfall where we jumped around and had an adventure in the rocks p stream. It was so beautiful and so much fun! Until I biffed it in the water fall while still in my church clothing! WOO! It was fun anyway though! Once our time in the village was finished we headed back to base and then prepared for a night at a youth group. They asked if my friend Shannon and I would share the message for the night. They told us it would be at a youth group in someone's house with probably around 20 people. It wound up being in a boarding school with over 150 students. THAT WAS AN ADVENTURE! But we did it and God allowed us to make amazing friendships with the students. It was a blessed time and an amazing way to end our half way mark of outreach! And now this week we are already busy every single day and so ready to see God continue to move in and through the people of Kuching! Some specific prayer request to think about whenever you can: 1. The missing airplane and that entire situation. It is heart breaking and even though we have seen some miracles even in this situation, the families of those lost still need the comfort and help of the Lord. 2. Pray for a gal names Adaliene. She is so close to coming into salvation with the Lord. She asking so many questions and starting to talk to God for herself. Pray that she makes that commitment! and 3. Pray for my friend Shannon's and I closest Malaysian friend Kelvin. He is such an amazing guy and we love spending time with him even when he at work. Pray for good rest for him and for him to be able to the glory of our mighty Lord. =] Thank you all SO much for your prayers and support!!! I ask for that to continue! Also be in prayer for all the teams that are preparing to fly back to Australia in just a few weeks. Pray for safe travels and favor in the airports. We all readlly appreciate it! AND KEEP AN EYE OPEN FOR NEXT WEEK! My team should have another video update going up around Monday!!! I love you and all and will update once more before heading back to Australia! Thank you all! Blessings! -Christianna!

Week One: God is inspiration

Well friends and family! Week one of my outreach is complete! We spent the week doing ALL sorts of things and I am SO excited to share with everyone how amazing the people of Malaysia are. They are the absolute kindest people I have ever met and their hearts for Jesus are absolutely stunning. There is no other way to put it. We got in exactly one week ago a spent a day getting to know the area and settling in. After that it was all prayer, work, prayer, work, prayer, work. Throughout the week we wound up visiting two different schools sharing with them messages, performances, and activities. We met over 20 people that we will be spending majority of our time with so we need to be quick learners with the names! We got to meet two elderly and VERY respectable gentlemen who have incredible hearts for the people of Kuching called Uncle Mervin and Uncle Johnny. We got to become members of different cell groups with the youth ("small groups"). We took part in a college group, a youth group and two different churches. My friend and I lead a children's church last minute, and we spent a full day in the city walking around and making new friends as our day of evangelizing. One thing that will prove to be difficult is not actually having full freedom to talk about Jesus when in the city since majority of them are muslim but God has amazing plans for those days in particular I know since those people are so incredibly kind and welcoming. As a whole it was a very busy, tiring, and growing week. It was a good week! It felt good and it got me and my team excited to see what God has in store for the next 5 weeks. Our team has a lot to learn still about being a strong foundation but the more time we spend together and talk, the stronger we all become. Together as a team and individually with God. Some fun facts about my experiences this week so far! 1. The food is AMAZING majority of the time! Haha! If you know me you know that I have always been an incredibly picky eater and I knew from the beginning that that would be my downfall on outreach. However, God has blessed me because there has actually only been 2 times this week when I have had to "make" myself eat something that was not easy to hold down, let alone pretend like it was good. 2. I stick out like a sore thumb. Even in my team! I am the tallest girl so i pretty much tower over the beautiful little Asian women as well my team AND I am the only blonde. The only blonde on my team and pretty much the only blonde in Kuching! (that is exaggerated a little ;]) and 3. I am not good at "fitting in" to such a quiet culture. So i know God has something in mind with that lesson. I will let you know once I figure it out. So overall!!! This outreach is going to be absolutely amazing. God has incredible things in store and I look forward to updating you all again! I miss you all and I love you! I ask for your continuous prayers for me and my team. I ask specifically for good team foundation, for listening ears and hearts for God, for cultural understanding, and for sufficient rest (even without sleep). Thank you ALL for your support and love. I know for a fact that i couldn't do this without the support. Many blessings to you all! <3 -Christianna

One WEEK! Pray for Team Malay!

February 10th, 2014 In 6 days at 11 o’clock in the morning my fellow team members and I will be departing from the Brisbane airport and bound for Kuching Malaysia where we will be spending 7 weeks partnering with the YWAM base there, building relationships with the youth/college age men and women of the church, making connections for the base, and traveling around small villages sharing the gospel and love of Christ. For the last 4 months we have been learning and experiencing God in ways we never have before. We have had revelations and we have grown so much and now it is time to take everything we have been given and share it with the people of Malaysia. The people in Kuching really struggle with consumerism as well as hopelessness. Our team plan to start outreach off by walking in the opposite spirit and by fighting against these spiritual strongholds. God has amazing plans for the people of Kuching and it is with and only with God’s help that these people can begin to be set free. This Australian journey has been insane. God has revealed Himself to me in SO many new ways and I have never been more in love with Him. I am experiencing a hunger for the truth and for God that I know will never be satisfied because there is ALWAYS something new to learn about our mighty Lord. I am so excited about everything that has been happening in my life in the last 4 months and I cannot wait to see how much MORE different I will be by the end of our 2 month outreach. I want to thank everyone who has supported me through this crazy journey. Whether it was through your prayers, financially, through reading my blogs, or for sharing my updates you all helped me so much and I would not still be here without you. I know this journey is not over yet and I know that once DTS is over, my life is really only just beginning but I still want you all to know how appreciative of you I am. SO THANK YOU! I plan to update my blog at least once or twice every couple weeks when in Malaysia, but unfortunately I cannot promise anything. So keep your eyes open for any updates! I hope to share many more pictures and stories with you all through the rest of this adventure!!! Many blessings to you! -Christianna M.W.

Miraculous Provisions!

Has there ever been a time in your life when you were in desperate need for God's provision and even though you KNOW He ALWAYS provides EXACTLY what we need, you still doubt He is going to come through with this one situation? DON'T DO IT! Because when the time comes and He COMPLETELY provides for you, you WILL feel guilty for not trusting Him because all a long you KNEW He would be faithful in the end and it's a slap in your face that you needed. One thing I learned this week that changed my thought process a LOT was the fact that God wants to know what it is YOU want to do. It is great to go before God ans ask Him where He wants you to go, but sometimes when you ask Him that, He is asking YOU where YOU want to go. When I got this revelation this week, ya know what I did? I SAID OUT LOUD TO GOD: "I honestly don't think You are going to give me money for Malaysia and I don't think you want me there for whatever reason because if You did, I would have that money. BUT God, I WANT TO GO TO MALAYSIA!" Even just looking back on this and remembering the doubt I physically said out loud to God makes me so ashamed and disgusted with myself. I was being an inconsiderate selfish slob! And regardless of that fact, ya know what God did? Yeah. God gave me $5000 dollars in one. stinking. day. $5000!!!!!!!! And all I can do is repent and ask for forgiveness for my horrible selfishness and disbelief AND constantly praise and worship our PREFECT and AMAZING and Providing and FAITHFUL glorious GOD! NOW! I am excited because I am going to give you the full and detailed story! If you don't want to hear it, stop reading now because I actually have a few miracles to tell you all about! God is SO good! So on Wednesday of this week in our outreach meeting, my leader Paige told us all we needed to have all our money in before January 15th. One week away. And I had $0 to even finish paying for tuition. I owed over $2000 for tuition and over $2000 for outreach. I almost broke down crying but I knew I just needed to stay calm because God would do what He needed. It got harder to keep that mindset as the week went on however. But I really did keep trying. Then everyday after that, my team would individually come up to me randomly, lay hands on me, and pray for God's provision in this area. I am so thankful for my surrounding of believers. Anyway, on Thursday night we had an extra class of lectures in order to prepare us for the following day which was called "ministry day". And so we walked through the process of what the whole following day would be. But even with the preparation we had NO idea the things God was going to do. One of the things our speaker, Mark Parker, told us would be happening was a time of blessing. And during this time we would be exchanging gifts to each other. Our job was to then take that night to talk to God and figure out what was supposed to be given and to whom. Well almost immediately I knew that I was meant to give a gift to my friend, Jenni. But I had NO idea what it was I was supposed to give her. So I prayed about it and got nothin. And more of nothin. So it was a little frustrating but then I decided not to freak out about it because even if I just give a gift, it has the power to bless someone. So! With that, the next morning I decided to give one of my dresses away to my friends, Margarita. So then after our VERY powerful introduction to our day the next morning, and after we spent a long time giving thanks, worshiping, and praising God, it was time for blessing one another. So everyone got in one giant circle around the room and one by one people started giving gifts and blessing one another. And it was the most beautiful and prophetic thing I have ever witnessed! It was crazy because you would constantly watch one person give something SUPER important to them away, and immediately the situation would turn around and they would receive that same blessing BACK from someone else! People gave away their brand new iPads and iPhones and computers. People gave away long boards, and clothing and art work! People gave away iPods and EXPENSIVE cameras! People were just GIVING! And when we all got into the circle I immediately knew exactly what it was I was supposed to give to my friend Jenni. God told me so clearly to give her my purity ring. I know some people may not understand but that ring is very significant to me and I have not even taken it off my body for 8 years. It holds beauty in part of my identity that I love the world to know. I love showing physically the promises I have between God and I and so it was actually rather difficult for me to agree with God about giving it away. But considering the fact that C.J. gave me a promise ring before I came to Australia and I traded my purity ring over to the other hand at that time, I realized that it would honestly just be an even bigger blessing to be able to share that beautiful promise with someone else. And once I actually took the ring off, I felt a bit of freedom because it was also a growing up sensation for me too. SO! After watching tons of people give I finally gave away the dress and then I went up to Jenni and told her God wanted her to have my purity ring as a symbol of her love for and promises to God. And she literally fell to the ground and started sobbing harder than I have ever seen anyone cry before. I did not understand the impact the ring would have on her and I still didn't even after this. So i got down on my knees and held her in my arms and just hugged her for a while. Then I got up and went back to my place in the circle. THEN while in the circle 3 people in a row turned and handed me a piece of paper telling me specific amounts of money they were giving me for outreach!!! Then! 3 OTHER people randomly throughout the time of blessing did the same! By the end of the time of blessing I had over $2000! I was just weeping and I could not believe the things that were happening! God was truly performing miracles ALL around the room. THEN! After we had a few more hours of the ministry day, my friend Jenni pulled me aside and said she needed to talk to me about something. So I went with her and she began tell me an AMAZING story. Apparently about one week ago while we were in Airlie Beach, she had been talking with God and she had been asking for forgiveness for her past and she had been making promises to God to love Him and only Him for ever and she promised one full year of being single just so she could spend that time with God. Then she continued on to tell me how God's response to all of this was the He loved her, forgave her, and He told her He was going to give her a purity ring that He wanted her to wear always. So after getting that response she wrote down hers and God's conversation, she DREW the ring and she dated it at the top so she would know exactly when the promises were made. SO then that next week in her small group she had apparently told everyone her story. So all of her small group knew about it too so when I gave her my old purity ring yesterday, they were ALL freaking out and I had no idea why! But THAT is why she broke down! God really DID give her the ring He promised her!!! I was literally speechless. I have never witnessed anything like it! Let alone get the blessing of being a part of it! So my entire day was already insane! THEN to top it ALL off, later on my friend Lisanne pulled me aside and asked about all the money I had been given and in the end she looked me directly in the eyes and said, "once you have been physically given all the money everyone has promised you, tell me the final amount of what else you need and it is yours. Your outreach is paid for. All of it." DEFINITELY MY TURN TO BREAK DOWN! I could NOT believe what I was hearing!!!! DON'T EVER DOUBT GOD! Please!!! He is worthy of SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much MORE!!!!!!!!! And in one day just like that, $5000!!!! ALL OF MY OUTREACH IS NOW PAID FOR! BEFORE THE DUE DATE!!! I am light headed just thinking about it! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!!!!!!!! So, I am SO excited to announce that I officially WILL be going to Malaysia AND NO one has a right to say God does not provide or is not Faithful. God has done so much and He is so miraculous. My life since being here has completely changed (for the better) and it continues to do so the more I learn about God and love Him and spend time with Him. He is so amazing. And SO worthy! Goodness. 2014 is going to be an AMAZING year everyone! I hope you allow yours to be worth wile as well! Thank you to EVERYONE who has supported me and who prays for me! I ask that you continue to do that and please share these stories and miracles with everyone around you so people can know God's unlimited power and love. All glory to God! He is SOOO WORTHY! I love you all so much and I am SO excited to share all this with you! HAVE A BLESSED WEEK! -With love from Australia, Christianna!!!

His name is God and He is Faithful.

This week in lectures we are learning about Lordship. Our speaker's name is Mark Parker and at the beginning of the week I was skeptical and throughout the entire first day I had a horrible attitude about this week, not realizing that even in those moments the things Mark was saying was sticking with me and hitting me harder than a lot of the other teachings i have had so far. And I have had a LOT and have learned a LOT!!! Now slowly coming into the end of the week I am seeing how much God has been speaking to me just this week, I am seeing where He has been speaking to me in the last few weeks, I am being challenged in many different ways to trust Him FULLY, AND I am starting to have some of biggest questions and prayers answered! How about an example for each? Sure why not!!! But first things first. The reason why I am updating my blog AGAIN within the same week is not by my choice but by my obedience to God. I really felt earlier this afternoon and again in small groups tonight that God wanted me to give y'all and even more recent update on everything just from this week since in this one week alone SO much of my life has changed...and I know that before the end of the week, a ton MORE is going to change. So, if two blogs in one week is too much...sorry. Anyway! So God has been speaking to me a lot this week...me writing this blog right now is a physical response from me to something God has been speaking. So that is example one. Example two: God has been speaking to me in the last few weeks. SUCH AS!!!! A while back I got a tug on my heart to write and encouraging note to a very specific person, however i don't know this particular person very well and I am almost certain this person use to think I did not like them. So for me it was awkward to feel the need to write them a note and I was uncomfortable with it, so i ignored the "feeling" and just "put it off" until later. (Meaning I never wanted to do it.) Well since then this person has been growing a lot and they are becoming a strong leader a little everyday and they are starting to trust God more and that encourages me and inspires me just by watching them so my "feeling" to write them a note kept getting stronger. Then today in lectures, i couldn't deny it anymore. I was just sitting in class, listening intently, when all of a sudden I had a HUGE thump in my heart telling me to write this person that note of encouragement right in that moment. I realized and recognized and accepted at that point that it had been God telling me to do it all along and I was just being a scared, prideful, arrogant jerk beforehand pretending it wasn't coming from the Holy Spirit. So, I finally wrote the note, gave it to them and afterwards I felt a huge feeling of relaxation come over me. Shocker I know...listening to God and obeying?? How is THAT relaxing?! <-- That is a joke obviously...anyway I get frustrated when I know God has been speaking to me and I push it aside out of fear for long periods of time. The THIRD example: Trusting Him FULLY!!! This one for some reason has been my ultimate struggle for this entire DTS so far and I am SO done with it. There is NO reason why I shouldn't be trusting Him. He has done NOTHING to deserve my doubt. And even though I need $4000 within the next week, I am done doubting God because He is faithful, He has called me to this DTS AND to Malaysia and He WILL provide the funds for me before January 15th. I don't know how or where it will come from but I know I will receive it because He is faithful and He IS our provider. Fourth example is about Him answering my questions and prayers. Long story short, He has answered MANY MANY MANY prayers but the one I am thinking of specifically is very personal and I don't want to give every detail but I will tell you that it has to do with the fact that He is starting to clearly reveal to me some of the reasons why He has me here in Australia and not home in Arizona for this period of time. And I am very grateful for it and relieved to know the purposes. SO! As of right now I am in a place of complete vulnerability and I am surrendering myself and everyone and everything I have completely to God and giving Him all my trust. And this is something I need to do ALWAYS...not just in my times of need. God is good and He is SO faithful and He deserves ALL of our trust ALL of the time. What is the point of worrying about the things around you you can't change? And even if you COULD change them, why would you want that burden???!!!??!! God is our provider and He takes care of us and the ones we love and it is a BLESSING that we don't need to worry about anything BECAUSE GOD IS GOOD AND HE IS FAITHFUL! I hope you all find my blogs somewhat interesting and maybe helpful in some ways. I love writing them but even more so I love sharing my heart with everyone and being able to share the things I am learning with everyone. I hope to continue doing so...even after my DTS is over. Thank you all for your prayers. I ask that you continue to pray and please pray specifically for the $4000 to be given within the next week. God can do anything. Just pray in faith and trust. Thank you all! I love you all and I miss all you Arizonans!!! <3

With love and blessings, Christianna!

Happy New Years anyone? :)

Hello friends! It has been quite some time! I am seeing this as a bad pattern. I take too long to update but sometimes, I just have no other choice. Life is CRAZY busy! First things first, HAPPY NEW YEARS TO EVERYONE! I cannot even believe it is officially 2014! This is going to be one amazing year! God has a LOT in store and I am excited to see what all that is!!! Last week I was able to spend the week in Airlie Beach (sounds just like it is spelled)!!! We went there for one of our local outreaches and all I can say is God did some amazing things. He broke people's hearts for what breaks His. He broke down the pride of a LOT of us. He reminded us all how blessed our lives really are. He saved lives. He performed miracles...Yeah. God did AMAZING things. And He continues to do so!!! Just in case you were unaware, God is a lot of things and one thing He is that He constantly is reminding me of is Faithful and Provider. I am need of around $4000 within the next month. And the DAY before I left for Airlie Beach, God provided me with $450 out of no where. It was so insane and all I could do was praise Him, worship Him and thank Him. Material things in this world hold no value in comparison to almighty glory of our God and that is something that has truly taken me FAR too long to realize and understand. And it is also something that I will never 100% understand no matter how hard I try. Our God is mysterious and He is so intricate. But all at the same time, He is intimate. And so the fact that people can go about their everyday lives content with the little knowledge they have of God baffles me. Why is our world so apathetic?! How can you possible learn something new and interesting about God and just stop there?? There is and ALWAYS will be something new and even better to learn about God and yet we spend our days instead trying to learn the new and "interesting" things on our temporary and materialistic items we own such as iPhones. That is sad. God is worthy of SO much more than that. And I am sorry that it has taken me so many years to have this realization. I hope it didn't take any of you that long. Anyway, I will end that rant now and move on. As a whole, my life here in Australia is amazing. I love it here and it is safe to say that it is going to be hard for me to leave here when the time comes. Nevertheless, for now I am soaking up every second of this crazy adventure!!! My family is going through some hard times right now and I often get frustrated that I cannot be there to help anyone but one thing that God has been pressing on me a LOT lately is the fact that no matter where I am, even if I were there, there is absolutely NOTHING I can do. Only God can take care of my family but even more so than that, He already IS taking care of them. And I have no right to try and hold onto and control the things which I have no power over. Yes, I wish I could help. But THANK GOD I don't have the power to do so because if I did, i would be far to stressed out. I am so blessed that I have a God that I can just go to and give my problems to and He will take care of them. AND i can be assured that the results will be for His ultimate glory. There truly is no better way to live life. I am praying for His provision to continue with my family and with my final finances and while I get worried sometimes, I know He is going to provide. As outreach gets closer and I am really looking forward to keeping you all more updated on everything that is going on. I hope you are all doing well and I won't wait too long for my next blog. I promise!!!

With lots of love and many blessings, Christianna :)

The question is "Why?"

Hello everyone! I realize that the longer I am here in Australia, the less and less I write because of the millions of things I am doing constantly while being here. I have a super busy schedule so i apologize if anyone gets annoyed with how long I wait in between posts to update. But in all honesty, I update more than most anyone else in my DTS :) SUCCESS! The last few weeks have been very interesting for me. I would like to say that I have been through a whole lot but in all honesty the only thing that has been on my heart and mind for the last few weeks is the question "why on earth am I here?" I know my reasoning for wanting to come here in the beginning but ever since being here I have come to realize that God actually had different plans for me but I just didn't know what those plans were yet. So while I am learning a TON of new things and God is giving many revelations about my life and my past and my future, I still have been so confused as to why God has me doing this DTS in Brisbane Australia. I keep asking things like "why am I here? What is my purpose? Why do I have times when Your voice is clear, God? Why do I go through silent periods like now? Why is my family going through stuff when I can't be there? Why am I sad? Why do I feel like I am not growing? Why is communication so hard? Why do You have me across the world? Why did I come with no money? How do i get the money I need? Will You get me to Malaysia? Why Australia now? Why, why, why, why, why...?" And it drives me CRAZY! And in these moments and in my doubts I have realized that I tend to hide them deep inside me so that no one knows i am struggling or so no one worries about me. I hide it so I can focus on making sure everyone else around me is okay...and while I know helping others is not a bad thing, holding everything that is hurting me inside IS a bad thing... I have not been trusting God 100% with my circumstances and I know that and I confess and repent of that. But that doesn't make it any easier. I don't like going through struggles because I don't want to be weak. I want to be strong for myself so I can be strong with others...but I am learning that being strong and bottling everything up inside are not the same thing and that is a hard process to work through. And because I allow myself to hold onto everything I then wind up breaking down completely on nights like tonight when out of no where God decides to answer my ultimate overall question of "why am I here?" Before I tell you what my revelation has been I would like to say sorry to everyone who reads my blogs. I definitely try to be as honest as I can with everyone on my blog but I also definitely try to not share all my struggles and while I don't think it is necessary to always give details of my struggles, I would like you to know that I won't try to hide that I have struggles anymore and I am going to try and NOT bottle things up inside. SO NOW! My revelation? Why am I here? Tonight God told me through another person that this DTS is not so I can become a better person or a stronger Christian. It is not so I can gain a lot of Christian knowledge. I am here on DTS because God wants to show me His heart and He wants to literally show me His love He has for me. I am His daughter and even when I feel like I don't need to be helped because I am the strong one and people around me need love, comfort, and protection more, God still sees me. He sees my real heart, me real fears, my tears, my pains, my hurts, my triumphs, my laughs, my joys, and my victories and He LOVES me! I AM a warrior for God and I want to be an even stronger warrior for God, but first and foremost, I am God's child. His beloved princess and I am here in Australia away from everyone I love and hold most dear so that there is NOTHING standing in between me and God's love and His heart for me. I hope you don't mind my openness. I felt lead to share this with my readers. Please keep me in your prayers and if you have encouragements, I would be honored to read them. I love you all so much and really appreciate everyone's love and support. Thank you for reading! Many blessings, Christianna.

Roller Coaster!!!!

I have been through SO much since my last blog update and I am sorry I have not updated for so long. It has been a roller coaster of activities and emotions! So I apologize if this blog turns out to be annoyingly long! Let's start with last week! Last week my MAD DTS school went to Bryon Beach which is about 2 hours away from where we live and we took part in the Red Frogs organization. The job of the Red Frogs is to go out everyday and night for 1 to 3 weeks to help out and take care of the schoolies. Schoolies, for those that don't know, are the youth in Australia that have just graduated and they all go out for a week together and just party. Every night. Getting drunk pretty much every single night. So, my school went and took part in Red Frogs and we spent the week taking care of these crazy drunk kids. It was such a crazy experience! For the week we all stayed and slept on a church floor in one room together and our schedule was as follows: Breakfast was at 8 and we had to be packed up every day and ready to go at 9am to go do pancake runs. For the pancake runs, schoolies would call in and request for red frogs to come to their apartments or hotels and make them pancakes for breakfast after their long night of partying. So after pancake runs we would then go have lunch with the rest of the 110 Red Frogs. After that we would have a few hours of free time and then we would go to dinner with the other Red Frogs at 5:30. Then we would have community meeting and then at 7:30pm all the different Red Frog teams would set out to start evangelizing and taking care of schoolies until 12:00am. That was our schedule for the whole week and it was EXHAUSTING! But God did amazing things! Aside form taking drunk, throwing up kids home and aside from taking kids to the hospital and having kids try and get you to drink, and aside from feeling violated numerous times, it was an amazing time because God was moving and He was protecting those kids SO MUCH! I was even able to pray with one girl one night about locating her lost phone and ID on the beach in the pitch black and 3 hours later she came running back up to me saying God answered my prayer because she had found it!!! The more the week went on, the more pumped up I got! I just wanted to serve these kids in Jesus' name and it was SO worth it!!! If you are ever given a chance to take part in something like Red Frogs, do it. You will never be the same after you have because God will show you SOOO much. So we came back to Mitchelton on Saturday and we had a relaxing weekend. Then this week began and out lecture topic for this week was Worship. I have been looking forward to this topic since I got here because I desperately want my life to be a life of worship and I want to know how to do it properly and in the most loving way to God. My entire view of what worship is has totally changed and God is revealing so much to me!!! Then on top of THAT, beginning at 7:00pm last night (Wednesday)we began a 24 hour day of worship. And ever since then we have had non-stop music and worship playing in our media centre!! It has been such a beautiful adventure. I stayed up and just worshiped God until 3:30am and then headed off to bed and when I woke up this morning I began worship immediately again and am still going! And the best part is, even though this 24 hours specifically has music playing non-stop, I am learning and truly experiencing the fact that worship is a lifestyle and you don't need to be surrounded by Christian music in order to be in constant worship. I want my life to really be all about worshiping God and that is what I will strive for all the time. Our 24 hours of "worship night" will end at 7:00pm tonight, but the real worship will actually never end. God is so good and SO worth praising constantly! And just to finish this update with an AMAZING praise report...I still need to pay my last tuition payment as well as over $2000 for my outreach payment and I have none of that money. Well, right before I went to lunch today I checked my mail box and found not only a beautiful letter from my big sissy that made me weep, but I found an envelope in my box with just my name on it with $300 inside. I don't know who it is from but it was just a gift and I am FREAKING out! God IS provider and He continues to blow my mind every day! I could not thank Him enough for this blessing! It's not everything I need but it is a big chunk. Have faith everyone. No matter what you are going through, God WILL provide for you. Thank you all SOOO much for your prayers and support! I love you all and can't wait to update you again! with many blessings,

Christianna!

The Wait is OVER!

I HAVE SOME BIG NEWS! The big news that all of you have been waiting for!!! AND THE BIG NEWS I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! After a week of a lot of prayer and confirmation with God my friends Shannon, Eliza, Lizan, Austin, our leader Paige, and myself will be leaving in February for our outreach missions trip!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And where is THAT?!?! ....................... KUCHING MALAYSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOOO! I am SO excited for this outreach and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for this trip! The outreach is going to be around $2000 and I still need support and help to raise those funds but I am so excited because I know God will provide those funds for me in His perfect timing. Thank you all SOO much for your prayers and support! Please continue to do both! And pray that God will now start preparing my heart and my team's heart for this mission's trip. He has big things in store and we all just want to make God proud. I AM EXCITED!!! Many Blessings, Christianna White

Sickness and Prayers

Well! I am sure most of you have heard about the VERY strange happenings of the last 48 hours here at the YWAM base in Brisbane Australia! Beginning at around 2:00am on Sunday morning, more than half of the people on the base got sick. Really sick. Everyone was up periodically throughout the night throwing up non-stop. I first noticed it at 3:00am when I woke up to my bunk buddy puking in a bucket underneath me and then a girl in the bed right next to me got up right after that and ran to the bathroom to do the same. I got up to see if I could help them but there was nothing I could do. Then pretty soon, I was hearing girls running to the bathroom quite frequently and hearing them puke. Then not long after all this happened, I started hearing all the guys from downstairs doing the same thing. By the following morning around 60 of our 70ish people on base were super sick. At the time I was part of the group that was NOT sick thankfully. So I, along with a few others, left the base for the day to get out of that environment while everyone was trying to recover. Unfortunately I began to get sick while I was in South Bank with a friend of mine. But my sickness didn't very hard until I got back that evening at around 4. By then however I was in horrible pain and it felt like someone was stabbing my stomach and back repeatedly. I have never felt anything like it. Thankfully I never threw up but I couldn't move without being horrible pain. That lasted for most of the night. Once Monday rolled around (today) almost everyone was totally healed by the grace of God. I too was feeling so much better! I was no longer in pain. After our lectures today I started getting sick to my stomach though so once classes were over at 12:30ish i just went to my room and I slept until around 5:00pm. I felt MUCH better after waking up and am still doing good! God has helped everyone on base to recover now and now it's just a matter of gaining all our strength back which is happening pretty smoothly. I just wanted to update all of you on everything that has been happening because I know some people have been wanting details and have been worried. But because of everyone's prayers and God's healing power, everyone is doing much better and everyone is almost completely back to normal. And everyone is getting healthy at just the right time too because at the end of this week we will be saying goodbye to students from one of the other schools on base because they are graduating. This is the School for Acting on the Screen. We have come close to many of these students and one of them particularly has been a huge blessing in my life so I am very excited to see them graduate having done such an amazing job at their school. I am of course sad to see them leave too however. Also within this week we all find out where we are going for outreach! So by this weekend I will be able to do another blog update telling everyone where I am going! And aside from my 3 projects due this week, on the 15th I am supposed to turn my next payment to the school which currently can't happen because I do not have the money. So please pray for provision in that area and pray for a miracle. God has me here for a reason and I know He will provide but prayers and support are ALWAYS welcome! Thank you all so much for always supporting me and loving me. You have blessed my life incredibly! I am so grateful for all of you! Hope the update has helped calm some friends and family down. I look forward to my next update! Blessings -Christianna White

A week of Fasting

I have learned an incredible amount of new things this last week and I am SO excited to be able to share it with all of you! Last weekend on Saturday I really felt like God was leading me to fast from the internet and from WiFi on my computer and phone all together. I really thought God was wanting me to spend a lot of time with Him this specifically and more than normal. Which is something I should have been doing all along and hadn't been doing! So I agreed to the fast and this whole last week I haven't been online. And I am ashamed to admit that it was really difficult for me because I definitely get on the internet a lot so not doing that was a challenge! However, I have learned a LOT and God has shown me amazing things! The first thing that got me excited about what the week was going to hold was when we went into lectures on Monday and I found out that the week's theme was Hearing the Voice of God. It couldn't have been more appropriate! So throughout the week I have been talking to God a lot and listening and for the first time in my life, I am realizing when God is actually talking to me. And I am recognizing His voice!!! My mind has been blown by this! Just one story to express what this week has looked like took place on Friday(yesterday). During our lecture hours on Friday we spent the time processing everything we learned from our speaker throughout the week. So I was writing several different letters processing a few different questions. The gist of what my letters said was that I know I hear God's voice but my whole life I have convinced myself that it isn't Him. It took me a long time to accept that the reason I never gave God the credit for talking to me is because I have never felt worthy enough to be someone who He desires to talk to. The Lord has helped me come out of this lie this week and it is such a freeing feeling. However, in this processing time God also directed me to a verse in Revelation that talked about how when we are willing to open the door of our hearts God will patiently wait and come in when we ask Him to. So I wrote this verse out in my letters. Then when we went back inside after the processing time our leader Kale told us we were going to be doing an activity. So everyone in the room took a folded piece of paper out of a cup and it had a person's name on the paper. We were not allowed to look at the name yet though because first we had to spend time in prayer asking God what it was He wanted us to say to the person whose name was on the paper we were holding. So everyone took time and wrote down what they were inspired to write. Then right when we thought we were going to open the papers and see whose name we had, Kale told us to switch papers with the person to our right and THEN open the paper. Then who ever you had on your paper, that is the person you were to give your letter to. Anyway, long story short, the person who drew my name found me and asked if she could read what she had written to me out loud. So we went and sat in the corner of the room together and she read to me the words she got from God and everything in the letter was direct responses and answers to EVERYTHING I had just been writing during our processing time!!! Word after word God was talking to me through this other person and I was just weeping. God is so amazing guys and He is so faithful! When it comes to knowing God's voice one thing I have learned this week is that it isn't about literally "hearing" God's voice. It is all about getting closer to God and spending more time with Him. The closer you get, the more you will hear Him AND understand Him. I have been blown away this week and God is STILL showing me new things. I really just want to encourage everyone back home to always take time and just spend time with God. It's never disappointing!He WANTS to spend time talking with us now it's our turn to WANT to spend real time with Him too. So! In the midst of learning all of this, I am happy to announce that I think I know where I will going on my outreach but I will not be making it public to anyone until next week sometime. So, right now I just ask for your prayers and for a lot of clarity on the subject because I want to make sure that the place I choose to go on outreach is the place God wants me to do the most good. Thank you all so much for your support. Please continue to support me and pray for me. You are all so encouraging to me and have helped me so much. I am so grateful!

Many blessing, Christianna!

Testimony Dance!

I have found it so encouraging how my last blog update has been used to bless so many people in this last week. In all honesty, it was completely unexpected! I guess the times when you don't have a lot to say are the times God uses to say exactly what people needed to hear. For this update there a just a few things I wanted to share. The first thing was a statement that my lecturer said in class today. We call him Topi Papa because his last name is too hard to pronounce as well as he is teaching us about the Father heart of God this week so calling him "Topi Papa" is fitting. Anyway! One thing he said to today that really stood out to me was "When we (believers) don't get scared, the enemy gets scared." This stood out to me because recently my heart has been desiring to become a really strong warrior for Christ but the thing that holds me back more than anything else is doubt and fear. So! When times are rough or seem like everything is falling apart, don't get scared. Have faith in God's timing and know that the more you trust God, the more nervous the enemy gets! WOO! The Second thing I wanted to share with you was something that REALLY encouraged me. Last Tuesday we were given our first dance assignment as most of you know. That assignment was to take part of our testimony and choreograph it into a three minute dance. Well! Today, we performed those dances for the first time. And let me start off by saying, I am in SUCH a talented class of people. The dances were incredible and everyone's stories were amazingly told! But what was so encouraging to me was the feedback and suggestions my classmates gave me after my dance. Everyone who gave feedback all told me that throughout my dance, they could see my passion for acting and a lot of them encouraged me by telling me they see my gift I have in that area. That BLEW my mind!!! The fact that I am not even doing acting right now and yet people still see my love and heart for it makes me feel so much more confident in the fact that acting is ultimately where God wants me after this DTS is over. And I am just so excited to see what that is going to look like when that time comes! HOWEVER! On top of being encouraged in the fact that people can see my love and passion for acting, they also challenged me to make sure I don't use my "acting abilities" as a crutch when it comes to dancing. They encouraged me to take a step forward and have faith in my dancing skills in this time as well and to develop those skills in a way I haven't ever done before as well! So while I was still always use acting to help tell all my stories, I am excited to learn how to make that a controlled decision; not just a crutch when I "don't know what dance move to use"! So yeah! It was a super good day! And finally, for my family. Tonight we had a worship night and long story short, I got up and told my whole M.A.D. school about the situation at hand and everyone came together and touched me as a representative for the family and everyone out loud just cried to God praising Him and thanking Him and asking Him for healing in every aspect of everything going on. It was so powerful and I just want you all to know that that praying isn't stopping and God is going to do an AMAZING miracle through this situation! I love everyone! Thank you guys for reading, praying, and supporting me. I am finally loving it here and for the first time, this week I have comfortably been able to say i'm not ready to come home yet AND that right now, these people are my family. God is blessing me through the good and the bad and your prayers have a LOT to do with it! So thank you! With Love, Christianna!

God is Good

In all honesty, I don't have really anything to update you all on. I just kind of wanted to take a moment to tell you about a small story and little lesson a good friend of mine helped me realize today. Today started off roughly because of difficult news I found out from back home. While I was skyping my mom and dad back home, a friend of mine kind of overheard and just saw that something was going on so he asked me about it. After sharing it with him he took the time to pray over my family and I and then he promptly gave a book and took me to a specific chapter that literally talked about the exact situation I had just shared with him. I carried the book around with me all day and never really had enough time to read it. I wound up having a good day despite some of the hard emotions I was having but during lunch this friend of mine still just hugged me pretty much until the tears started to actually happen. He didn't even say anything but the sentiment of how much he cared impacted me a lot. Anyway! Later this evening I was sitting outside the cafe here on base waiting for it to open and decided to read that chapter my friend gave me. The chapter was amazing and it encouraged me so much. After reading it I immediately sent the info about it to my mother to read when my friend (his name is Kane btw) walked up right then. So I told him I finally read it and I thanked him for it because of how encouraging it was. And while I thought that would be the end of the conversation, it wasn't. He kept talking to me and then I started asking questions... Little side-note and background info, he is an actor and has been in the industry and his perspective on acting and everything he has experienced since he got saved has been such an inspiration to me since the first day I met him. And he knows i want to be an actress. Back to the story. So while we are talking about all the stuff that my family has gone through and is now going through I was telling him how hard it is for me to bring it God because I have never gotten answers from Him about the reasons for why hard things keep happening. And I was telling him about how the most difficult thing for me about being here in Australia so far is not being able to be at home for my family. Especially when things like this happen. I am so grateful for my friend because he immediately brought truth into my life that no one has ever made clear to me before. And it made sense! He told me that Christian's so often get caught up in the "there's a reason for everything" and they neglect the fact that God didn't make these things happen. He allows them to happen and He then takes the hard things that end up happening and He turns them into good things eventually. Why? Because God is Good. And the fact of the matter is, I need to let go of my family and I need to allow myself to fully and truly trust that God IS taking care of my family. And He is and always will do a MUCH better job then I could ever even attempt to do. After all this I was feeling very emotional because I knew Kane was right and it was hard to accept but I was always grateful for his honesty and his encouraging words but I was trying to hold in my tears. And that brings me to the other lesson I learned tonight. Actors cannot allow their emotions to control them. In order to be successful, we have to accept our emotions and allow ourselves to vulnerable because they are the most believable actions an actor could do. And allowing yourself to cry, or be angry, or be happy, or be sad is also the best way we as humans can cope. So long as in the end we give everything back to God. So tonight I have learned, there isn't a "reason" for everything, but in the end it will be good because God is good; God is the one who takes care of my family, not me; As an actor, I have to allow myself to have emotions even in the times I don't want them. SO! That is my story. I am so grateful for God's love and provision and I am so grateful for the people He keeps placing in my life. I feel like I have a new older brother who i can easily go to when I need encouragement. So! The truth of the day?! GOD IS GOOD!

Well! My first week of MAD YWAM is almost over and already I am completely consumed with homework and assignments! It is crazy! It is amazing but LOTS of work. I always knew I would be grateful to Trinity and all the ridiculous amount of work they gave us in High School! It comes in handy now! I am very happy to say that life has just been looking up! God is really helping me to keep my focus on my time here in Australia rather than always thinking about home which sounds like it is harsh that I am excited about this, but it is actually a really good thing! Why?! Because I have been able to just stay focused on my personal relationship with God and that has been such a blessing and it will just continue to be life changing! I am so happy and excited to be able to say that! Today we were given our first assignment in dance and it is going to be hard. We have to take a small part of our testimony and turn it into a three minute choreographed dance. And we have one week to perfect it. It is a lot of work but I am SO excited to do it! I know that with God's help, inspiration, and guidance everyone's dances are going to be beautiful! It has been such a blessing to be able to use dancing freely as a type of worship. I love it! Anyway! Thank you everyone for always praying for me and thank you for supporting me! I should find out within the next month where my outreach will be! I am excited to share those results with all of you! But I also ask that you keep praying about supporting me because $$ is always a factor in the life of missionaries who literally live off of support. So if you would like to support or donate to me, go to one of my first blog posts and go to the bottom of the page and click the donate button in order to send money to my PayPal account. Thank you all so much again for your prayers. I continue to ask for them!! I love and miss you all! With love and Blessings, Christianna!!!

Testimonies

Hello Everyone! Thank you all for your prayers. The amount of emotions I have been feeling this week have been off the wall!!! They have been everywhere! I have had hard core lows and also hard core highs! Ultimately God has just been working on my heart non-stop and today I was incredibly encouraged because we spent the whole day sharing and listening to our testimonies. It was incredible! It was draining for sure because of all the emotions these stories bring out in the people sharing and in us who are listening. But God's provision in everyone's life is just beautiful! And I have really seen how blessed I am with my home life and my friends who surround me. You are all amazing and I am so fortunate with the life I have been given. So thank you to everyone who has been a part of making it so blessed. Anyway! In other news, I have found out that we do not have a system at my base where you can donate to me directly through the school. SO! If you would like to do so, you will have to do it through my PalPal which you will be able to do through any of my blog posts soon. The donate button will be on the bottom of the page and you can choose how much you would like to donate. Or, if you would like to write a check, you can just send that check to 3196 Willow Creek Rd. PMB 251, prescott Az, 86301 and my mother will put it directly into my bank account. Email me if non of these are the way you would like to donate and we can figure something out together! I have to turn in my next payment of about $2500 on November 15th. And honestly, I have NO idea how that payment is going to happen. That one or the final one of $2000 due two weeks later. Hearing some stories today, I know that God does and will provide the money! And honestly, i am just excited to see how He does that! There is never a boring part of living a dedicated life to God! He is truly just FULL of surprises! And I am slowly learning that it is best to try to enjoy those surprises. Even the difficult and unpleasant ones because in the end, it will always be for the best. Because His plan IS the best. And the journey getting there will be worth the struggles. For now I just ask for lots of prayers and for support. On top of my payments, I DO have to live which means I have to buy things too. It is unfortunate and SO hard only being able to wait and see if the money is there one day in your account and not being able to go work for it and KNOW it is there. God always provides and He always will, but it is HARD! Let's be honest. Not working in order to support yourself is not an easy thing. But it is humbling. So praise Jesus! Anyway! Thank you all again for reading my posts and having patience with my hard core mood swings lately and thank you SOOO much for praying for me! They ARE working and it is beautiful to be a part of! I miss everyone and pray for you all the be blessed! With Thanks, Christianna

Day 1: Prayers

Today was our official first day at MAD. It was Orientation all day. Just a LOT of listening. It was good and there was a lot of information to take in. Basically at this moment in time, I truly am excited to see where this journey is going to and I am excited to see how God is going to work in my life and in the lives of people around. Right now however, I ma feeling very lonely. I have been talking to tons of people and getting on a friendly basis with everyone, but there isn't any one person or two persons who I am connecting with and it is really bringing me down. I'd like to say that it is because i ma young. But EVERYONE here is young and I am definitely not the youngest so that's not an excuse. So far I DO seem to be the only who has never been away from home before so I am sure that is part of it. In fact I know it is. I am terribly homesick. Right now I just want to ask all of you to life me up in your prayers. I have never felt lonely before so I don't really know how to handle it. But I am doing my best. It is also very difficult dealing with the time difference from home. It's such a struggle to find time to talk to everyone there AND socialize with everyone here. And then, my final complaint for this "cheerful" blog, I am also officially stressing over money. I don't have any money and I need to turn in about $2500 by November 15th and another $2000 two weeks after that. PLUS I still need to be paying for my laundry and personal items. Basically to sum up my feelings right now, I am stressed, poor, and lonely and I need help. Help that I KNOW can only come from God but help that will come through prayers and support as well. (which are all gifts from God). I am sorry my posts haven't been the most uplifting and cheerful but I figured everyone would want me to be honest in my blog about how I am doing so that is what I am going to do. Thank you to everyone who has supported me so far and thank you for your prayers. I miss everyone. A lot. I will be praying for all of you too! Many blessings, Christianna

Thank You!

My last update was definitely a downer! There is no denying that! However, I am so happy and thankful for all the support and prayers I have received since then! And because of all your encouragement and with a few more days to actually get to know the area I am in, I am feeling a LOT better about everything! The day after I last posted, I went to my YWAM base where I got to meet majority of all my leaders and got a tour of the base. It was absolutely amazing. The people were so wonderful and loving and it was great meeting other people who also have come from the States. There are people there from Tuscon, California, Indiana, Kansas, and Colorado too! It was such a blessing to meet them and to hear their stories. But the best part was hearing about how much the LOVE it here in Australia. I know I am going to love it here as well but I also know my homesickness isn't going anywhere. But that will be the beauty of my growing relationship with the Lord while I am here. I know He is going to help me through all of this. So! YAY! I am getting excited and anxious to finally start my schooling! However, one thing I am not looking forward to is of course having to pay for my living. And YES, i DO know this is how it works in the adult life! Haha but I also know, it is FAR cheaper in America. Let's just say in the last 5 days, I have learned to REALLY appreciate my home and my country despite all our problems. :) Right now I just continue to ask for prayers and for support as this journey truly begins! Also keep praying for my father's health! He is doing a LOT better today but please pray it stays this way. He deserves to have an amazing visit too! Thank you all so much! The next time I update my blog, I will be moved in a ready to start my schooling at YWAM! Praise the Lord! I love you all and really appreciate you guys! You're all in my prayers as well!! AND remember! If you want to stay in personal contact with me either facebook message me or email me at chrissy.white1994@gmail.com

BLESSINGS! Christianna