Bonjourno!

Two days have passed since we said "Arrivaderci" to Vancouver and "Bonjourno" to Pescara. Tuesday morning at 5:00 we arrived and checked in for our flights at the Portland Airport. (I love flying out of Portland, because its SOOOO easy!) Kaylyn and Alisha (our friend from church who is on this journey with us) and myself (Brady. And yes, it will usually be me that is writing these.) arrived in Washington DC at 3 pm EST. The girls were on a 6pm direct flight to Rome's Fiumucino Airport, and arrived safely in Rome around 8:30 AM local time. Then on to Pescara by bus (about a 3 hour bus ride). I took the scenic route; through Brussels and 8 hours later, landed at FCO as well, taking the same bus route into Pescara. After little or no sleep for nearly 48 hours, the end of my itinerary was a welcome sight! Although it was 10pm local time when I arrived, I was able to see a bit of the city as we drove from the bus station to our new home. The family we are going to be living with are Brazilian, but are making their home here in Italy. It has been fantastic to catch up with them after 5 years. (They were staff for my DTS in Kona in 2005) Arriving at their condo on the hillside in Pescara was a like a breath of fresh air. The Lord's faithfulness in this adventure of ours is ever apparent as we begin to settle in and have our expectations of what life would be like here absolutely blown away! From our un-problematic travel (all luggage arrived unharmed and all flights were on time) to the sense of community we're already feeling here, we see the true fingerprints of our Maker! As I posted on Facebook earlier, "This is Right". We want to thank you all for your prayers. We do really believe that when God's people pray, He moves in huge ways. That being said, we would like to remind you and urge you on to prayer for Luke Jensen (Kaylyn's cousin) and the Jensen/White/Spencer clan. (Luke is battling Leukemia again. See Luke's story here) We are believing God for a complete and miraculous healing of this boy, for the Glory of God's name! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned...

What is DTS?

Now that many of you have been freshly introduced to YWAM (see previous post) we would like to formally meet DTS (Discipleship Training School).

Discipleship Training School (DTS) is YWAM's foundation. This unique course sets young people (and older people as well) on a course for radical living for the rest of their lives. Really, the great commission is implanted and interweaved within the hearts and minds of DTS students during the 5-6 month course. The format of the DTS is 12 weeks of lecture followed up by 8-12 weeks of outreach. During the lecture phase of the course, students study topics such as; who God is, hearing God's voice, Evangelism, Worship, Prayer, Culture, how to integrate into society as a Christian, etc. The average DTS size is 30-40 students, though there have been much larger (305, as in the case of Brady's) and much smaller (10-20, as in the case of the DTS in Pescara that we will work with).

The Outreach phase of DTS is where it gets exciting! This is the opportunity for the students to go into the world and put what they've learned to use. In many cases, the outreach location is not determined until several weeks into the lecture phase. This allows the students to pray and seek God's heart for this decision. Its pretty incredible to see God show up in huge ways, leading the students to truly divine appointments! Outreach can include street ministry, building projects, church projects, assistance with sporting events, worship events, prayer walks, crusades, bible studies. The list could go on for many more pages! For some, it is also huge step outside of established comfort zones. (this part is also exciting)

The DTS, being the foundation of Youth With a Mission, really seeks to prepare and equip young people to be disciples and to disciple others.

We ask you to pray for the students who will be attending the DTS in Pescara, Italy in April this year. We are looking forward to meeting them and developing friendships that could last for many years. Please begin to pray for open hearts of these students. There is a firehose of information flowing at them during the DTS. Pray that they would be as sponges, soaking up the information and letting it impermeate deep into their hearts! Pray for God to begin to direct them and show them pictures of what Outreach will look like. Pray for strength and for courage, as many of the students will be in a new country, immersed in a new culture and hearing a new language. Also, in the next two months, before this school, please be praying for financial provision for the students and staff (us included)!

What is YWAM?

YWAM or Youth With a Mission is an interdenominational missions organization that seeks to know God and make him known. You can see the YWAM Website for a detailed history. This year is YWAM's 50th year of ministry! In 1960, Loren Cunningham had a dream. This dream was of waves of young people coming ashore to distant nations to spread the Gospel. (Mark 16:15)

Currently there are over 1,000 YWAM locations in over 150 countries. There is a volunteer staff of nearly 16,000 people from all walks of life.

YWAM functions under 3 main Pillars of Ministry:

Training: Teaching and training young people to fulfill the great commission. The foundation of YWAM is the Discipleship Training School (DTS, look for the next blog to highlight this). DTS equips students to...

Evangelism: "Go and make disciples of all nations..."(Mt 28:19)
YWAM believes that the bible calls us to go into the world and tell people about him.

Mercy Ministries: The "hands and feet of Jesus". To show the world the love of Jesus we are called to meet the needs of the needy.

YWAM is a very diverse, multifaceted ministry that believes in the power of the Holy Spirit to direct God's people in His will. The unique organizational structure allows and encourages new vision and exploration of ways to fulfill the great commission.

A New Direction

The Mannings have chosen a new direction for their lives! (Perhaps the direction isn't so new, but the "living it out" portion of it is)

We will be leaving for Pescara, Italy at the end of March of this year. Kaylyn will be attending a Discipleship Training School through Youth With a Mission (YWAM) and Brady will be helping lead this school as staff. We are looking forward to this new Journey and especially to the wonders God will show us along our way. We invite you to join with us on this adventure! Please sign up for our mailing list so we can keep you aprised of what's going on!

Stay tuned to our Blog. Over the next few weeks we will be explaining what YWAM is, what a Discipleship Training School is and why these are important to us!

Thanks for your support!

We're Home!

Friends and Family!

We have made it back to the Pacific NorthWest and have begun to settle in quite nicely here in Vancouver. For an undetermined time, we will be staying with Kaylyn's parents. I (Brady) will continue to work for Swiftpage as a remote Sales Representative and Kaylyn will work for GAP Inc at the Old Navy location in the Vancouver Mall.

We are very happy to be home and to have friends and family much, much closer. God continues to guide us, as much as we fight against him, and continues to provide for us, as little as we thank him for it. He is a faithful god!

We are praying about joining close friends of mine (Brady) in Italy for a stint with Youth With a Mission next spring. Kaylyn would attend a DTS and I would work on staff at the YWAM Pescara base. This truly is an exciting time for us, as we lean on eachother, our friends and family and Jesus for guidance. Please join us in the journey by praying for us!

If you're in the Portland Metro area and would like to see us, please let us know! We'd love to visit with old Friends!

Happy Summer!

A Good Snow! ...Finally!

Hello All, From the Land of White (sometimes)!

Here we are, January 12th and all of our previous complaints of the lack of snow here in Denver are subsiding. Yes, be it three weeks late, the snow is here!

That's our car, the second one from the bottom, outside my (Brady's) window at work.

About 4 inches fell before we left for work, and at 10:30 there's another inch and a half, with snow still falling.

It amazes us, that a place like Denver, where you would think it snows often, has such terrible traffic problems when white stuff hits the ground. It's not like they're cancelling school or anything (points to the Northwest) but a normally 15 minute commute turning into 35-40? Come on now?

Anyhow, it's a beautiful day here in Denver! (Those of you who live in the Portland area or Spokane, sorry about the picture which probably conjures up nightmares of some sort!)

Happy (late) Holidays

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Over the last three weeks as the Northwest was dumped on with the fluffy white stuff, we've "enjoyed" beautiful clear, sunny days with temperatures reaching the mid sixties.  A new phenomenon I'm labeling "Snow Envy" has certainly come into affect though.  Yes we've had a small bit of snow this year (maybe 6 inches total) but it seems quite ironic that the first year we are away from the Northwest for Christmas it DUMPS!

With the New Year come a few changes for us.  Kaylyn started school yesterday (The 5th) and I started working in the Sales Department at Swiftpage full time.  This comes with a new office, a raise and much more fulfilling and enjoyable work.  Swiftpage has been quite a blessing for us in this transition in our lives.  

Christmas was an interesting time as both of us deeply missed our families and friends.  We spent the day watching movies and cooking.  Overall it was a good day with a high of 55.  

New Years was quite less eventful.  Kaylyn was asleep by 10:30, I watched the ball drop and was asleep shortly after. 

We'd like to wish you all a very Happy New Year and send a congratulations out to Angela who just got engaged, as well as our good friends Eric and Charlotte Bohlmann who have just announced they are expecting!  We are happy for you guys!