January 3rd anticipation!

All the preparation. All the prayer. All the excitement. The time has nearly arrived for the new students to land in Kona for the adventure of a lifetime. We have been trying to amp up the students for what's to come and also help them to get a glimpse of who their staff is before they even arrive. In doing so - my friend Caleb and I have made some "Get to know your staff" videos and have been posting them for the students to see. We wanted the students to get a glimpse of our personalities and I think these videos do it justice! So far it is exciting them to see who we are before they come - I hope it breaks a bit of intimidation of the unknown. Thought y'all might be interested to see some of the media projects I've been working on on the side these past couple months.

Here is my video - check it out!

To watch the rest of them on our page Click here!

It's a common thread amidst the refining fire

We are now nearing the end of this quarter and Christmas break is just around the corner! This last week in Hawaii will be full of intense staff training for the DTS schools starting back up in January. For the past three months I have been working in the Admin Office where I sort through applications, emails, and call potential students to answer their many questions, pray for, and encourage them. It is so crazy to think that in just a few weeks our students will be here - stepping off that plane and into this new adventure I entered nearly a year ago.

As I am thinking back on this quarter - I see what God has been doing this season in my life and how He has been refining me. My friend Gabby and I started doing a bible study together in the mornings before work. Basically what we do is open our Bible Apps to the verse of the day and we study that verse using commentaries and find the practical application to it. The best part is that since we pick our verses by whatever the verse of the day happens to be - they are all at random. But as I'm looking back at our study notes, I find they are all teaching one thing…how to love God and others. It's this common thread amidst the refining fire, called love. This has been very applicable to my life this season because it has been a season of refining and ridding of the flaws in my character. And when God wants to rid us of things - first He has to reveal them. And this can be a humbling process. I am learning that I cannot lead people somewhere I haven't already gone myself. So practically when these students arrive, I can only take them as far as I have gone with the Lord. A great analogy that Kenny Peavy (anointed worship leader) said the other day was this: when you're on a plane and the oxygen mask comes down you're supposed to put the oxygen mask on yourself before helping others.

I have loved living here in this community with my Engage DTS staff family where we all love each other enough to call one another higher. Living in a small loft full of eight girls from different parts of the world, different ages, different families, different standards, and different backgrounds has been growing. The good thing is we all have one thing in common: our love and desire for the Lord. Sometimes I wonder why God would put me nearly 4,000 miles - an ocean away from my family. Especially when so much seems to be happening at home! I mean my sister Meghan just had her baby yesterday and my little sisters have been having their ballet performances they've been preparing so hard for. But the thing is… He is teaching be how to love people outside my comfort zone, away from my familiarities, and out of the box I had put myself in. He is refining me and it's a bitterly sweet process. A few nights ago my staff team and I sat in a circle and the Holy Spirit took over our meeting. We all began confessing our sins to the Lord aloud and in front of each other as God was leading. It was the most liberating, freeing, and humbling experience. We cried before the Lord and each other as He brought things to our attention that we needed to lay down...it was so beautiful. Something funny that the Lord has been revealing to us is that the things that annoy us about others - are likely the very things we do ourselves. For example, sometimes it rubs me the wrong way when people talk very loudly - and without even thinking about it I realized I do the same thing! This is why we should check ourselves before judging others. A lot of the time that's how the Lord will reveal to us (like a mirror) the things He wants us to work on. It's a beautiful disaster to the scum in the soul.


He is refining me, in the fire and the coal
He is refining me, within my soul
He is refining me, to make me whole.


Thanks for reading!
Blessings,
Macy

Stories and pictures!

Thanksgiving feast with (most of) the staff team at
 our leader Joanna Mutch's house! 

We (Americans)  all brought one of our
favorite thanksgiving desserts. 

Got to Skype with my family on thanksgiving! 

Me and my friend Gabby getting ready
to go look at Christmas lights up the mountain
where it's actually chilly!  :) 

SANTA!
(Me, Gabby from New Jersey, and Maria from Sweden) 

My friend Jordan (who I went to India with) and I dressed up
as clowns for the YWAM Kona Christmas program!

I had the honor to lead a lady to the Lord from the senior
community home that the small group of friends and I have been
 visiting every week. PRAISE HIM.

LUKE! My beautiful nephew. I will meet
you in just over a weeks time.