And here we go again..

Well this post is going to be short due to the fact that my bed is calling my name, but I really wanted to update my blog so here it is.

So I am back in the beautiful Denver, Colorado once again. I arrived saturday morning and spent the weekend with some friends from my dts that are also here and working with ywam. It was a very fun weekend of just catching up on life. So then came monday and the moving in and settling in part of things. I must say the first week of introductions and adjusting wasn't my favorite thing but I suppose it has to happen. This time around I am down at the main base which has its good and bad points. It was definitely a bit of a change from being up at eagle rock which is where I was last year this time. Also I am living with about 7 other girls in my room which was a bit different than the 4 last time. But I am getting to know people better and I think its going to be very good. So last week was mainly just going over how things work and getting into the routine of living in a community again.

I also finally got to begin the journey that is the school of social justice or ssj for short. There are a total of 15 students in the school and they're all girls. Its a very fun group and I have really enjoyed getting to know them better. We also got the basic over view of what the school is going to look like from week to week. Each week we will be studying different topics such as the spirituality of justice, poverty and urban injustice, human trafficking, and immigration and refugees. Those are just a  few of the topics we are covering. Its going to be some heavy and hard hitting material but I know that God has placed me here to learn these things for a reason. Already He is teaching me so much and we are just starting "official" class time.

So I think that's going to do it for now. I know its short. But there will be a longer one coming soon. This week is going to be full of good stuff to tell you all about. If you have questions or just want to hear more about what I am doing for these few short months seriously please feel free to call me or facebook me or whatever. I love talking about all this good stuff and sharing my heart.
Thanks for the prayers! you rock.

reflections.

wow. 2 weeks ago this time i was sitting in the worship center at the ywam base eating ice cream and watching the office with Lena, a good friend whom i miss dearly. It's crazy how fast these past 5 months have flown by and i feel thats something i'm gunna be saying for the rest of my life. So as i've been thinking back on what the heck happened over these last few months I have been trying to find words to describe it and i've got a few.

FAITHFULNESS
This word describes the whole experience but most specifically my time on outreach in colombia. There were times where i just didn't feel like continuing. I was exhausted both physically and emotionally. Some mornings i would wake up earlier than i wanted to and just lay in bed thinking, how am i going to make it through today without either breaking down or snapping at someone. So i would go to God and say, well you're gunna have to carry today. This happened a lot. And every single time God did just that. It was amazing. I would find myself at the end of the day thinking how the heck did i just pull through today? And it was only by God's grace i made. God had no reason to respond to my calls i mean there were many times that i was frustrated and angry at God. But he was always there, just waiting for me to drop all the stuff i was carrying, so that he could take for me.

PASSION
God reawakened a lot of passion in me. He started it during lecture phase and continued through outreach. Its a passion for a reawakening of what it looks like to follow God with everything i have and to see the church discover that same passion. I was able to witness this beginning to happen in Colombia. The youth there are digging in deep and they have a lot of fire for their country. They want revival to come and its definitely coming. Its a contagious thing and i just pray it will continue to spread not only within Colombia but to other nations.

UNITY
One thing that God has really shown me while looking back on the 5 months is why this short time was so powerful. I've been trying to figure out why I was able to form such good relationships in such a short time. I only was with some of my good friends for 3 months because they went on a different outreach but I still formed such solid friendships. It was because we were all pursuing one goal: a closer relationship with God. We all wanted our own personal relationships with God to grow deeper. For a few short months we were able to solely focus on that and it led to eternal reward. I heard a quote and i'm not sure who it was by but it kinda helps explain what i'm trying to say: if you aim for heaven you get earth thrown in but if you only aim for earth thats all your gunna get (thats a paraphrased version). So it was in our pursuit of God that we grew closer. If we would have just focused on getting to know each other we really wouldn't have gotten very far. It's so awesome that I was able to be apart of something like this. I can't thank my dts staff as well as my dts itself for putting God first in our time together. It's what made it so amazing and life changing.

LOVED
This was a defining word for me. Its what God chose to call me during the whole experience and its what I'm going to carry with me for the rest of my life. God showed me just how crazy he is about me and it was life changing. Theres no other way to describe it. He also showed me love through the new friendships I made. I will never forget all the love they showed me and thats what made goodbyes so stinkin hard.

So i think thats it for  now. If i think of anything else i will be sure to post it :). Thank you all again for all your prayers. They helped ways i don't even know.

another quick update from pereira

So I must apologize for my lack of blogging. so much has happened that i dont even know where to begin...
i´ll just start :)
we moved locations just this past weekend. we left cartagena on sunday evening and arrived in pereira on monday night. it was a pretty long and cold bus ride. for some reason the one bus decided to have the ac on full blast for the entire trip. i didnt get it. but anyway we arrived safe and sound in the beautiful city of pereira. the mountains here are so incredibly beautiful. i love all the scenery here and its actually green! the cities are built into the mountains and there are coffee plantations every where. it doesnt get much better than that.
going into this next location our team was aware that the spiritual presence i guess you could say was much more thick and prevelent in this city and once we arrived our team could definitely sense it. This city has opened itself up to a lot of satanic and occult type religions so theres a pretty dark presence here. The first day here we spent the whole morning pretty much in worship and interceding for the city. i dont know how to explain it but there is definitely something brewing here. I feel like God is getting people ready for something big. 
We are spending the next three weeks in and around this city. so heres a basic schedule of events that will be going on:
this week we are spending time connecting with leaders from different churches and prepping for a mini dts camp that our team will be staffing
next week we will be living at a local farm type area outside the city and the team will be running a mini dts for youth from all over colombia. this is going to be a huge time for my team and i think god is going to move in a powerful way
then our last week here our team will be ministering to villages near pereira. we´re still not sure what all we will be doing in those villages but we are hoping to be able to do some flood relief and stuff like that.

These next few weeks are going to be very busy and intense. I´m excited to see what else God has in store for the team. God has really been speaking to people about how pivotal this generation is and its starting light a fire in our team and those around us here in pereira. So if you think about just keep my team in prayer. here are a few things you can pray for:
       good health
      Wisdom for our leaders
      god´s protection
      that our team will be able to maintain focus on whats at hand
      against spiritual attacks
     that we will be able to take back ground in this city that the enemy has stolen and claim that ground for God

I appreciate all the prayers that you have already poured into the team. They make such a difference.
God bless!!

hola from cartagena!

well i thought i would update quick. the team made it safe and sound to cartagena last evening. its so amazing here. we are staying in a small city that is apparently just a 10 minute walk from the beach. i have a bed, shower, and toilet so im feeling pretty content right about now haha. I am very excited to be spending the next 2 weeks in the city though. i`m already enjoying the culture and all that goes with it. so these next few weeks will be amazing.
so thats all for now i suppose.  sorry for the shortness of the update but internet cafe time is running out
thanks for the prayers
hasta luego!

God is good.

So it's about time i update again just because if i put it off longer that means this post will just get much longer. Lots happened this past week so i shall begin with our teaching we had this week. For this week we had some of the staff speak. These teachings were geared towards the area of missions. It was a great week of teaching and i got A LOT out of it all. I feel like it was God's way of showing me that i can really do this whole missions thing. But one day stood out in particular and that day was wednesday. That day a guy from the arvada base came up and talked to us about the Holy spirit's role in giving. Then he had us apply it in a very practical way. He dismissed us to go pray and see if God was asking us to give anything away to our fellow students and staff. God told me pretty much right away what he wanted me to give. He wanted me to give the students who still had outreach money due some money for their outreach. This was hard for me. God has been challenging in that area for some time and I felt like this was an area that i just needed to give over. After i made up my mind to finally listen to God (always a smart thing to do) i was filled with peace. It was a great feeling. So finally the time came for everyone to present our gifts to the people. It was a blessing just to be able to witness all the sacrifice and giving that went on. God showed his faithfulness and goodness to so many people that day. Even me. My one roommate blessed the socks off of me with her snowboard. This spoke volumes to me. It wasn't just a snowboard but it was God's way of showing me that he was really faithful and good. Other people gave rings that had huge sentimental value, clothes, laptops, ipods, a car, and the list goes on. I can guarantee you that there was no dry eye in the room. It was so awesome to see people give up something that meant a lot to them and then turn around and receive something just as precious. Again this just showed God's goodness. It was a powerful week and one i really won't forget.

So then came the weekend. Usually a weekend for me involves a lot of relaxing and just laying around. But this weekend we had our love feast, which is basically a christmas party. Everyone dressed up all nice and pretty. Yes that does mean i, janelle dienner, dressed up too. Hope i didn't shock you all too bad :) It was a great night despite it all tho. Each of the rooms had a little performance thing that they presented to the school. Lots of laughs needless to say. So then sunday night most of the dts went to carrabas  italian restaurant for some yummy food. It was an amazing final weekend. This past weekend was the last weekend we had to spend together as a whole school. This friday the colombian team (the team i'm in) will go down to the arvada base for the weekend. Then we leave from there on sunday for the airport. I know time flies. It's hard to believe that next week this time i will be in colombia. While its very sad to leave the other half of the school that will be going to thailand, i am very excited for outreach and all the adventures we are sure to have. I mean our trip starts off with and 18 hour adventure in the miami airport, we are lucky enough to have that lengthy of a layover their. And from the sounds of things, we might be spending christmas at the beach in Cartegena. How fun! I am sad to inform you all that i won't be able to update my blog very often while there. I'm not sure how often i will have internet access but i will do my best.

Well i've got to run now. Hope you all are enjoying the funness of the holidays that are fast approaching. I know i am. still very sad about the fact that i won't be home for christmas though mom. even though they aren't setting up a christmas tree :(
Anyway. so long. thanks for the thoughts and prayers :) i am very very very grateful for all my support i get from home. You guys rock. k bye now.

snowboarding, thanksgiving vacation, bible study

So that basically sums up my last few weeks. I apologize for the lack of posting thats been going on as of late. It's getting pretty busy around here with prepping for colombia and such.
So last week i was lucky enough to get to go home and spend thanksgiving with family. It was so nice to come home and see my much missed parents and brother and friends. Of course i had my share plus some of food. Not just over thanksgiving day but i had to stock up on some family cupboard food while i was at it. I forgot how good the food at home is. I am very glad i came home for the holidays. It would have been a long 5 months without seeing everyone if i didn't. So even though it was a short 4 day break, i filled it up with lots of catching up  with people at home. Even though i was sad to leave it was good to come back here. The people here have become like family to me. It really is amazing how close we have gotten over such a short amount of time. The only way i can explain how this happens is God. I just love the pure fellowship we share here and it only comes from all of us seeking God together.
So this weeks topic was biblical study. It was a pretty awesome week of teaching. It felt like i was back at lwa sitting in bible class again. It was so encouraging to hear all the things i had forgotten about bible study. This week showed me just how truly living and active the Bible is. No matter how much i study a passage I can ALWAYS learn something new. Its so awesome. Then to end this week it was topped off with a snowboarding trip to breckenridge. This was my second time ever snowboarding and i'm hooked already :) It's so unfortunate that it costs so much money to go boarding. I guess that means i just have to work a little harder when i get home to make up for it haha. Here are a few pics i took while on the mountain hope u enjoy

This was the beautiful sunrise that morning (yes i was up early enough to see the sunrise 5:45 to be exact)

This would be the amazing view from the top of the mountain

Me and Jeannine getting ready to head down

Me and my awesome roomie Karly :)

So  i know the pictures are few but it was a great day of boarding. No injuries so i'd say it was quite the successful day. Thats all for now. 

Just kidding. I forgot to add thatI leave in about 2 weeks for outreach by the way. Prayers are appreciated for the two teams heading out. There's lots of nerves and excitement. We are gunna have some awesome times in both countries.

Ok for real now. Goodnight all :)

Jesus Freaks movie.

So some of you may have noticed the link i posted a few days ago on my facebook about the jesusfreaks movie. This is a documentary of a boarders dts that took place up here at eagle rock just month after the horrible shooting at the arvada base. I was able to watch the whole movie this past week and its pretty incredible. The movie takes you in depth into the students lives and you are able to see God's radical love transform the people apart of the school. I am honored to be apart of ywam denver's vision to touch my generation through this movie. The goal of the webisodes they have made is to make them go viral over the internet and just spread the word of Christ through these short videos. The heart ywam denver has for denver and this generation is contagious. They are sensing God's presence coming to this city and it so awesome to see the affects of it. God's going to start stirring up some awesome stuff through ywam denver and the jesus freaks movie and what makes this awesome is i get to be apart of it. I can't even express how grateful i am for the staff here that have awakened my passion for this generation and all the potential it has in God. It has been so awesome to see God confirm some of the things he has laid on my heart. So here is the link to the website of the Jesus freaks movie. Please check it out and spread the world. We want this to go big.

http://jesusfreaksmovie.com/

Thanks!