Week 4 and 5 in Michigan

Week 4 and 5

I am continuing to work on cleaning and organizing things, I am making progress but there is still more to do! Maybe you are also doing cleaning and organizing during this time?

The doctor looked at my ears and there is no infection but my eustachian tube must still be inflamed because there is quite a lot of fluid behind my ear drum especially in the right ear; this build up of fluid is what is causing my dizziness/vertigo (and the other issues I had when flying to Kona and also at the beginning of March); I have meds to take for a month that will hopefully fix the problem.

The YWAM Kona campus has less people living there now than when the base was first started back in 1977! Wow. There have been no cases of COVID in anyone living on campus and only one case in a staff that was living off campus, this person was in self isolation and so it spread to no-one else, this person is completely recovered.

There is a Zoom meeting three times a week that all staff are invited to as well as the DTS students. The campus core leadership are talking and praying about how to move forward wisely in the coming months as the curve flattens.

Tranformations Magazine

This is a link to the latest issue of a YWAM Magazine:  ywamkona.org/transformations

Pictures from page 18; middle picture is of some of the vine.

On pages 15-21 there is an article that shares some ways that YWAM Kona, over recent years, has been seeking to serve local needs; on page 18 you can see pictures of a house/property that I helped clean when I was a DTS student a year ago. The middle picture is of a huge viney plant that was all over one side of the house; I was part of the group of women that helped cut up that vine and pull it off the house and fence!

24/7 Prayer for the Nations

YWAM Kona has started a 24/7 Prayer Initiative to try to cover every nation in prayer 1 hour every week. (Inspired by the Moravians)YWAM Kona staff were invited to sign up for 1 hour slots and each slot was given 1 nation to pray for; thus far 89% of the week is covered so that is exciting and staff are still signing up.

Lectures for Homereach Students

Here are links to the lectures the students listened to for these week; both are good! There are three more weeks of home reach left; I will post links to those lectures in the coming weeks.

Revival:Surrender-Adam Durso

Revival:Small Beginnings-Suzy Silk

The Cha Cha Song

Here is another video that I made for the kids at my church. Unfortunately I couldn't find any video clips of people from my outreach team to include in this one.

Week 3 and part of Week 4 in Michigan

Update from Week 3 (and a bit of week 4) in Michigan

Week 3 I have been cleaning and organizing lots of things that never got finished (or even started :)) before I left for Kona in December; at the end of 2019 I was working full time and also was a full time graduate student trying to complete my last two classes by the middle of December; so I was pretty busy while also trying to get ready to be gone for at least 6 months. I had been asking the Lord when I would get to work on those unfinished things and now I have the time.

I had the chance to join a GoogleHangout meeting with some friends from my home church for a bible study- it was so good to see their faces and hear their voices even if it was through a screen. I am hoping to make another video or two for the kids at my church soon; I will share them in my next blog if that does happen.

I believe that so far all of the Crossroads 2020 DTS students and staff are healthy after traveling home to many different countries and states; that is a huge answer to prayer! But I am beginning to learn of some of my other YWAM friends internationally and relatives of these friends that have symptoms of the virus or have been confirmed with COVID. A few of these people are almost recovered while others have only just started being sick.

Let's keep praying in hope for the healing for people in our towns, states, and countries around the world!

On Tuesday of this week (week 4) my ears started giving me major problems again; I woke up super dizzy and pretty much had to lay still all day; Sudafed seems to be helping because I am much better today (Wednesday) so I will keep taking that for a week or two.

Lecture for Homereach Students

Here is a link to the lecture that home reach students listened to this week. I thought this was a great teaching!

Cory Russell - Revival:Prayer

If you look around on the website you will see other teachings; Jon Tyson gave several talks in Kona during our second to last week there and all of the teachings I heard from him were very good, so I encourage you to check those out if you are looking for podcasts to listen to; they are probably quite good.

Memories from Kona

Here are some pictures that I never had the chance to share with you from a trip that I took  during the first week in March with friends who were going to go on outreach with me. We took a day trip and traveled south of Kona and visited South Point, Green Sands Beach, and Black Sands.

South Point

Green Sands- 1 hour hike out to the beach; a fun hike but not a good/safe beach for swimming; 5-10 minute truck ride (standing in the truck bed) back to where we parked.

     

 

Black Sands-We arrived just as it was getting dark!

**On the way home we ate delicious Thai food because the first outreach location we were planning to go to was Thailand (and Cambodia) so we wanted to celebrate that, even though we already knew we weren't going to get to go there anymore.

Week 2 in Michigan

Update from Week 2 in Michigan

Today is day 14 since traveling back to Michigan from Kona, HI, it is my last day of self-isolating in my parents basement. I am still waking and sleeping on Hawaii time, but thankfully I seem to be very healthy! I will of course continue to abide by the governments recommendations to but starting tomorrow will move more freely through out my parents house.

I was hoping to do some online training while back in Michigan, but so far that has not become a possibility. I messaged the person in charge of Leadership Track and have learned that YWAM Kona does not plan to run this training until July. As for the online inner healing prayer ministry training, this might still happen but I don't know yet. I messaged the person who leads this ministry and it sounds like they are looking into offering something but are not able to move forward with it yet.

This week (week 2 in self-isloation :) )I have been journaling and processing some of the things that God did in my life over the past few months but especially over my last couple weeks in Hawaii, as alot happened in a very short time. I have also been reading through the Freedom Manual; I did parts of this manual during my DTS back in 2019 and also received teaching on some of the same part as well a others during this 2020 DTS that I staffed, however I have never gone through the whole manual until now! I struggled to walk students through it this quarter but now having gone through the whole book myself I think will be more comfortable trying to teach it to others.

I have been thinking and praying about ways to reconnect with my church here in Michigan since I am not able to actually visit them in person. I have been hearing about and seeing the DTS students make fun videos for their family and friends and so I was inspired to make a video too. Here is a link to the video I made last week for the kids at my home church! I shared it with them on our group chat and to make it interactive challenged them to memorize the scripture or the song and post a video of them doing it and to read the scripture as a family and share one thing they learned with each other and on the group chat.

This is one of the songs my team would have done on outreach; near the end of the video you can see the two other staff who were leading this team and the students who were on our team doing some of the motions to this song in class back in February.

Podcasts-Steve Fry

There are two podcast/short sermons in this link given by Steve Fry about the times we are living in right now; Steve Fry was one of the speakers during this DTS and also back in 2019 when I was a student; the sermons were shared with me by another staff in Kona.

Steve Fry- What God does in Times of Interruption

• (or try this link if the one above does not work for you): https://open.spotify.com/episode/5lzyD4mlmio9Lb41Vp1O0U)

Lecture for Homereach Students

Here are the links to the lectures that the students doing Homereach listened to this week. Personally I don't always really like the way this speaker delivers what he is sharing and like with all the speakers in DTS I don't agree with everything he has to say either, but I do think there are some very good points in both talks!

• Kris Valloton - Cultivating Tipping Points 
• Kris Valloton- Culture Catalysts

Answered Prayer:

1. My 14 days of self-isolation are done and I am healthy after traveling through 4 airport! 

2. I feel like the Lord has shown me a few ways to use my time at least over the next couple weeks. 

Prayer Requests:

1. Healing of those who are sick with COVID-19, protection over health care workers and that people would be drawn closer to the Lord in this time.

2. Perseverance and intentionality to maintain the freedom God gave me while in Kona and how to walk in it in a way that blesses the people around me.

3. Clear direction from the Lord during these next months about how to use my time here in Michigan and that I would be ready to go back to Kona when the campus reopens!

Hope and Faith in the Unexpected-back in Michigan for a little bit

Hello Friends and Family,

I hope and pray that you and your family are safe and healthy as we all continue to navigate how to wisely respond to the COVID-19 crisis.

Some major changes have happened for me over the past week.

In the evening on Friday, March 20, the core leadership of YWAM Kona asked all staff and students living on the campus to leave campus and the island if at all possible. At the beginning of last week we had our first few cases of COVID-19 confirmed on the Big Island and on Friday the local Kona health clinic saw many more people coming in with symptoms. It can take up to 7-10 days to confirm cases because tests done on the island have to be sent to mainland USA. Resources (hospital beds, medication, etc) on an island are also limited for treating those who become ill.

At first I did not have any peace about leaving the island so I reached out to several different people I know trying to find a place to stay; however on Saturday late in the morning the Lord gave me a tangible sense of peace about coming back to Michigan for a short season during this COVID-19 crisis. So on Monday, March 23rd I arrived back in Michigan; the plane tickets were a great price, I washed my hands LOTS and used Clorox wipes, wet wipes, and hand sanitizer! I am self isolated in my parents basement for 14 days, in case I was exposed to anything while traveling through 4 different airports (Kona, LAX, Charolette, and Grand Rapids). I am super jet lagged but very healthy so far 😄

On one of my plane rides I had the privilege of sitting near a women who is also a believer and we talked about why we were traveling and then prayed for each other! I think we were both encouraged and blessed by our meeting.

My plane from Charlotte to Grand Rapids was pretty much empty;
only 9 people total and they were all in seats in front of me.
I am super tired in this picture; it was about 20 hours of travel from Kona back to MI.

I am waiting to hear from YWAM Kona about possible online training to be offered during this time; Restoring the Foundations (RTF) prayer ministry has offered some online trainings before; I have been in touch with the people who head up this ministry and they are looking into how to offer more training at this time and have said they will let me know when they can move forward with it. I also heard talk about the campus offering a leadership track course online in April. Both RTF and leadership track were things I was seriously considering doing after staffing this DTS, and then when outreaches were cancelled I was considering doing them this April. My plan right now is to return to Kona when the YWAM campus reopens; I renewed my ID card just this morning! I think I would like to help staff the September Crossroads (but not staff the outreach part) and then stay to staff the entire January 2021 Crossroads DTS including helping staff an outreach.

The funds raised that I was going to use to stay in Kona until at least the end of June ($3,812) will now be saved for when I return to Kona when the campus reopens; if there is a cost associated with the online training (RTF or leadership track) I will updated you on what funds might be used that direction when I know more!

The YWAM Kona DTS students are finishing their last week of lecture online which also includes some debriefing; transitioning home after a normal DTS can be difficult; these students have the added challenge of not doing a normal outreach, the craziness of these times and not getting to walk through a week long debrief in person with their classmates.  I have heard several students mention coming back to Kona do outreach once the COVID crisis ends and others have talked about coming back to staff on campus or be mission builders on another YWAM campus. Those that signed up to do "Homereach" are starting those teachings and figuring out how to connect with people in creative ways, since meeting face to face in groups is just not a wise option right now. This week one of our Crossroads couples hosted a virtual prayer meeting through ZOOM as part of launching their Homereach. I logged in just to see how it went and think they did an awesome job!

I have been following along with the last week lectures/debriefing and below are some links if you would like to check some of the lectures out for yourself!

• Darlene Cunningham - friendship with Jesus and hearing God's voice
• Andy Byrd- 5 teachings about going deeper with Jesus

I will also be following along with the Homereach teaching and will try to post something once a week about what the students are learning!

Answered Prayer:

1. My ears did not hurt and I did not get sick on any of the 3 planes that I took to get home; I am healthy!
2. The students and staff have all returned home safely or found a place to stay on the island during the COVID crisis.

Prayer Requests:

1. Healing of those who are sick with COVID-19; protection over health care workers and that people would be drawn closer to the Lord in this time.
2. Perseverance and intentionality to maintain the freedom God gave me while in Kona and how to walk in it in a way that blesses the people around me.
3. Clear direction from the Lord during these next months about how to use my time here in Michigan and that I would be ready to go back to Kona when the campus reopens!

How can I be praying for you?

Kona, Hawaii - Psalm 91

Hi friends and family!

I apologize that this post is getting written later than I hoped; I am still in Kona, Hawaii and I am safe, healthy and at peace!

Things have been changing here almost daily for the past 1-2 week as new information comes out about COVID-19; I have been waiting for things to stay the same for a couple days before posting new information about what I am up to.  As you may have already guessed my team is no longer going to Mendoza, Argentina, however the connections we made there could be really great for a future Crossroads DTS outreach!

Most of the Crossroads DTS staff is still here in Kona and several of the students have also felt like God has called them to stay here. I am still in Kona, and greatly appreciate your prayers and financial support-I will update you on both of those areas at the end of this post.

Here are some links to things YWAM Kona posted recently that will give you insight on how the campus is responding in wisdom to the current situation:

• Message from campus leadership regarding upcoming training programs
• University of the Nations YWAM Kona COVID-19 Frequently Asked Questions

When I came back to YWAM Kona at the end of December, I thought God was calling me to staff the Crossroads DTS and stay here in Kona after outreach, possibly through the end of June. I had wondered if I might stay here with YWAM Kona longer than June or go to another YWAM base to serve or return back to Michigan. I was trusting He would give me more direction during outreach or during the time here in June after outreach.

I still believe God has called me to be here in Kona at least until the end of June and quite possibly for longer. There are Crossroads students still here and in the past few days I have already seen ways the Lord wants to use me here in this season walking with the Crossroads students who have felt the Lord call them to stay. We are not exactly sure what daily life will look like yet but we are spending time in prayer individually and in our small groups. We are also spending time together virtually as an entire campus, they have a cool set up through an app call Workplace that is allowing live streaming to be possible in this way; my Crossroads DTS has a group chat through this same app where everyone can join for a video call. Psalm 91 is a verse we have been praying out.

Over the past few months God has been using a prayer ministry call Restoring the Foundation (RTF) to bring lots of inner healing into the lives of the students and also into my own life. Depending on how the current COVID-19 situation progresses there may be the option for us to do some training to learn how to facilitate RTF prayer. I am very interested to learn more about this, as it is a tool I could take with me wherever the Lord leads me next, whether it is continuing to be staff here in Kona, or YWAM staff at another base, or if God leads me back to Michigan and getting involved with my home church.

I plan to keep writing blog posts every two weeks so please stay tuned. 😊

Financial Support Update- I am FULLY funded through June

Thank you so much to everyone who has given financially!!!!! The funds raised that were originally meant to cover the cost of outreach (and continuing to serve here in Kona for the month of June) will now be put toward the expenses associated with continuing to live on the YWAM Kona base serving the students still here. (I am living with 5 of the Crossroads single ladies, I see and talked to other Crossroads students from the appropriate social distance and still others I am connected to virtually.)

The total amount raised is: $6,642

The estimated expenses for me to continue to serve here in Kona this last week of March through the end of June is quite similar to what the expenses would have been had we gone on outreach so that is  really awesome!!

Total estimated Expenses Kona April-June: $2,145-$3,085
Housing: $400-$600/mo
Food: $120-$200/mo
Laundry: $40
Staff fee and ID renewal: $15
Mailbox renewal: $30
Plane Ticket Home: $500-$600

I am very seriously praying about staying longer than June so it is possible the money I am estimating for buying a plane ticket home would be used for rent in July and any extra funds that have been raised would be used toward food and needs that come up that month. If you have questions or concerns about the way the funds raised for outreach are now being use please don't hesitate to reach out and email me: jpatnott@gmail.com

I want to invite you to begin praying about if you would be interested in supporting me more long term should God call me to stay past June!

Answered Prayer:

1) Over the past week I have experienced EVEN MORE breakthrough/healing/freedom!! 

2) I am FULLY funded through June! THANK YOU and PRAISE GOD 🙌🙏😁
3) My ears are better! The health clinic found fluid behind my ears which has probably been there since when I arrived here, it is now gone.

4) The staff is working as a unified team even with all the changes that are happening. 

Prayer Requests:

1. Perseverance and intentionality to maintain the freedom God has been giving me and how to walk in it in a way that blesses the people around me.

2. Good sleep and good health for us here on the YWAM Kona campus and ALL of YOU who are reading this!

3. Unity among those still on campus and within the small group communities we have formed; good communication

4. Courage, wisdom, understanding, patience with myself and others, humility

5. Clear direction from the Lord during these next three months and for after June.

How can I be praying for you?

Argentina

¡¡¡Vamos a Argentina!!!  WE ARE GOING TO ARGENTINA 

Mendoza, Argentina

It was announce today to both staff and students that my outreach team is going to Mendoza, Argentina! We are all VERY excited 😀

I have given an estimate for outreach cost and it will include emergency health insurance being out of country too. The estimate is $2500.

So the new total estimated cost for staffing DTS is $6,440

$3,862 has been raised so far......

I still need to raise $2,578

Week 8 & 9

Outreach update- Not Going to Cambodia or Thailand

We are no longer able to travel to Cambodia or Thailand for outreach. Due to the rapid spread of the Corona virus the YWAM Kona Campus leadership, after lots of prayer and research, has decided not to permit any outreach teams to travel to countries in South East Asia for this quarter. Please continue to pray for those being directly and indirectly effected by this virus, the churches and believers in those areas and for the YWAM Kona leadership as they make decisions about outreach teams/locations.

My outreach team does not yet know where we are going!

Last week, as Crossroads staff we spent time praying together and individually, listening to the Lord about where He wants us to go. We have reached out to a few YWAM bases in different countries asking them to pray about hosting us. In addition to my outreach team there is another Crossroads outreach group that also needs a new location and many other DTS's and secondary school outreach teams need to change locations too. So that is a lot of people! The campus leadership is in prayer about a divine strategies for rerouting all of these teams.

I am excited to see where the Lords leads us! I have been writing a blog every two weeks but with there only being 3 weeks left before outreach I will be sure to write a post as soon as I know our outreach location.

Freedom- Adam Narciso

The teaching this week came straight out of a book called the Freedom Manual. When I was a student, we went through this same book in class ,but with a different teacher. It was one of my favorite weeks.

Adam did a good job teaching the material, incorporating his own stories/testimony and also trying to activate the students, so they feel more equipped to apply what they are learning. I was disappointed that he did not go though 1 or 2 of the worksheets in the book with the students; the days we did the worksheets when I was a student were really powerful days full of healing and breakthrough; but I think we will go through a couple of the worksheets in our small group or outreach groups.

The book has 21 chapters so there is no way to get through all of it in 4 days but some topics covered included:

• The power of salvation
• The greek word for 'save' in Luke 19:10 is sozo. It means deliverance, restoration, protection, preservation, healing, make whole
• Our original design- how to know your design?
• The Bible (1 John 3:1, Colossians 1:2, Ephesians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 5:20, Epheisan 1:1, Colossians 1:2, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:8)
• Seek the Lord yourself (James 1:5, Jeremiah 33:3)
• Seek the Lord in church (1 Timothy 1:18, 1 Corinthians 14:3)
• Strongholds

• Worksheets in the book help identify areas of bondage (anger, fear, passivity, rejection, shame, and unforgiveness) and to help people pray through:
• Repent of the sin (Acts 3:19)
• Receive God's forgiveness snd cleansing (Psalm 103:8-12; 1 John 1:9)
• Rebuke the enemy's how on ou because of sin (Matthew 4:10; James 4:7)
• Replace al lies with God's truth (Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:18)

Intercession and Worship-Andy Byrd and Michael W. Smith

Personal life of Prayer

• Matthew 6:5-15: Personal life of Prayer
• God the Father know what you need but wants you to ask Him because knowing Him is a real relationship
• 'Our Father in heaven'
• our=family, church, community
• Father=hears us and is near us
• heavenly=able to breakthrough/interene in unlimited/impossible ways
• Luke 18:1-8 Persistent Widow
• God is not unjust and you are not a nagging widow
• If a nagging widow received from /was heard by the unjust judge how much more with you just Father hear you who is his daughter/son
• Luke 11:1-13 Shameless audacity/perseverance
• Thoughts on fasting:
• God is speaking maybe if I fast I will hear him better
• God is powerful maybe if I fast I will be positioned/humbled to receive it/give it out
• Fasting is a gift of brokenness outside our circumstances having to break us (gift of a tender heart)

During outreach the strength of our team will come from our personal and group time in prayer and intercession

Michael W. Smith just happened to be on the island, so he stopped by to visit our lecture on Monday. He shared some awesome stories of God working in his life and then lea us in a short but impactful time of worship.

Beautiful Sunsets

                         

Answered Prayer:

1) LOTS of breakthrough/healing/freedom for me during my prayer session on Friday Feb 21st!!!! Thank you for praying💜🙏

2) The staff is working more and more as a unified team even with all the changes that are happening with outreach

Prayer Requests

1. Final decision about an outreach location and for all the planning and prep that will need to happen in a very short period of time.
2. Perseverance and intentionality to maintain the freedom God gave me during that prayer session.

3. Good sleep and good health for me and the students/their families
 -I am getting motion sick even more easy than usual and think there might be something going on with my ears; going to get them check out on Monday.

4. Unity among staff (entire staff and each outreach team); good communication

5. Courage, wisdom, understanding, patience with myself and others, humility

6. God's provision for financial support ($3,862 raised so far; total needed $6,535-$7655)

**I won't know the cost of outreach until we have decided on new outreach location**

7. Clear direction during DTS and Outreach

8. Clear direction for after DTS is finished.