April 2024 Newsletter, Vol. 1
- alexismissions77
- Apr 1, 2025
- 3 min read
YWAM Ships
Hello friends and family! Goodness so much to tell you. On the first day of arrival at YWAM Ships Kona, I was picked up by YWAM staff and shuttled over with hundreds of other missionaries who are in different missions courses here. YWAM (Youth With A Mission) is one of the largest mission organizations that was founded by Loren Cunningham and his wife Darlene Cunningham in the 60s. The organization started as purely an outreach organization that sent missionaries, but there was a seen need to train missionaries before going on outreach to share the Gospel. YWAM Kona has two twin campuses (Ships & UofN) that were birthed out of a vision God gave the founding missionaries. YWAM Ships has the heart to reach the unreached nations and Islands that do not have airports or access to the Gospel of Jesus. These ships work to bring medical supplies, teachings, and the Gospel. YWAM UofN (University of the Nations) works in partnership with Ships, but they are a university for missionaries where students can acquire a bachelor's degree while also doing missions work throughout their course work. I am at YWAM ships currently.
Training
I am in one of the first courses currently at YWAM Ships, Kona. The course I am currently taking is an entry-level course that is known as a DTS (Discipleship Training School). The class has speakers come in weekly to touch on different topics. These weekly intensive trainings are gearing us up for sharing the Gospel and some assignments are required so that we can be equipped when in the mission field. The second week, we had the challenge and blessing of each sharing our testimony. Wow, can I just say this was a profound moment in the ministry to hear and share the testimony with so many others? In between working on these courses and preparing for outreach, we have had the blessing to serve our local community here in Kona with local high schools, youth groups, Christian businesses, and Deep and Beyond (Physical and cognitive disabilities program).
Prayer
Location: The team I walked in with will be divided into three outreach teams. This means that in the next two weeks, our mission leaders will notify us about the outreach locations and we will have 30 minutes to decide our location. The hope in these 30 minutes is to give no room for others' input, but only God’s. We are also praying for clarity and vision over what God will place in our hearts on that day.
Team: If you can also be praying for teams! As we will be divided into 3 teams please pray for God's leading and hand over the teams that will be picked and the locations that the teams will walk into.
Bible Poverty: Bible poverty is the heart and mission to see every nation have access to the Bible through their original mother tongue. It’s one of the biggest issues the church and missions face as 7,139 officially recognized languages 1,148 don't have access to a single verse of the Bible. As you pray please keep missionaries entering these areas with the need of funding, resources, and accessibility to translate in your prayers.
Friend: Prayer for a friend Richard who got diagnosed with skin cancer.
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