No, I do not have the swine flu.

Neither does anyone I know for that matter. Last week I was in Tijuana, at the YWAM base there. It was a phenomenal week. Our teacher, Dwight Hansen was inspiring! He had so much wisdom to impart on us. We focused the week on worship, and though I feel like I have a pretty good perspective on worship, I learned new things and walls I didn’t even realize were there were broken down. I was able to really get at the heart of God during the week and it felt amazing! We shared the week with the School of Worship from Ensenada, which just reinforced and allowed us lots of opportunity to practice what we were learning. They were a cool bunch from all over, Holland, England, Japan, the Philippines, Canada, etc. We get to go to Ensenada for the next two weeks, so we’ll get to spend more time with them.

There was one major issue pressing on my heart the whole week. My small group leader, Tita, has an illness that she’s had for years, but it’s been getting worse the last six months. Her doctor said she wouldn’t be able to do missions work, but she’s been fine as she’s done just that in 23 different countries. She is an amazing woman of Christ and has been discipling me well over the last couple weeks. She ended up in and out of the hospital during week four, and was gone all of this week. She’s returning tomorrow and is doing much better (PTL!). But I spent much of the week in Tijuana in prayer for her healing, and peace in her heart as she goes through this. I ask for your prayers for her as well.

The weekend between weeks four and five we had off. Unfortunately, I live a decent flight away, and so the other American and I (and three other people who live too far away in Mexico) stayed at the base the whole weekend. I think it was a good idea, because we were able to rest and relax (and do some hardcore cleaning/gardening), and because of what happened Friday night. I went to the church that two of my classmates from here in Tecate are members of, for their youth service. During the service I was overwhelmed by a spiritual attack. It was really scary, and I’ve had them before but it still caught be off guard. I was subsequently shaken up most of the weekend. But I prayed about it a lot, and I’ve been able to get even closer to God because of it.

So this week (five) we had Barry Houser come to share some Biblical Foundations teaching with us. He taught us a lot. We learned a systematic approach to studying the Bible, and we went in depth into a few passages/topics. It was very educational, and enlightening. I especially enjoyed it I think, being the, hands down, biggest nerd in the class. But I definitely got a lot out of him being here. Each week here has provided great speakers, with life-changing things to share, and I feel so blessed.