Hello! Sorry it's been a few days; we've been incredibly busy since things got started....

We have a group of nine here, now, and our tenth family member had her visa appointment today, so we're praying that God has been graceful and she'll be arriving here soon. It's so amazing to me how close we got so quickly. We skipped right over the awkward getting-to-know-eachother phase and jumped right into becoming a really unified group. It's beautiful. The staff here is crazy awesome; we're just surrounded with incredible spiritual leaders who are so sold out to God. Fun fact: YWAM is entirely faith-based. Everyone who staffs here is unpaid, from the very lowest staff to the top of the line, and they have to pay to live on base. Everyone is funded by the Christian community- you guys are the ones who make YWAM possible. This isn't just here in LA either- YWAM as a whole functions the same way. No one makes money here. It's so cool to hear about the ways God has been a faithful provider to all of these men and women who are living to serve Him and expand His Kingdom.

We've been talking a lot this week about the fundamental values of YWAM and about prayer. Today, we spent the majority of the day just praying over the city and the nations. It was so cool. Intercession is a big thing here- for those of you who don't know what that is (I didn't before this week), intercession is basically just praying to God on others' behalves, be it nations or individuals or causes or whatever. It's "standing in the gap" between God and whatever you're praying for, and it can be incredibly powerful. 

On that note, for you prayer warriors out there, please keep me and this phenomenal group of young people I'm with here in your prayers. Really be praying that our purposes are revealed to us and that our hearts and mind stay open to everything that's coming our way. Pray for a spirit of joy to be prevalent in our community so that we can better serve each other and God. Also, keep greater Los Angeles in your prayers, that the strongholds of this city be broken so that God can infiltrate and heal this city. We've been discussing how LA is the modern day Babylon. I was reading Habakkuk today and noticing the crazy similarities there. God said Babylon would rise up and, basically, conquer the world, and that He would destroy their reign to show His power. Think about how much influence Los Angeles has on the nation and the world as well. In a more metaphorical way, LA is conquering the world, and we believe the time is coming for God to break through that and show Himself. Pray that we see what our role in that is and will be. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! If you'd like to mail anything, address it to me and send it to:

11141 Osborne St.

Lake View Terrace, CA 91342

Please include a return address so I can write back! 

God Bless, 

Ash