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Montana Updates

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Columbia Falls, MT (Habitat for Humanity)

The Carpentry Apprenticeship has been involved with Habitat for Humanity over the last year. In Columbia Falls they are building 16 Duplex 3 bed, 2 bath houses. Each week on Wednesday, we take our apprenticeship crew to the site where we jump in to the construction process. We have been able to make a great impact with our professional crew of apprentices and staff.

The Site Superintendent for the Flathead Valley has a heart for teaching and training. It is a great experience for our apprentices because they are able to take part in building the same house multiple times and see the process repeatedly. We will continue to use this outreach as a regular training time each year.

Big Sky Bible Camp, MT

Big Sky Bible Camp (BSBC) is a Christian camp on Echo Lake. They have summer camps and retreats year round for everyone from children to adults.

The Lakeside Carpentry Crew started 3 years ago working alongside their maintenance staff to take on a project at the BSBC facility. YWAM Montana and the Lakeside Carpentry Crew were able to donate the lion’s share of the material to build 2 new summer cabins and re-side the main dining hall. Like us, the staff of BSBC are all volunteers. It’s a real blessing to work alongside others working for the Kingdom, and move them along in their master plan. We have built long term relationships with the staff and will continue to bless and be blessed by them.

Her Story

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There’s so much I could tell you about how incredible our outreach was , and the ways we saw God at work.  I want to share just one story of how the theme of discipleship played out, and how God is continuing to revolutionize a small village province called Preah Vihear to, in turn, impact the Buddhist nation of Cambodia.

Months before we left on our outreach, we wrote down personal and team goals that we prayed through and felt like God put on our heart before going to Canada and Cambodia.  Our team really felt led to make it our goal to ‘Listen. Obey. See God move.’ which quickly became our go-to phrase.  One personal goal in relation to this for me was to pray and watch to build one long-term relationship.  I had no idea what that would look like or how it would come to fruition.  Then on the long bus ride to Preah Vihear, I was talking with my friend and prayer partner, Katie, and telling her I just felt pulled towards being with moms, doing the everyday with them and helping them see God’s truth in their lives.  Again, I didn’t know what to expect or how that would look, but God kept impressing it upon my heart.

So when we arrived  to this rural area, we realized quickly that most of our ministry would be spent alongside the local church and helping with youth in the community.  We found that the area was both centered around community while also being very private and withheld in personal matters.  It took time to build trust, and our own ideas of ministry had to shift to meet the needs and feel of the culture.  The youth were at first very stand-offish, but warmed up after the first few days, and more and more kids came streaming in.  We were able to teach English along with Bible stories with our translator’s help, and show them love in various ways.  They intently listened and asked questions, and it was amazing to see their lives change as they opened up to Christ right in front of our eyes.

However, I kept wondering what God was doing with my desire to be with moms since we weren’t really meeting their parents, and most adults at the local church didn’t know English to carry on conversations.  I was continually trying to practice really listening to God prompting me, and it was one night that He pointed me towards an adorable chubby baby that changed everything.  We were at the church’s prayer meeting, and our group had arrived early.  I noticed a group of women outside the open doors, one with the chubbiest baby I’ve ever seen!  She was just precious, and without even thinking, I got up to go play with her as I felt prompted to do.  I was loving playing peek-a-boo with her, and smiled at her mom a couple of times.  Just as the prayer service started, her mom looked straight at me and spoke to me in perfect English.

‘I came for prayer tonight,‘ she said with desperation in her voice.  ’I used to do ministry at the youth center where you’re staying, but then moved to Phnom Penh after I married and now have two children.  My husband has just left me, and I am now living at my parents here with nothing.  He has turned from God and our family, alcohol and the world have stolen him away,‘ she cried as she explained she was losing hope in the process of all this happening.

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.  (Romans 5:1-5)

I couldn’t believe how open she was, and as I prayed Romans 5 over her that night, asking God to renew her hope in Him, I knew this was the beginning of a very special relationship.  Being in my first year of marriage, I felt like God allowed my heart to be broken in a whole new way, empathizing with what it would be like to have the loss of a husband and the difficulty in your life changing in an instant.  I felt the entire weight of her situation, and grieved alongside her.

She asked me to visit her, so I did the next day, and as she sorted through lies that Satan was feeding her of deserving this and feeling unwanted, God let me walk her through it in confirming His truth instead.  Her parents are Buddhist with spirit houses and a darkness very prominent in the home.  They ridiculed her for marrying foolishly, and couldn’t understand how Christianity could help her.  As she transitioned into a new way of life, it was such a privilege to see God work in her life and rebuild her faith.

Each day I would go just to talk, play with the kids, read Scripture and pray with her.  Some days I didn’t have the words to say, but just hugged her as she cried.  However, there was one day that I went over, and could see a visible change in her demeanor.  Her hair was combed and she had a nice skirt on, different from the way I’d seen her unkempt the last week or so.  Her eyes were bright and she smiled as I came in.  I told her she seemed different, and she smiled saying, ‘I feel as though God is giving me my life back.  Another chance to do ministry.’  She went on to explain that a couple in the church had offered her property in the village for free that she could build on when she was able.  She was excited about going back to the village, and having the chance to teach English and the Bible to the youth as well as start a women’s group.  It was amazing to see how God had renewed her right in front of my eyes.  As difficult as her situation was, God was re-writing her story to use her for His glory.

We went through Acts as a team over our outreach, and what stuck out to me that applied here, and will influence the rest of my life and approach, was Acts 1:7-8: ‘It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’  We cannot always control the place or type of ministry we will do, but it is God who engineers our goings, where and how, and we are simply called to live as witnesses to His gospel and truth.  I realized we were living as the Church as a whole in Preah Vihear, sharing and also re-telling the gospel story to each other to remind of God’s truth in times when one could turn away.  Others on our team also made amazing relationships that are just the beginning of things to come as God continues to work.  These are the people who live in this culture and village province, making a difference for Christ and teaching the children, and we had the opportunity to disciple them just for a time.  What we realized was that, in the everyday, ordinary happenings alongside the Khmer people, God was doing extraordinary things for His purposes and glory.   As we listened, we stepped out to obey His promptings and saw Him move.

Before all of this, I don’t think I really had a confidence in actually being able to hear God, but stepping out on one nudge led to a life-changing relationship with Him.  The discipling we did is just the foundation as these young men and women build into the youth of Cambodia.  For us to be there for such a time as this meant building into a few lives that could potentially affect hundreds and thousands of others in this generation as God works.  We can’t wait to see it continue.  As my new friend and I continue to stay in touch, please be praying for her and the others we met, for strength in their faith and willingness to be bold in living it out.

Idaho Update

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In September 2012, 6 men from the Carpentry Apprenticeship went to YWAM Cascade, Idaho to help their ministry with various construction projects. We roofed 7 buildings, installed 4 windows into existing buildings, sheeted a storage room after tying it onto the existing building, and installed hot water heater pans.

We left Montana on Monday at 5am, arrived at 3pm and started working. By 7pm their staff were commenting on how we’d gotten more done on that day than previous teams had done in a week! This is a testimony to the high caliber of training our guys have, their intense work ethic and their desire to serve God well. It was amazing to see our newest apprentice, Crosby, starting his first week with us with an outreach. The other guys taught him so much in that one week that his confidence and skills grew exponentially. Helping another YWAM base to have the facilities to be able to train and send people to the nations was a real blessing.

Personally, I was impacted by our ability to use construction and carpentry as a missions platform – serving, giving and showing the love of Christ, all while pounding nails and laying roofing metal.

London 2012 Project Dance

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In July of 2012 the School of Dance Studies was in London, England for a six week mission trip that used dance as a form of proselytizing about Jesus. During the second week of July this we had an opportunity to perform with another Christian dance event called Project Dance. Project Dance is basically an evangelistic collaborative dance concert. This concert consists of 30-50 different dance companies and troupes that come together for one full day and perform their own various styles of dance pieces. On this specific weekend we had around 30 different dance companies that had flown in from all over the world to perform at this event. All the teams came together a day before the event to pray, worship, and be informed of the schedule for the full day of performances on the next day.

The location of this amazing project was at an outdoor amphitheater that rested right alongside the Thames River in between the London and Tower Bridges. On this day it happened to be raining. Our hope was that the rain would stop throughout the day so that we could perform, because rain can be very unsafe for dance performances. Especially since most of these companies performed barefoot and the stage could be very wet and slippery. We planned on starting the performances in the middle of the morning, but rain just kept coming down. As we all realized it was not safe to perform, many of the companies retreated to dry places and began to pray for the rain to stop.

I knew everyone was very excited and expectantly wanting to perform, but I also wondered if any of the performers or the director of this project might be a bit upset. A couple hours passed and all the teams waited indoors hoping that the rain would just stop. The rain began to let up and many dancers ran out to the stage with loads of towels to dry it off so we could start the performances right away. It took about 20 minutes, but the stage was almost dry enough for the dancing to begin. Then within five minutes the clouds from above just decided to let out some more tears and quickly the stage and performers were soaked again.

Most of the performers ran back inside a close building to retreat from the downpour, but a few of us from the School of Dance Studies decided to stay outside, enjoy the rain, and pray. As we began to pray the leader of our school began dancing on the steps of the outdoor amphitheater wearing her umbrella and rain boots. Luckily, the the DJ for the event saw this from his covered sound booth and decided to put on some upbeat worship music. At that point, our leader and a few more of us from our school began to just worship God in the rain. As more of the dancers saw this from the windows of the building they were in, they came outside to dance and worship in the rain with us.

Within 20 minutes we had over 50 dancers spread throughout the amphitheater praising God together using all our different styles of dance. As all this happened I began to look up and around the amphitheater and saw a sea of umbrellas surrounding the theater, watching us dance. The local people of London who were walking along the Thames had stopped to see us worship. I was amazed by how many people planted themselves around the amphitheater in the rain to observe how we worship God. This lasted close to and hour and 45 minutes. The crowd kept growing as the dancing went on. A few times the leader of the Project grabbed a microphone in the rain and began telling all that were surrounding us with eager eyes, that we were simply using our talent to worship and dance for Jesus. A couple of times she spoke of the love we had for Jesus and how much we wanted to share it with the city of London.

This event could have been a huge disappointment to many of the dance companies that had flown in, but in my opinion the redemption of God is always the greatest plan of all. This was a miraculous time where I saw how by simply letting God do His thing He could plan something much more amazing than we ever could.

Alabama Update

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Our trip to Alabama was an outreach planned by some of David Garrigan’s close friends. The idea was to help out a ministry known as Nomads Land. This ministry works with traveling nomads, or “hippies,” by providing food, lodging, and a place of fellowship.

Nomads Land had purchased property outside of Birmingham, Alabama, which contained a hundred year old horse barn. The goal was, in a span of two weeks, to convert this barn into a place of lodging for some of the nomads who didn’t have buses.

We arrived in Alabama in June and got to work. The first step was cleaning out the barn, which had not been used for horses in years but had become a storage location. So, after moving all the junk out, we started the first job of demolition. After removing old stall doors and walls, we continued with setting the foundation. The floor had to be raised off of the earth about a foot to provide the platform. After the foundation had been poured, the floor system was set. The existing building had been made of oak beams and wherever we could we reused them to keep the character of the building. After the floor system was set we split up into two teams: one team started the walls while another team started demolition on another part of the barn to add a kitchen facility.

We had been there for about a week, when we woke up to a severe storm. After listening to the radio, we heard that a large tornado was expected to hit Birmingham. So we kept working. Around the time the tornado was expected, we evacuated to a restaurant and had some BBQ. Once the tornado had jumped over where we were and landed again behind us, we went to survey the damage. A path of destruction was torn through the town of Tuscaloosa, then ripped through Northern Birmingham. But, when we returned to our jobsite, it was untouched. We were able to continue working and managed to get the living quarters and kitchen framed, new siding installed, and fixed the sagging roof. Once we finished all of that, we returned home safely!

The First SBS & SOW – 1991

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Pete and Fran Sifuentes started the first SOW here at YWAM Montana-Lakeside. Along with SOW, we had our very first SBS. Ted Darnell was the first SBS director for YWAM Montana-Lakeside; he had originally come to speak in the DTS and was then invited to bring SBS to the base and become the SBS director. Ted had no staff at that point, but God was already working on that! God spoke to Ron and Judy Smith to come be a part of the SBS, and after amazing confirmation they came to Montana and have been here ever since! For them, it was the greatest move they ever made! SBS and SOW prospered because of the heart of the leadership; they made a space for these schools, recognizing the importance of running programs like this and how it would impact the base as well as the future students who would take part in it. And ever since then, the base has never been the same!

New Field Was Landscaped – June 1987

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Jim Polk had this idea of doing a summer football camp, but the field was not ideal – it was a rolling area filled with rocks. We decided to have an all base work day where EVERYONE was involved and came to work on it, which was around 30 staff and 30 kids. We had no heavy equipment to work with – just picks, shovels, rakes, and wheelbarrows. It took the entire day – we were able to smooth it down, get it weeded, and then seeded. About a month later, we had our first football camp!

First snack bar – 1986-87

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The snack bar started back in 1986, in the bowling alley in dorm 3, where the nursery is now (yes, we used to have a bowling alley!).  We first started by serving drinks and snacks for the DTS, then in 1987 a couple by the name of Dave and Jean Cowan came back to the base to start a book store snack bar; they had the vision for it and really wanted to run it. The snack bar was moved to where the dance studio is now and was there until Dave and Jean left YWAM Montana.

Fran Sifuentes had a vision of the snack bar becoming more of a place where fellowship could take place and where we could have room to open it for Friday night community nights.  So Fran took it over and moved it to where the Library is now. It was much larger, and we had tables and chairs for people to visit during the day and on Friday nights for the community.

A few years later it was moved to where it is now, only without the room for the student center.  We had booths for people to sit and we sold books, snacks, and music of some of  the YWAM Montana staff.  It was a great place to get to visit with staff and get to know each other.

Fran ran the snack bar for 4 more years and then turned it over to Jeanette Brewster, who carried it on from there. Since then there have been improvements to the snack bar with the expansion of the student center; it has become a great meeting place, where both students and staff come to study and hang out!

First Base Director & First DTS (September 1985)

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In 1984, David Graham went to a conference in Bolivia as a guest of Loren Cunningham’s, and little did David know that Loren would introduce him as the next base director of YWAM Montana-Lakeside. This came as a complete surprise to David, but in the end it turned out to be prophetic! David became the first base director of YWAM Montana-Lakeside, and then in the fall of 1984, David, Bob Fitz, and (Mr.) Gustafson traveled throughout Asia to do some recruiting for their first DTS, which then started in September of 1985. We had 47 students and 33 kids!