My third daughter is in Kona Hawaii doing a Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission.  It is so exciting as a parent to watch her grow in her faith in God and also her passion for others to come to know him.  I thought I would share her newsletter with you because it is SO exciting what she is doing and I want you all to be part of this adventure.  Enjoy!!!

Hi everyone! 

Quick update on what’s happening here in Hawaii.  Kona is so beautiful! I love exploring more of the island and I stand in awe at God’s beautiful creation. Just two days ago we went up a volcano called Mauna Kea. From base to top it is just under 14,000 feet! I drove up there on the back of a truck (ute), and we were literally driving above the clouds! It was amazing and the sunset from up that high was incredible!

Everyday I am overwhelmed here as I learn more about God’s beautiful character. This is truly the most exciting journey and so different from any other challenge I’ve experienced before. We have a small(ish) DTS of about 45 people and I love it – couldn’t think of a cooler bunch of people to do this with! It’s so wonderful to see how God not only transforms me but also the lives around me. It’s been an intense few weeks, which at some points has been pretty challenging but I feel like we’ve grown so close because of it.

My roommates are so incredible! I have been blessed with the best!

Our living arrangements are… cozy haha, but sharing a room with seven other girls is really fun! It’s just like having a sleepover with my best friends every night! We all get along so well. Each of them are so on fire for The Lord.

I am now in my fifth week of lecture phase and The Lord has taught me so much already. One of the major things I have been learning is The Lord’s father-heart for me. I know that this is something I will need to really journey through with God and I am so grateful that I am able to spend so much time just learning about Him, who He is and being in His presence. I am so hungry to know Him more.

Outreach locations were announced and I am so excited to tell you that God has led me to CAMBODIA!!

On the day of deciding outreach locations I was so stressed! We were presented with a list of 8 different nations and then given an hour to pray and choose two locations, write them down and then our leaders spent a day praying and putting us in our teams. I pretty much knew I was going to Cambodia as soon as I saw the list but it took me so long to actually write it down because I was so nervous! I’ve never really had any desire to go to an Asian nation, I think just because the culture is so different and I guess that frightens me a little. During that hour of praying God gave me the scripture John 16v24, which says, “You haven’t done this before but ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.” and since finding out, I have had such a peace about it and I know that can only be Jesus! Now, I am so excited to learn more about the culture and the people. We are going to a city called Battambang and at this point all I know is that we will be teaching English to children. There is also talk that we will spending some time in extremely poor villages where there are many rescued, sex trafficked victims but I don’t know to much about that yet. I will let you know as soon as I know more of what we will be doing there.

Recently, God has just been telling and showing me how much He loves me. He’s teaching me that He doesn’t love us out of obligation but it is His ultimate desire to love us. I know that sounds pretty obvious but it’s like it’s finally clicking for me ya know! I LOVE HIM SO MUCH! The more I have of Him and the more intimate our relationship becomes, the more I want! I will never be fully satisfied because I can never get enough! So good!

One of my favourtie parts of the week is our intercession times – every Tuesday and Thursday, we all pray from 1pm-3pm for a different nation or a cause. It is so awesome! The thing I like best about it is that it’s really teaching me to have faith that God does answer prayers, even when we can’t see the fruit of it. Last time we were praying for unreached people groups and I got a picture of a little boy, in some kind of Middle Eastern nation. He was by himself and standing on dry, dirty ground. I literally know nothing else about this boy but I have faith that he is out there somewhere and has been blessed by my prayers.

I cannot believe it’s only week 5! God has taught me so much and I know He’ll continue to work in me and through me.

God has been so good to me and I have over half of my outreach fees paid for. I still have about USD$2200 left to pay but I have seen Him provide and I know he can do it for me. He is way bigger than finances!

Please continue to keep me in your prayers. I am having an amazing, challenging and blessed time.

Thank you all so much for being a part of this journey with me! It truly means so much to know that I have people praying for me!

May God bless you heaps!

Much love, Jasmine

instagram: jasmineholmez