Three weeks in...

WOW!  Three weeks in to DTS and so much has happened so far!  I am so sorry I have not been able to keep up with this blog as often as I thought!  There is so much going on and very little time to make personal calls and such.  But here we go on the recap....

Saturday, January 7th, 2012 I left Saint Augustine on the Greyhound heading for Orlando, where I wasw met by two staff members, Roger and Marion, who completed their DTS last year and were worship leaders.  We headed to the airport where we picked up a very good new friend of mine, Nicolas, from France.   After about an hour and a half drive, we arrived at our house where we met my other two roommates and the rest of the guys: Jeremy, from Calgary, Canada, and Cameron from Oregon, USA.  We also met our house mom, Helen, her son, Blake (who is a 20 year old trapped inside a 14 year old's body, well, sometimes...) and Helen's dad, Jim, whom we affectionately call Grampa.

It's a great house and we all love each other and really try to go out of each other's way to help each other feel at home.

But, It seems that it's the way the entire school works!  All the staff and students are full of grace for each other.  We all have our quirks and differences, but we all understand where we come from.  We have one French student, two Canadians, two Brazilians, one Dutch, and a student from chile.  From the USA we have  Minnesota, Oregon, Virginia, Ohio, and Hawaii/California/Virginia/Florida (Take a guess on who that one is).  There are 13 students in all- nine girls and four guys.

The staff are incredible!  Art and Ellen Sanborn are the directors.  Art suffered an injury to his spinal chord back in 1999 and was made a quadriplegic because of it.  It's great to see him up and moving around, laying hands on people.  Yup, God healed him.  He's completely mobile.  He wrote a book about it called "Walking Miracle" which the class just finished reading.  It's absolutely amazing!

His wife, Ellen is a vocalist, writer and off broadway actress, not so much of a big deal.  She only opened for Ella Fitzgerald, wrote a few off-broadway musicals, mentored Paul Baloche and worked with Darlene Zschech.  Yeah, you're right.  It's absolutely incredible.

Their sons, David and Sean, are also on staff, and they are just as awesome!  David received raving reviews for his one man, off-broadway show, "King David," which he co-wrote with his mother.  Unfortunately he has fibromyalgia (a degenerative muscle disease which my dad also has).  This limits his mobility and ability to perform.  However, he is still bringing tons of joy and laughs to the group with all of his impersonations.  They are amazing!  Yet, he brings great wisdom, as well.

Sean is the "Indiana Jones" of the group.  He is all about spiritual warfare.  He actually takes joy in hunting demons and torturing them.  He likes to trap them and then sings worship songs when they can't go anywhere.  You might think it's weird.  But I think it's pretty awesome.  I'm pretty sure he's role model and inspiration...well David too.  And Art.  And Ellen.  Ok, they all are my role model's/ inspiration.  But anyway, now that we have dubbed Sean the "Indiana Jones" of DTS 2012, every time he walks in the room, we all have the Indiana Jones theme songs running through our minds.  Sometimes I get my iPhone out and play it for a real laugh.

His wife, Anne, is helping with administration.  She's from Australia and is such a hoot.  She says that Australians only like you if they pick on you.  We have grown to really appreciate each other if you know what I mean.

MeeGee is a Malaysian Chinese and is so much fun!  She, also helps with administration.  We have a good time being the only two asian ethnicities in the group.

Cynthia is our intercessory leader.  A few months ago she got run over by her car in the drive-way and pretty much died.  She felt the Lord literally "breathe" life back into her and now she only has a minor spinal injury.  She walks around in a shell to help keep her back straight.  But, she is no joke.  She has a direct communication line to God and is a powerful intercessor and communicator.  She's totally a spiritual ninja turtle.  We are learning from here every day.

Lisa is an awesome designer and plans all of our meals.  She has designed many sets and stages, but also has a real talent for cooking.  Her heat is for design, though.  And it shows in both her food and her stage sets.

Her husband, Kevin, taught Biblical Studies in YWAM Kona for five years and is also an actor and writer.

So, as you can see, I am in a very good place to help advance my dream of doing worldwide music ministry.  The staff here are incredibly talented and very qualified.  But, more importantly, they have a deep relationship with God and understand what Christ is really doing in the church and around the world.  But, I will have to tell you about what God is doing in my next post.  It's off to meet with the class again.

And, if any of you still would like to support me financially for my outreach phase, you can click on the link above.  I would be so grateful to you!  I need $4,000 for outreach.  And February bills are also approaching.  Thanks for your prayers and support!

In Christ's love,
Aaron

Holy Moly!

Well, today is the BIG DAY!

I am leaving for YWAM Tampa today at 2:30p.m.  The bus will take me to Orlando where I will meet up with one of the team members.  We will then head to the airport to pick up one of my roommates from FRANCE!  WHOA!  CRAZINESS!

So, I was almost packed....but now that I'm thinking about it, I don't think I'm close.  It's extremely difficult for a guy who usually packs one bag for every day he's on vacation to fit 5 months of life into one bag and a half.  It's very trying for me.  I might not make it.  (Just kidding of course.)

Today, those of us who are coming in today will just settle in the rooms and hang out.  Tomorrow we have a dinner after the rest of the students arrive, where we will meet the rest of the team and fellowship with each other.  There are 9 girls and 4 guys.  The guys will all be staying in one room together.  I'm an only child....this will be quite interesting.

Classes will begin on Monday and will continue through March.  I'm so excited to learn and I'm hoping to receive a bit more clarity on the vision the Lord wants for the music He's put inside me.

I'm hoping to do some recording there, as well.  They have a few keyboards and guitars, as well as some recording equipment.

I cannot express to you all how grateful I am to everyone who has supported me so far!  I now can pay for the first 3 months of my school in full with enough to take care of bills and living costs for January.  Now, we are looking at paying for February-May, paying the $2,500 for the rest of tuition, and paying for airfare to Malaysia and Thailand.  Overall we are looking at roughly another $5,000.  Please be praying in this amount of funds and if you do feel compelled to give you can click the link at the top of the page or SIMPLY CLICK HERE!!

Also, for those of you who will donate, or have already done so, I have been putting together a CD that I'm hoping to send out to everyone when I'm done.  So, if you do give, please send me your mailing address so I can get that to you when I get back.

Thanks to all of you again for your prayers and support in this adventure.  I can't wait to share with you all the God will be doing in me over the course of these next 5 months.

Be blessed with grace and peace multiplied to you,
-Aaron

Happy Christmas! Merry New Year!

Between moving my things back to St. Augustine to get ready for YWAM, Christmas, birthdays, New Years, recording new songs, weddings and family hospital visits, I have found very little time to blog since Thanksgiving.  For that I am so sorry to those of you following me.  I just found out that I will have about 2 hours of internet time per week.  I'm hoping to update this blog as well as my Youcaring.com site and facebook pages during that time.  So, you can expect weekly updates.  The next blog post is probably going to come from Webster, FL at the YWAM base.  My bus leaves at 2:30p.m. Saturday January 7th from Saint Augustine.  After a little over 2 hours I will arrive in Orlando where the YWAM will pick me up with another student getting in from the airport.  We'll then drive to Webster and settle in the rooms.

But let me catch everyone up on what has been going on for a little over the past month:

Life has been crazy busy.  Dad has had a kidney stone since the Friday before Christmas and it still has not passed.  We have made two E.R. visits in the past week and he is still in a lot of pain.  Please be praying for him as this Holiday season has been quite painful in the physical sense for him.

My fantastic roommate and one of best friends, Caleb Randall, married the love of his live, Lauren, on January 1, 2012.  What a great way to start off the New Year!  It was a great wedding, filled with laughter and celebration as the two joined together as husband and wife.  Congratulations Caleb and Lauren!

I am currently in St. Augustine trying to help my parents with whatever I can before I leave.  Thank you so much to all of you who have pledged donations to me.  I now have enough finances to officially start the lecture phase of school, along with just enough to pay bills for January!  HOWEVER, ANY SUPPORT IS STILL ACCEPTED AND APPRECIATED!  I now have to concentrate on being able to pay bills for February-May($200 per month), raise the money for Outreach Phase ($2500) and pay for airfare ($1500-$1800).  There is also the transition back to that states once DTS is over to consider.  So, as you can see, there are still a lot of finances to raise and things to consider as school starts.

Working at Best Buy, I was able to to purchase some recording equipment with money my parents gave me for Christmas and have been working on a CD that I will send out to those of you who have donated or will be contributing in the future as a "thank you" for your support.  It's not a lot but I'm hoping you will be blessed by it.  Be sure to email me your home address if you are contributing financially to me so I can send you one.  It's a glimpse into the next steps of my music ministry.

Thank you all again for both your prayer and financial support.  I could not have gotten this far without each and every one of you praying and supporting me in all of this.  I can't wait to share with you all the things that God is teaching me.

In Christ's Abundant Love,
-Aaron