the big reveal...

& the outreach location is...

CAMBODIA!!!

so the winners are my lovely friends Kirstin & Hillary (and my mom)! send me your addresses and you'll receive a nice little gift from Hawaii :o)

& for those of you who were trying to guess the two i put down for my top two choices, they were Cambodia & Mozambique!

it was so fun to hear where all of you thought I would end up. i wish i could go to all them.

but in the meantime, I AM SO EXCITED TO GO TO CAMBODIA!!! I felt God's voice whisper Cambodia to me everyday in almost everything i did. I definitely don't know what's in store, but I am so excited to experience the beauty of this nation. SO EXCITED.

please be praying with me for the country of Cambodia. for the people, for their hearts to be stirred & hungry for the love of Jesus Christ. for a new revelation of Christ's love for them to overwhelm their hearts, their minds, their souls. for protection as we travel, for unity, that we may understand what a true family is among each other, for boldness, for forgiveness, and for everlasting compassion.

HERE. WE. GROW. thank you Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

following His call

today has had such an energy about it, there's been an electricity among the campus that's filled us with anticipation & so much excitement. 

today is the day that they released the outreach location options. 

because our DTS is so big, we can't all go to one outreach location. imagine about 120 people being dropped in a foreign country...so overwhelming! so the staff prayed well before we came for God to reveal to them places all around the world that are yearning for love, that are in a deep need for light to flood their nation and be overcome with God's grace and compassion.

so can you imagine all of us!?
we were freakin out.

i almost jumped out of my seat when they passed out the sheets in which we were supposed to write our top 2 choices. i think we all almost did, we were hungry to know what places God had in store for our group. to hear His voice lead us to one specific location, the intimacy in His call towards a whole nation! and we get to listen. we get to follow. He has placed a nation in all of our hands to surrender all to.

how beautiful.

& since we are so large, we had to choose two possible outreach locations, just in case there are too many people in one and we need to get moved around to create balance and unity among us.

so how about this.

i'll list the countries & you can take a guess as to where God will lead me. if you get it right, i'll send you a nice little package from Hawaii! 

staff is praying over each one of us & will place us in specific locations (based on the two we wrote down) in a few days, so hopefully i'll be able to reveal where i'm going by Friday! you can also try & guess the two countries i wrote down...here we go!

Japan
the East Coast of the USA

Honolulu

Turkey/Iraq

China/North Korea

Nepal

Cambodia

Amsterdam

Berlin/Poland

Mozambique

South Africa

i'll keep you posted!!! good luck ;)

day one

i'm in bed.

it's 8 pm.

i willingly embrace the bedtime of a small child due to the 15 hours of travel yesterday, one of the earliest mornings i've had since high school, the immense amount of excitement & socializing among hundreds of us students, the humidity that hates my hair & melts my Lush products, the belly full of hawaiian food, and one of the most energized worship sessions i've ever experienced.

this calls for one good nights rest.

but before i sleep the hardest i'll most likely ever sleep, i thought i'd share the things i've witnessed already (my apologies for the choppiness or lack of cohesion, i truly am exhausted).

i made it to Kona last night around 9:10 pm (Hawaiian time, for you who live in the midwest, i'm about 4-5 hours behind you). immediately upon arrival, i met two people who know a very good family friend of mine back in grand rapids, and one of my dear friends back in chicago. talk about a small world.

i've met tons of people, seen hundreds of faces, all of them representing a different place they call home. i think i was told we have about 92 students in my DTS, and we're still expecting more! we have the most students this quarter than any other in YWAM history. we are representing over 44 nations, and we are all in love and hungry for Jesus Christ. there are so many families here! i think they said around 72 children are on campus. & they are all so BEAUTIFUL! a gorgeous little girl named Rosaline sat next to me tonight at the Luau and clapped, sang, crawled, laughed, ate crayons, and smiled at me with her big brown eyes as we watched the Hawaiian woman dance & men breathe fire. 

i learned of the speakers to come in these next three months. i can't contain my excitement:
andy byrd, taylor stutts, amy sollars, loren & darlene cunningham, heidi baker, tom & donna cole, jon & kinsey thurlow, charles stock, jonathan helser, corey stark, brian bennt, sean feucht, lou engle, susi childers, michael & angela pinkston, and tom osterhus.

seriously, my world is about to get rocked.

i also learned my address. if you'd like to send me letters, photos, packages, anything! please do! postage is the same as it is anywhere in the US. 

Ariel Frey

Fire & Fragrance DTS #429
75-5851 Kuakini Highway
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740

this place is alive. 

everyday we greet one another with a kiss, with an "aloha".

alo means: front, face, presence. ha means: breath.

so when you give someone an aloha, you are acknowledging the mahalo, the divine blessing and presence that dwells and breathes life inside of them.

so you touch your forehead and nose to "kiss" the other person, just long enough to give them a breath & praise to our God above.

there is so much beauty there. may we acknowledge the breath of life in everyone daily.

here we grow.

arrive

i am here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joy

psalm 96:12

my heart is full

i'm still trying to wrap my mind around it
trying to grasp the reality of the life i'm living right now
because what's going on is pretty unbelievable.
& what is to come is pretty unbelievable.


i think i have a tendency to want to understand it all at once, so i can hold it all in my arms and just sit with it for a while. but i've come to realize & accept that's not possible. i've come to understand that's not even what i want. i don't want the big picture, i want to purely exist in these moments that are so alive and are given to me. these moments, these breaths, these people, these emotions are gifts from God. i'd be missing it if i had it all. i wouldn't be able to appreciate the tenderness & intimacy of every experience and creature in my life. & that's why right now, i'm able to just sit in excitement for the journey ahead of me.


i am going to hawaii. 
i will be there in less than a week.


i'm going to meet beautiful people with beautiful souls
i'm going to smell & taste unfamiliar foods
i'm going to see things that will make me cry
i'm going to read things that will breathe new life
i'm going to experience things i'm not even ready for
i'm going to follow Jesus.


& my heart is so full.


so, i'm going.
i'm leaving. 
& because i don't like the sound of that,
we'll say i'm going on a little voyage. 
i'm just going off for a bit & i'll be back soon.

and i couldn't have done it without any of you. your words, your wisdom, your encouragement & crazy amount of support, your love that reaches to the moon, your prayer, and your faith has helped make this possible.
thank you. forever. for always. for everything.


He can move mountains.

living close to You

Stir up our hearts, O LORD, that our trust in YOU would speak of YOUR SON. Grant us, YOUR people, the wisdom to see YOUR purposes today and the openness to hear YOUR will, that we may witness to CHRIST’s coming and so prepare HIS way; through JESUS CHRIST our LORD, who lives and reigns with YOU and the HOLY SPIRIT, one GOD, now and forever.

Amen

this prayer rings so true, the words are exact for the desires in my heart towards my time in Advent & also my journey towards YWAM.

there's selflessness that comes with this, humility, an act of surrendering your life over to be open to the call of our Father. a willingness to be the hands and the feet of our God here on Earth.

for He is coming and we were created to live for Him.

this holiday season has been the first time where i've really understood what it's supposed to be about. what being thankful looks and really feels like. what Advent means & how it should be reflected. 

it's not about the crunch time to find perfect gifts, how much money is in my bank account, what date everyone is coming into town, or all the times of parties and dinners and shows. & although i already know that's not what the Holiday season is about, it's what seems to be the consistency of the conversations and actions leading up to the arrival of Christmas day. we have this eagerness and anxiousness during Christmas season. we want to finish finals and have a breath of fresh air, we want to get home and spend time with our families, but this isn't the right anticipation in our hearts.

there's stillness, bountiful amounts of joy and excitement, tender moments that are alive with beauty that could only come from our Father and a deep understanding of what God is doing in the weeks leading up to Christmas. do we experience this everyday? or do we experience stress?

we need to slow down

to quiet our hearts & minds and sit with the Lord

to ask for wisdom to see His purpose in today 

to prepare the way for the Lord for HE HAS COME, HE IS HERE, AND HE IS COMING.

what could be a better time to live this out than now?

it's so evident how shackled i was, even weeks ago!, with doubts and fears of my future. I was not still. i was not meditating on Him. my mind was racing through every possible option of what could happen in the future, believing that I needed to have everything figured out and I could do that all on my own. I was not trusting.

BUT GOD HAS RELEASED ME. there has been a transformation in my life (isn't it amazing how He keeps renewing & restoring!?) i am listening. i am surrendering my doubts, my fears, my desires, my life, over to Him and my mind is refreshed! i am ALIVE and only breathing in excitement. 

He has been making all things possible for me, from giving peace & acceptance to my friends and family, to delivering incredible amounts of income overnight. i am going. & i give SO much of my thanks to all of you who read & are moved by what God is doing, He is showing tangible pieces of his love through your donations and kind words. He gives so much encouragement through them & it's so evident how supported I really am. thank you. from the bottom of my heart. for reading, for giving, for praying, for loving.

He gives and He gives and He gives and He gives.

living close to You

we shall see Your hand

Your purpose

Your will through all things.

-St. Ignatius

may we all continue to live close to Him

to be fully present in the work He is doing right now

to be open & willing to hear Him

to let Him use our hands & feet for His Kingdom

to be a strong warrior 

& to forever give glory and praise to Him

for a daily piece of meditation this Advent season, check out Beautiful Advent & soak up the good Word of God. He is coming.