Goodbye WPC!

Well, I officially had my last day at WPC and it was hard to say goodbye to the people I spent the last three years of my life with. I have to say it was bitter sweet. Everyone took up a collection and raised $225 for me, also someone gave me an address book with everyone's contact info, a target gift card for last minute travel necessities, a travel pillow for my LONG LONG plane ride, a journal, and lots of goodbye cards and notes. Not many people can say that their work would do that. I consider myself incredibly blessed! Thank you so much to everyone. Lots of love to you all!

God at work and the evidence of his grace

Hey Everyone!

I wanted to share with you part of my story which lead me to my decision about doing a dts. I'll start the story with a bit about my friend Katie who actually works in the financial department at the Newcastle base. Katie and I first met when we were about 15 and went to school and church together. We both got along because we were both tom boys, brutally honest, and came from similar backgrounds.

To shorten it up, when we were young and immature we got into a fight and seperated. Our mutal friends fed hurt feelings by continually passing along something that one of us said about each other behind our backs (supposedly, most of it was probably untrue) and we weren't friends for quite a while. Years later I had a dream that I went to Katie and apologized for hurting her. When I woke up I was crying and God spoke very clearly to me, telling me to track her down and live out my dream.

First off, I didn't want to because i wasn't even sure if Katie would want to talk to me, and second of all, I wasn't sure how I could get ahold of her. I ended up finding her on myspace and writing her an email. Her reply shocked me. She was very gracious and she said that she had been praying and asking God for broken relationships to be mended. It was no coinsidence that our friendship was healed. God knew that later on we'd be brought back together again, and now we're going to both be at Newcastle!

Also when i was praying several months ago about doing a dts, a patient at the drs. office i work at was talking to me up front and telling me about her Granddaughter. She said her Granddaughter was in Nepal and had to be transported home because she got really sick. It was strange because there wasn't anything that lead me to asking my next question, but I suddenly and very randomly asked if her Granddaughter went to YWAM. The Gran was surprised and asked me how I knew. I was amazed and answered saying that I just knew.

Next I knew she was asking me if I wanted to meet her Granddaughter. I said sure, and she practically ran (fast for an old woman!) out the door and very quickly came back dragging a girl by the hand into the clinic and up to my counter. She looked pretty confused for a moment until I filled her in about me and her Grandmother talking about YWAM. Her face lit up and she said that it was the best thing she has done in her whole life and it changed her whole outlook on everything.

Next thing i knew, she reached over the counter and grabbed my hand and asked to pray over me. She asked God to reveal his plan for my life and to give me the courage to face it. She prayed that doors would be closed and new ones would be opened. It was so amazing to just have a complete stranger, yet a sister in christ just be there for me like that. She gave me her contact info and told me to email her with prayer requests and any questions I had about dts.

I actually saw her again today at work. I can't say her name for patient privacy reasons so I'm leaving that anonymous. At first I didn't recognize her because she had her hair pulled back and was wearing a hat. When i did a double take on her I smiled and said "Hey! YWAM girl!" She came over and said hi and I shared my news with her that I was doing a Jan. dts. She shared in my excitement and said that this was going to change my life and that she'd be praying for me. Then she said she wanted to help support me financially as well. She said she wasn't in the position to give a lot because like me, she was poor in missions and rich in blessings, but she wanted to still contribute something.

The reason why I'm sharing this with you is because the evidence that God is at work is all around us. We all have devine appointments and even when God tells us to do something that doesn't make sense, is awkward, or in our opinion meaningless, it has a vital role to play. I look at whats happened in the last six months and I marvel at what God has done for me. Only the true God has the power to bring strangers together, even once upon a time enemies and name them "family".

Do not doubt God's plan for you. I have learned the best way to put your faith in what God is doing in your future is to look at the evidence and history of his grace in your life. If you sit down and write down a list, I guarantee you will be amazed and awed. Even the little things will suddenly jump off the page and astonish you. I consider myself very blessed and extremely undeserving of all thats happened, but thats the way God works. 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him.

I'm glad God doesn't think and plan the same way we do! The God we serve is more powerful and adventerous than we can ever imagine. Don't try to take away his divinity. I pray that us individually and together surrender what we have planned so that God can reveal himself to us unreservedly. So remember that we are all a family and we're all on the same team. Don't let traditions, religion and notions get in the way of what God has to teach you. Remember, it's all about reconciliation and what was done on the cross.

Love to you all and you're in my prayers. We've got work to do :-)Lisa

YWAM info

I wanted to let you all know that I am going to YWAM Newcastle as of January 12, 2010 for 22 weeks and need prayer and financial support. For those of you who do not know what YWAM is, it stands for youth with a mission and is a christian organization training youth in missions and ministry. (learn more at www.ywam.org)

One of the areas I need prayer and support in is financially. Since this is a mission based trip I am partially raising finances. Airfare to the school is not included in the tuition so I am paying for that as well as part of the tuition. Yet even after all the money I've been saving, I won't have enough for the outreach which I need to complete in order to receive my discipleship training certificate in ministries. I need to raise about $4,000 USD. When I look at that number it seems so overwhelming but I have faith God will provide.

I assure you I am working tirelessly in order to take care of my portion and to save. I just got done with all my travel immunizations (not so fun!) which were a bit pricey and recently got my passport and visa as well. I have to say it’s all worth it in my mind. I know in the state of our economy this isn't the ideal time for me to give up my job for six months but this isn't about my comfort, it’s about where God needs me and me responding in faith and obedience. It is definitely intimidating at times and stretching me, but I'm thankful for the opportunity to give it over to God and see the amazing things he'll bring out of this whole experience.

You are all connected to me somehow, and I wanted to share my news with all of you. While I'm in Australia I'll be posting video updates and pictures so everyone can stay updated on whats going on in my life. This group will be a base of communication between everyone and you can check here periodically for me to fill you in on this whole process. Love to you all! I wouldn't be here without everyone's support throughout my life. Thank you for doing life with me.

For questions you can email me as lisamorrone@gmail.com For payment my paypal link is:https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=8571122OR you could send me a check addressed to Lisa Morrone (if you want my address just email me and I can give you the info) OREmail: accounts@ywamnow.com with your credit card information (Please be sure and let them know it is for Lisa Morrone)

First YWAM Video

YWAM Update

Hey everyone! I'm creating this blog for people who don't have facebook so they can stay updated on whats going on in my life when I'm in Australia doing my DTS. I'm so excited for whats to come and I can't believe how soon it is! It's just around the corner!

So currently, me and 7 other students who are all doing the Newcastle DTS will be flying together to Sydney which is going to be amazing! I'm so glad we'll get to talk and hang out on a frickin' LONG flight so we can get to know each other a little bit before we start the whole 5 month long process and training! I'll make sure to take pictures and video to post later so you can see everyone's reaction when we first meet!

Please pray that I'll continue to get support for my outreach. I'll post my outreach location as soon as I find out where I'll be going. I don't find out until a ways into my training so it'll be a while until I find out for sure. If you do have a facebook and are reading this make sure to join my facebook group because I'll be posting updates on there as well! Thank you so much for choosing to be a part of this experience. You all are in my life for a reason and thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement. I couldn't do this without you all!