Ron and Judy Smith were our speakers this week.They founded the YWAM School of Biblical Studies (SBS), and they are currently serving here at YWAM Montana. SBS is a nine month school where you study the Bible by going through it verse by verse and also going back in time to when the books were written. You learn about the culture the book was written to etc. Its pretty fascinating:)

This week Ron and Judy taught on The Foundations of Christianity and also spoke just a little bit on Spiritual Warfare. This was fascinating to me because I never really knew much about Spiritual Warfare, I did believe that it existed, but had very little knowledge on it. They explained it quite simply, instead of it being this crazy, out of control, demonic episode that we often picture it to be, it can be found in the simple little everyday experiences. The conflict we have with each other? This is a form of spiritual warfare. Last week with Jackie Pullinger was a powerful week for us, this week a lot of people were tired and had a hard time focusing in lectures, it seemed as if our hearts just weren’t quite as into as they are most times. This was explained to us as spiritual warfare. The devil did not approve of the impacting week we had so this week he put in double the effort to throw us off track! Isn’t that crazy??!! So we learned that spiritual warfare comes in ways that we don’t even realize we’re in it until we’re caught up in it. But if we know how it looks we can recognize it for what it is and be so much more equipped to fight the battle. Oh and the good news? Jesus already won the battle. He laid down his life on the cross and defeated the devil. All we need to do is believe and follow him until that day when the final spiritual battle is fought and the devil is bound forever. Interesting fact of the week… Did you know that the devil did not know what Jesus was doing on the cross? He actually thought that when Jesus died he had won the battle! But in reality he lost in a big way! The devil might be mighty but God is ALMIGHTY!

The Foundations of Christianity. They taught that if you don’t understand the first 3 chapters of Genesis, you don’t understand christianity, Because if you don’t understand the fall then you wont understand the need for a Savior. It was rather fascinating going over these three chapters because we know the story well but the details in it are fascinating if you take the time to pick it apart. Did you ever consider… ‘Where was Adam when the snake tempted Eve?’ He was standing right there and he sinned with his eyes wide open. The snake actually ‘deceived’ Eve, and she in that moment was actually blinded from the truth and believed the lie that was presented. Adam on the other hand recognized it as a lie but he still ate the fruit! This doesn’t make Eve better then Adam because, ‘How did she become deceived in the first place? Yea, I just found all that rather fascinating:)

How about Thailand? We leave here in about 2 1/2 weeks! Thinking about it scares me a bit. Ok actually it scares me a lot! Because we have a 14 hour flight and thats 14 hrs all at once. and we have, I think, 3 layovers with only a couple short flights between them. Heres the scary part… how do you get a one year old (who thinks she has to be in her “own’ bed to sleep) to sleep in an airplane or at an airport?:/ Oh, and did I mention that she turns into a fright if she doesn’t sleep?:) And when we are finally done with the airplane thing I think we’ll have a day or two or three in Bangkok, (the city we are landing in) so that will help a little, but then we will have a 12 hr bus ride to our final destination. And Im not sure how that will go either:/ She will probably do absolutely wonderful, but thinking about it makes my heart skip a beat because I imagine the terror of having my child screaming at the top of her lungs in an airplane and I can’t calm her down and everyone starts glaring at me and I can’t leave the room!:-p Haha:) Once we are in Thailand I think we will have a pretty full schedule so that could be interesting as well. And, yes, even with all these uncertainties we are still super excited to go to Thailand and meet the natives and share the gospel!:) And once again we believe if God called us to it, he will help us through it!

Life here is good, this week was a lot more chilled and less busy then last week. Last night we had cafe night. The lecture hall was set up with couches and tables. Then we enjoyed all kinds of different coffees and some snacks, and everyone got to share their tracks, some through videos or pictures. And the dance and music tracks performed live on the stage. It was so much fun.

Miss Kenzie is at a very interesting stage right now. Since we are here she started talking a lot and is now saying complete sentences and says almost anything. She can express herself very well. The challenge right now is every time we tell her no, she can’t do something, she will whine: “Why not?’ And trying to explain gets us nowhere because to whatever we say she whines again ‘Why?’:/ But I love this stage! I love watching her personality come to life:)

And that concludes week nine! Be Blessed!