Fill Me Up - In Xhosa

I was recently on a missions trip to a rural village called Viedgesville, near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. One thing that I really wanted to do was to be able to introduce some new worship songs to the people there that were in their own language. I asked on of our translators to translate United Pursuit's song "Fill Me Up". It is simple and incredibly beautiful and powerful. Here are the lyrics in case you ever want to use it anywhere. In my church, we like to add in ethnic songs every now and again in worship because we have quite a diverse congregation so I hope that we will be able to sing it there soon. If you speak Xhosa, please let me know if the translation is accurate.

Fill me up, God 

Fill me up, God 

Fill me up, God 

Fill me up

Ndigcwalise

Ndigcwalise

Ndigcwalise

Thixo

You provide the fire

Ndinikeze umlilo

And I'll provide the sacrifice 

Ndiyakuba lidini

You provide the Spirit

Unikeza uMoya

And I will open up inside 

Ndiyakuvulela 

Love of God, overflow

'Thando lukaThixo, luyapupuma

Permeate all my soul 

Thatha konke okwam

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Final update from my time in America

I've been meaning to post this for about a week or so, but saying goodbye to everyone in America and moving back to South Africa and getting ready to leave for a missions trip in 4 hours (and it's 2am now and I should be sleeping) means that this hasn't happened till now. So, here is a newsletter that I wrote to my supporters a little over a week ago. I explain a bunch of the stuff I learnt in my time away and what I'm up to next. Enjoy :)

---------- Written on Thursday 21 June 2012 ----------

A week from today I'll be home. It's such a weird thought. I'm so excited to go home but so sad to be leaving here, it's very bittersweet. My time here has been so special and such an incredible privilege. I feel so blessed to have spent the past six months at this beautiful base under such amazing leadership. They have poured into me, taught me, encouraged me and helped me grow. I really am so grateful.

This has been such an incredibly season of growth and learning for me. God has taught me so many practical things which I'm excited to put into practice for the rest of my life. And he's also grown me so much in my identity in him and taken me deeper in my intimacy and relationship with him. He is so good and so patient and so loving. I just love him so much and I know that it can only get better from here because he only wants good things for me. I'm excited to walking forward in life with the promises that he's given me and in the anointing that he has put on me. I look forward to living out my calling, knowing that everything I do, I do in his strength and I am never in my own ability alone.

If you are interested in hearing some of the songs I've written, two of them are on my blog. With All My Heart, a worship song, can be found at http://spalser.blogspot.com/2012/04/with-all-my-heart.html. Aeidan, a love story song for my friend whose baby was miscarried, can be found at http://spalser.blogspot.com/2012/05/aeidan.html. My other two will be going up soon. I will also be posting photos on my blog from my Art Worship piece that I did last week and an explanation about my project. Once I'm home I will continue to write on my blog, so please feel free to subscribe to it. I will keep posting the things that I'm writing and creating. Just add your email address to the subscribe section on the left. If you run into any problems, please let me know.

I'm very excited about what the rest of this year has in store. I arrive home next Wednesday morning (27th) and will be leaving for Mthatha early on Saturday (30th) morning. I will be joining a mission’s trip with a team from Pinelands Baptist Church and partnering with a missions organisation there called Sondela which is part of Zema. This will be my 6th trip there and I am so excited to see all the kids and teenagers again and continue to build the relationships that God has allowed me to form over the years. We will be working primarily in the rural villages near the mission’s base, doing a Holiday Bible Club for kids, a youth ministry program and helping with practical things at the base.

One of my prayer requests for this trip is for team unity. I've missed all the initial bonding and preparation for the trip, so please pray that I will fit in well and be able to make a good contribution to the team. Language is also a big prayer need. I do know some basic Xhosa and my grammar is quite good, but my vocabulary is rather lacking. Please pray that God will give me an ability to pick up words and phrases again easily and be able to communicate well even across the language barrier. Another prayer request is for our physical safety. We will be travelling for two days to get to our ministry location and the roads aren't very safe in some places. Please also pray for our physical protection as there have been some incidences of theft in the past.

Wisdom and discernment are also a huge request. I really want know what God's heart is in every situation. So please pray that I'll be attentive and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. During my time there I will also have the privilege of leading worship, so please pray that God will help me in that and that I'll be listening carefully to his leading. Pray that I will make the most of every opportunity that God gives me and that I'm able to apply what I've learnt here at YWAM in the ministry opportunities that I have on the trip.

After the Mthatha mission trip, which is ten days long, I don't have any set plans for the rest of the year. Next year I plan on doing my Masters in Computer Science at UCT, focusing in an area called Information and Communication Technology for Socio-Economic Development (ICT4D) which basically involves using technology to help with community development. I'm very excited about this and about possibly having an opportunity to work with Learn to Earn (a Christian skill-training NGO) again as I did last year during my Masters.

In the meantime, however, I am purposefully keeping my time fairly open and unstructured so that I can do all the things that God has put on my heart to do. This will include doing quite a lot of tutoring (Maths, Science, Computers, English etc) and starting to teach Music. I'm looking at starting private piano lessons, but I'd also be open to teaching the recorder and flute. Within our church I want to volunteer a lot of time to the ministries that need me most. I see myself naturally getting involved a lot in the music ministry, training, discipleship and equipping the different musicians in our church, as well as working with the admin and communication side of things if I'm needed. In addition, I'm looking at getting involved in children or youth ministry, depending on where the biggest need is, and helping out with some of the IT stuff in our church too.

And then in my person time I want to keep as much flexible time open in my days to be able to continue to train and develop myself in various areas. This will involve studying the Bible more and making sure that I am reading good books and listening to podcasts that help me continue to grow from the place that I'm in now. I also want to make sure that I make space for creativity and song writing because that is something that I've seen myself grow in during this time but never really made space for at home. Additionally I want to ensure that I am practicing and continuing to grow in my musical skills and competency on piano, acoustic guitar, bass guitar, flute and voice; and possibly getting further lesson on guitar and voice training.

So while I'm very sad that this season of my life is coming to an end, I know that it's only beginning of what God has in store for me in my life and I want to make sure that I'm stepping into the abundant life that he has promised. And so because of that I'm really excited about coming home and stepping into God's plans for me. As I finish up my time here, please continue to pray for me. It's going to be very hard to leave after investing so much of myself here over the past six months. Tonight (Thursday 21st) we have our CD Release Concert where we play all the songs on our new album and give out copies of the CD. The album so now available online for free download here.

I am so grateful for all your support over the past six months. Your prayers have been so impactful and meaningful in my life. Thank you for lifting me up when I was struggling and for encouraging me and interceding for me. Thank you for every one of you who have supported me financially. Without you I would not be able to be here. Even the smallest contribution has meant so much to me. If you would like to continue to receive updates from me, please let me know. This will involve the ways that God is working in my life, things I need prayer for, updates from the ministries and mission involvement.

May God bless you hugely and continue to grow you in intimacy and depth of relationship with him.

Much love in Christ,

Sarah

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Free download of our album

At last I'm excited to announce that you can now download my School of Worship's album, "Twelve" for free or listen to online. My song, Aeidan, is track number 9 and I feature on 4 other songs. The most noticeable other song that I'm on is number 7, where I sing harmonies and play the flute. I also play flute on track 8 and a piano lead part of tracks 6 and 11. I hope you enjoyed it :)

https://www.noisetrade.com/ywamdenver/twelve

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With All My Heart - Recording

Here's the first song that I wrote at YWAM Denver for my School of Worship. I wrote about it in this post.  I wrote this in April 2012. It was recorded on my iPhone during a live performance where I had a pretty bad cold, so I apologize for the terrible vocals! But this is the only recording I have of this song with the band, so I though that something was better than nothing. Hopefully I'll get a better recording at some stage to replace this with.

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How to Bless Your Heart

A Song By Sarah Palser

These are the lyrics of the second song that I wrote for my School of Worship (SOW) course that I am taking at YWAM Denver. The assignment was to write a song of any genre that was inspired by a proverb in the book of Proverbs. My inspiration comes from Proverbs 21:3 which says, "To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice." 

This verse was very impactful to me during the Community Development for Missions (CDFM) course that I took here at YWAM Denver from January to March. Quite a few times we discussed what it means that God considers “obedience better than sacrifice”. This song was written in a meditation style that we learnt about in the first week of teaching of SOW, where you have a dialog with God about his Word and in response to what he says in his Word. So this song sort of reflects the journey that God has taken me on over the past 4 months.

This is a photo of my friend Mats and I preparing to play our flute together on the streets of Downtown Denver

Verse 1:
How I long to bless your heart
With my soul, mind and voice
But what do I have to offer you
That will make your heart rejoice?

I want to love you in such a way
That will let you really know
The extent of my devotion to you
But how can I make it show?

Chorus:
I'll bless your heart above all else
If I do what's just, do what's right
To you O Lord, my obedience
Means more than a sacrifice

Verse 2:
How can I know what's good and just
So I can do what's right?
I need to really know you Lord
To do what's pleasing in your sight 

And so I choose to seek your face
I choose to walk in your ways.
I resolve to go forever deeper
With you, all my days 

Bridge:
So I come
I no longer hide
Lay my cares aside
My worries and my pride

I come
You are all I see
It's only you and me
True intimacy


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With All My Heart

Here are the lyrics for the first full song that I wrote for my School of Worship course that I'm taking. 

Verse 1:
You're stirring in my heart
A desire for your love 
Come wash over me again 
Cover me with peace from above 

Verse 2:

Fill me with a passion

To live a life of praise 

From the depth of my soul God

I'll sing to you all my days 

Chorus:

With all my heart and all my soul

Lord I want to bring you joy

In every moment of each day

God I long to bring you praise

Verse 3:

Everything I do

And everything I say

Let it be all for you Lord

You can have your way

Bridge:

My heart is yours and yours alone

My life is yours for your glory Lord

Let my soul sing your praise

Now, forever and always

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Out of a place of intimacy

Today was our first day of class on the Tabernacle of David in School of Worship. At the end of class we were asked to spend some time reflecting on what stood out to us and how it applies to us as worship leaders. Here are my thoughts:

The thing that has stood out to me the most from class today is the freedom that I should feel in Christ, even in the midst of my calling. Yes, there is a lot of responsibility on me as a worship leader, as I am called to usher people into the presence of God, but I'm not able to do it in my own strength, so I shouldn't stress about it and try do it by myself. Leading people into God's presence and living a life that glorifies him will be a natural outflowing of a life of intimacy with him.

David was called a man after God's own heart, not because he lived a perfect life, but because he sought after God, even in the darkest times of his life. He was willing to admit to his shortcomings and surrender them to God and ask God to make him new and forgive him. He had great intimacy with God and because of that God used him to lead the entire nation into true worship of him, and used his kingdom as an example of what the kingdom of heaven looks like. 

I just find so much freedom in this example of the life of David and the intimacy that he had with God. Out of that, everything else was birthed. The only thing I need to concern myself with is focusing on staying in a place of intimacy with God and out of that everything else will flow. We learnt in class today that intimacy with God allows us to proclaim the truth about God as we get to know him better and through our proclamation God brings fresh revelation into our lives. This revelation takes us into a deeper place of intimacy with God. And so the cycle continues. But it all starts with me choosing a life of intimacy with God and guarding that as the most important thing in the world to me. 

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Deafening Silence - short song assignment

Here is another song writing assignment that I did for my School of Worship class this week. We were given 20 minutes in class to write the lyrics and then could take some time in the evening to put it to music if we wanted. 

The assignment was to take one of five oxymorons and use it either in or to inspire a song. I chose 'deafening silence'. My inspiration for this song came from Elijah's expereince with God on the mountain in 1 Kings 19:11-13. 


I did a short recording of it on my iPhone and made it into a video so that I could put it on here. The sound quality isn't great, but at least you can get the just of how I want it to sound :)

Verse 1:
I want to hear Your voice
I want to see Your face
I want to feel Your presence
Here in this place


Verse 2:
But You're not in the wind
You're not in the quake
Nor are You in the fire
Though they seem so great


Chorus:
I stand on this mountain top
Humbled and in awe
Surrounded by Deafening Silence
It's You
            and I adore
I adore


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Whatever Happened To Worship?

- A Call to True Worship - By A. W. Tozer

Book report by Sarah Palser for School of Worship

Whatever Happened to Worship was compiled from a sermon series that A. W. Tozer preached in the 1960s shortly before His death. Even though it was written 50 years ago, Tozer’s thoughts are still very relevant to the struggles that the Christian church faces with worship today. The book starts by looking at worship in the church, where people often feel like they are rich and lack nothing. But what is really lacking is a true, unadulterated worship of God. We were not created to obey a set of laws, but to worship God and enjoy Him forever. He does not need our worship, be He loves it. Sadly it is often the case that those who lead in the church are not those who pray, seek God and spend time adoring Him together. This is something that I have witnessed in my own church and it is a tragedy indeed that breaks God’s heart.

Tozer then goes on to say that true worship demands new birth. We need to have a biblical understanding of who God really is and how He wants to worship in order to really worship Him. “True worship of God must be a constant and consistent attitude or state of mind within the believer.” (page 24) It is birthed through our understanding of who He is. We please Him most when we stop trying to make ourselves perfect but give ourselves wholly to Him, knowing that He understands and loves us completely. And this comes through a correct understanding of the fear of the Lord.

We often call things ‘worship’ that are not actually true worship. God loves it when we worship and we need to ask Him how He wants to be worshipped. This was a new insight to me which has challenged the way that I view worship. I have always worshipped God in the ways in which I have been taught, or in the way that I like to worship, without considering that God may have a particular way in which He wants to be worshiped. I want to apply this to my life by seeking God and asking Him how He wants me to worship Him. Tozer also pointed out the importance of worshipping in both Spirit and Truth. One without the other would not be adequate. We need both to really bring pleasure to God’s heart.

We were born to worship God. It is a tragedy that many people never come to this understanding. We need to focus on teaching people the true reason for their existence. Jesus walked on earth to reflect God’s glory and we were created to do the same. Tozer ponders that when people lose God they spend their time trying to find something else to worship. It is a tragedy that while humans were made more like God than any other creature, most now reflect His glory less than the rest of creation.

Tozer next discusses the fact that we cannot find God by our own intellect. If we could, we would be equal to Him. Instead, we are awed by the presence of God and drawn to Him by His revelation to us of who He is. Tozer defines worship as “to feel with the heart”. For us to worship in Spirit and Truth we need to feel wonder and experience the mystery of God.

The church, Tozer says, exists to do corporately what each Christian should be doing individually – to worship God. The church fails God when it fails to allow people to truly worship Him together. When we align ourselves with Him again, His Spirit will realign the church with the Word of God. I really like this quote: “There is no limit to what God can do through us if we are His yielded and purified people, worshipping and showing forth His glory and His faithfulness.” (page 101) We often limit the way that God can use us and how effective we can be by not yielding to Him and worshipping Him wholeheartedly. What power there is when we live out what we were created to do!

It is not the exception that Christians worship God in Spirit and in Truth, Tozer states, but rather that is what a normal Christian does. Those who do not cannot be considered normal Christians. We have become a generation that has lost sight of the sacredness of our worship. To really know God is to love and worship Him. They cannot be separated. Our worship is not something that happens only on Sundays, but is something that should be lived out every moment of each day. “If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshipping on Sunday!” (page 122) This is something that I need to be constantly reminded of in order to make sure that my whole life is lived as an expression of worship to God. This cannot be done if I have not fully surrendered every aspect of my life to God and if I am holding on to things that I know are displeasing to Him. This book has challenged me with the importance of really living a life of complete surrender, one that glorifies God every moment of my day, for I was made to worship Him and that is what I want to do. 

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What a way to start 2012!

Right now I'm sitting on a couch in a little house in the outskirts of Oxford. What a week it has been! Paul and I have packing in so much sight seeing and touristy stuff that we are pretty much dead men walking now. I think we may have overdone it a bit, but it's lovely to spend some time with his extended family here in Oxford for a few days and slow down the pace a bit and 'recover' from the fast pace of London before we head off to the States. 

Hyde Park Swans

The church where my uncle
 Russell works as a vicar in Ewell

We landed at Heathrow on 30 December and spent a rather interesting day slowly making our way to Ewell, equipped with two big bags, one roll-a-board bag, two backpacks and a handbag. It was a little crazy, but we made it! We ended up stopping off at Hyde Park and meandering through the Winter Wonderland for a few hours. It was a little difficult with all our luggage, but well worth it! Food in London is rather pricey, so we ended up buying a loaf of bread and having a little picnic with a jar of Nutella I got for Christmas. :) 

The next day saw us waking up around midday, having caught up on some of the sleep we lost while travelling, and heading into London for our New Year's Eve adventures. We had organised to stay with a good friend of mine for the night, who is staying with her sister near St Paul's Cathedral for the holidays. It was such a blessing to have a place so close to the fireworks to crash for the night, because getting out of the center of London is nearly impossible with the crowds! After finally locating their place, we headed over to the fireworks viewing spots. We were about 6 hours early, but had been warned that it was necessary in order to get a good spot. So we had a little picnic, watched a movie, huddled together among thousands of other tourists under an umbrella and eventually watched a really incredible fireworks display. 

New Year's on Waterloo Bridge

Gabi, me and Tyrone

Catching up with Gabi later that night was wonderful, as I haven't seen her in two months and won't see her again for another six. We had some great girl-talk time and a good nights sleep before heading off to do some tyical touristy things the next day. Paul and I went to the Shakespeare Globe, the Tate Modern, the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. By the late afternoon the rain was bucketing down, my boots were drenched through and it felt like I was squelching in puddles with every step! But it was well worth it and we got to tick off quite a few things off our list!

St Paul's Cathedral

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

That evening we had a wonderful supper with my grandparents. It was really nice to see them again, share stories and catch up after not having seen them for about a year and a half. I'm so glad that Paul got to meet them too, as they immigrated to the UK soon after Paul and I started dating. It was also lots of fun realising how much I have in common with my aunt, Elaine, that I didn't know about: like being fussy about the different tastes of tap water and work better late at night than in the early morning! 

Granddad, Auntie Di, Elaine, Russell and me

On the 2nd one of Paul's dreams came true when we went to see the Emerite's Stadium; the home ground of his beloved Arsenal football/soccer team! Unfortunately we couldn't go inside the stadium, but just being there seemed to be enough :) We then headed to Hamleys and did some Oxford Street shopping. We also managed to squeeze in watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace too! Fun times!

The next day was a little wet and there had been some terrible wind and rain the night before, resulting in a number of trees falling over railway tracks. Because of this, it took us quite a while to get into London, but we eventually got to see the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and explored Harrods a bit. We stopped off for some Starbucks and a little more Oxford Street shopping before heading home.

What I will look like when I'm old,
according to the Science Museum!

Paul outside the Natural History Musu

Then yesterday we packed up all our stuff and came with Paul's uncle, Ron, to Oxford. It's been so nice to slow the pace down a bit, put out feet up and just chill! I've really loved hearing more about Paul's family history and noticing all the similarities and quirks that mirror his family at home, even in a family that has grown up completely on the other side of the world! 

Today we went into Oxford for a few hours and just wandered the streets and stopped in at a few shops. I'm delighted with the 2 year anniversary present that Paul bought for me, and he also got himself a really nice warm Oxford University hoodie :)

We now have another 2 and a half days to go before we leave for the States (on Sunday)! YWAM Denver here we come! I'm so excited to be back and to have some awesome time growing with the Lord and spending time seeking him and worshiping him! 

2012 is definitely off to a good start and I know that there is a lot more of good stuff to come!

The adventures to come in 2012

It's about time that I update you on the exciting plans that I have for next year! I forced myself not to focus too much on next year until my thesis was done. But now that it is, I get to be SUPER excited about what is to come and I want to share it with you :)

http://www.ywamdenver.org/

I'm planning on going back to YWAM Denver for the first 6 months of next year. This is something that I've been wanting to do since I was there in 2007 for my Gap year for a Discipleship Training School (DTS) and School of Biblical Foundations (SBF). God called me to YWAM Denver specifically so that I could do the School of Worship (SOW) there, but the timing clashed with Kirsty (my sister)'s wedding that year. So I had peace about coming home and doing my degree and going back to do it after I finish, which is now! 

SOW is only 3 months long (April - June), so I decided that if I was going to be setting aside a chunk of the year directly for growing in my relationship with God and my passions, I may as well make use of the time and do another school while I'm there. While God didn't directly call me to do another school like he did with SOW, he gave me peace that if I choose to do one he will bless me richly through the experience. I initially wanted to do the School of Evangelism (SOE), or WISE (Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare and Evangelism) - as it is called at YWAM Denver, but the dates of that school got moved so it wasn't an option anymore. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/

I then spent some time praying and looking into different options and eventually was led to the Community Development for Missions school (CDFM). At first I had some pride issues I needed to get over, as I thought that I would probably be able to teach them a lot of what would be taught in the school, having grown up in a third world country and being involved in missions over the years. For example, the annual trips that I go on with my church to the rural areas of Mthatha [See these blog posts (1) and (2)]. But God brought me to a place of recognizing my pride and realising the incredible way that doing this school would complement my academic studies and future work opportunities. 


I'm planning on doing my Masters in Computer Science in 2013, focusing on the area of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Socio-Economic Development). I've done my Honours thesis (in collaboration with Learn to Earn) in this area. I really want to pursue this field of study and look at ways in which technology can be used and appropriated effectively to bring about change in poor communities. God pointed out that having an all-rounded understanding of Community Development will help make the technology that I develop more effective in changing peoples lives.

Here is an extract from the YWAM Denver website about what each school covers:

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/school-of-worship/

School of Worship:

Our purpose is to raise-up worshippers who are passionate about Jesus and skillfully trained; those who will not only minister to God's heart, but will go into all the world with His high praises in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand (Psalm 149:6). As part of our program, each student will be taught on songwriting and given the opportunity to write and perform his or her own songs. Then, at the end of the quarter, several of these songs will be compiled into an album that is produced and released through YWAM Denver. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/community-development-for-missions/

Community Development for Missions:

The School of Community Development For Missions is based on God's instruction for us to love our neighbor, help the poor and disciple the nations. The goal of CDFM is to equip missionaries with a skill-set in community development; and see communities around the world empowered to escape the trap of poverty and take control of their own lives. Students will learn key concepts in successful community development and be introduced to issues faced in developing countries. The school provides tools in community assessment and guidance on how to implement projects. A graduate of the school will be equipped with practical tools, resources and contacts to pursue their specific area of interest.

I will not be going on any outreaches after these schools, and as such they will simply be a training and equipping time for me to be more effective in the various ministries that God has called me to. I don't feel particularly called to full time missions at this stage, but I am open to it if God leads me in that way in the future. Right now, however, I recognise that I have a unique combination of technical skills and passion for seeing communities changed that God can use me in, even if it is in an academic setting. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/compassion-dts/

I'm stoked to be able to say that my boyfriend, Paul, is planning on going to YWAM Denver too during the same time period to do a Compassions DTS. It has been a long journey for him to decide to do this and has been largely uninfluenced by my decision to go. I'm excited about what us both being in YWAM for this time may mean for our future. But I'm also very aware that this time is specifically for each of us to grow in our relationships with God first and foremost, and as a couple secondly. He is not a member of my church, Pinelands Baptist Church (PBC), so he is not asking for financial support from us, but I know that he would really appreciate our prayer support. His church, while backing him spiritually, are not willing to support him financially. As such, he is following God very obediently and having to totally rely on God to provide for his school fees and living expenses. 

We will be leaving on 29 December and spending a week in England with family before heading to Denver on the 8th. CDFM and DTS both start on 9 January and SOW will run while Paul is on outreach. 

Paul and me

We would both absolutely love for you to support us in prayer during the adventure to come! If you would like to be added to a list of prayer supporters to receive our updates, please email me. I will also be posting regular update here, so you can subscribe (on the left hand panel) to these posts. If you would like to support us financially, please send me and email and I can send you more details. 

The Bride - an amazing evening with God and the United Pursuit Band

This week I've had the opportunity of worshiping with the United Pursuit Band twice, on Thursday with The Deep River and on Sunday night. And what amazing times they have been! I experienced so much love from God and I just am so so excited about the amazing journey that I'm on with him and all that he has in store for me in the future! One of these is that I'm heading back to YWAM Denver next year for two training schools. The first three months I'll be doing WISE (Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare and Evangelism) and the second three months I'll be doing SOW (School of Worship). I'm totally amped! But I'll write more about what led me to this point and what all it'll entail in another post...


Right now I want to write about a picture that God showed me tonight during the song "Come Away" tonight at New Life Vineyard church in Cape Town. Now to be honest I don't really think in pictures so I don't really "see" pictures for people when I pray, I more get impressions or descriptions of images in my head. I seem to think in a much more "wordy" way than many other people... but anyway. So this song is playing and it's written as a song from God to us, so I let God just sing it to me and listened and relaxed and enjoyed it.

And while I had my eyes closed I SAW a really beautiful engagement ring. It was platinum with a huge beautifully cut solitaire diamond on top. And this wasn't just any ring, it was really special! And then I noticed that it was only one out of MANY and they were moving on a kind of conveyor belt. They were so many, yet it did not take away from the incredible beautiful and worth of each ring. And I just knew they were from Jesus to his Bride, the Church.


I was expecting to next see Jesus down on one knee offering me a ring, ready to place it on my finger. But instead I saw Jesus, arms outstretched on the cross; blood pouring, streaming down from his body. He was paying the ultimate price; the price that could afford each and every one of those rings and a million more. It's the price of my heart, my soul, my love, my redemption and my eternal salvation. Because of that blood, I am his beloved, his chosen one, and part of his Bride.

"Open up your heart and let me in

Come away with me
Come away
It's never too late
It's never too late
It's not too late for you 

I have a plan for you
I have a plan
It's going to be wild,
It's going to be great
It's going to be full of me"

I look forward with great expectancy for our marriage day when the Bridegroom, Jesus, comes down to be united with his Bride, the Church; when he returns to Earth in all his fullness to make everything new and to dwell among us forever.

www.aueysantos.com

"Open up your heart and let me in
I am aching with love for you"

 I also recorded one of my favourite United Pursuit songs, "Waterfall", on my phone. It was too beautiful a moment for me not to keep a memory. So here it is if you're interested.