Update

Yes, an update is definitely overdue. This has been an interesting season for me to say the least. I'm confident God is up to something, but at the same time the way forward has been hazy. I've been reluctant to communicate much because I don't want to seem inconsistent, changing my mind about what I'm doing every two weeks. I can't help but feel pressure to have my life all figured out, to know exactly where I'm headed and what I'm doing.

So the film school at YWAM was a really good experience. It definitely gave me practical tools that will help me in whatever I do in the future. I now have much more knowledge and skill about how to produce and shoot interviews, documentaries, news type stories and even feature films if I ever wanted to do that. I have no doubt that God will use this film skill in the future. 

But, the actual day to day life in the film school and internship was a hard and rather discouraging personal experience. I can't really go into it more than that. I learned a lot and but it was hard. Feel free to read between the lines.

Once the school and internship was over in September I was happy to move on, grateful for what I learned. The question of "What Next?" had always been on my mind. I bounced around ideas. Stay involved with anti-trafficking? Leave missions and get a "real" job? Go back to school and become a teacher? 

My most recent thought, one that I'm praying about and seeking God in, is to create a YWAM school that addresses the need for post-awareness training in justice issues. Over the past eight years, a lot has been done to raise awareness about human trafficking (which is great and needed), but people need to be really equipped in how to *do* something about it. I'm thinking I'd like to tackle that need in a context where we could really dig in to it... instead of in just a 15 minute segment of an hour long teaching session. I find that sort of training--a real practical equipping--to be lacking in YWAM. 

A lot of 20 year old's are sent out onto the field knowing about trafficking (they've attended the energetic conferences and had speakers hype them up) but suddenly, they're in over their heads and they don't know how to respond. A YWAM school format would give me three months with the students to look into all sorts of things: how to conduct a community assessments, how to figure out which government officials to talk to, how to conduct an inconspicuous investigation, how to start a safe home, how to network with other NGO's, etc. 

And we'd go and do it, not just talk about it. I'm still in the very, very embryonic stages of thinking through this idea. I've been out of the whole justice arena for a bit; a much needed break. I'll have to do a lot of research and catching up and probably some traveling to scout out locations-- I'm thinking I would like the three-month school to be in a different region of the world each month, since trafficking issues are so different depending on where you are. I also really need to see if something like this is being done in YWAM (why reinvent the wheel, right?) and if there are people I could partner with to do this. 

I've never ran a YWAM school and I'm a little intimidated by all their regulations and red tape, so I'd need to learn about that as well. And I'm still asking questions like, is a YWAM school format really the best place for this kind of training? Should I do long seminar instead? Should I take it outside of YWAM and offer it to churches? Am I equipped myself to do this sort of training? So many questions.... 

 In the mean time, I'll be staying in Hawaii for now since I really don't have any other place to go. And being close to YWAM's biggest base is great for digging into my idea, asking questions, networking and finding people to partner with. 

Unfortunately, during this transitional time, my support has really suffered. About two months ago I found myself on the verge of plunging into debt; my monthly costs were about $500 more than I was receiving. I'm definitely not a fan of debt, so I went out and looked for a job to help make ends meet. 

A few weeks ago I got hired on part-time with a tour company that has A LOT of Japanese customers. It's not a glorious job by any means, but I do get to speak Japanese on a regular basis! And it's helping out some with the bills. I'm hoping that once I get a clearer sense of this school idea, I'll be able to go out and raise more support to free me up. 

So my daily life consists of praying about my future, scheming about this school idea and working to help with the bills. I could so use prayers during this time! A lot is open to me and I really want to make sure I'm sensitive to God and not just launching out on my own. I could really use wisdom and prayer that God would direct me to the right people and places. 

Also prayer for my finances as well... it has been a big stress, as I'm sure you can imagine. Also would you pray for safety? I ride a scooter to and from work and around town. It's definitely not the safest way to go, there are a lot of scooter accidents in this town, but it's the only mode of transportation I can afford. My work is about 25 minutes away from home, on a busy, busy road so there are a lot of opportunities for accidents.