Fall 2017 Update

Fall 2017 Update

It's been a while, but here is an update for Fall 2017! It's been a busy year, but I'm enjoying every second of it!

This Spring, I graduated the School of Ministry Development. This was an amazing school, allowing me to learn and grow in my time here in YWAM and teachings I will lean on for the rest of my life. I've also made many friendships I will treasure forever! I also had opportunity to work in the Kitchen this spring and summer! It was so much fun to develop new skills and hang out with these good friends.

We went on a Staff Camping trip as a base! It was a lot of fun getting to connect with each staff member and grow this amazing community.

I've been crocheting again! It's such a great way to unwind and relax at the end of my day. A popular item with the students are beanies! It's been fun to see my projects all around the base.  If you want to see more of my recent projects, check out my crocheting Instagram!

What's Next?  I am so excited to announce that I will once again be staffing the Compassion Discipleship Training School this January! I am so excited to partner with the school's leaders to disciple students as well as lead an overseas outreach this summer! (More details to come!!!) Prayer Requests Please partner with me in prayer over these next few months as my team and I get ready to staff this school.  For our staff team: -Javie and Christie (School Leaders) are starting the planning process for the school. Please pray for wisdom, peace and rest over the next few months as they start to get ready for this school. -Christine is home in Switzerland to renew her visa. Please pray for favor and a quick overall process! -Max is home as well (Long Beach) recovering from knee surgery. He is doing physical therapy, but hopes to return to the base in the beginning of December. -Also, please be praying for the students who are planning on coming in January and for the rest of the YWAM LA base. The Winter quarter is pretty busy with the schools that are running and not as many staff on base. This is usually one of our slow quarters, but we are being blessed with the number of students who plan to join us in January, so many of the base staff are put on multiple jobs throughout this time to ensure the base runs smoothly. Most of the YWAM LA staff are on outreach from the previous quarter, so there are even fewer people than normal. Personal Prayers: -Transition is happening like crazy for me, both for my family and here on base. -Prayer in preparation for this next school. I am so excited to lead my first outreach, but I am also nervous since it is my first time! Please be praying as we plan and decided where this outreach will take place.

Would you like to support me financially? My goal is to continue to raise $500 a month. This helps cover staff fees to the base and miscellaneous costs throughout the month. If you would be interested in supporting me, please email me at mad4mangoes1@gmail.com. Let's Keep in Touch! Facebook: Jordyne Castaneda Instagram: mad_4_mangoes Email: mad4mangoes1@gmail.com Snail Mail: 11141 Osborne St.  Sylmar, CA 91342

It's the End of SOMD As We Know It (SOMD~WK 11)

This is my last blog that is required for this school. Don't worry, I plan to continue to update it, though maybe not as often. The end of this school is quickly approaching. I can't believe it, it feels like it just started. This school has done so much on helping me develop who I am so I can become the leader I was called to be. It has helped me understand that i need to be confident in who I am, in my identity in Christ so then I can share with others on how to step into their identity. I have learned that constant communication is key, with not only with those around me, but with Holy Spirit, Jesus and God. I am beyond thankful for this experience and it has become an important time in my time here at YWAM.

As we are wrapping up this school, we finished reading through Revelation this week, which means I have read through the entire Bible during these past 4 months. It has been an amazing experience, and although it wasn't always easy to read (we read each book straight through in one sitting) or to understand, it was stretching to get to see more of God's character, nature and love for us. I love how I can learn so much from reading his word and how God speaks through a book that was written before I was even a thought in the universe! I understand more of the context and history about who, what and why each book was written, and it makes me want to study His word even more!

This week's teaching was more story/experience lead. The YWAM San Diego/Baja director was our speaker. It was a more chill week, listening to Sean share more from his personal experience with YWAM (he's been on staff for 30ish years) and how being in communication with God is important and we need to be in constant willingness to serve to figure out what our calling may be.

Our outreach was very different this week. It looked very different than I thought it would but I loved it! Our time this week was spent building relationships at a local mosque. It's time for the Muslims to celebrate a time of fasting and prayer during a time they call Ramadan. They fast (no food or drink, including water) from sunrise to sundown and at sundown, they break their fast with feasting as a community. It was totally different then I thought the experience would be like. Everyone was so eager to share their faith, but not in a way that they were trying to convert us all to Islam. I think the experience was important because in order to build relationship, we need to understand a little about their culture. They have a strong understanding for Christainity as well as curiosity to hear from us what we believe. They understand what it's like to have their religion be misunderstood through media and they want to share the “truth” behind their beliefs.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have been there last night and I would jump at an chance to do it again.

After this school is over, I will be continuing my commitment as staff here at YWAM LA. I'll be serving the base as base staff (exact role TBD) as the base is a little slower in summer. If you'd like to hear more about what we do as a base, please feel free to contact me. I'd also just love to chat!

Keep up with my life!

Email:mad4mangoes1@gmail.com

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Understand the Culture (SOMD~ Wk 10)

I'm thankful for this week's teaching about Culture from our speaker, Jeremy.  is important. It's the center of who we are. It has shaped how our parents raised us and ultimately live out our lives. It is important to understand one another's culture as it can be a tool used to share the Gospel with others. It's crazy to me how much culture influences our faith and how it has changed dramatically. I think it is important to know the history behind our culture and how it has affected the church. I think that the Church believes it needs to be separate from the world, but I don't think that is right. I mean, Jesus was right in the middle of "sinners" during his time on earth. His heart was to bring relationship between him and others. To be in the world, not of it. I have a friends who want to impacted the "secular" world with the love of Christ. I think that's amazing. We are created to bring glory to God's name as well as share this glory with all the world. That starts with understanding the culture of those we are called to share with.

Compassion Discipleship Training School (CDTS) 2017

This week, the Compassion students returned from their outreach. These are the students that I had the privilege to staff in the Winter quarter. They had a week of debrief and it was so good to be with them and see how they have grown over their outreach. Today (Saturday) they graduated. I am so proud of them! They have grown so much in their understanding in who God is, who they are, and how to share Him with others. They are such world changers and I can not to see where God takes them next.

My lovely small group!
(From the left: Kaylin, Me, Jael, Catherine, and Megan)

Leadership Goals (SOMD~ wk 9)

This week, we had Alberto from a local church, The Gathering LA, speak to us about leadership. It was really good to hear a teaching on this topic from someone outside of YWAM. I love that YWAM LA brings in others from outside our community, as it allows our community to grow beyond our "gates".

Alberto also had us break into groups to work on a project. Each team had a leader, who has a future ministry or business they plan to start in the future, and two others to help present it. I was with my friend Jack, and we worked with our friend Hannah and her vision to start a gluten-free bakery here in LA that employs women who are coming out of human trafficking, giving them the ability to learn life skills and be mentored in a loving, safe community. Alberto wanted us to write a mission statement, vision statement, and values for the business, as well as figuring out practical details on how it would raise support and recruit volunteers/employees. It was amazing to be able to listen to my friend and hear her heart behind a dream I have heard her talk about for a while now. We helped her put her ideas onto paper and helped her communicate her thoughts to be presented. I'm excited to see this dream become a reality in the near future. It was humbling to be apart of someone else's dream and how I could honor Hannah by helping her accomplish (however small my part was) her goal. We then presented it to the class, and heard from 8 others who have ministries and businesses they want to start to glorify the Kingdom.

On Fridays, we normally do local outreach. This week, we went to Venice Beach to do evangelism. Our goal is to be a light to those who don't know Jesus. I love how evangelism doesn't mean to shove Jesus or the gospel onto others, but to show him, even if we don't mention his name. It means building relationships with those around us. I love that this can be done in so many ways and that there's no formula on how to do this "correctly". I was with two of my friends, Taylor (Canada) and Molly (Denmark), who had never been to Venice, so we used that to our advantage. We explored the boardwalk, talking to whoever would respond back to us and ended having a few great conversations with people. One guy seemed really hunger to learn more about his purpose in life, but wasn't sure if believed in God. We encouraged him to ask his questions to God and wait for a response. He said he loved to journal, so Molly bought him a journal and encouraged him to use it. This was the best Venice experience I've ever had (I went a lot last summer with Mission Adventures, the high school program I staffed here at YWAM LA) and it wasn't because a bunch of people got saved, or I was able to be great. All that happened, was I had a chance to speak into someone and be honest about what I believe in. I didn't try to make anyone believe in what I believe in and I don't know what will become of this guy in the future. I am so thankful for times like this. It's all about being bold and listening to the Holy Spirit and anything can happen!

I can't believe we are finished week 9 already!

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email: mad4mangoes1@gmail.com
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Me, Myself and I (SOMD ~ Wk 8)

This week has been all about discovering more about ourselves. At the end of last week, we did four personality tests (Myers-Briggs, DISC, Strength Finders, and Motivational Gifts) and this week, Sheron, our speaker, expanded on the the different results of these tests.

I loved this week because I think it is important to be secure in my identity if I want to continue to do the Lord's work. If I have no clue who I am, then I have no business telling others who they are. I love these test because they aren't meant to put ourselves in a box, but they help me explain who I am in words I wouldn't have been able to myself. Its has helped me get to know my friends better, learning how different results of these tests complement each other. It has also has shown me that it is important to surround myself with those different me because we all have special giftings that come with our individuality. Learning to champion each others is important. God made us all unique and we should be proud to embrace who he made us.

We presented our test results to our entire class to help
us sum up what we have learned this week. All my results are below. 

Here are my results, in case you are curious! I've summarized the results in my own words based on how I feel it applies to me. 😀

Myers- Briggs:
Extrovert- means I am energized by being with others rather than alone
Sensing- I like to gather information based on the facts, aka my five senses
Feeling- I make decisions based on how I feeling
Perceiving- I am super flexible and don't really need a schedule to run my life

Spiritual Gifts:
Exhorter- I naturally like to encourage others
Serving- I naturally like to tangibly bless others

DISC:
Influencer- I value relationships and am open and accepting of others. It also mentioned a love for talking.  I thought that was funny because it's true! 😂

Strength Finders: (I've wanted to do this test for so long, so I am so happy we had a chance to do this one this week!)
1) Adaptability- flexible; lives in the moment
2) Includer- a love for equality; accepting of everyone; not wanting anyone to feel left out
3) Positivity- encourager; sees the bright side of life
4) Developer- sees potential in others; challenges others to rise up in success
5) Input- collector of information

All my results involved my love for other people in one way or another. Sheron shared what each of our "worst nightmares" would be depending on our MB results and mine was "You are stuck in a room by yourself for the rest of eternity." Yup, that sounds like a nightmare to me!!!

I'd love to know more about your results on these tests, if you've done them before!
Let's chat!
Email: mad4mangoes1@gmail.com
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Becoming a Bible Detective (SOMD ~ WK 7)

This week our speaker challenged us this week and become Sherlock Holmes and discover what the Bible has to say. It was super challenging, but in a different way than I've been challenged before. I'm not really sure how to share what I've learned this week. It was a lot of personal revelation that I don't know as much as I thought I did about the Bible and that I need to go back to God to truly understand what I am reading. Our speaker Heather also challenged me with my spiritual worldview and how Scripture supports what I believe. I love how everything Heather spoke about, she backed up with scripture. If we had any questions, she encouraged us to answer it with what we've learned rather than try to feed us her opinion.

I have grown up with a very western worldview. Others have grown up with a traditional worldview. There's nothing wrong with this, it's just that we see and learn about God differently. This means as a missionary, I have to have an understanding of another's worldview in order to know how to share and teach about God. If someone came to me and told me about Jesus and had cold hard facts to back up what they are saying, I would probably believe them. I would still probably have questions but I would be able to begin to understand who Jesus is and who he can become to me.  If they tried to do this in Asia, where they have a more traditional worldview, then history and truth would not be enough from them to believe. They value power and they would want to see proof of it in order to believe. A traditional worldview also has a totally different view on the spiritual world than what I grew up in. Heather broke this all down for us so we can learn to understand different cultures. Traditional worldview believes in spirits, ghosts, blessings, curses, magic, witchcraft on a totally different level then us in the west. I grew up with all these spiritual things being super glamorized in Hollywood. I don't live my life affected by these things, but those in the traditional worldview, live their lives based on how spirits will affect them. If we don't as least learn about these things, then we will not understand how to reach them with the Gospel. We all have a message to deliver, but do we know how to "package" it and deliver it to the appropriate person.
This week also showed me more of the Israelites worldview in the Old Testament, which we are still reading through (We are half way done! We will finish the Old Testament and start Matthew on Monday!). I loved when we were shown the original Hebrew and the original meaning of the passages we were reading. It's crazy how when a verse is translated into English, the whole meaning of the verse can be changed. I am really enjoying reading through the whole Bible. I am absorbing so much by reading whole books in one sitting. I am building a mental timeline and understanding the context in which it was written a little more each week.

 I ALMOST FORGOT! I have a really exciting announcement!!! I am going on outreach to......

GREECE!!!! 

I am soooooo excited for this outreach. There is a huge Syrian refugee crisis in Greece right now and they are needing aid once they land in the country, and we get the opportunity to serve and tell them about who God is to us as Christians. There have been more Muslims coming to Christ then ever before. I love how YWAM takes time to teach and then gives a way to take what was learned and apply it. I am so excited to be apart of the story. 

Please be praying for the other students in my school, as they make the decision on whether they will be joining this optional outreach and also for finances for those who feel called to go. My leaders will be announcing more details and the final team next week. 

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers during my time here at YWAM LA. Love you all! 

Keep in touch! I'd love to chat! 

Email: mad4mangoes1@gmail.com

Instagram: mad_4_mangoes

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Want to send me snail mail? 

Jordyne Castaneda 

11141 Osborne St. 

Sylmar, CA 91342 

SOMD~ WK 6

Thank you so much for the love everyone showed me after reading my blog from last week! I loved the feedback and knowing that I have such a wonderful group of people who support me! I'm glad that I shared what I was going through with you all. This week has been tremendously better!

This week was really good. We didn't have much free time this week, our schedule kept us going all day and into the night. On Monday, we break into groups and make timelines for each book of the Bible that we've read through the week prior. That's been fun to see everyone's creative side come out as we are supposed to design our timeline with illustrations of the people and events for the book.
We are reading the larger books as a school instead of in the small groups we normally read in, so on

Tuesday, we read Psalms! Yes, all 150 chapters in one sitting! It took us 3 1/2 hours to read it all, which is a lot faster than we though it would be! Our leader, Lisa made homemade soup to eat while we read, and it was a great time spent as a school.

This week Joseph Avakian was our speaker and he spoke on the importance of communication. He shared the importance of not only being in constant communication with Holy Spirit, but also with those around us. It's important to learn to value the individual, whether they are our friends/peers, those we work with or are at trying to share the Gospel with. Everyone was created uniquely and it's important to understand that just because someone is an introvert or an extrovert, doesn't mean they are exactly the same as other introverts or extroverts. We need to learn how to champion the individual. It is also important to understand the culture in which one comes from so we can learn how to champion them as well. Joseph is lively and animated in his style of teaching. He taught us in two different styles, one by giving us powerpoint presentations, thus giving the exact information he wished to share, and through stories, allowing us to pull information each of individually wished to grab onto.  It was really good that he showed us the difference so the different types of learners could all feel like they were getting something from him.

Joseph also shared how he uses a talent to bring glory to God. He is a graphic designer through a company he started through YWAM in Berlin, Germany. He works in a professional setting, allowing God to speak in him and through in the business world. I love when people share their talents and gifts and how they use them to glorify God. It shows me that I can bring God glory, in whatever I do.