Meu nome é Grant. Muito prazer.

That's Portuguese for "My name is Grant, and it's nice to meet you." 

I have a lot to say... So let's get started.

We just started learning Portuguese this week, and that's gonna be interesting.  I took some Spanish in high school, and there are some similarities, but it's going to be tough learning a brand new language. During the month I was in Taiwan last summer, I was embarrassed by how little I was able to learn and use when I was there.  I'm going to try my best to learn as many basic phrases in Portuguese as I can so I can at least have a simple conversation with the people there.

Last week during lecture we discussed the Father heart of God and this week we're talking about missions and God's heart for the lost.  These lectures are so much more awesome than this blog is making them sound.  I love waking up and spending my day learning about God's heart and what He wants in my life and in the lives of everyone around me.  It's transforming everyone, and I cannot wait for this team to travel to Brazil and share what God has been teaching us here in Montana.

YWAM Montana has multiple schools going on right now.  There is the Winter DTS (WDTS - what I'm doing right now), the School of Dance (SOD), and the School of Biblical Studies (SBS).  The Fall DTS and the School of Worship (SOW) are on outreach right now, and they'll be getting back for their debriefing very soon. 

SBS is an intense 9 month course where students go through the Bible 5 times in 5 different methods.  Needless to say, it's intense.  And the students are always busy studying and working on their stuff.  But because they are awesome, some of the SBS students are taking time out of their extremely busy schedules to lead a Bible study for any of the students on base right now.  Once a week for about an hour and a half they teach a couple books of the Bible, usually laying the structure saying who wrote it, why they wrote it, when they wrote it, where they wrote it, to whom they wrote it, and so much more.  It's awesome that they're taking time to pour into us students teaching on books that they may or may not have studied yet.  They're awesome, and I really appreciate what they're doing for us.

The WDTS 2013 theme is Marked By Love.  The key verse for this DTS is Ephesians 1:11-12
It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for.  Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone. (The Message Version)
Being marked is a permanent stamp.  Think about branding a cow.  People look at that cow after it's been branded and they know who it belongs to.  The same goes for us as believers.  After you've been marked by love, people will know just by looking at you that there's something different.  They'll know just by looking at you who you belong to, Christ. 

Even on our worst day after doing the worst sin imaginable, and when we're feeling the most guilt as a possible, we're marked by love.  Not by works, not by earning anything, but by love.  Even on my worst day after doing the worst sin ever, He still loves me.  Because it's not by works!  I CAN'T EARN IT.  It's so freeing, isn't it?  There is absolutely NOTHING I can do to earn His love for me.  Even on my best day, when I think I've been doing a decent job of not sinning, it doesn't matter.

Romans 4:23-25
But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also.  It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (ESV)
God doesn't see sin on us anymore.  The word 'justified' in this verse literally translated means publicly and verbally declared righteous.  OK, think about being called before a court.  You're guilty.  Whatever you did to get there, you did it and there's no weaseling out of it.  But when the gavel came down, the judge of the whole universe declared you righteous.  He had perfect knowledge of what you did, and He knows you're guilty, but He still declared you righteous.  For me it's easy to say out loud, "God has forgiven me of all my sins."  It's a lot tougher for me to say, "I am the righteousness of God."  But it's true.  I'm not perfect.  In fact I mess up consistently.  But it's not about what I did or can do.  It's all about Jesus.  And that's awesome.

We have 3 book reports to do before we leave for Brazil; 1 book a month.  This month, I read "Is That Really You, God?" by Loren Cunningham.  Loren Cunningham is the founder of YWAM, and the book is about how YWAM got started.  This book was full of awesome God stories, and it's so encouraging to see how this whole thing got started now that we get to be a part of it.  Not just me, you're involved in this huge mission and vision too.  Supporting me financially, or through prayer, or just reading my blog and checking up on me.  All of us are in this together.  I seriously could not do this without all your help.  Thank you.

Stay tuned for more updates.  I love y'alls!

People are Awesome.

Seriously, people are awesome.  After all the stresses of support raising, I reached my goal.  And I found someone to sublet my apartment!  I was doing a lot of questioning about whether I was really hearing God about going to YWAM Montana for Winter Discipleship Training School (WDTS), but I have received confirmation after confirmation, and I'm confident that this is where God wants me to be for the next 5 months.

I just finished my second week of the lecture phase.  During the first week we talked about hearing the voice of God, and the second week we discussed the foundations of Christianity.  We also discussed some basics on how to share the Gospel with people who haven't heard it and with people who have heard parts of it but don't understand it in it's entirety.

The entire WDTS team will be spending 2 months in Brazil!  The entire team will start together in Rio de Janeiro, and then break up into smaller teams most likely going to São Paulo, Curitiba, and Recife with a small team staying in Rio.  I'll be in Brazil from the end of March to the end of May.

For all my friends, family, and supporters, thank you so much.  There's no way I could be doing this without your help and your overwhelming support.  People are awesome.  You're awesome.