Hey everyone who reads this blog! I decided to switch blog sites a few months ago, and totally forgot to post the new link on my original blog! The new link to my blog is:
http://atonceiknew.wordpress.com
I hope you all hop on over and follow my new blog! With wordpress you can easily have an update sent to your email when I post something new! Thank you and all and God Bless!
-Ash
Hey everyone! So this past week I was thinking about how this blog is great, but mostly used to inform you on all the major things that are happening or coming up in my life. I really felt like God wanted me to open this up to you, and allow you all to know a bit more of the small stuff I deal with too. A lot of you who read this blog support me both financially and prayerfully so I decided that I was going to start posting some prayer requests as they come up! So here is a little list for all of you who are interested in lifting me up in prayer this week:
Ever since my soccer and softball days I have had constant issues with my knees and now because of that my back has been hurting almost daily. It’s incredibly uncomfortable, and now my knees have gotten to the point of consistently popping out or cracking when i sit down or stand up, it is not always comfortable. I would love it if you could pray for healing as it is something that messes with my day to day life here, seeing as I am constantly getting up and down and I walk everywhere.
These past two weeks I have been training in my new job in Development called Direct Mail which handles all of our base communication. It is an incredible opportunity and I feel so blessed to be a part of the ministry that makes sure over 15,000 people all over the world get to see what’s happening at our base. I would love for you to pray that I daily get a heart for this ministry and an excitement to do the work. It is primarily a desk job, which means a lot of routine emails and database work. I don’t ever want to fall into a cycle of just doing the job, and lose the heart for why we do it!
So my most urgent prayer request would be for the purchase of a new laptop! My laptop that I have had for a little over 3 years is now broken, still functional but literally falling to pieces. It has been a constant struggle for me to actually bring it with me anywhere because the adapter is broken and the computer no longer charges. I am incredibly blessed to have it, but because of it’s lack of functionality I can’t travel with it, which then means it loses it’s main purpose, for me to use as a communication tool. I would love for you to pray for either some extra support for me to be able to purchase a new laptop, preferably a Mac which is lighter and more functional for the work I do, or for you to actually contribute financially to this need! I have been putting off looking into a new laptop for a long time, but really felt God speak about making this need known to all of you! :)
Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, like I always say I am so blessed to have people like you in my life! God bless!
Ash
So here i am, back in the land down under, in beautiful Perth, loving our base and the people who live here with me. Some things that have been going on in my own personal life, that most of you may already know but i will share all the same, are: i am engaged! Yes, i am getting married next year to an incredible man of God, so this next year is a lot about me preparing myself for that next huge step. I am so excited to see what God will speak during this time, but i am definitely anxious about it as well and would love your prayer as i go through this next stage. We are both in different countries at the moment, which makes it even more challenging, but also incredible as we get to learn what it means to communicate, and to communicate well! This is something that i have always felt i needed to grow in and here God has put me in such a good position to learn and grow every day. Going along with this, i knew that God wasn’t calling me back to the youth ministry on base, but i wasn’t sure where he wanted me. When i came back to Perth i really felt God speak to me about leadership and being under good leaders in this next season, and felt really lead to join a ministry called Development which is run by two phenomenal leaders, Cliff and Cristine Weiner. I am now a part of this ministry, helping in a communication sphere called Direct Mail which handles a lot of the communication the base puts out there (over 15,000 people!). I LOVE it! I feel encouraged and joyful every single day, and even in the short time i have been a part of the ministry i can already see where God wants to grow me. I am also helping out at the cafe our base has recently opened called Cafe 9ine. I get to make coffees, fellowship with people coming in and out of the base on a regular basis and really just learn how to serve! It’s an incredible opportunity for me because i really felt at home doing cafe style ministry in Iceland during my DTS outreach last year and have really felt that God wants to use me in that avenue somehow in my future, so to be a part of this particular ministry is exciting! I can’t wait to see what God has for me during my time as a barista. :) Really in the next 6 months before the next YPDTS i feel that God wants to grow me even more personally. He wants to prepare me to be a wife, a leader and to grow more into the individual and unique person he has created me to be. Every day i feel more and more blessed to be able to live on a base where i am encouraged to grow and to embrace all those little passions God has placed on my heart!
On a less spiritual level, i am also loving the fact that it is winter here in Perth! Meaning rain and lots of it, my favorite weather in case you were wondering. Personal goals for me this winter: learn how to make the perfect pancakes, discover a new coffee shop and become a frequent visitor, perfect my latte art (rosettes here i come!), read more then one book during my spare time, drink way too much tea, finally watch the movies in our house library, plan my wedding, and of course get a greater revelation of what God has for my life! I am so excited for all of it, and i will be keeping you more informed during these weeks! Thank you so much for reading the blog and supporting me through prayer or finances, you are incredible. :)
Hello again! So this past week has been mighty crazy, with some new and exciting things that i will talk about in either this post (or another so as to not overwhelm your eyeballs)! I did spent a nice bit of time reflecting back on my time in London though and really felt to share with you all about what God did and how i grew.
So to start, leaving Bangladesh was something else. After being slightly uncomfortable almost everyday, whether it was the heat, the food the clothes we had to wear, there was definitely a level of anticipation for the Western world while we were in the Desh. So getting on the plane to Singapore was a breath of fresh air, and finally landing, taking a shower (in the airport hotel, best decision EVER), and finally putting on normal clothes and doing my hair was incredible! Yes, i am a missionary and YES i enjoy being comfortable when i can, thank you Jesus that i have that opportunity as well. Anyways, getting to London, to say the least, was absolutely amazing! I have been dreaming of going there for as long as i can remember and the history buff in me was freaking out when i finally touched down in the UK. Part of the ministry we did during this outreach went along with an already existing ministry run by YWAM Perth called Megacities, that focuses on one city, every 2 years, with a population of over a million people. This year it was London. Most DTS outreach teams have been sent there, including us, for 7 weeks, where we were split into different burroughs throughout the city. It was incredible to be able to experience a different side of London that not most get to see. My team was in a bourrough called Barking and Dagenham, located in the eastern part of London. It was not what i was expecting. Like i mentioned earlier in this post, i was so ready to be back in the Western world by the end of our time in Asia. I had subconsciously built up an expectation of London and the ministry before i had even got there, leaving very little room for God to do or say much of anything to me when it came to our team and our ministry. Yes, i was blessed with an incredible team (yet again, i’m pretty sure i hit the jackpot when it came to that), and an even more incredible co-leader, not to mention one of my best friends, Hannah. I allowed myself for a while to really get down on the fact that there wasn’t much happening, or the team wasn’t as enthusiastic as they should be, or our living situation wasn’t as nice as i had hoped for. It wasn’t a good first few weeks. Despite my attitude God was still opening doors, and making things happen for our team, even preparing opportunities and divine appointments for us! I finally came to a point of breaking down so God could build me back up and after that it was incredible! We saw so many things happening and when i started making that conscious effort to find joy in the Lord in EVERY circumstance, it didn’t matter if everything went off plan or against our schedule, we would end the day happy and full knowing that God used us just the way he wanted! We, as a team, had incredible opportunities to connect with many local churches, work with a youth club every Friday and eventually Tuesdays as well for our whole time there, lead evangelism seminars, plan borrough-wide youth events, participate in Diamond Jubilee events all over the borrough, give away free coffee and hot cocoa, as well as offer free prayer to our borrough, host incredible prayer and worship times and just awesome times of fellowship as a team and with our different contacts all over Barking and Dagenham. Every day was a new adventure, Hannah and i would try our best to plan things out but a lot of our best times of ministry were the unexpected and obviously God-inspired encounters. Our team was so ready to see God move that they allowed themselves to be used in any way possible. Yes, we had our struggles along the way but God grew us exponentially as we drew closer to him personally, and as a team! I was so encouraged by the different people i was able to lead, each one of them contributed something that was crucial to the dynamic of how we functioned in ministry times. I love how God just places things together in the best possible way, and then the awesome moment of revelation you get when you realize that he has it all under control. Leaving London was so hard for us as a team. We had devoted our whole heart to our borrough and we got to see the fruit of it, even near the end! The unity and openness of the church leaders and our main contacts was phenomenal, and leaving we had confidence that God was going to continue the work there through those people! They want to see Barking and Dagenham on fire for Jesus, and i have no doubt they will. Overall my time in London was one of the biggest challenges of my life, learning how to lean on God in whole new ways, growing closer to him every single day as i allowed my heart to be more and more open to what he had for me, becoming a better leader by learning how to be available to those i was leading, and just the incredible feeling of getting into ministry and seeing lives changed as God speaks through you to other people is something i can’t even fully explain! I absolutely LOVED my time as a leader, and honestly, i can’t wait for next year and another outreach!
These past 6 months have been the most challenging months of my life. I have gone through more life-changes in that amount of time then i ever have in all my years, and it has been awesome. God is always faithful, always strong and always there! The simple fact is that he will never leave me, he always wants to speak to me and he wants to renew my strength every single day. I am starting to see the fullness of the calling God has placed on my heart and it is incredible. God has so much for me, and i feel so blessed to serve such a faithful father! This outreach has stretched me and forced me to rely on God for a new kind of strength, and i am walking away from it a new person! A better person! God knew what he was doing when he told me to staff DTS, he knew what he was doing when he sent me on my own to lead a team in Bangladesh, he knew what he was doing when he put me in awkward situations in London, he KNEW what he was doing! That is my greatest and most comforting revelation. God knows what he is doing, so i don’t need to worry about it. How incredible to not have to dwell and stress on every little thing, but to lay it all down at the foot of the cross and know that God lovingly carries it for us? Oh i just love him. So that was my 6 months, and most recently the past 3 months. 2 fantastic countries and 2 totally different experiences. All in the grand plan that God has for my life, and so many more incredible adventures to come!
Hey everyone! So it has been a crazy, exciting and totally awesome past few months but i have failed to update you all on it and i apologize! I am now attempting the somewhat impossible in trying to summarize it all but i am going for it! To make it easier on your eyes and my hands i am going to split this update into 2 parts, starting with Bangladesh in this post and London in the next (that will be posted in the next few days). Here it is, the Desh!
Let’s go back to the end of March, getting ready for outreach, trusting God for thousands of dollars and seeing it all come in one day! Incredible! God is absolutely amazing and i am insanely blessed to serve him! I was able to co-lead, along with Quenton, Rachel and Romano a team of around 20 students to Bangladesh. It was such an adventure just getting there with a 2 day layover in Singapore. Lots of adventures, humidity and Chinese food! God was preparing me for some of the hottest days, spiciest food and unusual cultures i have ever been in. We arrived in the Desh, as we fondly began calling it, past midnight and had no idea what to expect when we woke up the next morning. We were definitely shocked when we got up and realized we were not in Australia anymore. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, there were people absolutely everywhere in the capital city of Dhaka. We couldn’t go a single place without being stared at, followed or asked for money (at least that’s what we assume since not many spoke English, and we knew limited Bangla). I have never seen some of the things i saw in those first days, and immediately could see the incredible heart God had for that place. The nation is almost 90% Muslim and us girls were required to wear the local dress in the near 100 degree weather with almost equal humidity. It was an adventure figuring out how to minister to an Islamic nation where first off most people think they already know God when they are actually serving their Allah, and for a woman like me you are usually overlooked or flat-out ignored by most. In the midst of these struggles nearly our whole team got sick, leaving us to 4 people to go out during the day! Those people were incredible! Busing to the university, hanging out at a local orphanage, prayer walking and checking out a few local churches. I unfortunately had the flu for near 5 days and was out for the count for a nice chunk of Dhaka. The day before we left for our second location in the Desh, when our 20 person team would be split into 2 teams of 10, my co-leader Romano had a family crisis and went home, leaving me with my team to lead alone. A definite shock after expecting and preparing to lead with another person, but i was sent off with an amazing support from my school leader Quenton and an absolutely incredible team and of course an even more amazing God that was there for me the entire time! All 9 of us, including a translator, got on that train not really knowing what to expect when we got to Sylhet, our second location. We were so blessed to have a great (and clean!) accommodation a ways out of the city with a staff that became friends to all of us! Our contacts were 2 families that had been called to planting churches in that part of Bangladesh. Sylhet was such a spiritual stronghold due to the fact that it was one of the original places that Muslim missionaries were sent. There are three huge temples that people went on pilgrimage from all over Bangladesh to pray, worship and offer sacrifices at. We had the incredible opportunity as a team to go to these places and prayer walk through them. All of us girls had to completely cover our heads and we weren’t to pray out loud so we wouldn’t draw anymore attention to ourselves then our skin already did. It was intense. We could feel the warfare around us, and walked out with a whole new understanding of what God wanted for that place. We realized that a huge part that we had to play in that place was fighting for it in the spiritual. When our contacts would take us out it would be to pray for local churches, visit hospitals and pray for the sick, walk through different houses and visit the local believers, and lots of fellowship and prayer. We as a team felt a similar calling for us there after we encountered a group of missionaries that had been there for almost 25 years primarily as a prayer team. They had incredible vision and hope for Sylhet that the Lord had given them over their years of interceding on the city’s behalf. We left our meeting with them so encouraged that God was working and we got to play a small but significant part in that! We also ran into a bit of trouble when their was some political unrest in the city and we were locked in our accommodation for almost 5 days! Like i said earlier, i had an absolutely phenomenal team that rolled with the punches as they came with smiles and joy! I was so blessed to lead them. During our time locked in we had amazing Bible studies, awesome times of prayer and worship getting words for the place and for the people we encountered and just great fellowship with each other. There were lots of movies watched, rounds of Phase 10 played, tea and cookies served and eaten, so much laughter and way too many videos and jokes to even remember! God blessed us with such joy and a genuine love for that place at the end of it all to the point where we were near tears saying goodbye to the 2 families that lead us around! God is awesome and truly showed me throughout this time that no matter the circumstance, no matter the expectation of others, he has a plan for us! We came across hardships, yet we walked out of Sylhet with so many incredible memories of God moving and showing us his heart for a nation where there is little hope for many. We left happy and full of the joy of the Lord, thank you Jesus!
Some fun and random times for us in Sylhet included so many fun and terrifying rides in tuk-tuks, nightly lightening storms that shook that building, OREOS AND PEANUT BUTTER, getting to step across the border into India just for a few minutes, hilarious communication barriers, searches for the non-existent Pizza Hut, dance parties with no power, THE HUNGER GAMES, so much laughter over apparently nothing, just amazing times with an amazing team that was ready for whatever God had for them!
Tomorrow is the deadline for my outreach fees and i am still trusting for around $1,400 AUD! I saw some money come in these past few days which is such a blessing but it is getting down to the wire and i still need a significant amount before Wednesday. I am so excited to see how God provides in the next few days, but continue to pray that things happen! I am so blessed by the support that has already been given and thank you so much for your prayers! If you feel led to give financially here are some quick and easy steps to make sure it goes directly into my YWAM Perth account:
Use this link:
https://www.ywamperth.org.au/007/payonline.asp
-Fill in your contact information
-Select donation
-For a staffmember
-For someone else
-Fill in Ashlee Gaston
-and in the “More Information” box below write For Outreach Fees
Love you all and God Bless!
Ash
This past week has been a pretty big week for me, the deadline for my outreach fees to be in is this upcoming Wednesday! So close! We also had an amazing teaching on spiritual warfare from Peter Warren and it really opened my eyes to fighting in the spiritual for the things in the physical. I really felt a heaviness about my finances this week, and everyday it seemed to get a little worse. I know that the enemy is trying his hardest to bring me down during this time, but i am putting my hope and faith in Jesus to bring this money in! I know that these past few weeks i have been asking for your help in making this outreach possible by supporting me financially, but i would really like for you to lift me up in prayer as well. These next few weeks are going to be some of the most challenging weeks of the whole school for me, and i know that prayer is effective. Prayer for peace, strength, and continued finances would be amazing! At this point it is still looking like i need around $2,100 AUD before the deadline. This deadline ensures that i will be able to get the best flight price possible! I know i say this quite a bit, but i have to say that i am so blessed by all of you! Your support has truly been the reason why i am where i am today. I would just ask again that you would pray for me during this time and seek God about donating towards this next part of my life. Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog, e-mail me at ashdg91@yahoo.com if you have any questions!
God Bless,
Ash
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TOWARDS MY OUTREACH FINANCES:
Use this link:
https://www.ywamperth.org.au/007/payonline.asp
-Fill in your contact information
-Select donation
-For a staffmember
-For someone else
-Fill in Ashlee Gaston
-and in the “More Information” box below write For Outreach Fees
Hey everyone! So today marks one week until my outreach finances are due! Right now it is looking like i need around $2,355 AUD before the due date. I am trusting that God is going to bring this in before it’s due so our team can make the best flight arrangements possible. This week we started meeting in our outreach teams and it is looking like our team is going to be loads of fun! We also found out that our team will split into two smaller teams after 10 days in Dhaka, I along with Romano will be leading a team of 8 students to another city in Bangladesh for 2 weeks. We are all so excited to get to Bangladesh and dive into ministry! As well we are looking ahead to London where we will be spending the majority of our outreach. We still haven’t found out who will be on those teams, but we are learning more and more about the need in that city and can’t wait to get there!
Last week i challenged you to really pray about being able to support me in any way financially. Thank you again for your continued prayer and support! I am so blessed by all of you and can’t wait to tell you all about the miracles that God will no doubt be doing in the next few days! Have a great rest of the week and God bless!
-Ash
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TOWARDS MY OUTREACH FINANCES:
Use this link:
https://www.ywamperth.org.au/007/payonline.asp
-Fill in your contact information
-Select donation
-For a staffmember
-For someone else
-Fill in Ashlee Gaston
-and in the “More Information” box below write For Outreach Fees
