London Calling: Outreach Update//Part Deux!
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!
Outreach Update//Part 1.
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!
Outreach!
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
Outreach Outreach Outreach!
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
A Quick Update!
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
Nomaashkaar! Asalaam Alaykum!
Hello Everyone! So it’s been another week of hard hitting truth, this time all about relationships! Such a good topic, and especially living in such a huge community, it’s something that i am faced with every single day. God really opened my eyes to a lot of things and i am walking away yet again with some awesome new revelations! We are about 3 weeks away from finances being due and i am still in need of around $3,300 AUD! I have full faith that God is going to pull a miracle and provide these finances! Please continue to pray that they all come in on time and quickly so we, as a whole team, can get the best flights possible! The quicker the bookings are made, the less expensive it is. So i will continue to encourage you to pray, pray, pray that finances come in for me and my whole team, that we can find great deals on flights and that God would give me strength during this time of fundraising.
As i said in my last blog post, i wanted to let you all know more about the countries that we are visiting, starting with the amazing nation of Bangladesh! You may have been wondering what those two strange phrases were in my title, well that would be the traditional Hindu and Muslim greetings in Bengali! The YWAM base in Bangladesh sent our team a really awesome paper with all of the greetings and common phrases in Bengali for us to learn beforehand which is so helpful! While we are in Bangladesh the girls will have to wear the traditional dress wherever we are, the outfit is called a Salwar Kameez. We are all very excited to get to dive into this beautiful culture! Some helpful facts about Bangladesh and the people there:
- It is bordered by India from the North, East and West and Myanmar from the South
- Capital city is Dhaka
- The population is 118 Million people
- The main religions are Muslim and Hindu with a small percentage of Buddhists and Christians
- One of the largest Muslim countries in the world
- Was originally a part of Pakistan until they became an independent nation in 1971; Previously known as East Pakistan
This still developing nation has such a need to hear the gospel and be radically transformed by the love of Christ! As a team we are incredibly excited to be able to play a small part in the plan God has for the people there. If you have a free moment we would all appreciate your prayer while we are preparing for this trip! We want to be able to communicate and share God to these people in the most effective way possible, and that starts here! Pray for team unity, a growing passion for the people of Bangladesh, FINANCES, and for safety and health when we finally arrive in the nation!
Thank you so much again for your support, even in taking the time to read my blog! I am thinking of you all and praying for you here in Perth!
Love and Blessings,
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
Thank you so much again!
