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
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 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
This week has been such a great one! The school had an amazing teaching on Lordship, and i definitely got a lot out of it as well. Learning how to truly lay down your WHOLE life is incredibly scary and exciting! I am loving Perth life, getting to know more people around base, getting into the groove of business and having a blast with all of these amazing students. I’m loving one-on-one’s, small groups, intercession times, school bbq’s, evangelism and clusters! God has given me so much grace and strength these past few weeks, it’s been amazing. I have learned so much just by going through everyday, listening to the teaching and opening myself up to hear God’s voice, it’s been incredible the things he’s speaking! Summer has been pretty mild here, definitely some hot days, but a lot more breezy ones, and i’m loving it! Summer has never been my favorite, but Australia has been very kind to us this year. :)
Other exciting news, we are FINALLY moving into our new base! It is such an amazing testimony of God’s provision and blessing! YWAM Perth has been praying into these buildings for the last 27 years, and it is so incredible that i get to be here during such a crucial part of their vision as a base. The building itself is beautiful, we all can’t wait until it is fully up and running! It is a daily reminder of how big our God is! I love it!
The next steps for me are leading towards outreach! SO excited! I along with Quenton, Romano and Rachel will be leading a team of 17 students to Bangladesh for 4 weeks before heading off to London and getting all mixed up and spread into 6 separate teams throughout the city. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in the world, with 86.9% of the population being Muslim and less then .05% being Christian. I thank God that he is sending me to a place that is so ready to hear his Word! In the next few weeks i plan on informing you all more on the status of the countries i am visiting, starting with Bangladesh, to give you more of an idea of the ministry we will be participating in while there.
Lastly, i would love to encourage you all to continue to pray into my finances! I will need to raise around $4,500 AUD for outreach in the next 4 weeks! God is bigger then any dollar amount (as you can see by our amazing new base), so i would love to have you partner along side me in prayer or if you feel lead, financial support! The word that God keeps giving me during this stage in my life is in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.” I believe that God has something amazing planned for the next few months and all i need to do is wait on him, be expectant and have faith that he will provide! Take heart! God has it under control! Thank you all so much again for your support, both in prayer and finance. You are a continual blessing and i know that i wouldn’t be where i am now without your prayers.
I love you all!
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!
So this past week the staff were told where they would be leading teams on outreach, and i am beyond excited to say the least. I can’t wait to lead a team to Bangladesh and London! It’s going to be an amazing 3 months and i can’t wait to be used by God in these amazing nations. So an obvious part of outreach is finances to get there, which is what this post is all about. In the next 6 weeks i need to raise around $5,000 AUD. Yes that seems like an impossible amount, but i have God on my side and nothing is impossible with him. I have FULL faith that this money will come in no problem! I am writing this so you can prayerfully consider donating any money at all towards this outreach! Also, any prayer for my team and for my fundraising in general are much appreciated. This is such an amazing opportunity for me to learn how to lead a team cross-culturally, and to grow in God in the process. I have been so blessed here at YWAM Perth to have my staff fees covered every single month, and now that i am staffing a school i get to see God work again in the area of finances! I am so excited to see how he provides these next few weeks, the quicker the money comes the better the flight deals are! So pray, pray, pray that these fees come in smoothly and quickly. :)
Also, be praying as the students wait on God to see which team they should be a part of for the outreach portion of their DTS. We all want them to truly hear from God and i am confident that he will speak! Pray for open ears and hearts! They are such an amazing group of students, and i am so blessed to be a part of their lives these 6 months. God has already done some incredible things, even in the first 5 weeks, i can’t even imagine what he has in store for the weeks to come. Thank you all again for your continued support, whether it be through prayer or finances (or both), you are all amazing! If you have any more questions about my outreach, or what exactly is happening around Perth shoot me an e-mail at ashdg91@yahoo.com. I would love to hear from you!
Blessings,
Ash
PS:
If you would like to donate online at ywamperth.org.au scroll down to the donate/pay link
fill in your contact info, select donation, for a staffmember, select for someone else, fill in my name and in the more information box write “Outreach Fees”.
This will make sure that all of your money goes directly into that fund! Thank you so much again! :)
It has been a good long while since i have last updated my blog, and i am very sorry for that. I am officially in the full swing of YPDTS craziness! LOVING it! We have 50 amazing students this year, totally pumped on Jesus and ready to experience him in a new way. So far it’s been a lot of scheduling, early mornings, coffee, and all around fun times just chilling with the students. I have the awesome opportunity to live in 228 which is the girls dorm this quarter, and have been able to really spend some quality time with all of them! I love it! Not to mention it is one of the air-conditioned properties at YWAM Perth, which is awesome considering that it has been over 100 degrees these past few days. God has already been doing some awesome things on the school and it is only the 3rd week! I am loving going through lectures again, and getting whole new revelation on certain areas and growing, growing, growing in others. This has definitely been a time of stretching for me, getting out of my comfort zone and learning how to do new things. There have been a few scary moments, but God has given me so much grace and i am starting to really get the hang of things. The staff have all started to gel pretty well and i look forward to our early morning staff/prayer meetings! I feel like i am so blessed to start my days interceding for the students, i already love them all! I am also really starting to see why God has placed me here, and it is so amazing. I have truly grown so much already in the short few months that i have been at base, and i get so excited thinking about the months to come! God is so amazing, and he knows exactly what is going on, and what i need to work on, even when i don’t fully see it. Speaking of the next few months, i have the stellar opportunity to go on outreach with my school in April-June! We will definitely be spending 7 weeks in London, England doing inner-city ministry through Megacities, and then another 4 weeks in a yet-to-be-known country. I am beyond excited to go, London has been a place i have wanted to go to since i was a little girl, and i can’t believe i get to bring Jesus to this city in my first visit! I know that God is going to do incredible things, i just have to get there first! Within the next few weeks i will need to start fundraising for my outreach, which should cost around $5,000 AUD. I have absolute faith that God is going to provide every cent! I really saw God do a miracle in getting me to Perth, and i know he will do it again for this outreach! I am typing all of this up to ask you to prayerfully consider supporting me as i will be leading a team to London and one other amazing country! I am so blessed by your prayer support as well, and would love some prayers as i take off on this next adventure in fundraising. Thank you all so much for your continued support, and if you have any questions about my funds or how i am doing send me an email at:
ashdg91@yahoo.com
Thank you so much again, i am SO blessed by you!
-Ashlee
So i know that i am about 2 weeks late on my update, but it was Christmas and the festivities took over for a bit. These past 2 weeks have been event-filled that is for sure. Base worked really hard to make sure everyone felt the Christmas spirit, but i definitely spent a good chunk of time just missing my family, which i knew would happen. The day ended up being successful, and i really felt the love of all my housemates and friends here, not to mention my family back home who i got to Skype about 4 times Christmas weekend! The week leading up to Christmas was a bit long, with a lot of Nexwave prep and the anticipation of staffing the YP i was starting to feel the pressure, but God is awesome and he got me through it! I was able to get in a few days of rest, and had some time to organize my life before Quenton (My school leader) got back from Holidays, and YP things began. Last week was a bit of a jumble, with one of our buildings being approved (thank you Jesus!), lots and lots of cleaning, the October quarter being sent out on outreach, getting the finer details of YP duties sorted out and just finally being able to have a meeting with all of the staff! So good, so hectic, but so good. I am a very task-oriented person and i need to be busy in order to be organized, so finally having duties and schedules is so good for me! I feel a bit more in control of my surroundings, which is just fantastic. I was also given the news last week that i will be moving into 228, which is our main base dormitory, to be living with the students! I am so excited to be able to live with the students and get to know them on a different level then i would if i was living in my staff house. I love it when God presents me with a new challenge, and this will definitely be one of them.
This next week starts our staff training and also the fine tuning of all the last minute details of accommodation, school dinners, fun nights, and the excitement of lecture phase! I still can’t even believe that i get to be a part of such an amazing school that completely changed my life only a year ago! I know how much the staff really motivated and encouraged me to seek God and grow in him as i was here, and i can’t wait to be that encouragement to another student or students! So as i’m sitting here in my living room on New Year’s Day, with a nice vanilla candle and my new schedule i feel incredibly blessed. Blessed by my supporters for allowing me to be here, blessed by my friends/housemates who are nothing but loving, my boyfriend who is a constant encouragement to me, the Young People’s DTS for changing my life, YWAM for being such an amazing outlet to bring God to the nations, my family for never giving up on me, and God for speaking to me everyday and giving me my dreams and passions. I would not be here today if i hadn’t listened to the still, small voice of God when i was in Junior High that told me missions was my future. I can truly say that i love my life. It is adventurous and challenging, fun an exciting and never the same from day to day! It’s everything that i dreamed about as a kid and prayed for as a teen. 2011 was a year of revelation and growth for me. I learned who i was in Christ and how amazing and unfathomable his plan is for me. Why on earth would i ever stray from it? To say it was a great year would be a huge understatement. And to tell you the truth, i get even more excited thinking about this year because i know it is only going to get better.
Life is good, God is great, and there is so much in my life i am thankful for. Thank you to everyone who reads this blog for being a part of this last year. You are all a part of this amazing journey i am on, and i wouldn’t have it any other way. Have a blessed 2012, be checking back to see where my year takes me!
God Bless,
Ashlee
This past week has had a major theme: Growth. Growing in God. Growing in patience. Growing in servant-hood. Growing in myself. This has been my first real week around base, working with my ministry and getting the hang of cluster meals and weekly hangouts. To all my YP ‘11 readers, let me tell you that it is DIFFERENT around here. Without a base it is pure chaos almost 24/7, everyone just running from one house to the next, only bumping into people when everyone is scattering for lunch or during the “mega-cluster”. I am having a major moment of “base sickness”, but i know that the new base will cure that right quick! It’s just trying to get the hang of how things now work that turns into a mild stress, and that is what my current goal is. My time is consumed with Nexwave prep for next year, and Christmas celebrations (i know, i forgot it was Christmas too, or was that just me….). I am loving my ministry team, and the days are getting more and more bearable which is fantastic! God has definitely placed some amazing people in my life that encourage me daily, honestly without them i would be drowning in my current situation. This season with YWAM Perth is both very exciting and challenging. We all get to be a part of this amazing next step for the base, yet we are also a part of this transition. I am honestly so grateful that i get to see God’s amazing provision and faithfulness as he truly makes these projects happen! We are seeing his miracles every single day, and i know that he has really blessed this base with an amazing strength to keep pushing forward. I am taking mental notes on perseverance from our base leaders, because they have such an amazing spirit and i am so thankful that God has placed them in authority over our base. A midst all of the previous craziness there has been some really great moments of personal revelation for me! I love that God still speaks to me, even when i am at my worse and could care less what anyone has to say to me. I just really felt him affirming my steps and giving me back, slowly, the confidence i had developed while i was home. I know without a shadow of a doubt that this next year is going to be amazingly blessed, because God spoke that to me! I can trust his word, he is a strong tower in my life and i know that he speaks the truth in love. This new life is going to take a bit of getting used to, but i am ready for it. I am ready to live a life of dependence on God, to really and truly start my days with him, because i know that i won’t make it without him. I am so thankful that i write this blog and i have people in various places all over the world that read and relate or are inspired by my posts. God is good, he really is. I am so blessed to be here in Australia, even though i miss my family terribly and Christmas will not be the same without them, i know that God has a plan for me and everything that seems chaotic now will come together in the end. I can’t lose faith and i can’t lose the peace of God that transcends all understanding. Keep me in your prayers during this time of transition, i need every bit of it! Thank you so much for your support, i am blessed by all of you.
-Ash
