1 out of 6.8 billion

         I have to be honest....although in my honesty, its important to know - YWAM is one of those places that has a way of taking you by surprise and flips all your plans up-side-down.
        Knowing I was going to be celebrating my 21st birthday away from home wasn't exactly the highlight of my going away gifts, which was why I was nearly brought to tears at the way the Lord provided so abundantly on January 11, 2012.
         I woke up to two of my (already) good friends climbing into bed with me and singing "happy birthday" at the obnoxious hour of 7am. Once they finished their (lovely, I might add) version of the classic American birthday song, they announced that it had snowed all night and the weather was continuing to blanket our campus into a beautiful winter wonderland. The Lord knows us so well :)
Snow is one of my favorite creations. The day continued on, receiving unexpected gifts....(including one from the amazing Laura Pickard...thank you!!) and other over the top blessings. Just SOME of the ways our Heavenly Father chose to dote upon me on my special day. It was really a humbling day when looking back....a simple reminder that our God sees even the little things...and takes those into account when creating the day before us.

SO far school has been about facts and figures. What to expect and just what exactly we've gotten ourselves into. The basic outline, for all those who have been asking: 


 The Community Development For Missions School is designed to equip students with the mind set and skills to bring deep and lasting transformation to hurting communities.  The foundation of the school is a biblical understanding of the root causes of poverty and our response as followers of Christ.  

During the school experienced practitioners will teach key concepts in community development and common pitfalls to avoid.  Students will be introduced to the challenges faced by people in developing countries and explore how we can best help.  A graduate of the school will be equipped with practical tools, resources and contacts to pursue their specific area of interest.

Today we talked about what exactly "Poverty" is. Why and how it happens.

We came up with several conclusions, most of which (we all agreed) is the result of a spiritual bind the enemy has over these countries. Slavery of the mind. Lack of natural resources. Lack of education. Sickness. Lack of sanitation. Greed. Laziness (expecting hand outs). Hopelessness. Slavery of a corrupt government. etc.

Some crazy statistics 

World Population

• 6.8 billion¹

World Hunger

• 925 million people do not have enough to eat — more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union combined.²

• 98% of the world's undernourished people live in developing countries.²

• Two-thirds of the world's hungry live in just 7 countries: Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.²
• Where is hunger the worst?
  • Asia and the Pacific: 578 million³
  • Sub-Saharan Africa: 239 million³
  • Latin America and the Caribbean: 53 million³
  • Near East and North Africa: 37 million³
  • Developed countries: 19 million³

  • Women and Children

    • 60 percent of the world's hungry are women.⁴
    • 50 percent of pregnant women in developing countries lack proper maternal care, resulting in over 300,000 maternal deaths annually from childbirth.⁴
    • 1 out of 6 infants are born with a low birth weight in developing countries.⁵
    • A third of all childhood death in sub-Saharan Africa is caused by hunger.⁶
    • Every five seconds, a child dies from hunger-related diseases.⁶
    
    
    
    
    
    Basically....this ^ is my calling for this season in my life....
    I'll be training, researching and praying - to equip myself to get to the root of these problems. 
    I can't wait to see where God takes me with all this...I'll be praying dillegently this semester for answers on where the Lord plans to put me after school. There are a lot of options, and part of my heart feels that the Lord may be asking me to lay Haiti down for a bit and walk in a new path....Its a scarry.... and exciting feeling at the same time. I'm reminded more often lately of the verse in Proverbs:
    
    

    "In his heart a man plans his course, but the            LORD determines his steps." Be in prayer with me about God's heart for the world...and His heart for this season in my life. Lots of love <3 Thank you all so much again for all the support you've given and continue to give.

Lose your life, just so you can find it.

Since late June I had been feeling a prompt to "be on the move" again. Naturally, my first reaction was to look at plane flights to Haiti....but, naturally, God had His own plans for what this meant. As He began to unfold a rhythm of events to me, it became so clear what my next step was. But the more clear it became, the more I could feel myself closing off to the whole idea of leaving again.
A room and car of my own, a mature job that paid well. A (almost perfect) boyfriend, friends and community surrounding me making me feel completely at home and rested. Nothing was missing. Why now? Why does God always seem to shake our world when we've finally seemed to slow it down.
So--- I came up with my own collective ideas of what "Go" could mean....Obviously, I was quickly put back in my place, when God, not so very gently, confirmed what I already knew.
"When I ask you to Go, I have already laid out the path. Where you will eat, where you will sleep, Who you will know, and how you will go."
I'm a little emotional writing this now, because I'm thinking about how mighty and awesome out God is.
It all boiled down to last Wednesday when I got into a car accident for the second time this year. I was feeling defeated when I found out the cost of my car and the damage it had done to my "financial and social" situation. I had raised about 2 hundred dollars of support by this time and need over 4 thousand. My spirit gave up as the realty of what the Lord was asking me to do this time around was coming true.
"Sell all your possessions and give to those in need..... “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it." Matt 10


Why would God ask us to "lose our lives".....just to find them again?


I think that this is why...
He doesn't pick us for our strengths, He picks those who are willing because of our weaknesses. When I think back on the people in the bible, the missionaries I know now, and even myself. I realize that most of those people were--- or are unfit for the task they always say their "called to." If we were experts, or if it was easy. It wouldn't require ALL of our being. It wouldn't be me, giving "it all"...."losing my life." Its a hard and narrow journey so that we can willing hold His hand every step of the way....So that HIS glory will be shown more evidently. 
In the past, I suppose it was a bit easier to leave life at home behind "for the sake of the Lord" --Because it was an adventure, and based on some of the life choices I had made just prior I knew God was separating me for a time. 
But its a tougher pill to swallow when you realize the people God was asking to "leave EVERYTHING behind and follow me"....is you. 


I am so blessed with so many examples of how this works. It really puts into perspective what all of our individual callings are. As they all look so different.


 As we read in Romans, the potter will make the clay for the purpose he has designed. And who are we, to ask the maker "why have you made me ordinary" or "why have you placed me here?" ---Does not the potter (maker) have the right to say what his creation was made for? Romans 9


All of this was to tell you....I had given up. But you, as the body of Christ, picked me back up and encouraged me in the way I should go. I woke up the following Friday after my accident with 200 dollars of support, and went to sleep that night after a very humbling day, with $1,000 dollars of support.


Thank you.

Support Letter

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed to them." Romans 8:19

I wish I had more than words on my annual support/ update letters to offer you. The English language is so limited on creative words that are able to capture the emotion of the things we’ve experienced and been shown by God. To make children more than names, deaths more than statistics or heartache more than short stories that we as a culture have been so desensitized of.  It left me wondering how Jesus must have talked to the Father. How He would try to express His love for us or His passion for life. How then did he also speak to us? A culture of ignorant sinners programmed to follow the most popular mainstream at the time. Perhaps this is why we so often pray that the Lord will speak through us. Not only so that we speak truth but so the words that we say would speak straight through to the hearts of people and affect them in a way that creates change.

So that is my prayer writing to you now. That the words you read will start, or rekindle a flame of passion in you for the calling you have over your life. I want to see the body of Christ move in my generation in a radical way that shakes the world and scares the enemy.                                                     But I am no writer, so bare with me as I humbly express my heart.
To be honest, there was short few months when I moved back from Haiti where I thought my life would resume to some form a normalcy. (Or at least allow to me feel a sense of peace in my life at home.) But the more I forced this on my life, the more troubled and restless I became in my spirit. I felt the Holy Spirit creating a sense of urgency in my heart. The reality is; that peace is from God, but trying to find it in my own strength simply wasn’t going to happen. And the calling over my life is too great for me to give in to the selfish desires of my flesh. Finding the mission field of America is easy, but hard to stick with. Resentment and frustration is an easy crutch to lean on when you’re dealing with the self-pity and selfishness of your own culture. The need is all around me but pressing into it and recognizing the spiritual warfare behind everything is a rough battle. Shame on me for thinking I could do it alone. It was a self-righteous thought to think that the Lord was creating me to be a world changer on my own. I needed, and will always need the body. Where I am weak Christ gives me strength, but more often then not, this “strength” comes from another individual. A brother or sister in Christ, gentling reminding me that we are ALL the hands and feet of the Lord, and he created a community for us for the purpose of working together for his glory.
This past year I’ve been working in two very diverse missions; that of the typical work environment and then the passions of ministry work. As many of you know, I’ve been volunteering as an administrative assistant to RJI (Richmond Justice Initiative) an organization that works in the prevention and education of human trafficking (modern day slavery) in the United States. It’s been an incredibly emotionally draining journey so far, lots of work with little proof of change. But I know God has been doing a mighty work in Richmond through many people. And I’m very proud to report that through RJI the Lord moved the hearts of many government officials and VA went from being one of the top states for no recognition of this crime to a state with some of the strongest laws against it!                   

This fall I’m working as a “wireless consultant” at ntelos wireless company to pay the bills and taking an EMT (emergency medical training) class at night.

In January I’ll be moving to my next mission field. I’ll be going to back YWAM (Youth with a Mission) to attend a school called “Community Development for Missions.” The focus of this school is to gain medical, communication and diverse culture building skills. My hope is to apply what I’ll be learning this fall at my EMT class to the spiritual side of healing and community development. I’ve had a lot of conformation these past few months about this decision and it’s been really cool to see how the Lord is continuing to lead me in this direction. I’ll be continuing to work full time ministry while I’m still at home. This includes work with RJI and other various needs of families, schools and continuing to work with missions in Haiti. Including a brief trip back this fall to take supplies and visit with the orphanges once again. I want to thank you all, as always, for the prayers, support and love you have continued to give me in my missions work.

His request was simple “Love.” Love with words and with actions. (Matthew 25)
Your hands send my feet.

If you would like to continue supporting me or to just keep up with what’s going on
You can find me (of course) on
Facebook: Kourtney Hetrick
Blogspot:
or email me so i can put you on my update letter:
KourtneyHetrick@gmail.com

You can make checks payable to:
Kourtney Hetrick
with “missions” in the memo
and mail them to:
12040 Corianna Lane
Midlothian, VA 23113