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Sorry that I haven't updated my blog in awhile, been pretty shtinkin busy, but here goes:

Let me just start off by saying how relentless God's love is for me. He has just been pouring out His love on me these past few weeks. Actually, He has been showing it to me all of my life, but I just now realized the fullness of His passion for me! It has completely changed my life! I can easily say that if I even went home right now, I would be a changed man. I am slowly learning how to hear the voice of God in my daily life, and the importance of realizing that God is with me wherever I go. There is nothing better than acknowledging God's presence in my life, wherever I'm at, and just soaking in our companionship with each other. Gosh, I can't even put into words how much I love God! He is truly relentless for me. Almost every time I talk to Him, he says "I love you" right at the start, and it gets me every time! Even just simply opening my eyes to pray has brought revelation in my life. If I was talking straight to you I wouldn't close my eyes :) The only reason we close our eyes to talk to God is so that we can focus, but if you can keep focus when your eyes are open... why not talk to Him as if He's there? Then look around and see all the things He's created and be amazed while you're talking to Him. Ahhhhh this is sooooooo awesomeeeeee :)

This week Volleyball started and it is so much fun! We've had some pretty intense matches thus far. We play in the gym on a women's net, and we mean business. It seems that we play volleyball everyday for about one or two hours. Fun stuff!

Music track is underway, and I have written a song called 'Wake Me Up.' We also were split into bands to perform with. They gave us the task of learning two cover songs, and two worship songs. Also, we were required to write a song, all in the timeframe of one week... talk about pressure. It was so much fun though! I wrote my song in about two days, and in the meantime I practiced with my band. The songs we are covering: Getting Into You by Relient K, I'll Be by Edwin McCain, All Around Me by Flyleaf, and Everything by Lifehouse. I'm super stoked! A couple of days ago we performed our songs in front of everyone else, and then we voted shortly afterwards. It was actually very intense because we had to choose the songs we liked by their "rough draft," obviously we couldn't get a whole band set up in a week's time. Everything was acoustic, which was tough, because I wrote a song similar to the style of Saosin or Falling Up. All in all, my song was voted #2 of all the songs (I think there were about seven, and only four made it through). That was pretty exciting!

Miracles:

One day I was sitting on some chairs on the side of the Lecture Hall, and I asked God to open up my spiritual eyes to see what he wants me to see. Then all of a sudden I saw in my mind's eye a huge battle breakout between angels and demons. I didn't physically see it, but I knew it was happening. Immediately I started to doubt whether this was really happening or not though, so I thought about leaving, but then I realized I had left my water bottle in the music room, which was on the opposite side. So I start walking over to the music room slowly, and I hit this spot in the room where I feel really good instantly, and I got goosebumps all up my arms. I walk about 5 feet further and I seriously felt like I was going to puke. I felt terrible. This happened in pockets of the room all the way to the music room. That was weird. I retrieve my water bottle from the music room, and I realize that everything seems calm. Then I walk outside of the music room and I see all of these angels (must've been around 15) celebrating and pumping their swords up in the air. I have no doubt in my mind now whatsoever that there was indeed a spiritual war going on in that room at that moment. I am the witness :P But the main point is that the angels won. Boom!

A couple of days after this first miracle of seeing angels, I am walking through the dorms with my friend Hannah Travis. We walk past my room, and I notice the door open slightly. I assumed it was Daniel opening the door so I kind of laugh for a little bit, and then the door closes very smoothly. So we chill outside the door for a second or two, and then I open the door completely. My roommates are both standing by the farthest bed from the door. I asked them if they opened and closed the door. They reply by saying that they were both standing by the bed the whole time. Daniel even said he watched the door open and close. If that isn't weird enough, I have another witness... Hannah. She said se saw the same thing I did. Miracle!!! A draft of air cannot open AND close a door in one smooth motion. Plus, as I crawled into bed thinking about this, I notice that I keep staring at my roommates closet. I would be looking at my computer screen, and then I would notice a flicker out of the corner of my eye, and it was not Daniel sitting on his bed. It was an angel.

I hope you had as much fun as I did experiencing them! All you need to do is ask God to open up your spiritual eyes, and be aware of what is really around you and BAM! God will show you things you've never seen before. You have to have faith that He will show you though.

So we're heading out to Salem, Oregon Sunday. We will stay there for a week. I'm super stoked!!! We will be meeting with the Salem DTS there and will do some evangelism on the streets and whatnot. I will also be fasting from all electronics (except my iPod) so I implore you not to contact me. As soon as I get back, I will fill you all in on what amazing things happen there. I can feel it!

Please pray specifically for protection. There was a two night stint where I was attacked in my dreams (my roommate Levi also encountered the same) by demons. I would appreciate it tremendously if you would just pray for protection in my sleep, and throughout the day. There has been a strong opposing force at times during the night, and almost everyone got some of the same vibes until we started realizing it, and prayed for all of the dorms to be alleviated of any evil spirits. This is some serious stuff, and we need all of the prayer we can get! Let's win this war together! Hooah :)

501 Blacktail Road
Lakeside, Montana 59922
USA

Love you all!

-Spencer

Father Heart Of God

Wow! So this week has been so busy, but incredibly awesome at the same time! Matt Atkins from Bellingham, Washington came to give lectures on the Father Heart of God. Wait... back up. Bellingham?!?! Yeah that's right :) He just happens to be about 30 minutes away from where I used to live. I guess it really is a small world, isin't it?

The first day was quite a trip. Matt felt like a lot of people were carrying the burden of being arrogant, or being called arrogant. He asked the people that felt that way to stand up. At first my reaction was, "I'm not arrogant! I am pretty humble. I don't show-off (too much), and I compliment people who I think do good." However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that my defense carried a hint of arrogance in itself. I stood up, along with others, and felt really relieved once I was prayed over by a guy named Chase. Everyone who was standing up though was crying. It was quite the scene. Then progressively over the week, it turned into more of an actual lecture, where Matt gave us notes, and we jotted them down obediently. That was the program for the remainder of the week.

Sunday, I got to go to a church where the whole service was a webcast of the preacher. So he wasn't actually there, but we were watching a previously recorded session of his sermon. It was kind of weird, but he had a great message about the half tribe of Manassah, the Gadites and whatnot. I love it when Pastors deliver a sermon about the old testament and relate it to today. It gives it a whole new life.
      I got to experience drifting in a car for the first time Saturday... secondhand of course :) A couple of my buddies and me drove up to Blacktail mountain summit. On the way up, my friend thought he would utilize his emergency brake, stick-shift combo. So, although we almost hit a guardrail on the way down, it was super fun! When we were on the mountain, we found a logging trail while we were exploring around. Naturally, we followed it into the unknown for about 3 hours. Half the time we talked about who should walk point or at the end to be the sacrifice if a wild bear snuck up on us. Sometimes it's good just to get away from the vast majority of the people on base and just have some good male bonding hiking time. That was my adventure for the week :)

Random spurts: I just love how visible the stars are at night! There really is nothing like it! Soooooo many of them!!! I wish you could see it, and pictures just wouldn't do it justice. Man, God is good! Also, one person got sick at our base. Two days later, everyone was sick. I have now been informed via word of mouth that anyone who is sick is subject to quarantine until they are fully recovered. Sickness spreads like wildfire over here :P

P.S. My mailing address is:
501 Blacktail Road
Lakeside, MT 59922

I like letters :)

Love you all!
-Spencer

The Recent Changes We Go Through

My blogs are going to be way less frequent because I just don't have the time anymore for this :/ I will most likely just doing one per week or two. While I'm here, I want to get the most I can out of this experience, and if I I have to spend an hour or two blogging AND writing it in my journal, it will be taking its toll.

Yesterday was miraculous. Benji went up to speak for our morning lecture. He spoke about pride, how it affects our view of ourself, how it skews our view of God, and how it can ruin the way we think. He also shared a lot about himself, and pretty much gave his testimony. I gotta admit, I was sorta out of it this morning. It's about 8:30, I haven't had my coffee, and I was just having a hard time connecting with the Holy Spirit this morning. It was a little cloudy for me. After he was finished speaking, we prayed, and repented of our pride and the things that we need to get rid of that were holding us back from God. Almost every single person had confessed what they wanted to repent of, and near the end, one of my friends stood up.

In the middle of this conviction of the Holy Spirit, he stands and admits that he was using YWAM as a get-away. He confessed to have abused his two sisters before he came here, that he was struggling with the devil condemning him, and that was the main reason why he ended up in YWAM. He started to break down. Everyone got up to lay hands on him and pray. The prayer went on for about 10 minutes, when all of a sudden I felt a rush of the Holy Spirit. I started shaking, or shivering. I don't really know how to describe it. It was uncontrollable. All of a sudden, I just started speaking, and I had no idea what was coming out of my mouth until I had said it. I was proclaiming the Holy Spirit to take up his sanctuary in this place. I also said something like this: "Father, in the name of your Son, we commit this room to you, we commit our hearts to you. We know that the devil is trying his very hardest to stomp out the words that we are saying, but Lord we demand that you eliminate him from our presence and our thoughts. Do not let him invade our thoughts father!" In the middle of my prayer, I heard a girl speaking in tongues next to me. It was refreshing to hear. Also, after I had finished praying, my face felt really tingly, which was kinda weird. Instantly I felt the annointing of the Lord fall down on us like a blanket, and a lot of people were crying. It was intense!

Also, yesterday was the Montana night square dance fun night :) I will post pics of that.

Today, we got into small groups and got our small group leader. My group is Caleb, Levi, Matt, and I. Benji is my small group leader. We all took vans as a school and went to Glacier Park. There we hiked about 2.5 miles out to the lake, and sat down as a small group and shared testimonies. I already feel like they are my second home. BTW: That lake was Colddddddd 

In the Beginning...

So the school has started! Thank God for keeping me and my family safe while getting here! It is b-e-a-utiful in Montana right now. The skies are blue, it is hot, and I am happy. There are some really awesome people here too, the atmosphere and community of like-minded Christians that all have a hungry heart for the Lord is really encouraging and uplifting. Everyone here is so kind, and willing to give up their own comfort for others. I have already made a couple of close friends.

DAY 1: The DTS started with a meeting in the Lecture Hall with all of the schools: Discipleship Training School, School of Biblical Studies, School of Worship, and TITUS Project. We all gathered to mention who we were and where we were from, and then we began worship together. It was great!!! After, we were all dismissed and went to Lunch. It was after lunch that we had some free time, and I went down to the field to scrimmage the Montana flag football team. So because I wore court shoes to the scrimmage, I still went all-out and would make fast cuts, but because court shoes aren't exactly designed for slippery grass, I spent most of my time on the ground. After free time, the different schools separated and began their individual courses. Then, we commenced a 6 hour long testimony session from 5 to 11, where everyone in the DTS shared our testimony. That's about 54 testimonies :) But I loved it! Every single one was really entertaining and interesting to listen to. So we really hit it off the first night!

Day 2: The food was amazing!!! For dinner we had polish hot dogs with beef, and chips, and macaroni, and fruit! It was soooooo delectable! Anywho, besides the food we had a Bible meditation lecture, a lecture on worship, and two sessions of worship music. Let me just skip to the worship because it was SPECTACULAR!!! And yes... I purposefully put that in all caps because I am screaming how good it was. They really like Jesus Culture songs here, which is sweet, but that's besides the point. It was great. Afterwards, we all started a session of intercessory prayer in small groups. Becca, Skylar and I (Skylar is one of my close friends here) went outside where it was quiet, and just started praying for each other. Annnnnnnd I cried. There, I said it. I LOVE THESE PEOPLE! Seriously though, I knew that I was going to cry at some point at YWAM, but I never thought it would be the second day! Well, there's still 5 months to go minus two days, so I'm exited to see what amazing things are going to reveal themselves in the meantime. I can already say that going to YWAM is the best decision I've ever made in my life, besides accepting Christ into my heart :)

Welcome to my BLARG! I mean... BLOB!

So this is my official blog! As you know, I will be going through a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) DTS (Discipleship Training School) course starting September 19th. I'm soooo excited to be doing this and appreciate all the support that I have received. I will be updating it weekly with things that are on my heart, logical questions, thoughts on life, soul-searching... the usual. This is the next step in my life, and I really feel that God will be able to utilize me in ways that will bring glory to His name. Feel free to drop on by and see how I'm doin :)