Missions Update! Summer with SKAD!

This summer God has given me the amazing opportunity to go on outreach with SKAD!

This is also my first "missions update" post on what is supposed to be my missions blog. haha

So I'm real excited.

READ MORE ABOUT SKAD @ http://stealkillanddestroy.com/

(I copied a lot of this information  and that photo ^ right off the SKAD website, JS)

SKAD is a Tyler Tx based (and growing) non-profit organization that focuses on teens and bringing their darkness to light! Teens are faced with a plethora of challenges (you may remember) like addictions, anxiety, identity, depression, etc. They're especially vulnerable since they're still at a point in their life where they're just trying to figure it all out. SKAD believes if you shine light in the darkest places of your heart, the darkness must flee. They do that very thing by hosting outreaches, weekly meetings, one on one mentoring and community events, all teaching teens how to shed their darkness! Every summer thousands of teens all across North America look forward to seeing their favorite bands at the Vans Warped Tour. And for the 5th year, SKAD is traveling with them! This is an opportunity to visit 41 cities nation wide & in Canada in order to talk and #bringyourdarknesstolight to as many young people as they can.

SKAD is fairly new to me, my best friend thought I should follow Estella Malone, the founder of SKAD, on Instagram. HAHA, Bree is always thinking of me, it's so sweet! But she had met Stella or knew of her and thought we would like each other, she was right. So what i saw Stella post was pretty much all my knowledge of SKAD, but I could tell it was a life changing ministry right away. Anyways while I was off foolishly doing my own thing bringing opportunities to God, he was working on opportunities for me. Well next thing I know God pulls a few strings and I'm sitting in an interview to go on Warped tour with SKAD, who had been looking for a local female YWAMer. I got a call the day after and I was in! But before they decided on me I went to my first SKAD "community outreach" which was unusually small and consisted of mostly girls except for two male leaders. The topic was "weary", and we went around the room all talking about things we were tired of. A room full of teenage girls i'm sure you can just imagine! But it was really nice, a breath of fresh air. No one felt like they had to be someone they weren't, and they were accepted wholeheartedly. They were free to talk about all the dark struggles of their hearts without feeling condemned and bring them to light, so that they could heal from them. The transparency I never felt I had as a teen, and that every teens needs. The world needs more places like SKAD.

The hardest parts of my testimony are the way they are because of my insecurities as a teen, as is the reason for many people's stories. I'm just excited to have the opportunity to talk to young girls (and boys) who have the same insecurities all across the nation and declare their worth! To  be transparent with them and love them when they least expected it. To bring their darkness to light so God can move in them.
I finally met the rest of my team last night via skype and I'm so excited to see how God uses and challenges each of us in our gifts. There's Arthur, Avery and Blake. During our meeting I felt like we had a great dynamic and God's gonna change so many lives this summer through us! They just seem like awesome people that I'll love getting to know this summer. The Fantastic Four!

I'm leaving for California on June 17th, but I'll be out of town from the 10th to the 15th as well. I'll be back around August 11th (my birthday!) and I'm sure i'll be longing for my own bed, my dog and a shower! We're traveling via bus and sleeping in that or the occasional hotel or motel. We'll have the opportunity to get to know a lot of other people working/volunteering at the warped tour so that will be awesome as well! I hope to post a couple blog updates while I'm gone but my computer stopped working, but I'll do what I can.

We do have a few prayer requests that I would love if you could join me in:

• Unity among our team
• $35,000 to cover outreach costs
• The teens that will come to the tent this summer, that God would start softening their hearts

I have to personally raise $1,500 by the 17th, so if you could in any way help out with that I'm posting a link to where you can donate to me specifically (I'm new to the team so my name wont show up until tomorrow 5/27/15) or for the Warped Tour outreach in general. You get Tax benefits with this option!

DONATE HERE

Or you can donate to my paypal account with the "Donate" button on the right side of my blog.

Or cash or check! Any way shape or form would be extremely helpful! Every dollar counts!

I feel like I could be missing something, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!