Makin' A Difference (MAD) in Las Vegas

My year in pictures

2012-01-03T16:28:00.000-08:00

Have a look at all the things

that made me happy in 2011.

So thankful. And those are not even all

Christmas and New Years 2011

2012-01-02T23:13:00.000-08:00

Xmas gift bags for inmates

2011-12-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

Every year God Behind Bars makes sure that each inmate at 'our' prisons gets a little gift. It was time again to 'stuff the bags'. Fun times!

Whole families came out to help!

The bags have candy, lotion, deodorant and lip balm

The WINNING table

Which was of course MY table! :)

These guys didn't even have a table

LOADS of bags. And that's just a couple hundred.

I reckon she looks a little like Santa

Christmas party for inmates and their kids

2011-12-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

So pretty much 3 weeks ago at a Starbucks a Christmas party was organised. That fact alone sounds scary, but since we are working closely together with God and his helpers it was pulled off.

So on December 19th 2011 we were able to pick up inmates from Casa Grande (transitional housing) and provide them with 4 hours time with their kids. It was an awesome event.

Some kids had been flown in for this event from Utah to be able to spend some time with Dad.

Each Mum and Dad got to give 3 presents to each one of their kids thanks to the donations from people at Central's North East Campus (who also provided an 8 foot table FULL of desserts)

The inmates got to pick the gifts, which then were wrapped and then they got to give them to their kids.

Here are some pictures of the night. Enjoy!

The toy donation room looked like Toys R Us on steroids.

Getting the room ready

Sound Check

I helped decorate this tree! BIG deal! Huge...
Just don't look at the back! :)

The first families coming in and getting something to eat.

Shopping for the kids!!!

Working on the Christmas Cards

Mountains of presents for each kid!

The family photo opp.

I had to test it of course

So so cool to see this come together

Rain Drops Junior High

2011-12-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

The Junior High Ministry at church puts on this awesome event each year: Breakaway Serve. It's a mix of camp and serving.
So this year I got to go with my Junior High Group (8th grade girls) and serve others.

Part of the panel,
getting asked questions about serving

So on Friday night we started with just a 'couple' of us hanging at church (read: over 300 Junior High Kids)

The panel

There was a slam poet, worship and a panel (I was part of that. Pretty rat!)

And then there was a time to be quiet. To listen to God, give Him room to speak. Just 20 minutes. So the bare numbers are: 300+ Junior High Kids and 20 min quietness. You might be surprised to hear that it worked! Here's a photo of that time.

Getting ready for quiet time

Then we camped out at church. Boys upstairs (and I still maintain that the room probably need to be chemically treated to get the boys smell out of there) and the girls downstairs (once everyone was in their sleeping bag there was no room to stand anywhere anymore)

Aspiring super models!

The next morning we got up and drove over to Foster Connect...

Say whaaaat? That's right, we got to serve Foster Connect, which is a part of YWAM I got to hang with my friends!

You didn't know that serving could be so much fun eh? We took HEAPS of pictures, especially since we were sorting clothes and there was one photo op after another. I have a group of super models after all!

Don't worry, we totally got the job done in time!

Having fun whilst sorting

So we sorted clothes and toys for the first half of the day... And let me tell ya, my girls RULE!

They were just going for it the whole time. Sometimes when things got a little boring and they seemed ready to quit I just had to throw a ridiculous outfit into their direction and take a picture and all was well with the world again!

The theme of Breakaway serve this year was raindrops. The idea behind it is that if we all do our part (be a rain drop), together we can create a Tsunami.

Dropping some leftover stuff
at Good Will

So even though sometimes we feel very unimportant and can't imagine how our tiny little contribution can change anything, that's when God takes it and together with Him we become this Tsunami of servants that will change the world.

Stuffing bags

For the second half of the day we got to stuff bags for Central's North East Campus. I don't even know how many bags we got to stuff... Couple thousand I'd say. And man, these girls wanted to win some speed competition that I didn't know was happening. They were stuffing these bags like there was some prize money at the end of it.

Stuffing Bags

The picture obviously doesn't do the speed justice. Let's just say they were fast!

A 'couple' of kids came to Breakaway serve

Germany trip - PICTURES!!!! :)

2011-12-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the trip to Germany..

Amsterdam - such a fun city

Last month I got to go to Germany and I just wanted to quickly post a few pictures of my trip...
On the way there I had an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam, which I of course used to explore the city.. So so cool! :)

In Bad Laer

My Mum was turning 70, so to celebrate her birthday (and to get away for a few days) she treated herself (and me) to 2 nights in a hotel that we used to visit all the time when I was little. It's very pretty in 'Bad Laer', even though it was freezing.

Near my Mums house -
about 2 minutes away from 'if I'd live here,
I'd have to shoot myself in the foot'

It's no secret that I am no fan of the town my Mum lives in these days.... This photo shows you what's around... NOTHING.

Dear Brother, god daughter and sis in law

Hanging with 'Dear Brother'. Love that family! Helps that they live in an area I actually like. :)

Birthday party at the Chinese Restaurant

My Mum had invited her friends and family to celebrate her 70th at her favourite Chines Restaurant! Oh yeah, it's THAT good.
Everyone came and had a great time. It was nice catching up with some of my family that I hadn't seen in years... Like 6 years or something! Ha! So weird.

Building a tower

I got to visit some of my friends while I was there.... Sometimes that meant 4 hour train trips there, 3 hours with my friends and 4 hour train trips back! They call my crazy. No self respecting, frugal, environmentally conscious German does that. I do... It's worth it!

Raclette Dinner set up...
Halfway there! :)

My friends decided we should have dinner... A Raclette Dinner! OMG. So good. And their house is amazing and always makes me feel right at home. I was very tempted to spend the night. But I didn't.... Left at one am instead! :)

Haha, the 'weird' family! :)

Got to hang with my best friend and her fam. TWICE! Such a blessing! Good times. See picture..

Train station

This picture was only taken for my American friends who apparently LOVE trains! (SHELDON!) They are really not THAT exciting. Just a mode of transport.

Christmas tree in my city

Before I flew out I decided to stop for a couple hours on the way in 'my' city... the place I hung out at, place I Looooove! :) It was decorated for Christmas!

Some huge traditional Christmas thing.
Wouldn't know the name right now

Black Friday Yearly Challenge (aka Black Friday Insanity)

2011-11-30T12:21:00.001-08:00

The Black Friday insanity...
Every year I decide to do something stupid on Black Friday. When I talk about it before it doesn't sound so stupid. But during the execution it usually dawns on me that this indeed was stupid ... Again... Let me recap:

The beginning - still smiling

Year one: Climbing some hill at Red Rock. This was probably one of the more uneventful ones. I only about died 3 times by sliding down the hill (ROCKS) on my bottom...

Year two: Decided to do the same hill, but this time I got lost ON THE WAY DOWN... Who does that? How is that even possible. I spent some time sliding down the wrong side of the hill (ROCKS again) and climbing said wrong side again to try and find my way. Well, I'm typing this, so I found it...

Year three: Walk the 13 mile loop at Red Rock... Let's just say I made life harder than it had to be. Started too late, got bored by mile two, decided to try and find a short cut, which resulted in me getting lost in the bushes for a couple hours.

Found my way again and because I learn so well, decided to try another short cut which wasn't one and actually added about a mile to my endeavor.

Still all good during mile 2

Then it got dark when I was still 5 miles out from my car. I was freezing coz I hadn't packed a sweater and thirsty, coz I only took one water bottle. Battled for a mile with my pride and then asked some strangers for a 2 mile ride. They asked if I wanted more, but pride won and I walked back to my car in utter darkness. No fun.

Year four: Booooooring! Not even worth the mention. Didn't die. Nothing happened.

Year five: This would be last week. Decided to try the loop again. This time for real. You know, start earlier, pack better, finish it. No short cuts....

Nice view eh?

Messing with the camera

Well, I got bored by mile 4 and started looking for a short cut, which I took by mile 6. This 'short cut', which of course got me lost again, took maybe a mile off the total. So not worth it.Plus I kept on running into weird cactussy plant things. Really not a fan of nature...

The final distance...

Thought I should stick to the road. But I got bored. Then my feet started really hurting, because I'd kind been in denial about my plantar fasciitis. Walked the last 4 miles in huge pain, but pride kept me from asking for a ride. Made it back though..

Now that I can walk straight again I am wondering what I shall do next year. Thoughts?

Sky scenes

2011-11-09T11:06:00.000-08:00

The last 2 months with God Behind Bars

2011-11-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

God and me. Together.

It’s been a crazy couple months filled with LOTS of meetings, training (to go into prisons) and learning the new culture of this thing called God Behind Bars.

It’s been great so far! I get to work with some fantastic people who are on fire for the Lord and have a deep passion to bring God into the lives of prisoners world wide. But for now we are focusing on Las Vegas (and Oklahoma, and Denver, and Alaska… Why stop at one, when you can change the world!) :)

We are serving over 1000 individuals a month in 4 prisons with our worship experience. For the past 2 months I’ve been running the service at a transitional housing location (Casa Grande) with up to 50 inmates per service. I LOVE them! They are so fun, so hungry for God and so humble. For the past 3 weeks we have been running small groups as well and it's been so fun getting to know some of the girls on a more personal level.

After Care

But the real heart of it all lays in After Care. So we are working on getting programs set up inside the prison, that will help the inmate get ready for when they are released.

Once released we meet them at the gate and connect them with mentors and churches that will help them get housing, get a job and stay on the outside. It’s amazing! Just today we were able to help a former inmate get one step closer to getting a job.

The youth

There are lots of things I really love about this new ministry, but I especially love that they invited me to dream with them for the youth and are now backing me up in making it happen.

We are in the process of getting into 2 youth prisons with our worship experience and the youth after care mentorship program we have set up.

That after care mentorship program will also serve those kids and youth who have one or more parent in prison and are at risk of ending up on the inside themselves.

We will be working with professional athletes and artists to create a 1 year mentorship experience for the students that will help them stay on the straight path. The heart of it is of course introducing them to Jesus and helping them understand how important a relationship with Jesus will be in their life.

Sobering fact: Over the past 2 months I have met TWO fathers who met their sons for the first time in the prison yard… Shocking!

I’m excited for where God is going to take me in all this.

As for what’s going to happen in the next 2 weeks… I will be in Germany, visiting my Mum and celebrating her 70th birthday with her! So excited.

Things God Behind Bars does, but I am not directly involved:

-Starting a new campus in Colorado and Alaska in 2012

-Opening a 2nd hand store to create jobs for former inmates

-Fresh Start Kits: Greeting the former inmate at the gate upon their release with the Fresh Start kit, that includes clothing, sheets, pillows, prepaid cell phone, toiletries and more. This also includes their first meal on the outside that they got to pick out themselves. (This is apparently a conversation that can take a while, because as an inmate you're not used to making decisions anymore. Making a decision about their first meal is sometimes overwhelming, but necessary to get them used to life on the outside again.)

-Media art studio: God Behind Bars is teaching inmates in one of the prisons how to be a graphic designer. This serves to help them create income for themselves upon their release.

-Celebrate Recovery (CR) meets at least once a week in all of our prisons. Upon their release (if former inmate stays in Vegas) they can join Celebrate Recovery at Central (our partner church). It's a Christian 12 step program that doesn't just focus on addiction, but rather hurts, habits and hang ups. It takes 1 year to 'graduate' from CR and we have well over 100 inmates who have graduated.

Linkage you should check out here, here and here! Oh and you can follow me here!

new and exciting things

2011-08-24T12:49:00.000-07:00

Life has been CRAZY…. How was your summer? Have you had some time to relax, reconnect? I find that sometimes summer can be the time where things either get so busy or so relaxed that I have a hard time staying connected with God.

Luckily this summer was an exception, as I HAD to hang on to God for the crazy ride….

Mission Adventures:

I had the great privilege to work with Mission Adventures this summer. It’s one of those amazing programs where you work with young people who are passionate about God and get them to be passionate about sharing Jesus with others… And especially sharing people with complete strangers on the spot!

And you know what? It works!!! We saw over 20 people come to Christ this summer. Many others were prayed for and heard about Jesus’ love; sometimes for the first time. It was amazing.

The next step:

So what’s next after Mission Adventures? A question I really had to wrestle with since I quite honestly didn’t know. After much praying and talking with people who know me, love me and are wiser than me I came to the (sad, but exciting) conclusion that it is time to finish here at YWAM Las Vegas.

It was one of those really hard decisions, as I have been with YWAM for more than 15 years.

But once I knew that, I also knew that I still felt called to Las Vegas. So the question still was ‘What’s next?’.

Insert lots of prayer and talking.

So, my next step will be with a ministry called ‘God Behind Bars’ here in Vegas. It’s a ministry that brings God to prisoners and brings life change to them.

My specific job will be to help pioneer a part of the ministry that is called ‘Project 22’ and works with kids of inmates.. That’s a very broad description, but you can read a little more about it here.

I will still be sponsored by people like you (THANK YOU) and am excited about where God will take me next! If you have any questions, please feel free to email, call, message…. Whatever it takes!

New and important things:

New Email: jackiegotmail@gmail.com
New address for support: God behind bars, c/o
support for jackie/frauke, 129 W Lake Mead Parkway, Suite 21, Henderson NV 89015
(do not put my name on the check, but rather attach a sticky note with my name
on it)
New online giving: If you would like to set up
online giving, you can do that now! :) Go to http://www.godbehindbars.com/ and
find the 'donate now' button on the bottom of the page. Click it and fill out
the required information. Please make sure you put my name in the comments and
questions box to ensure it goes towards me.
You can set it up for one time, weekly, monthly
or yearly giving. Pretty cool eh? And you will receive an email every time it
gets taken out of your account. All donations are tax deductable.
New websites to check out:
http://www.godbehindbars.com/

Mission Adventures Staff :)

Getting ready for Intercession at the strip

Kitchen Work Duty: Peeling potatos

Praying at the strip

Hanging with the MA staff

Day off at the lake! :)

2010-12-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to you! I hope you're having a good Christmas season.

I just wanted to give you a quick update on what's been going on with me...

We finish up this year with some great reports:

grocery assistance is going strong, serving up to 120 individuals a week with various groceries such as meats, eggs, veggies and juice.
one of my clients gave me a little Christmas present which blew me away. This is huge for this neighborhood and I was so blessed by her.
we have been able to give away about 200 pounds of new and gently used clothes over the past 4 weeks to families in need. Some walked away with one bag, others with a trunkful of clothes! All according to their need.
my time at the boys and girls club in our neighborhood is getting to be more and more fun and I'm starting to learn more names. The kids like to hang out with me and we play loads of games in the gym.

Some exciting changes for the next year:

I will be working with Mission Adventures again, at least for the Spring. I am very excited about this opportunity, as this means I will have more contact with young people, get to challenge them to step out of their comfort zone and share the Gospel with people in Las Vegas and the world. It's one of those amazing programs that God uses to bring people closer to Him and I'm so glad to work with MA again this year.
I will still be overseeing parts of the Pier ministry such as grocery assistance, clothing and the general running of the Pier. There will be new staff coming on to Pier staff and I'm sure we will come up with some exciting ministry opportunities for this neighborhood together. Our desire is still to see our neighborhood (the 8th worst neighborhood in the US) transformed and changed for God.
I've got my OWN car!! Since December 17th, I am the proud owner of a 1998 Mazda 626 (in gold). So thankful to God for His provision and faithfulness.

Prayer Points:

I was praying about New Years Resolutions and if I should do one again this year. (this past year I spent an extended time with God every 2nd Sunday of the month). So it's still fairly nebulous, but would you please pray that I would be able to be the closest I've ever been with God in 2011. I'm excited.
Pray for Mission Adventures: The students that will be coming between February and April. The people we will talk to and share with. For impacted lives.
We need new and strategic ideas for this neighborhood. Please pray with us to strategically impact our neighborhood.
I've got a few financial prayer points:

I still owe $400 for the car. Thankfully the guy who helped me get the car is nice enough and I can pay it off over the next few weeks. It was too good of a deal to let it go.. (I got a $4000 car for $2200). I will also need to pay registration and license plates very soon.

I need to see financial provision and breakthrough for me personally. Like a lot of people I've had a decrease in income (support) over this past year. I need to see $200 more a month come in to be able to cover all my bills. On top of that comes, that my laptop is starting to really pass out on me on a regular basis... Something I really don't need! Please pray for me!

Thank you so much for being part of my team. I love serving Jesus and I love doing it in Las Vegas. But without you, I wouldn't be able to. So thank you.

I pray you have a very merry Christmas.

Frauke

PS:
If you want to follow my life, there are a couple different ways:
Facebook.com/jackie.doyle
twitter.com/jackie_doyle
jackieinvegas.tumblr.com
frauked.blogspot.com

or email/call me
frauked@ywamlasvegas.org
702 273 7166

Real quick

2010-10-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

A new update will be up soon. Til then I just wanted to say that

the car fund is now at $1600!!!
Looks like I will be coaching a Basketball team with the Boys and Girls Club starting soon!!!
Please pray for our grocery assistance program. We've had some problems with the food bank and it affected our volunteers. It's been a roller coaster ride for the past 2 weeks. We feed more than 70 individuals each week, so I really want this to be sorted soon.
I still want to have an open mic night at the Pier, but it has not worked out so far at all. Would you please pray?

Thanks!

My very sensitive relationship with my car

2010-09-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

The car I drive right now is not mine. I just would like to preface this post with that fact…

I love the fact that someone is lending me and has been lending me their car for over a year! It’s a huge blessing and I don’t know how to even thank that person.

The car is a 1995 Saturn, stick shift with no AC. So summers have been a struggle, but better than not having a car at all.

This is the story of the car and me:

-Last year every now and then the car would just cut out. Especially annoying when you’re going 65 mph down the highway and suddenly your engine dies and you have to get it going again… (4th gear, clutch in let it come slowly). It worked every single time and I didn’t say anything before because, when I did, people seemed to freak out about my safety here and there… Thanks, I guess.

-This year the car started to overheat whenever it was not going a solid minimum of 45 mph. I started to find out how amazingly convenient the Las Vegas Freeway system is. It was just a couple times that I got stuck in traffic and was yelling at others to ‘KEEP MOVING’. By the time I got to where I was going I was completely drenched in sweat and had to actually sit down for a minute to avoid fainting. Plus I was pretty grumpy! LOL Real story! Only happened once that bad tho.

-My clutch broke. But since I didn’t have any money I kind of learned to live with it for a while. So I parked only in spots where I didn’t need to back out of (the use of reverse was pretty limited). I only learned to start driving in 3rd gear, since that was still working fine. Then, through the incredible generosity of my friends I was able to fix the clutch and can now back out of parking spaces again.

-My latest fun thing are the windows. Since I have no aircon I greatly appreciate the use of the windows. All windows in this car are automatic, which makes it hard (aka expensive) to fix.A few months ago the passenger side window stopped about 4 inches down. that was it. Then a couple weeks ago, the driver’s side window stopped working all together. Now I drive a sweat bucket, with 4 inches of air coming through. And the saddest thing is: the passenger side window doesn’t even go up all the way anymore. It stops 2 inches short.

Ready for a new car… Any chance you want to join me in prayer to get a new car? I got $1400 towards it right now and need at least $600 more before I can really look for something that would work.

Now, if you have a car standing around and would like to donate it, please let me know! :)

YWAM turns 50

2010-09-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

Loren Cunningham founded YWAM in 1960. Since then the staff has grown from 2 to over 20,000 (holding over 150 passports I think). We have bases/presence in over 1200 locations and we are still passionate about Jesus and finishing the Great Commission.

Last week we celebrated YWAM's 50th in Denver. Loren and Darlene Cunningham (and their daughter Karen) came to tell us more about what's going on in the world, where we are at with the Great Commission and what still needs to be done.

It was a fantastic time of meeting new people, catching up with old friends and just having some much needed time of getting new vision and excitement for what I do.

Since we drove to Denver (13 hours!!) and took the DTS, it was also a great time to get to know the students and talk with God whilst driving... Totally legal! :)

While at the conference we stayed at 'Eagle Rock', part of the YWAM Denver base, just located in the middle of nowhere... Beautiful... So here are some pics! :)

The dorms

the sun

more sun

YWAM Vegas peeps

dining room and kitchen

YWAM Colorado Springs peeps

yeah, it was nice! :)

the crazies...

fearless Vegas DTS leader

fearless Vegas DTS

Vegas peeps

Vegas peeps

The rubber band gun and why it is significant for me

2010-09-15T17:37:00.001-07:00

Last night we had a giving night here at the YWAM Base. Giving nights are awesome and usually very powerful.
This is the way it works: you ask God what He might want you to give away and to whom. Then you wrap it up (just cover it) and bring it to giving night.
You ask the person to join you in the middle, give him/her whatever you brought, explain it if you need to or if God gave you a word or something and then you pray for that person.

It's amazing how powerful giving something away can. Sometimes God asks me to give something big, something my heart is really attached to... (i.e. guitar, money, ipod, computer) and sometimes he asks me to give something small (flag, candle, clock etc)

This time I received something: A rubber band gun!
I'm pretty excited about the gun, but it was the 'explanation' that came with it, that made me cry and thank God for the fact that He really knows what's going on.

It was just one sentence... The guy who gave me the gun said: 'when I see you, when I see you lead, you lead out of a place of fun with God. You're a fun person.'

You got to understand that I don't know this guy very well and he doesn't know me.

To hear that he sees me as 'fun' and to hear that he sees me and God having fun was amazing...

Why, you ask?

Well, for the past couple weeks I haven't heard that at all. in fact, I have heard quite the opposite! A person I really respect came up to me and told me that I look pissed off all the time and mean. He has a problem with my face! (which I can't really change...)

I've asked God to help me through that, coz it seems petty to make a big deal out of that. I love having fun with God and I know that often times that is NOT reflected in my face. But there's nothing I can do about it... except for fake smiling, but that's actually exhausting and not me.

So for someone who doesn't know me to say 'here's a rubber band gun, because I think you're a fun person'... That was pretty much God speaking to me audibly.

So I've had WAY too much fun with that gun today!

Thank you Lord.

Grace

2010-09-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

These past couple weeks I've been studying up on grace.
In YWAM we have the privilege of getting some amazing teaching and the grace teaching is one of those that really started to change my life.
And now it was time again to brush up on what grace really means in my life and how I can live it out more.

Here are some things/quotes I learned/liked so far:

Grace is always free for the one who receives it, but it always costs the one who gives it.

The Russian Doll Analogy...
When we get saved the Holy Spirit comes to live inside of us (Smallest doll placed in next bigger one)
Then we are also placed IN Christ. (put first 2 dolls into the next bigger one)
When God looks at us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.
The image of grace is the image of Christ.
(thanks to Daniel Susenbach for that analogy)

Of course the question of 'cheap grace' comes up... How can you learn something when you're just constantly being handed grace and sort of a free way out? What about knowing that you WILL be forgiven if you sin? The whole attitude of what can we get away with?

Philip Yancey in his book 'what's so amazing about grace' describes it pretty well (page 190)

He makes a great example with a groom who in the wedding night has this conversation with his bride:
'Honey, I love you so much and I'm eager to spend my life with you. but I need to work out a few details. Now that we are married, how far can I go with other women? Can I sleep with them? Kiss them? You don't mind a few affairs now and then, do you? I know it might hurt you, but just think of all the opportunities you'll have to forgive me after I betray you.'

If I approach my relationship with God the same way this groom does, then I don't understand the first thing about love or grace.

Extending grace to others means forgiving them.
Receiving grace means knowing and trusting God, that everything really IS taken care of. Sometimes that is still the hard part for me.

What do you think?

PS: Read 'What's so amazing about grace?'. Great book. :)

2010-08-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Huge Praise:
My car fund grew from $500 to $1400 in just 2 month. Pray for the remaining $600+ to come in soon, so I can get a car with air con soon!

110 degrees (or 43 Celsius) is just about normal for summer in Las Vegas and insanely hot! The fact that it is a dry heat doesn’t matter when you burn yourself with the seatbelt!

212 (or 100 Celsius) is the temperature that water boils at and changes from water to gas. During Junior High Camp we talked about living your life in pursuit of 212—having a relationship with God that’s boiling hot and at that level you have the ability together with God to start changing the world.
The 5 day camp with 300+ Junior High Students was up in the mountains in Arizona with lots of trees and rocks—beautiful, but I was glad for the 5 day limit.

My girls (a group of 9 students) were amazing. Throughout the week we had lots of time to talk about what it means to live a life in pursuit of 212—even though you’re pretty much going through hell at home. These girls want to live their lives for God and have so many ideas on how to make that a reality.
It was a huge blessing and privilege to be their leader and I can’t wait to see what God has for them.

In the beginning of the summer I had a chance to ‘go back to my roots’ and lead the Mission Adventures Summer staff in an afternoon of team building activities.
This is something that goes back to my days in Darwin eons ago! :)
I hadn’t had the chance to lead anything in terms of team building for ages, but it felt like ‘home’.
Since I get to hang out with youth at the Boys and Girls Club in our neighborhood, I will try and do some team building activities with them once summer is over.

Boys and Girls Club has been going good, with me hanging out and playing Basketball with the teens.
Most of them come from broken homes and want nothing more than someone who cares about what they do. This makes for interesting conversations at times.

Please pray that I will be able to share the love of Christ with them and the hope He brings for their lives.

The Pier is continuing to grow in several areas. We now offer Basic English Classes 3 times a week with an average of 6 students each time; Tutoring, and the Job Readiness Classes are starting at the end of this month.
Of course we are still serving over 800 people with food each month.

By the way….
Germany got third in the world cup!! Just in case you missed some awesome games!

My friends and me hung out at the Las Vegas Hofbrauhaus every now and then to watch the games! Go Germany! :)

Tweets

* YWAM’s Mission Adventures Training had a great summer, seeing people saved,
healed and delivered.
* In January 2011 YWAM Las Vegas will run it’s first Abolitionists DTS, fighting Human Trafficking in the world
* The August DTS has just started this week with 6 students from 3 different nations!
* I have a car fund of $1400+ !!!!

Thanks for all your friendships, prayers and support. I couldn’t do this without you!

frauke

That guy... And me....

2010-08-06T15:36:00.000-07:00

It seemed like a normal day. I had just finished the shopping trip for the week and came out of Walmart, wondering why people were going on and on about how hot it is in Vegas. Didn't seem that hot today...

As I was putting my groceries into my car I noticed him. He was in his mid to late thirties, dirty clothes that were hanging off him.

From a distance he asked me something, but I couldn't understand him.
As I was coming closer I heard him say 'Don't come closer. I'll just stay back here. I was just wondering if you had something to eat for me?'

This is almost normal in Vegas, as sad as that sounds. Depending on what part of town you're in, you will be asked by homeless people for food, money, booze, whatever else they feel you should give them.
I usually don't buy into that, knowing what services are available and how little they are used at times, and also knowing people who have made it off the streets and the stories they tell me.

But we were far away from any place that I knew of that offered services to the homeless, so I decided to dig through my groceries and see if I could share stuff with him.

Til this point all was very normal, except for this: he kept on insisting on staying away and not coming close, and whenever I came closer, or handed him stuff he said that I must either be an alien or a Christian...

While he's dead on with both (Legal Alien AND Christian) it saddened me to think that only Aliens (I know what he meant!) and Christians would even consider giving towards people who are asking.

I mean, don't get me wrong... Go Christians... Apparently you DID listen to that sermon...

But do you know what I mean?

Communing with nature AKA Junior High Camp

2010-07-26T22:44:00.000-07:00

Next week I will be communing with nature... WITH 300+ Junior High Students. So there won't be much time for communing, which is fine with me!
I will be leading a group of 8 girls, all 7th and 8th grade.

Please be praying for this time away, as of course the whole idea is to introduce the kids to God on a deeper level. In between worship, sessions, crazy competition, painball, rock climbing, mountain biking and who knows what else my heart is to really help my girls to understand who God is and get them ready to follow God in their day to day life, especially once school starts again in September.

I really want God to show up for my girls (and the other 300 as well) in a huge way and change lives.

Please pray that God would show up, that He would help me to get to know the girls, pray for them, have fun with them and that team YELLOW would win all the competitions! LOL

But seriously, would appreciate your prayers. Camp is from July 30 - August 3. Photos will be posted soon after I'm back...

To get immediate updates, follow me on twitter: twitter.com/jackie_doyle or go to the official church camp blog: centralparents.com/blog

Thanks

A Saturday Story

2010-07-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday my friend and me ended up having a few different events where we both would be at the same time and place.
So to help me out (no air con in my car) she decided to pick me up at my end of town, drive all over town, go to House warming Parties, pick up craft supplies, dinner and craft night.

It was a great day and I had decided to treat it as a 'Fake Road Trip'. Here are some pictures from that day! :)

All packed for the 'roadtrip'

First Stop pretty much on the opposite end of town! Nice neighborhood eh?

Oh yeah, Juan Pablo Montoya was with us all the way! He is very helpful and doesn't stress at all when you take a wrong turn!

I had a bit of time to kill... There are probably about 15 more pictures that look exactly like this one! LOL

After the House warming party (no pictures; forgot to take in the camera) we went to dinner at Red Robin! Best deal ever: BOTTOMLESS Rootbeer Floats (or coke float in my case) So fun!

Fun with my friends. We usually get together and they scrapbook.. Since I don't scrapbook (coz I don't really like it) I go and hang out, do cards, and my newest thing: necklaces.

I love these nights. Mainly because everyone is slightly crazy.... From a parent who had a 'boys vs girl spitball fight' in her house, to the young adult who's parent pretended to be an alien... LOL Oh, the memories....

Such a classic picture.

And this my friends is my science project for the day. I accidentally left gummy worms (see picture) and Lfesaver gummies in the car during the House warming party. After more than an hour in 110 degrees the gummy worms (generic brand) looked like this....

The life savers hadn't changed at all... I'm not sure what scares me more...

And this concludes the pictures of my 'fake roadtrip'. Hope you had a good insight into my life! :)

The car fund is growing!!!

2010-07-22T11:16:00.000-07:00

As of today I have over $1,000 set aside for a car,
with another $300 ready to be processed soon.

My goal is to have at least $2,000
before I start looking seriously for a car with air conditioning. :)

It's been one of those cool experiences with God, as I have been praying for more than a year now for God to provide a car for me. It's a prayer said every day and sometimes it comes out with frustration and questions. But most times it's just me and my Dad talking about how cool a car with AC would literally be; how cool it is to be able to drive the car I currently drive, that is not mine and how much I still have to learn.

A few years back I really wanted an ipod. Now, an ipod isn't one of those things that you NEEEEED. But I knew I wanted one. So every now and then I would mention it to God. Nothing happened.

Then one day in the summer I heard God clearly say that I could now start really praying for an ipod and so I did. I made a couple commitments (such as no more buying fast food, drinks or treats until I had the money for the ipod).

I saved up up every dollar for the ipod and I didn't ask anybody to give towards it.
There was an ipod listed on craigslist, but it had been there for a while. Since I didn't quite have the money together yet, I was not holding my breath that I could get that ipod.
Yet, God came through and to this day I have still no idea how exactly the money came together. Within 3 weeks I had all the money to now call the old craigslist listing and ask if the ipod plus all the extras was still for sale.
It was.

I picked it up that day... And I think I've been using it every day since then. Thank you Lord.

Any chance you could do a similar thing with the car? :)

An epic fourth of July

2010-07-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

On Fourth of July in the States you basically celebrate the birthday of this country. On that day you're allowed to set off fireworks like crazy.

This year I went over to my friends place again, who puts on one heck of a show every year with lots of fireworks, good people and good food.

This year we managed to set the neighbor's lawn on fire. It was awesome. Apparently he burned his leg hair while he stomped out the fire... (This is where I was happy that girls shave the legs...)

Luckily I was wearing shoes and could participate in the fire suppression efforts.

The fireworks were great, but setting the lawn on fire might have been my favourite part of the night (since nobody got hurt, the lawn has a few black spots and nothing much else happened...)

It was also fun to see the neighbors jump when another thing blew up sideways and went into their bushes about 2 yards from them.

What a night! Happy birthday USA.

The car fund

2010-06-29T14:59:00.000-07:00

It's growing, it's growing....

If everything works out, then my wonderful car fund will have $1,030 in it by August 1. Can I please hear a big 'YAY GOD'?

It's really been pretty awesome to see my car fund grow slowly, but surely. I need a reliable car with air conditioning, otherwise the people of Las Vegas are going crazy, coz I can't stop cranking my music and my voice... And let me tell you... The music is sometimes questionable to start with, the voice is downright awful.

So if you would like to give towards my car fund and save the ears of the people of Las Vegas, please contact me or check this out

The latest and greatest from my life... :)

2010-06-09T14:31:00.001-07:00

Pier Ministries
Last week we had one of the most amazing grocery assistance weeks ever.
On a schedule with 32 appointments we usually have a minimum of 8 no shows. Last week we only had 5 no shows and were able to provide food for more than 80 individuals.

Pier Clothing
Last Saturday we had our big clothing blow out with more than 70 people receiving brand new clothes from us.

We had a GREAT team of 10 volunteers who helped with security and getting as many clothes as possible to as many people as possible. I think for all of us it was the highlight of our week.

Here you see Alice and me in a picture. She is one of our clients who's been coming to the Pier for over a year now.

The rest of my life…
I’ve finally started to help out once a week at the Boys and Girls Club in our neighborhood. On my first day I even got to lead the hockey game for the young ones, who in turn challenged to play me in carpet bowling for candy… In the end I lost all the candy I had, but it took them a little while… Who knew I would rock at carpet bowling?

In the future I will continue to help out once a week, but I will get to work with the teens, which I am very much looking forward to.
I hope to do team building exercises with them, similar to the stuff I used to help with at YFC in Darwin.

My Car….
The great news is that I have $530 towards a car in my newly established car fund. If you would like to give towards a car, please attach a note, saying it’s for the car.
If you know of a car WITH air conditioning, please let me know! :)

Good news…
During the summer I will be receiving about $100 support a month more than usual! This is such an answer to prayer!

No one in YWAM receives a salary and we all raise our own funds to do the work we feel God has called us to. If you would like to be part of my support team (presently I still need $250 more a month to meet my budget) please contact me.

If you would like to help with practical needs, the 2 very real needs at the moment are a new laptop and a car with A/C.

In May I celebrated Thanksgiving with friends who needed space in their freezer. :)
In this picture you see the amazing spread we had...

Tweets

* YWAM’s Mission Adventures has started. Expecting more than 200 students to be
trained and released in Evangelism
* January DTS returns from 2 months outreach this week
* English Classes at the Pier have been running for 8 weeks with 6 students average each week
* My 8th grade girls from Junior High Ministry at church have officially graduated to High School! Sad but exciting.
* I have a car fund of $500+ !!!!
* 2 new partner ministries at the Pier: Tutoring and dance!
* Word of Life Christian Academy came and painted the inside of our building.

Thanks for all your friendships, prayers and support. I couldn’t do this without you!

frauke

If you want to find out how you can be involved check out http://helpfrauke.blogspot.com/

Why you should pray about giving to my car fund.. :)

2010-06-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

So I am praying for a car...

My car fund right now has $500 (!!!) in it, due to the amazing generosity of my friends!

The car I am driving right now is on loan to me from another very generous friend of mine. It's been almost a year!

But it's time for a new car... One with air conditioning.

Not because it's hot or anything. That's really just a side reason. But not having air conditioning is seriously cramping my style.
I am not America's next Idol, but I love to bust out a song whilst driving. Now you go driving down the road with your windows down, (100 degrees), wind blowing and a good song comes on. Of course you totally want to sing along. But if you're stuck in traffic or driving on a side street, chances are people will hear you...

That is why I need air conditioning. I would love to put the windows up and save the general public the pains of listening to me singing.

And clearly, I could not stop singing... :)

So think about it, will ya? Then check out http://helpfrauke.blogspot.com