Knowing I need and its great!

Hey everyone!!

So I am not going to lie my last blog writing was inspiring to me. I couldn't believe how much I had enjoyed writing and missed it. So here I am to write again. It is truly a gift to write. I love sharing and I feel like this is one way I can have a little conversation (sort of one sided obviously unless you email me about it later.) that we are having and I can let you in and you can know what is going on.

I am into the forth week of the school the 18 Inch Journey here in Sophia, NC and am in Awe. I mean I knew it was amazing but being around for it as a second time my heart is dreaming again. Watching 32 people get transformed by the love of God I mean WOW!! Its like I am seeing life in full color view and watching others see it in full color to. I can see the beauty of what is possible in of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The beauty of it all is that there is no end to God. About six years ago before I left for YWAM or did much ministry, I remember thinking I have sat under so many people, heard so many messages I must know everything there is to know. Prideful, however honest and I was 19 at the time. I was determined to find God, complete my destiny(or at least get it started), do all the amazing things I thought I was suppose to do so God would love me more. So my quest began. It began by living in North Carolina and being with awesome people and learning about God there, and then into YWAM and the mission field traveling the world and learning about God there. Then being with my family and learning about God there. Now I find myself in North Carolina again and learning about God here. There is no end to God and no matter what I do He loves me fully and always loved just me. I have realized that youth is a period of growth. That Jesus had it too. He sat, he learned, He worked. He did everything. His thirty years of life before ministry were him learning about the father and fleshing out what he believed and knew to be true about the father and growing in knowing that the father loved him before he did anything else. I have realized that I have not come to my end of knowing God and will never come to an end.

I love being apart of this school so much and these last five months have transformed me. I have come to this place and have realized more then just learning about God I need him. He has the way to every lasting life and knowing him and needing him never has stopped at salvation. He wants to be there every day of my life to show me, to help me and to teach me. He wants to transform me by love and so that I can love. So that I can see people the way he does. I often thought that I should just know these things and know how to do it but how can I if I never talked to God and listen to Him. If I never talked with him, I would just be doing works upon works trying to figure it all out on my own. That isn't a present Father God that is a distant god who doesn't love. There is a neediness for God and it is a great thing. I have a need and its great cause its JESUS! Even now I am still letting this just sink in to my heart. We all do and that is the awesome thing. He didn't just create us then to just let us be he created us to have relationship with and then with relationship with each other. Its quite a beautiful picture that God didn't want to be alone and then he created us to not be alone. He created us to need him and need eachother. I LOVE IT!

I love sharing and thanks for reading. As I sat down to write I realized that I am still facing a need, one that is of financial needs. I am still need to raise about $500 for over then next two months for a plane ticket to hopefully two beautiful weddings one in Alaska and one in Boston and also to cover my expenses over the next few months. I am asking for peoples loving support in getting there. I believe in what I am doing and have felt the loving support of the father, and my family, and friends to step out of working a 9-5 job and living and serving here at A Place for the Heart in this season. If you would like to help me reach this goal you can email me at katelandhity@gamil.com or you can go to PayPal www.paypal.com and type in my email address and give the amount there you would like. Thank you so much i am always humbled by people and how they give to me and support me in this time. Your prayers so valuable to me and I am thankful for all who have covered me over the years. It has been such a beautiful blessing to be apart of living life with so many different people.

Loves to everyone,

Kateland Louise Hilty

25: I am coming ALIVE!

I have never seen life full of color like I do right now. About five days ago I turned 25. Not huge for some but for me this birthday was a big one. As I look back at my life, My 25 years, I find myself astonished by how it is so different. So different from how I imagined it, how I planned it, how I had determined it to be. Now don’t misunderstand me that is not a negative statement but one of maturity and the realization of how different life truly can be. Five years ago if you asked my perspective on life I would of given you an answer, not one of experience but one of ideas. I didn’t fully understand the pressing of the world around me, the struggles, the responsibility, the joys, the adventure, the unknown of life that I now see. I just didn’t, it wasn’t wrong, I was just young and learning. I find that I haven’t left that place by turning 25.

Just one the edge of this new year ahead of me I feel a calming of old waves and on the horizon I see unknown in front of me. I see that I cannot predict the a storm, bad weather or calm seas, the sun coming out today but what I do see is hope. Hope to lead me, to guide me and to anchor. Hope that says with everything I am with you. Really I am opening my eyes to see the father standing next to me saying I am with you every step of the way. And that is why you never have to be afraid of what you can’t predict today. So at 25 I am ready more then ever to let life come and to sail even in the unknown because I have an anchor in my soul and His Name is Jesus.

So where do you find me today? Well I am currently living in Sophia North Carolina, where I am apart of a community led by Jonathan and Melissa Helser. Where I have been an intern for these last 5 month. I did the 18 Inch Journey last summer while I was still apart of YWAM and in August of last year I decided that I would leave YWAM and come and work in a town right next to Sophia called Asheboro so that I could work and be close with my amazing and wonderful boyfriend Joel Case. He is also has apart of the Helsers community and has been with them for the last six years. After doing their school and being with the community in the fall I would be invited to apart of the Second Phase school they would be doing in February as an intern. I felt a lot of joy on and I wanted to grow and learn more from all who are in this community and it has been so worth it. So in January I would leave my job and I would come and be apart of the Second Phase school. This school is amazing and I have got to see 12 lives be radically changed before my eyes. I have learned so much about God and leadership and serving and ministry. It has forever changed my life. Now in just a few days we will be starting our 18 inch journey (which is the school I did last summer) which has 32 beautiful students coming to it. They have no idea what is about to happened and my heart is full of anticipation and excitement for what is about to come. Truly God the father is about to show up and changes peoples lives and I am couldn’t be more excited. I can’t believe I get to be apart of it all.

This is where you find me today in Sophia North Carolina. I love it here. The woods bring me back home to Alaska and I feel like I have come alive in such a beautiful way being here. I love the woods and I don’t think I realized how much I loved them till I moved away from them. I guess you could say that when you a girl from Alaska the woods are in your blood.

I am so glad I was able to write everyone and tell them where I am at. I also wanted to ask you all to join me in two ways as I help with the 18 Inch Journey. One is through your prayers. I always need them and love. The second is through giving. I have all my housing and food paid for but I am in need of about 1000. This money would cover the cost of an airplane ticket to Alaska [for a beloved friends wedding I am in along with seeing my family (who I desperately long to see),} with some living expenses and some bills. If you feel led to you can give through my paypal. It is not tax deductible but it is for an amazing purpose. I have been richly blessed by so many people through the past five years of ministry that I have done and I am beyond grateful for it. I also know that God is a good father who loves to provide in mysterious ways. As I was walking up to my room tonight I realized the enemies greatest lie that he wants us to believe is that everything is impossible. That statement goes against who God is. SO I am believing that this is possible. If you have any questions you can email me at katelandhilty@gmail.com. (this is also the email for my paypal.) Thank you so much for catching up with me again if you have any questions or like to know more I am doing email. I would love to tell you!

**TO GIVE PLEASE GO TO PAYPAL AND ENTER MY EMAIL ADDRESS. katelandhilty@gmail.com**

Lots of love

Kateland Louise Hilty.

This would be Part 2. Adventure is out THERE!

Hey lovely people! 

You all are so amazing and life is full of good things. There is some exciting news to bring all of you.  Just as I wrote in part 1 we never know the markings of God in our stories and that the greatest thing you can do on this journey with God is say yes to all He has for you. A yes to God will always change your life and will cause the enemy to fear. What I have seen in the Bible is that God is faithful to all who say yes. I assure you it never looked like what they thought it did. I am sure when God told Moses he was going to set the Jews free from slavery that he had any idea it would be through crazy signs and wonders. Or for Abraham being told his wife would have a baby that she would be as old as she was and that he would only have one. How can you be a great nation with just one child. How about David, I am sure he wasn't planning on being a King when he was 17 or being anointed by Samuel. How do become great when you have promises in your life. You can't but God can make you great as long as you look to him as the Author of life. I remember when I got to Pasadena I was setting in a meeting and I heard in a moment of randomness God say to me, "You have been trying to write your own story now its time for me to write it." Wow, what do you do with that! Its simple you learn to surrender. ;) Ever since that statement from my God my life hasn't been the same. For the past six months God has been the faithful God he is in my life. With radical provision, radical love, and radical transformation in my life. It has been the greatest "Yes" I have made yet and as I look back in my life I see where he has been faithful in it to bring me here. 

Sometimes our stories look nothing like we think and you might be saying to yourself right now Kateland, you are repeating yourself like a bad record. I might be. However, its truth and I like truth. Always I have been that way. :) I was the justice child in my family. Just a side note. Okay back on track! My journey of being brought to California which has been AMAZING with some new adventures ahead. God is wanting to add to all the surprises he has for life from coming here. So with that being said, I have decided to do and have been accepted in to another school. It is called the 18 Inch Journey. It is in Sophia, North Carolina with Jonathan and Melissa Helser to amazing friends of God and amazing worship leaders. Its a school of creativity, worship but is mainly a school of the heart. It is there to bring a beautiful revelation of all that God has inside of you and to express it in ways you have never been able to or have always wanted to or already are but just even more. Its only a 60 day school but is full of wonderfulness. The school will start June 1st and go until July 30th. I am so excited about this because for a long time in my life I have been wanting to do something of fully expressing myself in ways I have never done before but know are deep down inside of me. I see as an opportunity to do just that! I truly feel like it is a journey that God has set out for me and also has given such a wonderful opportunity to do it. 

I am still working with YWAM and will still be on staff with them. I feel like this will add in so many ways to what God is already doing with us here. For this school I am needing to raise about $2,000 for it. God I know is going to provided but what I have realized if I don't let people know my need how can they help me. God provides in the craziest ways through the craziest people is what I have come to realize. I will be having my Missions Account connected to my blog if you are interested to give. (it should be on the side) This also makes all giving tax deductible as well. Praise GOD! All I need is 100 people to give 20 dollars and I will have it all raised. My final due date to have this all in will be May 24th. So I am asking for a 100 people to join me in raising this. I am praying and believing God to do it because I know it He will. So I am also asking if you would just pray and see if you would like to be on this journey with me and helping me get there. A story I feel I should share is this simple one about God being faithful to me in applying for this school and everything. I have recently had a desire to learn how to play the guitar  and had been talking with God about it and just said how am I suppose to play the the guitar if I don't have one. Thinking to learn it will be harder if I don't have one but maybe in a few years I will get one. I had told God the kind I had seen and liked. I am small girl so little guitars are more of my friend. hehehe... Well the last night of the fast I was apart of a friend of mine came up and said Kateland, God told me to give you my guitar. The funny thing is and the absolutely amazing thing all at the same time was that was the exact guitar I had asked for. A Taylor GS Mini. Complete with a case and all. When I received it I couldn't believe it and began crying because I was like you have no idea I just asked God today for that guitar, that exact guitar!!! I realized in that moment God is bigger then I had really realized and it was conformation and my faith increased to saying yes to  God. Whatever you want! hahahaha... So please consider joining me on this journey. I believe God blesses those who richly bless others and its not just with money either its just one way. I have seen it in my own life and many others. 

I will be keeping everyone posted on how it is going. Please be praying for me as well. If you have any questions for me you can always email me at katelandhilty@gmail.com. 

He is faithful to the end and He is faith to our hearts! 

Here is a video about the 18 Inch Journey. 

http://vimeo.com/50170599

I love you all out there. May you be blessed abundantly in all God has for you. My prayer at the end of the day for you is this that you would be step out in your own journey with God to say yes to everything he has for you. That you would know his true love for you in it and that you would trust him with everything you have. He delights in us and so why should we ever worry.

 We live by a motto in our house here in Pasadena. Simple Obidence Changes History. Our simple "yes" everyday to God changes our lives, others around us and also the outcome of History. Think about it we often see all the negative things that happen in this world change everything but what if we lived out the positives of saying "yes" to God what would the outcome be. Thinking about it! Its beautiful when you do.

Kateland :)

Part 1: A forty day journey

Hey friends,

Its been a while yet again. It has been a good time for sure. I write you today with much joy in my heart and anticipation for all the things happening around me. Let me give you a little bit of an update of what has been going on these past few months. It may explain some of my delay or lack of writing to all of you lovely people.

In getting back to Pasadena we continued on helping our friends in the area who feel led to hold gatherings on College and University Campuses throughout the state of California. We have seen people getting saved, healed and touched by the love of God. Our friends mission is simple to hold a hour of worship in a common area of the campus and let people be drawn in by the love of Jesus. Many are stopped by this simple act. Many are drawn into this sound that they have never heard before and all it is, is simple worship to Jesus. We have been apart of many of these gatherings now and it has been amazing. We are believing God to fully invade the Universities and College Campuses of California.

Then in the beginning of March we were invited into a 40 day fast with Lou Engle and his group of people. We were fasting simple for this, that the Lord of the harvest would send forth laborers in the harvest fields. (Matthew 9:38) Praying everyday that God would send forth laborers to the Unreached People Groups of the world. It was an amazing time that radically changed my life. God was on the move in so many ways that I have never felt. We also had the privilege sitting under some of the greatest teaching on the Bible that I have ever experienced. It literally felt like the word of God was coming alive just by the Bible being read.(this is how I personally think it should always be never quite experienced it to be.)  It was like watching the new Bible series on the History Channel before it came out. (hahaha... I feel like that is the best way to explain it.) I had never been apart of a corporate fast like this before but I felt like we got to see God move in ways that maybe no one will ever know but God did. To bring a little bit more clarity of what we were praying for and what we felt like God is wanting to see happen here is a video clip of Lou talking about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJmaVwQYhaM



I wish I could explain all that happened in great detail to you but maybe over a grand cup of coffee we can chat over what happened those days. I will tell you with a heart that dreams and is continually expectant to see God do all that he said I have learned so much. However I feel that one of the greatest lessons I had learned those 40 days was that you never know what God will do or how he will write the story. He never does things the same for each person but reading it I saw his faithfulness to every person of the Bible. The great thing is He never changes and He provides. I often had been that person that said to God, why didn't you do this for me and do that for me and why wasn't it like so-and-so. Thinking I have loved you but why have I never seen it. Maybe it was because my eyes were closed and if I had just opened them I would see his markings all over my why's. That is exactly what he did, He opened my eyes. In a moment my eyes began to see that I held to closely what I thought the story should look like. This realization came one day through the story of Joseph. He was imprisoned for crimes he never did several times. Falsely accused and yet at the end of it all rose to the highest place to be second in command. His brothers never thought for one second that God would do what Joseph was told by God what he would. Joseph probably doubted at times but he also knew God was faithful. I sat there realizing his story made no sense to me. That Joseph never said God you gave me the dreams and its suppose to happen like this! Joseph just had pure faith. All of a sudden I had to let go of what I expected God to do and willing say God you write the best stories ever so write mine! Then I began to see him in my story! I don't understand everything we go through in this life but it has never changed one thing. The one thing is God is faithful and he will continually be faithful even if I never understand it He won't change! God is still as faithful as He was to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Joseph, Rahab, Gideon, Samson, David, Solomon, Daniel, Isaiah, John the Baptist and to his son Jesus and to the disciples and most of all US! God never changes. If you have a view of a God who never cared, seemed unfair, and lacks love that isn't him. If you tell me he never did this, he never did that, he never promised to be a genie in a bottle or santa claus. God however promised to love you through all the things no one else will. To be the best friend you never had. Stick closer then a brother, to love deeper then any friend. To provide for you because he is your Father who loves you and all you need to know is that he wants to write your story to as long as you let go of all the fear of how it should happen. He wants to write a story that confounds the wise but shows himself faithful every time!

In saying all of that I know God has me on quite the journey. So stay very close for in the next few days more is to be discovered of what that looks like. :)

Always
Kateland :)


P.S. This is part 1 so there will be a part two this week! I know I am getting crazy but I am just letting you all know.

2013... Survived the Apocalypse... Again!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!


Welcome to 2013 where by now you have survived at least 3 Apocalypses. The first being Y2K, the second the calculated 2011 predictions, the third and most recent Mayan prediction of 2012. I know who would of thought we would of made it to this year. I am was pretty sure at young age that I would of been raptured by now but am so glad I haven't been. I know that you thought I might of been because of my lack of staying up on this but the last few months have been different with a lot of transition. It is exciting transition and I am enjoying it all but I have recently been on a journey with God that I wasn't expecting.

After leading a team to Japan, going back home to Alaska for a bit and then out to Kansas City, where I did the Circuit Riders school, I went back to Kona, HI. There I was preparing to actually move out to Pasadena, California I know it is a shock! You maybe saying, why did this girl move out there? I thought you were doing DTS's all your life. hahahaha... Well, God has a funny things about journeys and he is always will to take you on them if you are wanting to go. So after being asked by my dear friend Amy Sollars to come out to Pasadena, I simply asked God if I was to go and with an unshakeable, undeniable YES, I went and am now here.  You maybe asking, What?, Where?, When?, and Why?. All of those question valuable and to answer them all specifically would take lots of time so I will try and hit the basic points. Why, well because I felt like God said go. When did I decided, well in June but I didn't know of all the particulars so in faith I said, yes and waited. Where, well that one is kind of obvious Pasadena. What are you doing?, well a combination of things. We (there is seven of us five girls and two guys) are here to serve and to listen to what God wants to do in this area. We are working with several groups of people in this areas. So we are here because we felt like God said Go and see what I will do. I know it sounds crazy and maybe it is. Its not what I am use to but I love that about it. Its stretching, unsure at times but I really do feel God in it. Our house in Pasadena have a motto we say and live by, Simple Obedience Changes History. I am here because I feel like God is going to do some thing in this area and he wanted me to be apart of it.

In thinking of these past few months from the journey after Circuit Riders where I spent about four months in Kona, HI and then coming out to Pasadena, CA in November. I have been realizing something really significant. Its this. God is more committed to you as a person then he is about the mission of doing everything. I realize he wants us to be so secure in who he is and who he created us to be more then anything. He began to show me this in Kona and thinking it was a concept I was grasping He, at the perfect moment brought me to Pasadena. Where he had took me from all my securities to show me even more that He wants me to know more then anything in this world is He is my security. We tend to get comfortable in the securities of this world, that could be people, money and fmaily and really you just can't be secure in it because it could all change but onething I have really been meditating on is the Steadfast love God. That means he is never changing and in the end means you can lean into him and not worry because tomorrow even if the world economy falls, anarchy rises up that God will not change. He will not change in the way he thinks about me, he will not change in the things that he has told me I will do, he will not change just in general. Even now that thought is blowing my mind. Do we truly realize that. He is STEADFAST. I could be saving the masses or talking to one person but unless I know Him, know who He made me to be it means nothing. My security is flat. I am only secure in my acts. I feel like the cry is to know him. You could everything but not know him and not love and you will have nothing. I want to know him and I want to love like him. I want to share his love and I want people to genuinely encounter him. Not just accept him because they fear Hell but because they want to feel accepted, know their purpose and to feel a love that never changes.

At the end of the day I want to be transformed by love and see others changed by this radical love.

If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:1-8


Let this be what transforms us everyday. He loves us and so let us love others with a love that could change their lives. 

Always kateland   

Late but Good!

Hey everyone!!

Hahahahah.... I just saw that i have been absolutely horrible about keeping up with everyone and I am so sorry. I have no excuse but am glad to say I AM BACK!!!

I am so glad to say that. So what have I been doing you maybe asking, let me tell you. I arrived back to Kona June 4th, after being the great nation of Japan, and was in Kona for about three weeks. Then bought a ticket back home to go and visit the amazing fam. I was with them for a little over a month. It was absolutely lovely and a total blessing to me to be able to just relax and spend time with them it had been awhile. We were able to spend our traditional July 4th in Seward, AK which was wonderful. To my enjoyment it was the second coldest July on record in Alaska so while everyone was enjoy the heatwave of the lower 48, I was enjoy the blaming 55 degrees in Alaska. I laughed so hard because I was so not use to being that cold and was wearing wool socks all the time. (Thanks mom for sharing my suntanned feet really needed them.) It was great just being able to spend that month with them and while I was home I got to see so many people that I didn't expect and that was such a treat I felt a true gift from God. I was also able to spend sometime just being back at my home church Northgate and with the youth there which is such a treat as always. I was able to speak to them one Wednesday night and it is such a blessing to see the next generation being raised up.

Really, I will just say this it was so special to spend that month with Candice, Caleb and Adrianna and my parents. I love them so much and when you aren't always around them you realize what a blessing it really is to have family that always will love you no matter where you are. I am beyond blessed by God that I have them and that they support and encourage all that I am doing. God has really meant families to be that way I always feel. He never meant them to rise against one another but to love. I had a revelatioin about family last summer and it was that there is no greater bond then family but it was the number one thing the enemy wanted to destroy because they really do know how to love past all. Think about it why do you think there is so much against families and why they don't stay close maybe its because God created it to be the safest place and the number one support group but the enemy only wants to see it destroyed, broken, and hate one another. Just some thoughts.

After going to Alaska I headed out with my great big sis Candice to Kansas City, MO. Where we would go to the two week school called the School of the Circuit Riders. We were also so blessed to be able to stay with some amazing friend Faith and Brayn Beaven. Just shout out to you guys one of the best stays of my life!! Candice and I had a blast with you and will never forget it! hahaha... :)  We were put in intensive training of being set free and then going out to seek the lost and let them know of the best news they could ever know. Jesus Christ loves them and he wants them to turn and know him. Its the simple gospel. So we got trained up and then would be sent out to do the stuff. We saw 248 salvation's and 155 healings in KC, MO in only two weeks. Candice and I got our lives transformed and just feel more in love with Jesus and got toally excited about what was going to be happening next on the earth. There is a great stirring and this time I feel like it is very different then before. I feel like this generation is looking for one movement but a continual one of Jesus Christ receieving the rewards of his suffering. That we would stand in an urgency that people must know who this great man Jesus Christ is and why he wants to  know everyone. He isn't a selfish God who only cares about himself he is the God who loves everyone and wants them to be set free from the sin of this world. There is another wave coming and it looks very different from before. It may at times look like something you have seen but lets not box it in so we can keep it because we go from Glory to Glory and we just let God do what he wants to do on the earth.

I think it would be good to say my life got radically changed again and I am so excited for everything that is happening in life. God is coming and he is going receive all that his heart desires. We will go to the hardest and darkest Nations to make Jesus Christ name known. We will go to Coorprate America, to the streets, to the homes of many and to the body of Christ. We don't see as anyone out of reach or unneed ALL MUST KNOW HIM!! We are the generation crying out for something more. We are going to see Jesus Christ recieve his reward and if not in our day at least we lived with the urgency that we helped usher in the return of Jesus Christ. See it doesn't matter what we get in return we just love Jesus and we want to love him and love his people. Its all for him.

I end with this: Psalms 24:6 "Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the fave of the God of Jacob."

Back Again

EVERYONE HELLO!!!!

 My goodness where do I even start. First off I would love to thank everyone who supported me in this time! Either in prayer or finacially or both it all meant the world to me and I could feel a real grace and blessing to do it all and I know it was because of the support.  My prayer is that the Lord richly blesses you just as you have richly blessed me. Onething to know before I begin to share about my time is Jesus is receiving the rewards in the Nations. There is the movement awakening in peoples hearts and know that these stories I am sharing with are testimonies of what God did and are yours to share as well.


Well, On March 28th I board on a plane in Kona, Hawaii bound for Tokyo, Japan. With 8 other radical lovers of Jesus we did not exactly what to expect or what we would see in this Nation. We were going with this one heart that we would spread the Joy of God through out the Nation of Japan. So with John 15:11-13 (These things I have spoke to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy maybe full. "This commandments that you love on another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one that this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.") as our anchor we would set out with just that. Our joy would be made full in Jesus, that we would love Jesus and one another fully and that we would lay down our lives for one another daily to see the kingdom of God brought to Japan.

Our journey began with heading directly up to the Tohoku prefecture of Japan. This is the area where the Tsunami hit last March. So not knowing what we would see only knowing where we were going and what we  would do our team went with the happiest hearts to go and help the Japanese. We would join the organization Samaritan's Purse who had been there from the beginning to help rebuild homes. Our job was to mud out the houses which, was pretty much demoing the house. We did everything from demolishing walls, pulling up floors, to literally shoveling out dirt. It was amazing! My team always went in with the a joy that only could be given by God. However you can't go through this area with out being totally blown away by the amounts of devastation that is still so noticeable. As we drove to our first house all you see are cars stacked up along the side of the road and no one has come to move them. We were told that in Japan the owner of the car has to come and claim it to be moved. This means the majority of those cars have not been claimed because they belonged to someone who died in the tsunami.  As you drive along  you begin to see some homes that were completely demolished and others that still are standing right next to it or a house standing alone in an area in which you can tell that there once were homes that stood next to it. All through out this time you are just silenced by this very surreal moment. As you meet people your heart is broken even more by how much they have actually suffered and everyone has a different lose, a different story, and a different pain from that day. All you want is to hold them and let them cry and share with them the hope you carry that Jesus has given you.

One of the greatest stories that my team came away with from being up in Tohoku is about this wonderful girl we met up there, her name is Saki. She is a beautiful, 19 year old Japanese girl whose home we actually worked on. This was an unusual meeting because most of the time the families are never home when a team comes to work on a home and to meet a 19 year old their is even a bigger shock because that age they are generally working or in college. My team however got all of that and we were so excited because we knew God was up to something if this never happens. We were told this by our crew leader. She spoke a little English but what we quickly realized is that she just loved being with us and as we just started to love on her she would try to speak with us a little bit more. Our team just made it a real point to talk with her and to love on her. So we had planned to go out to sushi where Saki worked one day and that day she came home early from school because she had the flu with a fever. In tears she looked at us and said she was unable to go out at all that night or week and at that moment we reached our hands out and prayed in the Name of JESUS BE HEALED! Later that night she wrote Shelley on my team and told her her fever had broke that afternoon and that she was better! COME ON JESUS!!! We loved her so much and even though communication was hard at times it didn't seem to stop her from receiving the love of Jesus or knowing that there was something different about us. She isn't saved yet because she believes it is her responsibility to continually pray for her grandmother who was lost in the tsunami to be in a better place. However, I do know that Saki encountered Jesus along with her mother and our team still continues to pray for them and contend for their salvation. This was just our first three weeks and there were many other things that did happen.

When we left the Tohuku area we headed down to Tokyo. Where we weren't entirely sure what to do except to love on the people of Japan, and help out the YWAM base there. Because of the hearts of many on our team we did see 8 salvation's in the course of our 6 weeks in Tokyo. Some may that's not very many but its not about the number or the lack of trying or anything really. Let's be honest we all know that Salvation is freedom of choice and you can choose him or not. Its all about encountering the love of Jesus and knowing that He loves you and died for you. We never had a translator either in these times which goes to show that the Gospel is quite simple and that if you carry the love of Jesus in your heart he does all the rest. We look at these eight people as the beginning fruit of the great harvest Japan will see. We just saw just a little bit of what is to come. Praise JESUS you are worthy of it all.

One of my favorite stories of the Salvation's comes from a wonderful girl on my team name Miriam. She was out on the streets and as she is roaming the streets of Tokyo she just began to get a desire to see someone get saved. So she asked the Lord for a picture of what to do next and at the moment she saw a girl with pigtails and bangs. Now in Japan that is a common description of a young girl. She had been looking for this girl and didn't see one of them. Until they were heading home and there she was all of a sudden the pigtails girl. A little reluctant at first, Miriam finally started walking after this girl (who was walking very fast) to talk with her. As she caught up to her they began to talk a little bit Miriam just laid out the simplicity of the Gospel and at the end asked this girl if she wanted to know Jesus and the girl said yes! Now I just have to add this side note that this girl she was talking to didn't know very much English and Miriam didn't know any Japanese. So Miriam leads her in the prayer and the girl was like He is now inside of me and Miriam was like YES! The girl she said smiled and was so happy and Miriam told her to get a Bible and the girl was like okay. It was so genuine and this is just one of the eight stories we have.

God did so much in that Nation and I have to say for myself however the greatest reward was walking with all the people on my team. They all taught me something unique and without them my life would not be where it is now. They had so much grace for me as a leader and loved me unconditionally. It was worth every moment spending time with them and pouring into them. Watching them being transformed by the love of Jesus was such an honor. I remember telling God one day that if they were the only reason I came to Japan was to see them just fall more in love with him it was worth it. It had nothing with what I did it had to do all with how much God loved them in every situation and ever place in life. They each came away with their own stories. They each came away with their own experiences. They came away with a true encounter of who God is.

I end with this that God is living and moving today. He is real! SO REAL! If you need anything cry out to him and he will answer. If you want to know Him invite him in. If you want hope again God gives hope and if you simply want to know what you are living your life for just ask God because he does speak today. We can't complicate this because God made it simple. The gospel was never meant to be hard to understand it was meant to be understood by all people. God is real and I know this because I saw Him be who he said he was Faith and True. He provided for me time and time again and was always faithful to answer the cries of my heart whether big or small He knew and answered. No don't treat him like Santa or a magic eight ball because he is neither of those he is a God who loves and cares for us children he is always just waiting for us to let go of all the lies and pains we carry and receive Him, pure love and acceptance.

HE LOVES YOU!

So this is just a little bit of all I saw and did. It was a blessing beyond words. I loved every moment that God had me in. Even in the hard ones I look back and only see his Faithfulness. If you want to know more let me know. I would love to tell you. You can email me at katelandhilty@gmail.com. If you want to be on my mailing list let me know. I love to letting people know what is going on. I love you all.

Kateland :)