Almost there!!!

Hey hey America! :)

I found out last night that I leave for outreach on March 30th. That's in 16 days! I'm freaking out over here. There is SO much to do and learn before outreach...including raising around $1900 more dollars for myself. And that's to be done by TOMORROW. So this is my urgent blog post to ask for finances.

I would write another long post telling you ALL about Bangladesh and London and the work that we are going to be doing there, but honestly, I don't think people really have the time to read that so I'm not going to (and there is one pasted right below here). Just know this: I KNOW that God has called me to these places and that He wants me to go and therefore he has called me to once again ask for finances. This past weekend I saw him bring in $2200 which is just AMAZING. I know He can bring in this last $1900 by today and tomorrow.

Pasted below is the link where you can give.

https://www.ywamperth.org.au/007/payonline.asp

some detail for you:

((under Money Details))

Step 1: Donation / Gift

Step 2: A Student

Select School: Discipleship Training School - Young Peoples

Who is it for? Someone else

then write my name Ashley Malcolm in the box

If you would like to give in another way PLEASE let me know how much you will be giving and when so that I can tell the accounts office here and then can add it into my total.

Thanks to all back home who have given and are praying. My love to you all!

OUTREACH. What.

I think I've only ever heard of the country Bangladesh once or twice in my whole life. I didn't even have any idea where it was until last Monday morning. But in 6 short weeks that's where I'll be heading for a whole month: Bangladesh, one of the most densely populated countries, surrounded by all things Indian.

Deciding to go to Bangladesh was all God. When it came to thinking about outreach everything in me was hoping that a team would go to Africa and when I saw that we wouldn't be going I was devastated. Ever since I can remember I've wanted to go to two places more than anything else: Africa and London. Being able to go to London for 7 weeks is going to be such an amazing experience and I was so hoping I'd be able to kill two birds with one stone (in a sense) and go to Africa on the same trip, but God had other plans. To be completely honest I didn't really want to go to any of the countries given as outreach locations (Cambodia, Nepal, the Philippines, and Bangladesh). It wasn't that I didn't think going there wouldn't be a good experience, but I just didn't feel like I have ever had a heart for those countries.

But not more than 12 hours later I couldn't get Bangladesh out of my mind. I knew straight off that I wasn't called to Nepal or Cambodia, and so it was between Bangladesh and the Philippines, and for some reason Bangladesh kept being engrained into my mind. I hadn't slept through the night for about a week (I'd wake up about 15 times a night), but every time I woke up I saw the word Bangladesh. I just couldn't shake the country from my mind. We had to hand in our paper that said which country we felt called to on Thursday morning and by Wednesday night I still wasn't 100% sure I was supposed to go to Bangladesh. However, every time I thought of Bangladesh I thought of two words: "high places." That Thursday morning as I was reading my devotional during my quiet time I came across a verse that said "come up to the high places" and later on something that said "you have been called to the high places." God was obviously making it clear that I was supposed to go to Bangladesh. And what I love is that it was completely him that decided where I should go. I prayed and asked that he would clearly speak to me and he did! God is faithful.

I'm stoked to go to Bangladesh. My team has 17 students and 4 staff on it, including our awesome leader Quenton and my good friend Ashlee. Because our team is larger we'll actually be splitting up into two groups during the day in Bangladesh to cover more and different work, but we'll all convene again at night to be together I believe. Im not sure what type of work we'll be doing exactly but I know it is going to be awesome.

Please join me in praying for my team as we start to prepare for ministry in Bangladesh. It is sure to be a fruitful and amazing time. SO EXCITED!

((also, I'll be sending out an email about fundraising for this trip today or tomorrow))

Week Seven.

Yup. It's almost been 7 weeks since I moved half way around the world. Somedays I just can't believe it. Life just gets so incredibly busy that half the time I feel like I'm still in Maryland, it's just 75 degrees warmer and the oceans are ACTUALLY blue. But I really do love it here and part of me would really love to stay here in this environment forever.

YWAM is changing my life. Wait. Rephrase. GOD is changing my life through the context of YWAM and it's super cool to see. Sitting under hardcore, bible based teaching every single day now has literally rocked my world. Things I didn't even know I struggled with have been and are being revealed and walls that I had placed around myself to cover up my sin have been completely broken. I'm a new person, with a softer heart and a more open mind. God is so good and SO faithful.

It hasn't been a walk in the park, though. There have been sleepless nights and tearful afternoons. This past week we learned about LORDSHIP. Oh my goodness. Ha. I'm such a prideful person, I realized! As our speaker was talking, slowly I could see the areas where God was not King in my life. One quote from the week that really stood out to me was this, "God does not want to share the throne of your heart with anyone. He wants it completely and all the time." That really hit home for me. There are so many areas of my life where I'm sitting on a little corner of my throne. It's super cool to see how God is changing me. I wish every person could come do a DTS cause I'm convinced no one ever is the same after these six months. It's truly life changing.

Now onto some everyday life catching up. It's just getting busier here. We just finished the brand new, three story base that has been in the works for the past 12 months. It's absolutely huge and holds the kitchen, cafe, eating area, staff housing, offices, conference rooms, auditorium and more. The faithfulness of God in completing this building is quite astounding! Our other building is almost finished and so we'll be moving into that very soon. We're kind of excited seeing as how fitting 60 people in one smmaalll classroom is not only uncomfortable but very hot. Your lucky if you can catch an air conditioning seat. You're literally RIGHT in front of the air con. It's like the arctic.

But it's been so good. The people here on my team are seriously some of my favorite people in the world, and are definitely becoming my best friends. I absolutely love doing everything with them. I'm so excited to have 4 more months with them and I can't even IMAGINE what it's gonna be like when this six months is over. But we're not gonna talk about that!

Next post, finances!

Much love!!

three glorious weeks.

Well, its true. I have been gone for three weeks now and this is the FIRST time I've posted. Ahh horrible person I am. BUT the internet where I live is extremely finicky and seriously every time I sit down to write a blog post the internet goes out. I have NO idea what is up with that. So anyways I'm sitting here at my favorite coffee shop, Gloria Jean's happily updating you all with my life in Australia!

I arrived in Aussie on January 5th around 4pm and was greeted by two team leaders, Bronte and Rachel and a fellow teammate, Nathan. I was also greeted with 91 degree weather. Sweat fest ensued rather quickly. My flights to Perth were rather uneventful and LONG, but good. From the time I woke up on Monday in Maryland to the time I went to sleep for the first time on Wednesday night in Perth at 12am was a total of 85 hours. Yeah, THAT happened. And I woke up that next morning at 530am. All-nighter, my foot!

For the first 4 days in Perth we (as in the 7 early arrivers) had nothing actually planned so we had long days of watching movies, exploring the city at night, going to the beach, and taking spontaneous naps (as in you're sitting on the sofa and all of a sudden you realize 5 hours have gone by, you have a crick in your neck, and you can't remember where you are. love those naps!), and welcoming new students! By the time Orientation monday came around and 50 new students had rolled in, those who had gotten to Aussie early were super ready for a schedule. And so began the first week of YP! The first two days were Orientation and then wednesday-friday kicked off with lectures on Hearing God's Voice taught by our school leader, Quenton. Good stuff, hey! (oh also, I live with a bunch of Canadians and Australians. Pardon the random outbursts of canadian and aussie talk lol).

The first week was pretty chill and we had a lot of time to hang out and still do a bunch of fun stuff. However, then came week two which is basically when REAL YP starts. (By the way, YP stand for Young Peoples, the name of my school.) Here's what a typical day looks like: Wake up in the morning at 545am and walk across the street the the Oval (an oval shaped park. hence the name) for morning exercises which either consists of a stretch session, ultimate frisbee, or running. I usually go for the ultimate frisbee. After 30 minutes of that, it's back to 228 (girls house) for either breakfast or sleeping more. Then it's time for a shower at 7:00, then quiet time and then morning chores starts at 8. Morning chores is just that, chores in the morning. I clean 228 with about 25 other people (it's not THAT big so we get done super quick!), while others clean either 15 Gladstone (boys house) or 12 Gladstone (classroom building). After that, if it's a monday, wednesday, or friday, we have either group worship as a whole base (as in everyone here doing anything with YWAM in Perth) or just as a school. Let me pause here and say that worship here is NOTHING like I've ever experienced before. I've never been around a group of people more on fire for the Lord than the people here. Seriously, one of the most amazing things to be apart of. I love it SO much! God's presence is truly felt all the time!

Anyways, after worship its to the class room for either 4 or 2 hours of teaching. Big prayer request here! Although the content of the lectures is superb, I'm having quite a hard time staying awake! Pray that God gives me energy! After lectures end at 12:30-45, I usually head across the street to the boys house to eat or read or just chill with them, sometimes I'll even curl up in a chair and sleep. Now, here is something you must understand, there is no air conditioning in the boys house and we live in Australia and its DEAD in the MIDDLE of SUMMER. It is miserably hot most of the time. And by miserably hot, I mean 42 degrees Celsius. that's 104 degrees Fahrenheit. YEAH. HOT. So the only way its possibly to fall asleep curled up in a chair in the boys house is if you are absolutely EXHAUSTED. And that would be me. Dead. Tired. almost all the time. And when you wake up you're completely soaked in sweat. Yay.

But anyways, at 3:30 I walk about 5 seconds down the hallway of the boys house into the nice air conditioned registration office where I have work duties for 2 hours. (Side note: I work with the BEST ladies EVER! I love them so much!) After that its off to dinner with my cluster: a group of about 20 people who all eat together every night. Two families are staff here with YWAM and then about 10 of us are YP students with 2 leaders. Love having dinner with these people!

And thats basically what a day looks like! Some nights we have free after dinner, and some times we have class or evangelism.

I've gotta catch the bus back to base for work duties, but hopefully later this week I'll put up morning stories about what God is doing here, who I have met and come to love, and just daily life.

Miss you all back home!

Hi there.

Thus says the Lord,
"Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls."
_jeremiah 6:16.


i'm no one really special. just another girl.
the story of my life is still being written, and not by me.
Jesus Christ is writing my story, and thats just how it should be.
for what He writes is best, i'm finding out.
through trials and troubles He's been steadfast.
and no matter what tomorrow brings, He ever will be.

my life is made all the richer by...

_the perfectness of Jesus. and His glorious gospel.
no longer must i fear death. He conquered it. and sin. forever. hallelujah.

_the sweetness and ever steadiness of the truth in the Bible.
His Word and Holy Spirit are my guides in this dark world.
The truths in that book lighten my soul and give me hope.

_the 5 people who call me sister and daughter.
my gratefulness for them is to the moon and back.
and though I am away from them at the moment, they are forever in my heart.

_the dear people i am blessed to call friends.
so many have come along side me in dark days,
encouraged me, strengthened me, and challenged me.
i am all the more richer because of their love.

_Charles Spurgeon and the words God put in his mouth and
led him to document for us to read years later. His insights
have encouraged me more than a 1000 times.

_the gift of singing. song is what i go to so often
to cheer my soul. the lyrics of christian songs that sing of my
Savior are an amazing comfort.

_the team of people I currently live with. I don't think this group of amazing people will ever
understand how much I love and need them. They have become best friends.

and there you have it. now you know me.
well some things about me.
and as the days and weeks go by,
you'll get to know me better.
you'll get to see into my life
as i seek to stand by the roads.