Spring is here in Denver, Colorado. With the unseasonably warm winter spring feels as though it has been here for sometime. As I sit and write this I look out of my balcony at the 16’ of snow that sits below and laugh at how unpredictable the seasons are around here. I feel like in many ways this has been my life.

Just to fill you in. I have been staffing for YWAM Denver up at our Eagle Rock campus for the past few months. I came out on a temporary status before my team leaves again for Bosnia. I have been helping facilitate the two courses running this winter. It has been a great joy to be a part of watching almost 100 men and women between 17-32 have their lives changed and then given the chance to go and change others. This weekend the students leave for the outreach portion of their schools. We have teams leaving for Mexico, Panama, Thailand, and Albania..

During their schools I was in charge of running a weekly outreach to the homeless in Denver. Every Monday we would take 15 students to either Boulder or Denver and spend time talking to, getting to know, and sharing our lives with some of those living on the street in our area. It has been an amazing experience to engage in the community in this way.

                This has been a season of change for me. My coming to Denver was originally a transitional period between my time at home and leaving for Sarajevo. Shortly after coming here our team discovered that our leaders wife has a medical condition that will keep them in the states for at least a year. This of course is very disappointing, but we as a team and myself as an individual believe that we should also stay in the states and return as a team. This changes quite a bit for me. After some consideration I believe I should stay on staff with YWAM Denver. I will be working with the base here in training and outreach. YWAM Denver has a vision to train and send out aid workers into the world. We do this through a beginning training course called a DTS. This is a course where students come and learn about how to do aid work in some of the worlds most difficult areas. We are a faith based group and there is also help in learning about their faith and some of the "whys" for what we do. After their lecture phase is over we send them out to various places of the world where they are involved in meeting physical, emotional, and spiritual needs in very practical ways. Currently we have teams in Thailand, Mexico, and Panama. As a base we send 20 short term teams out a year and have 3 long term teams as an extension of our stateside base.

       My role this quarter in YWAM Denver is working with the multi cultural DTS. I am a small group leader with the school. We basically work as mentors with a few students; talking with them about what their learning, coming along side them, and serving them in any way we can. This is really the heart and soul of what we do and I am excited to be a part of it.

    What’s on the horizon for me... I am heading back to Columbus April 6- 11. During this time I will be meeting with supporters, visiting with my family, and raising support. If you are interested in meeting with me please email me back and let me know that you are interested and what time frame works for you.  If you are interested please email me at humanitarista@mac.com or call me at 614-893-9629 . I will be sending out monthly updates via email if you know someone who is interested in receiving updates please feel free to send me an email and give me their contact info.Please feel free to contact me with any questions, comments, or concerns, Know that you are all in my thoughts and prayers and I hope that God continues to bless you all.

Peace and Joy,

Laurie Granger 

its the small things

i am continually amazed at how this life turned out. i am scared to death half of the time... the half that i am not thoroughly enjoying this ride. but i fear things that i know i really need not to. and that's a challenge. i wonder if that trust thing will always be an issue for me. i think trust would not be as powerful if it wasn't able to overcome fear? i have come to the realization that life is an ongoing lesson in trust. a lesson that i have become more and more aqauinted with

he's making all things new

i can't explain it really, the change 61 days make. i could start with the obvious i guess. a new city. a new job, ect. but it is much more than that really. i cant describe it as accurately as i would like but it is like laurie v 2.0. for starters, i have become a vegetarian , and quite by accident at that. i began with a fast....i was going for a while so i was just on juice and water and then moved back up to vegetables . but then i just kinda decided to stay with that for the most part. sure ill eat your occasional dairy and bread but in all honesty i am quite content with the no meat thing. and it seems to be suiting me well. secondly, i am becoming far more adventurous than the city limits of columbus proper had allowed me to be. i have begun longboarding. it is a blast. let me start by saying this is a stretch for me. i was never a skater, or very athletic, or had an balance, so this is quite a feat for me. now i by no means am very graceful at this. my skinned knee and bruised ankles can attest to that, but thats kinda the fun in it all. another change: my temperament . i wouldn't say that it has changed all that huge as much as it has evolved. i have lived my life as a pretty easy going person, but has taken a different route. one of more integrity and less give a damn. not working a nine to five and wholly relying on the Lord's provision scared the hell out of me at 21, at 25 it is something so out of my hands that it is freeing. either this is going to end with me falling on my face or proving God's hand in my life and either way i will continue to do this. i know this is the right path. that is the truly liberating part. it leaves me with a new outlook on my years ahead. in the mean time i am having the time of my life v2.0. he is making all things new. again.

to do list for the spring/summer:

one month shoe fast

join a community garden

master the art of the slackline 

own and be sweet at longboarding

camping in the rockies

renegade wildfower

silent retreat