Hello everyone!
This week I started work again, we are in DTS staff training. Yesterday Breanna and I had ministry evangelism together. As we were walking down on Market we pasted by a flower stand with beautiful sunflowers. We thought how wonderful would that be to bless someone with a sunflower. We bought one and walked down to the piers. We saw a lady sitting by herself on a bench and felt like God wanted me to talk with her... just so happened shes visiting from Milan , Italy and I just came from there!!! We talked a bit and took our blessing but because she was touring San Francisco all day didn't accept the flower. So we had to find another person to bless! we came across another lady who was from Canada and Breanna talked with her, just so happened Breanna just came from Canada! God works in so many ways. They both were so excited that god had told us to bless someone with a flower and with only ONE flower we were able to bless two people (:
God's so cool like that!

Overseas DTS outreach and such...

Hello all,

I am in Gilroy right now visiting my wonderful friends and family! I cant believe its July already. This year has flown by so fast, maybe that has something to do with being overseas for two of those months but just as well it’s already been two years last month that I committed to YWAM. I know most of you know but I will be signing up for another two year commitment. I will be sending each one of my lovely supporters a nice letter so be looking for that in the mail (:

I bet most of you want to hear about my time over seas and how staffing this DTS went….lets just say God really grew me and I have learned so much.

One huge thing that I am so proud to share is that I really came to realized that God is my beloved and even if I fail or mess up He is never going to love me any less and I only grow in the hard times. Before I started DTS ( not trying to sound pompous) I was always good at what I did and I did my “jobs” well: AWANA, In N Out Burger,Mission Adventures and so on, but always learning new things. Going into DTS was a lot harder; you help disciple students and point them in Gods direction. But when things get hard, and you have 19 students that aren't all at the same stages of growth, you might blame yourself or even think that you failed at times… Well, I know this is simple, but Jesus will always love you and He is there holding you up. And where some things that I wasn’t always good at may have crushed me before, but I really accepted that doing a good job isn't where my value is- it's in Jesus. Now that I have realized that, even when something isn't always perfect, I know that I have to put my value in Jesus and not always being perfect, because I will fail, but Jesus won't let that crush who I am. :)

Wow…. now that I shared just a snip-it of what I learned, I’ll share with you what our team did in Turkey and Italy!

We left for Istanbul, Turkey in the beginning of April. Half the team stayed in Altintepe and half in Kadikoy, which is about a 45 minutes drive in a blue bus. We did a lot of things separate from each other (our two groups) that just worked out better for transportation costs. Our team was staying in an apartment that our local missionary's there supplied for us. In Turkey, the people are very quiet, and most of them are Muslim, so about seven times a day the ‘call to prayer’ would go off. In every neighborhood throughout Turkey there were Mosques that played the‘call to prayer’ and it would last about five minutes or so. So we had to be extra quiet in the apartment we stayed at, and even on the streets and buses when the ‘ call to prayer’ would sound. We did a lot of English teachings,random park ministry and visited the gypsies, café and university ministry's where we met a lot of people and built wonderful friendships with people working there and studying. But most of our time was spent doing a city prayer walk over all of Istanbul!!! We really wanted to walk all through Istanbul proclaiming Jesus' city back, and we did! It took us about 3 weeks , 8 hours a day sometimes, but man was it worth it. We ended on one of the Island mountains and worshiped and sang for Jesus, which was amazing because you can't mention God, Jesus or anything like that. We also got the opportunity on Easter to climb that same hill and help pass out tracks and Bibles in Turkish. You can only do this once a year, and that day is very huge for all Turkish people. So many Turks come from all over to go to the island and pray to the gods and get luck for things. They take thread and walk up the hill and how far you go before it runs out is how much luck they get. We were so blessed to be a part of this special time that only happens once a year and the missionary's there plan for all year long. We handed out so many Bibles and some people were able to talk to the local missionary's there and ask questions about Jesus and such. It was a wonderful month in Turkey and God did some amazing things there.

*Going up the hill to handout tracks and there’s so much thread everywhere.

Rome and Milan, Italy!

Here are some FUN pictures. Colliseum, Gelato, Travi of love fountain and the lie telling mouth!…Just some famous things of Roma that I wanted to share first!

Roma was amazing, so many beautiful, artistic buildings and statues. I could have stayed there for the whole month. (: Everywhere we went was beautiful, so I felt like a tourist, but we did a lot of prayer mapping, walking around all of Rome and writing down what the certain areas were about and what churches we saw and things like that. We also Prayer walked and did a lot of piazza ministries, and the guys got to do stuff with the refugees. The piazza ministries were my favorite. They are all so beautiful and I made a lot of friendships with the guys selling things. One man that my group and I made friends with makes necklaces from peoples names out of wire. At our last day he made me one (: I love it! We had pizza every day for lunch and our team took turns cooking different kinds of pasta for dinner.

*At the piazza where we did our ministry at.

* My cowboy and necklace friend !

MILAN!!!! We actually stayed in this little town next to Milan.

We took a train to Milan and only half the team went and the other half went to Aquaveva. We slept in a tent outside behind the church and was greeted with the friendliest bunch of Italians ever! People from the church took us to their homes to take showers and they cooked for us. It was amazing- REAL Italian food! A team from Australia and a crazy bunch of Brazilians were there to help with this 5 day event. We started out with 24 hour prayer and fast. We took teams out and prayed for the whole town, walking up and down each street praying all hours of the night for each home. Then the next day we started knocking on doors, inviting them to the concerts and events that night that we were having at different piazzas and at the church. It was an amazing 5 day event! They really know how to celebrate 30 years at that church!!!! That was only the first five days there... the rest of the time we took trips into Milan and prayer walked and talked to people in the Piazzas. We also spent a lot of time getting to know the youth of the church. We were the first team that really connected with them, and when it was time to leave, it really was hard for all of us to say good bye! I wouldn’t mind sleeping on folding lawn chairs or going days without a shower again just to visit and reconnect with all our Italian friends some day! It was a wonderful blessing to be welcomed by the church, and because of our stay, they are looking into hosting more YWAMer's there in the future, and investing in a better place for the teams to take showers and sleep, but I didn’t mind so much!!! (:

after a long day (:

We returned to the US at the beginning on June and spent another month on outreach here in San Francisco. We stayed at the Hunter's Point House and had different ministries throughout the city. We really made a lot of friendships through our ‘park ministries, and got to try out new ways to connect better with the different types of people living in the city! The students graduated last Thursday and even though it was sad to say our goodbyes, I really am excited to see what they do next. For the students, DTS isn't the end, but just a stepping stone- the beginning of what God wants them to do. It was my first Discipleship Training School that I helped to lead, and I really learned a lot myself. God is so good. Right before I left for my outreach, Laura (my YWAM roommate) and I moved into our own apartment in the Tenderloin area, just a couple of blocks from the base, and I am looking forward to setting up and spending some time there during my time off before beginning my ministry again!

Thank you for helping me be a part of discipling these young men and woman who are choosing to go out and follow what God has in store for them. It really was an amazing 6 months and God did AWESOME stuff. Of course I couldn’t write all of what happened while we were overseas, so if you have questions or want to hear more, I will have a little more free time for a couple of weeks, as we have a few ‘staff recovery’ weeks. (: Funny!!!

Okay have a wonderful summer, and if you are ever in San Francisco, please give me a call, I'd love to see you and show you around the base and introduce you to some of the wonderful people I work with and serve!

Love, Carrianne

Just some Turkey pictures to get us started (:

Famous mosque in Istanbul, Turkey!

Some wonderful Turkish ladies we met and had tea with

Mina and myself at the famous bull in Kadikoy

The DTS staff enjoying some good dessert at one of the many staff meetings

The team worshiping on the island hill after our Istanbul city prayer walk

I'm back in San Francisco!

I just spent the last two months in Istanbul, Turkey and Italy, Rome&Milan! They were both amazing in their own ways. I am still on outreach here. Theres a couple groups doing ministry and my group is doing all sorts of crazy stuff. We have only done one day so far but I am still very busy and living at the YWAM house in Hunters point.

I would love to write all about the outreach overseas, so when I have about five days to process and write about two months worth of GOD stuff I will get right back on here to update you all!!!!!

Love you all and I'm so glad to be back. (:

Hello Family, Can you believe our Winter DTS is on our 7th week.??? I cant, and I'm working the school.(:

Well we leave in less then a month for Rome and Turkey, wow!! I will be over seas from April 6th-June 11th and then we have a month of San Francisco outreach in the city, we are looking into all 23 ( this doesn't count Jason and Justine and the new born babe) of us living in Bay view, Hunters point which will be really nice to have the team together under one roof after being over seas.

This school hasn't been easy, I didn't know that I was pretty much doing another DTS!!! Who knew God was going to bring up so much in my life as well as the students!!! It's been so awesome but also hard . I have four girls that each week I do One on One's with and a small group , along with class time and staff meetings! It's sometimes hard manging my time. But God is showing me allot through all of this. I think our hardest week as a team was Dow's week on "hearing God's voice" This week is so powerful for the students because they learn how to hear God's voice and the enemy I guess doesn't like that very much- that week we had 2 students in the hospital, a uncle die, 2 grandparents get diagnosed with cancer and my daddy have two heart attacks. But the enemy didn't win, we learned so much more that week and it was so amazing to see everyone come together in times of prayer and intercession with Jesus!! The next week was learning about Spiritual warfare...go figure!!! (: Last week Jerry came and taught on forgiveness, forgiving others and forgiving yourself. Almost all the students went up in front of everyone and confessed sins to Jesus and Forgave people ... doing this in front of 3 or more , let alone the whole class was very hard but I am very proud of everyone who stood before the Lord to do these things. We all felt so much better after that and so much lighter, Jesus really does forgive us and He loves us that much!!!! AND that is why peter came this week to talk about the CROSS!!!! How powerful this subject is. He just finished his book that he's been threatening to publish for years now. It's a book about his fathers story and .... well its just such a wonderful book. I think everyone needs to hear this story and so I am putting his website on here in case you wanna check it out!!! http://www.outofthefarcorners.com/

God is so good!!! I cant stop thanking Him for everything he does!!! (:

Prayer requests:

Looking for a new apartment, same rent or cheaper!!! YWAM encourages us to move off base so there is plenty of room for new staff! Please be praying that Laura and I find one in the Tenderloin for a GOOD deal ! (: heheh

Also for Outreach funds!!! (:

God bless!!!

Carrianne

January 20 2011

Hello dear friends!
I am SO excited for DTS to start! Can you believe all my 19 students come this Monday???!!
It's going to be such a good time, not just for the students to grow but for me as well! (: I cant wait! They will be here for 3 1/2 months during our lecture phase, where speakers from all over the world teach on different subjects.2 months over seas , where our focus for winter school is Turkey and Rome and then when we return one last month of outreach in our home sweet home of San Francisco! Yesterday we prayed over the 12 girls to see who of our 4 girl staff would take on in the small group times. We all prayed and re-prayed and finally picked our ' small group' girls. I have 4 lovely girls that I will have in my small groups which means every week ( besides class time and ministry time) I will have a special time set aside for each girl, we call this our ' one on one's' and hopefully I will be there for them whenever and grow along side them. But I am still looking forward in getting to know our other 15 students as well.

We went to Target and Chinatown to get welcome gifts for all the students! We bought San Francisco mugs filled with candy and a little cute something inside. Color crayons and two color books for each room and lets just say a tub of cheese balls was a wonderful add to the welcome gifts!!! (:

Well lately in the Ellis room (our drop in center) there has been allot less fighting, and Laura thinks that's because they know almost everyone that comes in! Which is wonderful because they are therefore respecting us here. The Ellis room is understaffed which makes it allot harder on them. sadly one of our staff, Adam is leaving for home to work off his debts he has from school. I know the Ellis room will detriment from that.

Our dear friend David who comes into the Ellis room recently committed his life to the Lord. He is in our awesome 360 program and I thought it would be awesome to have him just write a little about how its going and what he's been doing !!!!
Enjoy!
LOVE ALWAYS, Carrianne

"Its been great and hard at the same time I've learned how to love people the way Jesus must have had to because its not easy sitting in a class with each other when your frustrated and angry with most of your class mates. But we are all helping each other when we are at our lowest or dealing with personal challenges by praying for one another" - David S.

January 2011

Happy new year everyone!
I hope you all enjoyed the Holiday season! I know I had a wonderful time!

Christmas eve my parents picked me up (aren't they awesome) and we went to Christmas eve dinner at my aunts house. It was so exciting to see everyone. All the cousins got a cute little basket full of cookies for Christmas! (: I had a great Christmas at my parents house and we enjoyed Christmas dinner at Denny's... don't judge! It was a wonderful Holiday grand slam!(: heheh!

I had a whole week of Christmas vacation spent at home with friends and family! It was really good spending some time with my nephews and getting to know Tyler, he's three and can say my name perfect!

I got to bring in the new year with some friends and make soap ...new years eve soap with my mom...it was really exciting!
Just a heads up my birthday is coming up.....Jan 22, so mark your calenders...I'll be having a post up in a couple of days telling what I would like! HAHAHa Just kidding! The DTS school starts Jan 24Th so that's coming up and I'm so happy! YAY!
<-- This is a peppermint chocolate shake for Christmas! Yummy

Thank you to all my friends and family who helped make my week joyful and fun.

Merry Christmas from Carrianne Barr

Merry Christmas everyone! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Season's greetings!
Very very soon you all will be receiving some Christmas cheer from your local missionary! (:



I was looking through my very cluttered in box and just re-read an email that a lovely young lady wrote to me and my Mission Adventure staff after she spent her spring break here last April! I thought this was such an answer to everything we do here...like the whole goal and reason why I live here and wanted to be a part of Mission Adventures so that our youth would see the need and want to serve our Lord in doing Missions as well.



"Dear Carrieanne (I hope that's how you spell it), Mikel, and Tia;

I wanted to tell you all thank you so much for everything you did for us, that would be Element
Youth group ( I think we were your last group and our youth leaders name was Dustyn), over our
spring break. It was amazing! One of the most impactful weeks of my life and one of the best. At first
I could not understand why God wanted me to go. I mean my boyfriend was not going and it was
spring break and I had a ton to do. But now I know why I was there. Thank you so much! It has
changed my life and made me actually pray and consider becoming a missionary in my uncertain
future. Before spring break I was in my own box, thinking I would just get married and do whatever,
never thinking of outreaching. Isn't that weird? God doesn't just want us sitting around. Which leads
me to tell you guys that God used you to show me that I will do something amazing for Him. I am not
sure what yet though. Anyway I remember in the beginning when we got there and Carrieanne found out I was 18 and offered me to get an application for DTS. The first thought that came to my mind was no way would I do that. I barely am going to get through this week. But after Thursday, I could not believe I thought
that and now I miss you all and serving there so much that I would apply. But I can't because I am
going to be a camp counselor over the summer. So I just wanted to say you guys opened my heart to what my potential is to do to serve and a lot more. And this might sound strange but I was wondering if there was a way I could talk to Carrieanne more because I had a lot to say. so if I could get her email or anything that would be great.I love you guys and miss you"

Every once in a while I stumble across something very encouraging, hope you enjoyed !Thank you &
have a wonderful Christmas!
Carrianne Frances Leigh Barr

Greetings,
I have some fun and exciting news!!! Well after allot of prayer and consideration I have decided to commit another two years to serving the Lord here in San Francisco. This time it will be a little different because I am changing ministry's and will be working with the DTS ( disciple ship training school program) I will be starting a little before my two years would be up ( June) and will be leading the coming up January Winter school! This is such a blessing, I have been praying and felt like God has been saying two things....one was for sure to work with the DTS and the other was to stay another two years, well since I got accepted to jump aboard with the DTS crew I had to commit to at least two schools... that meant God answered both of my questions in one and how excited am I to be able to walk along side the the students and grow with them in this next season! We already have 15 students which is such a blessing in it's self because usually the winter school only has about 5 students signed up.

Thanksgiving is coming up and I am thrilled to spend the day here in the Tenderloin with all my friends and family. It will be my third Thanksgiving here and every year all the staff, DTS students and interns get to invite two guests that don't have a home of their own to spend Thanksgiving with us! Last year we had around 90 people to share this special day with, we are assuming there will be a little more joining this year because our numbers have increased since then. What a blessing (:

Please be praying for me that I will be a good listener and able to grow in my walk with God and be able to learn new things with the DTS. Also that support will grow and not weaken for my next two years.
There's another need that is kinda embarrassing to ask for but my little acer laptop has seen it's better days and I am hoping that God will provide me with an upgrade....yes I am turning to the dark side and want a mac , please pray that God will provide me with one ..maybe for Christmas? (: Love you all
Carrianne Barr