September 13, 2011
South Africa part 2

So it has been awhile since I have written a blog. I apologize.  I have been seeking God and the season I am moving in. 

When I got home I didn’t rest much I just started doing ministry. I didn’t want to look lazy, people to judge me and also I didn’t want to just mission overseas but in my own land also.  So I stayed busy.  Well this affected me. Hence I have not written any blogs.  Also affected me in hearing God’s voice.  But God has a great way of reeling us back in.

So I have been talking to God about this blog. What to share; what not to share. Well god has put it on my heart to write a series of blogs about my trip. 

This blog is going to start with South Africa.

Africa was a great challenge for me.  I learned many things.  I also slept a lot, because I was so overwhelmed with the teaching, the growing and the everything.  Sometimes I felt like my brains where laying next to me because so much was going on. 

So I was in South Africa for three months. Each week we learned a topic of God.  Hearing God’s voice, nature and character of God, sin/repentance/forgiveness, authority of the believer/identity in Christ, Holy Spirit, the cost of discipleship, dreams and destiny, strength finder, relationships, father heart of God, calling in missions, redeeming cultures/faith and finances. 

These are the topics we had.

Each week a new teacher (anointed man or women) from somewhere in the world would come and give us one of these lectures.

Each was radical. The teachers would take you deeper and deeper to God’s heart.  They would open your eyes to, who you are. 

The greatest thing I learned in all of my lecture phase is that all God wants from us is a relationship.  In Genesis before the fall of man, Adam had relationship with god.  You see man sin, breaking the relationship with God.  And ever since God has been trying to come back in relationship with man.  Time and time again God tried to have relationship with man and women.  We see this in the book of Hosea. Story of a man that marries a prostitute. He loves her so much; time and time again he rescues her, selfless acts of love for her. And her just keeps walking away from Him. And Him coming to the rescue.  God has a steadfast/unfailing love for his children.  The final bridge was Jesus.  Jesus came and conquered sin, conquered the tempest, and taken back the authority so man and women can have relationship with God. 

We see in the first sacrifice for man was when Adam and eve where hiding behind a bush and God asks where they are. Adam and Eve where hiding because they were ashamed.  Just like you and me feel when we sin.  And Gods love is shown here; let me sacrifice something for you. He kills an animal and clothes them.  Just as 2000 years ago, he says My people need Me.  I am going to give them my son Jesus.  The blood had to be spilled just like in the garden the blood of the animal had to be spilled for us. And the body is what covered our ashamedness, our nakedness.  Just as Jesus body covers our sin. That he as a person lived and conquered and died, his body took the punishment to cover our sins and his blood is what needed to be poured out for our sins.  The final sacrifice for man and women.

Jesus doing all of this so He can bring us back into relationship with God.  Just as the animal brought us out behind the push so Adam and Eve could stand in front of God, without being ashamed of their nakedness. 

This is just a little of what God has taught me.  Just a little. 

Maybe next week I will share about getting robbed…

3:57pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x9UKBk7
July 17, 2011
sorry

I will be posting about my trip in asia soon.  i didnt get much time over there to write. and when i got home i have just been serving in the community.  i love you all. i thank you all for your prayers your support and your dedication to read my blogs.  

12:49am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x7BmXZj
April 11, 2011
testimony on food

before i did dts god changed me, my life and the way i think. but the cool thing about living with god leading is that your constantly changing, who you are to be the person god created you to be.  since dts i have changed even more. praise god. i eat veggies and lots of rice. and it is amazing. i like it better than the good i eat in the states. if your thinking why is he talking about food is because levi dont eat veggies, noe at all.  i have had onions in my food, broccli, califlower, little corns, things i have never seen and peas. never tried any of this in my life.  before dts i went to a chinese restraunt with my bestfriend and his wife and i was so scared to eat everything and i was picking at all of it.  that is because i never ate asian food.  now i eat asian food.  the big deal is god has changed me.  he is still changing me.  god is great.  praise god.  ohhhh! thai food is my favorite food.

9:10am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x4DkrEN
April 9, 2011
God’s Plans

god is good, very good. tonight we wanted to do ministry in the red light district of mai-sae.  we wanted to speak to the girls, pimps, and the guys buyin, we wanted to love them, share the gospel. but god had other plans.

before we got there god told me we will meet someone with a black shirt. i told god that is a vague statement. i was wearing a black shirt. i said god lots of people will be wearing black shirts.

we get there, as a team we decide to walk up the street. then we walk back. we are standing in the middle of an intersection, praying, stratigizing and a truck pulls up with some white guys in it. they looked kinda of shady driving a really nice truck.  they start asking question. we ask them somequestions. next thing you know they used to be ywamers but now are with other ministries.

the driver was wearing a black shirt. so i tell him god said i would meet someone with a black shirt. and he said god told me to bring one of our ministry shirts to give away.  it was black. he said confirmation that god spoke to us.

we didnt get to do what we wanted to do. but we got new contacts and got to pray for the area. praise god.

how do you know god is real? if you cant see him? physically touch him?  because he does stuff like this in my life every day.   praise god.

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March 6, 2011
14-year-old boy

Almost every Thursday I go with a DTS (disciple training school) team from New Zealand to a town ship called “Imfulini,” it is one of the biggest townships in Cape Town.  The New Zealand team has started a soccer league for the kids.  So I go there to play soccer. 

 The first day I was there I made friends with this 14-year-old young boy name “Otty.”  He would translate for me, to communicate to all the other kids.  We also talked about Jesus, school and life in general.  We became friends. 

  Well this Thursday was my last day to be there because the New Zealand team is going back to New Zealand this coming week.  So I went one last time.  I wanted to share so badly with Otty how much God loves him and wanted a relationship with him.  Also how God has big plans for his life.  So I bought him a PowerAde and a chocolate bar.  Also I wrote him a letter, just encouraging him and just telling him how much God loves him.

 Well it all went well, that day we had a big tournament.  Our team took third.  Dotty and I had good conversation and had a good time.  God put on my heart that he will come to America one day to visit me.  Praise god. 

 The reason I tell you all of this is because I was caught up in sharing the truth with Otty.  I became blind to what God might have for Levi.

 Let me tell you a little about Otty.  This kid was respectful, well mannered, loving, caring and loved God.  He is black, shaved head about 5 feet tall, maybe 70lbs, brown bright eyes, with a big smile and he was just bright. 

 So on the ride home God spoke to me.  This is what he said, “Levi, Otty is everything you want to be respectful, well mannered, loving, caring and a love for me.”  He let me bask in that for a moment and then he said, “He has a father that does not love him, he lives in a shack (a house that is like 400to500sqft), eats very little compared to a majority of Americans, he don’t get the toys and materialistic things that you have got growing up, he don’t get a chocolate bar every month and he didn’t choose this life over mine.”  And again God let me bask on that for a moment.  This hurt my heart, hurt it.  Knowing that I Levi Ostlund has got a lot of stuff and always got what he wanted, whether I had to work for it or my parents got it for me.  I had 100 times more than this kid has had in his life.   Still as a Christian I tend to complain for not having this or that, not enough food, not that good of food, I wish I could go here or there, I need a vacation, I need a gaming system, I don’t make enough money, I don’t have a life, I work to much or not enough and on and on.  And still I am not that respectful, I have horrible manners, I am not that loving, not to caring and my love for God is weak. I would like to say, “that I am a little respectful, I am a little well mannered very little, I am a little loving, I am a little caring and I do love god a little.

 The question I had to ask myself is, “why does a kid that has nothing just shine with God and a kid that has everything have to try to shine like God?”   The answer is I was raised in a country where we have to work for everything and everything is not enough.  I have made a choice to live like this, to be greedy, to be selfish, to be independent, to not love the world or my self. Want to hear something funny (laughing at myself for being such and idiot); well I am going to tell you any way.  As selfish and all about me; I don’t even love my self.  As independent as I am and controlling I am; I have no respect for myself.  All this leads me to having to work to be a Christ follower, to shine the light of Christ.  Also this is why sometimes life gets heavy, tired some and burdened. 

 God used a 14-year-old boy with nothing, a 14-year-old boy that I thought I had something to give to. Which I was wrong, this young boy showed me what it looks like to be a Christian and how to be a true Christ follower. 

 The best thing out of this is, a 14 year old boy with mission to be my friend and no other motives for anything else changed my life and I with the motives to change this boy’s life and I really had nothing to offer him.  He changed my life and he doesn’t even know it, he didn’t even try to change my life. 

 I want to thank you God for arranging this meeting with Otty, the 14 year old boy that I would view that don’t have anything but has everything.  Thank you God for changing my life with a 14-year-old boy.  Thank you God for being the God you promise to be.  Thanks God for being my Father and Otty’s Father.

9:45am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x3RKWxK
February 11, 2011
control freak

I am walking down the street, on Wednesday.  I was heading towards a township called Capricorn where we do street ministry. Next to me were a little girl and her mom, the little girl was about 13 and then there was the mom.  The little girl was walking a dog, it was a small dog (black and gold), the dog was a puppy but when it grows up it still will be an ankle biter (small).  I would explain what kind of dog it was but they have a lot of mutts in South Africa. 

Moving forward, this dog was trying and trying to pull this little girl and it was wining so loud and yelping.  Pulling and pulling and yelping and crying. 

 God says “Levi, look its you.  You do this to me.  He goes on saying, you try to control every situation, you try to pull me and pull me and you complain.”

 Then the moms say to me, “I don’t understand this dog, all day in the house, when you hold it never, it never yelps, wines or pulls.  As soon as we put him on the leash he is yelping and pulling, yelping and pulling.”

 God then says, “Levi, when you are in my arms and I am holding you everything is fine, but as soon as I let you down, to walk with me. I give you something to do and you want to just pull me around, you want to take control of every person, situation, in you life.  Levi walk with me, lets have a relationship, walk with me, walk with me, walk with me. Stop being the dog that pulls his owner. Oh and Levi don’t forget you have no control and it does not matter how much you try and try to control things, it will never work out.  I am god. Creator. 

 Romans 6: 4 we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.   6 we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.

 2 and half years I have been dying to myself.  But I try to control to much in my life for god to work, I need to remember that two and a half years ago I gave my life to god and I need to give him control. I need to die to my old self and be renewed in my new birth and the only way to do this is focus on god and let him be my new father, my new leader, and the man with the plan.  Stop being a dog trying to pull his owner and just enjoy what the owner (God) is giving me.

10:55am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x30pZHp
February 5, 2011
Heart Surgery

Hello friends, family and brothers and sisters in Christ.

 We are going on our 4th week of class.  It has been mind blowing.  I just want to praise God for giving us awesome staff and speakers, they are very dedicated to the Lord and they all are anointed by the Lord.

 The first week we had Dan Shannon that taught us about Hearing God’s voice and evangelism.  The second week was James Lynn, he taught about the wrath of God, the grace of God and how we are righteous.  The third week was Fiona Gifford, she did heart surgery on all of us, but she taught us sin, repentance and forgiveness.  The fourth week was Phillippe Boulanger, teaching us about the identity in Christ and Authority of the believer.  This week (five) is going to be taught by Richard Lowe and he is going to teach us about the Holy Spirit.  So excited.

 I would like to share some heart surgery; God has been doing on me.  God ahs revealed why I talk so loud and that I have more than one tone of voice (not just loud and quite).  First, God wants to show me how to find healthy balances, so I am not so over powering.  Second, I am loud because I have a loud family and to get your point across or tell your story you have to be the loudest.  I am also loud because kids used to make fun of me and call me names (idiot, retard) so if I was loud and overpowering people listened.  Also, teachers didn’t listen to me so I would be loud to get their attention.  The root cause for all of this is my pride; I wanted to be heard, I wanted to be noticed and I wanted to be center of attention.  So my pride led me to be louder and louder.  Pride also lead me to interrupting conversations and to always want to have the answer.

 So I have forgiven the people and repented of being prideful.  I took all control from the devil and gave control to God.

 I am not saying I am going to be silent or not talk or not ever share or even be excited.  I am saying, I will know when to speak and when to not speak and to use big tone or little tone, when to answer a question and when to just listen and just agree.  Doing all of this by being led by the Spirit of God.

 We do outreach, once a week, a team and I go to a town ship and chat and share the Gospel (The Good News) and to prayer with people.  I also walk around town praying with people and sharing to them about God.

In about 2 months we leave for outreach.  A group and I are going to Asia.  

11:56pm  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x2x1dyb
January 18, 2011
South Africa

sorry i have not written a blog to share with you all, the greatness of God.  All great things come in God’s time and not ours.

to begin i flew from portland to dallas,tx which took 3 hours, than i waited 2 hours in dallas.  from dallas i flew to heathrow, london.  the first longest flight i have been on, 9 hours.  in london i hung out for 7 hours.  i didn’t leave the airport so i have no big stories or even describe london to you.

i will share that i met a fellow american and a we hung out. he was in his late 40’s.  i seen a ferrari and a porshe and a $22,000 blackberry looking phones in the airport.  i met two families from sweden and we talked for a couple hours.

finally we all boarded to go to south africa. this would be the longest flight ever for me, 12 hours.

i land in capetown, south africa.  it is warm, i am a bit dilarous from the lack of sleep.

a team of ywam’ers, stefan and kirsty met me at the airport. they give me a nice tour as we drive 45 minutes to muizenberg, south africa, were i will be staying.

side not; cars are small and all cars in south africa are a manual transmission. and yes they drive on wrong side of the road.

we make it safely to base (ywam home). i meet people, but i am still very dilarous from lack of sleep.  oh and i stink and am very dirty.

instead of napping or showering we all go to the beach for 2 hours.

i am going to share my health since i been here.  my back left bottom wisdom tooth is invected.  it messes with my sleep, sinus and gives me headaches.  god gives me strength everyday to function.  all praise goes to God.  so i have headaches most of the day.

soon i will find out when i have surgery on all 4 wisdom teeth and find out the cost.

the doctor is muslim/philospher/all roads lead to god, his reciptionist, sister is dying of cancer.  please pray that healing comes upon the sister that god reveals his devine nature to these folks so the doctor will see and be converted by the power of god.

i have an amazing staff, all are routed in christ. i have an amazing class, that thrives god’s heart.  i want to thank god for the fellowship with my class members and thank god for the staff for being good examples and a well organized DTS.   thanks god, for all these brothers and sisters in christ.  amen

class, it is intense, first week we learned about hearing god’s voice, blew my mind.  dan shannon taught it.  this week we are learning about the character and nature of god, blowing my mind.  James is the teacher.  both men have an annoiting from god.  thanks god for great teachers.

one time a week, a team and i go out to a township and just go show love to all the people in the streets. we pray before we enter asking god who he wants us to meet and what he wants us to say.  and bam! like god he follows through.  for other ministries, there are some homeless people i pray with and chat with.  we have a team that goes out everyday to go to the township.  thanks god for giving us the oppurtunity to share your word and your truth and you love.

south africa is beautiful.  the mountains are like hills but have amazing shapes.  almost every night a cloud hovers the peaks of muizenberg mountain and circles it.  amazing!  the ocean is blue, with white sand.  way better than oregon/washington coast.  lots of sharks though.  for the most part very flat land.  they have tropical like vegitation.  no wild animals, lot of dogs, some beach bum birds, and pigeons.  the weather is hot, muggy and usually quite windy.

the people of south africa.  they are very nice. south africa there is many kinds and colors of people. they all get along. it is amazing.

moving forward, i am settling in very well.  i could almost call it home.  i live my life for god and with god. so he guides me in everything i do.  i do fail, but god always picks me up.   Psalm 37:24 “if they fall, they will not stay down, because the lord will help them up.”  

i think i might do alot of missions in the future. that is not my full calling but a part of it.

i am in a place where god wants me, not in a place i want to be.  does this mean i am upset or not enjoying it?  NO!  god’s thoughts and God’s ways are better than mine. just as he is in heaven and i am on earth, he is higher than i.  so am i having a life changing experience, because i am in another country? No. because it is great weather? no. because i have fun? no. but because the lord is giving me a purpose, because the lord leads my foot steps, because the lord is my father.  so it does not matter where i am at on a map or what i am doing or who i am hanging out with; if i am being guided by the spirit to do god’s will in my life it will be filled with joy and peace. nothing can fill our cups fuller than god.  not even I.

god put on my heart to challenge every one.

god wants to teach you yourselfs. god wants to make your marraige better. god wants to provide your every need.  god wants you to be healthy. god wants you to have better friendships and family relationships.  god wants to change your life around for the better.  god wants to wash away all your burdens.

so the challenge, is what is god doing in your life?

the question is not what are you and god doing, what you are doing or what others are doing.  

the next question is, can god even work in your life?

To busy with your plans, your husbands plans, your wifes plans, your boss’s plans, your childrens plans, friends plans…….

pray about the questions, think about these two questions.  if you want to chat i will chat.  first ask god, he will tell you the truth.

thank you god for the words to share with everyone, thank you god for bringing me here, thank you god for everything your doing in my life and to the people through me.   amen.   

with love and thanks, 

levi ostlund

8:45am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x2dYugq
(Notes: 1)
  
January 18, 2011

The building is our base and the mountain/hill is called Muizenberg Mountain

8:06am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x2dXlaL
January 15, 2011
blog about me

http://leviostlund.blogspot.com/

10:40am  |   URL: http://tmblr.co/ZkIT_x2aZtsl
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