By Ricardo O’kane
I had been looking for a way to get away and seek the Lord to see how I could make the transition to full time ministry. After deciding to do a YWAM crossroads DTS I found myself moving stuff around getting rid of the excess. I packing everything I felt I was going to need into my 1998 Mitsubishi Montero Sport and began driving north to Fresno.
I had decided that this really was going to be a “crossroads” in my life because I was not planning on going back to the work I was doing when I left. I was not really sure exactly what I was going to be doing except that I was determned to fulfill my calling to be a full time preacher/mobilizer or nothing. Interestingly enough most of the others on our team set out with similar resolutions. I drove 3 1/2 hours north from L.A. to my dad’s house in Fowler just south of Fresno to stay for a few days before I would leave for the base. Its nice to know that the freezer will always be stocked with a good supply of ice cream whenever I come to visit.
Dad’s place was appropriately welcoming with a giant TV in the kitchen. It gives you a sense of the priorities around here.
I arrived at the Chico base to a serene setting and quickly set up my room. I was fortunate to be the only male single on our team so they had to give me a room all to myself. Not so with the ladies and families
I managed to fit my favorite chair and 42″ computer screen into the center of my room.
I got around to meeting all the YWAM ers getting used to the new environment
We started our study schedule, work duties and started meeting. YWAM = Youth With A Meeting…
Classes 
classes 
more classes 
And did I mention work duties? Yep. Monday through Friday up before dawn to make our team breakfast
There is certainly no shortage of food and fellowship at YWAM Chico
There was lots of trails scenery to take in at Richardson Springs
Meditation from the mountain tops was superb!
12 weeks of interesting animated teachers and some not.
Intriguing stories of spiritual warfare overcoming the devil and demons. Back at our dorms studying together.
Modern day exorcist David Bryan and I sharing stories of some people we both knew.
Students from Bethel school of supernatural ministry soaking in the Spirit
We took a weekend trip to Reno Nevada to do some street evangelism. We had some radical salvations!
I assume the Bethel students tracked in some supernatural residue because Angel Sweazy had a gold tooth appear in her mouth in one of the meetings!
She was delighted to show it to her dentist to brag a little about her God
More beautiful scenery
Our DTS students sleeping during late night prayer meetings
Pictures of me were rare because I was the photographer for the team. We had to learn a drama dance that nobody really wanted to do but we were glad when we performed it.
We went into several times to see Chico and some monuments
Unfortunately we had an untimely death occur to one of our guest speakers. The DTS students prayed during the hour before burial to raise him from the dead. Who can blame Drew for deciding to stay in heaven?
The Big Daddy L.C. paid us a visit to stir up our evangelistic zeal.
My sister Sophia and friend Woody actually flew from Vegas for a couple days to see me at the base before leaving.
After 3 months of lectures we flew from San Francisco to Dubai and Dubai to Uganda
We peaked into the Muslim hotel prayer rooms to say a prayer to Allah…NOT!!!
This would be the last luxury we would see for a while so we took advantage of it
We got to the base in Arua Uganda and settled in for a couple weeks
Visited our first church in Uganda
We ministered to kids in a church school
We cooked and ate with the locals
The base in Arua
Ministering at a funeral and worshipping at the base
I preached at a local church with a translator for Arabic. Many do speak english
Back in Arua We did lots of intercession and went to a funeral to console a widow
I met a wide eyed prophetic teacher named Patric. He is a genuine son and I will be looking for supporters for his new ministry.
Tyler liked to catch the chickens and turkeys.
Augustine and his wife are the backbone of the Arua school
We traveled to Yei South Sudan and shopped for the comforts of home but found little
The YWAM base in Yei
We went to churches in unusual places. This one was in a saw mill
We prayed for and baptized Miriam a lady with a strong calling to ministry
I preached in another local church and felt the power of God flowing
We would come home to our families and a few unusual guests
Typical streets in Yei South Sudan
When we got back to Arua I preached the gospel of the kingdom in a very Spirit filled church.
With the senior pastors in a full gospel church.
We arrived at the Rhino refugee camp and set up temporary tents
We got to hang out with lots of curious kids
We visited women who didn’t know if their husbands would come back from the fighting
Old school buildings waiting to be used again
We did lots of praying and counseling
From Yei we opted to fly back to Arua instead of drive to avoid border crossing issues
This was the actual immigration office when you get off the plane in Arua
We got on a bus and visited the nile river with villages along the bank
Some of us took boat rides in the Nile.
Some nice scenery on the drive back to Kampala
It was nice to get back on a bus and just snooze
Back to Entebbe airport then a 5 hour flight to Dubai
Back to the comforts and luxury of the modern world!
Back to the beautiful Richardson springs YWAM base
And back to the cheering accolades of our comrades as we get our DTS diploma’s!
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