School of Dance Studies Starts!

Dear friends,

Youth With A Mission Montana's School of Dance Studies began Monday! I am excited, nervous, and anticipatory all at the same time, but God has given me a lot of peace for staffing this school. I am getting little glimpses of who the students are and their hunger to learn, and I will get to know them well during the course of this school, as God unravels the layers to who they are to be in Him.

One of my favorite parts of equipping missionaries through Y.W.A.M. schools is hearing their hearts for the nations and the visions they have to bring glory to God! One of our students from India could not come to the School of Dance in 2008-09 because he did not have the funds, but he is here now, blessed with a scholarship. He believes that music and dance are successful ways to today's youth and dreams to open a dance schools in his native land and further in Asia. He sees School of Dance as furthering his training in order to witness for Christ through this area of the Arts.

*If you could remember my students in your prayers, especially for unity, as they are representing many nations, and a eager desire to learn through the hard work. They are from India, Singapore, the U.S.A., Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Germany, Finland, New Zealand, and Rwanda.

Thank you friends for your care and investment in my life. I am truly grateful and couldn't do this without God using you. Bless you.

Untitled… You can decide.

By Shannon Mintz 
December 20, 2009

Composition brings control -
Yet neither come, but only a sharp staccato
beyond muscle and mind.
Movement crescendos into a palpitating flurry
not noticeable by the outer man
but fully arresting the inner presence.
Without Reason guiding activity, beats
increase and change
- -No knowledge of consequences,
And led by dive and flight, upon further exploration
- - Freefall - -
What caused exhilaration and addiction but
A big bang?

Is this work undone, unfinished, a fragment
left to the devices of cause and effect?
Or is it a transformation, accepted for its brief jump,
as the tide ebbs and flows
or the volcano erupts?
But beauty descends - captured by a creator.
The partial is filled with belief.
The caterpillar still awaits in the cocoon -
The unknown is yet to be known.
Hope is out to jury.

little bird...part 3...the fall

By Shannon Mintz
November 2, 2009

little bird...fly too high,
then come crashing down again.
when will she ever learn?

her wings aren't light as air-
instead they're tarred feathers.
her flight isn't with angels,
but impeded by the fall.

slow little bird...dragons at her back,
singed and smoking tail.
careening to the earth below...
or is it lower still she plummets?

Little Bird...Part 2...Singing Lessons

By Shannon Mintz
October 15, 2009

Little bird,
learning to chirp.
Little bird voice -
does it squeak or wail?

Is it for the finding out -
of attention or sustenance?
Or of bringing food to the beak...
or a song to the dawn?

When will bird learn how to sing
a symphony of song?
But--why? when? where? who?--
Are these questions that matter?

Is it for the quiet of an empty forest
or for a choir of blended voices?

Is it for the crowd of rushing pedestrians,
for the audience watching theatre thespians,
or for the contentment of bird's own-self-choices?

little bird…part 1

When I should be finishing my newsletter, I sadly get sidetracked by birds and such. Ah, well.
By Shannon Mintz
October 10, 2009

the bird flitted out in the desert-still.
stupid little bird.
not understanding what was harm or health.
and bird should know by now.

scarred by past, traps and prey.
scared by future - who is friend or foe?
what to do? where to go?

seeking, but lost. found, but sought?
to weak for flying heights, hoping reality is not mirages.
waiting...for oasis.

there are moments when inconspicuous poetry is found in the most random places and speaks to me

Ich bete wieder, du Erlauchter
By Rainer Maria Rilke, from Rilke’s Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

I am praying again, Awesome One.
You hear me again, as words
From the depths of me
Rush toward you in the wind.

I’ve been scattered in pieces,
Torn by conflict,
Mocked by laughter,
Washed down in drink.

In alleyways I sweep myself up
Out of the garbage and broken glass.
With my half-mouth I stammer you,
Who are eternal in your symmetry.
I lift to you my half-hands
In wordless beseeching, that I may find again
The eyes with which I once beheld you.

I am a house gutted by fire
Where only the guilty sometimes sleep
Before the punishment that devours them
Hounds them into the open.

I am a city by the sea
Sinking into the toxic tide.
I am strange to myself, as though someone unknown
Had poisoned my mother as she carried me.

It’s here in all the pieces of my shame
That now I find myself again.
I yearn to belong to something, to be contained
In an all-embracing mind that sees me
As a single thing.
I yearn to be held
In the great hands of your heart—
Oh let them take me now.
Into them I place these fragments, my life,
And you, God—spend them however you want.

(August 31, 2009, Read in Prayer, Does It Make Any Difference? by Philip Yancey, pages 38-9)

YWAM School of Dance Studies Preparations and Prayer - Dec. 10, 2009

Hi friends,

As December is a crazy month for all of us, with Christmas coming, I just wanted to give a short, little update.

We are in full swing for preparing for the School of Dance, which begins January 4th at the YWAM Montana base. Our students begin to arrive Dec. 30th! All our staff have so much on our plate, but I know that God is going to give us everything we (I) need, even though at times I know it can be overwhelming.

This is what I have to do and what you can pray for! I definitely need it!

* I am doing a lot of administration/logistical work for the school. This means getting transportation info/tickets for guest artists, researching outreach locations, ticket, and visa information, among many other things.
* Dancing each day with the other staff, as staff prepare and practice for the dance classes and choreography they will teach. For me this means getting in dance shape! As it has been quite a few years since I have dance intensively, please pray that I don't get frustrated, and for my mind and muscle memory to work! It needs practice to remember dance combinations easily and quickly, and I'm quite out of practice!
* Pray for our students... So far we have 9 students, 7 which are international, 2 of which are guys! They are from the USA, New Zealand, Norway, Germany, Rwanda, India, Netherlands Antilles, and Singapore. Pray for them to get their visas and for finances to come in.
* Pray for our health and against injury. I have been feeling not quite up to par lately, and hope I don't get sick. Last week our school leader Kate had an accident with her fish bowl, and had to go to the emergency room for a cut.
* It is very cold here! But the snow is coming slowly. It has been in the negative degrees, and this will definitely be a shock to our warm climate students. I noticed a couple nights ago my car was sliding on the ice, but I controlled it. So I had a look at my tires, which are bald. New snow tires or all weather tires would definitely be a blessing.

In light of everything, the staff and I are getting so excited to staff this diverse, international school! I just read through all the students' applications, and can see that they desire to grow in the Lord, be discipled, bring the gospel to the nations, and learn how to use dance to do this! Many of them have a call to missions and a desire to start or continue dance programs in their countries or in other nations! Please pray with me that God may be glorified in the 2010 YWAM School of Dance!

Blessings,

Shannon