Today was the "grand opening" of Manitou Mountain/ YWAM Ozarks. It went well. It was alot of work but well worth it.

What am I doing here?

A whole lot of people have been asking me what I'm doing in Arkansas. To be completely honest, I'm not really sure sometimes myself. I'll do my best to describe where I'm at in this adventure called life.
As some of you know, I had a major turning point in my life during the last week of August '03. After that I ended up in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil on a YWAM campus going through a bilingual Discipleship Training School. When that ended, so did my visa and I went back to Minneapolis, MN. I thought I as supposed to stay there and find a church to root myself in.
I spent a lot of time from July '04 to November '05 trying to find a job, but everywhere I went, nothing worked out for very long. It was starting to get frustrating, all the doors slamming in my face.
I came to visit my aunt and uncle (Jim and Barb Nizza) and also my cousin (Josh Levin) for the week after Thanksgiving '05 down here in Ozark, Arkansas. They had just moved onto a large campus a couple months earlier and needed a lot of help cleaning and fixing things. I wasn't working that week so I volunteered my time to help out with what I could.
While I was here that week, I felt like God was telling me I needed to be here at least for a while. I went back to Minnesota and did my best to tie up loose ends. That was an adventure in itself trying to get everything I owned together... it was all spread from the northern to southern ends of the state. On top of that I didn't have any money, a vehicle, or a phone. Somehow it all worked out, amazing.
While I was visiting, Jim and Barb had mentioned that Jonathan (DTS leader) might use some help with the school if I could. They told me that it would be starting with a two week "outreach" trip to New York City on December 19. I still didn't have any money so I went to all my relatives and told them I wanted to go on this trip for my Christmas present.
December 18, at 6 o'clock in the morning I found myself at the greyhound depot ready to catch a bus. I arrived in Fort Smith, AR a little after 3 in the morning and my cousin Josh was kind enough to get up in the middle of the night and pick me up. It's about a 45 minuet drive from there, so by the time I got here I had just enough time to pack a duffel bag and take a shower. At 5:00, ten of us (5 dts students and 5 staff) and were all in a van headed for NYC.
I basically jumped into staffing this school and doing part time maintenance with both feet and hit the ground running. God has clearly shown me that this is where I'm supposed to be at this point in my life. It's not easy, but it is a relief.
So this is where I'm at in life up to this point.

History of Manitou Mountain and YWAM Ozarks

Written by Jim Nizza

• God’s sovereign call - Our interest and history with the Manitou Mountain property is rooted in the work of Barb’s paternal grandfather, Rev. A. H. Levin. In 1946, Rev. Levin, pastoring in Wisconsin, visited his church’s mission outreach in Arkansas. While there, a local pastor insisted he tour a location which supposedly would be “perfect for a Bible College.” Rev. Levin had no interest in starting a school, but this pastor was so insistent that he finally went along.

While on the premises, someone said, “This IS the place for a Bible School.” Rev. Levin turned to see who had spoken but no one was there. It was a sovereign call of God. The property, including a gorgeous lodge and several buildings, was his in three weeks—82 acres for $7000. In less than a year it was incorporated. Ozark Bible Institute (later renamed Citadel Bible College) operated there from 1947 -1987, when it was sold by subsequent leadership.

• Is that really You, God? - In May 1999, after 16 years of ministry with YWAM’s University of the Nations, Kona, Hawaii campus, we seeking the LORD concerning a way to buy a home. During our time of prayer, Barb said that she wished the LORD would speak to us as clearly as He spoke to her grandfather.

Moments later Barb said that she had an odd thought. We were to restore the spiritual inheritance that was lost there in Arkansas. I had the same thought! Over the next few months we made some inquires about the property, but nothing developed. Finally we came to the conclusion that we had not heard from God.

• Confirmation: reclaim the inheritance - Jump ahead to December 31, 2000. We spent the day seeking God for the coming year. To our surprise, we felt impressed that our time was up in Kona, Hawaii, and we were to pursue redeeming the Bible school, establishing it as a YWAM training center.

• In February of 2001 we contacted the present owner who was operating a long-term care facility for the mentally ill on the property. She was willing to sell the property for $900,000. In March of 2002 YWAM leadership granted us permission to pursue this project.

• Resistance - In my initial networking trip to Arkansas in August of 2002, I (Jim) became ill and was hospitalized. The end result was a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (bone marrow cancer) and a 5 month-2 year life expectancy. We pursued alternative treatment.

• A year later, days prior to our scheduled move to Arkansas, Barb was diagnosed with breast cancer. After surgery, she opted out of chemo and radiation, and we moved.

• Establishing a beach head - We arrived in Ozark on November 1, 2003 with a small staff. We set up our base, prayed, built relationships, and began serving in various discipleship and outreach opportunities.

• In April, 2005 we learned that a dormitory had burned down. I called the owner who offered it for a lower price.

• Facility is available - Two weeks later the owner said she had closed the facility, and was offering it to us if we would take over the mortgage. From May through August we stepped up the bid for raising the down-payment and securing a bank loan. We made an offer at the beginning of September

• We closed on the property on September 22, 2005. The old Ozark Bible Institute property on Manitou Mountain—42 acres and six buildings—now belongs to YWAM Ozarks!

Introduction

What do we feel God is speaking to us? From the beginning of God's nudge to us, Isaiah 49 has been a strong statement. This is what the Lord says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!'"... Can plunder be taken from warriors, or captives rescued from the fierce? But this is what the Lord says: "Yes, captives will be taken from warriors, and plunder retrieved from the fierce; I will contend with those who contend with you..." vv 8,9, 24,25. This encourages us to keep our eyes not on property or land, but on God's desire to see people freed from darkness to follow Him. We believe His word to A.H. Levin still stands- that Manitou Mountain, Indian for "Mountain of Creator God" be a special "God-soaked" place where young people can be trained in the Word, nurtured in relationship with Him, transformed, and sent into the nations with Good News.
This post was copied and pasted from the YWAM Ozarks website.