My name is Jeremy Adams I am working with an organization called Youth With A Mission in Northern Ireland. I’m involved with Youth Ministry and Discipleship Training. In the past two years I’ve been living in Northern Ireland and I have seen God move in amazing ways. I have also been involved with ministry in Mongolia, Japan, and Bosnia.
My TestimonyHello my name is Jeremy Adams and this is the story of how I came to Christ. I grew up in a Christian home in a little town called Pinedale in the middle of Wyoming. Although I grew up in a Christian home and accepted Christ into my life at a young age I fell out of faith sometime in middle school up until after high school. During that time I started putting my identity in things I did and did well, the biggest examples being working for my dad and playing football. This led to me struggling with low self esteem. At that time the image I had of myself was that I was useless and a burden to everyone. This got even worse when I tore some cartilage in my shoulders and had to have surgery. I got the first surgery in 2016 and the second 2017, both were in the middle of football season. After I graduated from high school my goal was to enlist in the Armed Forces. Originally I was planning to join the Marines but after talking with a recruiter found out that I was not qualified to join due to my football Injuries. When this happened I was devastated. This was my dream since middle school and made me feel even more useless. After I talked with my dad who encouraged me to follow my dreams I decided to try to enlist with the Navy. In the month following my graduation I began the process to join the Navy. At this point in time I was very encouraged that the recruitment process was going well. I had high hopes, even the Navy doctor that checked out my shoulder assured me that he would get me a medical waiver and that there was nothing wrong with my shoulders. It was about six months after graduation when I got the news that I was disqualified from the Navy because of my shoulders. At the time I got the call I was at work so I just put my head down to finish out the day but I was crushed. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t put myself through the rejection again of trying with another branch of the military and didn’t have a plan B. A couple weeks after I was disqualified from the Navy I still didn’t really know what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I wanted and needed to get out of my home town for a while so I started to look at places overseas. I was looking at what it would take to go work and live over in Europe for a year or so. My boss at the time, who was also a good family friend, started telling me about how his son went and did DTS with an organization called YWAM. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and is an organization that focuses on short term mission trips all over the world. DTS stands for Discipleship Training School and is made up of two phases: a lecture phase and an outreach phase. The lecture phase consists of three months during which participants are taught what discipleship is and what it means to be a missionary. The outreach phase consists of a three month long mission trip to another country where participants put to use what they have learned. When my boss explained what YWAM was and what his son did I thought why not.I did my DTS in September 2018- March 2019 at the YWAM Ship’s base in Kona Hawaii. When I first got to Kona I still didn’t really believe in God at that point. It was a way to get away from home without having to worry about getting a place to stay or buying my own food. A week after I got there all of the participants were required to go to a big worship night that they called a ministry night. During the event a speaker got up and started talking about habitual sin and like a lot of guys my age I was struggling with porn. During high school I thought it was natural but it got to the point where I could barely look at myself in the mirror. I had tried to quit before but to no avail. So when the speaker asked for anyone who is struggling with any habitual sin to raise their hand so that they could pray I thought what’s the worst that could happen? I raised my hand and the people around me prayed that I’d be free from it and after that I was. I didn’t struggle with it for the rest of my DTS and from that point on I started believing again. After that I learned that God doesn’t just sit on a throne holding the world in His hand but that He is a relational God. He loves me and everyone in the world. He cares about our struggles and our passions and He is not a silent God but He wants to speak to us, guide us, comfort us, and encourage us. After finishing the lecture phase which changed my life I went to Mongolia and Japan for my outreach phase. In Mongolia, my outreach team and I taught English to kids and went on house visits to bring people food and hear their story. We were there for two and half months at which point we had to leave due to visa issues so we headed to Japan. In Japan we did street evangelism. We were in Japan for two and a half weeks then we went back to Kona to finish the DTS. Afterward, I felt God call me to Ireland so I did some research and found the base where I am currently living. The base is called An Cuan which means harbor in Irish and is located in a little village called Rostrevor in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland differs from the Republic of Ireland due to the North still being part of the UK. This is a source of tension in Northern Ireland because the population is divided into two factions: one wants to remain in the UK and one wants to become part of the Republic of Ireland. The faction that wants to remain is typically referred to as Protestants or Unionists and the faction that wants to be part of the Republic is typically referred to as Catholics or Nationalists. There has been a lot of conflict between these two factions. The most famous was the troubles which started in 1968 and ended 1998, even after these events there remains a lot of tension between the two factions. Because of this we at An Cuan have a strong focus on reconciliation not only in Ireland but in other countries that have had conflict in recent history. I’m the head of maintenance at An Cuan as such I am responsible for maintaining the building, grounds, and contacting professionals as needed. I am also part of the Youth Team which wants to provide a safe space for youth to come and feel welcome.