The 1st Two Week of Our DTS

Ello,

It’s been 2 weeks now since the beginning of our DTS portion of YWAM. To tell you the truth it has been difficult. Erich shared with me one of his favorite bible verses that has really helped me when thing get difficult. I would like to share part of it with you: Isaiah 41 v 10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I would like to give you an idea of what are day is like as a DTS student. Our day starts out with breakfast at 6:30am. Once in a while some of the students and I will get up at 4:45 am to go for a run in the mornings. Breakfast is till 7am then it is quiet time for one hour. During quiet time you can pray, read the bible, journal, or do devotional time. Then we meet at 8am for base clean up, base worship, accountability groups, intercession or base prayer. Then we have lectures from 9:30am to 1pm. We get about 2-3 bathroom breaks in between. Lunch is at 1pm. Work duties around the base including clean up and garden duties start at 2pm. We work for about 1 ½ hrs then head over to different ministries to help out in the community till 4pm. Ministries can involve interacting and playing with disadvantaged children, assisting with the Aids health and awareness outreach program, or many of the other ministry programs in the community. Most of the time we have a break from 4pm to 5:30pm if you are not on dinner preparation or if there is not base sports time. Then dinner is at 5:30pm. At 7pm we have lectures, small groups, community meetings, prayer time, and sometimes free time. Everyone is responsible for meal preparations and clean up at different times. We also have a journal we must write in for home work as well as two book reports on provided reading materials. So you can see how full our schedule is. Weekends are less packed but still consist with prayer time, worship and meal preparations. On our free time last weekend a group of the students went down to the beach and I surfed for the first time. The beach is beautiful and the dolphins come so close to the shore line you feel like you could reach out and touch them. There were a lot of things I did not expect when I arrived. I was a little worried because of the difficulty with communication prior to my arrival. Upon being greeted at the airport by some really friendly faces I became more at ease. I now realize that most of the miss communication is cultural misunderstanding. Such as when I say see you at noon I might mean 12pm but the person I am speaking to might show up at 2pm. So miscommunication has been a big struggle for me here. I do know that we are all working hard on being better communicators. I also was not prepared for many other things. I did not realize I would be washing my clothes by hand with the chance someone might steal my clothes off the clothesline. The internet is very expensive to use here and is not ready available. Most stores close before we have free time and leaving the base alone is not aloud. There is never really alone time which is also very hard for me. Due to low funds and high living coast for the base the food we eat is mostly starch, such as, bread and peanut butter. On occasion we do have some really nice meals. I got to experience what South Africans call a “Braai” which is really like a BBQ but don’t tell them that.  There are many dynamics as a group we are struggling with as far as missing family, friend, boyfriends, the comforts of our culture, and what we think is right or wrong. I feel there has been a lot of spiritual warfare and many individual have been faced with hard times of sickness or injuries already. Everyone is holding in a praying for God’s guidance, protection, and to help us grow in our relationship with him as well as walking the path he has planned for us. In these past weeks our lecture focus has been about strengthening our relationship with God through prayer and hearing the voice of God. Every Wednesday we fast from the end of breakfast till dinner to save money to feed those that are going hungry on the streets. On Jan 22nd we all participated in a 24hr prayer to pray for those in need such as the crisis in Haiti, schools that need support, people that have prayer request, and just listening to anything God has to tell us. Everyone helps out by signing up for one hour to pray. It was a very “awesome” spiritual experience. These last few weeks have been very humbling. One of the verses that reminded me of why I am here and has helped me come to peace with many of my struggles in the program is the verse Philippians 1 v 5-8. I know I am here because God called me here. Keep us all in your prayers. Pray for us to have protection, strength, focus, and the ability to hear God’s voice. Thanks you guys. We find out about where we will be going for outreach next week. I will try to keep you posted.

Love,

“B”

Matthew 6 v 25-34

So many of you would like to know why I cut my hair off. “Good Question.” Well through my life many things have happened. I was baptizes Catholic as a baby and re-baptized by my grandfather as a teenager. God has been in my life since before I was born. He knew me before I was in my mother's womb. As a child my parents were divorced and remarried. I went to many schools as and had many significant difficulties in my life; however I won’t go into detail at this time. Looking back, I thank God for his mercy. When I felt the most alone I know he was always there even when I ignored him and only called on him when I needed him. He still believed in me. As a child I attended church when I visited my father and accepted God into my life many time. Growing up there were years I would attend church and years I didn’t. I did many things that I am not proud of. And I know I will always be a sinner because I am human but through Jesus Christ I am forgiven. So about now you are still wondering about the hair ;-) That explanation is coming shortly. I can remember back before nursing school when I was struggling with multiple jobs and full time school. I did not know how I was going to be able to go to nursing school. The program is too intense to work outside of school once you start the program. I was having a hard time getting a student loan and my living environment was not safe. I was living in a small studio apartment in a bad neighborhood with one of my close girl friends from high school. We shared a futon which is a mall couch that folds out into a bed. We usually had a different schedule which helped the sleeping situation. She was a big party person and I found myself drinking and partying with her. One night I woke up and she had a married guy over. I asked her what he was doing here and latter she told me they had sex in the restroom while I was sleeping. I was so discussed and could not believe it. I looked around and realized this was not good. At this time God used my situation to rekindle my relationship with my father. During this time I did not have a good relationship with my father because of the hurt and abandonment I felt as a child in a broken marriage. God opened so many doors for me. I met a kind hearted woman named Betty who shared her home and family with me. My Dad is now one of my best friends. The week nursing school was starting I still had not been accepted. I prayed to God and promised him that I would join the Peace Corps after 2 years of experience once graduated from nursing school. With a few days till the start of the program I continued to visit the school office and inquire if I had been accepted. The woman at the counter said no and then asked me again what my last name was. I told her “Friday.” She said wait here and then went to the back of the office when she came back she stated she accidentally shredded my acceptance letter. I couldn't’t believe it! She told me just to show up for orientation. I never did receive an acceptance letter. I was also given the opportunity to add an elective student nursing hands on class which also paid students. I did not know how I was going to make it. During the last semester I was also granted a student loan which helped pay for Boards and other expenses. I graduated and became an emergency room RN. For two years I worked to gain experience however in those two years my relationship with God became less and less of a priority. I was finally able to eat good food, go out with friends, live in a big beautiful apartment, buy and new car, buy nice expensive bicycles, and do whatever I wanted when I wanted. I was living what I thought, “Was the Life.” I could go anywhere in the world and if I wanted I could save up and buy a house. I was set. But something was missing. That is when I met Erich my boy friend. He went to church every weekend, “I was amazed.” I however was into bicycle racing and sports that took place on Sunday mornings. Erich would ask me to check it out but I was stubborn and felt if I wanted to go I would and I would go where I wanted. I didn’t feel like I had to go to church to be with God, but at the same time I wasn’t making time for God. Then it was like everywhere I went people where talking about God. I was surrounded by preachers! I was invited to many youth group settings but continued to ignore God. Then I gave in. I finally went to church with Erich one day and God spoke to me. Each week he spoke to me and softened my heart. I heard many people talking about missionary work and people in need and I felt a draw to it. I started researching different ministries. At first I thought a medical ministry would be my best setting. Then God open my eyes to YWAM. Erich had also done an YWAM which I had not known initially. I started meeting people all over that new about YWAM. I would meet people out hiking, on the street, or at a random group meeting that new about YWAM. “Everyone knew about this YWAM thing, but me!” So I looked into it. There are bases all over the world! YWAM is founded by Loren Cunningham and you can look him up to find out more about his story. So I prayed and wrote to different YWAM bases but still had no idea where to go. I did however know when I was going to go and for how long. So I look up different DTS times. One of the many was the J-bay base. I found myself constantly looking back at the website. I love what they stand for. There purpose is to strengthen relationships with God and spread the word of God. I felt that if I had chosen to do a medical mission that I would have been more focused on physical healing and not spiritual. I knew I needed time to work on my relationship with God before I would be ready to help others find him as well. So here is the answer to the big “Question” if you haven’t got it yet. Cutting my hair was when I truly excepted God into my life and decided I am ready to follow his plans for me. I gave up my hair for God. For me it is symbolic of a change in my life. I have been very materialistic and for me my hair like many women is a big part of being beautiful in my culture. I spent lots of money to color and fix my hair. But it’s not just about the hair. It’s about life. It’s about forgiveness, change, and growth. My cut hair represents the past, cutting it off represents forgiveness, and the new hair reminds me of growth. I realize that God forgives but that we also must forgive ourselves. (Luke 18 v 9-14) My hair in fact is just hair and for me this is a very humbling experience. Since I cut my hair in many situations I feel more approachable, less worried about physical appearances, more aware about whom I am as a person and more focused on my relationship with God. I am not saying we should all go out and shave our heads. But I do think God asks us to do thing we don’t want to do sometimes. Whether it is giving our time to help someone else out, donating money to an organization, or putting others first before ourselves. Through this experience God has helped me grow as an individual. I will update you as soon as I can on my experiences here at the YWAM base. I miss you all. Keep me in your prayers.