Graduation and Goodbyes

21 June 2011 - DTS Graduation

Welp, we did it.  We made it through the last 6 months together.  It's so crazy to think that it's over right now.  We graduated and celebrated and then cried and said our goodbyes.  We have all definitely become such a close family.




What a week.

Tuesday, 21 June 2001 - I graduated DTS.  Crazy.  Where did the last 6 months go?

While the night was great - full of pictures and stories and praise to God for what He has done and of course a diploma of sorts and a little trip to the pub afterwards - the morning was not. Goodbyes are no fun at all.  It didn't start hitting me that it is over until about half way through the long 22 hour day of periodic goodbyes.  I won't go into detail about how many tears were shed but it was a rough day for everyone.  Though as hard as that day was, I would rather have a day like that, a day of heartbreaking goodbyes, then to have missed out on this incredible opportunity.  It is when your heart just breaks for something that makes you realize just how much it means to you and that it was real.

Over these last 6 months, we really had become such a tight family.  That's what tends to happen when you live with each other every single day for that long.  It's so crazy to think back to the first day that I was here.  I came to the airport not knowing anything, just looking for any sign that said YWAM and so began my crazy adventure.  How was I to know that the people I met there would become family?  How was I to know that all those awkward ice breaker games in the very beginning would lead to great friendships?  Just thinking about things like this just bring up so many more memories from the beginning that have led to where I am today.  Again I say - Crazy.

DTS is over.  Now what?

What do you do with your life after something like this has happened to you?  It's a tough question.  I don't know yet.  I wish I did.  I wish I could tell you all my elaborate plans for what to do with the rest of my life but I can't.  I barely know what I'm doing to be doing the next couple weeks or months let alone years.  I'm just taking it one step at a time and being patient that the right opportunity will present itself in God's perfect timing.  It happened that way when I decided to come to the other side of the world for 6 months, it can happen again.  But here's the beauty of it - I can pretty much do anything I want.  So many doors have been opened for what I could do and what I would want to do.

"being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion."

The one thing that I do know is that God will not leave me hanging.  He's not going to put me through something like this, something that brought so many close relationships and amazing experiences and joy and then just make me fend for myself.  He will continue to lead and guide me as long as I keep seeking His leading and His guidance.

Welp, I'm seeking.

New Stories Pt. 2

WORCESTER

First of all - The name of this place is most definitely not pronounced as it is spelled.  Silly, I know.

Here is where I will go into a bit more detail about what we did in Worcester, South Africa during outreach.  We were staying at this place called Kibbutz El Shammah which is right next to the neighborhood knows as Roodewal (I think that's how it is spelled).

There were about 4 or 5 of these circles of flats in the area.  One of the first days we were there, we were just walking through the community and we most definitely attracted quite the crowd.  And by crowd, I mean over 100 children.  Seriously.  We were surrounded.  They fought just to hold our hand and wanted to know our names and they just wanted to be with us.  After a couple days, whenever we would walk through the flats, there was always at least 5 kids who would yell out your name no matter where you went.  

Durning the morning we would split off into different groups - one group went and worked in the primary school teaching English classes.  Some went to help out in the preschool, and some did practical work around the area.

There were a couple days when I had the opportunity to go help out in a 2nd grade class.  The teacher's name was Vera and she is pretty much amazing.  Her class is full of 43 crazy 2nd graders.  There was one day in particular that I got to help a couple tables with math.  It was so much fun to be able to teach them how to do something and then watch them actually be able to understand it and do it for themselves.  Then they wanted to go help their friends do the problems.  It also helped me to learn how to count to 10 in Afrikaans real well.

When we first got there, we were asked if we could lead their church service that Sunday which was about 4 days away.  So we planned and put together a church service and everyone was able to be involved.  We had worship, testimonies, a drama, and a message.  It was the first time that I led a couple worship songs to a larger group of people like that.  It was so cool to be able to step out in that way and the whole service went really well.

Each day for a week we would go on a prayer walk through the flats.  One day, 3 older ladies waved at me to come over to them and they asked me if I could pray for them.  So I asked what they wanted prayer for and they told me simply for financial provision.  Nothing specific, just simply that.  So I did and then I went on my way.  The next day at the same time, we went on our prayer walk again and those same 3 ladies were sitting in the same spot so I immediately went over to them to say hello and they were excited to see me and they had stories to tell me.  One of them didn't have enough money for a loaf of bread (a loaf of bread cost about 7 South African Rands which is about 1 US dollar).  She was telling me that after I had prayed for them, her son came over to her and gave her enough money that she needed for a loaf of bread to feed her and the children she watches over.  Then another lady was telling me a long (and somewhat hard to understand) story of how she didn't have enough money to pay her electric bill for the month.  Long story short, the lady that was helping her as she was trying to pay offered to pay the rest of her bill for her.  So her electric bill was payed for the rest of the month.  God provides.

Wow, as I write all of this, so many more stories keep coming to my mind about what we did - we did a lot.

On one of our last nights there, we held an open air in the flats.  The stage was the back of a bakkie (aka - truck).  So we had some worship, some of the girls performed a dance which was so great and Helena and I gave our testimonies.  It was hard to speak to a group of people with a translator because you have to keep stopping and starting but I really liked it for how nervous I was about it at first.  I've never been the biggest fan of speaking in front of people but it wasn't so bad when I actually got up there and started speaking.

Even though it was a hard place to be, we were able to develop a lot of different relationships with the people at the schools, at the Kibbutz and in the flats.  There are so many more things that we did in Worcester.  One thing that was brought up here that we realized for each place we went was that our group was hand-picked to be in the place we were at that time.  God's timing is perfect.  As we were driving away, there was a huge line of little children screaming at us saying goodbye followed by the rest of the staff at the Kibbutz waving us goodbye.   

One of my favorite days was when we got to climb Table Mountain in Cape Town.  Even though I totally destroyed my pants, it was so much fun and it was so beautiful no matter how cold it was at the top.  We conquered that mountain together.  Definitely one of my highlights.

New Stories Pt. 1

Not everything you do will be spectacular

But everything you do will be significant.

As already stated, outreach has officially ended.  We are all finally back together here on the oval.  

Strange?  Yes.  

Great? Yes.  

Overwhelming?  Definitely.  

Now comes the time when I get to realize more about what the heck I just did the last 5 or so months.  So whilst I process things, I just wanted to tell some stories:

I'm going to go a bit backwards with my story telling and talk about our last outreach location first since it is freshest on my mind.  Newcastle Upon Tyne.  Overall - LOVED it.  Seriously.  I think all of us, to some degree, loved Newcastle.  Our first day there, we were all smiles and just really happy to be there. 

When we got there, we had a little meeting with the pastors of the church we were helping out - Tyneside Vineyard - and talked a bit about their story and how they came to be up there planting this church and we looked at what our schedule was going to be like during our time there.  It was all pretty exciting stuff and we were going to be doing things that were completely different from everything we did in Africa.  We did a lot of flyering, as it was their big invite week, we passed out chocolate bars in the busy streets, we passed out free water on the street out by a row of night clubs (some very interesting and entertaining stories came out of that), and we helped out twice with a big craft event for kids.  I loved how every singe day we were there, we were able to do something totally different.  No day was ever the same.

One day, long story short, we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and went around and passed them out.  Our group split up a bit and Duane and I ended up walking through the streets basically looking for homeless people to give a sandwich to.  We had no idea where we were walking but the streets just looked cool so we went exploring a bit and stumbled across a homeless man sitting against the wall.  So we gave him a sandwich and some candy and just sat and talked with him.  He was definitely under the influence but he was hurting.  He has been on the streets for the last 7 months, he had been to war in Afghanistan and had gotten shot, and both his wife and daughter died in a car crash.  He felt so guilty and so hopeless.  It's hard to find the words to say in that situation but sometimes, people just need someone to care and to listen to them.  So after talking with him for a bit we prayed for him and went on our way.  His name was Max.

The church runs this compassion ministry called Storehouse.  At Storehouse, homeless and needy people can come on a Saturday morning and get a cup of tea and biscuits, a sausage roll and some pot noodles.  They will also get given a couple articles of clothing or anything else that they might need.  It is also just a really great place for people to come and just have good chats with people in a good environment.  So this one morning, a new lady came in so me and another volunteer chatted with her and filled in a form for her.  As we were talking to her, she was saying just how sick she felt and she looked sick as well.  She had an alcohol problem and she had been on the streets for almost a month and already couldn't take it anymore.  I had no idea what to say to her so I just stayed quiet and listened.  So we brought in another volunteer to come over and talk with her too because he had been in her exact situation not that long ago and was able to change his life around.  So he was telling her what she could do to change things and as he was talking, she just had a bit more hope in her eyes and would look up occasionally and just smile and you could see the hope.  And I just loved it how the other volunteer I was sitting with kept telling her to make sure she comes back to Storehouse because they wanted to watch over her and help her and take care of her in any way they could.  Her story and her situation just broke my heart and I just couldn't help but cry.  Her name was Sam.

HOTS - Healing On The Streets.  The name alone sounds a bit crazy.  Af first I was a bit worried about it but when the day actually came to do it, the same day I met Sam, I was excited, nervous, and a bit anxious but not as worried as I was before.  I actually really liked how it was set up and how it was run.  We went to the monument which is basically one of the main centers in Newcastle, set up some chairs and a big banner that said "Healing" and waited for people who wanted to get prayer for healing or just for anything really.  Crazy, I know.  I was teamed up with one of the people from the church so I was actually able to pray for quite a few people, 8 or 9, which was really cool.  What we do is when they sit in the chair, you kneel down next to them and ask a bit about them and start off by telling them how much God loves them, then you start praying for whatever it is they wanted prayer for.  But the thing is, when you are praying for them, you don't take your eyes off of them.  It definitely can be quite awkward when you are praying for someone and they are looking right into your eyes as you are speaking, but I discovered something about that.  Usually, I would always pray with my eyes closed because that is just what you do.  But praying for someone as you are looking directly at them changes things.  I was able to feel so much more compassion for them and actually see them as a person who just wants to know that they are loved.  It was cool to be able to help someone have that moment with God where they really do feel just how loved they are.  One lady we prayed for, it was so cool just be praying for her and to see her just smile because she really knew that God loved her.  If my eyes had been closed, I wouldn't have been able to see that. We may not have seen spectacular miracles that day, but I know that it made a significant difference to those people's days.

I hope these couple stories will suffice for the time being.

   

Outreach No More.

Outreach is officially over.  How the heck did this happen?  We are all finally back on the oval in beautiful Harpenden.  What were once leafless trees are now very full of life everywhere I look.  It's pretty crazy to be back here after all this time.  It really is so crazy to look at what I just did -  I just spent the last 10 weeks with the same 13 people traveling down to South Africa and up to Newcastle.  We went up a mountain, we played frisbee on the beach, we prayed for people, we taught young kids, we led a church service, we did some more praying (there was lots of that), we worked our butts off on a farm, gave food to grannies, we sang a lot, we talked to homeless people, we gave away chocolate and water...so many things.  What a crazy adventure.  (More stories will come).

So what have I learned from this experience?  Well that's what I hope to find out very soon.  There is just so much that happened in all of the places that we went - so many different experiences, so many different settings and people and places and things to do.  I know that there is a lot to learn from what I just did and also a lot that I already have learned and things that have changed in my heart and in my mind.  I'll let you know when I know.

What will I do now after DTS?  Well, I have no idea...Well that's a slight lie, I may have some inkling as to a possibility that would require a huge step of faith.  I am still very much in the process of making decisions which I absolutely hate doing but that is the price you pay for growing up, right?

But I just wanted to say a quick thank you so much for your continued love and support in this journey.  And it has been quite the journey, I must say.  But what is cool is that though this DTS experience may be coming to an end in just a week and a half, this is just the beginning.  

    

Long Time Coming

Well hello!  I would like to apologize for my absense.  Internet and time has been a bit hard to come by.  But here I am.  I just wanted to give a little glimpse into some of the stuff I've been up to.  Bear in mind, this is the very short and condensed version...

HOPE FARM: Lots of work - shoveling, picking, wheelbarrowing, dirt moving, path-making, weed picking, duck, goose, and chicken chasing, lots and lots of animals and children...That sums it up pretty well I'd say.  Our time here was definitely more practical work and it was cool to be able to see the change that we made on the farm to make it better for them.  Also a part of it was a place called Thembisa.  It is a place for grannies who take care of orphans can go and so we helped pass out food and had opportunities to pray for them.  They are incredible people with such a passion for God. 

KIBBUTZ EL SHAMMAH - A little bit of practical work, working with kids in the primary school and preschool and a bit at the high school, prayer walks, little children hanging on to me and shouting my name wherever I went, more praying and fasting, a bit of worship leading and testimony giving.  It is most definitely a heavy place but it was the most amazing community feel.

NEWCASTLE - This is my current location.  Bascially, I love it here.  We are working with a newish church called Tyneside Vineyard so we have been helping them out in a few different areas. 

DAYS OFF - Climbing Table Mountain in Cape Town - fantastic.  Getting rained out at the Indian Ocean beach, cramming in buses, exploring Newcastle and surrounding areas.

This absolutely does not do it all justice but I just wanted to give a quick overview of things.  More will come later, don't you worry.

Layovers and New Socks

Wednesday morning:

5:30AM - meeting in the lounge

6:00AM - Begin driving to the airport

10:00AM - Flight leaves to Dubai

6 hours later - Arrive in Dubai - the biggest airport I have ever been in my entire life.

13 hours later - leave Dubai for Cape Town.  At this point we don't smell so good and Teresa wanted new socks.  We get on the plane and what should the flight attendants give us?  Some new socks.

9 hours later - Arrive in Cape Town and run through customs because our flight was going to leave in 45 minutes only to find out it was delayed - the first time I have been happy for a delayed flight.

2 hours later - Leave for Durban

Another 2 hours later - Arrive in Durban in what felt like the shortest plane ride ever.

So finally - Thursday night, we all arrived at Hope Farm.

More to come later.  But pretty much, it is beautiful here and I like it a lot and I'm excited for all that we are going to get to do here.

    

Leaving

Well hey there.  Just a quick little update - I am leaving tomorrow.  That is weird.

5 people from our group are already on their way to Africa and the rest of us leave tomorrow morning.  We will be leaving the oval at 6AM.  Again - that is weird.  We start with a 6ish hour flight to Dubai and then we will be sleeping in the airport for 12 hours (oh so exciting) and then another long flight to Cape Town and then a not as long flight to Durban.  We should be there sometime by Thursday.  That's a lot of traveling... So yeah, just wanted to let those that actually read this know that after today, I will be phoneless with limited internet access.  I'll try to keep this as updated as I can.

Please pray for me and the rest of my team and that God would get all of us there safely and would continue to just bless us as we begin this crazy new adventure.  I'm excited and scared and anxious and nervous and every other emotion you can be.

Here we go...

  

One Week.

Welp,

The time is fast approaching for us to go on outreach.  It is so crazy to think that we are in week 11 of lecture phase and just next week we will all be leaving this oval which has become home.  I feel like every day I ask myself, how in the world did I get here?  How did I get to this place?  How crazy is it that God has brought all of us here to this exact place at this exact time with each other?  God definitely knows what He is doing.

So as lecture phase is coming to an end, I'm finding myself wondering - what have I learned?  I think a better question is what haven't I learned?  Each week has brought on a new topic and a new set of challenges and new things to think about, new things to learn.  Each week has been so different for so many reasons.  If I were to write down everything that I have learned, this would be the longest blog post ever.  So I will leave you with some bullet points that will not do it justice but that's alright...

• I have learned so much about who I am and who God is.  So simple but so true.  
• God knows exactly what I need and He knows exactly how to provide it for me in a way that is absolutely perfect for me.  
• God is a gentlemen.
• God loves me more than I could ever know.  He wants me just to BE.  It is out of my becoming that I will do all the stuff.
• I like running.
• When I ask questions, God answers.
• God just wants me to know how much He loves me. 
• Everything I have has been given to me by God.  It is about taking everything that I am blessed with and turning it around and turn it into a blessing for someone else.
• I can rest contented in His love
• I can trust the process and find beauty in it.

There is so much more but it is hard to condense it all into this.  So that's just a little taste...

Here is just a bit of information about what is coming up in the next week.  We are in our last week of lectures which is about Stewardship - taking care of something that belongs to someone else.  Next week we will begin having more of a focus on outreach prep.  My group has been accidently split into 2 different groups - the first group of just 5 people will be leaving on Tuesday April 5 and the rest of us will be leaving on Wednesday April 6.  We will be flying down to Cape Town then get on another plane to Durban which we will be at for the first 3 weeks or so.  (Hopefully by the time I get there I will be able to fill you in more on what we will be doing and all that).  It is coming up so soon, it's hard to get my head around it.

Things to pray for:

• A safe trip for both of the groups - to get there safely with all of our stuff.
• That we would be such a strong team and such a strong support for each other.  Without that support between all of us, we won't be able to do what God wants for us to do.
• Finances - that each person would be able to come up with the right amount of money to pay off all of the fees and flights.
• That we would be able to put all trust and faith in God during this time.  This is such a big thing and we most definitely need God in it all.  Please pray that we would completely rely on God because none of us are perfect and we can do nothing on our own strength.  It is in our weakness that He sends us out.
• Please also keep in mind the other half of my DTS who will be going to Tanzania and Kenya.
• The people on my team:
• Leaders -
• Gareth
• Cindy
• Louise
• Kaylan 
• Laura
• Teresa
• Helena
• Karina 
• Sarah
• Maria Augusta 
• Kellie
• Caleb
• Colby 
• Duane

Thank you so much for your love and support during this time.  I am definitely excited to see what God is going to do with all of us in the coming weeks.  Please continue to pray for us as we head out from the safety of the Oval.  Pray that we would be such a strong team and would really be able to put into practice everything that we have learned during our time here so far.

Thanks so much!

   

5.6 Miles

The Lord your God is with you

He is mighty to save

He will take great delight in you

He will quiet you with His love

He will rejoice over you with singing.

~Zephaniah 3:17

I like running.  I like England.  I like running in England.

Last Saturday a good friend, Catherine, and I decided to go for a bit of a run together.  So this is where we went.  As you can see from the above picture - It was quite the run.  It was quite the beautiful run as well.  The sun was shining beautifully and we just were running through the open fields and through the woods and it was just really great.  5.6 miles.  Let me just say that again - 5.6 MILES.  Yep, that happened.  That's a lot for me.  I may have been hurting a bit the next day but it was totally worth it.

There was one point during our run that I felt that I needed to stop and walk for a second.  But Catherine looked over and said - Really?  Are you sure? - Then I thought, you know what?  No, I don't need to stop, let's keep running.  So we did and I was fine.  Just one of the many reasons why it is so much better to run with someone else.  It's so much better to have someone there that will push you and encourage you to know that you can do it no matter how difficult it may be and no matter how much it may hurt.  I ran without stopping so much more that day then I ever thought I could.

It is our certainty of knowing His unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness and failure that leads to the fullness of His life. ~He Loves Me

This is something that I have been learning a lot this past week.  Learning how be secure in His presence knowing and trusting that He loves me so much.  That is all that He asks of us.  His deepest desire is not all of the stuff that we can do, but it is just for us to be, for us to be in a deeper relationship with Him, for us to be loved by Him and love Him in return.  It is in our becoming that we will do all the stuff and we will do it with the confidence that is found in Him.

There are so many times that I feel like I can't do something because it’s hard or I’m tired but I know that I will have God running right next to me saying - Really?  Are you sure you want to stop?  I can look over at Him and realize that it is because of His love and the confidence that I can find in His love that I will be able to push through no matter what it is.  I'd say that's pretty great. 

Such confidence we have through Christ before God.  Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.

~2 Corinthians 3:4-5

   

Peanut Butter Popcorn

I've been cooking/baking a lot since I've been here.  From delicious flapjacks to Pick-a-berry Boo cookies and more.  This weekend brought on a new snack -

Peanut Butter Popcorn

SOOOOO GOOD.