First Week of School
So the first week of DTS is over and I can't believe it's only been one week. On one hand it feels like I've been here for months and on the other it feels like it was just yesterday that I arrived. Regardless of how long it's been, I'm having the time of my life (literally)!
Some interesting things have happened but first let me tell you about the school and what we learned this week. The first 2 days were just a more in depth orientation about what to expect, who ywam is and all that. But we also shared our testimonies those first two days. There's a real spirit of unity here, one that can only come from God.
Then Wednesday we learned about Hearing God's Voice; we just went through kind of the basics of how we hear God's voice, why we need to, etc. Then we had a time set out to listen and apply what we learned; to see if God would speak to us. And He did. Some really cool things were shared; some as simple as an encouraging word. But all a unique and vital experience that we'll need to succeed here and to do the Lord's will.
Thursday (yesterday) we learned about intercession and how it differs from prayer and then we interceeded for whatever the Lord put on our heart. It was really powerful! Then later that day, after lunch, we watched a justice movie. Every Thursday we watch a movie about some area of justice that will correspond with the subject of justice being taught on Justice Friday. Yesterday's movie was a NZ movie called, "Once Were Warriors." It was about the Maori culture and how the Maori people, that live outside the villages, have become very violent and abusive; alcoholism, broken homes, abuse, etc all occur regularly in the modern Maori family. (I do want to emphasize that this behavior is polar opposite of what traditional Maori's are all about. Don't misunderstand.) It was a very emotional movie and I think all of us were crying through the whole thing. But one thing Josie, the leader of the school, said is that although we work in dark situations, we don't focus on darkness- we focus on light. So we had time to process and to debrief with each other; talk about our feelings and our emotions and then pray together. All good stuff!
Today (Friday) I got to lead worship with another student here named Minsoo and now I'm the leader of one of the worship teams here at our YWAM. I'm really excited about getting to apply all I learned in my Worship class at Trinity and the chances that I have had to lead worship and experience other types of worship settings. I think it's going to be really good. My team and I will be leading worship on Monday for an hour set and on Friday for a 15 minute set. Can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do.
So some random things that occurred within the week; I was approached by a prostitute who then asked me if I would have sex with her. Had she not been wasted I would've talked to her, but this stuff happens everyday on K Rd, even in front of where I live, and the random and crazy confrontations are growing more frequent but I'm determined to take those from being confrontations to ministry opportunities. For now it's just a lot of praying as we walk up and down K Rd.
There's also a homeless man that lives right by the hostel, when I say live I mean he sleeps on cardboard boxes, and I've had some interaction with him but not enough to open doors. I think he just needs to see that I'm for real; I'm praying for ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus to him. For now all we know is that he's homeless and he sniff glue.
Lot of oppression here and I can feel the darkness as we walk to class everyday. But Josie told us how some of the students went in the sex shops to pray and interceed; that really caught my attention and I think I might end up doing stuff like that (sorry if that scares you mom).
Tomorrow we are going on our first weekend activity to the beach and i'm SO EXCITED! So lots of beautiful and fun pictures are on your way.
That's all for now! I love you and thanks for the prayers
Some interesting things have happened but first let me tell you about the school and what we learned this week. The first 2 days were just a more in depth orientation about what to expect, who ywam is and all that. But we also shared our testimonies those first two days. There's a real spirit of unity here, one that can only come from God.
Then Wednesday we learned about Hearing God's Voice; we just went through kind of the basics of how we hear God's voice, why we need to, etc. Then we had a time set out to listen and apply what we learned; to see if God would speak to us. And He did. Some really cool things were shared; some as simple as an encouraging word. But all a unique and vital experience that we'll need to succeed here and to do the Lord's will.
Thursday (yesterday) we learned about intercession and how it differs from prayer and then we interceeded for whatever the Lord put on our heart. It was really powerful! Then later that day, after lunch, we watched a justice movie. Every Thursday we watch a movie about some area of justice that will correspond with the subject of justice being taught on Justice Friday. Yesterday's movie was a NZ movie called, "Once Were Warriors." It was about the Maori culture and how the Maori people, that live outside the villages, have become very violent and abusive; alcoholism, broken homes, abuse, etc all occur regularly in the modern Maori family. (I do want to emphasize that this behavior is polar opposite of what traditional Maori's are all about. Don't misunderstand.) It was a very emotional movie and I think all of us were crying through the whole thing. But one thing Josie, the leader of the school, said is that although we work in dark situations, we don't focus on darkness- we focus on light. So we had time to process and to debrief with each other; talk about our feelings and our emotions and then pray together. All good stuff!
Today (Friday) I got to lead worship with another student here named Minsoo and now I'm the leader of one of the worship teams here at our YWAM. I'm really excited about getting to apply all I learned in my Worship class at Trinity and the chances that I have had to lead worship and experience other types of worship settings. I think it's going to be really good. My team and I will be leading worship on Monday for an hour set and on Friday for a 15 minute set. Can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do.
So some random things that occurred within the week; I was approached by a prostitute who then asked me if I would have sex with her. Had she not been wasted I would've talked to her, but this stuff happens everyday on K Rd, even in front of where I live, and the random and crazy confrontations are growing more frequent but I'm determined to take those from being confrontations to ministry opportunities. For now it's just a lot of praying as we walk up and down K Rd.
There's also a homeless man that lives right by the hostel, when I say live I mean he sleeps on cardboard boxes, and I've had some interaction with him but not enough to open doors. I think he just needs to see that I'm for real; I'm praying for ways to be the hands and feet of Jesus to him. For now all we know is that he's homeless and he sniff glue.
Lot of oppression here and I can feel the darkness as we walk to class everyday. But Josie told us how some of the students went in the sex shops to pray and interceed; that really caught my attention and I think I might end up doing stuff like that (sorry if that scares you mom).
Tomorrow we are going on our first weekend activity to the beach and i'm SO EXCITED! So lots of beautiful and fun pictures are on your way.
That's all for now! I love you and thanks for the prayers