DTS GRADUATE

I am a DTS graduate!!!

 

 

              This last week has been a whirlwind. We arrived in Bangkok from Malaysia and jumped right into Nak Suu awards ceremony. It was so cool to have this big ceremony with prizes for the kids that we have invested in during our time in Thailand. We had trophies to hand out as well. It meant so much to these kids. One kid said he couldn’t believe he got a trophy…”I am good. I am a good person. I can do good things. I didn’t know this before.” Crazy how something as simple as being honored with a trophy gives these kids hope. Hope. It was hard to officially say goodbye to them.
        Sunday was the beginning of our debrief week. We had worship (last one with Lea leading), Nicole spoke about sharing about our story on the mission field, and then that afternoon we had interviews. Sopo was interviewing me. It was great to talk about my DTS time with someone who knew everyone but wasn’t in the middle of everything. Shaneen and I had offered to take over dinners up until graduation. Cooking for nearly 30 people is a mission and a half but we managed to survive (bonus: I learned how to make tortillas!). Sunday night our group got together to play the games that we would teach on outreach (but added about 10x more aggressiveness). It was a blast although a few of us ended up with some bruises. Monday we had lectures in the morning and then that night we had a roommate movie night (Megamind and The Proposal). Tuesday we had an encouragement time, lectures, and prayer time. We had a enouragment time for our fearless DTS school leader, the lovely Rachel. We were all holding it together then Sarah broke into tears part way through her encouragement. After she broke a good majority of us followed. We are definitely an all girls DTS ;) That night a few of us gathered together to watch videos we have from throughout the DTS. So many hilarious and good memories.

 Then came Wednesday…

Our last day of DTS.
Our last worship time.
Our last morning chore time.
Our last time in the classroom.
Our last morning tea.
Our last lunch together.

It was a very weird day; it totally snuck up on us. Although it was sad to be at the end it was a wonderful day.                                                                                                                            Game TIME!!!

We had our last morning chore time while dancing to and singing to music, we played our favorite outreach games in the classroom, and had our final morning tea. We wrapped up our morning session with an encouragement time for our leaders and then LJ gave a final word. I am going to miss our leaders so much. That afternoon I walked with Kayla to a convience store at the front of Bangavilla to get soda in a bag for the last time.

     
 Kayla and I finishing the kitchen cleaning for the last time.                                                        

                     Last soda in a bag!


                     CAR DTS leader: Rach and Music leader: Lea



         Then came graduation. Our leaders couldn’t of put together a better night. Three students shared testimonies, I being one of them. Rachel gave us a wonderful send out word, we received our certificates, and then Pi Gan (from YWAM THAILAND) prayed over us. After that it was dance party and karaoke night! It was such a great way to end our DTS J We managed to avoid tears until we all sang “My heart will go on”…that choked up a few of us. Lots of hugs at that moment.
                                                                                                        LJ (DTS STAFF)

That night a group watched a movie while Kayla, Val and I stayed up talking. At 2:30 am Dillon, Jerome, Andi, Amanda, Shaneen, Val and I took Kayla to the airport. It was hard to say goodbye…and completely strange. I lived with these 11 girls for 5 months, seeing all the ups and downs. But now I don’t know when I will see them again-or if I ever will see them again. Kayla truly is a sister and amazing friend to me and I hope I will see her again soon. Shaneen was saying that every year one of us has to get married so we can have 11 DTS reunions ;)

The house has been really quiet today. I am nearly done packing and getting ready to head to Chiang Mai tomorrow. I will be in Chiang Mai until the 14th then I come back to Bangkok for a night then Sunday morning (15th)…I FLY home!!!! I am so excited J

Gabie-
DTS STAFF
My wonderful one-on-one :)

 

DTS,

Thank you for the memories. For the challenges. For the friends/sisters. For the knowledge of God. For taking me to 4 countries in 5 months. For the worship. For the laughs. And for the adventures.

I will miss this season but I know God has many more awesome things to come!

Nothing is impossible for those who believe in Christ Jesus.
Dillon and Jerome (DTS STAFF)

                                                               Sharing my testimony

 

                                                                        Class of 2014

                                                            I promise, we are not that creepy in real life

 

 

Malaysia!

Wow this week has been fantastic! It was my highlight of outreach. Our team got to team up with Rina (from Madagascar and she was one of our speakers during lecture phase) and a DTS from YWAM Perth to run a teen mini DTS camp. What is that exactly? It's taking a few topics from a normal DTS lecture and condensing it to 2 days. Our speaker name was Mirisha (from South Africa and working at YWAM Perth). She did a wonderful job speaking on Repentance & Forgiveness and Lordship. My small group was legit...for adults it was: Aiden (from Malaysia), Silas (from Switzerland and on the Perth DTS), Andi, Oy, and I. For students there was Trisha (16) and Nigel (14). Let me tell you a little about Nigel...this kid is a genius. He has built his own computer. No lie. Seriously though our group rocked. We conquered for the talent show and dance off (basically Aiden, Nigel and Andi are amazing). Our last night we had clean up and our small group was assigned to clean the kitchen. We ended up having a leftover noodle mini disaster but it even though it took longer then planned we had some great laughs. Since we are talking about food: I have NEVER been to a camp with this good of food. And it felt like we were eating all the time-cause we were. Shaneen and I soon came to the conclusion that the camp had a Hobbit (Lord of the Rings) meal plan...breakfast, 2nd breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner and supper. During our game time it started to pour so we all got absolutely soaked :) I was told that I have a strong American accent by a Canadian (whatever that means). And eventually people began to point out that I have my own accent. I think every word I have a hard time pronouncing came up that weekend. After talking to a group of the girls at dinner I discovered that nearly every zoo, theme park, museum in Malaysia is attached to a mall. For real. The last night of camp (and the last morning) we had spontaneous dance parties! It was hard to say bye to the teens, I really wish camp was longer.

After arriving back to KL Val, Santy, Amanda, Kayla, and I headed to the downtown area to shop and go to a place with authentic Malaysian and Chinese food. Downtown is pretty at night (they still have Christmas decor up lol). We managed to run into Rina and our camp speaker while we were there too.

The next day (Wednesday-only a week until graduation!) was our day off. So our crew along with the other Perth DTS took a unexpected 4 hr bus ride that Rina rented for our group and 30 min ferry ride to a island. We camped out on the beach. It was BEAUTIFUL and so worth the trip! Kara (Perth DTS-American but grew up in Kirgiztan as a YWAM missionary kid) and I kayaked to a few little islands nearby. It was so much fun to dock and climb on the rocks, watching different sea creatures in the water (the water was really clear!) and get out to swim (the water was the perfect temp). It was a good last day in Malaysia :)

So quick update of what my life in Malaysia was like last week:
The flight to Malaysia was super relaxing actually. Bonus! Malaysia is a Muslim country which added a different feel to trip. When we traveled to our accommodations we traveled in separate groups so we wouldn't attract attention and be followed. There are a LOT of Muslims but Malaysia is full of different people groups. A large majority are Indian, Malay, and Chinese (Malays are the Muslims). Our first full day we were taken to the KL Twin Towers to pray and then we hung out in the mall (and went to see X-Men!!) until we had to be back for a meeting. The next day we were off to a Burmese refugee youth centre. It was a pretty nice place that the teens are able gather at. The centre is supported by the American government! I have to say America is really doing something good by investing in these students-they are so amazing :) We had lots of fun playing games with them. Our music team joined us later and did a music workshop and concert. The next day we got to go to another refugee teen centre. Thankfully we got to hang out with these students a little longer, playing games and playing music :) Friday was just a prep for camp day with Rina. I totally loved getting to work with Burmese refugees again (I got to work with a people group from the country when I was in Thailand last summer)!

On my way to the airport. Debrief week in Bangkok here I come! 10 days until I am home :)

End of India-Kolkata

We arrived in Kolkata safely! Taking the sleeper train is a very different experience and although it was a little awkward it went well. So what is a India style sleeper train? You have a little compartment (off the main walkway no door or curtain separating it) with 6 bunks. 3 on each side. In our compartment was 4 of us girls and 3 men (take not that there was one extra man). Anyway I was freakig out a little about that (compartments are small and we are always warned to be weary of Indian men). One older man was quite the talker. He worked for the government and was telling me all about India and how important it was to talk to the people to learn about the country and culture (I don't think he realized that I wasn't just a tourist and that I had been working with locals for 3 weeks haha). I have to say that's one thing I love about missions is that I get to know the people and not just see the sights. He also had family in America and Canada. He also informed me that the British have the best manners.

Anyway sleeping that night wasn't the best sleep I have ever gotten...heading back to hot weather, train zooming by (makes the loudest noise in the world), abrupt stops , people coming through selling chai, yeah everything in India is just loud.

We arrived at our hotel (we are staying at a YMCA-cue song!). First thing I did was shower! It felt so good to shower without feeling like you are going to have frostbite afterwards! That AND there is a shower head-no more bucket shower!! After that Val, Kayla and I headed to McDonalds to get fries and ice cream. So good! I have missed western food haha.

I hung out I my room that afternoon and then went to a cafe with Kayla. This cafe is AMAZING!! We spent the rest of our afternoon and evening there just journaling and having quiet time.

We are having a wrap up day today. We had Devo and worship this morning and the. I am running around Kolkata with Gabie to exchange money. We leave for the airport at 4pm. Our flight leaves at 8:45pm.

Since Bangkok has been going through a lot of political changes there is a 10 pm curfew throughout the country. There was a possibility that we would have to sleep in the airport but thankfully there is a curfew expectation for those traveling from the airport!

I really can't believe my time in India is over. Malaysia here we come!! 

Last week in Darj

The village was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I seriously could of lived there. The pastors family was so kind and caring (also made AMAZING food). The drive resembled a jeep run at home...expect the roads were paved. Once in the village you walked everywhere! After our arrival we walked 15-20 mins on a hiking trail (except what I would consider a hiking trail was a sidewalk to them) up the mountain to a house fellowship. It was a couple, grandma and aunt. After having a little service in their house they asked if we could pray for some other family members that lived nearby. It was awesome to bless this family through prayer :) on our way back that night a neighbor hood dog randomly followed us home. We named him Mufsa. The dog ended up waking us all up at 1am with his barking.

The next morning Lynne, Andi and I set out to find water bottles (which apparently do not exist in this village). Just to clarify we did have water in the village they just boiled it to make it safe (for some reason at the pastors house the water always had a smoky taste). Anyway we ended up with another neighborhood  dog after that walk...we named him Simba. That afternoon we took a 30 minute walk to another house fellowship in a different part of the village. This house fellowship was much bigger and included a lot of teens. After that was over we went and prayed for a few people in the community. Later that day we had youth group at the church that the pastor we were staying with led. We played games which everyone got into. I gave the message. I spoke on "Why God wants our hearts." That evening Melinda, Lynne, Andi and I all hung out in my room playing cards. Side note: tea is a big deal in this part of India so in just one day we had 5 tea times.

Sunday was a nice chill morning (church doesn't start until 11am). It was fun being a part of their service :) Afterwards we had tea time and talked with a few of the church attendees. We had a couple of hours to ourselves while we waited for the jeeps to arrive. Right before we left we were invited to tea at our guide's family's home. It was so sad to leave such an awesome place...I really wish we could have been there for a week! We stopped by the tree line on our way back to Darjeeling and while we were there Oy and I were asked multiple times to take a picture with people (being foreigners makes you a celebrity)

On Monday we made and took sandwiches to the beggars again. I love doing this so much! That afternoon we had debrief time with Mel (base director). It was good to think through all the great things we have gotten to do in Darjeeling :) Auntie (the wife of the pastor who we did the prayer walks with) taught me how to tie a sari! That evening a few of us went out to get egg rolls (so good!). First of all I will say that Darjeeling is a pretty safe place (definitely much safer then Kolkata). But for the first time I had a somewhat freaky moment. I was with Kayla and Andi when we got the egg rolls and about that time a beggar came up to us (I am pretty sure this beggar wasn't from here because his begging tactics were very different-more like Kolkata). Anyway we had our back to this guy (I thought he had walked away) when all of sudden I felt hands trying to slide into my front jean pockets. I jumped and yelled "what the heck!"  By the time I had turned around, ready to backhand, he was gone. I thankfully didn't have anything in my pockets not that it would of mattered cause his hands missed my pocket.
After that little adventure we walked back to base. On the way back a family stopped us and asked if they could have picture with us. We started taking pictures and next thing we knew we were stopping the flow of traffic because other families has joined in the picture. As we walked away a random guy walking in front of me asked where I was from and after telling him he wished me a nice day. That night a few of us attempted to have a movie night but It ended up turning into a game night with cookies and yummy chai tea :)

On Tuesday we went back to our weekly ministries. Oy and I went to help kids with homework at the orphanage. They didn't end up having homework so we just played games. At the end we took pictures and then the kids gave us a big group hug! I am going to miss those sweet kids so much. It was pouring on our 20 min walk back to base...thankfully I am finally getting into the habit of carrying an umbrella! Gabie and Val left in the afternoon for Kolkata. They left early so Gabie would have time to apply for a Thailand visa. That evening I made the chai tea for the first time (even the base locals approved!). Then Kayla and I joined the staff in watching a movie. Of course that was after The base leader had to read every movie he had on his computer..."if you are holy...I mean if you are Christian...I have lots of Christian movies...*reads list* Book of Eli, Machine Gun Preacher, Because of Winn Dixie." We ended up watching "Million Dollar Baby"...so depressing.

Today is a free day. We had pancakes for breakfast and then I walked around Darjeeling for a little bit. I am unfortunately starting to feel sick again (cold) so I have been taking it easy all day. Fun night was dinner (great pizza) and game night.

Side note: I am not the only one feeling ick. We have had a couple of people who have been fighting coughs and colds and even had a few people who have had upset tummies. Poor baby Amy has been running a fever and throwing up off and on. Please be praying everyone feels better very soon!

We leave Darjeeling tomorrow afternoon and will be taking the night train to Kolkata. Please be praying that our traveling will go well! We will arrive in Kolkata the morning of the 23rd and then flying to Bangkok the night of the 24th :) I can't believe my time in Darjeeling is over! :(

Farewell Darjeeling
Thank you Lord for the wonderful weather! I loved not sweating for 3 weeks. It was great to look at the  majestic Himalayas daily. Your are such an amazing Creator! Getting to meet the amazing Nepali and Indian people, especially the sweet kids that stole my heart. This has to be one of the best outreach locations! Thank you Lord for bringing me to India :)

Last week in Darj

The village was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! I seriously could of lived there. The pastors family was so kind and caring (also made AMAZING food). The drive resembled a jeep run at home...expect the roads were paved. Once in the village you walked everywhere! After our arrival we walked 15-20 mins on a hiking trail (except what I would consider a hiking trail was a sidewalk to them) up the mountain to a house fellowship. It was a couple, grandma and aunt. After having a little service in their house they asked if we could pray for some other family members that lived nearby. It was awesome to bless this family through prayer :) on our way back that night a neighbor hood dog randomly followed us home. We named him Mufsa. The dog ended up waking us all up at 1am with his barking.

The next morning Lynne, Andi and I set out to find water bottles (which apparently do not exist in this village). Just to clarify we did have water in the village they just boiled it to make it safe (for some reason at the pastors house the water always had a smoky taste). Anyway we ended up with another neighborhood  dog after that walk...we named him Simba. That afternoon we took a 30 minute walk to another house fellowship in a different part of the village. This house fellowship was much bigger and included a lot of teens. After that was over we went and prayed for a few people in the community. Later that day we had youth group at the church that the pastor we were staying with led. We played games which everyone got into. I gave the message. I spoke on "Why God wants our hearts." That evening Melinda, Lynne, Andi and I all hung out in my room playing cards. Side note: tea is a big deal in this part of India so in just one day we had 5 tea times.

Sunday was a nice chill morning (church doesn't start until 11am). It was fun being a part of their service :) Afterwards we had tea time and talked with a few of the church attendees. We had a couple of hours to ourselves while we waited for the jeeps to arrive. Right before we left we were invited to tea at our guide's family's home. It was so sad to leave such an awesome place...I really wish we could have been there for a week! We stopped by the tree line on our way back to Darjeeling and while we were there Oy and I were asked multiple times to take a picture with people (being foreigners makes you a celebrity)

On Monday we made and took sandwiches to the beggars again. I love doing this so much! That afternoon we had debrief time with Mel (base director). It was good to think through all the great things we have gotten to do in Darjeeling :) Auntie (the wife of the pastor who we did the prayer walks with) taught me how to tie a sari! That evening a few of us went out to get egg rolls (so good!). First of all I will say that Darjeeling is a pretty safe place (definitely much safer then Kolkata). But for the first time I had a somewhat freaky moment. I was with Kayla and Andi when we got the egg rolls and about that time a beggar came up to us (I am pretty sure this beggar wasn't from here because his begging tactics were very different-more like Kolkata). Anyway we had our back to this guy (I thought he had walked away) when all of sudden I felt hands trying to slide into my front jean pockets. I jumped and yelled "what the heck!"  By the time I had turned around, ready to backhand, he was gone. I thankfully didn't have anything in my pockets not that it would of mattered cause his hands missed my pocket.
After that little adventure we walked back to base. On the way back a family stopped us and asked if they could have picture with us. We started taking pictures and next thing we knew we were stopping the flow of traffic because other families has joined in the picture. As we walked away a random guy walking in front of me asked where I was from and after telling him he wished me a nice day. That night a few of us attempted to have a movie night but It ended up turning into a game night with cookies and yummy chai tea :)

On Tuesday we went back to our weekly ministries. Oy and I went to help kids with homework at the orphanage. They didn't end up having homework so we just played games. At the end we took pictures and then the kids gave us a big group hug! I am going to miss those sweet kids so much. It was pouring on our 20 min walk back to base...thankfully I am finally getting into the habit of carrying an umbrella! Gabie and Val left in the afternoon for Kolkata. They left early so Gabie would have time to apply for a Thailand visa. That evening I made the chai tea for the first time (even the base locals approved!). Then Kayla and I joined the staff in watching a movie. Of course that was after The base leader had to read every movie he had on his computer..."if you are holy...I mean if you are Christian...I have lots of Christian movies...*reads list* Book of Eli, Machine Gun Preacher, Because of Winn Dixie." We ended up watching "Million Dollar Baby"...so depressing.

Today is a free day. We had pancakes for breakfast and then I walked around Darjeeling for a little bit. I am unfortunately starting to feel sick again (cold) so I have been taking it easy all day. Fun night was dinner (great pizza) and game night.

Side note: I am not the only one feeling ick. We have had a couple of people who have been fighting coughs and colds and even had a few people who have had upset tummies. Poor baby Amy has been running a fever and throwing up off and on. Please be praying everyone feels better very soon!

We leave Darjeeling tomorrow afternoon and will be taking the night train to Kolkata. Please be praying that our traveling will go well! We will arrive in Kolkata the morning of the 23rd and then flying to Bangkok the night of the 24th :) I can't believe my time in Darjeeling is over! :(

Farewell Darjeeling
Thank you Lord for the wonderful weather! I loved not sweating for 3 weeks. It was great to look at the  majestic Himalayas daily. Your are such an amazing Creator! Getting to meet the amazing Nepali and Indian people, especially the sweet kids that stole my heart. This has to be one of the best outreach locations! Thank you Lord for bringing me to India :)

Darjeeling update

Busy week so far:

Monday: We made sandwiches and took them to beggars in Darjeeling. We found a group of women who beg outside of a temple. Darcy (part of YWAM Darjeeling) visits them often and these women were so excited to see her! The ladies were very sweet and loved shaking our hands and just getting attention from us. Darcy told us that it means so much to them when we shake their hands because, as beggars, they are not acknowledged. That afternoon we spent doing bible study and that night we watched a documentary "Born into the Brothels". It's about children who are growing up in the Red Light District. After that we had a time if intercession (prayer) for the kids living in that world.

Tuesday: We took off that morning to a Missions of Charity home (Mother Teresa ministry). It was awesome to bless the elderly ladies that lived there! We did some songs, a dance, skit and craft. They absolutely loved the skit and couldn't stop laughing :)
One lady had was a beggar before she came and that was obvious. She came up to me and kept begging. It's so sad that begging was so much of a lifestyle that it was normal to her and that it felt comforting.  That afternoon I went with Kiley (base staff and from Oklahoma) to help kids at the orphanage with homework again. They didn't have a bunch of work so we ended up playing a lot of games. That night we had a unity teaching. Out of that we are supposed to go to everyone on our team and tell them things that we appreciate about them. It was really good. When you live with a team 24/7 encouragement becomes a little rare.

Wednesday: I was awake at 3am to go to Tiger hill (a good lookout to see the Himalayan range and the distant tip of Mt. Everest). The sunrise starts at 4am here in India. Once we got back at 7am we had a great breakfast made by Melinda. The rest of the day was chill but it felt like it would never end!

Today: We went back to the Salvation Army deaf school. We did 2 skits, taught them the Thai chicken dance, and played games. World Vision ended up being there as well to give the kids awards for a marathon they were in.

We leave for a village tomorrow and will be there until Sunday. I am currently preparing a message for the teens we will be working with on Saturday :)

We head to Kolkata a week from today :( I am going to miss Darjeeling!

Oh and I only have a month left in Asia!! I can't believe my time here is almost over.

Darjeeling: Last week

Last week in Darjeeling!
Tuesday: We had morning devos and such as usual and then we headed to afternoon ministry. We were split into groups...Oy and I (with no guide-I felt like a local) walked 20 minutes to an orphanage to help the kids with homework. It was SO much fun! After kids were done with homework I took them outside to play some games. I really enjoyed hanging out with the kids without having the whole team.

Wednesday: Free day! Shaneen and I walked around Darjeeling exploring and going to some markets. That afternoon we met up with Malek (base staff), Gabie, Val and Kayla at the movie theater to watch Spider-Man 2. Really good movie! Indian movie theaters are different...security was intense (no sneaking in food or anything for that matter). They also have a 20 min intermission in the strangest spot to stop a movie. That night we had a big game of human Clue. So cool!

Thursday: We went to a town about 2 1/2 hours away with a pastor and his wife who are starting a church plant there. We went to pray and worship in the building they had just purchased. It was such an awesome privilege to be the first team to come and bless their ministry :) It seemed like such a small thing to our team but when we saw how much it meant to uncle and auntie (that's what we call them) it became so important. Another awesome bonus: we stayed at a hotel with running HOT water!

Friday: We left the town that morning. Once we arrived back in Darjeeling we went to a deaf school that the Salvation Army runs. I helped with the games for the older kids. It was fun although I wish they knew American Sign Language.

Saturday: In the morning we had devos and prep time for a prayer thing we were going to do on Sunday. That afternoon we went to our Saturday ministry. I went to the orphanage that I went to on Tuesday with Miriam, Val, Kayla, and Oy. I was in charge of games. I really love those sweet kids :)

Thankfully towards the end of the week it started to warm up! I am really enjoying my time in Darjeeling :)

India-Darjeeling part 2

We started out the next morning greeted by wonderful weather and ready to track down a jeep to take us to Darjeeling! We found a jeep easily- Praise The Lord!! So we started our journey up the mountain! Those roads are intense but the scenery was breathtaking! 3 hours later we arrived in Darjeeling!!! There are no words to describe how beautiful this area is!

The YWAM base we are staying at has an incredible view of the Himalayan mountain range and when it's clear we can see the third tallest mountain in the world. It is also super cold here! It's their summer but the weather is basically my winter at home. It has rained buckets almost everyday we have been here and the rainy season hasn't even started yet.

Life at the base is interesting...there is no central heating so there really is no escaping the cold. I seriously haven't had a drop of sweat on my body since arriving here-the first time in 4 months. They run out of water easily (we haven't had water for 2 days but will get water tomorrow hopefully), and electricity goes out frequently. Our second day here we lived with candles.

1st day in Darjeeling: cold and rainy. I woke up with a messed up tummy (ate too much spicy food the day before and whacked up sleeping schedule) and fever. I couldn't get warm. It felt like my body was going through shock. I slept through the afternoon while everyone else did ministry.

2nd day: I was 100% and my body was doing much better with the cold. Our team went to two churches. Miriam, Oy, Shaneen, Melinda and I went to a church in a area that most foreigners are not allowed to. The path to the church was incredibly steep...turns out my lungs are not used to walking in an altitude of 7000+ feet. But the walk was worth it. The church was great and the pastor was so nice. The pastor took us to lunch and asked Oy a lot of questions about Thailand. He has a huge heart for Nepali people in different countries. That afternoon we took off on a scavenger hunt adventure around Darjeeling. Shaneen, Oy, and I were a team-almost the same scavenger hunt team that we had when we first arrived in Bangkok! The hunt literally took us ALL over Darjeeling (on foot of course...you rarely drive in this town). It rained for a large majority of the hunt which was an experience for this desert rat.

Today: I am adjusting to the cold really well! We went around Darjeeling via jeep this time with a pastor. He took us to some of the spiritual strongholds to pray. Most of these places were temples and they had INCREDIBLE views of the majestic mountains. The pastor was telling us that even though we may of not totally understand why we are here or other places we are at the center of God's heart. He chose us to be here to pray for these places and bring light. Pretty awesome :)

I am really only skimming the surface of how amazing this place is. I mean I am living in the clouds-literally. The Himalayan mountains is the view outside my window. I get to breathe in crisp mountain air daily. I believe that God had so much fun creating this part of the world :) I can't believe I am so blessed to have my outreach here!

Prayer requests:
-I will do better with breathing. Especially when walking uphill
-health for our team. Many have colds and I fear that I am starting to get one too.
-we will make a mark on this town.
-

India-Kolkata part 1

I don't even know where to start. So much has happened in the last 6 days!

We departed from the Bangkok airport at 1:30 am on the 30th of April to head to Kolkata. I walked right by the place my Summer Thailand team and I spent overnight in the Bangkok airport while we awaited our flight. After a couple hour flight and the long process of getting through the airport customs and such we got on a bus that Megacities had for us (along with Megacities directors) to take us to our sleeping locations.

India is like no place I have ever been. It's poverty level is incredibly high (like Haiti on steroids). Most of India looks like someone hit the stop button on the country and they haven't upgraded since. For example: Their taxis are totally old school- like something out is the 50s. The presence of men is so much higher then women. It's strange being in a culture where women are not expected to have jobs. There are literally men everywhere and it was a while before i saw a women. We dropped off our music team first. It was strange to leave them behind. We arrived at our sleeping location around 5am (it was already totally bright at this time!) we all went into our non air con room (killer when it's 100+ degrees outside ) and just slept the morning away while Manuel and Gabie tried to figure out train tickets. As we feared night train tickets were not available but praise The Lord we were able to get tickets for the next morning! So we ended up staying the night in Kolkata. With that we headed out to exchange money and buy Indian clothing. We had to take 2 taxi's. Unfortunately my taxi dropped off me, val, Andi, and Kayla at the wrong location and we had no clue where the money exchange place was. Thankfully I had taken a picture of the address of the place we were staying so we were not lost! We ended up walking around Kolkata for a couple of hours looking for a place to exchange $$ and we also got dinner. While we walked around we ran into another YWAM team from Kentucky that was helping with Mega Cities. They had a girl named Brittany on their team. We were able to get a Taxi back to our hotel "easily" and while there was multiple times I thought we might die on the way back (drivers in India are NUTS!!) we made it back safely. We later found out that it is usually very hard to get Taxi's to take you the area we were staying in because the crime rates in our area used to be so high. We were so blessed to find a taxi easily!

We started our 10 hour train ride at 9am the next morning. That was an adventure...100+ degrees, three of us (one being some random guy) sharing a small bench seat, no air conditioning, one of the team members phone was stolen, venders and beggars walking in between the train cars. It is seriously a experience. Thankfully after being on the train for about 4-5 hours the guy sitting next to us got off and the weather started to cool off. By the end of the journey the weather outside was wonderful and the last hour of the ride a thunderstorm hit! We arrived in New J-something that night and after dropping off the team at a restaurant Manuel and I headed to look for hotels in a little rickshaw. A rickshaw is a bike that a guy rides with a cart for 2 attached to the back. We looked at a couple of hotels and decided on one and then we headed to bring the team back. When we arrived back at the hotel a traditional Indian wedding was in full swing. I almost knocked out part of the wedding party as I carried luggage through the doorway haha! After leaving the luggage in my room I went down to the lobby to watch the wedding. The hotel manager took me to wave to the bride and he explained the whole Hindu/Indian wedding process to me. I got to watch the grooms big arrival and watch them carry (literally) the bride out to meet the groom.

India bound!

T-minus 3 hours until we start the journey to India! I am excited, nervous, and totally don’t feel like its actually happening.

While we are in India I will be in charge of transportation. Little did I know that the job would be become difficult! When I went online this afternoon to check on trian ticket prices I noticed that EVERY train had a waiting list…of 30 or more people!!! Thankfully, I was already all packed because I spent the afternoon with Manuel looking up transportation options. We called the Darjeeling base and they said the internet is usually not totally correct…which means: When we arrive in Kolkata at the crack of dawn (literally) Manuel and I will have to go to the train station to try to book train tickets. If they don’t have tickets then we are going to a travel agent who will find us transportation. Here comes the adventure!  

 

But that isn’t the only unexpected situation. Our wonderful outreach leader LJ has been really sick so she decided that she is going to stay back and give the leadership position to Gabie (orginal second in command). Manuel, Miriam and Kayla will be Gabie’s support. LJ hopes to join us in a week. Please be praying for LJ: healing, that she will get the rest she needs, and the doctors will figure out whats wrong.

 

 India already has shown a lot of surprises and I sure that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The base told us that it has been cold in Darjeeling (first time I will be in cold weather since January!!). Man I am really excited about the adventure ahead of me J

 

Quick overview of last week: Wed-Sunday was Camp Zoe, a camp for teens that are a part of our Nak Suu (rugby) program. It was SO much fun! I especially loved getting to work with teens again…I really miss The Next Wave and Campus Life kids at home! I was a behind the scenes person and helped with Freetime and the Water games. I especially loved coloring, feeding fish, and playing hide and seek with my leader’s kids. The kids attending the camp are from some slums that Ark works with and a Boys home. All of them come from Buddhist families and for many of them this was the first time they were told that Jesus loves them and He can be our friend. We had a time for the kids to write out their prayers and put them on a board. So many of them broke my heart: “I want higher education” “Whenever I wake up I miss my mom” “I want a real family” “I wish I knew my real mom and dad and that they would love me”. We had 24/7 prayer going on during the camp. It was hour slots and I absouletly loved every turn I had to pray for these kids!

 

I still can’t believe India is really here!

 On a different note: I only have a month and a half until I am home! Its really crazy and kinda scary!

 

Prayer requests:

-team unity

-blessings for transportation

-wisdom for our leadership

-safe travels and health

Elephants, Easter, and movies :)

I had one of the best weekends ever!
After arriving back in Bangkok on Friday 6 of us were ready to leave at 5:45 am to head to elephant camp! We went with a tour company (it was just our group though). We stopped at a floating market and at a bridge that was used during WWII. Come to find out the train track and bridge we visited will be featured in movie called "The Railway Man". Colin Firth stars in this movie and it's about the prisoners of war that the Japanese forced to help build the track and bridge. I had no idea that I would end up getting a history lesson.

So riding elephants...
It was one of the most amazing things I have ever done!!! We got to ride the elephants bareback to the river and then got to play with them in the water. It was so cool! If any of you ever come to Thailand you have to do this! My elephant kept giving me kisses with his truck (or smelling me haha).

Easter Sunday! We left our house at 5am for the sunrise service at church. Due to being up so early it really felt like the day was never going to end. After the service we had the rest of the day off so almost everyone went to a market downtown except for Kayla, Shaneen, and I. Want to guess what our Easter dinner was? Yep, McDonalds. But get this: McDonalds delivers in Thailand! After our "nutritious" dinner we had a movie night.

Monday morning we started on Camp Zoe prep and have been really busy with that for the last two days. I did the Devo Monday morning. I talked about how thankful we should be that Jesus gave up EVERYTHING for us...He paid for us so salvation is free. Because of Jesus we can nail our sins to His cross instead of doing an animal sacrifice. Think of how much animal sacrifices that have happened and how many animals you would of had to sacrifice for your own life. Jesus took EVERY sacrifice and made it so instead of having rituals we can come directly into His presence.

As for evening activities: Monday night Kayla, Shaneen, Gabie, Jerome and I went to see Captain America 2. The theater is huge! (Thailand are known for their HUGE malls, theaters as well). Before the movie they have the song to the King, which you have to stand for. I almost put my right hand over my heart but caught myself before I did.

We leave for Camp Zoe tomorrow morning and will be at the camp until Sunday! I am really excited :) I am helping with the water games on Friday and with the Freetimes :) Please be in prayer!

Only a week away until we leave for India!

Khmer New Year & goodbye Cambodia

Back in Bangkok! I can't believe our three weeks in Cambodia are over already!

This last week was really good but super busy. We unfortunately had a lot of people battling a cold...one girl getting a sinus infection. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is the Khmer new year celebration and due to that a lot of businesses are closed and the YWAM base was closed. So our team, a team from Australia, and the Titus were the only ones on base. Those three days in the morning we had bible teachings from the Titus team. In the afternoon we deep cleaned Cafe Eden (a YWAM ministry) with the Titus Team. It was a mission to get that placed cleaned with only having 3 afternoons to do it and missing some team members due to sickness. We were incredibly blessed with leaders who spoiled us with cold drinks half way through our afternoon. Random side note: Coke only cost .38 cents here. I can usually get a meal for under 3 dollars.

Yesterday was a GREAT day! a part of the New Year celebration is that you get people wet. It wasn't uncommon to get water balloons thrown at you and water guns shooting you as you walked down the street. Thailand also celebrated this new year and I am told that it is 10X worse there; it almost impossible to go anywhere without getting wet. Cambodia really wasn't that bad. Anyway yesterday we went to a girl that we work with in Thailand through the Nak Suu program village. A lot of the kids we work with in Thailand are actually Cambodian and quite a few of them were at the village, which was really cool. When we arrived in the village we received a huge welcome. The grandma came over and gave me the hugest hug and laughed and started to talk to me in Khmer. I didn't understand most of what she said but she was so sweet. I love old people in Asia! Turns out we were also the first foreigners to come to this village as well. After eating lunch the kids took a few of us over to a pond nearby. They pulled us in and next thing I knew I was playing in a pond with the kids and a cow and her baby drinking from the water nearby. After the kids found a crab that was bigger then my hand and chased me with it I decided to get out of the water...no I didn't scream my head off like a little girl. After hanging out a the village for a little bit the water fight began! It was SO much fun! It was us against the kids and everyone against Jerome and Dillon. We had water guns, buckets, hoses and lots of water! After about 5 mins of the war raging we started to slip and slide because of the now muddy floor. Quite a few of us wiped out on the mud a few times. The water fight probably lasted for 45 min to an hour. It was AWESOME!!! Last night Kayla and I went out to dinner which was really good :) Later that night a group of us met with Manuel (who has done lots of studying on this subject) to talk about what the bible says about the Holy Spirit. I love that I have a team that loves to learn :) Manuel encouraged us to make a booklet with different subjects that interest us; and every verse we read that goes under that category we write it down. So for intense: You have the topic Holy Spirit and then every verse I read that talks about the Holy Spirit I would write under that topic.

Getting across was a mission again. I way overpacked and it was miserable getting through the departure line in Cambodia and the arrival line in Thailand! But God is SO good and even though I hit a bad point of nausea because if heat and not enough water. I briefly met a really chatty French guy who had been to Darjeeling before. Pretty cool to ask him questions. As we entered Thailand I kind of felt like I was back home (home away from home). I can't believe how much I missed seeing 7/11 haha(there are 7/11s on nearly every corner in Thailand). We ended up scoring our own bus for the drive to Bangkok! Two seats per person. It's pouring rain was I look out the window at the green Thailand landscape :)

So now:
Farewell Cambodia. Thank you Lord for the adventures and challenges you placed in my path as I explored this country. Getting to sing your praises from the mountain tops, getting caught in a huge rainstorm, being the first foreigners to a village, having a water fight with a bunch of kids, and seeing a glimpse of your heart for this beautiful country. I am so thankful I get to be on this awesome adventure with You :)

As for what the next week looks like:
I will be in Thailand until the 30th. On April 23-27 is Camp Zoe! I will give more details on that later.

Prayer requests:
-prep with Camp Zoe will go well
-That we will shake the cold that still seems to linger (I have had a runny nose and such for over a week now)

Let it rain-adventure of a lifetime :)

Happy New Year!
In the year of 2014 I have celebrated 3 New Years...our new year, Chinese New Year, and now Khmer new year!

On Wednesday we headed to the outskirts of Battambang (30 min drive or so) to a orphanage that a pastor and his wife runs. I couldn't believe how hospitable these kids and pastor were. The kids even let us use their mattresses since we were sleeping on the pastors living room floor. We were definitely living in outreach conditions...no A/C, squatty potty, bucket showers. All that wouldn't of been half bad but....I was sick. Yep, I managed to get a cold (along with one of my other teammates) the day we headed to the orphanage. Burning throat, stuffy nose, icky stomach, and body temp changing is not a good combo when it's nearly 100 degrees outside and the only way to cool yourself off is to sit in front of a fan, which drys you out even more. Needless to say I was feeling close to miserable. The room we slept in didn't have very good air flow but I tried my best to sleep.

I was hoping to wake up Thursday morning ready for the full day of kids activities we had planned but I woke up feeling worse. I tried joining in for a little but I just couldn't keep up. I tried to get myself cool but nothing I did worked. We had been talking about how important it was to have a grateful heart and I was trying my best to keep a positive attitude; but by the afternoon I just broke. I felt like I couldn't do it anymore . At that time God brought over a few girls to pray over me and Val gave me a daytime cold med. At that same time it became overcast and a breeze started blowing. Within a half hour I felt alive again. I was even able to participate in the evening activities! The worship time was amazing, I love seeing the kids give their all when they sing to Jesus. We had a time when we prayed for the kids and then the kids prayed for us. I got to pray with a very sweet girl who had lived at the orphanage growing up but now she is going to university. After worship I shared my testimony and we played games. Because I was sick the whole day I never connected with any of the kids which was a bummer but I know God is doing a lot through those kids and will continue to. We got to witness one of their big prayers get answered. The pastor told me that the kids had been praying for bikes and before we came they had just had someone give them money for the bikes. The pastor bought the bikes while we were there and we had the awesome privilege of watching the kids receive them :) They were able to buy 15 bikes! As for what the team did with the kids: we had teachings, songs, dances, sports, crafts, games, face-painting throughout the day. That night Sarah and I decided to move into the church because it was much cooler. We were going to just take mattresses and make sure we were sprayed down with mozzie (mosquito) repellent. But when we came into the room Grandpa (idk what his name is but he is a super awesome and kind old man) wasn't going for our idea. He made sure we had a mosquito net and a fan.

It was a much better sleep although unfortunately everyone was awaken by a rooster at 4:30am. Oh but that's not all. At 5am Khmer music (basically the sound of a creepy carousel playing over a dying boom box at the volume of a rock concert-front row) starting blasting. We found out that it was a funeral...across the street. Not a wonderful thing to wake up to. Our day had to start by 6:30. After worship our wonderful leaders bought us our first cold drinks (cokes) since being there. Then at 9am we were off to a village. Our transportation? A tiny Nissan truck that literally looks like it was in it's last leg. How many people did we have to fit in the truck? 23. How did we achieve this? 6 inside and 15 in the bed of the pick up, and 2 on the roof. #lifeofamissionary. The village was about an hour and a half away. Awesome thing about this trip? We were the FIRST FOREIGNERS to ever come to the village. That's right first white people to ever be seen! The pastor said he had never taken a team to that village because the roads are dangerous (lots of flooding and you are traveling on dirt roads for an hour). When we got to the village they served us lunch and then the kids arrived. We had coloring pages for them, taught them some songs, performed a drama, and Andi shared her testimony. These kids looked almost scared of us at first...like they didn't know what to think of us. After the program we had a hair washing and a nail painting station...along with games. I got to paint nails :) It was so cool to serve these kids in that way. Unfortunately, that part if the day was a little rushed because a storm was coming and we wanted to leave before it hit. But once we had finished with the last child the rain started to fall...in buckets. We decided to head back anyway! It was crazy! We jumped into the back of the truck and took off in this heavy rainstorm. The rain drops were the size of little bouncy balls and when I said it was coming in buckets I am not exaggerating. We were soaked after only 2 minutes of being in the rain. The trip back took a hour and a half...raining hard for a full hour of that trip and just a sprinkle for the last half hour. It seriously was a miracle that we made it back. The mud was so deep that we should of gotten stuck and we almost did multiple times. During the drive we almost ran out if gas but thankfully we made it to another village to quickly refuel. Once we were out of the major storm our driver pulled to the side of the road so he could pee. Seriously?! Overall our team kept cheerful throughout the drive back, even though we were cold and wet. We sang songs at the top if our lungs as we drove through the storm. Of course we avoided songs like "let it rain, open the floodgates of heaven" haha. We were already living those lyrics-literally. That had to be one of the most awesome adventures I have ever had!

That night back at the orphanage we watched "Prince of Egypt" with the kids (or "Queen of Egypt" as Sat, our translator, calls it haha). We were exhausted so it was a good ending to the day :) We left early Saturday morning (after being woken up by the rooster and a wedding blasting music at 5am again) to head back to our hotel near the Battambang base. Last night we went to dinner with our translator, Sat, and the Titus team that we will be working with this coming week. The Titus program is the outreach phase of the SBS (School of Biblical Studies). The team is from Taiwan but they are all Americans. Really cool group :)
Today is Sunday so we served at the same church we went to last week. It's funny, I am known to be from Bangkok now. I am: Brittany from the Bangkok DTS. Not just: Brittany from America.

This week is going to be packed! Our days start at 7:30am and go until 8pm. Mon-Wed we will be getting some teachings from the Titus team in the morning and in the afternoon we will be helping with deep cleaning Eden Cafe. It is also Khmer new year so there are lots of festivities going on (they celebrate it the whole week). We don't know what's going on Thursday yet and then we head back to Bangkok on Friday! Can't believe our time in Cambodia is almost over!

I have been in Asia for over 3 months now!

Prayer request:
-a good majority of our team is getting sick with the cold please be praying for recovery and good health!
-continue to be praying for perfect health for the rest of our outreach phase!
-team unity
-that we all keep grateful hearts throughout any circumstance!

Nations to Nations

Outreach phase is officially here!!
Nations to Nations was a fantastic conference. Thursday night we had a cultural dance night and our group performed a modern dance. Lots of great dances were represented; there was a couple swing dancing, an awesome hip hop group, and the last act was a guy doing rhythmic juggling. Let's just say YWAM has a lot of talented people. Friday night we had a big dinner and then had a huge dance party. We learned how to dance to some Khmer songs, did the Cupid suffle, and some other western dance songs. It was a great night although I don't think I have ever sweated so much in just 2 hours of dancing (welcome to Cambodia haha).

Yesterday we had the day off. The night before I met a girl from America who is doing her DTS here in Cambodia. She was the one who did the swing dancing at the cultural show. Anyway she offered to teach me how to swing dance; so Sarah and I took a hour lesson from her in the afternoon. So much fun! She said what we learned in an hour usually takes a couple of beginners classes to learn. We also got lots of rain yesterday. It started to rain a little bit while we practiced and after we got back to our hotel it started to pour...and it poured for 5 hours without any breaks. That night it was decided to have a movie night since that's one of the best ways to spend a rainy evening :) We, of course, needed snacks so we ran over to the gas station; totally soaked but it was worth it :)

Since it rained last night it was an incredibly cool morning...I didn't even sweat (which is nearly a miracle for Cambodia). We went to a local church where I was in the skit that we performed and Sarah have her testimony. The girl who was translating for the pastor just got accepted to do a DTS in Colorado Springs. We thankfully have the rest of the day off :)

Monday and Tuesday we will be spent doing ministry prep in Battambang and then on Wednesday we head to a village nearby. We will be at the village until Saturday, helping at an orphanage. After that we will spend a week in Battambang helping with a cafe that the YWAM base runs.

Prayer requests:
-everyone stays hydrated! I have been battling with dehydration.
-health
-protection

Dancing and Are You Single?

I love Cambodia!
The last two dAys at the conference have been wonderful! So far we have heard from 3 different speakers. Edwin from South Africa taught how each of us have our signature on this world. Kevin who was born in Iran and raised in Sweden had an incredible testimony of how his Muslim mother found Jesus and through her consistent praying, her son (Kevin) found Jesus too! The other speaker was Matt (he has a really long traditional name because he is from the MicMah tribe of Canada). Matt is a spokesperson for indigenous tribes all over the world. He goes to the tribes and encourages them to worship God and Jesus through their culture. So many people have told them that to follow Jesus they have to leave their culture behind...but that's not true! God is the creator of culture and fully intends for Jesus to be in the culture, not outside of it. He showed a video of a bunch of tribes that gather every year to worship God together...so awesome! Tonight we had a time of worship. Edwin (who is South African) led us in a dance. He had the whole room doing dance  moves while singing "Hold on to Jesus" in 3 or more different languages! SO much fun! There was eventually a whole room conga type line going (mind you there is almost 200 people at this event). After that we sang How Great is Our God in about 20 different languages at least (there are 25 countries represented at this conference). It was great!!

So now for my funny moment:
This afternoon we had evangelism.
I was with 2 Cambodian girls and Santy.
One of the girls named Sopoem wanted to go to a house with a lady who wasn't able to leave her home due to being and elderly and sick. This lady is a Christian and a very sweet lady. After being at the house for a few minutes her son arrived. He spoke some English. After talking for a little bit he asked Santy and I if we were single. After a little while he asked me "Do you have plans to marry after your DTS?" I responded with a 'no, I am still pretty young, I am only 19" he said "oh you are young" Santy looked right at him and said "yes she is still very young" (Mama Santy always looking out for us!). After a little while the man continued to just ask me questions (not Santy). Questions like: what does your name mean? Then comments like: The way you sit is like Khmer, maybe we will see each other in 3 years, etc.
Oh but it didn't end there. Once we were getting ready to leave Santy asked if they would like prayer for anything. After getting some responses from the Grandma he said:
"Please pray that God will give me a good wife. Doesn't matter if she is foreigner or if she is Khmer. I just really want a good wife" [as Santy described the moment: "he says this whole looking straight at Brittany"]. After that we decided that we would all pray together out loud BUT the man requested that I close the prayer. Kinda awkward trying to pray about wife situation haha!  

Welcome to Cambodia!

We made it to Cambodia!

We took off Saturday morning at 7am in a double-decker bus. It was great seeing some of rural Thailand while on our way to the border. The border town was really busy; think the Thailand version of Calexico with a little more craziness. After eating lunch we grabbed our bags and walked across the Thailand/Cambodia border (a little dirt road). We immediately went to customs. While in customs I got yelled at by a grumpy border official after trying to help one of my teammates. Thankfully he was not the one who dealt with my passport otherwise I might of been refused entry. Just kidding, not really, but seriously. After that we had to go and get our visas, take our visas to get stamped, and then we were finally officially in Cambodia and could head to our air con vans! Why am I so excited about Air Con? Cause it's 100 degrees (with some humidity) and intensely sunny here) Feels like a summer day in the valley. I definitely overpacked (as did the rest of my team) which didn't help. We have all decided and made a deal to remind one another about this when it comes time to pack for India!

Despite the heat I love Cambodia. Driving to Battambang we got to see lots of the countryside...some parts look a lot like Haiti, and some parts look like the Valley. Every time it look up at the sky and see the big white clouds it definitely looks like a summer day at home :) Another similarity to home is that they drive on the right side of the road AND use American currency! Driving through the countryside I saw cows for the first time since I have been in Asia, honestly this is the most spacious land I have seen since being on Asia (needless to say, I was starting to feel a little tired of living in a concrete jungle).

Battambang is a nice little town with lots of good cafés I am told. A restaurant down from where I am staying is fantastic! Why? Because they have good beef and it's not expensive! Whaat whaaat!

This week we are a part of the Nations to Nations conference at the  YWAM base. It's going to be a packed week but I am really looking forward to it!

Prayer requests:
-no one gets dehydrated
-while our rooms are pretty nice (hot water and air con) some rooms have had cockroach infestations...please pray that the problem is taken care of and we have no more visits from those critters.
-Team Unity!!!
-health!

Last week of Lectures

This week has come and gone so fast! I have been busy with outreach prep, commissioning night, and lectures. Monday and Tuesday were spent preparing for commissioning night (a time that YWAM Thailand and Ark send us out on outreach through prayer and support-basically like a sending out party). The DTS students prepared a skit for the event and it had to be one of the best skits ever! Wednesday, right after lectures, Oy, Shaneen, Kayla, Andi and I headed to downtown Bangkok to get our JE vaccination at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases. It was actually a fun outing and it was awesome getting to see Victory Square.

After getting home we had about 30 minutes until we had to head to Commissioning night. The Music DTS did worship, we performed our skit (our skit was a knock off of '12 Days of Christmas' saying 'On the first week of DTS we made some memories'), a couple of testimonies, Nicole (co-director of ARK) gave a message, and YWAM and ARK prayed over our team.

Thursday was our last day of lectures in our classroom :( It is SO weird being done! It was our application day. During the week we talked about Submission and Authority. Our speaker was fantastic! She talked about how the spheres of society (individual, family, church, government, and economics) function, what their responsibilities are, and what happens if they are abused. But on Thursday we focused on pride. We spent the application time confessing our pride, forgiving those who had abused their authority in our lives, or asked for forgiveness for the way we treated our authorities. I did not realize how prideful I am and while it was scary to confess I couldn't wait to get lay all that before God. God has already been showing me how much He blesses those who humble themselves; it overwhelms me how good God is!

Later that day we went to the mall to get outreach supplies. Val and I were in charge of getting medical supplies. We ate dinner at Sizzlers haha. Today we practiced our "cultural" dance that we are performing at the Nations to Nations conference in Cambodia. After that we deep cleaned the house and packed up our rooms and our bag for Cambodia. It is so weird to pack everything but not go home.

We leave for Cambodia at 6am tomorrow! We will be at the Nations and Nations conference the first week and then will be there for 2 weeks of outreach. I am not sure what we are doing there yet but I have heard something about helping build a café.

Please be keeping me and my team in your prayers!

Father Heart of God.

This week has been another busy week! Last Sunday I had the privilege of sharing my testimony at a translators workshop. It was an awesome experience to graduate the class and see the excitement on the ladies and men faces when they received their certificates. Tuesday we went to the community to do games and crafts with the neighborhood kids. Wednesday was community night, North American themed! We had Chili and cornbread. It's funny how chili is definitely a North American thing...everyone else had no clue what it was and Santy (Indonesian) made her first pan of cornbread. That night we had a Giving Night. It's a time of prayer and worship...and giving (no, duh). The needed funds for outreach did go down! We now have less then 2000usd we have to raise. Thursday we took the sky train to Downtown Bangkok :D We went to a mall to buy Indian clothing. I absolutely love Indian clothes and am so excited about wearing them while in India! Friday night was Youth night (our one and only). I had so much fun with the kids! I got to spend some time talking to the girls after; they taught me some Khmer language and then asked about where I live and then shared their dream about going to Paris. I really hope their dream of going to Paris does come true someday.

This week we learned about the Father heart of God. Our speaker was from California and was a fantastic speaker! He has been in YWAM for 40 years and knows a lot of the original YWAM people; his mother-in-law is Joy Dawson, a lady who had a big part in the start of YWAM.

So what I learned this week...
The world feeds us a lot of lies that come from pagan worship. Such as: God is changeable, therefore I have to constantly prove that I am good person. We prayed that we would all have a anger towards the apathy and the lies that Satan tries to feed us. On Thursday our speaker and male leaders had a time that they  encouraged, prayed and commissioned us, all girls DTS, to go out and make disciples, reach the hurting, and live our lives. Lea (who's Samoan) did a cry/call that the church from his culture use when sending people out. It was a intense cry but super awesome! We talked about a Father's authority, faithfulness, generosity, attentiveness, affection, and  acceptance. At the end of the week we discussed each of these points in depth and asked ourselves if we had any problems with any of these areas. It was a very eye opening time for all of us. I really had to deal with my perfectionism that, I realized, made it hard for me to trust others. We talked about unconditional love and that because Jesus shows us this love we should show the same to others. This says it perfectly: "Love is letting those we love be perfectly themselves, and not twisting them to fit our own image. Otherwise we only love the reflection of ourselves we see in them." I want to show unconditional love to the people in my life...so goodbye perfectionism! I am so glad God doesn't let me live with my mistakes!

We leave for Cambodia a week from today! Can't believe our lecture phase is almost over!

Visa week

I will start with the good news: Our Indian Visa applications went through!!! unfortunately it took three trips to the embassy for that to happen. In the last week my free time was filled with putting together and then editing visa applications. While I enjoyed the work, after editing applications for the second time it got old.

Besides our visa applications we were trying to prepare for our fundraiser that happened yesterday. It was a little nutty trying to do visa stuff around all the prep. I spent all day yesterday baking with Miriam while the garage sale went on. The thai's in our neighborhood are really into yard sales. There was a couple of fights over shoes and such...(thai's don't fight so it was strange seeing their aggressiveness). That night we had a carnival and concert (featuring our Music DTS band!). It all went well although I was totally exhausted by the end of the day.

As for other week events our lecture topic was Relationships. Pretty good although my week was so busy I really didn't have much time to process anything that was talked about. I am thankful that I got some time to talk with Averyl (our speaker); that helped the topic sink in a little. Community night was French themed. We watched a really weird French movie (Sarah knew the movie). A group went to the community on Tuesday night to do something for the kids at Pi Blahs church, but I stayed home and worked on visa stuff. Thursday night we all got together to have Indian food (chicken curry and chai tea) and watch Bride and Prejudice (a Bollywood film). Hilariously awkward movie and it made us all excited about India!

So yeah that's pretty much what's going down here...today I will be sharing my testimony at a translators training at YWAM. I really need to get to work on that ( I haven't had time to think about it at all) and finish homework.

Only 2 weeks until we leave for Cambodia!!!!  Which means that lecture phase is over and we are half way through the DTS :o

Prayer requests:
-preparation for Outreach goes well
-Lynne had severe food poisoning this week, she is currently in the hospital and should be coming home  today. Pray for full recovery for her.
-money to be raised for outreach. I think we still need to raise 8,000 usd.
-prayer against sickness and accidents!!

Outreach Jobs

Three weeks from today I will be leaving for Cambodia, the beginning of my outreach phase! Outreach preparation is in full swing now. We got our outreach job assignments this week. I am in charge of getting all our Indian Visa information together (19 visas total) and then once we are in Darjeeling I am in charge of transportation. That means I have to look at maps and get the teams from point A to point B, keep track of transportation finances, and what type of transportation we will be using. I am currently in the middle of all the Visa stuff because we have to take our visa applications to the embassy by Wednesday. India has the toughest visa application process ever but after this I will be set to go to any country! [

So besides lots of outreach stuff I had a FANTASTIC week of lectures! I am really sad this week had to end. Tuesday night we had our last Lights in the Community (the school we have after school programs at), after finishing that I really noticed how little of time we have in Thailand now. Wednesday night was Indonesian Community night. I found out that Americans say 'orangutan' totally different then everyone else. Thursday night Sarah and I got to "babysit" Nicole and Sopo's (the founders of Ark) kids. I had a blast! We played Dominoes until their bedtime and then Sarah and I told the two youngest kids a bedtime story. They requested that we make up a story, I don't know how much the kids liked it but Sarah and I had so much fun telling the story and being total dorks. We got to pray with both the kids and they, of course, both requested that Sarah pray in French (I love it when she prays; it sounds so cool!). After I prayed the son who is 9 asked me why American kids pray on the side of the bed with their hands folded. I told him a lot of kids don't do that and asked what made him think all American kids did that. His response: They always do that in the movies. I never that of that as an American stereotype thing haha. So yeah that's life here. We have the whole weekend off. Yay! I have time to get all the Visa stuff, reading for my second book report, and catch up work done!

Prayer requests:
-Outreach fees for those who still need them (we are having a fundraiser next Saturday)
-Praying for unity in our team
-PLEASE start praying that no one will get sick or injured on outreach!!!

True Worship=Adoration+Obedience

Making Jesus Lord of your life:
"I submit myself wholeheartedly to Jesus as Messiah and Lord of every area of my life.
Lord of my spirit and all my spiritual awareness and worship.
Lord of my mind, my attitudes, my thinking, my beliefs, and my imagination.
Lord of my emotions and my expression of my feelings.
Lord of my will and all my decisions.
Lord of my body, my physical health, my exercise, ...my diet, my rest and my appearance.
Lord of my sexuality and its expression.
Lord of my family and all my relationships.
Lord of my paid work and my voluntary service.
Lord of my material good and my perceived needs.
Lord of my finances.
Lord of my plans, my ambitions and my future.
Jesus thank you that you laid down your life and suffered in my place to free me from the consequences of my sin, iniquity and rebellion; I am now free to love, worship and obey you with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
Jesus you are my Lord and I willingly submit to completely to you today and forever. Amen."

 

We prayed this in lectures the other day. Our topic? Worship. When you hear that word most probably think of singing but that is only a small part of the meaning. True worship is to adore and obey someone or something; and everybody is created to worship. Sometimes what we choose to worship is far from the true God, our Creator. People choose to worship other gods and idols made out of stone, but idols can also have other forms: money, education, relationships, security, power, comfort, and success (etc). Everything listed are good things until they take the place of God in our lives. Ask yourself this question: What does my mind wander to effortlessly? The true God of your heart is what your mind goes to effortlessly every time you let your mind wander. *BAM* I don't know about you but that convicted me. I am not saying you have to think about God every single minute of the day and that its bad to daydream.; because it isn't. God gave us the ability to daydream but if we think about one thing constantly that thing is becoming an idol. Heavy stuff and this was just the first section of day 1.

 

Day 2: Our speaker (whos name is Jason from Australia) gave us this analogy: A father is out mowing the lawn and his little boy wants to help push the lawn mower. The dad lets his son "help" him push it although it makes the job take longer. After the mowing was done the son runs into the house and tells his mom "Mommy I did it! I mowed the lawn!" So why did the father let his son help? He did that so he could have a sweet moment this child; to have intimacy. That is how God is with us. We go out to do missions or do something for God like the little kid "helping" his daddy push the lawn mower and at the end we say "Look God I mowed the lawn". The point is that God doesn't NEED us to do missions and share the gospel, He WANTS us to "help" him do missions and share the gospel. God wants to have those sweet moments; to have intimacy. God doesn't want to see the back of your head. He wants to hold your hand and lead you, looking into your eyes.

 

The root of all of this: Worship is obedience. Those who go out from the presence of God into the world are the ones that change the world.

 

So yeah I have been floored numerous times in the last 2 days. And what I am sharing is just scratching the surface.

 

Beyond being floored this is what's been happening here:

-We had our last Lights In the Community today (the school we go to weekly and have a small after school program with the kids). Finishing that made us realize that lecture phase is nearly over!

-Only 3 weeks and 3 days until we leave for Cambodia which means I am almost done with the lecture phase!

-We are having a fundraiser next weekend for outreach

-We are starting to learn the dances we will be performing on outreach at morning exercises

 

Prayer:

-Team Unity!

-Funds for outreach to come in for those who are lacking the funds