Brittany's Thailand Adventure: 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)