YWAM (Youth With A Mission)

I know I know, 1 month and 2 days since the last blogspot, shocking. But I'm just having so much fun :o)

Where to start...

YWAM
We made it! Tis a good start. The Discipleship Training School (DTS) started on Monday 28 September, there are 29 peeps representing 14 nations - USA (of course), Australia (only Dan & I, and only married couple), England, Faroe Islands, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Azerbaijan, Switzerland, Ecuador, Germany.

A typical day looks like:
0730 - 0800hrs: Breakfast
0800 - 0900hrs: Quiet time
0900 - 1000hrs: Worship or Prayer/Intercession...talk to God
1000 - 1300hrs: Lectures
1300 - 1400hrs: Lunch
1400 - 1800hrs: Work Duties (many teams, split into 2hr shifts)
1800 - 1900hrs: Dinner
1900 - 2030hrs: varies each night

Well, the above is what is supposed to happen, but I'm finding plans change...a lot and I'm being tested on my kronos personality (very time orientated).

Lectures
So, the talks we've had so far:
worldview; sin (what separates us from God; doing that which God did not create us to do in His original design); worship; freedom; fear (be in awe of, not afraid) of God; forgiveness; identity and the weaving of our identity; image of God; this (our) generation types; evangelism; fear of man; prophecy.

Each lecture has been really challenging, and other stuff I've heard of and believe already. There was one week when we had Jospeh Avakian (the YWAM logo designer) speak. I would be trying to process something or would comment to Dan about something and then Joseph would speak on it the next day - I was being told! Tis all good.

Food
We have been spoilt here at Harpenden for food, it's so good! I don't know how I've not put on weight! I've often gone back for seconds at dinner time and eaten both cereal and toast for breakfast (which I'm becoming very conscious about and am looking to change). But then it could be the fact that I'm eating 3 meals a day, eating properly at proper times, and I'm not sitting at a desk all day (hello Rio Tinto colleagues).

Exercise
Well, we started off running in the am's, but that's over-rated (how you going Tanya! still running chicky?) Dan just told me he's still running, so not "we," it's "I" - pardon me.
There is a circuit class on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 0700hrs which I'm going to and it's nice to be indoors doing it (not that we've had horrible weather so far). I spoke to David who runs the classes and he's offered me to run them - so the fitness course has come in handy. Now I just gotta get outta my comfort zone. They're an easy bunch, so it should be fun - I just gotta get out my creativity streak and slash it around...anywho...

Weather
TOTALLY BLESSED! England Autumn is great! We've had only a couple of days when it's rained (and it been misty if anything). We switched our clocks back an hour, yesterday for DLS (daylight savings). So it didn't matter what I voted in WA, we got it here! Not bothered really. At the moment it's great cause it's light in the morning - yay! So WA mob, you are now 8 hours ahead of us :o(

I can only imagine what winter is going to be like, they've told us it doesn't get light until 0900hrs and the sun goes down aroud 1600hrs - yay fun! We will leave for our outreach around December 11th, so depending where we go, we may get better weather - maybe. The outreach locations haven't been decided as yet.

Blackpool
Our DTS met up with 4 other DTS' (3xEngland and 1xItalian) and a School of Evangelism (SOE)from Norway) in a place called Blackpool. People from England have differing views, but mostly it's a dump. I didn't mind it, but then I don't live there. There are gambling machines everywhere, game centres, and a beach...kinda.

So we all came together for an evangelism week to tell people about God and how much He loves them. A lot of things happened that really rocked my world:

We saw healings from God like everyday:
- the first one I heard about was a woman who had very painful arthritis in her hands and she couldn't open them. She was prayed for and was then able to open her hands - and the pain was gone.
- a similar story of someone who had arthritis from the knees to shoulders and they were healed, pain and all.
- there was a girl in the group who had one leg shorter than the other. She was prayed for and both legs were the same length.

We did "Treasure Hunts" whereby we asked God to reveal His "treasures." There were five things we asked: Name, Location, Appearance (what they're wearing), Anything Unusual, Prayer Needs (sickness, etc). We then went out into the streets and found them. I got to see this on Friday when we approached a few people with the information we had and it matched the person - prayer need, appearance and location. We asked if we could pray for them and just told them that they are God's treasure and that He loves them very much (as He does all of you - you are all precious to Him, He created you). God worked, and works, in amazing ways.

But we also unfortunately had to leave one of our students there. She was taken to the hospital and still remains there undergoing treatment and tests. Something that was misdiagnosed back home, which hopefully they have pinpointed it here. It's a somber time, but we know she is in good hands.

Other
I'm posting all my photos on facebook this time round cause I have spent all my time typing stuff. I'll comment on each one of them so you know what/where it is.

I'm a little upset - I was playing with my camera and accidentally deleted ALL the photos I'd taken in the first 3 weeks or so of being here. I mean, who in their right mind would call deleting photos 'formatting'? Pentax would, that's who! I am getting over it pretty quickly though, can't hold onto these things for too long, it eats you up inside. So the only photos I have are on my blogspot. Hence the othe reason I am posting them all on facebook - sorry for those who don't have facebook - but you should just give it in, it only becomes crackbook (addictive) if you choose it to master and control your life.

Dan and I are going well personally. We've been challenged with a few things and like always we are finding out different things about each other. We have a one-on-one we meet each week and are an older married couple, so we're pretty in there for guidance and accountability.

Well, it's dinner time. I'll try and keep this updated each week, if only to talk about the lectures in more detail.

Cheerio for now
Liz