Life to the full.

Discipleship Training School. Youth With A Mission.
                         (DTS. YWAM.)

In Fall 2009, a friend from elementary school emailed me and wrote about doing a DTS with her. She wanted to do it, but didn't want to do it alone. She figured I might be up for something like that too.
I didn't know what it was.
I looked it up.
She was right.

The bug was planted quickly. I knew I wanted to do one...but the question was WHERE?! Oh, the options! You could do it basically anywhere in the world!

I eventually narrowed it down to 3, and inquired to all of them.
1. England for a soccer themed DTS.
2. Oregon--guess it just kind of stuck out to me...
3. California because it was the one my friend pointed out initially.

In the end, we went with California. Chico, California.







January we started the 12 week lecture phase, where we had teachings on many topics, such as Hearing the Voice of God, Nature and Character of God, Plumbline (forgiveness and getting right with God) and Spiritual Warfare and Authority. This time was a life-altering few months. Absolutely amazing. It felt like God had let me see EVERYTHING in a new light. Instead of just having head knowledge, I was gaining heart knowledge. I finally received the forgiveness Jesus had for me all this time...and the freedom that came with it was like nothing else. I just wanted to hug everyone and could not wipe the smile off my face for anything!  I experienced Jesus like never before, and I only wanted more of Him! This was life! This is the Jesus that Paul was crazy about! I got it! And I loved it!

We were sad that this time had come to an end, but we had 2 months of outreach to look forward to: an opportunity to apply everything we had just learnt! And I don't think any of us were too upset that Fiji ended up being our outreach location....shucks, eh? :)

So off we went! And once again...we saw God at work. In those around us, in our team, and in ourselves. We did a lot of different kinds of ministry, to let everyone get a taste of what could be. We did door to door, where we visited in peoples homes, children's ministry, church events, prayer on the streets, treasure hunts, preaches and bible studies, skits and testimonies. We stayed in mansions and tents, huts and houses.



My favorite place was Dreketi. A tiny village. We stayed in tents on the church yard. Most of us had a horrible attitude the first night there, as we had just come from living in a mansion with all you can eat doughnuts, to a place with no electricity and we sleep on the floor. As we were supposed to be speaking at a church event that night, they asked for volunteers. We were supposed to ask God who was to speak, and on what? I didn't ask. I just didn't want to do it. I sat in the front row and watched my comrades do the skits and the testimonies. Thankfully, God decided it was time for an attitude adjustment. I don't know how he did it, but by the end, I was so excited to be there and to team up with what God was doing! It was like God just flipped a switch. Everything seemed great! Most of the week, we did door-to-door ministry, which was my least favorite out of all of them, and yet, it really didn't bother me. I even kind of enjoyed it!

It was there that I also got to share my faith with an Indian man who had questions about Christianity. I had just been having a quiet time with God while the rest of my team were getting ready for supper. Soon I noticed a man lingering, and acknowledged him. He jumped at the opportunity to question me. At first I was scared that I wouldn't know all the answers, or that he would grill me on everything I knew about Jesus or the Bible. But he didn't. It was a conversation with a guy who was curious. Who didn't quite get it yet. Who was searching. In the end I got to pray for him and encouraged him to keep asking the questions he had. When I got back to my team, they said they had been interceding for me. Now THAT'S what God's family looks like, I thought. People who stand with you. Pray with you. Share your hurts, your excitement, your fears, your challenges, your accomplishments. It was a another new look at those who are supporting me. So thankful to have the encouragement behind me. So incredibly blessed to know those people in my life.

And with saying that, it was incredibly hard to say good-bye to them. They were people from all around the world. It's hard to live when your heart is gone to Korea and Guatemala and Switzerland and different parts of North America.... Let's just say I was really thankful for Facebook after we parted ways...

DTS Graduation
Fijian Haka