Introductions DTS 2006

Discipleship Training School 2006 has begun!!

Our students have arrived...Well, most of them. We had 2 girls drop out last minute, leaving our school with 15 students. This is a much smaller number than schools I have worked with in the past, but I trust, and already see how God moving in this smaller group of people - I know we are in His hands.

I thought you would like to see a picture, so here are a few from our first days together...



Here we all are, staff and students at Gasworks park, and below is a view of the city from the park. It has been such beautiful weather since the students arrived!



Here are some of the students eating dinner together for the first time at the house.



We have spent the first couple of days orienting the students to Seattle and the local neighbourhood, which they have seemed to enjoy. Yesterday they did a scavenger hunt or 'tour de la U-District', as we like to call it they had to take pictures at different locations in the area, each place was worth a different number of points!

One of the things to do was to try Bubble Tea. Its an Asian drink, almost like a milkshake but with big tapioca pearls in, so you drink it through a huge straw! With a high Asian population in this area of the city, many going to the University of Washington to study, there are tons of good food and drink places locally, and it is always fun to introduce people to some of the delicious treats we have all come to love. Bubble tea, especially the 'bubbles' however, is an acquired taste!

We have also been sharing our testimonies with one another. We believe that each persons story is important, and that we learn about God and each other as we share the stories of our lives. As we share something, it can release healing I someone else and as they share we can be touched. God is awesome like that. As staff we shared first. We had all spent time praying about the things we should talk about. I felt pretty confident about the things I was going to say, but it is never the easiest thing to put yourself out there. God was faithful to give me peace as I shared and it went well. We want to invite the students into a place of vulnerability, but we understand we must lead by example.

Thismorning and afternoon, the students shared their stories. Again, I am blown away by the experiences some of these young people have had. Drug and alcohol addiction, physical and sexual abuse, rejection and so many broken families. Many of the students this year have also been ostracised by Christian friends and family, when they have shared their struggles. It was so sad to hear them, story after story. So many of them are starting this season broken, and wounded, I guess we are all in different stages of healing...

I am feeling so many emotions and feel pretty heave about some of the things I heard, yet, I know God and I know His grace and mercy is constant. I believe that He has an amazing plan for each of the students individually and as a whole school also and I am expectant for the coming months.

We haven't even started our lectures and I feel like I am already learning so much - Please keep u in your prayers. A special prayer request being for protection for the students now they have been vulnerable with one another, that they will walk out in the freedom that can bring them, and not listen to the lies of the enemy telling them they made a mistake, or that they are loved any less because of the things we know of their lives. I know Satan hates that these young people have come here and given these next few months to God, to grow in their relationship with Him, and he would do anything to stop them from fully entering in.

Birthdays, Bar-B-Q's and a Billion things on a 'To Do' list!!

That about sums up my week!

Thanks for reading. It is Sunday night and I am preparing for the busy week ahead. Our Discipleship Training school starts next Sunday, but we have students arriving as early as Wednesday, so things are getting crazy as all the last minute details have to come together. I have been having some anxiety about everything, so please pray that this will not continue to be an issue, that I will be able to rest and sleep well and that I will know God's peace even in the hectic-ness of the next couple of weeks.

DTS is such an adjustment from the life and schedule I have been living. I am willing and eager to be leading this school, but at the same time, if I am honest I feel like I am giving up a lot to do it, and that's hard. As well as leading the school, I am trying to plan an outreach overseas, and work on my visa and an my support raising stuff. I believe that God gives us strength to do the things we need to, and I am praying for his wisdom to know how to spend my time.

In the middle of all the rushing around, I made time to celebrate my birthday. We were actually on a staff training retreat for the day and so we had cake after our evening meeting. A special and unique part of my birthday happened at dinnertime. The retreat place we stayed at has a large dining room where all the guests come to eat. We were there with one other group named 'Elder Hostel' It is a retreat for senior citizens, so as we were eating, my friend Bubba went to the front, announced it was my birthday and had all the elderly people sing 'Happy Birthday' to me - it was precious!!!!

The small group o attend through my church had a Bar-B-Q last night which was also fun, and this morning my housemate Amanda threw me a Birthday brunch. Here we all are...



It was so nice to catch up and enjoy being with all the girls. It will probably be a while before we get to be all together again, with everyone's schedules getting busy as the DTS starts for us, as well as the new school year for my friends who are studying.

I have felt very loved during this Birthday week. I have come to appreciate more and more the wonderful friends and family that bless my life so much. God is teaching me more and more about how to love well and I am able to understand it much better because of you all, and the way you love me. Thank you.

I will be in touch soon and let you know how the new students are doing...

Wholeness?

I still can't believe how fast this year has flown by. As the things get ticked off my list, I have a revelation that very soon, all the pages of applications in files in the office will become people in front of me! People from all over the place, physically from across the country and a few across the globe, but also spiritually and emotionally. Each person will arrive telling their own story.

I think I have refined how I see our role as staff. The more I am a part of this program, the more I am challenged and motivated by the idea of becoming whole in Christ.

I have been on a wild ride as I have been seeking this in my life. Searching for God's healing and transformation, to understand myself better. To be able to look at my life experiences and challenge things in my own thoughts and behaviour that do not fit with God's plans. It has been a painful journey at times, and has taken effort on my part, and a strength that can only have come from God.

I am not saying I'm done, or fixed, (I am not sure I ever will be before heaven), but I do know I am more whole now. I see how people have loved me to this place. I see how God has walked with me. Given me revelation of my own heart when I asked, and also forgiven me. I know he cries with me, but I also know He rejoices with me in the freedom which is found as a result.

I feel more broken and raw than ever...A part of me is scared that will mean I can't do a good job leading this school, but God tells me it'll be our best work yet?! I have confidence in who God makes me to be. I know this is where he has brought me.

This morning in our meeting Zach talked about how we must be confident to ask good questions as staff. He used examples from Genesis when God asks Adam and Eve where they are. In this case it was a physical place, but for each of us we must be asking ourselves and each other where we are in our walk with God, and where we are with the struggles we have. He also talked about the story in the gospels of the woman at the well and how Jesus asked her really good questions, which revealed her heart. But then later, how the disciples failed to ask Jesus why he had been talking to her. They missed out on hearing that amazing story and learning more about the Kingdom because they didn't ask.

As staff I want us to be good at asking questions, helping students to process, verbally or just thoughtfully through the things in their lives. I look forward to this weekend when we will have a training session about asking questions, I am sure we'll all learn a lot. I believe this is such an important step in them walking in the freedom of wholeness with Christ.

DTS Prep...

We started our first week of Staff Training today, (yesterday was Labour Day, a national holiday so we Bar-B-Qued and fellowshiped as we celebrated at baby Abby's dedication - But normally our weeks start on Monday too!)

We began with an All-Base meeting thismorning, which was fun, and at the end we took our staff pictures, so i included mine foor you to see! It was a good time to wait on the Lord together and hear what he has to say about our city. We had a scripture from Jeremiah 29:4-7, when God tells Israel to go and be a part of Babylon, to build houses, to plant gardens, to give their children in marriage, and to work for the prosperity of the city. God has used this verse to speak direction to us as a base since the beginning, it spoke as a conformation of God calling each of us to Seattle.



Today when others were sharing things or verses that people felt God had spoken to them, there was a theme of spiritual warfare, and the spiritual climate of the city which kept coming up. Things about all the depravity and sin in our city. I felt that we were being challenged to be more aware of the things which are strongholds in the place where we live. Ben talked about how each bad choice has a spiritual attachment, and when there is a place where many people are making the same bad choices over and over, the door opens and the enemy has his foot in the door. It becomes a stronghold over the city. I felt challenged to remember that as we make the decisions each day in our own homes, we can effect that spiritual climate. We are not perfect but we can try to chose well.

As I prepare for the DTS, I want to be more concious of the struggles in my own life and the battle I am fighting personally, I also we want to be fighting on behalf of our students as they prepare to make a good choice and give the next 6 months of their lives to the Lord. We, as a community want to keep fighting for our city too, in prayer and also in action in our own lives.

This week we will be sharing our stories together and praying for each other. I believe that this is an essential part of the preperation we'll do for the DTS. Knowing where each person comes from and some of the significant things in their lives can give us new understanding and help us journey better together in the season ahead.

The next few weeks will be crazy, with time out to celebrate my birthday in the middle! so please pray for strength and energy for all of us, and that we will rest when we need to.