Hello everyone!
Let us start out by apologizing for how long it has been since our last update! It has been a wonderful couple of months, with the DTS running. We want to share as much as possible with you all to give you an idea of what God has been doing here in Australia.
As most of you probably know by now, every DTS has a lecture phase first, followed by and outreach phase. On this school, we felt in prayer that God was asking us to plan the school week by week instead of in these two major chunks. Over the course of the first twelve weeks, we had two weeks of outreach sprinkled into the lecture weeks and one lecture week with another base about two hours south of us. Over these weeks, our school went from twelve students to ten as two of our boys left for personal reasons. As a school, both staff and students, God has grown us tremendously in so many ways, but three that stand out are community, freedom, and evangelism.
With such a small school and staff team, we have had the opportunity to become a closely knit and unified community. We have loved seeing how prayer, generosity, and encouragement have sprung out of this so strongly. Even as school leaders, we might not have gotten the chance to get to know many students well, but because of the intimate size, we have been able to get to know each student individually—this is a dream come true for us as we learn to balance DTS life with everything else. For some of our students, this is the first time they have felt safe in a community of peers to be themselves and form genuine relationships. Even outside of class times, students are praying for each other, reading the Bible together, and worshipping together. We are so thankful for the way that God has given us unity in our staff team and allowed it to overflow in the school’s culture as well.
We have seen God do truly incredible things in each student’s life as well. Each speaker that we asked to come brought a certain dynamic that pushed each one of us deeper into our relationships with God and the freedom of knowing the Truth that only He can share with us. There were two particular weeks that this happened really obviously: Lordship week and Evangelism week. On our lecture week on the lordship of Jesus, our speaker, JD (who is a key leader in the School of Biblical Studies at our base), shared about how the things that keep us from making Jesus the Lord of our lives can be dealt with by allowing God to point out the pain or wrong belief that has gotten in the way and then allowing Him to heal or correct that area. Through times of prayer, God realigned many people’s hearts and healed both staff and students’ hearts. During evangelism week, the speaker, Sarah (aka Sez), spent time talking about fear. After this, she allowed the Holy Spirit to heal areas of fear in each student and staff through prayer. Both of these opportunities left us changed by God’s love, freeing us to love Him more with our lives. We were so thankful for how God orchestrated these weeks for the school.
Another key aspect to the school has been evangelism. As staff, we each have our own ideas about sharing our faith with people, and we each have our comfort zones as well. We wanted to lead the students well in this area, especially because it would directly benefit them to grow in sharing their faith in their home nation. During lecture weeks, there were structured evangelism times where students prayed about where to go and what to do in order to make God known on the Coast. Over the weeks, there were countless testimonies of people getting to share God’s love and pray for people. One of the staff, Matt, even got to lead a couple of skaters boys to the Lord! On the outreach weeks thus far, we have been to Miles, on the Sunny Coast, in Toowoomba, and down the East Coast of New South Wales. These weeks have been so diverse and full of such incredible testimonies of God’s relentless love for people.
We spent one week in a country town 5 hours inland called Miles (we have been before as a staff team). As some of you may remember we have a staff from Sunny Coast that felt God call her to pioneer a YWAM base in Miles. Karis and one of the other staff Andrew led the 10 students there for a week of outreach after the first 5 weeks of lectures. Other bases do a mid lecture phase outreach week regularly as they see the way it bonds the students, prepares them more for outreach, and also helps staff to see a little more of where the students are each at. We had not done this in many years, but Felt God say to do it, and we are so glad He did! It was a week that really bonded our school, and also people were pushed into creating deeper disciplines in their pursuit of Jesus in the midst of little free time. It was so beautiful to see that even when we would go to bed late each night from ministry the students were up at 5:00 am to have their time with the Lord before we would spend time in worship and prayer as a team. Our ministry ended up looking different than we expected, but for a very good reason! Miles has been in a drought for 13 years (besides 1 year in the middle of that). But while we were there it rained the entire week, and a slow steady rain that the soil could soak up, the farmers were ecstatic, it was beautiful to see!
On the Coast, we had a week of outreach focused on young people, as it was school holidays at the time. We know that on the Coast in particular, young people struggle with a great deal including some staggering rates for depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. To reach these young people, we did things like hosting a kids’ camp, getting involved with two events put on by local youth and family services, going to the skate park, and even going to a music festival. In each thing we did, we made it our aim to spread God’s love in whatever way the Holy Spirit was leading. This led to many conversations about faith as well as opportunities to pray for young people, who were so often eager to open up and share what was going on in their lives. A specific testimony from this time was at the music festival, here in Australia they have these things called “bush doof”, which is basically where a festival takes place in the middle of the bush. They draw many new age believers and are often populated by people high on some type pf drug. In prayer we had felt God clearly say some how go to one of these. We prayed and asked God for a date and put it on our calendar, as the time got closer we ended up finding out one our previous staff who DJ’s for these things as a form of ministry actually got asked to preform at a bush doof on the exact date we had heard in prayer! So we took our 10 students, drove an hour into what a felt like the middle of nowhere, praying and expectant for God to move. This place is probably the last place people would expect to see a group of Christians, or if they did they may expect to see sign holders or aggressive calling out. But we felt God clearly say to go with a heart of Love, spirit of boldness, and to embrace the chaos. We all of course were not participating in any drug or alcohol activities, but would get right in the middle of the big field and start dancing with everyone, even the flame and fire dancers! We danced so hard, which often led people asking us what we were on (as they saw how much joy we had, and they clearly wanted it), it was the perfect gateway to explaining how were filled with the Holy Spirit. People were so open to hear about Jesus, ask questions, receive prayer, receive prophetic words or words of knowledge, ect. There were lots of testimonies of these things. One of these was while Karis was dancing, she felt God give her a vision of one of the girls and felt prompted to share it with her. As she did the girls eyes lit up, Karis asked if she could pray for her, because the vision was about soaring into a life of freedom, that what she was living now was only a portion of what she could have. She was eager to be prayed for, after the prayer she went back to dancing, within 2 minutes she came back to Karis saying “what did you do, I was in such a battle and something has broken off of me!”, Karis got to explain how it was Jesus that had brought that freedom to her in that moment. There perhaps are some that would like to convince us that It was wasted time and many were so high who knows if they will remember, but we are confident God marked peoples hearts and spirits, and we have been continuing through the weeks to pray for the specific people God encountered, that if any memories were lost they would be restored, and that the tangible presence of Holy spirit they felt that night would continue to stand out as something that no other high can replicate.
After 2 more weeks of lectures we started our largest portion away (7 weeks) which consisted of 2 weeks outreach boys and girls separate, 1 week of lectures after those 2 weeks, and then the 4 weeks Darwin (including travel). The Girls were in Toowoomba for those 2 weeks (a City 3 hours inland). There is a YWAM base there that has been focusing on reaching the refugees in Toowoomba. In the last 1.5-3 years many Yazidi refugees from Iraq and Syria were accepted into Australia and sent to Toowoomba where the government gave them housing and has been supporting them in other ways. The Yazidi are a frontier people group, which means that virtually they are completely unreached with the Gospel. They live in remote mountain areas in Iraq and Syria and have been persecuted many times. In 2014 was when they experienced an awful genocide from Isis that killed many of their people and misplaced many as well. They have had extreme Trauma’s and have had to live through things no one should ever have to. YWAM Toowoomba has partnered with a Faith based local nonprofit that offers free English classes in the homes for these refugees. This is very appealing, especially since most of the woman culturally wouldn’t be allowed to go to school like the men are, or are at home with their kids, or are elderly and can’t leave the home without assistance. The girls outreach mostly was comprised what they call ‘house visits’. House visits are when families have signed up for wanting someone to come into their home regularly to teach English. The non profit is short on volunteers, so we would often go to homes that had not had someone come visit yet, and then those that are still interested at the end of a few weeks can transition to someone that will continue to come (please be praying for more local church members to volunteer). Every day we would split into groups of 2-4 of us and go to 1 house each, it being a warm culture you were often there for hours and were blessed with tea, cookies, and often lunch as well. Some homes were eager to learn English, and throughout the time we were able to spark up conversation (with very limited shared language) or often they would want to share their stories with us, and we would listen with compassion and empathy, holding their hands as they cried. It was very beautiful to see how much it meant to them that the Australians s(most of our students are AU) would come to their home and teach them, they often said how they felt welcomed by the country, and it was clear they had a sense of deeper value after our visits. Some homes weren’t very interested in English learning, and were just eager for company, many of the woman have been there for 1.5-3 years and say they have no friends, it was heartbreaking to see how isolating it is for them. Many of the Yazidi are not actively practicing their religion since they have left their home country. We believe this was why many of them really desired to be prayed for and felt so blessed we would pray for them or for their families. With many of the visits the English was very limited so sharing the Gospel was difficult, we were always very careful to be honouring and not pushy, but also not be afraid to share when we Felt our Spirit being prompted. Since they are a people group which were persecuted if they would not convert to Islam, we needed to be very careful that they would never feel any pressure, only love and acceptance. When we would share about Jesus we were careful to express it in a way of “this is what I believe”, and often from that they would ask questions. We soon found that many of them have very wrong views of what Christianity is from what ISIS would tell them. It was beautiful to see things click when they would hear that God is loving and kind. We spent the other hours of the days doing lots of intercession, many of our girls had their hearts beautifully broken for the middle east, for the refugees, and also for ISIS. God specifically touched one of the times of intercession and spoke so clearly to pray for the salvation of those in ISIS, that they are also his lost kids, there was not a dry eye and hours of prayer felt like minutes. There were even a few girls felt God clearly speak a calling to the middle east to them. Karis and 2 other students connected very quickly to one of the young woman they visited and were able to go be with her 6 times while we were there. She was very eager for friends and had much more English so conversations and understanding was much more possible. She has a very hard and traumatic past that she shared with us. To honour her privacy and that it is her story to tell we won’t go into those details over this blog. But we will say that God made a deep connection quickly, and He is so clearly after that young woman’s heart. There is a softness and openness that was very different from all the other house visits it seemed. Our last night in Toowoomba (the week of lectures where the boys had now joined us) we went over for a feast with her and a few others we had met at her house, Sam was also able to join this time. We were there until 10:00pm and the amount of laughter and joy that was in that house was so beautiful. It doesn’t make sense with the language barrier how much connection there was, it can only be explained by Gods heart and His perfect unity being displayed. We have been keeping in touch since we left and we are already planning a weekend to head back for a visit. Please be praying for this young woman, and her couple of friends, they all have an openness and softness that we feel God is stirring in so much.
While the girls were in Toowoomba, the two male students, Sam, and other male staff, Andrew, headed down the coast to visit a slew of YWAM bases and get involved with what they were doing. For Sam, the trip was really interesting because many of the outreach opportunities that they took were skate related. The team visited skate parks wherever they went, put on free BBQs, and spent a lot of time getting to know people at the skate parks. This was definitely out of his comfort zone as he really has nothing to do at the park (skating seems like certain injury to him). At one of the BBQs, Sam got the chance to share some of the things God has done in his life to some of the guys who came over. Each person seemed to be going through something that Sam could speak into from his own story. This happened early in the trip and gave Sam a new motivation to continue stepping outside of his comfort zone and going to places he would not usually go! Overall, the trip was incredible. The boys got to serve every base they went to and get involved with their ministries. They brought energy and joy anywhere they went!
Edit: We have taken so long to write this update, that we are now in Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia (look up the drive from Sunshine Coast, QLD to here). After a week of lectures in Toowoomba on prayer and intimacy with God, thirteen of us and Indie set out on the inland road through the outback of Australia to make it here. We had four days of driving and one day of ministry in a town called Mount Isa. We prepared for as many mishaps as possible on the long journey through wide open land with very little cell reception or population, but we made it without a single issue—praise God! Every stop we made, we spent time intentionally seeking people out to share the love of Jesus with and throughout the drive, we worshipped, interceded, and grew in relationship with each other. Even Indie seemed to love the road trip! One of the testimonies from the times of evangelism was when the students had to use the bathroom and couldn’t wait until the next stop, so they pulled off into a very small inland town. After using the bathroom, a group of teenagers approached them, eager to see people in their town. They were so interested in what the students were doing and what they believed, one of students gave one of the students that seemed very intrigued and open a bible. The students left that time feeling very encouraged that the teenagers had been the ones to approach them, and the kids got their numbers and wants them to stop back on their way back from Darwin! On the road we stayed at some motels and also were hosted by a very lovely couple from a church in the town Mount Isa. One of our staff had emailed lots of churches asking if we could camp out in the backyard, and one responded saying there was a lady in the church that wanted to host us at her home! They let all 13 of us and Indie stay with them for 2 nights, she even made us dinner! We loved being there, her and her husband are believers and there kids are away (some have been in YWAM for many years themselves). We were able to help with some things at their local church for the full day we were there and also did some gardening for them. Was a very fun experience to rock up to someone's home who you don't know, but to feel so at home. There are many beautiful testimonies from the road trip, of safety, unity, and through times of evangelism.
Now that we are in Darwin, we have two weeks of ministry before we spend a week driving back and then have our final two weeks of debrief with the students!
We are personally doing well, we were apart for those 2 weeks of outreach and then Sam was sick for that week we were together, and then we left for a road trip where your never alone haha. So our alone time has been very limited, but God’s grace has definitely been on it. We are blessed to have our own room here in Darwin, we have bunkbeds but hey, nothing like sharing a twin bed to bring you closer ;). While here we are going to take a whole day off together, so we are looking forward to that. Although we haven’t had much intentional alone time it still has been a very sweet and fun season. We love road trips, so even though there were others in the car it was a very sweet time together. In many ways this has felt like our busiest season of life with juggling the three different roles that normally you wouldn’t do all at once. But we have learned a lot through it and God has stretched our capacity again. When we left for outreach it felt like a breath of fresh air, we for sure are feeling more rested being on outreach, although we still have the other responsibilities, some of them become less as were leading outreach which has been a blessing.
We really hope this update was helpful to all of you. Thank you so much for all of your support—God is doing such miraculous things here and it would not be possible without you all! Know that we are doing well and when the school ends, we will update you again to recap this last month or so of the school, but until then, we miss and love you all!
MILES OUTREACH WEEK
LECTURE PHASE (click arrows on photo to see more)
TOOWOOMBA
ROAD TRIP TO DARWIN (click arrows on photo to see more)
Comentarios