The work must go on... amidst floods in Bangkok

Most people thought we would redirect our outreach to avoid Bangkok soon after the floods. But we were given the "okay" that it would be safe and we went anyway.

I am so glad we did. We joined Ark International - a children at risk ministry run by Nicole and Sopo Fakaua through YWAM Perth. They are doing great work in the slums of Bangkok. They run a rugby academy, do safety and nutrition education weekly with slum kids, organize camping trips and youth events, teach English and a lot more.

While working with ARK, our team was able to do teaching on trafficking prevention. We had been given a curriculum just before we left for outreach. While we were in Bangkok the ARK team was given a huge open door into a school in the community they've been investing in for two years. They were given permission to do anti-trafficking teaching, only they didn't know exactly how to teach on this topic. Then we showed up with one of the best training manuals in the world right now. We were able to get the right resources into their hands at just the right time. Together we taught over 60 students in grades 1 -3. We were also able to take this teaching into the slum itself and do an open-air training. Parents and children came and received the teaching - simple tools that will keep their children safe. That is kingdom work!

Our last 2 weeks in Nepal...

7 weeks in Nepal have absolutely flown by as our team has kept busy doing village evangelism, door to doors and open airs, teaching children's programs and leading house fellowships with new believers. These last two weeks in Nepal we have been working with King's Kids (a minstry of YWAM) in Kathmandu. We have gone out multiple times a week to talk to street kids and prostitutes. The ministry was very challenging - we saw a drunk 6 year old, two street fights, and 10 year olds sniffing glue. But we can really see God moving through the King'sKids team. The street kids come running up to them, so hungry for the love and kindness they are shown. I was able to share my testimony with a 15 year old girl who sells her body for food. She would barely look me in the eyes as we talked, and I felt God wanted me to tell her that He does not see her as dirty. He sees her pure, and lovely and innocent. I looked her in the eyes as I shared, and tears started welling up in her eyes. It is not so easy for these kids to get out of the streets, and often they have been there so long they don't want to leave. But even the toughest of hearts are being softened by the unconditional and relentless love ofJesus.

Another highlight from ministry in these last two weeks was an open air we did in Ratna Park. This park is in the worst area ofKathmandu and is the place that men come to find prostitutes (at all hours of the day). Last Friday we did an open air gospel presentation. Our Nepali YWAMers (the King's Kids team) did a skit we taught them and then our team did two dramas. Two of our DTS students shared testimonies and one student bravely preached the gospel. Over 300 men surrounded us to listen. After the students spoke I got up and shared what I felt God wanted to say to these men. One man was crying. I urged them to make a decision to follow Jesus, to give their lives to Him in exchange for His forgiveness and new life. As we finished I said "if you want to knowmore, or want prayer or want to make that decision today please stay, otherwise we are finished" (please leave basically). Nobody moved. Literally all the men who heard and watched stayed to find out more. We broke up into smaller groups and continued to share the gospel with these men. God's spirit was moving so powerfully and even though most of those men had come to the park with wrong intentions, they listened to us genuinely and intently. We felt God's presence and protection so strongly that day.

On Tuesday we are off to Bangkok!

Finally, News from Nepal!

Ministry has been amazing!! I have so many stories to share but will have to just narrow it down for time's sake! :) My favorite day of ministry so far was during week 2. We hiked 2.5 hours up a mountain outside of the city of Pokhara to a remote village. We stopped at a house and the whole family was there. We handed them gospel tracts and started to share a bit about Jesus. They had never heard of him. I got to share the gospel to all 8 of them, shared about what the Bible is and told a testimony from my life. The family was so open and listened very intently. After we shared, they invited us to stay and have tea with them. We laughed and bonded with them meanwhile a 12 year old boy sat next to me. He asked if I had a Bible. I gave him the new testament. He started reading it immediately. I got to share about what it means to be sons and daughters of God through belief in Jesus (john 1). He was so hungry to hear it. He asked more questions about the Bible and Jesus, including the question "If I follow Jesus will I still be able to celebrate Desai?" (The biggest Hindu holiday here) I told him "no, you won't, but you will get to have a relationship with God and hear Him speak to you directly." His eyes widened. He even asked if we could stay the night to share more. Sadly we couldn't. We stayed a while longer, prayed for them and said our good-byes. Pray for Sazin and his family to come to know Jesus through the New Testament! and for the local believers to be able to do follow up in this village.

More news to come!!!

News From Around the World

We've heard reports from some of the teams that are out on outreach! Over the last couple months we've had short-term teams working in Cambodia, India, the Kimberley (northern Australia), Switzerland, Thailand, and Denmark!

- In Switzerland 50 people gave their lives to Jesus in 3 weeks!

- In Cambodia in a village of 700 people one of our teams led 100 people to the Lord!

- In India a team got to share discipleship teaching with 400 local Christians!

Some highlights from two of our base ministries:

- Over the last year ARMS (Australian Relief and Mercy Services - a ministry run by YWAM Perth and in cooperation with the local government to reach out to families in crisis) aided 184 families!

- Over the last year NEXWAVE (a YWAM Perth ministry that works with Christian and non-Christian youth by doing camps and in-school seminars on values, relationships, etc) worked with over 17,000 youth in Perth and in other cities in Western Australia!

I think it's worth noting that Nexwave is a ministry comprised of about 10 staff (from between the ages of 18-30 something). It's amazing what God can do through just a few willing people!

God on the loose

God doesn't fit in a box.

This week's DTS topic is relationships. The ywam base director Shirley Brownhill has been sharing with all three Discipleship Training Schools (Sports DTS, Music DTS, and Classic DTS - the latter I staff). Most of the time she has been sharing about the importance of deep relationship with God. It has certainly not fit in the 'box' of typical relationships teaching. It would be very hard to sum up all that she has shared. Some of the main themes that have been coming through are: the importance of living a lifestyle of hunger for the Lord, His desire and ability to heal us and transform us - out of hurts and into freedom, and our deep need to look more like Jesus to a world that is burned out on Christian hypocrisy.

God has been moving deeply in the hearts of the students and today we took a moment to respond to God - to simply pray out loud whatever was on our heart in response to what He was saying through the teaching. People were praying out deep, heartfelt prayers of surrender, of hunger for the lord, pushing aside passivity and committing to seek Him, prayers of repentance for the way we have not lived out God's character, prayers of praise for how good and beautiful He is. After probably 4o bursts of individual prayer there was a lull... and then another voice... this time in song. Boldly without warning or instruments to support him, one of the students started singing. We all joined in and it kicked off a long period of spontaneous acapella worship. Some of the students (from the music dts no big surprise) were drumming on their chairs and on the walls, there were crescendos and diminuendos, and joyful clapping. Towards the end the voices quieted and just the charged rhythm of the chair drums continued. Then all at once we just started shouting Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! A demonstration of the joy, love, and passion that come with a surrendered, seeking heart.

It was such a precious and powerful time. God stirred up hunger, desperation, humility, gratitude, commitment, love, passion, praise, adoration, worship and desire. In those moments nothing else mattered but Jesus. We completely lost track of time (it turns out what was going to be just a few prayers said out loud turned into nearly two hours of response to the Lord!) It was not just a nice prayer time, it was a deep time of communion with the Lord. And it was just a glimpse of the glory that God calls us to, the kind of life he wants us and enables us to live.

Doomsday

This week was the uh oh topic: Lordship. The scariest week of DTS, where we look at the absolute worthiness of God to be Lord of our whole lives; for us to live lives of 100% surrender. This is the week where all the fears come to the surface, and all the things we hold behind our backs, "out of God's view", get exposed. The classic hangups arise: "But if I surrender everything to God.... He will send me to go live in a mud hut in Africa... I'll never get married.... I'll be sick and miserable the rest of my life." If we're honest with ourselves we maintain tight control of our lives because we are afraid of what He will do if we let go. We then often wonder why are lives are a bit dull and our relationship with God is a bit trite.

"The problem isn't that we're lukewarm, halfhearted, or stagnant Christians. The crux of it all is why we are this way, and it is because we have an inaccurate view of God. We see Him as a benevolent Being who is satisfied when people manage to fit Him into their lives in some small way. We forget that God never had an identity crisis. He knows that He's great and deserves to be the center of our lives. Jesus came humbly as a servant, but He never begs us to give Him some small part of ourselves. He commands everything from His followers."
- Francis Chan, Crazy Love

The truth is He does demand everything. Just read the things Jesus said to the people who wanted to follow him but weren't prepared to do it wholeheartedly. Lordship week on DTS is taking a look at what things would hold us back from following Jesus completely, and then removing them.

So on Friday, ("application day") the students made a choice. They made the choice to never have a choice again; to let God be Lord of not parts of their lives, not some of their decisions, not one day of their week, but of ALL. You would expect this to be a very serious and somber occasion. Painful tears of fearful surrender.

But instead there were mostly tears of joy, sighs of relief, deep freedom, and a lifting of heavy burdens. Because yes God demands everything. He is very clear about that. But this same God who demands everything is the covenant keeping God, who in His own words promised His people: "I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and... in faithfulness."

We must surrender to Him because He is worthy. But we also get to surrender to Him because He's sooooooo good. If we lose our lives we will gain it. The students caught a glimpse of that ironic promise on Friday and I believe they are prepared to live it out.

Where is God in a hurting world?

Character of God

In class we have begun to tackle some really tough questions; where is God when all we see is hurt in the world? Does he cause the destruction we see? Can he prevent it? These are tough questions to answer and cannot be resolved in a week’s teaching. But what we can consider in a week is how we approach these questions. We took a look at the big picture – where is God in the history of the world, what has his position been on justice and mercy, what are those crazy stories in the Old Testament all about? We also made it personal. Students looked at their own lives – the hurts and injustices they’ve experienced, the situations in their lives that have made them question God’s goodness, or even existence. As they honestly brought these questions, in humility and without accusation, God ministered healing and understanding and many were able to look back for the first time and not only see the pain but see God’s presence, His sustaining grace carrying them through the hardest times.

I think the thing that stood out to me as I saw the students get touched by God’s love and healing is just how important our “attitude of approach” is. Do we really want to know “why?” something happened, or is the “why” a fist shaken at God cleverly hidden by a question mark? I have seen time and time again that when people seek understanding in humility and openness God meets them in the most incredible ways. But I have also seen how accusation, preconceived notions and already drawn conclusions can harden our hearts and keep Him at a distance. I myself experienced a lack of God’s comfort and presence when I harbored accusation for years. The beautiful thing about God is that he desires to come near, to come into those places of deepest hurt. He may not answer every last question, but he brings peace. The creator of the universe is humble enough to feel our pain and bring comfort and understanding. Are we humble enough to let him in?

JULY DTS 2011 BEGINS!

What a start!

"The most portentous fact about any man is not what he at a given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like." - AW Tozer

The first week's topic was hearing God's voice. God is already doing a work in the students' hearts. Janine (our school leader and lecturer for the week) raised the question "what do you really think about God?" She challenged the students to go beyond what they can recite, what they know in their head or what they have heard about God. What do they believe in their hearts? As she and one of the staff shared about difficult experiences they've had and how God has shown up for them, the Holy Spirit began to move, touching the hearts of the students, bringing up past hurts and hidden misconceptions about God. I could see Him softening their hearts and bringing comfort and healing. And it is merely the beginning! They are so open to God and it is beautiful to see their genuine, deep desire to know God for who He truly is.

Oh yes, it's going to be a good 6 months.

I also want to share the testimony of one of our students. He is from Mexico and he is a very new Christian. He gave his life to the Lord through one of the Megacities teams we sent to Mexico City last year. He met the girls from the team in the street. When he found out they were reading the Bible he was really mean to them (these are his own words). But they responded in love. So they became friends. One time he showed them how to get to the top of a nearby mountain because the team wanted to worship there. When they reached the top and started singing to God he was annoyed and left them there - in the dark, in a dangerous place. But they responded in grace. So he was more mean to them. They responded with even more love. And something in his heart began to change. Then he had a dream of a man in white with bright eyes, full of love. He felt in his heart the most powerful feeling of love, like he had never felt before, and gave his life to the Lord. Now, despite how difficult it is for Mexicans to study in Australia, he is in Perth learning the ways of God in our DTS! God is so faithful.

Teams return from Mozambique, Iceland, France, Nepal, Lesotho, Germany, and Australia!

Our January quarter schools just returned from outreach and they shared testimonies today about their 3 months in many, many different nations. Here are just a few of the many stories they shared! Enjoy!

In the Kimberley, the land in the north of Australia and hosts many Aboriginal communities, the Compassion DTS team worked with locals and saw a man set free from a bondage of fear. He had anxiety that kept him inside his house for 10 YEARS. He never once left during that decade. The team ministered to him, shared with him and prayed for him and he was set free. That evening he left his house again for the first time and attended the local church.

In South Africa, a pregnant woman in a township had been brutally beaten and her stomach stomped on. For weeks she felt no movement in her belly and she feared the worst- that her baby was dead. Team members from the Young People's DTS prayed for her, four people put their hands on her stomach. They felt the Holy Spirit bringing life to her again and within minutes the baby was kicking again.

In Nepal another YP DTS team was sharing the love of Jesus with local Hindu believers. They met two boys who shared that they were Hindu because their parents were. One of them showed the foreigners his bracelet with images of the Hindu gods. Then they shared about the love and power of Jesus and all of a sudden the boy's bracelet snapped. The two boys decided they want to follow this God and the team was able to give them a Bible in their own language.

That's just a little bit of how God is moving in the nations! What I find so encouraging is that these testimonies are from young people who are just figuring out their relationship with God themselves, we don't have to be pastors or evangelists or Christians for 20 years before God is able to move through us! He's awesome.

Getting God's Heart

I’ve been surprised lately… ministry has been really fruitful. It’s scary when a missionary says that fruitful ministry is taking her by surprise. But the fact of the matter is I’m just like everyone else – trying to figure out how to show people what the Father looks like. It’s not “easier” because I am a missionary. I am just doing it in a different country.

We all have to figure out what it looks like and how to do it.

Sharing the gospel.

I’ve heard many people reference St Francis of Assisi who said “share the gospel and if necessary use words." The first time I heard that I said “YEAH!!!” Because the gospel should be demonstrated. But I’ve mellowed my enthusiastic endorsement; too quickly do we use that as a way to hide. I think it is true that words are not enough. It pains my heart to listen to so many people week after week share that they were Christians, or were brought up in a Christian environment, but as an adult chose something else because what was being said and the way people were living did not match up. We must live out Holiness, because we love Him and want to look like Him. But I think it is also crucial that we use words, too. Or we will be chalked up as humanitarian do-gooders and our silence will confirm that God is superfluous in a world that just needs more random acts of kindness.

Our God is more than that.

That was a random tangent, but what I really wanted to share is that I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I AM DOING! I don’t have methodology or 90% success rate or any of that. I am not a super hero missionary but a goofy girl trying to figure it out as I go. But ministry has been so fruitful lately and I am literally puzzled, sitting here asking God "why?"

And I think simply it comes down to… desire. I genuinely desire to see people encounter God’s love and acceptance. It matters to me that people who are broken receive healing and restoration. I’m not doing it because I have to while secretly thinking about the 10 other things I’d rather be doing right now. Or maybe it’s just that one thing that ranks higher. Whatever the case may be, let’s be honest with ourselves, a lot of times we don’t see fruit because our heart is in other places, other things. And our time invested in other things, other people. At the end of the day something else is more important.

To be fair, sometimes the thing that’s hindering us is our own pain or need. We want to care, but we are still just trying to get filled ourselves. Over the last few weeks, (which have been some of the harder ones I’ve had to deal with) I have realized that at times the best thing we can do is… give anyway. Not because God doesn’t care about our hurt or our need, but because sometimes the way He wants to minister to us is as we minister His love to others. Counter-intuitive isn’t it? He is shocking, I know.

Now, luckily, whatever is getting in our way, whatever is causing the gap between what we’d like to see and what is really happening through our lives, the answer is not in forcing ourselves or “making” ourselves better. I believe it is to desire His heart, to ask for it, and to diligently seek it. And that may start with answering the painfully simple question: do we really want it?

What DTS is about - why I moved half way around the world to do mine.

"In order to discover new lands, one must be willing to lose sight of the shore." ~ Andre Gide (1869–1951) French Writer

It was not easy giving up a really good job, a great church, and the comforts of my own apartment to come and do a DTS half way around the world. As I sold my furniture piece by piece I will admit I had serious second thoughts. “I can stay here and work on my relationship with God… I don’t have to do this.” But deep in my heart I knew that the words of the quote above are true, especially about my relationship with God.

I had lived so many years trying to be a good Christian, many ups and downs, often living a double life, most of the time bitterly discontent with the gap between what people said God was like and who I had so far experienced Him to be.When my best friend in university died suddenly, I got desperate for God. I must have written in my journal 100 times that year “God, I MUST have more of you. God, there MUST be more. I want MORE, God.” I knew, or at least suspected, that there was so much more to this God thing. In the margins of my Bible, next to the story of the pearl of great price, I wrote “This is my prayer.” It was an honest confession that God was not nearly as desirable to me as it appeared He should be. When desperation collided with honesty I decided to do DTS.

I must know God.

It’s amazing how much we “learn” about God that isn’t true. I had learned from life that God was distant, indifferent, and angry. When one of our speakers shared about God being one who is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love, my heart soared in hope while my mind sat back skeptical and jaded. I remember that on the first day of DTS I wrote in my journal: “God, actually, I don’t believe you’re good.” Even though it seemed like a written slap in the face, it was the beginning of a dialogue and a genuine search to know God as He really is. I laid down all the great things I had heard about Him, all the bad things I had heard, and the difficult things I had experienced. I put it all down and allowed myself just to find out who He really is. And, forgive the cliché but I have no other way of describing what happened: I fell in love.

As I sought Him wholeheartedly, holding nothing back, I found out what He is like, who He is. He is lovely. He is amazing. He really is the pearl of great price. It cost a lot to get that understanding, to gain that personal revelation of His goodness, but it was worth everything. And it is still worth losing everything to gain Him.

I must know Him more.

Get what you want. July DTS Perth, Australia.

Final Report from Mexico City

Just posting the link to our final report video about our year's focus in Mexico City.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tem1x_OycGU

Enjoy!

Evangelism in Perth City

This week on our Thursday night outreach God led us to distribute hot tea and cookies to people outside the hospital. It went really well and we were able to show God's love to 34 people in this way. There were several really good conversations with people from India, Iraq and Ethiopia.

We also met a family that is on the verge of homelessness. We (you know the full time non-paid volunteers) took up an offering and were able to come up with $80 to put the couple and their 2 year old daughter into a backpackers. We will be following them up to see how we can continue to help them in this difficult time.

God is also opening doors for us to minister to homeless youth who stay at the YMCA here in Perth - more to come!

Unity growing in Mexico City

Many of you have heard about the fruit of our outreach in Mexico City (in Oct-Dec 2010). God really spoke to us about breaking the disunity among churches in Neza (our region) so that revival can come. Mexican churches are very devoted to God, but there can be a lot of rivalry and competition between them. As we took different youth groups out, one at a time, and encouraged them to do evangelism (many of them first-timers) the youth found purpose and passion in their relationship with God and in pursuing the lost. Over time we started to bring them together to go out together. When our team left they formed the "Neza Youth Alliance" and committed to continue working together to see Christ made known.

The group has continued to go out and I have received email after email about the fruit they are seeing. Youth from nine different churches are going out regularly and seeing from 40-60 people saved every time they go out.

They just posted this you tube video from their last massive outreach event in the government center of Neza (where they saw 67 people saved just in the afternoon). They are seeking God together for strategy and working in unity to see people come to know Jesus personally in their city!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpLH31Gx1wc

Foster Care in East Asia

Our base has established a long term team in Asia (the team that Vivan -below- works with). This thriving pioneering group, with international missionaries as well as local Asian believers, have now pioneered a work in a neighboring nation.

1o girls have recently moved into a border nation and established a foster care work. They are finding children and placing them in loving, healthy homes while discipling and ministering the love of God to the children and parents they interact with. In their spare time they are leading Hindus to the Lord right left and center. In their first two months 80 Hindus have come to know Jesus through their evangelism. It's a remarkable move of God, and it's only the beginning!

Ministry in Brothels

Every Thursday our base goes out and does evangelism together. This year our focus is on the poor and the needy - the homeless, the street kids, the hopeless and destitute. My team has been going to a bus station where there are many alcohol/drug addicts, a YMCA location where many homeless find temporary accommodation, and a hospital to pray for people and visit those who are alone. (More on that to come in future weeks!)

Another group has been focusing on prostitutes in local brothels. Two weeks ago, my friend Jenn got to go inside and share the whole gospel with one of the girls. Susan is Thai and had NEVER heard Jesus's name before. Ever. She was touched by the message of Jesus and when Jenn asked if they could give her a Bible in Thai she said she would like that. Last week they went into the brothel again and got to share a testimony with the madame of the house. After they shared with her, just before they left, the madame turned to my friends and said "By the way, I gave Susan the Bible and she was thrilled."

Please pray for Susan (and the madame) to be touched by the Holy Spirit through the written word!

Bringing Healing to High Schools

Last week a team of YWAMers from our base (in Perth) was able to give a week long seminar on broken family relationships in a local Australian school. God has opened doors for this ministry, called Nexwave, to share about values in secular high schools and through it they have seen increasing openness to the gospel. They shared all week about broken family relationships and then invited the teens to an event on the weekend (away from school so that there was more open opportunity to speak freely about God). At the weekend event they shared about God's response to broken families and about Jesus Christ. When they asked if anyone would like to start living a life with Jesus 21 teens made a decision to give their lives to Christ!

To find out more about the Nexwave ministry check out
http://www.ywamperth.org.au/nexwave/

Making disciples in Asia

Vivian came to do her DTS in 2009. She was a shy girl from the East Coast. She grew up in a Christian home but couldn't say she really knew God personally. In fact, when we talked about ways that we can hear God actually trying to communicate to us - to speak to us - Vivian had her doubts about whether this was true or wacky spiro talk. She learned about how God can talk to us through thoughts, impressions, pictures, visions, songs, and many other ways. The first time she recognized God speaking to her, her eyes lit up and it was like she fell in love with God all in an instant. She became a very hungry listener, she loved hearing the Father speak to her.

A couple months later, during a worship time, God said 2 words: "Asia, January" and she felt God leading her to take a school that would prepare her to do missions in Asia* for two years. In love with this personal God, she decided to obey. She has been working there for over a year now and is seeing multiplication of new believers - new believers leading other people to the Lord and leading their own house churches. Here's what she wrote about one of the men her team led to the Lord a couple years ago and whom they now work with regularly:

"Peter came to know the Lord through my team. What's stood out to me about Peter is his consistency in seeking God and commitment to wholehearted obedience. He is also serventhearted and has helped our team practically in many mays. It's exciting to see him growing in leadership. The church is very teachable and hungry to know the Bible. Peter is one of the oldest and maturest members [of the house church] and is now officially one of the leaders."

Vivian came to do a 6 month course to know God a little bit better. Now she is advancing the kingdom in Asia and loving life! What an amazing God!

*Specific country not mentioned for security purposes. Vivian's name has been changed for that reason, too.