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Well 2000 came and went and we're still not driving around in flying cars . But I have started a new job. You may remember in my last newsletter before Christmas that I have left Mercy Ships to work with the DTS (Discipleship Training School) with YWAM. I am still here in Harpenden as Mercy Ships was here on the YWAM base. Mercy Ships however have now left the base and have moved about 30 minutes drive away to a city called Stevenage.
After three weeks of staff training the students started to arrive on the weekend of the 20th January .Wow they are no longer people on pieces of paper that we have read. They are real people coming here and I am going to be discipling them. This reality hit me briefly but I soon settled into the new role.
We have 19 students on the school (sadly the 20th was unable to
get a visa to be able to come). Ten from the USA, two from Canada, five from England, one Danish and one Korean. We soon settled into the routine (although a few of the students struggle with the 8:30 am start each morning) after the first week of orientation and all the students soon came together as one school and started building relationships.
Up until now we have had the follow subjects each lasting a week, Prayer/Intercession and Hearing the Voice of God, Holiness and Surrendering your life to God, The
Father Heart of God, Sovereignty of God, Grace (taught from Romans) and Relationships.
It has been really good being able to hear all of the teachings again having done DTS already. I'm finding I'm able to refine what I get out of the teachings and God is doing a similar thing in refining me and drawing me into a deeper and closer relationship with Him and living more Christ like.
It is also amazing to see the change within the students as they hear about what God wants for them and how He wants a personal relationship with them. It has been very encouraging to see those, especially the ones I have a closer relationship with, start to be totally transformed as they come closer to Christ and He heals many of the wounds and scars from their pasts.
I am currently leading a small group with the other two male leaders on the school (William and Ervin) this is simply because we have so few men on the school. Within this time we just have time to discuss things from the teachings and to just have fellowship and encourage and pray for each other as God works in each of our lives.
I also have 'one on one' personal work with two of the male students which just allows them to talk over things that have come up during their time here and allow them to process these things and have some one to give them counsel and prayer. An interesting story is that when I was 16 I went on a youth camp where God really spoke to me and is now a major part of my testimony. One of the guys that I have one on one with was a leader on that weekend, so it seems a little strange at times that I am now his leader.
In four weeks it will be time for the second part of the DTS, which will be the outreach phase. The first being the teaching time of the DTS, the outreach will be when the students put into practice what they've learnt during the lecture phase. It took us a while for us as the leaders to decide on where God was calling us to go on outreach, but finally we decided to have two teams.
One team will go to Brazil and will be working with street children. The team that I will be leading on will be going to Tanzania, East Africa. We will be staying at and working the YWAM base in Tanzania where we will be helping to continue in building the base. We will also be involved in working with young people in the area and working in the churches.
We may also be starting a mini DTS which will run in the evenings and we will be teaching from what we have already learnt from the Lecture Phase. However, probably one of the hardest parts of the outreach that we will face will be the fact that the base we will be living at has no electricity and no running water except for a well outside. So it will be lots of bucket showers and candlelit evenings and hopefully very little illness within the team. But hopefully the adventure of experiencing a new culture trying to learn some Swahili and seeing some amazing wildlife make up for these things. But most importantly to see how God uses us as a team and to see the work He is going to use us in.
As I look to go back to Africa I am reminded of last time in Africa when I was on my DTS in Guinea. One event that will always stay with me, which I see as one of the amazing times when God used me was with an orphanage. We had decided to go and walk some of the Children home from school. As we were walking along with them one of the little girls (whom I hardly knew) came up to me and asked me to carry her. So I picked her and she wrapped her arms around my neck and just clung on. There was such a sense that she felt totally secure and unafraid as I carried her, that she got to feel like she had a father for that short period.
Something she probably had not had for a long time. So not the times when I experienced healing or a massive provision of funds, but a simple time when I saw a little girl know how much God loved her and was able to see that love in a man she had not even said hello to. I think that is what sums up for me the power that God has and impress on a persons life. So I am certain to see those stories from our outreach in Tanzania both for myself and for each of the members of the team having a story of how God used them and how they saw the power of God working.
As many of you know I and everyone else within YWAM around the world are not paid. On top of this I need to raise support for this outreach. I know I am meant to be on this outreach and I am trusting to see the money come in however that may be. But I would like to ask you to pray about whether you feel you can or should support me on this, or even if you feel called to support me long term for a year or longer. The money will be going towards my travel and living expenses and any other expenses whilst I am away.
If you would like to contact me you can do so by
Telephone: 01582 463296 Home 01582 463250 Work 07880 723334 Mobile Or you can Email me: d@clerk.com Or by post: Highfield Oval, Harpenden, Herts AL5 4BX
Feel free to write or phone, as I would love to hear what is going on in your lives.
God bless,
Daniel