DTS UPDATE...POST 4

On January 5, 2013, we flew from Tahiti direct back to the Cook Islands. It’s about a 2 hour flight. We stayed with the CICC in Arorangi. (CICC being the Cook Island Christian Church—the church first established by the missionaries). The church was having its annual week of prayer, and we went to 5 am church services all week long. The CICC has become quite traditional in its views and it was interesting that the topic for the week had quite a bit to do with being born again, as most of the CICC members don’t believe in being born again or the Holy Spirit. Our team joined with the services and ran one of the mornings. We also helped out in the village and ran a women’s Bible study, at the request of the pastors’ wives.

We were really encouraged to see the move of God in the CICC. Our last morning service we witnessed an altar call, which is apparently the first altar call seen at a CICC in over 50 years. Some of the deacons came and spoke to us throughout the week about how YWAM used to play a huge part in the church in the 70’s and 80’s, so we’re hoping to rebuild those connections with the younger people in the church. They invited us to continue to teaching and reaching out through the Bible Studies they run, as well as asking if we might help out with the band.

We’re praying through these options as the school is finished now and there are only a handful of staff on base...however, before I go into that, let me continue with our time of outreach in the Cook Islands.

After our week in Arorangi, we moved back to the base. When we moved back to the base there was a teen missions group of around 30 that were doing a few building projects. Our students helped them in the afternoons, and got to build some really good connections with the youth, and many of them are thinking of coming and doing a DTS here in the Cooks once they turn 18. We’ll see how God leads them, but it’s exciting to see another generation be impacted for God, as well as seeing how 13-16 year olds are thinking of serving God full-term. During our week at the base, we held debrief in the mornings, and had team devotion/Bible Study times in the evening. On Saturday, the 19^th of January, the students graduated from their DTS. The students are all still on the islands. Two of them are flying back home in a few days, and two are staying on as staff. And that is DTS over, done and gone. Myself and the team leader just finished wrapping up paperwork and forms and things today, and we’re heading into our week off before we start with other base ministries, and preparations for the next school.

As a base, we’re starting 3 weeks of fasting and prayer on January 31. We’re looking at starting new ministries, finding a vision for the year, building relationships into the community, and basically just growing in what God wants us to do, personally, spiritually, and in ministry.

What is Darla planning on doing? Is probably a question on a lot of your minds. I’m not committing to anything at the moment. I will be praying through a few different options through my week off, as well as through our time of prayer and fasting. I will definitely be staying with YWAM. My thoughts are either to take a second level course with YWAM and then return to the Cooks and continue staffing, or to go to a base in Canada, and serve the Lord in some capacity through whatever ministries are being run. I really love DTS though, and love seeing the change and growth in individual’s lives as they seek to model their lives after Christ and to fall passionately in love with Him, so I would like to stay with the Discipleship Training School. But I’ll decide after I’ve slept for a week and just had time to process what God has taught me in the last 5 months. Please pray for me as I continue to seek His will for the future. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support. It’s been amazing to see the hand of God work through this DTS, and we could not have finished this strong without the prayers of all of you. So Meitaki Maata (thank you) and have a blessed New Year. Ka Kite (Good-bye for now)

DTS UPDATE...POST 3

From Auckland we flew to Tahiti. We were met by Papa Tu and Mama Anna Glassie, a pastoral couple we knew from Aitutaki, Cook Islands. They are on a four year pastoral term in Tahiti. A few of the prominent people of the village we were about to stay in were there to meet us as well. From the airport we had a 1 ½ hour drive to Teahupoo. It was an interesting hour and a half of trying to communicate with our drivers as they spoke mostly French, and we were all very English.

We arrived in Teahupoo after midnight and we were up by 7 the next morning as there was already a program arranged for us for that morning. We went to the school and met a lot of children and quite a few teachers. It was the last day of school before the summer holidays and so we were privileged to see the Christmas program and be invited to a feast afterward. We rested for part of the afternoon and then a lot of the youth came around and we learned a few Tahitian songs that we were supposed to help them perform on Sunday night, at the opening of the Christmas festival.

During our time in Tahiti we joined in a lot of different youth holiday programs, as well as building relationships with the youth of a few different districts. I went home for Christmas this year, so I spent a week in Tahiti, a week at home (with traveling) and then flew back to Tahiti for our last week of outreach. I really enjoyed my time at home and was able to be home, not only for Christmas, but for my sister Tiffany’s baptism as well. I saw a lot of family, and had a very cold Christmas, but it was very enjoyable.

Flying back to Tahiti took me into 30+ weather, and I got a bit sick because of the drastic change in temperature. God was faithful though, and even through not feeling well, I was able to reconnect with the girls I’d met the week before, and just continue to build solid friendships. We held a youth ministry night one of our last nights there and were able to speak into the youth’s lives through testimonies and skits and songs.

We also connected with YWAM Tahiti when we first arrived in the country and spent quite a bit of time with the team, even though they were on a different side of the island. YWAM Tahiti is in the process of being established, at the moment it’s just a pioneering team; however, we were able to pray with them and learn from them while we were there, and were just super blessed by what God is doing through them...

To Be Continued...

DTS UPDATE...POST 2

The first week in New Zealand, we partnered with a branch of Salvation Army in Wellington. We joined with youth programs, children’s programs, ladies night, rugby games, and a few other programs. The team also spent quite a bit of time in prayer through prayer walks, intercession, and spent an afternoon up on one of the hills overlooking the city, praying for the city. We also split the team up in twos and sent them out to a nearby mall for shopping mall evangelism.

We drove back to Auckland at the end of the week, and stayed with a couple on the eldership team of the Gate (the church we primarily partnered with during our stay in Auckland). We attended a wedding and performed and served during the reception. The next day we were welcomed into the church with a traditional Maori ceremony. During our two weeks in Auckland, we served with the Gate. The Gate was in the process of moving into a new building so that their existing building could be renovated. We spent a fair bit of time, cleaning, packing and moving items from one building to the next. We also joined with their afterschool child care program, youth activities, Christmas teas, and a community Christmas event held by the local council. We were extremely blessed by the hospitality shown to us by the various people we stayed with, as well as with the church family that we were able to serve with and build relationships with.

During our two weeks in Auckland, we also partnered with the local YWAM base. We spent a few Wednesday nights with them, attending their potlucks and worship meeting. One night, our team led the worship and teaching. They were also really lovely, and set up prayer stations for us in downtown Auckland, and we were able to partner with them in praying for various people and evangelizing people we met on the streets. Our team was stretched extremely, but we all thoroughly enjoyed it, and both of the nights we partnered with them we were able to see people come to know the Lord.

We also partnered with a branch of the Salvation Army while in Auckland. We were able to help them with their food and gift distribution projects. We spent two days with them, and had an amazing time both days.

To Be Continued...

DTS UPDATE...POST 1

Kia Orana everyone!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Looking back on the past five months of DTS brings a mass of chaotic emotion to my heart and mind. God has been so good. As a team, we’ve seen the faithfulness of God in many different situations. We can’t say that the DTS has been easy, but it has been life-changing. Not just for the students, but for the staff as well. God has changed my heart in so many different ways.

I have been extremely blessed to serve alongside so many people from around the world. I have also been blessed to see God work and move in so many different ways.

Lecture Phase went really well. We sat under the teaching of various men and women of God, who were able to pour God’s heart and their wisdom and life experience into us. During Lecture Phase, our team began to meld together as we learned about each other and about God. God broke through various barriers in each of our lives and drew us closer to Him. We began to learn to worship together and to hear God’s voice together as a team.

As staff we began to organize and pray for Outreach from the beginning of the school. After the first month, we decided to go to Tahiti on outreach. In order to bring the whole team over, we found out we first had to travel to Wellington, New Zealand in order to get visas for a few of our team members. We applied for New Zealand visas during the second month of Lecture, and received those visas. We then began to organize places to stay and ministries for our team to join. We received virtually no word back, but we were sure this was what God wanted us to do. We started on the paperwork for our Tahitian visas and started fundraising for our flights. About 2 weeks before we left for New Zealand we finally had the funds to book our tickets. A week before we left, we still had no place to stay in Wellington, and we weren’t sure what we were going to do. I never told the school leader, but the Saturday before we flew out, I told God He had to do something, He had to come through, because I wasn’t going to take a team somewhere with no place to stay. The next morning, we were having breakfast before church, and a guy randomly popped by. He started asking about the trip and if we had a place to stay or not and the school leader said no. He then said his sister lived down there, and we could probably stay with her, not for the whole 3 weeks, but for a few days.

As that accommodation started getting organized, we started to look for places to stay in Auckland as well. One of the pastors we know offered us a place to stay and ministry for us to do. We left the Cook Islands on Saturday, and arrived in Auckland Monday morning (because of time difference). We spent a few hours in Auckland before driving to Wellington. The next day were the appointments for the Tahitian visas at the French Embassy. The visa process was supposed to take 15 working days. The team walked out of the Embassy 20 minutes later with their Tahitian visas. Praise God!

To Be Continued...