...man time goes so quick!

Week 2 of Lectures: The Character and Nature of God.

Life seems to be traveling at the speed of light as of lately..sort of. Each day seems quite long but when I look back, I realize that I've been in South Africa for 105 days already (and yes, I've been counting out of curiosity)! The lecture portion of the DTS is already over the halfway hump by a few days now. This week coming up is already week 8, which means 4 weeks 'til outreach in Mozambique and Malawi!


I've realized that at this point, only those who I've personally spoken to really know what's going on in the past few weeks of my life and that saddens me! Therefore, I hope after you read this post, you all feel updated to satisfaction and if not, feel more than free to shoot me an email! I will respond accordingly :]


So yes, for those who don't know, let me explain the context of the DTS situation over here. The Mossel Bay YWAM base is in its second year running right now. Most other YWAM bases are located on some form of campus or something, but when pioneering a base, obviously that is not within the budget right from the get go! The DTS is happening in a rented out, five bedroom home in a small, white Afrikaner neighborhood called Hartenbos located a few kilometers outside of Mossel Bay. Here we have our weekly lectures with topics, thus far, such as "Hearing God's Voice","The Character and Nature of God","Missions/ Frontier Missions","Stewardship","Laying Down Your Rights", "Sin and Grace", and "Prayer and Intercession". We also live here in the house and here together. Quite different from my experience in Los Angeles on a big YWAM base! But one thing I've for sure noticed is that the Lord loves to bring us out of our comfort zones...no doubt.


The DTS consists of four students from the local Mossel Bay area. South Africa as a whole is incredibly diverse with various different people groups. These students (including the other staff member that is my roommate) come from the Coloured community here in Mossel Bay (with exception to one who lives 20 minutes outside of Mossel Bay). They come from a very poverty stricken area where they dont have much. The Coloured people in South Africa make up of about 10% of the population and primarily speak Afrikaans which is derived from the Dutch language. Supposedly, the Coloured people are the most genetically diverse people group in the world. In America, we would consider them "black" probably out of ignorance, but here there are Whites, Blacks, and Coloureds (and no, the term "coloured" is not an offensive word ha ha).


So yeah, these guys are amazing! But i have to admit again, its quite different living with these guys then even back in L.A. I think it is primarily because of the culture difference and of course the fact that english is not their first language so they primarily speak in Afrikaans. But I am learning a bit of afrikaans and they are learning english much better.


The four guy's names are Denver, Guston, Estiaan, and Nasi. I have to say, when coming to South Africa, I expected this DTS to look MUCH different than it does! I've been learning a completely different side of DTS that I bet most people didn't even know exists within YWAM ha ha. But honestly, I've learned so much and would not rather be anywhere else than where I am because the Lord has made very specific my purpose of being here which has been keeping me going. When these guys arrived (and i say this to show the amount of growth that has occurred in their lives), they barely spoke english and didn't even know that Genesis was the first book of the bible.  Some of them had not even gone past the 7th grade in school. But the Lord had and continues to have a specific purpose in these guys lives! In 7 weeks, they have fallen in love with the Lord! They have grown so much and are learning and applying truths that many christians after 10 years do not know. They speak english and read so much better now. I feel like i cant even explain in words the amount of growth that has occurred in these guys!


Our week in general looks like this: Monday through Thursday, we wake up at 6am to have a bible study and prayer time at 6:30 to 7:30. From 7:30 to 8:30 we have breakfast and then from 8:30 to 9:30 we have a time worship and intercession. During intercession, we generally pray for the local government, unreached people groups, current events, and other YWAM ministries. But we don't just pray what we think are nice sounding prayers. We wait on the Lord to hear what He has to say about the issues we are praying about and we pray along side what the Lord speaks to us because the Lord does speak! Amen? ha ha. From 9:30 to 1pm (with a few breaks in between) we have our weekly lectures which consists of the topics that i previously mentioned earlier (with still more topics to come in the next weeks). We usually have a speaker that comes to stay in the house with us for the week for each topic. We have had speakers from Brazil, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. We then have lunch from 1-2pm and after that, the students have work duties which consists of just cleaning some of the house from 2-3pm. On mondays at 3 pm, we have "One on Ones" which are just a time where the students can debrief and talk about issues at a consistent time each week. Of course the students can always talk anytime since we live together, but the purpose is to just have consistency. Then on Mondays in the evening, we have our Bible study night where we walk through the whole story of the bible bit by bit with the students. On Wednesdays, we fast lunch to pray for the local poor communities who don't have much. On Thursdays, we have ministry preparation for friday ministry and in the evening on Thursdays, we have our mission night where we learn about different ministries in missions and crazy stories of how Jesus has changed peoples lives. On Fridays, we still have our morning bible study at 6:30 am, but during the day, we have our local ministries. Our local ministries consist of prison ministry where we go and run a life skills course with the inmates, and a day care ministry where we sing worship songs, teach bible stories, and just have fun with the kids in a community 20 minutes from where we live. The ministries have been going so awesome and last week we had 50 kids in the day care ministry! But yeah.. sorry if that section was a bit boring.. but now you have an idea of what my life looks like!


I want to break down the past 7 weeks of the DTS as best as i can right now to give ya'll a bit of a better understanding of what has been going on! I'll try to be brief so as to not turn this blog into a miniature book haha.


Week 1 was about hearing God's voice. A local pastor who was with YWAM spoke this week. The whole concept that God speaks to us is crazy, and it blew these guys minds. To understand that God wants to be active in every second of our lives and communicate with us and simply lead our lives each day was a completely new concept for them, just as it was for me in my DTS. I mean i knew the Lord spoke, but to the extent that He does really blew me away. This core aspect of our relationship with the Lord has for sure changed the way these guys think and act. During our intercession times, they have been getting words and pictures from the Lord to pray into specific things which has been amazing. They often now walk down to the beach just to hear from the Lord when they are going through circumstances or when they have to resolve some form of conflict that happened in the house. It's so amazing to see their response to the Lord's voice and it has been incredibly encouraging for me. The Lord really does speak! ha ha 


Week 2 was all about the character and nature of God. We had an amazing guy named Les from Zimbabwe who spoke for this week. I always get blown away when I ponder about how huge, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, unchanging, and loving the Lord is. Especially as I've been going through the old testament and seeing how often God forgives and just wants to be near his people and wants to bless them, I've been realizing the insane love of the Lord. The fact that the Lord sends his Son to remedy our betrayal towards Him once and for  all is insanity. These guys just got blown away during this week while learning about who their God is. Here is a little note i took during this week to show what the Lord was doing:
                     
"Today quiet times were amazing. we read hebrews 3 and 4 together and then we re read it and went through it verse by verse explaining and      talking about it. This was definitely the best way to do quiet times that ive discovered thus far. Everyone got so much out of it and the quiet almost exactly coincided with worship. Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing into division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

During worship, the presence of the Lord was there so strong! ive never felt the leading of the Holy spirit as much as i did during worship today. it was as if i was just an instrument being played by the Lord and everyone was able to enter in because of the presence of the Lord that was here!

Worship led into intercession where we prayed for unreached people. Guston and Denver were in my group. While we were going through the steps of intercession, i could tell so evidently that the holy spirit has been teaching them how to pray. it is as if understanding is just being released! after we went through the steps, denver and guston and i all got pictures. Denver said it was if there was a spiritual battle in front of him and that the Lord came with a sword and drew some evil spirit out of him! it was exactly what we read this morning and it was amazing! so after he explained that, guston and i prayed for him and had denver reach out his hands and receive the light because darkness and light cannot coincide! guston got a picture and prayed for the unreached people. these guys are hearing the voice of the lord!

Also Nasi was prayed for today and a word was given him and he started speaking in tongues! The Lord is doing work here!!!"

With the whole "evil spirit" situation that came out of Denver, we have been walking him through that and have all noticed a literal face change in his appearance. He says he can now look at himself in the mirror and smile for the first time since he can remember. We have all noticed a significant different in even they way Denver learns and responds in the group setting. Of course there is still a lot of room for growth and discipleship through his situation since he grew up as an orphan with little to no discipline. But the Lord like i said is definitely doing work in him and we have been fighting alongside the guy through it all.

Week 3 was about missions and more specifically frontier missions. A fellow staff member named Fred who was in Mozambique working with the Yao people for 13 years spoke for this week. Man this week was so challenging for all of the staff and students i believe. We learned about what the Lord thinks about missions and looked up how many verses in the bible even pertain to missions. We watched numerous videos of unreached tribal groups coming to know Christ and this week really burned a passion in all of us to just tell more people about who Christ is. Christ is for everyone and He related to everyones own specific culture. This week really opened up my eyes to the burden that a lot of missionaries from western culture bring to these unreached peoples. We often try to bring "western christianity" as opposed to biblical christianity to these people groups. We all learned about the necessity of simple church and contextualization which is bring the message of Christ in terms that relate to their own specific culture and upbringings. It was a powerful week!

After this week, one of our staff, Ana from Brazil, felt like the Lord was leading her away from our base because of the fact that there were no girls for her to disciple. It was definitely rough seeing her go because she was a huge asset to our DTS but we all agreed it was probably for the best. She is now working with another YWAM base in the Cape Town area.

Week 4 was about about stewardship. Sylmar, a German from Brazil spoke for this week. This week was great for the students (and for me of course)! Money management in general is a difficulty over South Africa..at least that is what I've heard from multiple people. I've also seen it quite a bit myself. It was great to hear Sylmar break down some of the reasons why sometimes God might not provide for certain circumstances. He got the majority of his biblical backing from proverbs. I think this week was a critical break through week for our DTS as a whole. Since this week (and even a bit before), God has provided all of the means to pay for the rent of the house and for the food for the lecture phase of DTS. We have all been blown out of our shoes with how God has been providing, including the students! They literally came here with almost nothing and the Lord has provided all of the means necessary for us to continue on with the school. Initially we were wondering if 4 students would be enough to actually run the school with the logistical aspect of finances. We felt to trust the Lord for the finances even though from a worldly view it was impossible to get the money. Clearly not impossible with the Lord! Like I said, He provided all of the rent and the food for the 3 months of lecture phase. INSANE! What was awesome was at the end of the week, Sylmar gave each of the students 100 Rand (which is about 15 american dollars) to invest in them becoming good stewards of what the Lord gives them. The guys set 10% aside for the Lord and were able to buy toiletries and stuff with the rest of the money and if any money was left over, they were to bless someone who needed money. These guys responded amazingly.

Week 5 was an interesting week for sure. The topic of the week was laying down your rights. What made the week interesting was that we spontaneously found out the night before the week was supposed to start that we would be going to another YWAM base 3 or so hours away for the week and would slot in with the DTS that was going on there for a schedule. The reason being was that the speaker could not make it out to Mossel Bay that week. So that day, we hopped on a bus for Jeffreys Bay. When we arrived there, we found out the DTS that was supposedly going on there just started outreach, so that meant there wasn't any DTS to "slot" into. The thing that made it more interesting was that the DTS leader couldn't make it out that week because of his family, so Jaques (the other staff member) and I kind of had to just go with the flow and figure out a schedule for the week to lead these guys. Initially i was kind of stressed and was just saying to myself "what the heck is going on?!?!" but the Lord COMPLETELY came through and made it one of the best weeks of the lecture phase for the students. As i said, this weeks topic was laying down your rights. Our speaker Dan who is the base director in Jeffreys Bay really spoke into all of our lives. The topic of dying to our own selves and desires is never an easy message to here but it was a great week. Myself and some of the guys one night while walking back to where we were staying got to pray and be used by the Lord to speak into this guys life who was on the street walking around. I was blown away by how the Lord used all of us to speak life into this guys life. We were able to connect him with the YWAM base there to have people continue to encourage and uplift him. So good! That experience really brought so much life into the DTS guys to see how they can practically be used by the Lord when they die to themselves and become open to be used by the Lord in whatever they are doing. Oh and this week we got to play alot of cricket at the YWAM base there. It was so much fun and i really enjoy cricket now!

Driving back from Jeffreys Bay was hectic. The van we got a ride in back to Mossel Bay must have broke down like 7 times. Not the biggest deal but what made it terrible for me was that i was running a fever and had somehow got tonsillitis which was so incredibly painful! I had to go to the doctor to get medication to kill the infection. I couldnt eat and barely talk for two days. But I'm all better now thankfully!

Week 6's topic was sin and grace. Our DTS leader Nathan spoke this week and brought us through the story of the bible as a whole in general. The guys learned about the fall of man more in depth and the necessity of a sacrifice to pay the price of sin. They also learned in depth the severity of what Christ did for us on the cross. It brought the film "The Passion" to life for the guys. We also had a teach from Markus (the base director) about conflict resolution. It was such an important lesson for all of us on how to effectively resolve conflicts with each other and how important to maintain a healthy team it is.

Week 7, which was this past week, was all about prayer and intercession. The guys who spoke the first week, Edgar, spoke again for this week. This week was fully in Afrikaans, so i didn't understand what Edgar was talking about, but i could recognize the guys were really connecting with the message, especially because of the fact that it was in their own language.

But yeah that is a little breakdown of the lessons we have had thus far. This week is the father heart of God! I am very excited

Something cool that we got to do was to visit these guys friends in their community as a team. It was amazing to hear their friends say how different they are already and how much they have changed. I wanted to put up a video of the night but because of the internet situation here.. i may have to wait a few weeks so yeah.. raincheck on that one.

So that is kinda of a LARGE but very small breakdown of what has been going on here in somewhat of a nutshell ha ha.

On a personal level, honestly I've been learning so much through some trials and just through the Lord initiating me in growth. I really feel like this season has been the most significant growth of my life thus far. Many times, I just wanted to give up and go home because it would be easier. At one point I was just asking God "okay im here, so what is next?" The Lord sternly said to me that if im unable to finish well here, how can He give me the next step of my life and entrust me with that? My focus has been to finish well! I've really been learning what it means to die to myself. I mean i have PLENTY of dying to still do, but i feel like im on my way ha ha. Especially with the aspect of asking God "what is my ministry?" I've realized that question is very self centered and 'me' focused. The Lord spoke to me through a book and said that you discover your ministry when you die to yourself and serve. In essence, you lose your life to find it! There are days where i've been lonely, but something i've realized is that its actually not about me! It's alright that I've felt lonely cause the Lord knows I am human, but He is my portion and is keeping me going strong! It's been awesome just to have encouragement from friends back home and from staff here. I've been realizing how crucial and important meaningful relationship with other people is!

Oh yeah... outeach to Mozambique and Malawi is in 4 weeks!!! Ill explain more in detail about it in 2 weeks with my next blog. 

There is much more the Lord has been doing but I feel like that is enough for now haha. I've already written a small book and i don't want to babel about myself anymore! God is good...I can honestly say that :]

Speaking of books, read "You See Bones, I See An Army" by Floyd Mcclung. Its been totally changing my view of the church its amazing.

Hmmmm yeah! I think thats all. Until next time..... LATER.

The DTS has started!

The YWAM Mossel Bay 2011 Discipleship Training School!

(except Jaques with the green bathing suit)     

As you can see from the title of this post, the DTS has officially begun! It's definitely ALOT different than i thought it would be. As opposed to my DTS experience with 33 students, we have only 4 guys! But the Lord knows exactly what he is doing.


But since its been a month since my last post (I am very sorry about how long it has taken me to write an update!) I want to back-track a bit. :]


As you know from my last blog, I was living in Markus (my base director) family's house. It was definitely a blessing staying with them for the month...especially because of all of the delicious cooking by Markus and his wife Lee Marley (yes mom i have been eating well)!


Something really cool that we have been doing as a team here in Mossel Bay is that we have been running a life skills course at the Mossel Bay youth prision! The life skills course thus far has entailed teachings pertaining to what good and bad values are and where they can derive from. It has been cool just to go over some examples of good and bad values and apply them to other peoples scenarios so that they can see these values from a 3rd party perspective and analyze whether they are good or bad in hopes that they see these things in themselves. Another topic we went over with them was about making right decisions. We talked about where our decision making can come from (ex. family, friends, class mates) and how to respond properly to when people say things about us negatively or positively and how to react in a way that is best. They gradually have been becoming more and more responsive and open as they get more comfortable with us which is awesome and with the Holy Spirit's help, i know we can really make a difference in these guys lives! 


The first weekend of the month, I went with Fred (Fred is a guy on staff in Mossel Bay with his wife and children who had lived in Mozambique among the muslim Yao people for 13 years to disciple them and to church plant) to Cape Town for a University of the Nations (the university YWAM is affiliated with) conference. The purpose of the conference was to educate people in YWAM about the legitimacy of the University of the Nations in YWAM and how one can complete a degree within YWAM. We also focused on going into detail about the roles of people within a YWAM base as well as some of the logistics of a Discipleship Training School. Upon arriving, Fred and I met with a guy named Floyd Mcclung who was with YWAM for almost 50 years. Floyd focused on developing frontier missioning (involves ministering to peoples who are "unreached" meaning that those people have never heard about the gospel) within YWAM and has now branched off of YWAM to form his own missions organization called "All Nations" which specifically focuses on church planting in the local communities within South Africa as well as church planting in other countries. It was awesome to hear about his ministry and gave me a desire to hopefully do his school in the future since this is basically what Jesus' apostles were doing! 


During that weekend in Cape Town, I saw some friends as well as made new ones! I got to say goodbye to the LA team again! it was so nice seeing all of those guys again and i miss them and love them dearly. My time here wouldn't have been the same without ya'll! I also got to catch up with my buddy Adam who i did DTS with in LA. 'Twas so nice seeing that guy and to encourage each other as brothers in Christ should! I also got to meet some new awesome people such as Levi and Shelly! The LA DTS team had sort of arranged a little meeting for Levi and I because they knew we both have some form of vision for business in missions. It is awesome how God arranges situations like that to just build relationship. It was a very encouraging conversation because both of our ideas coincide with one another. We will definitely be continually in contact. Also while on the way driving to Cape Town, Fred recommended that I read this book "wild at heart." While i was at the YWAM base in Cape Town, Shelly had felt the Lord wanted her to give me that same book! Seriously, the book has been changing my life and i recommend every guy to read it. Oh and while in Cape Town, the LA team blessed me with a cell phone for my time here to keep in contact with my staff! The Lord even takes care of the little things. He is so faithful to provide everything i need!


So when I arrived back in Mossel Bay, Jaques (staff member) and I walked to a cricket game in the poor community to support my DTS leaders cricket team. While being there, we saw Jaques rugby coach and we got to a bit of talking. After the conversation, Jaques rugby coach asked me to come speak to the guys on his team about western culture and what I am doing here as well as to come and play rugby with them whenever I can. This was definitely an awesome opportunity provided by the Lord to be able to relate and make friends with the guys in the community here! Jaques and I went the following week to go and play rugby with them and man was rugby more difficult than i thought it would be, especially for someone who has never even seen it being played! The guys were incredibly nice to me while I was playing with them and made me feel just like one of them even though i was the only white guy playing. I got to just talk with a bunch of them and i am definitely wanting to continue to go.


The third week of the month, my base director Markus and his family and I went to Jeffreys Bay (about 3 and a half ours east of Mossel Bay) because he was speaking that week on worship and intimacy at the DTS there. It has been a huge blessing to see a bunch of other South African YWAM DTS' being run because it has been preparation to help know how to run our own DTS here in Mossel Bay. The Lord definitely knows what He is doing! I got to go along with the DTS there to a local medical clinic to speak to and pray with the sick people there. It is awesome how receptive people are to the gospel here! That whole week, God was definitely doing alot within me. The postponement of our own Mossel Bay DTS was completely ordained by God because the Lord still had to do so much preparation in me and just wanted to bring me to a closer place of intimacy. I can remember one night just lying out in a field while looking up at the night sky and just having the Lord speak to me and Him speak back like it was no big deal. I've just been experiencing such a closeness with God like never before and its amazing.


Gahh so that is a bit of a catch up for the most part of the last month! I am sure i've left some stuff out. Oh yeah the DTS started! ill talk about that in my next post in a few days :] Gotta leave ya'll on a cliff hanger ha ha.

Slight change of plans...

So as most of you know, i've been in South Africa for a month now...


My time here has surely looked very different than i thought it would have. A lot of change has occurred.. and if it hadn't been for the word of the Lord to be here in this season, i may have doubted myself! Thank the Lord for my "Adaptability" strength in my strengths finder results ha ha.


Ever since I arrived here, change has been the theme of my life. First, I was staying in Cape Town for the first ten days instead of Mossel Bay, but then that got switched around and I actually stayed in Worcester with the LA DTS. Staff training for the DTS was planned to start on the 10th of January in Mossel Bay, but was actually moved until the 17th. And then recently, the DTS, which i came here for, had seemed as if it was going to be canceled altogether!


Last thursday, the 27th of January, Markus (who is the base director of Mossel Bay, South Africa YWAM) came into my room one morning to give me an update on how the logistics of the DTS were coming along. I found out that there was a possibility that the DTS, which was supposed to start on the 30th of January, would not happen because of a lack of students and because the first two speakers didn't have a peace about speaking at the base when they said that they could. This was some scary news for my ears to hear.


My heart literally sank when i heard those words. Here i am 8000 miles away from home to staff a DTS that seemed to have the possibility to not even happen! I played if off cool to Markus as if i was fine, but inside i was mildly frustrated inside to say the least. For the next two days, this was all the information i had.


This situation caused me to do a lot of thinking. My first concern was thinking what the heck i am going to do now! I basically started strategizing options for a way out if the worst case scenario occurs and the DTS actually does get canceled. I thought of moving back to LA to possibly staff a school with them. I also thought about going to business administration school with Keiser university in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. I thought about going to the colorado YWAM base because I heard they have schools within YWAM pertaining to business. I also thought about going to Germany to do a school of frontier missions. And lastly, I also thought about emailing a contact a guy here gave me pertaining to business. As you can tell my mind was racing quick! The second thing I was concerned with was the fact that i had a lot of supporter money for the purpose of me being in South Africa to do missions. If i had to go back to the states, i thought, "what would i do with all of the money?" and, "what about the money that i've had to spend already?" and, "how would I go about giving back the money people gave me?"


As my mind continued to race, the Lord reminded me of how faithful He is. He reminded me of that fact that He specifically called me here with a purpose and that He will never leave me or forsake me. He reminded me that he is the same God who spoke to Job and that if Job could remain faithful amidst all the struggles he went through, I could do the same. After that thought, i recognized the test of faith that was in front of me, and i was determined to pass that test!


Saturday came along, and the LA DTS that i had been with for the past month was due to leave that day. Markus stopped by that morning and explained to me the scenario that is going on with the DTS. I was trembling a bit awaiting the news that was about to come. He explained that the DTS would not be canceled (thank God!!), but that it would be postponed four more weeks. Although this was very good news, I was still kind of bummed out. This would mean that id be in South Africa for another month, without much direction and stuff to do. After he said this, he left the house along with the other 13 ywamers from LA. Quite the sad day!


For the next three days, I remained in the house i was staying in alone. I believe the Lord orchestrated it that way so that Him and I could spend some quality time together. Although those three days were quite lonely, i certainly wasn't alone! The Lord told me that all of the change that was happening  was nothing new to Him. It wasn't by any means a surprise to an omniscient, omnipotent, all-knowing God. I was reminded of how in control the Lord is and how when i surrendered my life to Him, I gave Him free reign to do whatever he pleases with me and to bring me wherever, whenever! I love reality checks from the Lord! During those days, and for the week before that for that matter, I had been going through the Old Testament. Man was i blown away! To me, It is insanity to see the people God chose to use. It is crazy that such a huge God chose to live in a tent in the wilderness with the Israelites just because He wanted to be near the people He loved and to be in communication with them. All He ever wanted was to just be near and to love His people! Man God is awesome.


After those three days, I moved out of that lonely house into Markus' place about ten minutes away. It is certainly nice to be with people again! This next month wont be empty after all! Ill be going to Cape Town this weekend to go to a University of the Nations conference and i'll be meeting an awesome YWAM speaker named Floyd Mclung. I'll also be going to Jeffereys Bay to go with Markus because he is speaking at the YWAM base there. Our staff has plenty of logistical things to figure out with plenty of meetings necessary to get them accomplished, and on the weekends, we will be doing local prison ministry and share Christ with the inmates! I really feel this next month is intended for our staff to be closer knit in unity to lead this DTS. I also really feel this month is a time where the Lord wants to take me deeper in His intimacy. Exciting!! I am stoked :]


What i've been reading these past few weeks: Deuteronomy & Romans, The 21 Irrefutable Laws Of Leadership by John C. Maxwell, Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T Kiyosaki, The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey, and The Purple Cow by Seth Godin.


What i've been listening to these past few weeks: Jesus Culture, Cory Asbury, Charlie Hall, Mumford & Sons, Pheonix, Right Away Great Captain, Sufjan Stevens, Jon Foreman, and Band of Horses.


What i've been consuming: espresso, espresso, and more espresso! oh and cadbury turkish delight... its amazing!


Cheers!

Mossel Bay

Since my last blog on the 10th, my South African journey has for sure been different as it should be!


On the 10th of January, the DTS team i've been with from Los Angeles had an off day from ministry. They decided to do a safari in a near by town that has a huge nature reserve and also decided to bless me with paying for me to come along which was so awesome! The safari was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. Just seeing God's creation in action made me realize how crazy complex He is. I had a really awesome experience with the ranger who was giving us the facts behind all of these beautiful creatures. After the safari, the ranger came up to Mike Fernandez and myself and basically started pouring his life story and how he needs to hear from God for direction in his life. It's amazing how even when you're not technically doing "ministry" how God still uses us and opens doors without even having to try. Mike and I prayed for the ranger and encouraged him that God is a God who hears us and answers prayers and the ranger was super encouraged and was saying how happy he was that we prayed for him. During the entire safari he really wanted to ask us for prayer but told the Lord that if the Lord wanted him to be prayed for, then we would do it automatically. It was so sweet!


On the 11th, the DTS team and myself continued on from Worcester to Mossel Bay which is about a 3 hour bus ride. When we arrived at the Mossel Bay YWAM base which is where I will be staying (the base is actually just a rented house), we tossed our stuff on the ground and walked directly to the beach which is about a 5 minute walk. The location of the YWAM base is absolutely amazing. The house itself is pretty sweet but the location is what is breathtaking. I definitely have to add some picture.


Since being in Mossel Bay, I have kind of separated a bit more from the LA team. We are still living in the same house, but now i have some responsibilities to take care of. One thing i did do with the LA team while being here was helping re-do a church in a local poor area. Some people focused on rebuilding their playground while myself and others focused on repainting their sanctuary. Although we were obviously doing work, it was quite fun! Another thing i did with the LA team was going to church with them last thursday and sunday. I love African church! It's awesome seeing a people who are so full of joy and who don't care about what others think when they are going full out for the Lord. It's been really helping me break free of the whole self-conscious, self-preservation mentality that is totally not of God. I felt so accepted joining this church and was re-assured by the pastor of the church that I have a place in Mossel Bay, South Africa in their church. The next step is to learn Afrikaans to actually understand what they are talking about ha ha.


Its been awesome to finally meet some of the staff of the YWAM base in Mossel Bay and getting to know the people i am going to be working along side for the next 6 months. The staff consists of Markus who is the base leader from Germany, Jacques who is from Jeffery's Bay, South Africa who will be my fellow staff, Fred who is a missionary from Mozambique who has been there for the past 13 years, Nathan who is the DTS leader who is from Australia, and Ana who is from Brazil who will also be DTS staff with me. Since the 17th, we've started staff training for the DTS. Training has consisted a lot of intercession for each other and for the DTS students and the base as a whole. Intercession is soooo important because it actually gives us God's heart for each other and for the students; something we all totally need. We've also had training on simply analyzing the purpose of DTS and breaking that down, as well as logistical preparation. Through training, I've realized thus far that it is my job to facilitate an environment where the Holy Spirit can teach these student and develop their character. Luckily I have the Holy Spirit myself to disciple me while discipling these students because i definitely realized i cannot do it myself! I definitely see real purpose for me being here and am assured this is where the Lord desired for me to be in this season.


A huge blessing that iv'e had this past week given to me is having the opportunity to share a room with my Los Angeles base director Werner. It's been a huge encouragement talking to him about life and hearing his vision and insight. As you know from my last blog, the Lord has been placing business missions on my heart. Werner gave me another book to read called "The Purple Cow" which testifies to crazy stories of successful business from people who came up with completely different ideas that revolutionized a specific trade. Luckily I don't have to come up with the idea by myself... I have the Holy Spirit for inspiration! Something that Werner was talking about that just got me fired up was implementing practical devices that completely revolutionize an environment and society. A specific idea he brought up was a device that uses fecal matter from humans to create energy for poor areas (such as the townships in S.A.) which already have a HUGE sewage problem. The other idea is a device that collects and naturally filter rainwater and can store that rain water up to a year. It is stuff like this that the poor really need! They deserve to have their basic human rights on top of knowing Jesus Christ as their Lord and it is our jobs to implement such ideas! I think the Lord is leading me in an area towards that.


Through just continually sharing this vision, God has been opening various doors that i need to continually pray into and see where the Lord leads me! For this season though, I am called to be here in Mossel Bay as DTS staff to disciple and to facilitate an environment where the Lord meets the DTS students and meets me. I am incredibly excited to be used by God and to see people grow in the calling that God has for each person specifically. I feel like the Lord has just been speeding up my ability to learn about Him and His calling on my life and its amazing. I definitely had my doubts initially, but God confirmed my doubts and I've been so encouraged to be apart of the movement that God is doing right here in Mossel Bay, South Africa to reach the nations!

Arrival to South Africa

So on December 31st at 10:40 a.m, I set off on my grueling 17 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. The flight itself actually wasn't as bad as i thought it would be at all. I had an open seat next to me which allowed me to relax a bit better being 6'4" and all. The food on the airplane was good as well which was for sure a plus. I finally arrived to Johannesburg only to catch another flight at 10:40 a.m to Cape Town on New Years day. I finally arrived to Cape Town at around 1 p.m!


The day before i had left New York, I received an email from YWAM Mossel Bay (the YWAM base i will be working with) stating that i would not have accommodations there until the 10th of January which meant that i would be staying in Cape Town until then.


When i arrived in Cape Town, I was picked up by a guy named Zennen who works with the Cape Town YWAM base. I would be staying with the base director there named Virmz until accommodations were ready in Mossel Bay. The second i got to the apartment, i literally passed out sleeping until 8am the following day.


was definitely an incredibly weird feeling entering a country that is very new to me and staying in a guy's apartment that i did not know in the slightest bit. I had no idea what was acceptable in culture or what was even safe to do. I felt alone, but at the same time i knew the Lord was with me and that i was in His will.


When i woke up that day, I learned that it was not safe to walk out after dark or with valuables because of the risk of getting mugged. I met a guy from Ireland named Allen and he showed me around Cape Town. Cape Town is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I hope to post some pictures very soon!


As i walked back to the apartment i was staying in, i decided to stop by the YWAM base to meet up with a friend named Adam who i found out was on the base. I did my DTS with Adam last January. Once arriving at the base, I was surprised by a group of people from Los Angeles who were on their outreach from DTS. They had stopped at the Cape Town YWAM base to use the bathroom because they were doing ministry on the beach nearby. It was so crazy and random running into them! The whole experience was completely God ordained because they were literally only at the base for 5 minutes and had no idea i was there. They were incredibly surprised as well and invited me to come and stay with them in a town 2 hours east named Worcester (pronounced "vooster") This was such a blessing from God! Instead of hanging out in a lonely apartment in Cape Town for 10 days, I got to hang out with these wonderful people from L.A. and join them temporarily on their outreach! God is way too good haha.


For the past week, I've been in Worcester at the YWAM base there. It has been kind of weird being here to be honest. It has been nice but I've kind of been wondering what the purpose of it all is. I definitely think seeing how DTS outreach is run from an outsiders perspective has been helping me learn how to lead a DTS outreach of my own. It has been crazy to think that I am actually going to even be doing that! This past year i've been a student in YWAM, and now I am going to actually be leading. I guess it's time for some more solid food.


It has been awesome doing ministry with the L.A. team. We've been going to this hospital and just sharing the love of Christ with the sick people in the hospital. We've shared the gospel with all of the families in the Children's section of the hospital and prayed for all of the sick kids. One of the kids who has meningitis was very sick when we prayed for him and the next time we came to the hospital, he was doing much better and was much more livelier! The L.A. team has also done ministry in some of the townships of S.A. and have seen many people come to know and accept Christ as their savior which is amazing!


Something awesome that happened to me was just a word that was spoken over me during a prayer time. While a woman was praying over me, she had said she saw me traveling all over the world in the future with a suitcase  for the purpose of business. I thought that this was pretty crazy because a month or so earlier while i was on the Los Angeles YWAM base, I had felt the Lord placing a desire for business on my heart. The desire was related to the idea of starting a business in a third world country to give people opportunity to help themselves and earn money themselves while giving me the opportunity to disciple these people in Christ. This would provide a way out for the route of sexual slavery and sweat shop slavery than many people face in poor communities in third world countries. I shared this occurrence with the base director for YWAM Worcester. His name is Bruno. It was super encouraging to talk to him about this and he gave me a lot of good advice, as well as a book to read pertaining to business to get my mind going. I think i may take some online business classes and read some more books on business. This is all just the birth of some vision the Lord has given me, and im praying that it comes to pass!


So there is a little tid bit of what God has been doing in me and through me in the past 10 days of my time in South Africa. I know i am in the hand of God and i am so stoked to see what God has for me in this season. I am sorry this was so long!