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Picture by Marirs

God has provided all the funds I needed for my outreach and tomorrow I’m leaving early in the morning for Asia with my team. In total I estimate that our travel time will exceed 50 hours! (Three flights totaling almost 20 hours in-air followed by over 30 hours on a train.) That is going to be very tiring! There will also be many opportunities for baggage get lost and flights to be delayed or even missed. Please pray for our safety and that everything goes as smoothly as possible.

I will not be able to update this blog until I return but I will do my best to keep everyone updated via email.

Have a great couple months! I’ll be back in July!

I’m not actually going to get to see the Great Wall, but I thought it looked “Asian”. Picture by S. Webel

I’m excited to share with you all that I’ll be going to Asia for my DTS outreach. I prayed a lot about where God wants me to go (Asia, Serbia or Ireland) and I feel clearly that he’s led me to the Asia outreach. Thank you, to all of you who were praying for my decision!

There are 7 other members on my outreach team: Mikael and Renee our leaders, Blake, Dani, Erica, Liz and Ruth. Most of us are Americans although there are a couple Europeans also. We’ll be in Asia for about two and a half months, spending most of our time in a very large city. It has a huge population and is one of the most densely populated areas on the planet. There are a lot of Colleges or Universities in the city. Many of the students are learning, or trying to learn, English. Those students are the ones we’ll be seeking out at “English Corners” where they go to practice English with each other.

For the months leading up to the trip we have time set aside each week to get together as a team to pray and prepare for Asia. Already we have phrase-books that we’re beginning to study, visa applications and vaccines to get. We’re also studying Asian history so we can better understand the people and how they may feel about us. There’s lots to do! Meanwhile the “regular” lectures are rolling right along and they just keep getting better and better. God is doing so much in me. I’m so thankful that He’s provided for me to be here!

It snowed today.

I also uploaded more pictures to my Ireland DTS Photo Album.

This photo was taken on the beach in Newcastle, near the YMCA camp we went to.

Well, today marks the end of my first week here in Northern Ireland and what a week it has been! With so much activity and such a great amount of information to absorb that it feels like much longer.

The week started out with orientation, where we went over a lot of the “nuts and bolts” of life here on the base at YWAM Closkelt. From what our “work duties” (chores) will be to American/English words not to say. For example, “pants” means “underwear” here, so we need to say “trousers” instead. All of the guidelines are designed to make the community living as uplifting and beneficial as possible for all of us.

After orientation we piled into some buses with a few days worth of supplies and went to a YMCA camp in a neighboring town for some team-building activities including ropes courses and trust games. I think my favorite team activity was when we had to build a raft and race across a lake. It was freezing cold, but we had lots of fun. We were able to have some times of worship together and we even got to explore the town of Newcastle a little bit. (I splurged and got an artery-clogging popcorn chicken from KFC. It was delicious!)

Here I am outside KFC!

On Thursday we were presented with three outreach options which include Ireland (Northern and/or The Republic of), Serbia and Asia. After the lecture phase our DTS will split into three teams and each one will go to a different location for the outreach phase. Each location offers unique ministry opportunities and each team will be performing different tasks. There are things I could learn at each location and certain parts of each appeal more to me than others but in the end it’s up to God. Please pray for me as I seek God’s direction in deciding where to go.

Near the end of the week we returned to the YWAM Base and enjoyed two wonderful lectures: Hearing the Voice of God, and Irish History. One of the speakers, Mike Oman, said something really simple but I think in a nutshell it says what this DTS is about for me. Talking about Hearing the Voice of God, he said: “Sheep know their Master’s voice,” and “When we know our Master, we will know his will.” My goal for this DTS is not simply to know more of God but to know God better so I can follow his will for my life.

More photos from my first week at DTS.

A taxi will be at the house in less then 20 minutes to take me to the airport! The packing is over, finally.

Please say a quick prayer for my travel… my flight from London to Belfast has been cancelled and it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to get on the next plane… I may have to stay a night in London.

Thank you everyone! Without all of your encouragement, support and prayers I wouldn’t be here now. God bless!