Thursday, June 5, 2014
After Darjeeling, I just wanted to be able to survive semi-pleasantly through the remainder of DTS. I was aiming to try my hardest to serve God and give it my all in the last few days of outreach, regardless of how I was feeling. It was my goal to "finish well". I don't know how many times I've heard that phrase in these past couple weeks, but it is a lot.
So we headed to our last outreach location, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We didn't really know what to expect until the day before we left (which was the day after we got back from India - that's right, three countries in three days), so I didn't really have time to prepare or get excited or have any thoughts at all on what our time there might be like. All I knew was we only had 10 days there, compared to the 3 weeks we had in our other locations. It was going to be a short one. Little did I know just how short our time there would be!
It turns out that finishing well in Malaysia was probably the easiest part of outreach. This country and the ministries we were involved in were the highlight of our whole outreach for me. We were able to go to two different youth programs for Burmese refugees and play games and hang out, and our music crew performed for them as well. At the first youth center we went to, we just hung out with them for a while after the concert, and let me tell you: Asians love 1) taking selfies, and 2) taking pictures with white people. I don't know how many pictures I posed for, but it was just so fun to see them shyly come up and ask if they could take a picture with you, and then get this huge grin when you said yes.
At the second youth center, after we had finished all we had planned, L'ea and Dillon just started to play the guitar - some generic chords - and we would just sing random sings with the kids in this giant mashup. L'ea kept randomly throwing in "Tonight!" from Hey, Soul Sister, and the kids would just kill themselves laughing. It was so wonderful to be able to work with the Burmese refugees. They're quite shy, but very sweet and friendly once you get them talking.
And then came my overall highlight of outreach, the absolute high point of all our ministries. We, along with another DTS team from YWAM Perth full of wonderful people, were able to staff a Young People's Discipleship Camp, which is basically a mini DTS miraculously compacted into a few days. We went with about 15 kids out to this beautiful camp with a gorgeous view of the mountains for 4 days of sessions and worship and games and FOOD. Ok, here was the eating schedule: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper. Yes, dinner AND supper. We were living the lives of hobbits, and it is not terrible. Anyways, we had speakers give lectures on Quiet Time and Hearing God's Voice, the Character of God, Repentance and Forgiveness, Lordship, and Identity. It was interesting for us, as DTS students, to get a bit of a recap on some of our lecture phase. Some good reminders in there.
The best part of the camp was being divided into small groups, a few DTSers and a few campers, to do quiet times together in the morning, discussions at sessions and application times. We got to bond with our campers and see them learning and growing over the weekend, and were able to speak into their lives and encourage them. I so enjoyed being able to disciple the youth in my group. They were so great, and God really has amazing things in store for them.
We had lots of fun times with the kids, too. We had a water games day, and after we finished our water balloon fight, it started to pour, and we sang and danced in the rain until we completely soaked through! We had a couple indoor dance parties as well, teaching them the Cupid Shuffle and serenading Dillon with Call Me Maybe. And on Sunday afternoon, we had a K-Pop concert. I kid you not. An adorable little group of 12 year old Koreans came and performed their hour long performance of K-Pop dance routines, including some worship songs and an evangelistic drama. I'll be honest, it was absolutely impossible for me to keep a straight face, but it was so fun!
The last day of the camp was also our last day of ministry on outreach! This is going to sound cliche, but time absolutely flew by! Really, where did the time go? Malaysia was the best ending to outreach I ever could have imagined - even better! I am so thankful for the amazing opportunities we had, the wonderful people we met and the incredible memories we made. God is so good.
And now here we are, back in Bangkok. 6 days until graduation. It doesn't seem possible. Yet somehow it is. These countries, these experiences, these people...we'll all be parting ways in just a few short days. And that's a little bit heartbreaking. But at the same time, I'm so excited to move forward in my life, with all the great things I've learned and grown in, into the incredible things God has planned for me.
Prayer Requests
- a good debriefing time providing closure to the past five months
- that the kingdom impacts we made in all the countries we traveled to will continue to grow
After Darjeeling, I just wanted to be able to survive semi-pleasantly through the remainder of DTS. I was aiming to try my hardest to serve God and give it my all in the last few days of outreach, regardless of how I was feeling. It was my goal to "finish well". I don't know how many times I've heard that phrase in these past couple weeks, but it is a lot.
So we headed to our last outreach location, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We didn't really know what to expect until the day before we left (which was the day after we got back from India - that's right, three countries in three days), so I didn't really have time to prepare or get excited or have any thoughts at all on what our time there might be like. All I knew was we only had 10 days there, compared to the 3 weeks we had in our other locations. It was going to be a short one. Little did I know just how short our time there would be!
It turns out that finishing well in Malaysia was probably the easiest part of outreach. This country and the ministries we were involved in were the highlight of our whole outreach for me. We were able to go to two different youth programs for Burmese refugees and play games and hang out, and our music crew performed for them as well. At the first youth center we went to, we just hung out with them for a while after the concert, and let me tell you: Asians love 1) taking selfies, and 2) taking pictures with white people. I don't know how many pictures I posed for, but it was just so fun to see them shyly come up and ask if they could take a picture with you, and then get this huge grin when you said yes.
At the second youth center, after we had finished all we had planned, L'ea and Dillon just started to play the guitar - some generic chords - and we would just sing random sings with the kids in this giant mashup. L'ea kept randomly throwing in "Tonight!" from Hey, Soul Sister, and the kids would just kill themselves laughing. It was so wonderful to be able to work with the Burmese refugees. They're quite shy, but very sweet and friendly once you get them talking.
And then came my overall highlight of outreach, the absolute high point of all our ministries. We, along with another DTS team from YWAM Perth full of wonderful people, were able to staff a Young People's Discipleship Camp, which is basically a mini DTS miraculously compacted into a few days. We went with about 15 kids out to this beautiful camp with a gorgeous view of the mountains for 4 days of sessions and worship and games and FOOD. Ok, here was the eating schedule: breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, supper. Yes, dinner AND supper. We were living the lives of hobbits, and it is not terrible. Anyways, we had speakers give lectures on Quiet Time and Hearing God's Voice, the Character of God, Repentance and Forgiveness, Lordship, and Identity. It was interesting for us, as DTS students, to get a bit of a recap on some of our lecture phase. Some good reminders in there.
The best part of the camp was being divided into small groups, a few DTSers and a few campers, to do quiet times together in the morning, discussions at sessions and application times. We got to bond with our campers and see them learning and growing over the weekend, and were able to speak into their lives and encourage them. I so enjoyed being able to disciple the youth in my group. They were so great, and God really has amazing things in store for them.
We had lots of fun times with the kids, too. We had a water games day, and after we finished our water balloon fight, it started to pour, and we sang and danced in the rain until we completely soaked through! We had a couple indoor dance parties as well, teaching them the Cupid Shuffle and serenading Dillon with Call Me Maybe. And on Sunday afternoon, we had a K-Pop concert. I kid you not. An adorable little group of 12 year old Koreans came and performed their hour long performance of K-Pop dance routines, including some worship songs and an evangelistic drama. I'll be honest, it was absolutely impossible for me to keep a straight face, but it was so fun!
The last day of the camp was also our last day of ministry on outreach! This is going to sound cliche, but time absolutely flew by! Really, where did the time go? Malaysia was the best ending to outreach I ever could have imagined - even better! I am so thankful for the amazing opportunities we had, the wonderful people we met and the incredible memories we made. God is so good.
And now here we are, back in Bangkok. 6 days until graduation. It doesn't seem possible. Yet somehow it is. These countries, these experiences, these people...we'll all be parting ways in just a few short days. And that's a little bit heartbreaking. But at the same time, I'm so excited to move forward in my life, with all the great things I've learned and grown in, into the incredible things God has planned for me.
Prayer Requests
- a good debriefing time providing closure to the past five months
- that the kingdom impacts we made in all the countries we traveled to will continue to grow
Comments
Post a Comment