Week 12 of DTS - Anticipations

Well, I think this is going to be the last email for awhile. This was the last full week of the lecture phase of DTS. This week we watched Dean Sherman videos on Spiritual Warfare. The videos were good, but after 3 hours I would become restless. We watched about 3 hours of the videos a day. I would write more about this, but I don't have my notebook with me.

This week my mind has been full of anticipations. Anticipations for Christmas, spending time with family, giving gifts, and even receiving gifts for my outreach in about 2 1/2 weeks, and many other things like - sleeping in my own bed, taking showers in a private bathroom, having my own room, and my own privacy. :o) Oh, the things that we take for granted and then once we don't have it - we realize how much we missed it. I am wondering how I am going to do in another country for almost 3 months. I know I can do it, but as I said in my 1st email... I am spoiled. I have so many things - that so many don't. I believe that God is going to do many things while I am away in the Caribbean on outreach and that is another thing that I am anticipating. I am so excited for outreach for many reasons. But the #1 reason why I am excited about outreach is because of what God is going to to through me for other people. I just pray that I will not be shy or afraid of stepping out of my comfort zone.

God has really been working in my life this week. I am learning how to humble myself and also I am seeing how God is answering even my littlest prayers. Also, I am learning just how faithful God really is, and how to obey him when He speaks to me. This week I have felt really close to God and I love that feeling. God is so AWESOME! I love God! :o) God is also telling me that I need to use the gift that he has blessed me with - my voice. So now I am just asking God what He wants me to do and how He wants me to use my voice for Him.

Well, I think that is about it. I know this is short, but I really don't have much else to say. I am really excited about going home for a week and also for outreach.

Merry Christmas and I hope you have a Happy New Year.

May God bless you this Holiday season and keep you all safe and healthy.

P.S. I will be home on December 20th - December 27th. Then on the 27th I will be going back to Wisconsin until January 1, 2007 where I will be then flying to the Caribbean.

Week 10 & 11 of DTS - Relationships & Destiny

I apologize for being late on week 10. Last week we learned about Relationships with Gayle Keeproth (one of the directors in YWAM). And this week (week 11) we learned about Destiny by D.E.S.I.G.N with Gwen Berquist.

Before I start talking about the things I've learned within the last 2 weeks, let me just say that I had a great time at home for Thanksgiving. When I 1st got home I spoke in my church about the things that God has been doing in my life. I was surprised to find out that my pastor had highlighted points in my emails that I send out. And so, he took things that I wrote and gave me like a "pop quiz". It was funny. :o) Then on Thanksgiving Day - I went over to my brothers to see my new niece, Faith. She is so beautiful and precious. Then on Saturday I celebrated Thanksgiving at my parents house. Then on Sunday I went to church, then out to eat and then back to Wisconsin. I was one of the 1st people back. Also Sunday morning my aunt and uncle from New Mexico took the horses (Sunny and Little Joe) to go live with them in Albuquerque. On Friday my mom and I rode the horses for the last time in Illinois. It was kinda a bitter sweet moment for me. But I know that things will be good for them in New Mexico and I am also glad that I know who they are going to and the next time that I go to visit my relatives then I can ride the horses again. I had a busy time while I was home and I wasn't able to see all of the people that I wanted to see, so I cannot wait until I come home for Christmas to be able to see those people.

OK, now back to what I've recently learned. Well the week of Relationships, I basically learned more about myself and about other people. We took a couple personality tests which showed that I am easily influenced. Some things that I do are things that I was trained to do as a child - which shows that I am a "good team player", says Gayle. But those things that I was trained to do are not natural for me to do. For example: I like to plan things out because it gives other people time to prepare, but naturally I like to do things spontaneously. It was also good to learn more about other people in the class and see the similarities and differences in each other.

Over the weekend I went to Acquire the Fire in Madison as a volunteers. It was a good experience and I was able to give time to God to help serve other Christians and also to see teens lives changed. One thing I almost forgot to mention was that on Sunday a lady, Jan, who did a DTS in the summer came here to the Training Center. Jan and her 3 children are coming with us on outreach. She has 2 daughters and one son: Amanda is 15, Shelby is 14, and Jake is 13. They bring so much life to our little group. Also after Christmas we will be getting one more girl, Tisha, that did her DTS in the summer.

Then this week (week 11) our guest speaker was Gwen Berquist who taught us on her own material called, Destiny by D.E.S.I.G.N. - each letter in the word design meant something. ( D - Dream, E - Experiences, S - Soul print, I - Identity, G - Gifts, N - Network.) Her teachings were really good. I learned more about what I would like to do after DTS. I also learned about more about my gifts which I found very interesting. On Thursday Gwen encouraged me to pick out a worship song that I felt God was laying on my heart. Then she told me to sing it in front of everyone. I was apprehensive at first, but I knew that she wasn't going to let me get away with not singing. So I sang and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Then on Friday during worship I did the same thing without Gwen telling/encouraging me to do it. It was cool how she encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone and sing more ... not for other people, but for God. :o)

We only have 1 more full week of teachings left. I cannot believe that so much time has passed. I leave for Christmas on December 20th and then come back on the 27th. Then on January 1st we leave for ... are you ready ... Trinidad, Dominican Republic, and Haiti. We will be in both of those places for about 3 weeks. We will be ministering to prostitutes, orphanages, and street kids. We will be coming back to Wisconsin on February 27, 2007 and we will be going to local places sharing our testimonies and about our outreach. Then I will be home in the beginning of March of 2007. I do not yet know if I will have access to the Internet and I also do not know if I will have time.

Week 8 & 9 of DTS - Breaking Down Walls

Because of Thanksgiving, I have included Week 9 along with Week 8. Last week our speakers were Barbara and Roy Sandiford and they taught on The Divine Plumbline. To sum it up, it is about tearing down walls in your heart and in your life. I openly admit that I have walls in my life, and that sometimes I make walls to protect myself from getting hurt. So it was hard for me this week to tear down those walls, because those walls were built on the foundation of either "pride" or "unbelief". We did not read the book Walls of My Heart by Dr. Bruce Thompson, but I highly recommend it because our teachings were based off of that book. Right now I am in the process of reading Walls of My Heart. We learned about our personalities and also about what controls us: our mind, emotions, or our will (meaning our attitude that leads to our actions). Barbara and Roy were the only guest speakers who gave us homework. One of the assignments was to write a letter to God and then continue to write a letter of response from God; however we could not stop and correct it - we just had to keep going. It was really good. I was surprised to hear how deep we all were going. I was also surprised that what I had to write was so long. And we had to read our letters in class, which I was not looking forward to, but after I was finished I realized that it wasn't that bad after all. This week was definitely a week of healing for all of us. And it also helped us grow closer together and open up more to one another. :o)

This week ... Week 9, Michael Leeson (our leader) taught us on topic of The Christian Life. I feel like this short week of teaching is going to be for me like going back to basics. Most of the teachings week after week are pretty intense, and with Michael's teachings are more laid back, yet still worth paying attention to (meaning that his teachings are good).

I am so glad to be home for Thanksgiving. I really miss my family, my friends, and as crazy as it sounds... I even miss my animals. The time home is going to be short and packed with things to do, but it's OK. I have to be back to the Training Center on Sunday night. Therefore, I know these few days (Wednesday afternoon through Sunday night) at home are going to be busy because I will be trying to see and visit everyone.

Thank you for taking time to read this.

Week 7 of DTS - Continuation of Last Week

Week 7... Whoa! Time is flying by. I really do not know what to say in this e-mail. I think it is going to be a short one. This week we had a couple different speakers: Paul Allen and Johanan Rehmt. Paul taught on Monday and Tuesday on Giving Up Rights. This just means that Christians are to place God before their spouse, children, work, etc. God is supposed to be # 1 in a Christians life. For me this was just a continuation of last week. Because last week at the GO! Conference in Colorado - I made God # 1 in my life again. But for me it is a daily thing that I struggle with... laying aside my concerns and worries and focusing on God to take care of the things that I have no control over. I also struggle with putting people or things before God (I make those people or things as a priority above God). God is so GREAT though, because He doesn't hold a grudge, He is always faithful and extremely gracious. :o)

Then on Wednesday through Friday Johanan taught us on the topic of Missions. He gave helpful insight of What is missions? and what it is like to be in another country and not understanding the language. He also gave many visual examples (through movie clips) and also through games. (Example: We had to play a game of cards that was like a mix of euchre and hearts. In this game we had 3 groups of 4 people and the team [the person across from you] who won after about 10 minutes would then move to the next table. But we could not talk, and we did not know until the game was over that each table had different set of rules. Some of the rules had trump, whereas others did not. Some of the rules had Aces as the highest card, where as Aces were the lowest cards and 6's were the highest cards. It was a good example of learning how to deal with each other and try to communicate with one another. It was fun, but also frustrating at times.) Johanan also told us some statistics about the country Rwanda in Africa - which was very interesting.

God's been doing a lot in the last couple of weeks, and I am still trying to process and figure out what it is that God wants for my life. Once I have things figured out then I will be sure to let you know. But in the mean time, please be praying for me. Pray for guidance, clarity, direction, wisdom, and patience.

Week 5 & 6 of DTS - Amazing

I apologize for not writing week 5, but I was really busy. I am going to give a quick summarization.

Week 5 was on the topic of The Holy Spirit and our speaker was Mike Esposito. Mike was AMAZING!!! He gave me so much clarification on the Holy Spirit. I grew up in a church that talked often about the Holy Spirit, but Mike's teachings taught me so much that I did not know, or was never explained to me. Now, don't get me wrong... I really like the church that I grew up in, maybe I just wasn't paying close attention when there were sermons on The Holy Spirit. Anyway, Mike had to leave early on Friday because his flight did not have a crew, so his teachings had to be cut short. All of Thursday was spent in prayer, he went around with some of the staff praying for people just waiting on God. What he prayed for me about was really good. I would like to share it with you, but it is kinda personal.

Then on Saturday I packed for the GO! Conference in Colorado. We left at 5 in the morning for a 12 hour van ride to Colorado, where we stayed at Valerie's (on of the staff members) aunts house. Then on Monday we had another 3 hours to go before we got to our destination: Estes Park, (YMCA of the Rockies). We had a time of worship and a short service at 7pm until 9:30 pm. The worship was AMAZING, I have never been able to worship God the way that I did this whole week. Then on Tuesday, I totally surrendered my life over to God, for Him to use me - completely. I also gave back to Him everything that He has given to me. My life here on this earth short, and how I see it... God created people to spread the Good News (in other words known as The Gospel). Therefore, why not let God use me for His purpose rather than for my own purpose. Anyway, Tuesday was the most intense day for me, however all of the other nights were pretty intense. I cried every night during worship due to the Holy Spirit working in my life. All of the speakers were really good as well. I was able to walk away with something that I did not know, that I could apply to my life. On Friday, we had a time of worship and intercession from 9 am - 11 am. We prayed for everyone is going out to other countries for short term or long term missionary ministry. Then we had lunch and after lunch we set out for a 15 hour van ride. The van ride to and from Colorado was the worst part of it all. It was so uncomfortable, but the experience that I had was so AMAZING that I don't even think about the van ride. We got back to the Training Center around 9 am on Saturday. I took a nap for about 3 hours, but I was still extremely tired. So today I ended up sleeping a total of 11 hours. It felt amazing! :o)

God is still speaking to me and slowly revealing to me what it is that He wants me to do. I am unsure of the specifics, therefore I am going to wait until I know more about what it is that I am going to be doing with my life, before I start to tell people. God is giving me "teaspoons" by revealing to me what it is that He wants for my life, and I know that if he showed me the whole picture then I would be completely overwhelmed. Right now I am already overwhelmed, however this is an excited kind of overwhelming feeling.

Well, I think that is a pretty good summarization. However, I will leave you with this: Psalms 33 . For me, Psalms 33 sums up what I was able to experience for this last week.

Week 4 of DTS - Disappointing

Week 4... WOW! It doesn't seem like I have been living in Wisconsin for that long. This week was a pretty good week. Dawn taught us the whole week on then Fear of the Lord and it was very good. And she also shared with us her personal testimony, which I found very interesting and I admire her willingness, openness, and courage to share it with all of us. During this week nothing BIG happened like last week, but God is still working in my life - personally and He is also speaking to me. :o)

On Sunday, I went to church with Bekah at Mad City in Madison (again). We went to the early morning service, which was at 9 am - 11 am. So when we got back to the training center no one was there except Fara because she didn't feel well. That is why I was able to finish "week 3" earlier than "week 2". Then I spent the rest of the afternoon reading the book Father Heart of God, which I actually should have read throughout the week. I called my mom and dad and talked to them for about an hour. And that is pretty much all that I did.

On Monday, Dawn (one of the staff members) taught us on Intimate Friendship With God: Through Understanding the Fear of the Lord, which was really good. It really made me realize how much closer to God I want to be. And how God loves me and wants to have an intimate (close) relationship with me.

On Tuesday, we actually did something a little differently. We got to sleep in just a little bit, and then we had work duties, then quiet time, and then we had a time of intercession. We (just the 8 students) prayed for where we were going to go for outreach. We split into 2 groups and when we came back together to talk about what we felt God was speaking to us. We had some confirmation about the things that we had heard from God, which I thought was really cool.Then we had an hour of free time, which I spent writing thank you cards and letters. Then we went to the GMC for lunch and then class afterwards. Then we had a short break before we started getting ready for our local outreach. I went to Juvy (Juvenile Detention Center) with Emma, Bodo, Nils, Shawn, Bekah, and Missie. I was so excited because I knew that God was going to be doing so GREAT things. But when it was time for us to talk and pray with the kids that were there, the girl I talked to was not responding to me much. She just gave me short answers. Missie joined in with us, which I didn't want at first, but I became glad when I realized that Missie and the girl in Juvy were able to carry on a conversation. I was also disappointed because the boy that I had talked to last week was there, but he left shortly after we had started. I wanted to be able to talk to him a little bit more. I was glad that I was able be there, but I like I said I was disappointed because I felt like I didn't make much of a difference. Also, on the car ride it was encouraging to hear all of the stories from everyone else.

On Wednesday, we had a normal day of class. But after supper we spent some time as a group talking about some decisions that have been made for our International Outreach in January 2007. Michael wrote some names of countries on the board, which were some of the countries that we had been praying for. He told us that those places are English speaking places, and that when we go for our Outreach we will be going to one of those countries, along with 2 more countries. Then he wrote the other 2 countries that we will be going to; he wrote Dominican Republic (Spanish speaking) and Haiti (French/Creole speaking). I am so excited to be going to 3 different places, along with learning 2 other languages. I have always wanted to learn French, and Spanish would be the next language that I would want to learn. But as Michael was talking to us about some things that had to do with our outreach, I began to feel overwhelmed with emotion. So after we were finished talking, I went into the Recreational room (also known as the Rec. room) and began to pray. After a short time of praying God gave me a scripture : Psalm 74 which I then took to Dawn (because she is my one on one person). She said that she had received that passage of scripture before when praying for another country. I was so emotionally exhausted, so I went to bed as soon as I could, which wasn't until 11 pm.

On Thursday, we another normal day of class. I was still feeling the effects of the night before (being emotionally exhausting), so after class I grabbed a 2 subject notebook and my CD player and began to write thing things I had prayed about in the 1st section of the notebook, and in the other section I wrote the things God has spoken or shown me since I've been doing this Discipleship program. After some singing and reflecting on all of the wonderful things that God has been doing in my life, I became very happy. This feeling stayed with me the rest of the night and for most of the day on Friday.

On Friday, we had class and Dawn finished up on The Fear of the Lord and then around 4 pm Rufina, Fara, Nils, and Robin went to Nightmare (which is a youth event that teenagers come to watch - it's hard for me to explain but if you would like to know more about it go here. Sean also left for the weekend because he had a wedding to go to. And Michael and Emma left for the weekend with their kids. So there was me, Bekah, Bodo, Mandy, and Dawn left for the weekend. It was very quiet. After I had supper clean up, Dawn and I had our 1 on 1 time, which was very good. Then we all (well, the remainder of us) watched the movie Failure to Launch. I thought it was a cute movie. I thought it was very similar to How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days , but I thought that the movie we watched was better.

On Saturday, I woke up at 10:30 am and then we ate brunch at 11 am, and then did some miscellaneous errands and shopping. On Sunday (today), we are throwing a surprise party for Michael and Emma to show them how much we appreciate all that they have done for us, and will do for us. Bekah helped me decorate the Rec. room for a couple hours. I think it looks pretty good. Then Bekah and I stayed up until 1 am just talking about stuff. :o)

I thought this week was kinda disappointing because I would have liked more to happen at Juvy and also because I felt like I did not get as much as I would have liked out of this weeks topic. But I really need to re-read my notes, and I think then I will be able to get more out of what I was taught.

I cannot wait, next week we are going to be going to the GO!Conference in Colorado and then also on Thursday the Summer DTS team will be coming back from Namibia, Africa. I am looking forward to meeting them, and also to hear their stories.

Week 3 of DTS - Emotional

Well we just finished week 3, which was very emotional. The topic was on The Father Heart of God which was taught by Claude Bonjour. I thought Claude was a very good teacher. We got a new projector, so Claude was the first one to use it by showing us slides so we could take notes. I learned so much about myself. I learned how God is like a Father, and even though my earthly father may have messed up in the past; God wants to take away that hurt and pain and love me the way my earthly father could/can not. I am not saying that my dad was a bad dad or anything, but he is human and humans make mistakes. It is sad, but I have never been able to fully forgive him for somethings until this week. I would love to share more with you, but I think that you'd have to experience what I experienced by yourself. Everyone has their own story about how their dad abused them, or said mean things, or even simply wasn't there for them... so everyone will experience what I experienced differently. I know that it may seem like I am not telling you as much as I did the last 2 weeks, but it's just hard to explain. But just know that God has been doing GREAT things in my life, personally.

Anyway, here is what I did throughout the week:

On Sunday I went to church with Sean, Nils, and Fara. We went to Mad City in Madison. I really liked it. Then I spent most of my afternoon on Nil's laptop because I was trying to upload my pictures on my free picture hosting website, but it did not work. :o( Then I had a a few phone calls and then I watched some of the football game with some people. I love Sunday's they are always so relaxed.

On Monday, we had our teaching with Claude. He taught us the first week that we were here and I really enjoyed it. So I couldn't wait to learn more from him. Monday was a normal school day for us and for those of you who may have wanted to know ... even though it was Columbus day (and we live in Columbus, Wisconsin) we did not celebrate it.

On Tuesday, we went to the GMC for class and then we went our separate ways to do our local outreach. I went to the Juvenile Detention Center near the capitol in Madison. Compared to the Evangelical outreach... I loved it. I know that it is what God wants me to do. I cannot wait to go back. When I finish this Discipleship Training, I would love to do something like that when I get back home. It made me feel so good talking to Jr. High aged kids about my personal testimonies and praying with them and just encouraging them. Every kid comes in for different things... some big and some small... but either way, they want to know more about God and the Bible, and I find that very encouraging. :o)

On Wednesday, our teaching was on the movie Antwan Fisher with Denzel Washington. It is a really good movie. I had seen it before, but it really tied in with our topic for this week. After we watched this movie (which was emotional for some people) we had an exercise to do. We had to go find something that reminded us of our earthly father. I looked at my pictures which I was going to show everyone how funny, loving, and caring that my dad is. But then I looked at my digital camera and brought it. I was in tears the whole time, and I do not totally understand why. When I decided to to speak and tell everyone why I chose my camera... I fought to choke back tears. It was hard to speak. But I just simply said, "I chose my camera because I had been wanting a digital camera for a while. Then for Christmas my parents got it for me. I didn't know what kind I wanted or anything, so my dad was the one who did the research. Then right before I came here my parents got me a docking station so that way I wouldn't have to keep recharging batteries all of the time. And this just shows that my dad always provides for me, for what ever I want or need. And I will always be 'daddy's little girl' and nothing can take that way". Something happened during that time... but all of the hurt that I had been keeping in for years was gone. I truly felt like I loved my dad. So after we finished our exercise and after I finished crying. I called my dad at work and told him the story and told him that I love him. This was a HUGE day of healing for me. I could not believe that I had been keeping all of this hurt and pain in for so long. I didn't realize it, but it had been effecting my relationships with other people, but it had been especially effecting my relationship with God.

On Thursday, we had more teaching, which was good. And another normal school day for us. After lunch we talked and prayed about where we might go to for our International outreach, which will be somewhere in the Caribbean area. I am so excited. I cannot wait until we find out where we are going to be going. :o)

On Friday, we had our last day with Claude. But we did something different than just the normal teachings. It is hard to explain what we did, but Claude and some other people prayed for all of us, separately. After we did this, I felt like we as a group had bonded more. Like we were more of a family. It was a really great feeling. I personally felt at peace about my future... whatever God wants it to be. :o) In the afternoon when we had free time, I took an hour and a half nap. It felt so good, because this week had been so emotional. After supper a group of us played basket ball. It was a lot of fun.

On Saturday (yesterday), Bekah, Fara, Robin, and I took Rufina's car to McFarland to go to Bekah's and pick up her car. We stopped at The Petal Patch where my Aunts work, but they were not there. So we ate at McDonald's, then went to Borders, then to WalMart, then back to The Petal Patch to see if my Aunt Karyn had come back from doing a delivery, and sure enough she was there. We stayed for about 5 minutes. It was really good to see her, but it made me really miss my mom. :o( Then I drove Rufina's car back to the Training Center where we hung out for a little while. Then after supper Nils asked if we all wanted to do something, so after awhile of no one deciding on what to do ... I laid the smack down (ha ha). We finally decided to rent a movie. So Bekah drove her car and Nils, Robin, and I drove to the nearest Blockbuster where we rented 3 movies. One of the movies was for Nils, while the other 2 were for all of us. So last night we (Nils, Fara, Bekah, Robin, Mandy, and I) watched The Bench Warmers .

This week has been really good. I was not looking forward to it at first, but once it started... I didn't want to stop learning about The Father Heart of God. Before I end this update, I want to encourage you to forgive your father (even if he has passed away) for anything and everything that he has done. If you cannot speak to him about this in person, write a letter to him and just open your heart up. You don't have to give it to him if you don't want. It might sound kinda silly, but just try it. Once you genuinely do this, you will not forget it, and you will feel so much better. I never knew what I was holding onto until I truly forgave my dad.

Week 2 of DTS - Busy

Well, I just wrapped up week 2 and let me tell you... we were really busy. We had to leave for the Global Mission Center (GMC) at 7:15am almost every morning, and most nights we would be busy doing things until 9:30pm or 10pm (lights out are at 10:30pm). So needless to say, I am really tired this week. But the weeks to come will not be like this.Because I am only going to be getting busier, I am not going to write as long updates as I did with week 1. Therefore, here is a quick summary of what my week was like:

Sunday - Was a wonderful day of relaxing. I took an hour nap after church, then I just did whatever. I spent most of my time writing out my last e-mail (titled: "week 1").

Monday - We had breakfast at 7 am, as usual. Then after having a quiet time and worship, we had a lecture with Warren Kepproth on The Nature of Sin . Warren is the director of YWAM - Madison. At 1 pm, we had lunch (as usual as well) and then continued on with our lecture until 3:30 pm. This topic was really heavy. Then we had work duties and then supper. After supper we had a scheduled study time. At first I was not liking the idea... but once I got started... I thought that it was really good. Because even though there is not much to do here, it is still easy to get distracted and not do your homework.

Tuesday - We had breakfast a little later at 7:30 am. At 10:30 am, we left for the GMC where we stayed there until 5 pm where we then went our separate ways to do our local outreach. This week I did my local outreach with David as the leader and Mandy and Rufina. David is in charge of the Evangelical outreach. Our little group went to a park in Madison where we were able to witness to a few homeless guys. We prayed with one guy and another accepted the Lord. It was exciting and sad at the same time to see that these guys had nothing. I so badly wanted to invite them back to at least shower, but of course that was not possible.

Wednesday - We had to leave for the GMC at 7:15 am, where we had worship and lecture until lunch at 1 pm. It was a long day; I struggled to stay awake. Then we came back to the training center where we had Intercession and then work duties until supper. After supper we had our first small group meeting, which we finished around 9 pm.

Thursday - We had to leave for the GMC at 7:15 am, again. We had lecture until 1 pm, again. Then lunch. After lunch we had Bible Class with Beth Anne on the book of Ephesians. She is teaching us about digging into the Word of God and trying to understand the history of "why" the letters from Paul were written the way that they were. It was really interesting. She will be coming to the training center every week on Wednesdays, but since we were at the GMC this week... it just made sense for her to come and teach us while we were there. After Bible Class we had a little bit of free time, but then we went to Fara's sisters house (in Madison) where supper was provided. Then we headed back to the GMC for a "YWAM Madison Community Meeting". I was so tired, that afterward I asked to go into the van to sleep while other people were enjoying a time of fellowship. We got back to the training center around 9:30 pm, where I soon went to bed.

Friday - THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY! I was so exhausted from getting up early and going to bed late. Some people refereed to this week as "Boot Camp". I'd have to say that it was pretty challenging for me to stay awake, when I normally go to bed (at the earliest) at Midnight and get up around 9 am or 10 am. Today we went to the GMC for the last time at 7:15 am, which was also the last time that Winkie Pratney taught us about The Nature of Sin. At 10:30 am we left to come back to the training center, where we had a quiet time. Then for lunch my small group (Mandy, Dawn, Rufina, Fara, and myself) went to Culver's. Then after Culver's we went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I bought some chips because my mom had sent me in a package some homemade salsa (yum!). Then we came back at 3:30 pm and the rest of the night we had free time. I talked on the phone and wrote out some thank you's and miscellaneous letters. It felt so good to get caught up on those things.

Small Group - Rufina, Me, Dawn, Mandy, and Fara

Saturday - Well, I finally got a chance to catch up on some sleep. I went to bed at 1 am, but woke up around 9:30 am. If felt so good. :o) I ate some brunch (waffles, eggs, and toast). Then I got ready to go out with everyone. We went to the Arboretum where we walked on some trails. I took a lot of pictures, which I would love to share sometime soon. The weather was beautiful and the different shades of color throughout the trees were gorgeous. Then after the was walked some trails... we went to a Mall. But Bekah, Fara, and I went to Barns and Nobles where I had Starbucks for the first time. It was good. Then we went to Shopko where we just looked around. I took a few silly pictures. Then at 4:30 pm, we went back to the training center ( a.k.a. "home") where I helped get supper ready (leftovers) and then of course ate supper. After supper Sean, Nils, Fara, Robin, and I went out to go see a movie. Then we came back and just hung out.

A Continuation from Week 1 - Scavenger Hunt

Here are some pictures that were taken on Saturday, September 30, 2006. We, the DTS, went to Madison, Wisconsin (about 30 miles from Columbus - which is where we live) to do a scavenger hunt on State Street. This scavenger hunt was designed to help us get familiar with the city and the ministry that we would later be involved in.

Me - "Person dressed in UW apparel from head to toe"

"Team photo, everyone wearing 'cheese head' hats"

Left to Right: Emma, Linus (baby), Bekah, Me, and Michael, Judah -not pictured

Nils - "Team member trying on a bizarre outfit at a clothing store"

"Make a human pyramid including strangers (at least 3 stages)"

Top: Robin

Middle: Emma and Me

Bottom: Nils, Fara, and Todd (the stranger)

Me and Bekah on our way to Madison - before the Scavenger Hunt

Me and Emma (with Linus)

"get a picture with a person with 2 or more animals"

Bekah "milking" one of the many cows that are all along State Street.

State Street

Week 1of DTS - Interesting

I have officially been here at YWAM (Youth with a Mission) in Wisconsin for 1 week. This week has been very interesting. As I sit down and try to put together some of my thoughts and memories that I want to share with you... the word "Interesting" best suites how I want to describe my experience so far.

There are 8 people in this Discipleship Training School (DTS). We are small, but because we are small in number we are also like a BIG family.

So about my experience so far... well, like I said it has been very interesting just trying to get to know new people and learn about what it is like for them back in their country. It has also been interesting dealing with the shower in the mornings. There is only a small shelf in the shower to place your bar of soap, and the shower head sprays out far and hard and wide (plus they have hard water). I cannot wait to take a shower at home. Probably the thing that I miss the most would be my bed at home, because the bunk bed that I am sleeping in is hard and stiff, so may back has been stiff and I don't feel like I am getting a good nights sleep. I also am living in a room with all of the ladies plus Mandy, one of the staff members (but that is not that big of a problem because everyone is respectable to everyone else). But these are minor things that I am complaining about, because there are so many people that do not have the things that I have. I am so spoiled!

When I first arrived here a week ago today, I brought a lot of stuff. My parents mentioned that they might have to take 2 vehicles just to fit all of my things. I think I went mad (or crazy) when I was packing. But the next time I go home, I will bring some things back to stay just because I really do not need everything that I brought. I think all of the staff was secretly laughing at me when they saw all of the things I brought. And later on in the day when I realized how much stuff I brought, I realized that I am high maintained. I was kinda upset with myself, because I do want to be that way and I am only high maintained because I am spoiled. Therefore, I have a feeling that when I get back home I will have a whole new perspective on life and will no longer want the things that I want right now.

The first day (Sunday) we got to know a little about ourselves and about the staff. Then on Monday we answered some "Quaker Questions" (they are simple questions about yourself that are answered descriptively). This mostly consisted of the whole day. Then on Tuesday, we went to the GMC (Global Mission Center) in Madison. We will be going there ever week on Tuesdays. Then on Wednesday we began the teachings where we began to learn about Hearing the Voice of God. I took lots of notes, it was very interesting and good. On Wednesday night a group of us went to a Conference in Madison to celebrate 200 years in Missions. It was interesting, and kinda like a history lesson. This was optional; I sort of wanted to stay back to catch up on some sleep and other things, but I felt like I was supposed to go, so I did. Then on Thursday we had some more teaching on Hearing the Voice of God and then we put it into practice. When we shared about what we had heard God speaking to us all of the responses fit together like a puzzle. It was so amazing to hear God working in us separately and also as a group. Then on Friday we learned about Intercession (according to dictionary.com it means: a prayer to God on behalf of another.). Then we practiced it for a little bit. On Saturday (yesterday) we went to Madison (to the capital) for a scavenger hunt. We had to do things such as: ask someone if they are republican and get a picture with them (I got a video and about 5 people said NO! until this girl enthusiastically said YES!), we had to find the most expensive item in a boutique (our group found a 500 year old vase that was $1800), etc. It was a lot of fun. Then today I went to Michael and Emma's (my school leaders) church - then when I came back I took a nap. There are many other details that I could share with you, however you'd probably fall asleep reading this if I did. :o)

I look forward to many more weeks to come. I also look forward to learning more about God and also to get to know everyone better. After I am done with this DTS, the people I currently live with will probably be like my "new" family.