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.
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