Lecture Phase: Week 3

Rained poured down violently as the gushing wind sought to drive us backwards into our homes.  We hustled and bustled across the Oval to class and home, to seek the scant warmness and protection the buildings offered us, all the while drinking from our steaming cups of tea.

...

Ok, that was a bit dramatic - yes, it rained a bit; yes, it was windy, but hey - that's England for you!  We do get to experience sunshine every now and then!

We do get some pretty sweet sunsets here!

On Sunday, after my last blog post, our final trainee arrived from Norway!  We are now a complete DTS - 5 guys and 5 girls, ages 18-24, from Canada (Ontario and BC), the US (California and Hawaii), England, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Ghana and the Netherlands.  It's been sweet getting to know each other and build deeper relationships with them.

This week was a very interesting week lecture-wise.  The topic for the week was the Nature and Character of God, led by Rob Westwood from a YWAM base in Scotland.  He very much adjusted the flow of the week to meet us where we were at, which was greatly appreciated! We learned MANY important things over the week, but the one topic that really stood out to me was the concept of "train - don't try".  We can't grow deeper in our relationship with Christ if we don't "train" ourselves, similarly to an athlete can't get better at their sport unless they train themselves.

"Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts."
Colossians 3:16

We were especially challenged on the fact that most of us own many copies of the Bible, however, only a small portion of us have read the Bible cover-to-cover... SO, we decided to do something that is hard for all of us - have a Bible study at 6:30 in the morning!  Yes, you read that right - 6:30 - in the morning... None of us are morning people, but we've committed to "train" ourselves by reading the Bible in chronological order to better understand "the story".  This means I have taken to waking up around 5 to 5:30 - early!  I'm very grateful for my naps in the afternoon, otherwise I wouldn't be functioning!

For our Outreach Prep on Monday, we played a bunch of team-building activities to better get to know each other, and how we can work together as a team - working together as a team will be crucial when we go on outreach!

One of our team-building activities required us passing through a cube, but each of us had to take a different route.

When we tried to do the Cube activity, we came to the conclusion afterwards that, while it was fun, there wasn't any sort of plan, and everyone kind of did their own thing.  The man who was leading the activities (Stu) then asked my school leader (Andrew) who the best listener was, and he named me - Stu thought on this for a moment, and asked me if it would work for me to be blindfolded! Well, that was something.. I use an FM system (a microphone of sorts that my teachers have always worn), so I was blindfolded and led into another room.  The trainees had already gone ahead to plan what they were going to do, and I was instructed prior that I would be blindfolded and have to listen to my classmates' instructions to walk around the room and pick up some orange pilons from the ground, and if I didn't listen carefully, there would be consequences.  Here I am thinking these consequences are just walking into chairs or something.... I get into the room, and someone starts describing the room "there are 5 orange pilons around the room on a carpet, and they are surrounded by mousetraps..." MOUSETRAPS.. man - I was thinking to myself "Oh man, what did I get myself into?!?".. 

That turned out to be a really good team-building exercise - none of my fellow trainees wanted me to step on the mousetraps, so they took it very seriously!

Friday night was our first Gig in the Factory.  Let me explain.  Every Friday night, some of the YWAM staff hold OvalSkate in the Factory.  The Factory is an old, old building with tons of space.  Part of the interior has been converted into an indoor skate park, another part into a stage area, and the rest into assorted rooms.  OvalSkate is a time where local kids and teens can come and just hang out and skate in a safe environment.  The Gig is held on the last Friday of almost every month.  For the Gig, local teen bands can come in and play a set.  The venue is a dry venue, and drug-free - we do check the kids at the door, but they come in drunk and high sometimes.  It's a place for them to be safe, and be who they want to be.  We saw a lot of broken kids come through - about 180 people passed through the doors throughout the night, either to skate in the skate park, or to listen to the music.  Our job was just to make sure they stayed safe, didn't do anything dangerous, or anything they shouldn't do, and to talk to them if the opportunity came up.  We weren't there to "force Jesus on them", rather, we were there to show our love for them by spending time with them, and taking the time to listen to them.

The area where the Gig is held - the skate park is in the area to the left

It was a very long event - we started at 6:30 pm, and finished cleaning up around 11 - nothing crazy happened, and the numbers were a bit on the lower side than usual, so we were very thankful for that, this being our first time helping out!

One portion of the skate park

Our DTS and staff on our trip to St. Alban's a few weeks back

Lecture Phase: Week 2

Are you sure it's only been two weeks? Really? Huh...

DTS has been one whirlwind of an adventure that I don't even know where to begin!

Now that we've settled into a more regular routine, we have a relatively stable schedule now.  It can be a bit dry to read, so I'll try to outline the overall schedule:

Breakfast is from 7:30-8:00 everyday, however, I am on breakfast work duty, so I'm in the kitchen by 7:00!  We have a bit of free time after breakfast until 9:00.  Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays we meet in the chapel at 9:00 for a time of worship with other members from the YWAM community here.  Some days we focus more on prayer and times of intercession for our Harpenden community and other things that need prayer.  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, we meet in the classroom at 9:00 for a time of intercession.

Everyday from Monday to Friday we meet in the classroom for our weekly lectures from 10:00 to 1:00, with a 15-20 min tea break at 11.

Lunch is at 1:00, then most people have their work duties (cleaning the clock building, Number 9 or lunch clean-up), however, I don't (since I'm on breakfast!), so I usually review my notes, nap, or explore the base and Harpenden.  Work Duties are 2 hours from Monday-Thursday, but just an hour-ish on Fridays.

On Fridays, we will be doing our local outreach in the community in the afternoon (2:30-6:00) or after dinner (7:00-?).  On Mondays, we have some time to prepare for our outreaches after our work duties (4:15-6:00).  Tuesdays to Thursdays we have free time after work duties.

Dinner is at 6:00.  On Mondays at 7:45, we have a Freedom class with other members of the YWAM community.  I'm still a bit vague about what this entails entirely, but in general terms, it's about becoming more like Jesus and reflecting His love and power to everyone around us.  Tuesday evenings at 7:30, we have a time of Community Worship and Teaching.  This is essentially a "church service" for the entire YWAM community - this is when I see most of the base together at one moment.  Wednesday evenings are free, and at 7:45ish on Thursdays, we have a time of short accounts, affirmation and worship with my DTS group.

Weekends are pretty flexible, breakfast is at 8:30, and we make a packed lunch then (if you don't come to breakfast, you don't get lunch!).  On Sundays, we attend a local church in Harpenden.  We have been split into groups, and each group attends a different church.  The hope is that in our short time there, we will able to bless the local churches with our gifts and whatever we can bring with us.  Dinner is at 6:00.  The rest of the time is free, however, we're always busy doing something!  We rotate with another school that's here for Weekend Watch - basically work duties for breakfast and dinner prep and cleanup.  These are different for each person each weekend.

Pew.. Now that that's all said and done, I have some exciting news!

Dun dun dunnnnnn......

We're going to Albania for our overseas outreach!

We got the announcement Thursday evening, and after our "WOOT!" moment, I realized I literally know nothing about Albania.

Nada.

Zip.

Oh well - that's what Outreach Prep is for, we'll be well-versed in the ways of Albanian people by the time we head out!

And on a side note, we will likely be going to Cambridge for our local outreach component (although not 100% confirmed) - we'll find out more in the coming weeks.

Moving on...  

Our speaker this week was Carl Tinnion - he is one of YWAM Harpenden's base leaders, and was teaching about The Abrahamic Covenant and the Call to Missions.  It was a really interesting week.  Basically, God made a promise to Abraham:

“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3

We looked at "and you will be a blessing" and "all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you".  It's very easy for us to focus on ourselves as Christians, and we forget to ask ourselves how we are being a blessing to the people around us.  We can receive blessings from God in many forms, from forms of provision to our spiritual gifts, however, we shouldn't be asking "what's in it for us", but rather, "how can I use these blessings to show God's love to other people".

One thing that has really stood out from Carl's teachings this week is that my idea of evangelism is quite wrong.  When we share the Good News with other people, we shouldn't be starting with Jesus and the cross.  Yes, this is a key point in "the story", but we miss out on the plan that God has for each of us - we completely skip the whole Old Testament, and try to shove too much information into people.  This has been quite the eye-opener...

In other news - it snowed here last week! I must have accidentally brought winter with me... Don't worry - it all had melted by the end of the day, but it did make for a nice walk to church.

On our way to church in the snow - this is my "church group" - Myself, Kayla and Nathan

Friday afternoon, we broke off into pairs to walk around Harpenden and pray for the residents, schools, health centres and businesses we passed.  This was a unique experience, as I have never really done this before! 

Friday evening I was invited to a Columbian party by one of the trainees in the ECO school (English Cultural Orientation - these students come here to learn English) - it was great fun, full of Salsa dancing, Columbian music and Columbian food!

For lunch on Saturday, we went to a local pub, "The Old Bell" - the menu was pretty overwhelming, but the food was awesome, and the company was pretty sweet!

Going into The Old Bell for lunch

At our table in The Old Bell - Photo Cred - Ashley Muth

Today at church was something different, a pet service! It was strange to be in church with who knows how many dogs (10+), 2 cats, 3 rabbits, a fish, a hamster and a guinea pig.  Not even kidding! One of the elders of the church even blessed them all... very unique... I have a video of the whole thing! (Although, I can't post it because British law prohibits people posting photos and videos online that have other people's children in it - I can show people in person though!)

The hamster was right in front of me!

Until next time friends!

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."John 14:27

Lecture Phase: Week 1

As of today, I have been in England for a week! Crazy.. So much has happened this week, so I'll try to cover the basics.

As I mentioned a bit last week, Sunday was Arrival Day for most of us, however we had two more arrivals this week, one from Ghana and one from Hawaii.

On Monday morning, we had worship in the chapel on grounds, then dealt with some paperwork and legalities for our being here after.  After lunch, we took a tour of the grounds, and had an orientation of our residence building.

The chapel building that we meet in multiple times a week

Tuesday was also full of more orientation, guidelines, schedules, etc.  On Tuesday evening, we met in the chapel as a YWAM community for a Community Worship night.

Wednesday, we had worship in the chapel again, then a session on Quiet Time after.  Although having quiet time with God is not mandated in Scriptures, there are so many examples of Christ spending time with his Father (Matthew 14:23, Mark 1:35, Luke 5:16, Luke 6:12, Hebrews 5:7).  If Jesus had to do this, how much more do we?  We also had a session on Work Duties in the afternoon.  Since we are such a large base, we all have to put in our part to help keep it running.  There are Work Duties after each meal, cleaning up dishes and BB Hall (where we eat).  Some people have work duties in the Clock Building (where the Cafe is, and our offices mostly are), and some have Work Duties in 9 (Building Number 9 - where we sleep and hang out most of the time).  I got the short straw and got Breakfast Work Duty! It is a double-edged sword - I have to wake up early (6:15 - most of you that know me know that I am NOT a morning person!) to be in the kitchen before 7, to set up the supplies and hot drinks for when people come in for breakfast.  However, having the breakfast Work Duty means that I have the rest of the day free when other people have their work duties! I've learned to start taking naps in part of that time now.. Sleep is something you really learn to appreciate here!  In the evening, we had a "special meal" with our DTS and staff - pizza dinner! It was a good time of getting to know one another.  After dinner, we had a time to tell each other our stories and where we come from.

Thursday was my first day doing my work duties.  Ivy, our kitchen manager, gave me the run through, and everything went smoothly.  After breakfast, we had a lecture from another staff on base, Wendy Snell, on Hearing God's Voice.  After Tea Break, we had a lecture on worship from Bowers (our 'main' staff leader - people on the base call him by his last name).  Basically, the short version of what we consider worship to be is that worship is an extravagant response to a revelation of who God is.

Friday, we had worship once again, and a time of prayer for the Muslim communities around the world.  We had a lecture in the morning on our Belief Tree - basically, in the model of a tree, the soil represents our worldview - the way that we see the world, the roots are our basic beliefs - they grow out of the truth of God's Word, the trunk are our foundational values, the branches our principle-based decisions and policies, and finally the fruit represents our actions.  After tea break, we had an introductory session on intercession.  We described being a Christian as having a friendship with God, however, in a normal friendship with another person, communication has to occur; it's not just a one-way thing. Intercessory prayer is when we listen to God's voice, and we pray on behalf of others.  This was a very eye opening lecture, and I still haven't fully processed everything we heard, however one key quote that really stood out to me was that we should "trust more in God's ability to speak than our ability to listen.  If He needs to make Himself heard, He will make Himself heard."  That afternoon, myself and another trainee went into town to pick up some stuff from the store - that was my first time off base since we arrived! Later in the afternoon, we had an orientation session about Local Outreach.  It was also quite eye-opening.  That evening we continued sharing our stories, and still have a few more people to get to.

Typical British street in Harpenden

Saturday! I was on Breakfast for Weekend Watch (Like Work Duties, but we're switched up between positions every weekend), then we went into a local town to tour around a bit.  We went to the cathedral there - St. Alban's Cathedral - it's used by many parishes in England.  St Alban was executed for his Christian faith sometime around 250 AD, and people started to worship Christ on the location shortly after the time.  Quite interesting history surrounding the location!  When we eventually returned for the evening, we were all so exhausted! Most of us napped and slept for the rest of the day.

St. Alban's Cathedral

The Gang! *Photo by Nice Bowers

Until Next Time!

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."
Deuteronomy 31:6

I'm Here!

After a 7 hour flight, I finally made it to England! Woot!  I left at 10 pm, and arrived at 10 am, but only got 2 hours of sleep on the plane (whoops!) -  I only do this to myself...

After I got off my plane!

Shortly after arriving, I met up with two of the staff members and another student who was also arriving near the same time, and made our way back to the base.

For the rest of the day, other students eventually arrived, and everyone was here by dinner! (Well, almost everyone - I'll get to that shortly)... We are a very diverse group, ranging in ages of 18-24, and nationalities from the US, Canada, Dominican Republic, Britain, The Netherlands and Germany.  We currently number 5 guys and 3 girls, with one more girl arriving tomorrow (Tuesday) and another guy hopefully arriving Wednesday! There are also 2 more girls and one guy who may arrive later depending on personal circumstances, so prayers for things to go smoothly are welcome!

Today, we have had a lot of orientation to the base and for our DTS.  Our DTS leader is Andrew Bowers, and he lives here with his wife and children.  There are also four other staff leaders that help run my DTS!

YWAM Harpenden is a former "orphanage" of a sort - it was founded in the late 1800's to support impoverished children in England (London), but became a YWAM base in the 1980's.  There are many buildings here on an "oval" - they all sit on an oval road with a large green space in the middle; it's really quite nice!

Items of interest so far:
- I've seen some flowers growing here! (Daffodils) - those would be long dead and buried under snow in Canada, haha
- residents of Britain have to buy a tv license in order to watch tv live (yet, they can watch tv an hour after the show has aired no problem - the logic doesn't make sense to me just yet..)
- there is a film out in theatres (or it was recently) called Suffragette - a few of their scenes (laundry scenes?) were filmed here!

So far everything has been great, and it's been pretty awesome meeting so many new people! Looking forward to getting to know God and my DTS group much better over the coming weeks!

Until next time!

"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin - because anyone who has died has been freed from sin."
Romans 6:6-7

The Week Before...

Hey friends and family!

One more week before I head out to England!  Almost everything that needs buying has been bought, however, I haven't gotten anywhere on the packing front! That'll be the day before...

This will be my attempt to stay in touch and update people on what I've been doing - I'll be updating this blog every now and then - I am by no means punctual!  I apologize in advance for my poor grammar and excessive use of exclamation marks!

For those of you that don't already know, I'll be embarking on a 6 month journey to YWAM Harpenden, approximately an hour or so north of London.  I don't know too many details yet - I'll find out once I get there!

Send me a message if you have questions about where I'm going or what I'm doing!

Til next time!

Stephen


What's YWAM you ask? 

"Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. Also known as YWAM (pronounced “WHY-wham”), we unite in a common purpose to know God and to make Him known."

What am I doing?

"The DTS [Discipleship Training School] is a 6 month program in which Christians from all over the world, representing different denominations and cultures, come together for in-depth teaching and training in Christian living, evangelism and ministry to the poor and needy. YWAM is dedicated to participating in the task of reaching the whole world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the DTS is designed to motivate and equip trainees to participate in the fulfilment of the Great Commission and to challenge you to "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation" (Mark 16:15). 

The program is divided into two parts: the lecture phase followed by the outreach phase which includes a time of de-briefing the school before Graduation."

Mail! Always appreciated!

Stephen Wright
January 2016 DTS
Youth With A Mission Harpenden Highfield Oval
HARPENDEN
Hertfordshire
AL5 4BX
United Kingdom

How can you help?

Prayer!

Pray that I would be willing to listen, learn, and submit to God's will.
Pray that I would use this time to listen to God, and allow Him to show me how I can serve Him in my life.

A verse I've been thinking about recently...

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"
2 Corinthians 5:17