Well folks, I am quite excited to share with you where I will be going on outreach:
INDONESIA!
I am thrilled about this, simply thrilled. I will be co-leading with Bas (the school leader) which I am also thrilled about because he is someone I can learn a lot from, and I have great respect for his leadership.
We are not final in our decision for which students are going where. They gave their choices today, and we are praying about what is best/right.
Something else I am anticipating is next week's teaching. My friend's father will be coming to speak on Identity in Christ. We had a speaker cancel, and I immediately thought of him=someone I respect in so many areas and who has a lot of teaching experience in ywam. I love to have conversations with him, too, so it will be absolutely lovely to have him come.
Oh, one last note about Indonesia: I do not know where exactly we will be visiting but Jakarta and Bali are the areas in the forefront as of now.
Also, our entire school will all first go together to Singapore to receive a week of training before we head out to our countries.
The other countries the school is going to: China (led by Kim and Gwen) and Cambodia (led by Richard and Martine).
Monday, October 16, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
through the wringer
I have been put through an emotional and spiritual wringer this week...and some of it has only just begun (email me for further details). It is all so very good though.
I continue to be surprised by how much the students have in thier lives that they are ready to be rid of but have not known how...they have a certain desperation that is beautiful (although many of them feel quite exasperated since they are not yet where they want to be...they can get there!).
Today we presented the outreach destinations to them to pray about over the weekend. On Monday, we will divide them into the teams. We as staff already know who we are co-leading with and where we are going. In case some student happens to stumble upon this blog, I will forgo giving those details, but I will tell you what the destination options are for them.
We will have 3 teams all starting with training together in Singapore. After a couple weeks, we will shoot out to: China, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
It is all so very exciting. I think I was more excited today presenting the options to the students than when I was a student myself! This is fun.
This week has been intense for all of us. I will tell you that just one of my highlights was last night. Each week we are having an open Wednesday class session for parents, friends, and the community to join in with us. Last night we had an evening session for only the students. Our teacher spoke on Wednesday about activating the gift of prophesy in our lives. Last night was a "practice" time (if that sounds offfensive or stange to you, ask me about it because it was actually quite nice. We were asked to pair up and pray for 3 minutes, asking God to give us an encouraging word for the other person. I was shocked by what the student I was paired with gave to me. God confirmed throuogh Him a prayer I had VERY recently prayed but had not shared with ANYONE. It made me laugh and smile...God just keeps affirming how very near to me He is at this time despite what else I may feel. And He can keep on doing just that...it makes me want to seek Him out all the more.
I was the week leader this week also which means I was leading class times, giving announcements, and being in charge of other various duties related to the school. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I know it is good for me to be stretched in that area (as Bill has also done for me) to develop more leader qualities in me.
Two people made surprise visits to the base this week. One was from my DTS (Niels, specifically for those who know him...'push the button!') and the other was staff (not dts staff) on the base during my DTS (Shep-yes, he was wearing the black hoodie). It was nice to their familiar faces.
So, to sum it all up: it has been a great week. The prayer especially has been special, powerful, and changing for me...
liefs (love),
Michelle
I continue to be surprised by how much the students have in thier lives that they are ready to be rid of but have not known how...they have a certain desperation that is beautiful (although many of them feel quite exasperated since they are not yet where they want to be...they can get there!).
Today we presented the outreach destinations to them to pray about over the weekend. On Monday, we will divide them into the teams. We as staff already know who we are co-leading with and where we are going. In case some student happens to stumble upon this blog, I will forgo giving those details, but I will tell you what the destination options are for them.
We will have 3 teams all starting with training together in Singapore. After a couple weeks, we will shoot out to: China, Cambodia, and Indonesia.
It is all so very exciting. I think I was more excited today presenting the options to the students than when I was a student myself! This is fun.
This week has been intense for all of us. I will tell you that just one of my highlights was last night. Each week we are having an open Wednesday class session for parents, friends, and the community to join in with us. Last night we had an evening session for only the students. Our teacher spoke on Wednesday about activating the gift of prophesy in our lives. Last night was a "practice" time (if that sounds offfensive or stange to you, ask me about it because it was actually quite nice. We were asked to pair up and pray for 3 minutes, asking God to give us an encouraging word for the other person. I was shocked by what the student I was paired with gave to me. God confirmed throuogh Him a prayer I had VERY recently prayed but had not shared with ANYONE. It made me laugh and smile...God just keeps affirming how very near to me He is at this time despite what else I may feel. And He can keep on doing just that...it makes me want to seek Him out all the more.
I was the week leader this week also which means I was leading class times, giving announcements, and being in charge of other various duties related to the school. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but I know it is good for me to be stretched in that area (as Bill has also done for me) to develop more leader qualities in me.
Two people made surprise visits to the base this week. One was from my DTS (Niels, specifically for those who know him...'push the button!') and the other was staff (not dts staff) on the base during my DTS (Shep-yes, he was wearing the black hoodie). It was nice to their familiar faces.
So, to sum it all up: it has been a great week. The prayer especially has been special, powerful, and changing for me...
liefs (love),
Michelle
Friday, October 06, 2006
gnoomdans!
My, my my.
I have just come from a very interesting meal here on the base.
It was our first nations-to-nations love feast. That's right, love feast.
The evening began with Armando (base director) opening the meal with the Jewish Shabbat. He blessed the bread then we partook of the bread and wine while going around hugging everyone saying, "Shabbat, shalom!" Oh, and we sang a song, too. The only lyrics were 'shabbat' and 'shalom.' Those of you left in the dark: shabbat=rest (the sabbath) and shalom=peace. Each of our love feasts (every other Friday) will begin with the Shabbat presented by Armando (who is Jewish).
Tonight's evening meal was presented by all the students from Europe. This includes the countries of: The Netherlands, Romania, Finland, and Germany. Our meal was fish soup (Finnish), spect salad (German), boerenkool (Dutch), and pancake with icecream (no one was sure what country this represented...though the pancake was similar to Dutch ones).
During the meal, various students got up to demonstrate something from their culture.
During the meal, various students got up to demonstrate something from their culture.
I learned how to say "Will you be my wife?" in Finnish, a tongue twister in German, a Romanian folk tale, and the Dutch gnoomdans (which is actually another word in Dutch. They tried to translate it into English but someone misspelled "gnome dance"). It is a very silly dance...I do not think the Dutch can surprise me any more by their culture. I expect anything from them now...but I love it because they are so fun.
The students also all dressed in their country's traditional clothing so it was just a lot of fun together. I am already excited for the next one=Africa!
Great Expectations
I have a love/hate relationship with the internet right now...
I love to be able to keep in touch w/ those I love, but I hate that our wireless connection in this building is so wishy-washy (who came up w/ that phrase anyway?). The good news is that we are in the process of purchasing all new thingies that will make the connection better and more reliable. Because De Poort is so old, the walls are made of the good old stuff and are not so thin like office buildings are these days, therefore, the wireless thingies we have now are not strong enough to penetrate and allow for good connection. This is why I have not had a blog for awhile now.
alright, now for the good stuff: students have arrived! We have finished our second week of classes. The first week was all introduction stuff (the building, Amsterdam, YWAM, ministries, what to expect, etc...). I was quite worn out by the end of the week. Our schedule as staff was non-stop plus I was making a real effort to speak to each of the students and have a meaningful conversation. You all know that I am not fond of small talk. I would like to KNOW people, so to try to do so w/ so many new people (25 in total) was exhausting for my personality. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was craving my alone time. I got it.
This week was taught by one of my favorite speakers from my own DTS. The subject was the Nature, Character, and Father Heart of God. We had times of open worhship and also prayer times for people who have broken areas in their life. It has been sad and beautiful to see how many students came forward for prayer. Each shared their individual struggle then we all prayed for them.
I continue to be amazed by how quickly open and trusting the students are with us as staff as well as with each other. I know this is because of the amount of prayer preparation Bas (school leader) has done well before any of us staff even came to join in his preparations. He also is committed to starting each day in prayer: first on his own, then with us as staff in the mornings, then w/ everyone before class starts, then when classes have finished. I believe this is key to how healthy our school will be...prayer in general, not just Bas but also all of us staff and also the students in their own time.
I had my first one-on-one meeting yesterday. I will be a mentor-type to two students. I was curious as to how comfortable it would be for her during this first meeting, knowing that it can be a bit awkward for the first time to meet with someone. It was so nice though. I prayed beforehand (by myself) that it would all go according to God's plan for her life. I am not supposed to counsel her, that is not the point of these meetings. I am to be a listening ear for things that they may not be ready to share with the group and a sounding board to help them process their experience here as well as be a prayer support. I really got a wonderful girl and I look forward to our coming meetings together. I will meet with my other girl on Sunday. I believe it will also go quite well as I have already had a couple nice conversations with her.
I also have a one-on-one for myself. I struck gold by getting a deep woman of God who continually puts herself before God for Him to work in her as He sees fit. She has a gentle determination in the Spirit that is soothing as well as fearful=she SEES into you. I need this. She is someone that I can be completely open with...maybe more so than any other person in my life so far. She is an incredible blessing.
ok, I believe this is enough for you to chew on for now.
love you all. blessings to each of you (I mean that sincerely).
I love to be able to keep in touch w/ those I love, but I hate that our wireless connection in this building is so wishy-washy (who came up w/ that phrase anyway?). The good news is that we are in the process of purchasing all new thingies that will make the connection better and more reliable. Because De Poort is so old, the walls are made of the good old stuff and are not so thin like office buildings are these days, therefore, the wireless thingies we have now are not strong enough to penetrate and allow for good connection. This is why I have not had a blog for awhile now.
alright, now for the good stuff: students have arrived! We have finished our second week of classes. The first week was all introduction stuff (the building, Amsterdam, YWAM, ministries, what to expect, etc...). I was quite worn out by the end of the week. Our schedule as staff was non-stop plus I was making a real effort to speak to each of the students and have a meaningful conversation. You all know that I am not fond of small talk. I would like to KNOW people, so to try to do so w/ so many new people (25 in total) was exhausting for my personality. By the time the weekend rolled around, I was craving my alone time. I got it.
This week was taught by one of my favorite speakers from my own DTS. The subject was the Nature, Character, and Father Heart of God. We had times of open worhship and also prayer times for people who have broken areas in their life. It has been sad and beautiful to see how many students came forward for prayer. Each shared their individual struggle then we all prayed for them.
I continue to be amazed by how quickly open and trusting the students are with us as staff as well as with each other. I know this is because of the amount of prayer preparation Bas (school leader) has done well before any of us staff even came to join in his preparations. He also is committed to starting each day in prayer: first on his own, then with us as staff in the mornings, then w/ everyone before class starts, then when classes have finished. I believe this is key to how healthy our school will be...prayer in general, not just Bas but also all of us staff and also the students in their own time.
I had my first one-on-one meeting yesterday. I will be a mentor-type to two students. I was curious as to how comfortable it would be for her during this first meeting, knowing that it can be a bit awkward for the first time to meet with someone. It was so nice though. I prayed beforehand (by myself) that it would all go according to God's plan for her life. I am not supposed to counsel her, that is not the point of these meetings. I am to be a listening ear for things that they may not be ready to share with the group and a sounding board to help them process their experience here as well as be a prayer support. I really got a wonderful girl and I look forward to our coming meetings together. I will meet with my other girl on Sunday. I believe it will also go quite well as I have already had a couple nice conversations with her.
I also have a one-on-one for myself. I struck gold by getting a deep woman of God who continually puts herself before God for Him to work in her as He sees fit. She has a gentle determination in the Spirit that is soothing as well as fearful=she SEES into you. I need this. She is someone that I can be completely open with...maybe more so than any other person in my life so far. She is an incredible blessing.
ok, I believe this is enough for you to chew on for now.
love you all. blessings to each of you (I mean that sincerely).
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