DTS Week 5

Ok, so this week has been very busy, but really, really great! Here's the roundup...

The theme this week was "The Nature and Character of God". This is something I have struggled with a lot recently, and the opportunity to hear lots of intelligent, understandable information on it was very helpful to me. This has led to some great prayer times and generally just feeling more secure in God - in trusting that He really is good. I have had to let go of some places where I was still holding God at arms' length in my heart, and I know there are still more areas to work on, but right now I'm just loving that God's brought me a little further on that journey in my relationship with Him, and there's still much, much more to come! Our lecturer was David Cole, a man from New Zealand, who works with YWAM in New Zealand. He was one of those people who just shone love & the light of God. It was great to be taught by him!

Camping
Tommorrow, I head off for a two-week camping trip. (so no updates until late February/early March I'm afraid) This is part of the school and we will still be having lectures etc, just in a camp site. I'm really looking forward to going camping (I must admit, it was one of the reasons I wanted to come to Townsville for my DTS!) However, the rain is absolutely awful at the moment, so prayers that we don't get flooded in would be great! The campsite is not too far from here (maybe 1/2 hour drive) and has got showers & stuff. There's plenty of space there & lots of trees, so I'm really hoping that the weather clears up and we get pretty stars & can sit round a campfire in the evenings. I have bought wellies. I have packed my wellies. They call them gum boots here. I am prepared.

Work Duty
I love my work duty! I'm on kitchen clean up and honestly think I got the BEST deal. Dinner clean up is a group effort, usually done to music and chatting, generally taking about an hour straight after dinner (obviously). Most work duties are 3-5pm, so are longer and mean not having the afternoon free. Also, we get to make the kitchen sparkle. yay.

Valentine's Day
Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and obviously I didn't think much of it at all. I'm not one to get upset about not having a boyfriend, not 'celebrating' the holiday etc., I just kinda go with it. But the people here are lovely... one of the girls made a paper heart for each person with a little Valentine's message and a mini bar of CADBURY'S chocolate (yum yum!). Then in the evening, the guys from our course came round with ice cream (and toppings) and a Valentine's card for each girl, signed by all the guys. I was surprised by how touched I was - it made me want to cry (happy crying, but I didn't cry anyway).

The Group
We all seem to be getting on well as a group, although I certainly know some people here way better than others. The previous DTS has just come back from outreach and there are almost 40 of them (compared to 20 of us). I'm really pleased that our group is a bit smaller - I'm struggling to get to know everyone well as it is, nevermind if there were twice as many people!

My Parents
This is a shout out to my parents - THANK YOU MUM & DAD FOR BEING SUCH WONDERFUL PARENTS & EXAMPLES TO ME! YOU ARE FAB!!!!!!! I've just been struck again this week by how blessed I am to have the parents I've got; we've been discussing God's character this week and have talked about God as our Father. There was more than one person in the group who mentioned a bad relationship with at least one of their parents and this makes me so sad. My parents have always been good to me and looked after me so well that I didn't even realise it....I just took it for granted that that's what parents did! I mean, I'd realised that I'd got good parents, but the more people I meet, the more I understand just how great my mum and dad really are.

Flights & Visa
I have sent off the rest of my visa application, so, God-willing, that should be coming through while I'm camping. After a minor problem with the airline, I have rebooked my flight home for June. So yeah, praise God for the rebooking & praying that the visa will come through without any problems.

Prayer Requests etc...
Continued good relationships & building of relationships within the DTS group
A safe & fun camping trip, and that we won't get flooded or ruin all our stuff. So yeah - protection and enjoyment!
For families back home who won't hear from us for 2 weeks
For the planning process for the 2 outreach teams - the Islands team are hoping to go to Vanuatu and pioneer some youth work there, while the Outback team (my team) will soon be starting to finalise the route - probably some variation on going to Mt. Isa and back again, doing youth & schools' work along the way.
Finally, when praying for me, please don't forget to thank God for all the great things He's been doing in my life these past few weeks, and in my life before that. God has just been revealing so much of Himself to me and it's incredible, He's incredible. Thanks & praise are definately in order! (Thank You, God!)

Finally, thank you for reading, I pray that God will continue to bless and keep you all. Drop me an email sometime (Some of you do, I know, and I love it) and I'll make an effort to reply personally. Have a great two weeks everyone!