DTS Week 9

This is gettin ridiculous! Another week has flown by and it's time again for an update!

Lectures
This week's topic was evangelism...very exciting! Our speaker was Ross Tooley, a man who's been with YWAM since the 60s, when there were only about 10 people in the whole mission. He spoke to us about face-to-face evangelism, the importance of being aware of culture, prior beliefs etc. and reiterated that evangelism is not about tricking people, it's about "inspiring them to fall in love with God".

The YWAM motto is 'to know God and make Him known'. This makes a lot of sense to me. What's the point in making Him known if we don't know Him? Furthermore, why would we want to? Evangelism is about telling good news, so it's got to be much easier when you know just how good that news is!

I'd like to start up more conversations about this kind of stuff in the streets etc, but I haven't really seen an opportunity this week. Maybe next week there'll be a chance. Either way, I want to make sure that I 'live a life worthy of my calling'(Eph 4:1), because God is so incredible, how could I not want people to have this amazing gift?

Fun Stuff
For the first 5 weeks of DTS we had morning excercise. This meant being out on the deck at 6am ready to go for a walk, a run, do jazz-cercise, whatever, so long as we did something. Since camping, morning excercise is no longer mandatory, but I've been rying to do something each morning. The last couple of mornings I've walked up to the park and gone on the swing. I love swings. It makes me sad that they're generally see as childish. The sunsets and sunrises are almost always really pretty here, so I enjoy starting the day with a walk, looking at the pink clouds. It's a good start to the day.

On Friday we went at had worship at the strand (the seafront in town) around midday. We were only there for about half an hour, but it was wonderful to sing praises to God while standing under a palm tree right beside the glitering ocean. I'd like to worship in public more often. How many non-Christians have ever seen Christians really worshipping, not just singing songs? Not to say that I want to 'put it on' (I really don't at all) but I think that sung worship, in conjunction with lifestle worship (to make a distinction)is a great witness to our faith.

We've been doing quite a bit of celebrating birthdays recently. This is good fun. Not least because of the cake (one of my friends had an amazing Black Forest Cake..mmm). Also though, there is the singing. Not only do we sing the regular song, but two more on top. It's a true experience that makes me just a little sad that I won't be here for my birthday.

Outreach
Plans continue to come together & as I get a greater sense that God is really calling me on this trip, I am looking forward to it more and more. We are still a little unsure about how the first two weeks are going to look and where we're going to go, so prayers for that would be appreciated. This week we chose areas of responsibility (e.g. food, worship & intercession, hospitality etc.) and I am in chanrge of the Team Diary! As you've probably guessed from my blog, I quite enjoy doin that kinda suff so although I won't be writing everything, I will be making sure that somehing gets put in everyday (or as close to that as possible). At the end of DTS we should each be getting a copy, so that's cool. I'll be keeping my blog as up to date as possible though it may be tricky because I don't know how much internet access I'll have.

SOMM
SOMM = School of Music in Missions. This is another school run here at the base. They leave for outreach just before we do and it's been really great to hear their concerts over the past couple of weeks. There are some very talented musicians in the school! Their outreach takes them to Thailand for 3 weeks to support a centre that works with prostitutes, then back to Queensland to raise awareness about gender-discrimination issues around the world and call youn people into missions to make a difference. I'm really excied for what they're doing and look forward to seeing how much they've grown when our two teams join together for the last week of outreach in Mt. Isa.

Newsletter
I am in the process of finishing writing a newsletter. If you would like a copy emailed or posted to you, please email me at yednickteck@hotmail.com with your address/email address!

Photos
I am so sorry for not posting more photos. To be honest, I've not been taking many either! I'll put some more up soon, hopefully before I go on outreach!

Prayer Points
- Energy & health for everyone on base as life is quite busy here and a lot of people are getting colds etc.
- Spiritual protection over our school as we learn about spiritual warfare next week.
- Safe journey for my Mum, Dad & younger brother as they fly to Australia next Friday/Saturday and safe travels during the 3 weeks that they're here.
- Opportunities for me and the other DTS students to share our faith with people not just on a Friday evening, but also in day to day life. In this, that we would hear and obey God's voice and leading.

God bless you all! Have a great week! x