Hey Folks!
We have just passed through a three week whirlwind! Samantha and I led out DTS staff training, helped plan and run arrival day and orientation for 350 new students on base, and made sure everyone on base was ready to go for the upcoming quarter.
DTS staff training is a week of preparation and information for the staff to help better prepare them to be ready for what is ahead of them. During that week Samantha and I had the privileged task of teaching and facilitating at different times during the week. I led off the week with a teaching on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I use the term “teaching” loosely. I firmly believe in the power of reading the Word of God aloud and letting it speak to people’s hearts, and so I read the entire Sermon aloud and then briefly spoke on the charge Jesus gives at the end about building our lives on the truth (Matt. 7:24-27). It turned out to be a great way to kick off the week and throughout the next four mornings God brought an incredible time of impartation and preparation to the staff.
Here’s a free insight to training young(ish) people who are going to disciple other young(ish) people: it doesn’t really matter how incredibly wise or qualified you are. What matters is that the people who are doing the discipling be voraciously hungry for more of God, teachable, and truly surrendered to what God would do in their life and the people around them. That’s one of the keys to success of YWAM despite our youth and general lack of deep understanding of the Bible’s mysteries. We are humble, zealous, and passionate about God, and He uses that to inspire others to be the same.
The week of staff training ended with a lot of very positive reviews from everyone involved, and Samantha and I both felt that we had followed (and led) where God had led us during the week well. We ended the week tired and fulfilled in knowing that our Father had used us miraculously to empower people to lead, disciple, and follow Jesus in a deeper way. The week that followed for us brought about a lot of finalizing logistic and practical aspects of the DTS’s that were about to start the next week. Samantha and I wouldn’t want to bore you with the details of that. Just picture one of us answering emails, running a school leader meeting, collecting receipts and budget info, and running all over the base and it will be pretty close to how our week went. The first week of July brought about a bipolar reaction from Samantha and I: the DTS’s that we had been preparing for so long were finally beginning, but the United States Men’s National Soccer Team would be leaving the World Cup on the back of a crushing 2-1 defeat to the Belgians.
On a side note, as many of you know, I love soccer and one of the benchmarks of every soccer fan’s excitement is the World Cup. The Kona base is a very diverse place with people from nations all over the world and many of those nations favorite pastimes is soccer. There are no televisions on base, and certainly no cable, so there were going to be little options for us soccer fans to watch the penultimate competition in our favorite sport. We couldn’t miss the games of our respective countries, and because of the obscure local times we would be watching them at (the 3 group games each day started at 6 a.m., 9 a.m., and Noon), sports bars were out of the picture. With the help of a few people on base contributing various knicks and knacks I was able to set up a large t.v. in the cafe on base and stream the games through an official ESPN account. So every morning I have been waking up at 5:30 to go turn on the daily games to the joy of Nigerians, Dutch, Brazilians, Germans, Cameroonians, Colombians, Argentinians, Greeks, Japanese, South Koreans, Portuguese, Spanish, Australians, and many others. It has been an unforgettable experience to watch the world’s favorite game with so many different parts of the world!
...and we’re back!
From the afternoon of Wednesday, July 2nd to the afternoon of Friday July 4th Samantha and I went non-stop. On Wednesday Samantha and I, and a team of other servants of the base, undertook the vital task of planning, setting up, and (on the following day) running arrival day for the summer quarter. Thursday brought about 350 new students to base, a lot of problems to shoot, and a 8 a.m. to 1030 p.m. shift for Samantha and myself. Friday morning and early afternoon was spent orienting the new students to the island and the base that had just become their home. Although we had just put in an intense 48 hours of work, Samantha and I felt very similar to how we felt at the end of staff training: pleased at what God had used us for.
Quarterpointing is an admittedly thankless job, but Samantha and I are so blessed to be working behind the scenes here on this base to ensure that 350 students and 100 staff have everything that they need to encounter God.
The quarter has just begun, and Samantha and I will have some crazy times ahead of us, so we could really use prayers for grace in working with each other and making things run smoothly. We are also very tight this month on finances, so please pray for God’s provision in our lives (and if you should partner with us through a monthly or one time donation! :]).
We love you all,
With Love and Hope.
