End of DTS!

Well everyone, I successfully completed my Discipleship Training School!  I'm back home now, for awhile. 

Our outreach phase was amazing, to say the least.  We had some challenges, of course, but it was a very good outreach.  God provided so well for us and kept us safe, and for that I am thankful.

The first place we went to was Mbarara.  We were working with the local bishop of the Full Gospel churches.  We were living in a house that he is constructing, out in a village that I think was called Mkaka.  I very much enjoyed being in the village, because it was peaceful and beautiful.  There was a lot of land around us, a lot of pastures with cattle and fields of matoke (banana trees).  It took getting used to in some ways, especially because the people in villages are fascinated with white people...the kids can stare at you for ages! 

Our ministry in Mbarara was door-to-door ministry, school ministry, a few crusades (or, "open air evangelism"), and preaching in churches. 

Pictures of our housing in Mbarara:

 

Our water tank was very useful, but only when it rained...

 

 

Our bathrooms, and our trash pit

 Our matoke field, a.k.a "banana plantation."  It made a very nice prayer garden!

 Matoke

This is Ignacious :)

 

Our living room

Our storage area

The large girls room...two people on each mattress!

Our kitchen!

Our baby goat that was born while we were there :) 

 
Our only source of electricity

 Fried grasshoppers are a great snack in Uganda!

 Even if they accidentally fall on the ground, they are still delicious.

 Walking to fetch water when the tank ran out

Did you know you can use this water for bathing, washing clothes, and washing dishes?

 

See?  Even washing dishes!

 Our bus, or "coaster," to take us to Bushenyi

Mbarara was a fun time, and a great place to start our outreach.  We got to experience a bit more of what village life is like, since we were living there.  But even so, I know that God provided us with a good house, a water tank, and plenty of food, so we were living well while we were in the village.  During door-to-door ministry I met plenty of families who don't have those basic things.

What did God teach us in Mbarara?  He certainly taught us to give thanks in all situations.  The vehicle we were using in Mbarara kept breaking down on us, to the point that every time we went somewhere we would get stuck for awhile.  So we learned patience, and to remember that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him!  

We also had our first experiences of preaching to a congregation...during lecture phase we had to do short 10-minute sermons to our class, but now here we were going to church, expected to preach to the church for 30-45 minutes.  That was definitely learning-by-doing! 

For some of us, mostly the Westerners, we had our first experiences of door-to-door ministry.  I had a terrible time when I first went, but I think it was because we had too many people in our group and because I had no idea what I was doing.  But throughout the outreach, the experience of door-to-door ministry got better for me.  I learned through experience what kinds of things we were supposed to be talking about, and it got easier to talk to people I'd never met before.  I still find it kind of a strange method of evangelism, because you don't spend much time with the people...but I do find it a very nice way to pray with people and invite them to your other activities or your church services. 

We also started to adjust to the ways of African churches...most services are three or four hours long.  Many churches start with a time of intercession, then have a long and very fun time of praise and worship (Africans are SO good at dancing!), then maybe a "sunday school," or a bible study lesson, then sharing of testimonies, more praise and worship, introducing visitors, giving of tithes and offerings, then the sermon, then announcements... when you first start attending services like this, they are loooong.  But now, I came home and found that an hour and a half feels very short!



After four weeks in Mbarara, it was time to pack up and move to Bushenyi.  We were very sad to go, but were looking forward to new things.  When we arrived in Bushenyi, we came to our lodge / motel, which was connected to a bar.  We had six rooms for the 22 of us, and somehow we managed to make it work.  God truly provided well for us here - we had beds and mattresses, and running water!  Amazing.  The church we were working with was about a minute walk away, and we could go there any time to lay in the grass and enjoy the quiet.  We also kept all of our food and cooking supplies there, and cooked from a small house by the church.

Pictures of our housing in Bushenyi:

 

 Taken from the roof, as we tried to figure out where to put everything

 Our roof

 Taken from the roof, looking towards the town

 The field across the street from us

Once or twice a month there is a market in the field.

Laundry day!

My room.  I was lucky and only had four people in my room.

 Our kitchen!

Bushenyi was a completely different experience than Mbarara.  We were in a town, called Kizinda where there are a lot of bars and pubs.  That meant we had to be more careful, and that we were around people ALL the time.  Our ministry here was mostly crusades and preaching in churches, but we did accomplish some door-to-door ministry and we had one day of mercy ministry when we cleaned all of the trash from the field across the street from us.  Bushenyi was tough on us, I think because we were now living in separate rooms instead of all in one house...our group unity definitely suffered while we were here.  But in the end things all worked out.  The other problem we had was time management...we were often sitting around and waiting for vehicles to show up.  But, as we had learned in Mbarara, God works all things together for good!

I feel like I personally did a lot of preaching during our time in Bushenyi... everyone got the chance to preach at least once or twice during outreach, but we did reach a point where those who were more comfortable with it were being selected more often.  And I thank God for making me one of those people, because it certainly contributed to helping me become more confident!

Pictures from Misc Ministry opportunities:

 Sometimes we walked....

 

...sometimes we had a vehicle that fit more people than it should...

  ...and sometimes God provided a truck that could fit all of us! :)

School ministry

Teaching dancing to the students

Brittany playing with the kids while we waited 

 

 My classmate Daniel preaching at a church

 

 Dancing at a church service

 

A few of my classmates met a pregnant woman during door-to-door ministry one day.  A few weeks later, the husband came to our house and said his wife was in labor.  A few students went over to help deliver the baby, because the family couldn't afford to go to a doctor or hospital... 

This is Erica.  She wants to be a midwife, and God let her deliver a baby during outreach.  For sure, sometimes God gives you the most amazing confirmation of your calling!

 Pictures from Crusades ("open air evangelism")

Crusades are a common form evangelism in Uganda.  Basically you pick a place, set up your sound system and podium, and go for it!  Praise and worship, dancing, testimonies, skits, preaching, praying for people, etc... I enjoyed crusades quite a bit!

Performing a skit

 Performing one of our dances

 Dancing

 Skits

 Dancing

 Me, preaching!

Pictures of some of the churches we visited:

Our church in Mbarara

I don't remember where this was, actually...

  

Our church in Bushenyi.  The house to the right is where we kept our food and cooked from.

Inside the church

Misc pictures of friends:

 

Pictures from DTS Graduation:

Receiving certificates

 Cutting our cake as a class

DTS staff

When we came back from outreach, I felt like a completely different person.  I felt stronger and more confident.  I felt more open to people, and I realized much better the value of spending time with others.  But most importantly, I felt much closer to my God.  I felt like I could really depend on Him for anything and everything, and I wanted to spend time with Him every day.  I understood better the power of prayer.  And I felt like I had experienced a drop in the bucket of what Jesus' life and ministry may have been like, traveling around and preaching and doing ministry every day.

Since coming home, God has revealed even more to me about how He used DTS to change me.  I feel so much more confident, to speak to people and in front of audiences.  I feel much more bold, to stand up for my ideas and to speak about my beliefs.  I have realized that I now really and truly want to live for God.  I don't want to just go to church on Sundays and to Bible study on Wednesdays...I want to seek God for His plans for me, and do them no matter what.  I want to depend on God every day for what I need, and thank Him and glorify Him for all that He provides.  I know I can trust Him, because He loves His children and will always take care of them.  God is really changing the desires of my heart as I draw closer and closer to Him... I know for sure that I want to go back to Africa, and I have a feeling that I will be going back to Uganda soon.  I have at least two ideas of what I might do, but I am still seeking God's will and direction.

But, I am fairly certain that I do not want to stay in America for very long.  I fell in love with the culture of Uganda, with the community living and the sense of sharing and helping, and with the language and the way those people love their God!  I felt like God has really fashioned me for the environment there, for the "living with less."  Being back in America is convenient, and things like hot showers and beds and washing machines are all nice to have, but they don't really mean anything compared to what I left behind... 

Following God's call is not always easy, and it doesn't always make sense, and it won't always lead you to five-star quality, but I can tell you for sure that it is worth it and that it will always lead you to where you need to be, where you were created to be, and thus will give you that sense of purpose that we all search for.   To some people, the things I experienced would have been very unenjoyable...even some of my classmates couldn't wait to get home at the end.  But to me, those things made me fall in love with God and with Africa.  Things like sharing a twin-size mattress for four weeks, eating cooked grasshoppers off the ground, bathing in water from an algae-filled pond, traveling in the back of a pickup truck with 10-15 other people crammed in with me, walking in the dark because no one brought their flashlight...and so many other things I can't remember.  I had many moments where I would stop and think, "This would never happen in America," or even "This isn't legal in America."  And those were my moments with God - my moments where I felt like I was really experiencing this thing called LIFE.

And I want more of that adventure... I want my life to be filled with moments with God, moments where I stop and look up and tell God "Thank You," for showing me a new part of His world, His earth, His people.  I don't want to find the perfect job and settle in for twenty years as I work on my retirement savings... No thank you.  I want to seek God for where to be and what to be doing, depending on Him to provide for me just like He has always done.  One thing I know for sure, if you are doing what God has truly called you to do, He will provide.  It takes time to learn to hear his voice and how to seek Him and understand how He speaks to you...but when He speaks, if you are obedient, He will provide a way for you.

As I wait for God to speak to me about what's next, I'm just here in Arizona, spending a lot of time with God and starting some fundraising.  Don't be surprised if you see some fundraising posts from me in the near future... I strongly feel like I'll be leaving the country again this year, and I am trusting God to provide the funds I would need to go wherever He's taking me! :)  He has already started to provide, in fact, and I am just moving in obedience, even though I don't know where I'm going or when.  That's another thing I learned from DTS and from YWAM... When you hear God speak, you don't need to wait for the entire picture to come to you.  Faith is about moving in obedience according to what God has revealed to you.  If He reveals a small part, move in obedience to that part.  I always think of a story in Kisses From Katie, where she had made a list of children who needed to be enrolled in their program, but they didn't have enough money to enroll all of them.  She knew God wanted all of the children enrolled, but He didn't show her how it was possible.  But, she moved in obedience to what she knew, and enrolled them all with the trust that God would provide...and He did.  For me, I don't know exactly what's next, or how long it will be, or how I will support myself when it's over, etc.  All I know is God will take me somewhere and He will provide for it, and when the time comes again to seek what's next, He will speak to me again and provide for me again... because I'm His daughter and He loves me with an unending and amazing love, because He works all things together for the good of those who love and serve Him, and because He promises that if you seek His kingdom first, He will add unto you all that you need.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established."
Isaiah 43:10 "You are my servant.  You have been chosen to know me, believe in me, and understand that I alone am God."

Philippians 2:12-13 "...Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him."

Philippians 1:20-22 "For I fully expect and hope that I will never be ashamed, but that I will continue to be bold for Christ, as I have been in the past.  And I trust that my life will bring honor to Christ, whether I live or die.  For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.  But if I live, I can do more fruitful work for Christ.  So I really don't know which is better."