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| Shekinah House (Girl's House) |
It hasn't been a full month yet but it feels like I have been here for awhile! I arrived on Jan 9th and began orientation on the 10th. When I arrived on base I was brought to my living quarters which is
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| Bunk beds |
a small house shared among 25 girls. We share 3 bathrooms, one fridge, a small common room and sleep on bunk beds. This has been the most people I have ever lived with in my life. Its very similar to what I imagine living in a college dorm is like but I never had that option in college.
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| View of Manoa Valley |
The YWAM base is located in Manoa Valley in Honolulu and is near the University of Hawaii. Everyday we begin our day with breakfast and one hour of bible reading/journal quiet time with Jesus. This is very important and something that YWAM values highly! Starting each day with Jesus is the most important thing you can do.
We have lectures throughout the week covering various topics. In our first week of lectures, we focused on "Hearing the Voice of God" and last week we covered the topic "The Nature and Character of God". I was not sure what to expect. The lectures are designed to be more interactive rather than just sitting in a classroom taking notes.
In our first week on the topic of "Hearing the Voice of God" we did a few activities to practice hearing God. At the end of March, we will be heading out to South East Asia for our outreach where we will be applying what we have learned during our 3 month lecture phase in Hawaii. There are 29 students that will be going overseas for outreach in 3 teams.
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| Team Indonesia |
The locations were revealed to us at the end of our first week of lectures and the countries were: Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia. The base directors gave us 30 mins to pray alone and if needed, with a leader, and were to write down our 2 choices. It was a great way to apply what we learned during the week into practice. Once everything was submitted and the teams were revealed, we found that EVERYONE got their first choice!
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| DTS Lectures |
Last week, during our lectures on "The Nature and Character of God" were very eye opening as we dove deeper in scripture. We discussed and engaged in questions many people ask, "Is God good?", "Why doesn't God answer our prayers?", "Why does God test us?" and so on. During the week, our speaker brought in a large paper bag labelled "Burn Bag". Whatever we felt like we needed to let go of or ask God for forgiveness for, we were to write it down and put it in the bag. It was to be a symbolic act of letting it go and forgiving.
There were many things that came to mind and I ended up writing down a lot of notes. When I came to YWAM, I had many expectations and found myself a bit disappointed. One being that I am in fact the oldest DTS student here. Majority of the students are 18-20 years old. I knew that God called me here to this specific base for a reason but being 31 and having lived in Asia for the past 7 years, I worried that I would not be able to connect or relate with anyone here.
I let go of some insecurities I still have and struggle with. I also felt convicted that I needed to let go of the pride I had, after all I went to bible college and have way more mission experience than these young people had. I felt God also telling me that I needed to forgive him. I came to YWAM in hopes of meeting someone to do life with as well (not my main priority but still a desire of mine and what better place than to meet someone doing the same thing right?) God's timing is perfect though.
This week we are learning about "Evangelism". I'm very excited about learning more on this topic although evangelism is something I don't feel the most comfortable with. It's not about being comfortable but about loving others and introducing them to Jesus (many are misinformed about who He is or why they need Him in their lives - their eternity depends on it).
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| Seating area for meals |
Our week at YWAM consists of: Daily Bible/Journal Quiet Times, Lectures, Worship Night, Evangelism Outreach, Work Duties (I help with breakfast twice a week), House Cleaning, Team Time (Outreach prep), Book Reading (Read assigned book and prepare book report), Community Meeting (Church service where we can invite people we meet), Community Outreach (I help out at a local after school program - sing songs, bible lesson and help kids with homework), and Intercession.
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| Meal prep in kitchen (Melanie - DTS Staff) |
Now that we know our mission teams and outreach locations, we are also working on preparing for what we will be doing once we get there and learning more about our countries so that we can be culturally sensitive while there.
Prayer Requests:
Prayer for health of everyone here (sickness and injuries from accidents)
Prayer for evangelism - boldness and divine encounters with people
Prayer for team unity - as we prepare for outreach in a couple months
Prayer for personal finances - as we support raise for outreach
Outreach costs: $1500.00 CAN
*additional funds will be given to local ministries in Indonesia and Malaysia
If you would like to further support me financially for my DTS and outreach, you can send a cheque to:
DTS Admissions office
2707 Hipawai Place
Honolulu, HI 96822
(Make sure cheques are made in US dollar amounts - note its for Kayla Vezeau)
or send via paypal - "send money to a friend"
email is: kaylavezeau@yahoo.com (paypal)
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