THE BASE & COMMUNITY LIVING
I feel so blessed that I get to live on this base here in Kona. It is so wonderful to be living in a community of people who believe like I do, but who come from so many different backgrounds and cultures. There are 39 nations represented this quarter, and in my room there are 5 (Brazil, Switzerland, Korea, Germany, USA)!
Twice a week, the entire campus is invited to join together for worship. We've had the privilege to worship God in not only English, but Korean, Hawaiian, and French as well. The Korean word for Jesus is Yesu. I love saying it and hearing it, it's beautiful! Yesu! The campus also gets to all come together during meal times. These are excellent times to meet people from the other schools.
While living here on the base, we are all expected to contribute to the community. Each person is assigned a work duty. We work for two hours each day during the week. My assigned work duty is transportation, so I drive a shuttle to and from Wal Mart and wash cars and vans. I have surprisingly had a great time during work duty.
LECTURES & LEARNING
I have learned so much during the lectures. Our focus the first week was hearing God's voice. In the past I've been very skeptical in this area. Many times I passed off what God was speaking to me as my own thoughts. We took time in the classroom to practice hearing His voice, and it was a lot of fun. I used to have a fear of sharing with people what God spoke to me, but that fear is going away, and I now feel a boldness in this area. The second week was about relationships and sexuality. We discussed the biblical view of marriage versus the world view. There were a few things that really stood out to me. The first is what is said in Romans 12:2. It speaks about not conforming to the pattern of this world. I've heard this several times, but I felt like God was saying to me, "you know what this says, but you need apply it to ALL areas of your life, not just parts". I was also very struck by Joshua 7. I realize now that my sin does not only affect me, but all around me. This is a heavy concept to digest, but so crucial to be aware of!
We have also been learning photography. One of the main points of photogenX is to use photography as a voice for the voiceless, so we will be attaining skills throughout the DTS which will help to do this. There are people at all different levels of photography. I am a beginner so in these first few weeks I am just becoming familiar and comfortable with my camera. Here are a couple of my favorite shots so far:
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| Queen's Bath |
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| Green Sands Beach |
OUTREACH
Outreach is a crucial part of the discipleship training school. During our lecture phase we all participate in some sort of community outreach. We were presented with several community outreach opportunities. I am on a team of 5 that goes to a local homeless shelter once a week to hang out, play games, teach life skills, and serve in other various ways. We've been twice and both times have been rather interesting. Next week I'll be giving haircuts and we're bringing drums. I'll post more about this as we get more involved. The second part of DTS is the major outreach phase that we spend in another part of the world working in the mission field. Last week our class of 51 students was presented with 6 outreach locations. We were then given 45 minutes to pray about it and write down our top 2 choices. Long story short, I'm going to Cambodia! I'm stoked! I feel really good about this! We also have teams going to the Philippines, Japan & Thailand, South Africa, Mozambique, and Asia. I don't know much about what we will be doing in Cambodia yet. I know we will be staying at a YWAM base in Battambang, and we are each going to have a bicycle for transportation. As I get more details, I will post them. Please keep our team in your prayers. There are 13 of us total, here is a list of names to pray for: Zach & Laura (leaders), Aubrey, Grace, Josie, Carrie, Thunder, Paul, Jessica, Sharon, Campbell, Kat, and Katie. Check out our first team photo here! http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=528542276039&set=gm.144867742235322&type=1&theater
ADVENTURES & EXCURSIONS
We have very busy, long weeks full of amazing class time, so on the weekends it is nice to clear our minds and let our brains rest a bit. This, however, does not mean we let our bodies rest. I've taken advantage of the last 3 weekends and taken in some of the sites and attractions on this beautiful island. The first weekend, our staff took us to a gorgeous beach
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| Hapuna Beach |
Our second weekend, we rented a couple cars. A small group of us hiked through lava rock to a pool where the queen used to hang out. Then we woke up bright and early and drove to Captain Cook to a bay to swim with dolphins. Unfortunately, it was a very rainy morning so we didn't see any dolphins, but we did get to snorkel and it was so cool! I wanted to take full of advantage of having a car for the day, so we continued adventuring well into the evening. We got to see quite a bit of the island and practice our photography.
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| rainy day at the bay |
And then most recently, we went down to South Point, which is the southern most point in the US. There we had the opportunity to jump off some cliffs into the bluest ocean water I have ever seen, and we hiked to a green sands beach. The fun has not stopped since I have been here! Whether I am in class or out exploring, I am having an awesome time. You may be wondering if I am ever going to stop and rest, and the answer is yes! I plan to use this coming weekend as a refresh and recharge time.
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| cliff jumping at South Point |
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