The Christmas Update

So, last week was so awesome! The topic was Spiritual Warfare and Holy Spirit. The speaker was named Lael. She was another good speaker, just so passionate about the subject.

For me before this past week I've always viewed spiritual warfare as something that would this great battle and struggle but it's not. Because Jesus died on the cross He took all the devil's authority on this world. With creation God gave man authority on earth and also spiritually. Then when man sinned he gave that authority to the devil's, this is how the devil's was able to go into God's presence when he talked about Job. I say again that Jesus took all that authority back through the cross. Thus the only real power that the devil has is deceit and anything we as humans give him.

Another big thing for me this week was just how much power our prayers have. It's been said a few times before this but I just felt like I had a revelation in this. We as Christians are citizens of heaven, and as Jesus sits at the right hand of God we sit there as well. Let me lay it out this way:
Citizens of heaven who are seated with  Jesus at the right hand of God (a position of authority) and we also have the Holy Spirit in us. Just blew my mind for some reason.

During this week also had a few amazing ministry and worship nights with a lot of people getting radical encounters with God. So amazing to see God move in that way. God broke a lot people walls and perceptions of who He is. As for me I didn't have a crazy encounter but that's something God has been working on with me. For so long I've been looking at God's hands, looking for the experience but I need to be looking at God's eyes and serve Him because I love Him. Kinda works into the theme that has been my biggest  struggle. Which is walking in the opposite spirit. Example: when I feel down to choose to be joyful or when I get impatient with someone to choose to love them.

Then on the weekend we had a burn night. We had 24 hours of worship and we also read the entire new Testament as well. It was so awesome to just pour out into God for that much time. It also brought home the fact that walking with God is an always happening thing. It's not just something to do once in awhile. That's also something I've been working on. Thankfully one of my outreach leaders is an amazing example of living every moment with God.

This week so far has just been preparing for outreach but yesterday was crazy. We had a giving day to help people who still needed money for outreach and for people who had gotten loans to come on DTS. None of the students had any idea that this was coming. This just wrecked people who both gave and received money. Around 19000 was given that day.

Now I'm on my 4 day Christmas break enjoying life.

Outreach is coming up really quick. I leave for Papua New Guinea on January 6th so only a couple weeks out. My team is going to the interior highland to regions. I'll get names for my next update. One of my leaders did his outreach in PNG and went to some of the locations that we are going to. I'll be in PNG for 60 days and there will b little Internet access. As a team we will write a newsletter and send it out and I'll try to make sure it gets to all of you.

That's all for now. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Time is Flying By

Ok so I'm literally losing track of time. I'm just learning so much and I only just realized that it's been three weeks since my last update (only remembered because my mom reminded me of it).

So on the week of November 23 we had Ross Tooley come and speak. Ross was the 11th full time YWAMer and has been with YWAM for 49 years. His topic was evangelism. His heart for sharing the Gospel was really encouraging and came through in his teaching. What he shared was more of an information week than a revelation week. The biggest thing I got from that week was that sharing the Gospel needs to come from a place of love and respect. Oh and another big thing was that people are more receptive when you are kind to them. It is not that I didn't know these things but Ross shared it from his own experiences and that just made it ore real to me.

So we finally went Skydiving that weekend  and it was amazing. It's freaky for the first few seconds when you jump out of the plane but after that it becomes unreal. We went from 15000ft and had about 60s of free fall. When you're up that high your mind doesn't really comprehend what's happening and the view was crazy. Once the parachute opened it became almost silent and it was amazing to just take in the beautiful view.

Onto the week of November 30. This week we had Bob Scroggins teach on biblical worldview. For me I didn't really learn much because I'd already done a large section on world views in high school. At least it served as a refresher for me.

Also that week we had a hiking trip planned for Thursday but on Tuesday night we got the call and moved it to Wednesday because of weather. So mild panic ensued as people frantically packed. The trip was so much fun. It's started off with a helicopter ride and they dropped us off in the middle of no where and then we camped. They asked us not to say much about it so it will stay a secret for future students. I thoroughly enjoyed myself since I hike and camp a lot but some people who don't struggled some.

Also while we were gone the Snowboard Dts arrived back from outreach. It's been really cool to get to know them and hear their stories from outreach. One really crazy one was one of the guys was talking with a couple people from Papa New Guinea and healed an elbow and a thumb, this is where it gets crazy. After the healings the native told Christian (that's the snowboarder) that he speaks really good Pigeon but Christian doesn't speak Pigeon... Drop the mic

So now, onto this week. We had amazing speakers this week. Don and Helen Lake spoke on Destiny and the Father Heart of God. Their main focus was on explaining the spiritual gifts and helping us figure out what our gifts are. That was really awesome for me because I have been wanting to learn more about the gifts. My gifts seem to revolve around administration and problem solving. This was cool because it lined up with Don's prophecy for me. I definitely forgot to mention that Don is a recognized prophet it New Zealand. So his prophecy for me was that I would come alongside ministries that were struggling and help them become strong and effective. I'll try to post it later, or maybe email it. This was an awesome week and I can't wait to really dive into this stuff and process it.

I think that's all I've got for now. Until the next update... Whenever that will be.

The Timely Update

So another update. I'll start it off with the unfortunate news, I didn't go skydiving this weekend. The weather was bad so the skydiving place canceled. It is now scheduled for next weekend. But it wasn't all bad this weekend as we went to the pump track every day this weekend. But now onto the more serious stuff of the week.

This week the speaker was Marty Emmett. He spoke about Identity. There are two main statements that I took away from the week. The first is “you will only be as transformed as you are transparent.” This means that you can only change as much as you are vulnerable with God and the community you are living in. The second statement is “the key about identity is not so much knowing who you are but more about knowing whose you are.” This statement just wrecked me. For so long I've been rising to find out who I am by doing things and finding validation from the people that see these actions, and that just doesn't work so well. This feeling from that validation doesn't last very long and you're left searching for more. Placing my identity in God is freeing, as God's feeling towards me never changes.

On Thursday we had an awesome night. We broke into our outreach groups and we spoke about the strongholds of lies that we have built and spoken over ourselves. It's kinda crazy the crap we think about ourselves. It was so shocking to hear some of the stuff that people think about themselves, stuff that is totally wrong and no one would ever think of the person. For me it was like taking a huge weight off my shoulders. Just actually talking about the things that I feel and think deep down was so good. It's weird that talking about things just makes things easier to manage and think more clearly about. The bonds that Thursday night made for our team was awesome. It really emphasized the importance of having a close group of friends that can talk about deep things and support each other.

This was a great week and I learned a lot. I feel this was one of the best weeks for me so far. I can't wait for more! Sweet as! 

The long lost update

So… I may or may not have totally forgotten about doing my blog updates so this is going to a bit of a longer one.

The week of November 2 was what is known by my DTS as Mark Parker week and not the subject of the week which was “The Lordship of Christ and the Fear of the Lord.” It's known as Mark Parker week because of who Mark is, Mark is my favourite speaker of all time. He is seriously the most intense, passionate, kind, loving and crazy 60 year man who is just on fire for God and desires to see young people flourish.

Honestly I'm going to have to go through my notes from that week quite a few times before I get everything out of it. But I think the main points of this week would be these. A lot of what we do for God and how we live is because we choose and not because of how we feel. It's all about your attitudes towards things. But there are a large amount of things that I'm not going to list as it would take far to long. But I will say this, I came to New Zealand to figure out what God's plan is for me but I'm founding out that I really need to get to know God before I'm ready to learn anything about what that plan is.

The main event of that week was on Friday. We had a ministry day that lasted 15 hours. We started the day with praising, giving thanks and worshipping God. After that we all layed things down that were areas that we didn't necessarily trust or serve God in, things such as family or money. Once someone laid things down they also picked up commitments and goals. I picked up reading my Bible every morning before having breakfast, I also made the commitment to doing a School of Biblical Studies after my DTS is over. After everyone did that we got to the real deep part of the day. One at a time we went up and repented of sins that we were holding onto. We also spoke about any shame that we were dealing with. This was very hard for me but it was one of the best things I've ever done after I did it. The best way to deal with sin and shame is to find someone who you trust and can confide in. After that we had an awesome time of prayer, there was lots that I can say about this but that'll have to wait till you can talk to me in person. The last thing of the night was communion. All in all it was an amazing experience and I felt a real load taken off my shoulders by doing all this. Love is an incredible thing.

Backtracking slightly to Thursday we had our first coffee outreach. We went into Queenstown and had free coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Served as a good way to draw people in and talk about God.

I didn't really do anything on the weekend, I just used it as a time to unwind and relax.

So, onto the week of the 9th. This week was all about relationships. This week wasn't mind blowing or heavy to me but it was good for me. The sort of motto of the week was “finding the one, but first work on becoming the one but before that focus on know the One (God).” We learned about something called soul ties, they can be good or bad and what they are is just a way of saying how you've shared intimacy with people. Whether that intimacy was from making out or star gazing together or just even praying together. It is just a good thing to keep in mind when you are in friendships. Yes we had a birds and the bees talk, it was actually a surprisingly mature discussion that the guys had, it only had a few moments where it went how you'd think a bunch of boys would act.

There was also a lesson on forgiveness. This wasn't so helpful to me as it wasn't anything new but it was nice to see that other people hold the same view on it. That being that forgiving someone is a choice and not necessarily a feeling. It doesn't mean that the hurt didn't matter but you choose to forgive.

On the weekend I again pretty much just relaxed and did homework. On Sunday a bunch of us went to a pump track and I sort of learned how to sort of use a longboard. It was a lot of fun. This weekend coming up is skydiving so I'm super excited for that.

Until the next time, which hopefully only a few days away this time. Fingers crossed.

God is Love and also paintballing is fun

So this week was pretty sweet. The speaker was Chris Twinn and he spoke about the character and nature of God. It was a really good topic (I think all the topics are going to be good). What made this good was that he really focused on what is it that you believe, who told that and why do you believe that. It encouraged me to really start reading the Word and listen to what God wants to tell me about the passage. Chris talked a lot about the character and nature of God saying God is and does all these things. But if his final line was this: The Character and Nature of God is LOVE! God is love.

I did my chapel talk on Tuesday. The chapel talk is a 10 to 15 minute lesson on some aspect of God. My subject was "Rock." It went really well, I was terrified even when they were praying for me (every time someone is about to give a lesson or lecture we have a couple people pray for the person speaking) but once I started going I felt peace and it allowed me to enjoy teaching on what God had showed me about Him as a rock.

All in all it was a good week. We played a game of contact rugby and that was pretty sweet.  We started figuring out the game near the end so we are going to have to play again. On Saturday the Extreme Dts went paintballing and that was awesome. One of the courses was a small village with alleys and rooms and that was so intense. Definitely want to go again. Did a fair amount of hanging out with the people here and I'm starting to get to know people better so that is nice.

I'm really enjoying myself here and getting to know God better. This coming week is going to be pretty intense. I'll elaborate in my next update. God is good.

Bungee Jumping and Godly Things

This week we had Josh Cole speak. He runs a YWAM base on the north Island of NZ. He spoke about hearing God's Voice. He spoke about a lot but a couple things that stuck out to me was that we need to be open to hearing God at all times. Prayer and worship are not things that we do but things we live. I've heard that said before but this time I think it's going to stick.

The biggest thing that I got from Josh was this "God likes you and He enjoys spending time with you." This really just hit me because I've heard to saying that "I love that person but I don't love them" and I subconsciously applied that to God.

We had our first small groups and one on ones and both of those were really good. It's going to be a good way to get closer with people and to process things. We also had our first Bible study.  Which is more about giving us tools to study the Bible more effectively and make it more enjoyable. While doing this I had a thought that I might want to do a School of Biblical Studies after my DTS is over. Who knows,  I'll pray about it and see where God leads.

This past Friday was the first Queenstown Evangelism time. So the whole class goes out and evangelizes in Queenstown. This was very difficult for me because I really don't like talking to me. I think this is going to be a good for me but it is going to be a long haul to overcoming my fear man.

BUNGEE JUMPING!!!!  So on Saturday we went bungee jumping. It was 134m and 8 seconds of free fall.  It was one of the most terrifying and exhilarating things I've ever done. I was terrified until after I jumped and had the initial feeling of "I'm going to die" but that lasted only a second and after that it was incredible.

I went to City Impact Church and the people were nice, and I like the atmosphere. I think that's the church I'm going to stick with for now.

Until the next update.

Week 1

So it's a bit more than a week but oh well. Flew out of PG on Wednesday. The flights weren't bad.  Got to meet up with a bunch of Canadians who are also on my YWAM. I was able to sleep on the flight so that was good. Landed Friday and got all settled in. On Saturday a lot of us went on a small hike and had some amazing views at the top.

Fergburger was pretty much the best hamburger I've ever had. (it's so good it gets its own paragraph)

Sunday October 11, 2015 was the official start to my YWAM DTS in Queenstown. We had a scavenger hunt  to familiarize ourselves with the area. Had a BBQ to finish the day... Or so I thought. At 8 a bunch of us went on a hike, it was a blast.  Had an amazing view at the top and then had to hike down in the dark.  Thankfully all of us lights so it was all good.

Week 1 of the DTS was sweet. It was a lot of orientation,  history of YWAM and, history of the Queenstown base.  The base has been going for only 1 year and it seems like it's been going for around 7 or 8. God's provision has been crazy.  They've had people donate 15000 dollars worth of sound equipment, 25000 dollars straight up, 20000 dollars worth of food and a ton of other things like it. Normally it takes years for a base to look at buying a property but they are looking this year to get something.

We also did testimonies this week. God has worked some pretty crazy miracles to get some people here. Also what surprised me is how many of the staff came and did there DTS and didn't really believe in God. It just shows that God works how He wants and when He wants.

It was hard for me o give my testimony as I struggle with public speaking but it was far than that.  It was working through not comparing to where people are at with God as to where I'm at. I also struggled with thinking that I've got a lame testimony but it's not about what God has brought me out of but my testimony is what God protected me from.

Had a nice weekend relaxing and hanging out.  Went to a nice little church called C3, it was funny cause a lot of YWAMers went to it and we made up more than half of the people attending.  One of the staff said that there was more people the last time he attended.

I'll finish with this. I am looking for to get closer to God and I think this will be my place.  It's going to be hard,  but I can't wait to see what God is going to do.

What's Going On

This is going to be my attempt at writing about my adventures for those people left home.

For those of you who don't know I am going to a YWAM DTS in Queenstown, New Zealand.  I'm heading out there for 6 months and I'm so excited!

This came about largely because of my good friend and mentor, Lucas Chance. Back in May 2015 my church had its annual Family Camp and the theme this time was "What is God's purpose for you?" This really spoke to me as I'd been thinking about it for awhile.

I'm looking forward to seeing what God has in instore for me.

This is Tyler, signing off for now.