Week Four.. and Five

These last couple weeks have been so good!  Last week we did classes on first aid and disaster relief.  It was so good!  I’ve always really wanted to learn about how to deal with disaster situations, because I feel like it’s really good knowledge to be able to have.  I think the thin that stuck the most for me was that it’s not about helping everyone, it’s about every person that you help.  When you look at disasters, there’s such a huge need, and I think it would be really overwhelming, because there’s so much need and you’re only one person.  But it’s not about that – God loves every single person, individually.  And that means that even if you can just help one person, it’s worth it, because God values that life so much.

I love how much everything that we learn is centred around God!  That’s such a big part of why I wanted to do this school, and I’m so glad that I get to get this base knowledge of biology from a Christian perspective before whatever other kind of training I’m going to get.  All the speakers have talked about how, they do what they can, and then pray.  It sounds like such a simple thing, and really it is, but I think it’s something that would be really easy to forget.  It’s such a good reminder, that when we feel useless, be aren’t actually.  That’s when God wants to step in and work.  We’ve been hearing so many stories of the miracles that God’s done in places that people really just aren’t equipped to heal, and then God steps in, and whole villages are changed.  It makes me so excited to start doing clinics, and see how health care and God really do go together so much.

Week Three

This week classes were so full! I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much in such a short amount of time.  Our classes were on food and nutrition, so with that the digestive system and all the stuff that goes with that.  We learned about tons of vitamin deficiencies – how to notice them and then how to treat them. 

A crazy stat we heard this week – the amount of people over nourished (overweight) worldwide has now passed the number of people that are malnourished.

Our teacher this week is from Australia, and one of the things that he did was start every class with a bunch of pictures of either something really big, or something really small.  So one day we looked at galaxies, another we looked at creatures under the ocean (the weird ones that I’ve never seen before, not ones like Nemo).  Another day we looked at a bunch of microorganisms that cause diseases.
One of the things that really stood out to me was how much colour is in everything – especially with things that we never really see, like the fish in the ocean they’re only starting to get pictures of, or these bacteria that most people don’t ever see pictures of.  God still made them intricately, and beautiful, just because He can.

We also got to do our first bit of outreach this week!  No healthcare stuff yet, but we did get to go into one of the slums to do a kids program.  They have about 30 kids that come to it every week, so we just went along and helped out.  We got to play games with the kids, and then do face paint on them.  It was a lot of fun, they were all really little kids, so I’m not sure that they realized that when they talked to us, we didn’t get it, but it was fun to hang out with them anyways.   They were adorable – it reminded me a lot of the stuff that I got to do in Thailand on outreach.

 

This is my school!  Also there’s 4 staff that aren’t in the picture.

Week Two

Classes this week were so much fun!  We had a microbiology week, mostly about germs, because that's what we're actually going to be dealing with in clinics.  Best part about it was that we didn't really have lectures, we just did experiments, and looked at things under microscopes and such.  Got to look at blood one day, got to grow bacteria that we had taken from around our base.  It was a lot of fun - which is strange, because I always hated this week in high school biology.  But it was incredible to see how intricate things are made.  To see how much detail is put into everything that we looked at under the microscope - especially blood.  Google what blood looks like, it's incredible.  It makes me in awe of how God could make something like the ocean that I see every day so huge, and at the same time make these little cells that keep you alive, and does it both with such great detail.

Other than classes, the weeks been hard, but really good.  My grandpa passed away on Wednesday (North American Wednesday, it was Thursday here).  It's a strange thing, because we've been waiting for it for so long, but now that he's actually with God it's strange to think that it's here.  That he gets to be up in heaven worshiping God, and probably doing something really stupid that if we saw it, it would be one of those stories that we would never let go.  And it's good - knowing that he gets to be free, and that he get to actually experience heaven.  It makes me wonder how people could get through something like this without the hope of God, and it's something that I'm so grateful that I have.  And it's hard, not being home for this - not being able to be with family, or be at the memorial in a couple weeks.  But I wouldn't trade this experience in Bali for it.  So as much as I wish that I could be home next week, I don't actually (if that makes sense), because I know without a doubt that being here is where God wants me to be right now.  He's teaching me so much about depending on Him when life's hard instead of anything else - family, friends.  Not that they aren't wonderful to have around, but that when it comes down to it, God really is the only one that I need.

Week One

Done one week of school!  It feels so good to be back learning things, I've missed it so much - even doing homework is something I enjoy (which is a really strange concept to me).  But I think it's because everything we're learning is things that I actually want to know.  It was just an introduction to the course, and the human body this week.  Lot's of stuff that I did in high school, but it's been a couple years since then, so it's good to get reminded of it.  There's this stat the The World Health Organization has - they did a study of how healthcare around the world is divided up by need, so into primary, secondary (stuff that you need a nurse or paramedic for), and then tertiary (doctors).  WHO says that 90% of healthcare needs around the world can be done by primary healthcare workers, and then another 7% is secondary.  That really excites me, because it means that there are things that I'm actually going to be able to do with the stuff that I learn here.  

Outside classes, the base here is amazing.  There's only 20-30 staff on base, so it's like a family.  And coming here, you're automatically included into this family.  It's been so good to get to know the staff - everyone's so friendly, and really wants to know you, and become your family.  The people actually on my school are also amazing - we get along so well already, and you can tell that it's going to be a really good group to spend the next 6 months with.

Bali, Indonesia

So for those of you who don't know (and I guess those who do)... I'm in Indonesia!  I'm back with YWAM again, doing another school.  Something a lot of people don't know about YWAM, after you do your DTS (what I did last year), they offer a bunch of what they call second level schools.  So I'm spending 6 months in Bali (and the islands around it) doing an Introduction to Primary Healthcare School.  Basically what the school does is a very focused, very intense (4-5 hours of class a day) three and a half months teaching us how to run clinics in developing nations.  A lot of what we're going to learn is about treating kids, mothers, and newborns.  As well, we're doing a bunch with disease prevention, and treatment.  Things like HIV/AID, and malaria.  

I'm really excited to start this school!  This sort of thing has been something that I've wanted to do for a really long time, so I'm excited to actually get to do it.

A bit about the other people I'm going to be with.  There's 7 people in my school - 6 girls and 1 guy.  All of the girls are under 30 - I've only met one of them yet, she's from Germany, did her DTS in Perth, and actually ended up doing the same outreach as me in Thailand.  The man is over 60, so that could be interesting with such a huge gap.  There's also 4 staff - 2 girls and 2 guys.  The school leader, Christine, picked me up from the airport yesterday, she's wonderful.  She was in Perth also for 3 years, and was the roommate of my school leader last year, so they're really similar, which makes me really excited, because I loved being around my school leader last year.

I'll try to blog somewhat regularly... but just pester me if I don't, then I'll do it sooner :)  Unless your my parents... because then I'll be blogging every day.

March 10–End of Outreach

I don’t even know what to write on here… I feel like I should sum up outreach or something, because it’s the end, but so much has happened that I don’t even know what to say. 

Mexico City was hard.  It was really good, but really hard, for everyone on my team.  The street evangelism that we did was really challenging for me.  I really like doing evangelism when I have something to start a conversation or something – like bringing homeless people pizza and water, or something like that.  But in Mexico we just went up to people and tried to talk to them.  God taught me so much through it… I don’t think it’s something that I’m called to do with my life, but it was so good for that time. 
It was really challenging too though personally being there too.  The first week I was there I got altitude sickness and couldn’t really get out of bed for I think 3 days, then had a cold for pretty much all of the rest of Mexico, and wrecked my knee (again) – funny story, there’s a reason Mennonites can’t dance in church… it’s dangerous.  Pretty much, I just spent a lot of time sitting around, it was hard, because it made me feel useless, and it was sometimes really hard not to question why God had brought me to Mexico, but then I was sick or injured for so much of it and missed out on a lot.
But when it comes down to it, God used our team, and he used me.  Looking back, we saw over 200 people saved, and about 3 people healed (I don’t know the exact numbers)… not to mention the countless amounts of people that heard testimonies, or the gospel, or got prayed for.

God is doing amazing things in Mexico City, I’m so thankful to him that I was able to have a small part in that.

Then there’s Thailand… this place is amazing!  It’s by far the most incredible place that I’ve ever been to before.  God is doing amazing things throughout Asia!  The church is rising up so much – I haven’t met a Christian here that is at all ‘lukewarm’ in their faith, every person that I’ve met is just on fire for God, and so passionate about sharing his love with everyone that they know.
ARK International and the work that they do here is awesome.  Knowing that they’re giving the kids home, and a possibility at a better future, as well as showing them Jesus, it’s such great work that they do.  I’ve loved being a part of that so much for the past month.  The kids here are impossible not to love… they just have the hugest smiles anytime you see them, and coming running to where you are.  There’s this ‘game’ that we play with the kids in one of the communities when we see them.  Basically we throw them up in the air over and over and over… and they love it.  There’s nothing better to them than just being loved by people, and by being able to be a kid for a few hours with us at Live Life, or for a Saturday morning at Nak Suu. 
Bangkok is a place that I’m so sad I have to leave.  I would love to just miss my flight back to Perth and stay here, or to get on the wrong plane to go home, and come back here, and be with these kids again.  They’ll stay in my heart forever, and I know that because of the work of ARK, I’ll see a lot of them again someday, whether I come back here or not (I really want to, in case you couldn’t tell – but we’ll see what God says), I’ll get to see them again someday in heaven and it will be awesome.

I think more than anything though, outreach has given me such a huge heart for the world.  It’s made me so much just want to go everywhere, to be able to share God’s love all over the world.  To actually do something that has eternal value with my life.  I don’t want to live just going through life – working every day, hanging out with friends, never really making an impact on the world.  I want to be someone that’s used in world-changing ways, someone that when life’s over, I can stand (or more likely just be flat on my face) in front of God, and he’ll tell me “well done, good and faithful servant”, and then hug me, and then I’ll get to hang out with him - the kids in the slums, and the kids that I’ve cabin led, the people that we talked to on the streets in Mexico City, everyone from the amazing churches that I’ve been to over these last six months - forever in heaven!

 

I guess that’s it then… my DTS is over.  It feels like I’ve been here for forever, being at home seems like another life to me.  But not in a bad forever, it’s kinda just like time doesn’t exist anymore, being all over the world, and doing so much stuff, I’m actually just so confused at what time of year it is.
But DTS has been amazing – if you’re reading this and haven’t done a DTS yet, please do… God will completely change you.  He’s taught me so much about him, it would be impossible to write it all out for you.  There’s something about actually being in missions though, even if it is only for 3 months right now – you learn so much more how everything that you learned about God is so true.  About how he is your strength, about how he’s bigger than any language barrier… whatever it is, God is bigger, and stronger, and all you need.

 

But all that being said, I am happy to be coming home, for however long it is that I’m actually there.  I’m excited to see my best friend again (even though I have to spend 24 days there first alone.  I’m excited to see everyone else too: to go to vespers at CBC again (even though I’m not a student there – whatever, I’m pretty sure like half of the people there aren’t), to ride a scooter with Rose (please pray I don’t die, she’s driving), to be able to actually decide what I want to eat, to get to drive again… there’s way more. 
I’ll miss being here, everyone here, I’ve made such amazing friends – but I’ll see them all again someday, heaven’s going to be a giant party!  But it will be good to be home again…

See everyone soon! (Unless you’re David, in which case you would have to come out to BC to be seen soon)

March 2

This afternoon we went into one of the communities that ARK works in.  It’s one of the smaller ones, I don’t know exactly how many people are in it, but it’s only street – most of the communities that ARK comes into are smaller, because they like to go where there aren’t any organizations in yet, they’re mostly in the really huge slums.  So we went in, and split the kids there into girls and boys.  We took the girls into their little Buddhist temple thing, and led a bible study with them there.  We told them about how God loves them, and they are special, even when people tell them that they aren’t.  We also got them to write on a piece of paper questions that they had, or what they were feeling, so that they could figure out what they were going to do in future bible studies (I’ll tell you a bit about a couple of the girls on the bottom of this).  After the bible study, we went out, and met up with all the boys again.  We played with them for about half an hour or so, and all that they wanted to do was grab our hands and jump with us – to get us to help throw them in the air higher.  It was insane how that was all they needed to be so happy.  These weren’t just 3 year old kids, they were 10 and 12 years old, and all they wanted was to be thrown up and down.
So here’s a story about one of the families in this slum, apparently it’s a pretty common story.  So there’s these 3 sistersp.  All of them have different dads – they live with their mom and Tip’s dad.  Last week their mom had another baby.  Then the day before we came to do the bible study, the mom picked up and left with the baby.  The ARK staff said it was really likely that it was because the baby wasn’t her husbands, but her boyfriends (it’s really common for the wives to have boyfriends on the side, or for the men to have girlfriends on the side).  These girls, when we asked them to write down what they were thinking, or questions that they had, one of them said “I don’t want my mom to leave, I want my mom and dad to be together”.  Another of them said, “Why did my mom throw me away?” 
These are common stories that happen in the slums here in Bangkok, please pray for children like this that have broken families.