I made it to Italy! And outreach begins....

After a long (and slightly boring) weekend once again at the base in Herrnhut, we FINALLY left for Italy! We left Switzerland at about 2 in the afternoon and got to the base at 2 the next morning. The weekend started off crazy because the base was shutting down for Christmas and there was a lot of confusion…but everyone from the MOTA DTS had already left on outreach and apart from only a few others, our group was the only one on the base. It was sooo quiet and relaxing, but by the end of the first day I was ready to leave!

We left around ten on Monday morning to get our van. We had to take a couple trains and a bus to get to our van and once we got it, we were all so grateful!  In the beginning of our outreach planning, we had been praying that God would provide a van for our team, since it would save us money and allow us to travel easier and to more places. After a few weeks we got word that we had found a van to rent and we were all very excited, since it was a long and difficult process. Then, the week before we left for outreach, we found out that there had been confusion and a group from the MOTA DTS had been planning to use the same van that we wanted. Since they wanted to buy the van instead of rent it (like we planned to do), this caused the situation to change and we had no guarantee that we would get the van.

We prayed like CRAZY since this would change our entire outreach, including our locations…but three days before we left to go back to Herrnhut, God gave us back the van! It really tested our faith in Him and now we are so much more grateful for the van and have more confidence that God will take care of us through our outreach.

Anyway, we drove to Italy – a 15 hour drive – and arrived at 5:30 the next morning. We were able to rest the rest of the afternoon before our outreach would officially begin!

We are staying at Riccardo’s house in Torino until Saturday. Riccardo’s dad is the pastor of his church and we joined them for a time of prayer and intercession the night we arrived in Italy. The next day, we spent our outreach in the city center and we spent time worshipping and talking to the local people. Cassie, Grace and I had a great conversation with a couple girls who were students at a nearby university. We talked to them for a while and at the end of our conversation they invited us to have a drink with them the next night. But they place they invited us to is known for its drinking and partying, so we are going to invite them out for ice cream with us instead…hopefully we will be able to see them again!

After spending more time evangelizing, we went to Riccardo’s church again to run their evening service. I was involved in the worship, the drama, and I spoke about how I came to know Christ. After that, Solomon from our team gave a sermon and we ended with a few more worship songs. The night went EXTREMELY well and I was so encouraged by the entire day! We were also able to pray for a girl at the church…she was in tears by the end of the prayer and was really touched. She also invited us to come over to her house sometime so we could talk more with her.

Sooo, after the first day of outreach we already were impacting so many people!

Today was a little more laid back since we put in a fourteen hour day the day yesterday…we spent the morning at the highest point in Torino and were completely surrounded by the Appalachian Mountains and we were able to overlook the entire city. We had an amazing time of worship and intercession for the city…it was a great way to start the day!

I’m so excited for the next two months – I can already see that God is going to be doing amazing things in us and through us!

The last of our lecture phase...

Yesterday we arrived back at the base in Herrnhut, Germany from Zurich, Switzerland. Over the month we were in Switzerland, we had really great speakers. We had topics about the Holy Spirit, the spiritual world, relationships, and we ended with Todd White, my favorite speaker from the DTS. He had an amazing testimony and he went back to the basics, speaking about our identity and the love of Christ. He touched on a lot of things I had always known but never really thought about, and because of that, I learned so much about God and about who God is.

During our time in Switzerland we had mostly street evangelism for our outreach. There were great testimonies about people being healed and people openly wanting to know about the Gospel.  It was very encouraging because people in Europe, and especially Switzerland, are very closed off and don’t usually like to talk about things that are personal to them. But we found that once we shared our testimonies and talked to the people, they became more and more open with us and many accepted prayer. 

Besides outreaches and lectures, we continued preparing for big outreach and spent more time with our outreach teams.  In our free time we explored Zurich and other cities, and I found that I LOVE Switzerland! It’s sooo beautiful and my favorite moments in Switzerland were when my friends and I sat on the edge of a wall that overlooked the city. I definitely want to come back someday!

So, yesterday we began saying our goodbyes to people in our team as they started leaving for outreach. The Americans and Canadians all needed to come back to Herrnhut though, because we still needed our visas. We got to Herrnhut at 2 a.m. and then the next morning we all went to the visa office to pick up our visas. Yesterday I also packed my bags one last time, and managed to cut down to only my hiking backpack and one carry on – I don’t how I did it, but it is a miracle! 

This morning the Eastern Europe team left…and now there is only the Italy and Africa team staying at the base. It’s been very quiet here – the MOTA (Marriage of the Arts) DTS has already left for outreach and the base is closed for Christmas, so it’s only us. My team isn’t leaving until Monday so it’s going to be a long weekend! I’m so use to being busy…it is nice to relax for a change, but there isn’t much for me to do over the next two days. 

Finally on Monday, there are seven of us leaving for Italy (the rest of our team is already in Italy since they didn’t need visas) and I can’t wait! I can’t believe outreach is already starting and I know it going to be an amazing couple of months!

Switzerland!

The past two weeks have been CRAZY! We've been busy with lectures, bible studies, meetings, local outreaches, and preparing for our big outreach which is starting in about two weeks! But I love it here in Switzerland...the cities are beautiful and it's decorated for Christmas which makes it even more stunning! It's my favorite place we've been to so far.

For our ministries we've been doing several things. The first week we passed out Jesus films to the local people and gave them information about the local church. Then we invited people to a 'Know Love' event which we ran ourselves. A few students shared their testimonies and we had a time of worship and finally a service. Not very many people came because we passed out the invitations with short notice, so hopefully more people will come to the next event, which is next weekend. We also started doing work in the drug and prostituation area, which I am looking forward to doing more of! So far we have been given an introdution and did a prayer walk to prepare ourselves and the area. We will start doing more ministry this week!

As far as our big outreach, I am getting very excited! There are several things we need to prepare for so we are busy practicing dances, dramas, and sermons, which we will be using during our time in Italy. I am in charge of doing the dramas and I am going to be part of worship team as well. We are going to be working with several churches and are going to be running a youth camp for a week. We are going to be in Italy for Christmas (we will have the day off!) and New Years, when we will be celebrating with a church. I'm looking forward to being able to get to know the local Christians and being able to encourage them!

Next Thursday we are all going to be taking a bus back to Herrnhut, Germany so we can pick up our visas. After that, eight people from my outreach will be taking a van and driving all the way to Italy, which is at least 15 hours. (The other 4 people from my team are taking another van and are going to Italy from Switzerland because they already have their visas..) But I have a feeling our team is going to be much closer after we arrive in Italy... 

The time here is going by way too fast!

I'm in Switzerland!

After our second week in Hamburg, we went to Bautzen, Germany for a week. We stayed in a church (and had to pack up our stuff every morning…) and were part of their ministries. On Sunday, the church celebrated its birthday and we were blessed to be a part of the service. We did a short drama, which I was part of, and some of the guys lead worship. For the rest of the week, we had no lectures and instead had an emphasis on ministry and preparing for outreach. We had great times of intercession and worship. One morning I helped lead worship, which is something I had never done before. I played the piano and it was really great and is something I want to do more of!

On Thursday, I went with five other people to a children’s program. There were children up to the age of eleven and they have a program filled with songs, stories, puppet shows, crafts and snack time. It was very difficult at first, because I couldn’t communicate very well with the kids. But at the end there was playtime and I was able to play with some of the children. It was a lot of fun and I hope we will be able to do more ministries like this in the future!

 On Friday morning, we left to go back to the base in Herrnhut. Our bus didn’t leave for Switzerland until Monday morning and we would have the entire weekend to relax before beginning the next phase.  On Friday, the base was also having a time of worship and they invited us to join them.  At first, I wasn’t very excited about coming back to Herrnhut, but overall the weekend was very good. We all had mattresses and we all could shower whenever we wanted!

Then on Monday, we were all awake at 6 a.m. to get ready to leave for Switzerland! We had our own bus and it was so wonderful to not have to worry about switching trains and buses constantly and to be able to put our luggage under the bus and not worry about it. We got to the church around 7:30 – 12 hours after we left – and got settled into our rooms. The church is amazing….we have all have mattresses, closets for our stuff, showers every other day, and internet access…so we all feel like we are living in luxury!

Here we will be continuing our lectures and this week we are learning about the Holy Spirit. For ministry, we are helping an organization with church planting, so I’m excited about that!

Keep praying us! We leave for outreach next month and we have a LOT of planning and preparing that needs to be done on top of everything we are doing now!

Hamburg!

We left for Hamburg at about nine o’clock Sunday morning (two Sunday’s ago….) and arrived at the church around ten o’clock in the evening, so it was a long day of traveling!

We started back up with our teaching and ministry…the first few days we learned about Hamburg and the different things we will encounter while we are here. We were told specifically about the prostitution and human trafficking problems here in Hamburg.

The first day of ministry we went out in groups of five and asked God where we were supposed to go. My group went into the city and started off by doing prayer walking. There were many homeless people so we bought food for a couple of them and talked and prayed over them. Towards the end of our time, we continued to pray over Hamburg and as we were walking we heard a woman playing the piano in the street. We went over to her, listening to her play. She spoke English so we were able to talk to her and she asked if any of us play and I told her I did. She let me play a song and then she played some more of her songs. She writes her own music and she sang for us. The words to her song were “there will always be a light that shines for you” and it was very beautiful! She told us that she believed in God and we were able to pray for her. It was a good ending to the night!

The next night we went to the Red Light District. We interceded while a few of the ministry leaders went in and talked to some of the prostitutes. We also worshipped in the streets and brought God’s light to the area. I could feel the spiritual warfare and could sense the darkness…but as we prayed and worshipped, I could feel God’s presence and His light spreading over us and the people around us.

Over the weekend I went with a group of people to explore the city of Hamburg and we went on a boat ride across the harbor. Then we went to the City Hall (which is beautiful!) and we just walked around, going into a few shops and taking a lot of pictures. Later in the day, we went to the Dome, which reminded me of the State Fair. There were rides, games, deep fried food, music…we just walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere. It was a fun (and VERY cold) day!

This week has been very similar to last week…we are doing prostitution ministry again and I’m very excited to see what God will do! Then on tomorrow we are going to be leaving again...it’s going to be another busy weekend!

I'm leaving Herrnhut...

First of all, I know where I’m going for outreach! The teams were decided, and I will be going to Italy, Greece, and one other country in Europe. I’m SO excited to go back to Italy and we will be there over the holidays…and will possibly be spending Christmas in Rome! We are going to be traveling through Italy by van, and then we’ll be taking a ferry to Greece. We will spend three or four weeks in both Greece and Italy before spending time in another European country. I am really happy with the team I will be with (there are about 13 of us) and I cannot wait to see what God will do!

And tomorrow we will be leaving for Hamburg! We leave at about 9 in the morning and will hopefully arrive at the church by 8 that evening….it will be a long day of traveling! And I spent my entire day today packing and getting all my stuff together. Once again, I had to go through my stuff and get rid of a bunch of things to leave behind here at the base. It was quite a challenge but I think that I am ready to go!

Once in Hamburg, we will have no internet at the base (but there are internet cafes) and limited water usage – this means only two showers a week! We are definitely going to be prepared for outreach when it comes! We also get new work duties and I’m hoping I’ll get to do something other than peeling potatoes and chopping onions for two hours. It was getting very exhausting.

Thank you for all your prayers! I will write once I get internet again!

Week Three!

This upcoming week will be our last week before we officially become the “Mobile” DTS. We are leaving next Sunday for Hamburg – it’s hard to believe I’ve already been here for a month! But in Hamburg we will be staying in a church. I’m excited for our group to be together, since we have been with the MOTA DTS here in Herrnhut. At the church we will all be sleeping, eating, and hanging out in the same place so we will definitely get to know each other much better! In Hamburg, we will continue to have lectures, studies, and work duties, but there will be a greater emphasis on ministry. Hamburg has a very high and growing rate of prostitution and human trafficking, so we will be ministering in that area. Also, the churches of Hamburg have become very liberal, which is another area we will be focusing on and praying for.

But this past week has been good –the weather has been beautiful! So some of the other girls and I have been taking walks through the forest. On Friday, we had a prayer night that started about nine…and went until five the next morning! It was very cool (even though I was getting extremely tired!) and we got to pray for a lot of different people, nations, and situations.

This next week we will (hopefully!) find out where we will be doing outreach in December…we are all getting very anxious to know the locations! I’m hoping that I can leave Europe and go to Africa or Asia. I really want to experience a completely different culture and be a part of a third world country, specifically where we will be around a lot of kids. And I wouldn’t mind being someplace warmer.

We also started doing Bible studies this past week and my group will be studying the book of Isaiah. I don’t know much about Isaiah so I’m excited to go through the book and understand what it means. I am also with a few girls I don’t know very well so I’m happy to get to know them better! Our lectures focused on getting to know God and is character - and our speaker was the father of Jessica, one of the staff members. And this next week Jessica's mom will be speaking to us.

It's been a busy week but I've had a very relaxing weekend, so I'm ready for tomorrow and the rest of the week!

Week Two!

It was a long week, but went well! A lot has been going on, which is why I haven’t written for a while. We had an AMAZING speaker this week! His name was Dan and he spent the week telling us stories from his missionary work. Several years ago he spent time in Afghanistan and Iran, eventually ending up in an Iran prison for 9 weeks. His testimony is unbelievable and his sense of humor (even in telling us about prison!) truly showed us the joy of the Lord. I’m sad the week is over but I’m so grateful I was able to learn so much from him!

This week was sooo cold and I broke down and wore my winter coat one day. Last night got below freezing and so I wouldn’t be surprised if it snows pretty soon! But if it does, that will make the cold more bearable since Germany is absolutely beautiful. But unfortunately when I packed, I ended up leaving behind several of my warm clothes behind me (because of space) and now I’m beginning to regret that. A lot. So, today a group of us went into Dresden and went shopping for warm clothes. Then we spent a couple hours at Starbuck, using their internet because here at the base our internet is limited.

We also know where we will be going! In two weeks, we are leaving for Hamburg, Germany. After being there for two weeks, we have one week of flexibility (not sure where we will be…) before we leave to Switzerland! Then, December 17 we will be leaving for outreach (those locations will be known within two weeks) which will most likely be in third world countries. This also means that I will not be having a Christmas break and instead I will be having Christmas in a completely new culture!

Last year, the Mobile DTS traveled every two weeks, leaving the students exhausted, so this year we won’t be traveling quite as much. At first I was disappointed, but now I’m excited to get to know the cultures better than if we were constantly traveling. And I’m really excited to spend so much time in Switzerland J

I have just completed my first week of Discipleship Training School! This week we had teachings on hearing the voice of God, and already I can tell you that God has been teaching us amazing things! Our speaker’s name was Jen, and she has been part of YWAM for the past eight years and is a strong woman of God. She shared part of her testimony and her past experiences with us, as well as how God can restore us and speak to us. It was very cool and I’m very excited for the next speaker!

But first of all, please pray for us, because many of us – including myself – are getting sick with various illnesses. Right now I have the cold that has been going around and it makes concentrating and learning very difficult!

I did my first outreach on Friday, at an asylum, a place for refugees. Most of the people who live there are Muslim men.  A group of about ten others and I went to the asylum, unsure of what would happen. We didn’t want to force the Gospel on them, so we went to spend time with them and talk to them, wanting to show them the love of Jesus. And in God’s timing we know that He would come into the conversations we would have. Several of the students and leaders (myself included) went to the apartment of a few Muslim men, and after a few minutes, they began talking about their beliefs. Before long, we were in a discussion about the Bible, the Quran, Jesus, and Muhammad. The men spoke about five different languages, so it was very difficult to follow the conversation at times. But I think that God used that conversation to plant new thoughts into their minds, so please pray that God would continue to water those seeds until they grow!

Yesterday, me and a few others decided to take advantage of our first free weekend and we went to Prague! It was cold, wet, and at times completely miserable, but overall SO much fun! A group of girls went to Prague on Friday afternoon, and so my friends Cassie, Maria, Jayson, Mark and I met up with them in Prague on Saturday morning. We spent the day enjoying the city and the beautiful buildings, taking pictures and going shopping. I had my first hostel experience - and I’ll just say that it was very interesting. It was a very nice hostel and it was in the city, so it was easy to get to. But the people were interesting and from what the girls who stayed at the hostel the night before told us, sometimes the people you room with can be very unpredictable.

But now we are all back at the base and ready for another week!

My First Week in Germany!

The next day we were one our own again, able to continue settling in and catching up on sleep. Students arrived at the base throughout the day, and at about two o’clock we started our registration. Then at six, we had a barbeque as a welcome dinner for the Mobile DTS student.  After that, we had our first worship session and afterwards I could already tell that God will be doing amazing things!

Now we have started classes and we have a daily schedule. Breakfast is at seven and then we have different sessions and teachings from 8:30 – 1:30. After that we have lunch and then have daily chores. My job is preparing for the next day’s lunch in the kitchen.  Yesterday I must have diced a hundred tomatoes by hand and today I spent two hours peeling and cutting potatoes ….I am going to have much more appreciation for lunches from now on!

After our chores we have local outreach, which we haven’t started yet. But on Friday, I am going to another town to do ministry so I am very excited for that!

Our schedule for the rest of the school still hasn’t been decided, but I will be leaving for outreach (most likely somewhere outside of Europe) on December 17, so I no longer have a Christmas break…but I am looking forward to spending the holidays in a completely new culture!

Keep praying for the leaders here at the base, that they will be open to hearing God’s voice and know where we are supposed to go over the next six months. Also, pray for all the students of the Mobile DTS, that we can grow spiritually and continuing connecting with one another. Everyone gets along really well and I’ve already made several new friends. We are starting to get close as a team and it hasn’t even been a week which is amazing! We have several Germans, all with various levels of English, and many times I have been in the middle of German conversations. We also have people from England, Italy, Holland, Canada, India, and Africa. The people are really great and I can’t wait to get to know everyone here better.  

I'm finally here!

I made it to Germany! After traveling for sixteen hours, I made it to the Dresden airport where I waited for three other DTS students. After they arrived, we went to the train station to buy us tickets to get to Loebau. Word of advice: read your train ticket. We all got on the train and sat down, still talking and getting to know each other. After about a half an hour, a man came by, asking to see our tickets. As he glanced over them, he gave us a strange look, and then started speaking quickly in German. As it turns out, we had missed our stop, not realizing that we needed to switch trains.

Three hours later, we finally made it to our destination.

We were picked up by two staff members and they took us to Water Castle, the YWAM base where we will be staying for the first month of our lecture phase. The base isn’t really a castle – it’s just a large, four story building. On the first floor there is the cafeteria, where we eat and take several of our classes. The second floor is the staff floor and there is also a small café where students can study and buy coffee, tea, and other drinks. (And I am very excited about this! Though I doubt the coffee will be as good as Espresso Cabin…) On the third floor there is a lounge area as well as bedrooms for the girls, (the guys sleep in a separate building outside) where I will be staying. Then there is a small fourth floor, which has a prayer room, art rooms, and a large space where student hang their clothes to dry. It also has what is called the Boutique, which is where people can put things they no longer want (such as clothes, shoes, books, electronics…etc) and then it is free to be taken by anyone else.

It was about 8:30 p.m. when we reached the base. After we were taken on a mini tour and given sandwiches for supper, we all went to bed. I was SO tired since I hadn’t slept for more than an hour in over 24 hours.

The next day we were on our own schedule. We had freedom to catch up on sleep, eat on our own or with the other students, and get settled in. After sleeping, taking a shower, and organizing my stuff, some other mobile students and I went on a walk through the town. We stopped at a couple different stores and then at a bakery before walking back to the YWAM base. The town was beautiful and the houses were adorable! Some were covered in ivory, others surrounded by nicely trimmed hedges, and cobblestone sidewalks lined the streets. On Sunday we will be going into town again and getting a tour, so I’m excited to see more!

As of right now, we will be staying at Herrnhut for a month. The staff are still praying about various locations for us to go to, but they said that we will be staying at each location for three to four weeks. We were told that we will be going to Switzerland which I was not at all expecting, so I can’t wait!

So far, the next six months of my life is off to a great start!

I'm leaving in two days!!!

Two days from now, I will be boarding a flight taking me first to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then to Munich, Germany, and finally, to Dresden, Germany. Once at the airport I am fortunate enough to have three other YWAM students flying in on the same day so I don't have to travel alone, which I am very grateful for. We will then be taking a train to Lobau, and once there we will be picked up by the YWAM staff and they will take us to the base in Herrnhut where we will begin our lecture phase.

As of today, I am trying to get last minute details figured out and I am trying to get everything I need to bring packed, which is a challenge in itself. I still have so much to do before I leave and I'm praying that I can get everything done!

So, please pray not only for me, but also for the other students who are preparing for this trip. It is going to be a crazy six months and we are all going to need to rely on God more now than ever before. Pray that we can all have open hearts and we can all become closer to God and be encouraging to one another. Also, pray for the people that we will be ministering to, that they can have open hearts to the love of God.

Because we will be traveling so much, please, PLEASE pray for the protection and safety of our team. Also, for direction so that we will know where we are suppose to be and where we are suppose to go. For the leaders, pray that they can fully rely on God and trust Him above all else. That they can be open to hearing God's voice and that they will lead us in the right direction.

I am getting extremely excited and I cannot wait to see what God is going to do in not only my life, but in the lives of others. I have no idea what to expect over the next few months and the thought only makes me more excited and more eager to leave!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support - it really means a lot!