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Published: January 2nd 2011
So here is my first blog of the trip, really it's a warm up blog so people can see where the blogs are going to be posted in the future and will mainly be an introduction to what I'm actually going to be doing for the next 6 months.
A week today I start a YPDTS (Young Persons Discipleship Training School) in Perth (Australia) with a mission organisation called YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Unless you've done a DTS, have looked into one yourself or have known someone who has done one, you are probably feeling completely lost at this point. Don't worry, I was too when I started looking into doing it. I'll trying and break it down for you but if you still feel lost by the end of it feel free to visit http://www.ywamperth.org.au/training.asp?dts!
The aim of a DTS is basically to know God and make Him known. It consists of 3 months of lectures on God and 3 months of outreach in different countries where we practically apply what we have been taught in the lecture phase to bless the nations. There are many different types of DTSs in various different countries but they all cover the same topics, only really varying on the speakers (e.g. a local speaker from Carlisle is unlikely to speak at the base I am attending in Perth), the outreach location(s) they go to and some of DTSs focus on a particular passion e.g. surfers, sports, media or music whereas some are more general.
The one which I have chosen to do is for individuals ages between 17-25 and has Africa or Asia + Europe + Western Australia as the outreach locations.
Throughout the first part of the DTS you live in a community set-up with the other students and staff members, living together, eating together, learning together, praising God together, going on adventures together, doing weekly outreaches together...basically spending a whole lot of time together. In the second part, the group is split off into 4 or 5 groups of about 10 and depending on passions, skills and the direction they feel God is leading them in. The ways in which we show God's love in each outreach will vary on the location and the group we are in. Examples of what have been done in the past include building mud bricks in Africa, playing with street kids in Asia, feeding the homeless and teaching seminars on topics such as identity and value.
If I'm honest, I'm not really all that sure what goes on in the second stage and my understanding of what goes on in the first stage is pretty fuzzy, I just know what I've read on the website, what the staff have told me when answering my questions and the accounts of other people who have done a DTS. I think it's the kind of thing which you won't really know what goes on till you're actually there experiencing it, a bit like a new job or the feeling you get when you go to uni for the first time...you have a general idea of what goes on and what is expected of you but you don't really know the finer details of things.
So in order to know what I am actually doing for the next 6 months you'll have to read this blog :p
What I do know is that this experience is going to be life-changing, eye-opening and overwhelming at times. It's going to be fun, it's going to be crazy in a good way and it's going to be out of the ordinary. It is going to be something like I've never experienced before.
It already feels a bit crazy...I mean I am flying to AUSTRALIA in 3 DAYS!!! What is that all about??!!! I am actually going to board a plane which is going to stop a Hong Kong (to refuel or whatever plans do on long journeys) and one long journey later I'll be landing in Perth. I will be meeting people from all over the world not just on the outreach part of the DTS but from the very beginning as people are travelling from all over to do this DTS. At the moment half the course seem to be from either America or Canada (although they may just be the more vocal members of the DTS facebook group). Don't be getting your hopes up on my coming back with an Aussie accent...it's not going to happen!
So yer, things are starting to feel very real but there is still a massive part of me which doesn't really think it's all going to happen and it all probably won't hit me until I'm there and have had a few weeks to settle in!
The next few days will consist of last goodbyes, getting the last of what I need (including my backpack...kinda necessary), letting people know what I'm doing and providing people with contact details and getting all the details sorted in my head! It's going to be hectic. This whole week is just going to be very bizarre. Today I'm standing up in front of my home church and letting them know my plans, tomorrow I'm hopefully going to get my backpack and anything else I'll need, Tuesday I'll probably be packing and going a little crazy, Wednesday and Thursday I'll be flying, Friday and Saturday I'll be getting over jet-lag and clothes shopping (surprisingly there are no summer clothes in the shops when temperatures are this low) and Sunday I'll be starting the DTS. CRAZY!
That's all I've got to say for now 😊
Hope you've all had an amazing Christmas and New Years!
Love to you all!
Ra
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Natalie
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Good Luck! You will be missed :(
Ra! So brave! :D I think it will be a fantastic experience and I can't wait to read about what you get up to while you are on the other side of the world! :P Be safe! Have fun! Lots of love! From me!