We are in Norway!!! Although it rains 300 days a year, Bergen is a breathtaking city, surrounded by mountains. We were warmly welcomed by a Norwegian church, the home church of former YWAM’ers Iselinn and Eileen Thorsen. These sisters did their DTS’s in Panama, and both had served as staff on the base. It is a testament to the wonderful relationships that had been developed over the years, the welcome that we received in Bergen.

Wednesday night the church had a prayer meeting, so the day we arrived we were busy settling we also prepared for leading the 2 hour long meeting. We were so blessed to ask the Lord to bless this church, this city, and this country, alongside the Norwegians that we had just met. Listening to them pray, in their language reminded me of the scripture “every knee will bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.” One main prayer concern that arose was the amount of drug addiction in the city. Heroin addicts had taken over a local park, and were a focus of our prayers. In the next few days we had the opportunity to meet some of the addicts, and pray for them personally. We also met a faithful woman who has been working with them for 27 years. As you can imagine, she had heartbreaking stories, had been beaten up many times, yet continued to love on these people unconditionally, showing them that they had value in the eyes of our Lord. Through her ministry many lives had been changed, and she showed us the importance of staying faithful, even through very difficult circumstances.

We joined a local church in handing out hot chocolate and serving waffles to passersby, and had opportunity to invite people to the service, talk with them about their beliefs, and pray for them. We also did a survey in a local mall, asking people about their spiritual beliefs, and sharing our hope in Jesus. We were amazed at how open people were.

Sunday we were in charge of the church service, and David Tracy shared a message on evangelism. It was very powerful and challenging, and some of the students had the opportunity to participate in leading worship, speaking about what's happening in YWAM Panama, sharing about our time in England, and giving personal testimonies.

The DTS school went onto the rest of the week in Norway, and Dale and I left to attend the wedding of our son Kellen. So the whirlwind of living on this Christian journey sweeps us off of our feet again. More pictures to come!!

DTS OUTREACH IN EUROPE - UK

Our DTS outreach team has arrived safely in England! We are staying at the YWAM Base at Holmsted Manor in West Sussex, 40 minutes from London. (Check our their webpage at http://www.holmsted.org.uk/). We arrived in London Tuesday morning, and after picking up Pam Tracy, David's grandmother, (who will be joining us for our 7 week mission trip), we headed out to the base.

It is beautiful here! The base was bought by YWAM in 1975, and is the 3rd oldest YWAM base in the world. We are staying in an old, English manor, which was built in 1891. It is a strikingly beautiful property, and is especially beautiful this time of year with the changing leaves. It's nice to experience some fall weather after the tropical heat of Panama!

Our team is doing very well and we are all excited to be here! We were especially encouraged when we met with the Holmsted staff upon arrival, and were told that our coming was a direct answer to prayer. One year ago, Darren and Amy Haase came to England to take on the position of base directors at Holmsted Manor. During the last year, they have revamped A LOT on the base, physically and spiritually. Before their arrival, the base was going through a lull, not involved in too many ministries, and lacking staff. The Haase's answered God's call to come here, and have experienced the Lord MOVE in starting new ministries, creating new vision, and more than doubling their staff in August alone! So much excitement fills these walls, and we are the first outreach team they have received since all of these changes have taken place!

Of course, all of these changes and vision take a lot of work, and so the base has been praying for teams to come and to help. One ministry in particular that has been heavy on their hearts is to start a preschool. Their desire is to affect the next generation, to teach them the ways of the Lord, to show them who He is and to pass on the legacy of the knowledge of the glory of God.

The woman who is at the forefront of this vision is Andrea, whose heart for children and their families is incredible. She told us that a few weeks ago, she was realizing more and more that God wanted this preschool, and that the place for it was to be in a big old building that was once used as a garage. It's the perfect place, with a walled-in lawn outside for a playground as well. But the building is overgrown with mold, is full of all kinds of odds and ends, and would take a LOT of work to clean out and get in shape for a preschool. She was praying and feeling discouraged. The very next day, they received an email from a YWAM outreach team, who had heard from the Lord to come to England...US!!! What an encouragement this was, and also for us to hear this story, as it confirmed to us that this is the place we were to come at this particular time. Praise God! We are so thankful to serve a God who speaks to us and guides us, and what a privilege it is to serve and be part of His master plan!

Therefore, the team is all bundled up in hats and gloves and has been working hard cleaning out the building and praying and interceding for the preschool. We are so excited to be part of this vision, to help the base in any way we can, and we are being so blessed at the same time!

Another task we helped with the first day was to harvest apples from YWAM Holmsted's orchard...the team helped to gather over $2000.00 worth of apples! We were privileged to taste some of the fruits of that labor through the apple crisp that was served last night. :)

All in all, we are doing well...still recovering a bit from jet lag, and working outside a lot in the days which makes for good sleeping at night.
We want to thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. Praise God we have raised about half of the amount that is needed for our group of eighteen to be able to come to Europe! We are going to be proceeding step by step in faith for the rest of the funds to come, to continue on the path we feel God has laid before us. We will keep you updated as we go along

 

 

 

DTS in full blast!!

Here in Panama we are currently having our first Discipleship Training School. This God-loving team of 11 (plus 2 children) students began their lecture phase in Chilibre, Panama. We travelled to an Embera village deep in the jungle to bless the work begun by their own indigenous leader who taught us about their culture. We have been in Bocas del Toro now for three weeks. In that time we have had a new teacher come to share not only their knowledge of God, but their life experience. It's a YWAM principle that you must live what you teach.
The students have been learning to hear the voice of God, reliance upon the Holy Spirit, and understanding what it means to have a christian world view. Most importantly the students are learning the character of God, and their role as a child of the Most High. We have painted a mural in the local nursing home, and prepared a special meal for them with beautifully sung worship songs. We will be working with the Indigenous people in the jungle by having a day of teaching on creation with songs, crafts, and pictures.
In Costa Rica we celebrated the 50th anniversary of YWAM, and the DTS learned that true worship is a lifestyle of gratitude for all that we have and for all God does for us everyday. We also had the honor of doing a drama for the opening ceremony which included dancing and costumes from many different cultures, including the indigenous from Panama.


One Saturday we had a prayer walk. We walked all over the property, and to the neighbors' huts. We prayed for people to be healed and prayed blessings on their families. One young woman named Amalia was moved by the prayers and repented of her sins and accepted Christ as her Savior. She was so filled with His love that tears streamed down her face as she was immediately baptized along with some students above a waterfall behind her house. It was obvious the glory of God shone through each person. It would truly take another several pages to share all that God is doing, and we are overwhelmed with gratitude and awe.
All discipleship training schools go on a two month outreach to put into practice all they have learned. After much prayer we believe God is directing us to Europe. Please pray for provision as we follow his leading to minister to orphans, areas abounding with prostitution and human trafficking and areas that once were Christian, but have become darkened through belief systems that no longer rely on the God of the bible. Pray that we can reclaim the heritage of the fear of the Lord as we travel and minister abroad.

Prayer requests...
For help to disciple Amalia and her family, and other new believers here.
For provision for the outreach
For our son, Kellen, and his fiance, Ashley. Their wedding is in November.
For all the students and staff, that the world would know we are Christians by our love.