One month gone

A picture from the welcoming ceremony i mentioned a few posts ago. The warrior is leading us into the grounds where we will exchange greetings and songs:

First of all, many thanks to those who left comments. Its nice to hear from you all. Truly it made me really really happy to see each one. Feel free to continue to say hi every once in a while. It just might make my day!!

To anyone who has skype and would like to add me to talk at some point, my username is Cvdanny4.

I got McDonalds ice cream tonight. Let me tell you, the McDonalds here actually is a friendly place. The people actually dont seem unhappy to be there. Apparently thats how it is in other countries. They also have A McCafe, with actually nice coffee!! Anyways, i thought it was pretty funny compared to the ones at home...!!

One last announcment, the new David Crowder CD is out. It's pretty good. Download it off itunes.

This week Mandy, who lives on base here, spoke on spiritual warfare, intercession, and Hearing God's voice. It was a really Good week. On thursday we spent 40 minutes just waiting, and many people got some really cool things. The thing is, hearing God's voice takes practice and Its somthing you grow in. Its not a magical 5-step repeat after me thing to hear God voice. There is no play button like on a iPod.... like an iGod or somthing. I feel it probably gets harder and harder for young people to grow in this while everything around us is about instant gratification, quick and complicated. My base leader Cheyne calls us the "Micro wave generation". I think in many ways, at least in my own life its true. But its very rewarding to take the time to try and grow closer to God. But the cool thing is, we have a lifetime to practice. Sweet.

I thought i might share some more info on what a typical week looks like here. On wednesdays we have community night as i might have mentioned earlier. Here is what it looked like this time around.

On thursday i work in the kitchen!!! Here is our amazingly talented master chef, Charity:

I must say before the DTS i was a bit worried about the food. I expected cafeteria-style meals, but it is very much the exact opposite. Everyday i have been blown away by amazing food. Meals are very spiritual things. In the bible, they always ate together. Your assosication even lied in who you ate with or didnt eat with. I see food as a way to experience God, and i see charity as a culinary prophet, giving us a taste of heaven... oh man that was bad.

Like i said, i work the kitchen thursdays. Here is an amazing banana-custand dessert hand made by me!!! WOOO . Emeril better watch out!

Anyways, i was glad to hear all my pals made it to their own DTS locations. Rock an Roll family!

<3

Week 3

Man, it feels like this is going by so fast. Already at the end of week three. We should be finalizing the outreach locations soon, and begin praying on them. Without a whole lot of down time, it's easy for the days to pretty much fly by.


Well lets see....this week our speaker was Bernie Ogilvy talking on having biblical world view. We explored God's intended roles for Government, Church, business, the family, the individual, etc. from the beginning of creation. I must say that this week was pretty challenging. Being brought up in the Bay area definitely gives a unique perspective on things. We explored scriptures and wrestled with common assumptions that many Christians believe the word is saying. Its easy with certain assumptions to justify/condemn/believe certain things that may not even be supported in the bible. Like i said it was definitely challenging, because the way he was describing God's plan was so different than what it is today. But one main point we touched one is doing whatever you do for God kingdom. Whether it be an accountant, missionary, janitor, car salesman, whatever it may be, doing it for God. We are called to be involved with every area of life, and to the best of our ability. I will be honest and say there were a lot of things i struggled with but i'm trying to let the weeks of lectures build off each other, not just each week separately, but to keep everything in perspective and in balance.

I a bit curuous to know who read this. Do you think you could do a favor and just leave a comment saying hi? I made it so anybody can leave one, so it doesnt matetr if you're regestered or anything. It would mean a lot to me!!!

Sorry for the simple updates. Its hard to explain what goes into a whole week in a few sentences. Ill try my best to stay current!!!! I miss you all.

:)

Week 2

Hello friends.

Lets recap this week shall we? On monday here at the base, the students were welcomed by a traditional powhiri ceremony by the Maori natives and residents of the Local YWAM community. The ceremony starts with us, the students, outside the campus and the residents inside. A Maori warrior is sent out to issue a challenge and to find out our intention for being at their land. He then extends a peace offering in the form of a leaf, and if we accept the offering, we pick up the leaf and follow the warrior into the campus. We take our seats on opposite sides of the grounds and the tribe leader stands up and welcomes us to the land and then they sing a song. We respond with our reason for being there, and sing song also. Then we are met by another speech and song, which we respond with a speech and song. Then we are greeted by each individual on the base by shaking hands or hugging, and touching noses, exchanging the breath of life that was passed from God to Adam through his nostrils, and passes down by generation to generation. Then, we enjoy morning tea and biscuits to seal the deal, and we are officially no longer visitors to the land, but natives and when another group comes to be welcomed, we will now sit on the native side during the powhiri. It was very cool that we got to take part in such a cool tradition.

Our speaker for the week was Matt Dawson, the son of the international president of YWAM, John Dawson. He is married in his mid twenties, and has a cute 18 month old daughter. He talked on the topic of evangelism. Now normally you would expect a 5 point list of how to approach someone and share your faith, without really caring about a person, but just trying to get the "Jesus Points". But this is exactly what we were trying to break free from during the week. We focused on the importance of just being genuine and real. People today want authenticity and can easily tell when you are being fake. The danger is to share a faith that actually doesnt mean anything to you, a faith that you cannot really say what it has done for you. So i would say the main focus of the week was discovering exactly what our relationship with God meant to us...and sadly in the process lots of us discover that we dont even really know for ourselves. Obviously this is a very simple version of what we learned but I can give you all the full version when i get back!!!

On Friday us boys went with Mark Parker, our base director and his sons to an All-man meat-lovers fest at the church in the city. The ladies were having a week long conference called "sistas" so the men got to have their own fun with boxing, laser tag, and pizza.

Other than that the only interesting thing has been rugby. It is the rugby world cup right now in France. I dont even know if anybody in the states knows of this because rugby is so over looked there, but here it is life. The New Zealand All-blacks is the National team here, and they tear it up. Im not going to even try to defend football or any other sport. Rugby is a man's sport hands down. It is insane. Lots of the players are covered in each others blood by the end of the game. The games play here at midnight so it makes for a fun night of hanging out. By the way, team USA is horrible. They lost to Wales. Lame.

Anyways. I miss you guys. I hope all is well back home.

<3

One Tree Hill

Yesterday we went to One tree hill. Many of you may know the TV show, the title being a reference to a monument here in New Zealand. Up until yesterday it had always been cold and cloudy and gloomy. It was a bit depressing considering I had always pictured New Zealand being big, green, and full of sheep. But finally, yesterday, my mental picture was fulfilled.

YEAH!!!! SHEEEP!!!!! Look at that little guy go!!!! It is calving season so there were tons of little lambs running around!! But their moms are protective and when you get too close they say "BAH" But not you're friendly babe-pig-in-the-big-city "BAH", no its the BAAAHH That says "Listen you silly tourist (because only a tourist thinks sheep are interesting), one more step and we'll be eating you for Easter!!"

Our group is bonding real quick. This week was just sharing life stories and letting each other know more about ourselves. Some stories we more happy, and some were filled with lots of pain and hurt, but everyone was vulnerable which makes for a really good, safe environment. I'm excited to see how the weeks progress at this rate.

Well, not much more exciting than that, except last night was night of culture, where everyone brought something from their own countries. There was scones, kim-chi, empanadas, German cake, slide shows, and Milo (an Aussie crummy chocolaty energy drink), and of course apple pie from us Americans (which is funny since apple pie really started before America existed).

So yep. Its Friday so we're gonna go find something fun to do.

Love you all !!!

First Impressions

Well hello this is my first update since arriving. The flight was wonderful thanks to a handy dandy sleeping pill that made me sleep the majority of the flight.

When we arrived at the base, i must say i was a bit surprised because i was expecting the base to be in the heart of the city of Auckland, but we are in the more Maori-populated area. We are 25 minutes from a local shopping mart where we can buy all the essentials and a quick train ride from the comforts of a huge mall in Sylvia Park :P

Our base:

There are 16 of us, 4 being males. This was a bit surprising i must say, when the pictures of friends' DTS showed many more people. I was a bit bummed at first because i was hoping to meet tons of people from all over. I had to quickly review my reason for being here, of course and realized that no matter how many people are here, it's will be an amazing time. Maybe a larger group actually would have been more of a distraction while i am here, who knows. There are people from Canada, USA, Denmark, Korea, Australia, Austria, Germany and Scotland and Wales here!! Its so cool to compare vocabulary and hobbies and lifestyles. There are so many cool accents and lingo i get to hear. Don't be surprised when i come home with an accent and a bag full of new words!!!

Here is a picture of my bed:

I quickly found out that home builders in NZ haven't quite fully grasped the concept of insulation. The base is freezing!!! At all times!!! But there are warm showers and tea to please.

The meals are amazing. We had cornbread and chili today for lunch. It was crazy good. Mmmm

Well there isn't a whole lot more to say. I will update again when something new happens. I hope all is going good across the pond back home.



Love you all



:)