Discipleship Training School –
We are officially over one month into our lecture phase of the DTS....and I have been radically surprised by God through the teaching and working of God’s Spirit. So far we have been host to some humble and powerful teachers of God’s word, Paul Logan, Loren and Darlene Cunningham, Al and Carolyn Akimov, and Jim Isom. They have taught on evangelism, missions, hearing God and the role of family and our identity in Christ. I would love to be able to give you a better synopsis of all we have been taught and all God is doing...but that would take many more pages than I desire to pass on to you!
I will say that Jesus is changing us all by His Word and Spirit....and I feel that my heart is under deep surgery. Some of the challenges that I have been going through have been the adaptation to living in a community setting....if you go through something as an individual, you go through it as a group because you cannot hide anywhere to be alone!! God has been pointing His finger on a lot of sin in my heart – selfishness, pride, ungratefulness, complaining, judgement...the list goes on. And in all of these things, I am in an environment where I must deal with each of these things so that we can live in unity and love as a family unit in Christ.
Just this last week....which consisted of a lot of inner healing and identifying root beliefs that are in opposition to the truth (which is why behaviour exists that goes against God) so that they can be renewed by God’s word (Romans 12), the Holy Spirit really revealed the state of my heart.....which is in desperate need of the work of the cross! I have come back to a place of realizing how much I need Jesus, His cross, His blood and His continual work in me (through His Word and Spirit). In total honesty – I see how much of a mess I am and how lost I am without the hope of Christ and His power that makes me a new creation every day!
YWAM Jubilee –
At the end of September we joined with the rest of Ukraine and Russia and gathered together to celebrate the Jubilee (50th) Anniversary of Youth With a Mission. It was a PARTY to say the least and a time of connecting, and readying for the future. As “non-YWAMer”s many of us students felt a little out of place, but by the end of the conference we were all powerfully impacted. It was a great encouragement to see and build relationships with other followers of Jesus in Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Belarus and other Ukranianian cities. We were about 250 people and shared meals, teaching sessions, worship and more together. Many received fresh vision for future outreaches and we all were equipped in greater ways.
I attended a workshop teaching about “Understanding Islam”. The session was VERY powerful and imparted a lot of practical wisdom and tools. It was just a taste of a longer training session that is used as a training tool for people that minister in Muslim nations. One of the most interesting things I learned was that almost ¼ of the world’s Muslim population speaks Russian as their first language. That is amazing to me – I had no idea. The European city that has the most Muslims per capita....is not Paris or London, but is Moscow. Southern Russia, that borders the “stans” has contains this large population of Russian speaking Muslims that have no witness for Jesus Christ, many of which live isolated and in very low economic status because they have been neglected through the Soviet times and left alone afterwards. God is stirring some things up in my heart for these peoples and regions....
Breakthrough in Kiev –
After the conference our DTS group stayed in Kiev and joined up with the DTS in Kiev for one week of teaching on pioneer missions. It was a powerful week indeed. The greatest thing I can pass on is this quote from Brother Andrew, “Who told you that a nation is closed to the good news of Jesus Christ....? Did God say that the nation was closed? NO, it was men that told you. If God has not said it, it is not so. And if God wants you in a nation, He will get you in and open all the doors you need.” Inspiring to say the least!
I was also so blessed and thankful to help out with leading worship at the YWAM base in Kiev. On the Thursday evening the base had their “Family Night” and two of the Kiev DTS students and myself formed a last minute band and lead a worship night. This was a highlight for me, firstly because God supernaturally brought us together – a keyboardist (English), a bassist (Ukrainian) and myself, guitarist (English). We had to lead in English and Russian....ha ha ha – and we did! There were about 100 or so missions staff and students present...and it was a powerful time,
After the evening, I thanked the Kiev DTS leader for helping with sound and he expressed how much of a breakthrough this night was. He shared that for a long time, nothing like that had happened on the base and he knew that it was a start of God’s move and breakthrough for the Kiev missions base and staff. What an honour for us as DTS Ternopil to have been present and a part of God’s work there!
Student Ministry/Outreach –
Evangelism: We have been going out to the streets every week as a school. While in Kiev, we had the privilege to teach the Kiev DTS a crash street-evangelism course and then we took them out with us. In Kiev it was so different – most of the older people we spoke with in Kiev were atheists and full of anger and hurt from the war (WW2), much fruit from the Soviet Union. This really broke my heart because some of the older men we spoke with, professors, were actually asking us, “Show me God if He exists....prove it to me.” Deep in their voices, however was an earnest desire to know that God is real.
In Ternopil, this past week, we split into groups and prayed as teams and went “treasure hunting”, which is asking God to speak to us of a specific place and person He wants us to meet with. Each group came back afterwards with awesome testimonies of God’s faithful guidance and the precious people on the receiving end. We have been building strong relationships with the people God has been sending us out to meet. We are meeting with them on Friday nights to build closer relationships and begin discipleship of those that are giving their lives to God. Our focus for this will continue in hearing God’s direction, following Him, sharing His words with people and building relationship and discipleship.
Elders and orphans: Last week we went to our other outreach ministries for the first time. My post was an Old Age Home. We went in groups to find men or women to visit with for our time at the home. My group, Lena, Riza and myself, found an elderly man, Sebastien, in his room and ready to receive us. We entered his small, smokey room and sat down. He was so excited to see us and shared that he never gets visitors. We explained why we were there....to talk with him, get to know him, etc. and he said, “ask me anything and I will tell you.” To our surprise, this 84 year old man, was a Soviet War Hero. He was on the front lines and shared later that he had the honour of freeing Warsaw, Poland from the Germans (and he mentioned other cities)... The last person that came to visit him was a reporter from Kiev, to find out about his stories.
He was a dear man, and all three of us felt a connection instantly. He thought that it was really cool that I was from Canada and that I spoke English. He shared that when he was in Berlin fighting that he used to drink Vodka with English soldiers! We left him some brownies that we had baked...and he was so blessed by our company and conversation! I am so excited to go back and keep visiting with this amazing man! What a reminder of the richness of life, wisdom and history that the older generation carries....and here he his, living in a tiny room in the state run seniors home on a very small pension. We are already planning ways to bless him....thinking about having a dinner in his honour, or taking him into town by taxi....if you get any ideas, please let me know!
Riga, Latvia – School of Prophetic Justice
I am writing this extensive (ha ha) newsletter from Riga, Latvia. I am sitting in an apartment of one of the YWAM staff, a Dutch woman, who is hosting us and the School of Prophetic Justice. School starts tomorrow and we have around 50 students from Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Norway, Russia, and other European countries. One of our students has come from Thailand....so we are expecting great things from God! It has already been such a powerful and supernatural trip to get here yesterday....and it is a priviledge to be serving with Jari and Tanya Koivu and the YWAM Alternatives Network to serve Europe with the information of Pro-Life Missions and Human Trafficking Ministry....I will share more in the next newsletter....but for now....keep praying with us for many to be changed, inspiried and set a flame for the work of love found in God’s justice for the unborn and oppressed of the world. We are believing that eyes will be opened in Europe to these vital ministries, as in many nations there is very little taking place through the ministry of the church. It is time!
