Days 10 and 11

Monday, January 26

Today was the first day of official lectures (the first week was mainly orientation). This week’s concentration is about grace. The teaching is being done by Holmsted’s base leader, Daniel Susenbach. This morning he told us his story of finding God, and man has this guy got some stories to tell.
He also has a ridiculously comprehensive knowledge of scripture, so he is always quoting relevant passages and showing how they connect with each other and the ideas he’s trying to communicate.
We got to have curry for lunch again - joy! It was Haley’s birthday yesterday (she was away with family) so today there was a table set aside for her with a lace tablecloth and fancy place settings and a “Happy Birthday” banner draped over it - I got to join the birthday table, which means I got to have a piece of the lovely chocolate birthday cake that the staff gave her.
After a couple of hours of cleaning and peeling potatoes (which was actually kind of fun; it gave us a chance to talk) it was time for “Sport”. We got several choices: jogging, going on a walk, intense weight training or pilates. Jogging is not my thing, the slots for weight training filled up pretty quickly, and a lot of my muscles were sore from playing soccer yesterday so, I am embarrassed to say, I opted for pilates to try and work some of the knots out. Oi. Thank goodness no one took it seriously - the whole time we were basically mocking the video instructor, but still…. I shudder to think that Debora’s photos will make their way to facebook…
After dinner I had my first weekly one-on-one with my small group leader, Alex. She and I spent a half hour talking and praying together. Each week we’ll be handing in “journals” that tell about any revelations and musings we have during the week - we’re able to make it as personal or academic as we like. For this first week, though, we just had to put down a few of our goals for our time at DTS, so during our one-on-one I went through my four goals and explained why I have them.
After the one-on-one the rest of the night was off, so Nika trimmed my hair - Ruth and Philippe helped.
I spent a few hours writing in my blog and editing photos for y’all while playing my music through the stereo and hanging out with the rest, which means it took ten times as long as it should have.

Photos: Monday, January 26

Tuesday, January 27

Today we had the usual quiet time. Hanna suggested that we spend the hour just being quiet before God, which I have a hard time doing, so I decided to see how an hour in the prayer cupboard by the boy’s dorm would go. It was quite nice, actually…
We learned about the different nations Holmsted focuses on praying for and aiding, and spent an hour in prayer for the peoples of those countries and the missionaries that are currently working there.
Today’s lesson was pretty impactful for me. I hope to write a whole essay on the topic to help me better order things in my mind… what happened was that Daniel taught about how we are saved by faith in God alone, not by any action that we take to better ourselves. I raised my hand and asked “What about people who believe in God, but not in Jesus?”. His answer was over an hour long.
He explained how the predominant idea - that before Christ you could only be forgiven for sins through sacrifice - was false, and that even during the period after Moses and before Christ people were only ever saved through their faith in God - the sacrifices and rule-keeping were acts of faith. The sacrifices didn’t cleanse the people of their sin, they made them aware of the fact that they needed a savior and pointed toward the Christ who was to come. The rules were there to be carried out as acts of faith, an outward expression of their faith in God. He was exhaustive about it, giving reference after reference to the scriptures in both the Old Testament and the New Testament showing exactly what he meant. All along he’s been asking us to think hard about what he says and challenge him if anything doesn’t sit well or isn’t consistent with the scriptures, but every time I think I’ve found a flaw in his explanations I find the answer in the notes I was rapidly scribbling as he spoke. I’ve always wondered why on earth God required sacrifices and had such a legalistic rulebook for the Israelites in the time before Christ, and he explained Anyway, like I said, I hope to write a lot more about this later. Oh - and over lunch he told me that that was the longest answer he’d ever given in a lecture. I think God may have been working through him to help me along with things a bit because this idea has been one I’ve been wrestling with a ton lately - in fact, making peace with this issue is one of the four goals I put down for this DTS. I was literally dancing around while standing in the lunch line I was so excited to have had so much clarified.
Work duty today was interesting because the four of us needed to make 35 toasties (toasted subs) for dinner and I was the only one without a cold (there’s been an epidemic sweeping the base; thankfully I haven’t gotten it yet). That meant I was the only one could handle food, so while the others cleaned I sliced and portioned baguettes, buttered them, and started slicing cheese. I was left alone to finish putting the sandwiches together, but Nika heard I was on my own so she joined me and we listened to music and raced to see who could make the subs the fastest.
At 4:15 there was a “seminar” in the coach house - it turned out to be a trivia competition (once again, Peter Susenbach’s American spirit of competitiveness comes into play) where we broke up into our small groups and found out which group could answer the most questions about Paul’s writings and life correctly. My group was neck-and-neck with Peter B’s small group up until near the end, but we ended up in second place in the end. It was alright - the winners shared their prizes of chocolate bars with the rest of us anyway.

Days 8 and 9

Saturday, January 24

Breakfast is an hour later on the weekends - it’s nice to be able to stay up a bit later. Every Saturday there’s a shopping trip to Crawley, so we got to tool around Crawley and a giant Wal-Mart like store called ASDA (oddly enough, ASDA is affiliated with Wal-Mart. You just can’t escape it, can you?). I did my best to resist buying cakes and doughnuts while I was out, and managed to keep from spending money on much needed sweets.
The guys had gone to town separately from the girls and they ended up staying out and getting a cab back, so the girls snuggled together in the Underground to watch the newest version of Pride and Prejudice, sigh over the romance, and giggle at the idea of going to Brighton to follow the regiment and elope like Elizabeth Bennett’s little sister.
A bunch of us decided to have a worship session in the evening once the guys got back from the movie theatre. Once again we gathered in the Underground. Shea and Vetle lead by playing guitar. Whenever we felt led, we’d suggest a new song, talk about whatever we felt God was telling us at the moment, read scripture, pray, share testimonies…

Photos: Saturday, January 24

Sunday, January 25

This week I went to a mobile church called The Point. The worship was fun - mosh pit style. There wasn’t a sermon this morning; instead a leader of a street ministry in Ireland called Healing On The Streets got up and told us a bit about his ministry. Quite a few people who had gone on a street outreach of the same sort went up to give their testimonies of what they’d seen, then at the end everyone who was ill or hurt was told they could come to the front so they could be prayed over. I don’t know quite what to think of all that; supposedly several people with one leg longer than the other were healed of back pain and even had their shorter leg grow after the prayers, but none of us could see the change that many in the group were gasping about, so I dunno…
On the drive back the minibus stalled, but luckily we were able to get it to take us home. Unfortunately, it stalled right at the start of the driveway, so I and 6 or 7 other girls got out and pushed - all the way to the house, which has got to be almost a quarter mile. Uphill. In the rain. We were pretty proud of ourselves after that.
After lunch 18 of the students, DTS staff, and other Holmsted staff piled into cars and went down the road to a slightly less bog-like football pitch (I’m picking up the lingo). We played football for a couple of hours in the drizzle - of course there are the hard-core players and the amateurs like me, but we all have fun. I scored on a penalty kick and got to made the winning goal by kicking the ball through the goalie’s legs after the ball was sent my way as a result of a rather spectacular turnover at the other end of the field.
After dinner a bunch of us walked the 20 minutes to the pub, and I regret to say that I neglected to take my camera so I don’t have any pictures, but this pub is the nicest little place - it’s an old stone house with several of the front rooms made for public use. One of the two main rooms is lower than the other, and there are stairs and a bar bridging the two. Each room has an old brick hearth with a wood fire lit, low ceilings, red velvet upholstered benches and worn wooden chairs. I’ll take lots of pictures the next time we go.

Days 6 and 7

Thursday, January 22

Thursdays are sleep in days, so we get to have breakfast at 8:15 instead of 7:15 - but I had to force myself to go back to sleep for the final hour as I’ve actually gotten used to getting up early! Gasp! Where are the four horsemen?
The morning lessons were on intercessory prayer and diversity. The talk on diversity was mainly on the differences between “hot” and “cold” cultures and the ways they value time, personal property, and relationships, which was quite interesting.
Lunch was sweet Thai chicken with peppers and onions over rice. Every day we have lunch at 1:00 and at 1:20 we have announcements and greet any visitors or returning staff. The gal who was doing announcements today also asked a question-of-the-day sort of thing to test out an idea she’d thought up earlier (whoever answered the question would get a can of coke - a coveted commodity). She asked us to tell of a few of the differences between hot and cold cultures, so I raised my hand and answered.
Work duties after lunch, then I hung out with the girls in my room and we took pictures of our room and bunks to send back home - they’ll be online shortly.
In the afternoon we had a room meeting mediated by one of the DTS staff, Gina, to determine how things were going to run in our dorm room. The six of us have been getting on pretty well, so the meeting was pretty low-key.
We had free time before dinner, so we joined the eight girls in the other room for tea, picture taking, and a few rounds of the Ungame.
We had a session titled Making Jesus Lord. We were puzzled when the leaders asked us to bring pillows and blankets to the lesson - we arrived at the classroom to find the chairs pushed off to the edges of the room and the lights replaced with candles. We made ourselves comfortable on the floor and listened to a short recorded sermon and a talk by one of the staff then we were given as much time as we needed to pray, listen to music, and meditate on what we’d heard.

Friday, January 23

This morning we learned about YWAM’s 17 core values. The base leader (I really must post names and descriptions of all the staff and students for you guys - that’s next on my list) had put together a sort of game with movie clips - we were supposed to match the theme of the movie clip to one of YWAM’s values. The base leader is American, so of course he had to add a bit of competition by having us form smaller groups and see which group could match the most correctly. 17 clips later (everything from Little Miss Sunshine to Fight Club to Ocean’s 11 to Bourne Identity) 4 of the 5 groups had gotten all 17 matches correct, so I and 3 other group representatives got up for a tie breaker - I just barely missed winning a free candy bar for each of my teammates.
The 14 of us girls started a new tradition today - Friday Tea. We’ve decided that every Friday we’ll have tea and play the Ungame - it’s fun to goof off with the girls for a few hours, giggling about all the usual girly things. I’ve even come to crave tea with of milk and sugar.
We hung out in The Underground listening to music until 7:30 then went up to the Leather Room for a couple hours of eating Toblerone, drinking hot chocolate, playing a lighter version of the Ungame, talking, and taking random pictures of one another.

Photos: Friday, January 23

Days 4 and 5

Tuesday, January 20

This morning we had a really nice worship session - one of Holmsted‘s staff, a guy named Paul, played the guitar and lead. Here worship doesn’t have a time limit; when we have worship it goes on as long as we feel lead. That means that the worship and teaching is that much more meaningful; guided by the Holy Spirit rather than schedules.
In the late morning we had a “lesson” on Intimacy With God - I say it that way because it seemed more like a discussion than a lesson or lecture. Peter (26, The Netherlands), one of our DTS staff, lead it.
Bangers and mash with homemade gravy and fresh vegetables for lunch! That was really good - as usual, I went back for seconds and thirds.
Today was the day we were assigned our work duties, so after lunch an American gal named Gina told us about all of the possible options and why we have work duties for students here at Holmsted, then we had to watch some very old and campy videos about food safety in order to comply with Health and Safety department regulations. After that we got to request what area we’d like to be assigned to. Of the options available I put down the kitchen as my first choice, hospitality as my second, and maintenance as my third - I got the kitchen, so I and three other students will be helping in the kitchen for an hour or two each weekday afternoon, cleaning the kitchen and preparing vegetables and things for the coming meals.
This evening we all went into the leather room to hear the leader’s and other student’s testimonies.
This was intense. Four hours this night, two tomorrow - time devoted to letting each individual tell their life story. Twenty-seven people - stories of abusive parents, happy families, lives on the mission field in war zones, growing up in the charismatic church, lives in ordinary neighborhoods with no troubles, near-death experiences, leukemia, leaving a degrading life behind, psychological disorders, lovers torn apart, miraculous healing, betrayal… the only common thread a desire to know God more. When you spend several days in the company of a group of people, you tend to put each individual in their own little box. The boxes are gone.

Wednesday, January 21

This morning several men and women from the surrounding towns came and told us about the different ministries they run and about the opportunities we’ll have to join them on Friday nights. Then Alex, one of the girls on the DTS staff, spoke about hearing God’s voice.
First day of work duties today - the kitchen hadn’t been ‘deep cleaned’ in a while because of a staff change, so we spent about an hour and a half scrubbing away.
At 4:00 we all met back at The Leather Room for a discussion about community values. Basically, we went through a list of what they call values as opposed to rules - things having to so with quiet hours, media in public rooms, drinking, dating, and decency in public areas.
It was really constructive - instead of laying down the law, Hanna asked us to give our opinions on the topics once she explained the reasons behind the community guidelines. For most things there wasn’t much discussion because we all felt the same way and understood the values behind the ‘rules’. For drinking and dating, though, Hanna encouraged us to split up into smaller groups and discuss things together then share our consensus with the whole group.
With alcohol we reached the decision that it will be up to each person to decide whether or not to drink when we’re outside of Holmsted. Dating came down to “leave with what you came with”, so if you’re not dating don’t start, but it’s something open for discussion with the staff. Apparently by the end of the last DTS of 28 people 24 had paired off - that’s got to be a disruptive. What’s YWAM stand for again? Young Women After Men? Young Wolves After Maidens?

Days 2 and 3

Sunday, January 18

I woke at four in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep - I gave up trying at 7:00, got up, and went down to the boot room to get some wellies. I walked all around the grounds as the sun was rising - there are several ponds with a good size stream connecting them, an old herb garden, an orchard, and also a football/soccer field along the driveway. I took a few pictures then went inside for breakfast.
At ten a lot of us got in the bus and went to Slogtham (or however you spell it) church for the late morning service. It’s a sweet old church of about one hundred people - the building itself has been remodeled since my dad was here. They put plaster on the interior walls and replaced the wooden pews with movable chairs.
The lesson was on Joseph and the worship was led by one of the base staff and one of the church’s members.
We stayed around for coffee and tea afterwards. Guess what fam - I’ve started drinking coffee (with milk and sugar - I‘m not totally insane). It’s the jet lag’s fault. Blame it. I’ve found tea’s actually quite nice with milk, too.
Anyway, after the service it was back to the base for lunch - the traditional Sunday roast. Roast pork, homemade gravy, roasted small potatoes, steamed vegetables, and fresh banana bread with a hot custard sauce for ‘pudding‘. The food here is actually quite good! From the dismal picture my dad painted of English food I was expecting totally tasteless meals, but not so.
At two thirty we went on two hour walk through the English countryside. It was gorgeous - rolling fields, old farm houses, hedges, horses, and dozens of sheep. We actually walked through one of the sheep fields, which awed a few city people very much.
When we got back we rinsed off our boots (England is very swampy this time of year) and over a dozen of us got cleats on and played soccer until it got dark. That was really fun - I’ve not played in a while, but was still able to keep up alright and I even got a very lucky goal! We were all covered in mud by the time we walked back - my lower legs were totally coated and the rest of me liberally splattered.
We had a ‘packed’ meal for dinner - meaning they set out sandwich fixings and leftovers for us to help ourselves to. Over dinner my table talked about where we should go for the long weekend in March, and it looks like a group will be going to Rome for the four days - I’d love to go, but I don’t know if the financing will work out. Apparently you can get a flight to Rome for less than ten pounds, but the cost of hostels and food would add up…
After dinner there was a bonfire and we stood outside talking for a few hours and introduced the Europeans to the concept of s’mores. Of course, this is England, so there was a bit of improvisation going on - they used chocolate covered digestive biscuits instead of graham crackers and chocolate bars.
Soon after we came in from the bonfire we went to bed, for which I was truly thankful.

Photos: 2nd Day, Sunday, January 18

Monday, January 19

Today we got up at 7:00, ate breakfast, had quiet time for an hour, a worship session in the main room of The Coach House then a coffee break in the underground. Then we learned a bit about the history and vision of YWAM and Holmsted, had another break, then learned about DTS specifically, then had lunch - chicken curry! It was nice and spicy. I heard we’ll get that once a week for a couple weeks at least, I hope that’s true!
After lunch was the base tour, so we split into small groups and toured the different buildings and departments and the staff let us know what it is that they do and how it relates to us.
Now I and a few of the girls from my room are sitting in our room relaxing, showing each other pictures of back home, reading, and blogging.
This has been really excellent so far. There are so many interesting people with fascinating stories - it’s kind of an unusual environment, too, because everyone is so young. Both the students and the staff, I mean. The oldest student is twenty six, and most of the staff are under thirty.

Photos: 3rd Day, Monday, January 19

“Steppin’ Out” - Traveling and Day 1

Thursday, January 15

“I’m steppin’ out… I’m gonna see the world” - ELO (a song my dad listened to on his way to his DTS then played for me on the drive to O’Hare)

6:49 pm I’m typing this sitting at Gate K7 of the O’Hare International Airport - the flight is now scheduled to leave at 7:30pm instead of 7:20pm, but hopefully that’ll be the only hiccough in this trip.
Sitting in this crowded legion of chairs I can hear Irish and English accents along with the American - knowing that I’m going to be living in a situation where that sort of mixture is the norm is pretty exciting. Soon I’ll be living in very close quarters with people from England, Holland, India, Germany, Norway, France, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, Korea, the US and Canada - 21 other students in all. I’ll see how many different accents I can pick up!
7:30 pm - Well, we’re now scheduled to take off at 7:45 instead of the original 7:20, and I’m hoping this won’t create any problems with my connection in Dublin… it’s supposed to leave at 11:00 am, only two and a half hours after this first flight was originally scheduled to land.
9:40 pm/3:40 am Dublin time - Finally, after over 2 hours of delays due to faulty smoke detectors, frozen water pipes, and a family that had to leave due to a death in the family, we take off.
10:55 am Dublin Time - We touched down at 9:45 and by the time we began to deplane it was around 10:00. By 10:10 I was out and running. Well, walking fast and jogging occasionally, anyway. I got to the passport check line and got a bit antsy as it took so long for the line to shrink - I asked an attendant the fastest route to the Aer Lingus desk and as soon as my passport was stamped I scampered to get my boarding pass.
That done, I hurried to follow the directions to the gate. Up the stairs, through security, down a few long halls, and I made it to the gate with almost 25 minutes to spare.
10:29 pm - in bed at Holmsted Manor - I got to Gatwick at 12:15 and Hanna, the school leader, picked me up. I was given a tour of the beautiful house, met some of the staff and students, ate a late lunch with Hanna, then had some time to myself to unpack a bit, call home, and take a couple hour’s nap.
During dinner I was able to acquaint myself a bit better with some of the other students. From 8:00 - 9:45 we played cards and had an impromptu worship time in “The Underground”, the hang out room in the basement.
I went up to bed at 10:00, did a bit of journaling, and was out like a light.

Photos: Friday, January 16

Day 1 - Saturday, January 17

I got up at 8:00, we had breakfast and wandered around the grounds a bit. At 10 we all got into a mini school bus and went on a shopping trip to Sainsbury’s, where I was happy to find mint Aero bars and Sainsbury’s soda, both of which brought back memories of Edinburgh (as my family will attest).
In the afternoon the plan was to play football (as the Europeans insist on calling it) in the field down the drive, but I and the girls from my room ended up sitting and talking in our room for a few hours. They’re all really interesting girls; I’ll be telling you about them later on…
We had a meeting in The Leather Room at 4:00 so everyone could introduce themselves as everyone had arrived. We got our schedules and learned more about the general layout of the school, then spent a couple of hours talking.
We ate pizza for dinner and I helped wash up afterwards, then we went to the coach house to play a few ice breaking games. After a bit we went back to The Underground, which is where I am now!

Photos: 1st Day - Saturday, January 17

Introductions

"He has the deed half done who has made a beginning." - Horace

Perhaps Horace is right when it comes to some things, but for all that I’ve made a beginning with my trip to England, I’ve got a ways to go before the halfway mark.
In making a beginning for this journal telling you about my time away in England and who knows where else, I think I’ll give you a bit of background.
First, Youth With A Mission. I think that they are a good deal better at telling you about themselves than I would be, so…

“YWAM Explained

We are a mixture of people from all over the world, from 149 countries in fact. In many of our locations, people from a wide variety of nations serve side by side. We come from numerous different Christian denominations and speak hundreds of languages. Nearly half of our staff come from "non-western" countries, such as Brazil, Korea, Indonesia, India and Nepal.
In addition to our full-time staff, many YWAM locations host short-term outreach teams made up of individuals, youth groups, families and churches who get to participate first-hand in "making God known" through both words and actions. We send out over 25,000 short-term missionaries each year.
There are three strands of ministry weaving throughout all that YWAM does:

Evangelism - Some creative tools used to present the gospel include drama, music, performing arts and sports camps. YWAMers want to share their faith effectively in ways that the audience--whether teenagers, elderly refugees, or an unreached people group--will understand. YWAM also engages in church planting among unreached people groups.

Mercy Ministry - Mercy Ministry is the "hands and feet" of making God known. YWAM helps meet some of the practical and physical needs of about 400,000 people annually. Caring for street children in South America; aiding in the recovery of drug addicts in North America and Western Europe; feeding and housing refugees and women in need in Africa and Asia, and operating ships that declare the good news practically and verbally, are just some of the ways in which helping hands are extended.

Training and Discipleship - Training and Discipleship aim to better equip Christians to serve others in everything from agriculture and health care, to drug rehabilitation and biblical counseling. Through YWAM's University of the Nations (U of N), missionaries can study in specialized areas such as science and technology, linguistics, the humanities, and Christian ministry. Most YWAM schools combine classroom teaching with relationship-centered discipleship and practical service.
The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is a requirement for applying as YWAM staff, and serves as a prerequisite to all other training programs. Each year some 10,000 students attend a U of N school at one of the 250 different locations.”

“Discipleship Training Schools (DTS) aim to prepare messengers of the gospel, helping students to know God in depth. The goal is to form Christian character and establish Biblical relationships while developing a daily walk with God. This intensive Christian training course begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase followed by a typically 12 week outreach.
The DTS is designed to encourage students to develop in personal character, to cultivate a living relationship with God, and to identify their unique individual gifts and callings in God. Cross-cultural exposure and global awareness are special emphases throughout these courses, preparing the students to reach current and future generations and answer the call to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19.
Not everyone completing a DTS necessarily joins YWAM. Many participate in a DTS to take time out to concentrate on God and consider whether He might be calling them to Christian ministry.”

My dad attended DTS thirty years ago, I have quite a few relatives who are very involved with YWAM, my parents were on the advisory board of Rancho Los Amigos in Juarez, Mexico for about 5 years, and I’ve helped out on a couple of medical missions outreaches through Rancho, so YWAM and DTS have been well known to me as far back as I can remember.
I began to consider the idea of attending DTS when I was twelve; at first it was mainly as an excuse to spend time in England - a country which has always attracted me because it has such a pivotal place in the world’s history and is the country of origin of a lot of my favorite literature - and skip out on school for a year. However, over the past several years I’ve come to look forward to DTS as a time to explore my relationship with God and really think hard on how I want to proceed with my schooling and career.
And so I’ve come to this point. Thursday, January 15, at 7:30pm, my flight leaves O’Hare. I land in Dublin at 7:30am local time - 1:30am back home. Two and a half hours and one airline switch later, I’ll be on a plane bound to land at Heathrow Airport at 12:20pm/6:20am.
I’ll be at Holmsted Manor until mid April when I’ll be leaving for another YWAM base for the outreach phase. In mid June it’s back to Holmsted for a bit, then on June 27 I’ll be home.
So, there’s the much-longer-than-intended introduction to what I’ll be up to for the next few months. I hope to keep a fairly regular online journal to tell you about Holmsted itself, fellow students, day trips, lessons, teachers, revelations… I’ll also do my best to illustrate with pictures .

Check back often - I'll put up new entries as often as I can write them.