We’ve only been in Mexico for two weeks now, but the family has already adjusted so well, you wouldn’t think its been such a short time.
The base here is probably the nicest YWAM base in the world. This has consistently been the comment coming from all the traveling speakers. There are a few reasons for this. First, because it’s all been built within the last 5 years. Before that, the base was in an old building in downtown Tijuana. There’s a long story in how the land was given and the buildings were donated, but to make that long story short, this is a very nice, clean, new base with great food and an extremely well-organized staff.
Beth and I felt blessed when they gave us two rooms. All of the other DTS students are sharing rooms together, 4 per room, but they gave our family two adjoining rooms. The rooms are about 400 sq ft each, including the bathrooms. They’re about the size of the average hotel room. The kid’s room has 4 bunk beds in it, and ours has a queen bed and one bunk. This gives us enough room to get by.
The kitchen and mess hall are about 300 yards away. Meal times are: breakfast – 7:30, lunch – 12:30, and dinner – 5:30. If you miss out, you can always eat some PB&J or a bit of fruit. I’ve been giving the kids a little tough love in the food department. They’ve gotten used to eating whatever they want, whenever they want. Now they have to eat whatever the cooks provide, or go hungry. The first week was tough on them, but they are coming around.
We’ve also been enjoying the teaching here. DTS is short for ‘Discipleship Training School”. It’s designed to build the foundations of a strong knowledge and relationship with God. It is 12 weeks in class, followed by 8-12 weeks on the mission field. DTS students are typically young, 18 – early 20 somethings, who go on to school, pursue their career, get married, etc. when DTS is over. But some stay on to become staff or eventually become leaders within YWAM. Everyone in YWAM has gone through a DTS when they joined the organization. So, Beth and I are here as students for the next 5 months. We have both decided to approach our time here with a positive attitude, enjoying the teaching and reinforcing the foundations of our own faith.
We are really looking forward to the outreach phase as well, which for us will be either in Rosarito or Ensenada.
Our daily schedule has been an adjustment as well. Rather than working, I am sitting in a classroom. And rather than taking care of her house, Beth is also sitting next to me in class. But class time is only in the mornings. Afternoons are filled with miscellaneous things like work duties, devotionals, occasional class time, and one ministry per week. My work duty is to wash and detail base vehicles. Beth’s is to work in the kitchen. We both love it. Seriously, we were begging to be able to volunteer to help out around here, but they wanted us to not do anything for the first week.
At first I was a bit frustrated about being a student and not really being able to serve a lot or teach. After the amount of ministry we enjoyed before we left Tri-Cities, I was really concerned that I wouldn’t be able to be involved much. I know it may seem silly, but I was afraid of letting go and just resting during this time. I didn’t want to get used to it and not want to be busy when DTS is over. Also, I am not exactly fond of getting up in front of people. Even though most people know I speak all the time, I honestly have a lot of stage-fright. I guess I was nervous that if I wasn’t speaking for 5 months, I would get rusty and be too scared to teach again. But God has been good. He’s given me some opportunities to speak and teach, and also Beth has been able to minster to a lot of the girls here. We’ve both been able to serve in practical ways with our work duties, and also been able to minister to people as well.
We went down to La Playas (the beaches) of Tijuana to scout out a place to do some street preaching and let the kids play in the ocean. I think I’ve found a pretty good spot to go and do some Saturday street ministry. I’ve been working on recruiting a translator so I can do some open air preaching as well. Please pray the God provides the right guy.
The ministry we chose to be involved in is called “Circulo”. It’s an outreach that focuses on building relationships with families through the youth. We went last week for the first time. It happened to be the first time in this particular area. The vision, if I understand it right, is to go in, hold an event each week with the kids in the area, where we play games, do some activity, and teach them a Bible lesson. During this time, part of the team ministers to the parents, and encourages them to come to the local church we are working with. At the end of 3 months, the pastor takes over the ministry and the team moves on to another area to do the same.
Our first event in this new area drew in over 40 kids! They were hoping to have around 50 by the end of the outreach, but God blessed it and there are already a whole bunch coming. Praise God!
I know this is a long update, but it’s the first one. There was a lot to catchup on, and still try to keep it short. I’ve been waiting to update you until I could tell you that we are actually doing something other than just being students. Ministry and work duties just started this week, so now I feel like I can give you an update without being embarrassed haha. Also, I have a bunch of photos to share with you, but I don’t know how to convert them and make them comparable with this blog. Frustrating. Only has one that was small enough to work.
I was planning on using the blog to alternate weeks with updates on what’s happening in YWAM, and my typical devotional type messages. Sometimes there wont be a lot to tell as far as anything new, so I may wait an extra week or two to update you. Please feel free to leave comments or questions and I will be happy to include any info on the next update.
God bless you, friends! Thanks so much for your prayers and financial support. We could not be here without you!
