Hello From Uganda. We are doing great as a team. We have shared the Lord with so many people and seen many come to the Lord as well. The team dynamics have been great and the team is doing well adjusting to cold showers, rice and beans, outdoor squaties, and much more. They are loving the people and we are doing our best to make an impact. We have been preaching in churches, prisons, university groups, going door to door, and doing open-airs. So good to be in Africa

The Ugandan Outreach Team

Our last week here at YWAM Harpenden has been a real joy! Last Friday, as you might recall, the new Discipleship Training School and other school and seminar groups moved in, so we had to move into an old factory located on the property here. In some ways, we feel like we’re already on our foreign outreach as we’re camped out on the floor with sleeping bags. The night we moved in, our wonderful school leaders gave us an extra special treat of takeaway pizzas and cookies and ice cream for dessert! We played games late into the evening and made “human sandwiches” (as many people as possible squashed in between as many mattresses as possible…) People woke up a little sore the next morning…..On Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed the hospitality of some great YWAM Harpenden staff friends, people we’ve grown to love here over the past three months. We enjoyed an apple festival held in the orchards here, with fresh apple juice and delicious cakes and jams available. It was such fun and was a great chance to abandon inhibitions and become a kid for the afternoon climbing trees and collecting apples in wheelbarrows! My parents also came to visit me and took me out for lunch, which was very special. It was hard to say goodbye before I leave for my two-month outreach to Uganda, but it was a privilege to spend time with them.

We began lectures this week in a slightly different style than we’ve become accustomed to…namely, with no lecturer…or not one we can hug anyway! We spent the week watching a series of videos by Dean Sherman on Spiritual Warfare. Much of the content was new to me. Dean describes the authority we have in Jesus Christ as well as the insignificance of the forces that oppose us compared to the greatness of God. He has made it possible for me to believe that, as the Bible tells us, prayer is powerful and effective. This teaching will be so important when we get to Uganda and face situations that most of us have never dealt with before. We’ll have many opportunities to pray and then see God work…. I can’t wait to get on that plane!

In the next couple of days we will be saying goodbye to our DTS Italy team as they prepare to start their outreach in Cornwall and Brighton here in England before flying out to Italy. It will be very quiet without them here, but we are thrilled that they can begin this next adventure. Team Uganda leaves next Tuesday. Although sad that we’re saying goodbye to friends and family, nothing can take away the excitement of being led by God into the world to partner with Him in seeing lives change. Who would say no to that? So, here ends the lecture phase of my DTS…and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be!!

The next time I write it will be from Nairobi, Kenya, en route to Uganda – see you then!

Kim

The first ever Oval Apple Festival was a massive success!  Blessed with a perfect sunny autumn day, the crowds came in hordes to enjoy a particularly bountiful crop of apples from YWAM’s orchard.  The idea of staff member, Heidi Wills, the Apple Festival was started as an idea to prevent wasting the fruit from the apple orchard which grows, largely untended, behind the Factory on Highfield Oval.  Although staff and visitors help themselves every year, there are more apples than we can possibly use and so Heidi was inspired to invite the local community in to help us!

As soon as the Apple Festival opened at two o’clock, visitors came to pick apples and buy homemade apple jams, cakes and pies.  Especially popular was the delicious fresh-squeezed apple juice flowing out of the wooden press created by Oval graphics designer Jonathan Edwards.  Oval residents of all ages were involved in picking and selling apples, cutting them up for the press and organising activities. The crowds kept coming until the closing at 5pm, with dozens of children enjoying a bouncy castle and games including bobbing for apples.

“I was pleased that so many people came to enjoy this often forgotten part of the site,” says Heidi.  It was also great to have the support and help of so many from the Oval, especially the young people, a few of whom gave up much of their weekend to help press and sell apple juice!”

All agree that the first Apple Festival will not be the last.

We took a deep breath over the weekend before the crazy schedule of Re-engage (www.reengage.net) began. I relaxed with friends until Saturday afternoon and it really felt like I was at home. We travelled to neighboring Luton to do some shopping in between the rain storms, and even stopped for some real English fish and chips on the way home. I’m from England and I thought it was just delightful!

Sunday marked the beginning of the Re-engage conference, which has been awesome (and we’re only half way through). The conference focuses on how we can live out God’s values in all areas of society. We’ve heard from some very influential people including James Featherby, a partner in a leading law firm, John Sutherland, a superintendent with the metropolitan police, and Tim Levell, the editor of the BBC television show Blue Peter. It has been incredible to hear from people of such influence about the way they live out their faith in such diverse sectors of society.

At Re-engage, I am involved in the Government and Politics track. I’ve been privileged to spend time with Charlie Hoare, the International Secretary of the humanitarian organization CARE, which provides resources and helps to bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy and practical caring initiatives. CARE is represented in the United Kingdom’s Parliaments and Assemblies, at the European Union in Brussels and at the United Nations in Geneva and New York. Charlie is involved on an international level with the United Nations and spent time sharing stories of his amazing experiences within such an incredibly influential sector. Tomorrow, I have the privilege of accompanying Charlie (with the rest of my fellow track members) on a political tour of London including the very exciting Houses of Parliament. I can’t wait!

The first week of Re-engage has been significant for me. One of the reasons I came to do the YWAM Discipleship Training School was to discover God’s heart for justice. I’m discovering that the more I know God the less of a distinction I see between His character and justice. A desire for justice is simply part of who God is and integral to what it means for us to follow him. Yesterday, Phillip Powell challenged us to say “yes” to God and be willing to go wherever He asks us to, in whatever sector of society, and to serve him with all we have. I knew that was one of the moments I had been waiting for in this journey…a commissioning of my hopes and dreams to be someone whom God could trust to help bring about justice. The exciting thing is, God has been speaking to me more directly and specifically than I’ve ever heard him speak before and I’m catching a clearer glimpse of my future.

As we continue with Re-engage for another week, I’m excited to hear more from some influential people and organisations…and to finally get a day off to process it all!
See you next week!
Kim

As I write there is silence in Number 9 (my house) as our first Discipleship Training School (DTS) assignment is due tomorrow morning. Not a sound can be heard except the clicking of fingers on laptop computers and the occasional sound of a page being turned scanning the contents for inspiration. Slight panic fills the air, but there is no doubt in my mind that we will all make the deadline (with at least seconds to spare!!)The quietness is a welcome change from the chaos of last weekend. The “React” training event brought in some 300 young people to the Oval, all preparing to take the Gospel throughout England and Europe in coming weeks.  It was amazing to see young people committing and recommitting their lives to God…leaving this place full of faith and ready to be bold for God. Though I wasn’t part of React, my friend Debbie was a leader involved in the event and we managed to see each other briefly… what a blessing for me, not to mention the white chocolate milkshake she bought for me from the brand new Oval Café (best milkshake I’ve ever had!).

Over the weekend I had the privilege of some home-cooked food. My friend Rachel has family that lives nearby so we spent Saturday afternoon eating, drinking and talking in the summer sunshine. It was lovely, and a real blessing to meet new friends. Later that evening back at the YWAM base we were watching a movie when suddenly a beautiful fireworks display began on the green outside our house. Before you knew it we were dancing on the grass to the sound of classic disco tunes from a nearby wedding and watching the glittering fireworks right above our heads. It was a great moment.

This week we’ve had a guest speaker with us, Leah from Switzerland. She came to talk about the different “spheres of society” and how we see God’s principles and values underpinning them all. The sphere of government and politics has been of particular interest to me. We looked at how the Israelites leaving Egypt and living in the desert were an uneducated, slave population. God gave them guidelines on how to set up a society that included everything they would need to live well– from good sanitation to equality in issues of justice. What before seemed to me like irrelevant and outdated Old Testament-era rules are in fact the very building blocks of a Godly society that we need in every community and nation today. This was a great revelation for me.

Last night we enjoyed the long awaited return of ‘spoons’, made even more hilarious when Leah joined us and ended up on top of the coffee table scrambling for a spoon with the rest of us. We followed the spoon action with a time of ‘name those 80’s tunes’ that included the likes of ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson…and all the dance moves that go with it! You can’t put a price on memories like that….

For the next two weeks my DTS group is joining a conference here at the Oval called Reengage (www.reengage.net) which will be focusing on how we can live out God’s values in all areas of society. This last week has been great preparation for the conference and I’m looking forward to some fantastic times of teaching and challenge as we learn together. The schedule will be insane, I’m sure….. but I can’t wait.

Well, back to my assignment. See you at the end of Week Five!

Kim

THE GRAND OPENING!
It is with a huge sigh of relief and great enthusiasm that we announce the opening of the Oval Cafe!!!

Last week the staff of the Oval crammed into the cafe to pray God’s blessing on this new ministry and enjoy the first fruits of their labours. Since the dream of our own cafe began to turn into reality, it’s been a journey of wonderful provisions and challenges to move forward, but it’s all worth it to see the Oval Cafe buzzing with smiling people happily drinking their beverage of choice!
Our public opening was a huge success, supported enormously by over 300 participants from a youth camp hosted at the Oval who flooded the Cafe with orders for smoothies and iced drinks on the hottest weekend of the summer so far.

Whitney Randall, manager of the Oval Café at YWAM Harpenden, is committed to providing excellent service and quality products. “I made my first real coffee when I was 17,” she said, “but I didn’t drink coffee and I didn’t understand coffee”. “A gazillion” cups of coffee later, she now loves the art of coffee, humbly calls herself a Barista, and has been responsible for training YWAM’s volunteer staff who will run the Oval cafe so that all profits can be returned to the charity.

Coffee lovers will appreciate Whitney’s experience which has been applied to all the stages of the production of a good cup of coffee. From sourcing fresh-roasted beans (fairly grown, of course) in an exclusive blend, to timing the perfect shot of espresso, there is no compromising your coffee experience here. Tea lovers are also catered for with a superior brand of tea in 14 different flavours available. Smoothies, milkshakes and Italian sodas are very popular with the younger crowd, the youngest of whom are well catered for with their own play area.

Atmosphere has been carefully considered to provide a welcoming environment for YWAM staff, students and the public. Free wireless has lured many out of the confines of their offices and early opening hours may even mean we’ll see more YWAM staff than usual before 9am!

YWAM Harpenden manager, Tamara Neely, explains the ethos behind the Oval Cafe, “We felt the need to create a place for our volunteers to hang out together and enjoy one another’s company. But we wanted to share that sense of community with all our friends – not just the ones in YWAM! So we built a cafe which welcomes everyone, benefits the work of YWAM and serves amazing drinks!”
Community. Quality. Coffee. You’re going to want to visit the Oval Cafe.

Week Three

As usual it has been another busy week here at the Oval! Trent Shepherd, a great speaker, came to share some of his wisdom with us along with some incredible stories. One involved him and another passer-by rolling a huge fish that had beached itself back into the sea as they shouting at it, “You gotta live, fish!” And it did! We spent one afternoon on the grass in the sunshine talking about our favorite stories of the man, Jesus, while Trent dug a small hole with his hands, spat into it, made mud and rubbed it on his eyes. That was a moment I will never forget. My concept of who Jesus really was has been completely revolutionized. It’s hard to believe a carpenter from Nazareth would ever mean so much to me. I came away from these lectures pondering what it means now that I know what I know about this man.

In the middle of that incredible time, we took a trip to London to see the sites. Armed with packed lunches, umbrellas and 13 cameras we descended on the unsuspecting tourist hot spots of…. St Paul’s Cathedral (we climbed to the very top…offering the best view of London by far), the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace and briefly the Natural History museum!! Needless to say, by the end of the day we were SO tired!! Some of us stopped in at an Italian restaurant (where we ordered 5 cheese pizzas…the cheapest thing on the menu!!) and the rest saved even more money by frequenting the local McDonalds!! Even though we were blistered and aching like crazy by the time we got home, it was a brilliant day with some fantastic memories that we’ll share for years to come!!

On a sad note, our final school member Pendo is still yet to hear about her visa and the longer it takes to come through the further behind she gets with lectures etc. We are still hoping and praying she will get here soon…so remember her!!

I am so glad to report that the sun is finally shining here! And that is great news for the 120+ people that are flocking to the Oval this weekend for an evangelism conference. Myself and friends from the DTS now bear wounds marking this special event after erecting huge marquees and tents in preparation for their arrival…and getting flicked by giant toggles that are now holding there roofs on!! I am really looking forward to sharing time with so many people from all over the country. It will be great to have so many English people here at last – Hooray!!

This week we have been spending some time with John Peachey, the Base leader here in Harpenden, talking all about forgiveness and repentance. We have our last two sessions with him coming up these next few days and then I have a visit from my best friend from home this weekend, which is very exciting! In the meantime, I am going to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!! See you next week!!

As we move closer to our latest opening date of 25th July, we’d like to take a look back at the past few weeks of preparation and progress!

receiving and unpacking the machines

the machines in place

staining the chairs and stools

A Week One report from a Discipleship Training School Student

Join us every week for the next five months as we check in on Kim Hart, a young woman from England doing her Discipleship Training School (DTS) at the Youth With A Mission training center in Harpenden, England. Kim will tell us about what she’s learning, what it’s like to live in a community with other young Christian missionaries, and how God is changing her.  Then we’ll “travel” with Kim and her classmates as they take what they’ve learned to another nation.

Week One

I arrived here at ‘The Oval’ on a wonderfully sunny Wednesday afternoon and was shown around a property that looks rather like an army barracks. With exercise class at 7am you may well believe that you have come to the wrong place! However, despite daunting first impressions, I instantly felt as though I was walking into my home. People who live and work here at Youth With A Mission-Highfield Oval are so welcoming and friendly and have an amazing capacity for remembering names and faces, so although the environment felt foreign to me at first, I felt I belonged here.

I share a room with two other girls, one from America and one from Rwanda, so I’m sure you can imagine the vast differences in our cultures, our habits…even our sock drawers! My concern in sharing a room was not the space or even the bunk beds. It was snoring! But, I’m glad to report that my roomies are silent sleepers!! Praise God for small mercies!

After a few days of orientation exercises, a trip to St. Albans and a “high tea” welcome, we began our first week of lectures. Oh my goodness! Talk about intense. Before I left my home church, a woman told me that during a prayer time, God had given her an impression of me as if I were on a very fast moving motorway. The speed of the cars was immense and the word from God for me was that I would be “fast-tracked” into what God had for me during this training (the DTS), and that I shouldn’t be scared that I wouldn’t keep up with Him but rather that I should prepare myself for new and exciting things. Well, it’s a good job she warned me because otherwise I think I would have been out of here! This week’s lectures have been all about how to hear God’s voice, that is, learning how to recognize when He’s speaking to me and then responding to Him. We’ve talked about the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, intercessory prayer, faith and obedience…and I don’t think that covers half of it! Lectures are great and the teaching we’re receiving is inspiring, yet it is so out of my everyday routine that I struggled to keep pace at first. But God has been faithful to get me here in the first place and He has promised to sustain me so I am excited to see what’s still to come as this adventure unfolds….

As part of our schedule each week, we each have assigned work duties, doing anything from cleaning toilets to mowing the grass on the Oval. My job? I work in hospitality making beds and vacuuming with Henry (the Hoover…yes, that’s what they call him) and I’m really enjoying it. Our free time as classmates and friends is special since we don’t have much of it… so it’s not uncommon to find students diving over the coffee table wrestling each other for a spoon during our infamous card games in the evening (I believe there was blood drawn last night!).

Tonight we have our first local “outreach” time in Harpenden and we have no idea what we’ll be doing, a challenge for a girl who’s a bit of a control freak. Right now, I’m off to write in my journal, do homework, shower (an interesting event here) and make tea…being the only English girl in the school I have to do the tea pot proud!

Stay tuned next week as Kim shares what takes place during Week Two of her Discipleship Training School experience.

On 23rd July, the Centre for International Justice and Reconciliation (CIJR) and The Reconciliation Walk (Rec Walk) are hosting a lecture on “Pursuing Peace in a World at War: Stories from the life of a peacemaker.

Professor Doug Hostetter is speaking about how to cultivate an imagination of peace in a world driven by an agenda for war. Doug is a sociology professor, photojournalist, peace activist, and Chief UN Liaison officer (MCC). Doug has lived and worked in Vietnam, Iraq, Bosnia, and Israel/Palestine. In 2001, Doug was half of a two-person relief team that took 239 tons of food to displaced people in Northern Afghanistan after the U.S. bombing campaign.
………………………………………………………………….
When: 23rd July at 7.30pm

Where: The Chapel, Highfield Oval, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 4BX

Tickets: £5

Contact: email cijr@oval.com or call 01582 463214