Want to find out about a day in the life of a DTS Student. Read on….

Lecture Phase:

Ah, another day on my DTS. I can’t believe how fast it’s going! Every day I grow in appreciation for my two roommates – although I do wish top-bunk mate wouldn’t insist on singing the good morning song every day. Nice to have hot water for the shower, not to be taken for granted in a 90 year old building! At least you can say that Building 9, home of all Harpenden students, has character. I love that the hallways are big enough for everyone on my floor to hang out in, and the view across the Oval is refreshing. Breakfast was the usual bowl of cereal, toast, coffee, and a piece of fruit and the usual marmite vs. peanut butter debate continues to rage. Living with people from so many different cultures is frequently hilarious.

After breakfast I helped clean up then headed to morning devotions in the DTS classroom. One of our staff pointed out a passage of Scripture from the Psalms and had us meditate on it, then share with the others what God was speaking to us. God really spoke to me about His love for His creation, it was awesome! I never thought it could be so easy, but when you really take time out to focus on Him, He’s not hard to find. I guess that’s what this DTS is all about.

We had a quick break (a chance to check the post!) and then went straight into the morning lectures. This week’s topic was Hearing the Voice of God. First we looked at characters in the Bible and how they heard God’s voice and obeyed - or not - and what the consequences were. The speaker was pretty interactive, and had some great stories about the early days of YWAM.

Time for tea break, a good time to hang out with the other students, or ask the speaker any questions! Some of the other staff from the base made their way over to the tea break and helped themselves to biscuits. There’s a lot going on here – locally, nationally, internationally. I’m definitely thinking about the possibility of coming back for awhile.

Back to lectures, where we learnt about different ways that God speaks to us today. Then we split into groups to practice hearing God’s voice for each other. It was amazing to hear what God was speaking to my friends through me!

After a bit of group processing and the announcements, we headed to lunch. Great food today: pizza and salad. We talked about our outreach over lunch, and had some free time before work duties. I thought work duties would be a bit of a drag, but it’s actually really good to do something different, especially when the lectures can be intense. Raking leaves is a good chance to process the lectures, or just switch off for a bit, and I can certainly see that they need all hands on deck to keep this huge place running!

After dinner clean-up we had a bit more free time to relax and read or journal.

Later we played some volleyball on the Oval with some of the staff. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone here at YWAM Harpenden and finding out what they do here! At the weekend a few of us are going to go into London to hang out and see a show. I love that London is so close, it only takes 30 minutes to get to the city by train!

Before heading to bed, I sat in the prayer garden for a bit, just thinking and praying. There’s so much going on– the friends, the teaching, the ideas, the opportunities – there will never be a time like this again in my life. I am unbelievably glad I came!

Outreach Phase:

Today I woke up in South Africa, in a small township, in the middle of nowhere. I share a room with the 9 other girls on our outreach team and we had all woken up early to the sound of the breakfast bell. The South Africans we were staying with had prepared breakfast early so we got dressed and headed to the kitchen for some hot oatmeal and coffee. It has been difficult adjusting to the lifestyle of early mornings and late nights that our African friends keep.

After helping to clean up from breakfast, our team got together for worship time and prayer for our ministry. We spent time seeking God’s guidance to show us how we could be His hands and feet by serving the people in South Africa. After an hour of worship and prayer, our leaders gave us the schedule for the day. We then spent some time preparing a program for children that we would be doing at an orphanage that afternoon. We practiced a drama, a worship dance, some games and activities, and a Bible story that we would be telling the children. It’s so much fun to work on a team where everyone has different talents and gifts to add while we work to serve God and show His love to people!

We then spent a bit of time cleaning the house we were staying in and doing some small repairs on the building. It was interesting to see how construction and even the way they clean windows is so different in another culture! I loved learning a different way to do things that perhaps wouldn’t make sense in my culture, but completely made sense in the context of a different culture!

We finished working and ate a lunch of rice and beans with bread to give us strength for our afternoon activities. We cleaned up from lunch and one of our leaders had one of our African friends call for a taxi to come pick us up and take us to the orphanage. We prepared everything and took some time to pray for the afternoon, then waited for the taxi. Then we waited… and waited… and waited some more. Finally the taxi arrived, an hour and a half later! Some members of our team had gotten really frustrated, but our African friends said that this was really normal for taxis. I didn’t mind so much, but it has been really hard for some of the members of our team to adjust to how this culture deals with time. It’s always good to keep an open mind and be really flexible when entering a different culture!

We all piled into the taxi and left for the orphanage. We didn’t have as much time to do our program as we thought, but we got to spend some good time with the kids, playing with them and showing them love!

Later we got back into the taxi that had been waiting for us and went back home. We had a nice meal of chicken with rice and some root vegetables that we were unfamiliar with. Meals are always a fun time for discovering new foods! We talked with our African friends about our day at the orphanage and heard about their day teaching life skills to others in the community.

After helping to clean up dinner we all had a time of intercession where we prayed for spiritual breakthroughs in some of the people we had been ministering to. It was a powerful time of crying out to God to see change and growth in the lives of people who had become our friends.

It had been a very full day and we all needed our rest so we went to bed accompanied by several African insects and the sounds of the African night!