A Quick Update

I'm still alive.

I'm not the picture person on our team, so you'll have to wait until after Outreach to see any pictures.

Mauritius is amazing. God is more amazing.

I have lots of stories, too many for the blog. I'd love to share them with you once I get home. (Maybe I'll even have time and energy to divert towards writing blog posts.)

I'll be flying back to Dunham in a week.

I'm not excited to leave Mauritius, but I'm excited to be going home.

Arrival in Mauritius (Pt 2 - Random Observations and Thoughts)

Here are some of my impressions, thoughts and random observations from the first day in Mauritius.

• Mauritius is beautiful. It's so green here, and there's the ocean, and stunning mountains.
• There's so much variety in the vegetation here, both in the shapes of leaves and plants, and in the colours of green (and yellow). I recognize a bunch of the plants 'cause they're in Australia too.
• Oh, and it smells good. All warm and jungle-y and green.
• It's warm. We're sticky and sweaty. And the Australian part in me loves it.
• We got to dip our feet in the Indian Ocean. First time for me, and Aurelie. The beach smells really good.
• Mauritius is surrounded by reefs. So there are no waves breaking on the shore, they break way further out to sea, on the reefs.
• The water here is literally turquoise coloured. I've never seen ocean water that colour.
• They drive on the left. This is messing with my team's heads. I was slightly surprised to find that it feels completely natural to me. (Shouldn't be. When I'm tired I revert back to thinking of driving Australian-style.)
• I'm still not sure if the road out the front of our house is a street or a driveway.
• There are roundabouts everywhere on the highways. (Mom, you'd love it!)
• We took a detour from the main highway, because of roadworks. It was super cool to drive through towns where ordinary people live. (As opposed to places that are obviously touristy.)
• I wish Dara was here. She would love all the birds. There was a little red bird, and there's another brown bird with a black head, black tuft on its head and white eyes. There are also a bunch of weaver bird nests in the casurina across the road.
• I love houses in warm climates, where the distinction between outside and inside is blurred. The windows here are wide open, and we have barn-style doors to the outside, so you can leave the top wide open. Our bedroom 'door' is a curtain. There's a balcony off the girls' and guys' room. And the dining table is on the back verandah.
• I'm grateful for Wifi. It's really weird, though, being on the other side of the world, and still being able to do all my usual internet things.
• Baby pineapples are super cute.
• We ate breakfast on the plane at 4:30am Mauritius time. Then we had Second Breakfast at about 10:30am. We're becoming Hobbits.
• Not packing flip-flops was a BAD idea.

Now, to go find ways to stay awake until after supper. . . .

Arrival in Mauritius (Pt 1 - The Journey)

Please forgive me if this post is somewhat scatterbrained. My brain is running on little sleep and is currently jet-lagged.

April 22 was a day packed full of emotions and events. And actual packing. My finances for outreach were finally sorted out. The day before I had a bunch of money left to pay for outreach, and had no idea where it was coming from. I was stressed. Céline prayed for me, and I calmed down. God gave me incredible peace, and reassurance that I would be on the plane to Mauritius the next day. On the morning of April 22, it turned out I was doubly covered for the amount I had left to pay. So we were able to help another one of the guys who didn't have the finances for outreach. (His story is amazing. At the beginning of the day he needed $3800, the cost for the whole outreach. By the afternoon, it had all been provided for.) So at lunch there was an announcement that ALL the students had all the money they needed for outreach. Yay God!

We were also waiting on Billy's visa to arrive. Billy is part of the Mauritius team, but needed a specific visa before he could go on the plane. We were hoping it would arrive April 22, before we left at 2:30pm for the airport.

After lunch we had a time to say goodbye to everyone on the base. It made me realize how much I've come to love all the people part of my DTS and YWAM Dunham. I'll miss all the people going to Argentina and French Polynesia, and staying in Quebec. (I'll spare you the specifics of what I love about each one, 'cause they could take up a blog post on their own.) They'll have amazing stories to tell when they get back, though.

Billy had to cancel his plane ticket, because we had no word of his visa. But he still came with us to the airport. When we got to the airport, we discovered his visa had arrived. Bummer. We had to say goodbye to Billy at the airport, but we knew he would be on a flight soon after ours. Later we found out he would be on the next plane to Mauritius, and as I write this, he's waiting in the Paris airport to catch the plane here.

We flew for 7 hours from Montreal to Paris, overnight. We left as the sun was setting, and arrived early in the morning in Paris. (Time shortens when you fly east.) The ground looked like a patchwork quilt, with brown, yellow and green in irregular patches. The yellow is Canola. No fair. It's already blooming in April (in Alberta it blooms in July).

We had an 8 hour layover in Paris. We spent the first half sleeping, and the second half playing games around a table.

The evening of the 23rd we left Paris. The next flight, to Mauritius, was 12 hours long. I was at a window seat. Yay! We flew over the alps, and along the coast of Italy, so there was good scenery to see. Sunset was amazing; everything was subtle shades of pink, purple, blue and yellow. And stargazing from planes is EPIC.

We arrived in Mauritius at about 6am. So we got to see the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. After a bit of an adventure with immigration (nothing too bad, just lots of questions), we entered the country. Gary, one of the guys from YWAM Mauritus, met us at the airport. He and our leader, Ben, were both in Dunham for about a year together.

The airport is in the south part of the island, and where we're staying is in the north, so we drove for 1 1/2 hours through gorgeous, green Mauritian countryside. Then we arrived at the house. It's a largish house, in an area that's a bit more touristy. The house is owned by a lady from England (I think), who often hosts YWAMers and other people. It's a gorgeous place, and will be our home for the next two months.

After we got a bit of an introduction to our hosts and house, we unpacked. Then we went for a walk in an effort to stay awake, and went to the beach. It's right by a hotel, so there are lots of touristy things around. We came back, got to know Gary better, ate lunch, and I worked on a blog post. :)

Ottawa Outreach!

I just got back from nine amazing days of outreach in Ottawa.

After a week of outreach preparation, with lectures about different cultures, preparing material for outreach, and packing, our DTS went to Ottawa. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive. We stayed with various members from Grace Presbyterian Church, who showed us great hospitality. We would split into three teams (ArgenTEAMa, Mauritius and French Polynesia) during the day, and did all kinds of random things.

Things I Never Thought I'd Do, But Did in Ottawa:

• Lead a kids club.
• Lead another kids club (for a total of two times).
• Started conversations with random strangers on the street--and enjoy it!
• Double-Dutch skipping.
• Ate Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches that had been sitting in my backpack for some time.
• See actual artwork by M. C. Escher at the National Gallery of Canada.
• Wasn't scared of talking to homeless people.
• Handed out invitations to a church service, to students during exam week.
• Worshiped in public with a bunch of other Christians in the middle of a secular university.
• Lead a worship time with my team on Sunday morning.
• Ate a beaver tail.

As a team we also drew inspiring and happy things with chalk in a park, prayed with a Move-In group (more on that later), played Grounders on playground equipment, had a horrible time trying to find a Tim Horton's that actually had chairs, and toured the Parliament Buildings.

We spent a lot of time with the Move-In group. It's a bunch of people, in this case college-aged people, who move in to a poorer, rougher neighbourhood. Then they spend one night a week praying for their community, and just live their lives, build relationships, and show Jesus' love to the people who live around them. They really inspired me with their love for their neighbours, and their passion to reach out to them with the life and hope that Jesus offers.

This past week and a half was full, stretching and rewarding. I learned a lot, and was really impacted by all the people I met in Ottawa.

And now I'm back in Dunham. We have just enough time to do laundry and pack, because tomorrow I LEAVE FOR MAURITIUS!!!

I'm so excited!

One Thing I Don't Like About YWAM. . .

. . . is goodbyes.

This weekend, we've had many goodbyes.

Kyle and Carson, two of the French students (learning-French, not from France) left this afternoon. They've been here for the past three months, and are practically part of the DTS. We've eaten meals together, worshiped together, prayed together, and dressed up in crazy costumes for theme nights together.

Devon, one of the Compassion DTS staff, also went home this afternoon. He's taking a nine-month sabbatical.

Janelle, another one of the Compassion DTS staff leaves tomorrow morning.

The Montreal Urban Cultures DTS was here all last week. It was fun getting to know the students from the DTS and their teachers, playing games with them, having conversations, and doing mini-concerts with them. They left yesterday and this morning.

Our teacher from last week, Jeff Pratt, stayed and taught the Montreal DTS this week. He left this morning too.

There are so many hellos and goodbyes in YWAM. Our speakers come for a week at a time, and just as we start to get to know them, the week is over and we have to go home.

And about a month ago, the Compassion DTS came back from outreach in East Africa and Mauritius. We had a couple weeks of getting to know everyone from the DTS, and hear their stories from outreach. Then they graduated, and most of them went home.

It's hard, all these goodbyes. It's also tempting to hold back and not get to know people, because I know they'll be leaving in a week or two. I'm sometimes reluctant to really develop relationships ("invest in people", in Christianese), because I know that I'll just have to say goodbye soon.

(I'm not looking forward to the end of DTS. More goodbyes.)

But what is it that people say?

"It is better to love and have lost than to never have loved at all."

This is true. It is hard, loving people and listening to them, giving energy and time to relationships that you know won't be able to continue much longer. But God has been teaching me about living in the now, and loving the one in front of me. It's all I can do. I want to be fully present and love the people who are here now, because they are the only people who are here now. I can't love in the future or love in the past. I can't have conversations in the future or the past. Now is what matters, and God has called me to be fully present in the here and now.

And when it gets to hard, this is where I remember that love does not flow from me; it flows through me. God can give me the energy, attention and love that I need to develop relationships with people, even if I meet many people for only a short time. I can love without fear of running out of love, because God is my Source.

And this is also when I remember that this is just the beginning. Since pretty much everyone in YWAM is a Christian, that means we'll all be in Eternity together. I may see people for only a week here, but later there will be endless time to get to know them better. As Belinda, our speaker from a couple weeks ago said, we're going to be friends for eternity. This gives me hope.

I don't like all the goodbyes in YWAM.

But because of Jesus, every "Goodbye" is actually "Au revoir".

  

Creative Worship

First, a disclaimer: In this post when I refer to worship time, I mean a specific time that we take as community to intentionally worship God, often with singing. I believe that worship should be a 24/7 thing that involves our whole lives and all our actions, thoughts and emotions. But for the sake of easy writing, I'll be using "worship" in a more specific sense for this post.

 

 

Here at YWAM Dunham we have worship times on Monday and Friday mornings. Monday, we come together as a whole base, and Friday we have DTS worship times. When it's DTS worship time, we as students are on four different teams and take turns leading.

 

 

It's been really cool learning about different creative ways to worship. We are encouraged to pray and ask God for ideas, and to try new things. I thought I would share what we've done, and maybe you'll be encouraged to be creative with your worship times.

 



 

 

This picture is from worship time this morning. There were dropcloths laid out in the worship room, with paints and blank canvases, and if you felt inspired, you could go paint something. I didn't; I spent most of my time curled up on the couch talking to God. Other people sang, danced, sat, laid on the floor or laughed.

 

 

We've also. . .

• Gone into the woods (in -20 C weather), and sang songs acapella.
• Sang African songs and danced in a giant circle.
• Had times to just sit, be still and listen.
• Washed each other's feet.
• Waved flags and banners.
• Had "city walls" made of risers, but there were gaps in it, so we stood in the gaps.
• Yelled. "Who is like our God?!" "NO ONE!!!"
• Crawled through a tunnel into the worship room, which was decorated as a "tabernacle".
• Had paper and pencils available to make pictures and paper airplanes.
• Gone into the woods on a different day, to be still, and ask, "God, how do you want me to interact with creation?"
• Sang "I Will Wait" by Mumford and Sons, which isn't a "worship song".
• Pinned stuff to wooden crosses.
• And made paper flowers, which I'll explain below.

 

Last Monday, Sarah was leading worship. She's a visual artist, and likes to use symbolism and imagery. So, because it's nearly spring, she was thinking of trees budding and flowering. She was also thinking about almond blossoms, which are a symbol that's often used in the Bible (the golden lampstand for the Tabernacle, Aaron's staff, and so on). Almond blossoms symbolize watchfulness, because the Hebrew word for almond flower is similar to the word for watchfulness. It's a reminder that God watches over us.

 

So Sarah brought a tree into the worship room. . . . .

 

 

And then there was paper and fabric and tape and glue available to make flowers. The idea was to write things that we have been worried about on the flowers, and to turn those worries into almond blossoms, as a way of physically saying, "God, I know you're watching out for me, so I trust you and give up my worries." This is my flower below. 

 

 

 

Afterwards we had a tree full of lovely almond blossoms. 

 

I encourage you to get creative with worship times! God is the Ultimate Creator, the Master Artist, and He created diversity. There are so many ways to worship God, that I think it's a bit silly to limit ourselves to just singing and playing instruments. Have fun!

Outreach Location!!!

Whenever I told people I was doing a DTS, their first question after finding out I would be in Dunham was, "Where are you going for outreach?" (In YWAM we have three months of lectures, then 2-3 months of short-term missions where we put into practice what we've learned.) I would have to tell them I didn't know, because even our leaders weren't sure yet.

Last week, they were going to tell us the three locations for outreach on the Friday of Relationship week. But then we had lots of things to process that weekend, and we had art projects to work on. So they were going to tell us on the next Monday. (Father Heart of God week.) But then it got pushed back to Wednesday, and pushed back again to the Friday of Father Heart of God week.

Meanwhile, everyone was wildly speculating about different locations, and bugging the staff about it. If any of the staff mentioned anything about a foreign country, they'd be asked "Is that where we're going for outreach?" The suspense was intense.

So on Friday afternoon (FHoG week) we all gathered in the worship room, where three folding screens were set up, and we played Hangman to guess the letters and names of the countries we would be going to.

They are. . .




. . . Drumroll please. . .




ARGENTINA!
FRENCH POLYNESIA!
MAURITIUS ISLAND!

Each of the team leaders explained a bit about the country and what we'd be doing. Then we had the weekend to pray about which location we would be going to. We weren't allowed to talk about it with anyone, so that we couldn't be influenced by our friends' choices. It was so hard keeping quiet! We were all about to explode from curiousity.

We wrote down our first and second choices on paper, and why we chose that location. Then, on Sunday night (this Sunday, Fear of the Lord week), we all gathered together and had a big dance party, where we put our papers into a bag. The staff would then take them, pray about them, and decide on the final teams. We still couldn't talk about the location we felt God was sending us to, just in case people had to switch teams in the next few days.

The suspense was killing us all! Some people gave up and told where they were most likely going (not me). It was worse knowing where I was going and not knowing my team than not knowing where we were going.

But today was the Big Day; our teams were revealed! The staff blindfolded everyone, moved us into our groups, and then had us remove our blindfolds all at once.

I'M GOING TO MAURITIUS, and this is my team!

 

 

(Anticlockwise from me) Me, Céline, Aurélie, Ben, Stephan, Billy. Ben (with the beard) is our leader.

 

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS OUTREACH!!!

So, Why Mauritius?

Because that's where the Dodo Bird lived, obviously. And there's an underwater waterfall.

No, really there's more of a story than that. And those aren't the reasons why I'm going. In short, I'm going because that's where God told me to go. In long, here's the story:

Even before we knew when the outreach locations would be announced, I was thinking about where it would be cool to go for outreach. I was hoping for somewhere in Africa, or a Pacific Island. And then I heard that still small voice say, "You're going to Mauritius," and my response was, "Is that me or God? I don't even know if Mauritius is an option yet." (There was a fairly high likelihood, since YWAM Dunham likes to send teams there as often as possible, but it wasn't a sure thing.)

On Monday, the day we were supposed to find out our locations and the meeting got postponed, I was reading a prayer letter. The letter was for YWAM Canada, and it was hanging in the prayer room. I wondered what prayer requests Dunham had. I looked, and it said, "Please pray for our AMDTS students as they go on outreach to Argentina, Tahiti, and Mauritius." I had accidentally discovered the locations. So I kept them secret from the other students until Friday. I'm glad, though, that God gave me the extra time to think about it.

Now I knew Mauritius was an option. So things were becoming a bit more sure. But I've wanted to go to the Pacific Islands for a long time. I prayed more.

You need to know something about my character for the next part. I hate making equal decisions between two things, and I like it when I can find a way to do both things at once. So if I have to choose between a filmmaker's intensive weekend, or working on a drama-documentary, I'll find a way to do both.

When I thought about how I wanted to go to Africa and/or the Pacific Islands, God pointed out that Mauritius is technically part of Africa--and it's an Island! I could do both! (I also got the distinct impression that now is not the time to go to the Pacific Islands.)

My excitement and peace about going to Mauritius grew and grew. On Friday, when the locations were announced, Ben was talking about what we'd be doing, and at the end he said they want us to do media stuff. And I thought, "Yes, that's it. I'm going." It was sealed. I have complete peace and excitement about going to Mauritius.

And even though it was really hard keeping our thoughts to ourselves, and not telling people what locations we were going to, I'm very grateful for it. It means that I KNOW God told me to go to Mauritius, and when the teams were revealed, I wasn't upset at all. It wouldn't affect my decision knowing who was going or not. And actually, I am delighted with my team! The only sad thing is that we're separating from the rest of the DTS as they go to Argentina and French Polynesia. :(

I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT GOING TO MAURITIUS!!!