New Zealand Family DTS Update, Weeks 6 - 12

Wow, time is moving by so quickly, it's hard to believe it's been over 6 weeks since our last post!  Since we last provided an update, we've complete our second half of training at the Discipleship Training School in New Zealand on the Crystal Springs YWAM base in Matamata, New Zealand. Our final weeks of training included additional areas for personal development including hearing the voice of God and inner healing as well as practical topics for the mission field ranging from evangelism to serving as families in ministry.  We continued to have opportunities to practice what we learned in both the classroom and the community.

The girls continued to work on home schooling and also helped organized a drama class for those interested on the base.  In addition, a YWAM team from the South Island came during the last week and did a program for the kids called "Kings Kids" where the kids learned to put on dramas as a team that can be used in churches, schools and other settings. The girls had been missing their dance classes, so this was a great time for each of them.

While we are glad to have completed our training, in a way it was very sad as we may not see many of the families we met again as we return home directly after our outreach.  Going through the training in a community setting creates a very special environment and we forged close relationships with several families.  We concluded our school with a graduation ceremony, eleven families graduated and it was a fun night for all.  Soren performed a worship song that she had written earlier during the trip and the drama club performed their drama for everyone.  I am working on editing a video of their performances and will try to post them on our Facebook page soon!

So what's next?  Well, a core element of the training program is for each family to practice what they have learned in a practical missions setting, so each of the eleven families are off to three different locations for the outreach phase of our training.  We are on to Australia with five of the eleven families and will be working as a team in our outreach phase in conjunction with the YWAM team on the base in Adelaide.  In fact, we are already in Adelaide as I write this post, look for another post shortly with details on what we will be doing over the next 8 weeks!