I have a pretty amazing job...

I have a pretty amazing job. I have to admit to complaining all too often. "I don't have time to do what I want/need to do." "I get no time to myself." "I'm exhausted." "I'm so drained in every way." "I'm tired of living in community." But really, what I do is incredible. I am so blessed! I get to spend three intentional months smack-dab in the middle of the discipleship process in 5 incredible students' lives! I get to walk with young people, watch them grow, learn from them as they ask questions, see the lights go on in their head when they get something or watch the transformation happen in their lives when God drops something deep into their heart. So today I don't want to complain, but celebrate what I do and share it with you and thank you for being a part of it and helping me do this. It's amazing.

Anyway... I can’t believe January is already over! In Australia, it’s the middle of summer. Kids are going back to school starting their new year from summer holidays, but it’s still as hot and humid as ever! We are already on Week 4 of the DTS, and it is going great. So far, the students have explored the topics of Hearing God’s Voice and the Character and Nature of God, and this week in the classroom we are discussing the subject of Worldview. We are looking at questions like “What is a worldview?” and if ideas have consequences, then what are the implications of a Biblical worldview.

Outside of class, the students are really bonding with each other and with us as a staff. Because it’s such a small group of students, they have been able to go really deep with one another which is amazing to watch. God has been speaking to them a lot as a school about relationship, so it’s cool to see them put that into practice. On the weekends, we’ve gotten the chance to do some fun activities together as a school. A couple weeks back, we all took the train to Wollongong together, and last weekend we had a barbecue at a family’s house who are on staff at the base. Here are a few glimpses from these times:

DTS 2012. Here we are. What a good looking group of people. We're even surprisingly color-cordinated in this pic! Ha.

On top of an old war cannon during our Wollongong city tour day together.

Me with the two girl students: Nicola (from Canada) and Anna (from Austria/ Switzerland)

With one of my fellow DTS staff, Emily, and some pretty epic banana splits. YUM!

January DTS

Well, looks like I'm back to Australia and back to blogging! Life is in full swing around here. We just started our January DTS a little over a week ago, and it's going really well. We have 5 students... a guy from California (21), a guy from California (21), a girl from Canada (19), a girl from Switzerland (16), and a guy from Australia (21). They are such a fun group and all so open and hungry for God. It's been an incredible start to the school. This week we have a guy here speaking on Hearing God's Voice. Many of the students are newer believers and still young in their faith, so they are so hungry for God- to hear Him, to know Him, and to make Him known. I'm so excited to be staffing this school and walking this journey closely with these students. It's such an amazing opportunity to be able to have such a short window (3 months) to be able to speak into these students lives. I'm so thankful that God would trust me to steward this time with these students. It's quite humbling, and I know I'm going to grow heaps in this season as well. Exciting stuff. More to come soon.