The Past Month!

Rumour has it that my readers are wondering why I have not updated my blog in so long. That is partially because I have been traveling ever since I got back to Australia so there was not much time for updating my blog, emailing friends and family, or skyping. But I am back in Sydney now for my last week of DTS! We will be debriefing all of our experiences and start to “re-enter” back into life back home. It will be a very emotional week because we will be saying many byes (not good-byes though, because as Sarah [my best friend on DTS] says good-bye is forever, bye is only for a short while). You can pray for our team as we will all be going our own ways and starting a new chapter in our lives.

The last post on my blog was from South Africa the day before our team was going to a retirement home. It was a really amazing experience. These men and women were filled with the joy of the Lord. They had formed a little choir so they sang some hymns to us. It was absolutely beautiful. They also shared many stories (like many elderly people like to do).

That week we also went to an AIDS hospital. Most of the patients did not have a lot of strength, it was very heartbreaking. There was one man in particular who was very close to the end of his life. The nurse told us that he had asked for his final requests that week which were to talk to his sister on the phone and to have fish for lunch. He called his sister the day before we visited and had fish for lunch while we were there. Although it was hard to see, I know that our team brought joy and peace into the hospital. We were able to pray with a few people and give them verses to read.

In my last post I mentioned that we went to a girl’s detention centre and that I made a strong bond with a girl named Leana. I also said that I really wanted to donate some of my clothes to the centre. I was able to convince my leaders to call the detention centre and get us back to the centre one morning. Before we went all of the girl students on my team wrote verse and encouragements on plain white t-shirts so that we could give the girls a late Christmas gift. When we handed the shirts out the girls immediately put them on and were so thankful. I was so glad that I was able to spend more time with Leana and pray with her again. A few of the girls asked for bibles so we also gave them each a bible. They told us that a group had never come to visit them twice. It was so evident that they appreciated all the time we spent with them. Marie (one of the students on my team) led a Muslim girl to Christ that day! Praise the Lord! What a miracle it was to see.

On one of our last days in Capetown we went to a huge slum where the blacks live. I had never seen anything like it in my life. The living condition was indescribable. Many of the children had never seen white people before because the white South Africans never come into that area. Many of the houses were one room tin shacks with no electricity. The children ran around barefoot and would run after our van when we drove by. We brought lollies (the Australian word for candies) and chips to hand out to the children and they would swarm around us as we tried to fairly hand it out. One of the saddest sights I saw was a little “bar,” which was a tin shack with a roof made the hard top of a pick-up truck. Inside were slot machines and a single pool table. As I took a picture, two boys were walking into the bar and they could not have been over the age of 14. We did prayed a lot while walking through and tried to show the people that there was hope.

The last four days we were in South Africa we spent our time in Muizenburg at the YWAM base. It was nice to meet other YWAMers and exchange stories. I also met a YWAMer who was from Southridge. How crazy is it that I can go around the world and meet someone from St. Catharines! Our team connected with a YWAM team from England. One evening we went down to the beach (which was a two minute walk down the road from the base) and had an evening of worship. It was such a powerful night. We were able to have some conversations with by-passers and pray for a few of them. That night we also found out about the earthquake in Haiti and interceded for the citizens in Haiti. Staying in Muizenburg was a great way to end off our outreach to South Africa.

I was fortunate enough to have a daylong layover in Dubai on my way back to Sydney. Our team went out and explored for the day even though we were very tired. It was absolutely amazing experience that is for sure. The architecture is stunning and has more detail that I have ever seen. Did you know that they have the tallest building in the world (828 metres tall), a world map of manmade islands or an indoor ski hill and lodge? I was reminded of the story in the bible about the Tower of Babel because of the amount of skyscrapers. A few of the team members (myself included) were able to get toured around by a missionary couple that one of the students on my team knew. They were able to tell us the inside information about Christianity and the strongholds that are keeping the people down. One of the strongholds that was very evident was materialism. For example, licence plates in Dubai normally have 5 digits on them, but if you want everyone to know you can purchase a licence plate that has less numbers. I saw two vehicles that only had 3 digits and the missionary couple told me that the plate would have cost half a million dollars. As well, people will buy huge house that are gorgeous from the outside but are empty and unfurnished on the inside. It was very sad to see how large the malls were and the excessive amount of stores. Although it is a beautiful city, not all of it is beautiful.

Since being back in Australia I have gone to quite a few different cities. The first week back our whole base packed up and went to Canberra (the capital of Australia) for the 50th anniversary of Australia. It was a big celebration and Loren and Darlene Cunningham, the founders of YWAM, came to speak. It was a powerful time as there were many bases coming together to thank God for the many years of ministry that has happened all over the world through YWAM. After being in Canberra, we came back to Sydney for one week of lectures on Faith in Finances and Stewardship.

For the past two weeks I have been in Tingha and Fingal, two aboriginal communities. While we were in Tingha, we helped John and Jen (a married couple on our DTS who are from Tingha) launch a Christian youth centre in the community. It was a big event because it is one of the first youth centres launched by aboriginals in Australia. There was media coverage and it made it both on television and in the news papers. It was quite an exciting time as we were able to see on of God’s dream come to be through John and Jen. We also handed out bibles to every home in Tingha who wanted one. One of the craziest experiences of all my outreach time happened in Tingha. We were running a Sunday night service at the local aboriginal church and a man with a synthetic gave his life to Christ. His name was Andrew and his lower right leg had been cut off by a train when he was seven years old. He asked us to pray for his leg so our whole team started to pray that a new leg would grow. We ended up praying until 2:30am and during that time the man’s leg grew an inch and a half. I still believe that God is going to finish the growth of a new leg. This experience made my prayers so much more powerful. I had never prayed and cried out to God like that in all of my life. It was a life changing experience.

While we were in Fingal it rained a lot, and I mean a lot! So unfortunately we were not able to go out as much as we would have liked to but we did do a prayer walk around the town, worshipped up at the lighthouse on the beach, and attended a few bible studies and church services. We stayed at a church which was right on the beach. It was so beautiful and peaceful. There was next to no one but my team on the beach. I love to soak in all of God’s creation. He is so creative and reveals so many of his characteristics through nature to me.

As DTS is coming to an end I am starting to figure out my travelling plans for the two weeks once I am done. A few of my fellow students and I are hopefully going to go to New Zealand for one week and then back to Australia to a time share that my parents gratefully booked for us (THANKS MOM AND DAD!!). Please keep us in your prayers asking the Lord to protect us and allow us to meet people we can share the gospel with. Even though I am done DTS I am not done my life of outreach. It will continue until the day that I meet my Heavenly Father. Thank you for your continued support and I will try my best to write more consistently so that my posts are not as long as this one. I can’t wait to share even more stories with everyone when I get home in just three short weeks. God bless you!

ps if you want to see more pictures go to my facebook (you will find me under Jennelle Duerksen) and add me if I am not your friend already :)