Halfway Done with Lecture Phase!! (Written on Sunday)

Alright so I again have to catch up on the past two weeks.  The week of September 27 through October 1 we were taught on the Holy Spirit.  I still want to go back over the notes from that week so that I can understand more fully what we learned.  It is hard for me to take in everything while in class.  That week was a very hard week for me, but not because of the topic.  I guess there was just a spiritual battle going on, and it really affected me in that all of my joy was zapped out of me.  I felt really confused about some things going on around me and I did not know what to do.  Anyway, this past week has been so much better.

This past week our DTS leader taught on Mission and Evangelism, and he gave more details about what to expect on outreach.  It got me really excited for outreach, even though I know it will be very challenging.  On Tuesday night we had a social event which was a lot of fun.  We started off by playing wink and then did some other games.  The first game I volunteered for and it was where we had to eat an apple while it was hanging by a string, and, of course, we were not allowed to use our hands.  The people that held the string were allowed to move the string around while we frantically tried to bite the apple.  I think I might have won the game because I ate most of my apple, but in order to bite it I would push it up against the person beside me so that I could get a good bite.  I think I almost bit the guy beside me a couple of times while trying to get the apple.  Then some other people volunteered for the next game.  For that game there were three sets of two people who were blindfolded and then they had to try and feed their partner across from them melted ice cream.  So, as expected, the ice cream went practically everywhere except in the people’s mouths.  It made for lots of laughter and a good bonding time with the whole DTS group.  On Wednesday morning I had to preach again and it went fine, but I still really dread preaching (hopefully that is the last time I will have to do it).  Thursday night we had what the base called a “love feast” but really it was not much different of food than normal.  We just ate it at a new location and everything was more decorated.

Saturday was a really fun day for me.  Us western girls planned a treasure hunt for one of the boys on the base because it was his birthday on Thursday.  So we made clues and got little presents for him and went out to eat at the American restaurant.  We also went together to buy him a real Spalding basketball which he absolutely loved.  Today, Sunday, I had like a two hour long basketball training session with him.  I taught him some simple drills and basic moves.  The weekend has gone by fast and now it will be on to week 8 which means only 5 more weeks until outreach.  And only two more weeks of sleeping in till 6:00am.  For the last three weeks of lecture phase and all of outreach we are going to be getting up a 5:00am to pray together as a team.  I normally go to bed around 9:30 on week days but I guess I should start going to bed even earlier once we start getting up at 5:00am.

For the most part things are going well here, but I feel like it is such a mind game.  Like to constantly be identifying the lies Satan is feeding me and not believe them can get tiring.  Also it is hard when there is constantly someone in our room being unhappy, upset, or grumpy.  It is a very rare occasion to find all four of us western girls happy at the same time.  I keep reminding myself when I get weary of stuff, “God is in control and He knows what He is doing and He has our best interest in mind”.  To be completely honest, I have recently really wanted to go home.  I want to see my family and friends again.  I miss so many little things and I am sort of counting down the months till I return.  I am still having trouble with relating to the people here and feeling comfortable around them.  It comes down to I am having trouble loving them (the other DTS students) for who they are.  God showed me the other day in devotions part of the problem.  He showed me that I have a spiritual pride when it comes to relating to them.  I constantly try to find out where they are wrong or immature in their faith.  It is an attitude of pride that keeps me from seeing them through God’s eyes.  So that is something that I am trying to give over to God during this time.  God continues to reveal to me areas that I need to change me and patiently helps me through many struggles.

Philippians 1:6

“And I am certain that God, who began a good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns”