Writing from a Country of Cold showers

Can you imagine not needing hot water? So far this is what i've experienced in the houses and bathrooms we've been in. No hot water option. If you shower, it's cold, if you do laundry, cold, if you wash dishes, only cold! 

Everything is Imported!

Today is day six being here in Aruba, and I'm currently enjoying a cool breeze on the beautiful patio of our host family (Erick's -our outreach leader- sister and brother in law's). I'm overlooking the peanut field that the man of the house has planted here in his backyard. There is practically no agriculture here in Aruba, and one of our hosts, Donny, works here in parliament. He wants to show that it is possible, that something besides tourism can grow here, that Aruba can produce it's own products. I believe this is prophetic: Aruba producing it's own produce, it's own fruits so to say.

So far what I've experienced here in Aruba is lots of imported goods. Since the nation is not self sufficient, they have to fly everything here. Which causes much of everything to be relatively expensive. We're eating lots of what German's would call “toast bread”, which in North America is just normal bread, tuna, cornflakes, pasta etc. Milk products are very expensive, quite the opposite of Germany.

Weather

The days are very warm and humid. So far it has ranged between around 26 and 31 degrees everyday, but since we're in rainy season we have the satisfaction of the coolness the rains bring. It typically doesn't rain all day, but in short bouts.

The Arubans

I've been really overcome by the general friendliness of the Arubans. Yesterday was our day off, and Simon and Elijah and I took the public bus up to the northern part of the island to the nice white sandy beaches. It was a bit stressful for us as a family to figure out how things work transportation wise, but many people were very helpful. Even willing to give up their seats on the bus for me, which hasn't happened so often in Germany. I've also been astounded by Erick's family, and how gracious they've been to us. They've invited nine young people into their home, given up their beds, and allowed us to use their house as their base. We were only planning on being here until last weekend, but we still haven't found a house that we could rent for ourselves to stay in. This is a prayer request of our ours! Especially since Simon and I live on the opposite end of the island with Erick's sister and brother-in-law. We have to figure out rides with various people, his family has been even more gracious to be taxiing us around, but it can't last. 

Here you can see that our team is staying with family near Santa Cruz, in an area called "Paradera", and our little family is staying in Savaneta. It is about a 20-30 min drive. Our request is for a our own vehicle to get the team around the island, since public transportation isn't so great, an a house that we can live in together!!! 

Not only is his family driving us around, but a contact of Volker's (our DTS Leader), Jose, has come out to Aruba from his home in Venezuela to drive us around with his car when we need him. He is a pastor/missionary as well, and spends half the year here and the other half back home. This is really touching though, that one of his purposes of being here is to serve us.Someone else who has flown out to visit us is Juan-David from Columbia, a friend of the family. He would really like to take part in the next DTS that starts in January in Hurlach, so please pray that he can quickly get a visa and accepted! 

The culture here is very mixed, ranging from people with African, Latin and Asian background. As a matter of fact, every supermarket here is owned by an asian, and has an asian name! Around the corner is "Morning Supermarket" and around another is "Hong Kong Supermarket", and near us is "X and H Supermarket", and many of them are built in an asian style. 

Timing here is "island time", so far I haven't experienced so much rush, but much rather waiting. We wait for people to pick us up, we wait to be dropped off, we wait for someone to pick something up, then we wait while they talk with a friend before we get back going. Much of our time in one sense feels "wasted", but this is subjective. I think especially for the Germans and Swiss this can be challenging, but even for myself as a Canadian, I can get annoyed. But I can't change the culture, but I can adapt to it. So we are trying to be more relaxed, and changing our expectations on timing. Things are much more relational here, and not so much "getting things done". Although, I'm sure there are things I don't quite see yet. 

Our Team

We've been battling a lot with trying to settle in here, and clarifying things. Last week was rather all over the place, with us trying to figure out transportation, things breaking down, cell phones breaking down, all sorts of "unexpecteds". But we took a stand as a team, and realize we're in a spiritual battle. We're really focusing on keeping the unity in our team, and glorifying God. Because ultimately our goal here is to see Him glorified in us, and on this island. 

Last week the team did a variety of things like going to a youth group, doing capoeira downtown with another team in the area, and many prayer walks where we have met people, and even was able to invite someone to have lunch with us. We would like to continue meeting with those we've met and connect them to the local church here, and encourage and pray for them. 

Our goal here is to bring the young people here that are from the churches, and who we meet along side us in everything we do and disciple them, and also to connect and unite those we meet who don't necessarily meet this "young people" category. We want to see Aruba, and the churches and people here united, especially since we've had the impression that there is a spirit of division here. At times this spirit of division has crept into our group, so we are trying to keep guard, and by God's grace, nothing will happen. 

This afternoon    

The team has gone out to cover Aruba! This morning we had the impression to be strategic with our prayers and intercession, and take the physical act of traveling to the north, south, east, and west ends of Aruba and claiming it for Jesus. We (besides Elijah and myself who have stayed behind at the Mother House :) for his nap, and to do a few errands, and start dinner for the team) split up into groups of 3-4, invited some of the local youth, and spread across the island. This is also a team where we expect to see miracles, we want to pray for people, we want to gain insight into this nation, see the problems, and see what we can. 

I'm very excited for them to come back this evening and tell us about everything that's happened. God is a big god! He can do the impossible, and we expect it. 

No pictures!? 

So as you can see, I've included no pictures. Reason being: I forgot the stupid camera cable! I will have to look around and see if anyone has a card reader or cable that will fit, but until then... no pictures :( 

Just picture us in summery clothing, and there are palm trees around, and Elijah is running around in his diaper. By the way, I think so far he is happy being here. Perhaps not so much with the heat, but the people, the ocean, and all the lizards crawling around!

Much love,

Dani

Merry Christmas!

This year we were unable to send so many Christmas cards out, so this year we will blog our Christmas card!

We wish you all a blessed Christmas season, filled with joy and no stress! And may 2012 be better than all the years before!!!! 

Arrival in Aruba, Week one of Outreach

Here I am writing from the little island of Aruba.

What an adventure it was trying to get here though! At least for our little family. The rest of our team arrived with virtually no problems on Monday of this week. We were also set out to arrive Monday. We left with one other student early in the morning apart from the rest of the team, because that's just how our flights were due to some other issues. We arrived in Munich at 6:00am only to find out Elijah was unable to board the plane. Because we were flying through New York, and he holds a German children's passport which doesn't have an electronic chip in it, he would not be allowed to fly to the states. Even though it was just a stop over, they couldn't risk it and there are no exceptions. He would either have to get a new passport or a special visa. To make matters worse, we found out our tickets were unchangeable and restricted. This meant, they couldn't even book us a different flight a few days later so we could get the required documents. Either one of us could go, or none of us and we'd lose the flights. So we prayed to see what we should do, and it was pretty clear that Simon should just go. Since we were also responsible for the student with us, someone needed to go with her.

 This was heart wrenching for me because I saw no other possibility but staying in Hurlach alone for a month, Christmas alone, and no apartment because we had given up the room we were staying in the Castle for other people to move it. So one hour before boarding Simon checked in and left his very distraught, unhappy wife, and little boy. It was an unhappy situation for everyone. 

But I am very blessed with a wonderful DTS Team, and the Castle community. So in no time, two people from our staff were there to rescue me and my load of luggage to bring back on the train and to help with Elijah. I was feeling very depressed on this day and all I wanted to do was have a huge pity party. I didn't understand why God would give us the money in the first place to fly out, and then all the sudden to have everything mess up. This was very challenging for me. It was a miracle in the first place to receive the money, so I felt hurt and confused. When I arrived back at the Castle I was greeted by a beautiful sister and a bed made up in one of the girls dorm rooms that Nara and Taylor did. They set me up a colourful, comfy little bed, with a fruit basket and a lovely little card. It made me feel very loved, and I realized despite my longing to lock myself away from the world and be sad, it was much better to be around people who could love me, talk to me, and help me through a difficult moment. 

At this point, I still had no thoughts of actually being able to get to Aruba since we had no money, and our tickets were garbage. But it was obviously the thoughts of others that they would figure out a way to send us there. The community and our team prayed, as well as whoever saw my facebook status :) Later on that Monday afternoon, a visitor approached me and said that they wanted to bless me, and after looking up some direct flights to Aruba, they gave me enough money to cover a whole new set of tickets for Elijah and myself. But this time via Amsterdam. This way I wouldn't have to wait to order Elijah a new proper passport, or however long it would take for the visa. So plans were made, I contacted the travel agent and organized as soon as I could another flight. 

This 2nd miracle flight took place yesterday!! Praise God. Even when my faith is little, and my hope is weak, he astounds me with his goodness. Besides a little hiccup at the beginning, where I forgot all of our passports, and tickets at the Castle and realized first when we were at the airport... but thankfully, Raphi, who was my chauffeur that morning was able to quickly drive back and and organize a pick up. He was able to get it to me right on time, and I was even able to reserve seats for Elijah and myself without any ID! My concern was that I would have to sit in a very crappy seat for 10 hours with him, so I wanted to be there extra early to reserve something better. So I was blessed for both flights. Travel was long, but Elijah was good, and sometimes I feel really pregnant :)

We arrived in Aruba last night, and unfortunately my luggage was left behind.. but it should come tonight.

As of yet I haven't seen much of the island, but it's warm here : 30 degrees. It's very humid and sticky, so I'm looking forward to jumping into the ocean as soon as my bathing suit is here. It's rainy season, so there are a few periods of rain. The rain fills up the roads since there is no proper draining, so we were driving through little lakes this morning. 

We're staying with the family of our wonderful leader Erick, and we will be looking for somewhere else to move to by Sunday. 

The students did their first "outreach" activity today which was a prayer walk where they met many people, were invited into homes, and picked up by strangers. It's an exciting beginning. People are friendly and open here, and we look forward to what God has in store for us in this little country.

Be blessed! 

-Dani

Tour of the Castle - Schloss Hurlach !

I thought it would be nice to do a little Castle Tour of where we live for those of you who are interested. 

Hier gebe ich euch eine kleine Führung durch das Schloss Hurlach. Allerdings nur auf Englisch

Part 1: The Intro

Part 2: The Main Floor

Part 3: The Offices

Part 4: The Tower

There is one last one, that shows the attic and our home, but this one is having issues uploading so this will have to suffice for now!! 

Angebot Wochenseminar - Weekly Seminar Offers here at the King's DTS in the Castle!

Du willst noch mehr von Jesus? Du würdest gerne eine DTS machen, hast aber keine 6 Monate Zeit? Oder Du hast eine DTS gemacht und möchtest ein Thema auffrischen oder vertiefen?

Dann ist das hier DEINE Gelegenheit!

In diesem Herbst gibt es die Möglichkeit, an einigen Themenwochen unserer King's DTS teilzunehmen. Lass Dir diese Gelegenheit nicht entgehen, lebensverändernden, geisterfüllten, auf Jesus fokussierten Input zu bekommen – und das von ausgezeichneten internationalen Sprechern!

Dieses Angebot beinhaltet:

• Sechs (!) Übernachtungen in einem Mehrbettzimmer in einem 400 Jahre alten bayerischen Schloss!
• Ankunft am Sonntagabend und Abreise am Samstagmorgen – alle Mahlzeiten inklusive!
• Möglichkeit, von den Bahnhöfen Kaufering oder Schwabmünchen abgeholt und wieder dorthin gefahren zu werden!

Nur €240,00- Alles inklusive!

Folgende Wochen werden angeboten:

Datum	Thema	Sprecher
26. – 30. September	Die Freude, Jesus zu kennen	Dr. Johannes Hartl (Deutschland)
03. - 07. Oktober	Wesen und Charakter Gottes	Ellis Potter (USA)
17. - 21. Oktober	Das Wort Gottes	George Norwood (USA)
24. - 28. Oktober	Leben im Übernatürlichen	Hans-Dieter Gramm (Deutschland)
28. Oktober – 06. November*	Einsatz & Evangelisation*	YMCA München & weitere Orte*
07. - 11. November	Gott, der Vater	Marienschwestern (Kanaan)
14. - 18. November	Betrachten & verändert werden	Rainer Harter (Deutschland)
28. November – 02. Dezember	Der Heilige Geist in der Mission	Charles Victor (Indien)
05. - 09. Dezember	Geistlicher Kampf	David Johnson (Indien)

Wenn Du dich anmelden möchtest oder noch mehr Informationen benötigst, kannst Du uns gerne wie folgt kontaktieren:

Email: dts@ywam-hurlach.de

Telefon:

innerhalb Deutschlands: 08248 122 20

aus dem Ausland: 0049 8248 122 20

* Da es sich hierbei um einen Kurzeinsatz handelt, können weitere Kosten entstehen. Bitte informiere dich bei uns über die Details. Einzelheiten des Einsatzes können sich kurzfristig ändern.

English:

Are you interested in knowing Jesus more? Would you like to take part in a DTS but just don’t have the time? Maybe you’ve already completed a DTS and would like some refreshment in a topic of your choice?

Now is YOUR chance!

This Fall, we’re opening up certain weekly topics that will be held during our King’s DTS to you. Don’t miss out on an opportunity of a week of intense, Jesus-centred, Spirit-filled, life changing teachings from one of our gifted teachers.

This package includes:

l                 Optional pick-up and drop-off at either the Kaufering, or                                   Schwabmünchen train station near Hurlach!

l                 SIX nights in a shared dorm in a 400 year old Castle in Bavaria                       (the second YWAM base ever)!

l                 Arrival on Sunday night and departure Saturday morning - all                       meals included!

€240.00- All inclusive

Weeks offered :      

Date	Topic	Teacher
September 26th - 30th	The Pleasure of Knowing Jesus	Dr. Johannes Hartl (Germany)
October 3rd – 7th	Nature and Character of God	Ellis Potter (USA)
October 17th – 21st	The Word	George Norwood (USA)
October 24th-28th	Living in the Supernatural	Hans-Dieter Gramm (Germany)
October 28th – November 6th*	Outreach & Evangelism*	Munich YMCA & Others*
November 7th - 11th	God the Father	Sisters of Mary (Kanaan)
November 14th – 18th	Behold & Become	Rainer Harter (Germany)
November 28th- December 2nd	The Holy Spirit in Missions	Charles Victor (India)
December 5th – 9th	Spiritual Warfare	David Johnson (India)

                             

                                                                      

If you would like to register for any of these weeks or would like more information, please contact us at dts@ywam-hurlach.de or call:

from outside Germany:   0049 8248 122 20

from inside Germany:      08248 122 20

* Since this is a mini-Outreach, there will possibly be extra costs applicable. Please email us at dts@ywam-hurlach.de for more information. Outreach details are subject to change.

 

From Protestant Nuns to Eastern Germany to the King's DTS beginning!!! - September/October 2011

WELCOME to our new blog. Simon and I wanted to have somewhere where we were able to write in both languages, and include some more information that isn't necessarily included in our newsletters.


Beautiful Nuns, and YWAM Herrnhut


At the end of August till the beginning of September we journeyed across Germany with our staff team. First stop was Darmstadt, where we spent some time with the Sister's of Mary.
Not familiar with the group? You can find some more information here: http://www.kanaan.org/international/default.htm




Basically they are group of ladies who are devoted to a life of loving Jesus, community living, and living completely by faith. What is "living by faith" you ask? Well I thought I knew what this meant, but they altered my definition once I heard their stories. Basically their "living by faith" is saying that they trust God to provide everyday for every single one of their little needs. From toothpaste, to the food on the table, from acquiring large pieces of land, and building accommodations for their community and guests. And all without asking for money, or working for money.


We had a great time with these cute ladies. It was encouraging to hear their stories, and they were amazingly generous. We were able to lodge and eat there at no cost to ourselves. And for a community with no "fixed" or "sure" income, to be so generous is exceptional indeed. It really challenged me into thinking differently about our finances. Instead of thinking, "do we have anything that we can be generous with?" to, "what we have, we can be generous with". It's sometimes an uncomfortable lesson. Especially when one doesn't have an abundance.
But God has really been teaching us to rely ONLY on Him, and to be generous BECAUSE of Him and not be focused on lack.


Our next stop was another 5 1/2 hours northeast of Darmstadt in a little town called Herrnhut. It's settled right in the corner for Germany between the borders of Poland and Czech Republic. There we got to know more friends at YWAM Herrnhut.. who also live in a castle. Although, I must say, I like our castle better (perhaps I'm bias :) ) They do, although, have a little pond thing and more forest, so that's cool. It was great to meet some more YWAMers, and experience base life there. Herrnhut definitely has a different feel than here in Hurlach. It's filled with many more young 20-something North Americans (and also Germans, and some other diverse nations). Though I find Hurlach has a bit more international flaire. But that's okay, because it was really cool atmosphere to be in. It is full of life, passion, and love for Jesus. Because many of their DTSs are "Arts focused" they have a bunch of creative artists just itching to do things. You can see it in the base... the photography, the artwork, the music, the graphic arts. It was really inspiring to be there. During the week and a bit we had there, we did some staff training with their staff who is also just recently started a September DTS (Marriage of the Arts).




Castle Fest 2011

The week before our DTS we took part in our Castle Community's annual "Castle Fest", where the surrounding communities were invited to visit and many of us dressed up in medieval/baroque clothing. There were many food and ware stands from the staff here from various countries so that everyone had the chance to "taste" the world. Taylor and myself (Dani) had the opportunity to share our musical giftings on stage, and entertain the crowd, along with a few of the other musically talented staff. It was a long, but fun day.

Simon leading a tour through the castle

Sisters!

Click to see more pictures here 

The King's DTS Begins!


On September 17th our long awaited DTS students arrived. It was so neat meeting them all finally in person.. after a few months of only seeing their faces in the one picture we had of them, and praying for them, it was refreshing to see living, moving human beings. 

They came and we surprised them with their first task which was to build a tent together! Initially the idea was that they would sleep and have lecture there for the first week.. but alas, that didn't work out as I'll explain further on. The idea behind the tent was that we shouldn't just be comfy Christians.. only able to learn and experience Jesus in our comfort zones.. but that He pushes us to where we haven't been in order to grow us, and show us different sides of him. Unfortunately early in the morning it started raining, and by the time everyone had woke up and got our for breakfast the rain had puddled together in a fold of the roof of the tent. I suppose it got to heavy that the roof collapsed, thankfully not crashing upon anyone, just empty sleeping bags. Later we found out that a couple of the students had prayed that they would not have to suffer one more night in that tent. I guess God showed them a very tangible answer to prayer. They all enjoyed the next night in their warm beds in the dorm room

We have the honour of spending these next few months with 11 individuals from five different nations (Germany, Switzerland, USA, Canada, and Ethiopia). Two of which are men (but seem to be managing the inequality quite well). This is funny because our staff team numbers also 11. 

Currently we are at week four of the lecture phase. Our topics so far have been: Hearing God's Voice, Loving Jesus, Character and Nature of God, and this week is Destiny by Design. Each week has been a new teacher, which has been a great experience because we have the privilege to hear different points of view regarding our faith as Christians. Each teacher is passionate about different topics, and comes from a different area or denomination in our faith. 
It has been a great learning experience, because I believe we're all challenged in what we believe, and why we believe the things we believe. These are deep questions, and hit the heart. The students as well as the staff have ample opportunity to discuss and ask questions amongst ourselves, and to the teachers. 


The students are amazing, they are totally involved, excited, motivated, and ready for anything God has for them. I have seen some of them grow incredibly much in these last few weeks. It reminds me back to my DTS and how God radically changed me. He is doing the same with these students. He is the same God yesterday, today and in the future. He loves us so much, and the more I'm here and involved, I can see how much he really touches each individual... and very personally. He is a personal God, and He speaks so much! We just need to listen. 


What does our schedule look like?


What do we do here as staff? Because Simon is full-time staff, his schedule is quite different from mine. It also varies from week to week since some weeks he's translating (this is a bilingual school - German/English and EVERYTHING is translated), or leading certain aspects. I'll give you a quick glimpse into Simon's day:

Wake up - 5:50am and Quiet time until 6:45am

6:45-7:15am Breakfast

7:15-8:00am Team meeting

8:00-9:00 Worship

9:00-12:30 Lecture

12:30-2pm Lunch

2:00-4:00pm Office work

4:00-5:30pm Outreach prep

6:00-6:30pm Dinner

6:30-7:30 Family time

7:30- ?? Worship night or Lecture or Community Evening

10:00pm ish Bed!! 

This schedule constantly varies as there are many other weekly meetings that he has to attend, or various issues that he has to attend to, time changes, or special responsibilities. Admittedly, this was especially challenging for us as a family at the beginning, since we aren't "schedule lovers". More in the sense that it was difficult to schedule our "free time".. but we've been encouraged to do just that, see what time we have left, and schedule it together. So far it's worked out pretty good. 

My time looks different, I don't wake up as early, I'm there for the lecture, and typically leave early to prepare lunch for us as a family. On top of maintaining our household (small, but still active!), I am active in a few things. I have a one on one, which means I meet once a week with one particular girl and discuss the last week, things that are going on in her life, and pray for her. Every week we have something called "Passion Group" which means, the guys meet together, and the girls meet in two groups and have a bigger sharing/doing something together time. It's great to come into a smaller situation and talk about all of the stuff they're learning/dealing with/experiencing, and to pray together.

Outreach

After praying about it, and talking about it with a few of our team members, we have decided to accompany one of the teams to Aruba. This is so far the biggest team from our DTS, with the least amount of staff (although, now that we're coming, it's all evened out :) ) We want to go to support the two awesome leaders, Erick and Sarah, and the students in this time in whatever awaits us. For those of you who are not familiar with Aruba..  here is some Wiki info: Aruba

I would like to update with some more information regarding this later on.

Personal

I (Dani) am 18 weeks pregnant today, and everything seems to be going well. Climbing up the three flights of stairs to our room with Elijah, multiple times a day though is getting very irritating. I also feel it starting to strain on my tummy area, so by the end of the day my back is hurting and my abdomen feels a bit tight. So I'm hoping I can stay strong enough to live up here until December! Other women have had it far worse, so I'm sure I can do it hahaha. I can feel this baby inside of me kicking now, it's very soft compared to what I remember with Elijah. Although, I remember mainly the end of my pregnancy with him when he was moving all over the place and making my tummy move But this is still exciting, because I feel the life in me. It makes me more excited to welcome a new member to our family.

Simon and I are still praying about what we will do after outreach, and end of DTS time. When we come back we will need a proper home more or less. Wherever it is, be it here still, or elsewhere, we will need the finances to pay for an apartment. We are currently living by miracles every month to live even in this tiny room, and this is probably one of the cheapest ways we could live. So please pray with us about our finances, and provision and what to do next. I will update more on the development of our personal vision, but currently we're working on making it clearer.

Elijah is also doing well, he's growing and talking more and more every day. He never ceases to make me laugh be it because he growls when he sees bunny rabbits in his books, or points to his tummy and asks, "Baby??", or just does random little silly things. He is such a joy and pleasure to us, to the team, and to the students. I think they all enjoy having a little energy ball running around. It was nice in the sunny weather to go out and play in the playyard and sandbox in the back.. but now that it's cooling down, I'm starting to wonder what we're going to do in the bad weather. I'm sure we'll think of something, or he'll come up with something to surprise me (like emptying my shelves and making towers with our canned goods). We thank God every day for this wonderful little boy, and I think it makes it more exciting that we'll have another joy to look forward to. 

Running after birds in Prague

That's it for now!

Trying to drink Aunty's coffee