Hello again! Here is some exciting quarantine reading for you! I hope this letter finds all of you healthy and well! This newsletter talks about what I have been up to these last 6 months staffing the Compassion DTS!
Two years ago during the missions midwife school I did, I broke my rib and felt it was a time to “wrestle with God for my inheritance” as Jacob did in the Bible. During this time God said that I would be starting some kind of healthcare school. He gave me a long list of ideas and things that the students could do and learn. I had no idea where to even begin but He led me every step of the way as I listened to Him day by day. These last 6 months of the Compassion DTS saw me watching God do everything on that list He gave me two years ago; watching Him and I work together to do all He said He would do and more!
The Compassion DTS (Discipleship Training School) started September 2019 in the south France at the Bridges of Life YWAM (Youth with a Mission) base. There is a wonderful leader at the base who led this school, and two other amazing young ladies and I were the staff. We had 8 students for the 3 month lecture phase in France and 7 of them went to Guatemala for the 3 month outreach phase.
During the lecture phase we had speakers from the base and different places come and teach on subjects like: Father Heart of God, repentance and forgiveness, living life with the Father, prayer, servant leadership, evangelism, missions, identity, mother heart of God, worship, and so much more! They also learned some practical things to take on outreach which included basic healthcare, clean water techniques, and traffic proof teaching. Traffic proof is a teaching that educates communities on how to watch for signs of human trafficking and to protect themselves from being trafficked.
I was so very very privileged to teach basic healthcare to the students. Some of the lessons included: Vital signs, Nutrition, Diabetes, CPR, First Aid, Pharmacology, diarrhea, dehydration, and re-hydration solution, fever reduction & common cold, and much more! I used material that I had spent the early part of the year writing and a workbook I created that went along with each lesson. To this day I hold the workbook in my hands and wonder how it got there! It is a physical testimony of the glory of God and what HE can do. I know that without Him, I could not have written any of it! I also found out that I absolutely LOVE to teach! It had always been a dream of mine but I never thought I would get the opportunity since I chose to be a nurse…God once again showed me that He sees and gives me the desires of my heart, and even if they aren’t in “my time frame” they are always well worth the wait and better than I could have imagined!
The three month outreach in Guatemala was such a gift. We were able to travel around to different areas of the country and stay at other YWAM bases, a hostel, and a pastors house. We were involved with several medical and dental clinics, some at the base and some in rural villages which we would have to drive hours to in a very hot car. I was so proud of the students. They dove into every clinic courageously and gave it their all! They gave countless healthcare gospel teachings in all sorts of settings to all size crowds! I have experienced no greater joy than to watch them teach and do the things that I taught them. I have never ever felt more rich and full in my entire life! Sometimes they would take their blood pressure cuffs out on the streets and just offer to take peoples blood pressure and pray for them. During those times we saw several people healed in Jesus name! One sweet woman also gave her life to Jesus and afterwards the students prayed for pain she had in her stomach and there was healing! Her whole face changed to pure joy after meeting Jesus that day and it was beautiful to see!
The students also gave their traffic proof training many times as well! On human traffic awareness day, they were able to give the presentation at a school in front of over 350 high school students! Only God could have set that up! Oh, another thing only God could set up; we got to sing praises on the Guatemalan radio!
We did a variety of things those three months including; countless children’s ministries (several times wehad over 100 kids attend!), home visits, bible distribution, visiting a home for the elderly, visiting a jail, dressing up as clowns to visit a kids ward in a hospital, feeding the homeless several nights, street evangelism, preaching at youth groups, leading devotion times, leading worship times, singing and dancing in front of churches, baking Christmas cookies to give out to people living at the city dump and to neighborhood gang members, and much more!
Needless to say we were all tired by the end of those three months but as I said before, I am so proud of those students, they gave 100% even when they were scared or plans would change at the last second (which happened ALL the time!). They just kept boldly stepping out and trusting God would be there, and He always was! I am also so thankful to the two young ladies who were leading this outreach with me and to the woman who led this school. This school wouldn’t have happened without her and she taught me SO much about leadership and life. She was there for me with wisdom and comfort when I was frustrated or didn’t know what to do or say. I cannot brag on her enough! God put together such an amazing team and I thank Him every day for them!
Lastly I want to thank each of you who prayed for us, sent us encouraging words, sent funds to buy the medical equipment with, and those who faithfully support me financially to do this work! Trust me when I say we felt your prayers! They made a huge difference and I wouldn’t have wanted to walk that journey without all of you! And I hope you are ready to walk on another journey, because the next road God has for me is even crazier than this one! I will let you all know what it is soon!
One of our students is an amazing photographer! the pictures that look amazing are some of his shots:
