First week in Perth

DTS started this week and after a few days of orientation I had my first lectures. Shirley Brownhill, our base director, spoke on Hearing God’s Voice and Quiet Times. Shirley is a great speaker and talks in a way that is easy to understand. She told us about ways God speaks to us, reasons why we are deaf to God’s voice and that God hearing God’s voice is essential for an intimate relationship with Him. If we are willing to listen and obey He will talk to us.

This week was challenging and great. I was convicted of things that weren’t right in my heart. An important thing I learned this week is that we can be completely honest with God. He loves when we humble ourselves before him and tell him where we are at and share our struggles with Him. The great thing is that He knows our hearts and loves us the same. 

I understood the meaning of this verse this week:

  “But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” 

~ Nehemiah 9:17

As you can see God has been doing so much in me this first week already. I can't imagine all the things he's still going to do in the next months!

Here is what a normal day in the life of a DTS student looks like:

6:00 morning exercise

6:20 breakfast and quiet time

8:00 family chores (cleaning the base)

8:30 intercession, base worship, or school worship

9:40 break

10:00 lectures

12:30 lunch and break

3:00-5:00 work duty

5:30 dinner

7:30 small groups/study night/outreach/Friday night meeting

A discipleship is a vocational training, which means that we not only sit in a classroom but also apply what we learn and give glory to God in every work we do. It doesn’t matter if we pray or clean a toilet; we do everything for the glory of His name. Part of this vocational training is our daily work duties. I work at the reception as my work duty. I am basically in charge of the phone and welcoming people. I had my first day of work this week and I never knew that so many people mumble on the phone! I am, in any case, still looking forward to a fun and challenging time as a receptionist.

The Perth base has a strong emphasis on family. This means that we as a base are a family, function as a family and do a lot together as a family. Some of our family activities include barbecues, movie nights, or we had a swing dance one night. Yesterday we went to the beach and then walked through the Australian desert to go sandboarding. We took boogie boards with us and then boarded down a sand hill right into the river. I unfortunately forgot my camera yesterday but will definitely try to get some pictures up here from our great day yesterday.
The Australian beaches are amazing! White sand, turquoise water, blue sky, loads of sunshine and no people!

Our DTS group is bonding more and more. I am amazed at how honest and open we are with each other. I’ve had such great talks, heard so many wonderful testimonies and have found great friends already.

If you’d like to pray for me, please pray that God continues His work in me. Pray that I’ll be able to handle the tight daily schedule, get used to base life and really find time to spend time with God alone. Please also pray that I will continue to grow in my relationship with God and get to know Him more.