DTS Gathering in Scotland

Hello everyone!

As you may remember, I headed up to Glasgow, Scotland last Monday for a DTS Gathering. Schools from all over the UK and a secondary YWAM school from Norway met in Scotland in a (surprisingly warm) church. The week consisted of lots of outreach and teachings. Because this time I was staff, two of the outreach slots was taken up with Basic Leadership School (BLS). Two of the speakers from the week took aside most of the staff while the students were on outreach and talked on various aspects of outreach. In the first one, the speaker divided us into groups and gave us various scenarios or conflicts that we, as a group, would try to come to a conclusion about as a pretend ‘leadership team’ of the school. The second speaker talked about different fears that can hold us back and how to lead the students through the prayers of forgiving others and rebuking fears.

I got to be a part of two outreaches for the gathering but my favourite was called, ‘Glasgow is:’. Before we went out on to the streets, we prayed for different words for Glasgow and asked God how he sees Glasgow. At first I got the phrase ‘Glasgow is not forgotten’ but then I also got ‘Glasgow is courageous’. As it turns out, Jen got the same one (first one) as me so I wrote down the second one on my piece of cardboard. We went into downtown Glasgow and held up our signs. I had quite a few people come up to me to ask what it was all about (there were about 20 of us all spread up and down the main stree) and planted myself in front of a real (not really) TARDIS! There were so many testimonies from that week of the students stepping out and engaging in really good conversations with people and even leading a few to Christ.

Now, I’ll be at the oval for another week before leaving for Liverpool, UK to work with a ship called the Next Wave. We will be working for the ship and helping with their maintenance and then going out and doing evangelism. 

Orientation

September Staff Orientation 2012

Orientation, Passions and 24/7 Prayer

I also had to do staff orientation last month. That involved a lot of listening to the different leaders/elders of YWAM Harpenden explaining the different values of the base. We got a full tour of the base, had lunch with the Leadership Team (LT), had a scavenger hunt around Harpenden (Liesel and I won), and going out to the pub with the base leaders and some national leaders of YWAM.

The week after that, we had ‘At Home Days’ here at the Oval. Every day, there were teachings, ministry times with each other (praying for and encouraging one another), lunches made by people around the base, a time when everyone took something of their own belongings and gave it to someone else (I got a cool black dress and I am cleaning/organizing someone’s flat for them) and we prayed for the nations and for the future renovations plans for the Oval.

This past Monday, Laura Mudd came in to talk to us about our passions and how do we properly communicate that. It was extremely useful as I never know what to tell people when they ask what my passions are but when looking through all of the major events of my life, prophetic words, any spiritual gifts, using StrengthsFinders and the Myers-Briggs test, there was a common theme of being someone who comes alongside others and seeks to restore, relate to, develop and encourage others. And that is something I have been learning a lot about since I’ve gotten here; what kind of person do I want to be and how can my passions be used to develop my own character.

This week also marked the first week where my schedule is how it is supposed to be. Monday and Thursdays, I am in the office prepping for January which usually consists of praying for the trainees, updating any database information, emailing the students and contacting possible local outreach opportunities. In the afternoons, I am also overseeing work duties and then going on local outreach on Thursday. Tuesdays and Fridays, I am in the classroom and involved with small groups and tea breaks. Wednesdays is a kitchen day as I have to have certain amount of hours of work duties for the base every week.

This week was a 24/7 week of prayer here at the base to celebrate everything that happened during the Olympics (people coming to Jesus, healings, having nations come to the base for different events). I was a gatekeeper, which means that every day from 0:00am to 1:00am, I was in the prayer room to cover the shift. People on the base could come and go as they pleased to come pray. There were 24 of us who made sure that there was always someone in the prayer room, ensuring it was 24/7.

The weather is holding up pretty good here (although there are days where it absolutely downpours) and even right now the sun is shining (yesterday there was hail). But the coldness gives me hope for snow this year.

First Month

So, I finally have a few minutes for a quick update about life back in England… and a lot has happened already. When I first arrived in London airport, I was picked up by a member of the DTS Core Leadership Team, Jon Judge. I got to the Oval safe and sound and met my roommate, Liesel, who is from Tennessee and is working in the café. I was given a few days to settle in which ended up meaning staying in bed with sickness. The next week or two was spent working prepping the September DTS and then supporting the school when the trainees started to come. There was a lot of practical work to be done and also lots of praying for the students and writing their welcome cards.

I know I’m an introverted person but I never realised just how introverted I really am. When the students came, the entire week was spent talking to people, listening and hanging out. I would leave my flat at 9am and not come back till 10pm. I was constantly meeting someone new, getting tea break ready, working in the kitchen or just hanging out in the lounge. I thought I was doing pretty well until after the weekend. I felt like I needed a whole other week just to recharge after that super busy week where there had really been no rest (7 day working week!) or no downtime. Most people would probably be tired as well but there was such an emotional tiredness that I felt. I’ve bounced back to normal now.

I’m slowly (but surely) getting used to being here. Sometimes it’s a bit hard to believe. But things have definitely picked up in terms of the September DTS being here and having classes every day. This is part 1 of my update of the past month (and almost a half) of being in England and hopefully I’ll get the rest done this week.

It's Been A While

I realize I haven’t written on here for a while but hopefully I have most of everyone’s email addresses so that you've been getting the news updates. If not (actually even if you have), I have been so busy in these past few weeks and so much has happened that there hasn't even been space in a news update. As I was starting to write down a few things I wanted to share here I realized something… there is just too much to share. However, I've worked around that and instead of writing a massive blog post that will take years to read, I’ll start at the beginning and work my way up to what I’m doing currently. Ideally, this won’t take up too much time or space but I’d rather it be broken up than overloading my brain and other’s eyes with too much text. So stay tuned, more is coming.

Leaving in 6 Days!

Well, this is it! There are only six days left in Canada until I leave for England. Yesterday was my second-last shift at Canadian Tire, today was my commissioning service at Coquitlam Alliance and it will soon be a week since I stopped working at Sasamat Outdoor Centre. The past five months have been difficult in terms of trying to work 35 to 50 hours a week, seeing everyone that I missed while doing my DTS (while also saying goodbye as it came closer to leaving again) and raising support for going back. But God has been incredibly faithful in the support raising so that I didn’t have to worry too much of who would be supporting me and if I had enough to live on base. As of a few days ago, my most recent monthly sponsorship has made me fully funded every month for my time in England and all of the one-time donations that I’ve received will be helping tremendously with my plane flight, visa and future outreach fees.

It feels a bit weird to leave again; I feel like I just got home. But I guess it took me quite a few months to get used to being here again. Even though Canada and England really aren’t that different, living on a Christ-focused YWAM base with people who share the same values and beliefs is extremely different to living in a secular, ever-increasing atheist city with people who don’t really know what they believe. And that was something that I had to learn how to handle. Even before YWAM I had been, for the most part, living in my own Christian bubble with friends that either believed the same thing I did or supported me in my decisions. I haven’t had to deal too much who have aggressively disbelieved in God. But it's good practice, I guess, to be always ready to give an account of why I believe what I believe. And, thankfully, I haven't had to deal with much of that when I was growing up. I was able to form a strong belief in something bigger than myself at a young age without outside opinions. Which is now good for what I'm about to do...?

Anyways, my thoughts don't always come out intelligently so I'll stop there just in case...

First Update

Well there are only six weeks left until my flight for London, England and everything seems to be coming together smoothly. When I arrive at the YWAM base in Harpenden, I will be support staff for the September 2012 DTS while I settle in to life at the Oval and take the Basic Leadership School (BLS) in October. The BLS will be 1-2 afternoons a week of teachings on different aspects of leadership. Support staffing means that while I will have several duties with the DTS, I will not be going on their outreach. A few of my duties could include up tea breaks, overseeing work duties, organizing fun nights, administration, one-on-one`s and small groups. However, I will be staffing the January 2013 DTS full-time so I will be preparing throughout the fall for the school.

As far as planning goes, I am pretty much set except for a few things. I have my visa (which is for two years) and my one-way, direct flight to London on September 1, 2012. I am still working two jobs full-time during the summer at Canadian Tire in the Garden Centre and at Sasamat Outdoor Centre in the kitchen. Hopefully, by the end of this summer, I will have saved a substantial amount of finances to help with my fees. However, I am still short when considering residence, outreach, school fees, and plane tickets. I need to raise a monthly support of approximately $550/month and I am still $250/month short. This covers food, residence, council tax, and other necessities. Please let me know if you are interested in partnering with my ministry with YWAM Harpenden or if you have any questions. Click on 'Support' at the top and it will explain the various ways of support financially.

Another way to support and partner with my ministry is to commit to praying for me while I am away. This can be as often as every day or even once a week but I would love to hear of others praying for the DTS ministry. Let me know if you are interested! Again, more info can be found at 'Support' but I will always need prayer while I am away.

Hopefully, I will be a lot more diligent in updating a blog than I was when I left my own DTS. But if you are ever curious of what exactly I am up to or if you haven't heard from me in five million and seven years, send me an email! Or a Facebook message or even a letter. Feel free to get on my case about updates. There will be an official newsletter every few months that I'm thinking will have more of a general overview of what I'm doing. But if you want the details or the fun stories, this is the place.

Hope you are enjoying some beautiful sunshine this summer,
Kaitlin Schulz