Last week of Community Development

I can't believe how fast time has gone. I officially have only one more week of my first school at YWAM Denver, studying Community Development for Missions (CDFM). For an overview about what I'm doing this year, check out this post. 

 

It has been a pretty challenging school, but I've learnt so much and I'm looking forward to putting it into practice at some point in the near future. I feature in this video below where I talk about a stove that I made out of tin cans! 

These photos are of the finished product :)

I think the most impactful things that I've learnt in this school were summaries really well in the book "When Helping Hurts" which I wrote a book report on here. I'd really encourage you to read it if you are interested in Missions or Community Development of any form. In Missions and Community Development we so often end up going into a community thinking that in just a few weeks or months we can 'fix' them and make them like us. Obviously most of us don't consciously think that way, but it very often ends up being the underlying attitude that the community receives during our time there. We go in and build them houses, paint their schools, plant trees, teach them about God or abstinence or about health and HIV, without taking the time to really understand their culture. 

All people are created in God's image and have incredible potential to do amazing things. On Friday night I went to a thing called the Resound: One Night Conference with Ray Hughes from Circuit Riders as the speaker. It was a really amazing time of worship and teaching. The church where the conference was held, VineLife, is situated in the middle of the country with huge windows on either side of the stage that overlooked the fields and Rocky Mountains. Instead of standing facing the band, we were encouraged to stand on the side of the stage and look out over God's creation as we worshiped Him. It was a really incredible experience to watch the sun set over such amazing beauty and try to comprehend that the God who made all of that loves ME and created me to be in relationship with him. It blew my mind and I just wept! 

One thing that Ray said that really stood out to me was that "God created everything to be creative". Such a simple yet so profound a concept! Every cell in our body recreates many times a second. All creation creates and grows with God all the time. How much more should we! I also love the concept of the universe being described as "uni" = one, "verse" = song. The universe is one song, every part of creation singing it's part in harmony. It reminds me of this mashup that Louie Giglio made of stars and whales singing together. So amazing! 

So coming back to how that applies to what I learnt in the CDFM school, God has put amazing potential and strengths and talents in each one of us and we just need to harness them. So when we go into communities where we want to help bring about change, we need to see them the same way. I've learnt that when we go into a community we need to help them recognise their own strengths and identify the potential that each other have. From this we can help to empower them to bring about the change that they want to see in their community. 


There are some really amazing stories of what has happened in communities when the local people have been empowered and have hope again to reach for their dreams and create a better life for their families. Obviously alongside this we need to help through educating the people in the areas that they want to develop in and helping them come up with sustainable solutions to their identified needs. So that may be teaching them how to build a well or a water catchment system, but not simply building it for them. The most important thing is to make sure that when we leave the community, the people are empowered to continue bringing about change and developing further from the work that has been done. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday I'm going to be sharing some of what I've learnt with the Compassion Discipleship Training School (DTS) that is running at YWAM Denver Arvada campus (Paul is doing that school) and with Boarders DTS that is running up at the Eagle Rock campus. I'm kinda nervous about it and would really appreciate some prayers. I haven't had much time to prepare yet, so I need to spend most of the next two days planning and preparing. Tomorrow (Monday) night is also the last time that our school will be working with the Koren refugees who we have been teaching English. I'm pretty sad to be leaving them because I've really enjoyed working with them, but I hope that I might be able to visit them again next when I'm doing School of Worship next quarter. But I think I'll write more about that in a different post :)

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Community Development for Missions Update

Dear friends, family and prayer supporters

I am so sorry that it’s taken me so long to write a new update. A few of you may be aware that I got pink eye a little while ago and that set me back quite a bit with my homework (Click here for more details). Since then it’s been a mad rush to try and get on top of things again. This week is the 8^th week of my first 12 week school at YWAM Denver where I am studying Community Development for Missions.

So far we have covered a wide variety of very interesting topics including Worldviews, Community Development Principles, Water and Sanitation, Community Assessment, Project Management and Economic Development. This week we have Education, followed by Primary Healthcare, Agriculture and various other seminars. We have also read three really great books and I put my book reports up on this blog for two of them if you are interested in reading more about them. The first book is called Truth and Transformation and the second is When Helping Hurts.

I have learnt so much during this school! I didn’t come with very high expectations and I think that I learnt more in the first week than I expected to learn in the whole school! I’ve already finished filling an entire book with all the notes I’ve taken. The highlights of the teaching weeks for me thus far are the weeks on Worldview and Economic Development. Worldviews taught me that so often we want to go in and help fix the surface level problems, when actually these come from a much deeper worldview root that stems from what the people believe about themselves, God and the world. Unless the root of the problem is addressed, our community development attempts will be short lived at best.  

Last week’s teaching on Economic Development was also a highlight for me because it enabled me to see how God’s unique gifting in my life can be used to bring lasting change in the Kingdom of God. It is so easy to be caught up in the stereotypical missionary mindset where evangelism is all there is to it, but God has given me a unique skill set with a business degree and an IT specialization that he can use in many ways to bring his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. One of the main things that God has been showing me this school is that he does not want me to conform to what others say I should do, but that the most important thing is to follow him in obedience. He will direct my path. “Obedience is better than sacrifice” (Prov 21:3) is a phrase that I’ve heard a lot in my time here! I wrote a poem in response to the economic suffering of many people in the world which you can read by clicking here.

My CDFM class is very small with just five students. I am getting on really well with my classmates and building friendships that will hopefully last a lifetime. One big prayer request that I have is for our protection. We seem to be coming up against a lot of spiritual opposition in the past 7 weeks and there hasn’t been one week where we have all been in class every day. There have been various sicknesses going around, ranging from stomach bugs, to head injuries and other serious pains that the doctors could not identify. In addition, many of us have been struggling with various other spiritual attacks that have limited our ability to engage in class and get the most out of the school.

Spiritually I have been struggling quite a lot recently, which I know seems weird given that I am surrounded by Christians who are on fire for Jesus. I think it’s just the difference between the practical focus of this school and the spiritual depth of the other YWAM schools that I have done in the past which has thrown me off guard a bit. If you could pray for me to go deeper with God and to seek him on a daily basis, I would really appreciate that. In addition, if you get any words of encouragement for me while you pray, I would absolutely love it if you could send them to me.

Finally, if you would like to support me financially for my next school at YWAM Denver which starts 2 April, School of Worship, you can do so by going to www.ywamdenver.org, clicking on the “donate/pay” tab and selecting “Student Payment” from the list. If you have any questions or would like to organise an alternative method of payment, feel free to call the accounting office on 303-424-1144.

May God richly bless you in the coming days, weeks and months and may he give you a fresh revelation of his unconditional love for you.

Love Sarah

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So far so good :)

It's been two weeks, but it feels like so much longer than that! Being back at YWAM Denver is so amazing and I'm really really enjoying it so far. At first a I was a little nervous about coming back, because I knew that a lot would be different from my last time here in 2007, and also because of how much I have changed and grown since then. But it's only been a week and I already feel like I've known everyone for a few months and my room mates totally feel like family! It is especially awesome having Paul here and, even though we don't get to hang out that often, it's just great having him nearby and seeing the way that God is working in his life. 

Paul at the lake near the YWAM base. The YWAM base is directly behind him in the distance.

There are just five of us in my school, Community Development for Missions (CDFM). We are a really nice mix: Dante is our only guy and he is from the Bahamas. He is going to MIT in September to study Chemical Engineering. Kourtney is from Viginia and she went on her DTS outreach to South Africa and volunteered in Haiti for 9 months after the earthquake. She wants to study nursing after this school. Sarah G is a Missionary Kid who lived in Thailand and Burma for 4 years. She is now studying Renuable Energy for International Development in the States and taking a semester break to do this course. And finally there's Crissy who is originally from Colorado but has travelled a lot and is passionate about helping women caught in trafficking and prostitution.

My CDFM class: Crissy, Sarah G, Angie (staff), Keri (director), Jonathan, Kourtney, me, Jenna (staff and my small group leader), Dante and Kai (assistant director)

Our leaders are also really awesome people. Keri is originally from the UK and he has his Masters in Mechanical Engineering with a specialision in Community Development. His wife, Angie, is a nurse and they both have a huge heart for missions. They also have a really adorable 2 year old son called Jonathan who I am very quickly falling in love with, and another baby on the way :)

Angie and Jonathan

Last week we spent most of the time bonding and getting to know each other. We also went over the basic introductory things about being in YWAM and rules of the base etc. This week we are doing a video conference with a lady called Christine from the YWAM base in Khona, Hawaii. There have been quite a few issues with the technology, but they got stored out by Tuesday. 

The road outside the YWAM base, very often full of geese!

Thankfully God is able to work regardless and I have learnt so much about the lies that hold back cultures and societies and how we need to go to the root of these beliefs in order to bring about change, rather than just trying to bring change on higher level without looking at the reason for the lack of development in the area. Because so often the reason for the community being in that situation is rooted in a lie that they or someone else believes about them and until that lie has been replaced by God's truth. For example that we are ALL made in God's image and that he has given us dominion over the earth and we are not controlled by it. Through this truth God can bring about lasting change. I'm really looking forward to what else I am going to learn this week and I'm really excited for the rest of this training school!

The YWAM base covered in a fresh layer of snow :)

The weekly outreach that I'm involved in with the rest of my CDFM class is teaching English to Karen refugees from Burma who are now living in the States. We had EFL training on Sunday which was pretty interesting. Monday was our first outreach and I got to take the two hyper 10 year old twin boys, who were distracting the class, aside and teach them Maths, which I thoroughly enjoyed! They are such characters! I'm really looking forward to going back and working with them every week.

Ahtim and Ahtow

What a way to start 2012!

Right now I'm sitting on a couch in a little house in the outskirts of Oxford. What a week it has been! Paul and I have packing in so much sight seeing and touristy stuff that we are pretty much dead men walking now. I think we may have overdone it a bit, but it's lovely to spend some time with his extended family here in Oxford for a few days and slow down the pace a bit and 'recover' from the fast pace of London before we head off to the States. 

Hyde Park Swans

The church where my uncle
 Russell works as a vicar in Ewell

We landed at Heathrow on 30 December and spent a rather interesting day slowly making our way to Ewell, equipped with two big bags, one roll-a-board bag, two backpacks and a handbag. It was a little crazy, but we made it! We ended up stopping off at Hyde Park and meandering through the Winter Wonderland for a few hours. It was a little difficult with all our luggage, but well worth it! Food in London is rather pricey, so we ended up buying a loaf of bread and having a little picnic with a jar of Nutella I got for Christmas. :) 

The next day saw us waking up around midday, having caught up on some of the sleep we lost while travelling, and heading into London for our New Year's Eve adventures. We had organised to stay with a good friend of mine for the night, who is staying with her sister near St Paul's Cathedral for the holidays. It was such a blessing to have a place so close to the fireworks to crash for the night, because getting out of the center of London is nearly impossible with the crowds! After finally locating their place, we headed over to the fireworks viewing spots. We were about 6 hours early, but had been warned that it was necessary in order to get a good spot. So we had a little picnic, watched a movie, huddled together among thousands of other tourists under an umbrella and eventually watched a really incredible fireworks display. 

New Year's on Waterloo Bridge

Gabi, me and Tyrone

Catching up with Gabi later that night was wonderful, as I haven't seen her in two months and won't see her again for another six. We had some great girl-talk time and a good nights sleep before heading off to do some tyical touristy things the next day. Paul and I went to the Shakespeare Globe, the Tate Modern, the London Eye, St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. By the late afternoon the rain was bucketing down, my boots were drenched through and it felt like I was squelching in puddles with every step! But it was well worth it and we got to tick off quite a few things off our list!

St Paul's Cathedral

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

That evening we had a wonderful supper with my grandparents. It was really nice to see them again, share stories and catch up after not having seen them for about a year and a half. I'm so glad that Paul got to meet them too, as they immigrated to the UK soon after Paul and I started dating. It was also lots of fun realising how much I have in common with my aunt, Elaine, that I didn't know about: like being fussy about the different tastes of tap water and work better late at night than in the early morning! 

Granddad, Auntie Di, Elaine, Russell and me

On the 2nd one of Paul's dreams came true when we went to see the Emerite's Stadium; the home ground of his beloved Arsenal football/soccer team! Unfortunately we couldn't go inside the stadium, but just being there seemed to be enough :) We then headed to Hamleys and did some Oxford Street shopping. We also managed to squeeze in watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace too! Fun times!

The next day was a little wet and there had been some terrible wind and rain the night before, resulting in a number of trees falling over railway tracks. Because of this, it took us quite a while to get into London, but we eventually got to see the Science Museum, Natural History Museum and explored Harrods a bit. We stopped off for some Starbucks and a little more Oxford Street shopping before heading home.

What I will look like when I'm old,
according to the Science Museum!

Paul outside the Natural History Musu

Then yesterday we packed up all our stuff and came with Paul's uncle, Ron, to Oxford. It's been so nice to slow the pace down a bit, put out feet up and just chill! I've really loved hearing more about Paul's family history and noticing all the similarities and quirks that mirror his family at home, even in a family that has grown up completely on the other side of the world! 

Today we went into Oxford for a few hours and just wandered the streets and stopped in at a few shops. I'm delighted with the 2 year anniversary present that Paul bought for me, and he also got himself a really nice warm Oxford University hoodie :)

We now have another 2 and a half days to go before we leave for the States (on Sunday)! YWAM Denver here we come! I'm so excited to be back and to have some awesome time growing with the Lord and spending time seeking him and worshiping him! 

2012 is definitely off to a good start and I know that there is a lot more of good stuff to come!

10 days to go...

So the clock is ticking and there are only 10 more days to go until Paul and I get on a plane and head off on our adventures! The last few weeks have been such a whirlwind of stuff happening! From end of (academic) year celebrations, to starting a job, to graduating, to preparing for Christmas and getting everything sorted for the trip, I feel like I have hardly had a moment's break. 

My graduation :)

But it has all been so exciting (barring some anxious moments with the skyrocketing exchange rate and the struggles of trying to adapt to a full 9am - 6pm working day)! I can't believe that the time has gone so fast and that it's nearly Christmas and then only 4 days later we leave! So much still to do! So little time... and I haven't even STARTED my Christmas shopping!


I'm very excited that on Wednesday my sister, Janine, is coming home :) It's going to be so great to spend a whole week with her before I leave! And I'm really looking forward for when she joins me in Denver and goes on staff at the YWAM base in a few months time.


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The adventures to come in 2012

It's about time that I update you on the exciting plans that I have for next year! I forced myself not to focus too much on next year until my thesis was done. But now that it is, I get to be SUPER excited about what is to come and I want to share it with you :)

http://www.ywamdenver.org/

I'm planning on going back to YWAM Denver for the first 6 months of next year. This is something that I've been wanting to do since I was there in 2007 for my Gap year for a Discipleship Training School (DTS) and School of Biblical Foundations (SBF). God called me to YWAM Denver specifically so that I could do the School of Worship (SOW) there, but the timing clashed with Kirsty (my sister)'s wedding that year. So I had peace about coming home and doing my degree and going back to do it after I finish, which is now! 

SOW is only 3 months long (April - June), so I decided that if I was going to be setting aside a chunk of the year directly for growing in my relationship with God and my passions, I may as well make use of the time and do another school while I'm there. While God didn't directly call me to do another school like he did with SOW, he gave me peace that if I choose to do one he will bless me richly through the experience. I initially wanted to do the School of Evangelism (SOE), or WISE (Worship, Intercession, Spiritual Warfare and Evangelism) - as it is called at YWAM Denver, but the dates of that school got moved so it wasn't an option anymore. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/

I then spent some time praying and looking into different options and eventually was led to the Community Development for Missions school (CDFM). At first I had some pride issues I needed to get over, as I thought that I would probably be able to teach them a lot of what would be taught in the school, having grown up in a third world country and being involved in missions over the years. For example, the annual trips that I go on with my church to the rural areas of Mthatha [See these blog posts (1) and (2)]. But God brought me to a place of recognizing my pride and realising the incredible way that doing this school would complement my academic studies and future work opportunities. 


I'm planning on doing my Masters in Computer Science in 2013, focusing on the area of ICT4D (Information and Communication Technology for Socio-Economic Development). I've done my Honours thesis (in collaboration with Learn to Earn) in this area. I really want to pursue this field of study and look at ways in which technology can be used and appropriated effectively to bring about change in poor communities. God pointed out that having an all-rounded understanding of Community Development will help make the technology that I develop more effective in changing peoples lives.

Here is an extract from the YWAM Denver website about what each school covers:

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/school-of-worship/

School of Worship:

Our purpose is to raise-up worshippers who are passionate about Jesus and skillfully trained; those who will not only minister to God's heart, but will go into all the world with His high praises in their mouth and a two-edged sword in their hand (Psalm 149:6). As part of our program, each student will be taught on songwriting and given the opportunity to write and perform his or her own songs. Then, at the end of the quarter, several of these songs will be compiled into an album that is produced and released through YWAM Denver. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/community-development-for-missions/

Community Development for Missions:

The School of Community Development For Missions is based on God's instruction for us to love our neighbor, help the poor and disciple the nations. The goal of CDFM is to equip missionaries with a skill-set in community development; and see communities around the world empowered to escape the trap of poverty and take control of their own lives. Students will learn key concepts in successful community development and be introduced to issues faced in developing countries. The school provides tools in community assessment and guidance on how to implement projects. A graduate of the school will be equipped with practical tools, resources and contacts to pursue their specific area of interest.

I will not be going on any outreaches after these schools, and as such they will simply be a training and equipping time for me to be more effective in the various ministries that God has called me to. I don't feel particularly called to full time missions at this stage, but I am open to it if God leads me in that way in the future. Right now, however, I recognise that I have a unique combination of technical skills and passion for seeing communities changed that God can use me in, even if it is in an academic setting. 

http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/compassion-dts/

I'm stoked to be able to say that my boyfriend, Paul, is planning on going to YWAM Denver too during the same time period to do a Compassions DTS. It has been a long journey for him to decide to do this and has been largely uninfluenced by my decision to go. I'm excited about what us both being in YWAM for this time may mean for our future. But I'm also very aware that this time is specifically for each of us to grow in our relationships with God first and foremost, and as a couple secondly. He is not a member of my church, Pinelands Baptist Church (PBC), so he is not asking for financial support from us, but I know that he would really appreciate our prayer support. His church, while backing him spiritually, are not willing to support him financially. As such, he is following God very obediently and having to totally rely on God to provide for his school fees and living expenses. 

We will be leaving on 29 December and spending a week in England with family before heading to Denver on the 8th. CDFM and DTS both start on 9 January and SOW will run while Paul is on outreach. 

Paul and me

We would both absolutely love for you to support us in prayer during the adventure to come! If you would like to be added to a list of prayer supporters to receive our updates, please email me. I will also be posting regular update here, so you can subscribe (on the left hand panel) to these posts. If you would like to support us financially, please send me and email and I can send you more details.