DTS Outreach testimonies part 2

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The Stanely House DTS finished a couple of weeks ago. They had a great outreach in Cyprus. Here are some of Peter’s and Destiny’s stories of what God did through them:

“I met a guy from Bangladesh who was studying in Cyprus. He was from a Hindu family, and I started to build a relationship with him during our time there. I had several really good conversations with him, I got to share the gospel with him and I prayed for him several times. I prayed that God would fill his heart with His love and that Jesus would reveal himself to him. At the end of the outreach he said that He really believed in God, and he believed that what I said was true. So He really had encounters with God during this time.”

 

“I met a lady named Zehra about a week into outreach. She is a Turkish Cypriot who lived in the South of Cyprus until her mid-teens when war broke out between the Turks and the Greeks she was forced to leave her home and move to the North. Now, she owns a little shop on the North side of Cyprus where I first met her. I asked her a few questions about the area, and she told me the story of the war between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots from a very personal point of view. We talked for a few hours and when I asked if I could pray for her she said that she was not interested in “anything like that”, but seemed grateful that I had offered.  I tried to visit her over the next month or so, but she was always out when I got there. I felt God wanted me to keep going back to check. A few weeks before we went home, I went back one last time and finally she was there! I had only been in her shop a few minutes when she hung up the phone and explained to me that her daughter had just been diagnosed with cancer and she was so overwhelmed with what to do next. Before I could even respond, she held out her hands to me and said “Now. Now I would like for you to pray for me.” I was so honoured and blessed by that simple gesture. I prayed for her and for her daughter and I was able to share my testimony with her about my walk through similar struggles as my mom battled cancer. God really touched us both that day. I am keeping in contact with her and I am excited to see how God continues to work in her and her family.”

DTS outreach testimonies

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Our DTS at Stanely House came back from outreach to Cyprus on Tuesday. Colleen and Peter share some of the stories of what God did through the team whilst on outreach:

“We met a man who was in a difficult situation. He was around 60 years old. His wife had left him, and he was basically homeless in Cyprus and without a job. He was sad and didn’t know what to do. We talked to him several times and prayed for him that God would open doors in his life and give him the provision he needed. Shortly after praying for him, we met him again, and he told us that he had got several jobs. He now had so much work that he almost couldn’t keep up with everything. He changed during the time we were together in Cyprus. He went from a place of sadness and despair to a place of joy and peace”.

“We were working at a Sri Lankan church one Sunday in Cyprus, and at the end of the service our team started some prayer ministry and we prayed for every person in the church. One of the women we were praying for was complaining of back pain and knee pain, so we laid hands on her and started praying for healing. A member of our team then sat her down and checked to see if her legs were the same length and they weren’t! So we continued to pray and then a member of our team felt a pop in her knee and another said ‘In the name of Jesus, leg grow!’ And the leg grew an inch or two! It was incredible to really see the healing hand of God moving in this church and the love that God has for these women.”

“One day as we were walking into town we passed an old woman who was begging for money. I gave her my packed lunch, blessed her and continued, but God wanted something more. One of my friends felt really strongly the call to go back. So we did. She had pain in her body. She didn’t speak English so we struggled to understand her, but she had health issues. So we prayed for her, and invited the Holy Spirit to minister to her. I felt God’s presence so strongly at that point, and I felt Jesus’ heart for this woman and how much He loved her. She started crying, and made the sign of the cross on her chest. We prayed that God would open doors in her life and provide for her in every single way, and I hugged her, and my friend gave her a necklace with a cross. We also gave her some money. She was so thankful and praised God, and kissed our hands. I don’t know if she got healed immediately, but God really touched her, and I was so blessed by ministering to her.”

Oban //

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YWAM Ignite: a team of passionate people, from different countries with different cultures and languages. Together they form a YWAM family with their mission focus on Oban, Scotland. Rolinke Bremer shares a look at who they are, and where this new pioneering project is going:

“A smaller town on the West Coast of Scotland, Oban has about 9,000 inhabitants. In summer though this amount can triple! Many tourists and travelers come through Oban making it a lively place. Our vision is to reach out to the people of Oban and beyond. To show them God’s way for their lives, to launch them into the Kingdom and to be a resource for training and growth.
We are pioneering which means starting from scratch. This makes it sometimes difficult, but always interesting. The last few months we have learned to really wait on the Lord for the many steps we need to take. All we want is to follow His lead, because He knows exactly what He wants for Oban and its people, and also for our team. Coming back to His heart for Oban and acting upon what he says has been one of our primary goals. We want to build on this solid foundation, so that each team member knows who they are in Christ and what they are called to. This means we start every day with prayer and listening to God, and then simply doing what He ask us to do.

A key value for our team is hospitality. We want to open up our house and our lives to the people around us, to meet them where they are at and let them leave better than they came. We believe hospitality and being relational are parts of the new evangelism – ways of reaching out to the people around us whether they are in our house or on the streets.

Some ministries God has highlighted to us are developing an expression of prayer & intercession, with prayer walks, 24/7 prayer, practicing the prophetic and ministering to each other and the churches in Oban. WTeam Ignite2e also have a heart for evangelism, through hospitality and other creative, artistic and prophetic ways. Being relational is – again – the key. Two big areas of focus are reaching children and youth through sports, and travellers and pilgrims through hospitality, nature and the arts. There is a lot to develop with this, but for now we are planning to run a Sports DTS in September 2015. We are very excited about that!!

Currently we are waiting for the right housing in Oban, but are longing to move very soon. Pray with us as we are in the midst of a negotiation for a wonderful house!

Pioneering is hard. It is also fun; because, in all of it, we are so dependent on God. Its like a big adventure, or roller coaster. As we lay down our rights and put our focus on God’s heart in all of this, then faith, peace, and great joy are the fruits. If you have a pioneering heart, or if you are willing to step into this unknown adventure with God, feel free to apply! We might be small now, but we want to grow into a larger, faith-filled, radical family. Not because of us, but because of God’s kingdom here in Oban, Scotland.

Check out our website and join in!

Friends of God – not slaves or servants

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We got the chance to sit down with Rachel Adamski, the leader of the February DTS starting at Seamill in three weeks.

Tell us some about the DTS.

We have trainees from five different nationalities, and God has been speaking to our staff team about how we’re called to be friends of God – not slaves or servants! I look forward to seeing our group grow as we learn to live out of that truth.

Our midterm outreach will go to two different location and work alongside other ministries in the UK. For our long-term outreach we will go abroad for eight weeks. We’re still determining the locations but it will be to somewhere where the language isn’t too big a barrier as the heart of the school really is to share God with people.

What do you most look forward to with the DTS?

I look forward to getting out into the community and starting a new ministry in the local area together with the DTS. We will pray about it as a team, do some research about the felt needs in the area and go from there. Most of the staff on our DTS are part of our Overflow Evangelism team here at Seamill, and we regularly see people encounter God on the streets, on trains, in pubs, and so on, all the time. So we’re excited to see how God will work through us and the trainees during the DTS.

Are there still spaces?

If you don’t require a visa for Scotland, then YES! There is still space and we would love to hear from you!

See https://www.ywamseamill.org/17-2/feb-dts/ for more details.

I surprised the heck out of myself

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Becca has just completed her DTS at YWAM-Paisley:

These past 6 months have been intense; some good, some bad and some insane. I’ve hiked more than I ever thought I could; ate food I didn’t even know existed; met people from countries I’d never heard of, flew more miles in 2 months than the entirety of the rest of my life, created some life-long friendships, taught kids English and surprised the heck out of myself. I’ve walked through Cambodian jungles and cooked Turkish food. I’ve explored London, Istanbul and Ephesus. I’ve learned from some amazing people for 4 months of lectures.

Most importantly I was stretched. I grew up, I cried, I laughed, I shared, I got angry, I freaked out, and I completed a DTS. I did something I didn’t think I could do.

I left home for 6 months, to live with people I’d never met; I embraced a few new cultures and relied on The Lord. I let Him take me on an adventure I wasn’t expecting; an adventure I never could have imagined. I’m so thankful and blessed.

I’m going home a different person and I’m slightly terrified and a whole lot excited to see what’s next. God is faithful and good.

The next DTS at Stanely House starts on June 6th. Check out their website for more details: https://stanel3.wix.com/stanelyhouse

I felt such peace

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Wayne is staff at Ywam Seamill, he is currently preparing for the DTS starting in February. Read on for a short testimony:

‘I got on the train at Glasgow to go back to Seamill. This girl called Bernadette sat down next to me and we got chatting. She had just broken up with her partner and lost her job, so I asked if I could pray for her. She reached out for my hand and started crying as I prayed. After I finished praying she said ‘Wow, I don’t know what that was, I’ve never felt that before, but I felt such peace!’

At Paisley, a friend got on the train and we continued the conversation and got to encourage her and pray for her more.’

He said he was intrigued by the genuine joy

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Thomas is doing his DTS at YWAM Seamill and shares this short testimony:

‘We were on the bus back from our midterm outreach and I sat next to this guy. We got talking and I shared some about what I’m doing with YWAM. Somebody else on our team shared the Gospel with him using the Gospel bracelet (a cool tool to share the Gospel easily with people). He had lots of questions and we ended up having a two hour conversation about God. Through all this he decided to start studying the Bible for himself. He said he was intrigued by the genuine joy he saw in us Christians.

We shared contact details and have been in touch since.

He said he got chills

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Here’s a short testimony from Maddie who is currently doing her DTS at Ywam Seamill:

‘We were in Bristol, working with the YWAM Bristol team for our midterm outreach.

One day a group of maybe 15 of us were doing worship on the streets. A man called Luke, stopped to listen so a friend and I went up to him to ask him what he thought of the music. He said he was enjoying the music so we asked if he recognised any of the songs, to which he said no. So we told him it was worship songs. He told us he used to go to church but didn’t have any faith in God any longer. So we used the Gospel bracelet (a cool tool to share the Gospel easily with people) and shared the Gospel with him and got to pray for him. He said he got chills and so we talked some more and got to share some more about God. We prayed with him again and his whole face lit up. At the end he said he wasn’t ready to make a decision to follow Jesus, but he was so thankful that we took the time to share with him and pray for him.’

We prayed that God would provide and not even 5 minutes later…

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Christian, from YWAM-Paisley reports:

‘In the last two days my team and I went out to share God’s kingdom with Athens. We saw some crazy things happen because of Gods love! We saw one boy’s wrist healed and a brake dancers shoulder become healed.

Then we met a man with a broken leg and we ask if we could pray for him and he said ‘no’… And we said ‘Ok’. We walked away for an hour or so and then he saw us again and called us over to pray for him, so we did and God took away all the pain in his leg! He was so blessed he wanted to meet up with us again. So we met up again and he said that he still needs surgery but he had no money for it. So we prayed for him that God would provide and not even 5 minutes after we prayed, a man called him who he has not talked to in years and ask ‘how’s your health?’ And he ‘said I have a broken leg’ and the man hung up the phone and called him back and said! ‘I am sending someone tomorrow to give you money to see the doctor!’

Lol I am blown away by God loving this man!!’