Looking Back...


To me one of the great irony's of mission work, is that when you have lots to write home about, you lack the time. So has been the last 6 months. We started training our staff team to lead the DTS on January 2nd, and it feels like we have been on a 100 mile and hour ride that we just managed to get off of.

This last Sunday we had the change to share at Gamboa Union Church about our outreach. It was a good opportunity for me to reflect back a little on all that was accomplished.

As we heard the many testimonies of the students; what they learned, how they saw God work, new insights, amazing experiences, one in particular really stuck out to me.

Yariani is 18 years old, just finished her highschool (she went through our program for indigenous youth). She and Alex are cousins on both sides (they share both mother's and father's last names). She can at times be moody, hard to get along with, and doesn't mind letting you know her mind. No cultural sensitivity here. But I have always gotten along great with her. All of her positive qualities much outway her grumpy face. She is hard working, honest, and trustworthy. She has overcome great odds to get where she is, and she isn't letting little hardships get in her way.

When she decided to do the DTS here, I knew it would be a challenge for her. She later told us that it was the first time she really started to develop a relationship with God, pray, read her Bible, hear God's voice. Up until now she had just been going through the motions. As I expected, she didn't get along too great with her room mates, and she never never lost her moodiness. I guess since I know her, it didn't get to me.

I knew that lots was going on under the surface. During the last week of the school she gave us and idea of just how much was going on. Yariani had the incredile challenge of being part of an outreach team that visited her hometown. There, she not only had the challenges that the rest of us faced, but the expectations and opions of the community. Some couldn't see past the girl they had seen grow up. Some criticized her for doing a DTS instead of going straight to university. Others for hanging out with foreigners. Others just wanted to take a shot at her. I don't think any of us really understood how hard it was for her.

Yet she didn't share that as we reflected back on the time together. What she shared was this:
"As we were in my community, I saw for the first time how needy they are, needy for the word of God. They need to be taught. And I thought inside myself, 'seeing how my community is now, what am I going to do about it?'"

Those quietly spoken words resounded in me. What am I going to do about it? That sounds to me like words that can change the world.

Pray for Yariani. She had decided to put off her university a little longer and stay on with YWAM as a volunteer. We are glad to have her and I have the feeling that her journey has just begun.

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