Bringing up the depths.

This past week was a rough one for most people on the DTS it seems. I hope that I didn’t concern you to much right there as when I mean “rough” I mean a good rough. This week was all about the character of God and inner healing. This week really touched on some deep area’s and uprooted a lot of emotions for most people. Suzy’s parents, Peter and Trish, really spoke some powerful words into everyone’s lives.

One of the days I got to sit in on class they were talking about the character of God as a father and a mother, Pete and Trish taking the appropriate roll. We talked about how God is not only the father figure that we long for, though that is a very big aspect of things, He is also a strong mother figure in our lives as well. Something that I rarely think about, but God is certainly a mother figure as He is sensitive and caring as any mother is. These area’s is what touched most people the deepest as we talked about how things our parents did, no matter how long ago, really make an impact on our lives. Things that we may have totally forgotten about really make us who we are today. This can be for the good or for the bad.

One of the big areas that we talked about was all about self cursing, such a large topic that stretches over many different things. It’s amazing to see that this is something that really touches everyone deeply. Talking with one of the Malawians during some one-on-one time he mentioned how this really hit him hard as he has always doubted where God could take him, most of that is because he thinks as a black/Malawian he is unable to go very far. This is a typical way of thinking for most Africans; thinking that they are to poor, or too little for God to take them anywhere in life. This is definitely something that I could relate to, though it’s hard to try to relate to them as I know that I have been blessed with so much growing up in a middle classed western home. But four years ago I would have never thought that I would have ever gone to Africa in the first place, let alone be living here for a good length of time. Like i mentioned last week about the skit we did about being in a box, I think I just put myself into a box and really though little about the power of God and the things He could do with my life. Now that I’ve jumped out of the box and am really letting God do with me as He pleases I’ve seen some amazing acts of God, met some wonderful people from all around the world. I even know that this isn’t the end of my path and that God has so much more in store for me and I’m so excited to see what adventures God and I will embark on over the years.

Something that really caught my attention this week when talking about God’s character was that He is a God that loves to Bless. This is something I’ve always known but we heard it in a bit of a different way this time. Pete and Trish talked about how even when praying for things we need to bless them. They told a story about how as pastor of a church really thought that God wanted them to have an orchestra within the church. So he was crying out to God for this to happen, but one day God told him to just start blessing the idea instead of asking for it. The pastor was confused but went on and just started praying a blessing over the people who would be in it but the orchestra all together, within 3 months that church had a full orchestra. We learned that you don’t always need to pray into something with big details or big dramatic words, but the power of praying a blessing over something is incredible and God really sees that we just want the best for Him and whatever we are praying for.

It was a real blessing having Pete and Trish here this past week, they are truly a couple who are devoted to what God has for them. It was great to see them teach as individuals but yet always willing to let the other speak whenever they saw fit. They are also such loving and gently people to be around. They were always encouraging each one of us and being so uplifting even when we didn’t do much to deserve it. I know that each of us is so grateful for them to be here, them giving up all of their time for us as we rarely gave them time to themselves as each student got to meet with them for some one-on-one counselling.

Now after along week of some deep teachings we finally got to the weekend and started it off strong with some prayers being answered on Friday as one of teams went to a local home for disabled kids and really felt God’s presence there and really felt like it is somewhere we can continue to work in and see God’s hand of healing but also just His hand of love as well. The second area of answered prayer was that we finally God some gas (petrol as they call it here) as there has been a shortage for some time due to government issues. We were really struggling to figure out what things was worthy of using a car for due to the lack of gas as well as running our generator here at the base for when the power goes out. But thanks be to God for providing a large amount of gas (though we had to drive for over an hour to get it).
On Saturday while on our day of rest we all got to get off the base for a day and go spend some good time in fellowship at a local lodge up on a mountain. It is such a beautiful place with a large pool overlooking the valley below, as you can see in the pictures attached. It was really a great day just to hangout, relax and enjoy each other’s company. The thing that was kind of a shock for me and never really occoured to me was that for some of the Malawians this was the first time ever in a swimming pool. It was so much fun to be able to experience it with them and just to enjoy the thrill of jumping into the water with them. Taught them some fun ways to jump into the pool: cannon ball, diving, flips etc. Finally was able to land a backflip into a pool so that was pretty cool.The only bad thing about the whole day was that we had so much delicious food that Sunday morning I woke up and was sick all day Sunday due to stuffing my face the day before. But alas it’s Monday now and I’m feeling much better. (also why this update is a day later then I’d like it to be)

Well we are unto week 4 already and it’s great to see that everyone still has lots of energy, though sadly most people have been sick for a couple days already.

Prayers:
-That no one gets sick very badly
-for over all strength for all us
-we are planning a big outreach this weekend so pray that God is opening doors for that
-God continues to transform everyone here on the DTS
-That things we learn are life long and just for today

Thanks again for all your prayers and support during this time.
Love and Many blessings from Malawi