Resting up/Whats Happening Next

Well it certainly has been a while since I last wrote in here myself, as my mother wrote the last real blog update along with my short input into it. But since my parents left and the DTS has now ended things have slowed down pretty much to a complete stuff for some time. Since the DTS ended all the students were asked to go home though many of them have asked to come onto staff here at YWAM but since we are in the middle of a transition we didn’t want the new staff members to join YWAM and just be sitting around for a couple weeks as the base leaders went back to the UK for a funeral and the rest of us as staff are just resting up as the last 5 months have been very busy for us. Though as the DTS winded down and I said goodbye to my parents and many new friends (some just for a short time) I started to relax a little bit, though I have been able to keep busy with different things.

During the week my parents left there was a lady from the UK staying with us and I took her to an orphanage as well as into town so she could be a tourist and get some things from Malawi before she went home. My first Sunday of “rest” wasn’t much rest at all as I had to be up early to be at a church nearby so that I could do sound for an event they were doing. It was a long 8 hour church service, graduation and time of giving and though I didn’t understand all of it I still really enjoyed the time and it was a blessing for that church to be able to use our equipment for that event. I think I’ll also be doing Easter with them as they again are doing a big event and need some equipment.

The last week or so has been fairly tame as all I have really done is picked up another Canadian couple that are here to work with YWAM for some time and then see where God takes them, seems to be that Canadians are taking over this base which is nice, I really enjoy having other younger Canadians around. Today though, we went to a day orphanage for disabled kids, which was a real treat as we are starting to feel like we need to get back into the swing of ministry after our time of rest. The sad part for me was that we went there to ministry to the disabled kids and yet there were so many kids that followed us there that they more a less took over our ministry time. The time was still very much enjoyed by each one of us and we are looking to keep going more over the next season. (We have sent teams there many times before during the lecture phase but in the last 3 months we have gone only a handful of times)

As for the rest of my time here I really don’t know what is in store. I will probably do a couple weekend outreaches to some villages to do Jesus Movie showings as well as head back to Ntaja (where we lived for 3 weeks doing outreach) to look at the land that YWAM has purchased and is planning some buildings to be put onto. But for the most part I don’t have much planned at all and am ok with that I have some things I need to be thinking about as well.

The interesting thing about the last month or so is that God has planned out the next 4 months for me already. When I first got here I was so worried about what I was going to do, and till about December time I was so anxious and didn’t know what was going to happen and yet when I finally let it go God stepped in and took control and has led me to be doing some things I didn’t really expect.
The first thing I’ll be doing is in May, shortly after I get home. I have worked at the All Ontario Youth Conference (AOYC) the last 2 years and have been asked to come back again to volunteer but amazingly I’ve also been asked to speak in 2 sessions on Saturday about YWAM and my experience in missions so far which is incredible as I have been asking God to open doors in both doing more at AOYC and spreading the word about YWAM since many young people don’t know about it.
Second is that while my parents where here I applied to work at camp Shalom, though I applied on the last day that they were taking applications. About 2 weeks later when I had moved past it I received an e-mail asking about an interview and amazingly they were willing to make a call out to Africa to do an interview. Today I received news that I have gotten a job there being a counsellor for the summer. Camp is really an incredible place that I spent part of my childhood and a place where I really grew in my relationship with God but also grew in my leadership calling as well. I was a counsellor there about 4 summers ago and haven’t been back at all since then but have missed it every summer and each January/February time of year I think about applying again so I am very excited about this summer and know that God has great things in store.
As for after August I haven’t thought that far ahead, though I have some ideas of course, but I have learned just to trust in God for guidance and He will show me what to do and will open and close doors as needed.

Again I thank you all dearly for your prayers and thoughts in my time here in Africa. I am sorry that my communication skills aren’t always the greatest and I have failed to keep up with my weekly update but I hope this finds you all well.

Many blessings

-Travis VR