Finished in Newcastle...Back to the Sunny Coast

So I have now completed the 1st portion of the Certificate IV Phase 1 course on training and assessment in Australia.  In order to get the certificate, I must complete several more requirement while I am staffing the DTS starting July 6th.  It's "on the job" training.  

One thing I have certainly learned here in this course is that it is very necessary and helpful to have taken the course.  Before it started I was skeptical on why it had to be done and just wanted to be able to staff without any hassle of taking a two week course.  However, the course taught me so much about YWAM and gave me an appreciation for the criteria we have set up for our students.  If we didn't have high standards, then we could easily settle for a mediocre experience.  I think God is teaching me that it is important to push the students and myself for the very best.  Another thing I learned is that assessing students according to the criteria helps us to address one thing at a time instead of trying to help the students figure everything out at once, which is impossible.  This course heavily relies on teaching through experience and that is the very best way.  

So today I am flying back to the Sunshine Coast and will have about 3 weeks to work on everything for the upcoming school.  There is lots and lots to talk about and figure out, but I am looking forward to it.  Also, my girlfriend Brittany will be coming out near the end of June to attend the school as well.  I am very excited about the next season and the new school coming up.  Please keep me in your prayers as I have many responsibilities and only a short time.  Thank you so much also, for all the encouragement when I was home.  I was so glad to hear that there are many who read the blogs and enjoy them.  I will try and update once a week...

Back in Australia

So I have successfully made it back to Australia and have been here for about a week now.  However, I am not back yet on the Sunshine Coast where I live and work.  I am in Newcastle, Australia for a 2 week course called Cert IV.  It is a course for DTS staff in order to offer the best possible training for students doing a DTS in Australia.  For those of you who are still fuzzy on what YWAM is and does I found a mission statement in some of the materials I have familiarizing myself with for this course.  It reads:

"Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting Jesus personally to this generation, to mobilizing as many as possible to help in this task, and to the training and equipping of believers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission.  As citizens of God's kingdom, we are called to love, worship, and obey our Lord, to love and serve His Body, the Church, and to present the whole Gospel for the whole person throughout the whole world."  I thought this was a clear description of what YWAM is and why I am a part of it.  

This week has been very busy with working through this course.  We spend a lot of time practicing what we have been taught in pretend situations.  It has been fun getting to know staff from other bases here in Australia also.  Fortunately, we also have time during the weekend to sightsee.  On Sunday we are going into Sydney which is a few hours drive from here in Newcastle.  We plan on going to a Hillsong church there for an evening service.  This course will last until the 29th of May and then I will be traveling back to the Sunshine Coast to prepare for the school starting in July.

Leaving home for the third time was very difficult and probably the hardest thing about coming back here.  I miss all of you at home, especially my family.  I am praying for you and think about you daily.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support.  I am excited for this next season of DTS.  

Back to Oz

So the time has come to go back again to Australia.  The time here in Arizona has gone by so fast.  I am so glad that I got to see many of you while I have been back and spend some time with you.  It has been such a blessings to be able to come back, have a place to live and work, and spend time with friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me both through prayer and financially.  It means the world and would not be possible without you.  I am leaving Thursday the 14th and will fly out of L.A. at 11:30 pm.   

When I get back to Australia on the 16th, I will be attending a 2 week certification class in Newcastle, Australia (near Sydney) that helps me to assess students among other things because YWAM is an accredited operation.  After that, I will fly back to Brisbane and drive to the Sunshine Coast!  I will have roughly 3 weeks before we start staff training for the July DTS staff.  During those 3 weeks I will be working on organizing the training as well as working on talks for it.  Also, I will be working on talks for the "week of prayer" which I will be speaking on.  I am nervous about speaking, but I am gaining more appreciation for prayer as I have been reading about it and practicing it.  I hope to be hearing from all of you again as I update the blogs regularly.