August?!

Our school - after the ceremonial welcome to the students

Hi dear followers!

How did it get to be August already?! We've been here in NZ for about a month and a half now, and it's been busy!

The annual creekside gathering on my parents' farm happened this past weekend, and I'm going to copy and paste the update I sent to them here:

We are settling into life in New Zealand on the Marine Reach YWAM base. After arriving in early July, we completed two weeks of staff training in preparation for the Discipleship Training School  (focusing on what we want the culture of the Discipleship Training School to be, and how to achieve that culture). We welcomed 28 students in the middle of July and jumped into the challenging and rewarding process of Discipling, Training, and Schooling them to know God, be known by God, learn to hear his voice for themselves, and live in an intentional community.

We have completed three weeks of lectures with the students (in addition to the orientation/telling our life stories week with which we launched the school). The lecture topics have focused on the Character and Nature of God (looking in depth at the nature of each member of the God-head, and seeing how the Bible displays God's character), Hearing God's Voice (looking at how the scriptures reveal God as a communicative God that desires a personal relationship with his children and through that relationship communicates with each of us individually - and then practicing listening to Him!), and this past week was Relationships week (focusing on the foundation of all relationships that we as Christians are called to exhibit in our interactions with others - honor, love, trust, forgiveness, understanding, etc).

I (Dani) am meeting weekly (or more!) for one-on-one mentorship time with two young ladies (Nicole from Hawaii and Elise from Minnesota). These girls have embraced the opportunity to allow God to do significant work in their hearts and lives, and it is so exciting to spend time with them, pray for them, and partner with the Holy Spirit in challenging and encouraging them. One of my favorite parts about discipling is how much I get to practice relying on the Holy Spirit for directing my time with them: "Lord, should I ask them about that incident they just mentioned, or should I focus on something else?" He is so faithful to respond and give me sensitivity to the issues and topics he wants to bring up!

Gabe is meeting with a young guy named Dave from the U.K. for his mentoring role. They've also had some great progress in seeing God work already.

Yesterday our students found out the locations of where they will go on outreach (7 teams, heading to 4 different countries!). Gabe and I are not assigned to lead a team because of the timing of outreach in respect to our pregnancy, but as of now, we have our midwife's and our DTS director's approval to go to Vanuatu and help staff the satellite branch/medical clinic of our ministry located just outside the capital city of Port Vila. We will be able to help host the teams of students in Vanuatu as they come through the clinic and contribute to the ministry efforts there while also being under the care of the nurses at the clinic and able to keep in communication with my midwife here in NZ.

We will head out for outreach the first week of October, so between now and then we will continue to have weekly lecture topics with the students, continue discipling, and begin preparing the students for outreach and their roles within that. We'll all return to New Zealand around the beginning of December for reentry week and a grand reunion before the students launch to various parts of the world (either returning to their home nations or continuing on to other adventures), and Gabe and I will settle down(ish) to meet this baby hopefully just after the New Year and jump into parenting about the time new students start arriving for the January school.

Prayer requests:

PRAISE over working with a kind, compassionate, capable, accommodating midwife

Pray for continued good health for the baby and me (we have an ultrasound scheduled next week - we're excited to "see" this little one, although we're waiting to find out the gender until we meet him or her face-to-face)

PRAISE for being a part of a vibrant and caring community that is coming alongside us and loving us well in this pregnancy season

Pray for Gabe's quick trip home to the US for his grandfather's memorial service coming up shortly - smooth travels and rich time to honor the Godly legacy of his grandpa

PRAISE for all God is doing in our students and how faithful he is to complete the work which he has started

Pray for discernment, wisdom and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit in our discipling roles

As always, we appreciate so much your prayers, following along with our adventures, and encouragement. It's a privilege to walk alongside you (even just virtually!) in this life!

- Dani