Week 5

1. What is the gospel? How would you describe the gospel to someone who's never heard it?

God loves; Sin separates; Jesus saves; You decide

These four bullet points are the core message of the gospel but yet it feels not yet complete, and I think the missing component is the love displayed by the messenger who brings this gospel to them.

It's as if these bullet points come to a life and truly be effective only when they are presented by the one who is aware of God's aching love for those individuals and decide to carry God's heart in them and reach out to them. 'Without love....' 1 Corinthians 13

2. Have you had any new revelation about sin this week? If so, what?
Previously, the concept of sins was a list of 'don't-dos', and I was measuring my christian-ness according to that list. But I realized that, everything all comes down to pride, and every sin has pride at its root.

This whole idea is so counter-cultural...Independence is one of the most desired virtue in our society. We live in this mindset that no one can tell me what to do..and I will earn as much as I can so I can afford whatever I want to do. Unfortunately, this mindset is all over the place within church as well.

3. What steps are you taking to let go of pride and independence?

I am examining different areas of my life that may have been affected by pride and my independence first. The biggest part that I am currently struggling with is my finance. Being dependent on God about finance seems to be the biggest challenge for me.

Week 4

1. Have you been inspired this week by hearing the story of Pick-a-Pocket? How so?

It's encouraging to see these artistically talented folks being inspired and convicted to do something for Christ and have actual courage to act on it. We live in the world where being an artist is discouraged simply because it does not make money. It is refreshing to see a group of people being obedient and rising up for voiceless and fatherless with their gifts.

2. Was there anything you learned this week from the Pick-a-Pocket members experiences that you think will be helpful on outreach?

Failure does happen, and there is a fair amount of heartache involved in God's ministry.

3. It's good to make sure we are not forgetting the things we've learned about God from one week to the next. How are you practicing or using the things you've learned from previous weeks? For example: In the week about hearing God's voice I learned not to put God in a "box" therefore I'm trying to be open to new possibilities of how God will teach me or use me. Another example: During intercession times, the whole practice of sitting completely quiet before God was new to me and I became interested in trying it more. So now I've been spending a little time every week in quiet with God.

I have been dwelling on a thought that everyone here is uniquely and beautifully created and everyone has the image of God in them. I have been trying to be reminded of that in every encounter with others and serve them as much as I can.

Week Three Questions

During Pete's lectures this week, what is something you learned about God the Father? Is this something you are struggling with or excited about?

The main thing that stood out for me during Pete's teaching was the consistency of God. It is still difficult for me to understand the Old Testament in the context of the loving Father. I couldn't agree more with the guy that Pete told us about...the guy said God seemed to have gone to an anger management class right between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

If you feel comfortable, share about something you feel God is asking you to relinquish.

My justifications for who I am...and sometimes it becomes a limit that I set for myself.

Week 2 Questions

In what ways does God usually speak to you?
Mainly through the stories from the Bible. When I pray for certain issues, a story from the Bible comes to my mind, and I get a new understanding for the story that is very relevant to the issues that I am praying about.

What is something that stood out to you this week in lectures?
There were a lot that I learned from Lucy's teaching, but one thing that stuck out to me is when she said 'I know God loves you so much, and He wants to speak to you'. Sometime there were moments that I felt as God was not speaking. But in fact, He wants to communicate with me all the time, and He has always something to tell me. That was a huge comfort to me. When I encounter those moments of silence again, I will remember that He wants to speak to me because He loves me so much.

What is God speaking to you this week?
'Pursue me, and I will speak to you'... When this impression came to my mind, I was quite comforted and inspired, but when more I thought about it, 'pursue' sounded so vague. What does it mean to pursue someone or something? Pursuing someone does not have a list of things that you need to do for someone..but it includes all the actions that you do just because you like the person and want that person to find a favor in you.

Week One Question

What is it that brought you to do a DTS?

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How are you adjusting to being in Germany?

So far so good, but I feel awfully under-prepared to be here. I should know this by now since I've traveled a bit, but I once again assumed that people would know English in other countries and was proven wrong. The body language came quite useful on my way to the base, but I felt horrible about not being able to speak any German. I hope to pick up some German while I am here.

What is something you learned this week? It was incredible to hear how everyone came to YWAM Herrnhut. No human or coincident could possibly bring all these uniquely beautiful and different people from all over the world to this small town.