DTS Constanta 2009

Saying goodbye to the Philippines outreach team 2pm this afternoon. It will be a long traveling for them. And I am sure it will be a unforgettable one.

The base became so quiet after half of the students left. Dinner, fried chicken, was amazing as usual. Thanks Kristen and Denali for cooking!! We played RISK after and it was just a relaxing evening.

Tomorrow, we are leaving for Serbia. Taking a bus to Bucharest and get on the overnight train to Serbia. After we leave, the base will be so empty. Couldn’t imagine I am going to leave this house soon. How will the following 6 weeks be like? How is the other team going? I guess they are now sleeping on the bus to Istanbul. Miss them already, on this silent night.

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So this week, it’s finally starting to hit me that we are leaving for our big outreach. I can’t believe it’s already happening. It seems like just last week that I was getting off the plane in Bucharesti, confused, lost and illiterate in the Romanian language, and now I’m getting ready to leave it. I’ve come to know this base as home, this city as mine, and the staff and students as family. Now, I’m just moving to a new country for 6 weeks with my family. I suppose that’s a good way to look at it.

The team going to the Philippines includes Sarah (staff), Ana, Robert, Leah, Natalie, Emiliya, George, and myself. Four nations, eight people, and a new country and culture that none of us have ever been in before. It’s unbelievable the things God can do for us! We leave on October 25 from Constanta on a bus that goes down through Bulgaria and arrives in Istanbul, Turkey sometime very early in the morning on the 26th. We are then taking a flight from Istanbul, Turkey to Doha, United Arab Emirates – then after a short layover, we fly to Manila, Philippines! My whole team is so excited and there are several people who have never been on an airplane before

On Monday, my team went to Bucharesti to pick up some VISA’s and apply for more. It was a long day of driving and visiting embassies. We were out the door at 6 am and we made it home a little before 9 pm that evening. It was definitely a long day and we hit a few bumps with the VISA’s, but it just causes us to rely on God even more! We know He will provide for us and He always has the best thing planned for us. All things work together for good for those who love the Lord.

So far, this week we have been spending the class time as team time. We split into our teams after worship or intercession and we are busy until lunch time. Today, my team worked on games for teenagers and we all decided to pick a topic and share it with the teenager groups we will be working with. Just a short 15-20 minute message. We are using material from the lecture phase of the DTS. I think our meetings are going well. Actually, I think we have an absolutely wonderful team.

So, this week has been pretty busy. We are all trying to cram everything we have to do into our waking hours. We are finishing book reports, team time, outreach preparation, small groups, one on ones, packing, cleaning, work duties, preparing messages, teaching and devotionals, and amidst this chaos, we are still managing to find time to eat, sleep and enjoy each other’s company. It’s a little nuts, but that’s what makes it so great My favorite part about this last week so far is that no matter what everyones schedules are or how busy everything gets, we all still get together at the dinner table every night. It’s nice to just slow everything down and just talk over a warm meal.

It’s still so hard for me sometimes to wrap my head around what is really going on right now. I wake up some mornings and think “I can’t believe I’m waking up in Romania, learning about God and I’m getting ready to go to the Philippines to share God!” Maybe it sounds ridiculous, but I just really can’t count the blessings God has poured upon me in my time here. He has really been so good to me and I am so thankful for everything. Praise Him!

And all God’s people said ….. Amen!

Only By His Grace,

Melissa

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I have been living in Constanta for more than 3 months…

Last Friday, it was heavy rain in the city. When I looked out of the window, I saw the half flooded sidewalk outside of the base building. It reminded me the first day that I arrived. It was the 11th of July, a rainy day. Me and Denali arrived on the same night. Natalie was the student that came before us. The 3 of us and some staff had nice dinner in the living room. And then the storm got stronger. The power was off, we started to light up some candle. That was a wonderful evening.

And 3 months after, same living room, same base building. There are totally 12 students and 1 staff living together. Oh yes, we have been living together for 3 months and I love them more than ever. Still remember July and August, we always went to the beach together. Sometime after dinner, sometime during weekend. We use to had dinner at the balcony, enjoy some fresh air and the sun. And now, winter has came. No more outdoor dinner but the meal stay amazing.

In a week time, we will be going on our outreach. Are we ready? For me, I really not sure. Many things need to be taking care of before the journey. But I am sure once I got on the bus, I will be 100% ready.

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I can’t believe that its been a month since our DTS team went on a small outreach to an area of Romania called Oltenia. We stayed in a small town called Draganesti. The entire region of Oltenia has .02% Christians. A majority of the population practices witchcraft, paganism, atheism and Orthodox. As you can imagine, this is a very spiritually heavy area.

Our team arrived on a Saturday. After a long day of travelling, we got settled in, walked around the town a little bit and then had dinner. When the excited chatter from all the rooms finally died down, we got some sleep

That Sunday, we split into 3 smaller groups. Titus, Martin 2, Ana and I went to a small church about an hour away from Draganesti. We sang a couple of songs in Romanian, I shared my testimony and Titus shared an encouraging message. What stood out to me so much about that morning, was how much each one of us was depending on eachother. None of us could have done it without the other. None of us could have been there without Ana to translate. We couldn’t have sang without Martin leading us. We wouldn’t of had a message if it weren’t for Titus, and there would have been no testimony shared if it weren’t for myself. All of us played an important part in making that morning go so well.

For the other groups, one went to Hope Church (the church that we were working with throughout the week) and another small group went to a house church that afternoon. There were so many opportunities to meet new people that all of us got to do something new and go somewhere and share the love of God.

Monday met us with a whole new set of challenges and experiences. Some of us did kids club at the base we were staying at and the rest of us went out to do street evangelism. I have never done this before, so I was a little nervous about doing this. Usually, this method is really frowned upon in the states, but I was quickly reminded that the cultures are completely different, because the people we met, for the most part, really welcomed us.

We packed bags full of New Testaments, the Gospel according to Luke, and a childrens book and we were on our way! I was paired up with Sarah (one of the staff here) and she and I went back and forth across the road to peoples houses and placed these books on their fences. A lot of people came out to see what we were doing and we actually got into a couple of really nice conversations with people. We got to pray for a few people and really just got to hear about their lives and found that a lot of people had the right idea, and they were seeking God, they just weren’t sure where to look.

Monday evening, after dinner and team time, all 15 of us went out on the main street in the town to do some more evangelism. We broke up into teams of 3 and 4 and handed people books and even got a few to take some surveys. We were working with the people of Hope Church again, which was helpful because we had more translators and people who were familiar with the area. A few hours later, we all met back at the house and shared our experiences from the day and went to bed.

The entire week was full of evangelism, kids clubs, visiting widows, cleaned the streets, and helped with maintenence at the church. It was stretching for a lot of us. New experiences, new people, not always knowing what is going on and feeling like we were being pulled in 10 different directions. But, we know that God pulled us through it all. And the best part is, He brought us all through it together. As a team. As one.

Now, as we are all preparing for our long outreach where some of us are going to Serbia and others to the Philippines, we know more what to expect. From ourselves and from eachother. We have the experience of being together and hopefully we can use the things that stretched us before to make us stronger this time around.

Please keep us in your prayers. For unity, safety and growing in Christ’s love. Thank you and God bless.

Only By His Grace,

Melissa

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It is October. Almost the middle of october and lecture phase is drawing to a close. It is hard to believe I am over half way done. The weather is changing and my favorite season is finally here! 

A couple weeks ago we had a teaching on personalities. A topic I have to say I feel almost too comfortable in. One of the first things they said about it was, “Don’t let this put you in a box.” Well ever since I could over analyze anything in my life I have been studying personality types, mine in particular.  I did every personality test you could think, my sister’s and I picked apart my entire family and ourselves,and I did my senior thesis on personality types and learning styles. P.S. My dream since age 8 was to be a psychologist. Needles to say I had great expectation and was ready to go.

Who knows, maybe that isn’t such a bad thing and maybe you like this stuff as much as I do. So if so I will amuse you and inform you of our teaching. 

You have 4 basic personality types. D-dominant. Pretty self-explanatory. They are the born leaders, head strong, independent, strong-willed, see’s the big picture, opinionated, argumentative, impatient, and action based people. You probably already have a couple people in your head picked out. These people are the go-getters. They aren’t very emotional and are quick to say what is on their mind. Yes, it seems they get the most ridicule, but they are the needed leaders who are willing to take the risk! If it weren’t for these people where would we be today? 

Next, you have the I-the care free, outgoing, people person. These are the ones who are the life of the party! They’re emotional, creative problem solvers, spontaneous, energetic, inspiring, encouraging, and genuinely liked people. They thrive off people and activities. Yes, they can be a little much to take some times (I myself being an I, can relate to these people) but they are free spirits who when you need a fun, pick-me up they are there to help. They genuinely care for  peoples feelings and are always there for others. 

S- as Cheryl our teacher put it, these are just the genuinely nice people. They are the introverts and quiet people who you’re not quite sure what they’re thinking, but you figure with that much silence they must be in deep thought. They are conservative, dependable, stable, listening, patient peacemakers. They dislike change, fear conflict, pessimistic at times, indecisive, and stubborn. They are the ones who will not voice their opinions most times and keeps things bottled. They are very nice and just want to keep peace and make sure everyone is happy. They are the ones we can thank for helping and going with the flow. I seem to often surround myself with these people. Which is interesting since it is the one I am lowest in. 

Finally C-lets just say it, Critical. When we first did the test I showed more D than C, but after careful analyzation (a key factor in C’s) I became honest with myself and came to terms with my c qualities. Yes, they are often quite critical, but on a good note they are planners! They are analytical, precise, self-disciplined, loyal, organized, and detail oriented. They do their research and feel they are right, which often they are, but forget sometimes to put others before their desire to be correct.    - Let me pause here and say coming from a family of all C’s. We all are, and after learning this week, I am beginning to think it is learned. The very week of this teaching I had to mediate between my two sisters who both think they are right and one just wants sympathy and thinks the other is wrong in her actions. The other one wants to just “fix” her. It is very interesting and I have to admit I find more humor in it than anything. 

So what did this do. Well for a whole week and a half we all went around talking about how I-D’s we are, S’s. C-S’s and so forth. The question was raised by a couple, Is this beneficial? We all pick each other part, but what do we learn from this?                           We need to remember the key points made by our teachers this week.

1. Don’t put yourself or others in a “box”

 2. Don’t use this knowledge as an excuse for our behavior

3. There is no profile pattern that is better than another

5. No profile pattern is right or wrong in and of itself

The main object was to see our strengths, weakness, and how to relate to each other in those. We’re not all the same and that is something we have to not only realize, but be ok with. That others not being like ourselves is alright and good. We need all the different personalities and with them we function the best. This is the message and I hope we all got it.

I still love analyzing and personality tests! This just helps me to understand more why it is I like them. My lesson learned, don’t categorize everyone when I meet them. They’re not a personality, they are a person! I hope we can all remember that, learn, and help each other knowing this.

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In less than 20 days, we going on outreach. Yes, the outreach phrase will begin.

Me, Denali, Matthew, Titus and Kristen, with our staff Leah and Martin 2 will go to Serbia. Then Ana, Robert, Natalie, Leah D., Melissa, George,  Emiliya and staff Sarah will travel to the Philippines. Remember all these names as I know everyone of us are special. We will all have our part in the team. No one less, just one more, our God.

This week is the team building week. Another week that we expect to learn a lot and grow. Or maybe, more than we expect.

Prayer. We need to be supported by prayer. Financially, spiritually. Pray that we could be united with love, pray that we will have a joyful heart, pray that we could serve one another. Now is the time to shine His glory.

Serbia Team

The Philippines Team

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