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You know what? Seuraava WINTER-DTS alkaa 13.1.2012! Ilmoittautumisen deadline on jouluna! (Tokin senkin jälkeen voi tiedustella paikkoja!) Don't hesitate!

www.snowboardingdts.com

Outreach Poland & Estonia

DTS finished the last week of June and all six students graduated. The last week we had a debrief week where we reflected on the last six months of the DTS, both lecture and outreach phase. It was amazing to see how much the students have grown through the period of the DTS, how much they have learnt and what their visions and dreams are for the future.

The whole six months have been great. The students really enjoyed the lecture phase of all the different teaching topics every week. Most of the students enjoyed the topics of Father Heart of God, Holy Spirit, Fear of the Lord and Identity in Christ the most out of the rest.

The outreach phase of going to Poland and Estonia was good for the team to put in action of what they learnt during the lecture phase.

We stayed in Krakow, Poland for six weeks. Poland is a catholic nation and there are so many churches everywhere. The city we were located in was a tourist spot and also had many international students living in the area, so many people understood English. The older generation however did not speak much English at all. The first week we were there we visited Auschwitz. The place seems so surreal and fragile. We took the opportunity to pray for forgiveness for anyone who visits the place.

As a team, we focused a lot on evangelism in Krakow in many different ways; park, street and serving ministry. We went to a town, one hour away from Krakow, called Roma village where there were many Gypsies. Most of the gypsies there are Christians. We went there to fellowship, encourage and spend time with them. We visited about three times while we were in Poland.

The last week we were in Poland we worked with one Catholic Church in an evangelism event. The event went for four days and we helped in different ways. One day we helped organise over 2000 flowers, by putting scriptures on them and handing them out to people on the streets. Another day we helped by making sandwiches. The last day there was a 24 hour Bible reading at a university campus and after that we performed two dramas and shared about them. We enjoyed being in Poland but were happy to go to Estonia after six weeks.

We were in Estonia for three weeks in total. We did a lot more different kind of ministries in Estonia compared to Poland. We helped renovate an apartment that YWAM is fixing; we sanded and painted the walls and much more. We did practical work at a house that is going to become a home for pregnant teenage girls. We also prayed and blessed the home for the ministry that will start there soon.

We went on prayer walks in the Old Town of Tallinn. The town is surrounded by great big walls and gates, we were learning about how the foundation of a city is important when praying for the nation.

We also went to a soup kitchen to feed the homeless food and encourage them. God opened my eyes to see what He sees as I served food to the homeless. It was a blessing to serve God in so many ways as we were in Estonia.

As I look back to the weeks of outreach I can see how God sent us to the countries that God is pioneering YWAM. There are many differences between Poland and Estonia, Poland is a religious country and Estonia is a country that many doubt and don’t believe in God.

While we were in both countries, we were sowing seeds and planting water on what God has already done there. I believe God has many things He wants to do in these countries.

-Liz Pesonen

SDTS Staff

Ending is beginning!

The end of the lecture phase is coming really near. Twelve weeks have gone by since the beginning of this DTS! It seemed a long time back then! Time flew though! Looking back I’m grateful, it has been really good! God is working in all of us! A privilege. Soon we’ll be leaving this comfort & cozy-ness behind for outreach, time for the practical! I expect an interesting mix between, faith, love, hope, challenges, hungry hearts & fun. Living life how God intended it to be. We expect to see Him working in and through us!

This week has been about Destiny! Our teacher this week, Kerstin, has been explaining a lot of things to us! About Dreams, Experiences, Soulprint, Identity in Christ, Gifts, Networking. Capitals make up DESIGN. Destiny by design! We’re all unique, engraved with beautiful personalities and things that make us us! Let’s not forget that the choices we make today make up our future!

Your thoughts become your words, your words will be your actions, your actions will be your habits, they will make up your character, and your character determines your destiny. So how do you control your thoughts? By your will….! Whenever a thought pops up you don’t want it there, it’s your choice to reject it. Your character determines whether you succeed or fail a good friend once said. And it’s true! Take time to work on your character, by reading His word. We study for LIFE CHANGE.

Do we bend the word of God to apply it to our lives? Or do we bend our lives to be according to the Word of God?

HAVE A GREAT WEEK! Pray for our outreach! Thanks for reading!

-Bendert

Yay!

This week on Dts we are learning about the Bible! We have the privilege of having a teacher from Latvia coming to us to teach this week. Her name is Kristine Ecis. She told us studying the Bible is one of the disciplines of Christian faith, just like praying, fasting, bible reading. It’ s really good if you read your bible every day…But do you fast everyday? No, and in that same way. Don’t feel bad when the next time you study is a month away! When we want answers in things we don’t understand it’s great to practice this skill of studying and to find those answers.

When you study…don’t study for the sake of studying, she told us. Why do we study? She asked. Her answer is: We study to change life. If it doesn’t change our lives studying the Bible than there is something wrong with our study…If we just study to get knowledge, it doesn’t really help us. Only knowledge, without change puffs up! Yes, we need the knowledge, but we also need the change of character to live it out the knowledge.

It was really interesting the first day to hear about little facts as…the bible has 66 books. 39 in the Old testament. How to remember that? Old = 3 letters. Testament = 9 letters. 39 together! The New Testament has 27 books. New = 3 letters. Testament = 9 letters. 3 x 9 = 27! Good tip huh? Today we dressed up and put ourselves in their ‘clothes’ by imagining living in the time of Jesus. We played a drama being Pharisees, Sadducees, city elders arguing over Jesus raising Lazarus up from the dead. . It was a really interesting way of learning their point of view. The things they stood for.

We will be learning by heart the order of the books in the NT, we will study the book of Kings briefly and an in depth study on Philemon. All this promises a great week knowing the bible more! Cause after all… This is the book that has the power to change our way of thinking, it has had a tremendous impact on the world and how we live today, it still touches and changes many people’s life today, it is the book revealing to us our history and reminding us of our future. And is by far the most proven book in the history of man. It’s living and active. It’s Gods written Word☺ Love!

-Bendert

Only a few more weeks!

We are getting closer and closer to our outreach, and the closer we get the more excited we are(at least I am). Last week our teacher was Ron Archer, from California United Sates. His topic was Sin, Repentace and Restitution, but as he began to teach he felt the Holy Spirit leading him otherwise. He felt we should sit on the couches and talk. He led us through some team building, so we could be more prepared for outreach. We spent our whole week doing the teaching on the couches, and it gave us an environment to be open and share and also listen to his teachings. We all really liked Ron and had a good week.

Last Thursday we led a youth night here at the base where we had about 12 kids and we got to hang out, play games, worship and share a little to them. It was a lot of fun and beneficial for everyone.

Leading worship in Siilinjärvi pentecostal church

This week our teacher is Samson Kurshid. He is originally from Pakistan but now lives in Indiana. His topic is hearing God's voice. He has given us some great advice on spending quality time with God, and decifering between God's voice and other voices. He had told us the steps and what is needed to help us hear the voice of God. Each morning he leads a devotional, where we spend some quiet time listening to God and worshiping him. Last night He trated us to some Butter Chicken Curry, a recipe from Pakistan. It was a great week of teaching.

We had a visitor this week: Susa Jurvansuu she came to traslate and hang out for the week. She joined us in our second game of angels and mortals. A fun time where we get to bless our friends. This weekend we have our second free weekend. Some of students get to go home for the weekend, and spend some time with their family's.

-Kevin

Were Home!

After a long/good two weeks, we came home to Koivumäki. After we left Perhenemi we went to Vihti another snowboarding event, “Free to Ride.” This was held by the Gospel Boarders. It gave us a chance to talk to some people, show our drama and see God work through others. That night we went to Leea’s home church in Hattula.

We spent last week there, as well as Hämeenlinna. Sunday we introduced ourselves and showed our drama to the Church. Monday was a free day and we spent it at Leea’s grandpa’s on the snowmobile. Tuesday we went to a Lutheran Bible School and told them about what we were doing and some of the things God has shown us while we have been here. That night we held a prayer meeting at the church and had some time to pray for countries and their leaders.

Wednesday we visited an elderly home in Hämeenlinna, and got to tell them about how Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. That night we went to a youth night in Tampere. We got to lead them in worship, perform more dramas and share a few of our thoughts. It was a great time to connect with the people there, and invite them to our youth night on Thursday. A few of us finished Wednesday night by going to see this Christian/Finnish/Rapper, Ruudolf.

Thursday morning we went to Hämeenlinna, and did some street evangelism. After that we delivered some free bread and went to visit an elderly lady. That night we had a youth night. There were more people than most of us expected, and it was a great night that ended in one girl giving her life to Christ.

The week was fun and was full of learning and building in each other. We look forward this week to hearing from our speaker Ron Archer from California.

-Kevin

Glimpse of SDTS

Hello all Exited SDTS-blog readers!
The time is flying, it´s already three weeks since the last blog-update. After our relationship-week we had teaching about spiritual warfare and intercession. So now we know much more about how efficient the armor of God is, and when it comes to intercession, I think all students got encouraged that prayer really works!! This week finished off with a Fun Night. All came clothed as something starting with an “S”; Spiderman, Supermodel, Spurgu, Siamesetwin, Star, Sock… just to mention a few. We had a really fun night and it was a good way of ending the week.
Next day we spent at the slopes in Siilinjärvi. It was time for the annual event, “Avalanche”. Avalanche is a happening organized by Christians from different congregations. Before we packed our snowboards, instruments, drama-equipments, and drove to Kasurila, we had an amazing worship-time. Wow!
At Kasurila we all got to do something, … the drama, play or sing worship-songs. I mostly spend my time playing with the kids outside. So fun! It was good to see that Christians can co-operate though we are from different churches.
This week we have been in Perheniemi. It´s very beautiful here, I can promise. A big old mansion, and an other house where we sleep. The view is almost breathtaking. First part of the week we got teaching about financial matters and Biblical worldview by Dirk Jan Couprie, and on Thursday and Friday we got teaching about love and relationships by Perhenimi´s principal Petri Välimäki.
Next week we will have an even more special week… but I won't reveal anything yet. Read it on next blog-update, right? ;)
-Martina

Miracles

To start off this post Mary woke up this week, looked outside and saw an angel. She said that she thought it meant this week would be one of spiritual encounters, and it was.

Our topic was the Holy Spirit and Evangelsim, and ironically we experienced both during the teaching. The teacher was Jari Koivu. A Finnish man, who runs a ywam base in Canada. He taught us about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and many other things.

Tuesday he had given us stories of going out to the streets and healing people. That night we had two visitors (Christopher and Christian) who taught us how to heal in the name of Jesus. They led us in a prayer meeting, and we saw our arms and legs grow, as well as Mary get fully healed of her peanut allergy. It was miraculous. We could feel the Holy Spirit in that room with us.

Thursday we had our open meeting. During worship, the presence of God filled the room and we were all jumping, clapping and singing "Yes, Lord!" It was the most powerful worship session here yet. After Jari spoke, we were led in another prayer and healing session.

Jari finished off his speaking with evangelism. That night we chose to go to a place in Siilinjärvi that is open for youth to hang out on Friday nights. We had fun and got to share with the kids why we were there. At first they seemed uninterested, but maybe that was because they spoke Finnish(I can't yet), but when it came time to leave, we told them we were going to the free Church and eight of them came to join us. There we got to show them our dramas, connect with them on facebook and bless and pray for them when they left. They seemed way more interested toward the end of the night. We prayed that the God would show himself to them.
It was a very successful end to a very powerful week.

This week we look forward to hearing from Pekka Puurunen about relationship. Starting off the week on Valentines, or Friendship, Day.

In Daddy's hands

It's our third Monday here in Koivumaki, and we have already started learning about how to connect with God. We learned about his attributes, then how to fear him. Now we are learning how to recognize him as our daddy (isi).
Last week Mirjam covered a lot on the Fear of the Lord, and gave us a great understanding of how large he is and how we tend to shrink him in our mind. She talked Thursday night, to the students and guests, about the prodigals son, and how both of the sons felt as if they were servants to their father. We often feel as if we are God's servant, when in truth we are his sons and daughters.

We had a great weekend. Including: ice skating, ice hockey, go karting on the ice and some time to relax and prepare ourself for week 3.

This week our guest is Topi Kivimaki. he started off the week giving us some great examples of how God loves us as his children, and we sometimes look at him like bigger than a father. We need to call him daddy as Jesus did in the new testament often.

We looked forward to the rest of the week with Topi and learning more about the Father Heart of God.

-Kevin

Walking in the garden

Hey everybody! Our teacher for this week is amazing! We are talking about the Fear of the Lord. Very interesting! To give you a small ‘ look ‘ into our DTS read this story! But don’t use binoculars for it! Find out why!

So one day Adam and God are walking through the garden of Eden. God taps Adam on the shoulder and says: Hey Adam, Listen up!’ ‘Uhh..yeah God?’ Adam says. ‘Adam, I have a gift for you!’ ‘Ahh sweet’ Adam says. ‘ I like gifts!’

‘This is a really special gift’, says God while He gives Adam a binocular. ‘Hmm…A binocular’ Adam thinks. God says: Now this is really important. Use this binocular only when you look at Me. And when you look at me, use them. These are the rules coming with this gift. You got to obey the rules or it will not show the true image. You got that?’

Off course Adams response is yes and God challenges Him to try it out! Adam slowly brings his binocular to his eyes and looks at God…’WOW… God, you are so BIG!’
‘ Yes. I am God says. You got that right’ ‘ But..uuuh..your incredible!’ Adam says. Yes, God says. ‘ But remember: ‘Never use them for anything else!’ Adam says ‘oke!’ And looks at God again, and just marvels. Than the two go their separate ways.

Adam walks through the garden and all of a sudden sees an ant! Such a tiny ant he wonders. Would the binocular also work with this one he thinks…already forgotten what is was God said! He looks at the ant, and the ant is suddenly BIG! He totally looses the perspective of an ant. He looks at Eve, and that totally changes his perspective on women! Or destroys his perspective, you could say! Everything that was supposed to be looked through His eyes is now seen through the binocular.

After a while He hears God coming again in the garden again! Adam walks happily towards God. God askes: ‘Hey Adam. Do you still have your binoculars?’ ‘ Yes Lord, still have them!’ ‘ Use them on Me again!’ God says. So Adam takes his binoculars, looks at God and sees God. But wait… God is not bigger at all! ‘What happened?’ Adam thinks! Before Adam knew it, he lost his perspective on God. God didn’t seem so big at all anymore!

And…does it make sense already? Just for those who would like some explanation! Ooh…And I was one of those! The binocular is the binocular of fear of the Lord. When we use it on something that is not God. It becomes something that it is totally not! Totally blown out of proportion. When we look at the world around us, I think we can we can state that we use it a lot for the wrong things. We look at terrorism, or at appearances. So now other people can suddenly become something we’re afraid of!

The thing is though that fear was never intended as something to be afraid. God created fear so we can look at him with awe. Realizing He is really BIG! With reverence, the highest form of respect. Fearing God is the key to knowing God. It is the beginning of wisdom. (Proverbs 9:10) And as we know all wisdom comes from God.

Thankfully Jesus came. He took our binocular, cleaned the glass and gave them back. You can only live a life with God if we have the binocular of Fear of God. So now it’s cleaned, we can use them again. So I guess now it’s up to us how we use them!

Well I loved this story! I hope you enjoyed it to! DTS is an awesome place to learn new things! We still have 10 weeks to go in the lecture phase after tomorrow! Lectures every day! Pretty awesome!

- Bendert

We ended the week with Kimmo giving us more stories from his past, and other examples for life. We talked about our identity in Christ, addiction, and even God making your wildest dreams come true. Overall we had a very successful and fun week, and were very thankful for Kimmo coming to teach us.

Friday night we went to the Youth Café at the Free Church in Siilinjärvi. There were only four kids there, but we talked, played music and got to meet the leaders of the Youth Café.

The weekend was full of fun. Some of us went to the gym; we watched a movie, went to church, snowboarded down the ramp, had a game night, ate lots of candy :) and just hung out. We already feel like we have known each other for so long, it’s great.

We look forward this week to hearing about the Fear of God from our new guest Mirjam Lauridsen. She had a great opening today that really “exploded out brain.” It looks to be an awesome week.

-Kevin

First studying week in DTS

Soo…WHAT does it mean being a long distance from home, further for some than others, spending time with new people, to be challenged in faith in a DISCIPELSHIP TRAINING SCHOOL?

If you want to know…COME do one! This blog will be a great tool to let you know how DTS for us is like! So far, it has been a really good and already challenging week for us. Beside a really good Finnish diet, sauna and snowboarding for the first time we also spent time with Kimmo Sarajarvi, who is the teacher of the first week!

This weeks teaching is about God’s character and identity in Christ. His nature. His personality and functions. How does God function? We’ve learned He’s a friend, a father, a counselor, the Prince of Peace and lot’s more. In the end it blows my mind and end up with a bigger picture of God than before. And how about identity? What forms it? Culture, family, friends, what we think God thinks about us, or what other people think. Well what God really thinks about us is always POSITIVE. He’s proud of us! We’re His creation! And we’re double His! Made by Him and bought by Him.

Spending time with God every morning is a challenge but really interesting cause it can provide for the necessary fuel to go through life. Like Jesus says. I LIVE not of bread alone, but by every word of the Father! In my time with God today I read Luke chapter 24. Awesome piece of work there! The 2 guys going to Emmaus don’t get it. Jesus is dead, he was supposed to save Israel and now a couple of women claim they’ve seen Him alive?

As they walk Jesus walks besides them and starts explaining everything about Him. They don’t recognize Him. When they arrive at Emmaus they invite Him for dinner. He brakes the bread and asks a blessing from the Father, and than He is revealed before their very eyes and they see it’s Him!

I hope this DTS will be a little bit like that for us. To feel like we’re walking next to Jesus. Him explaining again to us the things that He really important in His eyes. Until we see Him again. With an unclouded mind. Ready to return back to Jerusalem and to tell from what we’ve heard, seen and learned.

-Bendert

Beginning of the Snowboarding DTS 2011

Top: Erik, Bendert, Liz, Martina, Lauri, Meri-Tuulia, Jesse and Leea.

Bottom: Kevin

Snowboarding DTS 2011 has begun! There are 6 students and 2 Staff. Meri-Tuulia, Jesse, Lauri and Martina are the students from Finland. While Bendert is from Holland, and Kevin from the US. Leea and Liz are our staff, with Erik being our leader. We began last Friday, the 14th, by looking at the overview of the school, and the many things in store. We also played a game of football/handball/random rules, in the meter of snow outside. It was a lot of work, but fun and gave us time to bond/get to know one another. Saturday we went over more of the basic DTS things, as well as played a few more games outside. Including one where we randomly stood on a balance log, and then had to crawl over each other in order to get in position according to height. We continued into the night with a few games of Assi, and playing some music together. We got to go into the sauna for the first time, which for us non-Finns was a great experience. Sunday morning we went to Church, where there was a guest German Speaker, who was translated to Finnish, and then English for a few of us. After Church we went back, and later that night had cake and celebrated Clarita's Birthday. We got to ask her a few questions about her childhood, as well as her asking us all various questions. We finished the night with a movie. Monday morning started off early with our first morning exercise at 7. We had our first whole-base prayer/worship session, and then started our first lectures. This weeks lectures are by Kimmo Sarajarvi, and they are about the Nature and Character of God. Today, he gave us examples of all of God's natures, and how he is Creator, Infinite, Eternal, Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Unchanging and Holy. We went into depth about what Holy is, and received many scriptures about each nature.

Get ready for SDTS 2011!!!

Vielä ehdit hakea... viimeinen hakupäivä 4.1.2011!!!

There's still time to apply!! Get on BOARD!

www.snowboardingdts.com

Haitilla...

Tässä vielä muutamia kuvia Haiti-aktiosta! :)
A few more pics from Haiti...

Romahtanut presidentinlinna Port-au-Princessa.
The collapsed presidentila palace in PAP.

HAITI 2010

The past 7 weeks long-term outreach in Haiti flew so fast and now the six (4 Finns, 1 British and 1 Aussie) students just left the school after 6 months of being together. The time we spent in serving in Haiti was a real blessing and opportunity. It was not just an eye-opener for us as a team neither just serving like another humanitarian group but an awareness and a glimpse of what is in God’s heart for the Haitians and for His great love for them.

The half of our team flew on May 4 and the rest flew on the 6th due to financial problems. Our first few days were spent in youth With A Mission St. Marc. We were helping in different things and were given the chance to do spiritual walk and evangelism with other teams from other countries. Our team experienced doing an evangelism in the park of the city centre of St. Marc after cleaning it first because the rubbish were all over the park.

During our second week we were assigned in a tent village which is 20 minutes by car from the YWAM base. The first thing that we notice was the rubbish scattered all over the tent village and so many children just running and playing. Spiritually, there was a heaviness, hopelessness and apathy causing the people not to care anymore. The people who live in the concrete houses and tents were fighting and shouting at each other.

The first thing that we felt guided to do was to pray. Each of us together with another member of the other teams had a time slot to pray. We prayed day and night for 4 days before we saw changes spiritually and physically. Everyday was a miracle for each of us in the sense that we could not do practical things like digging garbage pit, fish pond, mixing cement, carrying or hauling sand, gravel and water without God’s strength because the heat was draining our energy.

God enabled us to come up with a timetable that both physical work and spiritual work were done by the team hand in hand. While the others are working with the people, some are praying and others are visiting the people who live in the tents and concrete houses. They shared to us their life stories before the earthquake and what they are going through. We prayed with them, shared the Scriptures and some of them gave their lives to Jesus. We were able to talk to them because God has given us the right Haitian translator who is a believer.

We also had the opportunity to provide jobs to several women by cooking our meals and washing our clothes while we were living in the tent village. We were supposed to do these chores however, in order to help them learn the value of earning their own livelihood ,we let them do it. We had children ministry and Bible Study almost everyday. These helped and encouraged all of us because of their response. They are so hungry and open. One time, the women were gathered and discussing Water Baptism after it was preached to them. Many of the children from 8 to 12 years old gave their lives to Jesus.

During the 4 weeks that we lived in the tent village, prayer and praise and worship helped us a lot to understand, love, served and worked with the people. God also gave us an opportunity to work with other teams in preparing food for more than 400 families who live in the farthest village of St. Marc. The people in this village do not have food and clean water to drink so children ages 2 and below are dying.

Our last week in Port Au Prince was very hard because our attitude and faith were tested and stretched. When we left YWAM St. Marc that day we felt assured that we are going to stay in a house. Upon arrival, we were all shocked because we are going to stay in a crumbling church that was destroyed during the earthquake. When it rained on our second night, we were a little bit afraid that the old and worn out tin roof will collapse on us.

Thank God, for His grace we had a great time ministering and teaching the children in the morning and in the evening the young people and other members of the church even though we slept on the ground in a tent. Seeing and walking in the city centre of Port Au Prince with new eyes was really heartbreaking. People who are walking and doing their business or work on the streets have the hopeless expression on their faces and in their eyes. The Haitians need God’s intervention would you pray for them not only for their physical needs but most especially for their spiritual needs? If you would like to partner with YWAM Koivumäki in helping them please do not hesitate to email or contact us. We would be glad to talk to you on how you could partner with us.

"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking"....

"The only place where your dream becomes impossible is in your own thinking."
Robert H. Schuller

This week, we had some really good teaching on 'Destiny and Calling'. Our teacher, Pekka Puurunen, took the work 'DESTINY' as an acronym and explained it like this....

D reams + desires
E xperience
S piritual gifts
T alents

I dentity
N etworking
Y our personality

Destiny could be explained as "the inner purpose of life that can be discovered and realised" as opposed to fate which is "something consequential that inevitably happens to somebody or something". Although they can easily be mixed up, they are in fact quite different.

This week was around looking in depth at the 7 sub-headings within 'DESTINY' and looking at how we can see the unique purpose that God planned for us. Our destiny is not predetermined- we do have choices. Neither is it about becoming whatever we want. The reality is, God has a UNIQUE purpose for each and every one of us and it's part of our destiny to discover and realise it.

We are allowed to dream. We have talents, interests, desires etc and they aren't there by coincidence. We were made that way and we can use our talents whilst still praising God. The thing that we've got to understand, is that sometimes we put our trust in God but feel like we're being let into a dead-end. At times like this we decide it would be best to take matters into our own hands. However, if you want to get through the situation in the best way, you need to let go of control- it's not always the 'safe' way but if you trust God then you can believe that he knows what's best for you....




"Ainoa paikka, jossa unelmasi tulee mahdottomaksi on oma ajatusmaailmasi."
Robert H. Schuller

Tällä viikolla meillä oli erittäin hyvää opetusta 'kohtalosta ja kutsusta'.
Opettajamme Pekka Puurunen käytti sanaa 'KOHTALO' näin...

Kaipaukset
Omat kokemukset
Hengelliset lahjat
Taidot
Aito identiteetti
Linkittyminen
Oma persoonallisuus

Kohtalo voitaisiin selittää "sisäisenä elämäntarkoituksena, joka voidaan löytää ja toteuttaa". Tässä ei kuitenkaan tarkoiteta kohtaloa, joka "sattumanvaraisesti ja väistämättä sattuu jollekin". Sana voidaan helposti käsittää väärin.

Tämä viikko oli tiivistä tutkiskelua 'KOHTALOn' seitsemään alaotsikkoon ja miettimistä miten voisimme nähdä sen uniikin tarkoituksen, joka Jumalalla on meille. Meidän kohtalomme ei ole ennaltamäärätty. Meillä on vaihtoehtoja. Eikä se ole sitä, että voisimme tulla miksi vain ikinä haluamme. Totuus on, että Jumalalla on meille jokaiselle AINUTLAATUINEN tarkoitus ja on osa meidän kohtaloamme löytää se ja pistää se käytäntöön.

On sallittua unelmoida. Meillä on taitoja, mielenkiinnon kohteita, haluja jne ja ne eivät ole tulleet sattumanvaraisesti. Olemme luotuja sellaisiksi ja voimme käyttää taitojamme ylistämään Jumalaa. Meidän tulisi ymmärtää, että joskus laitamme luottamuksemme Jumalaan, mutta tunnemme itsemme silti kuin umpikujaan johdetuksi. Sellaisina hetkinä usein ajattelemme, että nyt on parempi ottaa ohjat omiin käsiin. Jokatapauksessa, jos haluat päästä tilanteesta läpi, on parempi päästää irti ohjaksista. Se ei aina ole se 'turvallinen' tie, mutta jos luotat Jumalaan voit uskoa, että Hän tietää, mikä on parasta sinulle...

Haiti outreach is coming...

Thanks for your donations and your prayers!
We appreciate your help!

Kiitos lahjoituksistanne ja rukouksistanne!
Arvostamme apuanne!

An Opportunity to Serve

We had an opportunity to serve at Gospel Savo last weekend. Gospel Savo is a Christian music event held annually at Ahmo's school in Siilinjärvi. It started on Friday evening and continued through Saturday to Sunday.
Our DTS team had an opportunity to not only serve on Friday but also do a drama and give a testimony. We decided to do the 'Me' drama. It is about five different individuals that say 'me' throughout the performance. Two of them get married but throughout their journey they have trouble because they are so self focused. At the end another individual shows them that it is not about themselves but about 'Him' refering to Jesus.
Markus gave his testimony and also got the audience to participate by doing a Mexician wave.
Some of the staff and students also helped out and enjoyed themselves on saturday and sunday.
It was a great success!

Believing requires action....

*****BREAKING NEWS...... (well, kind of) Our final outreach location for the 2010 DTS will be Haiti! In early May, we'll be leaving to go and join YWAM Haiti for 7 weeks where we will be actively expressing God's love for his children in this time of desperation in that country. In times like these, God's grace and compassion shines through these situations as people reach out to countries in need as expressions of God's love. People there are turning away from their former ways and looking for more... and finding God! Wow! Bad things really can be blessings in disguise. More details to come about this exciting trip.....*****

"Believing requires action" James E. Faust

Last week we had teaching on 'Attributes of a Servant Heart' from Samson Khurshid. Samson came to us from the U.S. and the story of how he got to us was in itself, a great example of God's provision. The DTS usually provides the tickets for lecturers to come and teach but in Samson's case, he decided that God would get the money to him from other sources if he really was meant to come and teach us. Sure enough, only a few weeks before Samson was due to fly (perfect timing!), he received the flight money from different people. Samson really emulated his teaching and encouraged us to be more like servants. The final session ended in us washing each others feet- an exemplar coming from Jesus which shows real humility.
We also had the opportunity to visit the YWAM base in Rovaniemi, located in the Finnish arctic circle AKA Lapland, just over a week ago. For the students this meant mainly two things..... 1. Santa Claus and 2. Reindeer! We did get the chance to see the big man himself (and we got a photo to prove it!) but the latter was much harder to spot. Eventually we had to settle for just seeing the reindeer in a tasty, edible form sitting on top of our pizzas....yum yum :)




*****JÄNNITTÄVIÄ UUTISIA....(vanhoja sellaisia) Meidän aktiomatkamme kohdistuu Haitille! Toukokuun alussa lähdemme 7 viikoksi Haitille, liitymme Haitin missionutoriin ja saamme osoittaa Jumalan rakkautta Hänen lapsilleen tänä epätoivon aikana siinä maassa. Tällaisina aikoina Jumalan armo ja myötätunto loistaa tilanteista, kun ihmiset menevät apuatarvitseviin maihin ilmaisten Jumalan rakkautta. Ihmiset siellä kääntyvät pois vanhoista tavoistaan ja etsivät enemmän... Ja löytävät Jumalan! Wow! Huonot asiat voivat todella pitää sisällään siunauksia. Lisää tietoa tulossa tästä jännittävästä matkasta....*****

"Uskominen vaatii toimintaa" James E. Faust

Viime viikolla Samson Khurshid opetti 'Palvelevan sydämen ominaisuuksista'. Samson tuli USA:sta, ja tarina miten hän tuli luoksemme on jo sinänsä opetus Jumalan huolenpidosta. Yleensä DTS maksaa matkaliput opettajalle, mutta Samsonin tapauksessa, hän päätti, että Jumala antaa rahat muista lähteistä, jos hänen oli todella tarkoitus tulla opettamaan meitä. Ja vain muutamaa viikkoa ennen kuin Samasonin oli tarkoitus lentää Suomeen, (täydellinen ajoitus!) hän sai rahat lentoihin eri ihmisiltä. Samason todella haastoi meitä opetuksellaan ja rohkaisi meitä olemaan enemmän palvelijoita. Viimeinen opetustuokio päättyi meidän pestessä toistemme jalkoja- Jeesuksen nöyryyttä osoittava esimerkki.

Meillä oli myös mahdollisuus vierailla Missionuorten keskuksessa Rovaniemellä, joka sijaitsee napapiirillä Lapissa. Oppilaille tämä tarkoitti pääasiassa kahta asiaa... 1.Joulupukki ja 2. Poro! Saimme mahdollisuuden nähdä itse ison ukon, (ja meillä on valokuva siitä todisteena!) mutta jälkimmäinen olikin paljon hankalampi bongata. Lopulta meidän täytyi tyytyä vain poroon maukkaana pizzan päällä... naminami :)

29th March Update

All right!
The last two weeks we have had teaching on the topics of; Relationships and the Father Heart of God. George Davidiuk from the USA came and spoke to us about relationships in life; in marriage and also being single.

Last week Jani Liukkonen from Helsinki spoke to us about the Father Heart of God, learning the difference between the orphan heart and the heart of sonship. This week we have teaching on hearing the voice of God and attributes of a servant heart. We are all expecting God to do great things in our lives.
We'll keep you updated!

Morjensta!

Viimeiset kaksi viikkoa olemme saaneet opetusta ihmissuhteista ja Jumalan isänsydämestä. George Davidiuk USA:sta tuli ja puhui meille ihmissuhteista elämässä: avioliitosta ja myös sinkkuna olemisesta.

Viime viikolla Jani Liukkonen Helsingistä puhui Jumalan isänsydämestä sekä orpouden ja lapseuden sydämen eroista. Tällä viikolla meillä on opetusta Jumalan äänen kuulemisesta ja palvelevan sydämen ominaisuuksista. Me kaikki odotamme Jumalan tekevän ihmeellisiä asioita elämässämme.

Näkemisiin!

Post-Canada Shenanigans.....

Hello everyone!

So, we arrived back from Canada and felt like a real team. We'd been through quite a few experiences together and so we felt like our unity was growing all the time. The general consensus was that it was a fantastic outreach even though there were times when people found things difficult. Nevertheless, this is all part of the experience and as the saying goes; 'What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger'!

Our first post-Canada teaching came from Mark Erickson who taught on 'Intercession and Spiritual Warfare'. The drive behind this week came from the verse in 1 Thessalonians which talks about God's will for our lives;
'Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.' 1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18

Next up we had Fiona Gifford from England (whey!) teaching us on 'Sin, Repentance and Remission'. Fiona did things a little differently from most of our previous teachers as she took the time to meet up with us all one-on-one. This was good for us as a team because we were allowed to express our feelings to someone who was looking into the group from the outside. This meant she had a different perception from the students and staff so could provide some interesting input. On Friday's morning session we had a time where we opened ourselves up a bit to everyone else- this was a good trust exercise and meant we got closer as a group.

”Coming together is a beginning.
Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.”
- Henry Ford



Heippa kaikki!

Eli palasimme takaisin Kanadasta ja porukastamme oli tullut oikea tiimi. Olemme kokeneet monenlaisia kokemuksia yhdessä ja koemme, että yhteytemme kasvaa koko ajan. Yhteinen mielipiteemme on, että aktio oli todella hyvä, vaikka välillä jotkut asiat tuntuivatkin vaikealta. Joka tapauksessa nekin ovat osa sitä kokemusta ja niin kuin sanontakin kuuluu: "Mikä ei tapa, niin vahvistaa!"

Mark Erikson opetti ensimmäisellä Kanadan matkan jälkeisellä viikolla esirukouksesta ja hengellisestä sodankäynnistä. Avain jae tälle viikolle tuli 1. Tessalonikalais kirjeestä, joka puhuu Jumalan tarkoituksesta elämällemme;
"Iloitkaa aina. Rukoilkaa lakkaamatta. Kiittäkää kaikesta. Tätä Jumala tahtoo teiltä, Kristuksen Jeesuksen omilta." 1. Tess. 5:16-18

Seuraavaksi Fiona Gifford Englannista opetti synnistä, katumuksesta ja anteeksiannosta. Fiona teki asiat hieman erilailla, kuin monet muut opettajat varatessaan aikaa, jotta voisi jutella meille jokaiselle kahden kesken. Se oli hyvä tiimillemme, sillä pystyimme puhumaan jollekin, joka katsoo ryhmäämme ulkopuolisen silmin. Hän siis sai erilaisia näkemyksiä oppilailta sekä henkilökunnalta ja sitä kautta hän pystyi välittämään meille mielenkiintoisen yhteenvedon. Perjantaiaamuna meillä oli hetki, jolloin saimme avautua toisillemme - tämä oli hyvää luottamuksen harjoittamista ja pääsimme lähemmäs toisiamme ryhmänä.

"Yhteen tuleminen on alku,
yhdessä pysyminen on prosessi,
yhdessä toimiminen on menestyksekästä."
-Henry Ford

Canada Trip 2010

Here is an update of our lastest adventure from the 2010 Snowboarding DTS outreach to Vancouver...

Ten of us set out on the expedition to Canada, three of which were staff and the rest being students- three boys, seven girls. The journey to Canada was a long one. We flew from Helsinki to Seattle (via Amsterdam) and then caught a bus up to Vancouver. There is a 10 hour time difference between Finland and Vancouver so we were shattered by the time we reached our final destination. We stayed at a Finnish-English church about 20 mins bus ride from central downtown Vancouver. There weren’t actually any beds for us so we hit the sofas and floor for the full 3 weeks of the trip- a true YWAM experience!!

We woke up to something we’d never quite seen before- a city rife with mixed culture and diversity, a melting pot or ‘mosaic’ of different beliefs and values. Two things jumped out at us when we got the next morning; one- the weather (!) and two- how friendly everyone was. On average it was about 15 degrees and funnily enough, there wasn’t actually any snow.... kind of unusual for a city about to launch into the winter Olympics! Everyone was very open-minded and accepting which led to people being easy to talk to but due to the post modernised culture, it meant that people accepted other beliefs in a ‘I’m glad it works for you, but don’t force it on me’ kind of way. This was the barrier that we needed to break through.

We took a leap of faith in the sense that we hadn’t received a schedule and didn’t actually know quite what we’d be doing during the 3 weeks. However, after a few introductory days we were ready to volunteer for the organisation called More Than Gold whose aim was to share God’s love through serving the community of Vancouver as opposed to it shoving down their throats. Different teams and individuals gathered from all nations of the world, from as close as Calgary, Canada to as far as Brisbane, Australia! And it wasn’t just YWAM that participated in this event, churches and other groups from around Vancouver also helped out which was great because it brought a real sense of unity and togetherness.

To give you an idea of what we actually did, here are just a few activities and ways in which we got to serve in the community. The main two activities consisted of giving out free hot chocolate and coffee as well as offering free prayer to people passing by on the streets. Although giving out hot chocolate is a simple act, it enabled us to interact with people and gave us a chance to share God’s love to people in a practical way, in a way they could understand and appreciate. Prayer stations were slightly different because people were initially closed to the idea but as we pressed on, we saw a change in people’s attitude to the idea of free prayer. Overall it was quite an encouraging experience as at least everyone in our group had the chance to pray for someone. Other activities were things like serving our host church on Sundays, helping the homeless, being a silent witness against sex trafficking, handing out informative flyers to people, ushering at a Christian musical event and making the hot chocolate for people to give out.

Here’s a moment in particular we thought you might like to hear about...

Markus and Leea were on prayer stations ready to pray for anyone and everyone who was up for it. Suddenly they saw a man lying on the ground across the road from them. This was far too good of an opportunity to miss, so they went to investigate. The man was on the ground and appeared to be unconscious and an ambulance on the way but nevertheless Leea and Markus offered to pray for the man. The people surrounding him were more than happy for him to be prayed for, so they began to pray. Whilst praying for the man, Markus felt a strong sense of God’s power through him and literally through his fingertips to which the man jumped up! Wow! Tears were pouring down the man’s cheeks, Markus said

“Jesus loves you and forgives your sins!”. The emergency services arrived and checked him over to conclude he was fit to go home. This was a great faith builder not only for Markus and Leea but also for the rest of the team.

Finally, here’s a thought that definitely challenged us and will hopefully challenge you too....

“One day when a few of us were ministering down Commercial Drive, (a busy area in Vancouver) God spoke to me. There were a lot of people in the area from all kinds of cultures, nationalities and range of ages. God showed me a glimpse of His heart for the people. I felt like my heart broke into millions of pieces- it made me weep. God said to me “Look all these people, they are all different but they are all in search of Me but they are looking in the wrong places. It is for these people I sent my Son to die, so that they may know Me.” I couldn’t talk to anyone because I was so overwhelmed on what God had revealed to me. When I was walking back to the Salvation Army building, I saw a man and God spoke to me again saying “Yes I know his name and I know what he desires for his life. I care for him.” Wow, God was slowly revealing His heart for the people to me, it broke my heart. It challenged me in the way I see and perceive people. Do I see people with natural eyes or how God sees people?” Elisabeth Pesonen

This was just a glimpse of our trip to Vancouver in which God challenged, taught and blessed us greatly. We still have so many more stories to tell but I hope you feel encouraged with our favourites!

God bless you all,

From the SDTS 2010 Blog Team

Tässä on uutisia viimeisestä seikkailustamme, aktiosta Vancouveriin...

Eli, matkalle Kanadaan lähti 10 henkilöä, joista 3 on henkilökuntaa ja loput oppilaita – 3 poikaa ja 7 tyttöä. Lentomatka Kanadaan oli pitkä. Todella pitkä. Lensimme Helsingistä Amsterdamin kautta Seattleen ja jatkoimme sieltä bussilla rajan yli Vancouveriin. Suomen ja Vancouverin välillä on 10 tunnin aikaero, joten olimme rättiväsyneitä päästyämme perille. Yövyimme suomalais-englanninkielisessä kirkossa, joka sijaitsee noin 20 minuutin bussimatkan päässä Vancouverin keskustasta. Ei kirkossa tietenkään ollut sänkyjä meille, joten saimme nauttia sohvalla ja lattialla nukkumisesta lähes täydet 3 viikkoa. Todellista YWAM-elämää!!

Seuraavana aamuna heräsimme keskellä jotakin, mitä emme oikeastaan koskaan olleet nähneet – kaupunki täynnä monimuotoisia kulttuureja, erilaisten uskomusten ja arvojen sulatuskattila ja mosaiikki. Kaksi asiaa hyppäsi ensimmäisenä silmille; yksi: sää! Ja kaksi: kuinka hämmästyttävän ystävällisiä ihmiset olivat. Lämmintä riitti keskimäärin noin 15 astetta ja lunta ei ollut ollenkaan… Ehkä hieman epätavallista kaupungille, jossa järjestetään talviolympialaiset! Kaikki olivat avoimia ja hyväksyviä, minkä takia ihmisille oli helppo puhua. Kävi kuitenkin ilmi, että johtuen nykyajan ajattelutavasta ja kulttuurista, ihmiset hyväksyvät toisten uskomukset sanoen: ” On hienoa, että se toimii sinulla, mutta älä pakota minua mukaan siihen.”. Tämä oli se muuri, jonka läpi meidän oli murtauduttava.

Otimme askeleen uskossa, sillä emme olleet saaneet lukujärjestystä emmekä oikeastaan tienneet, mitä aioimme tehdä seuraavien kolmen viikon aikana. Kuitenkin muutaman perehdytyspäivän jälkeen olimme taas kartalla ja valmiina tekemään töitä More than gold-organisaation alaisena, jonka päämääränä oli jakaa Jumalan rakkautta Vancouverin asukkaille ja olympiavieraille palvellen sen sijaan, että hakattaisi raamatulla päähän. Ihmiset kerääntyivät ympäri maailmaa aina läheltä Calgarysta kuin kaukaa Brisbanesta, Australiasta asti! YWAM – nuoret eivät olleet ainoa, jotka osallistuivat tapahtumaan. Kirkot ja muut ryhmät ympäri Vancouveria olivat myös mukana toiminnassa, mikä oli hienoa, sillä se loi yhteistyötä eri kirkkokuntien välille.

Jotta saisitte vähän vinkkiä siitä, miten palvelimme Vancouverissa, tässä on joitakin esimerkkejä toiminnasta ja tavoista. Kaksi päätoimintatapaa olivat kaakaon ja kahvin jakaminen kadulla sekä rukousasemat kadunkulmissa. Vaikka kaakaon jakaminen kuulostaa yksinkertaiselta, se avasi monia mahdollisuuksia kommunikoida ihmisten kanssa ja antoi tilaisuuksia jakaa Jumalan rakkautta käytännöllisellä tavalla, tavalla, jonka he voivat ymmärtää ja arvostaa sitä. Rukousasemat olivat hieman erilainen tapa lähestyä ihmisiä. Ihmiset olivat aluksi sulkeutuneita ajatukselle, mutta jatkoimme kuitenkin niiden pitämistä ja näimme muutoksen ihmisten asenteissa rukoukseen. Se oli joka tapauksessa rohkaiseva kokemus, sillä jokainen ryhmästämme ainakin sai tilaisuuden rukoilla jonkun puolesta. Muut toimintatavat olivat esimerkiksi omassa seurakunnassa palveleminen sunnuntaisin, kodittomien auttaminen, hiljainen mielenosoitus seksikauppaa vastaan, infolehtien jakaminen ihmisille, avustaminen kristillisessä musiikkitapahtumassa ja kaakaon keittäminen ihmisille jaettavaksi. Mukaan mahtuu siis niin käytännöntyötä kuin hengellistä työtäkin.

Tässä hetki, jonka varmasti haluat kuulla…

Markus ja Leea olivat pitämässä rukousasemaa valmiina rukoilemaan kenen tahansa puolesta, joka sitä haluaisi. Yhtäkkiä he näkivät miehen makaamassa maassa risteyksen toisella puolella. Tämä oli aivan liian hyvä mahdollisuus hukattavaksi, joten he menivät selvittämään asiaa. Mies makasi maassa tiedottomana ambulanssin ollessa matkalla. Leea ja Markus kysyivät voisivatko he rukoilla miehen puolesta. Ympärillä olevat ihmiset olivat kiitollisia tarjotusta rukouksesta, joten Leea ja Markus alkoivat rukoilla. Rukouksen aikana Markus tunsi valtavan Jumalan voiman kulkevan lävitseen ja käden kautta mieheen ja silloin mies hyppäsi pystyyn! Wow! Kyyneleet valuivat alas miehen poskia, Markus sanoi: ”Jeesus rakastaa sinua ja antaa syntisi anteeksi!” Ambulanssi saapui paikalle, mies tarkistettiin ja hän oli kunnossa lähtemään kotiin. Tämä oli mahtava uskon rakentaja, ei pelkästään Markukselle ja Leealle, vaan myös koko tiimille.

Lopuksi vielä ajatus, joka todella haastoi meitä miettimään ja toivottavasti haastaa myös teitä…

”Yhtenä päivänä, kun muutamat meistä olivat evankelioimassa Commercial Drivellä, (ruuhkainen alue Vancouverissa) Jumala puhui minulle. Sillä alueella oli paljon ihmisiä monista kulttuureista, kansallisuuksista ja ikäluokista. Jumala näytti minulle aavistuksen rakkaudestaan ihmisiä kohtaan. Tunsin kuinka sydämeni mureni miljooniksi palasiksi - se sai minut kyyneliin. Jumala sanoi minulle: ”Katso kaikkia näitä ihmisiä. He ovat kaikki erilaisia, mutta jokainen heistä etsii Minua. He vain etsivät väärästä paikasta. Näiden ihmisten puolesta Minä lähetin poikani kuolemaan, jotta he voisivat tuntea minut.” En pystynyt puhumaan kellekään, sillä olin niin musertunut siitä, mitä Jumala oli minulle paljastanut. Kun kävelin takaisin Pelastusarmeijalle, näin miehen ja Jumala puhui minulle uudelleen sanoen: ”Kyllä, Minä tiedän hänen nimensä ja tiedän mitä hän haluaa elämältään. Välitän hänestä.” Wow, Jumala oli hiljalleen avannut minulle rakkauttaan ihmisiä kohtaan, se mursi sydämeni. Se haastoi minua ajattelemaan millä tavalla näen ja miellän ihmisiä. Näenkö ihmisiä luonnollisilla silmilläni vai tavalla, jolla Jumala näkee?” Elisabeth Pesonen

Tässä oli vain murto-osa matkastamme Vancouveriin, jolla Jumala haastoi, opetti ja siunasi meitä suuresti. Meillä olisi vielä monia tarinoita kerrottavana, mutta toivomme, että rohkaistuitte lempitarinoidemme myötä!

Siunausta kaikille!

Lumilautailu-opetuslapseuskoulun Blogitiimi

Chapter 1.......

Bonjour reader(s)! :)

This is the first post from the 2010 STDS- lovely stuff! We are in the 8th week and we've already experienced so much, we can't wait for what God's got in store for us next. Nevertheless, I'll try and bring you up to speed with a few details from the first few weeks........

Week 1 kicked off with 'Identity In Christ' from Kerstin Fullerton which was great because we were kick started into the DTS and straight away got a meaty topic to sink our teeth into :) The first week also meant first snowboarding trip. Some of us got to show off our silky moves on the slopes while others got to show off our...not so silky falling over...

Weeks 2 + 3 were bumper weeks as we got teaching from Jono Lemmetti on 'The Character + Nature of God', Erik Davidson on 'Creation + God's Intention For It' and also from Jose Turunen who taught on 'Evangelism'. These first few weeks gave us time to bond and gel as a team. It was brilliant to talk to people and find out what each of our personalities are like because we are all so different and diverse. Great!

After what seemed like no time at all, the first three weeks were over and we would soon be jetting off to the cracking city of Vancouver, Canada. We were beginning to feel like a family and we were waiting with anticipation to see how God would get us closer over and shape us in the next stage of the adventure......

Bonjour lukija(t)! :)
Tämä on ensimmäinen potaus lumilautailu-dts:sästä 2010 - huippuu settii! Nyt on menossa kahdeksas viikko ja ollaan jo saatu kokea niin paljon kaikkee hienoo, ei jaksais odottaa mitä yllätyksiä Jumalalla on varattuna meille seuraavaksi! Jokatapauksessa tässä vähän kuulumisia muutamista ensimmäisistä viikoista, jotta pysytte tahdissa mukana.....

Ensimmäinen viikko polkaistiin käyntiin Kerstin Fullertonin kanssa aiheella Identiteetti Kristuksessa, mikä oli mahtavaa, koska saimme heti syvällisiä asioita pureskeltavaksi :) Viikko piti sisällään myös ensimmäisen lautailureissun. Jotkut meistä olivat jo kokeneita konkareita ja näyttivät taitojaan rinteessä... ja jotkut sitten... noh.. harjoittelivat...

Toisella ja kolmannella viikolla Jono Lemmetti opetti Jumalan luonteesta ja luonteenpiirteistä, Erik Davidson opetti Jumalan luomakunnasta ja Hänen tarkoituksesta sille, sekä Jose Turunen kertoi evankelioinista. Ensimmäiset viikot olivat hyvää aikaa tutustua ja luoda ryhmähenkeä. Oli mahtavaa puhua keskenämme ja oppia tuntemaan, mitä toistemme luonteenpiirteet pitävät sisällään, sillä olemme kaikki niin erilaisia. Mahtavaa!

Vähän ajan kuluttua ensimmäiset kolme viikkoa olivat ohi ja meidän oli aika suunnata kohti Vancouveria, Kanadaan. Ryhmähenki oli tiivistynyt ja ilmassa alkoi olla jännitystä, minkälaisia seikkailuja Jumala haluaa meille seuraavaksi antaa....

Here we go for 2010!!!

'

Howdy!! The 2010 SDTS is on the run! See you in the slopes or in VANCOUVER!! ;)

Graduation / Valmistujaiset 2009

Well, the time came to bring this school to an end. We've had good time... Just thinking back - the DTS brought us to five (!!) countries (in addition to Finland) and gave us all so many friends, so many experiences, we learned so many new things...

Be encouraged to join us next year – to know God and make Him known!




Tuli aika pistää saattaa tämä koulu päätökseen. (Sniff.) Oli hieno DTS jälleen kerran. Jälkeenpäin on mahtava ajatella, että tämä OP-koulu vei meidät viiteen eri maahan (Suomen lisäksi) – saimme kaikki paljon uusia ystäviä, kokemuksia ja opimme niin paljon.

Tule mukaan ensi vuonna – tuntemaan Jumala paremmin ja tekemään hänet tunnetuksi!!

Well done!!

Isä Taivaan, tätä kaupunkia kädelläsi siunaa!

Well done? Was it well done...? Did we even do our best? Even if it did, would that have changed the world - or the Baltics? Could we have achieved more, worked harder (despite the rain), been more persistent in prayer, been more courageous...?

We'd sure long to hear the Lord say: "Well done!" But, towards the end of the training/outreach some of us felt that we maybe did not reach what we expected of the outreach. We did not see great revival spread accross the Baltics like a wildfire. We did not have too much thrill all the time... even the car was working perfectly the whole trip. And as for ourselves ..."I was not as courageous I wanted to be. I was not as good leader as I dreamed of being..."

But He replied: He said He was sad that we felt disappointed and unable to celebrate on what we had done during the outreach trip. What...?? God himself felt sad that we were disappointed to ourselves! THAT'S QUITE AN ENCOURAGEMENT!! Even though we did not see many impossible things, God said He was more happy to what we did than we were ourselves! That is something, dude! Our Papa is simply so good!!!

Hyvin tehty!

Hyvin tehty? Oliko se sitten hyvin tehty? Teimmekö edes parastamme? Annoimmeko kaikkemme Baltian hyväksi? .. Niin, olisimmeko voineet saada aikaan enemmän jos olisimme olleet ahkerampia, rohkeampia, sitkeämpiä?

Me kaikki haluaisimme kuulla Herran sanat: "Hyvin tehty sinä uskollinen palvelija!"... Mutta, aktion loppua kohti muutamat meistä kokivat, että emme ehkä tehneetkään parastamme, emme onnistuneet... emmekä saavuttaneet kaikkia niitä (epärealistisia) tavoitteita joita matkallemme asetimme. Emme nähneet suurta herätystä Baltiassa, eikä aina ollut suuren seikkailun tuntua... autokin toimi moitteettomasti koko matkan... Ja olimme ehkä pettyneitä ennen kaikkea itseemme: "En ollut niin rohkea kuin olisin halunnut olla... en ollut sellainen johtaja, jota haaveilin olevani..."

Mutta Hän vastasi! Hän sanoi, että Hän oli surullinen siitä, että koimme pettymystä, emmekä osanneet täysin sydämin iloita ja riemuita siitä, mitä kaikkea saimme tehdä ja kokea aktiossa. Jumala itse oli surullinen siitä, että olimme pettyneitä itseemme! Mitäähh? Mikä rohkaisu!!! Vaikka emme nähneet kovin paljoa mahdottomia asioista aktiossa, Jumala sanoi, että Hän oli tyytyväisempi meihin kuin me itse! Se on jo jotain! Wau!

Rukouskävelyllä Liettuassa

The last weeks in Estonia...

Well, one word could say more than thousand pictures, but I'll try to cover the activities of 3 weeks in a few pictures and words, too...

After a short break in Saaremaa we drove to Turi in central Estonia. There we stayed at and worked with a local church. That was a little bit difficult time for us as a team as there was not much work to do and it was difficult to even do anything outdoors as it was raining almost all the time. The difficult time, however, brought us somewhat closer to each other as a team. We also made good friends with some of the youth in the church.

In Tallinn did some cleaning and minor maintenance at the base. We also did prayer walks in Tallinn and an overnight prayer "marathon", during which God spoke to us many things. That was a great night! We also visited the city of Narva in the east (and we saw Russia!!) and did another visit to Turi. Many different people shared of their insight and visions for Estonia and we were really thrilled to hear of many interesting stuff. In total, during our trip we drove some 7000 km.

The last days we spent in the base in Tallinn for debriefing etc. Even though some of our expectations were not met, we were really delighted when, on the very last day, God shared His heart about the expectations, encouraging us that even though we might not be happy as we did not see all the great things we were expecting, He was still rejoicing over our trip and work more than we did ourselves! Wow! Our Father is so Good! The Baltic countries still may need a lot of "preparing the soil" before greater things can happen. Let us pray that the greater things will happen on God's time!!

...going all the way...

Rainy days' blues

Some of the days it seemed that rain was our constant companion...
Well, thank God for the rain - it's good for the plants!
Let it rain...
let it rain!

We indeed had a rainy summer.. sometimes it changed our plans, but we also enjoyed some sunshine, especially during the Lootuse fest.

a missing post from Narva

Due to limited internet access, I couldn't post this. I promised the girls we met at a Russian speaking church in Narva that this will go on the blog, so here we go!

Narva is a very interesting place as it was situated by the borders of Estonia and Russia. I'm really thankful that we came to this place. It is very rich in history and has a great scenery - the castles on both sides facing each other, and the river in between. We also went to the biggest church in Estonia, where you can have an overview of Russia and the city, Narva. We didn't only play as good tourists but made sure we spoke blessings over these two nations.

We had a great time with the youths at the Russian-speaking church. I was telling myself, why haven't we come earlier? Anyhow, it was very encouraging to see these youngsters on fire for God and hungry for the Word. It wasn't easy saying goodbyes, especially when you get to connect with them easily. I'd like to take the liberty of saying this to all those youths, "May you continue dreaming God's dreams and living out the life He has purposed for you. Go for it!"

ciao!!!

Light at the end of the tunnel

We all knew, it's coming. One day it is enough and that's it.
If we didn't know we wouldn't have done it. But we knew so we did it.
6 months with strangers. Weird people, talking English and listening to words you've never heard
before. Going to places where you've never been before. Seeing beautiful sceneries and recording important things, not on tape but in your mind. Try to capture every little thing. Every little thing has value and when you think of it, in a while it will have more.
Today is 15th of July and I needed to check on the computer because I lost count.
One thing I know is that we have 6 days to go! It went fast, indeed.
People are waiting now on me. So I am going, going, gone.
For the last time we are heading for Tallin. For the last things!
Changing are lifes, minds and team.

Adieu!

Lootuse fest

Greetings from Saaremaa, the great island in Western Estonia. We had a good but really busy week in Tallinn; we participated as volunteers in the Lootuse fest (well, we thought for a long time that it is about flowers, but the Estonian word 'lootuse' means simply 'hope'...) What we mostly did was that we helped as car park ushers, directing big buses coming from all over Estonia to their right places in the carpark. That was pretty fun...! It was quite big festival, altogether some 30 000 people were estimated to visit the festival during the 3 days. Billy... no, sorry, Franklin Graham, M.W. Smith and Exit were among the speakers / artists.

We also had fun tailgating... You know car park ushers do have some privileges... :)

As for the programme... One interesting, a little bit critical thought that came to our minds is that... why is it so that – once again - the children's programme was so much more fun, entertaining and interactive than that of the adults... Are we too old to enjoy clowns, BMX-bikers and theatre pieces?

The other highlight of the week, of course was the visit of our distinguished school leader, Mr D, as well as Claire, all the way from Finland.

Liettua

Hill of Crosses... there are an estimated 200000 crosses on the hill... But these days it is a pretty touristy place...
Ristikukkulalla on n. 200 000 ristiä... mutta nykyään se on aikamoinen turistirysä.

Läbas! Olemme tosi iloisia ja kiitollisia, että mahdollisuus vierailla Liettuassa aukeni – lähes viime tipassa. Jo Liettuaan saapuminen oli elämys sinänsä: matkalla näimme paljon metsiä ja kirkkaankeltaisia canola-peltoja – niistä piti pysähtyä ottamaan kuvia...

Vietimme kaksi ensimmäistä päivää Plateliaiassa, jossa Liettuan Missionuorten ex-johtajat Randy ja Karen asuvat. Paikka oli todella viihtyisä rauhallinen kylä suuren luonnonsuojelualueen keskellä. Meillä oli myös mahdollisuus ottaa vähän aikaa rauhallisemmin ja niinpä käytimme aikamme puutarhanhoitoon, ulkoiluun ja rukoukseen. Kävimme myös museoksi muutetuussa, NL:n aikaisessa ohjustukikohdassa – se oli aika synkkä paikka.

A local tourist attraction was the remains of the Soviet-era nuclear missile base... That was a grim place...

Kylän laitamilla sijaitsevan kukkulan juurelta löysimme juutalaisten kansanmurhan muistomerkin. Valitettavasti tämänkin kylän juutalaiset surmattiin II maailmansodan aikaan. Surullista Liettualaisten kannalta on – näin meille kerrottiin - että likaisen työn tekivät paikalliset ihmiset... Kuulimme enemmänkin Liettuan historiasta ja täytyy todeta, että varsin sotaista täälläkin on ollut...

Manna-keskuksessa meillä oli mahdollisuus tehdä myös vähän käytännön töitä. We had the chance to do some practical work @ the Manna center.

Plateliaista suuntasimme länsirannikolle Klaipedaan, joka on oikea Baltian helmi. Sanna ja Saulius, jotka toimivat paikallisen City-srk:n johtajina ottivat meidät lyhyellä varoitusajalla vastaan ja majoittivat paikalliseen Manna-nimiseen keskukseen, joka on vielä rakenteilla – siitä on tarkoitus tehdä kirkko/virkistyskeskus/turvakoti/toimisto/... mitä vielä. Rakennnus on suuri ex-hotelli aivan meren rannassa... Oh... ne hiekkarannat!!!

Klaipedassa vierailimme mm. kahdessa paikallisessa koulussa (parhaat kouluvierailut tähän asti), autoimme Manna-keskuksen remontissa, pidimme pyhäkoulua ja vierailimme päiväkeskuksessa. Kävimme myös rukoilemassa paikallisen synagogan (raunioiden) luona. Se oli aika järkyttävä paikka – kaikki muistutti meitä kuivista luista (Hes. 37)



Liettuan vierailumme ei olisi ollut täydellinen ilman pysähtymistä Ristikukkulalla Siauliain lähellä. Siitä voisi kertoa oman tarinansa, mutta kukkula symbolisoi paitsi liettualaisten vastarintaa neuvostoaikana, myös maan varsin voimakasta katolista perinnettä ja uskoa. Tästä voisi kirjoittaa enemmänkin, mutta jääköön toiseen kertaan... Su Dievu!

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Lithuania

Läbas! We are so thankful for the opportunity to be in Lithuania. Entering the country was a fantastic experience – the scenery was exceptional! You look around and you don’t see just thick forests, but bright yellow fields, so we had to pull over at some point and take some pictures at the canola fields.

We spent our first two days in Plateliai, where Randy and Karen live. It was like an oasis for us – first, we were surrounded by a great scenery… lakes with great panoramic view, hills, cows, reserved forest, and away from busy streets and noise. Second, there wasn’t any specific ministry set for us so we did some things we felt the Lord wanted us to do. We did some practical work like gardening, cleaning on the street, and wood work (yay!). We also did some prayer walk through the hills, kind of overlooking the neighborhood. And guess what we found out? We found a Jewish site – it was pretty special place; especially after hearing the history of Lithuania and the Jews in the country during the Soviet Union times… terrible times but there’s still hope. We may not be able to go back and undo the horrible past but we can pray for healing and reconciliation. Yes, we had a quick history lesson from our hosts… so cool! Oh before I forget, we also had a great time playing volleyball and basketball with some youths, who happen to know hosts.

Then we were on the road again heading towards the West coast, Klaipeda. We were warmly welcomed by a wonderful couple we got to know from our previous hosts. Susanna and Saulius have been working with City Church; and they have been faithfully doing some ministry with Manna Retreat Center. Again, we were so blessed with accommodations because we stayed 300 meters away from the beach!!! Our stay in this city was quite busy but relaxing at the same time. We visited Rainbow Christian School – small school but there’s a warm and welcoming atmosphere. After that, we went to a Day Center, at a perfect timing – it was one of the kids’ birthday. How the center was established was very encouraging. One really cool thing in most houses and buildings we’ve been to was, from what you see outside, you wouldn’t dare go in because they looked old and unbecoming but you’ll be amazed with how they look like when you go in. We also enjoyed doing some practical stuff in the building where we stayed and had a great time fellowshipping with the rest of the people from City Church – sharing Finnish licorice to them, playing dodge ball with the Sunday school kids, and having sauna at a wonderful American family.

One of the highlights of our stay in this city was the visit to the synagogue. Personally, it wasn’t easy to be there so all we could do was pray and speak blessing to both the Jews and Lithuanians. Before we head out for a long drive to Estonia, we had a program in the morning at a Public School. We all thought it was really neat because we got a chance to do one of the things we’ve aimed for – to leave a message more than doing drama or songs. It was very encouraging to see the openness from the students and teachers.

Leaving Lithuania won’t be complete without stopping by the Hill of Crosses. Now this is another long story but yeah, it was an interesting experience. Ok, until next time and “Su Dievu!” (it literally means ‘go with God’. Cool, huh!