Lots are happening here in DC, besides the growing baby inside of me! :)
One thing is we send off an amazing team of 7 to the Philippines for a 2 month outreach!
One thing is we send off an amazing team of 7 to the Philippines for a 2 month outreach!
Outreach Team to the Philippines
We had two days at the base of debriefing everyone's Christmas break and time at home and preparing for the Philippines. God answered many prayers that we prayed for our families before we left for the break. Everyone noticed that they were different, that God has done a great work in all of them and going back home they noticed it! The next day, we had a time of prayer and worship for the Philippines as well as going through all the plans for the outreach.
Packing. Packing. Packing.
I do not think anyone slept the night before we left for the airport except Caleb!
We left the base at 4 am to drive to the Philadelphia airport. Most slept on the 2 hour drive.
We prayed and send them off knowing that God would met them in extraordinary ways,
as He always does!
God totally met them on the way! A good friend of YWAM DC and the ASL DTS, Colin (the guy with long brown hair in the third picture below with our team) was on the same first flight! Colin is the twin brother of Casey, Kari's fiancee.
Above: Right to Left: Casey, Kari, June (Colin's wife), and Colin
Below: Kari and Casey, engaged this Christmas break and will be getting married this June
They were so encouraged to know that God is setting up divine appointments even on the way! :) Renca, sent this picture below to Dan and I saying Colin decided to join the outreach!
To say the least, we were very confused.
She shared that Colin and his family were supposed to leave the day before but Colin got food poisoning thus he stayed one more day in Philadelphia and got an early flight to Atlanta, GA the next day. That just happened to be the exact flight that our team was on before flying 13.5 hours to Japan! I love God and how He loves to give surprises to his children.
Colin is an amazing christian family and is Deaf, he understands the heart of YWAM very well and was the perfect person to encourage the team before they left. He was actually the one that led Brandon Burnett to Jesus at Gallaudet University, almost 3 years ago. As well as served at the Indiana Deaf Camp this summer with us on the BE summer trip. The team and Colin got to prayer together before departing ways in GA.
And that was just the first flight to Philippines! God is doing so much more! They arrived safely and first helped clean up some schools and buildings that had been destroyed by the typhoons that hit the islands. And the last 3 weeks, they have been serving the with an organization for the Deaf called IDEA (International Deaf Education Association). They have been in schools loving on children, leading bible studies with school age kids, having the opportunity to teach on topics like faith, Deaf awareness, and so much more! They have also had the opportunity to do home visits and spend a night with a Deaf student and their family to really experience what a traditional Philippine home is like and what life at home is like for a child who is Deaf in the Philippines.
One amazing testimony is about Caleb. Before coming to YWAM, he was a welder. Before break, he shared with Brandon that he missed welding. Brandon said well maybe God will have you welding in the Philippines. They laughed but then prayed for an opportunity for Caleb to weld in the Philippines. The first week the team was there, they worked with a school and had an opportunity to share at a "Career Day". And guess what? Yep, they had welding equipment and Caleb got to weld and present welding as a job for some of these Deaf students! How cool is God! He cares about the big things and little things and again loves to surprise us and touch our hearts!
Thanks for your prayers for the team. They are a great team and doing well and sharing Jesus there.
Here are some pictures I found on Facebook below.
Claudine
Danni
Renca
Jonathan
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