week 11
This week has arguably been the craziest week since starting DTS. The advanced school was in Chico, CA for a conference with most of the staff so it was our DTS and Katie and Kaylee at the base by ourselves this past week. We took ourselves to a whole new level when a few people expressed having cold like symptoms and we had to quarantine half of us. I’m so grateful for the way YWAM North Cascades handled it all, especially given the severity of the situation had we actually had covid (spoiler alert!) given we leave for our outreach locations THIS SATURDAY! It was so incredible being able to serve my team with the other girls who weren’t sick from Monday afternoon into Wednesday afternoon. Bringing people what they needed for food and whatnot was a great way to prepare for outreach. That is until the roles reversed and I started feeling sick on Wednesday. I was promptly put in a spare room in the staff house and served so incredibly well by the girls that were feeling 100%. It was challenging in some ways being pretty much entirely alone after living with literally 20 other people since the middle of June, but it was kind of a welcome peace after a few days. Some of the people were able to get tested on Wednesday and were able to slowly come out of quarantine from Thursday to Saturday. Jack, Andy, and I were not quite as “lucky.” We got tested early Saturday morning and didn’t get our negative results back until late Sunday night. It was kind of refreshing though. We got a lot of stuff done and played a lot of Rummy. I kicked butt the first game and then lost by like a million points the second one. It was fun though hanging out with those two over the weekend and just having a good time playing cards and what are the odds. Jack was absolutely THRILLED when we got our results back though, and it was nice finally seeing the advanced people and hearing their stories after not seeing them all week.
I feel like I say this every week, but this week was arguably one of my favorites. It was definitely the best way to close out lecture phase and prepare us for outreach. Steve Binnquist from YWAM San Francisco talked about loving vulnerable people. It was the most incredible lesson ever from someone who so clearly walks out what he talks about. He works with the unhoused in the Tenderloin district of SF. It was so much practical information on how to love well from a biblical standpoint. We talked about what compassion looks like and how it’s not based on emotions, how we are only blessed to bless other people, and how building relationship is often the first step to successful evangelism. It was such a fruitful week and I am so grateful for Steve as a speaker and a human. He let us into his journey which was so appreciated, and definitely offers a deeper level of trust as a speaker that he wouldn’t have had otherwise.
Today (Monday) was bittersweet. It was our last worship time as a whole group and I cried throughout the whole thing. Just declaring to God how good He is and reflecting on how incredible this season has been put me over the edge. I am so excited to minister and serve in Africa over the next two months. It will seriously be such an incredible season. I don’t know when next time will be, but until next time,
Lauren <3
