Over Halfway into the Outreaches...

Our school from YWAM VA is currently over halfway through their outreach phase. Two teams... one in Angola, Africa... and one team (one student) in Arizona on the Hopi Tribal base. Halfway into the two months, and already we are hearing great things from the teams.

The Angola team has been doing ministry through a local church, as well as venturing into many small villages surrounding Luanda (the capital city) and praying for the needs of the people living in each. Among the reports we've been reading, the photos speak for themselves. Seeing the students laying hands on children, praying for the sick, and speaking to crowds are very exciting. The language of Angola is primarily portuguese, and leading the outreach team are our two fellow Brazilian staff members. Plus one of the students is also Brazilian, so there are 3 available translators for the remaining 7 students who don't speak portuguese.

The team in Arizona, a student named Karine, has been enjoying the tribal reservation of the Hopi people... YWAM Tribal Winds in Arizona works on the Hopi reservation to minister to the natives. Karine has been plugged in at a local school and is mostly working with the young children there. Brandon and I just traveled to visit her, and were astonished at how well she is doing for being on outreach without any of her teammates. The Hopi base is located deep inside the Hopi reservation and there are two women who live there full time at the YWAM house. Karine is assisting them, and they are currently taking care of two foster girls. Karine has been learning a lot, and has been able to join the women as they go out to local homes and help where there is a need. She is enjoying prayer walks, delivering wood to people unable to get their own to keep their homes warm, passing out coats, food and other basic needs... the reservation, while being in the US, almost seems like a whole different country. While we were there, we got to see much of the villages surrounding the YWAM house, but unfortunately the Hopi people many times are offended by outsiders taking pictures, so we were not able to photograph Karine in action. But we did get one of her overlooking the land below one of the mesas!

Both outreaches finish around Feb. 16th, and Brandon will be flying back out to Virginia then to prepare for the returning students, and then spend the following week facilitating their debrief and re-entry week. That is a week that is often ignored, but in our opinion is one of the most important parts of a DTS. The week will focus on allowing the students to process their experiences throughout their DTS, and also to prepare them on transitioning back home. The school will graduated on Feb. 26th... exciting! We can't believe that its almost over... but we are praying that these last weeks of the outreaches, and the debrief will be fruitful and bring glory to God.