Both of us got to tell the kids the truth during the past two weeks. Now they finally know what life is about and they are ready to rock the missionary life. ... something like that. Okay, I'll start more serious again:
Over a week ago I had the pleasure to teach the DTS elective "Women at risk" group about "Attachment Theory". This elective group is a group of students who want to help women in need. These young people have a heart for women and are burning for changing things.
Often when we hear from organizations that are helping people, we hear all the good stories. And that is wonderful!!! I want to tell you all the good things, God is doing. But we don't hear a lot about the rough things. About the work with traumatized clients. About the tears and heartaches. A lot of trauma starts during early childhood. During that really important attachment time. The better the attachment to the caregiver, the higher the chance of healthy mental, emotional, and also physical development.
The students loved that topic. I told them how important it is, to look at themself when doing any kind of social work. Hurt people will hurt people and the more things you have in your own life that need healing, the harder it can be for you. Experiencing healing will give you more strength and best case more empathy as well. The whole class was very open, and a few students said afterward that they understand their own behaviors better now.
This group is really lovely.
Last Friday we visited a housing ministry for moms in St. Paul, Minnesota. They do such great work, and my heart was dancing when I heard about everything. Soon I will meet again with the leader and ask her more questions.
I will also meet with one of the students soon to have a deeper conversation.
Ray the Rayster got to teach last week during the main class (nobody took pictures of him, look at the picture of Dori teaching above and imagine Ray standing there instead). He gave an overview of the storyline of the bible. The students had a lot to digest but the responses were positive. Most of them have never seen the bible put together in a storyline before. They realized how important Genesis is to the whole story of the bible. Ray is a bible nerd and that emotionless man comes to life once he starts talking about the Bible. (Or watches, or airplanes, but unfortunately there are no classes for that at YWAM) A big part of the class wants to do a bible school now. (Since this school is a discipleship program and not only focused on the bible itself). We wonder if Ray will have them as students for his Bible school in the Spring.
The following happened before our teachings, but I was just so excited about it that I wanted to tell you first. But here is one other thing:
One day before my teaching, we went with the discipleship class on a prayer walk near the University of Minnesota and of course where there are a lot of students. It's a wilder part of the city. A colorful mix. I actually really like it there. And our students got super passionate to pray for the people in that area. It was nice to see how the hearts of these young people are so loving toward other people. I love how YWAM is giving young people a focus on how to love and be a blessing, while also taking care of themselves and allowing their hearts to heal from things they might have to deal with. What a wonderful honor to be part of this.
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