Dave working at the food bank

We left for Seattle at the early hour of 6:50 AM last Sunday morning to go on our first local outreach.  My parents had agreed to watch the kids for the week and arrived the night before.  Rising at the early hour of 5 AM we double checked our luggage and prepared for a long day ahead.  We were excited to be in a city close to our hearts and to our new home in Puyallup at New Beginnings.  That first evening in Seattle we experienced our initial interactions with the homeless population and served them hot cocoa.  On Monday morning we woke up early to head downtown.  Our purpose was to meet and talk with those who were homeless.  We came across a young man named Daniel who explained that he would crash on people’s couches or in their cars when he was able but that he had no roof of his own to sleep under.  He was unsure about life and God but allowed us to pray with him.  We were able to spend about an hour sharing God’s love with him.  As it neared 10:45 AM we headed for Northwest Harvest, a local food bank, to hand out food to people in need.  It was amazing to see all the people come through the line and to be a part of such an instrumental ministry in Seattle.  On Tuesday we cleaned and painted the church that was hosting us for the week.  We were blessed by an area church and were able to sleep on their floor, use their showers, and the kitchen for the whole week.  On Wednesday we arrived to the Union Gospel Mission by 6:45 AM to help serve breakfast.  After arriving they asked if we would be able to sing while the people ate.  Heather, David (one of our leaders) and Amanda (another student) sang worship music as folks made their way through the breakfast line and ate.  Along with a couple of the other students I was assigned to serve the grits and other accompanying breakfast items.  It was an amazing experience and we all had time to talk with and listen to the stories of the people’s pain, hardships and sometimes bad decisions.  After leaving there we went back to Northwest Harvest to serve again.  Thursday we finished up the projects began on Tuesday at the church we were staying at.  We ended a little early so we could go and serve at The Bread of Life Mission.  This is a Christ centered mission that provides food, beds and showers for those homeless who remain clean and sober.  We arrived in time to eat dinner with the staff and to our pleasant surprise we were served steak, mashed potatoes and eggnog, my first of the year!  After eating we spent some time cleaning the kitchen.  Lastly, we had the privilege of serving steak to all the homeless people that came in that night.  There was even enough food for them to have a second helping.  It was a great thing to be a part of.  The people were so happy to receive steak and their smiles warmed our souls.  On Friday we left the familiar city; one we had visited often to shop and drink coffee, with a new perspective.  Not only is the Emerald city one of the coolest places to shop, it was now on my map as one that needs people to go and serve the homeless population.  To me, Seattle has now become a richer place than I previously viewed it as. It is rich with my new friends who sleep under the stars.

-Dave

6:40 AM Beep Beep Beep (my alarm)

7:45 AM Breakfast

8:20 AM one of us leaves to take the kids to school

8:30 AM-12:30 PM Lecture

12:30 PM Lunch

1:30 PM Prep for the after-school program that occurs on Wednesdays (we do a two hour after school program with K-3^rd every Wednesday) or we are on a local outreach or small group time.

2:50 PM one of us leaves to pick the kids up from school

5:00 PM Journaling/Quiet time (AKA do homework with the kids!)

6 PM Dinner

7 PM (on Mondays) we have another time of lecture

11 PM Bed??

In addition to the above schedule David has work duty once or twice a week from 2-4:30 and must refill the wood boxes three times a week (we have a few buildings that are heated through wood stoves).  I have dinner prep two nights a week from 4:30-6.  Our family is also responsible for cleanup for all meals every Thursday. We have weekends a bit more free although there are some that are blocked out for special events and outreaches.  Phew….not done yet!  We have six pages of journaling to do every week and scripture memorization.  We also have book reports to do which means having to have the time to read the book!  For those of you who know me, you are probably laughing….I thrive on this type of craziness!  For those of you who know Dave…pray!! Hahaha!

There are 8 of us total in our DTS and already we can’t even think about the day we have to say good-bye to them.  They are amazing and we are so blessed to share our days with them.  Today we had to say good-bye to Petra and Jeannine, two girls from Switzerland that have been with us since we arrived.  They are fantastic young women who love God.  We anticipate seeing them next year when they hopefully come back to WA for their own DTS (we are working on that still!).

Overall, this schedule has been an adjustment for us both but we are appreciating the time away to be in the Word of God and to spend time as a family.  We also feel so fortunate to have this time together to build a solid foundation to return to New Beginnings.  That’s it for now…..

Lesson one:  A family of four cannot all shower and get ready within an hour anymore.  Kids must shower at night from now on.

Lesson two:  Do not unplug the shower drain except to release the water….under any circumstance otherwise the fresh smell of sewage will fill the entire cabin.

Lesson three:  Two children in a small room=fighting

Lesson four:  The kids need to spend more time at the cabin across the way deemed our “living space” while Dave and I nap

Lesson five:  Multiple flushes per sitting.  The toilet can only handle so much.

Lesson six:  Cranky children=cranky mother and perturbed father

Lesson seven:  Do not unplug the shower drain under any circumstance….oh wait…already said that….

Lesson eight:  Do not tell our children they can collect all the sand dollars they can find on an isolated beach…limit the madness!

Lesson nine:  Put our children to bed directly after dinner so that maybe by nine they will actually fall asleep.

On our beach walk today, so beautiful!

Lesson ten:  God is good and has blessed us with this remarkable and beautiful area to live.  We are content with a roof over our heads, children who are healthy enough to give us grief, indoor plumbing, and wonderful people to share the next four months with!

Our cabin at Discovery Bay

Here we sit in our cabin at a Youth with a Mission (YWAM) Discipleship Training School (DTS) (to get some foundational training for our new job as houseparents).  We will reside in this cabin for the next three months.  Who would’ve ever thought that our family would go on the mission field?  If I said we weren’t filled with an array of emotions I’d be lying!  We have fear; fear of change, fear of challenge and fear of going without.  We have excitement; excitement to change, excitment for challenge and excitement to see God’s provision!  It’s the most different place of emotion that we’ve ever felt, to be fully reliant on God and sold out to His promises….to REALLY believe and trust that what His word says is true.  It’s strange….to act on faith.  The kids are adjusting well to this acting on faith business!  They are happy to be together and happy to be a family.  They love their bunkbeds and their small shared space.  The cabins are amazing and have exactly what we need in them.  We are looking forward to meeting the rest of the DTS staff tomorrow and touring the area a bit more.  Our DTS begins in 12 days and we are looking forward to it!  More to come…..