Written Mar 18, 2020:
Well, it’s been a crazy few days but I’ve so enjoyed being back with the other outreach team for a few days! I’m now on my way home and reflecting back on this time, I have truly gained a family over these last six months.
These people challenged me to grow with God and have made my DTS experience a fantastic one. There were bumps in the road but we got over them together by looking to God and I’m so glad to have done that with you all.
It’s hard to put into words how much this has changed me and I want to continue to grow in relationship with God and others as I continue to seek him. Thank you to my new family and to all those who supported me with the prayers during this time. God was really with us and I couldn’t be more satisfied with the experience.
Embellishments after the fact – Mar 31, 2020:
In retrospect I realize I never told you guys what happened the last week of DTS.
The entire week was very different from what I and everyone else expected. In Africa, we were untouched by COVID 19 so we prayed for it and took our temperatures every day, but our everyday lives were relatively unaffected. The Perth base, however, was very much affected and in an effort to make sure we weren’t one of the problems that kept spreading the virus, base was shut down and those of us coming back from outreach were not allowed to interact with those who were getting ready to start their outreach phase. Because of that, there was no more Friday night meetings or Monday morning worship, and our classes were not in a classroom, but outside a church close by to the hostel we were staying in. We also didn’t have guest speakers like we did during lecture phase, but that worked out because we got to hear from our school leader David for lectures. Touch was reduced to a minimum, and many people were going home early because of the quickly constricting travel regulations and bans. It might sound like I’m complaining, but I really did have a good time returning back to Australia and we adapted quickly, not letting the changes affect our hunger for learning about God.
We really were blessed to get back to Australia when we did. The day after we arrived, the Australian government announced that anyone coming into the country after midnight that day on from countries with infected populations were to be quarantined for 14 days. At least one of the returning outreach groups didn’t make it in time and had to stay in their room the whole week until they flew home.
We landed in Aussie Saturday night, and Asia team from our DTS had already arrived so we had a warm welcome awaiting us. It was so nice to see them again after three months of separation, though we only gave them one hug and had to keep our distance after that, it was still a great reunion. We went straight to bed that night and slept in the next day to get some rest.
Sunday we rested up and went into downtown to walk around and run some errands, then met up as our October Young People’s DTS outside a church downtown is . Both teams had to come up with a skit that would represent their outreach or the best of their outreach and performed it in front of the other team which was hilarious. The week was explained to us and we were encouraged to keep a positive attitude and to continue to seek God even though the circumstances were crazy.
There was also a bit of a shock too when one of the students told us that he had prayed with his parents about it and had a flight to go back home that night. We decided to get bubble tea together with him before he left and that night we said goodbye to the first person who would leave to go home, ending their time in this DTS.
Monday we had our first day of classes outside the same church. Our school leader, David, gave a great lecture about what Jesus’ last days of ministry looked like and how that can apply to us as well, like how Peter went back to fishing after Jesus died. We reflected on our time in DTS and ways God called us to new things and what we learned and were given help putting together ways we can continue to grow once we go home back to our normal lives. I also took an impromptu train trip with Shanara and Josiah down to the beach to hang out and soak in the sea smell and the cold water. We walked around in Fremantle looking for souvenirs as well before going back to the hostel for dinner.
Tuesday was the second and final day of lectures for the week (normally we would have more than two but people were leaving early plus Corona so…) We did a bible study with Sophie, one of our staff, who talked about God’s love and how we can have that intimacy with Him and how to have that love for other people as well. We talked about how we can live out our lives practically while remembering the things we learned during DTS. Then we found out that someone else was leaving early, someone from my outreach team. It was still a shock, but we knew it was for the best because of the daily changing travel regulations. We said goodbye and tried our best to keep in good spirits and enjoy the rest of the week before going home. That night, we found a cafe that was arcade and video game themed with a wonderful owner and games we could play. So we played truth or dare and drank coffee, having fun and keeping light, then went down to the bay at Elizabeth Quay and finally took the ferry to the other side of the bay, looking around the quaint South Perth. It was so cute and had a small town feel that reminded me of my college town Florence. We got gelato and went back to our hostel to rest.
Wednesday was more of a day for hanging out as a school and remembering back on lecture phase and telling stories from outreach. At this point I was already praying about going home, as were a few other people, and I felt that God said I need to take necessary precautions and go home. So I had a flight booked for that night instead of Sunday night, and Josiah ended up getting a flight for that day as well. We made the best of the time we had and we were even given our October quarter YWAM t-shirts too! We spent the morning hanging out at the park in our t-shirts as a group and a few of us, myself included, gave testimonies from outreach, and I got to walk around holding and talking to Hangyeul while Danbi, his mom, was in her one on one. He is just the cutest, seriously.
Then the hard part came again, saying goodbye to one more person who had become such a great friend over the last six months. After saying goodbye, I immediately went with Shanara to McDonald’s to eat ice cream to distract myself from the fact that I had to pack as well.
I started to pack and spent a couple hours trying to fit everything into my suitcase. After successfully packing, I got to leave notes in some of the other students’ notebooks and we put on Marvel themed temporary tattoos before it was time for me to go.
It was really strange and saddening to have to go home early, especially by four whole days, but I really am blessed that I got to stay as long as I did to get some closure from this season of my life and to reflect back to help me create a plan moving forward. I was so sad to leave everyone, but was lucky enough to say goodbye to Daphne last before walking into the airport.
Getting checked into the airport took 30 minutes and I was holding back tears almost the entire time. I finally made it into the airport, and found my gate. It was weirdly normal. I knew I was leaving, but it hadn’t hit me. I kind of wanted to just cry it out to get it out of my system.
That moment came when I was sitting in my seat on the plane and it started to fly forward down the runway. It all came at once. I will miss these people so much, these people who have become a second family to me. They have been with me through everything in the last six months and I don’t know when or if I’ll see them again. This is it. I had a good cry as the plane took off, and then God was gracious enough to give me peace about leaving.
I made it into the U.S. no problem, and took my last flight to Birmingham, meeting Hannah and Mom at the airport after so long. I immediately felt like I was at home, and it was easy to go back to life after that. It’s so different with COVID 19 getting more dangerous each day, but I feel comfortable here. Now that it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve been home in self-isolation, I’ve had a lot to think about and process with God and though I still miss my Perth family, I am extremely thankful that I got to say goodbye and that we have the technology to stay in touch. This experience has been life changing and I intentionally reflect back on it every day to keep a right perspective on my normal life.
Thank you to everyone who followed along with me and prayed for me and the school. Your prayers and thoughts mean so much to me. It takes effort to think about someone every day and I don’t take it for granted. I truly believe that it’s because of your prayers that I was so protected and had such an amazing DTS experience. I want to publicly announce this to keep myself accountable for actually going through with this, but I have an announcement.
God willing, and I think he wants me to go, I will be returning to Perth in January of next year, 2021, to attend a second level school at YWAM. It’s called Primary Health Care school and I can’t wait to learn practically how I can do something to help people while speaking to their spirit as well. I have many passions and one of them has always been health care (I even used to want to be a nurse) and I feel like this is something that will bring me more growth as a person and in my relationship with God. It’s hard to get a job anywhere right now because of COVID 19, so if I can be so bold as to ask for specific prayer, please pray for a way to be made. I believe that whatever happens, if I am meant to go back, God will provide a way.
I have decided that I don’t want to just post on this blog for sharing my YWAM DTS experience, but I want to transition for these next nine months into a personal blog until I go again to Perth. I have a million interests and ideas so it might be all over the place, but this has really helped me to get my thoughts in order, so I hope you will join me on this journey through every day life after the fact.
Hugs from Alabama, USA
Journey With Kaylee 