Isaiah 60:1-3

Some people have not heard many stories of my DTS experience, and so I thought I would take the time to talk a bit about it now while I have the chance and before I start on staff with the July school. This is some details about the lecture phase of my DTS:
I went to YWAM expecting to grow close to God and to finally find some rest. Of course, I got so much more than I had bargained for. In my search for faith and peace, I realized that both these elements of life do not come easy. After spending a lot of time with the Lord and in the Word, I realized that God had brought me to that base for a reason and He made it quite clearly known to me. It was in my persistence to press into Him, that I found that He began to speak so clearly to me (this had never happened before!). Many times He had revealed to me that I needed to let go of my plans to take on His plans for my life. Let me tell you, there was a lot of resistence for a while because the unknown is a scary thing! How can you argue with God?! So, yes, I gave in, and I decided God was going to have my life. But how?! After praying again I realized that I had not confirmed my faith in him publically, He revealed a verse that clearly said we are baptized in water. Done deal! I was baptized in the ocean on Sept 20th, and what a glorious feeling! After such a long search for a supernatural rest and peace of heart, I had found it.
Then of course there was always the question of "now what?" That's when things started falling into place. I had since the beginning had Africa and India on my heart, and I had truly wanted to work with orphans. Well, I found out my outreach was to be in India and Nepal, but then that left Africa. I had not really considered staffing, until near the end of the lecture phase when I truly began to admire the leaders on my school. Within a week of discovering this desire, a staff member asked me if I wanted to help her staff a soccer dts in July with an outreach based in Africa working with orphans. Perfect right?! Well, I wanted God to clearly show me what He wanted and not just my heart, so to the bible I went! I made a deal, "God if you show me a specific date as to when you want me in Australia, then I will know." He showed me the first day of the seventh month. This was the date I knew the July school to start, and so my plans were set!

"Arise, shine for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." Isaiah 60:1-3

Pictures of my outreach in India and Nepal

As most of you know I did my DTS in Australia and my outreach was in India and Nepal. I just wanted to put up a few pictures on here so you can get an example where my heart is.

Youth With A Mission, Sunshine Coast, Australia

"We want to release dreams and destiny and see young people grab hold of their calling and use their gifting, ability, and interests for the great commission... we want to see a God revolution in our generation throughout the nations."

-YWAM Sunshine Coast

Hi Everyone. My name is Bethany Whitehead and I have currently been accepted as staff with Youth With A Mission on the Sunshine Coast of Australia. If you have not heard of Youth With A Mission (aka YWAM) or have no idea what I am talking about, well I have some explaining to do! YWAM is an amazing Christian organization whose entire focus is knowing God and making him known. A Discipleship Training School (aka DTS) is a course through YWAM which runs over a period of approximately six months. Each base is different (there are YWAM bases located all over the world and even all over Australia), but there are usually two parts to a DTS: a lecture phase (focussed on knowing God) running for approximately four months, and an outreach phase (focussed on making Him known) which runs for a period of two months. Firstly, during the lecture phase students are learning more about subjects such as faith and prayer, evangelism, missions and the bible, etc. This part of the DTS is usually based in a classroom with a guest speaker each week. It is during this time that students are able to rest in God and truly listen to what He has for them. It is also a crucial time to prepare for outreach. Secondly, the outreach phase is usually the most challenging, yet rewarding time of a DTS. There are usually about three or four outreach teams with locations which can vary from anywhere such as Africa, Indonesia, India, Nepal, Cambodia or even in Australia itself. It is during the outreach phase where students grow the most in faith, and also where students share the craziest stories from. In all, a DTS is an awesome life changing experience, and not just a holiday with God.

To learn more about YWAM Sunshine coast you can go to their website at:

www.ywamwaves.com