Chiang Rai DTS

2009 DTS Update

The Chiang Rai 2009 DTS started in late January and the first month of lectures concluded in early March. We have a great school this year!! There are 15 students (6 Thais and 9 International's) from 7 nations: Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Sweden and the U.S.A. We opened the DTS by taking the students on a 3-day camping trip into the mountains surrounding Chiang Rai. The students took part in extreme team-building activities, shared their testimonies with each other and where they have come from, and went on a day hike. It was a great time of bonding and becoming more of a family.This year's school theme is "Letters of Life" and the school verse is II Corinthians 3:2-3. It is a challenge to the students and staff to be living lives that others can see in a visible way through: 1) The DTS community by being totally open with others and allowing Jesus to change our hearts on a daily basis so that the Holy Spirit and others in our community can be a part of our journey, and 2) In our community of Chiang Rai and throughout other parts of Thailand as the students go on outreaches and show that they are a letter of Christ to those who don't know Jesus.

The first month of lectures was a very powerful time. The first week we had teaching on Hearing God's Voice and many students actually heard God speak to them for the FIRST TIME!!! This was a great time for the students because hearing God's voice is so foundational to YWAM as a mission in the directions that we move and it is also so personal and such an intimate experience with our Father. The second week's teaching was Foundations of the Faith and the students were really challenged on what they believe and why they believe it and where their beliefs have come from. It was very eye-opening to see how culture, society, and our different church denominations shape wrong beliefs. The third week was teaching on Sin and Repentance, and we had a great time of ministry at the end of the week as we were able to confess particular sins to the rest of the group, take them to the cross, be welcomed back to the Father like the Prodigal Son, and the staff then laid hands on each student and prayed for a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit. The last week of lectures was teaching on the Nature and Character of God. This week ended very well as some students that were having a hard time extending forgiveness to others who had hurt them in the past were able to receive prayer and encouragement.

Then the students went on a two-week outreach into the province of Chiang Rai. Both teams served in local Christian ministries. One team served in a community development ministry and one team served in Lahu and Akha villages doing practical work in the churches and also holding youth worship camps. After the students came back from their outreach, they had one week of debrief and teaching on their God-given design and the dreams that God has placed in their lives.

Now the students are in the midst of their second month of lectures. Teaching will be on Intimacy With God, Relationships, Bible Study Methods, and Servanthood. This will be a time when the students will really be able to start rooting themselves more into the DTS and start leading out in various areas within the DTS (worship, intercession, community evangelism, small groups, etc.) as they feel more comfortable within the schedule of the DTS and in this evironment with fellow students and staff. Please be praying for the students and staff of this DTS, as we seek to become more passionate followers of Jesus Christ!

So what about you? Do you want to experience a new culture? Meet Christians from countries all over the world? Be a part of a pioneering ministry?

Bring the love of Jesus Christ to nations who have never heard His name? Grow in your knowledge of God and experience Jesus in a new and radical way? Then we invite you to be a part of the next chapter of the Chiang Rai bi-lingual DTS as we enter into new horizons. It’s an experience that will remain in your treasure-chest of memories for a lifetime.