Im a ywamer, and have been on Staff with Y for almost 7 years and did my DTS back in 1998. I have hight recomendations for YWAM thought beacuse our mionistry is so large and vastley different from base to base I have seen strenghts and weekeness. Those who have had bad expereinces Im sorry but please dont judge all of YWAM by that for you have only seen a very small segment of the big picture.
The base I work with is called Western Frontiers also known as Cowboys With a Mission...our focus is reaching rural folks here in the states as well as overseas. mainly we work with nomadic horse cultures, weather that is rodeo kids here in the states or horseman of Kyrgyzstan.
to specifically answer your questions
what a "day in the life" of a YWAMer is,
Well this will vary form base to base. A dts student on our place gets up early for breakfast, has their quiet time, then gatehrs with their class or with the whole base staff and students for a time of worship and prayer. They also have class time, time to learn dramas, time to reach out int he local community, time to help with the basic needs of the base (chores, work duties etc.) most bases this would include cleaning heling to cook supper etc...our base logging, and peeling logs, construction, and working with the horses or other livestock
meaning what did you learn?
hearing the voice of God, How to share your faith, learnign to study the character of God, Gods heart for the nations.
Its not about stuffing facts in your head but heart knowledge, truth you can apply to everyday life. For me my DTS was hard and challenging especially since God did a great deal of healing in my heart thought none of it was easy.
What did you do?
sort of answered above with what a typical day is like. but we also hung out, watch movies, talked into all hours of the night, hiked, went camping. did scanvenger hunts etc
Where was your ourtreach country?
Brazil & argentina. though we also sent a second team to Morrocco
What did you do there?
Again our base is not typical since we work with rural folks we volunteered to serve on ranches, movign cattle etc. We also did some street evangelism using drama to draw a crowd and get a messeage out. we have also sent teams out who worked in orphanages, helped do soem building gone into some back areas by horseback and concentrated more so on plannting seeds and buildign relationships. I nmet one DTS who used rock climbing and hiking as their means of visitng remote areas and contetrated thier ministry ion their guides and other they met on the trail
What was it like to go from your first base to your outreach country?
I had never left the states so was terrified, I thought the plane might fall apart! I had never been out of wayoming Montana or south dakota and so when I landed in sou paulo Brazil (2cnd largest city int he world) i panicked. Bit God used that outreach to give me his heart for the nations, thought I have alswyas felt more drwan to muslim cultrues then south america
Do you have some sort of freedom while you are there? Are you locked on the base for three months, or can only leave and expolore the city?
No worries your not a prisioner or a captive. Your scedule most liekly will be hectic so one may not have a lot of time to explore but you usually have your weekends off. Though I recomend spending as much time as possible with your classmates, this is a once in a life time opportunity. I was aloner so spent much of my weekends or evenings off bymyself in my pickup truck, and I missed out on a lot of fun and good things. also IO recomend spending time with the staff at your base who are not DTS staff. Thought for those staff it is hard to get involved in a school or a students life for they have ministries of thier own happening and well they see tons of people come throgh and leave again. I speak as a staff memeber who has not gotten involved and regretted it.
I guess it will be different on different bases, but I would love to hear some specific details.
well hoppe that helps you out
Thanks!
