Hello all! Coming to you from the New Generation 2017 DTS in Lyon France. This year, our school has 9 students, and all of us are girls! We’ve had a crazy two weeks so far and we want to start off our first blog of the year by introducing all of the students.
Top left: Kyle (staff), Sarah, Chloe, Rachel, Kalo, Annaëlle, Floriane (staff). Bottom left: Amber, Kayla, Amanda, Lucy (staff), Erika, Carrie (speaker), Hasnia (staff).
Annaëlle: I live in Paris. Yes, I’m one of the only French students. I like dance, music, and my family but first I love my God.
Rachel: I’m from Minnesota. I love coffee, children, and seeing new places. I’m a dancer by profession and I’m here at YWAM Lyon to combine all of those things in missions and ministry.
Amanda: I’m from California and I have two younger sisters. I love learning about different cultures and languages, and how people view the world. I want to travel the world to bring the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation.
Chloe: I’m from Maryland, USA, and I love art, sunsets, and adventure. My favourite symbolic fruit is the pineapple, and I rarely say no to chocolate. God has done and is continuing to do crazy things in my life. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming next.
Kalo: I come from the Paris region! I love dance, music, and, above all, I love Jesus! 🙂 I just finished my degree in Biology and I think that being here, at the DTS in Lyon, I am exactly where God wants me to be, and I am so happy! 🙂
Kayla: I am from British Columbia, Canada, I have a heart for God, and I want to deepen my relationship with Him. Fun Fact: I am incredibly Punny! :
Erika: I’m an Ecuadorian-Colombian girl who came from the north of the U.S. To France to eat a lot of cheese and croissants! -just kidding- I’m here to get to know God in a deeper way, His heart for this nation and, of course, to share Jesus with others! #LoveJesus #LoveDance #LoveHospitality
Sarah: I’m a missionary kid and I grew up in Peru and Guatemala. My passion is dance. I love Jesus and I’m really excited to be a part of this school. I hope that I’ll grow in my relationship with Him and that I will make a difference wherever I go.
Amber: I am from California born and raised. I like pasta, bread, painting, and roller skating at the beach. I am here to learn how to glorify the Lord in an artistic way.
Our first week here was spent doing the URBAN NIKO camp in Lyon. NIKO comes from the Greek word nikao, which mean to overcome, to conquer, and URBAN is what “belongs to the city”. In the URBAN NIKO camp, we learned our strengths, our weaknesses, to give up our rights and to work as a team. We also discovered the city, its history, its importance and its direct impact on our lives. It is not a scout camp or a touristic camp but a camp to train disciples, working mostly on our character. It was also a great team adventure.
NIKO camps are extremely secretive but all the secrets serve a purpose.
Personally, I (Kayla) didn’t want to do the URBAN NIKO camp. I was very hesitant and had a bad attitude going into it. However, as the camp went on, my mindset completely changed. I thought that I would never recommend the camp but, after doing it, I am so thankful that I got the chance to do it. It forced me to draw closer to God and my relationship with Him has never been stronger. There are so many amazing things that I could say about the URBAN NIKO camp but the last thing I’m going to say about it is that I highly recommend doing it if the opportunity ever arises.
This week we officially started the lecture phase and learned about hearing God’s voice and understanding His nature and characteristics. Without knowing that, it’s hard to distinguish what is truly from God. This communication can happen in many ways but the three main ways are: hearing, sensing, and seeing. One can hear God through their inner voice, through words coming to mind, through thoughts, or even, in some cases, as an audible voice. Sensing pertains to discernment and intuition. Seeing can mean having visions, dreams, or having an image pop into one’s head. Since so much of these are very normal things the importance of understanding God’s nature and character needs to be emphasized because without that almost anything can be mistaken for God’s voice. But remember that, despite hearing God’s voice in seemingly ordinary ways, there is a distinct difference between his voice and your own.
We are all so excited for the great adventure that we are on and look forward to updating all of you lovely readers along the way.
Much Love from the New Generation 2017 DTS in Lyon!