DTS Week Two

            We had such a great week!

We spent last week Friday through Monday in Grand Rapids with Julianne’s family. We rode with Julianne’s Baas grandparents from Minnesota to Michigan. On Saturday we had breakfast with Julianne’s Lanning grandparents. It was a nice time of catching up with them. That afternoon we went downtown GR to look at some of the art pieces at ArtPrize. We saw an exhibit of a bull moose being attacked by eight wolves. They were all real animals that were now stuffed. It was incredible! On Sunday we went to church with Julianne’s family. After church we had lunch with Julianne’s extended family. It was a great weekend to spend with her family. Monday morning we ran some errands that we needed to do in Grand Rapids.

On Monday morning Nate’s parents came to pick us up from Grand Rapids and take us to Howell. We went out to dinner with Nate’s family on Monday night. It was good to catch up with his family. Tuesday morning Julianne went to the women’s Bible study with Nate’s church while Nate went with his dad to pick up a cover for his truck bed. We spent Tuesday afternoon FINALLY looking through some of our wedding photos. On Wednesday we picked up Nate’s absentee ballot. We went to his church that night to visit with friends there.

We left to return back to Minnesota early Thursday morning. Nate’s parents drove us back to the base. We spent all day Thursday in the car.

Friday we were able to sit in class again with the students. This past week they had been learning about the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Friday morning they all brought something that represented what they wanted to give to Jesus so they could follow Him more. They each took a turn sharing what they brought and then laid it before a cross. After us as staff came around them to pray for them. It was a very powerful moment for the class.

Friday evening was our annual YWAM banquet. Nate’s parents came to the banquet with us as well. It was very well attended. We all had a great time.

On Saturday Nate’s parents took us to the Tigers v. Twins game in Minneapolis. We sat in the second row in left field. It was a great game. We were a bit on edge in the last inning but the Tigers pulled through it and won! We had such a wonderful time.

We are excited for what this next week in class will bring. Thank you for all the support and prayers you have given us over these last few months. We appreciate it so very much!

Check out the link at the top of our page called Bean Sent Coffee and learn how you can support us by drinking coffee!

Love in Christ,

Nate and Julianne Gibbons

The First Week of DTS

The students are HERE!!! Last Sunday the rest of our lovely DTS students arrived. We had a great time meeting their families and friends who brought them to the base. We played a couple games getting to know each other it was a lot of fun.

This amazing puzzle mural was made by our staff and students! We each painted a piece to describe what we wanted to [re]learn, [re]turn to, and how we wanted to [re]act. We had a time of sharing what God was putting on our hearts and then put the puzzle together. Nate's piece is the winter camo looking one on the left side. Julianne's is the mostly blue piece with the top of the r and the e.

This past week was a lot of orientation for the incoming students. It was also a time of figuring out our new roles as staff instead of students. We have fourteen students: ten girls and four boys. Most of the students are from the states. We do, however, have a girl from South Africa, a guy from Ecuador, a girl from Mongolia, and a girl from Brazil. It is pretty exciting around here at the base!

Our responsibilities as staff will begin within the next couple of weeks. The students will be broken into small groups and we each will be co-leading of on the groups. The small groups will meet once a week for about an hour and a half. We also will be one-on-one discipling some students over the next three months. We will meet with assigned students once a week for around an hour, talking with them, encouraging them in their walk with the Lord, and praying with and for them.

In a couple weeks we will know for sure where we will be going for the two month outreach portion of the DTS. Once the locations are set, we will help plan and prepare the trip: contacting people in the countries, booking plane tickets, and setting up ministry opportunities for the students.              

We are so excited for what God will be doing in this next season of our lives!

AMAZING STORY!!!! We had a time of worship together as a class on Thursday morning. A half hour into it, we split into pairs to pray for each other. One of the guys, Nick, in the DTS really felt like he was supposed to pray for healing for someone. Nate directed him over to Julianne to pray for her knees that had been hurting. Several years ago when Julianne was visiting the doctor, they discovered that her right leg was longer than her left leg.

If you look closely at the picture on the left of her old shoes, you can see that the tread on the right shoe is more worn down than the left shoe.

When Nick came over to Julianne to pray for her, he almost immediately asked her if one leg was shorter. He began to pray for her leg to grow. And it DID!!! A warm feeling flowed through her leg. It felt like someone was tugging on her jeans, stretching it out. Now both legs are the same size! Our God STILL HEALS!!!





Thank you so much for all your prayers and support over these last three months! We really appreciate all of you! Continue to keep this fall DTS school in your prayers as we are deciding on our outreach locations soon. Thanks!

We are currently back in Grand Rapids this past weekend visiting Julianne's family. We will be heading over to Howell tomorrow morning to spend a couple of days with Nate's family. It was been such a refreshing time being back "home" again. (Plus we picked up our fall and winter clothes! It's been getting chilly.)

Keep in touch! We will be sending out our newsletters this week. If you want to receive one either by mail or online, please fill out your communication information for us. We would love to keep you updated.

CONTACT INFORMATION 

We will be sending out more information about joining our team and how you can partner with us next week. Get ready! It involves COFFEE!

We love you all lots!
Love in Christ,
Nate and Julianne Gibbons

For more information about YWAM and the DTS program click here.

The Last Weeks of SOMD

Our last week of class flew by! Its topic was Servant Leadership. We discussed how great leaders are always great servers, focusing on how to make each person the best he or she can be. It was definitely a great topic to go over we are all preparing for the next part of the class.

            Our lecture portion of our class officially ended this last Tuesday. One couple headed to Malaysia, a girl to the International House of Prayer, and another couple will be coming back to the YWAM base in January to help with the Discipleship Training School that starts then. The other five of us are staying here at the base to help with the fall DTS that starts on Sunday, 16 September.

            We have been preparing for the fall school this whole week. Nate has been three-hole punches lots of papers for the students while Julianne has been helping with the decorations for the class room. There has been lots of running around getting ready for the students to arrive.

            We had a student from Ecuador arrive on Thursday and another from Ohio on Friday. We are expecting the rest to come on Saturday and Sunday. Our first day of class starts on Monday. We are really excited for what God is going to do in this next season of life!

            We are so thankful that you continue to follow us online. We are preparing to mail our first newsletter update. We want to make sure we have your mailing address so you can receive a copy of it. Click on the link below to fill our your contact information. Thanks!

CONTACT INFORMATION 

            Please keep this upcoming school in your prayers. Also Julianne’s knees have been hurting her a lot lately. We would love your prayers for those as well. Thank you for all your support and prayers!

            Love in Christ,

            Nate and Julianne Gibbons

Week Ten!!!!!!

            Hey everyone! Sorry it has taken us so long to update. We’ve been super busy these last couple of weeks.

This past week was about personal evangelism. It was a really cool week that has given us a new outlook on evangelism. We learned that sharing our faith does not have to be something scary but can actually be lots of fun.

            This week we learned different ways to do street or door-to-door evangelism, how Paul and others did evangelism in the early church, and how to disciple new believers. We put many of these things right into practice this week as well. We went to a local trailer park and did door-to-door evangelism. Some people would just not answer; some would answer but say they were too busy to talk right now; but others we got to actually talk with and that was great.

            Here’s a short story from one of the houses that Julianne went to: When I first walked up to the door, I thought that no one was home. I could hear what sounded like a TV but didn’t see any lights on in the house. My friend, Jaime, and I thought about walking away but decided to knock anyway. A woman probably in either her late 20’s or early 30’s answered the door. We asked her a couple of questions about the community and worked our way into talking about God. She had grown up in a Lutheran church but had not been attending church lately. We could tell that she really wanted to know more about God and to restore her relationship with Him again. We were able to encourage her in her faith and invited her to the church we have been going to. We prayed with her before we left. She was so thankful that we stopped by her house. The whole experience really encouraged Jaime and I to want to talk to more people about God.

            This weekend we actually got away from the base and went to the LifeLight Music festival just outside of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We went there with two other students from our class to do some PR for our base. It was a great weekend talking with people about God, missions, and YWAM. It was also great getting to hear some of the bands too.

            It seems crazy to think that next week is our last week of classes and that in two short weeks the DTS will start and we will be staffing and leading the 3 months here and 2 month outreach! Some prayer requests we have would be for God to show us where He wants the outreach teams to go for the DTS and for the release of funds for us and for other staff members. If you are interested in partnering with us to do God’s work then please check out the “Join our Team” page at the top. We would really appreciate it!

            Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We would not be able to do this without all of your help. God bless!

                                                                                    Love in Christ,

                                                                                    Nate and Julianne

Week 9!!!!!

Week Nine…two thirds of the way through class!

This week we had a guest speaker from down in Louisiana. It was fun to have someone new from off of the base. All the staff here at a retreat up further north, so we were almost on our own. Let’s just say we watched a ton of movies, ate ice cream and pizza, and ran our own show. ;) Here is a picture of our one prank we pulled for our school leader:

This week’s topic was about compassion in ministry. Our teacher, Ray, has been working with AIDS patients for over the last 20+ years. He shared oodles of stories with us, helping us to have God’s heart for those with HIV. He really compelled us to look beyond what we see and to look for what God sees in each and every person. Ray definitely opened up our eyes to seeing people in a new light. We had a great week.

On Saturday we went to the wedding of Brenden and Kirstin Mills, friends of ours from our YWAM base. It was a great time to celebrate with them.

Thank you for following our posts and keeping updated with us. We really appreciate all your support!

Love in Christ,

Nate and Julianne