 Townsville, Australia is home to a major army base, and it’s also where I did my DTS. Down the block, Flinders Street contains strip clubs, bars, and nightclubs. Fights pop up every few feet, and drinking and drugs abound. Naturally, my DTS team decided this was the perfect place to do ministry.
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 Photo by Megan Randel I did my DTS in 2017. My field assignment was in Australia with the goal of reaching youth. As I was preparing for my DTS, I heard about 101 reasons why I should stay home (or in my home country) to grow in my relationship with God and do missions. So why did I do my DTS field assignments abroad? 
OK. You’ve heard about Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and Discipleship Training Schools (DTS). You’ve been all over every YWAM website you can find and they’re all advertising a “life-changing” or “amazing” DTS. You know it’s five months long with a two month field assignment in another country. But you still don’t know. What IS a DTS??
 When I was 18 years old, I got on a plane by myself to do what God wanted me to do: a Discipleship Training School. Being in another country without my family or friends was terrifying. I was with a group of strangers I had only just met, I didn’t have cell service, and was far away from my family. I had to manage my own money, figure out how to navigate a new city, and live on my own. It was crazy, it was scary, and I thought about staying on the plane and going straight home.
Have you ever gotten one of those slightly ridiculous, spontaneous ideas stuck in your head, and all of a sudden you do it? There’s a saying for that: “If you’re feeling froggy, jump!” It means that if you’re feeling bold, just do it. Doing a Discipleship Training School is a huge decision that also has a financial cost. There can be a lot of anxiety around making such a big decision. Five months feels like a long time to spend on something that could be the wrong decision for you. So how do you decide if this is the right choice for you?  So you’ve been looking into missions, yay! You’re getting excited, everything looks amazing… and you come to a screeching halt. You realize that you have no gifts or talents that would be useful in missions.
Let me stop you right there. I was born and raised in a small town in Wisconsin with a population of 1,000. My question has always been, "What could God possibly do with such a small-town girl?" There's nothing special about me. I hung out with my friends on the weekend and I don't like to eat tomatoes. I'm not any good at sports, nor am I musically-inclined. I have zero cool talents to bring to the table, so I didn't expect God to want much to do with me. Where do you come from? What lack of qualities “disqualifies” you from being a missionary? What lack of talents do you have? Come join me in the unknown for a minute. I don’t know anything about you, but here’s some things I do know about missions: |
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