Blog 10: DTS Outreach Phase & Graduations

May 12

Written By Cliff Sapaden

MAY 2024

THANK YOU:

Hi All!!! It is so exciting to write to you all again. Once again I want to say thank you so so much for all your prayers and support towards my team and I. I am so grateful for how you have encouraged me in this past season of outreach and in this new season of preparation for the upcoming discipleship training school. Truly, it is a blessing to have friends & family like you all. I have so much gratitude towards your generosity, your prayers and your curiosity towards what God is doing in the nations, it is something that I often thank God for.

Once again I want to express my gratefulness for the opportunity you have given me to continuing serving God in this way. By God’s grace during my time in Mexico I got to see many people impacted by the Love of Christ, people give thier lives to Jesus and God miraculously heal others. Also by God’s grace I got to witness the growth & transformation of our students, myself and in those who we ministered too. Thank you for supporting me and enabling me to follow God and experience this grace.

My hope and prayer with this update is that as I begin to share/write about what God has taught me and the testimonies He has allowed us to be a part of this season, it will give you a better understanding as to what I am able to disciple our students into. The reason why I take the effort to talk about what I have learnt and not just share what I have done is because I want to invite you into my life and invite you into what the Lord is enabling me to lead/disciple our students into. The lessons that I share on these updates is a summarized version of what the Lord has been inviting me to teach and see multiplied in the students that God has allowed us to steward.

Another thing that has shaped this update is this; When writing this update I felt in prayer that it was really important for me to be asking God to expand our ability to comprehend about just how much God loves communing with us. God is excited to spend our days with us and excited make His love for us known & known to those around us.

When I was praying an image that kept reoccurring when thinking about God’s excitement towards us is a common one from our childhood. I want us to take a moment to think back to what Christmas or our Birthday’s were like when we were younger. Pause and imagine the excitement & expectation of running towards the presents that lay under the Christmas tree. Or think back towards the anticipation & curiosity we had towards our present as we tried to guess what was in it moments before opening it. Remember emotions of shaking it and feeling the weight of it as you try to guess what it could be.

I want to introduce you to a thought; because I believe that God loves us so much that the same excited emotion that a kid has or that we had when we were kids running towards the Christmas tree on Christmas morning is the same excited emotion God has towards us and the idea of spending the day with us. The same expectancy & joy we had when opening the presents we have been waiting all year to get is the same expectancy & joy God has towards being with us. I want you to know that at all times God loves you so much and that He is so excited & filled with joy when He thinks about getting to spend a day with you. God wants to be with us & love us far more than we can think or imagine. My prayer over all of us is that the excitement and joy that God already has towards spending the day with us becomes so much evident and easy to see. Even if you feel distant, even if you have walked away or feel like you have neglected God, His pursuit towards you never changes. He is always excited to be with you. He loves you right now.

- Prayer -

Heavenly Father, thank you for the love & excitement that you already have towards us. Thank you for how you have loved us in the past and how you are gonna continue faithfully loving us. Lord I pray for your favour over all us, that we would be so sensitive towards the love that you already have towards us. Holy Spirit please help us to be so convinced that we are loved, pursued, wanted and valued sons & daughters of God. Father I ask for this favour & blessing upon us, In Jesus name. Amen.

“This is the prayer that I am praying over all of you who are reading this and the prayer that is inspiring how I will continue to write this update. I also encourage you to make this prayer your own, personalize it and pray it over yourself. It is a prayer that has grown my gratitude towards God and awareness of His love towards me. Love you all and I am praying for your all.”

- Cliff

OVERVIEW:

Outreach In Mexico - Final Moments & Lessons
Graduation
Preparing for the Next September DTS
Prayer Requests

Lessons, Testimonies & Life in Mexico:

Lessons from Mexico:

Since my last update my team and I got to witness God do many miracles and often see God lead our team to the right people, at the right time (which is what I like to call divine appointments). By God’s grace we were able to participate and witness all these things happening. If you have followed my WhatsApp group chat during my time in Mexico you may recognize some of these testimonies/stories. I have countless stories to tell of God’s faithfulness but in prayer I felt to share a story below and the lesson God taught me through it for the sake of stirring up our excitement to continue loving people even when it may be out of our comfort zone or difficult. I also plan to share more about what outreach was like, what we ate, what ministries we did and who we met through some photos

Something that I see when reading through the gospel of John specially John 15:5 & 15:9-12 shown below is that intimacy & growth with the Lord is not only found in participating in spiritual disciplines like reading our bibles, fasting, prayer, silence/solitude, confession, etc. All these things are good and I believe many of us would agree that they are great habits to adopt into our lives but something that God has been emphasizing to me in scripture and also felt to invite us to think about as we read these testimonies is also the fruit of simply loving others. It is this special way of abiding in God and a special type intimacy that takes place when we love others in the same way Jesus loved us. I am encouraged because I know many of you reading this make loving others a regular practice in your lives, so my heart is simply to excite us toward the idea that practicing Christ-like love will bear fruit and will lead us into deeper levels of intimacy with the Lord. My hope is that this excitement gives us hope to keep on going & keep persevering because I recognize loving people like Christ isn’t always easy or convenient.

John 15:5 - “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

John 15:9-12 - “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that may joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

Henry:

I want to begin with a story many of you would have been aware of, since it was one of the first and more notable stories I shared on our WhatsApp group chat. It’s a story from the beginning of our outreach which involved a man who felt very distant/unseen by God. I will be honest and admit I do not remember his name exactly but for the sake of this testimony lets call him Henry. We first ran into Henry while we were at a park in downtown Guadalajara, Mexico. Despite there being nothing out of the ordinary about him I couldn’t help but notice him. Have you every walked by a person and for some reason, despite there being nothing out of the ordinary about this person, you can’t help but notice this person? That was Henry for me.

While we were walking to the park Henry came into my focus and now being in missions for a while I felt this oh so familiar nudging. It was not this forceful nudge but this gentle nudge where I can imagine the Lord saying something like “Hey, this is someone I care about. Would you be willing to let him know I love him?”. It was this gentle voice saying “look, I love that person will you love him for me?”. Have you ever had a moment like that? Have you ever had thought to yourself “why do I feel like I need to talk to that person?”.

I have had this feeling several times but I confess I haven’t always listened to these nudging or impressions. But what helped me to obey in this moment is that I voiced this feeling or nudging from the Lord to my friends with me and thankfully thier response was like “okay lets go talk to him then”. So we did approach him. As I approached him I noticed he had a limp so I took the chance, stopped him and just asked him how he was doing. I also asked why he was limping. While he was epxlaing himself I felt the Lord download in me His love for this stranger.

In response to this love I simply just reminded Henry that he was seen, loved and wanted by God. My word’s weren’t anything special but I knew God was moving because through this simple sentence Henry began to cry and explain to me how he was recently telling God that he had felt distant from God’s love. Prior to our interaction Henry was asking God questions like, do you still see me? do you still love me? do you still want me? And through this simple act of obedience his prayers were answered. It was an amazing conversation and we finished the conversation both more in love with the Lord and more excited to listen to God and love God. When I finished this conversation and walked some distance away I felt the Lord saying to me “Cliff in the same way I love that man, I love you. And in the same way I heard Henry’s prayers, I hear your prayers Cliff” in this moment it so easily became heart knowledge because I felt & experienced it too, I felt God’s love for this complete stranger which allowed me to better grasp/understand how much God loved me. My greatest revelations of how loved I am by God came from testimonies like these. It is testimonies like this that convince me that I am loved by God. I get more convinced as I go out and allow myself to be used to share God’s love.

I choose to share this story because I really believe that what the Lord did for me in this moment is what the Lord wants to do for us. I believe that the Lord wants to fully convince us that we are loved, pursued and desired by Him. And in prayer I felt to point towards the concept that the key to discovering just how loved, pursued and desired you are by God is gonna be found in these gentle invitations from God to share His love with others. They are found in outward demonstrations of God’s love (Remember: John 15:5 & 15:9-12). But I recognize that approaching strangers isn’t the easiest thing for everyone to do. It isn't the easiest for me either, but this is why I want to share what I often tell myself when I start to feel fear or to scared to approach a stranger.

I tell myself that the Lord doesn’t speak in the language of fear, God doesn’t stop us from doing things by causing us to become fearful of them, rather He says NO or teaches to not do something/gives us wisdom to stop. I believe if God doesn’t want me to do something He has the power to say no and the ability to give me wisdom that will stop me. This thought process that has helped me push past the fear as I tell myself this; “Because the Lord doesn’t speak in the language of fear, then this must not be God. Maybe its the the enemy. If the enemy is wanting me to be afraid, then he knows it will bear fruit”. This thought process has convinced me to obey God’s desire to make others feel loved so many times. I invite you the next time you are scared when you see an opportunity to be used by God to share His love with others, ask God where does does this fear come from. I believe that God loves loving others through us, His sons & daughters. And I believe God wants to use you so that you can have a better understand of just how much He already loves, pursues and values you. I invite us all to accept His invitations to love those around us.

Life in Mexico:

Now I want to take another approach at updating you of my time in Mexico. For each one of these pictures I wrote a brief description about the picture explaining the context behind it, you should be able to see it at the top of each photo. I hope you enjoy reading more about each photo and get a better idea of what the outreach experience is like. If you have any specific questions about outreach please don’t hesitate to reach out.

The First Picture of Outreach!

This is us leaving December 10, 2023. Right after this picture we had almost 24 more ours of travel before we reached out first location of outreach.

The First People We Evangelised to In Guadalajara

The three people in-between Hope & Genesis (on the most right) and Me (on the most left) were the first people we got evangelise to. What was so cool about this is that Hope, Genesis & I were not only able to share the Gospel with them, but also invite them to come along with us to pray for others and share God's love with other. We got to talk to them about God's love and also show them how share it with others. We believe that it was their first exposure to missionaries! They followed us around as we went to pray for others and share about Jesus with others.

Meet Henry!

This is Henry, I took this picture in a to remember him so that I could continue to be praying for him. When I looked back at this picture I felt bad because I took it in a rush and didn't notice that he hadn't stopped crying yet. I promise you he had the biggest smile on his face after this moment but because he was in a rush to go to an appointment it was kinda awkward to ask for another better picture so this is all I have. Hahaha

Girls we Met During Soccer Evangelism

This is a picture of a group of girls that we met during our time of park evangelism. This was a common way we talked about Jesus with others. We would go to a park and invite people to join us for a game of soccer and while playing soccer we would try to get to know the people we were playing with. This strategy led to so many opputunities to pray with others and talk about Jesus. It was a very simple way of breaking the ice or that awkwardness that our students often struggle with when it comes to approaching strangers.

BREAKFAST!!!

On outreach we had a rotation of who was cooking what that day. This day I was in charge of making breakfast for the team and I decided to make some breakfast tacos for everyone.

Our Team Helping at the Local Salvation Army

Volunteering with the local Salvation Army branch in Guadalajara, Mexico was a regular part of our time at our first outreach location. We did many things with them during our time there and one of the things we did was we would walk around town wearing these outfits promoting the bible studies that they ran and the various free events they provided for the local community. We would also use this time to do evangelism and pray for people that we met on the streets.

Our Team Teaching Bible Stories at the Salvation Army Orphanage

This picture also takes place at the Salvation Army. This specific Salvation Army branch was also an orphanage, so we would often come by to share a short bible story teaching and play games with the kids. Our team would often act out things in the bible to teach simple bible principals and our team and the kids loved this fun way of teaching/learning.

Peter Cleaning up the Boys Dorm at an Orphanage

Another thing we would do at the Salvation Army is practical work. Something that the Salvation Army lacked was volunteers so when a team like us would come they would often put them to work on practical things. On the day this picture was taken we spent the day deep cleaning the dorms, bathroom and hallways of the orphanage.

The Piano We All Pitched In To Buy for YWAM Zapopan

This is a picture of us cramped into an uber on the way home to gift the local ywam base with a Piano. YWAM Zapopan was a newly pioneered base therefore it lacked some of the basic things that you would typically find at a YWAM base or Church. One of thier needs was a piano for thier worship nights. So when we were praying about how we could bless the base we felt to gift the base with a new piano. This was actually one of our students initiatives which was so great.

Us Having a Meal with a Family We Met on Evangelism

This is a picture of us sharing a meal with a family from a local church. We got experience authentic Mexican food and the Mexican hospitality. The food was amazing and the time of just hanging out with the family was also so fun.

The lines of Children Waiting for Their Christmas Presents

On the morning of Christmas Eve we took time to go visit some of the less fortunate communities within Guadalajara, Mexico and there we gave out Christmas presents and teach bible stories. My favourite part about this day was seeing the kids excitement and smiles upon receiving a present. In the midst of loving these kids and watching thier excitement towards getting a present, this is when the Lord began to unpack that revelation of “in the same way that kids are excited to receive Christmas presents, the Lord is excited to spend our day with is us.” I didn’t fully receive it in this moment but the movement from head knowledge to heart knowledge began as I watched all these kids expressions.

Christmas Shoe Box Presents that we Gave Away

These are the presents that we gave away to the children in this community. It is the Christmas Shoe Box that many of you are familiar with. When my team noticed this, some our team members were like, "woah I remember packing these with my church, its cool to see where they actually end up".

Teaching the Kids Bible Stories

Before we gave out the Christmas presents we also took the time to help the local church share bible stories. My favourite part about this was that many of the kids were already very familiar with the bible stories, which showed our team that this local church had been investing into this community for a long time already.

Matching Socks for Christmas Day:

We had the privilege of spending Christmas in Zapopan with the YWAM Zapopan staff. But as leaders we wanted to organize something special for our team so we planned a nice and cozy Christmas party with some Christmas socks, snacks and a fun movie.

Leading Worship at YWAM Zapopan

This picture was taken at a worship night led by our team at YWAM Zapopan. YWAM Zapopan hosts worship nights for their local neighbourhood weekly as a way to connect with their neighbours.

Two Healings & Four Salvations!

During one of the worship nights we had invited these five university students to join us. It was their first time ever at a Christian worship night. During this night I had the opportunity to pray for two of them and they both experienced being healed. This opened the door for us to be able to share the gospel and four of them decided to accept Jesus into their lives.

Our Typical Meals in Mexico

This is a picture of what our typical meals looked like in Mexico. Diced vegetables, minced meat, rice & corn tortillas. It was our own makeshift tacos. It was very cheap and very good.

Interview Evangelism

This is picture of Dani & Hope evangelizing. They came up with a fun way to break the ice and start talking about Jesus. They prepare a list of questions and ask strangers if they would be willing to be interviewed for their bible school project.

This Woman's Leg Got Healed!

We met this woman in front of a church in Guadalajara and she was experiencing leg and back pain. After taking the time to pray with her, she started crying because she told Peter and I that all her pain had gone away and that she had been healed in that moment. My favourite part about this moment was that as soon as we left she went back into the church and started praying/thanking God.

SLEEPY CLIFF

Sometimes you just need to take a nap.

Another Day of Handing out Christmas Presents

On another day we went to the same neighbourhood to handout more presents to those who didn't get a chance to have presents the first time we came.

Drug Rehabilitation Center Ministry

One of the ministries we had during our time in Mexico was teaching and leading worship at a local drug rehab centre. It was so encouraging to see how these men truly loved the Lord and were trying to seek freedom in Jesus. The way they also worship God so inspiring because they did it with so much passion and zeal.

Our Students at Origen Church

This is a picture of our team at the local church that we often attended and partnered with to do ministry.

Just a Funny Picture.

I have no idea what I am doing in this picture, but I thought to include it because it shows our funny living conditions. The house we lived did not have a dinning area so we all often ate in this small hallway area infront of our front door.

Church Ministry

One Sunday we had the privilege of preaching at one of YWAM Zaopopan's previous student's church. Tobi talked about the the love & unity from the Gospel of John.

Church Ministry Pt.2

This is a group picture from that same Church.

Meet the YWAM Zapopan Team

This was our last night in Zapopan so we decided to celebrate by treating the YWAM Zapopan team at their favourite Taqueria.

Travel Day's In Mexico

This is a picture of what a typical travel day looks like with all of our luggage and tiredness.

On our way to Stone Island Church

I took this picture on the way to one of our first ministries in Mazatlan. On this small island called stone island was a small church started by YWAM'ers with a goal to reach this community which didn't have any easy access to a local church.

On our way to Stone Island Church Pt.2

We enjoyed a great view on our way to the church. At Stone Island Church our team led worship and helped run their kids ministry.

Doing Some Gardening in a Sombrero

On one of our practical work days at YWAM Mazatlan my team and I spent the afternoon pulling out weeds on their property. It was so hot and I forgot to bring a hat so someone on base let me borrow theirs.

Our Team on the Way to Do Home Visits

I took this picture on the way to one of the houses we visited during our house visit ministry. This was of the ministries that we regularly did while in Mazatlan, Mexico. During this ministry we would visit the people that YWAM Mazatlan had built connections with. At their houses we would often share a word of encouragement, give a short bible teaching and pray with/for them. This was one of my favorite ministries because I really enjoyed building a relationship/connection with the locals and getting to see how excited they were to really learn more about God.

Our Team On Our Way to Play Football with the Neighbourhood Kids

This picture was taken during a ministry called Bedrock Ministry. It was a ministry that was set up by some Canadian missionaries who had a heart to love and provide a safe environment for the children within the neighborhood. It was so cool to see how these children really looked up to our local contacts as father & mother figures. I really enjoyed seeing the happy children as we simply took the time to be intentional with them.

Peter Finally Gets His Ribs!

Meet Peter! He is Dutch and one of my students from the past DTS. He had been asking and wanting to go to a BBQ place for the longest time. So when we finally found one in Mazatlan we decided to go there on our off/free day. As you can see he was really happy about it.

Practical Work at YWAM Mazatlan

YWAM Mazatlan is a very big base and they regularly 150 students and volunteers staying at their base. Because it is such a big best they often need help with some of their odd jobs around the base. Digging up this hole was one of them. They were planning to take down the curb, so that they could build a drive way to the plot of land they had infront of the base. This picture takes place after we successfully finished digging up the hole, but also takes place before we found out that they were no longer planning to build the driveway there hahaha. Our team looked at it as a good team building exercise as we spent an entire afternoon digging a hole, only to filly it again.

Practical Work Pt.2

The ground was a bit hard so we had to use a pickaxe to break up the ground before we could dig it up. We joked about how much effort we spent to make the hole only for us to have to fill it back up again.

Our Team Sorting Medicines for YWAM Mazatlan's Medical Ministry

Another one of YWAM Mazatlan's ministry was that they ran a medical ship which traveled along the west coast of Mexico to provide medical supplies to the local indigenous communities. We spent the day sorting through boxes full of unsorted medicine and prepared it to be given away.

Our Team Sorting Medicines for YWAM Mazatlan's Medical Ministry Pt.2

To the left of Dani is a box of now sorted and organized medicine and us creating a label for what was inside the box. It felt a little like working at Food for Families when I was labeling and identifying what were in the trucks.

Our Team During Children's Ministry in Mazatlan, Mexico

This is a picture from another day at the Bedrock Ministry. This time we spent it with the younger kids making bracelets, playing games and teaching bible stories.

My Team and I Writing Letters for Evangelism

This is a picture of me and my friends writing out prophetic letters that we gave away to strangers during evangelism

Beach Evangelism

On the beach close by to the YWAM Mazatlan Base there are a lot of fishermen when we would go do evangelism we would often talk with and pray with them. Some of our students got really close with the fishermen and they got treated to some really tasty fresh fish meals with them.

Beach Evangelism Pt.2

Here is a picture of some of the fishermen with our students.

Homes of Hope Building

YWAM Mazatlan helps run this ministry called Homes of Hope where they would build a home for those in need. This a picture of a typical house that this ministry would build. It was at these houses that we did our house visits. YWAM Mazatlan's goal was to meet both their physical and spiritual needs by providing a house and providing discipleship.

Kids Ministry at Another Homes of Hope Location Pt.2

The Homes for Hope ministry also helped build this community centre where they would send other YWAM teams to help lead their kids ministries. We had the honour of planning and leading their kids ministry this day.

Cleaning the Medical Ship

On another one of our practical work days we spent the day cleaning the outside of the medical ship that YWAM Mazatlan uses to reach the local indigenous communities along the west coast of Mexico.

Cleaning the Medical Ship Pt.2

For this job I had to be up on the ship pulling this smaller boat with two strings so that Tobi and Dani could scrub the outside of the ship.

Our Last Bible Study with the Homes for Hope Ministry

This picture was taken after our last time of ministry with Homes for Hope. We had the pleasure of leading a bible study for the whole community.

Dani & Hope Get Baptized

On one of the last weeks of our outreach Dani & Hope made the decision to get baptized!!! It was so enjoyable to celebrate their baptisms.

Graduation:

The September DTS of 2023/2024 has officially graduated! Below I have included some pictures of our time celebrating their graduation and a picture of each graduate with short update on what they will be doing next. Many of them have graduated with a greater zeal to see the great commission fulfilled and many of them have actually decided to step back into missions either by volunteering at our base or by doing another second level bible school with the aim of staffing full time. I want to say thank you for enabling me to invest into their lives and helping me to make disciples of all nations. God’s kingdom is growing and more disciples are being made. Thank you for entrusting me with your finances and prayers so that I could continue serving God in this way. I hope the joy/celebration on our students faces brings you join as well. Thank you for not only investing in me but also the lives of my friends.

GRADUATION NIGHT:

MEET THE GRADUATES:

Batja: Now studying nursing and being a light in that sphere of society.

Juda: He is back in Malawi and praying about his next steps.

Emily: She is considering doing our school of worship this coming January and then joining as a staff.

Bea: She is now back in Canada and studying in univeristy.

Caleb: Originally from Mexico and is now join our September DTS staff team.

Noah: Is back in Australia and studying to be a Christian music produces

Liselotte: Has the desire to step into full-time missions but doesn't know where yet.

Tobi: He is volunterring with our communications department.

Dani: She is back to work as an primary school teacher.

Hope: She is planning on going to study law in university.

Kaye: She is currently volunteering here at YWAM Amsterdam.

Peter: He recently got married, him & his wife are praying about their next steps.

Esther: She is volunteering with our hospitality department.

Cassie: She is planning on going to university.

Riley: She is accepted to join our school of biblical studies.

Fabio: He is preparing/training to do full time missions in war zones.

Irsa: She is volunteering with our communications department.

Claire: She is accepted to join our school of biblical studies.

Jesse: He is accepted to join our school of biblical studies.

Joshua: He is accepted to join our school of biblical studies.

Lioba: She is currently taking our discipleship bible school program.

Oda: She is currently taking our discipleship bible school program.

Whats Next?:

CHECK OUT THIS QUICK VIDEO TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WHATS NEXT!!!

Prayer Requests:

That is the end of this update. Once again I just want to say thank you for taking the time to read this update. I pray and hope you enjoyed it and that you were encouraged by it. Thank you so much for supporting me and enabling me to serve the Lord in this way. I look forward to what testimonies and lessons I will get to share with you in the next update. I want to end this update with some prayer request so you would like to keep prayerfully supporting me I would greatly appreciate it. You can check out some of the prayer points below. Thank you.

Prayer Points:

Pray that God would disciple me and my staff team to be able to lead this upcoming September DTS well.
Pray that we would be able to hear God’s voice clearly on how to plan this school.
Pray that God would send the right students and staff to join our school.
Pray that I would be able to learn dutch and speak it well.
Pray that God would share with us His love for our future students so that we can love them well.
Pray I would continue falling more in love with God and continue growing in my ability to love more like Him.

THANK YOU FOR READING & PRAYING!!!!!

I am so grateful for your all, thank you :)

Cliff Sapaden