Drum roll please... (from 10/17/11)

Well,

Today after a time of prayer/fasting through when lunch would have been, the outreach teams were announced, and.........

I am going to Ghana!!!!

When we first were told the locations I really wanted to put South Africa as my top choice, but for some reason I felt like I needed to put Ghana as my top choice, which I did. Turns out one of the other guys on the Ghana team went through the exact thing as me and actually put the same top-3 choices that I did. Anyway, everything turned out pretty cool, and the Ghana team looks like an awesome team to be on!!

Thank you for your prayers,

Will

weeks 2 & 3 (from 10/15/11)

Hey all,

    Well today marks the third week that I have been here in Harpenden! The last two weeks have been incredible; don’t even know where to begin. Going to try to break this update in to parts….so…..

In-class-stuff over the past two weeks:

   In class last week we were learning about hearing the voice of God. A speaker named Donna Jordan came in and she had many amazing stories about listening to and obeying the voice of God. We learned about silencing our own thoughts, and about things that hinder us from hearing the voice of God. Towards the end of the week we had some “practice” hearing the voice of God for ourselves. We were sent off to pray about 3 questions to ask God: (1) “What do You think/feel about me? (2) “What do we have in common?” And (3) “What are Your plans for me?” This was kind of a new exercise for me, but it turned out to be really cool. It got even more interesting, however, after that, when we pulled names of other DTS students out of a hat and then were told to go pray through the same questions for them. This was absolutely incredible. Again, don’t really know how to describe it, but it was really cool to hear how God could speak through others to address things that each individual need to hear.

   In class this past week we have going through what is called “Freedom week.” The main idea of freedom week is to free yourself from different strongholds like fear, self-hatred, bitterness, unforgiveness, pride, etc. There have been some awesome stories as staff members have shared testimonies about dealing with different things that enslave us. We have also studied “original design,” (original design being: “What was God’s original design for me as an individual?”). This has been really cool as well. The coolest part of this week was last Tuesday when each DTS student was prayed over by different staff members all asking, “God, what was Your original design for…” I literally had complete strangers praying over me and bringing up things that only someone really close to me should have known. They also prayed through what enemy strongholds were still in my life, and a guy who I had never met before was pin pointing sins that I had been struggling with. To reiterate…..this week has been amazing!

    Lastly, we have been leaning some historical stuff in the evenings. This DTS is called the “William Wilberforce DTS,” (named after the man who was one of the most influential people in abolishing the slave trade in England). So, we have been learning about the history of the slave trade. (This is largely related to studying about spiritual freedom, but also because we will be dealing with the effects of the slave trade while we are on outreach). Last Saturday, we went on a walk through London, seeing some places historically significant to the slave trade and Wilberforce. (This walk was 7 miles long).

Local outreach stuff:

    Local outreach stuff started last week as well. There are several outreach opportunities each week, but each group only does one local outreach a week. The past two weeks, I have gone with a team to a local youth center just to be a light there in the way we build relationships with the kids who attend it. That was the past two Thursdays; there was also a team that went on a prayer walk through Harpenden those two days. Last a night a team left here at 12:30 am to go stand outside of a club with coffee and water to give out to people as they came out. Haven’t got a chance to talk to any of them about how it went because most of them are still asleep. (they got back around 5:00 am).

A team is going to London here in a couple minutes to go on a prayer/healing walk. They would probably appreciate your prayers.

Out-reach phase update:

     Yesterday we were told the possible outreach locations. We were then told to go somewhere for an hour and pray about where we thought God wanted us to go. After that, we wrote down on a piece of paper what our top three choices of outreach destination would be. The leaders are going to continue praying through everything, and Monday we will find out where we are going. There are 5 teams: (1): Rwanda/Ethiopia (2): South Africa (3): Thailand (4): ****** (5): Ghana. I will try to send out an email as soon as I find out where I am going.

Prayer requests:

    That is the main gist of everything going on. Couple prayer requests: (1) That I would have peace about outreach stuff. I am just a little apprehensive about finding out where I am going (2) General health for everyone, there are lots of colds going around. (3) Continued filling with the Holy Spirit of everyone here.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please, if you have any questions, feel free to send them my way. Want to send out another email of what a weekly/daily schedule looks like; might do that tomorrow. Anyway…

God bless,

Will Clegg

Week 1 (from 10/01/11)

Hey all,

    Well, I have now been here one week, and God has already worked in some awesome ways. First off, travel probably went as smoothly as physically possible. Between finding flights, getting baggage where it needed to be, and getting through customs, everything was surprisingly flawless. It was almost surreal to be flying into London and see things like Buckingham Palace from the plane.

    After landing, I met up with a YWAM staff member at the airport, spent most of the afternoon sitting around the airport waiting for the rest of the trainees to arrive, and then headed off for “The Oval” (the name of the Harpenden YWAM base). We spent the first evening just relaxing and meeting many, many new people.  On Sunday, we were free to do whatever we wanted for church. I ended up going into Harpenden, to go to church with the DTS leaders’ family. Sunday night we had an official welcome bar-b-q, complete with smores.

    Monday and Tuesday were spent mostly in orientation. Wednesday kicked off our normal class schedule as well as our “work duties.” I am an official “grounds keeper” for my work duty, so I have spent my last 3 work-duty times (2:00 to 4:00 every weekday) trimming hedges with industrial level hedge trimming equipment. The man who is the head of work duties promises me that if I keep trimming hedges, I will add two inches to my biceps by the end of the DTS, and my very sore arms are inclined to believe him.

     Today, Saturday, we have completely free. Some of the students already jumped on a train to go spend the day in London (London is about a 45 minute train ride away). I however, am still on base, sitting in the café. A couple of other people and myself will probably head into the nearby town of Luton later, or possibly just make the 10 minute walk into Harpenden.

      God has already been working in awesome ways. It is amazing how fast all the students have been able to feel at home, the leaders of the DTS said they had never seen a group of trainees connect as quickly as we had, and it is clear that God has already started to move in the hearts of everyone here.

    Thank you so much for your prayers; they are clearly being heard and answered. I will likely be setting up a blog soon, but I will keep you all posted on what is the best way to stay updated.

God Bless,

Will Clegg

Dpartue (From 09/23/11)

Hey all,

     Well, the day has finally arrived!! At 1:25 p.m. I will be flying off to Atlanta, and after a four hour lay-over there, I will be on my way to the London airport to meet the YWAM leaders. Will be arriving there at 10:00 a.m. (their time) tomorrow (which is my 19^th birthday!!!)

      It has taken a lot of prayer to get here and I am super thankful for all God has so far. As for current prayer requests, I would just ask that you pray travel goes smoothly.

    Very excited to see all God will do over the next several months. I will keep you updated as often as I can, and I will keep you all in my prayers.

God Bless,

Will Clegg