| Now for the beginning of Chapter 3 but before I get started, Man, this year was good! I had such an incredible time with friends, with God (seeing Him work some miracles was so good!!) and such an incredible time in Africa. Here are a few pictures to tell the story... Now, first of all, if you can remember, I had some troubles getting my visa to get back to Belfast... Directly when I came home to Canada, I applied for it but I received a letter back from the British High Commission that I was denied. I remember looking at that letter and feeling pretty discouraged. Things didn't loo k good but I knew God told me that I would need to fight for this and not give up. People sometimes ask me, "Christy do you make a back up plan?"... and I guess I don't know what to answer. There may be a time when I need one but I believe that when you get a word of God - whether its something that seems clear or not - you've got to step out in faith and that means going for what you believe God spoke to you, with all of your heart. So, needless to say, I didn't have a back up plan... I applied again and soon the British High Commission was on the phone. And when I say soon I mean, 2 days later! It was incredible! She called and explained to me why I had been denied the visa and why she couldn't issue me another one... but then something in this woman changed and, she told me she couldn't issue me one, but that she was going to... What? It was incredible and so encouraging! I went back to Belfast with a renewed sense of purpose and a belief that God had something really special planned for this year... and He did!  Reconciliation Discipleship Training School
November 2006 - July 2007 Students: Nicola - England, Sujee - Sri Lanka, Jon and Leah Judge - USA, Elie - Lebanon, Paul - Lebanon, Laura - Belfast Trent and Bronwyn - Turkey, USA & UK, Coral and David Haslet - States, Erica - Bethlehem, Mthoko - South Africa I arrived only a few days late because of the complications with my VISA, but things were quick to get rolling! Our staff team was great: Mikey - USA, Adam - USA, Erin - USA, Gabi - Romania, Lidia - Argentina, & Me - the little Canadian.  Now this year was special because it was our first year in such special housing. YWAM Belfast began renting a set of houses that were located right on the Peace Wall that runs throughout the city, seperating the Catholics and the Protestant people. It was incredibly prophetic because we wanted to be a commuinity of internationals bridging the two commuinities of Northern Ireland together. We've got some good stories ;). Here are some photos of our house.
As you can see, the Wall runs right through the house... Out the front door, we were on Springfield Road (a Catholic area) and, out the backyard, we were in a Protestant area... As I've written before, a DTS is made up of a lecture phase and an outreach phase. This year, during our lecture phase, we would walk from our home (above) down the Shankill Road about 20 minutes to our classroom in St. Michael's Church. Again, we had some incredible lectures from teachers who came from all over the world... They taught on things like: Reconciliation, the Nature and Character of God, Relationships, Adoption - Fellowship & Conflict Resolution, Celebrating the Banquet of the Nations, Post Modernity and Evangelism and, The Heart of the Matter is the Matter of the Heart. The teachers always impress me because they are so led by the Holy Spirit.  To the left, theres a photo of Pete and Jeanice Waters, two Aussies who currently work with YWAM in Africa. I love them both dearly and they've been teachers at every single one of the DTS' I've ever been on a a student or led as a staff member. I have loved seeing them every year and this time, I was really struck by how much I've grown over the years, while in YWAM... their teachings have really been a part of that growth. I was so encouraged to be able to see myself growing both in my personal relationship in Christ, in how I relate to others and in how I lead, in such a real and tangible way. Some shots of us crazy party animals... 
At Christmas Time.. Clonard Monastery, all dressed up for Christmas... 
And then... after Christmas...  The March of the Abolitionists At the end of February, our DTS made the long journey from Belfast, Northern Ireland, to Hull, England, to be a part of a reconciliation movement called the Lifeline Expedition. This expedition is run by a friend named David Pott who has come over to Belfast and spoken on our DTSs for the past two years. The idea behind this expedition is a walk through and to several cities, usually along the Meridian Line, to apologize for the Slave Trade and the effects that David and many others, believe it has had on us all today. We joined together with people from all over Europe - both descendants of White Europeans and descendants of enslaved Africans to walk this walk and bring recognition to the 200 year anniversary of the Slave Trade being abolished in the United Kingdom. Our walk this time was not along the Meridian Line but was done in remembrance of men like William Wilberforce and John Wesley who worked so long ago to stop the Slave Trade.
I'm not sure how to further explain it but it was quite an impacting experience. We walked for close to 40 miles in 3 days from city to city to city, raising awareness of the 200 yr. anniversary and apologizing for the history of slavery between whites and blacks. It was such an incredible experience for us as a Reconciliation Discipleship School to be a part of. So, what exactly did it look like? Well, it was 40ish international people of all colours walking, walking, walking. And uh.. even some walking in chains and yokes. Yeah, we were a bit of a sight but it was incredible to walk the walk of miles and miles, in chains, and try to put myself into the shoes of Africans who came over to this land over 200 years ago. Of course I couldn't grasp things from their perspective - not even a sliver. They were taken from their homes, stolen from their families, forced into cargo holds of ships, and made to walk miles, only to be bought and sold like cattle. But something was happening inside me as I walked... something was happening in my heart. Maybe its because of my love for African people and the African continent. Maybe its because of the work that I've done in Haiti, a country completely populated by descendants of slaves... or, maybe its because of the way that we in Canada have treated our First Nations people and the fact that discrimination, racism and yes, even slavery still goes on today. It made me want to make a difference and I know that a new generation of people are rising up, willing to make that generation and take a step to stop injustices and initiate peace and reconciliation.
Even today, months after this event, my heart is still burdened to go and make a difference. During this whole time I was praying and trying to make some decisions for now and this year ahead. Some of you will have seen the movie, Blood Diamond and this movie made me crazy. Back in 2004, I was in San Diego when the guys who filmed the film, "Invisible Children" first came home. I went to their first showing and saw the unedited version of the film and my heart got tied in knots while I watched the plight of children in Uganda and child soldiers. 
This film, Blood Diamond, tells the story of a family in Sierra Leone and the conflict that was there that involved child soldiers. There were scenes during this movie where I realized I was crying and I prayed, "God, I've got to be there! Send me!" 
Now a lot of you might be thinking... "Christy's poor mom" and I agree! haha But I know that Africa is where I am suppose to be. And this was confirmed when I helped lead the DTS' outreach back to Rwanda and Burundi B U R U N D I and R W A N D A 2007 
Today in church, we started singing the song, "All who are thirsty" and I started crying. This DTS would know that this is a song I often sang while leading worship but what only some of the students would know is, I sang this song to a group of woman who were left widowed after the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. This morning in the service, I kept on thinking of these women and their stories...  
On this outreach, we spent: March 26th - March 28th - We spent a few days at the YWAM base in Rwanda before heading out to Burundi. We applied for Burundian visas and we took the students to a Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali. I also spent a little time catching up with old friends!
March 29th - We drove the long, long drive from Kigali to Bujembura, capital city of Burundi.
March 30th, April 2nd - April 4th - We worked in Bujembura with Harvest Ministries. Some preaching and teaching - some door to door evangelism!?!
April 5th - April 7th - Worked with Strategic Actions Network, Bujembura
April 8th - Another long day of travel from Bujembura to another Burundian city, Gitega
April 9th - April 14th - Worked with MIPAREC - an org. focused on Peace and Reconciliation - in Gitega
April 16th - 18th - Helped to build an orphanage center in Gitega with Youth with Christ
April 19th - We travelled again, back to Kigali to help and serve back at the YWAM base. So, to tell you some stories, here are a few excerpts from writings that I did while I was there: Story 1: Friday, April 6th, 2007 "Last night was a big event for me though... when I went out with the team we were headed towards a new little restaurant we had found, "Cafe Tropicana". It had air conditioning and milkshakes and avocado salad so we were excited. It was beginning to get dark as we walked along so we stuck to our group and weaved our way along the sidewalk of this busy city. Out of no where I felt this little hand grab mine and I looked down to find a little 6 year old girl looking up at me. She didn't ask for money, just held my hand so we walked hand in hand for quite a while. I could tell she was a street kid in her tattered little clothes and barefeet. When we arrived at the restaurant we decided to take her in with us. She sat on my lap and we asked her her name, "Eliza", and ordered her a huge ham and cheese sandwich. She gargled water and made us laugh and the whole thing was bittersweet... It was so hard to sit there and hold her and love her but know that shes seen too much of the world for her wee little age. To hold her and not know where she was going back to that night... She was only 6... so little. Whats her story?
Soon some other street kids saw her inside with us and started causing some trouble. What we were doing must have been so strange and ofcourse they were hungry too. A few of the boys from our team snuck out of the restaurant to buy them bread but more street kids gathered outside and I began to get really worried that they would hurt this little one when she went back outside. I continued to hold her and love her... man, this little girl! Soon the food came and she ate and ate and ate. We were so worried she would get sick because she probably hadn't eaten all day so we tried to make her go slow. After she was done she immediately fell asleep... such a tired little one.
We parted ways last night and I haven't seen her at all today. Eliza..."  
Story 2: April 26, 2007 " One morning the girls and I (Bronwyn - Turkey, Erica - Palestine, Laura - Ireland) went to work with a Recovering Prostitutes Ministry. The Genocide had killed many of these womens families which left them without protectors and many as orphans. Their way of survival was to turn to prostitution. One woman here in YWAM that we lovingly call, Mama Joy, saw the need to rescue these ladies and went out and invited them to a meeting. Many of them because Christians and loved Jesus but told Mama Joy, "if you see us wearing clothes it is because we slept with a man and before we had nothing... if you see us eating food, its only because we slept with someone... how do we make a living?". Mama Joy has taught them how to read, write and make handicrafts but when I heard this, the reality of their situation really hit me and my heart went out to them. It was so clear to me that the Enemy has really lied and robbed these women and I grew so protective over them. We were invited to listen to some of their stories so us girls sat amongst these women, laden with experiences and watched their little laughing babies. One woman stood up and shared with us of one baby that had been born to her during this time. He was a little boy who she loved so deeply but when he was about two and a half, he died. She wept as she shared this and I could see how broken she was inside. But what was also obvious was the purity and dignity that God had preserved within them during this dark time." 
After Africa, I went back to Belfast, participated in a Faith and Conflict Course, travelled to Israel and Palestine as part of a study on Non-Violent Resistance and Peace and Reconciliation and said some goodbyes... Heres a little somethin' I wrote during this time... June 14th, 2007 "Last night was one of my favorite nights so far. As a YWAM commuinity we meet for Community meals every Friday night, say a liturgy, eat a little meal, fellowship with one another. Last night we closed off the night with prayer and theres nothing quite like a room full of people praying. It was a really special time. Afterwards I went out to the pub with YWAM Northern Ireland directors, Jonny and Jenn Clark, who led my DTS when I first arrived back in Jan 2005, and have been friends ever since. It was great to sit around a little Irish pub table with them and laugh about the good times. To remember times in Africa and times here in Ireland... to remember Jenn while she was still pregnant before she had my favorite little baby, JJ... to think about the future and wonder about whats the next for YWAM and for us... It was a great night and I love them, and this place, dearly.
We prayed together that night and they anointed me with oil. Very cool as when I first entered YWAM, 3 years ago this summer, I was also anointed with oil. Now as the time comes to a close, it seems a special thing that it should happen once again.
I feel equipped and empowered... and just plain excited to go home and see whats ahead for the next wee while. I'm also a little sad to say goodbye... but I've said my goodbyes well (which has been so important for me) and I'm ready for my Middle Eastern adventure preluding my new Canadian chapter. " And this is the beginning of my Canadian chapter... I've been back at home for 3 weeks and it feels so good knowing that I've been able to say goodbye to Belfast and YWAM well. I love my friendships and relationships back in Belfast and hope that I can continue to stay connected with them as they continue their ministry... 
As for me? My plans involve working at home in Canada and staying here until Christmas. Like I said, before I went to Africa I was praying about what to do now, after YWAM and in January, I'd like to study Music. I've gotten some great encouragement about ministry in Music and Healing. I am currently looking at the possibility of studying in Durban, South Africa at the University of KwaZulu Natal. I would love to use Music Therapy as a tool to bring healing to people in Africa: street kids in Joburg, mamas with AIDS in Rwanda, and child soldiers in Sudan & Northern Uganda. And as far as plans for this website? I'll keep it - theres too many good stories and memories on here to erase it... but, I will be starting a new blog site for this new season. I'll make sure to post the address here. And one more thing... Thank you! Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for your financial support. Thank you for your words of encouragement. And thank you for letting me tell my stories. This all couldn't have been done without you...
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I arrived in Belfast in October and the school started in November. That gave us some time to prepare and train and get excited together! It also gave me time to get to know my new roomate, Erin. 
