Greetings from Asia!

This is the first time i have sat down at a computer and not my phone so i figured i would send out a decent update! i miss all of you and am very thankful for all your support!

we have just completed our fourth week here which means that we are officially half way through our time in our first country and a third of the way done with our total outreach time. our time here has been great! the first week we participated in the national conference here. it was an easy start to outreach and we got to meet a lot of the people we were going to work with in the following weeks.

the second location we went to was in the same city but up in the mountains; there we did a kids camp in the morning then door to door in the afternoon usually followed by an open air. we did some major hiking that week!!! it was very cool for us because the number of people that we had come each day doubled in size. their holy week with the Hindu religion was the same week that we were there. the day before their most holy day (like our Christmas) we had over 180 people come out and listen to what we had to say! it was very exciting and fun for us; we got to share the Gospel with people who had never heard it before.

the next week we went and worked with a church planting team in another city/village area. they are currently helping start, train, and work with 9 churches/fellowships. we again did a lot of hiking. we also did our longest hike yet; it was five hours from the base of a mtn, up and around to the very top of another mtn. they said it would take us ten hours to do but we did it in five. it was probably one of the hardest physical things i have ever done before; the hike wasn't like any i have ever done before. it seemed like we were walking up 90 degree angles at some points although it probably was only 35. still that's a very steep hill to be walking up. once there we stayed for two nights and helped run a childrens program. we also played volleyball with the locals!

we hiked down two days later and continued to go to closer villages and fellowships to do kids programs and house fellowships. on our day off we were able to go by to a nearby waterfall and ended up showering there. it was def an experience since it was a public place and we showered with all our clothes on. but it was beautiful and fun and the cold water was very refreshing in the humidity and heat that we were in.

from there we traveled by a VERY bumpy long twelve hour night bus to our next location to a city near the border here we are working with another ywam team and helping them in their ministries. i was privileged enough to get to preach to a youth group with kids ages 17-25 during their church service. tomorrow we leave for a village about five hours away to work with them for about three days. we will come back here then head to the capital to finish off our last two weeks.

it has been such an amazing adventure. i have been pushed in so many ways. i dealt with sickness for about two weeks and had to learn to take care of myself. here the food is different which i expected but i have learned that i am almost totally lactose intolerant; that has been hard because some of my favorite things to eat involve milk but i'm learning i'd rather not be in pain for the rest of the day then the joy of having milk in my coffee.

the food here in wonderful though; i've liked almost everything i've tried and love to eat rice at most meals. they know how to cook vegetables so well here. soooo good!

the people have been amazing; i'm constantly surprised how nice the people are. even if they don't accept what we have to say they invite us in, make us coffee or freshly squeezed lemonade and listen intently to what we have to say. i think i mentioned but i had a 60 year old women offer to carry us down the mtn on her back so we wouldn't fall anymore. it's amazing. when people come to my door at home i usually don't answer; here the people invite you in and try to feed you everything that they own.

our teams and the translators have been amazing as well. i hate leaving each place; we have bonded with them so well. our last night after being with the first team they threw us a party and it turned into a very random but very fun dance party. at our second place we were fed the best home made food i've had since leaving home. they went out of their way to make food that didn't have meat in it the few times we had it for our vegetarian on our team. if we were sick or unwell they made sure we slept; one family even gave up their bed and their room to part of our team and they slept on the floor in the kitchen. they literally bend over backwards for us.

it has shown me a lot of how i need to be and how different our worlds are. i love home. without a doubt i love home but i realize that we are very distant from each other in the states. i am shocked everytime we just walk into someones yard and they invite us to sit down and rest; hospitality is the word for this country. i love it.

i will be coming back to this country without a doubt. the fist ministry spot has a part of my heart. i loved the team we were with and the village and the people; i cried leaving them and i'll be back again one day to visit.

our team is doing well. we rely on God for strength a lot; I don't think i could have made it on the five hour hike without Him. there was a point were we were in what we called the desert because it was so hot and we were clinging to the side of the mtn for an ounce of shade and literally all i could do was sing a worship song to get me through. and it did. you would think that a team of ten girls would have an abundance of problems but we have been working very well with one another. of course it gets hard and its tiring but we always seem to push through to encourage one another to keep going to the end.

it's been an awesome experience so far and i have loved almost every single moment.

i'm sorry that there is no capital letters here and spelling may be tragically wrong. but the internet cafe i'm at is a little older and not everything on the keyboard works probably.

continue to pray for strength for me and my team. email if you can. thank you so much for all your support. i will post pictures when i get back to australia; some are on facebook; if you are my FB friend you can see them! i love you and miss you all! blessings, tina!

Update via Mia

Hey, this is Mia, Tina's Mom.  She sent this on Saturday; internet access is extremely limited, I only hear from her every 10 days or so.  Anyway, enjoy...

Hi! I'm writing this in bed at a hotel but I probably won't be able to send it til tomorrow morning. This past week has been so crazy and so good! 

 

We were in the mountains looking at the tall,  tall mountains everyday.  In the morning we ran a kids camp and in the afternoon we did door to door and did open air. The mountains that we were in are near a major city but some people have never been out of the mountains. There were a  (lot of?) smaller villages all around and we hiked to a lot of them. Most knew the name Jesus but had never heard the gospel before so it was really cool to be the first ones to share with people. 

 

We did door to door which is actually hill to hill here. There was a long walk/treck to get there and we did it in traditional wear. In some villages we then took these little paths from house to house inviting them to open air events or sitting and talking with them. I'm telling you right now you will never meet a nicer person then these people. 

 

Most would bend over backwards to help you and invite you in. And even if they didn't want to hear what you have to say they would still smile and were so thankful we were there. One lady in her sixties even followed us and offered to carry us down the mountain because we kept slipping. And she was serious. If we would have fallen she would have swooped us up and taken us on her back to our base. 

 

Total fun part is that they live to dance here. Love is a understatement. They want you to dance like them then teach them to dance American. First off I didn't really know what American dance looks like and what I do wasn't appropriate for kids. So I taught them the chicken dance. And now they all know it and live it! 

 

We worked with a training center here and even though they were small in number I was blessed in so many ways by them. There was one family and their two kids were amazing and they had so much life to them. Their little girl had the biggest most compassionate heart I've ever seen. Even thinking about how we had to say goodbye today is making me cry. This team was amazing. One is starting a resort in the mtns that will be a trekkers retreat/missionaries get away. It's employing locals in an economy with huge unemployment. 

 

Then one lady was making our traditional outfits for us that we had to wear and the money that she made from them would go to pay her school fees for the school she is about to take. 

 

And then our translators. To say they were a blessing is an understatement. One works with the base and the other two didn't. But all were amazing. I worked with one closely doing the kids ministry and door to door. He had such a passion for reaching out to his village and making sure everyone knew. He doesn't want his people to be bound by lies. He would always take us on door to door for longer then the time planned for. On the first day when we hardly knew him we ended up at his house during door to door and he made is freshly squeezed lemon aid. To say our jaws were dropped is an understatement. But we soon realized that this is the way of the people. Going out of their way to make sure you are okay. 

 

Walking here isn't like walking at home. Roads aren't paved and paths are narrow steep and muddy. He would always show us where to walk so we wouldn't get hurt and if he heard our feet slip he immediately turned around to see if we were okay. Our other translator was the same way! They all wanted to get the news out and so we went and we found the kindest people I've ever met. 

 

I could have stayed on top of that mtn. I could have married a local and never come home. I cried leaving them and I'll be back again one day. My heart aches for these people and being with the ministries here as well would be totally amazing! I contemplated chaining myself to the building and the team thought about saying we got lost in the mtns for the rest of our time because in no way did we want to leave. 

 

Life changing doesn't even begin to describe this past week. 

 

A Fathers Heart

This week was on the father heart of God. I totally thought that this week would be full of warm and fuzzy feelings. That it would be like sitting inside on a rainy day with a good book in front of the fire place.  And I was super happy to think that feeling was coming.  The weeks are good here, but they are intense (in a very good way), but I was looking forward to an easy week talking of God's love.  Instead I got a very heavy, rude awakening. 

This week all the DTS's were combined so we had about 70 people together.  Weeks when we are combined are some of my favorite because even though we all live together and see each other daily, our days can get pretty busy and soon you find that you haven't talked to your friend in another DTS because you get busy.  So weeks together are always fun and this week proved to be especially good.

Our speaker is from New Zealand and has an islander background.  He reminded me of a big teddy bear.  He is very funny and brought a certain kind of joy and light to the room.  He started off the week fairly light and talked about how DTS is all about the heart.  And how we have to get our hearts right before we can get the rest of us right. 

Monday night for our weekly night lecture he started to go into detail about the heart.  How the heart always remembers.  Our minds may not remember a certain circumstance but our heart does.  Our heart carries the wounds from life.  Out of the heart flow, well, out of them flow everything.  He talked about how our hearts remember and are wounded from life.  These wounds usually don't get cleaned out or fixed which leave us wounded with scar tissue.  The thing about scar tissue is that is stop growth of any kind in that area of life.

As soon as he said this I started to cry.  For the first time I saw areas of my life I thought I had figured out and had dealt with were actually deeply scared.  And I had just pushed these issues so far down that I could no longer feel them anymore, but I still had areas that I needed to work from it. 

That night started the cry fest that happened daily with me.  I realized areas in my life that I needed help in.  I needed to get right.  I have been hurt from people and when I thought I was dealing with that pain.  Instead I was just pushing it farther down inside myself.  So this week opened a lot of doors to who I am and what I have been experiencing for the last 21 years.

Although I cried everyday, they were tears of healing.  And although they were painful they were good.  And I have jumped huge steps in this past week. 

One of the things we were learned is how we live in a fallen world and what that looks like.  The fallen perspectives of femininity and masculinity.  These ways have caused us to cause pain to others and to ourselves.  Not living up to God's standards in situations and living by what the world deems to be right.  We had application on this and there was a lot of crying and hugging.  The guys stood in front of the girls and apologized for all the guys that have ever hurt us.  As we sat there and cried and the guys stood in silence while our speaker spoke pain was being healed.  The girls then went to pray for the boys, we prayed over (more like under since most of them are taller than us) them and prayed true masculinity into them.  There were more tears then big hugs.  Hugs that were so good.  For me it was like hugging my brother and being able to feel safe by their side.  They stood by us and helped us.

It was a good day.  Afterwards we danced.  It was great.  We joked all week how application is usually on Friday, this week we got application everyday.  Friday we did do application which consisted of a lot of dancing.  We learned a couple of island dances and did a war haka as well.  It was a week full of growth for me.

I learned so much about myself and my past.  I had enough tears to fill a baby pool I'm sure.  I loved every minute of it though.  I had a painful, yet amazing week.  It was good.

Future

So I don't know how detailed I will get here, still waiting on God for timing but I'll let you in on a little bit.

So two weeks ago we learned about relationships and how they effect our everyday life.  It was good.  It was hard.  God has been showing me ever since coming here how I relate to people and how it can be good or bad and I've spent a lot of time working on that and getting better at them.  Our speaker was the base leader and she has such a loving presence.  When she talks it feels like she is the only talking to you.  She has deep insight and totally spoke through the Holy Spirit.  One day we all stood and just prayed out what we were feeling and what we were working through and then broke out in singing.  It was such a good moment.  That week we were combined with all the DTS's, and those weeks are always good.  Hearing the different questions from everyone and being with everyone is awesome. That week it really hit me that I put my nationality in God, I'm not an American, but a child of God.  And I need to hold on to that.

This week we had missions.  Our speaker has been in YWAM for 40 years and pioneered all of France and French speaking Africa.  I think I sat with my jaw dropped almost the entire week.  His stories and insights were amazing and really encouraged me in what God is calling me to do.  He talked about how the first outreach he ever led into Africa, they were driving through the Sahara desert for two months and for lunch every day they would eat liver paste, sardines, and stale bread.  I thought I would have died through that.  But as I thought that God spoke to me and said, "yes you could."  It was crazy.  Whenever Joe would speak about these crazy missions situations and I thought I could never do it, every time God stepped in and gave me comfort that I could do it.

One thing that stuck with me all week is "We need to answer God's calling for us, not the need that we see."  This hit home.  Being here I see tons of ministry's and tons of needs.  I see needs at home that need to be helped.  I see people all over the world that need help, a guest speakers come in and talk about all these needs, and I want to be the answer to all of them.  But Joe was right.  We need to make sure we are answering God's calling for us and not answering the need that we see.  Everywhere you turn there will be a need that needs to be met, but in reality that's not what God is calling me to.  God is calling me to a specific need in a specific place.

I won't go into too much detail about what God is calling me to do.  I am still telling people close to my the situation and what will happen, but in a couple weeks time I'll let you know what is going on in more detailed.  To explain a little better I'll talk about what Joe shared with us at Friday Night Meeting.

Joe talked about be servant hearted vs. an individual.  Long story short (and what really hit me) was the thought of how we view success and acceptance.  To a degree we all base acceptance based on the success we have, esp in the western world.  Whether or not someone has verbally told you or not, the thought that we will be successful based on what we do is true.  This success will then lead to people accepting you.  We are told from a young age or are exposed at a young age to people who are "successful".  These people are usually business men, or have a 9-5 job, or in the military.  People think that jobs will bring success.

We have this idea that the better we do the more people will like us.  Now I'm not saying all people think or feel this, but most do.  And in a way I'm one of them.  People throughout my life have told me I need to get a college degree if nothing else.  I could flip burgers at McDonalds, but I needed to get a college degree.  This view on life stuck with me.  When I was called to do missions three years ago, I was about to head off to school and totally put missions on hold, cause I knew that I needed to get a degree first.  I'm one semester away from finishing school.  One semester from a piece of paper.

That piece of paper isn't bad.  I know plenty of people who are called to work at a desk from 9-5.  Who their mission field is their work place.  However, I've never felt like school was for me.  I've always just done it because that was what was expected of me.  I know see that that's not the case.  My place may not be to get that piece of paper.  God has told me "it's just a piece of paper."  He didn't say I would never get it.  I just need to give up that piece of paper because He has something much bigger for me in store.  So for now.  I've given up that right to that piece of paper.

Now I do know what God is calling me to do.  I'm not too sure on the timing yet so it could very easily be that I will go back home and do my last semester and then go out for God.  But it could be that I'll be home through my friends wedding and leaving again.  All I know is that there is something much bigger than that piece of paper for me right now.

As I let people know about what is going on I will let everyone out there in cyber space know more.

I love you all.  Please don't take offense if you are going to college and getting a degree.  I'm proud of you for it.  But that's not God's calling for me.  His calling for me has nothing to do with a degree and He really has shown me that I need to give up the right to an education.  I have no right to an education.  I'm blessed as it is to be able to read and write this conversation when people all over the world have died without knowing how to even recognize their name. 

God really is working on me.  Really is changing me in such a good way.  Showing me all that I am going to become and what I need to be.  He is so so good.  And moving and growing me and making me into a person that I've always wanted to be, but was too constrained by acceptance to get there.  Too stressed trying to get my degree on time so I could forget about it so I could go onto what God is calling me to do.

Again please feel free to email me about anything tinagittus@yahoo.com.

Practically we leave for outreach in just a few short weeks.  It may be four weeks away but to be honest weeks are flying by and I don't know where time is going.  I'm afraid to blink because I know that if I do I'll be at the air port in New Zealand waiting to fly home.  We will fly to Nathan first and then Thaddeus after 7 weeks.  We'll be in Thailand for four weeks, then back to Perth.  I won't have my computer with me while on outreach.  I'll be leaving it with someone here.  We will be climbing the mountains in Nepal and even though my computer is light, I don't want or need any additional pounds on me.  I will have my iphone and can get internet on that and I'm sure internet cafe's will be my friend.  But just so you know contact while I'm gone will be much harder for me.

I LOVE you all and MISS you all, but I wouldn't trade the world for the experience that I'm having here.

It's been a while

As the weeks go on the faster they go! I can't believe that I've been here for six weeks and am heading into my seventh week of schooling! 

Two weeks ago we talked about Lordship and laying down all our rights.  It was an intense week and so freeing.  It was a struggle and some of us still struggle with what we gave up.  There are times I struggle with it as well, but it's good to have it gone.  Our speaker told us that God gives us grace.  But grace just isn't something that we don't deserve but also the ability to make it through the hard times.  It's our help when we struggle.  That hit me hard and made me appreciate that week. It has opened us all up, opened me up more freely to what God wants in my life. 

This past week we covered evangalism.  It's something that I have done before and knew about but it was great to get more information on it.  Our speaker was from Canada originally and has been running a YWAM base on the east side of Australia with his wife for 13 years.  He is a surfer and so I totally got how he taught.  It was great to talk with a surfer as well.  I really haven't had the urge to surf since I've been here, that is until I talked to him.  I totally want to go out and hit it hard but at the moment it's raining again so I will have to wait til December when it's summer here (that's such a weird concept for me).

It was really good.  On Wednesday our speaker brought up something that has been a passion for me for three years now and on Friday it was confirmed what it is and that it will be mine.  I know that kind of leaves you hanging on what is going on, but I will tell more as it comes.  It was def a huge blow to me.  I wasn't expecting what was coming.  It's something that I have dreamed of for a while but I always thought of it as my pipe dream and that I would be a wife a mom and a teacher.  And I'm sure those things will come true as well but for now this is going to happen.

It's been a crazy two weeks.  God has spoken so much to me about myself and what He wants for me.  It's crazy.  He's been giving me a heart for things that I never expected.  On Monday I was in tears over the thought of prostitutes and the thought that they only think they are good enough for what someone will pay for them.  I'm not joking I cried four times on Monday at the thought.  On Thursday we got together as a base and prayed for the new building.  We still need finance for it and came together to work towards it.  SO MUCH IMPACT.  Coming together to fight for something we all want to see was so good, and so intense.  At one point we got in  a huge circle and were praying and running around the circle (the kids led us!) and then when we all gathered back in our Island Breeze boys did their war chant for God.  I'm telling you this, if you want to see God move, walk into the boys during a war chant.  It was sooooo goooooooddddd! It made me want to go out and save the world and run a marathon.

Things here aren't the same as back home.  I miss home. and there is nothing wrong with home.  But it's good to be around the people that I am.  It's great when I have a headache or I just burnt my fingers on a pan (because I'm smart and didn't use a hot pad to touch the hot pan) to have people around you stop and pray for you.  I like that it's normal to see people around with their Bibles or hear the music DTS practicing.  I love it.  I don't think this is going to be home forever, but it's good to be here now.  I'm growing so much and learning so much about myself.  I love staying with all my girls.  I love trying new things. 

Be amazed.  I ate fish the other night for dinner.  It was a small piece but I still ate it.  I also have learned to like coffee.  I don't love it yet, but it def makes me feel warm and happy and awake during class.  I also have learned to love yogurt.  Theses all are little things but they are all new and different for me.  Anyways.  All is good and well.  One day I'll sit down and actually write a post that makes sense!

LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU ALL!!!!!

AND I'M GOING TO

sorry that was mean.  I still cannot reveal where I am going on outreach.  I will be able to tell you all when the teams are finalized, hopefully on Monday or Tuesday.  I’m confident on where God wants me to go.  He told me a year ago and gave me a heart for this country.  I didn’t understand it at the time but now it makes perfect sense.  I am very excited and about to burst but I have to wait but as soon as I can tell I will.

This week we talked about intercession and worship.  Intercession is standing in the gap and praying for someone.  But this isn’t a “thank you Jesus for this person or place and may you bless them.”  It’s basically combative prayer.  It was sooo good.  Really intense and just what I needed to hear.  It gave me a new found love for prayer and showed me the tools and ways that I can do it effectively.  Worship was also so good.

The three DTS schools were combined this week for class.  It was good for us all to get together and learn.  Since the July DTS girls all live apart from the rest of the girls in DTS it can be hard to get to know and to  be honest I didn’t know many of them before this week.  Simply because our paths never crossed.  Worship with all three was crazy! Dancing and singing and clapping and shouting.  Good times all around.

This week was a little difficult for me.  On Sunday last week my throat was awful and then I got a two day dripping and congested nose.  It was no fun at all.  I had really hard times breathing and sleep just wasn’t my friend.  I had many pray for me and after a few days I was back to normal but it def wasn’t easy feeling sick while trying to learn and go through my day.

I don’t think I can stress enough how much I am learning here.  Classes are only two and half hours each day but they are so jammed packed with information.  I feel like my brain turns into mush some days from what I just learned.  It’s a great feeling.  This week Cliff (our speaker this week) shared with us about Narnia.  Yep, The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.  He told about all the symbolism in it.  How the battle is raging.  How we have to stand up and fight it.  How if we don’t the battle will still rage on without me fighting.  The movie makes so much more sense to me now.  It challenged me.  It made me realize that my prayer life does matter.  My prayers do make a difference.  They do mean something.  I could be the only one in the world praying about a specific thing and for that reason alone I need to pray.  And not just pray about my life and my future and all that jazz but pray for others.  Don’t be broad in my prayers.  But instead be very very specific in them.  Make it a sniper shot.  Make sure I hit the target to the best of my ability. 

It was challenging but it also motivated me to be better at it.  Every week has challenged me to be better.  To do better.  To apply what I’m learning, not just understand what I’m learning.  I really do love it here.  I told my best friend last week its everything that we wanted at home.  I see people on fire for God.  I’m not saying that YWAM is perfect or the people are perfect.  Or that Vegas can’t be perfect or isn’t perfect.  But here I get a concentrated number or people who all have a similar goal as me.  To be as close to God as we can. 

I have my faults and so do the people here. But something is different here.  When learning we don’t hold on to that learning for a couple of days and forget about it.  We apply it.  And not just apply it for a few days but apply it so that it shows.  Apply it over and over and over and over.  Its challenging.  It’s not always the most fun, but it’s what I need in my life right now.  I LOVE it. 

God is def working here.  I’m seeing it.  I’m feeling it.  I like it. 

The girls and I have been getting closer as well.  We had a prayer time together on Wednesday night.  It was good just to see where each other is at.  We all get along well, at least that I can see we do.  We laugh at each other and with each other all the time.  We go out and hang out.  They aren’t just my roommates they are family.  We stick with each other.  Comfort each other when the tears flow and pray for each other even when its not asked for. 

Today one of my roommates and I went to an outlet mall together.  I haven’t left this general area of town for over a week and was getting cabin fever and just needed to get out.  I ended up finding a couple of shirts for under 4 dollars which made me really happy!  But it was good to just get out and talk with her.  Even though we share a bunk bed we don’t get much time to talk with each other so it was fun to just get out and enjoy the city.

We have been having some crazy rain ever since Wednesday night.  It will literally downpour for ten minutes then stop.  Then half an hour later it will rain.  Then the sun comes out for a couple hours.  Then downpour.  It has def been fun trying to decide when the rain is going to come.  The men that were on the boat sailing back to Western Australia did make it home okay.  I heard that they had to be towed in.  I’m not sure to what extent but they were at dinner on Thursday night and one celebrated a birthday  on Friday. 

I think I have rambled on for long enough so I’ll end it here. 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE email me.  For those of you in my college group or close to me I would love to hear what is going on in life.  I do get onto facebook to check my messages and to maybe update my status but I don’t go to anyone’s profile so please let me know how you are doing, what is going on.  I feel like I update everyone on my life and only my mom updates me on hers.  Which I do love my mom and love hearing her day but I would love to hear about everyone elses day.  Don’t worry about me feeling left out because I’m not at a certain event or because I miss a party or something.  Those things don’t really matter to me.  I just want to know how everyone is doing.  Shoot I just want to know if most people are alive. 

BIG NEWS!

so i know the locations for outreach. my team will be splitting into two groups to go and we get to choose where we are going based off of where God is telling us to go.  for that reason my team members and i are not allowed to talk about it or post about it til we hand in our decisions on friday.

the first team will be doing 4 weeks in -----, 4 weeks in ------ (i don't know how to spell it, the country located within -----) and then coming back to perth for 3 weeks to meet needs here in the city and in the base.

the second team will be going to nathan for 7 weeks and then thaddeus for 4 weeks.

i know which team i will be going on. it was clear as soon as i was told the locations.  God put this place on my heart a year ago and i have no idea why He did at the time, but now i understand.

i'll let you know. but if you could please pray for me and my team as we go through this decision and hearing from God process.  it's a big step for us!