Video – Stories from the Philippines

Jenni and I just finished an amazing week with the Philippines team from Call2All DTS in Batangas, Philippines. Here are a few brief testimonies from the week – it was awesome! Read more

Globe-Trotting

Today I’m writing from Bangkok, Thailand. Although we haven’t had much time to explore yet, I’d like to confess that I am positively crazy about this place! Basically, I think that everyone should come and experience this part of the world. Everyone.

Thailand, I love you. Let me count the ways… 1. As soon as we landed we were awestruck just by the size of the airport- an exciting event for one of our first experiences in Asia. 2. We were greeted by Mr. Panya, our wonderful Thai taxi driver who spoke very little English, but smiled a lot. 3. We have not ceased to eat delicious things since our arrival. The fruit at the “Weekend Market” is great, and the curry dishes we’ve tried have been outstanding. Yum. 4. We have the option of hot showers at the facility where we are staying (called the NRTC, the Nancy Ross Training Center, which is part of YWAM Thailand)… FYI we have not had the option of a hot shower since we left Kona, so this feels pretty luxurious. 5. You can get a legit, one-hour Thai massage for 120 Baht- that’s the same as $4 in the US. 6. God has such a heart for the people of this nation. We are thankful to get to see this corner of the world, and we are gaining new understanding about how he loves his people everywhere.

So, come experience Thailand for yourself, and you’ll be counting the ways you love this place!

Tomorrow morning we take a long bus ride to Cambodia. That is where our next team is located. We cannot wait to see them! I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sleep much tonight, because I’m that excited about seeing them. It’s such an incredible feeling to show up in the middle of some crazy place, where we’ve never been before, and be reunited with friends who are really happy to see us! We’ll get to stay with the Cambodia team for a few days, then we’ll come back to Thailand, sleep here one more night, and then fly from Bangkok to visit our next team. It’s such an unbelievable privilege to be trotting the globe, encouraging our friends, and taking part in the ministry they are all doing. We are very, very blessed indeed.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, and your hellos on Facebook. Please pray for us when you think of it! We love you and miss you all. We hope we can come to your corner of the world sometime soon!

The Philippines!

We had the privilege of spending about a week with our DTS Outreach team in the Philippines. Visiting them was also our introduction to Asia! We loved it! Read more

Video: “The Classroom” – A Staff Roast!!!

Last week was the final week of lecture phase for Call2All DTS and our awesome students fully surprised all of the staff with this sweet video – I don’t know the last time I laughed that hard! Read more

Check out our new photos!!!

I just uploaded a new album to our photo page! This was Andy Byrd’s 30th birthday celebration down at Old Airport beach here in Kona! We had a low-key get together for him with a bunch of really good friends! Be sure to check out some of these shots!

Jeremy and Molly West in Kona

Last summer Johnny and I took a 6-week course in Lakeside, Montana called DTS Equip. It was training that impacted us so profoundly that we often refer to it as the best preparation we’ve received for our roles in DTS leadership. The class is led by Jeremy and Molly West, an amazing couple that formerly directed the DTS department here in Kona. They were actually still in Kona when Josh, my brother, did his DTS here in 2004, but the Wests have been working with the YWAM base in Montana for the last few years now.

(Here is a photo of them with their 3 kids, below)

When Johnny started scheduling the guest speakers that we wanted to come teach on the call2all DTS that we are currently leading, we knew immediately that we wanted to bring Jeremy and Molly here to teach in our school. But a few different circumstances seemed to prevent it, so we thought for quite a while that they wouldn’t be able to come.

But, as I’m sure you’ve suspected from the title of this post, they’re here now!

After a while of uncertainty, the Wests arrived in Kona this past Saturday afternoon. It was so exciting to go pick them up at the airport and welcome them back to Kona! They’ll spend part of the week teaching in our school, and part of the week training DTS staff. They are really skilled in the area of developing leaders, so we are looking forward to the opportunity of our DTS staff learning everything they can from these two! Plus, Johnny and I have so much fun with them, so we’ll be taking them to Orange Tree for frozen yogurt and hitting the beach if we get the opportunity! We are so thankful to have this week with them!

Chickens!

Yes, that’s right, the newest additions to the Byrd family (the wonderful people we share a home with) are six young chickens! It has been an exciting couple of weeks getting ready for our new family members- Asher was probably the most eager to meet these new kin. The chicken coop was under construction last weekend, and was quickly made ready for tenants. The chicks were welcomed into their new home just yesterday afternoon. Take a look below!

These hens will be laying eggs soon enough, and we are looking forward to the farm-fresh-egg-omelets we’ll be enjoying later on. We are also excited to watch each little hen’s personality emerge- wonder who will have the most charisma!? And which will be the best egg-layer?!

Please come by and introduce yourselves to our new friends!

Movie Night-The Blindside

Sunday night, we finally watched The Blindside. We had made several attempts to rent this movie over the last couple months, but each time we tried we were disappointed to find out there were no copies available. Apparently it’s a popular film. But this weekend our efforts were successful!

So we had a movie night, complete with banana nut muffins that I basically turned into cupcakes because Johnny requested that I make some cream cheese icing for them. Yum! We propped up our pillows and settled in to enjoy the movie we had heard so many rave reviews about. What was our conclusion?

We loved it!

It is rare that a movie will leave you so inspired. We saw the heart of God in so many aspects of The Blindside. It is based on a true story about a teenager, Michael Oher, who was basically homeless. When given an opportunity to experience a much more promising life, a much more abundant life, and then given some help from people who loved him, Michael succeeded. But the great part is that the Touhy family, the people who took this teeanage kid into their home, admit that their lives were more impacted and changed than Michael’s.

Another thing we loved about this movie was the comedy in it! Seriously, we thought they cast the younger brother, S.J., flawlessly. And Sandra Bullock seemed to effortlessly portray the mom in this story, Leighanne Touhy. If you haven’t seen it, we highly recommend renting it! I won’t tell too many details for those of you who have yet to watch this touching film…but the heart of God that is depicted throughout this family’s story…oh, words just cannot express.

Meet the Staff!

We are going to be posting over the next weeks some bios of the amazing staff that we’re getting to work with! Watch this space!

Call2All DTS: Salvations!!!

Tonight, on the streets of Kona, 4 people that we know of gave their hearts to Jesus Christ and welcomed him as their savior. WOW. Read more