Blog Update week 8

                                                     DTS-BLS Thus Far.

It’s just crazy how fast the time soars by, day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year.  I have rapidly realized more and more being out of high school now, just how correct Dad and Mom were every time they said to me, “just wait until you get older, time fly’s!…” yikes that is crazy.  Point being, this Discipleship Training School that I am staffing on feels like it just started…but truth is…we are actually entering into the 8th week and only have 8 week’s until we go on outreach.  The Sports DTS which consists of 8 students and 4 staff; is splitting into two different outreach teams.  One of which is going to Scotland to do ministry at the Commonwealth games and the other team to Brasil to do ministry at the Soccer World Cup.

The past 6 weeks have been packed with lectures, in this order from week 1- of the DTS the students have had teachings on these topics, Character and Nature of God, Hearing Gods Voice & Intercession, Father Heart of God, Lordship, Relationships, Spiritual Warfare, Worship and Identity, and this week we are learning how to have the Holy Spirit be a part of our daily lives.  It is awesome to grow as a staff member and to be able to learn so much more by hearing all of these things again and with a different perspective.  It is so much fun to see these students who have come from literally all around the world to see God move in their lives.  God has been showing me his excitement for his children that are doing this Discipleship Training School, he has really been showing me why he has called me back to Australia; I get to help them on their journeys to get to know God and to make Him known all around the world…So Exciting!

I remember on my DTS being the one that came over to Australia to seek God and be changed and do whatever he called me to do.  It is such a different perspective as a staff member, yes I am still growing but am helping other grow as well.  But to see the students where they were in their walks with the Father when they first arrived here in Australia and to see how much they have already stretched themselves and gone all out for Christ is so encouraging to see.

MENTORSHIP! It is so important to grow in Christ and to be held accountable.  I have been being mentored since being back.  It is so good to be able to share with a person who can hold you accountable; the things that you wouldn’t share with other people.  It has helped me grow in relationship with Jesus by being able to process things with my mentor and pray with him.  Doing so keeps me accountable and striving for an even more intimate relationship with the Father.

Outreach!

I will be co-leading an outreach team with another staff member named Lauren Frazer to Brasil in South America on May 31^st.  We have a solid team that consists of four students in which all are men.  They are Rafael from the Netherlands, Peter from Switzerland, Patrick from Australia and Dylan from Barbados, I’m sure you would most likely assume that they are from completely different backgrounds than one another…very true!  We have a wide variety of likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses, introverts and extroverts.

There will be a mix of ministry types that we will be a part of.  We will arrive in Sao Paulo a city of about 11.3 million people on the 1^st of June where we will be serving the YWAM Kickoff crew doing evangelism, sports ministry, children-youth ministry and many other things we will be asked to do.  We will be there until the 14^th.  Then we will travel up to Rio de Janeiro a city of about 6.3 million people on the 14^th where we will be doing about the same work there as we will be doing in Sao Paulo until the 5^th of July.  After, the location is not yet definite…but we are most likely going up north another 6 hours to a place called Vitoria where the town is smaller yet, it’s has about 313,000 people. Now the ministry in Vitoria will be completely different.  Though we will be highly relational in Rio and Sao Paulo, it will be even more so in Vitoria because we will be in smaller communities and villages where relations will be much more valued. We will do more house visits, village ministries, speaking in churches, English teaching, service projects, options are honestly endless!  Overall, no matter what, we are there to make Him known and to bring people to Christ.

So to sum it up. The team as a whole is super pumped to go to Brasil and to shine the Fathers light and love on the people!  We have a crazy opportunity to go and to apply what we have spent so much time learning about during the Discipleship Training School.

Prayer Points…

-Team Unity.

-Financial Support for everyone on the team.

-Health and Safety.

-For God to soften the people’s hearts of the people we will come in contact with.

-For God to instill inside of us creative ways of ministry that would best make an impact in them.

-And for an overall massive heart of each and every person on our team that is ready to explode at the seams with the Fathers love for each person we meet!!!

Now for myself.

I do have a few needs that have come up during my time here. I am in need of some healing in my body, I have had a terrible jaw for about 2.5 years.  What’s issue? It is completely out of alignment, so much so that the back teeth no longer touch each other and that makes it difficult to eat. With that comes teeth grinding and pain in my jaw that sometimes even gives me headaches.  So with that, through prayer it has been getting better, but to be at full potential it needs to be 100% healed and God can do that! Please pray with me.

Financially I am very mediocre, I have been able to pay the monthly payment of $250. AWESOME! Thank you so much for the support thus far!! But I do need to see more monthly support come in!  Although I have monthly payments coming in, I do not have any extra funds that are coming in which I can intentionally save for outreaches, possible medical needs, other emergency needs or for any such things. I know that some of you may feel led to support me, please do, and remember you are not just supporting me, but you are supporting the Kingdom of Heaven!  If you have any questions on how to go about supporting me financially please contact me via email and I will answer you!  I will have a very simple Paypal account access on my blog soon.

Thank you so so so much for taking time to see how I am doing and what God has been doing in me and the people around me.  God is Love!  May He bless you with plenty!!  

Also could you please take my email address: norrismichael70@gmail.com, I would love to receive emails from you guys and answer back.

                                                                                                                      

Team Brasil 2014

Michael (me), USA, staff

Rafael, Netherlands, student

Dylan, Barbados, student

Patrick, Australia, student

Peter, Switzerland, student

Lauren, Australia, staff

Thank you so so so much for taking time to see how I am doing and what God has been doing in me and the people around me.  God is Love!  May He bless you with plenty!!  

Also could you please take my email address: norrismichael70@gmail.com, I would love to receive emails from you guys and answer back.

                                                                                                   

                                                                                      Sincerely, Michael G. Norris

New Beginings-Sports DTS 2014

       Hello friends and family, first off thank you so much for your support through both prayer as well as financially.  You are truly amazing people and I am thoroughly excited to call you my brothers and sisters in Christ.  Let me just remind you and tell those of you who are not aware of what you are a part of by supporting me-exactly what you are a part of by doing so. 

       You may wonder, why did Michael even need to go over to Australia 5 weeks before the DTS started?  I have heard mixed ideas on why that might be, one of them being…Vacation.  That is not a true fact. In the past 5 weeks we have been preparing heavily.  We have been a part of many lectures, for the first 2 weeks the lectures were called TAA.  This is governmentally required for us on the Basic Leadership School to do in order to be able to assess students on their DTS, we also learnt things about different learning styles and how to work with them and adaptability through it, Health and Safety, First Aid; we also consumed much homework to show competence in this.  In the 2 weeks after that, we had Basic Leadership School lectures, these were structured more toward personal growth and development.  We had many biblical based teachings helping us learn how to be mentors, how to love others like Jesus calls us to, how to lead worship and intersession prayer and even time management skills and figuring out how to structure everything in the best way possible; these being just a few things.  The following week we did things together as a sports staff team, we spent time praying over each student and getting words for them, preparing who would take on each task during the school, planning for weeks ahead and things such as cleaning their dorms and preparing their rooms as well.  We also spent a weekend getting to know each other better, we went to the beach and chilled, shared testimonies, sang karaoke and got some awesome Mexican food as well.

From left to right: Raymond-Vanuatu, Danielle-Canada, Jeff*school leader-Canada, Lauren-Australia, Me-USA

Staff Retreat-Sunshine Coast

Intense Karaoke Night-Jeff and I

       So there you have it, you have officially met the Sports DTS Staff of 2014.  We will be there along the way of the DTS helping each and every student grow in their relationships with God.  They will be mentored, prayed for and with, pushed in many ways, encouraged and assessed.  After 4 months of growth, the team will separate and go separate ways to different nations to spread the word of God in many amazing places and challenging situations.  2 leaders will be chosen to go to each location and will lead their team together. When I find out more information I will let you know exactly what this will look like, locations, teammates, co-leader of mine, etc....
       To step more onto a personal level, I would like to share a bit about my personal growth in the time that I have been back.  God has been really speaking to me more and more, he has been showing me more revelation of who he is and who I should make him be in my life no matter the circumstance and how hard things are; because then it is then when things begin to get easy.  God calls us to lean on him and not try to use our own strength and understanding, it just won't work no matter how hard we want it to.  God is our Father-He is LOVE, apart from him nothing else matters to me; of course family and friends matter to me, but without Him I have got nothing at all.  He has just revealed to me that I need to 'stand firm in who He has called me to be and to rely on him in everything. 'This verse was given to me by a friend of mine who felt lead to share it with me.

     
       Joshua 1:5-9 ESV

 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

       My passion for Christ is just unbelievable, I never want to let it become less in any way.

Be ready for some crazy stories of what God will do in peoples lives I am able to touch through Christ as well as major breakthroughs in my own life including healing, healing in my jaw in which I have had issues with for over 2 years.  It says in Psalm 37:4 that if you "Delight yourself in the Lord, He will give you the desires of your heart."  I believe that in time I will be healed of this ailment and be set free from pain and discomfort of my jaw.  It is a desire that it would be gone, and if i am delighting in my Lord I believe He will give me this desire. 

Prayer Requests:

*That God would set me free of the Jaw issue.

*To grow in his heart that he has for this DTS and the students involved in it.

*That He would continue to reveal and show me the paths he has for me to take in this life both on this BLS and after.

*God would keep providing me with supporters and financial aid in order to keep doing what he has called me to do.

       Thank you as always for taking your beautiful time to stop and read and to invest into what God is doing, it is phenomenal what God is doing and is going to continue to do, I am so excited to be apart of it.  If you feel lead to donate financially to me and what God is doing here, please let me know this.  There are many ways to do so and I can tell you how to go about it, just email or Facebook me and I will let you know.

                                                                                   God Bless You,

                                                                                                              Michael G. Norris

God has set quite an adventure before me!

      Was it just yesterday?  No hold on, that was four months ago that I got home to Minnesota from Australia and India.  Anyway, point being said-time just flys by way to fast and I am thankful to God for every moment I have gotten to be home. It has been such a learning curve or experience for my family and I!

     During the Dicsipleship Training School (DTS) there was a lecture week called Lordship.  During this week I spent time learning what it means to make Jesus Lord of my life in everything I do. To me this means trying everyday to live like Jesus did in everything I do and in a way that is respectful and honorable to him.  It was also then when I felt God so clearly calling me to come back to Australia and do a Basic Leadership School (BLS).  When this happened God was simply saying that he was going to be using me to help fullfill The Great Commission for the next year and about seven months.

The Great Commission is from the book of Matthew and in verse 19 Jesus says 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Hold Spirit.'  I will be "GOING" to two seperate nations apart from Australia with the intention of making followers of Christ Jesus!  In verse 20 the word continues to say 'teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.  And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.  This is such an exciting thing to teach people who have never had the chance to hear this before.  

      So here I am, this week we have officially started our Basic Leader School!  The team of us consists of people from all over the world, that being places like Switzerland, the Netherlands, Canada, Finland, and Australia.  We are spending time in lectures learning the fundimentals of how to properly lead young people in the way they were called to go.  It is such an exciting time in my life right now and I thank you to all who are in partnership with me in finances and through your prayer support!  Could I ask that in your day, when you take time to pray; that you would also lift up my fellow participants as well in prayer support. 

     God bless each and every one of you who read my blog and follow what is going on in my life.  Please keep reading my updates as I hope to keep up with everything God is doing in my life and the lives around me! Get ready for excitement because it'll be here, when your doing work for The Lord, there is bound to be happiness and joy which brings excitement.

Thank you, Michael Norris

Here In India

    
   Well we arrived in India late Sunday night.  The airport went really well we thought we were ready for everything we would see.  I prayed time and time again that God would set my heart right for the Shock of a whole new culture.  He does not fail to do so when you ask of him, it was very difficult but I was able to handle it.  The things I have seen and experienced the last few days just in Calcutta are indescribable to say the least.  Not only did God help me throughout every sticky situation but he allowed for me to see the light in every situation as well.  God is Great!
    So when we arrived in Calcutta we went and took a crazy ride in an Indian taxi, lets just say you have not lived until you've ridden in one!!! We got brought to a hotel that we made reservations at, when we got dropped off the driver said to "be careful, don't go outside because it is a Muslim only area."  That was not fun to here, so we went in and went straight to bed, got up the next morning and fled away to the train station quickly. 
    In the train station we went to get our tickets but came to find out that we couldn't get tickets and had to go to a different place for foreigners to get the tickets.  When we got there we met some Americans and they were able to help us along.  A little while before meeting them, a guy on my team prayed we would meet some Americans to help us, God answered that prayer as well.  So this time we found a nice hotel and we burnt that day up with things like the Mother Theresa House and exploring a bit.  That night we finally had our tickets for 10:05 p.m.
    So we were off at last, the train ended up being over 10 hours long.  We arrived in a village this morning, and got in a jeep for 4 hours.  It  brought us to Darjeeling where we are now preparing for what we will do here. Thank you for your paryers, Sorry for lack of words...didnt have much time.

God Bless!

India here I come!

    With the lack of time I have, I'm sorry but this blog will be pretty short.  But I found it important to let you all know what I will be doing for the next 7 weeks and where I will be in that time.  The past two weeks have been packed with a running tour to different country towns in Australia and with lectures and getting things ready for the next 7 weeks on outreach.

    Starting tomorrow morning at 6:30 we will head to the airport here in Brisbane, AU.  My team that includes seven of us will be taking off at 9:00 a.m and will head to Singapore on an 8 hr. flight.  When we get to Singapore we have a six hour layover in a luxury airport with massages, swimming pool, gardens and everything!  From there we take off to Calcutta, India for the biggest culture change a Westerner can get. When we land we will get on a train and head up the Himalaya Mountains for approx. 10 hours and then hop in a Jeep and go further up the range to beautiful Darjeeling India.

   In Darjeeling we will connect with the YWAM base there and start to figure out exactly what we will do for the next couple weeks.  We have a basic idea of what that looks like, so far we know will have a lot of children's ministry, we may teach a mini-DTS(Discipleship Training School), service projects, and also teach at a Bible college. The first week or so we will definitely be just getting used to everything, can't show foot bottoms while always sitting on the ground, don't grab anything with left hand, curry and everything else.

   My team and I would really appreciate it if you could all partner with us in prayer while we are in India for this time.  As you could imagine this is not the safest place to be.  A few prayer points would be, weather as it is Monsoon season, safety on roads both driving and during ministry, our time trekking to villages in the mountains, health with bacteria increase and food (CURRY), and also pray that our team would just be able to stay unified like a family in hard times.  Please commit to keeping us in your prayers.

   As some of you already know, God has called me to come back here to Australia and be on staff at YWAM for a year and a half 4 months after I return home in August.  So with this I have been asking God, how am I going to get the money for this?  I found that the best thing I can do is pray about it, so with all of this said, will you also partner with me in prayer that God would provide for me financially and that I would be supplied with a good job when I get home.

YWAM- Week 12-God is Good

     DTS has sure been cruising by faster than I would like it to, same with most things enjoyed in life; like camping trips or summer camps.  In the past weeks I have had amazing opportunities to experience many new things.  For those who have read my last blog I have now indeed saw a kangaroo, in fact close to 25 of them along with some emu and many other interesting creatures of God.  Along with that I was able to experience life on a 9,000 acre cotton farm volunteering for a few days during harvest, a bit different than a corn harvest I must say.

     During my most recent weeks in lecture time, the biggest thing I took out of it was surrender to God.  We had a week about missions and giving up our plans that we had in life and doing with our lives what God desires us to do.  Matthew 6:25, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  It can be hard to do, but I've found it to be so relieving.  I know that God alone knows the best way and I know I can trust him over myself to set up my life path.  It is definitally a huge leap of faith but I believe that God will move.  

     When we surrender to God we need to look at it as an awesome thing; rather than dreading it and thinking that we have to give everything up.  When you get married I don't think as your getting married that you think awe man now I have to surrender to her. Your most likely happy to surrender to your best friend. When we surrender our old nature to the Lord we kill our old things in life and God gives us new life.  When you do this, you put peace into your life and you no longer need to worry about things in life; instead you can have rest and know that God will sheppard you, he will guide you.  

     After my time at the cotton farm Scott Armstrong the farm owner offered me to come back and work for him anywhere from 6-12 months through a program called Agriventure for a good wage.  I have also been thinking about the possibility of continuing in YWAM for a while as a staff member.  If I were to choose either of these opportunities that have been laid upon me I would like for God to help me with this choice.  Could you please partner with me in prayer with this decision and also that God would provide for me financially.  Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, God Bless!!

Just A few Pictures from Australia thus far.

Ywam-7 Weeks in a Nutshell

YWAM- 7 Weeks in a Nutshell

            Hello friends and family, I apologize for not making time to blog sooner.  My time in Australia has been packed with excitement. We have gone to many different places and have seen many cool things, but shockingly have not yet saw a kangaroo! A few of the places we have been to are Chinchilla, Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Byron Bay and Nimbin.  We did things like volunteer, evangelism and lectures while away from base which is in Brisbane. All of these things have helped me in my growth with God so much.

          From Monday to Friday our day consists of things like worship, intersession, lectures and community meetings. During lectures we go deep into specific topics such as the character and nature of God, hearing the voice of God, intersession, father heart of God, the Bible, Evangelism and this week missions and our destiny.  No offense to my school teachers, but I have never thoroughly enjoyed going to class as much as I do here.  We have new lecturers every week and each one speaks through Gods direction and lead, they speak what God puts on their heart and it is powerful.

            During the 2^nd week here we were told where our outreach locations would be.  The options were Japan, Guam and Sapan, Indonesia and Darjeeling, India.  Once we were told the locations we were told to pray and see were God calls us to go.  That night I went on a long walk through Brisbane and did just that and then continued to do so for an hour or so, on my bed back at base.  I was nearly asleep and suddenly I had this crazy urge to read my required book.  As many of you know I don’t like to read, but at that moment I did. When I did so, the first thing on the page was Darjeeling, India.  God spoke so clear to me in that moment and I had a peace about it.  So on June 17^th, seven of us will make our way to India and be there for 7 weeks.

            During Easter we were in Toowoomba at a Christian music festival called Easterfest. All of us students were assigned work tasks that we would do during the week, I was placed in a team of five people to go out into the city during the festival and evangelize.  It was a great experience and God moved.  One thing that stuck out in particular during the week was a woman we prayed for.  When we saw her, she had a leg that was clearly shorter than the other one and walked with an incredible limp.  We talked to her for a while and eventually asked her if we could pray for her, she agreed.  So we did and we asked her to lie down on the ground, we prayed and let God begin to move.  Before this I did not know what I thought about healing, but after watching this woman’s leg grow to the same length as her other leg I will never doubt it again.  She got up after and walked without the slightest limp after having lived with it since a small child. There is no unanswered prayer, it’s either Yes, No or later.  God is always Faithfull!!

            If you are someone who really wants to grow in God, Discipleship Training School (DTS) is the place to be.  I have never been this close to God before, but now that I have, I will never go back.  We need to think of God as the loving Father that he is, rather than a ruling Master, he is so loving!  John 15:13, Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 

By: Michael G Norris