MISSION'S STORIES

Publishing God's stories among the nations.

We pulled our rental car into the parking lot of this sleepy property in the rolling green hills of rural New Zealand. My four kids and I tumbled out with our pile of suitcases and looked around. It was 2013, and we had arrived to begin a Family Discipleship Training School (DTS), our first step into the big wide world of missions.

I was excited and apprehensive, wondering what Youth With A Mission was all about. I had previously imagined it was only for people in their teens and twenties, yet there I was as a forty-year-old single mother with my kids, blowing that misconception out the window.

What does being a missionary even look like?

In my lifetime of church experience I had met very few missionaries, so the concept was shrouded in mystery for me. I’m not sure it even crossed my mind that I was actually coming to DTS to be trained as a “missionary” – I was just obeying God in stepping out of my comfort-zone to seek a deeper relationship with Him! If someone had called me a missionary back then, I’m sure I would have laughed it off.

But four years later, I sit here at YWAM Tyler, Texas, wearing that title with pride and awe. I am a missionary, surrounded by a multitude of other missionaries! How did God take my very ordinary life and turn it into this kind of extraordinariness? I didn’t know being a missionary would be like this!!

My missionary life has included such diverse experiences as these:


  • Dragging kids and luggage on and off 30-odd planes in 4 years.

  • Facebook friend list which includes people from 36 nations.

Flags-604388-edited.jpg
  • Feeling at home everywhere and nowhere, simultaneously. 

  • One week making friends with the homeless under a bridge in one of America’s biggest cities, the next sharing a family thanksgiving feast with 500+ brothers and sisters, filled with gratitude for what God has done in and through us.

  • Pausing to pray with colleagues anywhere at anytime, as needs are shared.

the ranch HDR 038.jpg

  • Whispering prayers of thankfulness as I breathe deeply in the beauty of an East Texas Fall and prayers of intercession as I walk city streets with prostitutes on a Friday night.
 
  • Dreaming God’s big dreams for the nations through times of corporate prayer, and standing together in faith to partner with God in seeing them fulfilled.

24131261_10154911379381087_7423587768723310287_n.jpg

  • Singing songs of worship each morning before donning gloves to cut a mountain of salad. 

the ranch HDR 033.jpg

  • Missionary life at YWAM Tyler is equal parts training and releasing, communal and personal, local and international, practical and prophetic, humble andglorious. 

Now doesn’t that sound like something you want to be a part of?

Learn More

  

 

Louise Brown

Written by Louise Brown

Louise is an Australian with four awesome school-aged kids. Together they have travelled around the world with YWAM since 2013, finally landing in Texas in 2017. Louise currently writes with the YWAM Tyler blog team and loves being part of this worshiping, serving, Jesus-loving community!

2 min read

Courageous Women

What does it take to become a courageous individual? William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, observed that...

3 min read

Building Foundations

How do you increase your faith? Former student Sarah Horan shares her heart on how God revealed His truth to her during...

2 min read

Missions Changed Me

From as far back as my junior high school, I remember struggling to find happiness. I felt like I didn’t fit in and...

2 min read

Unexpected Friendships

When we follow God, sometimes we have our own expectations of what God will do through us. This can sometimes cause us...
2 min read

Miracles in the Classroom

What does a young person chasing after God's heart look like? Christian Heritage School desires to fan the flame of the...

4 min read

Cross-Cultural Christmastime

Have you ever wondered how Christmas is celebrated around the world? We asked four of our YWAM Tyler missionaries to...

3 min read

My Stepmom Thinks YWAM Rocks

Have you ever been curious about going to a Discipleship Training School but don't know what to expect? In a recent...

2 min read

Marked by God

Can you imagine God sending someone from another country to see you? While in Thailand, Jess Reminger encounters a man...

2 min read

The Day I Thanked God For Losing My Job

One morning I sat in the classroom during my training school with YWAM, and I was crying, thanking God for the loss of...

2 min read

Sharing The Gospel Isn't Complicated

God has been doing amazing things with our DTS team on outreach in Thailand. As the team has made themselves available,...

2 min read

How DTS Changed My Child

Before I left for my Discipleship Training School, my family really had no idea what YWAM was. If your family...
2 min read

Laying Down My Rights

I was sitting in my DTS classroom, my head wrapped in thoughts of a family circumstance that was happening. We had...