Dear Friends and Family,
I am thrilled to bring up the fact that I will be graduating this May from Mt. Juliet Christian Academy. After 13 years there, I’m really excited about what God has for me next. I will be studying Computer Sciences at Tennessee Tech University. However, this will not come until Fall 2010 because God has directed my path in a different direction for the next year of my life.
This past summer I was at a church retreat playing ping-pong with one of my friends. The conversation casually turned to talking about college decisions and I told him that I was planning on attending Tennessee Tech. He brought up the idea of going to a DTS. I was familiar with the term as a couple of my friends had done them between high school and college, but I had never given it much though. A DTS is a Discipleship Training School that consists of a 3 month lecture phase where we will learn more about hearing God, learning how to pursue His will for our lives, and ministering to those around us. This lecture phase is followed by an 8 week outreach phase where we put our knowledge into practice and we go minister to people in another country. The Discipleship Training School is run by Youth With a Mission (YWAM), which is an organization that is aimed at reaching youth and setting them on fire for God.
I will be doing by lecture phase in Lausanne, Switzerland with about 30 youth people from all over the world. It will be a time to grow in God and build some outstanding Christian relationships. The outreach phase will be decided while we are in Lausanne for the lecture phase. We decide on this after seeking out God’s desire and hearing confirmation for where He wants us. There will be 2 or 3 separate outreach groups sent to different countries. One group will go to India, another is going to Africa, and I believe the other group is yet to be determined.
I will be leaving for Lausanne on June 30th and I will return to the states on November 18th after completing both the lecture phase and the outreach phase. Through money I’ve saved from taking senior portraits, what I will save working at Nashville shores until I leave, and graduation gifts, I figure I have half of the cost covered. I still need to raise about $5000, which includes paying for airfare, lodging, food, and other expenses that I will have over there.
This will be a very intense time of growing in God and seeking His will for my life. Please pray for protection and an opportunity to affect those around me. I also ask for you to pray about financially supporting me. If you feel led, you can make the checks payable to Belmont Church, which makes the money tax-deductible. Just include a sticky note with my name on it, rather than putting my name in the memo line. Checks need to be sent to me, not Belmont Church.
I will try to keep up a blog while I’m there, which you can access at www.ryandunnewold.blogspot.com.
Thank you for your continued prayer and support,
Ryan Dunnewold
3611 Colonial Heritage Ct.
Nashville, TN 37217
