Become Part of History

This page is for non-Burmese students who are interested in attending JDS-2. Burmese students should join the JDS-2 Information Facebook Page.

ဤစာမျက်နှာသည် JDS-2 တက်ရောက်ရန် စိတ်ဝင်စားသော မြန်မာမဟုတ်သော ကျောင်းသားများအတွက် ဖြစ်ပါသည်။

မြန်မာကျောင်းသားတွေအနေနဲ့ JDS-2 Information Facebook Page မှာ ပါဝင်သင့်ပါတယ်။

(non-Burmese students can also join that facebook group if they want.)

We are excited to accept up to 5 non-Burmese students to join our discipleship program for JDS-2. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to deepen your faith, grow cross culturally, live out real adventure, and make friends to last a lifetime. We want to keep the focus on our Burmese students so we have a very limited number of spots. If you are interested, fill out the form above.

Yes! Sure, why not... but - there are a couple conditions.

Share this with your BFF - But - keep in mind, sometimes your best friends are bozos. One of the things we teach here (about friendships) is:

Find like-hearted kings (or queens) moving in the same direction as you. Sign treaties with them. When one is at war, all are at war.

The key part is "moving in the same direction" as you. If your best friend is a great person but, truthfully going to slow you down or hold you back from stepping into the adventure God has for you - then maybe leave them home and tell them about it after graduation.

But if your friend is going to push you to grow - then by all means - invite together. We'll consider it.

Your married - already? Congrats...

If you're married, we do welcome married couples. We had one married couple in JDS-1.

We will build you and your wife a little bamboo hut so you have some privacy... but it could be a really good thing for your marriage. Get in touch and let's talk about it.

We will begin JDS-2 around September 1 2025. The program will end around the last week of May 2026.

You will be expected to arrive in Thailand in August for one week of orientation before moving into the jungle.

You will also need to do "visa runs" throughout the year in order to maintain your status. But we'll walk you through that and you'll go together as a group. You'll get to visit Malaysia and Laos for your visa runs (even if it's only for a few minutes...)

Yes. Come on, put some skin in the game...

There will be some costs. Partly because you having some skin in the game and learning how to raise/earn money and budget is important.

We will have a "tuition" cost - but we're still working out the details on that - and we don't want that to be something that stops someone from coming who is a right fit, so we will work on that per student.

You will also be responsible for other costs:

- Passport and visa

- Flights to/from Thailand

- Visa run costs (which could include flights and hotels)

While you're on campus everything will be provided for you:

- Dorm - JDS clothing - Food - Mission gear - School gear

No.

If you have ginormous feet, then maybe bring a couple pairs of shoes.

But we actually prefer that you don't come with a bunch of cool gear - it separates you from the other students. Your skin colour will (most likely) already separate you enough, so you don't need to have a bunch of high tech flashy gear that they don't get.

We will issue you everything that you need - blankets, backpacks, shoes, underwear, shorts, shirts, pants, long sleeves, etc.

The idea is; wear what they were. Sleep where they sleep. Carry what they carry. Immersion is the best way to work cross-culturally, and you don't need that expensive fancy gear anyways.

Exceptions:

- If you want to bring something to donate to JDS for community use.

- Your phone.

- If you want to bring a laptop or tablet that's ok too.

- personal clothes - we don't have a super strict uniform policy, so if you want to rep your favourite hat or shirt, knock yourself out.

Do you like rice? You better get used to it!

We eat rice 2-3 times a day.

We get a food resupply delivery once a week which you'll be expected to hike to the end of the car road to pick up and carry back to campus.

You'll get meat usually 2 times per week - pork, beef, chicken or fish.

They eat a lot of variations of fish... dried fish, canned fish, fresh fish... you'll eventually get used to eating fish. I wasn't a fish eater before moving to Burma but it grew on me.

Lots of vegetables - and in the fall, students will go into the jungle to find jungle food.

We raise chickens and pigs, so occasionally we'll butcher one of our farm animals. We have camp dogs too, but we don't eat those.

If you have a serious food allergy make sure you tell us about it in the application process. There are some food restrictions and allergies that we can work around and some that we can't.

There are some extra curricular activities that you can probably teach - just because of coming from the West you have much more experience than the students from Burma - that's ok... A couple times a week we break into extra curricular groups:

Art group - painting

Construction group - building stuff

Recording group - working in the recording studio

Music group - practicing for the worship band

Video group - making and editing videos

We also have special classes on computer basics and financial basics. You'll get a small weekly allowance (pocket money) but be expected to maintain a budget and ledger and learn the practices of "Give, Spend, Save".

The subjects will change slightly for JDS-2. We study 1 subject per week so there is a singular lesson or focus each week spiritually. Here are the themes and subjects we studied in JDS-1: God's Big Story

Character and Nature of God

God as Father

God as Jesus

God as Holy Spirit

Compassion

Prayer

Becoming a King/Queen

Spiritual Disciplines

Temptation

Trauma and Mental Health

Worship

The Church

Marriage and Relationships

+ more

Well... Danger is all relative, I suppose...

The short answer is that our God is bigger and stronger than the Burma Army, and he reigns over illnesses, injuries and accidents. He holds us and protects us and tests us and trains us and grows us up.

The longer answer is - yes, there is some risks. It is a pain in the butt when risks become dangers, so we try our best to mitigate them with a security plan (and more than a decade of experience working in Burma), but no matter the best plan, it can be a dangerous place.

Honestly - the biggest threat is mosquitos. They carry malaria (I've had it 3 times) and malaria can be dangerous and deadly - but we always have medicine and a medic on campus and treating malaria is easier than treating covid.

Burma is an active war zone. Our campus is protected and removed from the war zone, but that doesn't mean that the war won't come find us. The biggest war zone threat is from Burma army jets/drones that can bomb from the sky. This is a very minimal threat, but worth mentioning. The next biggest threat would be landmines and guns. There are thousands of landmines (many forgotten) around Burma, and guns everywhere. But don't worry, we won't let you just go wandering off in the jungle in landmine areas - and we'll give you safety classes on handling a gun. It is very common for guns to be left lying around and we want all our students to at least be able to handle it safely, check if it's on safe and/or loaded.

Full disclosure: we do have 1 gun on our campus - but this is a .22 hunting rifle and it is available for our students to use to go hunting in the jungle in their free time.

Peaceful. Beautiful. Fun.

Students are broken into work-groups that you'll be with for the remainder of the year. Each week your group will have a new camp duty for the week - we all have to pitch in to keep the campus running.

Cooking group - you may not be much of a cook now, but you'll learn quickly, at least how to make rice. You'll be up before the crack of dawn cooking for everyone. (but you get to miss PT that week).

Firewood group - Grab a machete or saw and off you go into the jungle to gather firewood.

Farm group - We have a small farm, so you may be asked to carry water, pick weeds, feed animals, fix fences, snack on carrots.

Camp work group - clean toilet, fill up water filters, clean the classroom, sweep the ground, make our camp look pretty.

We have 8 JDS motorcycles, so you'll learn how to drive the motorcycles and do some supply runs.

You'll learn how to cut bamboo and build with bamboo.

Anyone really.. But here is who we think would be the best fit... 18-22 year olds who love Jesus, love adventure, and are looking to spend a year growing their faith. We will accept men or women. English should be your first language. The program has physical demands to it - living in the jungle is not easy. So you should be relatively fit and be ready to join in Physical Training (PT) sessions. If you're a woke, skinny jean, man-bun, vegan - this program probably won't work for you... (We may be able to make some exceptions about the skinny jeans and man-bun if you can pull it off - but the other things are probably deal breakers.)

Yes. We're big believers in family and relationships.

We have solar panels that charge the school, including powering our Starlink. Students are allowed to keep their phones and get a few hours each evening of Starlink time.

We will give you a class on communication security during orientation, but, other than that, video call mom and dad and tell you're happy, healthy, and having fun.

I've been working in Burma for over a decade - but I really believe you'll come away at the end of the year speaking more Burmese than I do. Living in close quarters with the Burmese students, you'll have no choice but to teach them some english, but also learn some Burmese.

Classes - and the primarily language used on campus - is all in English. From time to time we have guest presentations in Burmese, which you'll just politely sit through nodding and smiling. But anything we think it vital to your discipleship journey will be in a language you understand.

We don't want to just live in a bubble and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist. We want to put our faith into action.

Twice a year we pack up campus and head deeper into Burma. We work with local leaders to find out where the greatest need is and we go to those areas to be the hands and feet of Jesus. We often visit small, remote villages, or Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps.

We bring medicine and medics, as well as things like seeds and farming knowledge. Students will practice and build a village program to share the gospel and encourage them. This is a lot of fun. Lots of laughter.

This will be an amazing experience for you to really get to see Burma. The mission can also be tough - you'll be expected to carry your own personal equipment plus share the load of your group food and equipment. Sometimes getting to the mission area requires walking for 3-4 days. That's normal. But we'll get you in shape and ready for mission before we head out. Missions typically happen in December and March.

Ok... You've read through all these FAQs? You are fired up and ready to sign on the dotted line?

The next step is to fill out the form at the top of this page expressing interest. That'll come directly to me (Dave, the director) and we'll start a conversation to see if you're a fit (remember, we're only going to take 5 non-Burmese students).

I will ask you some questions about your life, situation, faith, financial situation, etc.

I'll ask for some references from your youth pastor or local church pastor, or teacher or coach.

I'll probably want to have a chat with your parents too.

If it seems like you're a fit then we'll probably have at least one, or a couple, Zoom/Skype calls so I can get to know your character, answer any questions and explain some of the travel details.

But - first thing you need to do is PRAY - "God, is this a program for me? Would you have me do this? is it the right time for me? I surrender this whole process to you. Amen!"

Then fill out the form above and lets get the ball rolling.