So I Rode a Camel Yesterday . . .

It's the end of week 4 of my DTS and tomorrow marks 1 month of being in Perth! It has been a crazy month filled with many laughs and many tears, but it's been good and so worth it! I have experienced freedom here which I have not experienced before; freedom to just be myself and not have to live up to the expectations others have of me, because no one here even knew me! It's been an amazing month of spiritual freedom as well as I have been free to interact with and worship God how I want to without the various pressures and whatnot I often felt in other situations. Over all being in Australia is exceptionally freeing and I am hoping to reach a place during my time away where that freedom will also translate home when I return and will not be left behind.

The topic of teaching for this week was really interesting: Intercession and Worship. We didn't actually receive any teaching on worship, but we learned a lot about intercession and got to practice it a couple of times, which was amazing! It was really incredible the ways God moved and spoke to us in our intercession groups and the ways He led us to pray and intercede for those we would never have thought to intercede for without His input. There was a lot of practical teaching about intercession and prophetic actions and what they are and how to go about interceding, but there was also a lot of teaching on the biblical history of intercession, much of which was above my head and not really what I was interested in, but it was still good.

We also had a really busy week with lots of new and crazy events. When our school began at the beginning of October, the base here was about a third of the way through 40 days of prayer and fasting for what they call the precinct (the parcel of land around the base which God has promised them). Well this week was the end of the 40 days (Wednesday was the last day), so to end it off we as a base had 24 hours of worship. Each school and ministry and other groups of people on base took at least an hour between 8pm on Wednesday and 8pm on Thursday and we had groups of people worshipping for a full 24 hours . . . it was really incredible! Our school's time was 12 to 1 am Thursday morning which I wasn't thrilled about since I can hardly keep my eyes open past 10pm since we get up so early, but it ended up being amazing! I think probably because I was sleepy a lot of my inhibitions were down so I went full out worshipping God and everyone could really sense His presence with us. It was great! Luckily morning exercises were cancelled the next morning so we didn't have to get up at 5:45 and were able to sleep in a little bit. To end off the 24 hours of worship, the whole base gathered together for a potluck dinner and worship from 5:30-8pm on Thursday. The worship again was incredible and the food was OUTSTANDING! Our feasts at The Forge can get pretty nice, but this potluck was like nothing I have ever experinced in my life! We had about 250 people coming together to bring food and there was such an amazing variety. We had genuine Korean food, Indonesian food, Chinese food, etc. Everything was eclectic and so delicious! Once we had finished eating many people were wondering if they would be able to move at all for worship, but somehow we managed.

The other fun and exciting thing we did this week was Open Mic Night on Wednesday. First of all let me just say that I am in a DTS with incredibly talented people! The Open Mic Night was open to the whole base and lots of different people performed, but over all my October DTS had the most acts and they were all amazing! We have brillant singers, lots of song writers, some dancers, just a little bit of everything! We even have 4 of our guys who formed a band (with acoustic guitar, bass, electric guitar, drums, etc.) and wrote their own songs to perform. It was great! They are all only 18 or 19, but the musical maturity they have is incredible, and the songs they wrote were beautiful.

Now you may be wondering where the title of this blog fits in anywhere with what I have actually been writing . . . well here it is. I rode a camel yesterday! I honestly did! I also fed and pet kangaroos, and pet a koala, and pretty much it was just the best day ever! A group of people from my DTS went to Caversham Wildlife Park and it was crazy! First of all we had a little adventure on the way there and ended up taking 5 hours to get there (2 and a half of which were spent walking from where the bus dropped us off to where the park actually was!). To put that in perspective, we only took an hour to get home afterwards! But it was so worth it because we got to see all sorts of Australian animals like wallabies, kangaroos, koalas, tasmanian devils, dingos (which really just look like Golden labs!), and lots of other ones too. But as I already mentioned, my highlights by far were feeding and petting kangaroos, petting a koala, and riding a camel! It was so much fun, and the mix of our group was perfect because we all just really enjoyed hanging out together! It may be my favorite day so far because it was so much fun.

So this was a week which was unlike any other so far, and this week will also be unlike any other. YWAM Perth is hosting the National Leaders Meeting this week which is a chance for all the YWAM leaders in Australia to come together for meetings and teaching, and all of us students are going to be a part of it as well. We get to sit in on the meetings and attend the varous workshops. Our regular classes are suspended for this week because of this National Leaders Meeting, but it is expected to be an exciting week, though very busy! So please be praying for energy as we take on an even busier schedule than we already have, and also be praying for God to be speaking clearly as we engage with this week and that hearts would be open to Him. I am excited for what is to come this week and this month as much to my surprise I am already in November here! So continue to be praying for what's going on here and also be lifting us up as we prepare for outreach in the new year. We need to see lots of finances come in for many students and plans to be laid for our time there. Also be praying for our hearts to be prepared for what we will encounter in Mexico. Thank you for your prayers and sharing this journey with me!

Tech Problems, Intense Teaching, but oh so much fun!

Well this has been quite the week of tech problems and complications! There is a computer epidemic going around my school where computers are suddenly up and dying just when we are needing them the most! So far the death toll is 4 with 1 still in serious condition and 1 on the mend. Unfortunately mine is one of the 4 which died. Not having a computer makes my school assignments more difficult, especially when we have a big research project due in a month and my topic is the city of Tashkent (anyone heard of it, because I sure had not!). The internet is a handy tool when researching somewhat obscure cities such as Tashkent (I may have to give $5.00 to anyone who can tell me which country Tashkent is in WITHOUT looking it up!); however, it is fortunate that the people in my school are generous enough to lend me their computers, so I can still update everyone at home and possibly get a little bit of research done.

But enough about that! This week was also very intense in terms of classes as the topic for the week was Repentence and Forgiveness . . . not exactly everyone`s favorite topic! But we received amazing teaching from our school leader Caleb Brownhill which was able to clarify and highlight certain aspects of repentence and forgiveness which I at least has not considered or understood before. It was an emotional, intense week, but it was good too. It was amazing the way we were able to come out of the week so much cleaner and far more refreshed than we had been going into it.

On a more fun note I had the great pleasure of engaging in my very first Tim Tam Slam party last night. It was lots of fun and oh so delicious! For those who have never had the pleasure of enjoying a Tim Tam before, it is a chocolate covered cookie which had a certain flavor of filling between 2 cookie layers. They sound pretty simple, but are AMAZING! Plus they come in a variety of flavors so last night we had dark chocolate ones, white chocolate ones, hazelnut ones, Black Forest ones, caramel ones, caramel cream ones, mint ones, and double coated ones . . . you actually cannot understand how amazing they actually are until you have tried one (especially the hazelnut!). But just to make a Tim Tam even better, someone at some point invented the idea of a Tim Tam Slam. So rather than just eating the cookie you first bite off opposite corners, dip the Tim Tam into hot chocolate or coffee, then suck up through the cookie like a straw. Once you feel the liquid hit your mouth you shove the whole cookie in your mouth and it just melts . . . FABULOUS! So last night was a chocolicious night filled with friends and fun . . . and hilarious videos which I will try to post online at somepoint.

Those are the events of this week which stick out in my mind. I am pleased with how well we are geling as a school right now and getting along. Great friendships are forming (though prayer in that area is still always appreciated) and we are starting to get to know one another on a deeper level now. In terms of prayer I suppose it would be helpful to have prayer that I (and everyone else in my school) would continue to take steps forward and not just move back to old ways and old things once the moment has passed. Also praying for health would be appreciated as colds and flues are making their way around. But I think that`s all for now, so I hope you enjoyed hearing all about my adventures of this week and I will keep you posted. We are planning a trip to a wildlife preserve in a couple of weeks so I may finally be able to see all those cool Australian animals everyone keeps asking me about. Take care everyone!

So much going on, so little time to share . . .

So here it is, the second entry of my clearly amazing blog. I wish I had the time to share every detail of what goes on here as it has been so exciting and so much fun, but there is so little time to actually sit down at the computer and process all that goes on. However, I will highlight the important parts and you can count on an update about once a week now that I know more what my time and scheduling contraints look like.

So now that that is all out of the way, it's time for the ultimate question . . . what all has been going on since I last shared with you? Well first of all I just feel the need to share with you all that it was beautifully sunny and about 35 degrees Celsius today. I thought you'd enjoy knowing that since it was probably raining in Victoria ;-) But on to more important things. We had a crazy, busy, exciting week here in Perth. We received teaching on the character and nature of God from the base director Shirley Brownhill, and it was amazing! One thing we were taught in the first week is that how we relate to God often depends on how we view Him. If we view Him as distant and indifferent that is how we will react to Him, if we view Him as mean and unjust we will probably react meanly and unjustly towards Him, etc. It was very enlightening because so many people have such an misunderstood view of who God is and react out of this misunderstanding. It can end up being quite the paradygm because one of the best (and sometimes only) ways to develop an accurate view of who God is is through spending time walking with Him and listening to Him, but if we already have an incorrect view of who He is we don't want to spend time with Him because we think He is mean or distant or whatever. So that is one thing that has stood out most to me: the importance of an accurate view of who God is.

We learned many many many other things about God's nature and character, many of which I had heard already but believed only in my head not in my heart, and some of which were new and exciting! So as a whole the teaching this week was phenomenal! At times it was difficult to focus completely because we started morning exercises this week so are now having to get up at 5:45, so I was completely exhausted, but what we were learning was so interesting that for the most part I was rapt to attention.

Apart from morning exercises, other new things we were introduced to this week were our weekly small groups and Thursday night evangelism. My small group was fantastic! Our leader set up a table in the dining room really nicely and we had hot chocolate and did Tim Tam Slams! It was yummy! It was great too, because as I was walking to small group that night I was thinking that I would love a hot chocoloate because it was quite cold out. Amidst all the fun we also got to hear everyone's stories of their walk with God and how they ended up at YWAM. It was really interesting because I hadn't heard anyone's stories before and it helped us all to understand and get to know one another better.

Thursday night evangelism was the other new event for us this week. Every Thursday night every person on the YWAM base (staff, students, families, everyone!) goes out in teams and meets people in various locations around Perth offering them prayer and letting them know about God's love for them. It was unlike anything I have ever experienced in my entire life and I am told it will get easier as the months go on since we will be going out every Thursday which is good because I found it incredibly awkward! It was good though. Nothing spectacular happened with my partner and me, but other groups had people come to know Jesus and a few people were even healed as groups prayed for them! It was definitely an interesting night.

So it was a crazy week this week, but it was so good. Relationships are being forged and cemented and right now everyone gets along really well. I'm sure eventually the honeymoon period will be over and there will be more disagreements, so that is something that can be upheld in prayer, but right now things are going well. As always prayer for safety is appreciated; the drivers here are crazy! Pedestrians do not have the right of way at all and the other night a bunch of us saw a girl almost die as a car missed hitting her at just the last second. Also be in prayer even for the city of Perth, that hearts here would be opened and that we would be able to reach the people who are desperate to feel a little touch of love. As I elluded to before, our schedule is busy and jam-packed and we get up early so prayer for energy and stamina would also be greatly appreciated :-)

I do not know what to expect of next week as it has a notorious reputation in YWAM, but as a whole I am learning not to have expectations at all, because things never go as expected. God has me on a crazy journey here, but I am trying to remain open to where he is leading me. So until next time, thanks for joining me for a session of my Never-Ending Journey.

New Beginnings

Well here it is, the first entry of the Blog John so graciously announced to you all that I was creating (thanks for checking with me first John!). Luckily for him I love to write and this really is the easiest way to keep everyone who cares about me informed about all the crazy adventures I encounter during this Australia chapter of my Never-Ending Journey. And wow have they been crazy adventures, filled with all sorts of new beginnings!

You will all be happy to know that I arrived in Perth basically unscathed by my 37 hour long journey from Victoria (that's right, I said 37 hour long!). I will admit though that I spent the first day of my time in Perth basically deaf as my ears did not pop during the descent of the airplane. There were all sorts of various mix ups with my housing and getting keys to give me access to my house, so I spent my first afternoon with out any of my stuff wandering the streets of Perth alone, praying I would be able to find my way back to the base since I had no idea where I was or where I was going. It was kind of a harsh introduction to life in Perth, but also a good chance for me to see fully what I was made of and if I was cut out for this 6 month adventure. After travelling across the world on my own and successfully navigating a strange new city on my own after having only 6 hours of sleep and operating as though it were 3 o'clock in the morning (which it was in Victoria), I decided that I could do this! I could live in a new place by myself and I could take whatever it was God was planning to throw at me in the coming months.

The first week of my time proved that there were still many things that could be thrown at me and there were times I was ready to jump back on a plane headed for Victoria if for nothing more than some snuggles from my favorite kids, but again I came out none the worse for wear. Although I did not see it as a blessing at the time, God has blessed me with a beautiful house to live in which offers lots of peace and quiet as it is apart from the dorm where the majority of people on my DTS live all crammed together. It has been an interesting journey trying to adjust to the time difference, so I was happy to be able to do that apart from 40 other people all trying to over come different time differences all at the same time!

It has been quite the big adventure to just meet new people and find out where they are from. There are currently 150 students and who knows how many staff on base, and we figured out on our orientation day that we represent 28 different nations of the world, which is pretty spectacular! In my school alone we have people from Switzerland, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Canada, USA, Britain, and Germany! It is fun to hear all the different accents and just learn about life in another culture. It is also fun to be able to share about my culture and dispell all the misbeliefs the Americans in particular hold about us Canadians. I must also admit that everyone on staff is getting a kick out of having me around since there is another woman on staff named Leah who is also from Victoria. Oh and here is how crazy small our world can be at times . . . this Leah from Victoria is getting married in April to one of the leaders on my DTS, and guess who is performing the ceremony??? Well none other than our very own John Thwaites!

In class this past week we were mostly just getting used to the schedule so we didn't have as many lectures as we would other weeks, but we did get to hear some fantastic teaching on "Hearing the Voice of God." Our speaker was Peter Brownhill who is actually one of the founders of the Perth YWAM base, and the father of my head DTS leader Caleb. All the staff on our DTS are very nice, welcoming, and encouraging, and I think I am going to really enjoy getting to know them in the coming months.

We have a lot on our plate right now just getting used to everything and getting into the busy schedule and routine they have established on base. So if you are looking for specific prayer pointers for while I am away I will be needing prayer that I settle in well and get used to my new life here in Australia. It would also be great for people to pray for bonding within our school. For what is to happen in the coming weeks to be successful it is important that we become a family that is bonded together and not continue to be the isolated cells of people we currently are right now. We need unity to be maintained in our group quickly and we are just not there yet. A final note of prayer is for finances. I am fortunate enough to have parents who are willing to absorb the cost of this DTS until I have the finances to pay them back, but there are a lot of finances I did not count on and my debt is growing larger and larger. I do not yet know where God is calling me for when this is all over, but I would hate to be restricted to returning home to get a job to pay off my debt if that is not where God is taking me.

So there is a relatively brief introduction to my life here in Perth. I plan to update it frequently, so if you are wondering what I am up to or even just how you can be praying for me, feel free to access this blog any time and hopefully you will find the answers you are looking for! Thanks for reading and walking with me during this chapter of my Never-Ending Journey!