So I am definitely still in denial that it is December in only 2 days and that today was in fact the first Sunday of Advent. I tried listening to Christmas music last night as I was working on my journal, but it just felt wrong when I was in a T-shirt and shorts, yet still sweating away even though both the door and windows were all open! Pretty much I am getting to experience a never-ending spring/summer since I left Victoria just as summer was ending, arrived in Australia just as spring was coming in, and will be back in Victoria just as spring is starting to come in! It is crazy to think about, but I honestly did not have an autumn and will not have a winter this year! I think I am going to enjoy Christmas down under, but it does all feel very weird. Wednesday is the 2nd of December, but the whole base is heading to the beach for dinner and some fun in the sun and ocean . . . nothing says December like fun in the sun! It is good though; so far it hasn't been too hot, just hot enough, though by the time January arrives I may be singing a different tune!
But now it is time to get down to business! Hmm, what happened in Perth this week??? Well first of all our topic for the week was all about Missions. I kind of thought that every week was about missions at YWAM, but we also had a whole week devoted to teaching as well! Actually I should clarify . . . it was only half a week of teaching because we had teaching for the whole base on Thursday and Friday so our Missions week got cut short. Our Missions speaker was incredible though. His name is Paul Dangtoumbda and he is the director for all of YWAM Nigeria. He had absolutely crazy stories to tell us about what is going on in Nigeria! Currently they have been doing a lot of work with Muslim militants who have been trying to take over Nigeria and turn in into a Muslim state. He was telling us all about the amazing ways God is working in the lives of the militants and how they are coming to know Him by the hundreds! The government of Nigeria is turning to YWAM in the area to help "rehabilitate" because they are amazed at the changes they are seeing in these previously dangerous and violent men. They just began the first ever DTS in Nigeria filled entirely with militants and there were more than 100 men who were a part of it. It was really amazing to hear what is happening there and to gain more understanding and insight into Missions as well.
For the second half of the week we joined with the whole base to receive teaching from Jim Stier. He pioneered YWAM Brazil and has been on the leadership team of YWAM internation for many years. He also wrote a book about his adventures with pioneering YWAM Brazil which I happen to be reading for my third book report, and since I was loving his book I was very eager to hear teaching from him live! It was an incredible 2 days of teaching contrasting a life lived off of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the fruit of the tree of life. He also had amazing stories to tell us about different ways he has seen God work and the crazy things he has seen as a result of pursuing and following the call of God on his life. It was both a challenging and uplifting week, but we were very blessed to have input from 2 such amazing speakers.
This was also quite a busy week for us because we all had our major research projects due on Friday. We were divided into groups and each group had to research a major city in the world and an unreached people group within the city. It was quite an interesting project as we got to learn a lot about many different cities and projects, but it was also stressful as our groups were chosen for us and we are all from such different academic backgrounds that it took some time to get used to each other's working styles. In the end though it all worked out well and everyone completed the project on time without too many issues. We all definitely had a big weight lifted off our shoulders by the end of Friday though. It is such a relief to have only 1 book report, 4 journal entries, and 1 update to write before the end of lecture phase. It was also nice to have more free time this weekend to just hang out with friends and not have to worry about this big project. On Saturday morning a group of my friends and I made ourselves a big pancake/french toast brunch to celebrate our City Project being finished and to just enjoy one another again!
It is difficult to believe that December starts this week because that means lecture phase is coming to an end. December is our last month of lectures which means that we have only a month before we head off on outreach. We have been meeting with our outreach groups each morning to pray about outreach and specifically to lift up finances. As a school I think we need something like $60,000-$70,000 to come in order for everyone to be able to pay their outreach fees and leave for outreach on time. We would greatly appreciate you standing with us in prayer as we wait in faith for the money to come in and look for opportunities to fundraise. The deadline for paying outreach fees is December 9 which approaching very quickly, so we honestly don't know how the money will come in or where it will come from, but our leaders all say this is an average amount to still need at this time and that the money always comes in, but having never seen or experienced anything like this before, this is definitely stretching my faith because my logical mind does not see how it is possible, especially so quickly!
In terms of other prayer requests, please continue to pray for health for all of us. Illness continues to make its way through the school and base as a whole, and I'm told it will continue on into outreach as well. Also continue to be lifting up our outreach teams. Now that we know who our teams are we are needing prayer regarding unity. We still need to be bound together so we can work together in full unity once we set out to do what God has planned for us to do. Disunity within outreach teams is apparently one of the biggest stumbling blocks on outreach, so we are really praying into this issue of unity. Those are definitely the 3 big things to be praying into: finances, unity, and health. As always thank you for your prayers and for taking the time to check in and see how my Australian adventure is coming along.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Yet another update!
Uh oh, only 25 minutes until dinner . . . guess this will have to be a very fast update! We had another great week here in Perth. I especially enjoyed it because we got a little bit of a break from the heat that had been building in the early parts of November. We even got some rain this week! But it wasn't rain like at home where it is gray and drizzly for like a week . . . instead we had rain for 2 days but I'm pretty sure the same amount of water fell as would fall in one Victoria rainy week because it rained hard! It was funny though because it was never continuous! It would rain insanely hard for about 5 minutes then stop and maybe even get sunny for 10 minutes then rain really hard again for another 5 minutes then stop again . . . it was the weirdest cycle I have ever encountered! But it was great! I loved it! You could tell exactly who was from BC because we were the ones who were so happy when it started to rain and even went out and stood in the rain and got completely soaked just because we were so happy to see rain! Our bodies are telling us it should be raining everyday right now because it is November, but in reality it is not raining hardly at all here and it just feels wrong! I love the sunshine and warmth, but there are just times when I really need a little rain in my life!
However, apart from the rain situation we also had a great week of teaching! Andrew Dutton came from the base in Kona, Hawaii to speak to us about Lordship and Submission. I found the whole week fascinating and was really impressed with Andrew as a speaker. He had a hard act to follow after Hinrich last week, but he held his own and I was impressed! Probably the thing that stuck out at me the most from the whole week was about submission. I have always known that it is possible to submit without necessarily obeying, but I was floored when Andrew said that you can also obey without submitting. Submission itself is not an action, but a heart attitude! This really hit me because I always thought of myself as a naturally submissive person; I do what I'm told and usually do it without complaining. However, my heart was not always submissive in those situations. I may not have grumbled on the outside, but in many cases I sure grumbled on the inside, so that was a really interesting thing for me to note!
Another thing which made this week so fabulous was that we finally found out what our outreach teams would look like! Since our DTS is rather large (50 people) we will be splitting into 3 different groups and even though we will be in the same city (Mexcio City for those of you who didn't know!) we likely won't see each other at all. Plus since half of us are doing report back in Perth and half in Mexico City, we won't all be together again for report back so when we leave for outreach we could very well be saying goodbye to certain people forever! So this was a big deal for all of us! But we found out about the teams and our leaders really did a fabulous job of splitting them us up because all the teams are incredible! I don't think I have come across a single person who is not absolutely thrilled with their outreach team. There are definitely cases of people wishing they could have been with this one or two people, but overall everyone is happy which is great. I am on an outreach team with 2 of my roommates (there are 4 of us in our room and only 5 of us in our house) which really surprised all of us since we thought for sure they would split up us Gladstone girls (Gladstone is the house we live in!). But 3 of us are together which is amazing and I am really really happy with everyone who is on my team! I think we have a great mix of people and we have great leaders (though all the leaders are fabulous of course!).
So yes, basically we had an all-around good week! Still keep praying for unity with our whole group and unity for our outreach teams. Health is also a big prayer point right now as the stomach flu is still going around and now colds are sore throats are running rampant as well! Everything here is going well, but your prayers are always appreciated. Hope you are all enjoying hearing about my adventures!
However, apart from the rain situation we also had a great week of teaching! Andrew Dutton came from the base in Kona, Hawaii to speak to us about Lordship and Submission. I found the whole week fascinating and was really impressed with Andrew as a speaker. He had a hard act to follow after Hinrich last week, but he held his own and I was impressed! Probably the thing that stuck out at me the most from the whole week was about submission. I have always known that it is possible to submit without necessarily obeying, but I was floored when Andrew said that you can also obey without submitting. Submission itself is not an action, but a heart attitude! This really hit me because I always thought of myself as a naturally submissive person; I do what I'm told and usually do it without complaining. However, my heart was not always submissive in those situations. I may not have grumbled on the outside, but in many cases I sure grumbled on the inside, so that was a really interesting thing for me to note!
Another thing which made this week so fabulous was that we finally found out what our outreach teams would look like! Since our DTS is rather large (50 people) we will be splitting into 3 different groups and even though we will be in the same city (Mexcio City for those of you who didn't know!) we likely won't see each other at all. Plus since half of us are doing report back in Perth and half in Mexico City, we won't all be together again for report back so when we leave for outreach we could very well be saying goodbye to certain people forever! So this was a big deal for all of us! But we found out about the teams and our leaders really did a fabulous job of splitting them us up because all the teams are incredible! I don't think I have come across a single person who is not absolutely thrilled with their outreach team. There are definitely cases of people wishing they could have been with this one or two people, but overall everyone is happy which is great. I am on an outreach team with 2 of my roommates (there are 4 of us in our room and only 5 of us in our house) which really surprised all of us since we thought for sure they would split up us Gladstone girls (Gladstone is the house we live in!). But 3 of us are together which is amazing and I am really really happy with everyone who is on my team! I think we have a great mix of people and we have great leaders (though all the leaders are fabulous of course!).
So yes, basically we had an all-around good week! Still keep praying for unity with our whole group and unity for our outreach teams. Health is also a big prayer point right now as the stomach flu is still going around and now colds are sore throats are running rampant as well! Everything here is going well, but your prayers are always appreciated. Hope you are all enjoying hearing about my adventures!
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Back to Normal Again . . .
Well after the craziness of last week it sure was nice to get back to our regular routine this week. We resumed morning exercises again and I actualy decided that I had missed them the week before! We also got back to our regular class schedule and were able to connect as a school again, which is something we were unable to do when we were all attending different modules and such during the National Leaders' Meeting. It was once we were all back together again that I saw certain people and realized that I hadn't seen them for a week because our paths simply did not cross during NLM. So it was very nice to reconnect again and eve hear about the highlights of the week for different people.
On top of the relief of getting back to a normal schedule and getting to reconnect with people, it was also Relationship week, so we were all in for a real treat! Our speaker was the fabulous Hinrich Kraenzlin who is actually the regional direction of YWAM for all of the Pacific! He really was fabulou though. He was absolutely hilarious in the way he spoke and with many of his favial expressions and he had been through a lot in terms of relationships so he had real wisdom to share with us all. All in all it was a great week of teaching about realtionship with GOd, with peers, and of course the ultimate guy-girl relationships as well. We received very valuable teaching and insight on this topic and I certainly came out of the week with far more hope that Godly relationships do exist and can occur regardless of that statistics and the world itself says!
It was a pretty uneventful week apart from the teaching, however. I did not go on any big adventures yesterday . . . I was so exhausted from the week that I ended up sleeping until 11am on Saturday which NEVER happens (even at home!). We did have a little bit of excitemnet last night though. Pearl Jam was playing live in the apen air stadium across the street from my house so we were able to het a fre Pearl Jam concert! Some guy named Ben Harper opened for Parl Jam too; I had never heard of him, but apparently he is quite the big deal! Anyhow I got lots of rest and am now prepared to enter into a brand new week focused on Lordship and Submission to Jesus. It should be an interesting week to say the least!
One other thing that will be happening this week is we wil be getting information about outreach. Our leaders are right now going through the process of praying to figure out how our outreach teams will be divided up. Usually diferent outreach teams go to different locations so students are able to pray about where God wants them to go and the teams are decided that way. Since everyone in our DTS is going to the same place the leaders pray about which staff should lead each team and which students should be on which team. It is quite the process as we are really trusting God that our outreach teams would be the exact make-up God wants. So it would be great if you could be praying about this. Also you could be praying for energy and stamina. As we have crossed the halfway point of the lecture phase of our school many people are feeling slightly burnt out spiritually and even physically. We really need continual prayer to keep pushing forward so we can get everything out of this experience that God has for us!
Life is going to be getting very exciting and hectic in the coming weeks as Christmas is quickly aproaching, but it all promises to be super fun! It will continue to write my weekly updates at least until January when we begin outreach. I don't know what the internet situation will look like then or if we will even have access to internet once outreach begins. However, until that time I hope you enjoy hearing about my adventures in Australia!
On top of the relief of getting back to a normal schedule and getting to reconnect with people, it was also Relationship week, so we were all in for a real treat! Our speaker was the fabulous Hinrich Kraenzlin who is actually the regional direction of YWAM for all of the Pacific! He really was fabulou though. He was absolutely hilarious in the way he spoke and with many of his favial expressions and he had been through a lot in terms of relationships so he had real wisdom to share with us all. All in all it was a great week of teaching about realtionship with GOd, with peers, and of course the ultimate guy-girl relationships as well. We received very valuable teaching and insight on this topic and I certainly came out of the week with far more hope that Godly relationships do exist and can occur regardless of that statistics and the world itself says!
It was a pretty uneventful week apart from the teaching, however. I did not go on any big adventures yesterday . . . I was so exhausted from the week that I ended up sleeping until 11am on Saturday which NEVER happens (even at home!). We did have a little bit of excitemnet last night though. Pearl Jam was playing live in the apen air stadium across the street from my house so we were able to het a fre Pearl Jam concert! Some guy named Ben Harper opened for Parl Jam too; I had never heard of him, but apparently he is quite the big deal! Anyhow I got lots of rest and am now prepared to enter into a brand new week focused on Lordship and Submission to Jesus. It should be an interesting week to say the least!
One other thing that will be happening this week is we wil be getting information about outreach. Our leaders are right now going through the process of praying to figure out how our outreach teams will be divided up. Usually diferent outreach teams go to different locations so students are able to pray about where God wants them to go and the teams are decided that way. Since everyone in our DTS is going to the same place the leaders pray about which staff should lead each team and which students should be on which team. It is quite the process as we are really trusting God that our outreach teams would be the exact make-up God wants. So it would be great if you could be praying about this. Also you could be praying for energy and stamina. As we have crossed the halfway point of the lecture phase of our school many people are feeling slightly burnt out spiritually and even physically. We really need continual prayer to keep pushing forward so we can get everything out of this experience that God has for us!
Life is going to be getting very exciting and hectic in the coming weeks as Christmas is quickly aproaching, but it all promises to be super fun! It will continue to write my weekly updates at least until January when we begin outreach. I don't know what the internet situation will look like then or if we will even have access to internet once outreach begins. However, until that time I hope you enjoy hearing about my adventures in Australia!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Were Those Christmas Decorations I Saw???
Well it's true! I was walking in downtown Perth yesterday and they were already putting Christmas decorations up . . . I was shocked and amazed when I saw it! It just seems so wrong! But then I realized it is November and there are probably Christmas decorations up at home too . . . . afterall Halloween is over, and last year I'm pretty sure all the Christmas stuff went up even before Halloween was over! But regardless it feels odd because it is so hot! I know the heat right now is nothing like it will be in the coming months (which by the way I am NOT looking forward to!) but it is far too hot for Christmas decorations! I thought it wouldn't be too hard to adjust to Christmas in the summer since at least I am not used to White Christmases every year (though we did get one last year . . . YAY!), but 35 degree Christmas is a far cry from merely not a white Christmas. I'm told there are a ton of very fun traditions for Christmas here and that the whole base heads down to the beach to celebrate Christmas day. It sounds fun, but is also weird! I never thought I would say this, but I actually miss the cold and dreary rain! It rained a couple of days two weeks ago and I (along with all the other BCers) were so ecstatic to see it! It is November so my brian says it should be raining, but it's not. It is all very strange and hard to get used to, but exciting all the same!
Speaking of exciting we had the National Leaders' Conference on base here this week. All the YWAM leaders from Australia met together here in Perth and it was a week filled with amazing teaching, fabulous fellowship, and ever so much food! I'm pretty sure everyone on base gained about 10 pounds this week, but it was so worth it! The food was fabulous, and oh yeah I guess the teaching was okay too. Did I say it was okay??? That is a bit of an understatement! It was absolutely phenomenal! We had amazing worship sessions every morning where everyone could really feel God moving, and then we signed up for different teaching modules for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon as well. I signed up for the Destiny By Design class and it was AMAZING! I heard great things about some of the other modules too. I definitely wished I could have taken about 5 different modules as I was especially intrigued by the mercy ministries teaching, the class on Paul's letter's, the biblical studies module, and about 50 others! All in all it was a crazy and fabulous week, but we were so busy! I pretty much feel like I need a week just to recover from this past week because I am so tired! But alas I must press on! Tomorrow morning we resume our 6 am morning workouts (boo!) and our regular schedule. I know most people in my school are very excited about our topic for the week: relationships. It should be a good one for sure!
This was a week of a thousand happenings, but at the same time not that much went on, so I think I will now draw this to a close. Please pray that everyone will adjust well to being back on a regular schedule and that we will fall back into routine easily. Also be praying for the general health of the base; there is a lot of illness making its way around right now. Colds and chest infections have been going around for awhile, but this week we were also hit by a really nasty 24 hour stomach bug. I was fortunate enough to avoid the bug, but many others on base and in my school spent the better part of a day throwing up and all that accompanies it. We are heading into an intensely busy couple of weeks in my school as we have a major research project due in just a couple of weeks and it can be very difficult to coordinate schedules for groups to meet together. The last thing we need on our plate at this time is to be fighting illness as well, so thank you for being diligent in your prayers. I think that's all for now. Maybe I will have to go on another adventure next weekend so I have more to write about then!
Speaking of exciting we had the National Leaders' Conference on base here this week. All the YWAM leaders from Australia met together here in Perth and it was a week filled with amazing teaching, fabulous fellowship, and ever so much food! I'm pretty sure everyone on base gained about 10 pounds this week, but it was so worth it! The food was fabulous, and oh yeah I guess the teaching was okay too. Did I say it was okay??? That is a bit of an understatement! It was absolutely phenomenal! We had amazing worship sessions every morning where everyone could really feel God moving, and then we signed up for different teaching modules for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon as well. I signed up for the Destiny By Design class and it was AMAZING! I heard great things about some of the other modules too. I definitely wished I could have taken about 5 different modules as I was especially intrigued by the mercy ministries teaching, the class on Paul's letter's, the biblical studies module, and about 50 others! All in all it was a crazy and fabulous week, but we were so busy! I pretty much feel like I need a week just to recover from this past week because I am so tired! But alas I must press on! Tomorrow morning we resume our 6 am morning workouts (boo!) and our regular schedule. I know most people in my school are very excited about our topic for the week: relationships. It should be a good one for sure!
This was a week of a thousand happenings, but at the same time not that much went on, so I think I will now draw this to a close. Please pray that everyone will adjust well to being back on a regular schedule and that we will fall back into routine easily. Also be praying for the general health of the base; there is a lot of illness making its way around right now. Colds and chest infections have been going around for awhile, but this week we were also hit by a really nasty 24 hour stomach bug. I was fortunate enough to avoid the bug, but many others on base and in my school spent the better part of a day throwing up and all that accompanies it. We are heading into an intensely busy couple of weeks in my school as we have a major research project due in just a couple of weeks and it can be very difficult to coordinate schedules for groups to meet together. The last thing we need on our plate at this time is to be fighting illness as well, so thank you for being diligent in your prayers. I think that's all for now. Maybe I will have to go on another adventure next weekend so I have more to write about then!
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