So I just completed a super busy weekend filled with pelicans, penguins, and car washes, so am only now getting a chance to update my blog. You may be curious where the penguins come into play here, so I will tell you. A group of my friends and I headed off to Penguin Island on Saturday for a day of fun in the sun an exploring more of Australia's wildlife! Did you know penguins are native to Australia??? Well I don't actually know if they are native, but there is an island a short train ride from Perth where penguins live during their molting season. So that was pretty sweet! These penguins are actually the world's smallest penguins so they also had a bit of a claim to fame. But I am of the personal opinion that the island should be renamed Pelican Island because there were far more pelicans than penguins around! So that was my Saturday: visiting Penguin Island, getting almost attacked by a pelican, and then coming home in the evening to do some of my homework! Then Sunday was filled with carwashes! Actually we had teams carwashing on Saturday too, but my time slot was Sunday. We are madly trying to fundraise right now to raise finances for outreach. Our money is due on Wednesday and as of this morning we are still short about $68,000, so that is interesting! Prayer for our finances is definitely appreciated right now!
But getting onto the meatier substance of this update I shall fill you in on our topic of the week. This week's topic was The Fear of the Lord and we received amazing teaching from Ari Sloots. It was a great, though challenging, week. Ari was a phenomenal speaker and is in my top three favorites for the whole time I have been here. Probably the most important thing we learned is that fear of the Lord is not being afraid of God, but rather living in reverence of who He is. There are many practical ways this can be demonstrated in our lives and it was encouraging to learn that we need to always be asking for and striving for greater fear of the Lord, so I don't have to feel bad for not having enough because we never will until we get face to face with God in heaven. So the whole week was exceptionally informative and practical and mostly encouraging, though as I already mentioned it was also very challenging!
Outreach details are starting to come together now which is very exciting since we leave for outreach in a little more than 3 weeks which is absolutely crazy! As I already mentioned our biggest concern and point of attention right now is accumulating finances for outreach. We did a weekend full of car washes and are doing a trash-a-thon tomorrow. Individuals are also doing specific things they feel God is calling them to do to see release of finances, and we are making steady progress, but it does seem rather hopeless for the money to come in . . . it is a good thing we don't have to live in hopelessness because we have a God who is an amazingly good Father and provider and while it doesn't seem possible for this to work out in the natural, we serve a God of the supernatural, so we are continuing to press in in faith that God will work this all out!
Christmas is also starting to come together around here right now. We had the base decorating day on Friday so everything is all decked out for Christmas and looks really beautiful. If you ignore the blazing heat outside and constant sunlight it is almost starting to feel like Christmas . . . almost! Luckily there is still a bit of time mentally prepare for an Aussie Christmas! It was be fun, fabuolous, and exciting I'm sure! I think this is about it on my end for now though. Prepare yourself for another outstanding update next weekend as I recount the wonderfulness of our Fatherheart of God week!
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