More free music love & obligatory end of year remarks

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/media.php

There are some free tracks on this website that are really good. I've downloaded a good number of them and love free music!

Now the 'end of year remarks'...

This year has been incredible. I've been to so many places and seen so many cool things. I have met people who will remain amongst my favourite people for a very long time. I have started university and lasted a term without dropping out. I have bought a car. I have learnt more about myself. I have learnt more about God.

I don't know if I could give a highlight of the year, there have been so many: going surfing and horseriding, doing Friday night evangelism in Townsville, watching certain other students transform during Identity week and carry a new strength with them the whole of the next five months, enjoying time with God, finding a new peace in my life, meeting my new nephew for the first time, taking beatuiful photos, arriving home after being away for six months, starting uni with the feeling that 'this is right', becomming a mentor for our two gap year students at church, stepping out in faith & seeing it work...those are just a few things off the top of my head.

I also was always very aware that whatever happened in Australia couldn't stay in Australia. For it to really count, it needed to transfer over to my life back in England and continue to bear fruit. I'm learning a lot about that. I've made some bad choices, which I continue to work through and some really good choices. I have new responsibilities here and a different culture and context in which to work. I look forward to 2009 in so many ways - running the gap year course and spending time with the youth group, hopefully moving to Spain at the end of the year to spend my second year of uni in Granada, completing my first year of uni in the summer - 4 years after I first registered as a student, and of course, the best bits - the great moments that happen in between all that other stuff.

Happy 2009 everyone, may God's blessing be with you now and always!

Philippa Hanna

I just listened to 'Return to Love' on Philippa's Myspace. I've not heard that song before & it's wonderful! Thought I'd share the love...call it an early Christmas present :)

http://www.myspace.com/philippahanna

Because It's Good For Me

I just sat here considering writing a post about how I won't be posting anymore for a while. After all, this blog has only a small handful of readers, is updated only about once a fortnight and in many ways...I don't even know what it's still here for. When I was in Australia, it seemed useful, and I felt like I had something to share. Of course things are still going on in my life but...I guess it doesn't seem so natural to share them now that those things are going on in my home country.

However, I've decided to keep blogging because, with no reason to believe this other than a vague feeling that it's true, I figure it's probably good for me. I don't know why or how, but it is.

I am face to face right now with how there's so many things I want to do and I simply can't fit them all into my life. I want to be a more committed daughter and sister, I want to excel at university. I want to go back and finish that snowboarding course. I want to serve enthusiastically at church and I want to invest energy in learning to really play an instrument or two. I want to take shifts at work more often. I also want to write a really good blog that's full of good, insightful stuff, or at least entertaining bits and pieces, rather than the self-absorbed monologues that I (along with most bloggers I guess) find myself posting more and more regularly of late.

But...I can't do everything, so I'll just keep fumbling along, trying to move forward and praying for guidance, wisdom and strength. I remember a preacher once saying "If you're going through hell tonight, keep going, because it's the last place you want to pitch your tent". That really stuck with me. Not that I'm going 'through hell'; I'm just busy and stayed up too late last night, but it's still worth remembering. I don't want to stop in a difficult place. By God's grace, I want to push through and come out the other side. So by His grace, I will.

Christmas Shopping.

I guess it's too late for most people to get involved now this year, but I just wanted to highlight the Operation Christmas Child programme that is run every year by Samaritan's Purse. I used to wonder how much good it really is to give trinkets to children who don't have food, but that changed somewhat when I met a man from South Africa. He explained to a group of us that he was a teenager before he ever received a gift, and that receiving a gift meant that someone loved you. It's easy to think of gift-giving as an obligation (as it so often becomes), but it's not that to these children. No one is obligated to give to them, their own parents can't afford to even if they want to. If spending £15 filling a shoe box means that one child will catch a glimpse of the fact that someone somewhere loves them (because their Heavenly Father does) then yes, I think it's money very well spent.

The videos make me tear up - every single time.

"Wasting" Expensive Perfume

I procrastinated, missed the time I thought He was saying I should go, came up with plenty of reasons not to go, or put it off until I could afford (time and money-wise) to go for longer but then eventually heard what He was saying to me. That's it's not about me, it's about Him. That the woman who anointed him with perfume spilled a year's worth of wages over his feet to bless him for a minute and perfume the room for a while longer. That it was time to stop making excuses and do what He says. Follow Him, like I keep saying I want to. So I booked my ticket and I go for eight days in January. I don't know what the International House of Prayer (IHOP) will be like, but I know God will be with me.

Continuing with the praise report - God is totally doing something in me. Studying isn't driving me crazy (A year ago I would get really down if I had to spend a quiet Saturday afternoon reading) and commuting isn't proving too much for me. Even when I'm tired, I'm not more tired the morning after I stay up a while longer to read the Bible. God, my fortress, my strength, my provision. Hallelujah!

Routine

I'm starting to get into the routine of college. I have one main word to describe it. Busy. It seems that every day I have something on my timetable, whether at uni or outside. I keep becomming so aware of the things I should be doing that I'm not and in honesty, it's not easy.

But I figure this is part of the season. Being at university is new to me. Commuting for 3.5 hours a day is new to me. Mentoring gap year students is new to me. The biggest danger isn't in doing these things. It's in trying to do them in my own strength.

I'm reminded again of the day I went surfing near Sydney. I stood up once or twice. I fell off the board so many times I lost count. I would fall off my surfboard and find myself submerged and disorientated. I didn't know which way was up or down, the shore or out to sea. But it wasn't scary. I just relaxed and in a second, without any conscious effort, my head was above the water. That's how I want to be with God in this season. There's a lot going on and it's easy to feel overwhelmed and disorientated but I don't want to waste energy trying to protect myself when I know that I can trust Him to bring me to the surface.

Change of (my) plan

I have now managed to get in touch with most of the people who would least likely to see this here before I told them so I'm ready to blog about the recent change in (my) plan.

I'm still going to be involved with running the gap year programme at my church, acting as a mentor for two 18 year old girls who will be working part time and serving part time within the church this coming academic year. I'm also going to be going to university!

The job I had applied for just really didn't seem right by the time they offered it to me and since a desire to go to university after all had been building in me, I decided to test the doors for that. The doors literally swung open, with my parents, pastor and friends giving me encouraging and useful advice, the university still willing to accept me, the timetable working out to fit around my commitments with church and, of course, the enduring sense that this is right.

The commute is about an hour and a half either way, which even after one week is proving tiring, but I believe it will be ok. After all, God strengthens us to do the right thing! Again, I know I can't do this in my own strength, not well, at least. But a little bit further than myself and working in God's strength is a great place to be, so long as I do remember to go in God's strength, not my own!

Anyway, that's the main of the news. I'll try and post again soon. God bless!

Space to breathe

I just typed my title and have to laugh at myself. I'll leave it there anyway. I like it.

In the last few weeks I have gone camping with the youth group, gone on holiday with my parents and spent a couple of weeks volunteering in Reading (which is near London for any foreigners reading this!). During that time I had a total of 4 nights at home. To be honest, I think I took too much on, but in my faithlessness, God has been faithful and now I'm home!

I have a job interview this week, so will be spending part of this week preparing for that, as well as doing some paid work. I'm also getting ready for my part in running the gap year programme at church - it's the first time we've had gap year students and have got two girls working with us across youth and children's work, which is really exciting.

All this busyness has given me lots to think about, you know, the distractions of life. Scheduling in the details is a skill that I've been a little out of practice with after 5 months of someone else doing it for me and then 2 months of having lots and lots of time. Through this I'm learning more (like a child trying to walk and falling over LOTS) about how to really trust in God. I can't be this busy and still live for the glory of God in my own strength. I just can't. I have counted up the cost of the different things I am hoping will be part of my schedule and my life this year (including things like having a social life!) and have realised that I can't do it in my own strength...I just don't have enough. But God is faithful, so as my timetable hopefully becomes more settled in the next few weeks with getting a job (God willing), clarifying how we're doing things for the gap year and making a firm decision about doing some distance-learning study, I trust that God will show me what to take on and what not to, and that He will ensure that I don't lack anything that I need, He will fill in the gap between my ability and His calling. And that's just the way it should be.

God bless you all x

September

So, September has arrived and I am in the midst of busyness. I've been away from home (bar four nights) for the last 3 weeks and will arrive back properly on Thursday. This explains, I hope, the lack of blogging, especially as web access has not been readily available.

I hope to write a proper post within the next week, maybe explaining what I've been doing, possibly even a photo or two (just to prove that I do still use my camera). But I'll not promise anything ;)

Have a good week everyone!

One Year On

I set off for the Soul Survivor festival with the youth group tommorrow. That's a whole 5 days of youth-leadering, going to massive worship & teaching events (YAY!), workshops and general hanging out with all the fun of camping. I'm really looking forward to it.

Last year's Soul Survivor was a very special time for me. It was great to get away and spend time with God. When I left for Soul Survivor I was still pretty dead-set against doing a DTS. I spent quite a bit of time looking at the christian gap-year opportunities and the suchlike but my main plan was to head off to Australia to work and travel. Within a few days of returning from Soul Survivor I was seriously considering DTS and within 9 days I had applied to Reef To Outback.

I am so incredibly grateful to God for what this year has become and what I have become in the last year. I could fire off Bible verses to try and describe it or use lots of words, but I'm not going to. I'm just going to say this: that I feel more secure in my belief in God, happier in day to day life and more confident about my future than I think I ever have. My outlook has changed and I think that's changing me more and more into the person I want to be. And so, I am grateful to God, who made it happen.

Guarding Your Heart

"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."
- Proverbs 4:23

I've heard this verse so often quoted in relation to guy/girl relationships. Over the last few days, I've started to consider its application in other areas. I believe hope is a great thing, it's good to have dreams and desire things. But at the same time, how do I guard my heart as I attend job interviews and dream about the life I want to be living in the coming months and years?

If I was answering my own question, I can't think of a better verse than this one:

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
- Philippians 4:6-7

This isn't to give a cliche answer. I've spent too long ignoring simple truths because they were too 'cliche'. As I practice going to God with my requests, thanking Him for His love and power I find Him guarding my heart. I find a peace entering into my life. I find myself able to say that I am "confident that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living" (Psalm 27:13). I don't have a problem with the same old answers when the same old answers are truths that really work.

May God's will be done.

Bringing Memories to Life

Since I got back I've noticed slight changes in my tastes and attitudes towards food. After having fasted for the first time on DTS I've continued that discipline. I've noticed that I no longer like marmite as much as I did before I left, and I don't like vegemite as much as I did when I was away. I love having fruit around the house (not bought by me!) all the time and have rediscovered my love for yoghurt.

Diet seems so connected with community, lifestyle and weather. I know that my Friday night (at youth club) diet is far worse than my diet the rest of the week. I know that I'm more likely to eat a proper lunch at a sensible time if I'm eating with others.

So, in all this thinking about food and how it is such a bit part of being somewhere, I started to miss Mi Goreng noodles. I didn't eat them that much in Australia, but they were an ongoing joke and I ate them when they were there. So today I went into the Chinese/Asian supermarket in town on a Mi Goreng hunt.

As I walked in I saw what looked like packets of instant noodles on one of the aisles, so I went down there but...no Mi Goreng. However, I picked up a packet and realised that these weren't the dried noodles so there was still hope. I moved along to the next aisle and my heart leaped...but alas, it was a similarly packaged brand of instant noodles called 'Maggi'. Determined, I stood and carefully considered each shelf, not wanting to miss what I was looking for. Then, there on the bottom shelf at the right hand side was the Mi Goreng! They sold 3 flavours (I chose Original, as always) and they were only 20p each. I bought 2 packets.

So I had Mi Goreng for lunch and it was good. It reminded me of weekends in Townsville. I was disappointed though because I didn't have any dried onions with my seasoning, and that was my favourite thing about these noodles. I'm hoping that this is just a rubbish batch, not par for the course for Mi Goreng for export to Europe.

Step by step

I'm not actually sure who'll be reading my blog now that I've got home (the idea was pretty much to keep in touch) but just incase anyone still is, and for myself, I'll continue for the time being.

The last couple of weeks have been ok. This job hunting thing is pretty new to me, I've always just got a job with my parents before and applied for jobs as and when. I'm working with my parents for a couple of weeks (on the shop floor this time, counting out parts for assembly, so different!) but that ends at the middle of this month.

I've spoken to my vicar about increasing my involvement with church and there's a couple of new projects for me to get involved in, which is pretty exciting. I'm looking for part time work to go along with that - hopefully as a teaching assistant because I think I'd really enjoy it and I'd get school holidays.

Not a terribly exciting post I'm afraid. If you're reading this and you're a praying kinda person, prayers would be appreciated for:

The right job
Patience
Ability to hear God's voice
And as always, much thankfulness for His great goodness, especially that I'm so much calmer in myself since I got back than before I left, even with all this uncertainty.

I realised this week that I was looking forward to uni before I left because it sounded better than what I was doing. Uni stopped being so appealing when staying home and really exploring using my gifts and time at church, for the Kingdom, in Sheffield became more appealing. It's probably why there was no big 'moment' for me...just I keep catching a glimpse of a vision that I think I could be part of for a while. Maybe it's 2 years, maybe it's my whole life. I don't know. I don't need to know. Part of me is tempted again to give up already, but what's the point in that? What's the worst that can happen? I fail at something?

If I risk it all, for love and loyalty,
Promise me one thing:
If I'm wrong You'll stand in my defence,
For acting like a fool.
-Pete James, Trust Begins

God bless you.

The Message / Psalms

Over the past year or so I've found myself occasionally looking up passages in The Message translation of the Bible, just to see how they're worded. Often I find it brings out a new aspect, or just makes the words appear more 'real' to me. I especially like reading the psalms in the message, it's so poetic. Take the psalm I read earlier for example, psalm 8:

Psalm 8

A David Psalm

God, brilliant Lord, yours is a household name.

Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
and silence atheist babble.

I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
Why take a second look our way?

Yet we've so narrowly missed being gods,
bright with Eden's dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us lords of sheep and cattle,
even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
whales singing in the ocean deeps.

God, brilliant Lord,
your name echoes around the world.

The psalms are incredible. I think what I really love about reading the psalms is that the writers are so open about their emotions and feelings towards God. I guess humans haven't really changed since the psalms were written, and God certainly hasn't. I wonder, if David had written this psalm in english, today, which translation would be closest to his words? At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter to me - I figure you use whichever translation God can best teach you through, beit old King James or the Word on The Street.

Back in Sheffield

Just a pre-post warning...this post is kinda random with a few different bits and pieces. Hopefully you'll enjoy reading it.

So after a door-to-door journey of some 43 hours, I am home. I am not jet lagged, although even after a good night's sleep I'm still tired. To be honest, I think the constant light is more confusing than the time difference. In Queensland we had pretty much 12 hour days, while sunrise/sunset times today in Sheffield are 0438/2134 - nearly a 17 hour day!

The journey home was long, but good. I spent a fair amount of time listening to podcasts, reading and that kinda thing, just relaxing and spending time with God before getting home. Also, the last flight (Dubai - Manchester, some 7.5 hours) was really empty and I had three seats to myself. I put myself in the corner by the window and enjoyed having space. I also had one of the same air stewards I'd had on the way over to Australia last December. How random is that?

On one flight I was able to have an amazing conversation about God with a young woman who was already considering becoming a Christian. We talked a bit about that and it seems that her main issue is that she wants to be really sure before she does it, although to hear her talk about God she's pretty certain! I told her that there's always going to be a gap - not of blind acceptance, but of faith - that she'll never come to a place where she's 'ready', but that she'll have to step out and let God make up the rest of the distance. We prayed together as well and I know she has christian friends praying for her too. It was such a blessing to share a little more of God with someone who is just so open and I believe that God put us next to each other on purpose and will continue to persue her. I'm believing that she will accept Jesus as her saviour, and that's always exciting!

It's cool to be home but I'm very aware that this is where the rubber really hits the road. I have had an incredible time in Australia and learnt so much about God and myself (a lot of which I'm sure I won't even realise until some later time). Now I have to make that choice again - am I going to live it out or not?

I read Psalm 1 this morning and was so moved by what it says, it talks of how those who delight in God's word rather than act like the wicked will be blessed. It describes this blessing as being a tree planted by streams of water. As I thought about that I realised that being planted by water says that this blessing is consistant and constant, that God will continue to provide and provide and provide for us, it's not just a one off deal. Then it talks of the tree yielding it's fruit in season. So not only will we be blessed but we will bear fruit and then yield, or surrender it, for God to distribute as He will. Kinda reminds me of a drama we did on outreach.

As for this week, I will be unpacking, seeing friends and family, tidying my room, doing laundry and all those kinds of things. I got a new phone today and I think I like it, though I can't figure out yet where the headphones go, which is an issue cos a major reason to choose it was for the mp3 player.

One thing I am particularly thankful for today - that I know that God is with me and has plans even for today, even for right now and that He is able and faithful to fulfil them.

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who prayed for me while I was away, we'll not know the full extent of the difference that undoubtedly made for a long time, but I know it was worth it! God bless you all!

Outreach Update 4

This is going to be a short update I'm afraid! But just to keep you updated slightly...

We're now in Mt. Isa in our last week of outreach. Reef To Outback is starting a new base out here, so it's been fun to see our friends from Townsville again and assist them in the work they're starting here. We even did Youth Street (Isa style) last weekend!

Longreach was amazing, it was the first time I truly felt like I was in the Outback. And we stayed in the sheep shearers quarters on a station. It was cool. The chaplain there is incredible and has a real heart for the kids, so Auslife there was fantastic (like Blackwater we had really small groups)

I get back to Townsville next weekend and will be heading back to England by June 19th. Crazyness!

Prayer Requests
Praise God for all He's done on this trip!
My friend Esther on the Vanuatu team who needs her new passport by Friday to get back to Australia
That both teams would finish well and put our all into the work still left to do
That debrief week would be effective
That we will hear God's guidance on the next step
For safety as we return to base

God bless x

Outreach Update 3

Hey Everyone!

Things have been busy here and I haven't had much web access so that explains the lack of updates, but here's a little of the last couple of weeks.

Gladstone
The last few days in Gladstone were really good again. We did some more Auslifes and had a fantastic time. The SOMM weren't there to play a set, so we did more of a panel time at the end of the day, which worked out pretty well. I was even on the panel one day and answered a couple of questions including "Why do you pray?". It's great to get the opportunity to just share your experiences with people like this!

Blackwater
We ended up staying an extra day in our next stop, the small town (pop. c. 6,000) because we loved it so much! We ran an Auslife there, but instead of the usual 150 or so kids we only had 33. This meant that we got to spend much more time with them and get to know them better. To be honest, these stories make the whole thing worth it...and encourage me to ask for more and work for more!

On the Saturday we did yard work at the church, helping out the pastors there. Since they're repioneering the church, it also shows that something's going on there, which will hopefully help get people in the town interested! On the Sunday morning I sang in the worship band (I miss singing in the worship band so much...I got through my rota for home the other day and I'm singing on July 27th...yay!) and helped out with Sunday school. It continually amazes me to hear the questions that people have!

Emerald
We are now in the Emerald city in the country of Oz! ha ha! (That one was for Buddy)

We've been doing RE lessons this week with various age groups and it's been great fun. On Thursday I was one of the people talking to a group of year 11s, encouraging them to be world changers and explaining about how having a relationship with Jesus brings a real continuity to my life, a constant goal and purpose and how the desire to make the world better and bless people is part of that.

Next we're off to Longreach, then an Aboriginal town called Dejarra, followed by Mt. Isa. God bless you guys and I'll update you again sometime! Thanks for reading!

Cool Story
One guy in mine and James' small group in one of the Auslifes seemed really interested and knowledgable about Christian stuff and like he was searching. We saw the chaplain from that school again last night and he told us that this young man had become a christian!

An Auntie Again...

Welcome to the world Harrison Isaac!! I'm praying for you and so, so excited to meet you in 2 months' time.

Outreach Update 2

Hey everyone!

Things are busy here all over again, so I'll try to keep you up with all that's been happening...

Yeppoon

I had a lot of fun in Yeppoon but often felt that we weren't 'doing' as much as I'd've liked, and I think the change in the school rules had something to do with this. However, the big skate park event on Saturday went really well and I had the opportunity to chat and pray with one of the girls who was hanging out down there. The hard thing about this travelling youth work is that you can only do a tiny bit, and often, you can't even link the people you meet with local christians because you don't know who they are. However, I pray that God will give me wisdom in these situations & trust that he will look after what's going on.

Gladstone

We've been in Gladstone since Sunday and have spent 3 full days in the schools running the Auslife programme. This is a great programme where we take an entire year group for a full day (or very occasionally a half day) and run a seminar on either Relationships or Goals & Values including talking about christianity and challenging them to consider how God does or doesn't fit into their lives. The aim of the seminar isn't to 'convert' teenagers, but to encourage them in making positive choices in their lives (e.g. we have the kids discuss what they look for in a boyfriend or girlfriend in the Relationships seminar, and in the Goals & Values they write down 5 goals they have for the next 6 months) and to ask questions about God and faith.

The Auslife days are fairly tiring (I've been getting up at 5.15am!!) but I love it! I love the busyness, I love meeting the kids (we each have one small group that we take responsibility of) and I feel like I'm learning a lot about youth work from doing this!

Fun Stuff
I'm still waiting for my sister to have her baby...I'm very excited about this!
A friend I didn't have any contact info for added me on Facebook the other day, this made me happy.
We've got most of today off and one of the guys here in Gladstone is taking us out kneeboarding (apparantly this involves kneeling on a board & being pulled along by a boat...ooh :D )

I'd love to post something deep and meaningful too, but that's just not happening right now, so yeah, have a great day everybody & keep keeping in touch! Lots of love & God bless you!

Outreach Update 1

Welcome to the first update from outreach! We are now halfway through our second week and as ever time is going so fast! I'll try and give a quick overview of the stuff we've done so far...

Cairns
We left the base in Townsville on Saturday 5th April and drove up to Cairns. Most of us had had very little sleep as we'd been up at 5.30am to wave off the Vanuatu team as they left for the airport. After a long drive (it should only have been 4 hours but was more like 6 or 7) we arrived in Cairns and set up our camping mats in a church there (girls on one side of the room, guys on the other). On the Sunday evening we gave a couple of testimonies in the church service (their pastor preached) and were blessed to see 2 people give their lives to Christ! On the Monday and Tuesday evenings we went down to the beachfront and did a free BBQ and played sports with the people that we met down there. This was great fun and we had some good conversations about God with the people we met and blessed many others with fun & free sausages!!! The days were mainly spent planning for...

Pentland
Wednesday was spent travelling to Pentland. Here we ran a 2 day kids camp in a (very) small town of about 400 people. We had 9 children one day and 13 the next, played various games and shared with them about God. On Friday evening we showed The Bee Movie (strange film, by the way) and a bunch of kids came along to that.

Yeppoon
We had a very long day of travelling down the coast to Yeppoon on Saturday, made longer by locking the keys in the kitchen before we left (2 of the guys finally managed to fish them out through a hole in the wall using the magnet from a speaker) and a blown tyre.

On Sunday morning we took the majority of the church service, and I was one of the people speaking. I shared briefly on how communion reminds us of how we are dependent on God like we are dependent on food. I was nervous to speak, but I know that with practice this will get better.

Monday was a day off, which we just spent hanging out as a team. However, we weren't getting picked up until 10am. This suited Karly and I very well...we are staying in people's homes here in Yeppoon and we have been placed together a half hour out of town on a ranch! And our hosts (knowing how much Karly loves horses) took us for a trail ride before we got picked up. It was incredible! We spent about 2 hours on horseback in the Australian bush, going up and then back down a hill. From the top of the hill you could even see the ocean.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was spent mainly in planning for the school lunchtime programme that we ran today and in running a programme at a retirement village. I felt that the programme went very well indeed, with various people sharing different testimonies and Brandon and I played some songs and hymns. We also had about a half hour to chat with the residents.

I don't really have time to write any more just now, so I appologise for my breivity!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us financially and in prayer. Please continue to pray for us! Prayer for this week's school work is appreciated as rules have literally just changed and now prevent us from sharing our faith. Also, prayer for relationships within the team and that we won't be missing anything that God has for us.

God bless you all! xx

DTS Week 11 & 12 - Leaving for Outreach

Hey everyone!

I'm really sorry for the double-post. Things have been so busy this week and since it's Thursday evening, I figured I'd do the two weeks together.

Last week started with Monday off for the public holiday. In the afternoon we all went down to the park/public swimming pool and had a BBQ dinner. It was a really chilled and fun afternoon. I spent a bit of time laying in the sun to dry and listening to Philippa Hanna on my CD player. Good times, good times.

The lecture topic for the week was missions. Three days we had Justin Claypool, a staff member here at Reef To Outback speaking and one day Danny Lehmann, father of David Lehmann (one of our course staff) and one of the well known names in YWAM today. Sadly Danny Lehmann couldn't be with us in person, so we had a video link with him from his base in Hawaii. That was pretty cool!

In lectures it was good to get some idea about the number of people who haven't got access to the gospel. It made me think about how we can reach these people groups without necessarily moving ourselves to India or wherever. I realised that there are plenty of ways including prayer, financial support, short-term mission trips and reaching out to foreign students in our home communities. Obviously, some people will be called to serve on the front line too, but in today's world of travel and communication, there's no need to leave all the fun up to them!!! We also had the opportunity to pray a little and 'dream with God'. It's amazing the wealth of different ideas that came out in the group - ways that different people want to impact this world with the Good News. Now we just all need to figure out how to go from dreaming with God to working with God...welcome to the rest of our lives!

Over the weekend I was very busy because my parents & younger brother came to visit! It was wonderful to spend time with them, having not seen them for 3 months! We went for gelato by the Strand (the sea front in Townsville), drove 2 hours to see a waterfall but couldn't see anything because of the low cloud. We went for a less than successful greek meal and a great steak (not that I had steak, but my dad did and said it was good). We went over to Magnetic Island, hired a Moke (google it) and drove around. It was great to be behind the wheel again, although those aren't the smoothest vehicles to drive! We also took photos, a couple of which I've printed and added to my photo album to take on outreach. My little brother is really growing up. It's scary. I'm not sure I'd be surprised if he's taller than me by the time I get home!

This week has been outreach prep, so the two outreach teams have been split up, preparing for their seperate projects. The other team is going to Vanuatu to start up Youth Street in Port Vila, so they've been preparing programmes and learning more about Island culture. Our team has been planning some of the events we'll be running in the first few weeks, training for the schools programmes and practicing games and dramas. I can hardly believe that we leave in just two days time!

Having said that, I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get online to make updates, so I'll certainly try to make an update in every town that I have web access. I don't have many people's addresses so please email me your address to yednickteck@hotmail.com if you would like a postcard & I will do my best to send one!

Photos

As I keep promising, here's a few more photos. These are all from last weekend...

At the concert


At Youth Street


Easter Morning Sunrise From the Top of Castle Hill


Monday Afternoon at the Park


Buddy


Esther

DTS Week 10

Happy Easter!

He is risen! Hallelujah!

The Last 24 Hours

I'm pretty tired now as I only had about 3 hours sleep last night, which obviously means I've been having fun, so I'll do a quick recap of the last 24 hours or so...

9.30am Wake up, eat breakfast, go on the internet, play a little guitar, not do much to be honest until...
11.30am Quick team meeting about Youth Street then some Mi Goreng noodles for lunch.
1pm Main Youth Street meeting before the crew start to arrive and hanging out.
2.20pm We get the crew into groups of 3 or 4 and explained that we were having a Community Outreach day. My group, another leader and I went to 5 random houses near the base and gave them chocolate eggs along with a little note saying it was a gift from Youth Street, that we wanted to bless them and celebrate Jesus giving us new life at Easter, or words to that effect. It was interesting to see people's reactions. A few thought that we wanted money for the eggs and were a little suspicious. Others just said thanks. At one house we asked the kids playing outside if their parents were home, and they seemed pretty reluctant to go get them until they realised we wanted to give them chocolate. At another house the man ran inside to bring us some chocolate! All in all though, I think it went quite well and it was fun to hang out with the kids. Other groups went to various places including the Police & Fire Stations, the hospital and the mall.
4.15pm Hang out with the crew a little more and eat dinner while waiting for...
6.30pm Doors opened for the benefit concert. Hopefully I'll do another post on this, but it was raising funds and awareness for a centre in Thailand that works with prostitutes. The School of Music in Mission were playing along with a couple of local bands and it was a really great night!
9pm Concert ends, we spend more time hanging out with the crew till they all leave, then tear down & tidy up.
11pmGo to MacDonalds. I had a cheeseburger and fries. Yes I have read Fast Food Nation and seen Super Size Me but these things happen. It was tasty.
12.30am Get back from MacDonalds. A bunch of us stay outside on the grass chatting.
2.30am Fall into bed.
5am Nicole wakes me up for the sunrise service at the top of Castle Hill. Six of us from DTS made it along with a couple off staff.
5.30am Get out of the car part way up the hill then hike the last 25-30 minutes. Arrive for sunrise service very hot, tired and sweaty. It was a really short but nice service, run by the Salvos (Salvation Army) so pretty traditional but nice. We then wandered up to one of the vantage points and shared communion together.
7.30am Walk back down, chat with Toni for a little while at base.
8.30am Wander round the Sunday markets.
9am Get on the computer, check email & start writing this blog post.

Yeah, so I guess my last day has been pretty full but it's been good fun, and today is only just starting, much as I feel very tired!

Lectures
The lecture topic for this week was 'Spiritual Warfare' and I wasn't quite sure what to expect in this but it was actually a really good week. Our teacher, Bev Teddenham (I think I've got her surname right there!) has been in YWAM since the 1980s and one thing that never failed to amaze me was how much scripture/scripture references she has memorised! I really want to memorise more Bible verses, or at least know where to find things.

What I really got from the week was that the devil has so little power compared to God. Our God is awesome, He created the entire universe and holds it all together. Yes, we need to be aware of the dark powers in the spiritual realm, but God gives us power to defeat them, and they simply can't win. It's easy to give the enemy a lot more credit than he deserves and while we shouldn't be passive about spiritual warfare, it's important to remember that our side has infinitely more power and will win the victory!

Bananas
On Thursday there was an impromptu afternoon tea with cookies and banana milkshakes. I happened to be reading on the deck so I didn't miss out. That made me really happy.

Outreach
I'm a little nervous about outreach at the moment to be quite honest, we've settled into a nice routine here and we're about to leave that and a whole load of the new friends we've made. But I know God wants me to go, so I'm still here and I'm still doing it, scary as it may be!

There's still 4 people on my team needing finances this week for outreach. I'd really like to ask you to pray for the finances to be released. If you feel led, you can give to them online. If you would like to give please get in touch with me and I'll give you details on how you can do that.

Serenity
Shout out to my friend Aaron who has the film Serenity and watched it with me this week! It's so good to sit on the sofa and watch a favourite film every now and then. He also has Firefly. This makes me happy.

...
I think that's most of the news for this week. My parents & brother are coming next weekend, so I'm really excited to be spending time with them. We also have Monday off lectures because it's a public holiday here (the day after Easter). I've taken a bunch of photos this weekend, so hopefully will have some up in the next couple of days. So yeah, continued prayer for safety on my family's trip & outreach preparation would be fab!

As always, thanks for reading & God bless!

Bananas

Sometimes the base gets delivery of free food from local businesseses etc. as a gift. I don't know where the bananas came from but they are tasty! The lovely kitchen staff made banana cake with chocolate chips in it for desert this evening. Mmm...

Other things to note: First, 'Banana' is pronounced bh-nahr-nuh not bh-nah-nah. Second, I've been told that a bad banana crop can cause inflation in Australia because they don't allow bananas to be imported and since bananas are on the shopping basket index thingy used to measure such things...they cause inflation.

DTS Week 9

This is gettin ridiculous! Another week has flown by and it's time again for an update!

Lectures
This week's topic was evangelism...very exciting! Our speaker was Ross Tooley, a man who's been with YWAM since the 60s, when there were only about 10 people in the whole mission. He spoke to us about face-to-face evangelism, the importance of being aware of culture, prior beliefs etc. and reiterated that evangelism is not about tricking people, it's about "inspiring them to fall in love with God".

The YWAM motto is 'to know God and make Him known'. This makes a lot of sense to me. What's the point in making Him known if we don't know Him? Furthermore, why would we want to? Evangelism is about telling good news, so it's got to be much easier when you know just how good that news is!

I'd like to start up more conversations about this kind of stuff in the streets etc, but I haven't really seen an opportunity this week. Maybe next week there'll be a chance. Either way, I want to make sure that I 'live a life worthy of my calling'(Eph 4:1), because God is so incredible, how could I not want people to have this amazing gift?

Fun Stuff
For the first 5 weeks of DTS we had morning excercise. This meant being out on the deck at 6am ready to go for a walk, a run, do jazz-cercise, whatever, so long as we did something. Since camping, morning excercise is no longer mandatory, but I've been rying to do something each morning. The last couple of mornings I've walked up to the park and gone on the swing. I love swings. It makes me sad that they're generally see as childish. The sunsets and sunrises are almost always really pretty here, so I enjoy starting the day with a walk, looking at the pink clouds. It's a good start to the day.

On Friday we went at had worship at the strand (the seafront in town) around midday. We were only there for about half an hour, but it was wonderful to sing praises to God while standing under a palm tree right beside the glitering ocean. I'd like to worship in public more often. How many non-Christians have ever seen Christians really worshipping, not just singing songs? Not to say that I want to 'put it on' (I really don't at all) but I think that sung worship, in conjunction with lifestle worship (to make a distinction)is a great witness to our faith.

We've been doing quite a bit of celebrating birthdays recently. This is good fun. Not least because of the cake (one of my friends had an amazing Black Forest Cake..mmm). Also though, there is the singing. Not only do we sing the regular song, but two more on top. It's a true experience that makes me just a little sad that I won't be here for my birthday.

Outreach
Plans continue to come together & as I get a greater sense that God is really calling me on this trip, I am looking forward to it more and more. We are still a little unsure about how the first two weeks are going to look and where we're going to go, so prayers for that would be appreciated. This week we chose areas of responsibility (e.g. food, worship & intercession, hospitality etc.) and I am in chanrge of the Team Diary! As you've probably guessed from my blog, I quite enjoy doin that kinda suff so although I won't be writing everything, I will be making sure that somehing gets put in everyday (or as close to that as possible). At the end of DTS we should each be getting a copy, so that's cool. I'll be keeping my blog as up to date as possible though it may be tricky because I don't know how much internet access I'll have.

SOMM
SOMM = School of Music in Missions. This is another school run here at the base. They leave for outreach just before we do and it's been really great to hear their concerts over the past couple of weeks. There are some very talented musicians in the school! Their outreach takes them to Thailand for 3 weeks to support a centre that works with prostitutes, then back to Queensland to raise awareness about gender-discrimination issues around the world and call youn people into missions to make a difference. I'm really excied for what they're doing and look forward to seeing how much they've grown when our two teams join together for the last week of outreach in Mt. Isa.

Newsletter
I am in the process of finishing writing a newsletter. If you would like a copy emailed or posted to you, please email me at yednickteck@hotmail.com with your address/email address!

Photos
I am so sorry for not posting more photos. To be honest, I've not been taking many either! I'll put some more up soon, hopefully before I go on outreach!

Prayer Points
- Energy & health for everyone on base as life is quite busy here and a lot of people are getting colds etc.
- Spiritual protection over our school as we learn about spiritual warfare next week.
- Safe journey for my Mum, Dad & younger brother as they fly to Australia next Friday/Saturday and safe travels during the 3 weeks that they're here.
- Opportunities for me and the other DTS students to share our faith with people not just on a Friday evening, but also in day to day life. In this, that we would hear and obey God's voice and leading.

God bless you all! Have a great week! x

DTS Week 8

Another week, another update!

Week 8 absolutely flew by! Seriously, it just disappeared on me! Still, I will update you as best as I can...

DTS
The topic for week 8 was Wisdom & Relationships. Our guest lecturer was Steve Aherne, the director of YWAM Australia, so it was fab to have him teaching us. The most essential message of the week for me was that true wisdom is knowing and doing the will of God. It seems kinda obvious when I say it, but the reminder didn't hurt! The relationships thing is always a tricky one. We all have different ways of describing them etc. etc. I generally figure that if you're praying, doing what God says (see above!) & testing it by seeking the good of the other person, then you can't really go far wrong, surely?

Bible Quote of the Week
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 8:38-39

This verse has popped up a couple of times so far during DTS and is so incredible. It really is true that we can't do anything to make God love us more or anything to make God love us less. I actually wrote it in a friend's birithday card this week because it's easy to read these verses and think "yes, that's nice" and fail to glimpse it's application to our life. In this case, that as my friend approaches another year, there is nothing that can happen in the coming 12 months to separate him from the love of God. No matter what the year brings, God's love for him is constant. That pleases me greatly.

Evangelism
Evangelism is actually this week's topic in lectures, so I'm sure I'll have more to say on this next week, but I ust wanted to mention that I have had some great opportunities to chat about God to non-Christians over this weekend. None of the conversations were exactly explicit gospel-preaching, but I really feel that they were worthwhile. One conversation in particular stands out to me from the weekly youth event. I spent maybe 20 minutes talking to one of the young people, let's call him Jack (not his real name). He's interested in God and has attended Bible studies etc. before, but doesn't quite know what to think. I encouraged him to ask God to show Himself to him and told him a couple of stories of where I've seen God work in my life. Jack seemed really encouraged and thanked me for chatting to him. I'm praying that Jack will have that experience of God soon and start moving further into the purposes for which he was created.

Prayer Requests
Please continue to thank God for His goodness towards me. Pray for Jack and all the other people I have the opportunity and privilage of witnessing to. Please also pray about plans for our outreach as we are still a little unsure as to what we're doing for the first couple of weeks.

God bless you all & thanks for reading!

On the beach, trusting God

There's a full update on camping below, but I just wanted to share this thought seperately...

I walked barefoot along the sand for a while. I love that feeling as the sand bends and falls apart under your feet. It reminded me of a poem I wrote a while ago that mentioned struggling to trust God when 'the world felt like shifting sand beneath my feet'. As I walked along the beach feeling the sand move under my toes, I realised that the world is 'shifting sand beneath my feet'. When I started to expect the world to be solid and it wasn't, I found it hard to trust God. The truth is that the world isn't solid, but God is. When we start expecting things God hasn't promised and get disappointed it's easy to claim God isn't trustworthy. But it's not true. It doesn't make God untrustworthy - He never promised us an easy life or a solid world to stand on. He is 'the solid rock' for us to stand on, and that doesn't shift with the tide. I'm grateful for that truth.

DTS Week 6 & 7 - Camping

I've got a feeling this is going to be a long post so please bear with me. I'll try to use headings to make it a bit easier to read!

Camping/Camping Stories
Camping was good fun. It was really great to get away from base for a little while - less distractions and more time to spend together. Of course, we weren't exactly isolated (we were at the local scout camp) but you can't have everything.

There were frogs in the shower and plenty of insects (so many bites). There were wake up songs at 6.30am. There were games. There were campfires. There was supper (everynight). There were storms. There was going to sleep wet. There were wellies. There was sleeping in tents. There was swimming in the river. There was worshipping around the campfire in the rain and the presence of God. There was spontaneous worship under the stars when it was so dark I couldn't even see who else was there.

A cool camping discovery was doughboys. Here's an explanation for those who don't know:
1) make bread dough
2) wrap it round a stick
3) cook it on the campfire
4) take it off the stick
5) pour syrup into the hole
6) eat and enjoy

Lectures
The first week we had a different teacher every day so just had short teaching on various topics. Probably my favourite day was the teaching on different worldviews, where we discussed various philosophies that are prevelent in the world today - what they are and how Christians respond to them.

The second week we were studying The Lordship of Christ. This included teaching on salvation, following Jesus, and how although He already is the lord of our lives, we have to choose whether or not to live in the truth of that.

Baptisms
On the last day of camping we went down to the river and five of the students got baptised. These were all students who had been Christians for a number of years, but felt that it was time for them to make (or in one case, remake) the public commitment to acknowledge and submit to Jesus as Lord. It was good fun. There were a few teenagers there who seemed to find us a little strange. That was kinda funny though.

Celebration Night
As Friday of Week 6 marked us being half way through lecture phase, our wonderful leaders decided to throw us a 'Celebration Night'. Every part of the evening was a secret beforehand and was great fun. It started in the afternoon with a trip to the beach (see pictures in the previous post). When we first got there we had time to just be quiet and spend fifteen minutes with God, then we joined together for worship & talked about the things we are thankful for. We spent a little more time at the beach, ate food, drank lemonade and had a really great time.

The beach was beautiful (as I hope these photos show). We were the only people there, which is always special (especially to a European!). There was tropical vegetation lining the back of the beach and such an incredible view of the ocean and a couple of islands just off shore. Sadly we couldn't swim as there was a danger of crocodiles and there are also poisonous jellyfish the size of your thumbnail in the water. It was a look-but-don't-touch kinda situation.

Celebration night continued with a delicious meal back at the campsite followed by a surprise open air movie evening watching Evan Almighty (which I hadn't seen and had wanted to so great choice in my opinion). It was a really great day.

Outreach
We still haven't been given a totally set plan for outreach (i.e. date-by-date where we're going) but we're getting a clearer idea. I'll post more on this later, but we should be hitting about 6-8 towns in the 8 weeks, including most likely the towns of Emerald, Longreach and Mt. Isa. Mt. Isa will be our final stop and we'll be working alongside some people who moved from the base in Townsville to Mt. Isa to minister there and also with the School of Music in Missions (another school currently running at the base). I'd really appreciate prayer for the team to continue to bond, especially as our final team member (a guy who didn't complete his DTS outreach due to injury) joins us next week. I want to take hope, encouragement and the gospel into these towns and really bless the people there. My biggest prayer (and please join with me, I'm not the only team member praying for this!) is that every single member of the team will lead someone to Christ (i.e. pray with them as they acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and Saviour for the first time) at least once during the outreach. I really believe that that alone would be worth it!

Finances
I am very blessed in that this area is not a struggle to me. However, if you want to get involved with this work, specifically the outback outreach, there are 4 team members still needing funding. If you feel led to support them financially, send me an email (yednickteck@hotmail.com) and I'll give you more information on that. Please thank God for providing my outreach fees already!

General News
I really feel that I'm making some good friends here, which is a huge blessing to me. I'm trying not to think about the fact that not all my best friends are on my outreach team! I'm missing home a lot at the moment, despite enjoying being here, so I'm really looking forward to my parents and brother visiting in just a few weeks' time.

During camping it's really started to hit home to me that the real test of this time is going to start when I get home - how am I going to use what I've been learning here to really impact my home nation for Jesus Christ? Or, to phrase it another way, how am I going to use what I've been learning here to really bless the people of Britain and introduce them to the answer they've been looking for?

Shout Out to Louise
During camping I got a package delivered (someone picked it up during a food run to base). This package was from one of my best friends back home, Louise. Just before I left she introduced me to the ingenious and beautiful TV show Firefly, and we watched the entire series and the movie in the space of about 16 days around work & Christmas. It was quite the challenge. Anyway, the package contained a card with a picture of Burbage Edge in Derbyshire, a Firefly bookmark, a hat like one of the characters in the show wears and two toy dinosaurs because one of the characters plays with toy dinosaurs. It made me laugh so much. I have played with my dinosaurs quite a bit. So yeah: Thanks Louise!!!

Camping - A few photos

Here's a few photos from camping. All but one are from the afternoon we spent at the beach, it was very pretty. Enjoy!

Aidan playing worship music on the beach










Frog on the shower!

DTS Week 5

Ok, so this week has been very busy, but really, really great! Here's the roundup...

The theme this week was "The Nature and Character of God". This is something I have struggled with a lot recently, and the opportunity to hear lots of intelligent, understandable information on it was very helpful to me. This has led to some great prayer times and generally just feeling more secure in God - in trusting that He really is good. I have had to let go of some places where I was still holding God at arms' length in my heart, and I know there are still more areas to work on, but right now I'm just loving that God's brought me a little further on that journey in my relationship with Him, and there's still much, much more to come! Our lecturer was David Cole, a man from New Zealand, who works with YWAM in New Zealand. He was one of those people who just shone love & the light of God. It was great to be taught by him!

Camping
Tommorrow, I head off for a two-week camping trip. (so no updates until late February/early March I'm afraid) This is part of the school and we will still be having lectures etc, just in a camp site. I'm really looking forward to going camping (I must admit, it was one of the reasons I wanted to come to Townsville for my DTS!) However, the rain is absolutely awful at the moment, so prayers that we don't get flooded in would be great! The campsite is not too far from here (maybe 1/2 hour drive) and has got showers & stuff. There's plenty of space there & lots of trees, so I'm really hoping that the weather clears up and we get pretty stars & can sit round a campfire in the evenings. I have bought wellies. I have packed my wellies. They call them gum boots here. I am prepared.

Work Duty
I love my work duty! I'm on kitchen clean up and honestly think I got the BEST deal. Dinner clean up is a group effort, usually done to music and chatting, generally taking about an hour straight after dinner (obviously). Most work duties are 3-5pm, so are longer and mean not having the afternoon free. Also, we get to make the kitchen sparkle. yay.

Valentine's Day
Yesterday was Valentine's Day, and obviously I didn't think much of it at all. I'm not one to get upset about not having a boyfriend, not 'celebrating' the holiday etc., I just kinda go with it. But the people here are lovely... one of the girls made a paper heart for each person with a little Valentine's message and a mini bar of CADBURY'S chocolate (yum yum!). Then in the evening, the guys from our course came round with ice cream (and toppings) and a Valentine's card for each girl, signed by all the guys. I was surprised by how touched I was - it made me want to cry (happy crying, but I didn't cry anyway).

The Group
We all seem to be getting on well as a group, although I certainly know some people here way better than others. The previous DTS has just come back from outreach and there are almost 40 of them (compared to 20 of us). I'm really pleased that our group is a bit smaller - I'm struggling to get to know everyone well as it is, nevermind if there were twice as many people!

My Parents
This is a shout out to my parents - THANK YOU MUM & DAD FOR BEING SUCH WONDERFUL PARENTS & EXAMPLES TO ME! YOU ARE FAB!!!!!!! I've just been struck again this week by how blessed I am to have the parents I've got; we've been discussing God's character this week and have talked about God as our Father. There was more than one person in the group who mentioned a bad relationship with at least one of their parents and this makes me so sad. My parents have always been good to me and looked after me so well that I didn't even realise it....I just took it for granted that that's what parents did! I mean, I'd realised that I'd got good parents, but the more people I meet, the more I understand just how great my mum and dad really are.

Flights & Visa
I have sent off the rest of my visa application, so, God-willing, that should be coming through while I'm camping. After a minor problem with the airline, I have rebooked my flight home for June. So yeah, praise God for the rebooking & praying that the visa will come through without any problems.

Prayer Requests etc...
Continued good relationships & building of relationships within the DTS group
A safe & fun camping trip, and that we won't get flooded or ruin all our stuff. So yeah - protection and enjoyment!
For families back home who won't hear from us for 2 weeks
For the planning process for the 2 outreach teams - the Islands team are hoping to go to Vanuatu and pioneer some youth work there, while the Outback team (my team) will soon be starting to finalise the route - probably some variation on going to Mt. Isa and back again, doing youth & schools' work along the way.
Finally, when praying for me, please don't forget to thank God for all the great things He's been doing in my life these past few weeks, and in my life before that. God has just been revealing so much of Himself to me and it's incredible, He's incredible. Thanks & praise are definately in order! (Thank You, God!)

Finally, thank you for reading, I pray that God will continue to bless and keep you all. Drop me an email sometime (Some of you do, I know, and I love it) and I'll make an effort to reply personally. Have a great two weeks everyone!

DTS Week 4

We have officially completed 1/3 of our lecture phase. Insane.

Biblical studies week was really good. I think my favourite parts were reading whole sections/books of the Bible outloud together - it's incredible how much more I could connect with what I was reading when I read out loud. We also had the opportunity to practice Biblical meditation - just really prayerfully considering a few verses at a time, trying to understand what God was saying in them.

I'm really hoping to make reading the Bible outloud a regular part of my life. One of my prayers in coming here was to regain what I used to have in reading the Bible - where things would constantly 'jump' out at me and I'd feel like I was actually getting closer to God in reading the Word. I feel like I'm getting somewhere this week, so that's really great!

I am officially going on outreach to Outback Australia! We will be doing schools & youth work (and probably other bits and pieces) in various towns around Northern Queensland for 8 weeks. I am so so excited! Prayers for which towns we should go to, and continued team relationships would be really appreciated.

Next weekend we head off on our 2-week camping trip, so I obviously won't be posting during that time. A few of us went out this morning to look at camp grounds and we found one we really like. We're praying that it will be affordable and available for us to go there.

I also saw wallabies. That makes me happy.

DTS Week 3

So, first off, sorry that this update is a little late. Things are getting busier here, and I had a lazy Sunday (first full day off in 2 weeks) so...yeah, that's the deal!

Last week we were discussing Identity in lectures. This was a lot about who God created us to be - recognising lies we believe about ourselves, that make us out to be less than we are, and understanding what the truth is of how we were designed and who we are in Him.

It was a pretty fun week overall, I felt.

Friday night was evangelism night again. Me and the two other girls I was with got into a long conversation about spiritual stuff with a woman who's into angelology, meditation, yoga and that kinda thing. It was interesting, though kind of scary to see how close she was to the truth in some ways, and yet so very, very far. We gave her a tract explaining the gospel message (because she doesn't know about Jesus) and invited her to the base BBQ this week. I hope she'll come, and if you want to pray for her, that God will bless her & reveal Himself to her, that would be great!

Also, before we went out we were all praying for God to guide us about who we should speak to, to tell us things to look for etc. I felt like God might be telling me to look for someone with hearts on their shirt (I saw a picture of a top with a design made up of a load of hearts), so all night I was looking out for this. After we finished talking to the woman who was into angels, it was time for us to head back and we hadn't seen anyone with hearts on their shirt, so I figured it had just been my imagination. Then, two girls came walking towards us wearing fluffy angel wings & each with an I [heart] ... t-shirt on. Ok, so it was only one heart on the shirit, but the wings clinched the deal for me. I stopped briefly, let them give me a stamp for a fundraiser they were advertising and passed the girl on the right a tract. I really pray that God will speak to her through it. Just then, two 'goth' girls walked past, and my friend was looking for a goth girl, so she handed them tracts quickly too.

At times I've wondered how much use tracts are, but as i start to realise just how little most people know about the gospel, I understand them more and more.

One revelation I had last week was that so many people think Christianity is about being good enough, doing good things and earning your way to Heaven. It's not. It's a free gift, a relationship with God that's available to anyone willing to admit their fault and receive the forgiveness Jesus died to secure and the life He was resurrected to bring. It's incredible, yet people don't even look at it because they're all too aware of being 'not enough' - what's that point of even looking at Jesus if you think you've got to be good enough for him? The enemy is rallying for this lie in our world and doing too well at it. So yes, the more people I can tell the truth to, whether they're ready to give their lives to God or not, the better, or so i think!

This week we are doing Biblical Studies. I have already read the book of Philemon 9 times and the book of Colossians once. I'm enjoying it though, it's interesting and different to the last few weeks because it's more academic, I guess.

Tonight we find out our outreach teams, so I'll be able to officially announce that in my next blog post!

Photo Time!!!

So, as long promised, here are some pictures from Townsville! Enjoy! (I can't tell if it's just this computer that makes the photos look dodgey colours, but if you have that problem too, I'm sorry & will try to fix it forthwith.)

Me holding a snake


"Our aim is to give you a WOW of a day!"


Walking up Castle Hill (The hill that looks out over Townsville)


Andy playing guitar at the top of Castle Hill


View from the top of Castle Hill


My Artyness


Skate Park


Sunset

It is our light that most frightens us...

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

This quote is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, but some of my internet research suggests that it is actually taken from a book written by a Marianne Williamson. Either way, I think there's a lot of truth in what this quote says.

A couple of years ago I was sat in church listening to the start of the sermon and as the passage was read out, one verse stood out to me:

1 Samuel 15:17
Samuel said, "Once you didn't think much of yourself, but now you have become the leader of the tribes of Israel. The Lord appointed you to be king over Israel.

Saul was coming up with excuses for his failure to do what God had told him to do - his failure to shine. Samuel basically tells him, "It doesn't matter what you think of yourself. God made you king. When you say you can't do that - you're saying God has got it wrong."

We often try to make ourselves so little, but God created us for greatness. Yes, we are in submission to Him, and are to live in humility towards others, but humility, insecurity, false modesty and laziness are all very different things. God didn't call us for greatness just as a nice thing to say - He called us for greatness because He created us for it! Enjoy who you are, enjoy your abilities and make the most out of them. What you think of yourself really doesn't matter when God's saying He's going to make you more.

DTS Week 2

Man, time is going so fast right now. The schedule here is pretty packed so time is just flying by.

DTS ETC.
This week we have been discussing 'clear conscience' in lectures. It has been quite deep, especially as it's such a personal topic. However, I feel like I've got a lot out of it, and it has really reminded me how thankful I am to God for the fantastic life and relationships that I have! Having said that, I'm hoping that the topic next week will be less emotionally involving as by the end of Friday we were all absolutely tired out!

I'm actually going to do a quick shout out for some of the things I'm so grateful to God for: My parents, my family, my friends, my health, the opportunities I have in life, in travel, in making choices and in education. Living in a country where I'm free to be a christian and share God's truth legally. I have never had to wonder if I will eat that day and am able to wash and cook easily. I have access to clean drinking water. I have a roof over my head. People told me about Jesus so that I can know him too and have that greatest gift of being in relationship witih God. Yeah, I've got it really good and that makes me happy!

LIFE
I have bought a $4 dress in a charity shop (that was last week, but worth mentioning cos it's pretty). I wore it to lectures the other day and will probably wear it this afternoon. I also have a cap now, I haven't had a cap for years and I'm very excitied cos I'm getting bored of the bandana look. I have also become acustomed to wearing flip-flops nearly all the time.

Sunday is the only full day off we have and this morning we went to the local wildlife sanctuary. It was really good fun. I held a wombat, koala and snake (I have photos). I also stroked a crocodile (just a baby, not a big one!) I think one of my favourite things though was just wandering around listening to all the tropical birds making their strange tropical noises. Good times.

THINGS THEY HAVE IN AUSTRALIA:
There are lots of bats in Australia. I think this is really cool. I saw them circling in groups over the Botanical Gardens in Sydney and roosting in trees at the santuary today. Last night as a group of us were walking home, a bat flew out of a tree and scared on of the girls in the group. When she screamed, about 10 more flew out. It was kinda funny.

Beef Burgers shaped like Australia. They actually had these in the supermarket the other day. Apparantly it's because "Australia Day" was this weekend. Even so. They have beef burgers shaped like their country. That's cool.

Finally, I'm not actually sure who (if anyone) is reading this, I'm just trying to give a fairly light-hearted overview of what I'm up to. It'd be great to get comments, or emails saying if I'm getting it right, or if there's other things you'd like to know about.

PRAYER REQUESTS:
It will probably be this week that they ask us to pray about and choose our outreach location (where we're going for the second part of the school). The options are most likely going to be: 1 team going to Fiji and/or Vanuatu and 1 team going into Outback Australia. Both teams will be involved in youth work, with the potential for schools work in Outback Australia. I'm already pretty sure I know where I'm going but I want to stay open to God leading me, so if you could pray for God's guidance on this for me, that would be fantastic.

DTS Week 1

I have survived week one! (Huge thanks to everyone who's praying for me!)

It's hard to know where to start with everything, but everyone has questions, so I'll try and answer some of the common ones:

Living:I am living in a house with 9 other girls and one of our team leaders. I share a bedroom with 5 of those girls. Everyone is friendly and AC (Air conditioning) is my new best friend. The shower is clean, in a bathroom AND has a real door - this automatically makes the comfort level here far, far higher than on previous foreign missions excursions. Finally, the house is about a 45 second walk from the base and 10 minutes from the local shopping mall. I like where I live!

Computer/Phone access: I have access to the internet and a pay phone (I don't know if it receives incoming calls). The computer is slow enough that it's just typing the 'incoming' from a line or two ago. Hence, my blogs will not be as beautifully written as I would like. I will start posting photos at some point, but will need to use another computer to do this, this is the reason for the delay.

The Course: We've only just started, but I'll try and give a bit of an overview of what we're actually doing here:
We have lectures for between 2 and 3 hours 5 mornings per week. Last week we had lots of orientation info, talks on 'hearing the voice of God' and a session on evangelism. The lectures are a little bit like going to Church, except that we have workbook questions to answer too, and we are usually given opportunities to put things into practice very quickly. For example, the day we had the evangelism and 'chatting to people you don't know' lecture, we went out that evening and hung out with kids at a skatepark by the beach. I love how the lectures relate to real opportunities, and that we're encouraged in our work books and journals to discuss the practical application of what we've been learning.
As well as lectures, we have homework-type things to process, a couple of book reports to write etc.
The course is, essentially about 'knowing God and making Him known'. Therefore, our lectures and learning will mainly cover what it is to be, and live, as a Christian, and how and why we encourage others to know Him too.
I have afternoons free. We each have a work duty, but I'm on the dinner clean up team, so seem to have a lot of free time! (getting back into the student lifestyle!)
Other things we do: morning exercise, worship and prayer with the whole base, assisting in the weekly Saturday afternoon/evening youth programme, evangelism on Friday evenings, small group sessions and one-on-one-sessions with our leaders.
I hope this has given you all some idea of what I'm doing here!

One last thing I'd like to highlight in this blog (I'll try and make the next one mone interesting and less just information)is that a local (back home) website asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would submit one of the photos from my flickr for inclusion on their website. I got an email this morning to say that my photo will now be included in the Schmap Sheffield guide. I am rather excited about this! Please go here to see the published photo (it's one of a number of images that roll through, so you may have to wait a while for mine to come up).

For those who would rather just see the photo, here it is!

Departure Lounge...

A friend of mine encouraged me last night when she told me that a philosopher once said there are 3 ways of gaining wisdom: the first, which is noblest, is reflection; the second is imitation, which is easiest and the third is experience, which is bitterest. She told me she's praying I'll gain the first sort during my time in Australia.

This morning I gained some wisdom the bitterest way. I missed my flight because of, well, to cut what could be a lot of excuses short, poor planning. I now resolve to stick firmly to the options I have planned out in advance and not second-guess *better* alternatives at the last minute. I hope the bitter taste of wasting 8.5 hours and $50 will help me stick to this resolve.

***

The last couple of days have been really good fun. Having spent my first few days in Sydney completely unsure of what to do and all the rest of it, the week perked up rather well towards the end. On Wednesday I went shopping and bought quite a few new clothes, which was good fun (especially since the sales are still on - yay!).

On Thursday I went to surf school for the day...we went to a beach on the North Shore and had a tiring and fun time learning the basics. I even managed to stand up and ride a wave for at least 3 seconds before jump/falling off. I loved the feeling, when you'd paddled out and got out of the waves of just sitting or lying on the board with the whole ocean in front of you and the beach behind you, just calm. I highly recommend giving surfing a go!

On Friday I took a train to Katoomba, which is in the Blue Mountains. I spent the day wandering around, riding cable cars and the steepest railway in the world and walking in the rainforest. It was really beautiful. I'll post pictures soon.

I'm really looking forward to starting DTS now. I have things that I'm nervous about, but overall I'm excited. The course officially starts tomorrow (Sunday) and I think I'm probably the last student arriving now (silly me, missing my flight).

Prayer requests:
For the whole of my Aunt's family (and especially my dad, her brother) because she died this week. Also for me, particularly on Friday because I won't be able to attend the funeral and I'm obviously sad about that.
That getting my student visa will go smoothly and quickly so that I can stay and finish the course!
That the whole group (including leaders) will bond well and form really postive relationships
That I will be brave in asking questions and seeking answers

Keep the emails etc. coming, and if you want my address, just ask for it!

In Melbourne

 

Federation Square

 

Art at Urban Seed (see Melbourne to Sydney post)

 

 

Melbourne to Sydney

Oliver Street was my home in Melbourne for just under a week and a great home it was too! The couple I stayed with have two very adorable children, and a dog which was much easier once he stopped barking everytime he saw me! I had a lovely time staying with their family.

Around Melbourne I went on the Neighbours Tour (because you have to), visited an inner city ministry called Urban Seed that works with drug addicts and the homeless, went to an art gallery, strolled around the beachside surburb of St. Kilda and got over jet lag. Melbourne is a fab city and I highly recommend it!

On Friday I spent the day in Bendigo, about 2 hours north of Melbourne, visiting my friend Gemma (who lived in England for a while). It was fantastic to see her again and meet some of the people in her life. We shopped, hung out and went up the lookout tower. I love seeing old friends.

Yesterday (Saturday) I flew to Sydney and am currently a little overwhelmed by the size of the place! However, my hostel is clean and tidy and central enough to be easy to get to (though I got a little lost on the way home last night). I'm not quite sure of all that I'll get up to this week, but I'm sure I'll figure something out.

I'm really excited that DTS starts one week today (w00p!!!) It's been a pretty long time coming but is now almost here!! I'm a little nervous, to be sure, but I reckon once I'm there it'll be good.