At the concert
At Youth Street
Easter Morning Sunrise From the Top of Castle Hill
Monday Afternoon at the Park
Buddy
Esther
Thursday, 27 March 2008
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
At the concert
At Youth Street
Easter Morning Sunrise From the Top of Castle Hill
Monday Afternoon at the Park
Buddy
Esther
Saturday, 22 March 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
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.
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.
Saturday, 15 March 2008
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
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
Monday, 10 March 2008
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!
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
- 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!
Tuesday, 4 March 2008
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.
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/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!!!
Saturday, 1 March 2008
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!
Aidan playing worship music on the beach
Frog on the shower!
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