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.
Sunday, 10 February 2008
Tuesday, 5 February 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, 30 January 2008
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
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
Monday, 28 January 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, 27 January 2008
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 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.
Friday, 18 January 2008
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!
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!
Saturday, 12 January 2008
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!
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!
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