Tuesday, 29 April 2008
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.
Thursday, 24 April 2008
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!
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!
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
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
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
Thursday, 3 April 2008
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!
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!
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.
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