Modern Disciple

School of Music in Missions Updates

2010-11-06T18:58:00.000-07:00

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Hey there ,

I just wanted to send you a quick hello (although I'm never quick, I will try).

Before I begin rattling on about the school of music, I wanted to share with ya'll a recap video of the medical ship outreaches to PNG. It was made by a few of my friends here and its brilliant. Check it out!

We spent last week learning about song writing. Our friend, Mike Murray, is an amazing musician and has been on numerous tours and has heaps of experience in the music industry. He shared with us his process and techniques on song writing and also gave us a better understanding of what it means to write kingdom valued songs.

He gave us the verse, Phil 4:8.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."

We are called to portray God's characteristics, even if we write music that doesn't use God's name or have Christian vocabulary. If we think on these things, then we are sharing God.

A few of my friends on the school share about it in our recap video of the week. By the end of the week, each one of us had at least three songs under our belt!

This week we dove into the Word. Two of our staff taught on the topics of Ethnomusicology - the study of music in different ethnic groups- and Music Evangelism. Ethnomusicology is a big word that I had never heard of before and was blown away by the impact of it. I just never thought about how our worship music would sound ridiculous to, say, a Christian man from India. We were told a story about a woman who gave this man a disc of Hillsong worship music. When she asked him later what he thought about it, he responded, "how could anyone worship to this!?" Music speaks to everyone so differently.

With Music Evangelism, we talked about what kind of evangelist to be. God calls us to preach the Good News, but He also calls us to help the poor and needy. Its not one or the other. Its both! We also look into the different types of generations; Gen X or Gen Y and what makes them tick. How can we communicate with our audience if we don't understand them. Also, we talked about how to share the gospel. What is it? How do you explain it to someone who knows nothing about God? How do you explain it to someone that knows lots, but doesn't except it? Why should they listen? Why is it important?

And lastly, this week, we heard from Jonathan Spainhour about the gospel and social injustice. I wish I could sit with you and tell you all the details that he shared with us about understanding the gospel and what it is that we actually believe in, live for and die for! Jesus spent his whole life living in love for others in such a selfless and humble way. He was the greatest example of a man of Justice! He was the best! Not only did he share with everyone the Good News, but he helped the poor and needy in every way He could!

So Good.

My prayer this week was that I am so thankful and blessed and Honored to be chosen to use what God has given me for His Kingdom.

The best quote of the week, from Jonathan, would have to be "Am I working to build up a Kingdom for myself or am I working to build up a Kingdom for my God?"

I made a promise to God that I would stop being selfish and give up my right to have rights. And if I fail, then God have mercy.

Prayer Points

That I remember to give up my right to rights.

That I remember to use my gifts to further God's Kingdom and not my own.

That I would always put others before myself.

That I would love justice and act on it.

That I would walk humbly in God's gifts

That I would not look for approval or recognition from Man.

That I would be satisfied in God alone

That I would seek Holiness and not Happiness.

For health and provision for the rest of my school

For my future ministry as God is shaping and defining it.

Bless you!

Janna

YWAM Medical Ship to
PNG Update

Week 1 Update

Week 2 Update

Week 3 Update

Week 4 Update

The Ship in PNG!!!

2010-09-24T00:09:00.000-07:00

I could try to describe everything that has been happening over in PNG, but it would end up being a book. Besides, Keevy will have the first hand stories and she will be back soon. Then, when I share the stories, they will be more accurate. Until then, enjoy these photos of our work over there!

Be Blessed!

A look at what's next . . .

2010-07-29T03:38:00.000-07:00

The Ship Tour is far from over. I have helped bring awareness about the needs in Papua New Guinea, but now the ship is making its way to PNG to help bring that life! I am back in Townsville looking forward to the next step God would have me embark upon.

As you may know, music has always been a major part of my life. I have always wanted to see how I might use music in my ministry. I studied Musical Theatre in college and struggled in that time with pride and judgment when it came to my gifts in music. After finishing college, God asked me to lay down my gifts because I wasn’t using them to glorify Him. It has been hard, but since then God has been able to use me in other ways, incredible ways, for His Kingdom.

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” Luke 9:24-25

During my time in Australia I have asked God if I would ever be able to pursue music again. He began to slowly give it back to me. God has also given me amazing models of what a Godly musician should look like and show me how it is possible to use music for His glory. I learned during the ship tour that our base plans to run the School of Music in Missions in October. It is a 5 month course in which you explore using music for God’s purposes. I knew that it right as soon as I heard, but I wanted to know it was of God and not of my own desire. I submitted it to the base and learned this week that I have been accepted to the school!

Please keep me in your prayers as I am starting this next step. You are always in mine. Thank you all so much for the amazing support you have shown me this year! I have definitely felt your prayers.

Bitter Sweet Sailing

2010-07-29T03:30:00.000-07:00

The Stern of the M/V Pacific Link in Newcastle

I have recently finished my last week on the M/V Pacific Link where I’ve now traveled from the furthest point south, to the very top of Australia. I saw 14 beautiful ports along the way in 5 of the 7 Australian states. It has been a challenging and absolutely rewarding adventure!

Civic Reception hosted by
the Mayor of Newcastle

It still astounds me to think that I have lived on a ship for nearly 5 months. I feel so privileged; that God would allow me to be a part of His plans in this way.

I could never have imagined to what amplitude this venture would bring. God thinks in much greater ways than we do and makes so much more out of our work than we could alone.

Conducting tours of the ship in Ulladulla

We were able to directly share with over 50,000 people. That doesn’t mean that they were handed a flier or saw an article in the paper. It means that they had a minimum of 15 minutes with a person, sharing with them face to face.

Sydney Lions Club
donating glasses to the ship

We gave tours to 11,736 people and shared with 29,865 Aussie youth. 6,297 people responded to volunteering, giving or staying connected with us through our mailing list. We had a goal of 20,000 spectacles for the year, but far surpassed that by collecting nearly 24,000 on just this tour alone and the numbers are still climbing!

Praise God!

Back home to Townsville!

2010-07-03T19:12:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite the journey around Australia!

We made it back to Townsville after traveling to Ballina, Southport, Brisbane, Gladstone, and Bowen; each port bringing something different to the plate. It was challenging, but so exciting and a lot different than our South Tour a few months ago. In most ports that we visited, the ship was a bit tucked from the public, so it was a bit harder to see people come through. It just meant that we had to be extra diligent in persuing people. One of our goals for this tour was to gain more monthly supporters than we did in the last tour. On the South Tour we gained 8 monthly supporters over 8 ports. On the North Tour we gained 7 supporters in our first port alone! We gained 20 supporters all together for the North Tour. Praise the Lord!

But like I said, each port brought something different. In Ballina, we really felt a sense of family and intimacy. We saw so many people come through the ship and get excited about God's work! There were over 1200 people that came through the ship and 2500 glasses collected. At our youth event that week, 135 youth attended (our highest number yet) and 12 youth came to know the Lord that night! It was an amazing week.

Southport and Brisbane were polar opposites, but we saw God move in different and mighty ways. THey were the ports of connections. Each person that came through the ship (although it wasn't many) were connected to someone. We were able to get connected with the Rotary Club, the Yacht Club and other key people that wanted to support us in some way. In Brisbane, we were certain that we would not be able to sail because we had no Chief Engineer. It was the first time the captain had begun to make arrangements to stay at a port for longer. We were very worried because we knew how this would disturb the rest of the tour. We hated the idea of calling all our contacts and telling that we would be late or not coming at all. The day before we sailed God brought us someone. Not a chief engineer, but someone who knew one in the area! He just happen to be on holiday in the city and was sitting at home with nothing to do! We sailed to Gladstone the next day.

Time and time again, God provided. It was so easy for me to think that we are on a tour that was just meant to help others and to call others into God's Kingdom and that's it. And we did do that, don't get me wrong. We saw over and over different doctors, dentists and regular people come through the ship and felt lead to volunteer. We saw the youth of Australia have their eyes openned to the injustice and want to do something about it. But God is also a good God. He not only let us reap for His Kingdom, but he blessed us and humbled us. How do you except a gift of 23 watermelons, four boxes of tomatoes and even more other veggies? Its funny because we think we are out to bless the world, but God also wants to bless us.

One more story and then I'll stop. In Gladstone, we had a medical reception. It is a reception for medical professionals in the area to come and learn about the ship and what it will be doing in PNG. A young PNG lady came. She was a doctor that was actually from Townsville; only minutes away from our centre here. She had a heart to go back to PNG and bring health care services to her home lady, but didn't know the best way to go about it. She had finally decided that she would just buy a boat and sail around bringing health care. She was only visiting Gladstone for about a week and she was looking through the newspaper when she saw our article there. It was like a slap in the face to her. It was every piece to her puzzle that she had been looking for. It talked about the medical reception and decided to come. She talked with our registared nurse onboard about how she had to come. Well, all of our outreaches this year had already filled up months ago, but just that morning, they learned that one of the GPs had to pull out for one reason or another and there was an open spot! Needless to say, she took an application form.

Here are a few clips for you all to check out from our visit in Townsville. See if you can spot me in the background of one of them!

YWAM Medical Ship News Clip

YWAM Medical Ship News Clip 2

Please continue to keep me in your prayers. I am going in for another appointment this week for my eye. I hope to learn something more about my condition. Little has changed. Also, my insurance has yet to cover my initial hospital bills, so I'm not sure what will happen there.

I am hoping to have a visit home soon, but not sure how good that it is looking to happen financially. Please continue to lift me up in prayer.

God bless you!

Northern Sails

2010-05-29T18:26:00.000-07:00

I have rejoined the ship for the second half of the ship tour now and it has been so good to get back to my little cocoon and friends on the ship! We started this time in a little place called Ballina. Its a city just a little inland and its surround by water, so its actually an island! We had only three people from the first tour rejoin our PR team so this time we had all newies. Its nice having new faces and personalities on the ship now. It brings a whole new feel to our home on the water. We saw so much favor in Ballina! Over 1200 people came through to tour the ship and our events throughout the week saw a great response from the public as well. On the south tour we gained only about 8 monthly supporters, but in Ballina we saw that many people join us in one week! God is so faithful!

The new team is phenomenal. I have been so blessed by them. I am co-leading the PR team with my friend Mike, but he leaves us in a week and then I will take on the job solely, but I have no doubts because the team is fantastic.

We are now on the Gold Coast. It is quite different than Ballina. Ballina was a small town and the Gold Coast reminds me of California. It is quite rich where the ship is docked and we are surrounded by many very large yachts, but God has opened doors for these circumstances! We are located on a private dock that would normally be very expensive to stay in. The owner had to individually ask each yacht owner if it was alright that we were there. They all were fine with it. So, we had a few people go around and give muffins out to the owners as a thanks for their welcome and some of them have now come to see the ship and even donated financially! Although we are a bit tucked away and not many people can find us, it seems that God can always bring exactly the right people who were meant to see the ship.

We sail on Monday to Brisbane and continue on up North. We will be in Townsville in three weeks!

Please remember us in your prayers. Many of the crew are struggling with visa trouble and a few others are facing health issues. I, myself, have an appointment on June 23 for my eye. Please pray for healing; that there wouldn't be any permanent damage. I am also waiting for approval for my own visa. Please pray for a speedy process as I would like to bless my family with a visit this year and can't leave the country until it is approved.

Thank you all for your continued support! I hope to get some pictures and perhaps a video tour of the ship to you soon!

God Bless!

Brutal sailing and busted shoes and blind spots.

2010-04-26T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hello Friends!

Where were we when I left? Ah, that's right . . . Geelong. Well, we said goodbye to Greater Geelong and sailed to beautiful Port Adelaide. I've gotten used to having tricky sails by now. "Getting used to" as in "grabbing my bucket"! We were able to take a small break for Easter Sunday in Adelaide and we had an amazing dinner and service at the Adelaide YWAM base. It was such a beautiful, peaceful place. They are located on top of a mountain in a big old mansion over looking a vineyard.

After Adelaide, we sailed back east to Portland. I simply loved Portland! We couldn't have asked for a better reception from the city. The people were so lovely and we saw so much blessing. We were there during school holidays and so we were able to host a camp that week for students. Things went really well in there. The only bummer thing was what happened on the last day. We were at our youth event that evening and I was watching our dance teams perform when I noticed that I had a small blind spot in the middle of my vision in my right eye. I didn't think too much of it at the time. We then sailed to Hobart, but before we arrived I noticed my vision getting worse. After docking, I headed to the hospital with a friend. They took a look at my eye and after several doctors and hours of waiting, they decided I had something similar to Cat Scratch fever. They couldn't be sure because, well, I hadn't been around any cats. They put me on a heap of mediation to try and reverse the damage. Because of this, I wasn't able to sail, on account of not being able to risk being sick and loosing my medicine. I flew back to Townsville early from the tour after the third day in Hobart.

It was a little sad to leave early, but it has been amazing to see God at work through it all. The doctor that saw me at the hospital had actually heard of our ship ministry and even been to PNG with another ship from our organisation! He had helped build the operating theatre that was onboard the other ship. As his assistant came in to help him, he explained to her who I was and who I was with. The nexy day that I went to the hospital, she told me that it was her second to last day of work there and then began to ask about the ship. How amazing that something bad would happen to my eye, causing me to have to see eye doctors and then I get to share with them about our medical ship that is equipped to do eye surgeries; we just looking for doctors to go! God uses everything, the good and the bad for His glory!

As an update, I have seen improvement in my eye. It has been a slow process, but it has taught me so much. It really put everything into perspective for me. I am so thankful that am even able to get to a doctor! The people of Papua New Guinea that have either cataracts, pterigums or maybe just bad vision that easily be corrected with a pair of glasses, but have never seen a doctor. I might have said before, "Why are we taking eye doctors? Why not surgeons or midwives?" But I know how scary it is not to see. I know how helpless it can make you sometimes and how much more burden it can cause others. Giving someone back their eyesight isn't just giving them a chance to see, which everyone deserves. Its giving them the chance to live.

Please remember me in these next few weeks. I am also going to be joining the ship for the next part of the tour in May. Please pray for a speedy recovery and for financial breakthrough.

One other story that is really rather silly, but I was still so blessed by it is the day of my shoe dilemma. I was getting things together to go to the civic reception in Portland. I needed to take our equipment over early to set up. I was in such a rush that I broke my shoe. The bottom front started to pull off and made a horrible flapping noise as I walked. Too rushed and already running behind, I raced to the council chambers and set up. I spent the whole reception avoiding having to walk around in case someone heard my shoe flapping. At the end of the reception I needed to get all of our equipment back to the ship, but had no ride. Someone else had dropped me off and left. A kind lady that had attended the reception offered me a ride with my stuff. As we carried the things out to her car, she heard that terrible noise. She asked what it was and I explained about my shoe. She drove me to the ship and I thanked her for the lift. I told her about the daily tours of the ship and that she should come by the next day. She said she would try. Sure enough, the next day she came to the ship and took a tour. After the tour, she came up to me and asked if I had a minute to come out to her car. As we walked she explained that she works at a shoe store and thought I could try on a few pairs that she had brought down. She didn't know my size, but if I picked out a pair that I liked she could bring back the right size. We chatted for a long time and I learned about how she had been so blessed by our visit and that she has seen so much change within the churches and the city. She talked about how she had been encouraged in her faith and feels more confident about sharing it with others now. She asked if she could bless me for the way we had blessed her! I love how God works! He makes everything good, even the very small things that normally would just get under your skin. He uses it to bless us, to teach us and to refine us.

Sydney, Ulladulla and Geelong on the run . . .

2010-03-19T02:33:00.000-07:00

We have docked into the Greater City of Geelong! It is in the Australian state of Victoria, if you are interested in looking it up, it is very close to Melbourne (pronounced mel-bin).

We had an amazing visit in Sydney and Ulladulla. Sydney is beautiful, but too busy for my taste. I much preferred the down to earth city of Ulladulla (Uh-la-duh-la). It is part of the Shoalhaven Shire, which I think is just perfect. It reminds me of Lord of the Rings, what with it being in a Shire and all. The locals like to call it ShoalHeaven Shire, because it is just about the most lovely place you could accidentally stumble across. It is a hidden treasure.

In Ulladulla, we saw over a thousand people come through the ship. In one day, over $2,000 dollars was raised in our coin boxes alone and we were able to speak to over 4,000 young people in schools, churches and on the ship. We also had quite a treat as the Parliamentary Secretary of the Australian Federal Government decided to visit the ship for a tour. He has endorsed our work and granted our ship a small financial gift to help with the tour through the Australian AID. It was quite humbling and overwhelming, to say the least.

Now, after a two and a half day sail, we are in Geelong. It is quite chilly here being that we are in the most southern part of Australia in Autumn and it is beautiful. I can't begin to describe Australian sunsets on the ocean. It is breathtaking.

It has also been good getting to know our crew more and more. The ship came from New Zealand, along with its crew and now that we have been onboard together for nearly a month, we have quickly become like family. In some ways, it feels a bit like Giligan's Island. Everyone has their different quirks and you can't really get away from each other, but at least we aren't deserted on an island and we all get along so well. It has been fun learning to live in a 5 by 2 foot space to sleep in with only a 1x2x3 foot box to fit all of your belongings. I do hear some interesting stories from the ship's crew and all the places they have been and people they have helped. It is encouraging to know that this small ship has helped transform so many lives.

I heard a story about a lady in the Fiji islands that they were able to help. She came to the ship because she was blind in both eyes. She hadn't been able to see for 20 years and she was in her early 60's. The doctors said that she was blind from cataracts and that they would be able to do surgery and fix them both within a few days. The cool part about that story is that she had 34 grandchildren that had all been born within the last 20 years. She had not seem one of them. After the surgery, she was able to meet a whole new family and also became a very busy grandmother.

I have been so very encouraged by being apart of this great plan that God has. I have been so honoured that God believes so much in me to entrust me with these plans and I have been so blessed to see it all unfold just the way He wants. I want you all to know that you are not just reading this story as some nice thing that is happening somewhere on the other side of the planet. It isn't out of your grasp or too far to see. You are apart of this story with me. I want you to own this story and any others that you hear that describe God's goodness. The Bible is full of stories that we ourselves can own because we are apart of the body of Christ and we can and will do just as great of things as Christ Jesus did. This story is no different. I give you permission to take it. You have helped the lady in Fiji because you are apart of the same body of Christ and the body of Christ has many parts that are all very much needed.

A very easy way to be apart of my story is just simply through prayer. As I have been traveling with the ship, I have also been applying for my next visa. It has been an issue with internationals here in Australia for a while that we have been having trouble with our visas being granted. Please remember me in your prayers, that I would see favor with immigrations and that I would see breakthrough with finances. I would need to see around $500 come in to cover the cost of my visa. This does not include my regular needs monthly of around $700. Please pray and consider what plans God may have for you to help. If you would like to help, you can give to Cedar Square Friends Meeting in NC, USA who are helping with my finances in many ways. They are also able to send you a tax-deductible receipt. You can also visit YWAM Reef to Outback's website where there is a place to donate to staff. Unfortunately, it isn't tax-deductible. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.

Thank you for being apart of my story and apart of God's story. I love being able to share with you all the great things God has done. There are so many more stories and pictures that you can easily see if you would like. We have a page on Facebook called "I Want to Live" and on this page you can see pictures and videos and read more stories about what we are doing and people we are meeting.
Thank you for taking the time to read through my update.

God Bless!

Ship Tour Pics

2010-03-02T02:50:00.000-08:00

News Clip of the ship!

2010-02-23T04:22:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to share with you these links to some of the media that has been covering our ship here in Australia.

Hope you enjoy!

NBN Television Clip

Rhema FM - Live Streaming Broadcast (7am-10am Newcastle, Australia time from onboard our ship)

It's getting closer!

2010-01-29T01:17:00.000-08:00

We are quickly being pushed out the door! My team leaves for the ship tour on February 13th. We will drive to Newcastle where we will meet the ship as it arrives. It is a three day drive, but fortunately God made me to love road trips, so I'm thoroughly excited to get on the road.
Once we arrive we will have about a week to spend preping. This includes training, practice, worship, prayer and rest before the tour begins.

As of right now, we are in a rush to make sure we have everything set in place to go. Its a whirl wind here with everyone running around like chicken's with their heads cut off looking for corn. Its a good place to be, I'm sure.

Please keep me and all involved with the tour in your prayers. Many people are still trying to raise the finances to go. Some are planning and organising and others still are pulling together massive feats that only God alone can accomplish.

I hope to have some photos on here soon of all our travels and excitement. Thank you for all your support and love. I send it right back to you, but I hear it takes months if you send things by sea, so I'll mail it air.

(As they say here)
Cheers!

Bon Voyage!

2010-01-16T17:30:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems that I'll be setting sail pretty soon! I've been asked to go on tour with our Medical Ship. The tour begins in February, but there is still a lot of work to be done before then. I've been asked to be a part of our tour's PR team. The ship will be visiting 16 ports along the east coast of Australia with a week in each port. While the ship is in port, we will have teams go into churches, schools and other places to let people know about the ship and what it will be doing later this year in Papua New Guinea. People from the community will also be given the opportunity to take guided tours of the ship. This is where the PR team comes into play. We will be giving tours of the ship to school groups, youth groups and the general public. There are other events and tasks that the PR team will be involved with such as handling media releases and scheduling speakers for events. I also have the priviledge of living on the ship for the tour. Most of the teams will travel on land to each port, but will get the full, on-board experience. I am so excited to be a part of God's amazing plans! Please remember me in your prayers. I will need to pay weekly to live on the ship as well as for travel expenses down to the ship. I will keep you up to date on the latest as things progress! God Bless!

It's December Down Under!!

2009-12-08T23:02:00.001-08:00

With Christmas fast approaching, there has been a lot more action around base than normal. Many of our staff are heading home for the holidays while others are moving on from our base to other ministries. We have had TWO engagements in the last month! It has been very exciting and not hard for everyone to fall into the Christmas spirit!

We had our office decorating party last week and a competition to follow. Sadly, my office did not win, but we did get an honorable mention. (We had pictures of each of our families on the board and lights hanging from the ceiling!)

This Saturday is our last Youth Street program for the year and we are having a huge Christmas celebration for the youth! It has been an amazing year of seeing the growth of the youth and our relationships with them all strengthen.

A few weeks back we had a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone here at the base. We reflected on the year and gave thanks for all the many things God has allowed us to be apart of. Our staff put together a great video that shows all that we have done this year. You can watch it by clicking here.

We also had a very unexpected blessing come to our very own Jonathan Spainhour (from High Point, NC). Click here to see the story about it!

One thing I have learned since being in Australia is that Australians are very similar to Southerners. I went with a group of Aussie to the river one Saturday for a swim. I didn't realize that what they had in mind was very different from swimming.

I have been fortunate enough to have two very good friends of mine from my DTS return on staff. Ashley (on the left) is from Alaska and will soon be moving in with me! My friend Inge Maya (center) is from the Netherlands, but she speaks very fluent english (probably better than me, easily).

Well, that's just a bit of life at the moment. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and the happiest New Year!

Just a little note . . .

2009-11-23T19:48:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

Just a little update.

Keevy will be back in Townsville in two sleeps (as they say here). She and her team will be back in time to have Thanksgiving dinner with us here at the base. I'm super excited to have her back and I'm sure she is ready to see pictures of her new niece as soon as possible!

I also just wanted to ask for a little prayer. I've been having trouble with my eyes lately and so I went to the doctor. I have an inflamation due to a bacteria on my contacts. I have very sensitive eyes anyway, but I have been on an antibiotic for about a week now and when I went back the doctor said they didn't look much better. He has asked that I not return to contacts and has given me a new perscription for glasses. I go back in a week for another check up. Please pray that this isn't anything serious and also just for provision to cover the cost. I was able to cover everything, but I did have to use living expenses. My insurance doesn't cover it either. Eek!

Thanks everyone and God bless!

Back in the Swing of Things!

2009-10-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!!

Wow, I can't believe that my visit home went by so quickly. It was so good to see so many of you. I still didn't get to see everyone I would have liked, but it was still amazing to be home with family and friends again, even if only for a little while.

Now that I'm back there wasn't much time for diddy daddling around. I jumped right back into the ship ministry, but now my role looks a little different. I am working along side the base director and his PA, Rebekah. She is expecting in January and I have the honor of learning what she is doing so that I can take care of things as she gets closer to the due date. Really pray for me, 'cause it's a lot to learn. I am mostly helping with figuring out how registration for the tour is going to work and things like taxes and grant applications. I get to see the inner workings and meet with different businesses, politicians and leaders of influence. So, its pretty cool. I am so blessed and enjoying it a lot.

We have had some recent changes here as well. The July school that Keevy is staffing just left for outreach. Keevy is now in Papua New Guinea! Please pray for her, her team and the other teams. Now, there is a new school here and 13 more interns! God has really blessed us in this season. With all that we are doing with the ship tour and preparing for it, we need all the help we can get and the help has been pouring in! The new students and staff are the most selfless, open hearted people and we are so blessed to have them here. Praise God!

God has shown his power and faithfulness over and over again since I have been here. Not only has he taken care of me in miraculous ways, but he has really proven himself through things around me.

One of the new staff here was just settling in when she started having pains in her abdominal. She tried to tuff it out because her insurance had just run out and she hadn't had the chance to renew it yet and didn't want to have to deal with doctor bills. Well, it didn't get any better so they took her to the hospital. After several doctors and several scans they discovered a cyst on her ovary the size of a golf ball. They also discovered that she only had the one ovary, which she had known before. They told her that they would have to perform surgery and quickly to try and remove it without having to take out her one ovary. We all pray here at the base for her and that she wouldn't have to lose her ovary.

After the surgery, we got the report that the surgery went well. The cyst was removed, but they had to remove her ovary in the process. But a strange thing happened. They discovered another ovary. The one they had to remove was from her right side, but the one appearing after the surgery was on the left. The doctors were baffled, the nurses were scared. This doesn't just happen. They decided to run more test to make sure. The doctor thought she had made a mistake. But the new scans proved again that she most definitely had an ovary that wasn't there before! Praise God! They wanted to make sure it was a healthy working ovary, so they said that if it were she should feel fine, but if it were not healthy she would experience something equivalent to menopause within the next four days.

Well, its been over a week and she is doing fabulous! She is a walking miracle! I have to say that it has been amazing to see and this is only one of many stories that I have seen since being here. In the last year, I have seen a boy's broken leg completely healed in a church service. I wasn't sure of it at first until they brought the x-rays over for us to see the before and after photos. A real miracle! Also, one of our regular kids to come to our Saturday youth program helped bring his own mother to Christ and within the last month, she prayed (very simply) for healing over a girl whom had hurt her wrist and saw it healed!

God is amazing! Not only is He a faithful, loving, merciful God, but one of power and glory and loves to bless us and take care of us any chance He can get. I love that my God is a God of ALL. I love that I worship a God of unexplainable things. I love that we can move mountains and part waters and all we have to do is believe. He wants to show us so much. He wants to give us sooo much! All we have to do is let him.

I pray that this reaches you all well. Please, keep in touch! I love to hear about all the things going on back home and around the world. Let me know if you want to see more pictures, videos, newsletters or anything. I want to serve you as much as you have all served me.

God Bless!

Coming Home . . .

2009-09-01T00:19:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

It's been quite the year, I must say. I also must say that I am excited to be coming home for a whole month! I leave Australia on Sunday, Sept. 6 and arrive home Monday, Sept. 7 after travelling for two days (work that one out with the timezones!) I have some things going on while I'm home, but would really love to see as many people as I can while I'm home. Here are some of the things happening.

For Family:

I hear there's a get together at South Plainfield Friends Meeting on Saturday, September 12 at 5pm. That's all I know about it though, so I'm guessing it's formal dress, so pull out that old prom dress or tuxedo folks.

For Friends:

On Saturday, September 26 at 6pm there will be a coffee/dessert night at Cedar Square Friends Meeting in the Fellowship Hall for anyone who wants to come. It will be a relaxed fun night of catching up and swaping stories. I'll try to have some pictures and videos and such as well. I hope you can make it!

For the Church:

There are so many amazing people that have been supporting me since I have been in Australia and I would love to the chance to give back to my church families as well. If there is time free to come and speak, I would love to share! Please let me know.

For anyone:

I am involved with my best friend's wedding while I am home, but would still love to catch up with you. If you want to go out for coffee or lunch some time, please let me know soon due to my tight schedule. Don't hesitate to call or email me!

I return to Australia the day after the wedding, which is October 3rd (the wedding, that is). I hope you are all doing well and I can't wait to be back in North Carolina again!

Newcastle and around town

2009-07-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I thought I would give you a bit of an update as to the happenings here in Oz land!

I had mentioned before that we would be traveling soon to different areas of Australia. Well, after writing lots of emails and making phone calls arranging for when and where we could go we finally had break through this week. Praise God! My friend Jennifer Murphy and I will be traveling down to Newcastle, near Sydney, and to other parts of that area to hold information nights about the Ship Tour. We will be leaving on Tuesday, July 28, and be gone for two weeks. I am so excited and look forward to seeing more of Australia as well as telling more people about the ship!

As a side note, I have moved into the ship's office full time as of last week. I was in Community Life in the afternoons, but now that things with the tour are picking up I have been moved out of Comm Life.

Some other exciting news around the base is that our July quarter has begun and with that, two more schools! Keevy is staff on the July DTS and another IPHC (Introduction to Primary Health Care) has started. Keevy has proven to be a pro at staffing, of course and it's been cool having new faces around the base.

We also have 5 new staff interns that started this quarter, including two girls from my DTS! Ashley from Alaska came back as well as Inge Maya from the Netherlands is back. It's good to have them here. They are like two more family members to me and I am fortunate to live with them for the time being!

I have also been asked to move into a place off base. My friend Jenn Perry was in need of a roommate and she asked me! So, after I return from my trip down south I will be in a new flat with rent to a landlord! God is good!

On a smaller, but not of less importance, scale some friends of mine, about 6 of us, started a tradition for every Friday night. We get together to break bread and share with each other what we are thankful for in this season. We call it Sabath. We had our first meeting this week and it was a lot of fun. There is so much to be thankful for and God is so good.

Well, I think I'll stop there. But before I go I want to ask for your prayers. Please remember us as we travel and speak to many people. Prayer for favor and God's grace for us. Also, remember my family as there are some things going on that have placed a lot more pressure on them, especially my brother Jon.

Thank you for all your support and prayers so far! I pray that God will bless you and keep you all in the palm of his hand. He loves us each compassionately and yearns for a relationship with us that is real and lasting. God bless you all.

Spur of the Moment

2009-07-01T02:44:00.000-07:00

When I decided to join staff back in March, I was offered the opportunity to be a regional facilitator for the YWAM Australia & PNG Ship Tour. This meant that I would take care of most of the planning for one of the areas that the ship would be going into. I would meet with principals and school chaplains, youth pastors and possibly city councils. I would organize how many people would be needed for that area when the ship came through and find the contacts from that area for those people to connect with. I would bring awareness about the ship, its opportunities and mission as well as raise support for it. I would basically be in regional public relations.

I thought, "Wow, this is a pretty unique situation. Yes, I would love to do it! When am I ever going to have the chance to pioneer a ministry like this ever again? I mean, this is a huge deal!"

Well, that wasn't what God had in mind.

I have been on staff for three months and have had a blast. I have been getting things ready for the ship tour, but hadn't heard anything really about going into any region to do all that PR work. At times I have become really frustrated and discouraged. I knew it was all stuff that needed to be happening soon, but I wasn't in on the planning. "Maybe they have second thoughts about me doing it. Maybe they are rethinking the whole thing. Maybe I was wrong and God wasn't actually calling me to do this." All of that is just lies of the enemy of course, but at the time I didn't see it.

In the end, I decided that I knew what God had called for me to do. He had been clear in the beginning and he is unwavering, unchanging and steadfast. If ever you doubt, go back to God's promises. It always proves true.

I gave all those doubts, fears and frustrations to God and told him that I trust him. He knows the plans he has for me; plans to prosper me and not to harm me; plans for a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11) I trust Him.

On Monday, June 29, our director called us into a meeting. He told a group of four of us that he had some ideas that he wanted to run by us. Evidently, things are a little behind in the ship department and, instead of having many regional facilitators going to different places all over the east coast, we will now have a team that will go to all the ports on the coast that haven't been visited.

So, on July 17, a team of four young women will fly down to the great state of Tasmania (the island state of Australia down south) and then visit four more cities in Victoria for our first leg of the trip, finishing on August 15. I will still be coming home in September for a month, but then continue with travels once I get back in October, visiting cities in New South Wales and south Queensland between October 15 - November 22.

I am so excited. God is so faithful. When he makes promises, he keeps them and most of the time we imagine them one way and are disappointed when it doesn't turn out that way. But if we are patient, God will prove his faithfullness. I am now seeing half of Australia in three months and spreading the good news, sharing about the ship and getting people excited about God's work! I feel so very blessed.

Just a few prayer point:
- Pray for God's hand to orchestrate all the planning that needs to be done before we leave.
- Pray for a release in finances for all of us as we need to cover all our own expenses.
- Pray for safety and health during our travels.
- Pray that we would see favor within each city.
- Pray for unity and commitment between each of us on the team as we will be in close proximity with each other for a long time.
- Pray for our wisdom and discerment as we speak to many different people; that they would be God's words and not our own.
- Pray that God would be glorified in all that we do for His Kingdom!

Thanks everyone and God bless! I will keep you updated as much as I can.

Some Pretty Cool Stuff!

2009-06-16T00:03:00.001-07:00

Well, I noticed that I haven't posted at all this month yet and there's been some pretty cool stuff going on around here.

So, here they are, from smallest to largest, with some pictures thrown in the mix.

Enjoy!

The April DTS has been an amazing group of people to grace our base. I have had the pleasure of living with the 5 girls that are apart of the schools. They have been so laid back and easy to work with. We have probably taken advantage of that a little too much actually. Just before they left for their first outreach we decided to repay them for all the love and enthusiasm that they have brought to us by blessing them. We treated them to a 'high class' morning tea with deserts, coffees, milkshakes, fruit and live music. A couple of staff served as their waiters while other wrote them cards of encouragement. They really enjoyed it and it was so good to bless them.

Not long after that, the January DTS returned from their outreach. They had so many amazing stories from all the places they visited. We had 7 teams in Bali, Papua New Guinea, Thailand, The Outback, Fiji, East Timor and Southern Australia. They had the opportunity to work with the ship we will be touring with next year and go into schools and churches telling people how they can get involved with the ship. There were over 10,000 people who heard the gospel. One team alone saw over 40 people come to the Lord and 5 healings! Praise the Lord! They graduated this week and have started to go home, but this is only the beginning of their journey with the Lord.

We have a couple of families that have joined us now and it is so much fun to see all the children running around the base, brightening everyone's day. We had a birthday recently. Raelynn turned 3 years old. It was fun to see everyone pull together to make this little girl feel loved and at home. There were no extravagant gifts, but good cake and good fun!

There are only a few families now, but not for long. In the past few months there have been four pregnancies announced and one birth! All the singles are starting to get a little nervous. Haha!

Another report. There is a house here that has been apart of Reef to Outback for almost 20 years through renting. It went up for auction this month and a family here felt that God was asking them to buy it. Now, can you imagine, missionaries buying a house!? It seems outrageous! Well, within three weeks they had asked for help from a lot of their supporters and they saw $65,000 dollars come in. This was more than they had ever expected, but still had doubts. They still needed to be approved for a loan at the bank. The day of the auction the bank loan came through at 4:30pm and the auction was at 7pm. And I guess you might have figured it out already, but they got the house! We spent that whole evening praying that no one else would feel led to bid and that it wouldn't go unreasonable high. Well, only one other bidder was there and they got the house for $20,000 less than the loan they took out. Praise the Lord! As you can see, their son, Izack, was very excited!

I know that a lot of these things don't deal with me directly, but the reason I felt led to share it is this: It can be so easy for me to only focus on how God is working through me and often times I just become frustrated or isolate myself when I don't see God move. But God is all around me. He moves through my friends and family, He moves when I least expect it. He sets things in place and I don't always see it. But He sees the bigger picture and likes to remind me of how Awesome, how Great and how Powerful He is!

I am encouraged when others are blessed. My faith is strengthened when others tell me of His faithfulness. It reminds me of Romans 10:17-18,

"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did: 'Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world'"

That is what God does. So, just as the word of Christ came to me and strengthened my faith, I want to give it to you so that you can do the same.

p.s. This last picture comes from after an evening of teaching. We went outside and my friend, Aaron here, taught us how to fire-breath. Don't do this at home kids!

AusLife!

2009-05-08T00:29:00.001-07:00

In Australia they are able to share about God in their schools! The hold Religious Education classes and part of their curriculum and programs for the students to attend outside of class. One program is called AusLife. It goes around to the schools and teaches life lessons from a Biblical stand point. YWAM gets to help out by volunteering as staff. I have been twice now and it is so cool! It is totally exciting and on their level with games, videos and small group activities. The first time I went we talked about self-esteem. The second one we talked about relationships.

I brought back so many cool stories, but one in particular really comes to mind now. We had been talking all day about the different kinds of relationships people have and finally we got to the one we have with God. A lot of the students there didn't believe in God, but I was able to talk to them about my personal relationship with Him and how real he is to me. One girl chimed in saying that she would believe once she sees. I asked her if she believed in the wind, does it exsist? And she said of course. "But you don't see it." I said. "I can see the trees move and leaves blow." She said. "You see the effects of the wind; how it touches things and moves them. God is just the same. He touches us and even moves us." She wasn't totally convinced, but on her response card at the end of the day she checked the box that was marked: I would like to hear more about God. We may not help bring people to the Lord everyday, but that's not our job. We can only share with them what God wants them to hear, or do for them what God wants us to do, but in the end its the Holy Spirit that brings them to Christ. We are simple stepping stones leading them in the right direction. We may be at the beginning of their journey or closer to the end. But it is important to act when we feel lead. That's what opens the door for the Holy Spirit to move.

All about Youth Street . . .

2009-05-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

On Saturdays, I still help out with Youth Street on the Music Team. Lately, our crew (youth) have been learning to write songs and put them to music. We will be doing live recordings of them soon. This is an awesome opportunity that most of them would never normally have! In the picture to the left, you can see some of the crew rehearsing their songs.

The Cowboys! Footie (or rugby as you guys may know it) is huge over here. Its like our football times 10! The National Footie League team that everyone goes for are the Cowboys! So, you can imagine what the youth here would be like when the Cowboys come to Townsville to play. Well, Youth Street was selected as one of their organizations of the month to come to their game and promote. We got the opportunity to go to the Cowboy's game and tell youth about this great program we have every Saturday. Thousands of people and hundreds of youth were there. We had our commerical played over the big screen and our radio commerical played over the speakers. We handed out filers and free admissions to anyone and everyone! What's great is that now we have seen such a spike in our numbers at Youth Street with kids that heard about it and got excited! Praise God that the youth of Townsville are Cowboy fans! Ha!

Youth Street was able to volunteer clean up the Billabong Sanctuary. In exchange, the crew got to watch a live croc show. The pictures on the left and right show some of the before and after work that they did there. They had such high spirits as they pulled weeds and got thorns in their fingers.

Some things going on!

2009-05-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! It has been too long since I posted on here, so I thought I would catch you all up a little of what I've been doing lately.

I'm involved with two ministry areas right now: Community Life and the Ship Ministry. In Comm Life I help with accommidations, keys, cleaning supplies and base clean up. I work with a fantastic group of people in this area and we make cleaning toilets and building bunk beds a lot of fun. In Ship Ministry, we are preparing for a tour around the east coast of Australia calling the youth of Australia to grow a heart for missions. We are also looking at taking the ship to Papua New Guinea for health care purposes. The ship is equip to serve optometry and dental needs. My role is in public relations with churches, schools and other businesses. I will be helping set up the cities the ship will be visiting. I am so excited and honored to be given the opportunity to go out into Australia visiting with cities telling them all about the work we do and love. I am also helping with a lot of the research and preparations that go into funding and launch a massive ship.

Some prayer points:

- Wisdom and discernment in my ministry areas.

- Refreshment throughout the week among all that I'm involved with.

- Precious time with God.

I feel like this last one may be the most important. I have really begun to recognize how much time I need to just be spending time with my Lord and making sure I am receiving clear direction from Him in everthing I do. We are doing a lot of big and exciting things here, but things that also take a lot of reliance on God. It is easy for me to get so caught up in my tasks that I forget who I am doing it for. Please pray that my time with God is refreshing and humbling; that I might have a heart of service and always recognize that this is all to further God's Kingdom! Thank you for praying for me and supporting me!

A little late, but none the less.

2009-04-02T16:50:00.001-07:00

I know it's been a while since I graduated and my school left, but its taken this long for them to get some of their pictures up. I wanted to share a few of them with you!

This is a few of us at our going home party.

All of us at graduation.

One last trip to the beach together, although you can't really tell 'cause its dark.

Good friends.

New Job!

2009-03-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

I have a new job! I am working with Community Life here at the base. It is part of the backbone here along with hospitality, maintanance, kitchen and accounts (with Keevy). Community Life is in charge of accomidations for students and staff, scheduling cleaning times and areas for staff and students, we pay rent on properties, order supplies and plan base events! I've been having a lot of fun working with the team here, learning the way things work and getting to make a lot of new friends.

My internship will start in April along side the next Discipleship Training School. There is so much to look forward to with this new term. I am involved with Youth Street, helping with the music team and also spending time at Shalom College with the indigenous stdents there on Thursdays.

Thank you so much for everyone's support. It has been an exciting and scary transition lately, but with your support it has been so much easier. Please keep me in your prayers and you are always in mine!

A New Season

2009-03-12T18:26:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been a challenging week for me. I watched as all my new family and friends left for home, I dealt with the fact that I wouldn't be seeing my family for another five months, I moved into a new house with 8 other girls here on base, and I have been transitioning from student to staff in a very short period of time. Things are starting to settle now and my mind has slowed from its vigorous race to a nice pace. I thought it would be much harder and it was hard, but the people here have been so very supportive and understanding, giving me time to mourn and settle. But I am an anxious person and was glad when they asked me to help this week with a program called AusLife.

AusLife is a public school program here (religion is taught in schools here). Its an all day thing where we come in and teach on a certain topic. This one was on self-essteem. We played games and showed videos and talked with them in small groups. It was from 8:30am to 2:30pm. It was long, but so good. It was awesome to see how involved the kids would be and really eatting up everything we said.

I am also going to be given the opportunity to speak to the new DTS (Discipleship Training School) that is here now about Mt. Isa. It was one of my outreach locations and they are also visiting it during their outreach in two weeks.

I have about 3 weeks until my internship officially starts in April, so I will be working with Community Life and reception until then. Com Life works with accomidations for everyone here and things like cleaning and replenishing things here on base. With the current DTS leaving for outreach soon and a new one beginning in April there are a lot of things that have to be prepared and arranged. Its a big job and I am only one of three people working with it.

Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I have also been arranging all my paperwork and necessities to stay here. I have applied for my new Visa and insurance, I have also been setting up an Australian bank account to simplify transactions and changing my plane tickets to later dates to come home for a visit in September. I also have staff fees and food to keep in mind as well. None of these things are very cheap, so please pray for my financial situation. God has already been so faithful and blown me away with His provisions. I have been so very blessed and overwhelmed. I can't even begin to express my gratitude.

I pray that God will bless you all as well. This is a tough time at home and everywhere around the world. We are in need more than ever for God's grace and mercy. But He is a good God. Thank goodness for that.

The Big News.

2009-03-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

So, outreach is finished and I am back in Townsville at the main base again. We are running through debrief. It's hard 'cause I'm having to say goodbye to people that I have completely opened up my entire life to, people that have seen me go through some of the most significant and life-changing parts of my life and people that I have shared some of my deepest desires and dreams for my life. Some of these people I will never see again . . . ever. It is so hard.

But as this chapter in my life closes, I am opening the next one. It is difficult to explain or even know what it is to explain. It's not all clear yet. I know God has called me back to Australia. God has broken my heart for this place and the opportunities here. I was just not expecting it to be so soon. I have been praying about it for a long time and ingoring the nagging response that I kept getting from God. I was in denial for a while. I knew that it would be too hard and crazy, but God kept revealing His faithfullness and provision as I kept questioning and doubting. It came down to the final question that has been playing on my heart since day one: Do I have faith?

It sounds so simple and at first when I heard it I thought, "How ridiculous, of course I have faith." I have been raised to believe in God and His promise for me. Every Christian I know has a foundation of faith, its what makes them a Christian, but what is faith? Do I have faith that God will provide, that He will protect, that if I leave all that I know behind and everyone I love and follow Him that I will be okay? Can I do that? Do I have faith? In Hebrews 11:1 it says, 'Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.' I have a hope in my future in Him. I am certain in my God and His plans for me. That doesn't take away my fear. No! I am terrified, but I will trust my God to know what He is doing, so I will go where He sends me. I would rather be obediant to God and scared than certain in the world and not doing God's will.

SIDE NOTE: Hebrews 11 is an amazing book that I highly recommend. Its life changing. Here are some excerpts from it in the version The Message:

1The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can not see. . . 13-16Each one of these people on faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing. How did they do it? They saw it way off in the distance, waved their greeting, and accepted the fact they were transients in this world. People who live this way make it plain that they are looking for their true home. If they were homesick for the old country, they could have gone back any time that they wanted. But they were after a far better country than that --heaven country. You can see why God is so proud of them, and had a City waiting for them.

Right now I am talking to my leaders about what it will take to start my internship in April. I am seeing how much it will cost to change my flight home to a later date and how much visas and cost of living will be. I don't know if it is really possible, but I have prayed over and over and God continues to tell me, "now". So, hopefully a miracle will happen and the cost will be amazingly low. I have faith. I have to. There's no way I could take care of it. Please pray that these things will work out. That flights will not be difficult to change, that leadership will have soften hearts for my request to come home in September, that my visa will be of a resonable price and smooth at attaining and also for my finances. I will now be living monthly rather than paying a set sum, like tuition. Ask God about whether He would like for your support in whatever way you can.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support so far. God has truely built up a new foundation within me and now I have the amazing opportunity to jump right into putting it to practice. I will write again soon and let you all know how things turn out. And if it doesn't, well, then you may be seeing me very soon anyway. No worries. God bless!

Wrapping Up

2009-02-26T02:31:00.000-08:00

Well, it is our last day in Mt. Isa. We leave in the morning to go back to Townsville. It has been so amazing here. God has opened my eyes to so much more than I could have ever have imagined. I thought I had learned a lot during lecture phase, but this is where you truely see what kind of follower of Christ you are. I have been tested and challenged in my faith and obedience. I would not have believed before that I would be so scared of certain things, like talking to people about my faith, but coming into a town where people just do not talk about religion and in some circumstances shun it, it is really a scary thing.

My team has been mostly working with the indigenous children in the community. We worked with two churches and the public community center planning and running programs both Christian and secular. It is interesting because its not so easy to talk about God everywhere; its looked down on or some people just won't come. You have to be careful how much you land on them to start with or they won't come back. I was glad we were here for four weeks so that relationships could be built and those kind of conversations could be persued. Its funny because they have a thing called RE classes in their public schools. Its Religious Education classes where they learn about God in school. Crazy, but awesome. So, you'd think they would be more open to those conversations, but actually its harder.

We also went evangelizing every Thursday night in town 'cause that's when the shops were open later. The first evening that we went out I was able to talk to a couple of girls and invited them to our Youth Street program. They ended up actually coming and by the end of the four weeks had become regulars. They didn't think much about God before either and now they hear about God every week. God also brought a lady to me and another girl. We were walking back to our team's gathering place when we passed her on the street and I just said hello. She staggered out a hello with tearfilled eyes. We stopped and asked her if she was alright and she said that her husband was in the Townsville hospital going through chemo. We all started crying and me and the girl I was with shared with her our testimonies (mine about mom and she about her cousin who was miraculously healed from stage 4 cancer over Christmas). We prayed with her and for her. We asked if she had accepted Christ as her savior and she said yes and we asked about her husband and she wasn't sure so we prayed for him too. It was so amazing. We exchanged information with her and hope to find out how they are both doing soon.

We also, on another night, met a man named Bruce who worked in the mines in town, but out of work due to a broken wrist. We talked with him and prayed for his wrist and saw it get loads better, but the real miracle was with his life. After that prayer he told us that his wife had recently left him and he was on his own with his 7 year old son. He told us he was literally at the end of his line. We talked with him for about an hour just encouraging and praying with him. It was so amazing to see the change in this man's life as we just spent time with him, listening and showing that we care and that he isn't alone. By the end of the night he was talking as if really had hope for healing both physical and spiritual. He was raised Catholic, but sounded interested in visiting churches. I can't tell you how amazing it was. God truely spoke through us and gave amazing hope and love to that man that night.

During the later weeks our team started to see sickness come over us. Four of us got sick in various ways and weren't able to do much. It was obvious that Satan was trying very hard to keep us from doing God's work. The YWAM team that lives here is trying to start so many new things down here and we saw on multiple occassions Satan trying to intervene and stop them. We spent a lot of time in prayer fighting against him and proclaiming Christ over the land and taking it back in His name. We spent every Tuesday evening up on the town's mount beside a big cross praying over the town and blowing a battle horn. On our first night here we prayed for the local legal brothel to be closed and put out of business. By that evening, it was! We also got the unique opportunity to have dinner with a Morman family. We met them at the youth disco one night and were invited over. We didn't press them or have any huge religous debates, but we did talk to them about our school and what we were doing, serving and doing it all as complete volunteers. It really surprised and impressed them that we Christian were doing such outragous things.

There are so many stories that I will have to come back and put up later. I can't think of them all right now. I don't have much time. I am visiting a home and using their computer to type this. I will be back in Townsville tomorrow though and will be able to write more, although I've written so much already. Anyway, I just want you all to know that God has blown me away. I am definetly sold out for Jesus. I can't go back. There is no other life without Him. He is the one Way! Praise God!

Passing Through

2009-01-30T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I made it back to Townsville! We spent two weeks in Palm Island and it was beautiful! I am going to be posting pictures on my RTO page for everyone to see. Palm Island is an indigenous community where most of the people have been in presecution for over 50 years. What happened was the white Australians took people from 44 different tribes and put them on this island. They built schools and churches and treated the people like prisoners trying to civilize them and beat the indigenous out of them. That lasted until about 20 years ago. There was a big rebellion in the community and the government and missionary groups pulled out with all their efforts. They are called the Lost Generation.

Since then, alcohol was introduced to the people and they didnt understand it to not abuse it. Violence has become so common among the people that when a man is seen beating his child in the street people just turn their heads. Only 5 years ago was the place considered the most violent place to live outside of a warzone. Just recently has the government has given a public apology for what happened. They now send support out to them and supplies in effort to help. Several RTO teams have been out there in the past 4 years and changes have been seen. We worked with a Fijian family that has been out there for 15 years. We worked at the local church and with the school system with children programs and youth services. The people are not much different than the people in Alabama at the MOWA Choctaw Center. They just have a different way of living that is about self-gratification. They don't have a culture of their own, just the one that the Australians pushed on them. They see the Christian church as the white man's religion. They know the Bible and can quote it even. They just don't know Christ in their hearts.

So, a lot of our work was not evangelism, since they know about Jesus and the church. We mainly wanted to redefine for them what it means to be a Christian and to show them unconditional love. AND WE DID! We served in the church and in the schools, we let those kids jump and run and play and hang all over us, we encouraged them and spoke to them about their future. We meet with adults and youth and talked with them about options for school outside of Palm and jobs and plans they could have. We encouraged them in their talents and hobbies, to really harvest what was there and help it grow. We show them Christ's love and joy.

We saw 5 people come to the Lord and that's not including the children we influenced. 5 people doesn't seem like a lot, but they were very povital people. One man,who is very influential in the community, was an athiest and alcoholic. He gave his life to the Lord and on the day we were leaving he ran out to our van and was thanking us and praising God that we had come. It was an amazing time. I am truely going to miss the people and the beauty there.

We are only in Townsville for a small time. We are stuck here right now until the roads clear. We have had flooding and the roads are closed. Hopefully, we will leave by Monday! Continue praying. I know this is also a hard time at home. I was shocked to hear some of the things that have happened. I am praying for those families that have lost close ones and for the tough economic times as well. I love you all and appreciate everything you do for me. I can't thank you all enough. GOD BLESS!

2009-01-05T22:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I realize that I talk entirely to much on my blogs as I was looking back at them all. So, I plan on keeping this short.

I leave on Monday morning at 4am (Sunday 1pm your time) to go on outreach to Palm Island. We will be there for three weeks and then we will come back to base for a few days before heading to Mt Isa for the rest of our outreach. We will be there four weeks. Hopefully, I will be able to post again between trips.

Let me know soon if you would like a souvenier. Ha ha. God bless you all. This has been such an amazing journey and I am so very blessed to have the support I do from all of you. It has been so encouraging to see the emails and letters pour in and love that you all cover me with. Thank you so very much.

Christmas Choas!

2008-12-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Again!

I hope evereyone had an amazing holiday! It has been so busy around here. Just before Christmas we had a summer camp for teenagers and my school was their staff! It was a lot like our Youth Tremors or Yearly Meeting at home only hotter. We had a guest speaker from New Castle, but originally from Hawaii. We also had games and worship. One thing that is different from events at home is that they have a mini-outreach. Theirs is here in the community, but it still gave them the opportunity to practice everything we teach them throughout the week. I had the great opportunity of being an outreach leader! This meant that I was in charge of a group of teens and their small groups leaders as we went to retirement homes, hospitals and Stable on the Strand* (which I will explain later). We sang carols and volunteered at the Stable* and evagelized down the beach. It was so cool.

One kid on my outreach team named Christo was only 15 years old. One night I said, "Christo, let's go evangelize." I was fully expecting him to be too scared to say much of anything and I would do all the talking. Well, the first lady we came to he asked, "Do you know the Christmas story?" She said no and he was off. He told her all about Jesus and Him being our Savior, then he told his own testimony and how God has provided for him and his family and truely displayed his faith in God. I was overwhelmed. Finally, we began to pray for her and her husband interupted us saying, "What are you doing? What are you telling her?" We told him and he said, "She knows the Christmas story, you don't have to tell her the Christmas story." Christo and I changed tactics and talked with him about Australia a little. Finally, Christo asked the man if he had seen "The Promise" (a play being performed at the Stable* for free telling the story of God's promises). The man said no and walked away. I told Christo that he did awesome and not to worry about it, but he just looked excited and said that he was going to go and find more!

I was so encouraged all week by these kids. They were laying down their lives left and right. Kids, that at the beginning of the week were laughing every time you prayed over them, were standing, raising their hands in praise to God. It was indescribable.

We also had these things called simulations throughout the week where we completely immersed them into a culture or injustice so they could see, as closely as possible, what it was like in parts of the world. The last simulation involved two parts that were really cool. The first, we talked to them about the underground churches in China and then performed a live raid on them by running in and blindfolding them and sending them into seperate rooms to pray about the issue. Then, we prayed for Purdah. We separated the boys and girls and had the girls remove their shoes, cover their heads with cloth and remain quiet while the men were given more room and freedom to pray aloud. This really stuck home with a lot of the kids. They were appalled at the persecution some people had to endure.

The week was tiring, but truely amazing. I made so many new friends and was blessed more than the kids could ever know.

Now, about the Stable on the Strand. This was really the best thing about the week. It is a festival put on by several of the local churches all on donations and fundrasiers. It is huge! It goes on every year and they actually build a replica of Bethlehem in a field (football field size) next to the beach. (There are pictures on the link above if you click the picture and then go to news.) There were camels and sheep and ponies, face painting and people in bigheads (I was one for about 20 minutes), then there was The Promise. You know how I am about theatre. Well, I was blown away and look out Cedar Square, 'cause I want to see if we could put THAT together for the Christmas play. It was the story of all of God's promises going from the beginning to the end. It was only 30 minutes long and they performed it every half hour, every night.

Other things at the Stable involved games for teens and stage performances from local artists, including people from our base, one guy from my school. It was hot, but I imagine that Bethlehem in that time probably wasn't snowy or cold. It was really quite magical.

Christmas was a blast! I was able to talk to my family on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, although it was Christmas Day the whole time for me. Keevy, Kim, David, Jonathan Spainhour and I all had Christmas breakfast together and exchanged gifts. They weren't much, but that didn't matter. It was all the essentials that we miss like poptarts and grits. We had Secret Santas and everyone on base had Christmas lunch together and openned their gifts. There was only a five dollar limit, but it was still so much fun to see everyone giving and sharing and filled with the Christmas spirit. The lunch lasted until 3pm and then we all spent the evening eating leftovers and having a Christmas movie marathon. It was a little hard being away from home, but they really made it easy to get into the spirit of Christmas and enjoy each other's presence.

We've started lectures again and in only two weeks we will all be heading out on outreach. If some of you didn't know, I will be going to Palm Island and Mt. Isa here in Australia. Palm Island is an indigenous community and Mt. Isa is a young YWAM base. I hope to be able to tell you all about it in the coming weeks and especially while I'm there. I won't know how much contact I'll be able to have for a while longer.

I hope you all are doing well. Please let me know how you all are doing. What is the lastest news and so on? Also, I will be posting more pictures soon. Check out my RTO page by clicking the picture of Australia at the top. I love you all and miss you tremendously. Keep in touch!

2nd week of camping . . .

2008-12-09T01:43:00.000-08:00

So, this is actually the 2nd part of my blog about camping. You don't have to read them both. This one may be the better one of the two anyway. Just kidding, they're both good.

A man named Mark Parker (who is revolutionary) came and spoke to us about Lordship. It's funny 'cause I didn't think Lordship would be such a big thing, but, oh, how I was wrong!

In one week, he showed us how to truely come into God's presence with no sin, burdens, or things to hinder us! We could praise and bring thanks to Him without fear of people and what they would think, without worries about ourselves, without distractions, everything! Then, he took us through an offering process. There were two kinds of altars: fellowship and burnt. Fellowship offering is our gift offering to God or to others. Some people gave up cameras, rings, ipods (me) and other things that had become idols in our lives; things we put before God. Others gave up relationships, plans for their future, passports, or their entire life. One girl gave me her very expense Digital camera. She wanted to lay it down and put God first in her life. The cool thing about God is that He loves seeing these sacrifices. He loves blessing us once we do it. "Those who loose their life will gain it". Needless to say, God told me to give it back to her. She is very talented.

Burnt offerings are more obvious. The sin offering. We went around offering up our sin to God. Maybe for things we had already repented of, but now it is at the foot of the cross and us asking for pardon for it. Another cool thing about God is that He has already forgiven us. All we have to do is recognize that and then turn and walk in the opposite direction.

Once we were fully submitted to God in everyway, we could then be empty enough to be filled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a very special person that we often over look too. It is all around us to convict us, then when we invite Him in He will grow and mature us. And last, He is what empowers us! Why should we be filled? Well, first, because we are commanded to, then because He keeps us from sin and last because He gives us the power to be a witness. Yes, we are often led by the Holy Spirit to move and act on things, but we still have a choice. WE have to invite Him in, WE have to be submissive to grow and WE have to move when the Holy Spirit moves. We still have the choice to resist.

We then shared in communion and intercessive prayer and at that point the veil was torn. We were able to meet with God fully and unmistakebly. He moved in all of us in way that I can't even begin to describe. God is so amazing. I hope that each of you can come into His presence and meet with Him. A lot of you have already. It is truely phenomenal.

The last thing we did was have baptisms for those who felt led as a seal over all that had happened. On December 5, 2008 I died in a creek in the middle of a rainforest in the outback of Australia. I was raised again, alive, a new creation, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I was completely transformed. Words cannot even express my joy.

Happy December!

2008-12-09T01:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

I have been gone on the most amazing two weeks of camping! We were out in the rainforest in the middle of nowhere!

I want to paint a picture for you of a little of what I saw: Imagine flies that are four times normal size and bite twice as bad as horse flies and are eating your flesh every three seconds.

Then, there are these bugs called cicadas that are the size of your thumb and make the most horrible screaming sound. They are in season and so with all of them around all the time you had to literally shout to hear each other over them. They also sat in the trees spitting down on everyone. It felt like it was always beginning to rain.

And last, the heat. It was so intensely humid and it started just as we would begin lectures. So, we would sit for hours under a large tent and and just pour sweat. We could have just climbed out of a pool by the way we looked at the end of each session. Luckily, there was a creek near by that we all spent our afternoons in everyday like sea lions.

I know you're thinking, "This does not sound like the most amazing two weeks ever." But I will tell you, if my life was turned upside down before, then now it is completely transformed.

The first week we heard from our leaders about several topics. The importance of stewardship really struck me. Yes, we need to be good stewards of our money, but we often forget our time, our plans, our relationships, our gifts. We want to keep those things to ourselves and rule over them, but God wants us to offer them to Him to help further His kingdom. Its so easy to just hand over money to help a good cause, but maybe God created you for the cause. Maybe He placed gifts and passions in you to help others or serve. We love to hang on to our relationships and plans, but maybe God has better plans for you. Maybe God wants to rule over the relationships in your life so that you put Him first and not people in this world. It was very mind-openning.

Also, they spoke to us about taming the tongue and watching our attitudes. Its so easy for us to say that you're just in a bad mood or you don't feel like it. Or even that so-and-so hurt my feelings or I dont agree with you so I wont listen. These are all just ways to let Satan in and manipulate situations. It gives him a foothold. With taming the tongue we are used to hearing 'sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me'. We either speak life or death. Everything we say either builds others up or tears them down. When we speak prayers outloud they have power. God can move when we speak. It invites Him into our lives to heal and reveal. So, why wouldn't anything we say have the same affect? It does! Everything we speak has power and we can either give people hope or hurt people. We often don't even realize we hurt either. God has very specific words about those with flippant tongues and those who speak foolishly. It was also very good to hear.

The last thing that week that really spoke to me was on relationships, which is funny, because we are talking about relationships now that we are back. Two of my leaders are married to each other and have a child on the way. They went through and told us their whole story of coming together and allowing God to really be the matchmaker for the two of them. It was such a beautiful story. I will tell you more if you want to know it. But they had some main points that I really liked. First of all, singlehood. It is the only time we get it and it is precious and maybe the most important time that God can use us. In singlehood we must 1. Protect our heart. 2. Protect other's hearts. 3. Let God be picky and 4. Enjoy it! Then, there was the dating time. 1. evaluate yourself emotionally and spiritually. 2. Evaluate the 'potential'. 3. Evaluate with God. They really emphasized avoiding friendlationships! The big thing they also talked about was purity. The question shouldn't be 'how far can I go?', but 'how pure can we be?'. You don't want to tempt each other. You want to honor each other and really learn more about the person, rather than thinking about anything like that. Always set up boundaries. In marriage, they talked about how you must be certain of who you are before. You can't find your identity in that person. Things don't get better after marriage. Who you are before marriage is who you will be in your marriage. Your partner does not complete you. It is a partnership.

Good stuff! I'm sure most of you know this though. Its all new to me since I've never been married.

I'll continue more later . . .

Long time coming . . . and going

2008-11-18T16:04:00.000-08:00

It has been quite some time it seems since I last posted. It has been so busy lately. But no excuses, I am here now.

First of all, I just wanted to tell you all THANK YOU!!! You have so amazing to me, more than I deserve. I thank God for your love and support and I know I say it all the time, but I still can't say it enough. I want to give each of you a giant hug! PLEASE keep in touch with me! I want to know how you are all doing as well. I feel so disconnected from home and the people I love. Any news is good (usually its the other way around).

As for being disconnected, I will be heading out Sat. Nov. 22 for two weeks camping. There will be no way of contact, just so you all know. As soon as I get back though I am checking in with you all to see the latest news on the world at home.

Well, as I said, its been super busy around here. Its week six and the last time I posted I was on week 3, Identity. Great week, by the way. I thought I would just give a short summary then of the weeks thus far.

At the end of Identity I was blown away. I had really been struggling with pride and I wanted to learn humility in my life. I had prayed long and hard about it, but still seemed to struggle with trusting God and learning to lay things at His feet. At the end of the week, one of my leaders with whom I have really grown close with, came up to me and said that God had told her to bow down and kiss my feet. Now, although this may not seem like a huge gesture to you it spoke volumes to me! To me, God was bowing down and kissing my feet. Instead of teaching me humility through many tests and challenges, He was displaying it for me by humbling Himself at MY feet! God, the creator of the universe, Father of all mankind, Majestic, Righteous, Pure, and Good was humiliating Himself for the sake of little, insignificant, unworthy me. WOW!

God has done this already. He sent His son to earth to take on all the humiliation of the world for us. He loves us sooooo much. I can't stress that enough. God is captivated by us.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Hold that thought . . .

So, the next week, week 4, we studied Spiritual Warfare. That is a subject I will just have to tell you about in person. There's just too much. I will say this though. Everyone is in spiritual warfare. It's not a gift to fight, its not just the missionaries that fight, its not just our pastors or youth pastors that are fighting in spiritual warfare. EVERYONE is in it! God gave us ALL the Armor of God not so that we could sit around going "Cool, look at my armor!" or "Good, I'm covered for when the enemy comes." No, you put on armor to go into battle. We are all in the battle! Now, knowing that we must then accept our inheritance as Sons and Daughters of God and take up our authority as Christians and fight Satan. Did you know that Satan has no authority?! Yeah! The reason he attacks us is because he wants to use our authority to win the world, to win the battle. We have more and all authority over Satan!

I could go on forever with that though.

The next week we talked about Missions. Again, I could talk to you about this for days. They did with us! I'll wait till I'm home.

As for now, we are learning about the Father, Heart of God. Remember that thought I was telling you to hold on to? Well, this is what I really wanted to tell you about. God's love! We have heard it a hundred times and we think we believe it, but do we really KNOW it? Think about this: God is in a room waiting. Suddenly, a person comes through the door. God's heart leaps! It is you. As you come closer he feels His heart quicken in His chest. As you smile at Him, his breath is taken away. As you finally reach Him, his heart is in His throat. And you know what? His worse fear is that you will walk right by Him and not look back. He desires you!

To be Continued . . .

Identity

2008-11-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

Week 3 was on Identity. I thought I had had some amazing breakthroughs with clear conscience week and thought I couldn't do much more, but I didn't have any idea who I am and didn't know that I didn't know, you know?

Clear conscience broke us down and destroyed us in our old ways. Identity built us up and redefined who we are in Christ!

Just like when we want to hear God's voice, if we want to identify ourselves we must identify God and his charactertisics. I won't go through that again though. Second, we must recognize and take up our position. We are sons and daughters of God; co-heirs with Christ; Child of the King and therefore, Princes and Princesses of the Kingdom of God! Cool, eh? This is our heritage.

Now, what comes with this position? Authority, respect, responsibility, freedom, power, influence, and a wealth of resources. We are the ambassadors for God and this is our duty.

Why is it so hard to do? The world shouts when God whispers, we like what we can see when God requires faith in Him, we are governed by fear, but God is faithful and unfailing, we want control when God already has control, and we want it now, but God knows the best time.

Next, we need to understand our identity in gender. The world tells us that women should be skinny, beautiful, independant, strong-willed, motherly, kind, athletic, positive, well dressed, rich, a damsel in distress, submissive, Barbie, blonde, blued eyed, exotic, girl next door, sexy and so on. Men have to be strong, rich, successful, handsome, tall/dark, athletic, composed, romantic, genuine, well groomed, warrior, sensitive, adventureous, determined, and so on.

Do you notice anything about these lists? They are imposible! It is not possible to be all these things at once. Does it tell you something about what the world is saying? It's all lies. I know you don't believe it, but its true. The world is feeding us lies. God doesn't want us to find our identity in this. If we believe it long enough we eventually attach our own selfworth to what the world says. Sad, but for most of us, its already true.

So then it comes down to what we invest our lives into.

To be continued . . .

Quite a lot going on . . .

2008-11-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

First of all, I am slowly trying to upload pictures of the going-ons around here, but I've been uploading them to my Reef to Outback page. Here is the link for you to check them out.

http://www.reeftooutback.com/profile/janna

Okay! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get more up on here. It has been really busy, still is in fact. I'm supposed to be writing a book report, but I wanted to write you all first. He he!

So, the last time I posted we had just finished clear conscience. Well, now we have gone through Identity and we're almost through Spiritual Warfare. There have been some amazing things happening through those sessions, but I thought I would take this time to talk about the other things going on at the base.

So, (I use so a lot) every week we have certain things that always go on.
We have lectures every morning and work duties in the afternoon (arvo here). I work as the receptionist from 3-5pm. I have the unique opportunity to talk to people from all around the world who call asking about YWAM or just to talk to a staff member. It's a lot of fun. I didn't think I would say that about answering phones.

On Tuesdays we have outreach prep. I learned that I will be staying here in Australia; I'm going to Palm Island and Mt. Iso. There are several indigenous tribes there and we will be learning more about their culture and sharing the word of God.

On Wednesdays we have base worship in the mornings with everyone on base, hence the name. :) It is a very unqiue time. The worship here is so interactive. There are no chairs; everyone stands or sits on the ground or lies on the ground, however they feel led. Most people sing, but some read out scripture as praise to God. People get moved to pray for each other and so they do. Everyone moves around the room praying over each other as God speaks to them. Some shout out words of acclamation and admiration and others pray out loud just to God. It is so amazing. On Wed night we have family barbaque. This is when people of the community come to have dinner with us and we cook. Its just like our cook-outs. The burgers and hotdogs taste slightly different and the sides are different, but its soo good. Its been neat meeting the neighborhood and building friendships with them. Later that night, we can all head down to the beach for a game of 'footy'. Its their big sport around here, like football, but not really. There are usually a few people knocked around though.

On Thursdays we have Intercession. My DTS group (30 people) get together in our lecture room and pray over a particular topic each time. Its anything from Iran to prostitution to Purdah. We usually break into groups of 3 or 4 and pray aloud taking turns. Then, we move into the main auditorium with the rest of the base and receive other topics to pray for. Recently, we prayed for the leadership conference of YWAM leaders in Australia. And we prayed for the base director and his family, communication as a whole around the world and how we use it and how we censor ourselves on it and in everyday conversation. I could spend a long time talking about that, so I'll stop there.

Fridays, we turn in our homework and journals. We usually spend Thurs night all together trying to get them done before the next day. Its like college all over again. Good fun.

Saturdays we have Youth Street. Kids from the ages of 12 to 17 are invited to join a team that meets from 2-5pm. We have dance, art, music, skate, sports, and drumline. Can you guess which one I'm on? I have been given the duty of vocal leader for our band's vocalist. There are some amazing kids with amazing stories that come every week. The two boys I work with don't live at home. They live in a foster home. They have tatoos and piercings and colored hair and are so dedicated to God. We just love on these kids and show them what it means to be family. At 5pm we serve them supper and then start Youth Street Live. This is when our base band plays Christian worship music and the kids hang out and worship. Then we have 180 or Ignite where we share a devotion or life lesson with the kids. The rest of the evening is spent loving on them and building positive, healthy relationships.

Sunday is our day off, normally (Monday too because of Youth Street, but we still have lectures). This past Sunday we went to the Billabong Sanctuary. It is the zoo here in Townville. I was able to hold a Koala and feed and pet Kangaroos. I put pictures up on the other site at the top of the post.

Some other things that have happened since I've been here include:

Island Breeze! One Wed, instead of family night, some indigenous and people with the base held a night for the Islanders. They performed tribal dances and songs of their native places. They took us through a history of dances through all the Islands including Hawaii, New Zeland, Tonga, and Australia. It was amazing. I think there are some videos up of some of this as well. I will try to post them, if you're interested.

Stable on the Stand! The Stand is what they call a section of the beach near here. Stable on the Stand is put on by all the local churches combined. It is a huge festival that goes on for several days during the Christmas season. We held the kick off here last week with the churches involved. It is the 10th year anniversary and so we had a birthday party style kick off. It was a lot of fun. It was another great time to get to meet the people of the community that are really involved in God's work. It was such a blessing.

Well, that's the average week and then some. There have been tons of other things and everything I've shared has been in abriviated form. I wish I could tell you everything in detail. Its so worth it, but I would be writing a book.

I do hope to talk to you all some time. If you can, I am on skype every Friday night around 6-9pm (your time). If you want to talk, just look me up. My account name is on this page to the right. I hope to hear from you and thanks for taking the time to read. God bless!

Very Unique Week

2008-10-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

So, our second week of DTS was on Clear Conscience. Ken Mulligan, the base director, was our speaker. He is a very unique man, someone I found intimidating at first, but has a kindest spirit of anyone I've met. He was blunt and to the point, but I never felt judged, even after our consciences became cleared.

Here are some of things he shared with us this week that really opened my eyes:

The whole understanding of right and wrong. When you think about what's right and wrong to you, its based on how you were raised and where you grew up and what you were taught. If we entered into another country and new culture, we would probably disagree with a lot of what and how they do things, but to them we are wrong. Just someone raised next door to you may feel it is okay to not pray before every meal when you feel it right. The Bible has very clear views about right and wrong in a lot of areas, but some things are still a little vage. It comes down to conscience. Our conscience will convict us with what's right and what's wrong. One person may feel convicted about going to church every Sunday when another person is not. It doesn't mean that one person is wrong, it means that God is convicting one person with their struggle in their walk with the Lord. This gives us Freedom in Christ! It's so liberating. There's so much more to this that I wish I could articulate.

He also highlighted throughout the week all the different types of sin. One of the big ones that people don't recognize in themselves is pride. It pretty much governs a lot of our actions. It's because of pride that we won't ask for help, it's because of pride that we have insecurities, its because of pride that we use sarcasm. We use pride to pretend to be humble. Its only when we submit to the Lord and become obediant that we acheive humility. And humility is not a negative thing. It takes a lot of strength to be humble. Its that funny?

When we have humility God will bless us and then, we can bless others! 2 Chornicles 9:11 says, "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God." So cool. We were made to be blessed and bless others! I can't wait to get started!

By the end of the week, nearly the entire room was walking their sin into the light. God does not want us to remain in the darkness. He is the light and we are meant to be in Him. We must bring all of ourselves into the light. It is the only way we can truely share in our relationship with God. God's first and formost is for us to be free. There is freedom in the light. When you walk in the light, its like tell God you trust Him; its telling God you believe He exists. He takes great joy in that.

Some details I missed.

2008-10-21T21:51:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

There were some pretty amazing things that happened to me in those first few days that I didn't really get to share with you, so I thought I'd go back a little and let you know those things.

As I said before, we talked about hearing the voice of God, but before you can even do that you have to understand a few things first. God created us for relationships and with that comes communication. You can't have a relationship with someone if you don't communicate and know them. SO, we talked about the character of God. God is a cool character. You can really get to know Him in the book of Psalms. He is our redeemer, saver, healer, teacher. He saves us, humbles, delivers, fills and satisfies us. He IS love!

The character of God is fixed and will never change. So it is in ourselves that we often do all the talking and think we know what we want or what's best for us. HAH! The longest distance in our lives is between our heads and our hearts. How do we know what we need? If our hearts are set on God and in tune to God's character then He will be able to speak to us. We often go to God for answers, but that's the last thing we should do. Don't seek God for answers, seek God for GOD! For a relationship. Maybe we go to God wanting to know what's next, but its actually less about what's next in our lives and more about trusting Him.

In the Bible there are actually 24 ways you can hear God. If you want to know them all let me know, I wrote them down. They're amazing. We also talked about the 4 conditions of hearing God's voice:
1. Submission to his Lordship - we must be willing to do what God wants before he tells it to us. Like signing a blank check, leaping out on blind faith.
2. Having a clean heart - sin is a barrier to our communication with Him. We must repent!
3. Moving in faith - unbelief is a sin. Faith - is sure of what we hope for and certain of things unseen. Hebrews 11:1 This also means not jumping ahead. If we don't obey the last thing he asked of us then how can we expect him to give new direction or insight. We must trust Him and Move by faith.
4. Knowing How to Carry out His Direction - The timing is His timing as well as the what and the how. The more we know someone, the easier it is to predict their behavior. Like finishing a best friend's sentence, we will be bale to discern God's will for our lives when we know Him more.

We have been so trained to live our lives to fuel our bodies. For instance, when we become angry or sad, in other words, when our soul or spirit is empty we want to fuel our body. Ladies, we crave chocolate or have vent sessions. Guys, you go hunting or play ball. Sometimes we turn to things like alcohol or drug abuse when instead we should be turning to the Word and time with God. Those other things are only temporary fixes.

Well, that was only the first two days of lectures. Amazing, eh? (eh is a Canadian saying around here) Thank you for being patient with me. I haven't had much time to sit and write out much yet. It seems that God is changing me every moment. Even as I write this my relationship shifts and grows deeper. As you read this He will, again, have moved mountains in my heart. I'll post again shortly with this weeks notes. Thanks for reading and for your support and love and prayers. God bless!

The First Week!

2008-10-17T00:24:00.000-07:00

Everything is going great. I can't even begin to tell you all the things that have happened. It's been amazing. Worship is amazing. I could tell you about it all day and I still wouldn't do it justice. It is so powerful. 10x more than I've ever experienced.

Although it was only orientation this week we did start with hearing God's voice. We learned the different ways God can speak to us and the specific ways that we hear. I am a visual learner and so that it my strongest reception with him. Visions. Isn't that awesome. They gave us each a post card and the voice of God totally blew me away. It is so strange, but cool. It's like the light switch was turned on and I could see everything clearly. Everything was already there to begin with, I just couldn't see it and now . . . I have been turned upside down, as they say here, and its only the first week.

We put in our request for outreach locations today. We had a choice of three places. 1. Palm Island/Mt. Iso. 2. Thailand. 3. Darwin/East Timor. I prayed for a long time over several days and saw an image that showed me the way to Palm Island/Mt Iso. It is still in Australia, but I know God will use me wherever I go. I put Thailand as my second choice. We will find out next week what we will actually get though.

I am so blown away at how much and how fast God has moved in me. I didn't expect it to be so quickly. They say that if you give God an inch He will take it a mile. He can do that, He's God. Well, I gave Him halfway around the world so you can imagine what He's doing with it.

It is so good to have Kim and Keevy here as well. They are such great support and the piece of home that I needed. I am so thankful and blessed and honored to have a family and support in the people I have at home. I could not fathom the measures God has moved to get me to this place. I am still in awe. Praise God! I love you all and pray for you daily. God is so good. I wish I could show how good He is. I will pray that He will show you. He is SOOOO GOOD!

I'm here!

2008-10-11T15:21:00.001-07:00

I meant to post something sooner, but here I am now.

Everything went really well. I could not have asked for things to have gone any better. I did panic a few times, but there was really never any reason. God truely was with me.

I met several people on the trip over. There were 6 of us together by the time we got to Townsville. We have already grown very close in just a short period of time.

We start oriantation today (Sunday). So far we have been wondering around, getting to know each other and the area. Yesterday, we all went to the Strand, which is the beach, and all got sunburnt in only a few hours. It was a nice 45 minute walk there.

I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you all and I love you more. Remember me in your prayers. Hopefully I will be able to write more later, but for now, I am safe and content.

In Transit

2008-10-08T11:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to LA. I am actually in the LA international airport. I got here at 10am and I don't leave until around 11pm. It's a nice long wait for me and I'm too scared to leave the airport for fear that I won't be able to find my way back. Hm . . . so I sit.

Here are some of the thoughts that went through my mind today:

"What am I thinking!? This is waaaay to far from home. I can't travel alone like this. I don't know WHAT I'm doing! I miss my daddy."

"WOW! Everyone should travel just before day break. The lights of the city are miraculous! It's like a really large version of that kids game 'Lite Brite'. And the sky! Amazing. It's like I'm just feet from touching the heavens. God is awesome."

"Okay, after 6 hours of looking out the window I'm bored."

"ZZZzzzzZZZZzzzz"

"Wait a minute. Where am I? Why am I in the desert? Did I get on the wrong plane? And why are we landing here?"

"Oh, this is LA."

So, there you have it. There was much more than that, but that's the general anxieties and acceptance I went through. Hope you enjoyed it.

Almost there!

2008-10-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm just about ready to go. I have paid my course fees and only have outreach left to cover! Praise the Lord! You have all been so very good to me. God is so good!

I was able to spend some time with family this past week. I went with Dad to Georgia to see my brother Jon for family weekend. He needs all the prayers he can get. He is struggling, but has high spirits. Pray for his strength, wisdom, and courage. He is discouraged and homesick. I hope that you will remember him in these next few months as they decide where he will be going after his graduation, Oct. 31.

Remember Keevy. She has begun her journey already and is in Cali now. Kim leaves next week as well, the day before me and will be traveling to Hawaii. Pray for safe traveling.

Again, thank you for your prayers and support. I know it is because of all your support that God has blessed me so tremedously. Continue to pray for me and for my travels next week. May God bless you and keep you. I love you all so very much!

September 12

2008-09-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Hello! I haven't been here in a little while and thought I would let everyone know how things are going. I have raised enough money to pay my course fees! That just leaves outreach which can be as much as 4,ooo Australian dolloars. I feel so humbled by this whole experience and I haven't even left yet. I can't express what this is like. I am just simply blown away by my family and friends and church that have been so supportive and gracious to me.

This is a hard time for people everywhere and I realize the sacrifice it takes to offer as much as some of you have. Thank you. That's all I can say.

There's only a month left and so much to do and so many people I would like to see before I go. Please, don't let me forget you if I need to see you. Give me a call or leave me a message here. I will try and see to everyone.

My flight tickets came through! Thank you for your prayers.

Also, the second yard sale is planned for tomorrow, Saturday, in Climax. If you would like to know more about it let me know as well. Again, last weeks was such a success and I thank everyone who helped me in it.

Continue to pray for Keevy and Kim as well. Kim flies home tomorrow and we are all eager to see her. Pray that she has a safe trip.

I also ask that you remember my brother, Jon, in your prayers. He is in Georgia training in the army. He is faced with going to Iraq soon instead of finishing his full training. It is a scary time right now for all our troops and they need our support despite our view on the war. Remember them all.

Again, thank you and I'll be back soon!

Yard Sale After Math

2008-09-06T17:18:00.000-07:00

And so, it rained . . . because of Hurricane Hanna. BUT, we were able to have the yard sale in the basement of South Plainfield Friends Meeting. Avid yard sale goers came and it was a good day. There IS a lot of stuff still left and so . . . here is the important part. There will be a second yard sale next Saturday, Sept 13! My Aunt Susan and Uncle Billy are involved in a neighborhood yard sale then and invited me to join with my leftovers. SO, everyone get ready for a second row and excited about a whole new load of merchandise! Char-Mar Cr, Climax, NC. Let me know if you need to know anything more! Hope to see you there.

Update again!

2008-09-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I now have all my paper work finished! I was approved for my visa yesterday. Whoo! Everyone has truly been amazing in supporting me as well. I can't get over it. I didn't realize how many amazing people I know and how dedicated to God they are.

Please pray about my plane tickets. I am having trouble getting a flight to go through. I know that it is in God's hands and he will provide, but prayers won't hurt either.

Also, be praying about Thirsty Thursdays. It is a worship service that Keevy and I began a while back and now that we are both leaving, we are worried about what will happen to it. Pray that someone will be called to help in this ministry. I know God's Will will be done.

Thanks for dropping by again and I will continue to pray for you.

YARD/BAKE SALE!

2008-08-27T17:48:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder for some and for those of you that don't know, I am having a yard/bake sale September 6th from 8am - 3pm at South Plainfield Friends Meeting off Plainfield Rd in Randleman/Sophia. If anyone wants to donate things for the sale or bake something, let me know. Otherwise, I hope to see you at the sale to pick up some sweet things from families all over the community. Thanks and God Bless!

Funds Update

2008-08-25T20:56:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone! I thought I would give you a bit of an update as to how I'm doing. I have raised about half of my funds to go to Australia. Thank you so much to everyone who has been so supportive and for the prayers. I have definetly seen God move. It is so amazing to see how God can use you if you are only willing. Continue to pray for me and I will try to keep you all updated as well. Thank you again!