Relationships and Fraser Island

I have to say that this last week has been pretty eventful, especially due to your trip to Fraser Island for the weekend. But I will get to that shortly... first a quick blurb on relationships week. A couple taught the week and they were super cool! They covered a lot of stuff including communication, dating, family relationships, personality and conflict resolution. I actually learned a lot about myself this week which was good. I recognized areas of my life where I need to trust God more and so I have done a lot of praying. The couple who lead the lectures actually shared how they met and it was an absolutely amazing story! It is way too long to try and retell so sorry if you are curious... :) That is pretty much all I have to say about that...

So on Friday, Destiny Rescue came in and did a presentation. For those who don't know this is an organization that focuses on rescuing girls that are in the sex slave trade. They then put the girls in homes and give them education as well as vocational training. These girls that they rescue are all children from about age 4-17. Again I will say that these girls were forced into sex trafficing! This is something that we have learned a lot about... and I will be doing a blog on this topic later going into more detail about what I have learned and what it means for me. If anyone is interested just google human trafficing and I am sure you will find a lot of information as this is a massive issue today. In case you didn't know... there have never been more slaves in the world than there are now! Anyways, I don't want to go into too much depth now, but I will say that this issue is heavy on my heart. So needless to say, I loved the presentation! It was very informative and sad, but so encouraging at the same time. The orgainzation has only been around 8 years or so and it was started by the brother of the presenter. It is amazing what one man can do with God. Now Destiny Rescue has houses in Thailand, Cambodia, Mozambique, India and one other country I beleive. They also do prevention work as well. Anyways we are actually working with Destiny Rescue for a few weeks in Mozambique and I am soooo excited! I don't know what we will all be doing with them, but I know it will be amazing!

So now Fraser Island. Where to begin?? It was beautiful weather and a crazy adventure... no tour bus this time! We had four vehicles that we rented to drive on the island and it was insane. We got stuck before we even got on the ferry that takes you over to the island! So much of the first day was spent pushing vehicles out of the sand... which was very hot I must add. We had two minor accidents... but nothing that bad, just a few scrapes and small dents. Anyways I have to say that it was amazing to finally get to Lake Mackenzie! We were all hot and filthy and it felt amazing to swim in the water. Of course we had to do some more pushing after that... but it wasn't as bad as before. We camped at the Central Station campsite which was an adventure. We set up our tents and then cooked dinner. We had to boil a ton of water because we didn't bring enough and you arn't supposed to drink any of the water on the island. So I was very thirsty when I woke up this morning. (I have to say sleeping on the ground made even the YWAM beds sound comfortable and that is saying something because they suck) We drove through one of the resorts on the island on our way to the ship wreck and we stopped for some water and ice cream. It was much needed! So we checked out the ship wreck and then went to Eli Creek and hung out there until it was time to leave. The drive down the beach was absolutely beautiful! So overall I enjoyed my time on Fraser the second time around but it was much different. This trip was a bit rougher, but full of a lot of laughs and good times.... even though much of it was spent pushing the vehicles. Oh and on the way home to the base on the vans broke down. I don't know what happened...actually I don't even know if the people who stayed with it are even back yet. So... hopefully they got home without too many problems. So basically I think that covers the highlights of the week. Next week is prayer week and I am pretty excited. We each have a two hour prayer slot each day with a small group of people. I think it will be amazing, but I will have to let you know later!

Spiritul Warfare and Jewish Roots

WOW... I don't even know where to start! This week was very intense, but totally amazing. The lectures were awesome! I was pretty excited to learn about spiritual warfare because I haven't had much teaching about that before. The first day we covered the topic of angels and demons. We talked about the differnt kinds of angels: warrior, messenger and worshipping. We learned about the fallen angels and how Satan tries to wage war against us. He tries to bind us in sin and silence us. He makes us feel like we are the only ones struggling with something and then fills us with shame. These are feelings that I have felt before, and this week really encouraged me to believe that it doesn't have to be that way. The good news is that Satan has already been defeated by the cross and through Jesus we have authority over him. On wednesday night we did some worship and then decided to wage some spiritual warfare ourselves. If there were areas in our lives where we were struggling you could go up and share with the group and then we all prayed for them. It was actually a very powerful night. I love that the people here are so open and that there is no judgement so that everyone felt comfortable sharing what was on their heart.

The last two days of lectures this week were on Jewish Roots. Initially I was thinking...okay so are we going to talk about Old Testimant traditions and celebrations or something.... well I was very wrong. The speaker, was so knowledgable in that area and they were some of my favorite lectures. He talked about how we should look at the Jewish people as our older brother. God entered into a covenant with Isreal and that is still being honoured today. Through Jesus and the spread of the gospel, Christians are now fellow -heirs. Romans 11:11 shows that because Isreal didn't beleive in Jesus, it made it possible for the gentiles to receive salvation. Verse 8 states that God blinded them and I believe that He did that so the rest of the nations could receive the gospel, otherwise it would have remained a strictly Jewish thing. The good news is that God will remove that blinding and they will realize the truth about Jesus. Even today, this is happening as it has never happened before, mostly in part due to the severe persecution that the Jews have suffered at the hands of the church.

This is what the second day was mostly about, it was a history lesson on anti-semitism and the church. To be honest I was overwhelmed. I had no idea that it had been so bad over the centuries and it made me feel sick! The holocaust is only one example of how this has happened. I had heard a lot of the stories before, but when they were all told together it really made me understand how the Jewish peoples have suffered. The most intersting thing was how the speaker related this to the decline and restoration of the church. Over the years the chruch lost its Jewish roots, then gifts of the spirit, moves on the spirit and then the authority of the word. This was during the middle ages. Then by about the 16th century we started to gain these thigs back starting with the word being restored. This happened at the same time that Jewish people were flooding back to their homeland (Isreal) for the first time in centuries. Anyways we have gained all those things back now and I think that really says something about where we are in God's plan. There was another verse we were talking about, but I actually can't find it now so sorry, but it says something along the lines that after all nations of the earth hear the gospel, Jesus will return. So anyways if anyone has heard of the 10-40 window of unreached people groups. That is the main area that has left be reached. Anyways we are rapidly approaching that time, whether it be in our lifetime, or our childrens'. Regardless of what you believe about this idea... because i know it freaks a lot of people out... it should motivate you to make sure that you are right with God. For me it makes me see how important it is to serve God during this life and not worry about how much money I can make or if I can buy a car or house or anything like that. So... I hope this wasn't too confusing, but it is so hard to write everything down in a way that makes sense. My point was that this was a good week and I learned a lot about how it is important to remember our Jewish roots. God made a covenant with Isreal and as beleivers we have been adopted into the covenant!

Character and Nature of God

So this week our lectures were on the character and nature of God. It was a good week, but for the most part I felt like I already knew what he was talking about. It was definately good to be reminded just how much God actually loves us though. He is passionately in pursuit in each and every single one of us. God is just, holy, merciful, love, forgiving, compassionate, gracious, powerful, slow to anger... etc. A lot of people have a scewed vision of who God really is but as we went through the bible He declares and shows himself to be all of these great things!

This week also reminded me of the power of prayer. We looked at several scriptures with Moses and King Hezekaiah where God spoke, they pleaded with God and He changed his mind. For example, God said that he was going to destroy the Isrealites after they made the golden calf once they had been delivered from Egypt. Moses pleaded with God and explained why he shouldn't do that. God listened and did not destroy them. It is important to remember that our prayers do make a difference! I have also realized the importance of praying for your nation. I never really considered it that important before, but we should be interceding on the behalf of our nation regularily, especially when there is so much disunity in the church. The church should be the concience of the nation and I don't necessarily think that this is the case most of the time. The church should stand up for those why can't do it themselves and it should stand up for the moral issues, even though it isn't polically correct. So... long story short there, prayer is important :)

As far as outreach in concerned, there still isn't a definitive plan on what we are doing. Please pray for you leaders and the contacts that the are communicating with. I think that they are having a hard time communicating with Destiny Rescue as they haven't heard anything back yet. We did sort out our roles in the group this week. Me and another girl, Annikke, will be in charge of teaching english. I am excited about this, but nervous as I have never done this before. Any resources would be greatly apprecited!

The Fear of the Lord

This week we just finished learning about the Fear of the Lord. It was the fourth week of lectures and I have to say that I can't beleive that it has already been a month! I am amazed at how fast time has gone by.. the next thing I know I will be heading to Africa! But back to lectures. This was a topic that I have heard about beofre but I never really knew how to answer... why should we fear the Lord? We looked at lots and lots of scriptures and I think that I have a better understanding now. The speaker, Glen, drew a picture of a double edged sword with grace on one side and the law on the other side. We talk about grace so often in church that the law side of the sword is often forgotten. That creates lawless grace which is almost like a license to sin...which is not at all what God wants for us! If you swing too far to the law side then you have graceless law which is not good either because no one could actually completely fulfill the law as we all have sinned. So the key is to have balance between these two things. We also talked a lot about fear...obviously! Fear is not cowardise, which is actually a sin. Fear is having respect and honour for God with the realization that is truly is an Awesome (fearsome) God. In Proverbs it says that the Fear of the Lord is the begining of wisdom. To be honest, this week was extremly intense and it was a lot to take in and process, but it was absolutely amazing. The speaker had so much wisdom to share and had a lot of hands on experience in the missions field. There was a lot of talk about spiritual gifts as well and I have really been spending a lot of time asking God about mine. I still don't have an answer, but i know that if I keep seeking, I will find the answer.

As for Africa I still don't know too much more about outreach except that we have booked the plane tickets. We are flying from Brisbane to Sydney and then to Johansberg in South Africa..not sure where we are connecting from in between. Anyways we might spend a week or two there in Jberg before we bus it to Mozambique. We will still need to pay for a flight to and from Madagasscar so we are hoping that isn't too expensive. The staff are still waiting to hear back from differnt people and organizations so nothing is set yet, but it would be great if you could pray for that process.

Just a note on my personal growth... this DTS has been challenging but extremely rewarding. God has taught me a lot about myself and it has forced me to do a lot of soul searching. I have had to push myself and question what exactly I believe in and search out the bible for answers. So basically...it has been good!

Hearing God's Voice

So last week we finished the lectures on Hearing God's Voice and I have to say that it was a pretty awesome week. I was definately a bit intimidated because I was unsure of myself but at the same time I was very eager to learn more about hearing God. The speaker, Jason, was awesome and he had a lot of great stuff to say on hearing God and some great stories too! My favorite part of the week though was the practical things that he made us do in class. The first time we just had a 30 min encouraging time where you tried to encourage as many people as you could. It was great, but a little nerve racking as well because the pressure was on :) Then the next day we were told that we were going to do the same thing except this time were had to spend time praying about what God wanted us to tell people. It wasn't important how many people you talked to just that you tried to hear God's voice. So I prayed and initially 2 people came into my mind along with some pictures and phrases for each of them. I was a bit sceptical as to whether it was God or just myself making things up but I decided to go for it anyways. The first one went well and she seemed encouraged and that was all that I could ask for. The second time, I actually started crying...go figure, but the girl that I talked to means a lot to me already. I talked to her after and she told me about the 4 different people that came to talk to her and how what we all said was similar and that we came in the perfect order and it was what she needed to hear. I was pretty amazed that God actually did speak through me! I talked to one other person afterwards... it was hard to go up to them, but I am glad that I went for it anyways. One of my biggest challenges here is learning how to conquer my fears. I am learning that there is far more freedom is speaking out than holding thing back when you are attacked by doubts. Anyways that next day we did more practice. This time you were supposed to talk with just one person and pray about what you were supposed to say to them. The kicker was that you didn't know who you were praying for....you had to write it down and then pull a name out of hat and go and share what you got with that person. So anyways I was a bit nervous but I did it and basically got a picture in my head of a growing flower. I won't go into that much detail. but I was skeptical. So then I picked out the name and went to that person. When I started to share with her what I saw she got really excited. I guess her mom had a similar picture when she was pregnant with my friend and always reminded her of it growing up. So it really meant something to her which was really cool. I was a bit blown away by the things that I experienced as well as what other people in the DTS experienced as well.

So now for this week...we have just started the Kingdom of Heaven week and so far it is off to a roaring start. So many hard questions have come up and I think it is important for us to think about them. Is just saying a prayer to God enough to get salvation? What does it take to be a true disciple of Jesus? Questions like these make you search out the truth in the bible and that is awesome. So far I think that I have come to the understanding that the most important thing isn't necessarily getting to heaven, it is making Jesus the lord of your life. The speaker Dan made an interesting comment. Most people read the gospels and relate themselves to the disciples. Instead we should try read them and relate ourselves to the Pharisees. Ask yourself: Are you falling into the same traps that they did? They were all work but no deed. Our faith needs to be followed with action! Too many people say that they follow Jesus, but don't act on that and I for one have been guilty of that in the past. Jesus has a heart for the world and so must we. "By doing unto the least of these you have done unto me." God wants to revolutionize the world through our action, not by our just sitting in church on Sunday or going about our daily lives minding our own business. Making Jesus the lord of your life means that you have to be willing to risk everything and that is something that I want to be better at. So...that is basically a bit of what I have been learning about this week.

Prayer Request:

I am getting sick AGAIN so please pray for healing!
That fear will not hold me back...especially when we do evangelism
That I will be open to God's voice and to what He is trying to teach me

New Outreach!

So...things have pretty crazy here at YWAM the last few days. Lectures have been amazing, this week we are learning about Hearing God's Voice. I have learned so much and it is incredible. Then I feel like I was put to the test yesterday. One girl from my outreach team decided that she was supposed to be on the team to India. Then another one of the girls has decided to go home and that she did not want to be at YWAM right now. This left our team with two girls and our leader. Needless to say I was freaking out because I didn't know what that meant for the team. So last night at dinner me and Rebecca talked to the school leader and we were at a bit of a loss. Then my outreach leader and some other people thought that if she joined the Africa team as a leader that would allow me and Rebecca to join that team if we wanted. The other option was that we could join the Darwin/Indonesia team. So I had to do a lot of praying about where I was supposed to go and my mind was like a mess! I was very stressed out about it because I did not want to make the wrong decision. So when it came down to it, I knew where my heart was... it was with Africa. So I went to that outreach meeting this morning and it is official.. I am going to Madagascar and Mozambique! Of course I now know that nothing is certain but at this point I beleive that is where I am going :) I am excited to go, although I know I would have loved Cambodia too. The plan for what we will be doing is pretty vague at this point, but I will fill you all in when I get more information. Hopefully we should be doing some work with Destiny Rescue while we are in Mozambique which works girls that were in the sex trade. Anyways, I will keep you updated..but I have to say that this whole experience is like a roller coaster. It is scary, but it is also the ride of a lifetime!!!!

YWAM Week 1

So I have officially been at YWAM for one week now and I have to say that it has been absolutely amazing! I absolutely love the people that i have met and we have already bonded. It is wierd..somtimes I can't beleive that I am actually here and other times I feel like I have been here for a long time because we have gotten so close already. We haven't even really begun the lectures yet because this was the orientation week, but I have already learned a lot. I love how everyone here has a passion and desire to know God. I think that God is going to do some amazing things while I am here! This week we spent one night and most of the next morning sharing testimonies and it was awesome. It was great to hear everyone's stories and why they came to YWAM. I think it helped us all feel closer and comfortable sharing with each other because there is no fear of judgement.

Today we spent the day at Noosa (well more like 3 hours) and it was nice, but it was basically spent on the beach... It was hot and sunny which was great (I guess I am trying to rub it in!) I did some swimming here at Alex beach as well today and went out for some delicious thai food tonight with a few people from the DTS.

So now for some information about outreach!!! We were presented with 4 outreach options: 1. Africa (mozambic and madagasscar) 2. India/Bangladesh 3. Cambodia 4. Darwin/Indonesia. We then had 15 minutes to pray about it and then put them in order or preference. This would not guarantee which place you visited. I put my first choice as Cambodia and my second as Africa. I would love to go to all of the locations but since that was not an option I had to pick :) We actually found out the next morning which team we were in and I am heading to Cambodia in December!!! It is an all girl team and there will be 5 of us in total. My leader CJ has been there before and is planning some amazing stuff for us to do which we are there. We will work with kids a lot I think and do some slum ministry. I won't go into too much detail about what we will do yet, until things are more certain. But i can tell you that I am super excited!!! I feel like i already have a heart for the people living there, especially the kids and I think that my enthusiasm will just continue to grow before we leave.

So that is basically it for the first week... at least all that I can think of at the moment. I will try and keep you all updated about what I am learning and about outreach. Please pray that I continue to learn and grow!