Sarina - The Beach House... 6th May - 15th May

They really weren't joking when they told us we were lucky enough to be staying in a beach house for 10 days! The house was beautiful! about 20 meters away for the beach and the sunrise every morning was just so indescribable! Waking up was just such a great thing when you go to see an image like that! :-) However being here was when i finally felt cold again, it wasn't a very nice experience! 12 Degrees... i was shivering, had loads of layers on and my sheet wrapped around me and i was still frozen!

Lots of school program games which was fun, I now have so many great ideas for games its so exciting! :-) I went and talked to these two young girls and then they attached themselves to me and followed me around for the rest of the lunch time program.. which was definitely an experience! 
We also - after 2 months of practice - had our one and only Auslife. A program put together by Youth For Christ Australia  where a group of volunteers go into schools and run all day seminars for a whole grade. I was on sound and it was actually lots of fun! Well, there was a stressful bit in the middle when we were running over in time and things had to be cut and things like that so that was a bit messy but all the feedback afterward which was really good! All the kids that were involved loved it - some may have just appreciated a day off the timetable but there was a lot who actually got really involved! :-) It was nice to be on the sideline but such an important role! :-D
We went into one school and did a whole day program with different grades, one with grade 1and 2 and then two others with grade 6 and 7. We decided to talk about bulling and how even the smallest things can upset people, talking about different strengths that we all have and how that benefits everyone that we are different! We had this time of small groups where we were able to just chat about what had been said and really get the thoughts and opinions of the kids which was just great. There was this one boy aaron who started crying because he didn't like public speaking, it was such an awesome moment as i as able to speak confidence into him and really just say that i believed in him! Afterward he came and shook my hand and said thank you. It was just such an awesome experience! :-D

We were privileged enough to be invited to join a mental health choir practice one morning, it was really heartbreaking, when we first walked in, one of the ladies ran up to us introduced herself and immediately said "were not dangerous, we won't hurt you" as soon as she said this it broke my heart and i just wanted to know her past, why she felt like she needed to say this to us when we all knew that they were just the same as us, beautiful creations. After two hours of singing and having such a good time we had to leave but i was such an eye opener to what people in the community are doing for others and how people who wouldn't normally even get looked at are getting an opportunity to shine!
The same day we went to 'cuppa in the park' a gathering once a week for new people in the community to some and get to know the people who had been there forever, make friends and to build relationship with others! It was just so much fun, i got into a really awesome conversation with this one lady and got to find out all about her!

I have been blessed so much by living in Sarina for 10 days, it was sad to leave such a place so open and welcoming! :-D

The adventures in Emerald... 29th - 6th May

The adventure begins at 5AM where we all jump in the van to get to emerald before 7PM for a youth group that two of the team were speaking at! That didn't happen.. The van broke down and so an 8 hour drive turned into an 11 hour drive as we plodded along this dusty road going 40KM. On the bright side i didn't get to see the most amazing sunset in the outback.. the true outback, it was beautiful! :-) Also got to see some kangaroos hopping around the place and a sweet worship time in the van whilst we were admiring the scenery!

We did a lot of flood relief this time in emerald, the first house we went to was the pastor of the church we were staying at. there house has been completely wrecked so we helped out by cleaning windows, a lot of tidying and a few of us help with some of the building work.. i stuck to cleaning windows.. however the power washer was loads of fun!! :-D

Sunday 1st was a quiet day as we went to church and then had the afternoon off. the morning service was really interesting and i was reminded of 3 things:
1)Read the bible
2)Meditate on God's word
3) Obedience to God's word.
(I'm working on it!)
During the two services today 20 people turned their life to Christ which was just such an awesome thing to be apart of! :-)

Day off: Every place we go we are lucky enough to have one day off, our day off in emerald was EPIC! We went wake boarding! I wasn't very good at the hole standing up on the board so i resorted to knee boarding which was just as much fun and i was good at it! :-D (being pulled behind a boat on a board which you then kneel or stand on depending what kind of board it is!:-D )

We went to a primary school where we were able to teach about letting your light shine and what gifts each individual has and how you can help others by using that gift! :-) It was lots of fun. We also went into a high school over lunch and did melon bowling, in the first 5 minutes 3 of the 4 melons that we were using had smashed.. luckily the last melon managed to make it until the end of the lunch break!

God bless. Xx

What happened in Ayr… 26th – 29th April

We arrived in Ayr Monday morning at about 11.30. The shortest drive we have as it was only an hour and a half so a pleasant time to look out of the window and marvel and the beauty of creation. That afternoon we spent time worshiping and praying for our team and then went for a BBQ over looking the sea with the family that are hosting us. Gwen – who is our contact – made 2 delicious cakes for us and I happily had a slice of both! 

Good news though! I definitely worked off the two slices of cake the following day with a cross country walk and two hours of boxing! We went to a primary school that was practicing for cross country race on the Friday and we were able to walk around the course with them. That evening we went to a boxing club which was set up as an alternative to going out drinking which is just such an awesome idea and so much fun! We were taught different routines of punches and hits and had a time of abs work out afterwards! The day after I think a plank of wood was more flexible then me but hey it was so much fun I would definitely do it again!  Watch out world there is going to be a new world champion boxer/DJ!

Our last night we had a pot luck dinner with all the church members and it was a feast! I can safely say if I didn’t eat for a week I would be fine due to all the food I ate in Ayr! 

Ourtreach One - Week Three

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You ARE a CHILD of GOD. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people won’t feel unsure around you. We were born to make manifest the presents of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in EVERYONE! As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others” – Nelson Mandela 1994 inaugural speech.

Think about it.

This week has been the quietest of the three weeks but it has still been full with worship, showing God’s love in acts of service more than in speaking out. For example, the house of the pastor which was affected by the floods we helps tidy up, weeded and sweeped, mowed the lawn and generally made it look nice for when they got back from work. I’m sure everyone can agree the thought of gardening after a long day isn’t appealing so it was great to be able to help out in a small way. We also thoroughly cleaned the church, They had many people staying there when people were evacuated from their houses so walls were cleaned, windows washed, floor cleaned and the church was also made very presentable which was great! J What we did was greatly appreciated.

We had the chance to go into a school for a lunch program, after sitting down at a table with a group of 10^th graders and them all leaving my partner and I found a group who were willing to talk to us and we had a great time laughing at things they had done and sharing what we had done. It was great to start to make the relationships. Unfortunately we only stayed in Emerald five days and so relationships within the churches are strong but with the community and school it is less so as there weren’t many opportunities for us to go in and help out around the school. I am looking forward to spending longer in Emerald in the second outreach, we all believe that there is great potential for God to work in the community of Emerald so it’s all exciting! J

We were back in Townsville (home sweet home) on Wednesday evening and Thursday we got set on setting up for YouthFest – a day when teenagers from around Townsville get to come to seminars and workshops around a race track and get to experience different activities. The YWAMers had a garage which was decorated in bright colours and pictures and we were involved in a quality of life seminar, talking about how we as individuals, as Australia and a nation and how we can help Papa New  Guinea and build on that relationship. Part of the seminar was splitting into small groups and deciding what our strengths were and how we could improve our quality of life personally and what we could do for others, the things that the kids came up with were great – e.g. give blood, work for free, donate money, clothes, books, toys, help around school – all things that they could do to change and impact their lives and the people around them! J The evening was more of a time when the youth could just hang out, there was live music, a maze, rock climbing wall, silent disco, buggy riding with beer goggles and loads more different activities. Being able to mingle for 6 hours meant of course I went into the silent disco - AMAZING! and the rock climbing wasn’t too good as I freak out and only got half way up. However it was great to be able to just see the youth in a safe environment having fun and being able to ask questions about different topics at the different stalls.

It has come to the end of first outreach, a rollercoaster of emotions, from being shattered and not able to go on to pumped for get out there and change lives. The best bits for me was speaking to the youth group at emerald when God had his hand over it all and it all linked together, the feed back was awesome, Being able to make friends with particular people at schools and having the opportunity to speak life into their lives and encourage them, even listening to them and having a laugh was not only great for them but has also taught me a lot about how to work with young people. The experience has been amazing, my outreach team has become tight and the laughs have been many.

Thank you for all your support through prayers and encouragement on my first outreach phase! It really has been awesome!

God bless. 

Outrach 1 - Week 2

This week has been amazing, God has seriously been moving in Gladstone and everything that we have done has been very positive, whether gardening, making egg and cheese muffins for a brekky club to helping out at a school shine programme (a group of 10 girls who get together talk about identity, relationships, get help with their class work etc.)

Indepth look of the week:

• School programme – Ok so 6 of us are planning a school R.E programme for what we thought would be about 5 – 20 primary school kids. A few games, a talk and then a prayer to finish. Sweet very exciting! So we turn up at this school all pumped to talk to 20 kids and find out that we would be talking to the whole school, yes the whole school all 120 kids! The programme we planned was so much fun, 3 minute games all different to keep them entertained, I spoke about the Good Samaritan but changed it to a school setting which was fun, my team mate Courtney told a story of when her car broke down and how a stranger helped her out and how it meant a lot so maybe they could also help their teachers or parents out during the week.
• Melon bowling – 40 minutes of melons flying everywhere! We went back to a school that we had done breakfast club in and got to catch up with all the people we had spoken to the week before which was awesome. The melon bowling was a real hit, at first I thought it would just be the YWAM team and a few others from the Christian group there but there were loads of people standing around looking and the line up for a go was awesome! J

Travelling to Emerald…

A five hour journey north-east of Gladstone is a small town where we have now encamped in a room above the church. An hour after arriving myself and Hilary (team member) were thrown into writing testimony/sermons for the youth group in the evening, 20 minutes before we are meant to be talking I finally worked out what I was meant to be talking about. The cost of being a disciple, what it meant to me and how giving up everything to go to Australia has really changed my life around, how God has opened my eyes to new things and from stepping out in faith I am now able to carry the cross and follow Jesus. The best thing was that we had no idea what the night was going to be on but God linked everything together so it was all about sacrificing money, time, career, family etc. TOTALLY AWESOME! J

We also had a day helping someone tidy there garden from the floods that happened in January, the water came up a meter from the bottom of the house, take a walk outside and have a look at how high that is, then go back inside and have a look at all the stuff on the bottom level of your house.. devestation would be a nice way to put what the people of the floods have been through!

*** Personally God has also broken my heart for what breaks his – as awesome thing to say but when he does you’ll know about it. I had the privilege to look through his eyes at his people, I saw the faces of the broken, lost, the prostitutes, the abused, the starving, the dying, the homeless, the young and old and everything in between. The look of emptiness in their eyes was devastating, I was overwhelmed with grieve and a confusion and longing to help. From this however I now have a passion to help the people above, I don’t know how or when but I know why: I want to give them the opportunity to have life, a life walked with Jesus Christ and an eternity with the Creator of the world.  ***

Outreach One, Week One.

Leave Townsville: 6.10AM

Arrive in Gladstone: 5.30PM

Three stops and one giant mango (there is nothing more to say on the mango because that is all, it is giant mango, doesn’t really look like a mango but apparently it is a mango none the less! J

Ok, so as a team we have decided that our outreach is going to be mainly youth focused and we have had many opportunities in schools and youth groups to show them who we are and what we believe. This past week has been jam packed with brekky programmes serving toast and pancakes (I had to make some of the pancakes, after the first 8 they got better!), lunch programmes telling short testimonies. We have experienced half day R.E programmes and a massive youth event ran every Thursday evening. The variety has been excellent, the days have been long and God has really been showing us all as a team where to go, what to know and how to show his love. (Ooo that nearly rhymes) 

More detail:

• R.E Programme – Two hours out of Gladstone is a town called Monto where we did the R.E morning. The hall was split into two halves, one half had chairs and the other was just a space where we could get into small groups and play games. The topic of this teaching was ‘living the dream’ and we spoke out earthly dreams such as being rich, partying hard, great sex, big house, etc… and then talked about God and what his plan for us was, to be in eternity with him. Then was the interesting part in our small groups we asked them if they would give it all up all their earthly dreams to follow God’s dream. The reaction to that question was a plain no, but we did have conversations about what we would give up if anything which did get them thinking a bit. The debrief at the end with the leaders was really positive, the kids had loved us being here, one girl in particular wrote me and note saying that she loved having me as her small group leader and wanted me to come back last time, which was a bit encouragement and God must have been working through their lives because I was just my silly self!

• Brekky programmes – Getting up at 5AM to have breakfast at the church and then off to the specific school that we are helping to run the brekky club, at one we help distribute toast and juice to primary schoolers who may not get breakfast in the morning and the other is to high schoolers and we made pancakes! Like I said before after about the eighth pancake they started to look edible. Yay! J We normally get about 10-15 minutes to wander round and talk to the kids afterwards so me and my friend Gill went off together to see if we could get to know some of the kids. God pointed out this girl who was stood on her own and so we went up and started chatting to her. She was the most kind girl in the world, that was struggling to fit in at school and was occasionally bullied, we knew we were doing a lunch time programme at the same school later on that day so invited her to that which she came which was awesome! God was totally just moving and by the end of it we were laughing and joking and were really good friends. I’m looking forward to going back and seeing how she is getting on when we go back next week! J

• Thursday night event – Is an event that is run by youth to keep the youth of Gladstone off the streets and out of trouble. There must have been over 200 young people chilling out on this park, there was a skating area where some sweet moves were being pulled on BMX’s and scooters, a climbing wall (I managed it once but felt like I was going to die) and then sing star and pool going off in different corners of the park! It was awesome! When we first rocked up and got out of the van it was very intimidating, seeing so many young people in big groups and knowing that you could possibly be getting to know them and chatting made me want to jump back in the van and go as far away as possible, I didn’t though and had such a good time, didn’t necessarily have any conversations of Christ but general topics such as shopping.

• Youth group – We ran a youth group which had 40-45 young people in and we decided to play mini golf, when I first heard this I thought we were going on an outing but it turned out to be us making a course which was sooo much fun!! J I will be an expert at explain YWAM after this school as every time we are at a new place we explain what and who we are! We decided to talk about acceptance and showed the Woman at the well monologue and then two of the team shared there testimonies – we are all now pro’s at two minute testimonies.   

During the week we also had a day off and went to a beach called Angus beach, a beautiful 7KM beach, just stunning, spent the day chilling on the beach some of us went swimming in the sea and 3 hired surf boards and did some surfing, I didn't want to make a fool of myself so I slept on the beach.J We also got the chance to go kayaking between church services on Sunday, which was just so much fun, we went to a lake surrounded by mountains, look a picnic and just relaxed.

The church services were really good, the first one was lively and there were two baptism which were moving and such a great thing to be a part of! I couldn't get over how many young people there were, atleast 40-50 scattered all over the place which was just so encouraging and great to see! J

I'm having so much fun out on outreach, god is really teaching me patience and a confidence to speak to those i don't know. A great way to put into practice what i have learnt over the past two months!

God bless.

Two weeks in a field.

Camping according to Wikipedia. "Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants (known as campers) leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite". 
Ok so outdoors, check. Left 'home' and urban areas,check. Enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, well yeah I was outdoors for several nights but what's this ENJOY rubish?! Obviously Mr Wikipedia hasn't been camping in a field!
I've got 20 reasons for anyone and or everyone to NOT go camping with me:

View From Tent #1

1. Picture this- A 2 man tent + 2 blow up mattresses+ Me...
So the tent we hired from the base was probably the smallest 2 man tent on earth but it still was a good tent (take note on the 'was'). So 2 inflated air-mattresses in a mini 2 man tent means that it might just be a bit hard to get in and out. Emma being the smart woman that she is decided that entering the tent would be best done with a run up and exiting would be best by being heaved out by a caring friend, mostly me! Lets just say Emma broke tent..
2. The second night it decided to rain. Because some clown broke the tent, the tent flooded. 
3. I became completely covered in what we named leprosy but ended up being bed bug bites. Our tent was infested with bed bugs. So. Bye bye 2 man tent hello 1 man tent.
4. If from the last line you didn't pick up that we got a 1 man tent, WE got a 1 MAN TENT, WE.. 2 PEOPLE. So now there is me, Emma and 2 air-mattresses in a 1 man tent. I felt like I had a 1 night stand for 3 nights!

12 baptisms took place!

5. As we where camping there was no laundry facilities. Plus it rained non stop so we wore the same clothes for 3 days and couldn't shower for 3 days.
So by this stage Emma is getting a little stabby but still in good spirits with a 1 man tent with 2 people, no shower for 3 days and no clean clothes. Mind you in this time its pouring with rain most of the 3 days and the ground is becoming more and more like a chocolate thick shake. I'm smelling like a homeless-mans foot and I'm looking about the same. 
6. A whole heap of our gear went moldy- Runners, t-shirts, pants.. Hello landfill 

Tent #3 luxuary we could stand up!

7. Emma and I got diareiah (exploding poo). So another mental image. 1 man tent + 2 air-mattresses+ 2 very 'over it' people + I having direah = DISASTER. In the middle of the night I needed to go to the toilet and becuase I had diareiah I NEEDED to go. Only problem being that Emma is on the door side of the tent. So in the midst of trying to get out by climbing over Emma, Emma freaks out because there is someone half on top of her in the middle of the night. We are wobbling around in our one man tent making a racket trying to figure out what the hell is going on! Eventually after a struggle I stumble out of the tent into the mud outside!
8. Emma gets diareiah for 5 days straight! SELF EXPLANATORY!
9.  Do washing- wet for 3 days- smells like bum, then needs to be washed again.
10. Emma got an in-grown toe nail
11.My back starts hurting.
12. Mental picture number 3. As the sewerage system is a small stream that flows through the campsite you gotta be careful where your walking. So Emma being pretty over it by this stage is walking around at night near 'Poo Creek' some how manages to nearly go bottoom up and ends up with half her leg stuck in 'poo Creek'. She didn't just have her leg covered in ass but her thong got sucked in so she had to dig it out with her hands. Yeahhhh 
13. Might as well add the fact that there where 2 showers and 4 toilets for 60 people then on Friday and Saturday 2 showers and 4 toilets for 200 people.
14. After the crowd of 200 left I was pretty stoked to have a shower so she made sure she was one of the first ones!
15. Not being able to flush the toilet for number ones but even if you did a number two it would barely flush anyway! Emma doesn't have a very strong stomach especially in the mornings. The last thing she want to be smelling in the morning is someone curry chicken bowel movements from the night before. Thank-you to who ever that was. Thank-you very much, since she kindly told me about it in a lot of detail!
16. My back is seriously hurting by this point
17. My cup, managed to get a big whole in it so no hot chocolate for me! ...Good times

View From tent #3

18. Just about every time the milo tin came out I had to use my bowl! And just an add on.. every time I used the urn I got burnt!
19. The damper that i did cook over the fire was either burnt or not cooked at all. FAIL! 
20. Conversation - Emma to El: Emma " Dude, can you look at my back, it feels like I have a massive pimple!"
El" Sure,......ahhhhhhh that ain't a pimple". So because her immune system was so low from being sick or infected most of the camping trip, she got shingles.. Sweet bubbly rash on her back! Ended up having to come home 2 days early, leaving me to have more space but no one to complain to!


So in between all of that I actually had an awesome time in Hidden Valley and would love to go again. The scenery was awesome, the company was great, loved the swimming hole, food ruled and campfire was the bomb.
I've got my out reach coming up in a week an a half. I'm nearly half way through the course and I'm pumped to come home and see what's next. So many ideas flying around my head it's hard to switch off, so we'll have to just wait and see what God has planned! :-D  
Love you all!
Peace out. X