Back from PNG

It seems like only yesterday that I left for my 6-week outreach in Papua New Guinea. I really can’t believe how fast time flew! We flew into Port Moresby, PNG’s capital city, and traveled 8 hours by truck and boat to reach the first village called Moro. Upon landing we were met with a warm welcome by the whole village and people from surrounding villages. They greeted us with singing, dancing, and food. It really felt like a hero’s welcome. Our hosts were extremely generous and hospitable to us in every way, clearly reflecting the Papua New Guinean way of treating guests. In Moro we really tried to develop relationships with the villagers on an individual basis. The people were really easy to talk to and were quick to smile and wave whenever you walked by. Packs of children followed us wherever we went and were so fun to play with. In the evenings we held church services and taught about waiting on the Lord, clearing your conscience, and on identity. There is no time for the people there, so they were eager to listen to us for hours on end. We really fell in love with the village and the people, so it was hard to leave for the next village.

After spending 2-weeks in Moro, it was time to move on to Merreke. As we left Moro we were showered with parting gifts by the villagers. We had to hike for 3 hours to reach the village and were completely exhausted by the time we reached it. In Merreke we stayed at a pastor’s house and slept in a tree house. In Merreke we held programs 3 times a day teaching about the same topics that we had learned in lectures. At one of the programs, I got the opportunity to speak for 2 hours about Lordship. I embraced the opportunity and got my message across successfully. I also participated in various skits that we did. As in Moro, we also developed close relationships with many of the villagers. I really developed a close relationship with one man in particular. His name in his language means banana in English, and since I couldn’t pronounce his name, I just called him Banana. He had been coming to our programs, and half way through he came up to me and told me how touched he was by what we said. He said that he had fallen away from the church years ago and had decided to change his life. I continued to develop a relationship with him and his whole extended family. A couple of the girls and I got the opportunity to pray for Banana’s father who had been crippled by malaria. Reality really hit me in the face when I met him. The whole family was encouraged by our prayers, and were going to continue praying for him as a family. By the end of our stay there, I had my PNG family and father was able to walk to the beach by himself. Two weeks in Merreke flew by and it was time to move on to the next village.

We had more goodbye presents showered upon us as we were leaving Merreke and moving on to Hari Babo. Thankfully we only had to hike about half an hour to get the next village. In Hari Babo we only ran a few programs because we really felt that developing relationships with the people was what we were there for. One thing that I was really led to do was to start an interdenominational prayer group. The pastors of three different denominations in the village and about 50 church members gathered together for an extremely moving prayer group. It was the most powerful prayer group that I have ever witnessed. Everyone, including myself, was greatly encouraged after the prayer meeting and the churches were completely united for one goal. After a week and a half in Hari Babo, it was time to start making our way back to Port Moresby for our flight back to Australia. We were showered with more gifts as we were leaving, and people from Merreke and Moro came to send us off. It was really hard to say goodbye.

This is the last week of lectures and it is basically to debrief us and to prepare us for going back home. It's hard to believe that 5 months went by so quickly!

Papua New Guinea!!

So the day I've been waiting for has finally arrived; we are finally leaving for Papua New Guinea. We will be arriving in Port Moresby tomorrow and from there we will be visiting different villages in the jungles. I will not have any internet or connection to the modern world for the whole time we're there, so it will be quite the experience. I can't wait to go out and love on other people! The past two weeks here on base have been busy with preparation and lectures, so I feel like I've hardly had time to breathe. I am looking forward to see what God has in store for me over the next 6 weeks. I will be sure to update as soon as I get back!

5DE

Just got back from 5DE and it was really awesome. So much happened and time went by so quickly that I'm just starting to get myself together. I think I got about 5 hours of sleep every night! We stayed at this camp site in the mountains outside of Bisbane. We did all sorts of fun activities, like a massive laser tag battle and huge group games. We also went into Brisbane and went shopping in a couple big malls. While in Brisbane we went water skiing and surfing. It was so fun to hang out with the kids and just have fun with them! One night we had a band come play a concert for us and another night we had a super hero theme dance party. I love dancing, so that was awesome for me personally. The best part of the whole camp was the fact that we were able to put a positive influence on the kids that came. I made a lot of valuable relationships with a bunch of kids that came. I tried to encourage them as much as possible and to speak truths into their lives. A lot of them come from rough backgrounds, so it was awesome to see them change by the end of the week. I really saw how valuable Youth Street is and the positive impact it puts on the lives on so many kids. For the next two weeks we continue with lectures :)

Outreach update

So we are back from our trip through Cairns and Hopevale. We are only back on base for 2 days, then we leave again for 5DE. Cairns was a great city, and while there we stayed at a local Baptist church. We visited a middle school and a high school to just hang out with the kids. It was really fun, because we got to connect with them in a relaxed environment. We also ran a church service at another church. I was apart of the worship team, which fits me so well because I love to sing! After a few days in Cairns we made our way to Hopevale, which is an indigenous community. The problems for that community are very similar to the problems of American Indian reservations (alcohol and drugs). We went into the community with the attitude that we were not there to change the people, but rather to just hang out with them and learn from them. We had multiple chances to do so and it was awesome to learn more about them and their culture.

Tomorrow I have to do more preparations for 5DE. I am handling the accounts for the trip, which I have to admit, I am most excited for. I'm also looking forward to connecting with the kids :)

First Outreach

So we are finally leaving for our first outreach tomorrow (Saturday). We will be going to Cairns and will be gone for 2 weeks. During that time we will be visiting churches and running services. We will also be visiting aboriginal communities to develop relationships with the people there. We are going to the very small communities of Hopevale and Mossman. After 2 weeks will be back on base for 2 days, after which we will leave for a the week-long 5DE.

I'm excited to help run church services, but I think that I'm most excited to do 5DE. It will be so awesome to connect with a bunch of Aussie youths :) I will try and update at some points during the outreach...if I can find an internet cafe.

Getting Excited

This week in lectures has been so amazing so far. We are doing bible study, and are learning how to study the bible more effectively. It's really intriguing! I've never had a lecture that goes by as fast as these have. Our lecturer is Johnathan, and he is really knowledgeable. I hope to gain even more understanding as the week goes on.

This Saturday my outreach team is leaving for Cairns (our 3 week outreach starts there). On Sunday we will be doing a whole service for a church (leading worship and doing a message). We will also be going to the indigenous communities in Hopevale and Mossman. On the final week of outreach we will be doing the program called "5DE" which stands for 5-Day Escape. During that week is "Spring Break" for Australian schools, so we take a bunch of middle and high school kids on a cool trip and try to connect with them. It's going to be jam packed with all sorts of fun stuff from surfing and water skiing, to listening to live bands. For 5DE we will be going to Brisbane and will be on the Gold Coast. I'm so excited to go on outreach!!

Camping

So I just got back from the two weeks of camping, it was pretty sick. It was really beautiful there, and I saw some cool stuff. Wild kangaroos and emu's. Spiders as big as long as your finger. Ant hills as high as your knees It was like watching a true nature show out there. Flocks of green parrots flying around. Birds that sounded like women screaming (they sang in the middle of the night too, which was kinda freaky). The second the sun starts rising, EVERY bird that exists there screams at the top of it's lungs. I've never seen as many stars as I've seen there. It was absolutely amazing! The moon went away during the night (it's out in the day) and you could see some of the milky way and space clouds! I can't express how beautiful it was.

In lectures we learned not to live in a fear of what others around us think of us, but how God thinks of us. It was a really powerful time for me personally, and I feel different than I did two weeks ago. I pray differently and I worship differently. Youth Street yesterday was really awesome as well, and I got the privilege of catching up with Daniel. He is a great kid and I love encouraging him! This coming week in lectures will be about Bible study. Then we head off on our 3 week outreach! More to come...

This Week's Lectures

This week we learned about missions; what it really means to do missions, and how we can do God's work in all walks of life. You don't have to go to a remote area to be a missionary, there are opportunities around you. We also learned about a lot of the suffering going on around the world, for example the slave trade. It has been a very interesting week, and I've received some good revelations. I'm also discovering more about myself, and my path in life. It's really awesome!

This weekend we are going camping for 2 weeks; meaning that I won't be able to post for a while. I know all my readers will miss me :P I am really excited to go out and enjoy nature. I plan on having lots of quiet times, and to be able to contemplate a lot of things out in the quiet wilderness. We will be having lectures during that time as well. I can't wait to see what's in store for the next 2 weeks! I will be sure to update as soon as I get back!

Scavenger Hunt at YS

So this week in lectures we learned about God. We studied his characteristics and how he acts towards us. It was all very interesting. Friday was the best day; the whole time we were in worship. I love worship!

Youth Street was really fun as well. The whole music team took a trip to The Strand (the beach) and we did a massive scavenger hunt. We used video cameras to document which team won. The items on the list were so creative, for example we had to dance in the isle of the supermarket holding a package of diapers for 15 seconds. The kids had a blast and were so into it. I also had a great time, and I think it was a good break from our music work that we've been doing the past few weeks. It gave us a chance to go out and have a fun time with the kids, and to get to know them on a different level.

Weekend and Evangelism

This weekend was great, as usual, and Youth Street was awesome. This week we worked on equipment set up and stage presence, we also started to help the kids to write a new song. I also started to develop a relationship with a kid named Clayton. He's a bit shy and reserved at first, but he started to open up and talk to me a bit. At the end of Youth Street we have a dance party, and he was afraid to go and dance. I encouraged him to come and dance with me, and eventually he came out. I could tell he was having a good time, and I made sure to dance next to him and encourage him the whole time. Of course I made sure to dance extra goofily (I made that word up) so as to show him that it's alright to let loose.

Relationship Week

This week has been a very interesting one. Our guest lecturer is teaching us about all different kinds of relationships. We learned how to love people who we don't get along well with as well as how to have Godly relationships. Awesome stuff! We also had a session (unplanned by the speaker) about how to walk in humility.

Youth Street this past Saturday (July 31st) was so great and I really saw one reason why God brought me here. A kid on my music team (Daniel) worked together to write a rap that he was going to perform live with the group. In working so closely with him, he and I started to really connect. He proceeded to open up to me about how he's struggling because of a recent breakup with a girl. I was able to relate to how he was feeling because I had gone through the SAME thing a couple years ago (which is what brought me to God). After we talked for a bit he exclaimed, "Wow! You know exactly how I'm feeling!" How awesome is that?? I pray that God will work through me to bring a dramatic change in Daniel's life. He is a good kid, I can see it in his eyes. The biggest miracle for me would be to see him change, and I sincerely hope that I can be a part of that change.

I can't wait for Youth Street this Saturday :)

Confession

This week has been all about conviction and confession. We learned about the conscience and why we believe things are wrong and right. It was all very interesting and it got me to really think. Our lecturer was the base director Ken Mulligan. On Thursday we had a private reflection/meditation time where we just asked God to convict us and wrote down any sins or attitudes we felt convicted of.

Today we have Youth Street, woohoo! My music group is having a live concert and we feel that the kids are well prepared. I pray that everything goes well. I also hope that MC Venom (Daniel) comes back to continue our rap battle. I talked with the head of music (Micah) and asked if Daniel and I could write and record a song together; then maybe perform it live or something. He said we could definitely get that done, so that should be exciting. I really want Daniel to feel welcome and at home here again :)

Clear Conscience Week

This week our lecturer is the base director Ken Mulligan. He is asking us some pretty tough questions about right and wrong. Why is something wrong? Apart from the law, who says it's wrong? We are starting to figure out why we believe what we believe. We are also talking about repentance. We also started prepping for outreach last night and did a bunch of team building exercises.

Also happening this week: talking to people at the strand, youth street, and Billabong (zoo where you can hold koala's)

So excited :)

Youth Street

It was a great weekend; we had Youth Street on Saturday, then a party for the girls at our house on Sunday. It's so awesome to see relationships being made and kids changing at Youth Street. I know that God has sent me here for a reason; and I found one of those reasons on Saturday.

There is this kid named Daniel aka MC Venom, and he is very much into rapping. He had been coming to YS for a while, then stopped coming. One of the leaders was praying Saturday that he would come this time, and right after he was done praying another leader received a text from Daniel saying that he was coming this week! I had informed one of the leaders that I used to rap when I was in high school, so if Daniel did show up I could relate to him easily. Boy was I in for a surprise. They asked me if I would be willing to have a rap battle with MC Venom and I accepted. He won the rap battle (I'm a bit rusty to say the least), but afterwards he just looked so happy. I could see the light in his eyes, it was awesome! I told him that we have to have a rematch next week, and he said he would definitely show up.

If I can leave this place with a positive impact on this kid's life, that will be enough for me. I love making an impact :)

Identity Week

This week has been a very powerful and awesome week here at YWAM Townsville. In lectures we are learning to get rid of all the lies the world has implanted in our heads about ourselves. God is really showing me how much he cares about me and what he really thinks about me, it's great! He is also revealing to me all that I fear and all of my insecurities.

Today we have base clean up; where all of us (staff and students) get together for half an hour and clean the whole base. It's actually kinda fun! We also have worship time before lecture, and that is my absolute favorite time :) Our brother Mike just went into surgery yesterday for his broken wrist, and he will be coming back today. Keep him in your prayers; I know God was with him the whole time. I pray that God gives him strength.

Tomorrow is Youth Street :)

Lecture This Week

This week starts the unit where we are learning to see ourselves through God's eyes. So many struggle with bad self image and insecurity, so it's going to drastically change how we all see ourselves. Today we worked on poor self image, and many were really touched by the message. It was amazing! On Mondays we also have worship before lecture, and that is always incredible. I feel like I can really let loose and praise the lord with all my strength.

I do have a prayer request: One of our guys broke and dislocated his wrist because of a nasty fall while climbing some rocks. I ask everyone to please pray for his healing both physically and mentally (it was a really messed up incident). I also ask prayer upon us guys who witnessed the incident as it was traumatizing to watch someone we care about in so much pain. We are all struggling with guilt. His name is Mike and he is from Austria. He is a really great guy! There has been a lot of good that God has brought about through this negative situation. We all came together to pray for Mike multiple times, which was amazing. Also, I think everyone really realized how much Mike means to us, and so many people are trying to help him out with everything. He is overwhelmed with love from the whole group! Praise the Lord, he could have died.

Youth Street

Yesterday was the first time I helped out in Youth Street and it was AWESOME! We each got to sign up for an area of the YS team. I'm working on the music team and I'm a sort of voice coach. The kids wrote and recorded their own song (I didn't help with this, it was done before I came here). Now we are working on a song that we will be performing live in a couple weeks! They are all young, and awkward, but so cute :) They loved me, I received multiple hugs and high-fives.

After the live band performance later in the night, one of the leaders (Johnathan) gave a short 20 minute sermon. I LOVE YOUTH STREET :)

Surely he is good to me

Yesterday we had our first real lecture. Our speaker was an awesome lady named Joanne, and she was just fantastic. The name of the lecture was "Hearing God's Voice." We basically worked on being more active in our worship and our prayer. So instead of getting all comfortable in our seats, we got up and put up our hands (danced around during worship). It really did change the way I prayed and worshiped. Because usually when I pray and I'm in my "comfortable" place, I tend to start thinking about other things I have to do or things that have happened during the day that are irrelevant.

We also had intercession and prayed for the people suffering in Darfur. A lot of people were very moved, it was great. We also have workbooks to finish. Workbooks basically ask you to read passages or excerpts from books, then ask you a bunch of questions. Can't wait for lecture today!

Lectures start

So lectures started, and so far we have gone over all of the rules and ways of YWAM Townsville. We have also gotten our first assignments. Our assignments will include doing some workbook writing, reading a couple books, book reports, and even creating devotionals to present to the group. I'm excited to tackle the workload. It may be tough sometimes, but it will be worth it.

I can truly feel the presence of God here, especially during worship times. I know he will change all of us. I am starting to see traits within myself which I know the Lord wants to change and I pray that he will change me and refine me as gold. We took a trip to the DTS ship and took a tour of it. Only a few people (5) are going on the ship outreach, and their mission is to bring medical supplies and medical care to out of the way islands around here.

One thing that I have found a bit annoying about Australia is how expensive food is. For example, a donut is $2.50 and a bottle of coke is $4.00 (not the 2L bottle, the normal bottle). I am learning the slang, and it is definitely catchy. I have started my own slang dictionary. I will come back with an Aussie accent.

DTS starts

So we had orientation yesterday, and it was great. We started out with a BBQ and I ate some Kangaroo kabobs! It was really tasty, and I've never had anything like it before. I got to meet everyone in my DTS and everyone is just great; I have been blessed with a great group!

Today we start classes, and I'm excited to see what God has to teach me. I've been told that the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it, and I fully intend to put all of myself into the program. I still can't get over them driving on the opposite side of the road. All of the slang that they use here is pretty cool, and I've started to write it all down in a notebook. I call it my Slantionary. Carpe Dium!

Orientation

Today is the official start of DTS, we are free this morning but at 3pm we have our orientation. I don't know exactly what orientation entails. The beach was gorgeous yesterday, and the weather was around 75 degrees. It is also very dry here, so I'm happy that I don't have to deal with the humidity anymore! I'm happy that DTS is starting. One of the guys here lost their wallet yesterday, and I feel really bad for him. I think the strangest thing for me so far is the fact that they drive on the opposite side of the road. I'm not used to it yet, so I have to be careful when crossing the street. One cool thing is all the different birds and the sounds they make. I wake up in the morning to chirping that is so unfamiliar to me; it's awesome! I'm excited to see what the day will have in store for me!

Finally in Australia

So I got here on Friday (Australia time) at around 2pm, and felt exhausted by the trip. I pretty much didn't know what was going on around me for the rest of the day, and had to drink a coffee with a double shot of espresso to wake up! We went to the beach and then went to the top of the mountain/hill in the middle of the city. We saw the city all lit up at night, it was beautiful.

Today we're probably going to the mall to get some necessities, then we're gonna go to the beach. I came a couple days early before the YWAM activities start so that I could get acclimated to the time change. Our YWAM activities will start on Sunday. I'm looking forward to what God will teach me!

Speech Update

Sorry I haven't written about this sooner, but last Sunday I was able to make a speech at Chapel of the Cross in Westborough. It went really well, even though I was super nervous. It's weird; no matter how many speeches I make, I always have those nervous jitters. Oh well.

Thank you for supporting me Chapel!

FUMC Speech

Yesterday I made a fundraising speech at First United Methodist Church in Westborough. It went really well and, as a part of my speech, I was able to show the powerpoint commercial that I made :) Thank you FUMC for supporting my mission trip!!

I'm looking forward to my upcoming speech at Chapel of the Cross in Westborough this coming Sunday :)

Funding

So Chapel of the Cross in Westborough has agreed to support my mission trip! God surely answers prayer. I start a 2-week job in Amherst for a lady who attended WUMC with me. She will be making a significant contribution to my trip :)

I have two more speeches scheduled. One on June 20th at FUMC in Westborough. The second at Chapel of the Cross on June 27th. Please pray that the Holy Spirit gives me the right words to say!

Business Fundraising

So my mom, sister, and I all got together and banged out a mailing list of almost 140 local businesses! We were stuffing and stamping envelopes, it was some great Saturday afternoon fun :)

I'm glad that we got to mail the letters before the week began. I had ordered some return address labels and some other labels to make the job a bit easier. However, I did hand-write all of business' addresses. It's cool though because I'm used to writing a ton for my Accounting classes :)

I pray that God will make my efforts fruitful.

Fund raising

I'm so glad that I finally get to invest myself fully to fundraising! I compiled a list of local businesses that I'm going to send letters to. I'm also preparing a slide show which will run by itself, and will have music (sort of like a commercial). I'll try to show it during one (or more) of my upcoming speeches.

Feels so good to be done with school!!

Graduation!

Tomorrow I graduate and I can't be more excited! The end of one life and the beginning of a new one :)

I am now going to be able to invest myself fully into fundraising, so please pray that I am able to find good ways to fund raise.

Speech and Blessings

I was so happy that I was able to make a speech at my church here at school (Wesley United Methodist). It was such a blessing unto me! I was also the lay reader for the service and got to help serve communion for the first time in my life :). I was prepared for the speech, so it went really well, and I also shared my testimony with the congregation.

After the service, a bunch of people came up to me and wished me 'good luck' with my trip. Some even came and gave me donations right on the spot! How God does move! A big blessing that came out of the speech was when I was speaking with a lady after the service. She asked me if I had a job for the summer, and I said "No not really, just some tentative work." So she offered me a job for 3 weeks and will pay about $3000!! What a great opportunity!! That will sure help my fundraising a ton :). It is amazing how God works!

Someone at church also offered to set up a fundraising concert for me, but it looks like that might not happen because of scheduling conflicts. I hope that we will be able to work it out, but if not then I just have to trust that God has something else planned for me. I really have to just give everything fully to Him, instead of worrying about it. It's hard sometimes, but I'm trying and praying :). I'm excited to see how God will continue to work and to bless me through this time of fundraising! Now to worry about final exams, whoopi!

Service Speech

Today I made a speech during both services at the First United Methodist Church in Westborough. I was very nervous during both speeches, more so for the first, but I know that God was working because a bunch of people came up to me afterwards and offered advice and support to me. Thank you FUMC Westborough for having me and listening to me! I appreciate everyone's support! :)

First Speech

I made my first speech yesterday to the United Methodist Women's group, and it went really well. I really enjoyed making the speech and it was a joy being able to talk with them about my trip. I especially enjoyed sharing my testimony :). I really want to thank the United Methodist Women for having me and listening to me, they are a blessing unto me :)

Welcome!

So the site is finished (for now), and this first blog post is to christen the new site! Thanks for visiting and for supporting me, it means more to me than I could ever express :)