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!