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!