What a week!!

Wow.. this week FLEW by! Litterally.. and I was flying all over the place. So after about 29 hours of traveling across the world, I arrived friday afternoon in Perth, Australia. It was a beautiful sunny day, and I saw so many familiar faces. I have been putting off writing this update because I think there are mixed emotions about being back here in the same place because it's so different this time around. I'm so grateful to be here, but it was a bit of an adjustment with my old friends not all being here again. 




So Friday night, I hopped in the car and drove down to a town called Busselton, where my two friends Julian (from New Zealand) and Karlien (from South Africa) would be married. Normally I wouldn't write about this, but it was actually a wedding from a fairy tale movie or something. They had the ceremony on the beach next to the water, and Karlien came down the coast of the beach riding on a horse. She was quite the sight to see.. I will try to post some pictures of it because it was honestly so beautiful. And yes.. I did cry a little. For their reception, they rented this little flat piece of grassy land that was on this hug hill and it overlooked the ocean, and that was pretty amazing as well. We had tons of fun just dancing, laughing, dining, and celebrating the fact that these two best friends made a commitment to God and to each other to be partners for life. It was very cool for me to see and be a part of and I can only pray for that same thing when that day comes for me. 


So, on Sunday we drove back to Perth and Monday morning I was put to work straight away. We have morning chores that start at 8, and then a huge corporate worship time at 8:30 for about an hour. It's so great to have worship again, and I really forgot how much I love being able to praise God so much through music and dancing in such an open setting. After that, I had met with my ministry team, which is the development team. We are a backbone ministry of the base, and we work with the raising of funds for it, as well as the promotion of it. I found out that I’m paired up with a girl named Alicia who is from Canada, and we will be working on promotion YWAM and DTS. Right now we have started working on a prom video, as well as a presentation to take into high schools all over Western Australia. We will go into schools here in Perth, as well as take some weekend trips South or North to speak to high school students about coming to Youth With a Mission and being disciple for 6 months. I’m so excited for a few reasons. One- I actually just finished a semester of college and in that semester I took a public speaking class.. so I KNOW God is doing something really cool here, and totally prepared me for this. And two- I’m excited because I fully believe in doing a Discipleship Training School. It’s such a great way for young people (well, not just young- anyone for that matter) to serve the Lord, and find purpose and meaning in the process. So that’s what I will be focusing on these next few weeks. On top of the work that we do during the day, we also have intercession twice a week for whatever we feel God is calling us to pray for. Everyone gets involved and we break up into groups and it’s an amazing time of fellowship as well as really hearing from God’s heart. This last Tuesday my group prayed for Egypt, the middle east and the ties between America within that. It was super powerful, and even more so for me to just take a really long time praying for my own nation.
On Thursday night we had evangelism in the city of Perth. Again there were different teams and I went with a group who went down to this plaza and set up a bunch of tables that had different things on it. It was such a cool way to serve the community because our group prayed and waited for what they felt God wanted them to set up as a table. I was with Alicia again, and she actually felt to paint nails. It might seem kind of funny to picture two blonde girls just sitting at a table with nail polish.. but throughout the night we were able to get 6 girls to come and get their nairls painted. It was so cool to just talk to them and listen to their stories, as well as serve them the way Christ would. There was a lady named Valerie, who has been to our base before and met one of our staff members. She said she was not religious, and “don’t try to convert me” and I just said, “we’re just here to serve you”. And that was it. I feel like she was really blessed by what we did. And although we didn’t have a conversation about God, she will be able to look at her hands this week and think of us, and remember the love that came along with it. After she left, we just prayed for her and that God would speak to her heart. It’s stuff like this that reminds me that we are only small instruments in living out the gospel message, but our role is still huge at the same time-- and we really can take it anywhere we go. I love how you can know that, but then learn it again in a completely different way when you allow yourself to be open to new situations… like nail painting, giving out free coffee, socks and tooth brushes or washing feet (those were our other “stations”). God is so cool in that way- where we continually learn and grow when we look to Him to find that.  




Luke 11:9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."