I was so incredibly blessed to have gotten the chance to come home to spend 5 weeks with my family and friends in Minnesota. It was so fun. I got to see lots of people, go to heaps of parties, I saw my cousin get married as well as my friend from high school, which were both exciting. A highlight was definitely eating such good american food that I don't get over here...I got to catch up with people, and spend some quality time with the ones I love, especially my sisters and my parents which was really special. I had a really really refreshing break, and I'm really thankful for that special time =)
And since I have arrived back in Perth, life has been pretty much done a 180 as far as keeping busy goes. I've jumped straight back into ministry again, and have been involved in quite a few things over the past 4 weeks. Some of those have included: taking on the direct mail for our base...which may sound simple, but it's actually covering all of the communication with people outside of our base. We take care of all the special cases for mail that comes in...covering a variety of forms with different scenarios, and we make sure all of our information in our database is accurate and always up to date. It took us 2 weeks to train into this position.. and I think I'm starting to get a hang of it. It was a bit of a challenge to take on this new role with willingness, but I had a change of heart when I recognized the way that this serves our base and why we need to communicate with people outside of YWAM. So I am serving the best I can in this time of need.. although it's not my passion, I know that God is still using it to teach me many things I've never understood before.
I also got straight back into street chaplains. I went out about a week ago during the weekend shift (9pm-4am ) on Saturday night. And I was really pretty pumped up about the night after I got back. I was able to assist 2 individuals who were vomiting and needed someone to clean them up, and sit with them, offered another girl a bit of council, and gave away 2 pairs of flip flops to girls who were needing shoes. Along with these situations were conversations that sparked an interest in many people's heads. They often ask "why are you guys doing this?" And we just say because we're here to help. And it speaks a lot about the love of God without being forward and preachy. It's quite a sweet ministry and I'm really excited to be a part of it.
One thing that I feel that God has been doing in my heart lately is giving me a greater heart for the lost. Evangelism in everyway has been stirring inside of me as something to be putting into practice on a daily basis. It's so simple, yet we make it so twisted and complicated and awkward. At least I do. We went out as a base a few weeks ago, and I paired up with Gabi Norman (one of mine and my sisters' friend from back home who is also here doing a DTS). We saw these 2 aboriginal girls sitting in the park with their dog. We both felt to go and talk to them and so we did. The conversation was really tough to get going, as I found out they were around the ages of 10 and 12, which is so young to be out in the city alone at!! We asked them if they wanted to walk over to McDonald's and get an ice cream cone with us, and they both smiled and said yes. They were both pretty apprehensive but they definitely opened up as we continued to pursue them. I could tell the older one was really hard hearted and at the end when we walked them home, we asked them if we could pray for them, and they said, "yeah pray for a better life". I'm still thinking about that, because it means she knows there is so much more, but doesn't believe she'll ever get there. So we prayed, and said good night to them.
After this, there have been more people that the Lord has high lighted to me to remind me that there is so much work to be done before Jesus returns. God wants EVERYONE to know Him, and there are still so many unsaved souls walking around right in my own neighborhood and yours too! I saw a homeless guy eating out of a garbage can over the weekend, as well as young girls who were inappropriately dressed and having a smoke of a cigarette, and my heart was just getting so burdened for the lost of this world!! I see how much opportunity is in front of us every single day and we let it slip away from us because of fear or awkwardness, when really we have nothing to lose! Just something to think about... we have an absolutely invaluable gift to share with the world, and it's up to us to think outside of ourselves and go.
The Olympics has been on my heart too...very massively. I feel moved to pray for this time as SO many people from countries all over the world gather in London. There is incredible opportunity for change to happen, and for God's hand to do something huge...and so I would encourage anyone who recognizes this as well to really press in in the place of prayer for London, and for the people there in this time. We have teams there at the moment, and we have a team focusing in on trafficked women in this city over this period of time... they definitely need more prayer behind their ministry so keep them in your prayers.
One thing I NEED TO say is that I LOOOVE having my sister, Molly here. She's amazing, and it's been so much fun to hang out and live in the same city, and work in the same place every day. She's golden,and she's learning SO much. She pulls me aside from time to time to just spill about how things are going, ask for advice, tell me a story, or to just pester me as little sisters do.. and it's been just a ball. We haven't had tons of time together because she's pretty busy with her Discipleship Training School, but I've loved our little moments here and there. There's also a friend from church here, named Amada, and Gabi as well who I mentioned earlier. It's a cool thing to have people you know well be with you across the world for a time... I like it.
Lastly, I have been really looking ahead into the future and trying to figure out what is the vision I have... one thing you could pray for is that I would see clearly what God is calling me to do and asking of me in this time. I'm definitely here and loving it, but I'd love to know more and get an idea of what I'm working towards this next year.
Just want to send a thank you for all of you who made coming home an amazing time. It was such a lovely and special time and I'm so grateful to have gotten to spend it with so many outstanding people. And I'm looking forward to hearing from you this next year as I'm away, as well as sharing with you what happens next!!
Love,
Erika
