We went into the city last night, I thought you might enjoy these photos.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Random Thoughts.
I'm writing this after talking to a friend doing mission work in Greece this summer. We were talking about how incredible it is that so many people we know are all over the world this summer doing work for the Lord. And how, though we are all doing very different things, we are all part of God's movement, his reconciliation of the world to Himself. Though the world is so different, people are so diverse, He is working in the same way in so many hearts.
I'm sorry if I haven't really been taking the time to write in more detail lately. Unfortunately, I don't have opportunities for extended time on the internet too often, so I have been giving brief updates. Maybe I'll try and tell you all a little more about the people I'm working with here in this post.
Australians are a very unique people. They are very laid-back and friendly at first glance, in general. And they are also quite influenced by the Western pop-culture, the same things that we are influenced by. One of the first questions a lot of Australian kids ask me is "Have you ever met anyone famous in America?" But many Australians are very hardened - by the environment, by experience; thus, many are hardened to religion. I think the demographics are similar to that of the United States - many say they are Christian; there are actually a lot of Anglicans and Catholics. There is also the presence of the "prosperity gospel." There is a rising Muslim influence, as well as Eastern religions. There is a large group of atheists or agnostics. Australians are also in the post-modern, "I just want to feel good, but you can have your religion if it makes you happy" phase.
We are so lucky to get to experience both sides. First, a very healthy, solid Baptist church with people who truly love the Lord and are living for Him daily. Then, when we go into the public schools to teach RE, we get to see the children who are not brought up in church, who don't have believing parents, who have heard that being a Christian is boring and want nothing to do with it. And yet, we get to bring them the gospel week after week. How amazing is that! That is why the Australian schools still need so much prayer, to keep this privilege in the schools.
Prayer is needed, just as in America, that people will see the true gospel and that they will know who God really is. That people can see Him, not the distorted, tainted views of Him that are out there. That the love of Christ will spread to all areas of Australia, including the Aboriginal culture. And that Cameron and I can be a light for Him while we are here - that we wouldn't let anything get in the way of that, be it exhaustion, irritability, comfort, etc.
I so badly want the Lord to be able to work in me while I'm here. I know that at times I have placed my own needs above His work. I have taken shortcuts because I've been tired, or because I've been selfish. And yet He continues to delight in me and desire to work through me. I am astounded by His love and mercy, and so grateful. Pray that I will continue to seek Him first, above all else, and the rest will flow from me knowing Christ crucified. I want so many things for this trip, but I want what HE wants the most - whether I get to see the fruit of that or not. Pray that I won't get discouraged.
Sunday marks the half-way point through the trip. Wow!! I can't believe it. In some ways it feels like I've been here forever. But there is still so much to do. VBS starts Monday. Youth camp the next week. So much has already been accomplished. So much left to do.
Thank you, again, for the prayers....
Keep looking to HIM!
I'm sorry if I haven't really been taking the time to write in more detail lately. Unfortunately, I don't have opportunities for extended time on the internet too often, so I have been giving brief updates. Maybe I'll try and tell you all a little more about the people I'm working with here in this post.
Australians are a very unique people. They are very laid-back and friendly at first glance, in general. And they are also quite influenced by the Western pop-culture, the same things that we are influenced by. One of the first questions a lot of Australian kids ask me is "Have you ever met anyone famous in America?" But many Australians are very hardened - by the environment, by experience; thus, many are hardened to religion. I think the demographics are similar to that of the United States - many say they are Christian; there are actually a lot of Anglicans and Catholics. There is also the presence of the "prosperity gospel." There is a rising Muslim influence, as well as Eastern religions. There is a large group of atheists or agnostics. Australians are also in the post-modern, "I just want to feel good, but you can have your religion if it makes you happy" phase.
We are so lucky to get to experience both sides. First, a very healthy, solid Baptist church with people who truly love the Lord and are living for Him daily. Then, when we go into the public schools to teach RE, we get to see the children who are not brought up in church, who don't have believing parents, who have heard that being a Christian is boring and want nothing to do with it. And yet, we get to bring them the gospel week after week. How amazing is that! That is why the Australian schools still need so much prayer, to keep this privilege in the schools.
Prayer is needed, just as in America, that people will see the true gospel and that they will know who God really is. That people can see Him, not the distorted, tainted views of Him that are out there. That the love of Christ will spread to all areas of Australia, including the Aboriginal culture. And that Cameron and I can be a light for Him while we are here - that we wouldn't let anything get in the way of that, be it exhaustion, irritability, comfort, etc.
I so badly want the Lord to be able to work in me while I'm here. I know that at times I have placed my own needs above His work. I have taken shortcuts because I've been tired, or because I've been selfish. And yet He continues to delight in me and desire to work through me. I am astounded by His love and mercy, and so grateful. Pray that I will continue to seek Him first, above all else, and the rest will flow from me knowing Christ crucified. I want so many things for this trip, but I want what HE wants the most - whether I get to see the fruit of that or not. Pray that I won't get discouraged.
Sunday marks the half-way point through the trip. Wow!! I can't believe it. In some ways it feels like I've been here forever. But there is still so much to do. VBS starts Monday. Youth camp the next week. So much has already been accomplished. So much left to do.
Thank you, again, for the prayers....
Keep looking to HIM!
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
VBS, RE, ETC...
We're working hard!
This week is so busy with planning for VBS (theme: Surf's Up) on top of our usual teaching RE classes and Supa Club and everything else. We are in the schools or at the church or taking naps :)
I have had time to read though, my favorite pastime! I just finished And The Shofar Blew, a Francine Rivers novel. She is so talented...gifted by the Lord, really. If you haven't ever read anything by her, do so. This book was such a good picture of what a Godly woman should be in the hardest of situations. Also, it is a great picture of an issue facing many churches today. Go check it out.
Cameron and I are getting to go with a group of friends to DreamWorld on Friday. It's an amusement park like Six Flags or something similar - supposedly, the best in Australia! We have been looking forward to that.
Keep praying for the kids that we encounter in the public schools - so many of them don't have Christian parents, or don't know anything about Christ. I had a young girl ask me today at Supa Club if I had any kids back in America. I smiled at her and said, "Oh, no, I haven't ever been married." She looked at me and said, "But you don't have to be married to have kids. My mom has two kids and she's only engaged." My heart broke - what morals are people teaching their children today? Pray that we will have an impact in their lives, even though we are only there briefly.
VBS starts Monday morning! Pray that everything will go smoothly and that we can get everything accomplished this week.
Thank you all SO much for your prayers! They are so incredibly important. I'm learning that again firsthand! I can't think of anything else to say to really update you. But I hope that everyone is doing well back in the States! Eat a nice big American cheeseburger for me. They're just not the same here.
All my love!
This week is so busy with planning for VBS (theme: Surf's Up) on top of our usual teaching RE classes and Supa Club and everything else. We are in the schools or at the church or taking naps :)
I have had time to read though, my favorite pastime! I just finished And The Shofar Blew, a Francine Rivers novel. She is so talented...gifted by the Lord, really. If you haven't ever read anything by her, do so. This book was such a good picture of what a Godly woman should be in the hardest of situations. Also, it is a great picture of an issue facing many churches today. Go check it out.
Cameron and I are getting to go with a group of friends to DreamWorld on Friday. It's an amusement park like Six Flags or something similar - supposedly, the best in Australia! We have been looking forward to that.
Keep praying for the kids that we encounter in the public schools - so many of them don't have Christian parents, or don't know anything about Christ. I had a young girl ask me today at Supa Club if I had any kids back in America. I smiled at her and said, "Oh, no, I haven't ever been married." She looked at me and said, "But you don't have to be married to have kids. My mom has two kids and she's only engaged." My heart broke - what morals are people teaching their children today? Pray that we will have an impact in their lives, even though we are only there briefly.
VBS starts Monday morning! Pray that everything will go smoothly and that we can get everything accomplished this week.
Thank you all SO much for your prayers! They are so incredibly important. I'm learning that again firsthand! I can't think of anything else to say to really update you. But I hope that everyone is doing well back in the States! Eat a nice big American cheeseburger for me. They're just not the same here.
All my love!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Quick update...
Hey all!
I haven't written in a while because I really don't have much new to report. We have gotten in a pretty good schedule of teaching RE classes, helping with Supa Club, doing VBS planning work, and spending time with friends and our family that we are staying with. They keep us busy! But it really has been a wonderful experience so far, getting to do ministry in a lot of different areas of the church and community.
The Lord has been teaching me so much, but in ways that it's somewhat hard to share. Will was asking me today "what has God taught you this week?" and I struggled to answer. It's the subtle things. Like how He's opening my eyes to see the deeper need of people. And how He is humbling me and teaching me to think about other's needs above my own. And how He is teaching me through the different sermons on relationships what a relationship of any kind should really look like. There's so much. But it's hard to put into words. I'm also learning that I LOVE working in a church environment. Which is great, since I wanted to work in a church before this trip, anyway!
For those of you lifting up this trip in prayer, please pray for the youth of Redlands City. Cameron and I taught a class of 8th grade students today and they seem so turned off to the idea of church. Some of them are so jaded and hardened.
Also, please continue to lift up my health. It's crazy how having mono can destroy your stamina for months afterward! I feel fine mostly, I just get tired easily still. Pray that I won't push myself, and especially that I won't relapse again.
Finally, that I will be completely submitted to the Lord's will and that I will be used completely by Him as His tool - that I won't try and get in the way!!
Thank you all so much for everything, and I love you all!
I haven't written in a while because I really don't have much new to report. We have gotten in a pretty good schedule of teaching RE classes, helping with Supa Club, doing VBS planning work, and spending time with friends and our family that we are staying with. They keep us busy! But it really has been a wonderful experience so far, getting to do ministry in a lot of different areas of the church and community.
The Lord has been teaching me so much, but in ways that it's somewhat hard to share. Will was asking me today "what has God taught you this week?" and I struggled to answer. It's the subtle things. Like how He's opening my eyes to see the deeper need of people. And how He is humbling me and teaching me to think about other's needs above my own. And how He is teaching me through the different sermons on relationships what a relationship of any kind should really look like. There's so much. But it's hard to put into words. I'm also learning that I LOVE working in a church environment. Which is great, since I wanted to work in a church before this trip, anyway!
For those of you lifting up this trip in prayer, please pray for the youth of Redlands City. Cameron and I taught a class of 8th grade students today and they seem so turned off to the idea of church. Some of them are so jaded and hardened.
Also, please continue to lift up my health. It's crazy how having mono can destroy your stamina for months afterward! I feel fine mostly, I just get tired easily still. Pray that I won't push myself, and especially that I won't relapse again.
Finally, that I will be completely submitted to the Lord's will and that I will be used completely by Him as His tool - that I won't try and get in the way!!
Thank you all so much for everything, and I love you all!
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Birthday Seafood Extravaganza
So, Tuesday was my 21st birthday.
How bittersweet!
It was sad being away from family and friends and Will, but the people here overwhelmed me with love and kindness. First, Mandy and Doug (the people I'm staying with currently) took my partner Cameron, the youth pastor Jason, and me to lunch at a place called Secret Coffee (used to be Coffee Secrets, they recently changed the name around!) It was so good, and we had a nice view of the Raby Bay harbor right behind us. Then we had to go to work - three RE classes and a Supa Club session.
I was so exhausted at the end of the day, but then they surprised me by having a little party for me! Four families plus Cameron, Chantelle, and Jadee, and HEAPS of seafood. I had told Mandy that my favorite food is seafood at one point...I even got to try something called a Moreton Bay Bug, which is a crustacean like a crab or lobster...it was SO good! They even had decorations, balloons, and a cake for me...and presents! I could have cried, it was so sweet...they absolutely didn't have to do anything, but they even got me some presents. And the cake was one of the most delicious EVER! They have really taken Cameron and me in and made us part of their church family so quickly.
It's such a blessing that we have gotten down here and have "fit in" so fast. The adults and kids both have taken to us so quickly and we really feel at home here. I just can't stop saying how much I love the people at this church...they are so awesome! I wish I could take them all home with me. The "young adults" - those my age - are so easy to get along with, and we had such a great time getting to know them on the camp.
So I thought I'd take the time to explain more of what a typical week would be for me. Mondays and Wednesdays, right now, are pretty unscheduled - we just do whatever we are needed to do on these days.
Tuesdays are the busiest. We teach several RE classes already, and some people are trying to get us to help with others in the mornings as well. RE classes, or Religious Education, is Christian Education that all of the PUBLIC schools have as a course. CRAZY, but totally awesome. I have tried to explain to people here how much of a blessing it is that they have this, and how it would NEVER happen in the States. So keep praying, all of you, that they can keep this door open into the public education for as long as possible! Anyway, we are helping teach these classes in several different schools. Also, we do what is called Supa Club, which is usually during the lunch break. It is a club for kids where they play games, win prizes, and hear about Jesus. Pretty awesome! They hear a short lesson while having fun with friends.
Thursday is just Supa Club, and then we go to the church for the rest of the day to help work on whatever they need (mostly VBS planning right now).
Friday is (usually) helping RE classes and then whatever meetings or planning needed. Today we are going to help plan some more VBS stuff, and then some Winter Youth Camp planning as well.
This Saturday is Redlands City Youth, which is a gathering from youth groups all over Redlands City (in which Cleveland is located). It will be a typical youth service - worship, speaker, etc.
Sunday I'm helping lead worship - pray for that!
Hope that helps explain a little more. That's pretty much the schedule for the next few weeks, until mid-July when we have VBS and Youth Camp. The kids are also on their winter breaks then, so we won't be going in the schools.
Love you all!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sand, storm, socializing.
Hey all! I talked to Mom today and she told me that some people have been asking when I would update this blog! Sorry about the delays. I was actually at a Young Adults camp this past weekend with the 18+ age group. We had such a great time! We were in an area called Lennox Head, which is in New South Wales, right on the coast. It was beautiful! The "theme" of the camp was "So You Think You Can Date?" Obviously, we talked a lot about relationships and purity. It was so good! The best part of the weekend was getting to know people better though...it was such a blessing to really get to know people this early on.
Two of the days during our free time we went into a little hippie town called Byron Bay...so great! We bought some hemp and beads and made bracelets, got some gelato from a little Italian gelato place, and I bought an awesome Australia sweatshirt. Though they call sweatshirts "jumpers" here! We also went down to the beaches. I'm going to upload some pictures of different places on here.
One day, we watched a storm roll in...I got some great pictures of that too! We pondered lightning and how to be struck by lightning would seem to be the awesome power of physically seeing God. I would imagine that we would be completely struck down, as if by lighting, if He revealed His face to us.
I'm so excited to have new friends here, they are all so sweet and great! The people here are really laid back and so friendly, and so funny! I spent most of the weekend laughing. It was a long weekend for them; on Monday they celebrated the queen's birthday.
Anyway, I'll try and write more later...I have spent all morning on Skype with my sweet parents so I don't have too much time here! More later. Love to you all!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Schedules, rain, and new friends.
We have been busy the last few days!
It has been raining quite a bit here in Brisbane. Maybe I brought Mobile weather with me. Not that I mind rain, of course, but it's a bit chilly for rain here. By the way, the days are pretty warm when it's sunny, but the nights do get cool. Like our early-middle spring.
Cameron and I got the "privilege" of standing up at the 9:00 and 6 pm church services Sunday and answering questions to introduce ourselves. I don't really mind doing that. But we did have to do it twice. Church was good though. The morning service was on Acts 11, giving a lot of different missions stats. The night service was on the story of the woman who washes Jesus's feet with her tears and pours her perfume on him - the "sinful" woman. It was really good. A guest pastor came to speak, I can't remember his name though. There was also a guest band, Original Liberty - check them out, they're good!
After night church we went to the Coffee Club, the apparent hangout of the church group after that service. The band came along too, and it was cool talking to them - they recently toured the states, so we had that to talk about. All of the kids love to ask us questions about Hollywood, movie stars, the way we pronounce certain words, and if we have certain things in the U.S. It's funny.
Today, we went over our schedules for our time here with Mandy and Jason. Jason is the youth pastor here, and he's like any other great youth pastor I've known - funny, teasing, honest, friendly, and loud. I think we'll get along quite well. Anyway, my schedule consists mostly of teaching Religious Education classes at the schools during the days (can you imagine if we had those classes in the public schools in America?!), helping out with Supa Club, going to bible studies and youth group nights, and whatever else they ask of me, really. Most Wednesdays are pretty free at the moment. This weekend is the Young Adults Camp, which we will attend and just get to know people. I'm excited about meeting more people and getting to know the ones I already have met better. Also, we will be helping out with VBS and the youth winter camp in July. Here are some dates:
Young Adults Camp : June 5-8
VBS : June 29 - July 3
Winter Youth Camp: July 6-9
I may be helping with worship at the Sunday night services, and I know I'll be giving my testimony on June 14 at that service. Pray for that! If you have any questions about anything I mentioned or anything leave me a comment...I just love comments anyway.
Tomorrow I'll be running around all day, but I'll try and write again soon to keep you updated! Also, I'm going back to add some pictures to a previous post. Hooray for kangaroos and beach!
All my love-
*edit* I'm adding in a picture of a kangaroo for you all...enjoy!
It has been raining quite a bit here in Brisbane. Maybe I brought Mobile weather with me. Not that I mind rain, of course, but it's a bit chilly for rain here. By the way, the days are pretty warm when it's sunny, but the nights do get cool. Like our early-middle spring.
Cameron and I got the "privilege" of standing up at the 9:00 and 6 pm church services Sunday and answering questions to introduce ourselves. I don't really mind doing that. But we did have to do it twice. Church was good though. The morning service was on Acts 11, giving a lot of different missions stats. The night service was on the story of the woman who washes Jesus's feet with her tears and pours her perfume on him - the "sinful" woman. It was really good. A guest pastor came to speak, I can't remember his name though. There was also a guest band, Original Liberty - check them out, they're good!
After night church we went to the Coffee Club, the apparent hangout of the church group after that service. The band came along too, and it was cool talking to them - they recently toured the states, so we had that to talk about. All of the kids love to ask us questions about Hollywood, movie stars, the way we pronounce certain words, and if we have certain things in the U.S. It's funny.
Today, we went over our schedules for our time here with Mandy and Jason. Jason is the youth pastor here, and he's like any other great youth pastor I've known - funny, teasing, honest, friendly, and loud. I think we'll get along quite well. Anyway, my schedule consists mostly of teaching Religious Education classes at the schools during the days (can you imagine if we had those classes in the public schools in America?!), helping out with Supa Club, going to bible studies and youth group nights, and whatever else they ask of me, really. Most Wednesdays are pretty free at the moment. This weekend is the Young Adults Camp, which we will attend and just get to know people. I'm excited about meeting more people and getting to know the ones I already have met better. Also, we will be helping out with VBS and the youth winter camp in July. Here are some dates:
Young Adults Camp : June 5-8
VBS : June 29 - July 3
Winter Youth Camp: July 6-9
I may be helping with worship at the Sunday night services, and I know I'll be giving my testimony on June 14 at that service. Pray for that! If you have any questions about anything I mentioned or anything leave me a comment...I just love comments anyway.
Tomorrow I'll be running around all day, but I'll try and write again soon to keep you updated! Also, I'm going back to add some pictures to a previous post. Hooray for kangaroos and beach!
All my love-
*edit* I'm adding in a picture of a kangaroo for you all...enjoy!
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