South Africa Outreach Team!

SOUTH AFRICA !
MID APRIL - MID JUNE I WILL BE ON OUTREACH
DTS Outreach is a time where we get to put into practice what we
have learned on the DTS Lecture Phase. While in Africa I will be
staying and working with the local YWAM Bases in Jeffries Bay and
Worcester. We will be participating in ministry opportunities such as:
working in orphanages, working in slums, doing prison evangelism,
working with local churches, working with street children and
participating in the local YWAM Base Life.
The cost of the outreach will range somewhere between
$3500-4000 AU.
Would you please pray for our team as we need to see God
provide a total of about $28,000 AU for all 9 team members to be able
to go. We have 4 weeks to see Gods provision come in! This might
make some squirm, but we are excited to see Gods goodness and
faith fullness come upon us.
Please stay tuned for more details about my outreach and our
finances.

Best Valentines Day Ever!

(starting from the left: Isaiah, Danny, Joel, Zack, Corwin) These boys made this the best Valentines day of my life! I woke up two hours early this morning to ring my mom, and when I opened my door I was confronted with a maze of streamers and cling wrap taped to my door holding in heaps of red and pink balloons. Each balloon had a message written on it: "You're beautiful, or, God has blessed me by putting you in my life in this way __, etc." I laughed and sneaked my way through it, trying not to break any of it so the other girls could see it! When I walked into the dining hall, I was surprised to see a long table decorated with candles, fruit cups, yogurt and granola, and juice. The boys had woken up at 6:00am to make us girls breakfast for Valentines day, and I had walked in on their surprise! We joked a bit, then I called up my mom and watched them as they continued to set up in 'secret' and make chocolate chip and banana pancakes.
At 8, they boys went up and woke up the other girls and we all sat down to a BEAUTIFULLY set table as the boys served us breakfast. Now--this is a very important note--None of us have eaten anything other than Wheat Bix cereal every single morning since we've been in Australia. For the first time we dined on the delicacy of pancakes, fresh watermelon, bananas, oranges, cantaloupe, and grapes with yogurt and granola and fresh Australian brekky juice. Oh-My-Gosh- we felt so blessed!!!!! It was so good! And I can't begin to imagine how much these boys (who thought up this all by themselves, without any knowledge of their leaders!) spent on all the food!
While we were eating, the boys got up one by one (they were dressed fancy too!) and told us why they did this for us, and that they view and love us as their own sisters, and that they wanted to be here to carry our bags, protect us, and make us feel as beautiful as we are! (those are their words!) Then they went around and took our orders for lattes, and made us lattes--another rarity. Finally, the guys got up again, and told us that the night before they had stayed up praying for each one of us INDIVIDUALLY and getting a word for each one of us, and they were writing it down in a letter for each one of us. They stayed up until 2:30am doing this, and they woke up at 6:00am-- not much sleep!

Anyways, I know I sound like a mushy girl over all of this, but it absolutely redefined my expectations of how I will be viewing guys in the future. They upped the bar like no other! Throughout the day, when I would be by myself, they would take away my dishes or bring me a cookie or something, and just sit and ask me how my day was going, and what my feelings about the past week were. -- And the coolest thing is, they have this shivery daily! They really do, I have never felt so respected by a guy before in my life. So rest assure dad! You warned me there would be guys in Australia, and you can rest easy because my brothers are taking good care of me for the right reasons!

So I had a special day, and more importantly I grew even deeper in my friendship with the guys here. We ended the day by the girls coming together and buying nearly a dozen pizzas, chips and ginger beer, rented a manly movie, and gave up the upstairs for the guys to have their "Bro-town". Ha! I realize I didn't come here for little surprises and days like this. But it's these things that will make this season of my life incredibly memorable. I really do feel like these people with me are my sisters and brothers. I don't have a big brother-- but if I did, I'd want him to treat me as these 5 guys do. :)

That's all!

(this pic was taken after half the girls ran through it!)

--I know I've been posting a lot on things that seem irrelevant to my purpose of being here. But so much is happening that I dare not attempt to restrain with words and it's the weekend, and I would love to share these happy little moments I encounter with anyone who would like to read them. So there ya go!--

Camping Trip Revolution!

1.) These feet, dirty and cut are going to SOUTH AFRICA!
I had the options of spending a month in Sydney, then a month in Iraq, or a month in the Outback followed by a month in Fiji, or two months spent in South Africa. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest decisions of my life. The prospect of ministering to the Aborigines in the Outback, and the islanders of Fiji is so cool and exotic! And of course the mystery and risk of going over borders into Iraq to help those people have (and does) appeal to me very, very much. I spent the week of camping praying about which location God wanted to send me to, and asking Him to give me a heart for the people of that country. Surprisingly, He answered quite strongly- and after assuring me that He would use me no matter where I went, I knew South Africa was in store for me. I accepted this with open arms. I'm so excited that I am spending two entire months in this country with 8 others, feeding the hungry, praying in hospitals, and working in youth prisons. I admit I was shocked at first that the other two locations (who spend the first month pioneering Youth Street in Australia) was not a strong pull for me. I thought God called me to Australia specifically to work with the Youth and the improve my skills in youth discipleships-- but, this week I came to the awakening that perhaps God wants to take me away from that to work on me- to enlarge my heart and compassion and my personal strength instead of pouring into more youth directly. And what better place to break and rebuild a heart than in South Africa. 2.) This is a Goanna. The giant lizard of Australia averaging about 4 feet long. The raccoons of the Bush! These are curious creatures, and will rip apart tents to get to food, I learned. Their tails are sharp enough to rip through skin and they can be aggressive. Luckily, the ones I came into contact with while camping (all 30+ of them!) were easy enough to chase away, and no one got hurt. I did touch one though!
-- Also saw heaps of Dingos. These dogs are also curious, yet can attack. They would sneak into our camp at night and either be chased away with giant sticks by the boys, or run off with our shoes, rubbish, or in my unique case- an entire backpack full of 2 weeks worth of food! (I was so mad! They dragged off an entire backpack full of my tent mate's and my food!!)

3.) We stayed at a beautiful, secluded lake site for 8 days. It was a 2.5 mile hike in from the dirt road. The first 5 days it was very hot, and on Saturday the news said that Sydney/Newcastle Australia was the hottest location on the entire planet that day! Ahh! It was the most hardcore camping experience of my life, but I loved it! It was the ideal location for me to build honest relationships with my friends here, and to dive deeper into who I am and how I relate to this Creator of mine. It was awesome! The talks, worships, quiet times and lectures are going to be lifetime highlights! 4.) Towards the end of the week, we had a terrible storm. It hit us at nightfall during a lecture; the rain came down so hard and we were swallowed in thunder and lightning! Everyone got soaked running in the dark in complete chaos trying to secure tents, food and keeping our tarp-structure upright! Luckily, after camp was secure, a few friends and I were invited into the speakers tent to enjoy a cuppa (warm drink) and talk until the rain died down (see below pic). After the storm it rained and was cold for 2 days, and another storm system was making its way in so we came back a day early. But the weather made it memorable, and brought us some best friends, so it was worth it! (I have a lot more stories, and if you'd like to hear more specific ones email me!)

P.S.) Some of you may have heard on the news about the bush fires in Victoria, Australia. They are south of us, and didn't affect us physically, however the fires have had a huge impact on all of Australia.-- These fires are the biggest natural disaster in Australian history, so far taking the lives of 300 people. My school took a night to pray and intercede for the victims; and I encourage you to keep the people of Australia in your prayers as well.