Behind Prison Walls

This past week was quite the adventure. I was blessed with a lovely bug at the beginning of the week and was sick for the day. Our outreach team ran a mini DTS for the older kids at the orphanage during the week. Wednesday, Emma and I were able to teach on Relationships. It was a really good experience and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to do it. The rest of the week, we helped out with the younger kids while others taught.

On Wednesday afternoon, a group of the girls had the opportunity to go to the prison and talk with a few of the women there. It was intimidating, I must admit. Hearing their stories was so cool though. We stayed with them for about an hour and a half before we had to go. They kept telling us how blessed they felt that we came to be with them for a while.

On Friday, we did the same thing, however, we were able to take our whole team and do prison ministry. We had people share testimonies, music and we did skits. I shared my testimony and I was terrified. But it was such a good experience and I was so challenged by it. At the end, we were able to talk with more women. We learned that there were about 74 women in the prison and 65 of them were in there for drug trafficking and the rest were there for robbery. It was so encouraging to see the way that they were being changed and to just hear about life in the prison. There was a lady who shared her testimony with us as well- she had been in prison when she came back to God. After she got out, she fell back into drugs. The second time that she was put in jail, it was a mistake, a set up. She shared her faith in front of all her inmates. It was so good and encouraging for us to see how our speaking had impacted her and reminded her of the love that God has for her.

We have one last week here until we have two days of debrief and then back to Australia! I'll be so sad to leave Cusco- everyday it gets more and more beautiful to me. But I'm also very excited to get back to see the rest of our school :) God has been so good to us here in Cusco and we have been so blessed.

Attacked but not defeated.

Our outreach team split in half for a few days... half of us went to the mountains while the other half stayed at the house in Cusco. We had a ten hour trip to the mountain village that we were staying at... ten hours of driving on the side of mountain cliffs with no guardrail. It might have been one of the craziest experiences of my life!

When we finally made it to the small town, our contact- who we called grandma, told us to rest before we walked to our home for the next few days. While we sat there, we felt like we were in a zoo and we were the main attraction- people would stand in front of us and just stare for the longest time. We learned later that white people don´t ususally go to those parts. We finally picked up our bags and started to walk. We were walking for a while and no one knew where Grandma was taking us... then we started our hike up a mountain... with all of our bags. To make matters worse, it started to rain and the mud increased. We finally reached our destination... tired and out of breath. We lived in a house with a pastor and his family. The kids had never seen white people before, so they loved to just come up to us and touch us. Our first night there, we walked across the field (still in the freezing rain) and preached a message at the pastor´s church. There were only a few people there but it was still powerful. I was blown away by the passion that these people had. It was finally time to sleep, so we piled blankets on ourselves and wore basically all the clothing we brought just to keep warm. Emma, Rebekka and I squeezed ourselves into one single sized bed... that was an adventure.

The next day, we woke up early and had quiet time, like we did everyday. When we walked into the small kitchen, our food was set out and waiting for us- there´s nothing quite like a full bowl of rice, potatoes and a full fish for breakfast! We began our first hike... down the mountain, around a mountain, down the mountain and then up another. The walk took over 2.5 hours... and it was mostly downhill. When we got to the town, we were fed a ridiculous amount of food again and then preached at another church. We saw three people come to the Lord and prayed healing for three others! We were all really excited until Hannah told us that we had to hike back to our house. It took forever and I thought I was going to pass out... but we eventually made it and were greeted with yet again, more food. We led one more service that night, where again, we saw three more people saved, one man reconciled with God and three more healings. I continued to be blown away by the passion of these people.

The last day that we were there, we made our final hike... down, around, down and then up another mountain. We got to the small town and led another service outside. Afterwards, they fed us food that I struggled to get down... but we did. It feels so wrong to sit and eat huge amounts of food while people are watching you- it´s weird to be the only ones with big portions, the only ones with water and the only ones with the ¨special food.¨

As we walked our way down, we stopped where two girls were collecting cactus fruit. I wasn´t aware that there was such a thing... but they picked some for us and it was one of the best tasting things I´ve had! Then when we continued our descent, I stuck my hand in a cactus, which pricked me right in the vein. I bled a ridiculous amount, but the situation was hilarious. Then I rolled my ankle on a rock and then fell down the hill... twice. At the bottom, it started to hail on us. This all happened in 10 minutes and I think it was the most fun I had the entire time. It´s amazing how God gives us grace to deal with situations like that.

On the ride home, I thought I was going to die a few times because the bus ride. At one point, we had to get off the bus and walk across the road because it was starting to crack and we would cause a landslide if we stayed on when it went across. Luckily, only by the grace of God, we made it back to Cusco. Meeting up with our team was weird and at first, we felt really separated. As we sat and listened to the stories of the other team, we realized how much spiritual warfare was going on amongst us. There were about 5 or 6 people who were sick - throwing up or with a cold, so Hannah thought we should pray over them. As we did, she anointed them as our intercessors- the ones who pray on other´s behalf. It was powerful but I couldn´t help feeling disconnected. I was thinking to myself that I wasn´t good enough at this and I didn´t belong on the team. I was angry with myself because I didn´t think I could hear God or do enough good to have the devil attack me like the others were being attacked. It took everything in me to not cry. The thoughts continued and I was getting more and more upset. Hannah then began to pray over each of us individually. When she got to me, she nailed me- it was like she knew all the thoughts that I was thinking. I broke down and for the first time in a week, I felt the true comfort of God. I felt the real truth of who I was being spoken over me. I later realized that the devil didn´t need to attack me physically because all this time, I was letting him influence my mind and my thoughts. I remembered what one of the lecturers said... ¨When you feel distant from God, it´s not God being far from you, it´s you thinking that you don´t deserve God and you push him away. But God walks right beside us on the top of the mountain and at the lowest of the valleys.¨ It was such a powerful night and turned me around 180 degrees. Our team is so much closer now too and it´s really encouraging. God is so good. The enemy may attack us, but through God and his power, we will not be defeated.

Adjusting to the altitude : Cusco, week 1

Well, it´s only been a few days since my last post... but it´ll be a little bit before I can do this again. Since we got here, things have been going really well. The first three days that we were here in the mountains, we had relaxing time to get used to the altitude and such. It´s been really weird being so high up. I feel like I take five steps and start panting. But regardless, I´ve loved every second of it.
On Monday, we were all able to go into the city and shop for a while. I fell in love with Cusco. It´s just so beautiful here. In the city, a lot of the streets are old brick or cobblestone, the old buildings are gorgeous and the atmosphere is just so fun! I couldn´t get enough of it. We shopped in a center that had a whole bunch of stands around... it was an interesting adventure for those of us who have forgotten all of the spanish that we´ve been taugh. But it was so much fun because you get to barter with the vendors at the stands :) I think it was really good for us as a team to be able to get out and spend some time with eachother in a non-working environment.
The rest of the week, the team has been going out in the mornings and picking up trash around and prayer walking. One of the girls who is pretty fluent in spanish was able to talk with one of the neighbors about what we were doing, so that was exciting for our group. Things have been pretty slow besides that. Next week we´re going to really start to get into evangelism. I´m working in the kitchen for our team, so Emma and I were able to go to the market with our leader, Hannah, to buy food for the week. It was so exciting to see! And again, I just fell in love with this place. It´s a little weird to be looked at so oddly... but I think that´s just something we´ll have to get used to.
On Monday, half of our team is going to be going up further into the mountains to evangelize and just live in community with the town there. We´ll be there for a week before returning home, when we´ll be leading a mini DTS for some of Hannah´s 50 siblings :) I´m really nervous about that because public speaking isn´t really my thing... but I know that through this challenge, God will strengthen me!
Things have been going really well for our team and I´m so excited to continue to grow personally and as a team. We´re all getting along so well... which is shocking, considering that there are 12 of us in an apartment meant for a small family. I can´t wait to return home and personally share with everyone what´s been going on here and all that I´ve been learning! Thank you for your continual prayers. Until next time, God bless! :)

The Amazon Jungle: outreach weeks 1&2

It's hard to explain everything that's happened so far since I came to Peru... but I will do my best to explain all that I'm learning... sorry if this is a little long :)

We experienced some issues when we first arrived in Peru; one of which being that our flight to the jungle was overbooked and so, we flew to Cusco instead. We stayed there for one night before catching a 10 hour bus to the jungle. The first day that we were there, we all relaxed and got to meet some of Hannah's family. I never thought that I'd be able to say that I met a pet monkey named Poncho in the Amazon jungle or that I fell asleep in my Mozzidome to the sound of rain pounding all around me... or that I'd be living with a family The first and second days were really eye-opening for me. For the first time in my life, I was using a bucket as a toilet and showering in an open area with only two sides (the other two were just open sides, facing the jungle) and freezing cold water. I had to put drops into my water and wait ten minutes to drink it. All our food was being cooked by Hannah's 17 year old sister, Rachel, over a wood fire. I never realized how blessed I am at home... in a home that has walls and bathrooms and stoves. The way their family all worked together just blew my mind and I was disgusted with the way that I've treated my family at home. There were kids who were 9 years old doing more work in a day then I would do in a week... and they all did it cheerfully. I wish I could explain all the ways that I grew during these past two weeks!

We did all kinds of work while we were there over the two weeks... we planted trees and beans and corn (using sticks to dig the holes and having someone drop the beans and corn into it), we cut weeds and grass with machettes too. I spent a lot of time in the kitchen, helping Hannah's younger sister make food for everyone. We also did laundry for a day... and by doing laundry, I mean sitting in front of a bucket for almost 7 hours, scrubbing the dirt out of shirts and pants.

It was a really good time for me in my relationship with God as well... I was able to spend a lot of time in devotions or just reading through my bible :) I think that it's going to be one of the biggest impacts that this outreach will make on me.

Things have been so amazing and God has been so good in our team. We all get along so well and we've overcome some crazy things already! Emma got a nice gash in her knee from when she was cutting grass and hit herself with the machette... and Ali sprained her ankle pretty bad when she fell in a hole in the field. We've all been tired and sick from the change of food and the bus ride and from the altitude... but we're becoming closer and closer and I can't wait to see how that will impact us as a team while we're here in Cusco.

I wish I could explain more about all the crazy things that happened in the jungle but I'm afraid that it would just be too hard to type out. Luckily, we're filming a documentry about our time that I'll be able to show when I get home, so get pumped! I'm missing everyone very much but I'm really excited for these next four weeks! I'll try my best to keep updating but it's just a little difficult. Thanks for all the prayers and support!
God bless :)

Get ready... Get set...

... Go? Wait, is it really time to go? Time to leave this home that we've made for ourselves here in Mitchelton and just pick up and go... to Peru? Soon... very soon.

When I think back over the past few months, I'm amazed that it really has been over three months. It feels like I've been here for a week or two. God has been teaching me so much during this lecture phase. I've grown in ways I never would've imagined and dealt with issues I never knew I had. God has been so good and has kept my eyes opened to Him... but now what about outreach phase? If I grew so much during lecture phase, what does He have in store for me now?

This past week, our lectures were on Missions, Unity in the body of Christ and Stewardship. They were all good for preparation for outreach and really made me think. During our missions teachings, we were talking about what it is to be a missionary. When I think of a missionary, I think of poor, older couples that travel around and knock on doors asking if the residents know Jesus... and although that may be what a missionary looks like in some places, it doesn't have to be that way. I am a missionary. You are a missionary... because being a missionary isn't about where you are... it's about how you live your life. Even though technically right now, I am a missionary, when I return home, I will be a missionary too. Just thinking about that made me really take a step back and look at the life I was living... were the things I was doing really moving others forward in Christ? So as I get ready to head off to Peru for the next seven weeks, I've made it a challenge for myself to focus not only on the people that I am working with... but to also use this as a time to focus on living out the life of Christ.

I'm anxious to see all that I will learn and experience in this time of outreach. Hopefully I'll be able to update my blog occasionally while I'm away but I can't make promises, considering we're not sure what the internet status will be. However, we will probably be updating out team website... so check it out!

http://ywamteamperu.tumblr.com/

I want to thank everyone who has been supporting me over this journey in prayer and finances. You have been a huge part of this experience and I can't thank you enough! I would love to have you continue lifting not only me, but also my team, up in prayer over these next two months. Prayers for safety, team unity and for our hearts to be submitted to God throughout this time would be so great. I can't wait to update everyone on our adventures! God bless :)

Outreach prep... literally.

Another two crazy weeks have happened in YWAM, Brisbane. We started out with a week of lectures by Hannah Lenz (the leader for my outreach team) on Worship. It was a really good week and a good reminder of what the real meaning of worship is. Sometimes I think it's easy to forget that worship isn't just about the songs and the instruments- worship can be anytime, anywhere, in any way. We finished out the week with a full 24 hour worship, where I really put what we learned during the week into play. And for the first time, I really felt like I legitimately worshipped... and I really felt God there with me. It was such a cool experience!

The next day, we met at 11 for lectures... however, we didn't have lectures. Everyone on our school went up to the board and wrote down how much money they still needed for outreach. There were 25 people who were still in need- a total of over $55,000. We all sat and prayed for them and if we felt called to give, we were to write down how much on a slip of paper and go and hand it to the person. I sat and watched people who literally had just about nothing giving to friends and teammates. I saw on of my teammates sitting on the floor, digging through his small bag of change and then pick it up and take it to one of the leaders for her support. He, himself didn't even have all of his outreach money paid. It was incredible. At the end, they asked the people to go back up to the board and write down how much they still needed. That $55,000 dwindled to $40,000. Between 50 poor YWAMers, over $14,000 was given. Two leaders, Joy and Jordan (who have two small children and another on the way), are starting a YWAM base in Peru and were in need of $6000 just for airfare. In one hour of sitting in a room with the rest of our school, their needs were met. God moves in crazy ways!

This week, we had lectures on "Fear of the Lord" by Joy Allen. It was a good week, however, being sick keptme from really focusing. We ended the lecture week early and did something a little different. Thursday, we had a few lectures regarding outreach and things to be aware of- health and safety, ways to behave in our cultures, how to use the "squatty potty". Friday morning, we thought we would have the same thing, however, to our surprise, we were handed a slip of paper with a small list of things to bring- no more. We did a fake outreach, meaning, we went through a fake airport, through customs (where they stole my sleeping bag and socks- which don't sound so important.. but they will later). We experienced beggars and hiking and learning how to barter. We cooked rabbits over a fire and set up a tarp for a place to sleep. On the spot, we had to come up with 1 1/2 hours of children's ministry time. We ate a legit Peruvian meal: lettuce, rice, one whole sliced, raw onion with chunks of raw fish, covered in lemon juice. After our meal, we slept outside... when it so conveniently started to rain- this is where the missing sleeping bag and socks come in. The experience as a whole was good... stressful, but good. I really felt like our team bonded and grew as a whole.

We leave for Peru in less than two weeks! I'm really excited about it! However, at the moment, five of our teammates are still needing money. We have a webpage up and running with info and photos of each team member. If you are willing, we would love to have you travel along with us through Peru via internet and to support us in prayer! If you would like to give financially, there is also a place for that on the page :)

http://ywamteamperu.tumblr.com/team

Thank you so much to everyone who has followed and supported me throughout my lecture phase! This has been such an amazing time and I'm beyond excited to get this next half of the journey underway! Until next time, God bless :)

when waters rise...

This past week was a bit crazy. So much was going on in my mind. As the waters rose around us and tragedy hit the state, God began to rock my own world too. We had the privilege of having our school leader, Jason Solari, talk to us this past week about destiny and what our futures look like. This is probably something that I could listen to for the rest of my life... we never have our lives completely planned. But as much as I didn't want to think about what I have laid out in front of me for next year, I needed to listen and process. Unfortunately, it's just a long process and God and I are still working on that bit :)

On Saturday, we had the privilege of going into the city to help with flood relief. God really used this as an opportunity to open my eyes and think about what I'm making of my life. The drive seemed to take an eternity- enough time for a small nap :) But while we were driving, it was hard to get past the smells of sewage, rubbish and mud. There were heaps and heaps of trash out on the streets- things that business owners and homeowners couldn't salvage. When we arrived at the house, it had already been gutted. We spent the day with pressure washers and buckets of soapy water, cleaning off everything that could possibly be kept. Furniture, toys and hardware items were caked in mud. The flood had risen in their house to my nose! The neighbors across the street had water up to the second floor. As devastating as it was to see all of the damage in the cities and towns, there was more hope and spirit in the people than I ever could've imagined. People were walking down the streets handing out food and water, offering to help out in any way they could.

As I sat in the backyard, cleaning off the muddy toys, the question dawned on me... is this what I've living for? Have I been so caught up in the world that I forgot the importance of life? Why do we go to work everyday and save money up to buy really nice things that could vanish in the blink of an eye? God asks us to store up treasures for Heaven... so what would it look like if everyone would make that their goal of life- not to have all the best materials, but to have the best attitudes, to lend the best helping hand, to be the best giver that they can be? As this all ran through my mind, God hit me with the big question: Am I worried about what to do next year because I'm afraid that I won't have a job that makes tons of money for me to buy the material things that I want? What if I put that thinking aside and just followed the call that He's placed in my life. If I do that, and I work at that with everything in me, won't I be storing up treasures for Heaven instead of earth?

It was so impacting for me to think that way. So I challenge you who read this: step back and take a look at your life. What have you been saving up for?

Opening my eyes... the past 3 weeks.

Well, I realize that it's been quite some time since I last blogged. Things have been so busy here!

Christmas was a really fun time. I'll admit, it was really hard to be away from home and family... I missed traditions. But God has blessed me with such a great group of people here who I love so much... my MAD family :) I spent Christmas eve with a few of my closest friends. We went to see Narnia in 3D and then listened to a recording of Caren's grandpa read us the Christmas story :) I was a little disappointed that my package didn't come here in time for Christmas... but as I sat and watched my roommates open their Christmas packages, I realized the joy that there was in just being in the moment and seeing the joy that comes from being with people. We had a brunch and then opened our stockings (we all had a secret santa and saved one gift for Christmas day.) I never realized how blessed I am at home. Since everyone is paying to be here, no one really has extra cash to spend... so watching everyone open up gifts and get really excited about candy bars and small things was so good for me... everyone was so happy :)

We left two days after Christmas for two weeks. The school was split up according to outreach locations. Team Peru, Japan and Canada (my group) first went to Byron Bay for Impact Summer- a week of evangelism in Byron Bay. Team Australia/New Zealand, Germany/Czech Republic and India went to Hervey Bay for the first week for team building and lectures. After the week was over, the teams switched places.

My week in Byron was good... but a little frustrating at times. We were just out evangelizing to tourists, backpackers and towns people for the week. We'd do different things during the day- worship at the beach, volleyball tournament, walking around the town.. and then we'd set up a free bbq at the park at night and have people preforming. It was so nice to actually be at the beach for the week :) it was so beautiful! It was still a rough week. I was starting to discover how difficult I find it to just walk up to people and make small talk and then jump into evangelism. But God taught me something that I didn't realize until the end of the week/beginning of the next week- we're not all called to be evangelists.. but He uses us and our gifts in the same way. I just began to realize how much my way of evangelism is through meeting practical needs- service.

We switched after the week had ended and made our way to Hervey Bay. We had lectures on Worldview with Landa Cope. It was a good week, but I found lectures very hard to pay attention to- government isn't something that catches my attention. But she talked about some other really good things like being good stewards. She also talked about the Old Testament and how we often look at it as a bunch of stories, but if we look closely, it's a guide for how God wanted things to be run. It was definitely an eye-opener and made me want to go back and read the scriptures again. After lectures each morning, we'd split up into our outreach teams and have "faith days." Our first day, we had a treasure hunt. We all split up into groups of 3 and prayed and asked God for pictures of who he wanted us to talk to or where we should go. Then we'd go. We never found the people that our group was looking for. I was so disappointed and really just felt like i failed. When we were walking back to the house, I decided I was going to stop and pray and just ask God about the way things were going and my disappointment. As I sat on the wall by the beach, an older, disheveled man road past on a bike. I smiled and said hi and then continued praying. Five minutes later, that man came riding back. We got in conversation and he brought up God and faith and stuff. It was so cool because I didn't need to be the one to just jump into deep conversation. I was able to share some with him. Then my friend, Chris, came over and joined. Before we left, we were able to pray for him. It was really encouraging for me to actually have that experience. The second day, we went out to the water and just praised God for who He was and then we went out and asked people if they needed prayer for healing. Again, I saw nothing spectacular... but God continued to challenge me to have faith. The last day, we did service. We started by weeding around the house that we were staying at but later were sent of into groups of 3 to weed at other people's houses. Ali (Idaho), Rebekka (Norway) and I went out. We passed a man mowing a lawn- it looked like it hadn't been cut in weeks (maybe a foot long of grass). We asked if we could help him collect the grass. We started helping and then we got in conversation. He was a really nice guy and he told us that he didn't even live at the house. It was a single mom who lived there- he just drove past and noticed it needed cut. It's funny how God brought us all together to help someone that none of us knew. We went back and got our entire team to come and help (it was a big yard). We spent the entire day there :) It was so fun and I really enjoyed it. When Allen (the man mowing) asked us why we were helping, I explained YWAM to him. He looked at me and smiled and said, "I should've guessed you guys were all Christians." How cool- knowing that the face of Christ can be shown in something as little as helping a neighbor collect the cut grass.

We traveled and returned home last night. It was a rough drive- everything is pretty flooded here and roads are closed. We passed a park that was kind of down in a gully. The water was up to the basketball rim! But we're all safe back at home :) It was so cool to be reunited with our entire school again. I realized how much I appreciate this entire family that God has blessed me with here in Brisbane :)