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 :)
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