Repentance and Forgiveness!

Week 3 of the DTS was Repentance and Forgiveness week. Will (who pioneered the work in China that Cliff and Cristine did) was our guest speaker. He talked about the sin in our life and how it separates us from the Lord and others. One quote from class that I thought was great is "the quality of your repentance is a factor that will determine the depth of your relationship with God." I was marked by that because I want to go deep with God which means I need to be transparent in front of Him! He also talked about the gift that forgiveness is when we extend forgiveness to those that have hurt us. God wants to heal us from those hurts but if we don't forgive it's like we are cutting off the grace of God for that healing. So good to be reminded of!

At the end of the week we had a time of application where we all were able to publicly come clean with the things in our lives that separate us from the Lord. It was a sweet time with our class. I definitely feel like we are closer as a group. God definitely spoke to me about certain things that have stood in the way of a closer walk with Him. I know He wants me to overcome those things to live in even more freedom and with His help I will! We were reminded to remember "who is calling us to repentance." We have a loving, merciful and forgiving God that calls us to repentance because he longs for a relationship with us and wants nothing to stand in the way! I encourage all of you to seek out the forgiveness of our loving Father! He is faithful to forgive us!!

I have also been stuggling with being sick this week. I woke up Monday morning of week 3 with a sore throat and very congested. I went to the doctor on Wednesday to get on antibiotics. The next day I woke up with my lungs very congested and have been having trouble breathing and coughing ever since. Please pray that I will be able to move past this sickness and that no one in my house (I live with 30 others) gets sick! Thanks for your prayers! Week 4 is Celebrations week! Should be a great week! Blessings everyone!!

End of Week 2

It's Saturday and the end of week 2 of the DTS. Every week we have a different topic that we have guest speakers come and lecture on. Week one we had Jen Brownhill come and talk about Hearing the Voice of God and Quiet Times. I really enjoyed Jen. She has some incredible stories of hearing God's voice and stepping out in faith to see him work in miraculous ways. One thing she said that has really stuck with me is that God has no reserves in making himself known to us! How great to know that we have a mighty awesome God that wants nothing more than to speak to us and for us to know him personally!! Week 2 the topic was the Nature and Character of God. Peter Brownhill (Jen's father-in-law and the founder of YWAM Perth) came to talk about how important it is to know and understand who God is. We looked at how our view of God can affect how we live if it is off in anyway. We then looked at all the things that make up God's nature and character. All good stuff to be reminded of...He is omnipresent, omniscient, omnipresent, love, righteous, holy, just...etc. Once again I am amazed at God's love for us. I hope and pray that all of you may "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ!!" (Eph 3:18) Blessings to all of you!!

Blog challenge #1- Aussie Life!!

Living in Australia for the most part is not all that different from life back home. The fact that we are in the middle of the hottest month of summer here while my friends and family dig out of their driveways each day is the biggest difference! One that has been great although a bit hot!! I have noticed a few other things as well. The first thing I noticed were the crows. I stepped out of the airport the first day, walking to the car with Cristine and Narina and heard this sound like a baby crying into a kazoo (that's the best way I can think to describe it). I asked "what's that noise" and they said it was the crows. I see them everyday as I walk to the base and the noise they make still makes me laugh!! I wish you all could hear it. Another thing that is different is that they drive on the other side of the road. With this I thought to myself, "not a big deal, I don't think I'll be driving anyway!" What I didn't realize is that crossing the street is a bit more challenging!! From a little child you learn to come to a street look left as you start to cross and then right. That will get you hit here!! I am constantly surprised that the cars are coming from a different direction!! Then there's the fact that pedestrians don't have the right of way here...definitely need to have caution crossing the street!! Another difference is some food that is common in Australia. Vegemite is a staple here, something they put on bread or crackers. It is made from the byproduct of yeast. It's black and kind of looks like chocolate icing (a huge disappointment if you think that!) and tastes like a bitter salty spread. I haven't acquired the taste for it yet. They tell us that you can't say you don't like it until you've tried it at least three times...I've tried it once so far. Not sure I'll try it again, but I'll be here for a while so who knows!! I also got to eat Kangaroo! At first I thought it was just the most tender beef I've had but then someone said it was kangaroo! It was yummy! Never thought I would say that!! The last thing is the words they use or the common words they use in a different way. When talking about your schedule or calendar they say write it in your diary. The bathroom is the loo! And when you walk by them for a greeting they say "how ya going?" Below is a list of other Aussie words. Being the game person I am, I thought it would be fun to put a challenge out to all of you! Please take a stab at what you think these words below might mean by writing in a comment! I'll post the answers in a few days. (I also think it will be fun to see your guesses and to see who is actually reading my blog!!) Hope you enjoy this!!

Servo
Arvo
Dag
Capsium
Dunny
Bloke
Fair Dinkum
Bludger
Chook
Chuck a U-ey
Sultana
Esky
G'day
Mozzies
Sanger
Struth
Jangles
Kiwi

My Schedule!!

I thought you all might like to know what my days are like here during the lecture phase of my DTS. Our days are pretty full. We start the day with morning exercises at 6am. We have done everything from running, to calisthenics and even island dancing. Then we have from 6:30-8:00 to get ready, shower, eat breakfast and have a quiet time. Then at 8:00am we have family chores. I have been amazed by family chores. We all work at cleaning the base for a half hour everyday and the whole base is clean in that time. I guess when you have 400 people doing stuff it goes quickly. Usually it's a pretty simple job. Today for instance I vacuumed two area rugs. That was all I did! It's nice because it keeps the base really clean but its easy work! After morning chores, we have something from 8:30-9:30. On Monday's it's a time of worship with the whole base, Tuesdays it’s intercession and then Wednesday-Friday we have group time with our class. Then from 9:30-10:00 is morning tea! From 10-12:30 are lectures and then lunch. After lunch we have free time for a bit on most days. On Tuesday's in the afternoons we have what they call "Hands on Compassion" where we go and work somewhere in the city doing works of compassion. I have been assigned to a juvenile detention center for young girls. I am pretty excited about this! I will be working there once a week for the whole time I’m here so hopefully I'll get to know one or two girls pretty well. On Thursdays in the afternoon we will have some practical skills training, like basic medical training. I also have a one on one time with one of my leaders. My one on one leader is Narina who is from Madagascar. She is really neat and we have a lot in common. We get along great! If we aren't doing one of those things then we have free time. Then at 5-7:30 we have our work duty. I am working in Hospitality. I think I lucked out on that one! There are three of us that are working in Hospitality and everyone else in our class has to clean the dinner dishes for work duty. In hospitality we do laundry, set up for birthdays, bake and decorate cakes (how cool is that!!) and make cards. Stuff like that! It's been fun so far!! Much better than doing the dishes!! At night we don't have much going on. We have small group meetings on Wednesdays. Thursday's we have evangelism where the whole base goes out to parts of Perth to meet people and evangelize. Friday nights there is a base meeting that is much like a church service. There are people that come from all over Perth to join us for that meeting. It's pretty cool! Weekends we have free to do whatever. I think the beach will be a popular hangout. We also live about a 10 minute walk to downtown or a free train ride. We've been there a lot to go to the grocery store or internet café. Those are my days!! It seems to be a much more relaxed schedule than what I've been used to. Pray that God will help me to relax and enjoy all that he has for me in this time!! Blessings!!

I finally have internet!

Hey Everyone! Sorry I haven't been able to update you much on what's been happening here in Perth. We haven't had internet until tonight at 9:30! Praise the Lord it's finally working!! I am so excited to have access now to share all that has been going on! School is in full swing and is going really well. We have heard from two guest speakers about Hearing the voice of God and the Character of God. Both really good speakers and definitely stuff that God wanted me to hear! I started my work duty as well. I am working in hospitality doing stuff like laundry and making and decorating cakes! I am super excited about that! I have about 19 roommates in my dorm. We have had a lot of fun together so far! Perth has been extremely hot so far. It was a bit of a shock going from the snow to 110 degree weather. It cooled a bit this week which was refreshing! One more thing before I go (I really need to get to bed!), last night at dinner we ate kangaroo! It was delicious...who knew! Anyway, thanks for reading my blog. I'll write more tomorrow!!

I made it!!

I am now in Perth! I made it! My Mom and Dad and Grandpa saw me off at the Traverse City airport (see picture of me in front of TC airport's Christmas tree). It was such a blessing to get to leave from home. Mom and Dad prayed for me right before I went through security. That was so great and helped to calm me so much. I then flew to Los Angeles where I was able to spend about 24 hours with Leigh Anne and Jason Medina and family (see pics of Kaelyn, Brendan and me and Leigh Anne at the airport). It was so nice to see them and it gave me a nice break in all the travel. The flight from LA to Sydney was interesting in that it took off at 8pm on the 31st and we landed at 6am on the 2nd. We skipped right over the 1st! The flight actually didn't feel quite as long as I thought it would...thankfully! The flight from Sydney to Perth went well and Cristine Wiener picked me up from the airport! I was able to spend the rest of the day with them walking around downtown Perth and talking together in their flat. I got sick that night though and spent a day and a half in bed. Not the beginning I was hoping for. School starts this week! I don't have internet right now, it is not working at the dorm that I'm staying at. I will update more when that is working! Thanks for your prayers! The plane rides went extremely well and I know that was because you all were praying!! More to come!!!