Hit the Road Jack!

Well... BIG NEWS since I last wrote. The way things are set up here is that we are broken off into ministry teams. There are two local teams that work with a specific church, two diocesan teams that are working with a diocese and on World Youth Day, and one National Team that travels all around Australia doing retreats at churches and in the schools. There are 2 guys and 3 girls on the local and diocesan teams and 5 girls and 5 guys on the National team. Each team has many different roles to fulfill. The first that is chosen is a male and female team leader. So, as of three days ago, I finally knew what the next year would hold for me. A few days ago, my supervisor approached me and offered me the position of Female Team Leader for this year's National Team! I was sooo honored, humbled and excited. This meant I would be traveling all around the country promoting WYD, praying with young people and putting on retreats. God really humbled me the other day, reminding me with conviction once again that this ISN'T about me, but about me laying myself down that He can work through me. My dad's best friend was praying with me before I left. I keep his words in my heart... "Lord, please help Mary Lee not get in the way." Even in all my feelings of unworthiness, insecurity and fear, I keep trying to not stop his works!

So, two days ago, they announced the rest of my team, including my male co-leader. His name is James and he is a 29 year old Canadian from Ottowa. We have 1 kiwi, 4 Aussies, 3 USAers, 1 Canadian and 1 Nigerian. Our ages range from 17-29. These are AMAZING individuals, and I am so thrilled to be sharing this journey of a lifetime with them. Oh, and a little sidenote... as of right now, only 2 of us know how to drive the van. Hopefully they will teach us, since we are meant to travel over 50,000km this year! It's kinda insane!

James and I have been in team leader training for only one day and I am already certain that it is only by the grace of God and NOTHING that we can do that we will make it through this year with our sanity. We work everyday doing retreats, with only one day completely free of obligations about every 4-6 weeks. I think we may get team days every two weeks or so too where we just get to be with the team and not working. The role that James and I have as far as I can understand is to be the point of contact between the team and staff, to organize the daily/weekly schedules, to contact and help with setting up host homes, to follow up with those we are doing retreats with, and to provide pastoral care for the men and women on our team. It is definitely a servant role. Please pray for me that I can continue to die to self and be the best servant I can be.

I wanted to especially thank all of you who have emailed, written, or chatted with me. You don't know how comforting it is to know so many beautiful people are thinking of you! I miss you all so much but carry you in my heart. I will let you know more as I find it out. The next two weeks are intense training and figuring out all the logistics. Keep me in your prayers! :)

Much Love!~ Mary Lee