Wow! I cannot believe it has been almost a month since my last posting. I am so sorry! Last time I posted was right before we left Brissie. We have been on the road about a month and are currently in Port Lincoln (bottom middle of AUS). We have a day off today, a retreat tomorrow, and then strike out through the rest of Western Australia to arrive in Perth on Sunday. We will have traveled about 4000km this week. It's a nice break though to just relax in the van.
So since I haven't written in so long, let me catch things up a bit...
Sheep. I have seen SO many sheep! As we traveled through the rolling hills of South Australia, there were sheep EVERYWHERE. I love it. They remind me of Good Shepherd because of His Fluffiness, our sheep mascot. We also had our first overnight retreat with a lovely group of 100 year 12 girls from Adelaide. It was bittersweet, as the girls were amazing, but it reminded me again of the WOW retreats at Good Shepherd and made me long for a big hug from the folks back there, or even a chat over coffee in the early morning hours.
It is starting to cool off here, which is also bittersweet. As it cools off here in preparation for their winter, it reminds me of the holidays back home, and makes me a bit homesick. But then I remind myself its not actually heading towards Christmas back home, but rather really hot and humid days, and that helps a bit. Adelaide, which was supposed to be the first cooler city of our travels, was in the hottest, longest heat wave in recorded history. 46 degrees C. I am pretty sure that is about 114 degrees F. They are in one of the severest droughts of all Australia and are on the highest level of water restrictions. They catch their water from the shower in a bucket and use it to water plants outside. Adelaide is a gorgeous city and the people there are SO lovely. It is one of the smaller of the capital cities. We spent Easter there, including performing a dramatization of the resurrection at an ecumenical sunrise service. It was so lovely. It was the scene in the Bible where Jesus comes and asks the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat, and then they recognize him as Lord in the breaking of the bread. To be on the beach just as the moon was going down and the sun was rising made you feel as they must have felt that day. Amazing.
I love looking at the stars here. They are so beautiful. It's an odd feeling though because I see Orion up there, but he is upside down. I had found it comforting to think that so far away, my parents might be looking at the same set of stars, but realized not too long ago that many of the stars they see are very different. That made me feel distant in a way, but then I would see the Southern Cross shines brightly and reminds me that, though sometimes I feel very far from home, Jesus is right there with me. I would say that has been one of my strongest relizations as of late. How much God wants to be placed first in our lives, and how often we fill that "God hole" with other things. For myself, that is relationships, food, media, music, etc. In the absence of so many of these, I was feeling a bit empty. It has been a challenge for me to continue to seek God to fill that emptiness, but he has been giving me grace in that area.
Australia is very green. When I say green, I mean environmentally friendly. They reuse their water, they use reusable grocery bags. They recycle everything. They are very energy concious. It's made me aware of how much I used to take for granted and made me feel a bit wasteful. They are supposed to use 140 liters of water per person/day. That includes your shower, toilet, drinking, cooking, washing, etc. It's a challenge but it is doable. It's a witness to me how everyone works together to achieve it.
That being said, I am SO dehydrated. You don't realize it, but the sun here is so hot. You have to drink a ton of water. My lips and skin are dry and cracking. I never used lotion at home, but have been using it and chapstick constantly here. I have been working on increasing my intake of water. It's just hard to remember!
Prayer. I have become very aware of how vital it is and how fruitful it can be. Something maybe only my close friends know is that I used to really hate praying. I struggled to see the fruit of it, and would say that before I came here, my personal prayer life was fairly nonexistent, except when I was discerning something and needed direction. I have been working hard to keep up my personal prayer of 45 minutes everyday. It's a challenge to get up early in the morning to do that, but you can see the fruit. When all on the team are praying, our team life and ministry is smooth sailing. When we are struggling to pray, it plays out in life and ministry as well.
I have been blown away by the generosity of every person we have encountered. Our host families are absolutely gorgeous, and it is such a blessing to share in their lives while we are there. I have cried nearly everytime we leave a city because I am so overwhelmed by the love they have shown us. I cannot wait until we get to heaven so they can see the impact their generosity had in its fullness. My thank you is not enough. I am excited for them to see how God used their generosity to serve so many in his master plan.
Control and Trust. I have come to the conclusion that the opposite of Control is Trust. I used to think it was chaos, and when my life was out of control, I would be frustrated or stressed. I am a thinker and I love to have a plan. So when things weren't going by my plan, I would often be frustrated and spend time trying to get things back into alignment. This year has taught me to relish the moment, and when things are out of control, to trust. And in that trust is peace and joy. There is a skit we do called "Divine PC." It's God on a computer writing out the Main Character's life story. But the Main Character keeps interrupting God, telling him what to write, and in the end, pushes him out of the way and writes her own story. I have seen how I was like that Main Character. God prompting me towards certain things, but me saying, "No God, that's not how its done. Let me show you." And just as in the skit, God stands by calmly and lets me do my thing. The thing is, HE knows best. NOT me. And so this year, when things are out of my control-- which is essentially almost every second of the day-- I just trust. I exist in that moment and try to see what he is using it for. How he can use me, and how he is using this other person to minister to me. And it is beautiful. Please pray for me that I can continue to grow even more in this arena. There is a song titled Whatever by Steven Curtis Chapman which I think puts this beautifully... if you get a chance listen to it.
Another song I am loving right now is If You Want Me To by Ginny Owens. And for worship, there are several beautiful ones: Made for Worship, How Great is Our God, Clean Hands, Holy is the Lord, Consuming Fire. If you get time, check these out.
Appreciation. I just want to take a minute to express my appreciation. To all of you. I want to apologize that my sponsor list on this blog is not fully updated yet. I am working on getting the rest of the names up there. But I want you to know that everyday I pray for all of you. I have your list in my Bible and I pray for you as a group and each day focus on one of you specifically. My prayer for you is that God would return to you 100 fold the love you have shown me. And that any fruits that come from this year would be yours and shown to you through peace, love, hope and joy in your own lives. I also want to thank you not only for your support of me, but your support of NET Ministries Australia. This is a beautiful country and the people are amazing. Their church is filled with strong laity, but in desperate need of a revival to call out to their youth. NET and several other youth focused ministries are vital to this mission, especially with World Youth Day being this year. The pre-WYD ministry is important, but truly it is the post-WYD ministry that it even more important. Just as in the parable of the sower, the years after WYD will be focused on watering the seeds that have been sown so that they take root and produce great fruit. Pray that the harvest will be plenty and that the Lord will provide laborers! Thank you for already being one of them!
I also have another prayer request. I have a friend from Tallahassee named Katie Doyle. She has been struggling with a brain tumor for about 5 years now. Katie is the most amazing young woman I have ever met. She has tackled this incredibly trying situation for the past 5 years with a completely positive and hopeful attitude. Her spirit has inspired people all across the US as she has been to so many different hospitals and become close to so many who are battling cancer themselves. Katie recently found out that some of the drugs she has been taking may have effected her ability to have children. As anyone would be, she is devestated. Please pray for her on a daily basis-- for her complete healing, both of her tumors and that she is completely restored to health. God works miracles, and this year I have become especially aware of his power. So please remember Katie everyday.
Finally, I had added up a few photos the other day if you would like to see. Take a look!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2395372&l=d6919&id=5214104
I love you all, and I miss you. Please keep praying for me and all our team-- especially this week as we cross the Nullabor, where the wombats and kangaroos like to jump into the side of your car. G'day for now and God bless!
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