Outreach has begun!

Outreach has begun! The first week our ministry began and instead of it being in Russia it started where I had been living for 3 months, Australia. My team, minus one of my leaders, left for Wollongong (about 5 hours by train from Newcastle) and stayed at the YWAM base there. We didn't necessarily have much ministry set up for us there so we prayed and asked God what He wanted us to do! 

The street that the Wollongong base is on is known for it's bad reputation of prostitution and being a bad area to live, so we did some prayer walks, it was amazing! We walked up and down these streets fighting over them, over the girls, the pimps, those addicted to alcohol, the store owners, and over a psychic store. As boring as that may sound, to "just pray" it was something that got me even more excited to be apart of the Kingdom of God. We also went to the Beach and talked to people as well prayed over some and we were able to bless the Wollongong base with words of encouragement. 

After those 4 days our second leader joined us and we went to Bondi Beach which is in Sydney, and stayed with one of our quarters outreach teams who was doing ministry there before hey left for Mexico. During our two day stay we took part in street and mall evangelism. 

While doing street evangelism I met a guy named Mario. Mario was from what I could tell homeless and a little bit confused. The leader from the Mexico team had actually told me earlier that day to look out for this guy and if I saw him to talk to him. He began our time wanting no part in the conversation and after one of my team members prayed he immediately began talking to us. He told us his name was "Anywhere" and that he was from Italy and Switzerland. As the conversation went on he opened up and he told us his real name, Mario. I could tell this guy longed for people not to think he is crazy just cause of how he looks, that he needed someone to just listen and want to get to know the real him, he simply needed to know that someone cared about Him. The two other girls and I got to pray for Mario and give him the New Testament, he was so excited and immediately began to read it as we left. 

During mall evangelism my friend Paige and had the opportunity to talk to another guy carrying a guitar, a musician from Ireland. I started by asking him if he knew where a guitar store was and from there we talked for an hour. He told  us about his music dreams and accomplishments so far, and as his face lit up at all we were talking about, he even took his guitar out and showed me his insane talent as well as let me play a little! Paige and I asked to pray for him at the end and he opens up about his struggle with alcohol and we got to tell him the beauty of Jesus what He does for us and what music does for us in broken times. He was so happy to talk and pray with us that he gave us all his info and a CD with his songs recorded on it. It was an amazing time I got to share with one of my teammates, I got to use my gift to talk to someone about Jesus and Paige got to use her story as a testimony to this guy!

After Australia, we were off to Russia! We made it safely and now as I type this I watch the snow fall on the already white covered ground getting ready to fight for this country. I'm excited to see what He is going to teach me in my time here and how He will use me to impact eternity.

I ask you to join me in prayer. To be completely honest, I don't like the cold at all, would much rather be in a hot place sweating, but this is where The Lord has called me to go, so He has something to show me here and I want to be fully attentive and excited to see it. Pray for my team, that we grow closer in unity and that we constantly listen to what The Lord wants us to do during our time here. 

Love you all, I'm thankful every day more and more for your support.

More updates about Russia to come!

Heading Out!

It has been quite the crazy preparation for outreach these past few weeks. We had some visa stuff to sort out, plans change, and lots of fundraising-but I can honestly say, the Lord has taught me so much.

My attitude began as a little annoyed when the plans changed and as they changed a little more…my attitude did as well.
On New Years eve 3 of the 5 outreach teams left to begin their adventures in other parts of the world. My team (Russia/Latvia), the Mexico team and two team members from the Argentina/Brazil outreach have stayed in Newcastle pushing for the rest of our finances. At first it was weird because the house felt so empty and then without confronting it at first I was allowing bitterness to creep in.
"Why was everyone else on outreach except my team?!" I kept asking the Lord. Until last night I was frustrated, I didn't have any desire to stay here and all I wanted to do was leave. God spoke through my leaders a few verses in 1 Thessalonians 5, much to do with honoring and supporting them as well as rejoicing in everything with my team mates…slap in the face, but a good one. After this session I spent time with Jesus and repented, I asked Him for a change in heart...and He gave me one! And today was awesome! I got to see the need of my teams finances drop from $7,000 to $3,500! God is so good. My dad was able to speak some life into me as well- "The Holy Spirit isn't waiting for me or my team in Russia, He is with me now, today. So, what will I do with the Holy Spirit today?" I needed a heart change, and I'm so thankful my Father is so patient with me and continues to work with my despite my attitude and faults.

So what's next? Tomorrow I am leaving for Wollongong, Australia. There, we will be on a YWAM base serving on the beach and doing street evangelism. We will be doing outreach there until January 10th, the day we pick up our visas and fly out to Russia.

My entire team is leaving tomorrow except for one of my leaders who will be here until the rest of the finances come in. Between her an my other leader they are in need of $3,500. If you feel led to support please go to the YWAM Newcastle website and click on donations where you can send money to the Russia/Latvia team!

Thank you to all who have supported myself and my team in prayer and finances. You have been such a big part of bringing us to where we are now and where we are going.

Blessings to all of you!

More week to week revelations from lecture phase to come and updates!

Week 5: Relationships

This week was one that really challenged me. I know when we think of the topic relationships the first thing we think about is romantic relationships, and yes that is a type of relationships but not the only one. Something so simple that changed my view is a quote by a YWAM author, Dean Sherman “Every problem in the world is a problem of relationship.” So think about this, every problem ever, is a problem of relationship. It started out with Adam and Eve desiring something different than a perfect relationship with the Father. Problems now, world hunger? Relationship problem. Poverty? Relationship problem. Dysfunctional family? Relationship problem. Disease? Relationship problem. When we sin we chose to disregard out relationship with the Lord, which results in so many problems. I think it’s fair to say we struggle with having good and perfect relationships. So, how do we start fixing these problems? Start with your heart. Have you ever just so happened to talk about that one person you just can’t “stand” to be around to your friend? Your family? Your spouse? Come one let’s admit it, I’m guilty. It’s called gossiping and it’s one of the easiest traps to fall under, and boy does Satan use it for destruction. How many times, like a disease, do we attack something that is good and call it bad? Gossip is an autoimmune disease, which not only kills our relationships, but it impacts the image of God. Think about it, when we talk about others in bad way as Christians how does that reflect who our Savior is to others? Terribly, right? Guys I struggle with this so much, seriously so much conviction. Not only do I struggle with the urge to talk bad about others, but also I struggle with judgmental thoughts in my mind about others. My judging, just in my head, eats away the reality of goodness in others. We have to start looking at our hearts and see how It has an effect not only on the body of Christ but on the solutions we seem to not the able to find for the world.  SO here you go, I can tell you the solution, lets start changing our hearts and attitudes and start mending relationships in the name of Jesus.

Something else I learned…I have got to get on forgiving. I didn’t realize how much unforgiveness was taking a hold not only on those relationships but my relationship with the Lord. Personally my heart is to see freedom in peoples lives, no matter where they are in their walk. I really started to get challenged toward the end of this week with this topic. How am I suppose to expect God to put freedom in someone’s life and break chains that they have if I can’t forgive them for things they’ve done to hurt me? I can’t. And lots of times He wont. If I want to see and intercede for freedom in those peoples lives, I need to forgive them. Plain and simple, “Crap, I need to get on that” is what I was thinking.  Forgiveness is tough, does it mean you have to trust that person again, no not at all, actually many times we shouldn’t unless we feel God is telling us to. Instead it’s looking at people through Jesus’ eyes, Eyes of grace, mercy, love, and the ultimate forgiveness.

So, my challenge from this week-What would the world look like if I started looking at my heart and began taking the ugliness of judgment out and started to forgive those that have wounded me? I would see transformation.

Week 4: Fear of The Lord

Going into this week I was a little confused on what we would be learning about. I soon found out that it was simply having a relationship with the Lord that is in constant awe of Him and reverence of who He is and to hate sin as God hates sin (Proverbs 8:13). This lecture week we continued to talk a lot about the character of God and many questions were asked to help understand more about who the Lord we serve is and why we serve Him.

Some questions and great revelations:

-You will never fear and obey God fully if you don’t think He’s worthy of your love.

-Will you be loyal to His character?

-If God is perfect why does He need us to worship Him? –He’s generous.

-We can use our free will and chose not to sin.

-Jesus isn’t a superhero. I often times think of Jesus as some super being that can fly, go through walls, read minds, or become invisible whenever He wants-but I am so wrong! That’s not who Jesus is. He was fully God but became fully man for us. He left the throne and came down as man, but He relied so much on His Father that his reality was supernatural, as ours should be too. The moment He would have brought His own God power He couldn’t have gone to the cross because it would have made Him unlike our natural form and would have made it so He couldn’t relate to us. Doesn’t that just bring clarity to how AMAZING Jesus is and reveal how much He really does love us? HE LEFT HEAVEN TO DIE FOR US! To be the sacrifice, to stand in the gap because we couldn’t do it ourselves! My Jesus is worthy of all praise, He’s not a superhero, He is my hero!

Character of God

It’s been over a month since I’ve blogged, I’m so sorry I’m just now writing. How time flies, I have so much to tell y’all!

This past month I’ve learned heaps of stuff that I can’t wait to share (I’m going to go week by week from where I left off over the next few days to hopefully make more sense).

Week 3: Character of God

What do you think God’s like when things are going well in your life, when you’re happy? He’s good, He’s Faithful, He’s kind, etc. What do you think God is like when things aren’t going well, when you’re upset? He left me, He’s punishing me, He doesn’t care, etc. I don’t know what you think in these everyday situations, but often times I tend to base God’s character off of my feelings and my emotions, but that’s not who God is. During this week we were challenged with so much theology, I felt like my mind was running a race, but I loved it! There was one thing that stuck with my more than anything else-Exodus 34:6-7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed ‘The Lord, the Lord a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.’” This verse is God telling us who He is…can’t argue with that, right! It’s so simple, it’s so true, this is who God is, this is what He calls himself, and this is who He’s proven himself to be. Our God is so merciful, so gracious, so compassionate toward His children, and He’s so patient (seriously though, our God is so patient, think how much we mess up, why doesn’t he just zap us? Cause He’s slow to anger and so stinkin patient). This is who our God is and I need to start living like this is the God I serve. He is constant and He has given us this verse to hold onto and remind us of whom He is (cause as dumb humans we need that, to remember how great our God is even though He created everything). I challenge you to put this verse on your bathroom mirror, your pocket, in your room, around your house, in your fridge, or wherever, put it somewhere so that you will read it everyday to be reminded of the character of our God and how good it is that no matter our circumstances and feelings He is who He says He is (mines currently above my bed so I can wake up with the reminder and go to sleep resting in who He is). Go for it! See how this one verse can change your total view of our God.

Hearing God's Voice and Father Heart of God

Sorry it's been a while since I have had the chance to update everyone!

Life in Newcastle is awesome, I'm absolutely loving it! Spending time in this community of students, leaders, and staff while learning more and more about The Lord is such a blessing. I just want to say thank you again to all of you who have supported me both financially and prayerfully, I wish I could express how thankful I truly am!

To give you a little run down of what has happened so far:

Tuesday Oct. 8- Sunday Oct.13 was orientation as well as lectures with the topic of Hearing God's Voice. We had an incredible speaker come to teach us on how to Hear our Father. I'd love to share with y'all a few things I learned about His voice and other random bits of challenges from this week.

• Step into obedience the rest will follow.
• If God speaks to you and you don't share what He asks you to share with others you're robbing them of joy, celebration, and confirmations He gives.
• Your testimony is about the one who brought you out of the mess not about the mess.
• We tend to think the space God speaks in is narrow, it's wide.
• He uses all of our human senses to speak to us, make them all available.
• Being burned out an stressed isn't he place of the Father.

Hope that was as encouraging and challenging for you as it was for me!

Tuesday Oct. 15- Friday Oct. 18 the topic was on Father Heart of God, His heart for His sons and daughters and for us individually. Some of you may feel like Spiritual Orphans, believers that don't always feel as though His heart is always for you. The core issue of that is identity, which satan uses as a form of spiritual warfare. The Father tells us who we are, nothing else does. Allow that to sink in, pretty tough but it's truth. And the thing that really took a nail at me was "Trauma you've experienced is not your choice, desolation of spirit is." This means that the mess of things you've been put through may not be your fault, it could be your family's, friends, or anything but the desolation of spirit is, the way you react is your choice. You can chose to let it mess with you, to change the corse of your life for the worse or you can chose life, you can chose that your identity is not found in those things but instead found in Christ and who He says you are. His heart is for each of us, each of you, allow yourself to receive Him, what He says about you, and what His heart looks like for you and all His children. The last thing I really took away from this week was "He doesn't want us to go back to being a child, He wants us to become a child." Most of us have heard of child like faith, to have humility and faith like a child. Sometimes we think this means we need to go back to our child like ways, false. He wants us to become so reliant on Him as our Father that we come into a place of constant communion and conversation with Him, as a child does with their parents.

Lots of things that I'm still processing myself but I want you all to be apart of this journey with me. Please pray about everything I posted. I encourage you to seek out time to spend time with Jesus this week. Listen to Him, allow yourself to be in a position of hearing His Voice and receiving what He says about you. If you don't believe me ask Him to show you, He will.

Until next time, Love you all heaps (aussie lingo)

Outreach

…I'M GOING TO RUSSIA AND LATVIA FOR OUTREACH!

That feels so good to say!

After so much prayer and listening to what God wants, this is where He has led me, and I'm so excited to see what He has in store. 

We welcome your prayers for unity, safety, protection against the enemy, discernment, wisdom, and finances to come in. There are four teams within my DTS- Mexico, Argentina & Brazil, Australia & Nepal, and Russia & Latvia. Each one needs covering in prayer. God has so much in store for each team, Satan doesn't like that and as a team we need to resist his attacks, pray for the armor of God to protect us. Pray against fears, worries, and our families at home who may be worrying as well.

Thank you each who have been praying for me during this time, it's meant so much and has been very impactful!

Heaps of love!