Drugs, Sex, and Rock & Roll.

// sorry if the post has a few errors, I haven't edited it yet but want to post it anyways. :)

Today was a great day. As today started the official "outreach phase", and we were still here in Brisbane, we did local outreach. This inluded baking goodies for the neighbors, tearing up carpet in a house, and going back to Murray Lodge! I was hoping to be able to spend more time there today, but the time we were able to spend there I think was really good. Last week we brought a basketball and it was received well, so this week we brought two and a soccer ball. Right away some of the guys wanted to go play; I ended up going to a park about four or five blocks away and played a bit of basketball and soccer with four of the guys. I don't really know how old they are, but I'm gonna guess from twenties to fifties. It was rather funny because the basketball court was actually just two hoops on grass. I'm not sure what's better on a basketball court, grass or carpet! hehe
This is the part that really got to me though, hence the title. Watching these four guys play ball and just how they interacted was impacting. The youngest guy, Troy, is in Murray Lodge because of drugs, you can just tell. As he played basketball, he was actually quite good! He knew all sorts of tricks and was fairly descent at them. Mind you, he made very few baskets, but he really knew what he was doing. Then later when two of them played a bit of soccer, he also was pretty good, doing crazy jump flip kick things (I really wish I knew what they were called so I wouldn't sound so incompetent haha). I asked him if he played basketball or other sports before, and he named off a nice list of all of the sports he used to play. And I sat there and thought about him and what might have happened in his life. He could have had so much going for him, but got caught up in the wrong stuff. And it messed him up alot. What's even more disheartening, is that he is so young still! It's not like he had a long messed up past, but more that he just recently got caught in drugs. You know, I think about all of the young basketball and other sports stars from the high schools around Grants Pass. This kid Troy could have been like many of them, successful. He could have lived a normal life. But something bad happened, and in a few simple acts he destroyed much of that possibiliy living in todays society.
Then there's Andrew.
I don't know what happened to him, but it's clear that he has had serious damage from drugs as well. It takes him nearly half a minute to say one sentence. Just because that's as slow as he talks.
There was a new man today, one that came and played at the park. His name was Mark. He actually seemed quite normal to me from the short bit I talked with him for. I found out that he used to actually coach tennis teams from elementary to high school age. I couldn't figure out what might have brought him to Murray Lodge, which makes me really want to know more what happened to him.
And last of the group that came with us to the park was Adam. He also has problems because of drugs. I'm not really sure about his past, what he's done and how he's come to Murray Lodge, because his stories change each week. The one story that seems like it would totally fit his personality and style however have to do with him being a hard-surfer. Mind you, this guy is near fifty now. It was rather funny today the stories he was telling me about himself. He claimed that he was a direct descendent of the Queen of England and was one of five dukes living in Australia. And that was just some of the stories he told about himself. It was bam bam right after another of crazy things, I really wish I could remember them all. He said he was on the 100 dollar bill, and on the American twenty. He talked on and on about governmental things and how he is a lawyer. He was actually really competent in how things in government and law works and used lots of terms of such. It made me very curious to as what his past was, if he actually has had a successfull history, but then got caught up in drugs somewhere along the line.
It helps quite a bit to see something first hand in order for it to change your ideas or views on a subject. I've never been passionate about anti-drugs as much as now. Yes, I was no promoter, and I didn't like it when people would use them because I knew they were harmfull, but until I saw it firsthand, I didn't recognize and realize what an affect they really have.
And there's more. Stephanie was talking to a guy named Warren (I think), and he was telling her of his past experiences. He used to be in a band and had black nails and described to her all of the funky ways he would spike his hair and etc. This guy wasn't too far gone, and we're pretty sure he's actually telling the truth. (besides the fact someone there knows how to write descent songs and play the guitar, we are guessing it's him) He told her other things about his band, but I don't know what he said. She could so easily recognize the drug influence that was present in his life from the stories she told him however.
Steph also talked to a young girl who's always there, but always off in the distance and rather shy. It was very encouraging when she learned! This girl, Ellie, is going to be leaving Murray Lodge in two weeks. There is a government program, in which she had to apply for and fill out paper work and all, and be accepted-and she was! She will be moving to an apartment type place and be taking classes. She will pay for room and board etc like college kind of and she had to sign on that she would stay for two years. The classes will help her with every day life and how to live in society and be normal. After the two years they will help her find a place to live on her own and help her get set up with a job and everything. It was so encouraging and exciting that there IS hope for some of the people! She also was so very excited for this opportunity. And I forgot to mention, she also has been affected by drugs.
Next is Davey, sweet Davey. I think I've mentioned her before. She's a woman about 48 from the Phillipines who always wears a dress. These last few weeks she hasn't seemed to be her happy self as much. She wanted to paint my nails today and while she did we talked a bit. Might I also add that she did just a good of job on my nails as I would have done if not better. I found out that she has Schizophrenia and has to go in to the hospital every two weeks for shock treatment. Also in our conversation, she asked me for ten dollars. She seemed really frantic and upset about it, because when I told her I didn't have any money with me she asked others around her. I asked her what was wrong and why she needed the money, and she said that her sister was sick and she wanted to call her. I felt like I was supposed to ask if she wanted prayer, so I did. She declined it, but the man sitting next to us said "you can pray for me!" haha so that's just what I did :) I prayed for his eyesight (what he wanted me to pray for), that whatever was wrong with his physical eyes would be healed, and also his spiritual eyes would be opened. When I was done praying he was deeply touched and said that he felt so much better. It was so cool to see that even just a little prayer could make all of a difference to these people. I went back over to Davey and just said that if she changed her mind I could pray for her too. I think seeing me pray for the guy made her feel more comfortable with it, because then she wanted me to pray, in which I did. It was so awesome to be able to pray with some of these people we've been building relationships with over the last few months!
And lastly as we were leaving, we talked to TWO guys that we've never talked to before! Especially today it seemed, that a few people that don't normally talk or say much at all, we had decent conversations with! One of those guys is always going around with his walkman and constantly has headphones on. Anothony is his name, and he's only 19. Today he was walkman free and when we talked to him for a bit, we were pleasantly surprised! We asked what he listened to all of the time, and he said Christian music! Groups like Hillsong, and Jars of Clay, Casting Crowns,and Michael W Smith were his favorits. We NEVER would have pegged him as a Christian music kind of guy (I guess that's a fail on our part), but it was completely encouraging to discover that! The other man that we talked to and don't usually actually seemed fairly normal as well. He even made a few (really hilarious) jokes!
It has been so inspiring to see the growth throughout Murray Lodge in just a few months, and I wish I could spend heaps more time there as I see so much more potential! The people there just need a bit of individual attention and they absolutely thrive on it. The smalles things have made such improvements on their lives. They need that affirmation that they are worthy of everything else "normal" people are worthy of. They need to know that they are important to someone, and that there is meaning to their life. They just need someone to show them love, and I know from the past few weeks that they definately have been feeling the love of God in that place.

WAAAHHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

S'yeah... (Sublimital message to Bayley to write more blogs!)
Watch the video :)





Yeah, the video kinda tweaked out, I know. You probably just sighed in relief,no don't worry, Australia hasn't changed my voice and made me sound stupid! So I don't really want to stay up very late tonight, so I'm gonna finish this and make it short but sweet. :)
I started to say that the lectures on Missions really made an impact on me because of something Jeremy Humphreys (speaker) said. He grew up in the U.S., and heard the Gospel thousands of times because of it. There are so many people spreading God's word in places that already have heard it. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but what if we could take some of that to people who have never heard about God and what Jesus did for us?! There are SO very many people in the world who do not know of God, and who do not even have the Bible translated into their language! How could we not want to go and reach these people?! This was definately an eye opening testimony for me. I have been interested in missions since I was a little kid in VBS(Vacation Bible School); those missionary stories really got to me ^_^. But I have never envisioned myself in a place that had never had the Gospel taken to them; it has always been in places that have more access to it. But God has spoken to my heart this week, and now I would say that going to the unreached is a possibility in my life!
We also had Bonner Wolf speak on worship this last week. Also SUCH great lectures! He challenged us in our personal relationship with God by sharing some of his own stories. Something he shared with us is how to keep a diary/journal, part of it being revelations we get, part of it being things God's spoken to us. Ok, so some of this may sound a little strange to people. I'll be honest, I never really understood how God could 'speak' to someone, and they would 'hear from God'; it kinda sounded crazy at first! But actually learning how to listen to God has been so incredible, and so much fun! This week I have really felt God's love on me and I have just felt so full of joy and love. Once again, I could go into SO much more detail, but I'm just gonna stick to the slim jim's tonight (morning for you guys). You'll just have to wait for personal stories and details when I get back! :P
Another thing we did this week as an outreach team was take a spiritual gifts test. Some of the things on the possible results were discerning, faith, wisdom, knowledge, teacher, preacher, exhorter, compassion, helps, prophecy, etc. The things I got pretttty much fit me to the T. (where does that saying come from? anyways...) I got missionary as number one (wow who woulda thought), and I don't remember which was next in order, but I also got compassion, leadership, and faith (once again, I coulda told you that :P). You were supposed to only get your top 3 in the results as your strongest, but my last ones were tied, so I'm just special like that :)
In the descriptions, it was so cool to see how those aspects fit into our lives and to be able to recognize it and be like "oh yeah, that's toTally me! Which reminds me, one of the things Jeremy said was kind of a recognition/revelation for me. He said he used to always dream that he was a pioneer back in the day, and had to travel in a covered wagon, and could take it anywhere and then build a house wherever he wanted to, and live off the land, etc. I hope you get what I mean. It was this spirit in him, that led him to also enjoy pioneering in missions, which he did for many years. And I gotta admit, I completely used to think like that too :) hehe I remember there being a show on PBS about something like this, where they took regular people and put them in a situation that of as the pioneers would have lived in, and they had to figure out how to live and survive and everything. (kinda like a pioneer version of Surviver?) I remember watching that and wishing I could do it! It's funny how I'm seeing parts of me from when I was a child, things I loved or wished I could do, come into play into when I'm an adult! (ok, not adult, I'm not THAT old, pft...) Which also plays into what I've learned how God places the desires you have on your heart, the things you like to do, because He knows you, and He knows the things you are GOING to do. I could go on for a long time about what that means, and how I'm seeing it come into play also. Man, there's just not enough space or time!
Well yeah, pretty much I'm tired now and want to go to bed. I realize I'm basically cutting this off, no conclusion or anything. (Don't worry Mrs. Ward, I really did learn in English class! :) ) But I'll end with a video blog from this last weeked at Murray Lodge. For those of you who don't know, a small group of us go there as part of DTS every weekend. But it isn't something that we "have to do", we LOVE IT!!! We're actually very very sad we won't be able to go for the next 3 months. Anyways, focus Jessica focus. It's a place where elderly/mentally/physically handicapped people can live and be taken care of. It's not the nicest place, I'll be honest. But the people there are SO incredible! I know so many friendship have been made, not only for me, but for the others that go with me, and we don't want to ever have to say goodbye to them! Anyways, I know the videos of our experience are long, so just watch them if you feel like it :) Goodnight!

Easterfest and etc

My friend Kelsi put it so well in her blog. "How do I debreif the craziest month EVER huh?!? Everytime I kinda feel like writing, I get over whelmed because there's SO much to tell! When friends and family ask me how I'm doing, its so difficult to explain what I'm feeling, and how I'm doing without giving a broad statment like "Yeah I'm good". When in reality it's so much more complicated than that." I couldn't have said it better! There really is so much going on non stop, and I'm constantly learning and growing and finding more of my identity in Christ. I guess I will just start from this last week and go backwards.
This past week our lectures were on "Relationships" with family, friends, and the oposite sex. I promise I'm not going to copy all of Kelsi's blog on here, but I really feel how she said it was perfect in explaining it. " We we're learning about God's heart concerning all these types of relationships. And when you think about it, our relationships in life either make or break us in the future. Bad relationships mess people up, and you can really begin to see the domino affect of how past hurt and unforgiveness determine the character of a person. Generally bad relationships with others make us very hard people, which are scared, angry, and most often unloving, unless delt with properly. Laying all these kinds of things at the cross and letting God take them for good, was so freeing for me! There's such a lightness within myself and the others on my team, because God has taken those broken realationships and burdens away from us. It doesn't mean that our relationships from this point on will be perfect, but that God wants to have a place in our heart and a purpose for all of them. John 13:34-35, 1 Cor 13:1-3, and Ephe5:28-33." This week was definately a freeing and heeling week for me! And also a week where I grew closer to many people, because we discovered that we all have struggled with some of the same things.
The week before, we spent in a town called Toowoomba, helping out with Easterfest (Australia's largest Christian concert venue, for those of you that are familiar with Creation, it's the same deal). Each day we had work duties, some of which including setting up pro-floor (big lego pieces basically, to protect the grass), and when the event started (over Easter weekend), security duties. I had security duty at one of the gates to the family camping area each night, which ended up being one my favorite times during Easterfest because we turned it into a fun place to be!Overall, it was sweet to be able to interact with some of the local teens and tell them about YWAM, and just have fun with them. I was also able to go to some awesome concerts, and found some new fav bands, including Article One, New Empire, and Plajerise. I also got to see Newsboys, Sanctus Real, (I missed Hawk Nelson because I had a shift :( ) KJ52 (which apparently is from the States, but I've never heard of him before), and Superchick. Disciple and As I Lay Dying were also there, but I had a shift during their shows also. I also got to see the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda and talk to a few of the kids afterwards (which I absolutely love, because I love Africa! haha).
It was really cool to see God work through everyone in YWAM during the festival; some of the "carnies" noticed a difference in our behavior/attitude and were witnessed to because we sparked an interest in them! HOW SWEET IS THAT?! Another awesome thing happened to me the last night we were there, in which God built my faith up even more! One of Easterfest's crew (I thought he was on security duty with us every night, but later found out he was just there hanging with us after his other shifts because we were fun! haha) came up to me and was like "Hey Jess, I was praying today and God told me I should give you this," and he handed me $30. It's not like a mind blowing amount, but it was so cool to see God work! I was blown away that this had happened; I've heard stories about it, but it actually happened to me! He had no idea of my money situation for outreach, it was all God! ( I then did tell him that he wasn't crazy, but God really was spot on, and told him that I needed money for outreach.) It was so encouraging, and I know that God is going to provide, in ways I'm not prepared for!
Speaking of provision.... A few days before leaving for Easterfest, we had a lecture on "Faith and Finances." Before the lectures began, I had been spending time with God and just admiring His omnipotence, and His ability to do anything He wanted. During the lecture it was awesome, because that was alot of the things Caleb talked about. I love how God prepares my heart for things I don't even know are to come, I can't even tell you how often He does this!! The lecture was really encouraging, and my faith was built even stronger in God that in Him, nothing at all is impossible. At the end, we had what we call "ministry time" (a term we use for kind of a practice application/ seeing God work), and everyone that still needed funds was called to the front. We were given monopoly money for the amount of money we needed still, and then we prayed and thanked God that He was going to provide that money that was needed. The people who were still sitting prayed and asked God if He wanted them to give money to us in the front, and when they felt God tell them something, they were to write the amount on a paper and then give it to us. Wow, did God move! I don't know how much some of the others in the front were blessed with, but God sent $2050 my way!! Now since I had to use my school money for the plane ticket, that money has to go towards paying off my school fees before I can start putting money for my outreach fees; but I'm THAT much closer to having all the money in! God is so good!!
So throughout these last 2 weeks, outreach teams from the October schools have been coming back from outreach. WOW there are so many people around all the time now!!! I've been used to having like 40 students on base, tops; half the time the Beach2Bush team was on the road and it was just like 20 Forts students. There has been at least 80 students around base now, and it is slightly overwhelming! (also because we don't know them.) The MAD (music, art, and dance),Sports, and B2B teams from the October schools have been coming and going, so we only get to see them for a few days at a time. (They are going in groups to Hervey Bay for debrief.) Nonethess, it has been sweet to get to know a few of them from each of the schools. It's possible to make friends with people even when they're only around for a few days!
As I put in my update email, if you guys could keep my outreach team in your prayers I would appreciate it! We still need around $9000, and can't get our plane tickets or apply for some visas until we get it all in. This morning we helped with a kids triathalon and got around $500 towards the goal; also this Saturday we are having a fundraiser dinner, but I am not sure how much that is going to bring in. It is so crazy, but we leave for outreach in less than a month! We leave on May 8th. Also if you could keep me in your prayers, as this coming week is going to be overwhelmingly busy; outreach simulation for 2 days, normal lectures, homework, a book report, getting things ready for the dinner on Saturday, and getting a sermon ready for outreach are all things that will be filling my schedule! Next week we will be leaving for a 2 week roadtrip, and when we get back we will only be in Brisbane for about 3 or 4 days before we leave for outreach! Time is FLYING by!
Thank you guys again so much for all of your support!!! I am so blessed by it!!

Oh yeah! and I turned 19 this last week! :D My friends here were so sweet and gave me little 'coupons', redeamable for train tickets, backrubs, and ice creams to name a few. And thanks to everyone who recorded on my birthday tape message; I love it!! :D

Hervey Bay and the Holy Spirit!

Sorry I haven't written for a few weeks! When life gets going, it doesn't stop! Lets see, I've got quite a bit to update on, so be prepared for a long post! :) Last week was spent away at a place called Hervey Bay. We went to this town (which surprisingly has like twice the population size of GP somehow, I couldnt tell though) because our YWAM Brisbane base is going to try and pioneer another base there. We stayed at a small house they have rented there, about a five minute walk from the beach. It was really small, but I enjoyed being so close to everyone because I think it really helped us to bond together even more. The topic of the week was Holy Spirit; wow, what a powerful, transforming week! Some things we covered were the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit (prophecy, serving, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy/kindness, speaking in tongues, translating tongues, faith, wisdom, healing, discernment,evangelists, etc). We didn't cover much specifically about all of the gifts, so this is something I plan on going into more depth for myself personally. Being baptized in the Holy Spirit means the Holy Spirit is filling our lives so that we can overflow onto others. John 7:37-39 says 37On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." 39By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified." In order for this, we must 1)Ask (how simple, right?! lol) [Luke 11:9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."], 2) Believe [John 7:37-39, as said above], 3) Obey (which includes things He has told us directly/personally, and things He says for us to do in His Word) [Acts 5:32 "We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."], 4) Laying on of hands [Acts 8:15-17 "15When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, 16because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into[a] the name of the Lord Jesus. 17Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit."], and 5) in unity [Acts 2:1-4 "1When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues[a] as the Spirit enabled them."]. One morning during that week we were given an opportunity to be baptized in The H.S.(Holy Spirit)if we wanted to, with following those things I talked about above. I wanted that! So as I was prayed over, I could feel The Holy Spirit! Everyone else that was prayed for had similiar experiences in what we felt, of course, everyone's experience was also a bit different. Some began praying in tongues, but since it was just between them and God (not like they got up in front of anyone or something), it was what is called prayer language. It would be hard to explain all that I felt, but it was just an incredible thing! Other awesome things happend that week as well; transformations and break throughs for me and others also! Just one break through I will share, for the most part I've enjoyed everyone on my DTS, except a few people that just kinda irked me. Something just didn't mesh with me, or I felt they weren't being real. I knew this was not the right kind of attitude, and it bothered me that I felt that way! So I took it to God, and during the week in Hervey Bay, He opened my eyes! He changed the way I felt towards them, and He gave me "His eyes" in a sense, because I was able to see everyone in the way that He sees them; instead of feeling frustration towards them, I felt an overwhelming love! I saw each person for their strengths, and their uniqueness, and just really had a humble appreciation for their personality. I love how God does that! This is just one break through that I felt like I should share, but I really had others that were so very meaningful for me! (and by breakthroughs, I mean by revelations of how Satan has been spiritually attacking me or has in the past, and not letting him hold me in bondage by those things anymore, but giving them up completely to God! :) ) It was such a week of healing, I know for me personally, and for many other of my friends here on DTS. It was so great, being able to share some of these things with others, and then being able to pour into their lives and pray for them, as they did the same for me. :D
Lets see, what else?! One of the nights in Hervey Bay... I'm going to post a few pictures to help show you guys things I'm talking about! Here is a picture of us on the roof, which I'm going to talk about in a sec, and also a picture from the beach that was nearby to us.

Back to what I was saying, one night some of us girls decided we wanted to go up on the roof and look at the stars; WOW. I'm sorry, but our stars back home don't really compare! The Milky Way Galaxy was right above us and SO GORGEOUS! We also could see Mars (I'm pretty sure thats the one). It was just so incredible to sit and let it sink in how much in control He is, and how powerful He is, and how incredibly big He is! It's kind of something that will leave you speechless if you think about it really. We also read a bit of Song of Solomon outloud, and it was just so cool to read some of it as God's love letter to us!
Some girls got up really early and watched the sunrise one morning and said it was spectacular (the sun rises over the ocean here), so I decided to join them one morning! Which meant getting up and being down at the beach at 5:53... But I did it! But, it was cloudy... and windy and a bit rainy :( haha So that was a bit of a disappointment, but it was still fun.
Gosh, there is still so much to write about the week! The reason we were there as I stated before, was to help in Pioneering the new base there; which for us meant praying over the city and the people, etc. From our first day in the house, many people got the feeling of apathy,or tiredness or lazyness. We felt like maybe that was a problem in the area. Come to find out, through the local contact there, those are problems for Hervey Bay! We could feel these attacks of these things on us throughout the week, and we really had to seek God and pray that He would give us the energy and the alertness! One day we did what we call a prayer walk; different groups of about 5 or 6 would be dropped off at different parts of the town, and we were just to go and pray for the hearts of the city, and the apathy to change, and whatever we felt God put on our hearts to pray for. One of the girls with us felt we were to do a "treasure hunt." A treasure hunt goes something like this. You pray and ask God to reveal clues to you about someone He wants you to talk to; so He might give you something like a name, or a color of a shirt, or a location, etc. As we prayed as a group, we got a list of certain things. Later in the day, we ended up at a location that was on that list. Tai (the girl had the idea) saw a lady that fit the description we had gotten!(a white v neck, flowers, and a hat; she had flowers on her white vneck and was wearing a hat!) She was able to talk to the older woman for awhile and just encourage her and keep her company so it was a really cool ministry time! Later, we felt like we were aimlessly walking around the town, so we started to pray again asking God what He might want us to do. A few people felt like we were supposed to go minister to backpackers (Hervey Bay is a large backpacking town as Frasier Island is near), so we got up and headed in the direction we thought we might find some. We had walked maybe 20 feet when a man came up and invited us to a free 'sausage sizzle' for backpackers! We then explained to Him who we were, and asked if we could help out and come hang out with the backpackers (it was a Baptist church that put it on every Thursday). It was so awesome for us that God led us in a direction, and then gave us what He wanted us to do! And so quickly nonetheless!

Well, I feel as if I've just written a novel! lol and that was only one week; I have more to write about for this last week! :O But I will leave that for another post, its almost 1 in the morning and I'm supposed to be up at 7 tomorow. (We are randomly having a "Christmas" celebration, as decided by some of my fellow DTSers early today haha :) ) So goodnight!

I dare you to move.

This weekend while I was looking for information on China for my project, I stumbled accross the following video. Please take a few minutes and go to the link to watch it.
http://www.asiaharvest.org/audioVideoFiles/TearsOfTheSaints.html

I don't know about you, but that inspired me so much! It brought back to memory what was said in a video during our week in Stanthorpe; "How much must you hate someone NOT to tell them about eternal life?!" That was said by an athiest. If even an athiest can recognize this truth, what have we been doing with our lives?! Honestly, think about every person you come in contact with; the guy pumping your gas, the lady at the bank, the kid bagging your groceries, or maybe its even a friend that you know does not know God. If we don't desire with every part of our being to share with these people God's love and grace and gift of eternal life, we need to come before Him and beg that He would instill that in us! Just imagine the difference we could make if every single Christian held on to what we have and treated it like the incredible gift that is is, wanting to show it off like our new bike at Christmas?!
So here's my challenge; don't hold back the precious gift that you have. Share it with everyone by sharing [God's] love with everyone you come in contact with! Ask God what He wants you to do in this world to make a difference; what role do you play in advancing God's kingdom?

I think my posts keep getting longer? Stanthorpe and outreach!

This last week has been spent in a tiny tiny town called Stanthorpe, about 3ish hours away. There wasn't much to do there the first half of the week, because we couldn't find the backpackers anywhere it seemed. I found a nice rock (at the church we spent the majority of our time at) and sat up there for my quiet time; it was so beautiful! It overlooked the creek and was just really serene :)We did have lectures this week also, which were on Evangelism. Yan, I can't remember his last name, from England was our speaker, and he was pretty awesome! He made a really good point, that you don't 'go out' to evangelize, but that evangelism is a lifestyle! His lectures were filled with really good information, and really great humor as well :D This week was definately a great learning time; we had one excercise during lectures where Yan chose one person, gave them a random topic, and told them that they were to talk about that topic and get it to Jesus, all in one minute. It was really a good excercise because it brought to our attention if we work at it just a little bit, we can easily bring Jesus into ANY conversation! With that in mind, we went out into town to talk to people, and invite them to the huge "Chai tent" we had set up(free Chai tea for everyone). Quite a few people were able to talk to backpackers and invite them to the tent. One night we went out to talk to backpackers, but I think the majority of them were hiding somewhere because we hardly found any haha some of us ended up talking to a few people in some bars though, so it was not an unsuccessful night! Friday night, the first day of the festival, we had quite a few people show up! Alot of people went into the English lessons the church was holding, and then came in to the Chai tent afterwards for our little magic show/testimony that Yan gave. We ended up hanging out and talking to quite a few backpackers from France and Italy for quite a long time! It was pretty sweet. Afterwards, there was also some wonderful bonding time with a few of the girls from Beach to Bush, singing and dancing to songs like "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" ♫ ♪ haha

Outreach locations!!I found out where I'm going! I'm going to that Russia/other country choice! (we're not suppose to post all over the internet the name of the country, well that's what we've been told so far until we know if it's ok or not. but you can guess what it is, it starts with C and is a large Asian country!!) I'm so very excited for outreach! I know that this was the place God wanted me to go for outreach. A few weeks before leaving for YWAM, Russia was put on my mind as a place I want to go to (later realizing that was God putting it there!). I've had this list of different countries I want to go to, alot in Europe, but Russia has never been one of them. So before I even came to YWAM I had decided I was to go to Russia! When I got to base, there was chatter about where we might be going for outreach, and the news going around was that it might be Russia or that other place. I was so pumped! I knew where I was supposed to go on outreach because God had put it on my heart beforehand! We have an assignment called "Adopt a Nation", basically we have an hour to give information about an unreached nation, and also included in that is a time of intercession for that country. First thought of what country I should do was China (hint hint), which was kinda odd because I love Africa and I always love to choose an African country when given the choice on projects. We partnered up, and Laila and I chose to be partners. She told me that China was on her mind for the project. I told her I had been thinking the same thing! So that was pretty sweet! A few days later, I was wondering if maybe we should change it to Russia, since I already knew I was supposed to go there! But no, I knew that God wanted us to do China, so I never thought anything more about changing the adopt-a-nation country. Then when they announced to us that the outreach location was BOTH of those countries-I was SO COMPLETELY STOKED!! I KNEW that that was where God wanted me to go! It was so encouraging and exciting. I'm not sure yet what we will be doing there, but when I find out I will let you know. I do know that in Russia we will be staying in the city of Vladivostok. Ok so I also know the name of the city in the other country, but I'm not going to post that haha Now I just need to come up with the $4500 for outreach and then I'm all set! :) God is so good!!

pb&j toast :)

Is my new favorite thing! :) haha We get free bread here (like more than we can eat) and so toast is the popular thing haha Anyways.... wow, what a week!! Lectures this week were beyond incredible. "Hearing/Recognizing the voice of God" was the topic, and Chris Twin was our speaker. It's hard to explain what we learned really, me and another girl were talking about how it would be hard to explain it to others, partially just because it was SO MUCH! I will try to explain a few things we did to see if it makes a bit of sense. After the week of lectures, we did an excercise to put what we learned into practice. We were given 5 minutes, and were told to ask God what He thought about us, and then to listen to what He told us, then to write it down. After 5 minutes was up, we came back together and a few people shared what they got. One friend in particular, wasn't sure if what she had heard was just her own thoughts, or if it was from God. Some of what it said was "You are beautiful, I love you how you are, you are my daughter" and along those lines. The next excercise we chose from a basket a piece of paper, each with a name of someone in the class (leaders included). We weren't allowed to look at at it, and were instructed to do the same thing; ask God what He thought about this person, write down what we saw, or felt, or heard, also for five minutes. After that five minutes we were brought back together, and one by one, read what we had gotten from listening to God, and then opened the piece of paper to see who it was about. It was SPOT ON for everyone! For one of our leaders, she had been asking God something about her mom, and was doubting what He was telling her; the first thing on the paper that was written for her was "stop questioning Me"! I hope this is making sense to you all how this worked... Now came time for my friend who had earlier doubted what she had heard. She read off what she had gotten from God about her person, and it was a message of God loves you how you are, you are beautiful, and you are His daugther; part of what she got was Stevie Wonder's song "Isn't she lovely." Guess who's name was in the little piece of paper when she opened it up?? Hers!! It was so cool to see that God really wanted her to know what He though of her, plus He wanted her to know she really COULD hear Him!. It brought tears to many of our eyes. It was so awesome to go around and see how everyone's was so specific to them, and that God was the one that spoke to someone else to write about about that person! Because HE was the only one who knew who's name was on the papers!

Now on to outreach locations!! We found out this week!!! The sports DTS is going to South Africa during the World Cup, but the Frontiers were given 2 options, of which we were to pray about and ask God where He wanted us (perfect for just after the week of lectures on Hearing God!). The options presented before us were India, and a Russia/China trip. For me, it wasn't even a question. We find out tomorow what the teams will look like (we told our leaders yesterday where we wanted to go, and they are to pray about it to make sure its all good), so then I can tell you positively for surely :) But I'll just tell you that I knew where I was supposed to go BEFORE the locations were revealed! How awesome is God?!!

Some other things that happend this week; Thursday night some of us when to dinner over at Romishes house. He is a guy that lives nearby that the base has been ministering to for years. He is an older man, now in a wheelchair, from India. Let's just say, that was a funny night haha Romish is a character! But it was fun, no doubt :) Friday night Forts had a birthday party for Stewert (Sports team), who's bday was actually last weekend, so we were a bit late lol But it was alot of fun! I think it brought us closer together as a group.

And last but not least, tomorow we leave for a little country town called Stanthorpe for an fruit festival, I can't remember the name of it... Anyways, the deal is that this little town gets a ton of backpackers, especially this time of year. The backpackers generally are short on money so they stay in this town for a bit and pick fruit to earn some cash. There is a church in Stanthorpe, mostly of the older generation, who really wants to start ministering to them; how awesome is that?! So they decided they wanted to run a month long ministry, starting the week of this festival. They asked us to come alongside them and parter with them in evangelism and other ministries (not sure quite yet what they are). So we will be headed over there for the week to kick off this month long ministry! We get back Saturday, so hopefully I will be able to write of some awesome stuff that happened :)

OH! I almost forgot... I cut my hair!!!! haha I generally decide these kind of things spur of the moment, as in this morning coming back from church. So seven hours later, its short! My friend Laila (Denmark) did an awesome job! Yes, I do miss my hair :( but! this hair is more appropriate for the weather, and for the humidity, and for all the traveling we will be doing lol

Super long post

So it's been a little while since I've had a post, eh?! I'm sitting in the community room and the guys are playing ping pong and playing the song "Girls just wanna have fun." Hmm..... hahaha So in the mornings we have this thing called "Morning tea," we get it every morning, and I love it. It's cut up fruit and cut up pastries-YES!! We look forward to it, as it happens during a little break between lectures. That was just a random little tidbit. So Friday night, the "Forts" team (Sports and Frontiers teams combined) went into Brisbane for a scavenger hunt; we had to get things like "something purple, a red yellow and white straw, toilet paper that has been signed by someone, a newspaper, an empty soday can, a postcard, a religious tract" and a few other things, and we weren't allowed. OH NO MATHEW"S HERE! im taken over by mathew he's now typing stuff that makes no sense, like giant pink banana's and miniature yellow monkey's. to buy anything either. We also had to do a few things, like count all of the seats in the ferris wheel; there were 42.

Every saturday afternoon is called "Go Day." We chose from a list of ministries what we wanted to do every Saturday. I chose going to the "Murray House" which is basically a mental hospital, mostly with elderly though. We went for the first time this Saturday. I met a lady named Davey, from the Phillipeans. She called me "lady Jessica" which was sweet :) And I also met Veronica Margeret. I talked to her for most of the time. She made me laugh because she was kind of a rebellious lady. I asked her if she liked to play games and she replied with "mind games." haha She asked me when I got my hair cut last, where I got my shoes, who was my boyfriend, if I liked another ladies dress, and basically alot of girly things. So next week I am going to bring some nail polish and see if maybe she will let me paint her nails! I could tell that she had some bitterness in her though, and that made me sad. Another lady that I briefly talked to, well I'm not sure what her name is. I asked her a few times, but never could understand. The closest thing that she said that sounded like her name was Chrysanthemum, so until I know her real name, that is what I am going to call her :) The majority of the people there were old, except for one guy who was in his twenties. I can't wait to go back next week! It was really incredible there!!

Last night a few of us girls took a little walk up to a nearby cemetery/church which you could see alot of the city from. It was beautiful! The church was really pretty too, and we took a few pictures. This was my favorite one, Kirstin from Denmark is on the right and I am on the left.

As we were sitting and talking, we heard loud music and sounded maybe like a little concert, in a coffee shop or restaurant or something. So I suggested we try and go find it. So we went in search of this random music. haha needless to say, we did not find it, but we did find a Catholic College, and guessed that maybe the music was coming from dorms somewhere. We almost got lost coming back, almost being we weren't sure if we were going the right way, but ended up back at base! We saw a big (ok, big to us, not to the Aussies) spider on the way home which had woven its web RIGHT next to the sidewalk!!! I think it's called a Huntsman Spider? Here is a picture of it.


On another random note, crossing the street here is fun. At home, you look one way (knowing which way to look because you know which way the cars are coming) and then the other, etc. But here, I get SOO confused as to which way to look! (they drive the opposite ways) So I just make sure to look both ways and book it accross the street as fast as I can because I have no idea where the cars are gonna come from and if I'm gonna get hit or not. haha

A second entry and revalation.

Just a bit of what we are learning (I have my notebook with me now :]).
~The things we do in our lives are acts of worship to God; every little thing we do, do in worship of God. Obedience is worship!

And another thing we discussed earlier in class, but it didn't actually hit me until another girl brought it up during eveing lecture how it impacted her. Psalm 139:14 says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I never really thought about that word 'fearfully' in this context before. In other words, we are made with awe and respect. We are made in God's image, in his likeness. Every single part of us God made after His image, He looks at every part of us in awe and with respect, because we are wonderfully made! Those things you wish weren't there, or those parts you wish were different, God made you in His image! I am wonderfully made! You are wonderfully made! Think about that for a bit :)


And a mini-revalation I had today while in lectures. The Israelites saw God perform many miracles, yet still they had doubt, still they made other idols in place of God. They had every reason to keep their faith in God, simple by all of the things they had seen Him do! but they let their faith in Him fall to the wayside. I was thinking about my journey on getting here to YWAM. For those of you who don't know, I'll try and explain it a bit. Most of you will know that money was slow to come in, and I still don't actually have even close to all of the money I need. Throughout the last few weeks before DTS, I was wondering if maybe God didn't want me to go afterall. I was going to be sad if that was the case, but I knew that God had my best interest at heart, and that He knew what was best, so that I was going to be happy no matter what happened. However, I was still trying to know from God if it was His will for me to go, in order that I still try and raise all of the support. It was about a week and half (maybe a week?) before I was about to leave, and my mom told me this story. She said that she had been praying while making dinner that night, that God would just make it clear for us if I was to keep fundraising and preparing to go to YWAM. She asked that if it was His will, He would just take care of the money. Within 2 minutes, a family friend came to the door with a check! It wasn't a large check no, but it was God at work! This encouraged me like no other! Ok so flashforward to one day before I was supposed to leave. I was short about $1700, with no plane ticket. Getting a little desperate, I went around town with my mom and Bethany, asking businesses if they would want to donate to the cause. 2/3 of the day had passed, and I had made probably a little over a hundred dollars-ish. We thought "hey, we haven't prayed about this!" So all three of us prayed and asked God that He would provide if it was His will, and that He might be able to make it clear to us if I was to go. After praying, I had to make a phone call to someone to talk about support money. Before I could finish dialing, a doctors office called me back saying they would support me! A SECOND time where God answered right away! I knew that I was supposed to go, but I just had absolutely NO idea how it was going to work out. Flashforward to that night. I was torn. I was sitting in my room, broken, asking God what all of this was about. I didn't have enough money for YWAM/plane ticket, and I was supposed to leave the next day. I was possibly the most confused I had ever been in my life. I was questioning God wondering why He would tell me to go when He didn't provide the money like I expected Him to! But as I sat there, I realized that I could not doubt God and what He had showed me through answered prayer. I had my answer already: I was to go to YWAM and He would provide. I had to plan to go in faith, that the rest of the money would come in! So I called up Jenna, my school leader, and explained the situation. She told me to use the school money that I had and buy a plane ticket, and come in faith. And that's exactly what I did! I bought a ticket the next day, and flew out the day after that for Brisbane. I ended up coming a day late, but everyone who knows me knows thats the only way I roll anyways!! hahaha :) Hey, I showed up late to the last day of school, to graduation, and to my own little going away shin-dig to name a few, haha it couldn't have been any other way!
The revelation was this: I was so very glad that I kept my faith in God and the little things He had shown me, unlike the Israelites! I was so tempted to just forget about the answered prayers/signs, but instead I followed God's guidance, and here I am now at YWAM! God is good, eh?!

Stinging ants

So today was another day with lectures, we've been studing the nature and character of God. If i had brought my notes up here with me I could have written a bit of what we are learning...but alas, I didn't think about it until now! hmm some guys just walked by and said "what happened?" and "they don't even know about it yet." wonder what that's about.... hahaha so one of these days Miriam (a girl from New Zealand/Australia) and I are going to record a mini-quick tour of the base and put it online so you guys can see it! yay :) the weather today wasn't rainy alot *sad face* but at least it wasn't killer hot! I got assigned my "work duty" yesterday; We all have a job that we are to do each day (except weekends) for the remainder of the time we are here. I got lunch cleanup, which actually, I like! We get to listen to music too *bowchickabowow* It's actually a rather easy job and only takes us about an hour.... Hmm who's all on my team for that: Miriam(on Frontiers), Taylor(on Frontiers and from the states), Jake (on B2B and from the states), Nick (on Sports and from AU), and I'm totally not gonna spell her name right, Solveight (on B2B and from Denmark I think). Cool stuff....
Yeah so today we had "sport in the park" or whatever, so some of us played volleyball and some played soccer for about an hour and a half. That's where the title "stinging ants" is from. Like 5 of the girls were barefoot and got this painful sting in their foot and then made it go numb! Horrible, eh?! Glad I wore shoes! oh yeah, and 2 of the girls in my dorm (Laila and Kim) have been getting bit like crazy! They discovered today that their bunk has bed bugs. How pleasant! Not. So it took them like 4 hours to take care of it I guess :( Oh what else... Oh! I got to talk to Choi and Anna on skype for like 20 min each today! and yesterday I talked to my family... well I think it was yesterday? haha and I got to text Beth, that was pretty sweet.... Oh yes, and we had this apple crisp stuff for dessert yippeee yay. I think ants are crawling all over me... don't worry, not the stinging ones!
Ok, well I've probably rambled long enough now... I always have cool stuff to say but can't remember once I get on here! :(
chow for now

Sun burned

Hey everyone! This last weekend was spent away from the base. We actually went and stayed at a Teen Mission's International base a few hours north of here; which was kind of awesome because a few years ago I had seriously looked into TMI! I am glad I chose YWAM, TMI was a bit primitive ;) haha BUT, we got to see kangaroos! They were everywhere at that base, most often in the morning and evening. I got probably about 30 feet (maybe closer I'm terrible with measurements) away from a few to take pictures! The sun here is MUCH stronger; I was in the sun maybe 15/20 minutes playing some volleyball and I ended up with a nasty sunburn on the backs of my legs and my arms and my feet! Then today we spend the day at the beach (so much fun!) and got the rest of myself burnt XD I wore 50 spf even!! haha eveyone else is burned as well; we went and got aloe plants and rubbed it all over ourselves. It is so very hot here; around 6 and 7 in the morning its probably around 70/80 degrees WITH humidity :S I dont know the exact temp because it is in Celcius but I will try and pay better attention :) haha
Tomoro morning we start classes!! I'm excited. This weekend while we were away we all shared testimonies, and hearing our leaders/teachers testimonies made me so excited to start classes! I can tell I am going to learn a lot while I am here :)
My Frontiers team has 8 people, and we are combining with the Sports DTS which has 7. By combined I mean going to the same lectures and going away for weekends together, etc. We won't however go on outreach together, which I think will be a bit hard after growing close to them as well! So combined with the 2 DTS, there are people from USA, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Norway (I think), and a few from Australia. It is awesome how well we all get along so well already!
Oh yeah, besides the sun, the "mozzies" ore biting us also! so if we itch, it hurts to scratch now :( haha Im not quite sure how people get climatized to this weather! I love the afternoon/evenings tho, because they at least are cooler!!!
Right now... err last time I was outside there was a big thunder storm! But it was weird, because I never heard any thunder! Well, there's a movie on right now, so I'm gonna actually watch it now :) haha
chow for now!

Random vocab words>> Heaps=alot, Mozzies=Mosquitos, Torch=Flashlight

I'm not gonna be able to think of enough titles...

So!! its just shy of 8 o'clock in the morning here... and Ive been up for an hour and a half. surprise! I think I'm going to become a reluctant early bird haha it was 6:30 in the morning, 70 degrees out, super sunny, and birds were chirping... it was beautiful! maybe I will just become a happy early bird :)
There are 9 other girls in my dorm room, so 10 of us total. They are so awesome!! In my room there are girl(s) from canada, denmark, the netherlands, switzerland, australia, new zealand, mexico, and 2 other americans. There is actually a girl on the Beach to Bush team (dorm room next door) who is from the Corvalis/Albany area! Crazy stuff!
Last night a van of us went downtown Brisbane to go shopping; my group of 4 only found the stores that were advertised "under $200!" and "sale $199!" , but some others found some sweet deals!
Well I have to go now, we are going to go to Tim's house, the Sports team leader, for a special breakfast, and then we are heading out somewhere unknown for the weekend. They gave us a list of things to pack and that's all we know!
Write more later!

What's the date again?

So pretty much... I'm sitting in LAX right now, still on my nine hour layover... and farely incoherant. Oh I just noticed it got dark outside! I've been awake for about 33 hours now... because I spent all last night packing.. I wanted to write here, about how today went. But I can't remember what I wanted to write... at all. Well hopefully I'll be able to remember later.... I can't wait for my 14 hour flight in 4 hours so I can SLEEEP!!!!
Here, a pic that I was actually here...
I like to travel in color :)

Everyone sitting around me is speaking with Aussie accents :)

Why Brissie?

So I've been asked many times, "why Australia?", so I decided to write it for everyone to know :)
A friend that has done a DTS before suggested that I get the "Go Manual", a booklet which YWAM produces that lists and gives a little bit of info about all of their bases around the world. This 150 page booklet was very daunting at first! After spending much time going through the lists, I narrowed it down to about 30 bases which fit my time frame (I was taking fall term at RCC and want to go back to college fall of '10 as well) and had programs which seemed fitting to me. I started the task of going to every single one of those bases web sites to find more information on them, costs, and just the general, more detailed information. The Go Centre in Brisbane was actually the first one on my list that I looked up! I fell in love with what the website said about the Frontiers program; I felt touched with the answer that THIS base was the one I was supposed to go to. I was filled with joy that came from the excitement I had for this base and Frontiers DTS! But I wanted to make sure that this one was actually the one. So I continued to go through the long list of other bases. When I tried to visit the next about 10 websites, something was wrong with them. Either they were under contruction, had been moved to another address that I did not have, or had absolutely no program information on it. I felt like this was a sign from God that I already knew the base I needed to go to! I did continue the last portion of the list, and none of them grabbed me in any way like the base in Brisbane did. I was so thrilled that I didn't have to make a decision over which base I was supposed to go to(as some of you may know I am terrible at making decisions)and that God made it perfectly clear and easy!
Now another question I have been asked a few times is something along the lines of "Wouldn't it be cheaper/easier if you went to a base stateside?" The answer is probably yes. The actual cost of the DTS/outreach would be about the same, but I am having to pay more for airfare and Visa costs. I even personally was wanting to go to one MUCH closer to home. I had been considering a base in San Fransisco for a long time. It was not my desire to go so far away, as I have mentioned before, it honestly scares me! But I think that is part of the reason God wanted me so far away from home-to learn trust Him even more and to grow in faith. I have gone on mission trips before, to Mexico for example. For many, the whole trip/living situation/ministry was a stretching experience for them. I'll be honest; I loved it, but I was totally in my comfort zone! But this DTS in Australia, simply because it is SO very far away, has put me out of my comfort zone already! God wants to stretch me and make me His servant, and I am growing and following Him.

If anyon has any questions about anything I said or anything else, feel free to ask!
<3Jessica

wow. 15 days!

Wow! I can't believe how fast the month of January flew by! Its the 25th already, which means I only have 15 days until I leave! It's pure crazyness. I am so incredible excited to begin this journey God has for me, to make new friends, and to see more of the world! Some of you may be shocked to read this, but yes, even though it is very exciting, its also frightening as well! I've never moved away, per se, as what I am basically doing. I'm leaving everything I've known for 18 years of my life- family, friends, everyone from New Hope, and wonderful little Grants Pass itself-to travel by myself halfway accross the world to live in another country with people I don't know! I have begun to make at least one friendship with another girl who is going to be in my DTS(through facebook/email), which is very comforting. There was a facebook group made for the Frontiers DTS, and there are 10 members so far. It is awesome to get to know everyone alittle bit before we meet each other, and sharing likes and dislikes. Also, as some of you know, I am still short alot of money for this trip! So even saying that I am still going at this point could be considered complete insanity, but the leaders from they YWAM base and my DTS are so very encouraging about it!! So many people have been uplifting me and the situation up in prayer, I know that God is in complete control of the outcome. And the fact that I have been able to be in contact with some of the leaders, and they have given my superb guidance, is also great because I know they will be awesome teachers!

Overall, I am having bittersweet emotions. I am sad to have to say goodbye temporarily to familiarity and family and friends, but I know that this journey will be worthwhile and incredible!

Excitement

Wow. For some reason God always comes to me at night, maybe this is when my ears are msot open to what He has to say? When the world has all gone to sleep and everything is quiet and I can hear Him speak to me; this is when I am most encouraged. I absolutely CANNOT!!! wait for my DTS with YWAM! I am sitting here in such anticipation that there is no way I'm gonna be able to get to sleep any time soon!

I feel the timing for this DTS is perfect. I am so ready to spend time to focus on just God and what He wants for my life. I have been feeling God working through me these last few months and even now, changing little eensy bitsy things along the way, which add up to much more in the bigger picture. I've been trying to grasp what God is going to do through this whole experience, but I can't even fathom what He is going to do! Yeah..this is all kind of vague isn't it :/