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!!