Hey y'all!! So I'm sorry that I haven't updated this blog thingy in a while. YWAM life is such a whirlwind and all. Maybe it is just the concept of time that messes with my head. See, time in Australia, (Or maybe just in YWAM), passes reeeeeaaaalllly slowly. But then, when you look back two months later, it seems like it passed really quickly. So In my mind, I just got back from Airlie beach. I'm still recovering from bus-lag (The automotive version of that feeling of disorientation that one receives when one travels through time zones). I'm still trying to figure out what it's like not to be covered in sweat 24-7!!
So yeah, I'm still in that daze...
So Airlie Beach. Wow. Yeah. It was THAT awesome. SO a TON of things happened and I really want to tell you each and every little detail of my trip but, much to my fingers and your eyes delight, I will not do that. Suffer.
So we arrived after that VERY eventful roadtrip at the Airlie YWAM base and we went to a large tent entitled, "The Chai Tent." WHy was it called that? Simple. It was a tent. We made/served/drank chai tea there. Told ya it was simple.....
So every night, we would go to this tent. There were tons of little tables in there and a stage. Our very own musicians and dancers would perform there every night and the rest of us would go amongst the tent and chat with people that came to drink our awesome tea.
The kind of people that mainly showed up were college kids who came to Airlie for the New Years parties. There were a TON of backpackers as well. I literally met people from every continent. Except Antarctica. Understandable, no?
So we would talk to these people and that really gave us a big opportunity to share our faith and our lives with them. I got to have some really good conversations with people and the Holy Spirit really worked through me.
One night, there were these two guys that came to the tent. One guy had just got a tattoo that day and it was infected and really painful for him. They were b oth atheists, but us YWAMers just started talking to them. At one point in the conversation, a YWAMer offered to pray for the guy's arm. He relented and so she did. They left soon after that, but the next night the one guy came back to the tent and was like , "Dudes! WHAT did you guys do to my friend's arm? It is COMPLETELY better!!"
The girl who prayed for the tattoo guy told him that she just prayed to her God and asked him to heal the guy's arm. The one guy was completely blown away, and he was like, "Whoa!" and then he wanted to hear more. SO this girl told him about God and everything and then asked him if he wanted to serve this God and he was like, "Yeah!" SO she led him to christ.
THAT was probably the most awesome event that occurred that week although I am NOT saying that one thing that God does is greater than another. But THAT really blew my mind.
About five people were led to the Lord that week, but we planted HUNDREDS of seeds in people's hearts. We got to have super deep conversations with people and really share God's love to people through ours words and our chai.
I am SO thankful that God allowed me to be a part of this awesome ministry and that he was able to use me during this time.
See y'all next time!!
~~Bree
Monday, 16 January 2012
Friday, 6 January 2012
Of Updates and boring....
So hey y'all!!
Happy New year!!
This new year will be happy. Or at least good. Most of this new year will be spent with YWAM, learning about God so I am pretty psyched about that!
So did y'all make any resolutions??
ALOT of people asked me that when I was on outreach. But they were drunk so I always said that, no, I make revelutions. They always laughed. Even if they didn't know what they were laughing at. Oh, drunk people...
So lectures are starting up again on Monday. This week's topic is Fear of the Lord. I am really excited for this topic. This sounds like a really boring blog but that is because I am tired but I thought it was still imperritive to let y'all know what is going on in my life and stuff.
SO in 6 weeks I go on outreach. I am VERY psyched about Germany because I got to talk to alot of Germans whilst I was at Airlie. I am excited to talk to prostitutes about God. I am excited to minister to kids. I am excited to try a currywurst.
Um....So please continue praying for outreach money. We all still need various amounts of money so it would be nice to get prayer for that.
This weekend I hope to be filming a video letting people know what our overseas is going to be about. It will be very hectic because, believe it or not, it is very difficult to get 6 people together in the same place at the same time. Haha. But seriously...
So yeah. I will be on outreach for a total of 8 weeks. We will be traveling in Germany most of the time and spending two weeks in the Czech Republic. There is virtually no YWAM presence in the Czech and so that will be a pioneering adventure for us!!
Anyway, All in all. I am doing great. God is AWESOME. And the adventures that will come are sooooo exciting!!
Thanks for listening...er, reading!!
Bree
Happy New year!!
This new year will be happy. Or at least good. Most of this new year will be spent with YWAM, learning about God so I am pretty psyched about that!
So did y'all make any resolutions??
ALOT of people asked me that when I was on outreach. But they were drunk so I always said that, no, I make revelutions. They always laughed. Even if they didn't know what they were laughing at. Oh, drunk people...
So lectures are starting up again on Monday. This week's topic is Fear of the Lord. I am really excited for this topic. This sounds like a really boring blog but that is because I am tired but I thought it was still imperritive to let y'all know what is going on in my life and stuff.
SO in 6 weeks I go on outreach. I am VERY psyched about Germany because I got to talk to alot of Germans whilst I was at Airlie. I am excited to talk to prostitutes about God. I am excited to minister to kids. I am excited to try a currywurst.
Um....So please continue praying for outreach money. We all still need various amounts of money so it would be nice to get prayer for that.
This weekend I hope to be filming a video letting people know what our overseas is going to be about. It will be very hectic because, believe it or not, it is very difficult to get 6 people together in the same place at the same time. Haha. But seriously...
So yeah. I will be on outreach for a total of 8 weeks. We will be traveling in Germany most of the time and spending two weeks in the Czech Republic. There is virtually no YWAM presence in the Czech and so that will be a pioneering adventure for us!!
Anyway, All in all. I am doing great. God is AWESOME. And the adventures that will come are sooooo exciting!!
Thanks for listening...er, reading!!
Bree
Of Road trips and stuff
Hey y'all!!
So I JUST got back from Airlie Beach. I was there on a week long outreach. The outreach went great. But the getting to the outreach was a little more difficult. First of all, the entire trip to Airlie was estimated to take us 16 hours. 18 hours if we wanted to have lunch and be able to use the bathroom every two hours. So we all got up at 3 in the morning and ate a meager breakfast and headed out. Only to return ten minutes later because someone got left behind. So we ventured back to the base to pick up not one, but TWO unfortunate people who were unlucky enough to see only tailights when they went down to the parking lot. So we headed out.
Twelve hours later, we heard a noise. Does that sound ominous enough? I doubt it. Ok, we heard a very scary....uh, sound. Oh whatever, I give up on trying to make this point in the story sound mysterious. We heard a noise. And we got scared. Not really because our music was blasting so loud I think people in New Zealand were complaining about it. But we DID get scared when they stopped the bus on the side of a busy highway and told us that we were not going to blow up. Reassuring, no?
So we stopped there and there we sat for the next two hours waiting for a mechanic to come. When he finally did arrive, he looked at our engine for two seconds before telling us that "nothing was wrong". So yeah. Two hours down the drain.
We headed off.
An hour later, the trailer that we had been pulling that carried things fell off. On the road. We stopped and put it back on. Another 20 minutes wasted.
Then, the noised sounded again. The sound noised again. That annoying buzzer thingy started screaming again. And again we found ourselves at the side of the road. This time though, there was a gas station, I'm sorry, PETROL station in which we took shelter. Apperently "Nothing" was not wrong, and "something" was the matter but we just didn't know what. All of the mechanics were closed for the night and so we did not know what to do. Darkness fell over the land and we huddled in the convenience store, relying on our own body heat to fend off the cold, night air...That came from the air conditioner in the corner. Seriously, that thing was chilly. Icicles were forming on the base of the box part and you could practically see your own breath when you were brave enough to exhale.
So there we sat for two and a half hours with nothing to do but buy food and stuff ourselves full of chips and candy. Smart people headed outside to brave the frogs and cockroaches that roamed the premises when they knew that they could no longer fend off the vengeful advances of hunger. I found myself sitting on a stool RIGHT NEXT to the air conditioner when the convenience store people told us that we needed to get out. NO, it wasn't because we were just buying and eating food in their store and they were sick of watching 20 christians transform into gluttons before their very eyes. They were scheduled to have a blackout and they needed to vacate the premises. SO we headed out into the night.
Now when we heard "blackout", we thought that the store lights would shut off for a few minutes and then everything would be swell. WRONG! Apperently YWAM should clear a week of the scheduled lectures to have a class on basic words and phrases that may be helpful to us later in life. A whole day of teaching should be devoted to the word, "Blackout:"
So the blackout came. And the lights left. The store lights. The gas station lights. The street lights. The lights in EVERY SINGLE HOUSE THAT SURROUNDED THE AREA. And there was no moon. It was like God took every last ounce of light from the world and we were left wandering aimlessly in darkness.
With only our cell phones for light, we navigated our way to the corner of the gas station and sat down with the roaches. It became a game really. Someone would hear a sound. Out would come a phone. A roach would be located. Then someone would be forced to go step/slap/squish the bug until he was dead. Then someone would kick away the remains.
The plan was that the bus driver on the other bus would continue on to Airlie, then drop everyone off, and then drive back to where we were and pick us up and take us to Airlie. At this point, he had just arrived in Airlie and was about four hours away. At 12:30, the lights in the world came back on and were were once-again welcomed back into the store. Where we sat. Drowsiness sent many a YWAMer trudging to the hot, sticky bus where they would attempt to find a unoccupied seat and distort their bodies into odd and uncomfertable positions in search of sleep.
I, being one of the few braves souls left, took refuge behind a trash can underneath a counter. I was told that I fell alseep for about ten minutes before one my other companions opened a fresh bag of chips and I was roused from my stupor.
At about 2 am, the new bus finally arrived. We packed our few belongings and bade farewell to the convenience store workers who, I am certain, were rather relieved to see us go.
The bus ride to the Airlie YWAM base was shortish and uneventful. Sleep avoided me and by the time we arrived at the house, I hurriedly settled into my tent and lay down for some rest. Before drifting off into slumber, I glanced at my watch. The glowing numbers showed that it was 4:05 am.
Best roadtrip ever, was my last thought before my eyes rolled back into my head and I fell unconciousness....
So I JUST got back from Airlie Beach. I was there on a week long outreach. The outreach went great. But the getting to the outreach was a little more difficult. First of all, the entire trip to Airlie was estimated to take us 16 hours. 18 hours if we wanted to have lunch and be able to use the bathroom every two hours. So we all got up at 3 in the morning and ate a meager breakfast and headed out. Only to return ten minutes later because someone got left behind. So we ventured back to the base to pick up not one, but TWO unfortunate people who were unlucky enough to see only tailights when they went down to the parking lot. So we headed out.
Twelve hours later, we heard a noise. Does that sound ominous enough? I doubt it. Ok, we heard a very scary....uh, sound. Oh whatever, I give up on trying to make this point in the story sound mysterious. We heard a noise. And we got scared. Not really because our music was blasting so loud I think people in New Zealand were complaining about it. But we DID get scared when they stopped the bus on the side of a busy highway and told us that we were not going to blow up. Reassuring, no?
So we stopped there and there we sat for the next two hours waiting for a mechanic to come. When he finally did arrive, he looked at our engine for two seconds before telling us that "nothing was wrong". So yeah. Two hours down the drain.
We headed off.
An hour later, the trailer that we had been pulling that carried things fell off. On the road. We stopped and put it back on. Another 20 minutes wasted.
Then, the noised sounded again. The sound noised again. That annoying buzzer thingy started screaming again. And again we found ourselves at the side of the road. This time though, there was a gas station, I'm sorry, PETROL station in which we took shelter. Apperently "Nothing" was not wrong, and "something" was the matter but we just didn't know what. All of the mechanics were closed for the night and so we did not know what to do. Darkness fell over the land and we huddled in the convenience store, relying on our own body heat to fend off the cold, night air...That came from the air conditioner in the corner. Seriously, that thing was chilly. Icicles were forming on the base of the box part and you could practically see your own breath when you were brave enough to exhale.
So there we sat for two and a half hours with nothing to do but buy food and stuff ourselves full of chips and candy. Smart people headed outside to brave the frogs and cockroaches that roamed the premises when they knew that they could no longer fend off the vengeful advances of hunger. I found myself sitting on a stool RIGHT NEXT to the air conditioner when the convenience store people told us that we needed to get out. NO, it wasn't because we were just buying and eating food in their store and they were sick of watching 20 christians transform into gluttons before their very eyes. They were scheduled to have a blackout and they needed to vacate the premises. SO we headed out into the night.
Now when we heard "blackout", we thought that the store lights would shut off for a few minutes and then everything would be swell. WRONG! Apperently YWAM should clear a week of the scheduled lectures to have a class on basic words and phrases that may be helpful to us later in life. A whole day of teaching should be devoted to the word, "Blackout:"
So the blackout came. And the lights left. The store lights. The gas station lights. The street lights. The lights in EVERY SINGLE HOUSE THAT SURROUNDED THE AREA. And there was no moon. It was like God took every last ounce of light from the world and we were left wandering aimlessly in darkness.
With only our cell phones for light, we navigated our way to the corner of the gas station and sat down with the roaches. It became a game really. Someone would hear a sound. Out would come a phone. A roach would be located. Then someone would be forced to go step/slap/squish the bug until he was dead. Then someone would kick away the remains.
The plan was that the bus driver on the other bus would continue on to Airlie, then drop everyone off, and then drive back to where we were and pick us up and take us to Airlie. At this point, he had just arrived in Airlie and was about four hours away. At 12:30, the lights in the world came back on and were were once-again welcomed back into the store. Where we sat. Drowsiness sent many a YWAMer trudging to the hot, sticky bus where they would attempt to find a unoccupied seat and distort their bodies into odd and uncomfertable positions in search of sleep.
I, being one of the few braves souls left, took refuge behind a trash can underneath a counter. I was told that I fell alseep for about ten minutes before one my other companions opened a fresh bag of chips and I was roused from my stupor.
At about 2 am, the new bus finally arrived. We packed our few belongings and bade farewell to the convenience store workers who, I am certain, were rather relieved to see us go.
The bus ride to the Airlie YWAM base was shortish and uneventful. Sleep avoided me and by the time we arrived at the house, I hurriedly settled into my tent and lay down for some rest. Before drifting off into slumber, I glanced at my watch. The glowing numbers showed that it was 4:05 am.
Best roadtrip ever, was my last thought before my eyes rolled back into my head and I fell unconciousness....
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