Oh man, the past two weeks have been amazing to be a part of Mission Adventures here. The group arrived last Monday (all 16 year nine students + 2 adults). The schedule for the first four days, especially, was pretty full on here in Townsville. From team building and fun activities (food fight, anyone?:)) to input sessions from the speaker of the week, to practical prep sessions for outreach, there was definently a lot going on.

The group was from an Anglican school down south in a beach town called Ulladulla. This was the first school group to come as a result of hearing about the opportunity through the Ship Tour earlier this year! The students kind of all over the shop with where they were with their relationship with God. It was awesome to see God evidently working, moving, and shifting things in each of their hearts over the course of the past two weeks. It looked different for each individual but to see them begin to understand how much God loves them, forgives them, is with them, etc. was SUCH a priviledge to be a part of!

Highlights from the training week in Townsville would have to be 1) One night there was a reinactment of Christ's crusifiction which was extremely powerful and it was so cool to see the kids respond and get that it is so much more than just a story 2) Hearing their stories of what God had been teaching them and showing them throughout the week.. flipping awesome! 3) Praying for Palm Island as a base and then praying for the team as a send off; loved encouraging them and seeing the unity in the group 4) Our extremely messy but very fun relay race/ food fight :)




The second part of Mission Adventures was taking this wonderful group of young people to Palm Island (Only about a 2 hour ferry ride away but a very different world). Favorite parts would have to be to just continue to see them go for it and love on the locals, especially the young kids. It was a very eye opening week for us all in many ways. I loved seeing them also continue to grow in their relationships with God, encouraging them, and praying with them, and of course just laughing and having fun with them.


On Palm, we did a few church programs, school programs (both including dramas, games, and testimonies), community bbqs, jumping off the jetty and swimming with the locals, and prayer walking. The elders from the church gave us a send off dinner on the last evening which was a huge blessing and something that had never been done before for a MA group!
 


                                                

Now all of them are back in Ulladulla and I am back in Townsville, looking forward to a relaxing Saturday and then Orientation for staff internship on Sunday.


Til next time...

I made it!! It is exciting to be back in Townsville. Things have definitely changed and yet are familiar. From all the new faces to the new construction changes that have been made on the base (lookin' snazzzyy) things are different.

Things for me don't start really until Monday and from what I've gathered it sounds like my next two weeks will be pretty full on. The Mission Adventure group gets here Monday morning and then we will be jumping into a fairly busy schedule. Friday we leave for a 6 day outreach to Palm Island!

I'm ready to start! I'm excited to be a part of what God is wanting to do in and through these kiddos. I've never been in a leadership role as such so this will be a cool growing and learning experience I'm sure.

Woooo:) Stories to come!

I made it! It is really exciting to be back in Townsville. It somewhat feels like I have never left (or at least wasn't gone for 6 months!) but on the other hand, so many things have changed here, from new faces to new changes at base (construction wise). I frequently have the "WOW, am I really in Australia?!!" moments. Crazy life!

Things for me don't start until Monday which then from what I have gathered sounds like my next two weeks will be pretty full on. The mission adventure group gets here Monday morning and then we jump straight into a pretty busy schedule. Friday we leave for outreach to Palm Island for 6 days!

I'm looking forward to being a part of what God wants to do in and through these kiddos. WOoo:)

A week from today I will be on my way to the airport, all packed and ready. The past few weeks have very confirming for me, exciting, and yet the reality of it all has begun to set in. Though, more and more I am getting excited and ready to go.

Thank you all who have been standing by me in this, excited with me, encouraging, and supportive. You have been a huge blessing. I have loved to watch God form the support group around me and am excited to see Him expand it in upcoming months.

I plan on blogging updates on this site fairly regularly. For those of you who are on facebook, I have created a group: Aussie Adventures where I also will post pictures, links, updates, etc. If you are interested in getting on my email update list, check the home page on this site... you can either fill out the form on the right side or email me (address found at the bottom).


Again, thank you for standing by me, being a part of this journey and what God is doing in Australia and beyond. Seriously.

So, I was told that I should plan on my visa (once the Aussie gov receives it) taking about a month to get confirmed... and it was this whole dilemma because I thought I was going to need to book a flight in faith (w/o my visa). 

All my visa forms were sent in on August 27th and confirmed by September 1st! I HAVE MY AUSSIE VISA!!!!!!!! Flights have since been booked! I'm flying out on September 21st.

Sooooo stoked and yet soooo not looking forward to saying "bye" to people here.
 

....days- left.at.home. WHAT???!! I have no idea where time goes anymore! I am still waiting on my visa to book flights and such but as long as that goes *quickly then I'll be air-bound in about a month's time. Would love your prayer backing in this transition season of my life.

I think this is an upgrade from the blog I previously had:) I'm having fun designing this site and playing around with it...