super heros and super exciting!

THIS BLOG IS MADE OF TWO OR MORE MESSAGES SENT TO OTHERS. If you were one of those people, just read the other part.
One word. Disney! That was our halloween/birthday party. I was Esmeralda from Hunchback of Notre Dame. I also watched Thor 2. it came out a week earlier here than over there. the movie was good, but the adventure surrounding it is what will make the memories. It was sunday night, and four of us girls decided on the spur of a moment that we all wanted to see Thor, so we took a train(or three) to the city centre, sprinted trying to find the theatre in time, almost missed the cutoff, almost didnt have enough money, but then settled into the theatre for a great movie. Then we ran to the train station only to miss the last train (the midnight train) by a couple seconds. so we walked to the next station only to be told there were no more outgoing trains until 4. therefore, the four of us walked up and down the unknown road, trying to hail down our very first Taxi ride. when we succeeded, the driver didn't say a word, which made our 20 minute ride back to base uncomfortable and scary, and at 1:00, hours after curfew, we returned full of glee and thoughts of Thor (or Loki for some). there ya go, a good story, and not a single spoiler!
TWO DAYS LATER...
OUTREACH LOCATIONS HAVE BEEN REVEALED!

On wednsdays we have two sessions. the people of MAD DTS waited out of doors, trying to peer through the veiled curtains, into the mysterious happenings beyond. As we were called to enter, a silence fell over our usual laughing and singing selves. the 30 anticipating students quietly, almost nervously shuffled through the doors, and sat on the floor of the darkened classroom. We had not yet been told what this class would hold. The staff was lined up at the front, with a glimmer in thier eyes, but not a smile to be seen on thier faces. as the game  show music drifted to our ears, murmers of 'outreach!' 'ohgoodnessitsreallyhappening' and 'I knew it!' were heard around the hushed group. as we guessed answers to random trivia, our five locations were revealed slowly, letter by letter. one place at a time. JAPAN! MALAYSIA! VANUATU! AUSTRALIA! PERU! screetches of excitement were the exclamations proffered at the end. Then, the rules. We are told not to talk to our classmates about our choice, for our decision must bebased on God's leading, not our people preference.We may tell our parents, speak to staff, and research , but under no curcumstances may we post these decisions on social media until our team and staff are revealed. Then, awe in our eyes, we walk out of the class and into the light of day, as well as the knowledge of where we may go with God. and I write this.

    other news, the speaker, a communications major, and an amazing movie producer, is talking about hearing the voice of God. He is amazing. so many stories have come of it! Did you know that God got sass? well, he does. and a wierd sense of humor, and I think he has a crooked smile. Juss sayin. ;) 

love and All dat Junk

Stuff happens. Lots of it. This week, I got a ton of bad news, but I also got a lot of good news. But the bible and the Guy who wrote it did a crazy amount of getting to me by words and by  the people here. Words like forgiveness, closeness and love are all over! I may not be holding grudges, but I have been praying for others, and their relationships with people that have hurt them. 

 It's Halloween and we MAD students are throwing a Disney birthday party!!! I will be Punk Esmeralda, and the film crew are dressed up as the Game of Thrones characters(except for one, He's Link. Such an outcast!)  the upside of us all being creative and different is I get to borrow people's clothes. Adventurers run rampage as we praise and do sidewalk art in the park with the kids, (BTW Aussie kids are freakin adorable) visit churches and bless them with the extreme amount of energy we bring with us, climb through waterways, learn love languages, and study who God is. our speaker this week is a cute Little old man we call Isi, (father in Finnish) and he simply pours out love in everything! (shout out Father Daddy's love, give a hug, clap and whoop!) there's not much news, other than I have been busy, and have a ton of homework. Prayers would be good though. there is a lot of healing happening on base, which also means there is a lot of pain. One boy is going home, and so  next Thursday (Wednesday for you) please pray for him to come to Jesus' arms again.

 ( He doesn't need to come back to YWAM, just back to God. ) I love you guys! possibly a more interesting or full update soon.

Hey man, wanna tour?

 our Dorm door, names and flags :)

 The view from our dorm window

 Yeah Man, study party!

 the ant brigade in our toilet room

 the student dorms, ladies upstairs, gentlemen downstairs,

 My beautiful model and the YWAM sign

 a sneak peak into the indoor art studio

 wonderful kitchen volunteers

 the dishwashing station

 the chillout area

 LAUNDRY

 my 'workout area' aka trampoline

 the real workout area

 the outdoor art studio ( almost my fave place on base)

 the game area where ultimate floppy backwards ping pong was invented

 our community area

 a palm tree trunk

another palm tree trunk...

 the YWAM happy plane

 Our gold coin coffee shop

so, that was my quickie base tour :) real blog soon to come!

The Homesick Games

I was homesick for the first time in my life this week. What made it harder is I never believed it was real. It is. I was missing my family, and snow, and the goofballs around home so bad, I felt sick! Then, rationalising like I do, I realised God is my home. Kinda like the 'home is where the heart is' thing. I had to trust him, that the DTS and everything is where I should be. I don't need to be home, making sure everything is clean and people are fed. God has that covered. Lectures are good, because they are reiterating what I learnt at home. Scheduled Worship, church and prayer are a bit more challenging. Everyone here is to free to be, to move, to feel, and to show it, that I often doubt the realness of it.  Raised baptist, people at my home church sing songs about dancing and praise but stand stock still. So when I see people shouting out their prayers and dancing in church, I wonder if it is reverent. But this is how I have always wanted to praise, to laugh and cry with Christ's body. I know in my soul God is moving the whole school in a lot of healing and in his will. Now that I am over my yearning for the past, I am so excited to join in the future!there is so much music, art, and dancing here, it is beautiful.  My one on one (kind of an accountability partner and counsellor) is great, and there is a few girls that have become close to my heart in the last week. I still miss home, but it is more of remembering the love there than holding back my heart here now. I also enjoy art class, because I may not be the best, but I learn so much, and I LOVE to learn. right now I soak it up like a sponge! Intercession is interesting because so many people have India on their hearts. On the other hand, my skin is not like a sponge and so sunscreen equals zits and no sunscreen equals sunburn. It's a horrible circle.

mad mad world

testimonies are amazing. everyone has a different story, and it all seems to bring us together. I was planning to Say something like 'I was homeschooled, ans I have a big and good family,and I always wanted to be a missionary.' Instead, I unloaded. I told of my history with depression, my 'pain game' and losing many of my loved ones. I ended up rambling on, and sobbing into the Kleenex and clock that were the "talking tools'.Not planned, and not fun. I felt like i was in an AA meeting. I loved getting to know people, and hopefully we all realised that stereotypes aren't true... 

after that 20 out of 30 of us went to the city, and unwittingly walked into a street festival. we saw a unicycle performer, (she was ok) tons of amazing live music, and decided to make use of an abandoned stage. can you say Awesome God? I went on my first train, which was kinda boring... it's simple public transport. Then we went to church. As I walked in, I got this horrible feeling like I didn't ever want to be here, but as the praise started, the young people jumped up and nearly started a mosh pit! I loved the freedom given to be able to be excited for God. then, the sermon. it was all about Laments. things get broken, and we need to be comforted, but God has a different idea of comfort. He will not pat you on the back and say its all going to be ok, he will make you rebuild instead.we don't need pat words, we need to rebuild our lives. it really struck me, because that was what our testimonies were about. coming to Jerusalem, and rebuilding the walls.  anyways, I shall log off, classes start! 

becoming home

How ya goin mates?

Ladies and gentlemen, It has begun. 

Right now I am sitting in the YWAM outreach Cafe, which has amazing pumpkin pie and Chai.(gold coin, so come and visit!)  Orientation was really fun! I mean, a lot of it is rules and boring things, but what other school but a MAD school gets you to demonstrate the Christian Magna Carta win an interpretive dance skit? Or the school foundations by a photo scavenger hunt? Tonight there is a Girls Night, and that sounds exciting! Everyone is so creative and zealous for God and missions. So far I get along with everyone. YWAMers are the absolute best!

Yesterday I went for a walk with a group and visited the neighborhood. the Salamanders are cute. 

There are cons to living in Australia though, right now there are tons of bushfires. None are near us, but they need a lot of prayer right now.  There is a possum living in one of the girls dorms, and in ours, Humongous cockroaches! 

Currently I am writing out my testimony, and if enough people request it, I will post it on the blog.

I have to get back to work, so Bye!

 

journey in photos