Weekend again

Wow how time flies around here. I can't believe it is Saturday afternoon again. Week 5 of lectures is now complete. The week was not near as intense as what everyone expected it to be. The instructor told our staff that he felt the connection and love in the room as soon as he walked in, so he didn't feel that he had to push it with us. That was nice. We did do a cool thing on Wednesday, the last day of that topic, we wrote down a list of things that we either wanted to confess or that we wanted to give to God and then we nailed them to a cross. Sio Leo (our instructor) then prayed for us and then we went out and pulled the papers off the cross and burned them in a fire. It was a good visual of how if we really give things up to God we control them no longer and can't get them back.
The last 2 days was a cheesy video on relationships. I can truly say that all but 1 person (Wendy) fell asleep for at least part of the video. On Friday late morning we even fast forwarded it when the staff was out of the room. Blaire later confessed to Joshua, but he just laughed.
Last night I went to Ana's (our school leader) Auntie's house for a fundraising feed. It was Roti -remember Trinidad anyone- and lots of other good food. I ate way too much again, but it was fun. We also helped some people move and had a quick tour of the Michelton YWAM base that is on the north side of Brisbane. I am glad I chose this one, though the other one is walking distance to stores and such. It was a late night as we got back to base about midnight and then Kate and I talked about our nights for a while. (She didn't go with us)
This morning some of us got up at 6 am and went to a park to help with at Easter carnival. They had blow up games and tents with food and an Easter egg hunt planned, but we didn't stay for all of that we were pretty hungry and tired.
Okay I am sure you are sick of reading by now, but I also want to let you know that we will be in Fingel starting tomorrow afternoon. I don't know if we will have very much internet access, so please don't be shocked if I don't post until Easter when we get back. I still would love you to keep me updated just in case I do get logged on!!! ;)
Have a great Easter!!!!!

Weekend Fun

Sorry it has been so long, but I haven’t really had much of a chance to post this week.
This weekend was a great weekend for me here. It started with a “slumber party” on Friday night. All of the girls brought our sleeping bags, etc. to our classroom and spread out on the floor. Some of us ordered pizza (6 pizzas for 3 of us, thanks Blaire!) and watched movies until 2am and then we kicked out the boys and all slept in the classroom. We were woken up at 8 am for breakfast because of a conference at our base. It was another lazy Saturday with not a lot going on, but that was nice after so little sleep.
Sunday we got up and drove ~ 1 hour to Fingel where we went to church. We got there a little bit early so we walked to the beach, less than a 5 minute walk. The church service was great, I loved it! I just felt so comfortable there. We then decided to stay for the 2pm prayer service and so we went swimming in the ocean for a couple of hours. It was windy so we got covered in sand, but it is a beautiful place. The prayer service was also very good. We found out that the pastor that they had is going to be there for Easter weekend while we are there on outreach, I can’t wait to sit down and talk to him. I think he has some great stories. The message from the morning was from 1 Samuel about Hannah and how God put her into a childless situation in order to use her. It really hit home to me, because I believe that God has left me single so that He can use me. I can’t wait for next week when we get to go back to Fingel and work with the people there for the whole week.
Monday we started Openness & Brokenness week. This has been built up as another intense week, we are still just getting into it and I believe that tomorrow is going to be a draining day. Today we spent about an hour as a team just talking things out and asking forgiveness for things that we have done. It was good to clear the air as we have been together for over a month and differing personalities are coming out. I believe that we are going to really grow as a team because we are understanding each other better.

Larakeets outside the window that I was sitting by during church!

Sila showing off the carpet snake that was just outside the house next to the church!

Bible Study Week

This week our lecture was on Bible study. I was excited for this week to learn more about how to read the Bible and it having more meaning in my life. I was not disappointed. It was a great week of getting to know different ways to study and that just because I don't understand something right away doesn't mean that I should get discouraged, there are ways of finding out. I can't wait to have some time to really look into some of the things that we have learned. Throughout the week we studied the book of Philemon. We read it over and over again and really looked at what the main characters, reasons, and what the purpose of the book was and is. I, for one, didn't get much out of it the first time we read it, but in looking at it for a week I now see the significance of the book. It is about forgiveness and reconciliation. Today we were split into 3 groups to do a presentation to some of the other people on the base. There was song, dance, and art. Blaire and I worked together on a poster of how forgiveness can take you from a storm and break the chains holding you down and give you new life so you can grow.

I know that you can't see all of the details, but this gives you an idea of what we came up with. Especially because we had no supplies to work with besides what we had. The other presentations also turned out very good and we have them all on video. The dance we are even going to use on outreach coming up.
Dinner is ready so I gotta go.
I love hearing even the "everyday" things from home, so please keep me updated often.

Gold Coast Titans Rugby

My first live rugby game! We took the train into Brisbane today to see the first ever game for the Gold Coast Titans. I am learning more and more about rugby and it was a very exciting game. In some ways it is like American Football, but it is also very different. Poor Peter had to sit next to me and explain some of what was going on, but by they end I pretty much understood most of what was happening. The final score was St George (Sydney) 20 - Gold Coast 18. So we did lose, but it was exciting anyway.

Koalas & Wallabies

I am sorry this picture is of the koala inside the center, but I videotaped the one outside so I don't have a good picture. I will show you more later.

Today I saw my first koalas and wallabies out of a zoo! Now I know I am in Australia... We took a trip to a nearby Koala Center that is a conservatory area for wild animals. We were not able to see many, but they had 2 inside the center that we saw close up and then we walked around on the trails outside. There is where we saw the wallabies hopping around or taking a nap. When we were just about done, Peter spotted a koala up in a tree. I did get some video before my battery died so hopefully it turns out good.
I am also going to my first rugby game tomorrow. The first game of the season was Friday night so they set up a big screen in the hall here and we watched it together. We had wanted to go to the game, but it was sold out. I did learn a little bit more about the rules so hopefully tomorrow I will be able to follow it better. I will let you know how it is.
Another week is done already! The time seems to be going very fast.
I miss you all. Have a great day!

Aussie Birthday!!!

Wow, I spent a birthday in Australia!!! It was a very fun day. Everyone made me feel so special. Katie sang to me the moment I woke up and there were balloons in our room. We went for our morning run and then I talked to Mom & Dad. The classroom also had a lot of balloons in it and they decorated a chair for me. I don’t think that I have been sung to as many times on one birthday as I was yesterday. They also had cake for me for morning tea. Blaire painted me a beautiful picture of a tall flower standing in a field. She said it represented me, I love it and can’t wait to put it in my house. Katie made me wear a flower lei all day long so everyone would look at me. I even wore it to the mall and Christian bookstore. All in all it was a great birthday. In the evening we met as a group and read the whole book of Matthew. I am so blessed, how many people from Michigan can say they spent a birthday in Australia and read a book of the Bible with new friends.
Thank you to all of you that sent birthday greetings, some of you even remembered to send them on the 13th there so that I had them on the 14th here. It was a long 38 hour birthday!!!
I miss you all!

Lazy Saturday

Today was a great day of sitting around and doing pretty much nothing. The most I did today was 1 load of laundry and cooked dinner. It was great to sleep in as we have been getting up at 6 am every morning to run. They call me the drill Sargent because I have the training schedule and I tell them when to stop and start. It is a lot of fun and nice to get some exercise before the day starts and we sit in the classroom most of the time.
Just a few fun facts for you today:
It is 235 paces from our door to the door of the bathroom... a fun walk in the middle of the night.
I had a baby frog jump onto my head before I got into the shower yesterday.
Ice cream cones are 50 cents at Maca's (McDonald's) & 40 cents at Hungry Jacks (Burger King).
I have killed 4 spiders in our room and we have a cockroach living in there somewhere.
We just had a cockroach crawling above our computers... Julliana tried to kill it but it is still alive.
We shower with mosquitoes all around us, but we do have hot water - no cold showers like in Trinidad!!!
I am trying to learn a dance.... I know funny, huh.
Well that is all I can think of right now. I pray that you all are doing great.

"I am fearfully & wonderfully made"

Wow, 1 week before my 32nd birthday and I finally voiced the biggest fear in my life. I shared in class and everyone prayed for me and now I feel that I need to share it with all of you.
I have lived most of my life trying to be “perfect”. I don’t remember a time where I felt that I was good enough just being myself. I have always feared rejection and people laughing at me. Many people think that I am self confident, but that was just an act that I would put on so that you would not know the real feelings that I had inside. Many times I wanted to be in control because then I have all of the information and I don’t have to worry about “looking stupid” if I didn’t know exactly what was happening. Even going through college I felt a huge amount of pressure to do good and know all of the answers because I hated being called upon and not knowing an answer in front of everyone. Some things that I have done even up to leaving for here have been just because I thought people expected it of me and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone.
This also goes for physical feelings of inadequacy. I have never thought of myself as beautiful, I have always compared myself to other people and I never measured up. There is always someone skinner, prettier, faster, or stronger.
In class we have been discussing “The Father Heart of God” and how God loves us as a perfect father and we need to run to Him and let Him help us through some of the things that have been holding us back in our lives. I got up and shared this with the group and I can’t describe everything that happened, but God really opened my eyes to the scripture from Psalm 139:14 that says “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” I have known this verse but this time I really understood it. Ben -our lecturer- had me stand in front of the group and recite it 10 times. At first I couldn’t look people in the eye and say it, but as I continued it really sunk in and I could say it right to people. Also the phrase “God doesn’t make junk” came into my mind a lot, and I realized that I am God's creation and that means I am irreplacable.
The reason that I want to share this with all of you is that I want to apologize to you. In thinking this through God has shown me that I have hurt and pushed people away because of my own fears of rejection. I have not opened up to people as I should have just so that I wouldn’t be hurt and that people wouldn’t see me get rejected. I hope that you will understand and forgive me. I also ask for your prayers as I know that this is going to be an ongoing process for me work through all of the feelings that I am having. I may have to take some time when I get home to just sort things out and not jump right back into everything that I was doing before. I need to decide why I am doing the things that I am doing, if it is to make me look better to others or if it is my passion.
You all are very special to me and I appreciate everything you have done and will do for me. Thanks again and please continue to pray as I continue to pray for you!

Father Heart of God

This weeks lecture topic is the "Father Heart of God". It is a very powerful week with a great speaker from here on the base. If we talk to anyone on the base they say that this was their favorite week in all of the lecture phase. So far our meetings have been very emotional and draining. As most of you know this leaves me in tears a lot of the time :) There are a lot of different things that people are working through and this week is meant to let everyone release those things.
Please pray for all of us as we work through the week together. Pray that we can be open with ourselves, the group and especially with God.
Thanks & God Bless

Saturday, March 3

Wow time flies these days. We have been busy in classes and doing homework. I know exciting stuff... Things have been going very well. We have completed one section on the Characteristics of God. It was all pretty much review, but it is always good to have a refresher and see things from a slightly different angle.
The DTS that started before ours had graduation last night so they are all getting ready to leave and go home. There were 17 in their group so it is bigger than ours. We have one more student joining us from the US tomorrow morning, her name is Tanya. She was waiting for funding and still doesn't have all of the money, but she is coming and going to trust that God will provide someone to help her. I take for granted all of you wonderful people that support me and keep me in your thoughts and prayers. This would not be the same without it.
We had our first experience with a poisonous snake the other day. I saw it after it was dead, but it was by some on the staff housing. It wasn't too big, but the guys were chasing the girls with it before they threw it away. I haven't experienced that yet, but I am becoming a good spider hunter. Twice we have had spiders in our room and I got them with my sandal. I think there is one more still hiding along with our cockroach, but we are not sure. The mosquitoes "moosies" are quite bad here also, Ally has bites all over her legs. We told her she must taste better than the rest of us. Oh by the way the toads here really do give you warts.
We just got back from South Park in Brisbane which is were we have been swimming, and we also visited a museum. It was another good day away from the campus. Now I am waiting for dinner.
Thanks for all of your thoughts, prayers and mail it is all greatly appreciated and loved.