on Saturday...

So, as a Counseling school, we leave for outreach to London and Cambodia in 4 weeks, and have roughly a million dollars to raise before then (slight exaggeration). We are trusting God to do it, as He always does, in His own way. It has been a great lesson in faith, and continues to be. However, we in ywam also believe in doing our part. Asking God what He would like us to do to see this outreach take place, and to receive break through in the area of finances. We prayed as a class, and someone had the idea of a pizza making/selling fundraiser. So that’s what we did for most of the day Saturday, made/sold/delivered pizzas. It ended up being really fun, everyone loved our pizzas, and I think God really blessed our efforts! Here are some pictures of the blessed event for your enjoyment:

always important to wear matching outfits while baking bread dough.

Then, because we felt we hadn’t done quite enough fundraising for one day, my friends Courtney, Cody, and I decided to embark on a pancake selling adventure. You see, our dorm is about 10 steps away from the Stadium where all the concerts all held here in Perth. This is pretty cool, as we can often hear really well known bands from right outside our door. So, this particular Saturday night, Kings of Leon was performing, and we thought there might be some hungry concert goers. We finished cleaning up all the stuff from the pizza fundraiser at 8, and then had about 1 hour total to prep our own little fundraiser. So it was a mad dash to make a million pancakes, and find a cardboard box to make a sign out of (we had to make do). Then, we walked over and began the pancake sales. I will say it ended up being one of the most hilarious experiences I’ve had in a while. We met the most random people, some of whom really didn’t believe that we were actually fundraising to go overseas to counsel women. Apparantly it’s not all that common for 3 young girls to sell pancakes at a concert to raise money for a missions trip. J I even had one guy say to me, ‘ you know, that sounds like a really wholesome thing that you’re doing, and I’d love to believe you….’ In the end though, who cares if he didn’t believe me because he still bought pancakes. It was awesome, and Courtney even scored a t shirt from a grumpy old man who seemed to be willing to do just about anything to not have to buy our pancakes!

We had a great time, I haven’t laughed that much for a long time, and we did our part, which is what its all about.

Hope you like these photos of the evening:

my very ghetto sign

Loved.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love...." Jeremiah 31:3

Blessed.

staff/students of FCM 2011

So again I must apologize for being so slack in the update area. I really am trying, but between morning chores, worship, class, 1 on 1’s, work duty, small groups, community outreach, counseling workshops, book reports, weekly assignments, trying to have some sort of social life, not to mention sleep, it’s kind of hard to get a solid chunk of time for updating.. (However I know I’m not nearly as busy as my sister who has almost 4 kids and a new puppy and still manages to update her blog like twice a week…how do you do it Nik?!) But I am trying I promise and will try harder. So for all those who have been wanting to be updated, here’s a quick update, and will write more next week.

Things are great here in Perth. I love what I’m learning, like LOVE. Like as in I will be immersed in my huge Christian counseling book and realize I’m smiling (I know it’s a bit warped to be smiling while reading about really sad things like depression, anxiety etc, but ya know..). I’m smiling a lot these days- I feel like so many years have been leading up to this, finally getting a chance to study counseling, my dream for so many years. As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to be able to help people, and I feel like I’m finally getting equipped to do that!

So far, in my FCM (foundations in counseling ministries school), we have studied:

Foundations in Counseling

Nature and character of God

Evangelism

Transforming communities

The Divine Plumbline

Currently we are on Plumbline, which is a method of counseling developed by a New Zealand doctor named Bruce Thomas. If you guys have not heard of a plumbline or are wondering what it is like I was at first, the first mention of it is in the Bible. In Amos 7:7-9, it reads, “ This is what he showed me; the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, which a plumb line in his hand.  And the Lord said to me, ‘Amos, what do you see? And I said, “A plumb line.  Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by…”

Any of you who are in the business of building houses would likely know what a plumb line is but just by a different name. By definition, a plumb line is a string with a metal weight at one end that, when suspended, points directly towards the earth's centre of gravity and so is used to determine verticality, the depth of water, etc.

So, basically, it’s used to measure whether or not a wall is straight. In this case, “the Divine Plumbline” ensures that the walls of our lives are straight and solid. So, basically, it is accepting God’s truth and re aligning ourselves with it so that our walls can be straight and strong, and not susceptible to tumbling down. Sorry, I know this sounds boring but in real life it really is fascinating. The last 2 days have been application of what we’ve learned.  It was intense but so good as we saw God move in such a strong way. Because my heart is so soft, I almost always cry when other people cry, so I was a bit of a mess for 2 days. J   I am really excited to be able to walk people through their hurts using this method, now that I’ve been able to experience it first hand. So ya, the learning aspect has been amazing.

Also, I love my friends here. Every time I move somewhere new, I pray like crazy that God will give me just 1 friend that I can be real with. Every single time, he outdoes himself and gives me  many amazing friends that I can be myself with.  So ya I feel blessed like crazy.

In other news, we are starting to plan our outreach to London, England, which will begin December 25 for about 7 weeks! And, we just found out our 2^nd outreach location for the final 4 weeks, which will be to Cambodia!!! I am SOOO excited to have 2 such completely different outreach experiences in the same month.

I was reflecting on this last year of life and realized by the end of the year I will have lived in 6 different countries by the end of 2011. What the heck?!! When did life get to be so much fun? I guess it was about 2 years ago when I decided to follow God fully for the first time. Never a dull moment when you are walking with the Lord. So cool that He knows and cares about each of the things that we are passionate about, and wants to let us experience those things. I feel like I could go on forever about this, as I am SOOOO overwhelmed lately by everything God is doing in my life.

But I’ll stop here as I have to be in the class room in 7 minutes.

Next week I will update with more details about our outreach plans….coming up so soon!

Much love

Australia.....

Okay so I thought its probably time to update, sorry for being so slack. So I've been in Perth, Australia for a whole week now and am feeling pretty settled in...Loving being back in the Australian laid back culture, such a cool country. I live in a room with about 20 girls, and am sleeping on a top bunk for the first time in like 20 something years, but surprisingly, its been really fun, not at all as crazy as it sounds like it would be. As usual with YWAM, I'm loving that I get to meet so many people from so many different cultures...it just brings so much flavor to life! This base is about half the size of the one in Kona so that has proven to be quite nice as you definetely get to know more people and feel like part of a family. A lot of things are different from Kona, and some are taking some getting used to, but all in all, I do really like it here. There are a couple girls in my class that I know from my time in SBS in Kona so that has been SUCH a blessing when I'm feeling homesick for Kona.
As far as my studies go, I am completely LOVING it. It seems like a dream come true to finally be beginning my journey into becoming a counselor. Last week we were taught on "Foundations in Counselling" by the dean of the university, Brad Tout. This week we are studying 'the nature and character of God' with a guy named Richard Blake, who is both hilarious and deep and insightful. I am loving, loving, loving it...I feel beyond blessed to be so blessed to be here, studying something I am so passionate about, in such a cool place as Perth, with such awesome people.
Still praying in my finances and asking God to show me for creative ways to fund raise, I know He will provide but I want to make sure I am doing my part to get there.
My work duty (2 hours we serve each day on base outside of our school) I am in the registration office doing filing, etc, which has been such a blessing, as most of my class is on dish duty. I don't know why I got so blessed as to be able to work in the office instead..but im not complaining! The registration people are so fun and it is so nice to get to know some new people outside of class.
Oh, and today they served pumpkin pie, only for the Canadians...missing my family a lot today.
So,happy thanksgiving to all my Canadian loved ones!
I'll keep you guys posted on the happs around here..
heres some photos and Kangaroo videos just for my favorite boys, Benji and Seth...because they couldn't come with me.. at least they could see them on video :)

a little bit of Tauranga life...

Here's a few photos of Tauranga so far. I got to teach Inductive Bible Study to a group of dts ers, and it was so much fun! I've never experienced a group of students before who caught on to the method so quickly...We were using the book of Philemon and they were pulling out all these amazing interpretations and application points...I was so impressed! The experience really re affirmed to me how much I love Bible teaching, and really pray that God will continue to use me in this area...I left that night so full of joy and was so blessed by the whole experience. It's amazing how when you give out, you totally get blessed in return so much...I feel like I got way more blessed than I ever could have blessed them! After I finished teaching, the whole group of students and staff gathered around me and prayed blessings over my life and my next step, going to Perth to study. Lately there've been some days when I've been a bit discouraged over a few things about being in missions, and I feel that God really used this experience to remind me how much I truly love YWAM and am so privileged to be a part of it...I really needed this this week and so it was really great timing.
In other news- Canada beat Tonga in the Rugby World Cup this week!!! Last month I didn't even know we had a Rugby team..ha ha, so it's pretty shocking how proud I am of our boys now that they've beaten Tonga! :)
Tonight I'm doing a 'spa night' fundraiser to raise funds for my next step...praying it goes well.
Other than that, it's my last weekend in Tauranga before heading off to Auckland to visit my friend Alana..and then... PERTH! I'm so excited!!!

teaching tomorroww.....

So tomorrow I teach Inductive Bible Study here in Tauranga at the Marine Reach base. Please pray for me, I'm very nervous! and pray for them....for open hearts and being receptive to learning this method of Bible study. I love that I get the privilege of teaching a method that i'm so passionate about...but I always hate getting up in front of people! Thankfully His strength is made perfect in my weakness.
Thanks for the prayers....much love

outreach = over.

So, its with mixed emotions that I inform you that our Pacific outreach is completed. We had a great time...many ups and downs but mostly ups :) I learned SO much as it was my first time leading a team, and was definetely thankful to have a great co-leader! We were sent off with such a warm farewell on the base, and it was pretty sad. Before I left for the airport, I finally got to see someone from my DTS 8 years ago! Kelly, my dts mama, met me in town and we got to catch up before I left...so nice to see her! We flew out of Samoa, and all went our seperate ways. 2 full years with SBS are now over. Can hardly believe it but am so ready for whats next...Foundations in Counseling school in Perth! But first- i'm here in NZ with my friends and it is SO nice. God obviously knew I'd need a rest and He is so good to let me have a whole month off. I will be doing some teaching in the Marine Reach DTS here on Inductive Bible Study, likely in 2 weeks, but I'm really looking forward to that too! Teaching doesn't feel like work anymore, it's so much fun to be able to give out this method that changed my life so much. Been getting extremely attached to Holly and Reuben, age 7 and 9. I miss my neices and nephews every day so it's been so nice to be around some kids, and they even call me "aunty Rachel" which warms my heart! and their little kiwi accents are about the cutest thing ever. Well, I'm off to the doctor- the staph is back. argggg. pray for me!