It's Over !

Lecture phase is over ! We had our last week of lectures at the YWAM base in Byron Bay, combining with their DTS. We had Neville, a pastor from Byron Bay, speak to us about worldview and different religions. It was very informative and we learned a lot about the specific religions in the areas of India and Nepal we are going to. He taught us how to understand their religion and ask questions that will cause them to question what they believe. Of course our first intention is to love on those people but we also need to know a little bit of background information to understand their culture and how we can best minister to them. We also got to catch up with our friends in the DTS at Byron and we explore around town a little bit. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to going back there for our first week of outreach! 

As the lecture phase ends, Christmas break and the outreach phase begin! It's kind of a bittersweet time as I'm sad about moving out of our house and routines that we've had for the past 3 months, but VERY excited for everything that lies ahead. We had to say goodbye to the friends we've made at Set Free Care and Coffee Van and clean our houses from top to bottom. We are now on Christmas break and are in the process of packing up all of our things for outreach in Byron Bay on the 30th and India/Nepal on January 6th! Things are falling into place and the reality of this trip is slowly starting to hit me. We will be staying in New Delhi for a few days before flying to Kathmandu, Nepal for just over a week. Then we are travelling to Darjeeling, India and visiting villages around there for 3 weeks. Our last stop will be back in Agra and re-visiting New Delhi before flying home at the end of February. If you would still like to donate to my trip I would be so blessed to receive from you! Please follow the link and write my name in the comment box! http://www.ywamgc.com.au/finance/paydonate-online19.html?view=donate 

THANK YOU ALL FOR EVERYTHING. YOU ARE AMAZING!

 For everyone who's wondering, Christmas here is not at all what it's like at home. The whole occasion isn't as commercial as in Canada or America and it's more of a casual holiday. Nobody dresses up for a sit down turkey dinner, it's more of a BBQ on the beach or potluck picnic type of thing. Santa still wanders the mall and gifts are exchanged but not nearly at the same level as at home. As a DTS we tried to dress up our house as much as possible to make it feel like Christmas, but if you look out the window and see the blue skies and sunshine you get confused all over again. None of that really matters though because it's about celebrating the birth of our Savior & Lord, Jesus Christ and that should never get old! 

     Sadly this is the end of my blogging career for now, as I wont be blogging in India. There will be email updates sent out occasionally so if you would like to get those please let me know and I'll add your email to the list! For now I just wanted to let you all know that I feel extremely blessed to be on the other side of the world and loving life. It's amazing to know that all you wonderful people are back home supporting me with your prayers, gifts & encouragement. I am so thankful for you all and as much as I wish I could be home for Christmas I am very happy to be here because I know that it's where God wants me to be. I have learned so much through this experience and I would HIGHLY recommend doing a DTS to anyone who wants to learn more about God, themselves and the world! I covet your prayers as the next part of my adventure continues and I look forward to when I can come home and tell you all the amazing things I've experienced in person. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all my love!  - Becca

                                                                                 

A Month til India & Nepal !

      India and Nepal is less than a month away! It's crazy how fast my time here has gone. This trip is coming up especially quickly because we have our lectures in the Sunshine Coast this week, Byron Bay next week and then it's Christmas! Then we leave 2 weeks after Christmas! Ahhh I'm getting too excited just thinking about it. You guys are AMAZING though; seriously. I came into this needing $3000 for my trip and as of right now I only need $700 more! Thank you thank you thank you. You are all such a blessing and I covet all of your prayers as well. Please keep the praying going and if you could support me in this final push to get money in I would be overjoyed! I'll post the link to donate again or you can get in touch with my parents back at home. I cannot thank you all enough! http://www.ywamgc.com.au/finance/paydonate-online19.html?view=donate (Remember to put my name in the comment box)

      It’s been busy around here! Week 10 we had the wonderful Lael come and speak to us about spiritual warfare. She took us through the book of Ephesians and broke it up into 3 parts. She spoke on ‘sitting’ (our legal position in Christ/ who we are) ‘walking’ (what our life in the world should look like) and ‘standing’ (our attitude towards the enemy).  I found this really helpful to understanding what spiritual warfare is really about and why we don’t have to face it as a topic that’s fearful or creepy. The beautiful thing is that we don’t fight for victory, we fight from victory! When you understand that it’s so much easier to take control of temptation and to bring the truth of what Jesus has done into your circumstances on earth.

     Last week was on missions and the poor and needy. We had Ken Bartsch who’s originally from Abbotsford come and speak to us. He works for YWAM in Australia and is especially involved in the media. His teams go on outreach trips and film stories of the locals they work with and the country they’re living in. His presentation had a lot of really inspiring videos and crazy statistics about missionaries in the 10/40 window. It was cool to hear about how God is moving in these countries because  all we usually hear about is the negative stuff that is in the news . Of course there is still a huge need for missionaries and basic resources in these countries, but there are people who have dedicated their lives to helping these people and it definitely inspired me.

Yesterday evening (Saturday) YWAM Gold Coast and the Ashmore Uniting Church (church beside our base) worked together to put on a community carols event. We had lots of kids games, bouncy castles, coffee and even a prayer tent! This event has been happening for 8 years and YWAM has taken it as an opportunity to bless and love on the community we're in during the Christmas season in hopes that they'll see Christ's love through us! We had Tommy Franklin from Australia’s Got Talent and a few other Christian performers come to our stage and sing and dance with the community. They were awesome and just shone with the joy of the Lord the whole time.  It was a lot of fun and we got to hangout with Tommy Franklin! (If you dont know who that is you should youtube him!) Last year we had 800 people there and this year they think we had about the same, if not more. I think this event was the first thing that's really reminded me of Christmas since it doesn't quite feel right in nice, sunny weather :)

 

Week 9 & 10

      Hey guys! Sorry it's been a while; the last two weeks have been a little crazy. I can't go into too much detail but I'll try to give you a brief overview of what's been happening !

      Week 9 was on relationships and forgiveness. We had the base director Annette come and speak to us all week and it was really good. Christianity is all about restoring relationships; with God, others, and yourself. Relationship with God is the reason we were made and it's the first commandment. The second commandment, to love your neighbor, is the reason we're on earth.We spent a few days discussing dating and marriage relationships, and later moved on to conflict resolution. I learned a lot about how important it is to honour others, how the rules God has made for us are out of love, and how the devil twists the truth to create a less valuble substistute.  Forgiveness also really stuck out to me this week. Often when someone hurts us we often complain to God and say we can't forgive them because 'no one understands what they did to me'. God knows how we feel in every situation;  He's been there and he paid for it all on the cross. Jesus died for us because we have value, therefore we forgive others because they have value, not because of what they've done. It's not a sin to aknowledge your feelings towards someone, just make sure that instead of acting on them you act in love and forgive them. It might take a while, but the emotions will slowly follow. Forgiveness is a desision, not a feeling. Overall it was an awesome week learning about God's heart for wholeness in relationships.

     This past week was what Aussies call 'schoolies week'. Basically this is the end of the school year and the graduating class heads to the beach for a week of staying in hotels and partying. This happens all across Australia but 30,000 students come from all over the country to be at Surfers Paradise for this week. There's a lot of drinking, beach parties, and unfortunatley a lot of crime, sickness  and assault that come with the crowds. As the week progresses situations get worse, friendships break, and schoolies get depressed when they realize they're not satisfied with this worldly lifestyle.

     As a DTS we partnered with another Christian organization and became a part of the team of 800 volunteers on the Goldcoast. We were in small teams of 4 or 5 with one person we knew from DTS. My team had 9 floors in one of the main hotels that we were responsible for checking in on rooms, but we would often get emergency calls to other floors. From 6pm until sometime between 3 and 5am we would check in on hotel rooms, clean up after parties, take care of the sick & hungover, call paramedics, cook pancakes, provide mediation, and walk kids home from the beach to their hotels. The schoolies knew who we were as volunteers because of our t-shirts, and were ecxited to see us walking on the streets or through the hotel lobby handing out candy and helping them. Through this positive reputation we were able to make relationships with schoolies that slowly grew over the week. The main goal of this week was not to shove the Bible down people's throats, or even get kids to change their ways; rather it was to love and serve regardless of the situation or person. The hope was that through our actions they would begin to question why weren't involved in what they were, and would see the light within us. Once they noticed we enjoyed serving them and asked why, the doors would open to share personal testemonies and the gospel. As an organization we saw 97 schoolies decide to follow Jesus at the church service (Glory to God!!) with hundreds more experiencing the gospel through the actions and words of volunteers. It was a physically, emotionally and spiritually challenging week, but I can honestly say it was worth it.

     This week along with learning about spiritual warfare, we are spending a lot of time planning our trips to India and Nepal as teams. We sent in visa applications, are visiting travel immunization clinics (I am up to date, praise the Lord!) and are going shopping for appropriate clothing and gear. Please continue to pray for communicaton to finalize plans with our contacts and for the many team members that still need finances! Please pray against anything the enemy has planned to stop us from moving forward! Your prayers are so powerful and I am so thankful for every single one!

     Also a MASSIVE thank you to all of you who have donated money to me for my trip!! I appreciate it so much and I'm getting closer and closer to reaching the full $4000. If you would like to support me still you can either get in touch with my parents back at home or donate online using this website. http://www.ywamgc.com.au/finance/paydonate-online19.html?view=donate
Please make sure that in the comment box you write that it's for Rebecca Jobse 's outreach fees and you're golden! Thanks again!

Love and peace and many blessings to you all !!
Bec

Week 8 - Baptism!

      Another busy but amazing week is over. This week we had Mark Parker from New Zealand come and speak to us about Lordship and Fear of the Lord. It was a really in-your-face, challenging week. Mark was not afraid to ask people questions, push them outside of their comfort zone and be honest with what the Holy Spirit was saying to him. At the beginning of the week this was a little intimidating but as the days went on we realized he was doing this out of a fatherly love. I have a lot of respect for him and am really thankful that he completely devoted his time here to seeing us grow.

      When we were in lectures something that was repeatedly emphasized was the difference between accepting Jesus as your Savior, and making Him Lord and King over your life. The difference between being a believer in Christ, and being a disciple of Christ. We talked a lot about dying to ourselves and living by the spirit. It says in Romans 12 that our bodies are living sacrifices to God; because we're living sometimes we jump off the altar and choose to act out of selfishness. When this happens we don't need to get down on ourselves, we simply have to stand up and jump back on! There are some things we have to daily be surrendering to God and let Him have complete control in. The verse goes on to say "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." We can't just skip to the end of the verse and think we will know God's will. We have to 1) know God 2) Offer ourselves as a living sacrifice 3) Renew our minds and then 4) we can know Gods will for us. I dont know about you but that helped me to understand the topic of surrender and Lordship so much more. It actually benefits us to surrender things to God. We don't have to carry around our burdens or worry about the future because if we let Him take control he will guide us and provide for our needs. Isn't that so comforting?! 

     As a result of this week I chose to get baptized on our ministry day on Friday. I was baptized as a child by my parents, but I've never made the desision to do it myself. I really felt like it was the next step in my relationship with God and I wanted the date to be a physical landmark of my choice to make Him Lord over every part of my life. After a morning full of worship, giving to each other and repenting, we packed into the vans and headed to the beach to get baptized in the ocean. My friend and housemate Emma also chose to get baptized.

    After I shared my heart behind getting baptized to the group, both Mark Parker and my house leader Mikayla came out into the water with me. They prayed over me for a while and baptized me. When I came up, out of that water I knew I was a different person. The old Rebecca died and a new one lives! Hallelujah! I was greeted on the beach by all my friends and leaders and they spent a while praying and prophecying over me. While this entire thing happened the sun was setting beautifully. It was such an amazing day!

 

     When it was all over, I got to watch Emma do the same thing. It was so exciting ! The picture below is the girls I live with. 4 of us are DTS students and Mikayla (second from right) is our leader. I am so, so blessed to have them in my life. They are truly amazing people and I love them a lot!

 

     I also have exciting news regarding our outreach trip! We are leaving in January and flying to India, but in the beginning part of our journey we will be heading up to Nepal (!!) and ministering to the people there for just under two weeks. Then we will go back into India for the remainder of our trip. Please keep praying for our contacts, funds and trip logistics. We are applying for visas this week! If you feel called to give and support me financially I would be so blessed. Please message me so we can work something out. I love you guys so much and I would not be here without you! Thank you for everything!! xox

 

Oz Quest

        This week was quite different to the other ones so far. On Monday and Tuesday we had regular days and lectures, but from Tuesday night until the end of the week the students went on a trip called Oz Quest. The whole thing was a surprise to us. Literally all we knew before leaving was what we had to pack. We were given a packing list and were told not to bring anything that wasn't on the list. Just so you get the idea of what was going through our heads at the time I'll let you know a few things about the list. Sleeping bags were allowed but 'pillow' was not on it. The only hygiene items on the list were toothbrush/toothpaste and a bar of soap. We could judge by how many shirts we were allowed to bring approximately how long the trip was, but we really didn't know anything for sure. So as you can see this trip became a challenge right from the start; simply because we didn't know what to expect.

     We met tuesday night and the first thing they told us was "All of your questions about Oz Quest will be answered by the end of Oz Quest". How brilliant is that? So then it started. We ended up running around, hiking and camping in Australia's wilderness. There was a lot of hiking and walking involved, the leaders estimated about 150km by the time we were home. The first day alone we spent about 8 hours hiking to the camp in our teams. The plus side of this was the amazing views we had at the top of the mountain. Everything was so green and alive! It was a beautiful couple of days.

     This trip was designed to be physically, emotionally and spiritually challenging, but most of all it was meant to bring our outreach team closer together. Oz Quest was an opportunity to work out all the kinks in our team and discover what we're good at and what we need to improve on so that when we go on our outreach trip it's not about us. Our focus is going to be sharing the love of Jesus with people and speaking value into their lives. We don't want to be distracted by our selfishness and potential team conflicts. We did a lot of team building activities and each person had the opportunity of being a leader. Through this we got to learn each others' style of leadership and their strengths and weaknesses.

    The other goal of Oz Quest is to learn how to fully trust and depend on God. Like I said before we were given a strict packing list to abide by and being in the wilderness we didn't have the comforts of home. We had to sleep outside, eat outside and pee outside. The food we were given was not what we were used to eating, and there wasn't a lot of it. We learned to be completely satisfied in God and to trust Him to give us energy for the day. We spent an hour every morning in personal quiet time with God and another hour doing devotions and worship as a large group. I think the biggest thing I learned was to give God complete control of everything; surrendering my plans to Him. I am one of those people who likes to know what is going on at all times and I like details. It was a challenge for me to have everything as a surprise, but I think it taught me a lot. I wouldn't say this was my favorite trip ever but there were for sure some high points and some good times. I know this trip was a large part of coming together as a team and Im really glad we did it!

   **Side note for all those who are interested: we saw heaps of weird and kinda scary animals while we were out.  Lots of spiders, including a huntsman that was the size of a toilet paper roll and some long legged green ones. (EWW) We also saw a few snakes (a little too close gor comfort) an iguana about 4ft long, something that looked like a small crocodile but might've something else.., multiple lizards, and a ton of wallabys! They're like little kangaroos and they're super cute! All this and we didnt even go to the zoo. I'd call that a success :)

       

Week 6 - Identity

       Story time! So this week I decided to challenge myself and not wear any makeup at all. God brought this to my mind last week but I honestly didn't feel like giving it up and didnt think it was a big deal for me. However, on monday I was reminded of this and decided to just obey. The cool thing was that when I got to class that morning I noticed that a few of the other of the girls wearing any makeup either. We found out later that God had spoken to us induvidually about doing the same thing for different reasons. It was a little bit uncomfortable in the beginning but as the week progressed I was so happy I did it. I also saved myself 10 minutes of getting ready in the morning! 10 more minutes for devotions with God. Win win! Our world is so focused on outer beauty it's ridiculous. We need to start looking at the heart of people! I'm not saying wearing makeup or caring about how you look is bad; I actually quite enjoy dressing up, I just want the world to know that I don't find my identity in how much makeup I wear. And guess what topic lectures were on this week... Identity! God's a funny one I tell ya.

       We had the amaaaazing Joanne Blaik come and teach us about Identity in Christ all week. I know God created me perfect, and I can quote verses to you, but in reality I wake up every morning believing the opposite. For me this week was a journey of moving my head knowledge down to my heart. Joanne did very well at explaining where the lies we believe come from, the difference between men and women's beliefs about themselves and what the Bible actually says about us. On The last day we were told to write out a list of lies about ourselves that we believe. Things that have been spoken over us in the past or things that have always been an issue for us. Then we were told to write out a list with the corresponding truths. On Friday morning Joanne asked us to one at a time read out the lists of truths in front of everyone. Often more than once, and until we were confident in what we were saying. Every person reacted differently and some truths were harder to proclaim than others. It was difficult  to do but it was also so powerful. This excercise brought heaps of confidence and healing and it was just an awesome experience for everyone. Then we ripped up all the papers with lies on them and prayed for a renewal of our minds. Identity is so important because what you truly believe about yourself affects how you live your life entirely. Believe the one who made you :)

        Just for fun some of the DTS students thought it would be cool to make a video with our identity as the Bible says it. We call these 'I am' statements. Please watch and enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdXNknW6Yko 

     On another note, India is happening in 71 days!  Our information is still limited, but I am so excited for what God is going to do on this trip! I have such a heart for meeting people and hearing their stories. I want to see miracles happen, people's lives changed, and I want to lead people to Jesus. For this trip I still need to raise $2000. God has been faithful in providing me with work and finaces this far and I know He will help me finish raising funds. I would appreciate it so much if you could consider giving to me financially; every contribution means so much! To do so you can shoot me a facebook message/ email or contact my parents. Thank you soo much for everything you guys have already helped me with and for all the prayers !

God is still God. He is still good & He is still changing lives.

Becca

P.S.
Sorry I don't have any pictures from this week, I'll make it up to you next week because we're going on a 3 day adventure from Wednesday to Friday where I'm sure I will have plenty of stories :)

5 weeks in.

        I've been here for over a month! It's weird to think about because it feels like I've known these people for years, yet it's like I'm on a short vacation of sorts. I don't miss home very much, I just miss being around all the people I love. I'm very glad I'm here and that I have this opportunity to travel and learn about God. I also get more and more excited about our trip to India. We still don't know very much, but plans are falling in place and we booked flights! We're flying out on January 6th to New Delhi with a long layover in Singapore and will be spending 6 weeks in the Northern part of India in places like Agra and New Delhi. Please keep praying for the places we will be staying and the contacts we're meeting with.

       Lectures the past weeks have been awesome. Week 4 was the Character and Nature of God/
the Father Heart of God and we had Chris and Jill Twinn come and speak to us. I learned so much through them and I was constantly thinking about what they said, trying to absorb all the information and read the word of God for myself. This past week was on Evangelism and Apologetics and that was really cool for me because I learned how to defend what I believe in.

       So I realized the other day that most of you probably have no idea what I do on a regular week day, so Ill try to give you a little low down to help you imagine whats going here and how you can pray for me. In the morning we meet for worship and intersession 9am. Twice a week it's everyone on the base and the other 3 days its just our DTS group. Morning tea is an Aussie thing that always happens at about 10am every day then from 10:30 - 1:00 we have our lectures with the speaker of the week. After lectures is lunch and after lunch is different everyday. Monday is outreach prep, Tuesday is one-on-ones, Wednesday is study time. Thursday and Fridays after lectures are ministry days where we go out into the community to love on people and share the gospel. On thursday our DTS is split into 2 groups where half of us go to "Set Free Care" in the afternoon and half go to "Coffee van" in the evening. Set Free Care is run out of one of the local churches here where we team up to serve lunch and share testemonies with about 35-50 street people. Coffee Van is where we take our van and park it by the large mall in Southport to serve the people walking by free coffee, tea, milo, or baked goods. In both situations I have had the privledge of hearing life stories and praying for people. It's been awesome to see people come back each week because they know we have something that's different than what the world has. On friday afternoons we focus our attention to the beach at Surfer's Paradise. We set up our beach volleyball courts and encourage visitors to come and play a few games with us. I really enjoy this ministry because sports have always been a large part of my life and it's easy for me to interact with strangers through sports. The members of our DTS who dont play volleyball often talk to the visitors who watch our games and just encourage them. We want to be a group that shows God's love to everyone and plants seeds in hearts for the Holy Spirit to grow. I have really started to grow a heart for this city and for the thousands of lost people in it.

    
            The weekends are free time for everyone, other than attending church on Sunday. Sometimes we try to plan outings with our group to explore Australia, and sometimes we just spend our free time doing homework and suntanning in the backyard. Last Saturday a bunch of us went to Mount Tambourine (about a 45min drive away) and did a little exploratory rain forest walk. It wasn't the nicest weather outside, but it was still a really beautiful park with a big waterfall and it was fun to go out with the group.



This is Rachel S. and I on the edge of the waterfall, she's from Calgary, AB and lives in my house :)















      Like I said earlier, the one thing we are encouraged to do on weekends is go to church. Usually we attend King's Church (about 20mins away) and I really enjoy the service there. Last Sunday we went to the local Ashmore Uniting Church right beside our base because we use their facility a lot and the congregation there really likes to see the young adults they're supporting. Even though the service was more traditional and it was an older congregation, it was awesome to be there. I had the opportunity to sing a duet with a fellow student for the offering and in talking to some members after I could tell that they were really blessed to have us there and be apart of their service. Since it was also Thanksgiving for us Canadians we had a massive Thanksgiving dinner at our leaders Tina and Emmanuel's place. Below is a picture of all us Canadian students and a few Canadian leaders. It was weird not being home for Thanksgiving but it was sweet to share this special holiday with my new family here.There are so many things to be thankful for. Just fact that I am here living in Australia is something I am so grateful for and I can't thank you guys enough for supporting me! :)

heaps and heaps of love. xx