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
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