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 :)