"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation..."

The past two days we have gone out for a couple hours of street evangelism.  Yesterday being our first day of this kind of thing we were still getting the hang of it so we took cans of Coke and Sprite with us to give away as conversation starters.  We were all down at the Strand together but for most of the time I was paired off with SJ and we had quite a few nice conversations.  One conversation in particular was really great, we talked to a man about Jesus and the misconceptions that people have about Him and the Bible.

Today we started off by spending an hour and a half in prayer for the day and over each other.  This time we went to the City Center which is pretty much just the downtown of the city.  I paired off with Suz this time and we headed up the street.   As we walked we prayed about where to go and who to talk to, after a few minutes we decided to go to the train station but had no idea how to get there!  As we decided this there was a couple next to us so we asked them where it was and to our surprise they said, "It is right over that way and we are going there right now!"  We ended up walking with them to the station and were able to tell them about what we were doing in Townsville.  After the short walk to the station we left them there and headed back down the street.  We ended up talking to an elderly man named Elf who had grown up in Townsville his whole life.  He was quite a lovely man and we got to keep him compony for a little while as he waited for a lift.  The next person that we talked to was a roaming guitarist named Paul.  He was quite a nice guy and after chatting for a bit he told us that he wanted to be a famous musician.  Since we had been talking about Jesus a short while before he also said the he had used to be in a praise and worship band and started busting out some worship songs for us!  He had some great oldies and made us sing along with him, let me tell you thats one way to get out of your comfort zone!

Not knowing what to do next we headed back toward the main street.  I decided to go to the bathroom when I came out I noticed a man standing around and we said g'day to each other.  As I walked past I really wanted to talk to him but wasn't sure what to say, so Suz and I continued down the block.  While we were walking I started to pray aloud just asking God to highlight people that He wanted us to talk to.  No more than a minute later we stopped at a cross walk and there was the guy that I had exchanged a greeting with outside of the bathrooms!  We smiled and said hello and then he asked, "So what are you two up to today?"  I laughed, "Well!  We are actually part of a missions school here in town and right now we are on outreach and are going around talking to people about Jesus and asking what they think about Him."  Thats always an interesting conversation starter.  He was a bit of an agnostic and said that he didn't talk about either politics or religion much because of all the fighting.  After a few minutes of the three of us walking and talking he asked, "Where abouts are you guys from?"  "I am from California and my friend here is from..." Suz spoke up, "I am from Northern Ireland!" Then from absolutely no where this lady appears next to us and states, "I have been to both of those places, but I am from Darwin."  We ended up talking for 5 or so minutes after that as we walked, me with the gentleman and Suz with the lady, and we had some great conversation.  It turns out that the lady that Suz was talking to was a Christian who had been to hell and back with everything from her daughter being hospitalized over 100 times and herself having had cancer I believe and ending with her now only being in Townsville because she was traveling with a friend who is going to die in the VERY near future.  Suz was able to just be a friend and comfort and pray for her during this time.

Last thing I promise!  When we got back to our van we were sharing stories and Court and Andy had a crazy one!  When we all split up Court and Andrew prayed together asking God if He had anyone specific that God wanted them to talk to.  Courtney got a picture of a purple button down shirt and Andrew got a picture of a bend in the road, weird enough right?  Well they were just walking along and all of the sudden Andy starts running down the street!  Not knowing what was happing Court ran after him.  Andrew had seen some lady on a bike get hit by a car!  It didn't end up being anything bad it just knocked her over.  Anyways as they got there Courtney looks at the lady and she is wearing a purple button down shirt and she is in a bend in the road!  A bunch of people stopped to ask if the lady was alright but Court and Andrew were the only two that actually stayed to help.  It was really cool because the back wheel of her tire had fallen off and Andrew was able to fix it while Courtney talked to her a bit.

All in all it was a great time and though we didn't see any crazy conversions, who knows what these conversations sparked in people!  If you could keep my team and I in your prayers in this last week and a half of outreach that would be awesome.  Specific prayer requests would be for tiredness and endurance of people since there is no chance to ever get away from them, I mean people are great and all but the only place that you don't see one of their faces is in the bathroom and even then you can have them knocking on the door.  Ha the best is when you are in the shower and someone starts talking to you in the stall adjoining yours.  Anyways I hope you all have a lovely week!

Love,
Selah  

One week down, eight to go.

My goodness, we have already finished our first week of outreach and are into the second.  Only 7 1/2 weeks of outreach to go!  The AusLife seminars that we put on in Gladstone were so amazing.  During a seminar there are tons of different things that the kids do, one of which is small groups and the way these small groups are supposed to happen is there should be about 4-5 students and one leader.  WELL, it didn't really work that way...The first day I had 16 grade 8 boys in my group.  Yep.  Grade 8 BOYS.  Fun stuff!  No it actually really was and all during the week me and the other leaders were able to make awesome connections with the kids.  While during the time there we didn't see any huge and major breakthroughs we did see a lot of openness and we were able to plant a seed in their hearts about who Jesus was.

This week of outreach is all in our hometown.  Starting Monday (yesterday) until halfway through Wednesday we have been/will be working at our new city campus getting it ready for use.  It is hard work!  

Yesterday some people were painting while others, including myself, were digging up roots and working on the hill bringing all of the sticks and branches into the bin.  Today will be another 6 1/2 hour day so I am praying for some strength!  The other parts of our outreach this week will include things like sports ministry at the Strand, ministry at the skate parks, and possibly even spending and evening evangelizing at the clubs downtown.  

This is Johnny and the dance crew (M3) that we took to Gladstone with us.

It has really begun to hit me lately that I am almost halfway done with my DTS.  The first half has felt like the end would never come but now when I break it down it is really going to be flying by!  We have 1 1/2 weeks left of outreach, head into 3 weeks of lectures again and then have 6 more weeks of outreach and we are done!  Crazyness.  So far it has been such an amazing time.  God has been teaching me so much about himself and I have been learning about myself as well as many other valuable life lessons.  

My madre bought me tea!  Yes, my parents are the bestest. 

Love,

Selah

And We're Off!

Tomorrow we begin our minor outreach!   We have to be ready to go by 5am so needless to say it is going to be an early morning.  From there we have a 12 hour van ride to Gladstone where we will be putting on AusLife which I believe I explained in my last post.  I can't believe that we have already pretty much finished the lecture phase of school and are finally getting to start on outreach.  Our minor outreach is 3 weeks and then we have 3 weeks of lectures and then it is a 6 week outreach.  

This past weeks lectures were by Dean Sherman and he spoke on spiritual warfare.  It was actually a lot about relationships (he spoke 5 times as much on relationship than Steve who's topic was relationships) and how everything starts falling apart when relationship falls apart.  Dean spoke for the first 3 days and then one of the school leaders on base, Shea, did the last 2 days of lectures.  

Summer has definitely arrived in Townsville!  It has been quite hot and humid and even at night you can still be in shorts and a tank top and still be warm if not hot.  At 8 o'clock in the morning today it was 74 degrees fahrenheit with 85% humidity....this is their almost spring weather.  Thank the Lord that we will be down South on outreach for most of the next 12 weeks.

I will try to be posting every so often during the next 3 weeks but I am not too sure what my schedule will be like.

Prayer requests:  -- Energy!  We will be super busy with not a lot of sleep.
-- Unity within the team.
-- For the kids that we will be teaching and hanging out with.

Thank you all so much for your love and prayers!
Selah

Our big social event is going to Woolys....the grocery store.

Wolverine joined our DTS!  His civilian name is Grant. 

We had some fun camping, there were a few amazing sing-offs that happened.

We defeated the mountain!  This was a very last minute trek, I had just gotten out of the shower and Jacen says, "Hey Selah want to come on a hike? Please?"  I went and turn into a massive sweat and dirt ball by the time we reached the top, it was worth it though.  Oh and I saw a brown snake. 

The Week

This past week flew by!  Our speaker for the week was Steve who happens to be the national directer of YWAM, Australia...I think.   His topic for the week was supposed to be relationships, but we ended up only talking on the subject for maybe 1 1/2 of the 5 days.  The rest of the time was spent talking about predestination and if God knows the future and other things along these lines.  I have my opinions on these subjects and so it was interesting being able to hear different viewpoints.  When we finally did get to the topic of relationships I realized I already knew most of the material that we were going through, thanks to my awesome parents!

On Wednesday I started getting sick with a sore throat which ended up turning into a bad head cold with an achey body.  I am on the mend which is awesome but I would still appreciate prayers for a total  and quick healing.

Okay quick description of minor outreach.  My team (Court, Suz, Andy, SJ, Tori....I think thats it) along with a small dance crew and a few other YWAM staff members will be leaving Sunday morning at 5am to drive 12 hours to Gladstone.  While we are there we will be putting on AusLife seminars for several different high schools around town.  The topics that we will be doing the seminars on, I believe, are prevention of bullying and relationships.  Suz will be presenting in the relationships sessions along with a staff member, Jonny, and Andrew will be doing the prevention of bullying.  We will be there until Friday afternoon when we finish up our last seminar and then we will be driving back through the night so that we are back in time to put on Youth Street!  Wahoo!

I hope you are all doing well!  Here are some pictures that I took a few weeks ago on an early morning hike up Castle Hill with Suz.  Enjoy!

Selah

Suz kinda fell...and slid a bit...oopsies!

I have returned!

Wow its been a while!  As I mentioned in my last post we were camping until this last Friday which was amazing!  The location that we were at was very plain and secluded which made for a perfect setting to get to know each other and press into God even more.  We had lectures every week day during the mornings and after they finished we would either play footie (rugby), board games, card games, or just hang out and talk.  Nearby we also had creek that we could walk to and for those feeling more adventurous there was also a river and The Gorge that you could hike to.

This was my favorite quiet time spot.

Our first speaker was Mark Parker and he was speaking on Lordship and what it means to make Jesus the complete Lord of your life.  He has been my favorite speaker so far; he had so much energy!  On the first Friday that we were there, which was the last day that he was speaking, we had a very full day.  It started off with thanksgiving and we went on a walk stopping at points along the way and sharing things that God had been showing us that we were thankful for.  When we got back to camp we had a time of praise where people would have things that represented something about God to them, some also had things like poems that they had written.  I cant remember the exact order of what things went in after this but in short we had a time of giving, something else I cant remember, a guilt and sin offering, a baptism, and communion.  It was so awesome because my friend Suz was baptized then!  I also got to be in the water with her which was such a privilege.  The guilt and sin offering was pretty much people laying down things that had gotten in between them and God, we saw some major breakthrough.  

That weekend we hiked to river and The Gorge which was so beautiful! 

For the second week our speaker was Bruce Skinner.  Although he was not on the top of my list of favorite speakers he had some very challenging points which sparked some great discussions.  Bruce taught us the importance of reading the bible in context and not believing things just because it had been that way forever.  

Now that we are settled back on base I hope to be blogging on a regular basis again.  A week and a half until minor outreach!  I will update you guys more on how that will look soon.  

Thank you all for your love, prayer and support! 

Selah 

Since you're all probably wondering, "Who's the creep in the corner?"....Thats Jacen.

We built a fort! 

Crazy Suz with a machete.