The Adventure of being Office Staff

Hey Yall!

Sorry I have been absolutely terrible at keeping up with this blog since graduation. Training started and time seemed to just disappear and POOF it's now August.

I am so excited about being on staff here at YWAM Toowoomba! I've been on staff for about a month and a half now and I am loving every second of it. Sure there are times where I feel a little lost or overwhelmed, but for the most part I am excited and eager to learn! The students arrived a couple of weeks ago and they are all super cool cats, I think God has some really interesting plans for this group of kids.

I have been training for a few weeks now and am slowly but surely becoming more and more autonomous in my duties. I still have lots to learn and have lots of questions, but I am growing in confidence and ability everyday. So far I have been trained on Admissions and Accounts. For Admissions I am in charge of making sure that incoming students have all the information they need to successfully make it to Australia and be able to work in the community. I also answer any questions that they may have about the school, or how to fill out a certain document. I know it sounds absolutely riveting, but I really enjoy it! I am the first impression that the students get of the staff here and get to know a bit more about them before they get here. Pretty cool. Accounts on the other hand makes me a little more nervous because I have never been really great in the terms of financial management and such and now I'm charge of paying bills for multiple accounts and creating invoices and such. My favorite part is all the new software I have to play with. This may sound super nerdy, but I don't know what I did with my life before Textexpander. Seriously a gift from above if you are working in customer service or administrative roles. And yes I've officially come to a point in my life where I'm comfortable shamelessly plugging a piece of software...

Outside of training I have had a few side projects which have been both really growing and really fun! My first project was creating schedules for all the intern (including myself) so that they have an idea of what their week is going to look like at least for the next 3 months. More recently I've been working on things based on Faith and Finance. I have to create an outline for our area leaders to speak from, and now I'm working on an article for the website about it. Fun Fact: It's a lot easier to write an outline for yourself because you can pretty much remember where you got the information from and what it's all supposed to mean and it makes sense to your brain, but when you are writing for someone else's brain you have to be way more detailed. Not that that is a bad thing, it is just a new approach that I haven't had to take before. I have also learned a lot about Faith and Finance through preparing for those writings. If you are in a place where you could use a little boost of faith in your finances I would recommend "Daring to Live On the Edge" by Loren Cunningham. He has a lot of great thoughts about how God provides for us, sometimes in ways we can't even anticipate. It was especially encouraging to me because I am having a little bit of trouble with being faithful in my finances. I came to Australia with my school fees almost completely paid off and was actually pretty comfortable. I came back to staff with almost no money and the promise that God was going to take care of me. Seems like it should be really easy huh? Turns out it's actually pretty hard. I constantly have to repent of my own disbelief that God won't do what he's promised to do for me, and have been humbled over and over again by the amount of faith that my coworkers have. It is definitely something that I will continue to grow in over this next season. God said this wouldn't be an easy season for me, that it would be a lot of stretching and growing, but that it would be wonderful too. I'm pretty excited actually!

I've had a lot of fun here on base, but I have also had a lot of adjusting to do. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore what I am doing, the environment, and the people I work with, I just got really, really home sick for a bit between graduation and the start of the school. I just wanted to get on a plane and head home, no looking back, but I knew that the feeling would pass eventually and that my family is only a skype call away. It's really interesting how much things are different between DTS and after DTS. I mean I wasn't really homesick at all during DTS, maybe a little bit here and there, but after graduation it really hit me full force. It was kind of a blessing at the same time though I guess. It made me really lean on the Lord and work through it with him instead of just giving in and going home.

Currently I am waiting for my visa to get approved. We mailed it in a few weeks ago and just found out that the person that was supposed to look it over before it got sent to Immigration has been on a missions trip and didn't get back until just a few days ago. So we are praying that everything goes well, otherwise my time here might be a bit more short lived than I had hoped. Only time will tell at this point I guess.

Overall things here are going great! I am still adjusting to not have 33 of my favorite friends living with me anymore, but I will always have the memories we made and will probably see a fair bit of them as they start doing their own ministries. I am so blown away by those guys and I still have a hard time believing that those 5 months actually happened. Everyone changed so much and God revealed so much to us! I guess it'll just take more than a few months to process it all, hey? Anyway, the staff here are great and welcomed me as one of their own right away which was really awesome of them. They are really diligent about having nights where we all hang out as a staff team, and there's always random things happening like open mics and gigs. Just last weekend we all went to this sweet performance venue called The Fuzz Box to watch The Convergence Method (a band that a few of the guys on staff started) play.

I'll try to get better about my blogging again, I forgot how much fun it is, even though I hate writing, but this isn't all that bad! ;) I can't wait to see what God has planned for me in the next few months before I go home for a holiday. He has made me tons of promises and I just need to keep waiting expectantly to see how they will play out. if there's one thing that I learned from DTS it's that obedience to God always brings good fruit (even if you can't see it as good in the moment). Sorry this was so long and ramble-y feeling but a lot has happened and I didn't know where to start, so word vomit for you!

Again thank you all so much for being so supportive of me and what I feel God is calling me to do. If you ever have questions about what I am doing, or want to know how you can get involved, you can get in touch with me through the comment section or shoot me an email! You guys are the best!

Much Love from Toowoomba,

Kate

Post DTS// Pre-Staffing

Hey guys! I have been so busy the past several weeks I have been totally slacking on my blogging, my apologies.

I'm going to try and take you guys through the past month or so of my life without being too boring or long winded. If you are way behind on my adventures, I have officially graduated my DTS! Graduation night was awesome. God was so present and it was incredible to worship with my YWAM family one last time before they all left for home. The following day we had an Honoring night, which is where we gather as a school and fill each other up with affirmations and truths before they send us off. It was probably my favorite and least favorite night of DTS as a whole. It was so great to speak life into other's and to receive affirmations myself. God did so much in our group and our hearts that night. It was my least favorite night of DTS too because it started the farewells. I wasn't expecting to get so attached to these lovely group of people or having such a hard time saying goodbye to them.

After four long, emotional days of goodbyes, it was my turn to leave the nest. Nora and I were headed to Brisbane for a bit of R and R and to explore the state we have been living in for the past few months. The first night was a bit of an adventure! We took a bus to Brisbane and took to the streets in search of a hostel for us to spend the night in. Luckily they take walk-ins! We finally found one around 9pm and it was definitely a completely different atmosphere compared to YWAM. I had gone from my nice little Christian bubble where no one really smoked, drank, or swore to an environment that very closely resembled a frat party around the clock. We only stayed one night and while we talked to a few people, we left so early in the morning we didn't get the chance to make any really impactful friendships.

Tylah came riding in on her silver steed to sweep us away and take us exploring. It was so great to get to see Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, and Bribie Island from a local perspective. She took us to all of her favorite nature trails and quiet time spots. I have to say there is something really special about reading your Bible on top of a mountain. Tylah also took us to an Aussie-rules game which is kind of like if someone took American football, rugby, and basketball and pressed puree on the blender. It was a super fun game to watch though I doubt I understood it as much as I thought I did. We also had a lot of time to hang out with Tylah's family and do some minor chores around the house which helped me feel a little more comfortable. One of our last days with Tylah was spent at Australia Zoo which is wicked cool! They have a bunch of training exercises and such that people can come and watch. It reminded me of working at the zoo at home!

While I had a absolute blast at Tylah's and got to sort out my emotions and thoughts from DTS, I am so excited to be back home on base. I've been back almost a week now and while it was another transition it still feels like home. I'm pretty much moved in and have started some minor jobs around the base. My roommate is awesome and hilarious, so I think we will get along fine, as long as I don't drive her too nuts while she's training me in the office! New staff members are coming Friday and then staff orientation starts Monday, I'm so excited for this next chapter of my life!

Thanks so much for all your support and prayers!

Much love from Toowoomba,

Kate

Outreach, Australian Re-entry, and the Closing Bell

My time in Fiji was truly something to be remembered. God moved in such miraculous ways, and met us each step of the way on our journey. He healed so many people through our team and gave us so much unity that even the other YWAMers we met knew we were different. There are hundreds of things that I want to say about my Outreach to Fiji, but I will stick with the highlights to prevent you guys from getting bored...and me from rambling. 

1. Fiji

    So by now I know most of you have heard the story of my apple incident. I thought I checked my bag for food, and ended up missing a giant green apple sitting in the bottom of my empty bag and it ended up costing me 200 USD. Thank the Lord for my generous outreach team leader because I could not afford to pay for it myself and he ended up covering a bit of it for me. God has been teaching me a lot about receiving through that because he won't let me pay him back and it's really hard for me to not feel indebted to him for it. But God keeps trying to teach me that letting others take care of you sometimes isn't bad, it's good and builds unity in the body. I've just seen so many instances where people become wholly reliant on others and can do nothing for themselves so I try to avoid putting myself in situations where I need to ask for things from other people. And then I decided to join the mission field.... Definitely a culture shocking experience. 

    We spend the first week in Fiji in the city doing evangelism, school visits and hospital visits. We prayed for tons and tons of people because they are so open to it there. They were actually asking us to pray for them when they found out we were missionaries. The special needs school was one of my favorite times in Lautoka. We spent the morning just loving on kids that were waiting for their parents to pick them up for school holidays. We played tons of silly games, did a lot of dances, and mostly just laughed a lot with a group of really rambunctious, loving, 6-9 year olds. The hospital was a really hard experience for me both spiritually and emotionally. There was a lot of desperation and despair, and after being used to first world medicine my whole life, it was heart breaking to see how different the level of care was. I'm not saying the health care in Fiji is bad by any means, but there is an overwhelming amount of people waiting for treatments that are so easily accessible in The States. 

   After our first week wrapped up we went to the Yasawas Island chain to stay in a village for two weeks. Those two weeks were so much fun! We spent most of our ministry time doing house visits and building relationships with the villagers. Every night we ran a church service in the local Assemblies of God church, which was so cool! Everyone got to share at least part of their testimony and a sermon that they prepared. My evangelism team really really clicked with one particular family and we spent a lot of time around their house helping with chores and playing with the kids. We also did a beach clean up with the village, and did a kids day where we just did games and skits in a field with about a million tiny Fijian kids. I have never had so much fun or been so tired in my life! Leaving the village was really hard because by the end of our stay they felt like family. 

  We finished our time in the villages and then we went to a goat farm in Lautoka to help a Christian Indian family whose father is busy at a  DTS. We did a lot of house work and also prepared a few plots in their garden. It was such a blessing to be there and see how generous they were even though they themselves were praying for finances. Our last week was spent in Lautoka doing more evangelism. We spent one of our last days with our contact and his family at his house. They did this big lovo for us which is a Fijian way of cooking that is usually reserved for special occasions. It was so hard to say goodbye to them even after they came back to our accommodations for a while to spend some family time with us. It was so nice. 

2. Australian Re-entry

 

   Coming back to Australia was a bit harder than I expected. I don't normally get culture shock going on a missions trip, but I almost always get it coming back from them. It is really overwhelming to see how much stuff we have easy access to that some people need to ride on a boat for hours to get. The materialism of the first world is always super offensive to me at first too. It is weird going from living off of so little and only have 5 days worth of clothes in my bag to walking past department stores that have thousands of dollars worth of merchandise just sitting. Most of the time waiting to be put on clearance just to make rook for more stuff. 

  

   It was really good to be back in Toowoomba though. I have missed my YWAM family here, and my family in The States as well. The weird part of being reunited with everyone was that it didn't feel like we ever left at all, yet everyone was so different! It was definitely an adjustment. Everyone has new inside jokes but still hangs out with their old friends so wires tend to get crossed. Teams want to keep spending all their time together but still want to be part of the bigger body which just leads to confusion and frustration. It's been really interesting to witness. 

3. The Closing Bell

DTS is quickly (way too quickly) coming to a close. We only have a week of local outreach left, and then we have debrief week and people start heading home. I guess the fact that I'm not going home makes things weirder for me because it feels like everyone is leaving me. Luckily a few of my closest friends are considering coming back to staff next year, and they want to get together when I come home to visit. It'll be great to see how things have changed and stayed the same. I've been spending a lot of my free time working on visa applications and trying to figure out my plans between my DTS and staff orientation in July. I also need to organize how I'm going to fundraise for staying on as a full time missionary and just what life as a full time missionary is going to look like. It's all a little overwhelming but it is also making me have to rely on God a lot more to know that he will provide and comfort me. 

 I never thought that any of this would be happening, but God has been speaking so much too me about my future and what I'm supposed to be doing that it's hard to do anything else. Thank you guys so much for all your support and covering me in prayer. It has made this journey so much more exciting and has taken a lot of unnecessary stress off of me. I can't wait to see what comes next, and I can't wait to hear more about what people have been doing at home! The hardest part about being here is that it kind of creates a bubble for me to live in. I find myself having to actively pursue information from people back home about what they have been up to and what is going on State-side in general. It's a new experience! Anyway I hope that you guys are as excited for the next chapter as I am because there are a lot of opportunities that are open to me and so many possibilities that I am almost bouncing off the walls with excitement. 

Much Love from Toowoomba,

Kate

     

Easterfest and Lordship Week

Hey Y'all! Here's a snapshot of the past couple weeks. I hope you can get a good idea of what I mean to say and that if you have questions or anything that you feel free to contact me!

So we finished bump in and jumped straight into the festival weekend! It was a blast. God showed up even when I was full of doubt that he would. I was fairly ill on Friday which was the first day of the festival and I also had to co-lead a worship set for 72 hours of worship. We had zero practice, one set of chord charts for 5 people, and a lot of anxiety walking into it. We started and it was a pretty bumpy start, but God showed up and every time Nora (co-leader) lost her voice, mine would suddenly come back and vice versa. It was great! I tangibly felt the presence of God and felt very confident about how even when I feel like I can't do it, God not only can, He will for His Glory. 

Eirill, Nora, Sierra, and me avoiding the Rain

The weekend was also a weekend of firsts! I had my first bubble tea, my first heavy metal concert, my first Switchfoot concert, and overall, my first music festival.
It rained a fair bit and there was a ton of mud, but that just added to the adventure that the weekend was!  There were several venues both in the park and in town to check out, and there were friendly faces wherever you went.

Bubble Tea date with Nora

The festival was even more beautiful at night! Friday was the most fun and most exhausting day of all. We had some of the rowdiest concerts (Norma Jean) and the Red Frogs Dance Party. We got home fairly late, but by the grace of God we all had energy (and caffeine) for the next day.

Promenade venue sign

After the Festival we had a few days of bump out, which is tearing down the festival, and then we started lectures again on Wednesday. This week we covered lordship and man was it a good bunch of lectures. We learned more about baptism and God's grace, and how we need to stop trying to serve God's kingdom and our own kingdom at the same time because it is a waste of effort. God wants all of us, not just the parts we are comfortable giving him. I've had to learn a lot about my own control and trusting God to take care of things better than I can. It has definitely been a stretching week. But is has also been an encouraging week and has given me hope in my future and the plans God has for me, because they will definitely be better than anything I could come up with.                                                


Friday was an amazing day of worship and baptisms! almost 30 people were baptized and we got to witness for them as a YWAM family. There was so much joy and freedom in the room, it was contagious! We played worship songs and sang together and hugged like no tomorrow. It was so great to see my good friends welcomed into a the family, or rededicating their lives.
God has been talking to people like crazy recently and it is really cool to see how it has changed them.

Saturday was a family fun day! In the afternoon we had a massive volleyball tournament and hung out in the backyard together. We even picnicked for dinner. It was laid back, and I got to take tons of photo's with Sierra's awesome camera. There were even a couple dogs that I was able to play with (I've severely missed dogs). I loved getting to hang out with everyone since we didn't see much of each other during the festival.

So I know this blog hasn't been filled with tons of revelations or God stories, but God has been doing so much that I am still processing it all and the lecture series isn't quite finished yet, but just know that I am continually blown away by my King and everything he does through me and for me. I leave for Fiji in less than two weeks which is mind boggling! If anything else really cool happens this week that I can articulate, I will be sure to post again. Thanks for your continued love and support! I think of you guys often and love being able to catch up on your lives through facebook and email. Please keep our base in your prayers over the next few weeks as we all embark on our outreaches for the next month. It'll be quite the adventure!

Much Love from Toowoomba,

Kate
 Ps a few of these photos belong to Sierra Shurr, she's awesome and let me steal them

Becca and I

Bump In and Outreach

Hey Guys! So I have been learning lots and spending tons of time with my friends and I kind of neglected my blog a bit. Apologies.

Okay so Easterfest Bump In (set up) as started this week and it is flying by! The first couple of days were the guys doing a bunch of heavy lifting while the girls took care of work duties and such at the base. Wednesday was my first day on site and will be my last day on site next week. According to one of the tradies I worked with we are almost 4 days ahead of schedule for bump in because of how well everyone is working together.

Sara amidst the giant lanterns

   
          Examples of jobs we have been doing (my team at least):
   - putting up temporary fencing
   - installing flooring
   - separating thousands of wrist bands
   - setting up lanterns
   - helping spread out almost 5 tons of sand
   - setting up tables and chairs in various venues
   - securing truss structures

Other teams have been building stages, and cleaning out the storage units from past festivals. It has been a very fun, very exhausting couple of days. I can't wait to see how it all comes together, every time we show up it is looking more and more like a music festival! Vendors have started showing up to set up their tents and main stage is being assembled and cabling being run. It will be awesome! Since we are a music and worship school, we get to attend the festival so that we can observe the different artists and explore different music genres that we might not normally be drawn to.

Sharon tightening the clamps on a fence

Outreach is drawing closer as well which means we have been spending a lot of time with our outreach teams working on skits, dances, and the like. We have also been doing more work projects as teams and it's great to see how well we all work together and watching people just step up to get things done. After Easterfest we have about 2 or 3 weeks of lectures and then we head out to our outreach locations in mid April. I'm getting more and more excited as the day draws closer, and I know I'm not the only one. It will be difficult being away from all of these yahoos for 4 and a half weeks after living in such close quarters with them for the past 9-10 weeks. But I think it'll be a great experience and we will all have great stories to share when we get home again.

I just got a package from my family this week which has made me a bit home sick, but it was great to read all of the notes and letters, and I loved looking at all pictures they sent. But I have been communicating with them a lot which helps a bit, but it still sucks to realize all of the things I am missing at home. The reality that everything is going to be different when I get home is finally starting to set it and I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about it, let alone how I actually feel about it. I don't know. I've had a lot of time to think about things while I'm working which could be a bit dangerous since I tend to be an over-analyzer.

Team Fiji! (Sorry Tyler, half your face got "trimmed")

Anyway. While I'm on location for outreach I may not be blogging as much (if at all) because the culture of Fiji is very relationship oriented and I don't want to miss out on anything because I am busy planning my next blog update. Not that I don't love writing them or keeping you guys in the loop, I just want to be present for my team and for the people we are serving. I will be keeping a journal that I will use to write a big blog post when I get back on Australian soil. My family will be receiving updates that they can share with you guys, and I will be trying to stay in contact, but I want to be clear that blogging is not going to be a goal while I'm there. :) Our team is currently in the stage of writing sermons, testimonies, games, and songs to share with the people we meet. So be praying for creativity!





I don't currently have a giant list of prayer requests like I usually do, not because things are going so great there is nothing to pray for, but just because I want you guys to pray into what you feel lead to. As usual, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, contact me! I love you all and miss you muchly, but am enjoying myself immensely and growing so much! Thanks for your continual support and prayers, it means so much to me!

Much love from Toowoomba,
Kate

             

Evangelism, Gold Coast, Relationships

The past two weeks have absolutely flown by! Week 5 we focused on evangelism and how much it requires having a strong identity in Christ in order to be good at it. Otherwise it's like trying to get people to listen to a band that you have never listened to before, you know nothing about it so you'll have nothing to say. I loved hearing all of Jake's stories about evangelism and seeing his heart for it, it made the lectures so fun. Friday we hit the streets and spread God's love. It's always really cool to see how people react to hearing truths about them self. 

Saturday we had a school trip to the Gold Coast for some bonding and fun in the sun. It was a great day out! We all loaded onto the bus bright and early and headed to surfer's paradise. We body surfed and played volleyball, and my favorite part of the day: my best bud Jeffrey got baptized!!

It was such an awesome thing to be a part of and to see how quickly this hodgepodged group of kids had become family to me. After a few hours we hopped back on the bus and headed to Dreamworld. I loved getting to hang out with different people and the rollercoaster a were pretty fun too! Even though we were super busy and running all over the place for the first couple of hours, it was wonderful to just sit around eating ice cream and getting to know each other better. It was a long, hot day in the sun, but also exactly what we needed after the a few weeks of heavy ministry.

This past week we learned about relationships. Our speaker pulled a massive prank on the school and made us all dress up formally for lectures and then pretty much told us not to ask questions or come to class unless we had completed an impossible amount of homework. At first I thought he was completely serious but once he started rambling off homework assignments I figured it out. Turns out that was the exact opposite of his character and he really encouraged us to dialogue with him during lecture. We learned about relationships between us and our family, between significant others, between Adam and Eve, and between the trinity. It was a great week, and I got a lot of revelations about some relationships in my own life that needed to be repaired. 

This coming week we are learning about spiritual warfare, I'm so excited! It used to be something that I was very fearful of, but God has totally been working on that with me and has given me boldness in it. I'm pretty excited to hear more about it and see what our speaker has to say that I may not already know about. 

Prayer requests: unity and peace for this next week, financial blessings for the YWAMers that still owe outreach fees,  and continued excitement as outreach gets closer! One thing that the base could use prayers for is transportation, they are praying in a large can or bus to help schlep students from local outreach to local outreach. It would be so cool  to see those prayers answered! Besides that just keep praying for joy and rest for all the students. 

Thanks so much for your thoughts, prayers and support! 

Much love from Toowoomba!

Kate

The Holy Spirit, Cyclones, and Lighting, Oh My!

So I've already started to fail at the weekly blog thing, I apologize! The past couple weeks have been crazy hectic in the best way possible I don't even know if I can find the words for all of it, so for now I'll give you guys a little snapshot...

The past two weeks we have covered Fear of the Lord, Repentance, and Holy Spirit. I was expecting it to be fairly low key, but as you read in my last blog entry, it was anything but. God showed up in a big way and broke a lot of chains, healed a lot of people of things both spiritual/emotional and physical. I received a lot of freedom both weeks. However the one that probably hit me the hardest was Holy Spirit week. There were days where we had ministry and I would actually wake up sore the next morning from either laughing or just being completely "zapped" by the Holy Spirit.

During this week (Holy Spirit week) I really had to give up a lot of control, which was awesome and so freeing! There was one day where we were asking the Holy Spirit to be with us and fill us and we were just giving "crap" to God and I actually had to lay down. It was pretty awesome until I realized I couldn't get up which was a little worrisome, but God was like "Wait watch this" and showed me a ton of stuff about myself again and how he was actually completely remaking me. I got super dizzy at one point and I was like "God what is up with this, I'm stuck to the floor and I feel like I'm spinning?!" He then showed me a really cool picture where he kind of zoomed out and I was laying on a potter's wheel. Essentially he was saying "you're currently a blob of wet clay that I'm working on, enjoy the ride". It was incredible! Not only to get pictures from Him but to hear His voice clearly and know what he was trying to show me.

We had a few more ministry times that week with our speaker Kristen, that dude really gets the Holy Spirit. Both of them I ended up on the floor and with one of them I actually felt like I got hit by a bolt of lightning (the nonlethal kind) and didn't necessarily get anything audible from God but just got to experience his presence and the Holy Spirit in a whole new way. The last ministry day we had was super intense for me. We were learning about Spiritual Gifts and then Kristen said that we were going to pray that God would reveal our gifts to us and show us other people's gifts. He went around and "read people's mail" for a while (Christianese for him saying things that he couldn't have possibly known about them) and then he had the staff come and pray for us. A wonderful woman named Elise prayed for me and she is a power house when it comes to prayer. At first I was a little confused with what she was saying because I felt like God highlighted 4 gifts to me about myself and she was listing literally all of them but the ones I was thinking of. I felt really selfish because I would love to have all the spiritual gifts but I didn't feel like I was allowed to, and so we just kept praying. God was working in me big time and then Kristen came and put his hand on my head and said "More God, give 'er all of 'em".  I barely got the word "Floor" out of my mouth before I fell off my chair. Talk about firsts! I had an awesome group of girl pray for me for a while and I'm not even entirely sure what they specifically prayed for because I felt like I had stuck my finger in an electrical socket and was humming with energy. After I got up and thanked them I felt like I needed to burn off some excess energy so I went outside and paced around for however long while one of my friends laughed at me. God was pretty much like "See Kate, Great things happen when you stop putting the two of us in boxes!"

He revealed some really exciting things to me that I will probably cover in a future blog post since I am still in the midst of processing it all.

Then that weekend we were "base-bound" because of Cyclone Marcia, which thankfully was only a low pressure system by the time she hit Toowoomba. We had a great time watching movies and playing games, but when the restrictions were finally lifted, people were pretty excited to leave!

This week we are going to but covering Evangelism and then this weekend we will head to the Gold Coast for some fun at the beach and Dreamworld.

Prayer Requests: as always just pray for continued unity at the base and respect towards one another. I could personally use prayers for health (i've been feeling under the weather off and on for a while)  and discernment as I process everything that happened last week and things that will happen this week. I also ask for continued prayers for finances not just for myself but for some of my friends that aren't paid off and for the base so that they can work on projects that they have planned without having to worry about the money. One finally thing would be prayer for our Building Approval that is this weekend (Feb 28). A government inspector will come in and assess if the property is up to code and this is really important so that we can start housing people in the log cabins by the main house as there are quire a few of them and most of them are either storage or vacant right now. The guy at the base (Jake) that is in charge of property maintenance  and all that fun stuff is also our speaker for the week, so pray that he doesn't get too stressed and has lots of energy and protection for him and his family that they don't get worn out by all of the busyness of the week. That was a run on sentence, but praying without ceasing means no punctuation right? ;)

I love you all and think of home often, especially this weekend, I was a smidge homesick...shhhhh...

If you have any questions or want to know how to support me or other people here at the base, give me a shout.

Much love from Toowoomba,

Kate

Outreach, Healing, Fear of the Lord

Oh my goodness guys!
 I wrote on Sunday and was completely wiped out, but I HAD to write again to tell you about the past few days.

It has been truly insane and wonderful. Monday we kicked off our week of Fear of the Lord and Repentance. I was going into the week a little anxious because there was a lot of unknowns, and not really feeling up to being in lectures or anything. Good thing I toughed it out! Our teacher for the week Lael really let the spirit lead her in our lecture plans. Towards the end of our lecture for the day she dropped to her knees and was said "if you guys feel called to, just kneel and declare what you want God to do for you this week or revelations you have". Slowly every person in the room was getting in a "worshipful" position. The Spirit was so heavy in the room, and one by one people started making declarations and breaking lies off of themselves. Lael played worship music and just asked God to continue what he was doing in all of us. I completely broke down, I haven't had such a powerful God moment since my Dad was healed. God broke down a ton of walls that I had even realized I had put up. I have always struggled with anxiety and feeling like I wasn't good enough for _____. But God also revealed something to me that I didn't even realize I was believing. He showed me how I had sabotaged relationships in the past with people because I didn't believe that I was worthy of unconditional love. Right as this was happening the song "Through and Through" by United Pursuit came on and I was utterly breathless. God not only showed me that I AM worthy of unconditional love, but what exactly that felt like. It was pretty awesome!

Monday night we found out our outreach teams, so they brought us into the main house and we did a few games and then they blindfolded us and we had to make animal noises to find our teammates. After our teams were all together we went into team meetings for a bit. Team Fiji is the smallest outreach team, but that is only going to work to our advantage, I'm really excited to see how we are going to grow as a team and to see what will happen on outreach.

One thing that I have been working on in DTS is freedom in worship because I've always felt awkward with hand-raising or dancing. Tuesday morning I experienced just freedom in this that I was laughing. Holy laughter is way better and way more joyful than regular laughter in case you were wondering. I was dancing with my friends and jumping, and being all around foolish for God, which is the best! I'd never experienced that before and I have to say, I loved it! I finally felt like a Noorman in the spiritual sense (not everyone will understand what that means, but talk to megan or hannah and they can bring clarity). While my own emotional healing was awesome, it was just a drop in the bucket of what happened this morning.

My outreach teammate and all around nice guy, Tim dislocated his right shoulder playing volleyball last night and was in a sling and on pain meds. During worship one of the leaders felt like God really wanted to do healing in  people in the room so we just started turning around and praying for anyone that had their hand up. I was lucky enough that God used me to heal my friend Jazz's knee which she sprained a few days ago. Tim received complete healing in his shoulder and took the sling off and started doing stretches. God is so good!

The story that really had me laughing and crying was of my Sweetheart of a friend Christa. We started praying for her during worship and God was just doing so much in her she was practically vibrating with energy. After a time we stopped so that we could start lecture, but when we took a break for morning tea a few people started praying for her again. Christa was diagnosed with INCURABLE Fibromyalgia (very rare in our age group) a few years ago. Well nothing is incurable to the Great Physician and Christa was COMPLETELY HEALED! We hugged and jumped in circles for a while. I mean this morning was the first time in two and a half years that she has been completely without pain. Praise God! I'm absolutely blown away guys, I mean come on, it's only week 3!

I also got to pray for our taxi driver today who is retiring in 6 months. When we got into the cab you could just feel how run down he was and after we talked to him and pray, you could feel how full of life and joy that cab was. God is so cool...

So that is just a snippit of what my past two days have been, and I am honestly so excited all the time I can only describe it as a Holy Spirit High, and guys I never want to come down!

Prayer requests!!!! With all of the great things that God is doing here, prayers are appreciated more than ever.
         Please be praying that Christa feels continued healing and is able to receive all that God has to over her. Pray that her testimony is a key that unlocks people's heart to God. Pray for team unity and base unity as we continue to go through repentance week and humble ourselves. Please pray for continued financial blessings for everyone here. Open hearts, open minds, and open eyes to see opportunities that God is laying out for us. Also be praying for all of the staff members as they reapply for their visas and are preparing for Easterfest. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, but just keep praying and worshipping!

Much love (and even more excitement) from Toowoomba,

Kate

Weekend Update # 2 (post 4?)

Week Two is coming to a close and it has been a great one! The weather has been absolutely lovely, sunny and warm during the day and chilly at night and early morning. We had our first night lectures, which while super informative, are hard to stay awake through since you are ready to sleep by 8pm. We also had an amazing opportunity on Tuesday night. A Canadian Reggae band named Tasman Jude came to visit the base to play a few songs for us and the lead singer shared his testimony. It was great! The band has hung out with us a few times since then, whether in town or at the base playing volleyball and watching our Open Mic Night. Speaking of which, holy cow do we have a bunch of talented people here. There were so many original songs shared and they were all wonderful! 

We also had the big reveal of what our outreach location options are on Thursday(Fiji, East Timor, Thailand, Cambodia), which was so exciting. A few of us already knew one or two things about it, either a leader that was going, or one of the countries we could choose form. After the presentation we were all given slips of paper to write down our top three choices after praying about it. We should find out our teams tomorrow.

I have been super tired this week, I think my jet lag has finally caught up to me, but it's all good because I've gotten to do a lot of people watching as a result. Friday night was our first night for local outreach! I went to a youth group of a local church with 3 other YWAMers and we had a blast! The students were so nice and took us in right away, and we played lots of fun games with them like dodgeball, card games, and something that involved plastic cups and ping pong balls and lots of running and screaming. I still don't know who won that game... We also got to listen to a talk about identity and worship with them, I hope to go back to visit at some point during DTS. 

Weekends here are free days for us unless we have a school activity planned, so yesterday I went into town with Jeff, Becca, and a bunch of others for lunch and some shopping. It was so nice to explore the city and not just be in the mall like last time. There are some really cute shops that I can't wait to explore, but mostly I just enjoyed hanging out with people. Jeff, Becca, and I got some Chinese/Malaysian food for lunch before meeting up with the group and getting groceries. Then we went back to base and had open mic night and a volleyball game. Today has been an extra lazy day that involved finishing my homework and skyping with the Fam-Jam. Over all it has been a great week and I can't wait to see what next week hold. Our next topic is Fear of the Lord and Repentance, and they say that it is usually a pretty emotionally draining week, so we won't be having Friday night outreach per usual. In a few weeks we are taking a day trip to the Gold Coast to check out Dreamworld and the beach, which should be a lot of fun! 

As for prayers, please just continue to pray for unity for the base and the Toowoomba community as a whole, God is doing a lot here and I can't wait to see how it all plays out. Also just for open hearts and open minds as we go into this next week so that people can share freely without feeling judged. I've said it a hundred times, but thank you all so much for your prayers and support, I love reading all your comments on my posts and pictures and hearing updates from home! ---Sorry this post might not make a ton of sense, I'm a little zombied out today :)

Much Love from Toowoomba,

Kate

The Weekend Update! (entry 3)

The past week has been one filled with overflowing amounts of joy, knowledge, Jesus, and freedom. I honestly can't believe we've only been here a week because it seems like a month has gone by. I mean that in a good way of course. One of our speakers, Jason said that one DTS is the equivalent to a seven year friendship and I totally get it now.

This week we have been focusing on the Character and Nature of God and Intercession. It was a week that I thought was going to be really boring and not get a ton out of because, hello, I've been a Christian since I could breathe. But in one of Jason's talks I realized something. That I, like most Christians say that we are Christ followers, but that we don't really KNOW him and his personality. That may sound silly to you, but think about someone walking into the room that you have never met before and declaring to everyone that they are your best friend. Now ask them to share what they know about you with everyone else in the room. They probably aren't going to say much are they. They may guess your favorite color, or be able to suss out your favorite football team, but they don't KNOW you. That was really convicting for me. After my Dad was healed, I was still really angry with God and stopped trying to repair our relationship and try to know him better. I thought that if I tried to forget about it, everything would get better... Luckily Leah took to mentoring me over the last year so that I could start getting to know him again. I started hearing his voice more clearly and being more obedient and boom, I'm in Australia. But I never realized how much of what God said I either ignored or put on the back burner because I didn't want to sound stupid. A few of the exercises that we did involved listening to God and sharing words with people, which I HATE because I'm always worried that I'll mess it up or share something that I shouldn't, or whatever! But God gave me a lot of freedom in that this week and I was able to be used to encourage others, which in turn encouraged me!

This has also been a week of relationship building. For anyone who knows me, you know that on the spectrum of relational to functional, I'm definitely a relational person. I'm also rather shy when it comes to meeting new people, but following the theme on my blog, God provides! He really cracked me open and filled me with joy and love for others. So much so that I didn't care if I acted stupid because I was just so freaking excited that they were here with me! I have played more card games in the last 8 days than I have in pretty much my whole life.  I mean a few days ago me and my pal Jeffrey played speed for almost 2 and a half hours straight.  They has also been about 3 volleyball games, several walks around the loop, and a lot of just spending time together and hanging out.

The base is pretty awesome too guys. I mean, truly a beautiful place to live. There is a great view of the mountains and valleys, and watching a storm come in is prime. We've only had a few so far, but watching lightning from above the cloud is really something everyone should experience at least once. I have an alarm clock, though I rarely have to use it because the kookaburra that lives outside our house wakes up at 5:05am and sings for all his lady friends to hear. At first I was annoyed, but as I started to make a habit out of waking up early to journal, read, or pray, I realized how much I enjoyed that extra hour.

Friday and Saturday were some of the most revealing days of the week so far. I mean there has been opportunities to talk to people and share your stories since we got off the plane, but this was TESTIMONY WEEKEND! Both my favorite and least favorite time. I loved to hear everyone else's story, but having to share my own has always been something that has made me uncomfortable. But I toughed it out, and only shed a few tears, and was rewarded tremendously. I love everyone here so much, but after we all shared some of our stories (some happy, most not), my heart was practically bursting. It really takes a lot of guts to sit in front of 40 people and share your traumas and heartache. But you could feel how much closer everyone was afterwards. God uses our pain and sharing our stories to bring us into community with others, and to bring others into community with Him.

This post is getting pretty long and there's like a billion other things that I want to add, but just know that right now, I am most certainly in the place where I am supposed to be. So I want to thank everyone that has helped me over the past few years, and everyone that helped get me here. I could get on a plane this afternoon and come back a completely different person and I can't wait to see what the rest of DTS and beyond has to offer. If you would like things to pray for, continue to pray for our awesome staff that they would have rest and be energized after long days of meetings and notes. Pray that our speakers tongues are blessed and share only what God wants for us each day. Pray that my joy is continuous and my spirit unwavering. Pray for unity and acceptance in the base, and wisdom with our words. Pray that everyday each person learns something new that helps them KNOW God better. And most of all pray that God's will is done here every freaking day, because doing what God asks us to do all day everyday is something that is pressing on everyone's hearts here.

Much love from Toowoomba,

Kate

Day 1-2 Settling In

Yay, we did it! I'm at the base and having tons of fun exploring and making new friends. It's raining cats and dogs out, but I love it because sounds lovely on the roof especially and hopefully it will keep the heat and humidity at bay for a while :)

Traveling went great! There were a few minor hiccups but nothing we couldn't handle. I was in the first group of students to arrive so we had some time to bond and explore before the rest showed up. More are expected to come today, but with the weather, I'm hoping their flights aren't delayed. One of the area's we got to check out of a road that everyone here calls "The Loop" it takes about an hour to walk it all the way through and get back to the base, but like everything else here it is beautiful.

I was surprised by my lack of jet lag when we arrived and got settled in, I didn't started to feel tired until about 5 or 6pm and finally crashed around 9. It was fun though. After dinner we were all in the main house and several different games broke out. I mostly watched because of how exhausted I was, but I did hang around the piano and sing with some of the students and staff. 

Speaking of which, the staff here are awesome, they are all such sweet, genuine, beautiful people. They were so helpful with getting our bags to our houses, and loved showing us around. 

I've decided that Toowoomba is pretty much Michigan and Costa Rica tossed together and dropped on an Island Nation. It's absolutely gorgeous. The houses are very eclectic and so is the wildlife, like "oh look a cactus and a palm tree sharing the safe tiny area of land". The view is AMAZING. There is a mountain (or large hill depending on where you come from) called Table Top that you can see from the point. We are up in the mountains so you can see for miles around when its not terribly foggy. 

Today is the last "lazy" day before the chaos, orientation starts tomorrow and then we are off!

As I've said a thousand time before, and will say a thousand times again, thank you all so much for your prayers and support! You are wonderful human beings and I will miss you all dearly, and can't wait to share everything with you when I return!

Preparing To Leave

It's incredible to think that my plane leaves in less than a week. Up until a few days ago, none of this has really felt very...real. I went from working hard in my classes and job, to not having to worry about either of them and suddenly having a million things that need to get done and zero time to do it. The amount of unknowns involved with this trip is a little overwhelming for a control freak like myself, but I think that giving up CONTROL and having more FAITH is one of the biggest lessons I'll learn on this journey. 

Along with the uncertainties and stress is a whole lot of joy. I haven't  felt so much of it in a long time, though I think that kind of joy comes more readily when you are being obedient to what God is asking of you. I honestly feel like I am bursting at the seams with excitement for what comes next. I have definitely had my anxieties about the trip, but God continues to push me and prove how much bigger than those anxieties he really is. 

One of the biggest components of the trip that I've had to "worry" about is finances. From the day I decided to apply to YWAM Toowoomba Music DTS, I knew that it was going to be a pricey trip. When I got accepted, I was overjoyed and instantly nervous about the money part. Being the sassypants that I am, I said "Alright God, if this is what I am supposed to do, you need to pay for it, because I can't handle the strenuous schedule of the DTS and worrying about money, so if you could pay for it in full that would be cool". Within days of this conversation I had offers for side jobs flowing in. God provides! I worked really hard all summer and fall to raise the funds I needed on my own, I didn't want to have to ask people for money because that just wasn't something I'm comfortable with. Eventually I received another nudge and wrote the letters and set them out. Promises of support, and actual checks started flying in, God provides! (Seeing a pattern yet? ;)) 

Not only have I been able to make all of my tuition payments in full, but ahead of schedule, with money left over for my next payment. I have been completely blown away by God's response to my anxious demands for money, and can't wait to see how he is going to use this DTS to shape me and how I will play a role in other people's journeys. 

Now that the finances are completely in His hands, I can worry about packing my life into boxes for storage, and then put the rest in my backpack. I think Friday will be a big day for packing and finishing cleaning because I won't have to worry about packing something that I still need. My last Sunday with my Southside family is fast approaching and I'm not really sure how I'll react yet... This week has been filled with cleaning and goodbyes. I have a few more people to hang out with and birthdays to celebrate, and then I just have to...go! 

Oh just as a heads up, I'm not really planning on proof reading these, so Grammar Nazis beware! Hopefully I can continue posting at least once a week to keep my wonderful church family, and friends up to date on my adventures.