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