Ok, so I have some very exciting news and a huge prayer request for everyone! I have been asked this week by the national office of Australia to travel to Perth for 5 days! :) Let me explain:
Perth is a very unreached part of Australia...they have just started up a ministry in the past couple years on the campuses in this city. There are only a few student leaders that are trying to lead ministries on their campuses. I have been asked to go out and help train the female leaders and catch up with them. I will be helping train them and equip them to lead their movements well for this year.
So with that, I am so excited to even be asked to take this opportunity with the national team. I am so beside myself....I have been a missionary 2 months and already being asked to do crazy things! I am so excited though all at the same time...God has just grown my heart for reaching the unreached places in this world. I am so excited to be able to help these girls and be able to have a part in the start of this ministry!
So I just want to say thank you to all of you who are supporting me in prayer and finances. Thank you for allowing God to use you in huge ways in Australia! I am so excited for this opportunity and would love prayer that God would really use me in these girls lives and that this weekend would be productive! I am leaving Friday morning, the 25th of March and will be gone until late Tuesday night!
Thanks for all the prayers, I will definitely tell you what happens when I get back next week!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Campus/Ministry Update!
So, on campuses, it has seriously been really good, but I don't think I ever fully realized how difficult ministry is. Let me explain....I love ministry and seeing campuses grow and students just opening up their hearts to Jesus and the Gospel. There is seriously no greater joy in that, but I never knew the tough situations that can come through ministry as well. I don't think I ever realized how many decisions I would be making and just moving from the role of student to missionary is crazy!
I love it though....ministry has been wonderful and God is just teaching me and growing me more then I could ever imagine! So here is an update on the campuses we are on:
University of Notre Dame: They now have 2 bible studies, 2 prayer hours, a weekly meeting at a neighboring campus they can attend, and a monthly social! There are new people coming into the group each week and it is growing tremendously. God is just moving in big ways on that campus. There are also 6 Christianity Explained courses taking place that are going really well. So prayer requests for this campus is that even with all the growth we are not seeing the students take up leadership, they love coming to the group, but dont want to take responsibility to run it. Pray for passionate students who will step up into leadership roles!
Sydney Uni: They are going really well! 4 Bible studies, weekly meeting, a few evangelism hours, and a couple prayer hours! This campus is definitely going really well! Pray that as they grow more leaders would step up and just that God would continue to bless this ministry.
ACU: I am beginning a Christianity Explained course on this campus tomorrow! It is exciting seeing the group begin with one person at the beginning of the year (Abraham) and grow into having at least 4 or 5 interested people now. Pray for Abraham, that God would give him strength and perseverance to keep reaching his campus for Jesus and that many more people would become interested! :)
UNSW: This campus is going fairly well too. There are weekly Bible studies and meetings for the students there. There are multiple Christianity Explained courses going on and people who are eager to learn more about Jesus. Pray that these contacts would fully commit their lives to Christ and God would create a passion in them to reach their campus for Him. Also, there is only one leader on this campus, so pray that more students would step up into the leadership position! :)
Other then that, ministry is great! It has definitely been a growing experience and growing my faith! Thanks for all your prayers! :)
I love it though....ministry has been wonderful and God is just teaching me and growing me more then I could ever imagine! So here is an update on the campuses we are on:
University of Notre Dame: They now have 2 bible studies, 2 prayer hours, a weekly meeting at a neighboring campus they can attend, and a monthly social! There are new people coming into the group each week and it is growing tremendously. God is just moving in big ways on that campus. There are also 6 Christianity Explained courses taking place that are going really well. So prayer requests for this campus is that even with all the growth we are not seeing the students take up leadership, they love coming to the group, but dont want to take responsibility to run it. Pray for passionate students who will step up into leadership roles!
Sydney Uni: They are going really well! 4 Bible studies, weekly meeting, a few evangelism hours, and a couple prayer hours! This campus is definitely going really well! Pray that as they grow more leaders would step up and just that God would continue to bless this ministry.
ACU: I am beginning a Christianity Explained course on this campus tomorrow! It is exciting seeing the group begin with one person at the beginning of the year (Abraham) and grow into having at least 4 or 5 interested people now. Pray for Abraham, that God would give him strength and perseverance to keep reaching his campus for Jesus and that many more people would become interested! :)
UNSW: This campus is going fairly well too. There are weekly Bible studies and meetings for the students there. There are multiple Christianity Explained courses going on and people who are eager to learn more about Jesus. Pray that these contacts would fully commit their lives to Christ and God would create a passion in them to reach their campus for Him. Also, there is only one leader on this campus, so pray that more students would step up into the leadership position! :)
Other then that, ministry is great! It has definitely been a growing experience and growing my faith! Thanks for all your prayers! :)
The last two crazy Saturdays:
Ok, so Saturday is my day off, so it is always an adventure! :)
Saturday the 12th of March:
This begins pretty normal day, cleaning the house and chilling, but then I am going to a friend's 21st birthday party! So 21st parties are huge here...they have themes, speeches, the works. This friend, Bek, had a theme of Latino, so I am wandering everywhere to find bright colored clothes and find nothing. But then, I see my roommates body board/boogie board bag which is definitely bright colors and think that I can wear it as a skirt....
So yeah, it was a great party, but then the adventure starts....I am driving my roommates car back to my house and end up taking a wrong turn in Sydney (Not something you want to do)! Anyways, I am with another American exchange student Dinnah and we pull over because we are lost. I am calling friends and trying to find the way back home, but a car pulls up next to us....I look over and it is a cop car. I roll down my window and the cop says "Oh if I got in your car how much would it cost to go to this suburb?" I am completely confused and he keeps joking and begins to ask, "Oh, you aren't a taxi? I thought you were a taxi?" I realize I had pulled off in a taxi only lane. Anyways, the police tell us how to get home, but it was definitely an adventure! :) First cop experience escaped with no ticket! :) haha....we made it home and it was all good! :)
Second Saturday: The 19th of March:
This Saturday was a little more epic! A few of us decided we really wanted to go for a hike even though it was downpouring rain! :) We went to Royal National Park which is absolutely beautiful, but this day it was just crazy. We finally make it to the park in the downpour of rain and get out and begin hiking....we soon realize that leeches are literally attacking us! :) There are hundreds everywhere...every step you take you got new leeches attached to your shoes. We continue on the track for maybe a kilometer and eventually just ran out of the forest. We got out and had so many leeches all over the four of us! It was definitely an experience! And as I am sitting in the car, I turn my head and about a foot from my face, there is no joke a massive spider....it was atleast 4 inches in diameter! I learned that they are huntsman spiders and are harmless. Good to know! :) Anyways, it was a crazy adventure, but definitely memorable! :)
So yeah, that is my adventures of Saturdays...lots of memories, lots of fun!
Saturday the 12th of March:
This begins pretty normal day, cleaning the house and chilling, but then I am going to a friend's 21st birthday party! So 21st parties are huge here...they have themes, speeches, the works. This friend, Bek, had a theme of Latino, so I am wandering everywhere to find bright colored clothes and find nothing. But then, I see my roommates body board/boogie board bag which is definitely bright colors and think that I can wear it as a skirt....
 | |||||||||
| Me wearing the boogie board bag as a skirt! :) |
Second Saturday: The 19th of March:
This Saturday was a little more epic! A few of us decided we really wanted to go for a hike even though it was downpouring rain! :) We went to Royal National Park which is absolutely beautiful, but this day it was just crazy. We finally make it to the park in the downpour of rain and get out and begin hiking....we soon realize that leeches are literally attacking us! :) There are hundreds everywhere...every step you take you got new leeches attached to your shoes. We continue on the track for maybe a kilometer and eventually just ran out of the forest. We got out and had so many leeches all over the four of us! It was definitely an experience! And as I am sitting in the car, I turn my head and about a foot from my face, there is no joke a massive spider....it was atleast 4 inches in diameter! I learned that they are huntsman spiders and are harmless. Good to know! :) Anyways, it was a crazy adventure, but definitely memorable! :)
 |
| Dinnah and I before we went on the leech adventure |
 |
| This is leech check #800....Seriously! :) |
 |
| Us running and escaping! |
Friday, March 11, 2011
Awesome things God has done while I am here:
Ok so first, I just want to say just how much God has blessed my time here in Australia. I feel like I have grown in my faith so much, which is awesome and challenging all at the same time! :) But yeah there are definitely areas God has just completely blessed in my time here so here they are....
1. My ministry team: I feel like I have just related to them a lot and God has really just let me fit in easily with them. They are a great source of encouragement and strength, especially when ministry gets tough.
(I will get a picture of our whole team soon...there are 5 of us, AJ, Keryn, Andrew, Amelia, and me!)
2. My church: The messages they give seriously hit me every week. The people there have been a huge source of encouragement and I am going to try to get more involved with them.
3. My house! I seriously feel like God really brought our house together in such an amazing way. I am living with Jess who is from athletes in action which is a branch of Campus Crusade and Ricardo, who is actually a mutual friend's brother who works with the Australian navy. We all just have had this vision for a house to be God centered and be able to host people who need places to stay.We have seriously grown to be like a family and it has been so great to be encouraged and challenged in my faith daily by them. These last two weeks we had a friend Steph stay who is from South Africa. It was so awesome to get to know her and we had some crazy fun times with her. But yeah, I feel like God has really blessed the church we live in and we are constantly busy having people over for dinner, breakfast, or whenever throughout the day!
So here are 2 stories from the house that just bring joy and laughter to my life and a small view into our daily lives where I live.
1. My housemates and I bought a ceramic duck the very first day we moved in....His name is Neville and he is awesome! :) He changes his appearance every few days....currently he is looking like this...
He also decides to move around the house and scare people as well. But yes he brings great joy to our lives!
2. Also with my housemates, Steph and a few friends, we decided to build a sweet fort. The fort quickly turned into a massive pillow war/battle! It was an epic fun time though! :) Here are a couple pics before the fort was destroyed and after the battle...
So yeah, there are 2 crazy stories from our house, but seriously I just want to shout out and say how blessed I am to be living where I am...I will put a video of a tour of our house soon, but God has seriously just blessed the place where I am at. I am living in a church, so we have this whole building that we can use to have people over and be able to serve in ministry! (We will soon be hosting a sweet hip hop party with break dancing competitions, a half pipe skating ramp in our basement, and just lots of fun and laughter...stay tuned!)
So yeah, I feel like God has seriously blessed me more then I could imagine and just thought I would share with you and give Jesus the glory of just really taking care of me while I have been overseas! :)
1. My ministry team: I feel like I have just related to them a lot and God has really just let me fit in easily with them. They are a great source of encouragement and strength, especially when ministry gets tough.
(I will get a picture of our whole team soon...there are 5 of us, AJ, Keryn, Andrew, Amelia, and me!)
2. My church: The messages they give seriously hit me every week. The people there have been a huge source of encouragement and I am going to try to get more involved with them.
3. My house! I seriously feel like God really brought our house together in such an amazing way. I am living with Jess who is from athletes in action which is a branch of Campus Crusade and Ricardo, who is actually a mutual friend's brother who works with the Australian navy. We all just have had this vision for a house to be God centered and be able to host people who need places to stay.We have seriously grown to be like a family and it has been so great to be encouraged and challenged in my faith daily by them. These last two weeks we had a friend Steph stay who is from South Africa. It was so awesome to get to know her and we had some crazy fun times with her. But yeah, I feel like God has really blessed the church we live in and we are constantly busy having people over for dinner, breakfast, or whenever throughout the day!
So here are 2 stories from the house that just bring joy and laughter to my life and a small view into our daily lives where I live.
1. My housemates and I bought a ceramic duck the very first day we moved in....His name is Neville and he is awesome! :) He changes his appearance every few days....currently he is looking like this...
He also decides to move around the house and scare people as well. But yes he brings great joy to our lives!
2. Also with my housemates, Steph and a few friends, we decided to build a sweet fort. The fort quickly turned into a massive pillow war/battle! It was an epic fun time though! :) Here are a couple pics before the fort was destroyed and after the battle...
 | ||
| Steph, Marlon, and Ricardo in our fort |
 |
| The middle of the pillow war! |
 |
| After the war.....very tired! |
So yeah, there are 2 crazy stories from our house, but seriously I just want to shout out and say how blessed I am to be living where I am...I will put a video of a tour of our house soon, but God has seriously just blessed the place where I am at. I am living in a church, so we have this whole building that we can use to have people over and be able to serve in ministry! (We will soon be hosting a sweet hip hop party with break dancing competitions, a half pipe skating ramp in our basement, and just lots of fun and laughter...stay tuned!)
So yeah, I feel like God has seriously blessed me more then I could imagine and just thought I would share with you and give Jesus the glory of just really taking care of me while I have been overseas! :)
Ministry...the joys and challenges
So the past couple weeks I have been on campus at the University of Notre Dame. It has been so great to get to know the students and see the movement expanding. I feel like God has really provided for this campus and is going to do big things. Here are some awesome things happening at UND (University of Notre Dame)
-There are at least 6 Christianity Explained courses being run at this campus. This is a course that explains Jesus' life and what the basics of Christianity is....the people coming to these courses are extremely interested in Jesus and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
-I went to church on Sunday and randomly met a girl who is going to UND and wants to get involved in the Bible study, she is such an amazing Christian, so it will be awesome to have her involved.
-There is a guy who came along to our Bible study and is interested in coming every week. He has just started to become interested in faith and God and what that might mean for his life, which is exciting to have him involved and learning about who Jesus is.
So yeah, God is totally working on this campus and it is really exciting. There have definitely been some challenges along the way with ministry, especially with such a rapid growth, but it has been so great to be able to grow through this experience and be able to depend on Jesus whenever things get a little rough. I am excited to see what God is going to do this year at UND and would love for your prayers. Pray that the 6 people going through CE would fully accept Jesus by the end of the sessions. Pray that more people come along to Bible study and that the movement could grow even more, and pray for the guy who has just started his faith journey! :)
Thanks to you all for your support! :)
Erin
-There are at least 6 Christianity Explained courses being run at this campus. This is a course that explains Jesus' life and what the basics of Christianity is....the people coming to these courses are extremely interested in Jesus and how to have a personal relationship with Jesus.
-I went to church on Sunday and randomly met a girl who is going to UND and wants to get involved in the Bible study, she is such an amazing Christian, so it will be awesome to have her involved.
-There is a guy who came along to our Bible study and is interested in coming every week. He has just started to become interested in faith and God and what that might mean for his life, which is exciting to have him involved and learning about who Jesus is.
So yeah, God is totally working on this campus and it is really exciting. There have definitely been some challenges along the way with ministry, especially with such a rapid growth, but it has been so great to be able to grow through this experience and be able to depend on Jesus whenever things get a little rough. I am excited to see what God is going to do this year at UND and would love for your prayers. Pray that the 6 people going through CE would fully accept Jesus by the end of the sessions. Pray that more people come along to Bible study and that the movement could grow even more, and pray for the guy who has just started his faith journey! :)
Thanks to you all for your support! :)
Erin
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)