God is present in this place!

On Friday (Aussie time) I arrived safely to the Brisbane airport.  The Airport Shuttle first picked me up followed by two other students in my DTS.  Together we rode up the mountains to the beautiful city of Toowoomba.  As the van made its way up the windy road, through the trees, and pulled up in front of ‘Camp Toowoomba’ I looked over to one of the other students, Nathan.  Without verbally saying anything and in complete disbelief, we were thinking, “Well, here it goes. We are finally here. Let’s see what happens.”  In less than 5 minutes, I knew I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  A crowd of YWAM leaders flooded the van to grab our bags and began the tour. 

Now… anyone who knows me also knows that I am not shy, but when I say just how comfortable I was arriving, it was completely God.  Although being outgoing comes naturally for me this was still a very new place in a different nation.  Any anxious thoughts, fears, or doubts were wiped away.  It is still very astonishing to me how at home I feel in this place & I have you to thank. 

Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your financial help.  Thank you for your encouragement.  Thank you for your advice….thank you so much.

Okay, so back to what has been happening here in the land down under.  It wasn’t until day two of orientation that we had our whole team because some of the students had numerous flight delays.  Then by Sunday night we were all here!  All 21 students, 9 leaders, plus additional adult staff members and kiddos were gathered in the worship room.

I absolutely love, love, love the size of this group.  I love every brother and sister in this place.  I guess you could say God knew what He was doing when deciding who would be coming here. ;) That is also the reason I haven’t been on my laptop much, if it all. 

Friends and family, I can’t explain to you what it’s like here.  Not now, not in a few weeks and not when I come back to America.  But what I can tell you is how God is very much alive.  He is doing just as exciting things today as He did when His Son was here on earth.

That being said, we might not be walking on water like Jesus did, but we are witnessing what it looks like to have over 30 ppl (who have never met on another and have insecurities of their own) come together in harmony eager to worship the one true God….That’s cooler than walking on water in my opinion.

On Monday, our first speaker arrived! Oh, that reminds me!  Each one of us were assigned certain duties to accomplish weekly (Haha, who thought of that episode of FRIENDS)  Haha, anyway…In order to keep this camp that God has entrusted us with to manage and keep tidy, we each have chores to attend.  On Tuesday and Thursday nights, I get the blessing of helping clean up dinner.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful meals prepared for us, it’s a joy that we have dishes to clean.  In addition, I get the blessing of being hospitable to our guest speakers.  Speakers will typically arrive on Sunday night and stay through Friday.  I prepare snack plates, serve them lunch before myself, offer any refreshments, and anything else they may desire that we have to offer.  At the end of each week I will clean their cabin and prepare it for the next speaker.  I love serving and it is the least I can do as they prepare lessons for each day of the week. 

The lectures this week has focused primarily on the Bible.  Day 1 covered how it was written, copied, translated and canonized.  Day 2 covered half of the time line for the stories within the Bible.  So I think it is safe to say tomorrow will finish the timeline.  The amount of information being taught is exciting and intimidating.  It will be a tough for me to remember the dates and times, but I accept the challenge. 

Sorry it took me so long to update you all. Not only have I enjoyed every minute of being fully present here in the camp, but also over half of us (me included) are fighting a cold.  All that being said, ~please pray for our colds to not effect our ability to focus on the lectures, 

~that we would treat one another with unconditional love, 

~we would have beneficial time with our One-on-One leaders 

~and that we get the most out of our time here.

~Kristen Anne

P.S. On Monday of week 3 we will find out which Outreach Location we are being sent to.  Until that time, the leaders are still in prayer about it.  Please pray that they would hear from God where I will be sent.  Sounds like there will be three teams going to three locations.  Thankfully, God has it all under control.

Photo Credit: James Harris 

CHEERS!