It's hard to sum up the last few months. I'll start with where I left off.
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| Last day of lectures. |
The last 2 weeks of lecture phase went very nicely. Then we kicked off our big 2 week local outreach called Impact Summer with just under 200 YWAMer's from around Australia joining in. Sadly I came down with a bad case of tonsillitis and was unable to participate for about a week and a half. The last few days were a blast though. It was amazing to see people going into Byron Bay everyday and sharing the love of Jesus! The girls did fantastic! Not only were they being stretched in evangelism but also helping to host everyone staying at the base. After that we had a few days before heading off to Turkey! During that time we moved out of our staff house and onto the base, and gave everything a nice deep clean. During one of the cleaning day I bit into some chocolate and felt a crack in my mouth.
THE TOOTH INCIDENT
The next day my tooth fell out! Leaving me with just 24 hours to either find a retainer to hold the gap in my teeth or not go to Turkey and fly back to America and have it fixed right away. Needless to say it was not how I imagined my last day before outreach. I spent a lot of time crying, praying, and on the phone with my dentist and mum in America.
Thankfully I was able to find a dentist in a town about an house from here who was able to take molds and make a retainer with a false tooth all in one day! This process normally takes 1-2 weeks. It was a huge blessing that he was able to make it in time! Though it did cost a pretty penny..
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| Aino was not please with me... |
Hopefully I will get a real tooth later this year.
TURKEY!
Off to Turkey we go! Travels there couldn't have gone any smoother.
We spent the next 5 weeks pouring into our ministries in Istanbul. At times it was challenging spending four weeks doing the same thing, but at the end of it we could really see the benefit of being able to take relationships deeper and deeper each week. We spent a lot of time withing with refugees, mostly Syrian. We spent Monday, Thursday and Saturdays helping to run a Mom and Tots program and a Tea House where we were able to serve them and listen to their stories. Wednesdays we did street evangelism and creative outreach. Sundays was church then we would minister to a Turkish friend that we made. Tuesdays as always a mix we did a variety of things. From working at the BCC to going to a school and teaching English.
During our time we took a faith trip out East. The East is known as the:
BLACK HOLE
There are little to no believers the further East you go. Erizican where we went to had no known believers. We decided to go to there after much prayer and a vision Carlee received during those times.
In our weakness He is glorified!
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| Leaving the University. |
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| The class Carlee and I taught in. |
This was one of the highlights of our trip. It was a challenge to get there. Flights don't leave very often and getting back to the west was even more challenging. We finally got everything book. We were to fly out EARLY and have 3 days of ministry then fly to Ankara then bus overnight to Selcuk our next stop. The day or departure and we all got up at 1 am and find out the flight was cancelled. We decided to go to the airport just to see if a new flight would go out. We ended up getting the same flight the next day. We went home tried to get some rest and prayed for our trip. The next morning we got up at 1 again got on out flight and before we knew it had landed in Erzican. We hit the streets prayer walking and every step was prepared by God. The next two days were full of his presence and peace. We connected with a local American Culture Club, met the head guy running it. We set up a meeting for the following morning and agreed to teach for half the day. We also went to the University just outside the city and were able to share the gospel with a few students there. The teaching went as well as we could hope. We got to go into the women's dorms for the university that night as well :). Carlee and I were able to share with about Jesus and his love for the women there and so much more! It was so cool to see how God was just making the doors swing wide open. We got MANY words about the city and what was to come. Joy will be restored, life and life abundantly, even a changing in the physical to seeing the flowers and grass once again grow in the valley. There are so many stories to share if you would like to hear more please let me know :). We were one of the first teams to visit there in a while and really set up good connections for future teams. Just before we left Turkey to go back to
Australia we heard from out contact that TWO more teams will be headed there in June.
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| In Ephesus! |
GRADUATION!
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| Mel, Johanna, Aino, Trayza, Danica, Erica, Charlotte, Myself, Carlee, Sydney. |
We got back home had 2.5 days of debrief then graduation for the girls :) It was a crazy busy time and I'm still processing all the happened during the school. I can not say enough what an honour it was to walk along side these incredible world changing women for the last 6 months. I was not perfect, I messed up, I cried a lot, it was the hardest thing I've ever done and I'd do it all again in a heat beat. The beauty was we all were cheering each other along. We had grace for each other. We all had one goal to LOVE Jesus with all our heart, soul, mind, and to share his love with the person in front of us.
2 days after graduation all the Byron Bay staff left for a INCREDIBLE conference in New Castle called The School of Circuit Riders. It was an amazing time of learning, growing, refreshment, AMAZING worship, and sharing Gods love with people!
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| Sept School Staff. Carlee Mel and Myself |
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| Tiff (base director) praying for Char |
You can get the worship leaders CD for free at: http://www.davidbrymer.com/
and the teaching at: http://ywamnewcastle.com/category/podcast/
What is next???
Now I will transition to base staff for the next few weeks. This week and next we are hosting teams for lectures/outreach. Then carrying on with base life and all things to keep the base running smoothly. We have lots of vision on where we know God would like to take the base. I will be helping out in the creative communications department and then training under Mel to eventually take on the role of Visas/immigration coordinator.
America!
Sam and I are blessed to be able to take some time off and will be State side from April 23- June 05! Our time will be split between CA, AZ and CO mostly. We are very excited to come visit. It will be Sam's first time in America :D. Of course I am thrilled to see my family and friends again :). As well as have the chance to speak at my local church about what we do!
JULY SCHOOL :)
Besides being my favorite and also birthday month ;). I will be staffing on the July Adventure DTS. I am very excited to join the staff for this school. It runs from July-December. Our staff team consists of Kevin (base director), Sam, myself, Richard (last July staff) and Cherie (my flat mate and her first time staffing a school). Right now we have 4 students but are praying for more!
Prayer Points:
- More students for July DTS
- More students for Sept DTS
- Next two weeks of outreach will be fruitful
- Finical support
- Right now I am only receiving 120 out of 800 dollars a month needed. I am trusting God that he will provide but also have a lot of big expenses coming up. I need a new Visa in July as well as health insurance. Outreach is 4,000 for each school. As well as normal month to month costs for rent, food, communication, utilities, gas, etc. Please be praying for support and consider a one time or monthly gift.
Well that's all for now :). I will be updating regularly now that I am back home. Love you lots!!
