Photos From Another World

After our time in Australia with YWAM, we spent two months on Outreach. 

First month: Bangkok, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai, Thailand

The Largest Lounging Buddha

The Famous White Temple

We saw so many sights and learned so much about the culture, the religion and the food :)

But we did a lot of hard work and spent a lot of time with amazing boys and girls.


Did You Know? Thailand, especially Chiang Rai has the highest rate of boys and girls from the ages of 5-15 years old sold or kidnapped into the Human Sex Trafficking, slave trade. Chiang Rai is near the border of Burma and Laos. Most children are sold to "job brokers" by their parents who can't support them. They are taken to brothels masked as "massage parlors" and picked out like puppies at a pet shop. The details are gruesome and prison like. A few postings below there is a YouTube video that explains Thai sex trafficking.
Did You Know? There are more slaves today than there EVER was during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. From 1650-1900 there were about 10 million slaves sold. It is said that 800,000 slaves are sold or captured into the human slave trade every year. 70% of those slaves are sex slaves.


The children you see were the children that would have been sold...if a pastor of a church didn't create a boarding school for them to live, sleep, eat and be educated. These are the faces of the very children that would have become slaves..but instead have been given a hope and a future. We got to be a part of this and we had the chance to share the Gospel with them. We played with them, taught them stories, practiced English, prayed with them, fed them and taught them how to hug. :) But I think we left more blessed than them.

They LOVED hugs!

Let Me Catch You Up...

So, posting a weekly blog in Australia was harder to do than imagined. A lot harder. While Internet availability was difficult;  free time was even more scarce. I apologize to all of those who were checking up on me and wanted to follow the trip closely...but I am grateful for the disconnect in a way too. I was free from everything at home, every person and circumstance. God took me totally out of my element and into severe uncomfortability, but how else can you be "ruined for the ordinary" unless you are in an unordinary position? Let me catch you up on the rest of my lecture phase and time in Australia. The next posts will be about my Outreach Time spent in Thailand and India (September-November).

On my previous posts, I had covered the first 4 weeks of lecture. They were Evangelism, Hearing God's Voice, Father Heart of God, and Prayer Week. I loved my first month in Oz. Even with all my experiences with Campus Crusade, in the church and at Christian School...I discovered there is still so much left to be learned about God. In fact, I will never know it all; but I want to try. I want to pursue him and get to know him better so I can get to know myself better as well. One of the topics I've kept with me and utilized the most was Hearing God's Voice mixed with the idea of Intercession. I am amazed that in the past 12 years I've been a Christian, no one ever took the time to explain how to "hear God's voice" or explained to me the difference between prayer and intercession. But now that I know, I am challenged to teach it to my peers, friends, and other believers, because I believe it is a powerful tool and amps our relationship with God so much.

But onto the new stuff.
The next 8 weeks, I studied the following topics: Missions, Fear of the Lord, China's Church, Spiritual Warfare, Covenants, Outreach Preparation, Relationships, and Kingdom.

Missions: The highlight of this week was probably the teacher. While the topic was not a new one to me, our teacher was a pioneer of YWAM India. His name is Merv McDermand and I have never met a person with such a passion to share Jesus and be Jesus with the whole world. He is fearless because God is the foundation for his confidence and boldness. Merv, an Aussie native, has spent his whole adult life in YWAM, traveling all over the world and reaching people in different cultures, religions and hobbies (I believe 40 years). I learned so much from his character alone, plus the great tools and insight from his experiences really blessed me.

Fear of The LORD: taught by a New Zealander (Kiwi), Mark Parker was an amazing speaker. He was very passionate, vulnerable, straight to the point guy. He had ideas and ways of viewing God that totally shook my previous ideals. He taught me:
-True worship is a sacrifice and commitment. It is in the Spirit and truth, not a feeling or experience.
-If Ido something for God, do it with passion and do it with zeal, don't worry about tomorrow.
-The easiest part of Christianity is salvation...the hard part is living out Kingdom with help of the H.S.
-I will never mature if I do not recognize that He is Lord and I am not.
-My generation is so quick to repent and so slow to obey.
-God will never make me do something that He hasn't given me the desire to do.
-Jesus is not a meek Savior but a roaring lion of a ruler!
-Don't be overwhelmed by the sin in the world...overwhelm it with his love and power.
-Remain consistent, forgive easy and don't give up!
-On the contrary to what John the Baptist said, More of Jesus=More of me (as God created me to be) and less of the crap.
This was huge for me:
1. Who is your Master? Once I experience Jesus as Lord and experience his manifest presence...I will receive my mission.
2. What is your Mission? Once I know my master and my mission, I'll be ready to get married.
3. Who will be your Mate?
*I think as an American culture we get our priorities out of order and this was really insightful for me.

Also, Mark explained to us that every person has a  Spirit, Soul and Body; and he defined the differences between each one.

We spent the week discussing: what the Fall means for us as humans, what true Salvation looks like, Fear of the Lord vs. fear of man, and finally Preparation for the Tabernacle.

On Friday, we spent the entire day (8am-7pm) walking through the steps of Tabernacle like in the Bible. It was the most amazing thing I've ever been a part of. All I can say is, that was my first introduction with how big and amazing the Holy Spirit is. I experienced the manifest presence of God and it was so thick and so heavy. I have never felt so much, as I did in that room that day. I could go on forever, but I won't. Just ask if you are interested, I'd love to share more.

Spiritual Warfare: I think it is only fitting that during this week, I happened to undergo spiritual warfare with my health. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy 5 years ago. I had done so much testing, and all the doctors in Las Cruces told me my tests were negative...there was nothing wrong with me. Yet, during strangely coincidental times, I would have an episode (once a full on seizure, but other times I would just forget what I was saying or thinking). I went to the best, the Mayo Clinic, and the neurologist there found a nerve bundle in my brain that may be causing the problem, although it is hard to tell. I've been taking medication consistently and have had no problems for a year...until this week. I was having an intense conversation with my discipler, Fleur, and totally forgot what I was saying, and then it happened again later with my other leader, Callie. Also, all this week, everyone in my house had been abruptly awakened during the night by loud unexplainable noises. People were struggling with unusual fear and anxiety. Needless to say (and sorry if you disagree with me) but Satan was on the move.
The man who taught us this week, Glen Vines, was a missionary from Tibet, and a counselor and pastor dealing with Spiritual Warfare. While some of what he taught was intense, everything he taught was Biblically based. Spiritual Warfare, Satan, demons, strongholds, generational "sins"...we just don't like to talk about that in America. Everywhere else in the world, they know that the Spiritual World is alive and well.
The one thing that was interesting for me this week was something Glen said. He said in the middle of his teaching that a lot of young people with unexplainable epileptic symptoms have one big similarity...they deal with abandonment issues with their father. In the Bible and in his experience, epilepsy is sometimes a result of Spiritual Warfare and demonic strongholds...especially when addiction in parents is involved, and that it is a very tough stronghold to break. One of the biggest symptoms is the "deaf and dumb spirit" which is characterized by a loss of thought or inability to verbalize a thought temporarily. Now Glen knew nothing about me, and this made my ears perk up a little. I did go and seek counsel and prayed about it. I met with Glen separately and we prayed that I would be released from any strongholds and prayed against Satan in this and other areas of my life. Now I'm very logical and I received my degree in a medical field so I know the implications. I will not stop taking my medication, but I do have faith that I am free from seizures, and I continue to pray against that, because I know God is the ultimate authority in both the Physical and Spiritual realms.

Covenants: This was like being in a college lecture all over again. The teacher, Neville Strachan, is a pastor and a teacher at a Bible College in Australia. He is as Aussie as you can get...and man he is well read when it comes to God and the Bible. I loved just sitting and having lunch with this man. I probably took 50 pages of notes on just his lectures. I have never looked at all of the Covenants in the Bible between God and his creation, until now...and I will never read the Old Testament the same again.

Nev taught us the difference in meanings between: LORD, God, and Lord.
It was amazing to see all of the Covenants and how they all point to, foreshadow Jesus. He "paid in full" all of the previous covenants. It is AMAZING!!!

Kingdom: This was the most applicable week for me, because it changed my entire outlook on life and how I experienced my Outreach time.

I think that this topic is commonly misunderstood, it is a word said like "Gospel" but yet no one is really sure what it means. What was Jesus talking about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John talking about in the Gospel? The Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is not focused on how we can escape earth to get to heaven, but how we can bring the Kingdom tangibly to earth.
Salvation was not the goal of the Gospels, living the Kingdom is...salvation is just the beginning
Christians in the Western World are guilty of thinking agnostically and enlightenment rather than Kingdom. The Bible tells us "how to think" but not "what to think". The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve the world's problems.

Something that stuck with me about "Fair Trade" amongst my retail purchases was: "If you are going to enjoy jeans, shirts and shoes made by developing neighbors...then these people are your neighbors"...and doesn't Jesus say one of the most important commandments is to "love your neighbor as yourself"?

Well those were just some brief highlights of my lecture phase.

I am so overdue in my posting...time to catch up!

Okay well for this post, since I have been SO delinquent in my past weeks I thought I would catch you up on all the hard work we've been putting in and all the fun we've been having. When I say "we", I mean my team. Would you like to meet them? Okay. Here are my mates!  This is all of the students and a few staff running the school here in Maroochydore.

The gentleman with his shirt off, Ethan, just got baptised!

In our family. There are 12 students including myself. 7 are Americans, 2 Canadians, 1 Swiss and 2 Danish. Amongst the staff there are 5 Americans, 1 French and 1 Aussie. We are a melting pot for sure.

For a more personal intro, here are some more pictures.





Christine, (Canadian) is a very skilled songwriter,
 and she will be leading worship for our team on outreach.

Over the past 9 weeks these amazing people have become like family to me. They are my encouragers, challengers, and best mates. Please keep us in your prayers as we embark September 18th to Thailand and India for 2 months.



The dates are off a little. We will be in Thailand Sept 18th-Oct 14th and India Oct 16th-Nov 12th.

Week of Prayer and Intercession ~ Part 1: Jesus is my LOVE!

   After spending a week learning how to see God as not only GOD, but as my Father, God started to show me himself in a new way. Yes, another "new" way. :) He wanted me to see him as my love. I was well aware of the metaphor of a marriage that goes on in Christianity. The church (believers) are the Bride and Jesus is the Bridegroom, anxiously awaiting to be united with us. I know John the Baptist talks about himself being just the friend of the Bridegroom, helping prepare for that "special day". I have heard all of that, and I was satisfied with the idea of myself as the Bride, Jesus as the Groom...until I really thought about it and realized that wasn't enough. Let me explain.
  
   I'm not sure how long ago it was, 6 months or even a year ago, I had a dream. Which is odd for me because I hardly ever remember my dreams, but I remembered this one in great detail. I dreamt that I woke up the morning of my wedding day. I was greeted by my mom and my friends with big smiles beaming as they exclaimed "It's your big day!". I got up, ate breakfast and tried to grasp what exactly was going on. It was the setting of my dream wedding (you know, the one you have had playing in your head since you first thought about getting married). It was on a beach, all of my family and best friends were there. The dress was perfect, the colors and the bridesmaid dresses were flawless and the flowers were gorgeous. It was designed to be the happiest day of my life but I was overwhelmed because I had no memory of being engaged, or planning the occasion.
  
   Everyone just kept coming up to me and telling me how lucky I am. I heard over and over "What a perfect couple", "He is such a man of God", "You two are going to be so happy", "God really blessed you with such an awesome man", and "You guys will have such an amazing marriage, I'm so excited for you!". There was so much love, smiles, encouragement and just joy everywhere. I distinctly remember my mom, brother and best girlfriends emphasizing how much they loved my fiance and how they couldn't pick a better match for me. The only problem was, I had no idea who I was marrying. I remember walking down the aisle and seeing an average looking guy (whom I have never met) and having an anxiety attack because I was about to marry someone that not only I didn't love...but I didn't even know. Everyone said he was an amazing man, perfect for me in every way...but I didn't know him well enough to agree or disagree, and I wasn't in love with him. How could I have a relationship with someone I was not in love with? 
  
   So I posed the same question to myself: "How can I be Jesus' bride if I barely know him, and I am not head-over-heels in love with him?" I can't. And so, my great desire and focus has been viewing Jesus as my love, my first and greatest love. Slowly, He has been showing me how much He cares about me, and how unconditional his love for me truly is. I am only able to love Jesus in this way because He first loved me, but it is also two-fold. I have to be able to receive love in this way, in order receive it from others. Does that make sense? Me being able to love Jesus as the love of my life allows me the ability to love and fall in love with someone else. Without that, I will not be able to have a God-glorifying and lasting relationship with my future husband. I know God wants to awaken something in me so that I will search desperately and passionately the mysteries of Him who loves me and wants to romance me. I am so ready to skip Christianity and go straight to my relationship with Jesus.

Today I met God in a new way, as Father and Lover

It sounds so strange to say that I met both these persons in one entity; but until today, I had only heard rumors of their existence. Last week, we discussed the "Father Heart of God", or the characteristics that God has that are like a father (loving, trustworthy, comforter and provider). This week we have prayer week, which means we take our lecture time and our free time to pray and intercede for our teammates, family members, our future outreach acquaintances, among many others. With these two weeks combined, I've had a lot to process through. These are a few of my thoughts that lead up to the epic reconciliation of God as a Father and a Lover.

Sometimes, growing up in a Christian family we forget that it is not all about pursuing a moral Christian lifestyle, but it is about seeking God and everything else will follow. So unless I pursue God and cultivate a hunger for him, I will never grow or change. I will just continue to adopt new principles and repeat new mantras, but never get anywhere. Essentially, I will just be going through the motions. I don't know about you, but I've been there and done that...and I don't want to revisit it.

I also realized that I have been so "full" for so long, that I lost my hunger for God. Once I was filled with sin and things my flesh delighted in; but now, I am full of good things. All these "good things" that should be glorifying God, instead keep me too busy to even spend time with him. Things like my ministry, conversations and coffee dates with girls, chocolate, Internet, sleep and make up. All these things take me away from time spent with Jesus. I will gladly put them down to get to know Him better. I want my relationship with God to be intimate, active, filled with constant quality time and affirmation. He is such a wonderful father and loving savior.

Christianity without Jesus is so mundane, but a life with Christ is never boring. Today I realized I am so much like Martha in the Bible. I can hear Jesus saying: Sarah. Sarah, you are worried about so many things, but you do not come to my feet and be vulnerable before me...regardless of how it looks. Sarah you have been worried about the wrong things. So silently I prayed to God: "I want to know you love me from experience, not just by faith."

The speaker said that sometimes I can't hear God because of distortion. Meaning, I need vulnerability, I need to presume upon his love. I thought "What? Presume upon his love? I'm supposed to presume that God loves me the way He says He does? I'm supposed to presume this is all true?" A little voice inside of me answered, "Yes, you are!"

Okay...so I prayed this aloud: "I need to presume that you loves me a ridiculous amount. I need to presume that you delight in me and write me love letters. You know what is in my heart and soul. You are so proud of me. Your hand is on my head and you love to hug me and hold me in your arms. I want and I expect you to love me, practically, visibly and emotionally, in a way I can comprehend. You dance with me, you take the lead, you protect my heart and you hold me firmly but gently. You hold me up when I can't stand. You whisper in my ear when I need consolation. You give me words and thoughts when I am void and numb. You think I'm beautiful when I'm broken and bare. You sing to me just to make me smile. You lay with me when I can't sleep. You call me your own. You call me your daughter. You call me darling. You save your best portion for me. God I need all of you and you freely give yourself in every way. I'll take you in until I'm overflowing. I want to be filled with only you. I've always felt you but now I know that you are right in front of me. I want to look into your eyes and see them smile. I want to see the one who created me."

Then something amazing happened. God spoke to me through Tricia (a staff member). God stood next to me and asked if He could hold me. I said yes. He wrapped his arms around me tight, with one hand on my head, you whispered in my ear: "My arms are enough and my lap is wide enough to hold all of you. When you cry to me, I hear you. I'm always with you. I am so proud of you. I delight in you. You are never alone, I am always with you. You don't have to do this all by yourself anymore. I am here. I love you so much. You are so beautiful. You can trust me. You don't have to be scared of me. I love hugging you and holding you tight. I will never hurt you and I will never leave you. I love to see you smile." You continued to hold me and rock me and love me while I wept.

For the first time ever, I felt God in this way. I knew God as my Father and the Love of my life. God wants us to have a love that is deep, intimate, real and everlasting. He desires our relationship to be all-sustaining and never fading. I can't help but be thankful. Thankful that God waited for me all these years to find him. Thankful that my Daddy was so patient with his prodigal daughter. Thankful that God is so ready to forgive. But mostly grateful that He doesn't just love me, but He actually likes me as well.

I know for some reading this, it might be bizarre, uncomfortable, just a manipulation of my emotions, way out there, too charismatic :) or whatever else you may be feeling. In all honesty, when I arrived here 5 weeks ago I would have felt the same way...but not anymore. In this past month, I have seen God, felt God, and known God in ways that I didn't know were possible. Nothing crazy or miraculous; nothing that would stir up a scene. I realized, my westernized view of God was a very "cookie-cutter" one, where I just assumed that God was the Caucasian stained glass figure we all stared at on Sunday mornings or talked about in our Christians circles. But what i realized was that my God, my Jesus, is the God of the Old Testament and the New Testament. He has not changed. The same God that allowed Elijah to rain down fire and burn up a soaked sacrifice on a mountain top, and the same God took a man with a stutter and had him lead a holy nation out of Egypt's captivity...that is the God I serve. My God, my Savior, He heals people. He provides for people, sometimes practically and sometimes miraculously. He does things that I, in my comfy North American living, never thought still took place such as giving sight to the blind, allowing the cripple to walk, casting out demons and warding off evil spirits. If I believe that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, than why is that so hard to believe?

So my experience was a new and unusual one, but I can say with the utmost sincerity that it was as real as the sky is blue. I am so blessed to be here and I am so blessed by all the people who supported me in coming. Without your provisions, none of this would be possible. Please let me know if there is anything I can be praying for while I am here.

Injustices

A lot of people have wondered what I will be doing while I'm in Australia, India and Thailand. My work here involves multiple things. Kingdom Justice issues are just one aspect of that. You may wonder what is Kingdom Justice? Many people may be familiar with humanitarian organizations like the Invisible Children who strive to put an end to child soldiering. Well Kingdom Justice is a lot like that...except it doesn't just stop from rescuing them from their current circumstances. To truly set human traffic victims free, we have to remove them from bondage physically and spiritually. They have to be restored emotionally, physically and know that there is a God that loves them, cares for them and will never hurt them. Someone to put the pieces back together, to offer them family, love and most importantly a safe eternity in Heaven. Kingdom Justice is more than just human rights, it is about saving souls.

So what I am doing here is helping in just that. By interceding for these children, and when traveling to countries where human trafficking is advertised everywhere on street corners, talking to these children. Trying to offer them other options and do whatever I can to be there for the children who are removed from these horrible places. There are organizations specifically helping with just that such as Destiny Rescue in Thailand and Compassion International. Please watch the video and when you go to bed at night, remember the children held in this bondage.

A Day of Rest and Hippies

After my 1st week of lectures on evangelism, we had the opportunity to go 3 hours south to the Gold Coast and stay on their YWAM base. We stayed specifically in a city called Surfer's Paradise (which I thought was an epic name for a city) and had an amazing time of outreach that I can tell you about in detail if you ask me (for sensitivity reasons). While we were in the Gold Coast I had the chance to meet some amazing Muslim friends. I met a wonderful family from Dubai and I really clicked with the two girls (Mahra and Sarah) and their brother, Mohammed. We had such wonderful conversations about life, our hobbies, love, music, movies, even God. I will definitely miss our chats over coffee and chai, but thanks to Facebook we will keep in touch.  After spending a few days in this city I learned that a lot of the families from middle eastern countries that lie in the gulf peninsula travel to the Gold Coast to get out of the extreme heat of the summer. So literally, we were in a cultural melting pot. I think I even learned a few essential Arabic phrases while we were there.

Our outreach was long and hard. By the end of the week I was so drained emotionally and physically; not to mention my back was killing me from sleeping on the floor. So you can imagine my excitement when we decided to go to this really REALLY cool city an hour south of us to relax and shop around. We spent the night in this small hippie town called Byron Bay. You can drive through this place in less than 10 minutes. They don't allow any franchises and have one major grocery store. The best way I can describe this place is like this: Take the laid back beach town of Mission Beach, California; mix it with the people from Eugene, Oregon and Sedona, Arizona; and add the greenery and lighthouses from Kauai, Hawaii....and you would have Byron. It has shops that you would find only at a local renaissance fair. Very New Age-y with crystals and mysticism. Everyone has dreads in their hair and they walk barefoot, with all of their homemade clothes on their backs. You can rent vans with stoves and kitchen tables, just to park on the beach and surf all day. At night, the whole city came alive at the park overlooking the ocean. As the sun went down, the barbecues were lit and people pulled out their guitars and bongos and music and dancing began. It was something out of a movie.

Speaking of movies, this was the town that was the inspiration for the animated movie "Ferngully" (one of my favorites growing up). It was created to promote the movement that was against tearing down the rainforest. If you don't know which I'm talking about, google it and it will all make sense. :) They have this amazing trail that leads along the beach front and up to a light house which is the most Easterly point in Australia. It is just breathtaking. We went to this church Sunday morning and I felt like I was transported back to the 70's. This church was more like the basement of someones house with couches and chairs, local artwork adorning the walls, and the worship team was comprised of men and women in their 40-50's. The lead singer of the worship team looked like Cyndie Lauper, and they jumped and danced and swayed with the music while they sang to Jesus. The pastor walked around the stage, sharing his passion through his sermon, while we all listened and drank our coffee. It was so comfortable and people could express themselves however they wanted to do and no one cared. All I could think was "my MOM would love this place!!!" Hope you enjoy the pictures.