Red Frogs!

This is our whole DTS. My amazing new family!

Red Frogs! Me, Hannah, Marissa, Kayla

Red Frogs!

   
     Hello from Australia everyone! I want to give you an update on what I spent the last week doing. In Australia when the kids in grade 12 finish their exams they go out and party as hard as they can for about two weeks to relieve all the stress from the exams they just finished. I guess you could compare it to spring break in Miami or Daytona Beach. Byron Bay, where I am living, is a very popular location for schoolies to come because it is a very nice place to vacation. They said that they expected to have anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 schoolies. As YWAM we were a part of a ministry by the name of "Red Frogs." As Red Frogs we would go into town at night, all wearing the same tee-shirt, and would just walk around offering our help to the schoolies. We would walk them home at the end of the night whether it be because they were to drunk to walk themselves or because it was a girl walking alone and it wasn't safe for her to walk home alone. If someone was throwing up we would also just stay with them and get them up to our first-aid tent or walk them to the hospital, depending on their condition. The schoolies all know who the Red Frogs are, they know that we can help them and so many of the kids would come running up to us frantically and say can you please come help my friend, she can't get up and can barley even speak. We would asses the situation and see whether it was better to just let them sit for a bit, take them to the first aid station, call the ambulance, or walk them to the hospital. I think they find comfort in knowing that we can probably help them and they associate us with being safe. We would walk the streets from 7:30pm to sometimes 2:30am. Even though my feet heart and I barley had any energy I really loved these kids! God's heart hurts for them and he really loves them so regardless of how I felt I wanted to show them God's love for them! I remember one of my last nights there was a 19 year old guy who was just vomiting profusely and I went and stood behind him and held his head up for him and rubbed his back and wrapped him in a warming blanket. My heart flat out broke for him. I wanted to hug him and make it all better for him. I know that I want to spend my life loving and serving other people when they are in need and hurting because I am never happier than when I am loving and caring for people the way Christ did!! That would be the most fulfilling and amazing life ever!!! It was hard for me to watch them have a fun night but at the same time that fun be so temporary. I wished I could just share with them how they can have that same fun and fulfillment through God but it is only a thousand times better because it is not temporary it is everlasting!! But in their current state all I could really do was love on them selflessly and so that is what I did. I would go home after a long night and pray that God would show up in their lives and show them the love that he has for them and that no matter what they have done in their past and no matter where they are at in life God wants a relationship with them, HE LOVES THEM! I can't make them believe that, I can't open their hearts and eyes for them, only God can do that and only they can allow him to open their hearts. God is a gentleman and he would never force his love on them, God gives us the free-will to choose the amazing life full of love, happiness, and fulfillment he has to offer us! In the morning we saw the result of that temporary fun and this was our chance to show the schoolies even more of Christ's endless love that has no bounds! The schoolies could call a hotline number that  "Red Frogs" has and ask us to come to their accommodation in the morning and make pancakes and clean up their living space for them. So we would knock on their door and do just that and simply hang out with them and have a great time. One house we went to was GINORMOUS and it was a group of six guys. They were so kind and it was so much fun to hang out for them. They had a pool in their back yard and they invited us to go swimming but we had to turn the offer down reluctantly :(( One other time we made pancakes, our first appointment, was for a group of 12 guys... they were very polite and very easy to get along with. All the guys were much cleaner than the girls surprisingly. The pancake appointments are so cool because you hang out with these people and then you sometimes get to see them around town that night and you kind of build relationships with them. I miss hanging out with the schoolies and I will continue to pray for them. I hope they all do really well on their exams and know that they are loved by God!
     I hope that you all are staying very warm! It was 90 degrees the other day but it has been averaging about 82 degrees here the past couple of weeks. It is so sad not having snow or cold weather for Christmas. It is so hard to get in the holiday spirit without picking out a christmas tree with my family and decorating it, that is quite an event in my family hahaha!!! How many ornaments a piece this time boys ;)) love you mom! I will be heading off to the Great Barrier Reef for Christmas holiday to do some snorkeling, hike through the rainforest and of course to lay on the beaches. Thank you God for your amazing and beautiful creation! I will tell you more about that and how it is going when I am there and I will be sure to show you some pictures!! I love you all so much and please feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Hugs from Australia!

Pass It On Tour!

                 

Marissa and I. Marissa is my
roomie and she is from Canada

Hannah and I.

Team Cambodia!!

    

Jason, Hannah and I. Jason
is from Canada.

  

Jess and I. Jess is from
England

    Hello friends and family! I know it has been awhile but things have been just so crazy here and it has been quite a bit since I have had the opportunity to just sit and update everyone. I want to tell you guys about something that I had an opportunity to participate in. So about two weeks ago we participated in this tour called, "The Pass It On Tour", for a little over a week. The tour was started by the YWAM group in Brisbane, Australia. The object is to pass the word of God through Australia, Europe, and the US by physically running with a baton over 17,000 km from town to town; the baton represents the word of God. Each team would then stop in a town and hang out there for a week and just simply love on the community members like Christ did. So it started in Brisbane and they will be traveling four different paths all through Australia. Different YWAM groups will join the tour on different weeks and kind of host for the week. So our group joined up with one other group and we travelled about five hours to a town called Kingaroy! It is an amazing little town and the people there are so loving and so passionate for God; it is crazy. I loved it! But I will back up and take you to the first days. So we got in the car and drove to a town called Chinchilla where we stayed the night in tents at a little ranch. They had two tents, one for the guys and one for the girls. Our night was interesting to say the least. We had 9 girls packed in one tent and my roomie and I forgot our bedding at the house so we had nothing to sleep with. My AMAZING friend Hannah so graciously shared her blanket and pillow with me but it was still a bit cold and I hardly slept at all that night. But with the night behind us we got up on Sunday morning to go talk to different churches about what had happened with the tour during the past week in their town. We did this so that they could be informed and encouraged about what God was doing there. After church we drove to a town called Oakey and there we stayed the night at another church. In the morning we got up to start running our 67 kilometers to Kingaroy. It was a hot day but it was very cool to say that I ran through a bit of what looked like the “outback”. The locals would laugh at the fact that we call it the outback but if I see a dead kangaroo on the side of the road then I consider it the “outback”. In each town they set up a huge white tent where we host kids days and evening services all throughout the week. On Friday nights they have a YWAM group from Island Breeze and they put on a show that entails tribal dancing and fire throwing. We also went out and helped an elderly widow lay mulch and spent time at a food shelter. It was amazing to just get up and die to yourself and dedicate your whole day to simply loving others! We should be doing this everyday, even though it can be very difficult. I think as Christians we have so much love for God and are so passionate about Him that we can’t help but tell others all about him. I loved being able to love these people with all of my heart regardless of what they believed or their social status. We as God’s children are called to love EVERYONE! We loose sight of that when we give ourselves agendas about how many people we are going to talk to about God that day. But in doing that we can sometimes come off as if we are forcing it down peoples throats. I personally really struggle with this because I am always super self-conscious that I am forcing my beliefs on people and I know how easily people can be offended and I definitely never want to do that. God is a loving God and is a gentleman and he would never force himself at you, He has given you the free will to follow him. IT IS AWESOME, but he will not force it upon you. People will see God through us when we love like Christ loved! God opened the eyes of many youth to His love for them throughout the week and many lives were changed. We left Kingaroy knowing that God’s hand was upon that town and that He would continue to give them a fresh revelation of His never-ending love. Our whole team was very happy to be home and sleeping in our own beds. God is truly amazing and is constantly reminding me that there are people out in this world that He wants to reveal himself to. He is waiting for one of His children to stand up and say they will go to these people and tell them about His amazing love for them and how He desires so much to enter into a loving relationship with them. I have told the Lord that I will do that. I will give up my hands and feet to Him. I will give up my future to Him. I will go wherever he wants me to go and I will not fear for I know that, “I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 I live by this word from God, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Philippians 3:7-9 With that I leave you until next time! I love you all more than you know and I continue to pray for you. Please leave comments, I love to hear from you.
In His Name,
Autumn

CAMBODIA!

    Well everyone the results are in! Our group just found out who is going where for our two and a half month outreach. Our leader gave us locations to think and pray on, Cambodia and Indonesia/East Timor. We had about a day to hand in our slips explaining where we chose to go and why we chose that location. Of course if you needed more time they would give it to you but they just didn't want to give people to long to the point of where they were questioning what God told them. So I went away and prayed and sought God's guidance on where he wanted me to go and he made it very clear that I was to go to Cambodia! He just continually gave me a nudging and put it on my mind. I felt such an overwhelming peace about that choice. I wrote down the country I chose and why I chose it and went to pray over it one last time before turning it in. I asked God to give me discomfort about Cambodia if that is not where he wanted me and I felt once again nothing but peace. So Cambodia it is! All of us students were not allowed to talk to each other about our decisions regarding outreach because the leaders didn't want anything to influence where we chose. So the past couple nights we have all been going crazy wondering who is on who's outreach team. Tonight we actually found out who was going to each location; we divided ourselves on different sides of the room. When I looked around I new that the groups were put together by God. The Indonesia group has seven people and one leader and the Cambodia group has 11 people and two leaders. I am so happy with my group and am totally blessed by God to be apart of this group! The group is full of crazy, loving, and fun people. I just know that God is going to use our group in AMAZING ways! We all just have such a desire to learn more about him and to just be used by him in whatever way he wants. I can't wait!
    Lectures are still great and I am just learning so much. I have a whole new understanding of God and I just never knew that he loves me and wants me this much! This week we have two speakers from Wollongong, Australia and they are speaking on missions. It is great insight and God is just constantly opening my eyes to new things. This week he has showed me the influence us believers have. When you hear of mission work you often hear about the things that need prayer or the failures and all the negatives. But our speakers have been showing us that God is doing amazing things in nations all over the world that we are just not aware of. So many unreached people groups are hearing about someone who loves them and wants to get to know and cherish them and that is AWESOME! And the coolest part is that God is allowing me to have a part in that everyday of my life if I choose, praise the Lord!!
    I am really having a blast over here and I am loving everyone! I am already thinking about how awful it will be to say goodbye to everyone, even though it is still so far away. I just love being around people that love the Lord with everything inside them. I love waking up every morning and just saying okay Lord what direction do you want to take me today or what can I do today to bring glory to your name. I love it so much! But please remember that none of this would be possible without all of your support! I love you guys so much! You are in my prayers and may you see the love of the Father today and always!
God Bless,
Autumn!

Life Changing!

So, along with the pictures I will give you an update. The lectures have been amazing! The first week we had one of the local preachers talk on some theology. He is so smart and blessed with knowledge of the Lord but whenever you enter the topic of theology things can get a little confusing. But it really challenged me to look into the word of God to see what I believe and not just believe things because people tell me to. For our second week of lectures the topic was, hearing the voice of God and it was split between two different speakers. For the first two days our base director Kevin spoke but he was in a surfing accident and another surfboard sliced his leg and put a hole in his bone. On a side note he had surgery to get out four pieces of bone that were floating around and he is doing much better. With that Kevin's wife, Tiffany took over for him and she was amazing! Kevin and Tiff are both really in tune with the Lord and hear his voice quite often so what she had to share with us was incredible. I have struggled in the past because I always felt like I had only a head knowledge of God. I would always strive to be perfect for God and was constantly worried about disappointing him. I didn’t fully have a true understanding of God’s unending love and his grace for me. I would read my bible and pray and learn as much as I could because I knew that is what God wanted me to do and because that is how I would get to know him more. The thing that I learned this week though is that God doesn’t need me to read my bible and pray to him just so I can say I did it. He wants me to be in a relationship with him and get to know him more and more. And what I have come to realize is that I do have that relationship with God and everyday that I spend time in his word and talk to him through prayer I fall more and more in love with him! It is AMAZING and I love God soooo much! God spoke through Tiff and really got me to understand that I can have all the head knowledge of Him that I want but unless I am in a relationship with him and understand the love that he has for me, it is all pointless. I have a new found love in the Lord that I will take with me the rest of my life because I know that “We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 Christ loves every one of us regardless of how much we read our bibles or pray, he just wants to know you and love you! God is teaching me things that are changing his and I’s relationship so much and I am growing deeper and deeper in love with him! Praise Him! But other than lectures, we are all like one big family and get along great. I hope everyone is enjoying the fall colors and leaves. May you feel the love of The Father this day and forever. Love you all bunches

My New Home

Hey Everyone! I have some pictures for you guys. I tried to pick some good ones that kind of show the area where I am living. If there are any specific pictures you would like to then don't be shy to either leave a comment or email asking for them and I will try to post them on the blog.

                                    

The most eastern point in Australia.

                                      

This is the pool area right outside our house. 

Two of the three horses that live on our property.

Minyon Falls

Australian wildlife. These birds puff up really big when
you get too close to them or make them mad.

More Australian wildlife. I believe this is a lizard and I
believe it is also one of the most poisonous.

A giant tree we saw on our hike to Minyon
Falls. We had several people climb up into
the tree a ways. I felt as if I was in the movie
Avatar when we were hiking.

One of the beaches. That is another view of the lighthouse
 and the most eastern point of Australia.

A different beach.

Absolutely breathtaking! The sunset from the lighthouse.

Looking down at the rocks, people, and ocean from the walk
up to the lighthouse.

Kangaroo meat with barbecue sauce. 

Kangaroo is not my favorite and the barbecue 

sauce sure isn't "Sweet Baby Rays" Noah

you might just change your love of barbecue

sauce if you experienced the Australia kind :)

                                             

I never knew that rocks and the ocean could be so beautiful!

May the lectures begin

Hey Guys! I know it has been a while but I am still alive. Things are really picking up here and I am loving every second of it. Everything about this journey is amazing. On Monday my lectures started and I am now adjusting to my new schedule. I guess the easiest way to inform you on what's going on is by talking about each area of my journey so far. 

So I will first start with my living arrangements! On the base there is one student house, one flat, and the base directors house. The student house is where we all eat and have meetings and hang out. There is a toilette room and then a shower room, a kitchen, two living rooms, a large veranda, two offices, and three bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is where I stay. I sleep in a room with two other girls. Although it can be loud some nights and mornings it is really nice to be in a central location where most of the stuff is going on. My roomies are great and we get along really good. They understand my craziness and sometimes join in with me! It also has been an adventure learning to live with nine guys! They live in a dorm style flat right outside the house, but other than sleeping and showering we share the same house. The guys are great and we all seem to get along great. For the most part they are actually really good about cleaning up after themselves and being respectful, so praise God.

Now onto the lectures! Lectures are every weekday in the morning and go until about 1:00ish. The lectures take place at one of the local churches, Eastgate. Most times there will be a speaker that comes in to speak to us. For our first week of lectures we had the pastor of Eastgate speaking. He is so intelligent and has so much knowledge to offer us! He is very energetic and at times can be hard to follow because his mind just works so differently because he is so smart. I wish my brain worked that way sometimes, but then again I guess that is why God called him to be a preacher and not me. The topic for our first week of lectures is theology! So much for easing into the subject matter, this is some heavy stuff but it is great. Basically what they say for lectures and DTS is, you get out of it what you put into it. So if you want to learn a lot and come away with a lot then you will have to put in the effort and not just skim by on everything. I intend to learn boat loads and just soak up the word of God like a sponge!

I will inform you now on what I do when I am not in lectures or sleeping. I wake up and have breakfast and get ready. When we get back from lectures at the church we have lunch. After lunch, depending on the day, we do different things. We may have base development, where we do whatever the base director has asked us to so that we can keep the landlord happy and just help out. Or we may have beach outreach, this is where we go to the beach or I guess somewhere else and play volleyball or soccer and just hang out with other people from the community and create friends and let them know who we are and then they can come to dinner that night at the base if they want to with us. But after that we all come have dinner and then depending on the night we wither have the evening off or something else to do.

But that is pretty much the low-down! I am doing great and God is teaching me so much already and I thank him for bringing me to where I am! I am praying for you all and God Bless!!!! Love you!

Oh and I will try to post more pictures and just let me know via comments if you have any questions and I will try to answer them via email or on my next post.

Finally Settled In

Hello Guys, I am so very sorry that I have not been keeping you updated. It has been a couple of crazy days! The days go buy so slow here, but I guess that is a good thing when you are surrounded by the amazing nature that God has created! Byron Bay is just absolutely amazing!!! The ocean is fantastic, the people are so laid back, and the creatures are one of a kind. Lets see here, I guess I will just try to give you the low down on how things have been going to the best of my ability, a lot has happened.
My trip went well but it was really long, I mean like REALLY long! My stomach was a bit upset about three hours into my five hour layover in Los Angeles and continued on until I got off the plane in Australia. Oh and before I forget, if any of you know Nigel Lythgoe from "So You Think You Can Dance" I sat a few seats away from him in the airport! At about the ten hour mark I was almost out of my seat and on my way to the washroom to throw up, but that didn't happen thankfully. When I got to the airport in Australia I went to pick up my suitcase and hiking backpack at the baggage claim and my hiking backpack ended up not being there :( So we are in rout of trying to find it and it sounds pretty hopeful, but not to worry because I can survive without most of it. When I finally got through customs, two of the YWAM Byron Bay staff members were there to pick us up. They had one of those cool signs that people hold when they are waiting to pick up in a limo, so that made me feel pretty special. So we made our way to Byron Bay and it was so word, I wanted to yell at the guy driving and tell him that he is on the wrong side of the road :) We made it to the base and it is not what I pictured, but it was still very nice. I am staying in a little room with two other girls, Kayla and Marissa. So we are all settled in and have our clothes all laid out in our drawers.
The first day here we had a laid back day because there were people showing up at different times. We had sandwiches and fresh veggies. Mom and Dad you would be so proud, I ate lunch meat Turkey. I decided that it might be all I have to eat so I should try to get comfortable eating it, of course I had a ton of mustard on it. :) But I have been eating so healthy, in the two days that I have been here, but it is great! We just hung out and then had tacos for dinner. My roommates and I went into our room right after dinner to just sit for a second and ended up falling asleep in our jeans at like 6:45, we were very tired.

You might have to zoom in but the koala is in the center of
the screen!

Today was amazing! I got up and had breakfast and played a game of pool and then went and read my bible for a bit. It is so relaxing here and you are literally right smack in the middle of God's country, there is nothing you can do but praise him when you look around you! But after that I went with one of the staff members to go see a koala bear that was hanging in a tree! WOW it was amazing! We came back and had pumpkin soup for lunch and it was pretty good, I also had salad without dressing so I cut up oranges and had natural juice as dressing (see I told you that I was eating healthier) We then loaded up in the van's and headed out to the town of Byron Bay and did a scavenger hunt. We then went to one of the really nice beaches, not that they are not all beautiful. I learned how to surf for the first time!! It was so much fun but it is really hard. Lets just say you have to have really good balance and that is something that I do not have. But I did stand up once and when I did I felt like a true surfer chic :) We then had a cookout at the beach and I had my first piece of kangaroo meat... Yuck!!! Imagine a piece of meat that you have to chew and chew and it never breaks down into smaller pieces and it has a really gamey taste to it. But then again I am really picky when it comes to meat :) I am trying to not be picky, this is very good for me. We then went home and played a couple of rounds of picture telephone. And that brings me to my computer and talking to all of you! Tomorrow I start orientation and at lunch time we are all going hiking to a waterfall. Then Thursday my classes start. I am so excited for classes to start and to learn and soak up all the new and amazing things about God!! I love you all and please remember this would not be possible without you! I love you all!

These are my two roomies, Marissa in Pink and Kayla
in grey!

In his name,
Autumn

This is a true Australian cow pie!