when it rain, it pours.

My feet clean during the week :) note: the lovely keen tan

our chai tent

my favorite place in australia so far: hervey bay :)

Schoolies was intense. like literally. It was a seventeen hour drive there. We stopped and stay in this place called Hervey Bay. It was the first time I'd seen the ocean in a couple of years. haha You should have seen me. My friend, Erica, just kept laughing at me and my giddiness. I woke up around 4:15 the next morning and went to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was absolutely gorgeous. One of the best mornings I've had in a long time. I sat and just worshipped and praised God for a couple of hours. I wish I was better with my words so I could give Him a small portion of the justice He deserves. haha I should probably actually be apologizing for my whole entire blog. Writing is not my strongest suit and this whole entire experience and everything that God is doing in my life can't be described through my mediocre writing. So, I'm sorry, but hey, something is better than nothing, right? :)

Saturday through Wednesday night we had the Chai Tent set up in Airlie Beach. The Schoolies would come in from 8pm-1am and get free chai and slushies. Our main ministry was just being a place of peace and of the Holy Spirit. You could feel a physical difference inside and outside the tent. I was on the tent floor four of the nights. I was able to create a really good relationship with these Schoolies, Brittany, Sam and Hannah, mainly Brittany though. She came back every night and we hung out for hours. God was so evidently working in her life. Now, she's my friend on facebook and we've continued to talk since I've been back. :) What a blessing. During the week, a lot of people talked to different kids who really broke down about their emptiness and brokenness. So many of the Schoolies talked about how immediately when they walked into the tent they could feel themselves sobering up due to the complete change in atmosphere. haha I drank a lot of the chai. :)

Other than the tent, we had a 24 hour prayer and worship going on back at the house we stayed at. People were always there doing all sorts of prayer and worship. During the hours of the tent, we had constant communication with the prayer room and had a white board at both places, sharing prayer requests and encouragement. The power of the 24 hour prayer and worship blew us all away! It was amazing how much God was leading the whole ordeal. Everyone's sleep schedule was all over the place, but God definitely provided. We also had to have 24 security at the tent and did Sport in the Park every afternoon for the Schoolies. It was a week full of lots of spiritual warfare, exhaustion, but also full of the Spirit moving in ways I had never seen. It rained almost the whole time we were in Airlie Beach. We all got used to living with mud just covering our feet almost up to our shins. We also didn't really shower much. haha We slept in tents and all of our clothes smelled like mold by the time we went home. But man, none of that really matter! God was so good and worked in so many lives!

The Airlie Beach base house that we stayed in was incredible. I felt like we were living in a jungle. There were SO many bugs and different types of wildlife! I loved it so much. It was something I had never even remotely experienced. I loved waking up every morning and going and having breakfast on the huge wrap around deck, spending time with God, and watching the rain just POUR down. Words can't express how much I love rain. God used the rain in really fascinating ways throughout the week. There was no doubt about it that He sent it. :)

Thanksgiving was a definitely different, considering they don't celebrate it. haha But my friends were really good about the whole thing. Last week truly was a week of thanksgiving in my life. Looking back through my journals, I feel like I spent the whole week just thanking God for what He has and is doing in my life. Thanksgiving still remains my favorite holiday, even if I didn't get to celebrate it this year!

I'm starting to think that God is going to do a lot in my heart involving discipline while I'm here. I know that sounds negative or unpleasant, but He is doing in a way that is making me passionate and just excited to create these habits! It's taking a lot of failure and time, but I know that this is truly changing the way that I will live the rest of my life. This week's topic is relationships. We're doing through a video series by Dean Sherman, the guy who started YWAM in Australia. He's SO animated and a little ridiculous, but man, he speaking straight truth. Here are some idea's that he's caused me to think about this week:

True forgiveness is relating according to value, not behavior.

Perfection is when you are committed enough to the truth that when you screw up you acknowledge and apologize.

Humility is the knowledge and understanding of TRUTH.

People have value. This knowledge brings a responsibility of LOVING.

Grace not only relates us to God, but to one another. It washes away not only our sin between us and God, but the sin between each of us.

Acts 20:35

I'm very passionate about all of these things right now, so if you'd like to talk to me more about any of it, let me know. :)

I've learned a new game, called Bang! I love it :) :) haha It's the best!