High-Fives are Super Effective.

Another busy and amazing week here in hot, hot India.
All last week we were involved in a Vacation Bible School. It was a lot of fun but very tiring. The kids were so cute, usually were very difficult to understand, and also had endless amounts of energy. Me and another girl were involved in the bible deck, where we taught them basic bible stories. I got to act like an idiot and teach them sea facts. Acting like an idiot is fun. The culture was different, so there were a few things taught/done that I didn't agree with, but I'm learning to accept and fit in to other cultures so I think it was a healthy experience. At the end we performed some funny skits for the kids as a tasty cherry on top of the week. To conclude the week, I would say I learned one main thing. Indian kids love high fives. You high five them and smile at them, they are your best friend for life.
On sunday we went and helped out a church run their service. We performed the everything skit for them and then...

I spoke my very first sermon ever;

In a foreign country to people who don't speak my language, speaking about Lordship. It was really cool, I was so nervous beforehand, but as soon as I walked into the church instantly I was fine. Gods peace was all over me. I began, and had to be patient as everything I said was translated for them. My prepared message went about 30 mins, but I thought it was too short, so with a liberal helping of the Holy Spirit, I spoke 15 mins more.

It was amazing to speak to some of the indian youth afterwards (who are the most amazing, friendly people. They held my hand and laughed and claimed we were good friends already and India was "our country")
They said they were amazed I had never spoken before and I think my message really spoke to some of them. It made my faith soar, God was with me every step of the way and none of it was in my strength. Especially seeing as I was sick for it and the two days prior.
I have no idea what we're doing this week. In typical YWAM style we'll do it on the fly. But I'm not nervous because God is with us and we are doing what he asked us. And He will provide in abundance for those who obey Him. I'm excited for what's going to happen and the stories we will have.
Continue to pray that we will walk in obedience and the hearts of people will be open to what we're saying or doing.
Miss you all, look forward to seeing your fabulous faces soon!

Vanakam

Vanakam to all of you.
That means good day/greeting to you in Tamil, the language of Chennai, India. Which is where me and the rest of my outreach team are right now...
We arrived last monday after a solid amount of flying, which was helped greatly by our personal tv screens with movies and games. mmm, Singapore airlines. We spent most of the next few days resting, we did a few short trips (in rickshaws=fun) around the area to get acquainted, and to buy our local clothing for ministry. The stuff here is pretty cheap, especially snack items which I like a lot. Not that we don't eat well. The food is amazing, we have rice pretty much every meal with differing styles of sauce poured over the top, but it is so good.
On friday and saturday we began ministry, which consisted of prayer walks around different communities, including a fishing village. Our translator said prayer walks are so effective here, because the spiritual realm is so real. There are temples on almost every corner, and houses have masks, paintings and symbols drawn on them. This culture and religion has been here for 1000's of years and it has such a strong hold on the people. But the God we follow is even more powerful, timeless and he is everchanging. I can see that people cling to such old traditions, whereas the real God wants to refresh and renew and have a personal relationship. Empty temples to uncaring gods shall be pulled down to make way for the living temples of our bodies. Normally, prayer walks are average, but here i know my very presence is uncomfortable to the enemy, and every step I take and pray over his ground is powerful and is breaking down the enemies forts.

Tomorrow we start a 6 day long Vocational Bible School for kids aged 3-14. The church that has organised it has a congregation of 40,000 or so Tamil speaking people, and an english service of about 2000. I think they are planning to have about 250 kids. I'm looking forward to it.
Continue to pray for me and the team, because as I said, prayer really is powerful.

Preparation: The Act of Beginning.

This will be my last blog Australia-side for 8 weeks. My journey to India begins at 3:30am Sunday night/Monday morning. I don't if I'm ready, or if I ever could be completely ready. But I know that God is my strength when I am weak, and that I am doing what He has called me to do, so He will be with me. And that's more than a relief.

This week has been such a strange week. We have been doing outreach preparation all week, which meant practising our skits, as well as packing and cleaning up our rooms. On Thursday morning half of the team going to Mozambique left, which included my room-mate. It was a weird day, happy and yet sad. Happy because we are all going out into the world, all trained up and inspired to be the bringers of the gospel and the builders of Gods kingdom. But it was sad because I know I will not see most of these people again except for the week we have when we get back. These people I have laughed and cried with, feared and rejoiced with, grown and been stretched with. I feel so close to all these people, they really have become brothers and sisters in Christ and are like family. So, like family, I know it is time to let them go and see them take their own place in the world.
The world...India, Mozambique, Darwin, Newcastle, Papua New Guinea and South Africa. Prepare to be impacted, shaken and changed. Gods Son's and Daughter's are coming and they bring a fire that cannot be quenched.
I am excited, nervous, apprehensive, motivated and many others emotions that really mean the same things. I don't know what's in store, I'm certain it's going to be challenging, but I plan to go into it with my head down and feet running. Like a bull. A man-bull.

I am planning to be able to update this blog once a week, as well as updating the ywamnow site (which will probably say the same thing) So you can look forward to exciting tales from exotic India! Pray for me and my team as I go, and while I'm away, for safety and provision and also that we will be effective in what we do.
Love you in Christ!

Our Kingdom vs His

Time has flown. I haven't written a blog in nearly two weeks. So I have two weeks worth of lectures to cover in this blog. Lets get it oonnn.

Warfare of the Spiritual kind. This was the basis of our lessons a couple of weeks ago. Our Sensei for the week was Peter Warren, an Aussie who now leads the base in Denver, Colorado, U.S.A. A couple of years ago they had a gunman come in and kill some staff members. It was a trying time for the base and Peter, and I think it gave him a good basis to speak on the nature of spiritual warfare and how it relates to the physical.
He had a few interesting theories on certain things, but it was really good to think about and stretch my brain which I think is a good thing. He spoke about the history of the world and universe (and evil) as well as whether all things that occur are Gods plan. If they are according to his plan, even the evil things, does that match his character of a loving God?, and if not, how can he be omnipotent and omniscient or does he limit himself? Woah, theology.
He also spoke on the weapons we have at our disposal, such as worship being a way to bring Gods presence into the darkness. So next time you're worried or feeling oppressed, just worship God and he will “inhabit your praises”
It was all really God to hear a few weeks before we go to India so we can remember what to do when we encounter the markedly different environment of India.

And then, this week we learnt about the Kingdom of God. It really brought everything we've learnt so far into perspective. We are all called to this earth as stewards, so we need to be careful and diligent in the earth and everything we are given to us. The reason we evangelise and do missions is to advance his Kingdom. The main point I got is that Gods kingdom is so different to this one. Even the greatest “christian” worldly kingdom is not going to be fulfilling the true call of God.

So now I have one week of outreach prep before India. This involves packing, cleaning our room and practising skits etc. before we leave. Nine freaking days till I go to India. Continue to pray for me and the team, as well as the other teams going to Mozambique and Papua New Guinea. Also, if you feel called, there are still a lot of people needing finances to go. I ask that if you can spare some money you partner with us to help get them where they need to go.

Love you all, I will try and update one more time before I go, and I don't know how often I'll get to update while I away, but I am in charge of website updates so I should get some chances..