Redcliffe

2 days after arriving in Australia, our team headed to Redcliff, which was a 45 min. drive north. We started off with a scavenger hunt downtown Brisbane. We ran around the city on a team taking crazy photos and talking to strangers. There is a really cool beach in the middle of downtown because there are Bull Sharks in the river and people are not allowed to swim in it, so there is a man-made sand beach in a park area instead.

After the hunt, we headed to a church in Redcliffe. On the way there, we saw small kangaroos or wallabies; we couldn't stop or get close enough to look, but I've been told that some kangaroos are around 7 foot tall. We were staying about 1 mile from the beach, so as soon as we got there, we gathered up our things and headed down. I was the only girl who went swimming, because it was a little chilly:) In the evenings we had 'family time' and took turns sharing our testimonies with each other. It was great to hear everyone's story and how the Lord brought us here. We attended church on Sunday and had a chance to go to a city-wide worship service. The worship service was wonderful and so freeing, people were worshipping in all different ways like painting, singing, praying and writing. It was really encouraging to see how the Lord is rising up people and starting a revival in Australia.

After staying at the church for the weekend and finishing up testimonies, we headed back to the base on Monday. We are starting class tonight and we will have the same theme throughout the week which is "Character and Nature of God."

There is a girl from Belgium, her name is Nele and she is great! She is 25 years old and from day one we hit it off. It's so good to have a friend here and to have her, I'll try to post a picture soon. Ironically, we were both hoping to travel after DTS and go to New Zealand, it came up the other day in coversation and we decided to start making travel plans together:)

You give and take away...

Wow, the Lord has taken me through quite the stripping process in the past couple months. Over Christmas break, I had a great plan and thought that this was definitely the Lord's plans too. My plan was to be an adventure guide in Colorado this summer and then go to New Zealand for YWAM in the fall. I felt the Lord leading me to both of these programs. I believe sometimes the Lord asks you to be obedient knowing that you will fail. This was a really hard lesson for me to swallow. I am driven by results, by success. Do I desire the Lord or do I desire success? From the very beginning I prayed that the Lord's will would be done. Looking back on my experience I think it was easy to pray this prayer because I was convinced I knew what the Lord's will was, His will was my will b/c He gave it to me...or not.

By January, my plans were not panning out the way I had hoped. New Zealand responded and told me that there was no way the program I had applied for was going to run this year because they had no leader. I still felt like the Lord was calling me to YWAM, so I started my search again. I landed on two programs in Australia, one starting in August and the other in October. Although I wanted to do the one in August more, I was not willing to give up guiding this summer, so I applied for the later one. By February, I was well underway with the hiring process for the guide position. I had my interview and was told that I must wait a month before I heard back from them. And so the waiting began...

By the first week of March I was a mess. I wanted this job so bad I couldn't stand it. I was terrified of what rejection would feel like. Not just from a job, but from my passions. I have such passion for Outdoor Ministry. A couple days before they contacted me, the Lord asked me how I would feel if my friend (who was also applying) got the job, and I did not. I told the Lord I would be devastated, I would be a mess. That weekend, the Lord took me through a stripping process. The Lord had to make sure that I was still His #1 desire, that I desired Him above any position or passion. It's funny how easy it is to let Godly desires and passions get in the way of loving God. By early the next week the Lord had prepared me to hear the answer I had dreaded a few days prior. My first reaction was disappointment and great sadness, but the Lord had prepared me and I was almost immediately filled with peace. I chose to meditate on Isaiah 30:21

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you saying, 'this is the way, walk in it.'"

As soon as I was denied the summer position, the Lord brought back the other Australia program that I had wanted to apply for originally. I contacted them and said that I wanted to consider switching my application. Before I could blink, I was accepted to the program and filled with excitement, joy and peace. I am ready and willing to start this new adventure with the Lord! So, I will be leaving in August to embark on a new journey, filled with new lessons, new obstacles, new relationships, and new insights. The Lord is good.

New Year...New opportunities

Christmas came just in time this year. This past year of Barrier Island has come with new blessings, new friendships and opportunities for growth, but it has also been filled with stretching and testing. The Lord has taught me patience through Outdoor Encounters, the adventure program I have been trying to start. I thought for sure we would have people filled up on our calendar waiting to go kayaking and spend quality time with the Lord outdoors. I was forced to re-evaluate my expectations this fall when we had not had a single group sign up for the program. The Lord has been faithful and we do have our first group signed up for this April, I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve them and actually lead a trip. Obviously my expectations looked much different from what the Lord had in mind, but I have learned to accept that and be grateful that His ways are much higher than mine and His thoughts higher than my thoughts. We are only called to be obedient, not to produce results through programs, people or otherwise.

My family was such a blessing over Christmas break. It was the first I had been in Michigan since June and it was wonderful. I have learned over the years, through much conflict and arguing to just let me love me and take care of me. I am not finished with this lesson, but I have learned to at least let my family love and take care of me. After so many months of outpouring and serving it was great to sit down and rest, to remember that I am loved for who I am and not what I can do or produce.

Through prayer, I have decided not to return to St. Christopher next year. I will be finished at the camp in May of this year. I feel so much peace and confirmation about my decision. I am starting to apply and make plans for the next phase of life. I feel called to two different areas of ministry, so I have plans to try them both. I would love to do outdoor ministry for this summer, as an outdoor guide. I have applied for a job at Noah's Ark in Colorado. I also have a pull to missions. I have applied for the Discipleship Training School in New Zealand, through YWAM (Youth With A Mission) with outreach in SE Asia. This particular school focuses on Eath Care and involves going to poor villages and teaching them simple agriculture practices, while taking care of the earth. I will do my best to keep you posted on if and when the Lord opens and closes doors for these opportunities. I am reminded of the verse, "In his heart, a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." Proverbs 16:9. I completely surrender to the Lord's will and plans.

Please pray for contentment during as I approach my final season at St. Christopher. The Lord reminded me that He has called me here to this place, through the end of May and He still has plans that He wants to accomplish in me and through me. I do not want to wish the time away that I still have.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

Time always seems to go faster and faster. As the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons approach, you begin to think about seasons and memories past. So much has been learned, so much has changed, so many memories have been made.

The island has been quite warm recently with temperatures in the high 70's! I still don't think I'm used to hanging out on the beach in the middle of winter, but I'm not complaining! Thanksgiving was pretty busy with retreat guests

here. We opened the Climbing Wall, led nature hikes and went kayaking a couple times.

My parents came down for a visit in October and we had a great time. We went sight-seeing with Aunt Tammy and checked out a few new places. We visited Cypress Gardens, which is where parts of "The Notebook" were filmed. It was great to be together as a family again!

At the end of October, I competed in the Barbarian Challenge with a few other people on staff. The Challenge included climbing over 15-foot hay bales, sliding through mud, jumping over cars, tramping through swamps and it ended with hurdling fire. It was a pretty epic race, but now we are onto our next challenge which is the Mud Run put on by the military base in upstate South Carolina, which takes place in April.

Leah's birthday was on the 13th of November and I managed to scheme

a whole day's worth of activity. We rented a sailboat for the afternoon and went on a sunset sail. There were 6 of us girls, and we had a blast, then we met a big group of friends downtown for a feast at a BBQ place.

I have become the residential dog-sitter on camp with a new set of animals each week. It's been crazy going from house to house and hanging out with pets. I have decided that dogs are too much work and I don't plan on getting one in the near future.

I have been praying for a couple months now about my future. I have been given the opportunity to stay another summer and school year if I choose to. I believe I have made my decision, but I want to make sure I leave enough time for the Lord to speak to me if His will conflicts with mine at this point. I would appreciate your prayers in this decision.

We booked our first "Outdoor Encounters" trip about a week ago! The trip will be a group of high school students from a local church and they will come in April. The Lord has been me many things through this program and patience is up at the top of the list.

New year. New staff. New season.

The past three weeks have been a bit overwhelming and a whirlwind to say the least. New staff arrived on in mid-August and it's been go, go, go ever since. It was a pretty big transition for me to move from my little apt. back into the staff house filled with 14 other people. I felt like my life was changing so quickly; saying goodbye to summer camp and that job, and saying hello to new friends and a familiar environment, but with different people. The first week was a bit rough and I cried for three consecutive days by the end of the first week. As most of you know, change is pretty hard for me.

But, the Lord is so faithful and has provided us with a wonderful, God-ordained staff. It was so cool to see during the hiring process and by meeting everyone how the Lord has His hand in each life that He brought here. This past weekend we went on a staff camping retreat to Okefenokee in Georgia. It was a great bonding experience with beautiful kayaking. One of the staff members led worship around the campfire each night and the last night the Lord showed up in big and powerful ways. We had a few people that had felt led to pray for others and we had a time of worship and prayer. The Lord did healing and reclaiming territory that was His to begin with. There seemed to be a theme running throughout the weekend that the Lord wanted us to let go of the things we were desparately trying to hold onto for security, identity or other reasons. We need to release everything not of the Lord so that we are able to receive His blessings and outpour onto others. It was such a good time of freedom as well as seeing the Lord's power and glory.

My new role has been good, but stressful at times. I love pouring into the staff and building relationships, but the training has been pretty intense. I also tend to take on more responsibility than the Lord asks of me, so I am also in the learning process of letting go. Please pray that I would be in tune with the Holy Spirit so that I would know when to take on a challenge and when to release something the Lord has not asked me to do.

Thanks for your prayers. I love you all. May the Lord continue to abound your knowledge of His love and may it become more real to you each day.

Baby turtles and more...

I try to check on the nests as much as I can at night to try to catch a nest "boil." It's called boiling because it looks like turtles are boiling out of the ground. Last night, I arrived at the nest a little too late. When I arrived I found 12 dead baby turtles around the nest. Animals like Ghost Crabs and Raccoons had injured them. So, I missed the boil, but I was able to see a few last turtles come out. We protected them from the predators as we watched them make their way all the way down to the water. Only red lights are permitted at the hatching because the turtles are not able to see it. The babies move toward the brightest object on the horizon, which is usually the moon, but if you're using a flashlight, you may send them running the wrong way. That's why it is important to keep all light off when you live near the beach.

The Lord has been so faithful to us. We have all of our staff hired for Barrier Island next year. Even after we were finished hiring, the applications were still flooding in. I am excited to see what the Lord has in store for us. Please join me in praying for our staff. Please pray for unity among us, of the same mind. Pray for personal healing and growth for each of the staff members. These are the names if you would like to pray for any of them specifically.

Returnes: Cody, Leah, Lucy

New: Jonathan, TJ, Jeff, Justin, Keaton, David, Jenn, Sarah Ellen, Julia, Lauren, Sarah

Outdoor Encounters is still coming along. I have been doing my best to advertise and spread the word, but as with any new program, it may take awhile to get up and running. Please pray that the Lord's will would be done in this area and that I would have the patience and trust needed to follow Him. We have the bare bones of a website up on the St. Christopher Camp page if you would like to check it out. The address it www.outdoorencounters.org.

Thank you so much for all your prayers, they are so appreciated!

Sea Turtle Nest!!

I know it's been awhile since I've updated the blog, but I felt like I just needed a break. This summer has been such a good break for me so far. I am getting some much needed rest after running for years and not taking a minute to slow down. I have a lot to update on, so I will do this slowly, but I wanted to update you on my exciting news today.

One of my hobbies this summer is being a member of the Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol. I walk the beach in front of the camp and down the beach once a week on Tuesdays looking for mother sea turtle that laid a next the previous night. This morning when I was taking a walk, I was suprised by a nest right in the middle of a prayer of gratitude. The Lord is so good! I try to document all the steps and take photos, so here it goes.

STEP 1: Walk the beach early in the morning before anyone else is out. Look for turtle tracks that look similar to tire tracks.

STEP 2:Probe the area that looks like a turtle may have dug a nest. The sand is usually hard, but when there is a nest, the sand is extremely soft, so you will be able to feel the change.

STEP 3: If the eggs are too close to the water, they will drown at high tide, so you have to move the eggs to higher ground a dig a new nest. So you dig out the turtle eggs gently and put them in a bucket so that they are in the same order in the new nest.

STEP 4: Dig a new nest on higher ground to help the turtles have a better chance of surviving.

STEP 5: Transfer the eggs into the new nest. Then cover the nest with a grate to keep out bigger mammals. Set a Ghost Crab trap next to the whole and mark with a sign.

STEP 6: Wait patiently for 45-60 days for the 121 eggs to hatch!