Winding down to wind up...

I have officially worked my last few days of property. I retired my steel toed boats and hug up my fluro vest. I can't believe the things I have done in the past few months. I walk around the buildings looking at walls, ceilings, and different things that I have built. I literally made (with the help of others, of course). It is amazing the things God can call you into and see come to fulfillment! We have seen one of our three buildings come to fulfillment this past week! We had the city council come through and inspect one of our buildings and we got approval, which means it is a working, operating, you can move in building! YAH! Just in time too, because we have over a hundred students showing up in 8 days and we need somewhere to have class!

I have had a few days off to wind down from property work, and wind up for this coming school. I can't believe we are already starting a new season of students, lectures, busy busy schedules, and God rocking everyone's world.

I have been seeking Jesus and getting ready to wind up for this school and what lies ahead. I have been looking at this one verse in psalms 37:7 - Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.
My Bible tells me the word 'rest' can also be translated into 'be still', and the word 'patiently' can be translated into 'longingly'.

SO be still in the Lord and wait longingly for Him.

I have spent the past two days trying to be still before the Lord. To get His heart and His perspective on several things. I can feel the longing in my spirit grow the more that I wait. I know He hears me, I know He is answering me and is growing me. The whole rest of chapter 37 talks about the Lord and how He prospers us when we wait on Him, obey Him, and show faith in Him.

So as life continues to whirl wind around me, I will be still. I am longing with every fiber in my being, and I will see the Lord. I feel so secure in that, and so thankful that I know this about Jesus. What would life be like in the whirl wind without the security of Jesus' presence?!

I welcome 21 new students from various countries and different ages next week. I am getting ready to staff a six month discipleship training school. It is going to rock my world, I love it!

Here are some pictures of the base and christmas....

you are blessed to be a blessing

12 gladstone.. our first building finished! 

Breakie on christmas morning

Me making french toast on christmas morning...

Christmas tree..

Presents from roommates! Mexican cook book.. they know me to well! =)

Last day at work in the property.... i got to climb in a hole between the bathroom ceiling and the second story floor and sheet rock this little wall... great times! 

life outside of construction

Well one glorious morning a week, I get to actually take a shower and fix my hair! I volunteer at a pregnancy crisis center in the city one day a week, and have been able to keep up that commitment even through this crazy time of construction and moving!
So apart from my normal work clothes, steel toed shoes, and hard hat one day a week, I actually get to get dressed up! And by dressed up, I just mean my clothes are normal and they don't have white jip rock powder all over them!

okay enough about my wardrobe. The real part that I love about it is the women. It is this amazing organization that has been set up to help women who find themselves in desperate situation and feel like they have a "problem" ... they fell pregnant. The center offers free pregnancy test, non diagnostic ultrasounds (for all you americans.. this is something we can't do in the states), counseling, and an unlimited amount of resources from all sorts of places to help women continue with their pregnancy.

Often women are in tough life situations and see the unexpected pregnancy as the problem.. we are able to speak truth about their options, their life situations, and often the women find out that the pregnancy isn't a problem.. it is the easiest thing to put in order in their life and is often the very thing that is used as a catalyst to change lots of other areas of their life. Isn't that great how God can use the development of life, the baby, to actually impact people outside the womb. World changers before they are even born!

I had the privilege to meet a women who was having the opposite problem of most women that we met. She was trying to conceive and she wasn't able to. She was worried because of previous decisions that she had made, that it was effecting her ability to conceive now. She was gripped and chained by fear. I could see it and hear it in her voice. It was great to give advice and resources for fertility clinics in the city that are christian based, but also to just open her mind to how her whole body needs to be taken into consideration for why she may not be getting pregnant. I know that sounds silly but because of where she was from and the world view of that country, then it felt like God wanted her to know that He cared about her emotions, her stress levels, and that He wanted her to be free in knowing she was okay physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He was shaking her thought that emotion and spiritual wasn't a factor, that it was all just physical. Just speaking truth to her about how she needed to process things emotionally, and talk through past things and release herself from any guilt, or hurt was so exciting. I love how God pursues us and desires to free us all.

You are blessed to be a blessing.

a time to work...

The scripture in ecclesiastes was read out to us working on the property the other morning. "a time to mourn, a time to be glad, ect.." The encouragement was that this is a time to work... and work we have.

We are seeing amazing transformation come over the three buildings that we, as ywam, are rebuilding. Our due date for finish is next week, the 30th. We are working as hard as we can, and long hours and lots of prayer is going into the final bits of the project.  This time working on this building project has been so great for me. I love physical, hard work and this has been nothing short of that, but it has also just been so refreshing for my spirit. It really does break away the stereotype of what is secular or spiritual in working. Get someone saved, or build a wall.. we are seeing God's kingdom brought in both ways. These building are being built into our future classrooms and offices... we are going to see thousands of students come through these 14 class rooms and get changed by the power of Jesus and his words. We are going to be able to set up proper offices for our accounts and registration, to see hundreds of miracles God will do to provide money, or provide visa's to get people here. I guess being more of a literal person it is really fun to see the literal kingdom of God built through a building that will house His presence and work.

It has not come easy or without a cost.. but we are seeing God continually provide strength, supplies, and resources we need to keep working on this building. Please pray for these next three weeks. They are pretty crazy times for all of us on base. We move out of our current building ("base") next wed. and will be baseless for three or so weeks. Our main building is being built by a construction company and they are working hard as well. they have pushed back the due date a few times but are hopeful to be complete and moving in by christmas. So please pray quickness on that, and just help for us during transition. We have over 300 people that we are housing, feeding, and continuing class around the area, at staff houses, and local churches. Needless to say all of our regular schedules are off... what is a regular schedule?! =) 

I am amazed to see all this happen and be apart of this. We have seen millions of dollars donated to build this new base, a surplus of supplies, and people who are willing to come and build for free! We have testimony after testimony of calling supply stores, trying to find specific wood and not only finding it but after sharing what it is for, having them either give it to us for free or discount it at unbelievable rates! We have had two electricians, two sheet rockers, 2 plasters, and a carpenter all fly over from the east coast of australia, america, canada and volunteer and work for free to see this project complete. 

 I was reading in Job this morning in chapter 26 verse 14 it talks about "these are but the fringes of His ways..." Can you imagine... just the fringes of the work of God... If you imagine what that means is possible with Jesus. We all need to be running out in faith and truly believing in the impossible! What has God spoken over your life that looks impossible at the moment... move towards it. believe it can happen. Keep praying for it!  Like peter, when Jesus was walking on water, get out of the boat! Even if you sink, the Lord in His grace and mercy will reach out and lift you up, and lead you into a great place full of the promises He has over your life! 

Here are some pictures below... ( i promised one of me in all my work gear! haha.. although now the guy I work with insist that I wear this enormous tool belt that hangs down to my knees... so this isn't a true representation of just how "great" I look! =)

You are blessed to be a blessing

Yes these are steel toed shoes! 

This is the first building we worked on.... 

 This is the same building two weeks later! Praise the Lord... just needs some paint! 

 This is the first successful column put up by quenton and myself... the new jip rockers! 

 This is my team.. picking on joe as usually! Love my jip rockin' boys!

This is the second building... sry no before and after shots.. but it is looking good! 

A time to transition

Here we go... after 10+ years of ywam perth being located in one building, we are up and moving. We have been in the process of building a brand new building for the past year and it is now time to start to count down... T minus 44 days and we will have transitioned out of the old "base" or building and hopefully straight over into the new building (if it is done and approved by the city counsel on time). If not we may be getting a bit creative on where we hold classes for a few weeks!

Some of the great things about being in our new base will be 1. It will be our own. We will own it! No more renting! 2. We will have double the capacity than we did in our old building. We are doubling our classroom numbers from the 7 classrooms that we had to 14 classrooms! 3. We will have our own cafe in the building! (can anyone say cappuccino! Yes please! ) 4. The building faces the downtown city of perth. Almost like a lighthouse to the city. We are being used just as much in this city as we are in the nations! Praise the Lord! 5. Well it will be a beautiful building... =)

We have professional builders working on our new property but we also have two other properties behind the new base that we are renovating. So hard working ywamers, like myself, have been spending countless hours tearing down, and building back up again. (Just thought I would clarify - I just joined the building teams, so I haven't done any tearing or building of any kind yet! haha)

Starting tomorrow though, I will officially be on a building team. We are going into crunch mode, trying to get all our properties done by our deadline. So every free staff member not staffing a school is being put on property teams to help sand, paint, tile, grout, dry wall, and so much more! So I have taken a safety test and been given an official "white card" saying that I am aware of safety on a construction site (you can't work in the buildings without it) and tomorrow I will go buy my official first pair of steel toed boots! I mean I love shoes and I have bought lots in my life, but never a pair of steel toes before! I will be sure and post a pic as soon as I start styling these boots!

I am super stoked to get to work! I love hands on stuff and the opportunity to be apart of such an epic move in the history of ywam perth is exciting! God has spoken dreams, and I am apart of seeing them come to pass! The opportunity to serve people from the nations, the city of perth, and go out into nations from this new building will be monumental!

So here are a few pictures from the last few months! Enjoy...

You are blessed to be a blessing.

Spring time is here and the trees are blooming!

The new base!! 

My roommate and I doing some gardening at our house! 

Being creative in the kitchen for lunch! Tuna sandwich anyone!?

Roommate lunch! 

My roommate and I at a park for a picnic! 

Time is flying by...

I can't believe it is already October! I'm afraid my season are still all messed up in my head... I feel like winter is on it's way, but in reality my life is heating up... summer is coming and I welcome it! We are mid spring here in aussie land and I was loving last weekend when the sun was out, and the shorts and tank tops came out!

I am moving at such a normal pace these days that I almost feel like I don't have much to write about. My schedule is set to working in two different ministries on base. I spend two days a week working in the kitchen.. cooking to feed the masses for lunch and dinner... (by masses I mean around 350 people) then the other days of the week then I work with a ministry on base called trio. I volunteer at a pregnancy crisis center and love it. I get to do a lot of nursing work, which always sparks my interest, like pregnancy test, ultrasounds and some health care teaching. Then we also provide lots of resources to women who need it and provide lots of counseling. The center has a program set up to help women learn how to be a mom and all the changes their body and life will go through during pregnancy and once baby is arrived. During it they earn play money and get to buy all the baby gear they will need before the baby is born. It is such a neat system and really teaching the women so much!

Even though the pace of my day is normal, God is still in full gear speaking and teaching me. I have gone through some intense past few weeks with different life issues that I had to face.. physically and emotionally. I am never ceased to be amazed at the love Jesus gives us.. me. The promises that God has been speaking over my life are getting closer and some have even come to pass... I just feel the movement forward in my relationship with Jesus. It is great because you know God loves you to much to leave you where you are at, and we are always able to move closer to God - He is dynamic, made us to be dynamic and loves when we lean in, cry out, speak to HIm to become closer but every once in a while you can tell when that big step forward has happened in the relationship. Or maybe when something has broken and the comfort level is greater with the relationship. That is what I feel like and I love it. I just sit back some days now and soak it up.

Well the building that we (ywam) calls "base" is officially moving. We have been trusting GOd for finances ..seen Him provide, and are now building a base of our own.(we have been renting facilities for the past 25 years) It is an exciting time and a crazy time... in the next 8 weeks... we will uproot and move multiple schools, lots of ministries, and 350 people into a new facility (praying that it is finished on time!) So I will keep you updated on how that goes! It will be crazy, gong show type fun!

You are blessed to be a blessing

This made me laugh...

This cracked me up....A little insight into the YWAM world....


You know you are A YWAMer.
your vocabulary consists of an unlimited great many multitude of acronyms: YWAM, DTS, SOS, SOFM, SOE, KKI, ESL, SOPA, SBS etc. and only you and every other YWAMer on the planet know what they mean.

you never cease to be amused by acronyms like these:
Young Women After Men
Yes, We Arrange Marriages
Youth With A Meeting
Youth WithAut Money
You Will Always Move

your goal in life is to “TO KNOW GOD AND MAKE HIM KNOWN!”

you think it’s perfectly normal to drop what you’re doing to go to another country without exactly knowing why because you know that is where God wants you.

you give away something you need because God has led you to do so.

you are quite happy to accept that your future husband/ wife is probably in a different country.

you need time to “process” everything.

at the airport you set your bags on the waiting room chair and sit on the floor.

you’re watching the Simpsons, Ned Flanders comes out, and you say Dean Sherman.

you know that “every problem in the world is a problem of relationships. every relationship problem is from pride. so pride is the cause of every problem in the world” (Dean Sherman)

you have bathed in a river for a mininum of 5 days straight, and have gone a minimum of 5 days straight without bathing at all!

pooing and peeing in a hole doesn’t phase you the way it should.

in any sort of social situation you are no longer ashamed to talk about having diarrhea. You won’t refer to it as an upset stomach, you can call it what it is.

you cant afford to be scared of spiders, bugs, rats, etc.

if someone mentions a friend or family member that is with YWAM and your ears perk up and you have to immediately ask which base and see if you have met them.

you get something pierced or tattoed before returning home.

when the word “flexible” takes on a whole other meaning.

you are fully aware that anytime you sit in a vechical you must sleep because who knows when you will sleep next.

you know the full meaning of the word ‘transition.’ It defines your life.

you actually MISS the food in your outreach country.

you’re praying in the airport because someone is having trouble with their passport.

you go to a non-YWAM retreat and you think it’s weird you don’t have meal prep and clean-up.

you know how to ENCODE emails written in Muslim or Communists countries so that it doesn’t sound Christian.

you start counseling all your friends to go on a DTS.

you’ll sleep on any ground, anyplace, anytime.

“base” is a word that means ministry center.

you think of calling a (YWAM) friend, but don’t know what continent they are on.

you know God already said GO… you need specific instructions to stay.

you slept on the floor in a room smaller than a closet with 6 other people (and you kind of miss it sometimes..)

on your birthday you know to expect a construction paper card signed by everyone at the base.

having a flush toilet is the pinnacle of technology, and dishwashers are a true extravagance.

you know what vegimite/marmite is and tried them.

comfort is a luxury.

you have an unspoken bond with anyone and everyone who has done a DTS.

you leave with a total non-denominational view of Christianity and get really annoyed over petty Christian bickering.

you know that everything in life is a “heart issue”.

one week you can’t afford to buy coffee, the next week you’re in another country on outreach.

the leaders of the organisation have time for you personally and you don’t have to put them on a pedestal.

you watch National Geographic specials, you see people you’ve met on outreach.

if you’ve eaten dog meat or fish eyeballs the size of golf balls, and you don’t find anything odd about that.

stuffing 10 people in the truck bed on outreach is THE way to travel

you know how to give your testimony in 5 minutes

you hear the bell rings and it’s time for WORK PROGRAM

after meal you wash your own dishes

you have a place to stay anywhere in the world because someone you knew knows someone who knows them

you’re no longer surprised at money turning up randomly and anonymously, just in the nick of time.

you know you’re a YWAMer if you start saying “Go God” whenever something really cool happens

you can ride in the most dilapidated vehicles or sleep in the most dilapidated rooms and it’s all just part of life

you know you’re a YWAMer when you can say “base food” and everyone knows what you’re talking about.

you know you’re a YWAMer when you meet someone that’s done a DTS and you feel as if you’ve known them forever.

…health insurance? What health insurance?!

if the world seems significantly smaller to you than it does for other “normal” people

you randomly find foreign currency in your pockets.

some needs $1500 in 3 hours and your like “no problem”, and they get it all in, in 2 hours and 58mins

your primary ways of communicating with your best friends are internet-related (e-mail, Skype, Facebook etc).

you miss lots of people all the time.

you left your heart in another country.

the show Fear Factor occasionally made you nostalgic about the good ole days.

you still live out of your suitcase for months after returning home




 - You are blessed to be a blessing.

They sneak up...

Well its just another normal week except that it is my birthday this week. Umm. I love birthdays, when they are not mine. =) Only because of the whole getting older thing. Seems like they keep sneaking up on me. I will be 25 this year. Seems monumental in a small kindof way... (oxymoron?!)... Maybe I am just being a bit dramatic but I feel like I will be 25 in two days and haven't had time to think about it! Maybe thats a good thing.
I would love to wait on the Lord a bit and get some fabulous words for this coming up year and all the things He wants to do! I always get a bit torn on my b-day about whether I should be reflecting, looking back on the year that was or being excited and looking towards the year to come! Maybe I will do a day of both! Because I live in Australia, I have the privilege of having two birthday days. Since I was born in America and they are a day behind. It works out perfectly for those of us that like to prolong good things (like attention because it is your special day!) =)
I am also planning a party for myself... wahoo... I would love to get to know more people around in the community that I live with. So I guess having a big party is a great way to do that. SO if you are reading this and around perth... my house, saturday night! Fire pit plaid party! Yes.. we will be roasting marshmallows and having a good time.

I have a prayer need... the house that I live in is currently up for sale. My roommates and I have been put on a month to month lease while they try and sell the house. The base is looking for a new house to rent to put all of us in, but sadly have not found one yet that is in our price range or that will be okay with 12 girls living in it. So we are in a waiting period. Not sure when we will have to move out, currently don't have any where to go, but know that God is faithful and His timing is perfect. So if you think about, I would appreciate some prayer help! We have a gorgeous house and have been so blessed to live here, and I believe we are going to get an even better house to live in! Yah God's blessings! So we are waiting and will be quickly transitioning soon.

okay well that is it for now.

You are blessed to be a blessing!

Random pictures from working in the kitchen...

Making Fish and Chips for dinner... I hand battered like 300 fish that day!

 I love to receive packages! =)

 Yes we feed lots of people..

 Random pic's from my mom and my road trip!!