Life Afresh

Oh my goodness. It feels as though my life has been nonstop lately. There is so much to say and so little time to fill you all in, but I will do my best.

Let’s see what a normal day in the life of a staff at YWAM Oxford looks like. Typically I get up at six in the morning, which usually gets later and later as the week goes on. Whoops. I like to have quiet time to myself in the morning to read the bible and pray before the day gets going. Next I am off to staff meeting at eight. From nine to ten we either have worship, intercession or bible study depending on the day. Lectures then start at ten and go until one. Afternoons are then filled with staff leadership lectures, work duties, small groups or one on ones depending on the day. And there’s more! In the evenings we have outreach prep, lectures or worship, again depending on the day. Come Friday it is time for our weekend outing! We have different options each weekend, usually featuring a climbing, hiking and camping and hostel trip option. We leave by two on Friday and come back by dinner on Saturday. As you can see we get the most out of our time here. Sundays are gold around here.

First trek of the year. It was an overnight 16km hike, with a 8km summit hike the next day.

 It is really awesome that I am able to be here doing what I love. I couldn’t emphasize that enough. I am living in a community of people who have put their lives on hold to seek after the one who created us. It is such a unique and uplifting environment. At any point I walk through base it is almost a guarantee that I will see someone being prayed for, or overhear a conversation about the morning lecture or see someone giving encouragement to others. As difficult as the weeks can be, I am always reminded of the beauty of it all.

What a grand birthday! I got to spend my birthday down in Queenstown with the whole school (Jason and Amy above, they're pretty rad). We went and had a dance party on the side of a mountain the night before my birthday to celebrate. I got an excellent chocolate cake, was princess carried while the gang sang to me, and finished the day off with a midnight longboard ride followed by a freezing swim. 

I can now finally announce this exciting new information about outreach, seeing as my team now knows. Last year I spent time in India and Nepal doing missions, and this year I will be in Australia and New Zealand. Since I am apart of a Backpacker focused DTS that is exactly what we are focusing on for outreach. New Zealand alone attracts more than two million tourists a year from all over the world! Why go into all the world when they all come here to experience and hike throughout the beauty of this great place. Australia will be similar in that we will be ministering to backpackers, but they aren’t necessarily the hiking type. We will be on outreach for two and a half months, five weeks in both locations as of now. When we were presented with outreach options I felt as though I was supposed to go back to India and Nepal, because I had been there already and was familiar with what an outreach to that location looked like. My co-leader and I were then told that our outreach was to Austalia and New Zealand. Although it wasn’t what I expected, I think it will be a great opportunity to actually practice living out my faith in a culture similar to my own. I think sometimes the people who often “have” it all are the ones that are the most spiritually deprived. The final cost of the outreach has not yet been determined, but I am not too worried about it because I know God has called me here and He doesn't call us into something and leave us on our own. However, I would appreciate prayer concerning provision for the cost of outreach so that I am able to go a lead this wonderful team into the world for three months to share the love of Jesus.  

Outreach gang at Love Feast. Australia and New Zealand get ready for us! 

And finally, last but certainly not least… I got baptized! It has only been in the last year that I knew my heart was in the right place to do so and is why I chose not to be baptized earlier.  I knew that if I would have chosen to do this a year ago it wouldn’t have been a genuine response to the love God has given me through the life of His Son. It is now. Leading up to being baptized people kept telling me how excited they were for me and explained what happened in their lives when they were baptized. They said that as soon as they came out of the water something shifted and they could feel that. It didn’t really make sense to me seeing as you are only going under water and coming back up. Little did I know. I can’t even start to explain what I experienced, and am still experiencing now after being baptized. I think the thing that has impacted me the most is the understanding that I am dead to myself and alive in Christ. I have heard that often, but now that I have experienced I am beginning to understand what it actually means. It is no longer I that live but Christ in me. I feel free. Free to walk into the fullness of this life knowing that I am a new creation in Christ. That is the promise I have.

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who

lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of

God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Summit of Lewis pass. #nailedit.