To the Outback we go!

It is currently 79 degrees and pouring in Townsville! We have had some amazing storms in the last week, you really haven't seen a thunder/lightening storm till you've seen it here! It's quite a bit gnarlier than California! And I love it! Things are going really well. This week we spent a lot of time packing and cleaning to prepare to head to the Outback to go camping for two weeks! I am super excited for this...it's one of the highlight to doing DTS here at Townsville. For your information- I will not have phone, internet, etc. until March 23rd(when we return from the outback into civilization)! 

Okay, now for the exciting stuff! As students, we believe God has called us to be here at this time in our lives, but with that comes the stress of leaving our schools, jobs, families and a financial commitment that for most of us is out of our comfort zone. As of monday, the four schools, Reef to Outback DTS, Not for Sale DTS, Bible Core Course, and the Intro to Primary Healthcare needed $118,000 to come in for all of the teams we are sending out. By Wednesday we had seen about $30,000 come in, in two days. On Wednesday night we had a giving night...basically the students and staff of all four schools came together...the students who still needed significant amounts stood up front and other staff/students could donate money. For the most part, no one here has lots of money, but we rely on the support of people around us to partner with us and send us out. So it was incredible that by the end of the night- we had raised $20,000 for those students. For RTO specifically we still need to see about $35,000 come in ASAP. But God has already been extremely faithful to us in finances and we have no doubt that he will continue to provide. There were so many cool testimonies of how God has used finances to bless us- and I'd love to share two stories!

First of all, on wednesday night I felt led to pray for a certain person regarding finances for her and just encouragement in her being where God has called her. She still owed $2900 for her outreach... not more than a couple of minutes after we finished praying a donation came in for her of $2900. It was such an awesome and encouraging moment of God's faithfulness to us. 

Second of all, at the beginning of this week I thought I owed about $400 more for outreach. Tuesday I found out that I actually owed $760. I had posted in facebook that I needed to raise $400- so when I found out I was a bit worried. But as of this afternoon I have had $775 come in this week and am officially fully funded. In addition, team PNG is, I believe the first of nine teams to be fully funded as a team- assuming everyone's pledges come through! This is so exciting. We are so encouraged that God is with us, God is for us, and that he has prepared the way for this outreach!

Thank you all so much for praying and being faithful! I am so blessed to be supported by so many different people. Below are some pictures for you to check out about some random moments of my journey lately!

God Bless! 

Just a typical day at YWAM! These are two staff from my school! The girl, Mel, is staffing my outreach team!

This past saturday we played "Minute to Win It" at Youth Street. They needed an assistant for the gameshow...so I got to dress up and walk across the stage with the sign! So fun!

Also in Youth Street last week, we participated in "Clean Up Australia Day" and took youth around the town to pick up trash! So cool to see young people rallying in their town to make a difference- and having fun doing it! This is a picture of the staff of the park team. Me, Tori and Haley!

Me and Kwai Ying! We have sunday's off and we typically spend it at the "rock pool".  The rock pool is a manmade swimming hole filled with ocean water right beside the ocean... no sand and keeps the stingers out! They found a croc in it last week though... 

Coffee and a Giants sweatshirt- perfect monday morning in lectures!

I live here! Is this real life? Because I'm feeling so blessed! There's a lot of hard work, reading, studying, emotions etc to go through, and there's nothing like sundays to rest and relax after a full week!

The view at the top of Castle Hill... such a nice, steep hike!

Proof that it's not all fun and games! We do homework!

We make ourselves at home in lectures, because WE ARE AT HOME!

Packing up our rooms to go camping in the outback. We tend to make everything fun!

A group of us getting ready for lectures!

During lectures, learning the history of missions with Richard from YWAM Perth! He was AMAZING and so inspiring!