after His heart: And We're Back...!

Absolutely crazy that we leave for PNG in thirteen days. We are incredibly stoked- but before I get too far off on our excitement for PNG, I would love to share with you a little bit about our first three week outreach that we just finished up in Cairns.

WARNING: This was a jam packed three weeks, full of fun, full of God, and full of life changing stories- this blog will be long, will be full of pictures and will barely scratch the surface of how great outreach was!

The bulk of our outreach focused on working with Harald's House- a housing unit that houses six disadvantaged and homeless youth. During our time there a few kids came and went. Our experience at the house was emotionally tiring, but in the end, incredibly fulfilling. All of the kids were very caring, funny, and have a lot of potential. But they all come from difficult pasts- many of them their parents have kicked them out for various things and they just don't have anywhere to go. Some have suffered abuse, mental illness, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts and other difficult things. As we got to know them, it was hard for us to wrap our minds around their struggles because they were simply amazing children.

At the beginning of the first week we prayed for God to put a certain kid on each of our hearts that he wanted us to pursue specifically over the three weeks. God put an incredible fifteen year old guy on my heart, and it was an absolute pleasure getting to know him over the three weeks. For the sake of his privacy I won't share much of his story or what he struggles with, but it was amazing to get to hang out with him, get to know him, talk to him about God and simply just have fun together. God's hand was totally on our relationship from the get go, because my heart was absolutely wrecked for him, because I instantly just loved him so much. He is funny, he knows crazy amounts about the weather, he is passionate about storms, he is caring, he is honest, he is full of love, he is bold, and most of all he is brave. He has been through some super difficult stuff, but still he has so much to give. I left Cairns loving outreach, but being so sad to say good bye to Blair. He was my little buddy, like a little brother, and my prayers are with him as he goes forward in life. I want so badly for him to know God like I do, and to experience a world of joy, of justice, and of purpose. The kid made his way into my heart, I know I will never forget him, I know we will stay in touch, and I hope to one day get to see him again.

All of the other kids at the house were also super awesome, and despite all my time with Blair I got to know them as well. It was incredible to see how well they cared for one another, and how openly they accepted us into their lives and loved us back. We went there to help them, but they certainly impacted us as well. I'm so tired and exhausted and drained, and I know that my words are hardly describing how amazing this outreach was- so I'm just going to go ahead and post some pictures!

Now the difficult part taking 5000 pictures and choosing which ones to upload to this blog...
here's a bunch of pictures to show you what outreach was like....

Easter Sunday- guess black and white is the new pastel.

The kids were on holiday for two weeks while we were in Cairns, so we spent the first two weeks traveling to fun places throughout Cairns and the surrounding areas, hanging out and playing with the kids. Here we are at Crystal Cascades!

Here is a bunch of crazy caterpillars all wrapped up in each other. Apparently they can spit stinging hairs at you... or something crazy like that!

You know... just playing some pool at Harald's House!

One of the amazingly beautiful waterfalls we visited with the kids: Milla Milla Waterfall

Me and Mel in the pool at Harald's House

During the third week of outreach the kids were back in school- so during the day we did school seminars. We split into two groups to present, this is my group. From left: Bethany(Australia), Amelie(Germany), me, Maddy(Washington) and Ruben(Germany). We taught on John 10:10; living life to the fullest and God's power to heal, restore and give each of us purpose!

This is us... on a hike! This was in the beginning of the hike... after we finished it was renamed as "death hike" It took us three hours and was mostly uphill!

I love this picture. This is when we visited Lake Eacham.. this picture is amazing because if you look closely Lea is in the water acting like a momma that's gonna catch a baby jumping in the water, and I'm pretending to jump into her arms!

This is on the way to the lake. From left: Blair, Me, Bethany, Lois, and Kathy

Here is a picture from "death hike"

This is my little buddy. Blair. He is from New Zealand and this is the New Zealand greeting. This was a really cool moment for me, and honestly this picture is my most favorite picture from outreach and DTS. This kid changed my life. He had such an impact on me and I will honestly never forget him.

Me and Blair at the waterfall!

We had a baking day and our hands got super messy- but we were totally fine eating the dough off of our hands.

Cheesy YWAM photos

Sometimes we found a moment for a break..

Me and Blair playing pool at Harald's House!

We dug out this huge gravel area and shoveled soil in so they can have a veggie garden at the house!

Harald made us Kangaroo burgers!!!!! Stoked...they were actually kinda good, even for me who doesn't like red meat!

Maddy got second degree sunburns on her face! It was so crazy, but she was such a good sport and she let us make fun of her for it!

From left: Amelie, Lindsay, Miles, Lois and me. This is on the day we did the garden.

Me and Lois... a few days after she had her appendix out.

Me and the boys on my outreach team: Miles and Ruben!

Left this in Lea's bed just to make her smile! I'm strange like that!

Our whole team and some of the kids on our way to the lake. Such a good day!

Lois, Bethany and I, all dressed up and ready for church!

We got nerd guns because we like to kids!

Oh, and then there was that one time when our staff SURPRISED us with a Snorkel/Scuba dive trip to the Great Barrier Reef! We are so blessed to be led by such incredible people!