Off To My Mission Field

I wanted to take this time to thank you once again for all of your support! I am so thrilled and couldn't ever thank you enough for your thoughts and prayers! I wish I had the opportunity to thank each of you individually and share untold stories of how God opened up my eyes to a whole new world. It has been a life changing experience and I have grown in so many ways. God is continually opening up doors for my future and showing me the plans he has next for my life. We have just completed debrief week and it is mind boggling that I just graduated from DTS! There is so much going on in my head and it will take a long time to realize everything God has done for me.

Overall, I hope you've been able to learn something from these blogs in the past 5 months of my life and I pray that God has stirred something in each of your hearts. I'd really like to challenge you to take a chance on God and to give all of your heart to him. What do you have to lose? I guarantee if you pursue my God wholeheartedly and challenge him, he will show up and make himself known. So often we put him in a box, because we don't know anything different. Rarely do we step out in faith and allow God to move in radical ways. He is more powerful than you could ever imagine and is longing for you to get to know him. I just really want you to know that God's love is so great, so overwhelming, that he has already forgiven you for everything, yes EVERYTHING, in your past and he is eagerly waiting to become your best friend. Man will continually fail you, but my God is perfect and will never fall short.

By no means do you need to take a DTS to know God or make him known, because he is the same here, as he was on outreach and he will be the same when I return home. I really hope that I am able to see you all once I arrive home and if you see me or want to meet up and hear more about what God is teaching me, I would love to share with you stories of instances that God showed up BIG TIME! It will take more than a 30 second convo though so be ready to set aside some time.

Through out my DTS I've learned numerous things and I've found that the more I study the Bible and learn more about God, the more I realize how much I don't know. What I do know though is that as a disciple of Christ I am called to Love God and Love Others and that is something I will struggle to do every day, but it's not by my strength but Christs strength in me. If you'd like to talk more I gladly encourage you to facebook message me or email (jc7soccer@hotmail.com) me and I would love to discuss anything and everything God has been teaching me here. Thanks for following along! Take care and God Bless!

Check out our Fijippines Outreach Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZzQhdoJM-s&feature=plcp

School Verse: 1 John 2:6 "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

God's Plan is the ONLY Plan!

I can't believe this journey of my life is coming to an end. My team just arrived back to the base here in Aussie Saturday night along with our fellow DTS members. It is so great to be reunited with them once again and share stories of how God showed up in big ways!!! I am so blessed to have gone to the Philippines & Fiji and God blessed me with an incredible team and leaders!

Our last couple weeks in Fiji were extremely challenging and I wish I could share everything with you. As I wrote in my previous post, my team had planned on going to Kadavu Island for our last week of outreach, but after much deliberation we felt like God was calling us elsewhere. The day before we left for the island, our leader Pia was diagnosed with a staph infection and that same night received two powerful dreams warning our team to not go to the island. We took these as clear signs from God, because that night we had asked for someone on our team to receive vivid dreams. It was a really difficult time for many of us and I'm thankful I had you guys at home praying for me. I had really been looking forward to this island and being the first team there building relationships and a firm foundation for future YWAM teams seemed amazing to me. But instead we left Suva, Fiji and headed back to the YWAM base in Lautoka, Fiji to work with our contacts there. The next few days our team did different hospital, jail and teen ministries and received heaps of confirmations from God. It was awesome to see that God's plan was greater no matter how difficult it was to go against such promising plans in Kadavu. During our last 5 days, we had got news from a pastor in Nacula in the Yasawa Islands that he would really appreciate it if our group came and brought our missions to his village.  Just like that God blessed us with another opportunity to head to an island and it was the such an jaw dropping adventure!

Nacula was like nothing I've ever done before and yet I didn't really feel out of place. It was such a wonderful learning experience being apart of the village culture and becoming welcomed into the exclusive community. We were there for 3 full days and spent most afternoons going around door to door sharing our testimonies and telling them about Jesus, as well as spending time with the kids at the local primary school.  Each night we'd put on a mini "concert" which consisted of 2 skits, 2 testimonies, some songs & a final message giving the locals opportunities for prayer. You could just sense how spiritually dead the village was and all we wanted to do was bring a spark and allow the Holy Spirit to set their hearts on fire.

It has been so sweet to see God work in so many different parts of the world and in such a variety of ways. In the end, there was no better plan then the plan God showed our team. His ways were best and it was our teams decision to live by faith that he would make a way and not by our sight, which didn't look promising.

Our final week here of DTS is debrief week and gearing up for the toughest times that have yet to come. Hopefully I'll be able to comeprehend just a fraction of everything God has shown me. Hope you all have a great week and are enjoying the summer. Thanks for readying :) later mates!

Island Time

Bula Vinaka!  I hope you are all doing great and enjoying the wonderful weather back home!  I'm currently in Suva, Fiji which is the largest city from what I know of here.  It has been an awesome adventure here in Fiji as last week we were staying at a YWAM base in Latoka doing different types of ministry around town.  A few days we went and prayed in the hospitals and saw God perform incredible miracles.  We also worked with kids in after school programs, church services, and college groups.  Often we have gone around door to door sharing the Good News and our purpose for being here in Fiji.  Many of the Fijians are born into Christian homes so we are here to encourage and enhance their faith.  As far as the Indians, most of them are Hindu and Muslim so we are counting on God to perform different types of miracles which is often the only avenue to tell them about the God we serve.

This past week in Suva we went to the prisons and spoke as well as went to Hindu villages and watched God come through again with more healings.  The spiritual world is so amazing here and very difficult at the same time.  If you could pray for the Khan family and more specifically their daughers Mona & Joyce who just yesterday were delievered from demonic possession.  However it is a reoccuring thing and we are praying that this was the final departure.  I can't thank you enough for all of your prayers and support.  God is so crazy and I can't believe we only have a few weeks left.  My God is such a powerful God and nothing can stand in his way.

This Wednesday our team is heading to some more remote islands to build relationships and preach God's word when we get a chance.  It's a really cool experience because no YWAM team has done these things before here in Fiji and we are trying to establish a good foundation for future teams.  Thanks again and Go God! See you all soon!

Philippines to Fiji

Well our time here in the Philippines is complete!  We take off for Fiji tomorrow & have a few hour layover in Brisbane, AU before taking off to the Island.  It has been an AMAZING experience here in the Philippines & God is making himself known!  We have been doing a wide variety of ministry here & it has been a great learning experience.  Our YWAM team partnered with a youth group called the Upright Generation from Naga Philippines & they were an incredible help.  Whenever we'd go out for different types of ministry, member of the Upright Generation would help us with translating & sharing God's love through their gifts & talents.  Some of the ministries we did included concerts at city plazas, going to prisons, feeding programs for street kids, basketball/soccer games :), home for the blind, street evangelism, door 2 door, & many other ways.  We went to the Island of Catan Duanes for a week & shared the gospel to those there.  We were greeted with such happy faces & just open hearts.  God is doing awesome things there & hopefully Upright Generation can continue to impact the areas we helped plant seeds.  I can't tell you how much I've enjoyed my time here!  It is undoubtedly one of the best months of my life & God did things that I can't simply explain with words.  The Philippines definitely has a place in my heart & I have a huge family of strong believers in the Upright Generation.  They are so passionate & so joyful for the plans God has!


For this next month in Fiji it will probably be quite a bit different.  Supposedly it is really heavy spiritually & our team can use a ton prayer.  We have been able to maintain great unity but we will need to remain extra strong.  Please continue to pray for boldness.  I miss you all & can't wait to tell you more in person!

"Kingdom Builders 4"

What a week!  We just completed our kids camp & it was an incredible experience!  This is the fourth year that Grace Covenant Church has put on this Kingdom Builders camp & I felt so honored to be apart of it.  Each of us had a group of 10+ kids that we mentored throughout the week & led through a variety of events.  Over 30 kids accept God as their Lord & Savior & most of them went on to getting baptized!  Our speaker was a guy named David Victory who spoke on bringing the kingdom here to earth.  David is from Nigeria & is living out his faith by traveling the world & sharing the gospel with young believers.  He's only 25 & has been to over 22 different nations since giving up everything for God's plan at 19.

This next week we're leaving to an island & preaching the gospel to the natives.  We don't have any big plans & we're just going to be led by the Holy Spirit.  I still have so much to process from this past week, but I'm excited to see a transition & to serve in a different way.  My foot is much better & I'm finally able to put a shoe on.  I hope to play basketball again with the locals soon & I am trying to raise some support to purchase a basketball backboard for the local church we are staying at.  I've checked out some supplies & it only comes out to around 800 pesos, which translates to about $20.  If you would like to help support this church they would be so appreciative!  Just let me know & please continue to pray for safety for our group & travels.  I hope Tulip Time is fantastic!!  Miss you all & can't wait to share more on my time here in the Philippines!

I MADE IT!!!! Right now I am in the city of Naga in the Philippines at an internet cafe.  This has been an incredible week here so far and God is making himself visable.  We have been laying cement & getting ready for a week long kids camp next week.  We have also done a wide variety of events outside of where we are staying, from street evengelizing to prostitutes to visiting the elderly in nursing homes.  Eveyone here is so loving & inviting!  We are working with a youth group organization called the Upright Generation & they help us with translating & communicating with different contacts.  Today is our day off so we are traveling around & sight seeing.  God has been so cool & sparking my intersts as far as playing basketball with the kids here & giving me opportunities to be bold.  The food has really been awesome even though it involves some sort of rice just about every meal.  Our team is really starting to bond & that makes everything else so much easier.  You can sense our unity & God is answering many other prayers.  Please continue to pray for our camp for next week & those we evangelise to this weekend.  It can be very difficult with the language barrior, so just pray for boldness & understanding.  Also could you pray for rest & energy as the kids camp with go from 6am - 10pm everyday!!  We have also experienced some health issues on the team so just pray that everyone's digestive systems get with the program & we can funtion properly :)  Thanks again for all your support & prayers & I will try & post again when I get a chance!! Love from the Philippines!

Also... I found out right away when D-Rose got injured... I was devastated to say the least.  You can see more of what I'm doing on our team blog at http://www.ywamteam2012.blogspot.com.au/

Don't fight for victory, fight from victory!

I can't believe the time has come! It's slowly settling in, but I still can't believe that I'll be in the Philippines tomorrow!  I am so overwhelmed with how blessed I have been & my newest adventures are just getting started!  Coming into this week I was feeling drained & I wasn't sure how ready I was going to be for outreach.  After this past week of lectures on Spiritual Warfare however, I am way stoked to move in God's power & spread his truth to the lost nations.  Our speaker was Neil Champion who was arguably my favorite speaker that we've had.  He is a local guy & just has a passion for Christ like no other.  The ways that he moves in the Holy Spirit are incredible & he has had a lot of experiences in Fiji, so he was able to share a lot of stories & ideas of what to expect.  This got me so amped & I never would've guessed I'd be this pumped to head off for two months.

It's sad saying bye to my fellow DTS buddies, but we will have a debrief week at the end of our journey so I will see them all again.  There have been some hard things going on as far as kids unable to go on outreach & others getting really sick.  Originally, we had 12 people on our outreach, but now we are down to 10.  Unity was already a tricky thing for our team, so this adds even more distress & questions.  Through it all God is still good & there is obviously a reason behind all of this.

Throughout the week we discussed a lot of spiritual gifts & how to act properly when using them or how to know if you have a gift.  So often we automatically think that raising someone from the dead is the greatest miracle, but really it's salvation, because you are bringing someone out of death & into life.  Healing someone doesn't give them eternal life.  Imagine this... if you had the cure for cancer, what would you do?  Hopefully outside yelling to everyone about your discovery & I don't think that's really the way to go about evangelizing, but it gives you a perspective of the excitement you should have when sharing eternal life with others.

One thing Neil continued to stress were personal quiet times.  You cannot just switch God on & off when you want to.  The greater the work in you, the greater he works through you.  When you're in your quiet times, there is enough power in the room to create a universe.  Instead of inviting God to join our stories, we need to join his ultimate store.  I know this kind of contradicts what I said a few posts back, but I feel this is a more accurate outlook on things.  Spiritual warfare is being connected to the source.  Here are some really powerful/interesting points that Neil made:

• Every morning ask yourself, what would a man/woman of God do today? Then do it!
• When someone persecutes you, ultimately they are saying: Stop preaching or I'll send you to paradise.
• We should know & be familiar with God's voice.
• If God stopped speaking to you, how long would it take for you to notice?
• It is so important to connect with God each morning through quiet times.
• This is something I'm still struggling with but "dead men don't have rights."
• "For our struggle isn't against flesh & blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world & against the spiritual forces of the evil & the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
• It says we are not fighting against flesh & blood, so why do we fight each other?
• If it moves pray for it, if it doesn't well push it & pray for it.
• Don't be worried to step out in boldness.
• The Bible tells us that the devil is below our heals, so how does he get in our heads?
• We give him a foothold & lift him up with sin in our lives.
• The Bible says we need to humble ourselves before the Lord.  This is for us to do not him.
• "God resist the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6
• Truth doesn't need to hide from anyone. You get intimidated when you don't spend time with the Lord.
• Do you think you need to defend a lion?

These are just a few of the things we learned, along with how to deal with intense spiritual warfare, which is very prevalent in Fiji.  Here's a tentative schedule of what we'll be doing.

Philippines:

• Week 1: Preparation for "kids" camp that will go the entire day.  We've been told they will be waiting outside when the sunrises ready to go.
• Week 2: We're running a camp & will each have our own tribes to lead!  I'm so pumped & the ages will vary from 12-25yrs old.  Hopefully we'll be able to do some basketball camps there!  I would be so thrilled!!!
• Week 3: Feeding some villages & bringing the gospel to some islands for the first time!

Fiji:

• Week 1: Staying at a YWAM base & working with them.
• Week 2-3: Working with a pastor who works with the poor & need.  We'll be doing door to door missions, evangelizing, working with single women & possibly inmates.

I'm not sure how many of these things will really go as planned, but these are just ideas we've received from our contacts.  Either way God's hand will be in the entire process & we'll be doing his work.  Thanks for all your support & feel free to leave a post below (You don't need to log-in).  I won't have my laptop on outreach, but I will try to blog when I can.  However, we will have a team blog at http://ywamteam2012.blogspot.com.au/.  Hope Tulip Time is wonderful & GO BULLS!!!

Prayer requests:

• Boldness to step out in the power of Jesus.
• Safe travels.
• Ability to stay united as a team.
• Our leader to be healed so she can rejoin us.
• Love for the people of the Philippines & Fiji.

It's a Relational Life.

Welcome to Jason's world!  Where unopened milk doesn't need refrigeration, where long-boarding injuries are quite common, where plugins have switches, where looking like a caveman is acceptable, where it's weird to carry American cash, where slushies cost $4, where geckos are more common than squirrels and your family is 30+ students with all different ethnicities.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this each week!  It is super encouraging when I hear that someone is enjoying the things God has been revealing to me. I just want to make it clear that the ONLY way I'm able to write the things that I've written, is through the power & discipleship of our All Mighty God.  I pray that your heart is open to what he is trying to say through these posts & that you understand that the stories I share come from me joining God's journey for my life, not my journey trying to involve God. I am continuing to grow & struggle through the things I've been experiencing.

This week in lectures, a Godly couple spoke on relationships.  They have been serving our base for years throughout their marriage and do an awesome job of working together in unity to demonstrate what Godly relationships look like.  We learned about 1) Our relationship with God, 2) Our relationships with others, and 3) Our relationship with that special someone.

"Relationships are what's most important." - Michael Scott (My father, not that other guy)  These are the words that I carried into this week and these are the words that I carried out of this week.

1) Greatest commandment "Love God'

• God has always been a relational God.
• Genesis 1:26 "Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image."  Who is "us"?
• Father, Son and the Holy Spirit!
• Our relationship with God will improve our personal relationships with others, along with our character.
• Those who walk with God have a Christian community around them.
• You must be committed to a local church so can be encouraged in your faith & journey.

Committing to a local church is something I really struggled with back home.  I felt warn out and like I was wasting my time, because everything seemed irrelevant.  They talked about the importance of church and how it is Christ's bride.  For example:  If our best friend met a guy or girl we didn't necessarily approve of, we would either need to change our attitude towards that person or we would become disconnected with our best friend.  God intended for a body of believers to gather in his name to praise him.  Also, no church is perfect, but when you get involved with a small/core group of believers, you can share your struggles and ask for prayer!

James 5:16 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - We are our brother's keeper and it is our business to help those who are close to us that are struggling.

2) 2nd Greatest commandment "Love Others"

• John 14:15 Jesus says, "If you love me, you will obey what I command."
• In order to obey his 1st commandment, we need to obey the rest of his commandments.
• 1 John 4:20 "If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen."
• Ouch, there are so many people that I don't love...

Motives: Can I be a great person & love others without Christ? Do I love others for personal fulfillment?

Our relationships with others needs to glorify God in all ways and this doesn't mean putting on a front and not allow others to see us when we're weak.  When conflicts arise it is easy to run, hide, or ignore the issue.  However, conflicts can: create opportunities for growth, heighten creativity, help people think with a broader perspective, help others express their true feelings.

When confronting:  Go to the person, think it through, no personal attacks, use "I" not "You" language, listen, offer a solution & pray.

When confronted: Paraphrase your understanding, ask questions/clarify, ask for time to pray/process the situation, reveal thoughts & solution.

Both parties: Seek Godly mature counsel, express sympathy & sincerity, make plans for next step, pray for each other and a heart for each other.

3) Relationship with a special someone

It isn't healthy to skip steps in a relationship.  God created this type of Love to only be enjoyed between a man & woman who are under a covenant together through marriage.  Proverbs 18:22 "He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the Lord."

Relational advice:

• What are your motives for this relationship?
• How you begin a relationship will influence how it continues.
• Be careful if you are "pot heavy".  In poker, if you have too many chips in it is extremely difficult to get out.  Don't commit too much too soon or you will experience great tribulation.
• Get to know their family and friends.  This is where their true character comes out.  Character will stand the test of time, but good looks will perish in time.
• PRAY ABOUT IT!!

For further marriage advice, contact my parents :)

I apologize for the extensive posts. I've tried to simplify, but there's so much to share. Here's my past week:

Tuesday - My outreach group met up & learned more of what we'll be doing (I'll share more next post). We worked on a couple skits we'll be performing & in one of them I'm Jesus. There's a decent amount to learn, but my beard does most of the acting anyways.  We're really coming together so thank you for your prayers!

Wednesday - We had a special dinner where we all dressed up & our staff served us our dinner & washed our feet. It was a really humbling experiences & brought back awesome memories of NTS (Never The Same) camp from high school. My appearance really flourished this night & there's a picture below!

Thursday - Five of our students decided to get baptized in the ocean and it was an incredible experience.  I have always had a love for baptisms and hope to personally get baptized this summer when I return home :)

Changing gears...

Friday night a group of us were at the beach when we saw sirens nearby.  We decided to go see what was going on & upon our arrival I saw a medical team performing CPR on a girl who had been hit by a car. A girl named Katelyn was crossing the street when she was hit by a car. Her friends were kneeling together nearby on the grass with emotions pouring out. I was in disbelief & never expected something so tragic to happen on such an ordinary night.  We started to pray with those huddled together, crying out to God to pour out his mercy. This was one of the most horrific situations I have ever experienced, even though I had never met this 20yr old girl. The ambulance eventually took Katelyn away & we said our last prayers with her best friends & boyfriend who were there. My heart cried out for this girl who supposedly had no relationship with her Father in Heaven. The following morning we heard that Katelyn never made it. Today, this only fuels my passion to tell others about Christ (the greatest relationship you will EVER experience!) so that they can be delivered from death & experience Eternal Life.

Apart from this event, I had a fantastic week/weekend.  The surfer guys got back from their road trip & it's good to chill with them again. We take off for the Philippines this Saturday (4/28) & I won't really have internet while I'm there. Our group will keep a blog so I'll post that before I leave. Shout out to all my supporters! Thanks to my family Mom, Dad, Jessica, Kendall, Tarah, Taylor, Mariah & Charlie for all your love & encouragement!  This is already a crazy week full of packing & last minute shopping.

My buddy Dayne & I before our dinner! Yes we used surf wax on our staches'.

Slowly yet surely

Surfers paradise!

Surf crew!

Prayer Requests:

- Unity & patients within our group & wisdom for our leaders.

- Love for the people of the Philippines & Fiji.

- Discipline for me to set aside time to seek God daily.

- Safe travels

- For boldness to speak out & discernment for spiritually heavy times.

Another Dimension

As Christians we are called to be supernatural,  God is super We are natural.

This past week our DTS went 4 hours south along the coast to a town called Byron Bay.  Byron is a hippie town full of backpackers & travelers from all over the world who are looking for adventure. The hippie/beach culture is a huge party attraction and so often everyone is lost & searching for something more meaningful in life.  Our weeks emphasis was Evangelism and we were able to meet up with 2 other YWAM teams for the entire week to practice evangelism in preparation for outreach.

Our speaker was Kevin Stickl who's been living in Australia since '99.  He shared his experiences with evangelism and how it is a different adventure each time.  So often the word evangelism can carry a sour taste and I can't say as if I've ever wanted to be apart of any evangelism.  I immediately think of someone standing at a street corner screaming at those passing by about how they're sinners and need to get their lives right.  I'm still in the process of changing these deprived thoughts and focusing on the good news we are called to share with others.  Here are a few thoughts that Kevin shared:

• Before evangelizing, we need to deal with our fears of man & pride.
• When we step out in faith in the strength of God, he will deliver us from these fears.
• We need to set our gaze on God and his abilities.

When looking to reach out to others in evangelism, we need to know:

• It is GOOD news!
• It's a free gift. If we had something of value (gold) to just give out to others for free, wouldn't we be excited!

There are so many different types of evangelism and it should become apart of our lifestyle to share about God's love & forgiveness for others, rather than just setting time aside to go specifically evangelize.  When we evangelize, there are 3 different types of outcomes.  1) someone is saved. 2). we plant a seed. 3) we are rejected.  1 Peter 4:14 "If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you." That being said, every time we step out in faith, there is a 66.6% chance that you'll be successful.

Jesus is either a Liar, a Lunatic, or The Lord.

    - For those who say that he was just a good man, I tell you this can't be, because he states that he alone came down from heaven and is the only son of God.

Going into the week we were told that Byron was a really heavy place spiritually and that we needed to be ready to experience things we had never witnessed before.  This was not an understatement, as I honestly wasn't sure what the words "spiritually heavy" really meant.  This week God blessed me with multiple opportunities to talk with heaps of people in Byron about God and the deep desire he has to build a relationship with them.  Every night we'd have a barbie in the park, serving free pancakes & chai tea with music for the locals to stop by.

• My friend Osama & I spoke with a homeless man named Feron, who's life had been ruined because of "Christians" and how he hated them.  Feron played his guitar for money on the street he told us that his dreams were that his nightmares would disappear.  All we could do is love on him and pray for his hardened heart.
• My friends Amanda, Megan & I ran into a guy named Scott from NY who was on vacation with his son.  He was searching for his soul-mate & longed for inner peace.  Scott had been divorced 3 times & had a successful construction business.  He had some knowledge of God, but also believed in extraterrestrial life & was confused about heaven.  We were able to pray for Scott & he knew that our encounter was not by coincidence.
• My friends Steph, Mich, & I had just finished praying for peace & comfort when 5 Jewish guys walked up and wanted to know what was going on.  They had been living in Australia because there was too much pressure in Israel to be religious and it didn't seem real to them.  Surprisingly, they were really open to hearing about our beliefs and who God is to us.

These are just a few encounters I had throughout the week and there was also a varieties of healings that took place.  Spiritual healings and YES physical healings!  Until this week I've never witnessed any physical healings, but God showed up and a girls foot was straightened, a girls shoulders were re-aligned, & pain was taken from a variety of people's broken bones & past injuries.  It was NUTS!!!

Even today this sounds ridiculousness & unattainable for me.  And indeed it is ridiculous & it is unattainable for me alone.  John 14:11-14 "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.  I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.  He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.  And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it." BAM!

After reading all this, it may seem like this has been a glorious week, but it was actually a huge battle.  The spiritual world was heated and the devil was trying hard to dis-unify our groups and tear us apart.  Those with discernment could since the heaviness, because anytime there is a fight for souls the devil is going to be upset (no glory to him).  This was a really unique experience and I definitely grew in so many ways.

Making pancakes for our gatherings! 

Nothin like the Bay!

My Friends :)

Personal highlight of the week! Some mornings we were able to go surf & I saw my very first dolphins! So sweet! haha anyways... Love God, Love Others!  Have a wonderful week and please facebook me & let me know what's going on in your life!  Otherwise leave a comment below about anything that's on your mind or anything I have said.  It is possible that not everything I wrote is true, so check it with the Bible aka The Truth!  I can't believe I only have 2 weeks left here in Australia, but God is still good!

No Time Off.

Greetings from Australia!  I hope you're all having a wonderful Easter and enjoying time with friends & family!  Even though it is one of the less popular holidays, I am totally bummed to be here and not with everyone back home eating cheese potatoes & 7 layered jello!  It has been a great past week here and the time has definitely started to slow down, knowing that I leave for outreach in only 2 1/2 weeks I believe.

For lectures, a man named Bryon Hunsburger spoke on the Living Word and we pretty much just skimmed the surface of the whole Bible in a week.  We looked at different stories in the Bible that are maybe less popular and how we can still relate and receive insight into what God is trying to show us.  It was a nice refresher for the Bible and how we can choose to make it exciting when we do some background research.  Even classic Bible stories that we read as kids, have deeper meanings if we just put the time in and look at the surrounding context of each stories.  Bryon was an awesome guy with some sick stories.  He went sailing for 5 months with a crew to distribute Bibles in the Philippines & started SBS (School of Biblical Studies) here in Sunshine Coast, which is the next level beyond DTS.

Beyond lectures, this has been a very eventful week.  Ultimately, I learned that God never takes time off, which is pretty obvious but sometimes it's hard to believe.  On the flip side, God doesn't expect us to take time off either.  Saturday night I was out with my buddies Osama & Tyler hanging out at the beach & McDonald just like any other night, when all of a sudden we were a loud BANG!  Immediately we took of running in the direction of the sound assuming it was something serious.  Adrenaline pumping, we ran up the hill and were the first ones on the scene of this car accident.  It was 3 college students who had totaled their car into a light pole.  Only 1 of them had a dislocated leg & the others were able to walk away.  In no time it became a huge scene as neighbors gathered & emergency vehicles came to light up the scene.  The 3 guys, Luke, Mitch, & Jye, were hysterical in disbelief and confused about what had just taken place.  A woman started asking if there were any Christians who could pray for these students emits all the chaos.  This was something I had never heard someone ask before and I wasn't really sure how to respond.  Eventually, we were able to pray over each of the guys and there is no doubt in my mind that God was there and angels were surrounding the car.  Right after we prayed, you could sense a change of heart in the guys and instead of freaking out about their destroyed car, they became thankful that they were still alive and could wake up the next morning a new day.  The whole event was a whole God thing and Luke with the dislocated leg, told us "I've never met anyone who would do this. People don't do this around here because they don't care."  This statement alone was so encouraging.  I'm not telling you this to brag about something I did with my buddies, but to show you how crazy God is and how he is always working in our lives and we just need to be ready for anything at anytime.  All glory to God!  There is a lot more that happened this night and we were able to discuss our beliefs with some of the neighbors before we headed home.

Everyday now I pass by that light pole and it is just a great reminder of God's devotion to our lives.  Often times it is just an ordinary day that God decides to wake us up and as Christians we can't take time off.  This doesn't mean that if we give our entire lives to Christ that he won't bless us with peace or rest, but he wants us to rely on his love everyday.

I went to the doctors on Tuesday and found out my eardrum has already started to heal so I'm back in the water!  Thanks for your prayers, not being able to surf for a month was starting to take a toll on me :)  This whole week we'll be staying in Byron Bay and meeting up with 2 other YWAM bases.  The week emphasis is evangelism and I'm stoked to put everything into practices for outreach preparation.

My outreach team bowling!

Glass House Mountain!

This is my outreach team!!! Fiji-ppines 4-Life!

I think it's really incredible that you've taken this time to read my blog and I hope you're able to take something away from it.  I honestly feel blessed for your interest in what God is doing in my life here in Australia.

Who's your best friend?

I have a handful of "best friends", but can I honestly say Jesus is my best friend?  This can be such an odd question/thought process and our speaker this past week, Dan Baumann, did an EXCEPTIONAL job of showing me what this actually looks like.  Dan's with the YWAM base in Kona Hawaii and it would take multiple pages to write down everything he was able to teach me. Best week yet? No doubt.  Dan has one of the most passionate relationships with Jesus that I have ever witnessed.  He has lived an incredible life of obedience to God and his insane stories are nothing but a testament of how God longs to be our best friend.

A short clip of Dan's testimony:  Dan spent 9 weeks in an Iranian prison, where he experienced the darkest times of his life.  Dan was beaten multiple times and lost over 40lbs without any sort of explanation for his imprisonment.  After 9 weeks, Dan was brought before a court to determine his future.  When asked what he was doing Iran, Dan responded by proclaiming the Lord as he began to preach uncontrollably before the Iranian court for nearly 45min.  In the end, Dan was released from prison because the Holy Spirit had moved so swiftly within the room and through his sermon.  His passion & sincerity showed the court that he was indeed a missionary & not a spy like they had suspected.  Dan walked free the next day.

Relationship with Jesus:

• Being 100% sure of what God is calling you to do is overrated.
• It is more important to know God's character so you can hear his heart.
• Everything you do for God has to come from intimacy with Him.
• Jesus wants to hangout...he likes everything about you & wants to unconditionally hangout.
• God just wants to continually show his revelation of love upon us.

Hearing God:

• Often God will lie something on our heart & then not say a word.
• We need to trust what God says first.  He is just waiting for us to commit to him.
• God is more committed to fulfill his will for our life, than we are to find it.
• The will of God, is that we fall in love with him.

Praying:

• Ask God to grab your heart to feel what he longs for.
• Lift someone up in prayer.
• Their name may have never been mentioned in heaven.  What a privilege!

God is with you:

• Where does God want you to be?
• Right where you are.
• Where is the safest place to be?
• Right where God wants you.

If we are willing to listen to God and be obedient to his calling, to the dreams he has for our lives, then we need to realize that often we're NOT going to feel ready.  God won't ask us to do something if he doesn't think we're ready & when we aren't ready, we are forced to rely on God 100%.

Not only does God want to fill our lives with surprises, but he planted our passions & interests within us so that he can use us for his purpose.  Once we place God in the middle of all our priorities, we just need to ask him to walk with us and hangout.  Yeah that may seem goofy, but all he wants to be is our best friend and that's what best friends do.  They hangout! Whether that's playing sports, cooking, going for a joy ride, a lunch date, working, watching tv, or anything you do throughout your day.  It's not about separating our sacred & secular activities, because when you're in love with someone, you welcome them into your entire day.

Something else that I found really intriguing was the fact that your emotions don't determine your passions for God.  Your emotions change all the time & often in the morning you don't feel as passionate about God as you did the night before.  But that's NOT it!  God loves us in the morning just the same & our passion for him doesn't change.

What keeps us from having passion?  Dan said passion is related to not sinning.  When we focus on not sinning, it's selfish because we're focused on how we need to change.  We're trying to fix ourselves, when Jesus is the one fixing us.  The best way to get over your sin - fall so madly in love with Jesus that you become obsessed & lose yourself.

Fact: Many Christians are so bored.  Well I have news for you... God is NEVER boring.  Passion is a steady long-term growth.  There will be ups & downs, but you need to continually seek the heart of God.

I'm sorry, but I had to share all of that.  Dan spoke so much truth and I found it so influential.  I hope there is something you're able to take away.  I am growing even closer with the community here and it's depressing to think how fast the time has flown by.  Every day that passes by here makes this place seem even more like home.  Everyone is striving to seek God with all their heart and learning these important lessons together brings us all so much closer.  I just don't feel like I could ever thank you all enough for all your support.  I can feel your prayers & I know they are making an impact!!  Gooo God!

Saturday we had Outreach Olympics & my team surprisingly took home the Gold!  The most interesting event was eating Ox brain.  Yes, Ox brain.  It smelling like grilled chicken & had the texture of a mushy egg.  It was rubbish.

Love to you all!  I enjoy hearing about your lives back home so please continue to comment, message, skype, and email me :)

"If we are told to do something, but don't know where, go somewhere!  God loves the whole world."

What makes you come alive?

Good day mates!  I hope all is well.  This past week of lectures has stretched my mind & thinking more than ever.  A man named Dave Fenton spoke on Spiritual Gifts with an emphasis on prophecy.  A lot of this was completely new to me and I just did my best to comprehend everything being spoken so that I can study it more for myself later.  Ultimately though, every speaker we've had continues to express the importance of one's character.  I love when there are reoccurring themes and a positive character is something I'm continuing to strive for.  Dave shared personal stories of prophecy, healing, and words on knowledge that he experiences on a regular basis.  Most churches have "proof" that these types of gifts no longer exist and that is merely because they don't practice the gifts readily available to them.  Friday we watched a movie called "Furious Love" that shares of the spiritual warfare in the world today and those who have discernment to recognize different situations.  It was kinda spooky so I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but it helped me realize the spiritual battle that is alive and well today.

Saturday I went into town and was confronted by two women who wanted me to know that I wasn't a born again Christian, because I can't speak in tongues.  Supposedly speaking in tongues is the only evidence that the Holy Spirit lives within you and boy was I in trouble.  We talked for a good 40min before I had to be on my way, but it definitely got to me.  This is just one of a few situations I've encountered since being here and I really feel like God is placing these situations in life to strengthen and encourage my beliefs.  My only solution is to dig deeper into the word.

Saturday night we had a bonfire & fresh hamburgers at some local Aussie's farm and it was a nice getaway.  Later Saturday, some buddies and I went to the skate park where I received multiple bruises due to my inexperience.  That was my first time actually skating & possibly my last haha.  However, it's not keeping me from trying other new activities here on the Sunshine Coast.

Also I visited the doctors and I have a damaged ear drum that's infected so I'll be heading to a specialist this week :(  No surfing or ocean for me... Otherwise I've become a caveman, because I haven't shaved or cut my hair since the first week here.  For some reason the laddies here can't seem to appreciate what I'm doing.

Overall, God is giving me a new rejuvenation and I am beginning to realize how open my future is.  I still have absolutely no idea what it holds, but it will be something that allows myself to come alive.  What stirs your heart?

Kondalilla Falls

Local rain forest 

My first Kangaroo sighting!

Surfs-up!

I miss you all and can't believe I only have 4 weeks left here in Australia before I head for outreach. Also, thank you all again for your generous support.  It's hard to imagine I'm actually here and I wouldn't take this experience back for anything!  Make it a good week!

No picture can do God's creation justice!

Prayer week blew my mind. Enough said. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect, but essentially we had prayer slots throughout the entire week with a small group for 3 hours and we could do whatever we wanted. It was incredible to see God work in everyone and the revelations that took place. I've gained a new passion for prayer and how to communicate with God:

- Often if we seek God without an agenda, He will bring it back to us because he knows what we need better than ourselves.

- If we don't have fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace..etc.) than we won't be "Christ like" and we can't act on spiritual gifts.

- God will never give you a misguided perception of who he is.

- God is constantly pursuing us and we have the choice by grace of God through repentance that we may not choose him now, but he will still come after us.

The best part was the sober joy from God's presence that I experienced; not your typical "high" that results in a crash... if that makes sense. However, there is nothing I can say that would even begin to scratch the surface of how blessed I am to be here! Another thing we learned about were spiritual gifts and I feel I've been blessed with the gifts of encouragement, leadership, serving others, & wisdom. I'm doing my best to let God use me in these gifted areas.

This Saturday, we went to Kondalilla Falls and went waterfall jumping. It was a thrilling day filled with ups & downs. I was sucked by many leeches & failed an attempt to front flip into a dive, which ended in me landed on my face. You can pray for my ear & stupidity, because I can't fully hear & it is filled with fluids continually. I just want my mom. Haha, but apart from that, the view was Amazing & we hiked through a rain forest.

This morning we had our once a month "Giving Morning" where everyone apart of YWAM gathers and presents their needs no matter how great. Then everyone seeks God and listens to what he is wanting them to give or provide. It is crazy to think about, but don't under estimate God and that he can work in miraculous ways. Over that 30 minutes $24,535 were given throughout the room. This was an incredible experience and a great way to start our week of Prophecy/Lifestyle of Miracles.

I hope everyone's having/had an awsum "Australian accent" spring break! I'm starting to miss an awful lot in the states including March Madness, the NBA & America Food (homemade, Baja, Yesterdog, & Captain Sundaes). Let me know if there's anything you'd like me to expand on. Please leave a comment!

Identity to Destiny

Ay mates! So much has happened in the past week and I am thoroughly enjoying the time God has given me here!  My mind is wrestling with so many new ideas & concepts and somehow I'm not feeling drained.  For lectures this past week our DTS leader, Luke Roque, spoke on "Identity in Christ" and he did an incredible job of humbling himself and making it very personal.  Identity is where we find our value & purpose and our identity determines our destiny.  It can be tricky to distinguish the difference between identity & personality, but in the end it revolves around our motives.  God can give anyone gifts overnight, but our character is a process and it takes time.  We also learned that Satan often deceives us by telling lies covered by subtle truths to make us buy into a false idea or identity.  A huge part of our identity is the "fear of man" and how we are perceived by others.  If we can understand that our identity needs to be in God then there should be no "fear of man", for fear is faith in the wrong kingdom.  Not easy stuff...

Also this week we learned more about Koney 2012 and his hunger for power that forces children into slavery.  There is currently a video going viral to spread the word about Koney and his destruction in parts of Africa.  Something to be aware of however, the group Invisible Children who created this video, only sends 1/3 of their donations to Africa directly.  Overall, it is a really inspiring video and we can all play a part in praying for the corruption in third world countries.

For outreach we are currently learning games & skits for the camps & events we'll be putting on.  As a group we've decided to buy 100 Bibles to bring with us, which we found for close to $7 in their native languages.  I am really getting stoked for all that God has planned and I just know he's going to blow us away.  My group has really made some huge breakthroughs this past week, so thank you tons for your prayers.

As far as everyday life here, last Saturday we climbed a local mountain "Mt. Coolum" and it was an amazing view over the Sunshine coastline & ocean.  One night a smaller group of us went "treasure hunting", which was very new to me but really interesting.  Pretty much we just prayed that God would show us where we needed to go & if there was anyone needing help or that needed the gospel, and that he would show us.  Talk about faith... Anyways it's rained a bit this week & I have yet to get stung by a jelly fish unlike everyone else.  I did however manage to get involved in a surfing accident Friday, but thankfully I have a hard head.  Friday evening all of us guys had a huge game of rugby on the beach, which was much more enjoyable than I originally expected.  I also got my basketball fix last night finally playing at a park...well overdue.  I am definitely settled in after a month into this 5 month adventure & I can't imagine ever getting sick of it here.

This next week is prayer week & we will be praying for 3 hour slots on a daily basis.  If there is anything anyone needs prayer for you can message me or facebook me & I would be more than willing to give you a couple hours :)  Thanks for all of your support and feel free to comment below!  Please pray that God continues to speaks to me this week and that I am able to stay energized.  Love from the Land Down Under!

"God hasn't called me to be successful.  He's called me to be faithful." - Mother Teresa

Our house where all the guys stay & our lovely transportation!

My discussion group enjoying a local waterfall! God has wonderful taste in creation! 

The local beach less than a mile away.  So beautiful!

This is where we have all our lectures & morning worship.  It's apart of a local church in Maroochydore.

Team Fiji-ppines

God has called me to the Philippines & Fiji for my YWAM Outreach!!! I'm so pumped for such an incredible experience that God has blessed me with and I can't wait to see his plan unfold.  I found out this past Friday and even though it wasn't the original place I had hoped to go, I can definitely see God's hand in the whole process.  My group has 5 guys, 4 girls, 3 leaders & we will spend a month in each country!  Right now we don't know many logistics, but I've heard that we will be spending time with orphans & inmates in Fiji.

Last week in lecture we talked about "Hearing God's Voice" and we really focused our time on learning about intercession through prayer.  This is essentially when you pray for someone no matter where they are.  Throughout the week we prayed for the Christians in North Korea who are being persecuted for their faith and the Muslim women who are being tortured as part of their Muslim heritage.  It was very powerful and a great learning experience/reminder of how blessed we are.  I've also been learning about how my personal relationship with Jesus should look and the deep love that he has for me.  Similar to a significant relationship, I will do anything possible to get to know that person and if they were to write a book about themselves, I would devour it.  The hard part is translating that desire into reading God's book to learn more about him.  I have really been striving to find that desire and in the end, I just have to go get it.

In other news, jet leg has finally caught up to me and I'm sleeping in as late as possible now.  It rained all of last week which I guess is typical for the summer months here.  Also, last Friday we helped move an organization called Destiny's Rescue (http://www.destinyrescue.org/aus/) into their new building so they can continue to help formerly enslaved children earn money through craft & jewelry making.  It was a nice change of scenery to get out and break a sweat for something that has such an impact around the world.  This weekend we are heading to Mt Coolum to hike & explore where I hope to see my first kangaroo!!

Can you please pray for unity among our outreach team, because we have a lot of strong personalities and working together + loving one another is going to be crucial if we want to show God's love to others.

My address here is:

Youth With A Mission

PO Box 5633

Maroochydore BC

QLD 4558 Australia

Thanks again for all of your support & I will post pictures soon!

Character Before Calling

Time flies when you're having fun & boy am I having fun!!  It feels like I've been here for months even though the days are already blending together.  This past week was orientation & it was odd trying to comprehend that we weren't heading home after a week of "church camp".  However, this is nothing close to any of my past experiences & luckily it lasts for over 4 more months!

Every morning my buddy Dayne & I have hit up the surf around 5:30am to watch the incredible sunrise over God's creation out on the ocean.  Thanks to jet leg, this time was somewhat reasonable.  We'd then have morning worship & a short lecture at our base, which is held at a local church.  After lunch we'd enjoy free time either back at the beach as a group or cruise around town looking at different shops or getting ice-cream at McDonald's for 50 cents. Everything is horribly expensive & the ice-cream cones are the only real "deal" compared to the states.  Your typical snickers bar here is $3 at the gas station so you can imagine how much it is to eat out.  We'd then have dinner & clean up duties, leaving plenty of time for evening activities around town.  Australia is known for its large skateboarding community, so sometimes we'll go to the local skate park & watch the locals do there thing.

On Friday night we went to a neighboring city called Maloolooba (yes it's that fun to say) & hung out at the beach for a barbecue & volleyball.  On Saturday we went to Noosa & enjoyed a day of community & surfing essentially all day.  I was able to ride a wave in for the first time so that was encouraging & now I can't seem to get enough of the surf!

It's been in the mid 90s all week & I have quickly acquired a mighty sunburn.  There are ants & geckos all over the place & it is fairly common to see wild turkeys when walking down the street.  Transportation is so tricky/freaky with steering wheels on the right, cars driving on the left & passing people on the left when walking.  There are 33 kids on DTS from 18-24yrs & over half are from Europe & Canada.  Often I find myself combining everyone's accents & mannerisms into one which keeps things lively!

This Friday I find out where I will be stationed for my 2 months of outreach. It's crazy to think about buy I'm getting excited to see who will be in my group.  If you could please pray for where God will lead me & that I will continue to seek humility & patients in God.

Cheers mates & I will let you know more about what I'm learning in lectures in my next posts, along with pictures.

1 John 2:6 "Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

Start of Something Bigger

Ay mates! I've finally arrived in Sunshine Coast Australia as of yesterday morning and I can already tell I'm gonna love it here!

"Oh Australia, how I wish I could be there. But Los Angeles isn't so bad after all. This has got to be some of the craziest past few days ever!" This comes straight from my journal Saturday as I waited to catch a flight to Australia for the 2nd time. Recap... Just this past week I woke up with strep throat, something I haven't had in years. Friday we hit the road to Chicago and just so happens, a winter storm decided to do the same. My flight was delayed 1 1/2 hrs because of the weather, causing me to barely miss my connecting flight & I actually got to watch it fly off.  Bloody Plane! aka "Bummer dude!!" So instead of my 14hr flight to Brisbane, I had 24hrs in LA with nothing holding me back. Somehow God gave me peace about my unexpected stay and I was able to enjoy a great transition day from the craziness of Michigan & the chaos in Australia.

I just arrived safely yesterday and everyone here is so incredibly nice, which is making me even more pumped to see what God has in store for the next 5 month!  This week is orientation and we don't really have a set schedule yet. We all have weekly chores & I've been assigned dinner cleanup, which is a great way to connect with other students.  The weather is a lot like Florida (hot & humid) but the beach reminds me of North Carolina.

Overall, Satan has really been at work with lost support letters, strep throat, & missing my flight.  Unfortunately for him, I've still managed to arrive in Australia & God hasn't even gotten started!  Cheers for all the support and prayers!

Also, I don't have my phone so sorry if you've tried texting/calling.

Signing off from the Land Down Under!

The Time Has Come

Wow, I can't believe this is all going to really take place in just a few days! I woke up with a sense of urgency today and had to just sit and think about how surreal everything is becoming. It's still so hard to comprehend how long I'm actually going to be gone, especially with never taking a trip to this extent, but that should be the last of my concerns. I wish I could see everyone one last time but goodbyes are never fun.

I fly out of Chicago (where I'll visit my wonderful sister:) Friday night to LA, where I'll take off for a straight shot to Brisbane Australia, losing my entire Saturday with the time change. :(  The flight from LA to Brisbane is 14hrs long so I'll have plenty of time to sleep and freak out about the horrible mistake I have made! Haha, I can't wait to share all of my experiences and I want to thank EVERYONE for there support through prayer and financials!  I truly can't stress how blessed I am to have such a strong support system.

I hope to post regularly every week and I hope you'll enjoy following me! Please comment and keep me up-to-date with your lives as I will try to do the same! Here you can learn more about my trip with YWAM:
http://www.ywamsunshinecoast.com/train/waves/

Signing off for the first & last time from Holland, MI.