Nat's December News

Hey Everyone,

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve written a newsletter. Sorry for not being more faithful at keeping in touch. I’ll try and fit as much news as possible into this one to make up for the past few months.

November Impact Youth DTS

On the 25^th of November, the November Impact Youth DTS started. We have 11 students, Danae & Heather from Canada, Kristal & Lauren from the US, Juyoung & Joseph from South Korea, and Taliah, Adam, Bec, Patrick, & Skye from Australia. They’re a really really good group of students, and I am looking forward to seeing what God is going to do over the next 5 months, and seeing how much everyone is going to grow. I am enjoying staffing the DTS. There are some challenges, of course, mostly just in areas of learning new things and stepping up in leadership.

On Monday we are headed up to Byron Bay for 2 weeks of outreach. I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun, as always, and that everyone on the DTS is going to have to step out in new ways. We are then heading down to Sydney for a week of lectures, and then on to Canberra for a week. YWAM Canberra is holding a celebration of 50 years of YWAM, and the founders of YWAM, Loren & Darlene Cunningham, are going to be sharing with us.

Base News

There’s been some exciting news on base in the area of relationships. In the past month, both Dan & Caitlin and Bek & Damian have got engaged. Also Laura & Derek have started a relationship.

After our base directors, Pablo & Fernanda, have been away for most of the year trying to get a visa to come back, they are now finally just one small step away from being able to return. With the way things are currently, they will be back in mid January. It’s very exciting to see things so close to be finalised with their visas!

Personally

The last few months have been a bit up and down personally. I have been continuing to find areas in my life where I haven’t been believing God’s truth.

But the last few weeks, I really feel like some things have finally clicked. It’s like I’m seeing God’s love in a deeper way, and it’s just been amazing. God has challenged me in some areas, particularly in the way that I’ve been choosing to focus on the negative things in situations. And I feel like, with God’s help, I’m moving out of that. I’ve had a new motivation to spend time with God, and been better at bringing things to him rather than just whinging about it. God has also challenged a group of us to get more serious about praying for the base and for our leadership, which has been amazing.

Financially the last few months, things have been quite tight. I have had a few extra costs, including outreach expenses. I completely trust that God will supply all my needs, and I’ve seen him come through again and again. But I know that God usually chooses to provide through people, so I would like to ask you to just pray and ask God if He wants you to support me financially.

Thank you so much for your support over this year. It means so much to know that there are people praying for me, standing and fighting with me, and even financially supporting me.

I hope you have an amazing time over Christmas, and that you will have a chance to have a rest and spend time with family and friends.

Love,

Nat

May & June Update

Well, these past 2 months have been pretty busy (again). I’ve been travelling (again) and doing a bunch of different things. So I’ll just write a bit about lots of different things, and if you want to know more about anything, just email me.

My Birthday & New Car

In May I took a trip home for 2 weeks. I had a really great trip, had time to catch up with a lot of my family and friends, got to watch my brother Jo play soccer for the first time, and got to be home for Mother’s Day and Jo’s birthday.

It was my 21st while I was at home. So that was a good excuse to see lots of people, and had fun going out with a bunch of people.

And, while I was at home, I picked up my new car. It’s absolutely awesome!

Vanuatu

While I was at home, I was asked to pray about going to Vanuatu to help run a NIKO with a DTS there. It was all kinda short notice. God said to go, and suddenly (and entirely miraculously) the money came in that I needed for a ticket, and 3 weeks later I was on the plane to Vanuatu.

NIKO in Vanuatu was completely crazy, and so much fun! We had to adjust things slightly in response to culture there and find different ways to challenge the participants.

Kitchen

As usual in YWAM, my job description has changed again slightly in the last two months. I have been asked to take over managing the base kitchen for a few months. This is not exactly an area that I would have picked as one of my strength, having never even run my own kitchen. But I’m learning as I go, and I’m sure that I’m going to learn skills that will be useful in the future.

Impact Youth DTS

As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I am going to be helping with running a DTS here later in the year. We have moved the dates slightly, so it’s going to be running from November 25th to April 23rd.

I have been working with Shiree to start figuring out some of the details. And I’m starting to get really excited about it. I really feel that for me, as well as being a time to invest into the students’ lives, it will be a real time of learning and growing.

New Flat

Last week the base eldership decided to let 6 of us single girl staff move into one of the flats. Since I’ve been in YWAM I’ve been living in a dorm, which has been fun, but it was also getting to the point where I wanted some more personal space. So having the opportunity to move into a flat is so great! We have our own kitchen, lounge room & bathroom. And we are loving being able to set up our own place.

Urban DTS

This week on July 1st, we started our Urban DTS. It is YWAMSA’s first DTS with an urban focus, as well as our first winter DTS. There are 9 students, mostly of which applied at the last minute. God has led the students here in amazing and different ways, and I’m looking forward to seeing what He does through this new group of students.

The Underground Cafe

The base has recently started a cafe at the Underground, an all-age music venue in the city. It runs on Friday nights alongside the bands that are performing there. We are really hoping to be able to use this as a place to just connect with teenagers in the city.

I have helped out once so far, and will probably be going a bit more in the future.

So, that’s just some highlights from the past 2 months.

I’d love to hear some of what you’ve been up to.

Love,

Nat

March & April News

Hey Everyone,

This has been a crazy 2 months. I have spent less than 2 weeks in Adelaide since my last newsletter :) Lots of travelling and sleeping on random floors. But it’s always a lot of fun. And it’s good to be home for a while.

Certificate IV in Training and Assessment – Phase 2

For two weeks I was in Melbourne doing the 2nd half of a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. I did the first half of it in September 2007. This is a course that trains us to train other people, but specifically in YWAM, it is training to be able to lead our schools. It is a government requirement, but also an opportunity for us to be excellent in how we train people.

It was a very full-on two weeks. Heaps of homework, but also a lot of fun. I loved getting to know people from other YWAM bases. And I found a lot of the teaching very helpful. I’m sure I will look back on my notes a lot in the future.

I still have a bit more homework to do before I actually finish. It is mostly just developing a series of teachings and then delivering a one hour teaching. But I’m almost there.

NIKO

After being in Melbourne, I was back in Adelaide for 4 days. Then drove up to Brisbane with a car full of people to run another NIKO.

This was the craziest NIKO I’ve been on yet. It was the biggest, the participants were mostly teenagers from YWAM Townsville, and it rained. It rained a lot, we actually got washed out of camp at one point. But it was so fun. The kids were awesome. They fought through the weather, and we all came out laughing. I think my favourite memory is sitting around the campfire on the night, having a sing-a-long, but instead of just one song at a time, there would be 3 or 4 songs competing to be the loudest. Completely crazy, but so much fun.

It’s interesting how God speaks to us sometimes. At one point during NIKO, I was sharing with the group about Psalms. And I was saying how what I love about Psalms is how David is completely honest with God, but at the same time he praises God and trusts him to come through. I was talking about how important is for us to be honest with God, that He is big enough to handle our problems, and we can give everything to Him. And I was half way through sharing and I realised that God was mostly talking to me. I had been stressed out about getting things ready for NIKO and everything else that was going on, and I hadn’t been giving it to God. I’d been thinking I could handle it myself. But I wasn’t listening to God telling me to give things to Him until I was talking to someone else. It’s funny sometimes how it’s so much easier to listen to God when we’re listening for other people. But after that I did give most of it to God, and I went through the rest of NIKO without being stressed out, even with everything that was going on. I even left the schedule packed in my bag, rather than carrying it with me like I usually do. I was able to leave the changing schedule in His hands and adjust to things as they came.

Morgan

After NIKO, we drove down to Morgan, a very small town about 2 hours north of Adelaide on the Murray River. There was an ‘Old Fashioned Revival Meeting’ being run there, and YWAM had been asked to run a kids program. It was a good few days. We looked after the kids for a few hours each morning and night, and in the afternoons we had plenty of free time, some of which was spent out on the Murray River being towed behind the boat. There were only about 10 kids, varying in age from about 2 to 13.

Future Plans...

I always feel rather hesitant about writing any future plans, because things seem to always change. But I thought I’d give it a go with a disclaimer that plans may change depending on where God leads :) I am planning on staffing the DTS we are running here in October. It is going to have a focus on youth, and mobilising Australian youth into missions. We also feel that God really wants to express a real heart of belonging for the students, and through them, to the youth that we will work with.

So, that’s it for now. I’d love to hear from you, and hear what you have been up to in the last few months.

Love,
Nat

March kinda update

This isn't really a proper newsletter, but I figured I'd just do a quick post about what I've been up to.

I'm in Melbourne at the moment doing a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (Phase 2). Doesn't that sound very official? Basically, I'm learning about how to lead a school it YWAM, as well as how to train people, and deliver a teaching session. Plus learning heaps of stuff about government requirements, YWAM Australia requirements, and YWAM international requirements for schools.

I'm sure when I finish everything, I will really appreciate everything I am learning, but at the moment its mostly a lot of words and a lot of homework. I'm here until Saturday, and I'm hoping to get most of the homework done before then. I'll see how I go.

It has been really good to get to know some people from other bases, and to connect more with YWAM Australia as a whole.

Some exciting news is I have sold my car! Thanks to Dad, someone bought it over ebay, and will hopefully be picking it up soon. I got more for it than I was expecting, so that's very helpful.

Well, I don't really have a whole lot to write about. I have a heap of homework that I should be doing, but am avoiding, so I should get back to that.

Love,
Nat

February News

Sorry for the lateness of this update. I need to work on getting my newsletters out on time, but better late than never.

NIKO

A few weeks ago I went on NIKO with current DTS (Discipleship Training School) plus a few extras. NIKO is a leadership training/teamwork camp. I love doing NIKO, and watching people learn so much. This time I was ‘camp mum’ which was a bit different to actually helping lead a team like I have done in the past, but it was still a lot of fun. It was also really great to have JJ come back to lead the NIKO. He is wanting to start running NIKOs in Newcastle, so he came over to learn how to lead them.

The worst part was getting attacked by ants. I found out in January that I am apparently allergic to ant bites and they swell up a lot, so I have been trying to avoid them. But on NIKO, there were ants everywhere, and I ended up with 11 bites. That was not quite so fun – particularly when the only solution is to lie down with my legs above my heart.

Car

My old faithful car, Squishy, has had a major problem in the past few weeks. I don’t really fully understand the problem, something to do with a head gasket, but basically after visiting mechanics and getting Dad to talk to them (Thank God for Dad!), the end result is, that it’s not worth the money for me to get it fixed. So, that has left me with a slight dilemma. I was at a point where I was feeling very frustrated. Things were already looking almost impossible financially, and then I have to either get a new car or try to constantly borrow other people’s cars. I just didn’t know what to do. But Mum & Dad talked to some people, let them know what was going on, and I remembered that I should give the problem to God, cos there was no way I could solve it. And then things started happening. I’ve had an offer to buy a car for very cheap in NSW, and someone gave me a considerable donation, which will cover the cost of the car. It’s so amazing. A situation that I thought there was no way that it could end well, and it looks like the result will be me having a newer, better car! Thank you so much to those of you who heard about this and prayed for me. (And sorry to those of you who didn’t know. I need to try and improve my communication)

Networking and Promotions

Recently on the base we have been trying to focus on networking with churches and ministries around Adelaide, as well as promoting our upcoming DTSs. As I am the head of promotions and marketing, that has resulted in a bit of work for me. But it’s been good to see things really happening, and to get out more and meet people. We have sent out several teams to visit different churches and youth groups around the area. We have basically been looking for any opportunity to connect with people.

One of the promotions things that has happened, is that we have a new ‘skin’ (colour scheme) for our website. This was somewhat of a drama dealing with a graphic designer, but after a few setbacks, it is finally up! Check it out at www.ywamsa.org.au.

And I would not be doing my job if I didn’t add a bit of plug for DTS (Discipleship Training School). We have 2 more DTSs running this year. One starting in July with an Urban focus, and one in October with a focus on working with youth. DTS is amazing. You learn so much about yourself, about God, and about missions. It’s only 6 months, but it can change your life. So if you’re interested (or can think of someone who might be) let me know and I can send you more information.

Coming Up

On Sunday week I’m flying to Melbourne to do a Certificate IV in Training and Assessment. I did the first half of it 18 months ago, and now I’m doing two weeks of lectures for the ‘phase 2’. It’s mostly about a lot of the things we are required by the government to do when we run schools, but I will also learn about setting up and running programs and lots of ways to train and assess people. From what I know there’s a lot of paperwork involved, but Anne & Caitlin are coming with me, so we should be able to have a bit of fun at the same time.

When I come back from Melbourne, I’m in Adelaide for a few days, then I’m heading up to Brisbane. We are driving up there to run another NIKO. This time for a group from Townsville. I’m pretty sure this time a lot of the group will be youth, so that will be fun! And on the way back we’re stopping in a town in outback SA to run a kids program.

So I’m going to be away from Adelaide basically until the end of April. I may not have the opportunity to do another newsletter until then. But I will make an effort to reply to emails, so if you want to hear what I’m up to, send me an email.

Love,
Nat
Praise Points:
-God coming through with a solution to my car problem
-Fun on NIKO
-Opportunities to get to know more people around Adelaide
-Amazing family and others who support me

Prayer Points:
- Time to get everything done in the craziness of the next month
-Understanding of everything I learn in Melbourne

December and January News

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Christmas and New Years.

I got to go home for Christmas. It was the first time in 3 years that my whole family was home on Christmas day. It was really nice and relaxing to just hang out with my family and catch up with some friends.

Impact Summer - Byron Bay

Over New Years I went to Byron Bay with most of my family and met up with a Kings Kids team, and a group from YWAM Adelaide. YWAM Byron Bay runs an outreach over New Years every year, and this year there were over 100 YWAMers there. Because Byron is a popular back-packing location, you run into people from all over the world, and most of them are very open to talking about spiritual things.

This year we ran BBQs in the park most nights, giving out free Chai tea and pancakes, and people performed dances and dramas and played music. We also ran two volleyball tournaments and a sand-castle competition on the beach. It was a really great time. The Kings Kids team were amazing and there were so many awesome conversations with people about God. After Byron Bay I headed home with Caitlin (from YWAM Adelaide) for another week, and then we headed back to the base.

Back at the Base

On returning to the base, we had a bit of a surprise. Our base directors, Pablo and Fernanda, and their baby Isabella, had a bit of a problem with their visa renewal which resulted in them being illegally in the country for a few days. Fortunately, after explaining the situation to immigration, they were given 28 days to leave the country. So they are now taking an unexpected trip home to Brazil and Uruguay, were they will stay for a few months, and reapply for their visas.

Since I’ve been back in Adelaide, there have been a few people that have announced that they are leaving the base. It’s kinda sad, but at the same time it’s good because God is calling them all onto the next thing he has for them. He has done what he needed to do with them here. But we will miss them, and it is leaving some gaps in things that need to be done on the base. That just means more work for the rest of us , and the opportunity for more people to be called to join us :).

This week a new DTS (Discipleship Training School) started. We have 7 students, 2 from the US, 2 from Canada, 2 Aussies, and 1 Brazilian. As always it has been good to have new faces around the base, and to have the chance to get to know new people.

The past few weeks since I’ve been back have been pretty crazy. Mostly I have been working on all the visas, paperwork, and various other things for the DTS. I have also had to learn more about the computer system on the base as I have had to deal with new issues that come up.

I am back on the cooking roster with Caitlin, which I actually quite enjoy. It’s a good break from being in the office all week to be able to spend a few hours in the kitchen. Even if it seems like there are a lot of people missing on the nights we cook:).

I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to be doing this year. For now I am continuing working in the office, and with the student enquiries and applications. We are aiming to do a lot of church visits, and camps, and school seminars and the like in the next few months, so I will most likely get involved with that. And we’ll see what else comes up.

Love,
Nat