Wow – newsletter time seems to come around so fast. I can’t believe it’s July already, it seems like we just started the year and we’re half way through.
I’m headed off to outreach on Monday – so here’s a bit of what I’ve been doing the last month, and what I’m going to be up to for the next month.
PCYM (Principles in Child and Youth Ministry school)
We have just finished our 5th week of lectures in PCYM. We had Caleb Brownhill from YWAM Perth come to speak on Apostolic Pioneering – which was basically about Christian maturity, having passion for God, and working together with different giftings. Then Ruth Golden came from YWAM Melbourne to speak on Stages of Human Development – Ruth spoke on my PCYM as well, and she’s really amazing. She makes things so easy to understand, and a lot of fun. We then had Christoph Leu, the international director of Kings Kids (YWAM for under 18s), and he spoke on families and impacting generations. The last 2 weeks we have had Shiree Lind speaking - one week on leading kids and youth into worship, intercession & spiritual warfare, and then on intelligences, identity & communication.
The students have also been going on local outreach every week. They are involved in 2 different primary schools Outside School Hours Care (OSHC), a church kids club, and a dance club. They have been a huge blessing to the different groups – even at the OSHCs, where they can’t speak about God at all.
A few weeks ago, one of the students (Lauren) was having issues with her visa and her finances, so she went to God about it, and really felt that God was saying it was time for her to go home. So that was really sad for to team to have to say good-bye to her. But God has told her that He is going use her in mighty ways at home – so we’re looking forward to seeing what He does in her.
Outreach
On Monday we are splitting into two teams, and heading off on outreach.
I am leading on team (Guanah, Rebs, Jordan, Taliah, Marieta, and I ) to Canberra for 2 weeks, where we will be working with a local church to run a kids camp. We will also be doing some prayer walking around parliament house, and whatever other opportunities come up. We will then be going to Port Augusta, a town about 3 hours north of Adelaide, where we will do school ministry and work with local churches.
The other team (Ray, Bec, Katie, Pat, and Michael), is heading to Queensland. They will first be working with a local church to run a camp with Aboriginal kids, then heading down to the Gold Coast to outreach to Muslims who are on holidays there).
Both teams are going on very limited budgets. Most people are still paying off fees for their lectures, so haven’t been able to pay much towards outreach. We still feel that God is telling us to go, and I can’t wait to see how God is going to provide for all of our needs.
On Monday we are splitting into two teams, and heading off on outreach.
I am leading on team (Guanah, Rebs, Jordan, Taliah, Marieta, and I ) to Canberra for 2 weeks, where we will be working with a local church to run a kids camp. We will also be doing some prayer walking around parliament house, and whatever other opportunities come up. We will then be going to Port Augusta, a town about 3 hours north of Adelaide, where we will do school ministry and work with local churches.
The other team (Ray, Bec, Katie, Pat, and Michael), is heading to Queensland. They will first be working with a local church to run a camp with Aboriginal kids, then heading down to the Gold Coast to outreach to Muslims who are on holidays there).
Both teams are going on very limited budgets. Most people are still paying off fees for their lectures, so haven’t been able to pay much towards outreach. We still feel that God is telling us to go, and I can’t wait to see how God is going to provide for all of our needs.
Base Stuff
At the moment most of the base is involved in the PCYM – either as staff or students. So as a result we’ve been pretty busy between the school schedule and keeping the base going.
We have finally had some breakthrough in immigration for our staff visas. Our registration as an Occupational Trainer has been renewed, so we can now start the process of getting our staff to apply for 2 year occupational trainee visas. There are about 8 people who have been wanting to come and join the base, but have not been able to due to lack of visas. So it’s very exciting to be able to get the individual visa application processes started. Hopefully within the next 2 months, we should have a huge boost in our staff numbers.
Last Friday night we had a soccer world cup party here on base. It was a lot of fun with over 40 South Americans and a few Australian come up for a Brazilian BBQ (lots and lots of meat), and to watch Brazil play Portugal. The game itself was rather boring (a nil all draw) – but the Brazilian fans were very amusing.
So that’s it for this month – I’d love to hear from you.
Love,
Nat
