I’m not sure what everyone else imagines Australia to be like but I guess I pictured dry, hot west Texas on a larger scale. I pictured Kangaroo’s, boomerangs, and of course Crocodile Dundee types all around. For our team it has been a bit different. We are on the north east coast of Australia in Queensland in a town called Airlie Beach. It is a beach town where backpackers come from all over the world to enjoy the ocean and the Great Barrier Reef. Right now it is the rainy season which has lived up to its name. As I type, it has been pouring rain on and off (mostly on) for the last 4 days straight. Despite the rain, God has truly blessed our time here with YWAM in Airlie Beach and is continuing to refine us and teach us.
(If you look really hard you can see us on the right under the tree, don’t judge us.)
Here are just a few of the things He has taught us:
The power of prayer – We prayer walk almost every day for a few hours all over the area. We are trying to cover the town and surrounding towns with powerful prayers. We divide up into groups and pray over houses, families, businesses, hostels, resorts, and people. We have come to appreciate the importance of prayer and the impact it can have.
God is working in this place – We have been able to attend local churches and share what God is doing in our lives. We visited the Assembly of God (AOG) church here in Airlie and one in Bowen, as well as a Baptist church here in Airlie. In each one we found followers of Christ who are dedicated to spreading the Good News here and abroad. It was such a blessing to meet and worship with so many amazing Christians!
Serving no matter what – We have had opportunities to serve churches, youth, each other, and YWAM itself. We have pulled weeds, cleaned buildings and houses, helped out with youth group activities, performed skits and songs at a school chapel, and lived in community with each other! We are figuring out that God calls us to serve no matter the circumstances or no matter how insignificant we may think it is.
(after weeding the jungle at 6:30am with all the spiders & leading children’s chapel at a Christian school.)
Being humble enough to accept blessings – There have been many times here in Australia that we have been blessed with a meal in someones home, a trip to the beach, or financial assistance from churches. Many of us have had to learn to accept these gifts and love from others. Alison, one of the women whose family has been an amazing blessing to our team told us, “We have a Father who loves lavishly and has called us to do the same”. We have no doubt that God is sending us to these places to bless others, but we are noticing that He is placing people in our paths to bless us also. This is how the body of Christ should function.
(Phil and Alison Alcorn are the pastors at the Baptist Chruch and wonderful servants who have blessed us.)
One major thing that God has been teaching us throughout this month is that the small things matter. Whether we are prayer walking, cleaning a house, doing work outside, speaking at a church, or simply having a conversation, God is trying to teach us that those are the things that are going to shape our lives forever. It is in the small things that will have great impact on who we will become. We are learning lessons of patience, responsibility, humility, positivity, and unconditional love. Many of these are not learned through some spectacular event or miraculous sign, but through the little moments in between those spiritual epiphanies. All of the attributes above are fundamental and foundational teachings that may be difficult to live out but are necessary to strive for. We look forward to more opportunities to grow in each of these areas and become more like Christ.
Below is a link to our facebook pictures for Month 3- Australia. It is a public link so you don’t have to have facebook to see them. You can just scroll down the side and look through them in the album setting or you can click on the first picture and go through them one by one (by clicking next). (Do not click on “view pictures” it will take you off of this page). They all have captions on the bottom to help you understand what we are doing.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2030868&id=160200898&l=5e24b5da6e
Here is one to get ya started…and yes that is my hand! (don’t worry she is quite nice and spins a pretty golden web!)
