Monday, March 30, 2009

EPIC!!!!

We just got back from the Hillsong Live Album recording about an hour ago. AMAZING!!!! There aren't words to describe how epic it was. SO COOL! The lights and sound were amazing, and their new songs are off the hook. It's going to be a really amazing album, I can tell you that! I can't wait for it to come out. I want to get the DVD and see if anyone from our group ends up on it. We got seats on the floor that were six rows back from the "mosh pit", which was pretty insane. OH! I can't get over how good it was!

I just got finished posting my most recent pictures.

This album has the pictures of the kitten (so cute!!!) and some other random pics from week 6:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044959&id=44901593&l=ddb2709c7d

This album is from our Love Feast at the beginning of this week and us hanging out down by the harbor before the album recording:=
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044960&id=44901593&l=9159af2556

This one has the rest of pre-album recording, the album recording, and post-recording:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044961&id=44901593&l=963a1ff69a

Hope you enjoy!!!!

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Crazy Week!!!

WOW! This has been a crazy week for sure! We had an amazing speaker named Tim that pretty much rocked our world. I'm still processing through a lot of what he said-- a lot of stuff that I've heard before about freedom and grace. It seems like everybody I've met has talked about it and read all the same scriptures, but nobody's actually living like we are free from the power of sin like Paul talks about in Romans. Think about it! It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! It's about time we start walking in our freedom instead of choosing to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery!!!

We also had some amazing training tonight for a new program that we're going to be starting called Youth Street. It's basically a program started by a base up in Newcastle that reaches out to youth in the skate, surf, dance, music, and arts cultures by having workshops and meetings to train them in their skills. Through those trainings, the staff are able to build relationships with the kids and walk through a lot of really tough circumstances with kids who don't necessarily have another positive adult in their lives. The Newcastle base runs camps, workshops, youth church, and even a tutoring program (right up my alley!) in their outreaches. They had some crazy stories of really rough kids who's lives were turned around because people reached out to them and genuinely loved them, so I'm really excited to get that rolling at our base.

Tuesday night we had a bit of a catastrophe on the base. One of my good friends Nicole was running down the stairs, tripped, and landed four stairs down on the tile landing flat on her foot. We went to the hospital at around 11:30pm, and 6 hours later found out that she had broken a bone in her foot. We just found out today that she needs to have surgery on her foot and it will take 6 weeks to heal. (We're 5 weeks away from leaving for outreach.) Pray for healing for her foot and that she would be able to have the surgery soon and heal quickly. They can't do surgery until the swelling goes down, so pray that the swelling will go down quickly so the doctors will be able to operate as soon as possible. Nicole and I have moved to a room on the third floor so she doesn't have to go up and down the stairs to get to lecture. I've been trying to help out as much as I can, but I definitely need prayer for patience and an attitude check every once in a while, because it's a lot easier for my flesh to want to be selfish rather than a servant.

This weekend will be a bit of a break--we're getting super stoked about the Hillsong live album recording on Sunday. It's going to be amazing! I can't wait to hear the new songs they're going to lay down, and it's going to be pretty amazing to listen to that album for the rest of forever and be like, "yeah, I was there..." ;-} More details about that I'm sure after it's over.

I have some pictures to put up, but our internet is still being super lame (and probably will be until the beginning of April). I'll work on getting them up as soon as I can. Hope all of you are well! Missing you heaps and sending much love from down under!

~Maggie

Friday, March 20, 2009

March Madness!!!

I can't believe it's the middle of March already! I don't know about you all back home, but I feel like the time here is flying! This week, we had an amazing speaker from YWAM Perth (on the west side of Australia) come to our base and speak on Biblical World View. She was out of this world! So funny! She nicknamed one of the guys in our class "Days of Our Lives" because he admitted to watching that soap opera "in the summer when there was nothing else on". She really challenged us to walk in holiness and fear of the Lord. We also talked about a lot of the other prominent world views that are out there, which was really eye-opening for me.

The big adventure of this week happened on Thursday when one of our compadres came back from a shopping trip with a tiny little gray kitten. Apparently, she found it on the side of the road and it was starving, so she brought it back here and we've started taking care of it. There's no way we're going to be able to keep him, but he's so darn cute!!! His favorite thing to do when I'm holding him is climb right up next to my face, nuzzle my cheek, and fall asleep on my chest. How could you resist something that cute??? It's going to be hard to turn him over to the animal shelter, but he's been just what I've needed this week--a little fuz therapy. That, in addition to the care package I got from home today (complete with Reese's) has made this pretty much the perfect day. You can't buy Reese's down here, so all of my American friends are totally jealous of them.

On top of all the goodness, my bracket is doing fairly well in March Madness! I'm bummed that I'm not home to watch the games, especially because NOBODY follows college ball down here! But, I have my bracket filled out on Facebook, and I'll be diligently checking it to see how my teams are doing during the Tourney. I'm sure I'll rock the first round or two and tank in the end--that's usually what happens....

So, life is good down here, my friends! Hope all is well with you--keep in touch and let me know how you're all doing!

~M

P.S.
Cat pics will be coming as soon as we have internet that isn't lame... I can't remember if I posted the rainstorm album, but if not, here it is:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044435&id=44901593&l=61bd8b6aa5

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Market Day!

Hi friends and family! It's been a busy week here at the base. We've been packed full with classes, and we've been preparing all week to host our first open air market at the new base. We had the market today, and it was heaps of fun. We had crafts and face painting for the kids, food, clothing, jewelry, and lots of other fun stuff. It is a neat way to reach out to the community and serve them. The community around us doesn't have a whole lot of events or anything to draw them together, so we really wanted to show them that we are here to bless them. We'll be having the market on the 2nd Saturday of every month, so we're hoping it will grow and we'll be able to meet more of the community.

Here are some pictures from the market today:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044277&id=44901593&l=5573e (after the starbucks/studying pictures)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044409&id=44901593&l=b4a68

Hope you all are having a great day!
~Maggie

Friday, March 13, 2009

Outreach Location!

I wanted to write a quick note to let you all know that we got our outreach locations today! I'm going to..... **drumroll please** North Africa!!!! We have a team of 7 students and 1 leader and we're going to be focusing on music and worship during our outreach.

I have to get back to class, but I wanted to let everyone know the big news!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

More pictures

Found some more pictures on my external HD from a few weeks ago before we moved into the new base and I just got them up on Facebook. Here are the links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044205&id=44901593&l=5a91b

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044275&id=44901593&l=d44d3

I also updated last week's album with the joy of the swiss chocolate fondue party:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044153&id=44901593&l=b2ce6

This Monday, I took a trip into Mt. Druitt (a nearby Suburb) specifically to go to Starbucks. I've been in Australia for over a month now, and that was the first time I'd had coffee from the mother land. I was so overcome with joy when I walked in that I had to explain my story to the Barista. I told her I was from Seattle and that I haven't had Starbucks in over a month. She said she was nervous to make my Grande Java Chip Frapuccino because I really knew what it should taste like. When I took my first sip, I smiled at her and said, "It tastes like home".... ;-} I hung out in Starbucks for a few hours to work on some homework, listen to John Mayer on my iPod and pretend like I was back home. This album documents my journey, as well as some of the other shenanigans of early this week.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044277&id=44901593&l=5573e

Hope you all are surviving the snow back home. I'll try my best to send some of the heat from down here up your way, though I don't think we have much to spare--it's only been in the 70's the last few days.... ;-}

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Skype Number

For all you uncool people out there who don't have Skype, I just set up a subscription on my account that lets me make unlimited calls to any number in the States! Yehoo! Be expecting a call from me soon! ;-} As part of the account, I also have a local (253) phone number that lets you call my Skype account on a normal phone for free (as long as you're representin' the 253). My number is: (253) 299-4054. Feel free to call and leave me voicemails any time, and if I'm online when you call, I can pick it up and talk to you--or I might let it go to voicemail if I don't actually like you that much..... J/K! ;-}

Love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

~Maggie

Friday, March 6, 2009

More Pictures

So, apparently the internet was running super slow after they hooked it up because our server was messed up. The internet seems to be fixed now, because it's running fast enough to upload pictures and use Skype (it wasn't before). This next set of pictures is from the last two weeks--our new building and the trip to the city are a few of the highlights. Hope you enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044150&id=44901593&l=bdd83

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044151&id=44901593&l=4e68a

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044152&id=44901593&l=f6760

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2044153&id=44901593&l=b2ce6

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Finally--INTERNET!

Be prepared for the longest blog post ever……

Sorry it’s been so long since I’ve written. We moved into our new building last week and have just gotten our internet hooked up. It was pretty hysterical—we got done with lectures tonight, they announced that the internet was working, and everybody raced downstairs to start checking e-mail. The internet has been moving super slow because literally every single person at the base is online right now. Moving to this building was intense, but we’re finally getting settled, and it’s totally worth it. Our new digs are pretty sweet—lots of space to stretch out and move around, which we definitely didn’t have at our old base.

Forgive me if there are inconsistencies in grammar or tense—I have been writing this blog post in Word over the last week and a half, so it might not all match up. I have lots to catch you up on, so here we go!

Last week, we spent our two days off moving and then went straight into classes, so everybody was pretty wiped out. Our lecture topic was on worship. Our speaker, Cynthia, was completely amazing and brought some really challenging words to us. God has really been showing us how important worship is to him. We had a chance to do some more performing arts stuff this week—playing, singing, dancing for and with each other. It’s been cool to see the talents God has gifted us with start to emerge. We also had a guitar/songwriting workshop with Cynthia on Tuesday and she taught us some sweet new guitar chords that I’m really excited to start experimenting with!

The big exciting thing that happened last week is we found out the locations for outreach! Right now, the options are France (Paris and then south), parts of Northern Africa or Tahiti and maybe another island in the South Pacific or some extra time in Australia with indigenous cultures. SO EXCITING! As of right now, they’re looking to send a max of 8 people to each location, but everything is subject to change. Be praying for me—that God will give me wisdom and discernment about where he wants me to go. We have to turn in our choices by Saturday the 7th, so I’ll let you know after then where I felt like God was leading me. After we turn in our choices, the staff and leadership prays about it, and then we get our final answer.

On Saturday, we went to this really cool Arabic-speaking church that is about 30 minutes from our base. It was fun to worship in a new style—the music they sang was so beautiful. All of their songs were in minor mode, which is very different than your average western church, but I enjoyed it heaps. Before the meeting, they had food for us to eat—SO YUMMY!!!! I’m pretty sure I ate more sweets at that church than I have had all together over the last three weeks!

We had our first day off in two weeks on Sunday, so we all decided to go into the city. They were doing work on the train tracks, so we had to catch a bus to another station and then get on the train to the city. One of our brilliant copmpadres managed to get us on the wrong bus, so we spent an hour going the wrong direction. Then we had to get on another bus to take us back to the train station we were supposed to go to in the first place. We had quite the adventure, but the company made it bearable. Once we finally got to the city, me and three of my other classmates went to a huge indoor market called Paddy’s in Sydney’s Chinatown. It was SO much fun!!! We had a blast looking around the shops and being goofy. After we were done with the market, we went to the harbor to catch a ferry to Manly Beach and spend some time in the waves. While we were waiting for the ferry, a street performer pulled one of the guys in our group, Brian, into his act. It was pretty hysterical and made for some great pictures that I’ll have to post as soon as I get a chance.

The beach was SO beautiful! And yes, my Washingtonian friends, the water was about 70 degrees! OCEAN WATER YOU CAN SWIM IN?!?!?!?! ;-} We chilled at the beach for a bit, then met up with the rest of the gang and headed home, and this time, we got on the right bus!

This week, our base leader, Etienne is speaking on the Character and Nature of God and Hearing God’s Voice. It’s been really good so far, but be praying for us, because as a base, we’re experiencing some intense spiritual warfare right now. Pray that God will strengthen us and fill us up with his love!

We’re so busy that I feel like everything is going by so fast! It’s March already! When did that happen??? Our group has gotten really tight so far, and it’s been awesome getting to know everyone on the school. ALL of the students are completely amazing, and I am constantly in awe of the way God specifically put this school together with exactly the right people.

I think that’s all I have for now. Like I said, I’ll post pictures as soon as I have a spare moment. I have a TON of them from our city adventure this weekend! Know that I miss you all bunches and I think about you and pray for you all the time. Love you heaps!!!!

~Maggie

P.S.
Thank you to all of the people who wrote in “the book” before I left. I read it every morning and think of my amazing friends back home every day!