Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Outreach Update

Hi friends! I just wanted to give you a quick update on our outreach. We had planned to go to two countries in North Africa, but the doors have been closing for one of the countries, so we've decided to spend our first three weeks of outreach with one of the other teams in Paris! We all feel a huge peace about it, especially me, because I'm pretty sure I'm called to go to the other country some time in the future, so it's not totally off the books for me. ;-} So, be praying for us! We really need to get a heart for France before we leave and have some hardkore unity going on with the other team. We have praise reports of finances coming in already, but keep praying! Know that the prayers of a righteous man are powerful and effective. I can't wait to update you all after God provides for us!!! More details when I have them.

Love you all!!!
Au revoir!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Invisible Children

Hey friends! Just a quick update on the last week, because it's super late and I should be in bed, but this is the only time that the internet works (after midnight) so alas, here I am! The fundraiser on Friday went really well--we raised Over $3500! Praise the Lord! Please continue to pray for our team, as we are supposed to be leaving for outreach in a week and we still don't have the funds. We can't buy plane tickets until our leader has her funds, so pray that she gets the money she needs so we can go on outreach!

On Saturday, we went into the city to volunteer for an event called Invisible Children. Some of you are probably already familiar with IC, but the basics of it is that a man named Joseph Kony has been kidnapping Ugandan children for the past 20 some odd years to fight in a guerrilla war against the government. On April 25th, over 100 cities in 10 countries around the world staged peaceful protests to bring about the end of this war and see Joseph Kony brought to justice. There are a lot of Christians who participate in these events, but they aren't necessarily religious in nature. In Sydney, the Island Breeze YWAMers (me and my crew) started a huge African dance circle singing some of the African worship songs our base leader has taught us. We got over 1,000 people singing "hold on to Jesus" and "always pray, always give, always praise the Lord"! It was completely amazing! I got the bright idea to drag a couple of rubbish bins into the middle of the circle and use them as drums, and pretty soon, we had an all-out dance party! I'll try to get some photos or videos of it uploaded, because it was pretty stinkin' amazing!

None of them have comments or tags yet because I'm too tired, but here are all of the newest photo albums, including fundraiser and IC:

Week 10: Evangelism
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046145&id=44901593&l=302dd0d9ef

Week 11: Missions
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046281&id=44901593&l=2d0d67068c

DTS Fundraiser
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046297&id=44901593&l=9be8ad73a5

Invisible Children I
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046298&id=44901593&l=64222b3e36

Invisible Children II
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046299&id=44901593&l=fab46c72ee

Invisible Children III
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046301&id=44901593&l=fdeb89107f

Invisible Children IV
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2046303&id=44901593&l=ec75d2ce43

Friday, April 24, 2009

The Death of a Dear Friend

**CAUTION** The following story is true and contains graphic details. May not be suitable for young children. Some of the names may have been changed to protect the identity of those involved in the story.

Today, my friends, we mourn the passing of a dear friend to all of us.... Gojida. We were out in the parking lot today taking group photos for our outreach team, and it was my brilliant idea to bring our instruments to put in the picture. We wanted to take a picture without the instruments, and I didn't want to set my guitar down on the wet grass, so our staff member called over one of the other people that was standing around and asked him to hold my guitar. I handed it to him, and he grabbed it by the strap, but since I don't have strap locks, the strap came off and it went crashing down on the pavement. When we picked it up, there were two big cracks in the side that it hit where the front panel connects to the side panel. As I looked at her fatal wounds, I felt as if I were mourning the passing of a dear friend. I knew my life would never be the same.

I know that many of you are shedding tears right now, as you have all been touched by Gojida's sweet spirit and beautiful nature. But remember my friends as we mourn, that our Lord Jesus told us, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die." (John 11:25)

As I called to mind this scripture, I began to have hope that Gojida would rise as a phoenix from the ashes. I spent the afternoon looking up guitar repair shops, and finally found one about an hour away that could get it fixed before I leave for outreach (all of the other shops gave a 2-3 week minimum wait time). The most amazing and wonderful Tim drove me out to the shop, and they said that not only can they fix my baby, but she'll be ready by Wednesday! The shop looked pretty freakin legit and the guys seemed to know what they were talking about, so I feel like they're going to do a good job. I had to pay extra to get it done by the time I leave for outreach, but in all, it wasn't as expensive as I was anticipating.

So, that was my little adventure for the day! All in all, everything turned out well, and everything will be well, so I'm not worried. I'm just glad we got it taken care of today because the shops aren't open this weekend, and I would have spent the whole weekend fretting about it if we hadn't taken it in. Other than my little adventure, today went well! The fundraiser was great--I've heard rumors that we made about $3,000--Praise the Lord! I'm really excited about that, but it is kind of a drop in the bucket of the $24,000 we still need for all the teams to go on outreach. Please be praying for our staff and students--that EVERYONE gets the finances they need to go on outreach and that God will pour out in a really miraculous way (he's pretty much going to have to, because we're running out of time...) Love you all and hope you're enjoying the beautiful, (albeit quazi-bipolar in WA) spring weather!

~M

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

2 Weeks and Counting...

Hey friends! We're about two weeks away from outreach, and we really need some prayer! We had an awesome night of prayer tonight and God really convicted us of coming to him only when we have needs, so we did some serious repenting and just spent some sweet time with the Lord, which was really good. Be encouraged to press into Jesus ALL THE TIME, not just when you need stuff... ;-}

One of the girls on our team also had a word from the Lord about writing out a list of all the stuff we need, so I thought I'd write it on here so you can be pressing in with me:

--Finances: there are 4 people on our team who still need some serious financial provision. Pray that the floodgates will open and that God will miraculously provide finances for everyone who needs them. We have a fundraiser happening on Friday night (like 3AM Friday your time back home), so pray that we will have favor for that and that heaps of people will come and be blessed through sowing into our ministry.

--Travel arrangements: We have been having some real difficulty making travel arrangements. They're really complicated, and every permutation we come up with, no matter how many crazy planes, trains, or automobiles we take puts us over budget. Pray that God will give us wisdom and that he will open doors exactly where he wants us to go.

--Opposition: God gave us words of caution when we first started pressing in for our outreach locations that it wouldn't be easy, and we're seeing that now. The enemy seriously doesn't want us to go into these countries, and he's putting some pretty big blockades in our way. Pray that we will walk in our spiritual authority and not give the devil a foothold in any of our lives.

Thank you, my friends!!! I really need your prayers in this time before outreach. God is going to do amazing things, but we really need to press in and believe in his character for him to move! Love you all!!!

~M

Monday, April 13, 2009

Happy Easter!

Hi friends! I’ve had an epic adventure today (as usual) of trying to find internet. I can’t WAIT to come back home and have telecommunications equipment that functions as it should. I just have to keep telling myself to be grateful, because they don’t have internet in North Korea….. I hope you all had a blessed Easter! The holiday was pretty chill here at the base. We led worship for a small service on Saturday night at a church plant run by a pastor who is friends with the base. It went really well and the message was awesome. It was all about how much God believes in us and loves us. We might think that we love him and believe in him, but really it’s him loving and believing in us! How cool—the God of the universe believes in YOU! If that doesn’t make you smile, I don’t know what will… On Easter Sunday, a big gang went to the Blue Mountains, but I stayed at the base and chilled. I needed a weekend off after going to Brisbane last weekend, so it was nice to just relax. We tried to go to the evening service at Hillsong, but all the drivers from the base were gone, so we didn’t have a ride.

Hmmmm… What else have I been up to? We had another market on Saturday. It was a bit small because it was Easter weekend, but it was good. We’re starting to recruit for a new program we’re starting soon called Youth Street. It’s basically getting kids from the community and training them in skills like music, dance, drama, skating, etc, and using that as an avenue to reach them with the Gospel. It’s going to be pretty cool—I’m excited to get started with it, because the youth of this community definitely need something better to do on Saturdays than clown around and get into trouble.

When I finally found internet today, I had a chance to upload the latest pictures from the market and my trip to Brisbane. Here are the links:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045642&id=44901593&l=99e1fd322c (Brisbane Album 1)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045678&id=44901593&l=d2e42e15d3 (Brisbane Album 2--this should satisfy all the people who have complained that there aren't enough pictures of me in my albums)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045679&id=44901593&l=f0d837f313 (Brisbane Album 3)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045680&id=44901593&l=7401593e86 (Brisbane Album 4--I took WAAAY too many pictures!)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045681&id=44901593&l=d10a5daa5c (from the Market)

Miss all of you and love you bunches! Take lots of pictures of the cherry blossoms and daffodils in the next few weeks—I’m definitely missing spring at home right now!!!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Nicole's Surgery

Hi friends! Just wanted to let you know that Nicole had surgery on her foot today. The doctor said that everything went really well. The hope is that she'll be able to come back to the base on Saturday, but it all depends on how her recovery goes. Pray that she heals quickly and is able to come back to the base soon. I finally got around to posting the pictures of the epic foot saga online, so here they are if you're interested:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2045490&id=44901593&l=5c4c503cab

I haven't had a chance to post my Brisbane pics yet, but I promise I'll get around to it--maybe this weekend. I can't believe this weekend is already Easter! We were supposed to have a mini-outreach into some Aboriginal communities, but it ended up not working out, so we're having a bit of a chill weekend. We have a market again on Saturday, and then we're leading worship at a small gathering Saturday night, but we have the rest of the weekend free, which will be good. I'm off to get some sort of productive work done. I miss you all heaps! I am really missing the beautiful Pacific Northwest right now. The more I travel the world, the more I realize that I live in the best place on earth!!! ;-}

Monday, April 6, 2009

Weekend in Brisbane

Hi friends and family! I just got back from Brisbane this afternoon. I had a blast hanging out with Stephanie and seeing the sights! It was a fairly short trip, but I still got to cross one of my life goals off the list--I held a koala! I haven't put up all the pictures yet, but here's the one I do have:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31460619&l=47df30c99b&id=44901593

More to come, don't worry.

After hanging out at the koala sanctuary, we spent a little time in town at a really neat place called South Bank, along the Brisbane River. On Sunday night, we had a yummy dinner at Steph's apartment and watched a little So You Think You Can Dance, Australian style! It was really exciting because Tabitha and Napoleon choreographed two of the numbers on the show that night (Mom, at least you understand what I'm talking about...)

We're off for another exciting week of lectures--our speaker is firey and he's got some challenging words from the Lord for us this week! Keep praying for our outreach team. We're believing God to provide a whole heap of stuff for us, but he has encouraged us to be strong and courageous Joshua style and press in to him for miracles. I'll keep you posted with praise reports when he comes through big time. ;-}

Love you and miss you all!!!

Friday, April 3, 2009

Weekend Trip to Brisbane!

Just wanted to write a quick note to let you all know I'm flying up to Brisbane this weekend to visit Steph Vernon! YAY! SUPER excited! I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as I can--it's supposed to rain all weekend, but we're still going to try to go to Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary so I can hold a koala!!!! YAY!!!!!!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Amazing week! YAY GOD! ;-}

What an amazing week so far! It’s Wednesday, which means that it’s base fasting day. One of my fellow students gave an amazing presentation on North Korea today—really powerful. I’ll try to post the link for the video she showed about how their freedom is restricted and the harsh treatment they have to endure. It made me really thankful for the blessings we have in the West—I am thankful for the slow, restricted internet access that we have here at the base, because in North Korea, they don’t have internet (or ANY access to the outside world—TV, Movies, Books) at all!!!

Our speaker this week is named Bev, and she’s talking on Spiritual Warfare. She’s taking a unique approach to it that I really appreciate. We spent the first day of lecture talking about who God is. We have had two speakers share the story of Handel’s Messiah and the Hallelujah Chorus with us, which I just eat up because unlike when it was shoved down my throat in college, I actually enjoy classical music now! The ‘jist of it is that Handel wrote the Messiah, a massive 17-scene oratorio for voices and instruments, in 24 days. The final movement, dubbed the Hallelujah Chorus, declares the glorification of Christ as depicted in the Book of Revelation. After completing the final movement, Handel burst out of his room, and screamed in a loud voice, "I saw Heaven opened and the host of it worshiping the Glory of God." WOW! To have that kind of revelation of heaven and the glory of God!!! I’ve had a small glimpse of it in the last few weeks, and it’s pretty powerful.

After we finished talking about the Glory of God, we spent the second day on reviewing who we are in Christ. We split up into groups and put together some dramas and presentations based on the first two chapters of Ephesians, and 1 Peter 2:9-10. I encourage you to read those passages and really let the truth of who you are in Christ sink deep into your heart.

We only just today starting talking about the devil and how he operates. It was really good to start with taking a stand on who God is and who we are in him as a primary means of spiritual warfare. I’m excited for lectures the rest of the week, because I feel like God’s truth is really starting to take root in my life in a way that will change how I think and who I am forever! YAY GOD! ;-}

In other news, things are going well around the base. It’s Island Breeze’s second anniversary today, which is pretty exciting. It’s neat to be a part of the pioneering history of this place. It’s been a bit rainy here lately, which makes me miss home. We’re heading into fall, so it will be getting colder (60’s and 70’s—I know that doesn’t sound very cold to those who had snow again recently—CRAZY!). I have mid-summer Northern Africa to look forward to for outreach, so I’ll probably be relishing the cold as long as I can! Be praying for us about outreach—we’re trying to decide if God still wants us to go to one of the countries we had on our list, and we need a decision ASAP so we can buy plane tickets. Pray that God will give us wisdom and discernment to know his will for us. This week, we met with one of the contacts from another country that we’re for sure going to, and she’s really excited for us to come!

I’m hoping to fly up north this weekend to visit a friend who’s living in Brisbane (Steph Vernon for the PLU crowd). She lives in the same city as the koala sanctuary where they let you hold the koalas, so be expecting lots of fun pictures from that when it happens…. ;-}

I know there’s heaps more happening, but I can’t think of anything else right now. I’m trying really hard to stay on top of blogging and keeping in touch, but we have restricted internet access (only two hours per week, not including Skype), so it might be a bit challenging. BUT! I’m thankful for what we have, because there are many parts of the world where they don’t have any internet! Thank you Lord! ;-} Love you and miss you all!

~Maggie