You are welcome here...

Social media is like the comment card of today. There`s no need to fill out a piece of paper anymore with thoughts, compliments or complaints. All one needs to do now is simply snap a photo and post it on Instagram. Or write thoughts on Facebook and Twitter.

I`m lucky enough to get to read some of the comments students, staff and guest speakers leave after having stayed at YWAM Brisbane. Because I oversee the Hospitality Ministry at the base, I sometimes get a note card (yup, people do still do those things) with a word of thanks or even as an encouragement for the ministry here.

Just check out some of the photos I've included from different people who've stayed at YWAM Brisbane in the last few months. I'm regularly impressed to know that little things do indeed make a difference. A smile. Offering to make a cup of tea or coffee. Getting to know someone. A freshly cleaned room. Those things and many more go a long way in making people feel welcome.

For nearly two years now I've been overseeing the Hospitality Ministry at YWAM Brisbane - a ministry that seeks to be an extension of God's love and generosity to others. That means making this base a welcoming and value-instilling environment for people who call it home - or a place to lay their heads for a few nights - or just a spot to hang out after school. I've been fortunate to use my natural strengths as a nurturer, relater and love for people to 'spur one another on toward love and good deeds' (Hebrews 10:24).

We all play a part in making people feel welcome. That`s true for here at a YWAM centre in Australia, and it`s true for the way I`ll hopefully one day run my own home. And it`s true for wherever you call home too. We can do the smallest and simplest things to show others they matter...they have value...they are a child of God.

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You are welcome at my house...let me supply whatever you need.
Judges 19:20 (NIV)

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honour one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:10 (NIV)

Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:13 (NIV)

Why Australia?

A pastor who dropped by the base one day last week asked me why I decided to come to Australia to serve in missions. It’s a question that’s been posed to me several times recently. So, apart from my own initial reaction - that this is my “do-over” after having failed to come on a university exchange - I hadn’t given it much, serious thought. 

When I finally sat down to think and pray about it, here’s what came up.

This is a nation packed with the fatherless, broken homes, multiple parents and siblings under one or many roofs, alcoholism, as well as public displays of verbal and emotional abuse. Perhaps it’s because I’ve paid more attention than I ever did before. But I honestly think there is something that needs God’s presence here in families more uniquely than what I witnessed growing up in Canada.

Sure, I had many friends whose parents were divorced when I was younger. And yes, there are broken homes all over the place. But there is something that pulls on my heart for Aussie families.

When I first moved here two years ago, I distinctly remember walking to the shopping centre and hearing a mother screaming at her children in her house. The Queenslander-style of home is very open to let a breeze cool things down. But that open-concept building also means you can hear your neighbours – even as you walk past – in a way that was totally unfamiliar to me. I was used to brick, sealed windows and insulated walls that keep the elements out and the sounds in.

Maybe it makes sense to pursue the Kingdom task of encouraging godly families in Australia, simply based on the anecdotal evidence I’ve witnessed. To champion godly families – and communities – I believe it’s necessary to first champion godly women and men who truly know their identity and value in Christ. Because once they have that down, the women and men know how to treat each other and their family. 

The question isn’t so much why Australia, but how do I begin seeing God’s Kingdom expand here especially in families.  I don’t have the answers, but luckily, I serve the One who does.

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A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 68:5  (NIV)

...seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you... Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
Jeremiah 29:7 (NIV)

Grumble...mumble...grumble

Sometimes living in community, or with other people is frustrating.
The dishes don’t get done.
The toilet bowl is dirty.
There are used cups or mugs left sitting.
The dish rack is overflowing.

A few weeks ago I was standing at the kitchen sink, silently scrubbing away at some mugs, when I thought, “I would gladly clean up my own home for my own family (non-existent children and husband implied).” 

Then God put a stop to my pity-me thought process. 

“If you’d happily serve a family then, why aren’t you happy to serve your housemates now?” God’s question wasn’t so much a slap on the wrist, as much as a reality check. I know I’m kidding myself if I believe I’ll feel a different way under different circumstances.

In the end I’ll still choose to clean. I’d rather see a tidy house.
In the end I will forgive. Or pray. Or work harder. I’ll still to the right thing.
But what my heart is feeling in that moment of doing it is what matters.

I can be ticked off and do the dishes.
Or I can be cheerful and do the dishes.

Others comment on my servant-heart because they only see my outward actions. Luckily, they don’t actually see what’s going on in my heart. Because sometimes it isn’t pretty. It isn’t servant-hearted. My heart screams “Why is it always me that has to pick up after others?” Or, “How come nobody else is organized enough to get this job done?” Instead of choosing to serve gladly, I grumble whole-heartedly throughout the entire process. 

If like me, you want to put an end to your internal grumblings there is good news. You can ask God to help. In asking Him to rid me of my grumbling attitude, I’ve had to do very little to get there. God’s been transforming my heart to joyfully serve, joyfully clean, and joyfully live with others in a unique community.

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If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Romans 12:8

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9

...beginning to look like Christmas

There’s a great joy in seeing other people glowing with excitement over getting to celebrate a simple Christmas activity. This evening as a YWAM base we had a decorating party, organized by yours truly!

It’s just the start of Christmas activities that I’m planning around the base for the Discipleship Training School students (45 in total), plus the staff working here. Tonight we put up a Christmas tree (lights and lovely, new, colourful ornaments I bought for $9 at Kmart). But I was also able to sort through some of he older decorations we have, and rarely use, and come up with colour-coordinated decoration sets for different areas around the base. I'm totally Martha Stewart at Christmas time, and I love it!

The young people living here right now got really excited to eat cookies, drink hot chocolate, dance and listen to Christmas songs, hang ornaments, and just feel at home even though they’re all away from their loved ones this holiday. The best thing for me was realizing that this was a Christmas many of them would never forget – their first and only Christmas in Australia. How amazing that I could help create a fun, family event for them to remember it by!

As part of my role as hospitality coordinator, I’m to create family events for the base. So Christmas is a perfect time to do just that. On top of the decorating party, I’ve also planned gingerbread decorating, an outdoor movie night with a big screen which I’m hoping will also be attended by some neighbourhood kids.

It’s really encouraging that all these international students are building into a new type of family for this holiday season. It’s a family that many of us never think we’ll experience. I know having grown up in a smaller family, the idea of spending the holidays with 80+ people never crossed my mind. But I don’t think I’d have it any other way!

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And they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us. Matthew 1:23 (NIV) 

Love has come For the world to know As the wise men knew Such a long time ago
Love Has Come, Amy Grant

Best. Day. Ever.

I know that’s a total exaggeration, but by the end of last Wednesday all I could think was that I’d had a totally rockin’ day.

It started early.

I left the YWAM base at 7:45am for our neighbourhood high school. Three of us on staff went to hang out with teens during a weekly breakfast club. I talked with probably a dozen or so teen aged girls. It was so easy, so fun.  Two of the guys I went with kicked around a rugby ball with some other teens. The chaplains in the area run the ‘brekky’ club of pancakes, Milo (sort of like Ovaltine) and juice to make sure every student gets a meal before the school day starts. But it’s also a chance for the teens to interact with loving individuals…like yours truly!

Later in the day I took part in Sports in the Park, which YWAM Brisbane runs weekly as a way to get everyone from the base out and active, but also to get to know young people in the community. Because there is now a Discipleship Training School with 48 students we had several games running at once: ultimate Frisbee, volleyball, and basketball.

Then the YWAM Brisbane base had a BBQ dinner at the park. It’s something new that the kitchen and community outreach organizer are trying out. It was pretty fun to have all of us hanging out together in a different setting. 

It was a busy Wednesday, because it was the first of the month, when YWAM Brisbane holds our monthly open community worship. Those nights mean that I, as hospitality coordinator, make sure the room is set up well, there is coffee, tea and snacks available for everyone. Plus, now I’ve been asked to sort of MC the night. Phew! But it’s just so great to know that God is working in people’s lives, and all I’m doing is creating an atmosphere for Him to do that.

The truly amazing thing in all these events, is that God has somehow brought more and more people each time. He is definitely rewarding the faithfulness of YWAM Brisbane for continuing to run these activities even when very few people attended.

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Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18

Beauty in brokenness

When it comes to stuff (furniture, computers, cars) we want things to be in pristine working order for our maximum benefit. But there's something beautiful that Christ promises us when we are broken before Him.
He'll fix us.

Lately I've been falling into a pattern of believing lies about myself... about my appearance, my abilities to do certain tasks, my intelligence, and even about my relationship with God. I want to be strong enough, smart enough, mature enough to not let any of it really get to me.
But I'm not.

Admitting to God that I was believing these lies was very freeing, because He has promised truth. I might be broken sometimes, but He wants to bless me. I might feel overwhelmed, but He wants me to be overjoyed. That's why knowing what He tells us in the Bible is so important. It's really the only way to counteract the negative things that balloon up in our minds.

Just by pouring out the bad stuff at Jesus' feet and giving up any desire to hold onto those lies (which become comfortable, like old slippers after awhile) He's ready and willing to wipe them away. But it takes an important step from us. We need to admit to God that we need His help.

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The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Frontiers family reunion

Nine and a half weeks.
Not nearly as long as nine months.
But that's how long my class of 17 (including leaders) was apart for our respective outreaches.

I, as you know, went to Malaysia and then Toowoomba, Queensland (more updates and revelations to come ... I promise). Then the other half of my class went to Cusco, Peru.

We've all grown ... changed ... been transformed ... and helped transform people we met along the way. It's amazing what God has done in all of our lives over the last six months. It's hard to believe that in just a few days we'll graduate.

There is a joke that six months in a YWAM DTS course is the same as nearly six years together. So no wonder all of us have grown so close.

I know it will be hard to say goodbye (or at least so long to them all) but I know that there are some great things in store for all of us in the next chapter of our lives.

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God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6

Bantu Niah and back again...

"We all want to talk but we don't know how to speak," Ribena, a woman from the church in Bantu Niah commented to me while my YWAM outreach team was visiting an Iban long-house. She said many people are excited to talk and share with us, but they just can't find the words in English to express it.

Long-house which our outreach team visited



The feeling was mutual. I longed to speak Iban or Malay in that moment so I could share a laugh, cry or just talk more about our common faith. But praise God that despite the language difference I could at least sense a comradery between us YWAMers and those living in the long-house.

  

We came to Bantu Niah (about one-hour away from Miri) to visit an evangelical church and some of its members who live in one of the long-house communities. The long-house itself was part of several similar dwellings in which dozens of family live. The wooden homes are built on stilts with a single, main common hallway on the second level. Off the hallway are separate 'apartments' for each family. It is very simple living.

Our mini-church service was held in the main, shared hallway in one long-house. About 40 members of the community took part in the service. We sang a few worship songs in Malay, with us YWAMers attempting to follow along using song sheets. The good thing with Malay is that it uses Roman letters and sounds exactly how it's spelt. Unfortunately that doesn't mean I know what it being sung or said. Tuhan is God. So that's good enough to know which songs focus on Him.  One of our team members delivered a short message through an interpreter about God's faithfulness.  Heads nodded along to the message once it was interpreted.

Lots of "village food" including rice,
chicken, greens and pumpkin.

And then it was time for the feast! The pots and other containers with the food were placed down the middle of the hallway, almost like a giant dining room table. As guests we ate first - rice, chicken cooked in bamboo with tapioca leaves, pumpkin/squash, and this amazing local green cooked with egg.

During the meal we all sat on the floor, which was planks of wood covered with thin linoleum. I sat with four young boys with whom I had been beside during the worship service. They themselves rushed over to sit with me during the meal to chat. Well, chatted is an overstatement. We joked with each other using sound effects and hand gestures to explain what we were trying to say. Plus one of the boys, Nathanial, spoke enough English that we could ask each other simple questions.

Little admirers: Peter, Nathanial, Gregory & Valentino

 I overheard one of the little boys joking that I was a "pretty girl", likely one of the few English sayings he knew. So cute. The four of them were very excited and eager to get to know us visitors. One boy, Peter had a cut on his right hang. I wanted to pray for him but not knowing how to ask I didn't do it aloud, but silently asked God to heal whatever had happened.

Before leaving that night I along with two other YWAMers prayed for woman in the community who is pregnant. She is expecting in June.  I think several of us YWAMers enjoyed getting to know these lovely people from a culture so different than our own. Yet, we are somehow all the same.

That night my YWAM outreach team stayed in a small inn. It was quite comfortable and far more comfortable I'm sure than staying in the long-house, which had been one of the earlier suggestions. Then it was up early the next morning for a 7:45am breakfast at the church that invited us. Green bean bread, fried eggs and bee hoon (skinny noodles with egg, shrimp, chicken and greens). Oh yes, and coffee!

More than 100 people ended up packing into the second floor room that houses the church above other business in the community. It was such a blessing and spiritually moving to take part in the Malay worship. I cried at the overwhelming sens of joy I felt to be part of another culture's praise to God. It is so thrilling that God made us all. He loves us all, and delights when we can come together in His name. So powerful. Even though I didn't know what was being sun or prayed, the passion and love shone through. Celine (one of the women with whom we've gotten to know through the church in Miri) led worship as well as translated the sermon by one of our YWAM team members.

Then after the service I along with some other YWAMers had the chance to pray for the churches leadership team. And guess what? Most of the leadership group is comprised of women! My excitement over that fact was quickly quenched when I was told that the women take the lead in the church because few men in the community are Christian. Many of the women are married to men who still practice the traditional, animistic religions or other faiths.

Again it was time for more food. By the end of our trip, the Bantu Niah group had fed us three meals, paid for our hotel accommodations and then gave the group a cash donation to help by for our travels. I have never experienced the gratitude and generosity I have witnessed here in Malaysia.

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There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 (NIV)

Blessings upon blessings

Would you be satisfied and still want to go to heaven if Christ was not there?
Ouch! That's a slap in the face for me. Sometimes, I'd probably say "yes".
However, yesterday during worship at the Miri church I attended I had a flicker of how joyful it will be to praise God for all eternity. My spirit was almost in tears, but doing cartwheels at the same time as I joined the congregation in song.
In Revelation 4&5 we read about John's vision of God's throne, and the songs of praise offered by angels and saints. If I could always remember that glimmer of Lord-worship from church, I would only ever want a heaven that includes Jesus.
Not only that, but I feel so incredibly blessed to be in this city, at this moment in my life. We've been visiting homes for the past three days to celebrate Chinese New Year with some families. I am so overwhelmed by their generosity and hospitality, especially for people they do not know. There is always an abundance of food, drinks and conversation - even if it's broken English or just a few words here and there to express sincere thanks.
God has been so faithful in providing for us. We have places to sleep (even if it's on a thin mattress on the floor), running water (even though it's a cold shower), food to eat (even if I have no clue what it is!) and great people with whom to build relationships.

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Day and night they never stopped saying:
Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come.
Revelation 4:8b (NIV)

I love the smell of Brisbane in the morning!

Bible, notebook, coffee and breakfast with a dash of sunshine.
What could be any better?

This past Sunday I sat outside at the YWAM Brisbane base for my breakfast, coffee and some Bible reading.

You know what I realized? I am truly blessed and lucky.

Despite the hard times I've had at DTS, I have been plopped in the middle of a beautiful neighbourhood, in a beautiful country, with beautiful weather and beautiful people. I sometimes think to myself "I'm pretty much on holidays."

I have been able to enjoy lovely weather. I can say that even in the midst of the state's worse flooding in decades. I can remember earlier this month waking up to the sounds of crows, kookaburras and other birds singing their hearts out. It was a clear sign the rain was done for awhile. I couldn't help but thank God for his goodness.

Even though sometimes living in a small community of 100+ people, and sharing a bedroom with eleven other girls can be trying, I wouldn't trade any of the experiences I've had. God has really changed my spirit to be more flexible with things over which I once would have freaked out.

And now with less than two weeks left until I head off to Miri, Malaysia for six weeks, I'm excited and anxious to find out what God will have me do there.

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 (NIV)