Oi, Sheila, chuck some shrimps on the barbie mate!!!!!
G'day! Been gone too long - apologies! And here is the long-awaited blog...!
It's so hard to know where to start as I haven't updated this thing in a while and so much has already happened as usual! Well, in my last blog I think I was telling you a bit about the students and how we had already put together a couple of performances in just two weeks! Well, it's continued pretty much like that as in it's been intense with us all learning a new dance/drama every week, spending hours of our week putting it together and critiquing. I made the mistake of thinking that it would just be the students who were performing, but discovered that we, as staff, were expected to join in most of the performances too - which is fine as I love the performing arts - but as I haven't done dancing for several years it was pretty hard work! Especially as the standard is quite high! But it has been fun and very very rewarding! The main thing to say about our dances and dramas is that they reflect the diversity of different cultures and it has shown how we as a school are from different nations yet still show complete unity - I think it reflects God's heart for peace and unity in the world while still retaining our own unique characteristics, whether that would be personally or as a nation. So our dances included a Samoan dance, the Hawaiian Hula, Hip hop, Columbian salsa, among many others! We recently put on a Banquet Dinner fundraiser which was a big buffet style dinner and performances from our school as well as the New Zealand Hukka from relatives of one of the YWAMers. We raised qhite a bit lot of money from that so THANK YOU GOD!!!!!
This particular discipleship training school has been a very powerful one so far in that God has been so evidently at work in the students' lives - we've seen major changes and breakthroughs happen to the extent that even people outside YWAM have noticed a change in the students. Our speakers have brought the word of God to us in such a dynamic way and the teachings have been spot on in that it's exactly what we all needed at the right time - it just shows how God knows what we need and speaks to us through others - I have seen this happen time and time again and can testify in my own personal life that God just speaks directly into my situation (in other ways as well, not just through the speakers). I have really been having a lot of revelation recently about Jesus' humanity and I just love the way He can relate to us and how we can learn from how He handled situations and hardships because He was TOTALLY human so it's also possible for us to handle life's difficulties in the best way possible - and that comes from a real and intimate relationship with our heavenly dad! Run to Him with everything because He cares for you!
In other news...my VISA has now officially come through - yippee!!! :)
And finally, because it is now getting late and gotta hit the sack...an update on our outreach...
We are off on 13th Dec until 19th to Port Arlington (which is still pretty close to Melbourne)
Off again to Diamond Creek from 22nd Dec-5th Jan, also close to Melbourne
Back on the Melbourne base from 5th-22nd Jan doing Mission Adventures which is like a mini discipleship training school for high-schoolers
22nd Jan-beginning of March - our big outreach which is a tour around Australia - travelling up the East Coast as far as Brisbane and possibly going to Alice Springs but not sure as yet - still working out the schedule! we will be using the performing arts to help share Jesus with people and show them how God wants to be in relationship with Him and is calling them by name...
So I guess all that remains is to ask for continued prayers (prayer points below)
Thanks, as always, for reading!!!!
With love,
Lorraine xox
PRAYER POINTS...
- Still need $3000 for outreach - phew! So a pretty high priority!
- For more revelation of how God sees situations and to be able to respond to all of life's challenges in the way He would want
- For continued spiritual protection
- For energy, wisdom, health and safety during outreach
- For God to really use our team to speak into peoples' lives, meeting them where they are at, and showing them Jesus
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Hello to everyone and hope this finds you well! I am currently enjoying a very lazy Sunday and have also had my hair cut by one of the ladies on base so have a new hair-do, which is great but feels weird, as I've gone for a bob and keep wondering where all my hair has gone... :)
It's been a while so thought it was time for an update...
Well, I am now a member of staff with Youth With A Mission and am staffing a performing arts discipleship training school which started 15th Sept. It's been an incredibly busy few weeks, ever since I graduated from my own DTS on Aug 5th - in that time I've been up to the Sunshine Coast, done some surfing, been to Sydney, completed a Certificate 4 phase 1 course in training and assessment, started my Basic Leadership Skills internship, trained for staffing the dts, and now I'm three weeks into the school I'm left feeling a bit dazed at the craziness of life and how fast time goes! Also, for those of you who didn't know, there has been a bit of an issue getting my Visa - very long story, but to cut it short, I had to apply for a special programme visa very last minute due to complications. Thankfully, I am now on a bridging visa and just waiting on my Australian Federal Police check to come through, then I can post it off and finally they can start processing my Visa!! THANK YOU GOD!!! :)
On the school I am currently staffing there are five students (two Aussies, two Americans, one German girl) and all of them are very talented in the arts, mainly dancers but one of them is a singer. We've already produced two quality pieces of drama in the short time the students have been here. Last Thurs we performed at the Thursday night open meeting on the YWAM base which was a contemporary dance to a song, which was sung live by our student. In December, January and February we will be touring around Australia sharing the good news about Jesus with people through our performances. We will be doing a lot of work in aboriginal communities and with youth which will be very exciting! During the lecture phase we wil be putting together our performances, but we want them to be fresh and original, inspired by God through our own personal and corporate times with Him.
Very exciting times, please let me know what's going on in your lives too!
Love and prayers,
Lorraine xoxoxox
It's been a while so thought it was time for an update...
Well, I am now a member of staff with Youth With A Mission and am staffing a performing arts discipleship training school which started 15th Sept. It's been an incredibly busy few weeks, ever since I graduated from my own DTS on Aug 5th - in that time I've been up to the Sunshine Coast, done some surfing, been to Sydney, completed a Certificate 4 phase 1 course in training and assessment, started my Basic Leadership Skills internship, trained for staffing the dts, and now I'm three weeks into the school I'm left feeling a bit dazed at the craziness of life and how fast time goes! Also, for those of you who didn't know, there has been a bit of an issue getting my Visa - very long story, but to cut it short, I had to apply for a special programme visa very last minute due to complications. Thankfully, I am now on a bridging visa and just waiting on my Australian Federal Police check to come through, then I can post it off and finally they can start processing my Visa!! THANK YOU GOD!!! :)
On the school I am currently staffing there are five students (two Aussies, two Americans, one German girl) and all of them are very talented in the arts, mainly dancers but one of them is a singer. We've already produced two quality pieces of drama in the short time the students have been here. Last Thurs we performed at the Thursday night open meeting on the YWAM base which was a contemporary dance to a song, which was sung live by our student. In December, January and February we will be touring around Australia sharing the good news about Jesus with people through our performances. We will be doing a lot of work in aboriginal communities and with youth which will be very exciting! During the lecture phase we wil be putting together our performances, but we want them to be fresh and original, inspired by God through our own personal and corporate times with Him.
Very exciting times, please let me know what's going on in your lives too!
Love and prayers,
Lorraine xoxoxox
Friday, May 21, 2010
NEWS LETTER
LORRAINE MCINTYRE - YWAM MELBOURNE CHURCH PLANTING DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING SCHOOL 2010
Hello to everyone back at home! I hope this letter finds everyone well. I am definitely so blessed to be doing the DTS with YWAM and felt it would be good to share with you what has been happening over here in Melbourne!
First of all, a bit about the school and what exactly it is I am doing… Well the DTS is a six month course which allows you todiscover who you are in God and who God is, deepening your relationship with our heavenly dad and as a result, freeing you up to live the life He wants you to live – in relationship with Him and others, with a heart for people who don’t yet know him.
The first three months consist of mainly of lectures and evangelism, the next couple of months are the outreach phase. In our case we are going to Indonesia and at the time of writing we have just finished the lecture phase and are about to embark on an adventure to Indonesia (31st May – 30th July). I am very excited!
God has been so good over the course of the DTS so far – lots of great stories but I only have space for a few. Because our DTS has a focus on church-planting, our school runs off-campus and we are housed in one of the roughest areas of Melbourne in a suburb called Sunshine. It is a very multi-cultural area with probably the majority of the community being Sudanese or Vietnamese. Most afternoons we go out into the community for evangelism. There is no set formula, other than to go out into the community as a team and just put what we have learned about sharing our faith into practice. Lately we have been hanging out at this Vietnamese café and built up relationships with the locals. Some of the people we meet there are at this café nearly every day as that is their life, so we have been able to meet them regularly and chat to them about what we believe, although one valuable thing I have learnt is that evangelism is more about listening than anything else, letting God show himself through us really through how we relate to them and to each other. We have ended up praying for a lot of these people, including Muslims and Buddhists! We have also had many opportunities to invite the people we meet back to the house for a meal and have had some come along to a house church we are involved in on Friday evenings. I have also learnt that evangelism is completely natural and that you don’t have to necessarily have a strategy or put on a programme – it is about being yourself, being open to letting God use you and then loving others and demonstrating God’s love to them through our actions and through valuing them.
I have seen God’s provision so obviously over the last couple of months. People have just randomly donated furniture and other household items which we’ve needed. YWAM are also in the process of finding another house so they can expand the work they are doing out in the Western suburbs, and so we have also had so many other people offer to donate that we have enough to furnish the next house as well as this one! A couple of the students still have to pay off outreach fees and we have seen God miraculously provide money for this. We held a film night last week and despite not many people from the base being around to attend, we still managed to raise around $800 and it was all run on a donations only basis! I have also personally see God provide - one really cool thing which happened was that, after having given my hoodie away to a homeless person, a couple of days later, the neighbour just randomly gave me a coat – and it was a very nice red coat too which fits perfectly! There are many other stories I could tell you but I am going to run out of space so I’ll leave it there!
I feel I have grown so much in my relationship with God and am sure that during outreach I’ll see even more of who God is. I feel like I am so much more aware of who God is and who I am in him, and of my authority and inheritance in Christ. The main thing is that the school has given me the ‘keys’ to live my life how God intended and I have so much more focus and direction and purpose than before so I am very excited about the future and about living out what I have learned! I am currently praying about staffing the next DTS which is a creative arts school. I would be taking care of the music side of things. I am
also considering doing a basic leadership school (which is basically an internship with YWAM and is two years long), meaning I could be here for the next wee while. This means I will have to completely rely on God for finances, so please pray that that God would confirm to me that this is the next step I should take and if so, that He would provide all the finances I need for this.
I think that is about all the most important stuff covered – please continue to keep me in your prayers – I really appreciate your support J I really believe prayer works and God is waiting for us to claim His promises, waiting for us to step out in faith and work with Him – He wants us to cry out to Him then He will move, as he is a God who values us so much He wants to work with us. We are created in his image and have the capacity to love as He does, with the help of the Holy Spirit. ‘Don’t be afraid – only believe’ (Mark 5:36). So let’s all step out in faith and believe that God wants the best for us! I think that calls for a celebration every day!!
Thank you for taking the time to read this and have a blessed week!
Lorraine x
Summary of prayer points…Protection and safety during outreach (physical, emotional and spiritual), finances, God’s will for my future - that He would speak clearly to me and I would be open and trust Him completely, that I would continue to grow and learn and keep running the race, no matter how tough! Thanks!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Third update - woop woop!
Oi! G'day mates!
It's been a busy few weeks - things are speeding up and it's now only five weeks til out-reach - we're going to be going to Indonesia and Malaysia - think I mentioned it in the last blog, but in case I didn't - you all know now! We will be going to a place called Ponteniak (not sure if I spelt that right)which is in Indonesia and Sabah in East Malaysia. Out-reach is going to be pretty flexible as in we won't fully know what we're doing until we get there. It will be things like running kids programmes, helping out practically in the community, working with the local YWAMers and churches doing dramas, dancing, sharing our testimonies, sharing the gospel and also just building relationships with the locals etc etc.!
We have already had a bit of a practice run by doing a drama in a couple of churches in Melbourne and also with fundraising it has been hectic and not had much free time. Last weekend the other school which is running at the same time as ours (Sports dts) organised an Island night at the base which was amazing! There are a lot of people from the islands (Tonga,Samoa...) involved in YWAM or with connections so they performed island dancing (our school leader Fay is Maori so she did a dance). There were singing performances and a hip-hop dance group as well. We also had a big buffet style meal with Island-style food, including Hungi (again not sure if I spelt that correctly!) which is where they dig a big pit in the ground and roast a pig slowly under the ground - vegetarians, you're going to be disgusted with me but it tasted soooo good! Anyway so we raised a lot of money for outreach through that. Our school has various things planned including making jewelry/scarves etc and selling them, a movie night, busking...(among other things). Please pray these all go well and that we raise a decent amount of money from these.
Something else to mention was that we went to a place called Portland to help out with tours on the YWAM ship so it was great to be able to spend a week by the sea and be outdoors a bit more - had a couple of really nice swims i the sea although later got informed there are sharks around so glad I discovered that after and not before or during! We had a crazy evening where we went down to the beach at night and went for a swim, still wearing all our clothes as it was a spontaneous thing - got a bit of sea-weed tangled round my leg and freaked out a bit as thought it was a shark! Hehe! On the subject of wildlife, Chloe saw a Koala sitting in the middle of the road near where we were staying but UNFORTUNATELY I wasn't there at the time - gutted! I am dying to see one in the wild!
At the end of the week, there was a show in the town promoting the work of the YWAM ship and a couple of bands were performing, one called Seven Star Street and another called Saving Sparrows, they were both really good and Rachel,one of the girls on our team, bought the CD of Saving Sparrows. It's a female duo and they both play the keyboard and sing at the same time - the lead sounds like Vanessa Carlton - very talented! On the way back home, which was an 8 hour drive, we drove along the Great Ocean Road and got to see the sunset and the stars which were the brightest I've ever seen them and there were so many it was unbelievable! Absolutely stunning! Saw a reat big shooting star go right across the sky as well :)
Our afternoons at the moment mainly consist of going out into Sunshine and lately we have been going to this Vietnamese Cafe (there are tons of Vietnamese people in Sunshine!) as the team has made friends with three Vietnamese guys who are always there after work every afternoon. Our group is expanding as we are making contacts with more of the locals, so there are a group of Pakistani guys and even a Maori who are joining us most days. They have started coming back to ours for dinner and last night two of the Vietnamese guys came to a house church which runs on the Fri evening - we did a quick Bible study in groups of 3/4 but we did it differently so that, instead of the leader doing most of the talking, we read a passage of scripture and ask the other people in the group what their thoughts are on what they've just read. This means that we're letting God's word speak for itself and for God to speak directly into their lives, rather than telling them what to think, which means it gives God room to move in people's hearts. If what the other people in the group interpret from the Scripture is the opposite of what it's actually saying and they are getting the wrong idea about it, the leader can then challenge them on where they're getting that idea from and bring it back into line with what the rest of the Bible says by sharing other passages of scripture. Last night I was in the group with the Vietnamese visitors and we were going through John 3:14-17, which is about God giving his only son to save us, so we talked about what it means to believe in God and what it means when it says 'save', so the guys were able to think about its meaning for themselves and get a revelation from God about why he sent Jesus to die for us. Also, our next door neighbours who we have formed good relationships with came to our Thursday night meeting at the base and both the dad and his 15year old son are asking lots of questions about God so I believe God is doing something in their hearts.
Well, I'm going to go and stretch my legs now as I have been curled up on the couch trying to catch up on all my emails/blogging and am now feeling a bit stiff!
So goodbye for now and will update you soon (ish)!
PRAYER POINTS
- pray for good time-management as we are so busy all the time and don't have a lot of free time to get homework done or make contact with friends/family back home etc)
- please pray that I would get my criminal records check (for working with kids) sorted soon as still waiting on a letter to come through from the base to prove that I live at the address I've stated on my form.
- Finances for the other students in the school (e.g. pray for our fundraising) as some still don't have enough for their outreach fees
- One of the students in our school is struggling emotionally and having a tough few weeks so please pray for him
It's been a busy few weeks - things are speeding up and it's now only five weeks til out-reach - we're going to be going to Indonesia and Malaysia - think I mentioned it in the last blog, but in case I didn't - you all know now! We will be going to a place called Ponteniak (not sure if I spelt that right)which is in Indonesia and Sabah in East Malaysia. Out-reach is going to be pretty flexible as in we won't fully know what we're doing until we get there. It will be things like running kids programmes, helping out practically in the community, working with the local YWAMers and churches doing dramas, dancing, sharing our testimonies, sharing the gospel and also just building relationships with the locals etc etc.!
We have already had a bit of a practice run by doing a drama in a couple of churches in Melbourne and also with fundraising it has been hectic and not had much free time. Last weekend the other school which is running at the same time as ours (Sports dts) organised an Island night at the base which was amazing! There are a lot of people from the islands (Tonga,Samoa...) involved in YWAM or with connections so they performed island dancing (our school leader Fay is Maori so she did a dance). There were singing performances and a hip-hop dance group as well. We also had a big buffet style meal with Island-style food, including Hungi (again not sure if I spelt that correctly!) which is where they dig a big pit in the ground and roast a pig slowly under the ground - vegetarians, you're going to be disgusted with me but it tasted soooo good! Anyway so we raised a lot of money for outreach through that. Our school has various things planned including making jewelry/scarves etc and selling them, a movie night, busking...(among other things). Please pray these all go well and that we raise a decent amount of money from these.
Something else to mention was that we went to a place called Portland to help out with tours on the YWAM ship so it was great to be able to spend a week by the sea and be outdoors a bit more - had a couple of really nice swims i the sea although later got informed there are sharks around so glad I discovered that after and not before or during! We had a crazy evening where we went down to the beach at night and went for a swim, still wearing all our clothes as it was a spontaneous thing - got a bit of sea-weed tangled round my leg and freaked out a bit as thought it was a shark! Hehe! On the subject of wildlife, Chloe saw a Koala sitting in the middle of the road near where we were staying but UNFORTUNATELY I wasn't there at the time - gutted! I am dying to see one in the wild!
At the end of the week, there was a show in the town promoting the work of the YWAM ship and a couple of bands were performing, one called Seven Star Street and another called Saving Sparrows, they were both really good and Rachel,one of the girls on our team, bought the CD of Saving Sparrows. It's a female duo and they both play the keyboard and sing at the same time - the lead sounds like Vanessa Carlton - very talented! On the way back home, which was an 8 hour drive, we drove along the Great Ocean Road and got to see the sunset and the stars which were the brightest I've ever seen them and there were so many it was unbelievable! Absolutely stunning! Saw a reat big shooting star go right across the sky as well :)
Our afternoons at the moment mainly consist of going out into Sunshine and lately we have been going to this Vietnamese Cafe (there are tons of Vietnamese people in Sunshine!) as the team has made friends with three Vietnamese guys who are always there after work every afternoon. Our group is expanding as we are making contacts with more of the locals, so there are a group of Pakistani guys and even a Maori who are joining us most days. They have started coming back to ours for dinner and last night two of the Vietnamese guys came to a house church which runs on the Fri evening - we did a quick Bible study in groups of 3/4 but we did it differently so that, instead of the leader doing most of the talking, we read a passage of scripture and ask the other people in the group what their thoughts are on what they've just read. This means that we're letting God's word speak for itself and for God to speak directly into their lives, rather than telling them what to think, which means it gives God room to move in people's hearts. If what the other people in the group interpret from the Scripture is the opposite of what it's actually saying and they are getting the wrong idea about it, the leader can then challenge them on where they're getting that idea from and bring it back into line with what the rest of the Bible says by sharing other passages of scripture. Last night I was in the group with the Vietnamese visitors and we were going through John 3:14-17, which is about God giving his only son to save us, so we talked about what it means to believe in God and what it means when it says 'save', so the guys were able to think about its meaning for themselves and get a revelation from God about why he sent Jesus to die for us. Also, our next door neighbours who we have formed good relationships with came to our Thursday night meeting at the base and both the dad and his 15year old son are asking lots of questions about God so I believe God is doing something in their hearts.
Well, I'm going to go and stretch my legs now as I have been curled up on the couch trying to catch up on all my emails/blogging and am now feeling a bit stiff!
So goodbye for now and will update you soon (ish)!
PRAYER POINTS
- pray for good time-management as we are so busy all the time and don't have a lot of free time to get homework done or make contact with friends/family back home etc)
- please pray that I would get my criminal records check (for working with kids) sorted soon as still waiting on a letter to come through from the base to prove that I live at the address I've stated on my form.
- Finances for the other students in the school (e.g. pray for our fundraising) as some still don't have enough for their outreach fees
- One of the students in our school is struggling emotionally and having a tough few weeks so please pray for him
Sunday, March 21, 2010
The next installment...
Hello I'm back!!! Bit rubbish at keeping in touch so sorry if I have neglected any of u!
Well first thing to report is that I'm down with the Aussie lingo now so I can communicate with the locals!!!
It has been an epic couple of weeks - we have done three weeks of lectures now - the topics being church planting, the characteristics of God, and the Holy Spirit. The speakers have all been amazing - really down to earth and passionate about what they are speaking about, it's obvious they are living what they're preaching! Lectures are pretty laid back as we're encouraged to treat lecturers as equals and not put them on a pedestal so we can feel free to ask questions whenever and have a bit of a joke with them as well! The speakers generally stick around in the afternoons and sometimes evenings so we really have loads of opportunity to pick their brains and talk to them about anything we don't understand or just generally chat with them. Our speaker last week had the most amazing and inspiring testimony. He was on of the most feared gangsters in Cape Town, was really violent and thought nothing of killing people, on drugs, was an alcoholic and involved in Satanism. But then he had a powerful encounter with Jesus and he just broke down in tears in the middle if this park and gave his life to Jesus. He completely turned his life around, came off the drugs and started preaching, giving his testimony at events and church services. Loads of gangsters and other people he knew gave their lives to God through seeing the change in him. He's now involved in YWAM in Sydney and is one of the most funny, down to earth, gentle people I know so it's just amazing to think he had such a violent past. God can change the most hardened people!
Anyway, the last week in particular has been a big one in terms of what God is doing in our lives. We had a time of ministry on Fri morning and Paul Richards (the speaker for that week and one of the people involved with setting up YWAM Melbourne) prayed for each of us individually, and had prophesies for each of us about what God's calling for our lives were or things which God wanted to deal with, for example healing emotional stuff. What God said to me through Paul was spot on and blew me away! (not literally...)
Another thing to update you on is the fantastic relationships we've developed with the next door neighbours - there's a married couple who have two sons, one aged 15 and the other is 20. We've now got to the stage where we just wander in and out of each other's houses, they really are just like family. We've been round a couple of times now for a meal and they've been over to ours for dinner (or even just coming over for desert!). The mum is catholic but the rest of the family don't particularly have any beliefs but they are so interested in what we're doing and are always asking questions about what we're doing and what we believe - they've even sat through one of our lectures and been here during praise and worship sessions. Last week when we were round at their house we had an impromptu worship session and ended up praying for them! God is definitely doing something in their hearts as they just can't keep away!
On Sat we went to see the YWAM ship at Geelong which provides dental and medical services to the people of Papua New Guinea who have limited health services and struggle to get the treatment they need, causing unnecessary deaths. So we helped out with giving tours (the public and go aboard the ship while it's moored in the harbour and not on a mission trip!) and then spent the rest of the day on the beach, followed by a dance event (including hip-hop and tribal dance!)in the local skate park, promoting the work of the ship (anyone who's interested can find out more info at ywamships.org). Oh and by the way, the dancing was AMAZING! Made me wish I could dance like that! The hip hop dancing was incredible!
Right, I'm going to get myself a cup of tea now, typing is thirsty work...
Love to u all and keep updating me of your activities up in the Northern hemisphere - I enjoy hearing what you're up to!
Lorraine xxxx
PRAYER POINTS!!
- Direction on what to do after DTS.
- For spending money to last out - I have all the money for the school fees but not much left over to spend so pray God will provide what I need
- Spiritual protection as God is moving powerfully in a way I have never experienced before, which is exciting, but it does mean the enemy will not like it too much! So he will be trying his best to un-do what God has done. For example, I have felt very flat and discouraged this weekend. This is directly after I got prayed for on Fri and I don't think that's coincidence!
- Please pray for renewed faith and trust in God this week as I've been feeling a bit weak in that area this weekend :(
Lastly, please pray for the relationships we form with the people we meet that we can be a real encouragement to them and that God will bless them and they will have a real experience of God and get to know Him personally. Especially the family next door!
Well first thing to report is that I'm down with the Aussie lingo now so I can communicate with the locals!!!
It has been an epic couple of weeks - we have done three weeks of lectures now - the topics being church planting, the characteristics of God, and the Holy Spirit. The speakers have all been amazing - really down to earth and passionate about what they are speaking about, it's obvious they are living what they're preaching! Lectures are pretty laid back as we're encouraged to treat lecturers as equals and not put them on a pedestal so we can feel free to ask questions whenever and have a bit of a joke with them as well! The speakers generally stick around in the afternoons and sometimes evenings so we really have loads of opportunity to pick their brains and talk to them about anything we don't understand or just generally chat with them. Our speaker last week had the most amazing and inspiring testimony. He was on of the most feared gangsters in Cape Town, was really violent and thought nothing of killing people, on drugs, was an alcoholic and involved in Satanism. But then he had a powerful encounter with Jesus and he just broke down in tears in the middle if this park and gave his life to Jesus. He completely turned his life around, came off the drugs and started preaching, giving his testimony at events and church services. Loads of gangsters and other people he knew gave their lives to God through seeing the change in him. He's now involved in YWAM in Sydney and is one of the most funny, down to earth, gentle people I know so it's just amazing to think he had such a violent past. God can change the most hardened people!
Anyway, the last week in particular has been a big one in terms of what God is doing in our lives. We had a time of ministry on Fri morning and Paul Richards (the speaker for that week and one of the people involved with setting up YWAM Melbourne) prayed for each of us individually, and had prophesies for each of us about what God's calling for our lives were or things which God wanted to deal with, for example healing emotional stuff. What God said to me through Paul was spot on and blew me away! (not literally...)
Another thing to update you on is the fantastic relationships we've developed with the next door neighbours - there's a married couple who have two sons, one aged 15 and the other is 20. We've now got to the stage where we just wander in and out of each other's houses, they really are just like family. We've been round a couple of times now for a meal and they've been over to ours for dinner (or even just coming over for desert!). The mum is catholic but the rest of the family don't particularly have any beliefs but they are so interested in what we're doing and are always asking questions about what we're doing and what we believe - they've even sat through one of our lectures and been here during praise and worship sessions. Last week when we were round at their house we had an impromptu worship session and ended up praying for them! God is definitely doing something in their hearts as they just can't keep away!
On Sat we went to see the YWAM ship at Geelong which provides dental and medical services to the people of Papua New Guinea who have limited health services and struggle to get the treatment they need, causing unnecessary deaths. So we helped out with giving tours (the public and go aboard the ship while it's moored in the harbour and not on a mission trip!) and then spent the rest of the day on the beach, followed by a dance event (including hip-hop and tribal dance!)in the local skate park, promoting the work of the ship (anyone who's interested can find out more info at ywamships.org). Oh and by the way, the dancing was AMAZING! Made me wish I could dance like that! The hip hop dancing was incredible!
Right, I'm going to get myself a cup of tea now, typing is thirsty work...
Love to u all and keep updating me of your activities up in the Northern hemisphere - I enjoy hearing what you're up to!
Lorraine xxxx
PRAYER POINTS!!
- Direction on what to do after DTS.
- For spending money to last out - I have all the money for the school fees but not much left over to spend so pray God will provide what I need
- Spiritual protection as God is moving powerfully in a way I have never experienced before, which is exciting, but it does mean the enemy will not like it too much! So he will be trying his best to un-do what God has done. For example, I have felt very flat and discouraged this weekend. This is directly after I got prayed for on Fri and I don't think that's coincidence!
- Please pray for renewed faith and trust in God this week as I've been feeling a bit weak in that area this weekend :(
Lastly, please pray for the relationships we form with the people we meet that we can be a real encouragement to them and that God will bless them and they will have a real experience of God and get to know Him personally. Especially the family next door!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Ok so you were all promised a blog and here it is...finally! The first installment.
It's very difficult to know where to start as I've done sooo much even in the short time I've been in Melbounrne. First I went to stay with Jenny Divine for a few days, basically just relaxing and recovering from jet lag, so a lot of sleeping (at weird hours might I add) was involved. Activities include going to a drive in cinema which was a fun experience, going into the city, walking along the beach at St Kilda and eating ice-cream! Yummy!
Found out that we weren't actually satying on the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base at Surrey Hills after all but that we were going to be staying in a house (we're a pretty small team, only 6 of us). If I'm honest I was a bit disappointed when I first found out as I heard that Sunshine (the area in which we were going to be staying) is one of the roughest parts of Melbourne whereas Surrey Hills is one of the nicest!
Anyway, I arrived at the YWAM base on Monday 22nd Feb and met our leaders Fay and Willie Collins and also the girls on the team (Chloe, 17, Rach, 18, and Julie, 28). Two guys arrived the next day (both Korean, one of them is a pastor!). I found out the reason for our change of accommodation was that we were going to be doing most of our work in the Sunshine community so we had to really be situated there so we could develop relationships with the people we met - the base at Surrey Hills is about an hours drive away, so no way would we be able to do everything we're doing now if we had been staying there. The house we are in only came about last minute and was a bit of a last minute miracle from God.
Anyway, so the first week was basically orientation and got the meet the people on the Sports DTS (discipleship training school) which is running at the same time as our church-planting DTS - love everyone on the team already - everyone is so down to earth and really fun to spend time with as well as passionate about God.
We started lectures this week, the schedule is pretty intense but really great as there's lots of space for worship, prayer, ministry, building relationships and sharing Jesus with people, in a genuine, relationship-based but non-Bible bashing way. Mornings usually consist of lectures and afternoons of going out into the community developing friendships with the people we meet and being open and honest about who we are as followers of Jesus, maybe even praying for the people we meet if they are up for it. Sometimes we exchange contact details so we can continue the friendship and be able to share more of what we believe, as well as getting to know them and discovering what they believe! Today we played basketball and spend time with the local teenagers.
There is way too much to report to put into this email, other than it has been very inspiring, yet challenging so far and have learnt so much already, even in just a week! So excited to see what God is going to do in my life over the next few months! One other point to note is that we are going to be going to Indonesia and Malaysia in May til we finish in Aug. One thing which has blown me away is the fact that God has provided all the finance I need to pay the school fees - money has just flooded in - I have to say I've always been a little bit of a doubter when it comes to things like that so this has really taught me that I can totally 100% trust God after all! Good stuff!
Right, that's about it for now as I'm hungry and would quite like to eat some dinner! :D
Hope all of you lovely people are well and enjoying life back home! Thinking of u all!
Will update you soon (ish!)
Lorraine xxx
For those of you who feel able to pray, here is a list of prayer points:
- God's protection as we are in a rough area
- Energy as am very busy most of the time and get tired very quickly (although going for some down-time at the beach on the weekend - woohoo! :)
- Please also pray that the team would continue to bond and get on well - hopefully this will continue - feel so blessed so far to have such a great team
It's very difficult to know where to start as I've done sooo much even in the short time I've been in Melbounrne. First I went to stay with Jenny Divine for a few days, basically just relaxing and recovering from jet lag, so a lot of sleeping (at weird hours might I add) was involved. Activities include going to a drive in cinema which was a fun experience, going into the city, walking along the beach at St Kilda and eating ice-cream! Yummy!
Found out that we weren't actually satying on the YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base at Surrey Hills after all but that we were going to be staying in a house (we're a pretty small team, only 6 of us). If I'm honest I was a bit disappointed when I first found out as I heard that Sunshine (the area in which we were going to be staying) is one of the roughest parts of Melbourne whereas Surrey Hills is one of the nicest!
Anyway, I arrived at the YWAM base on Monday 22nd Feb and met our leaders Fay and Willie Collins and also the girls on the team (Chloe, 17, Rach, 18, and Julie, 28). Two guys arrived the next day (both Korean, one of them is a pastor!). I found out the reason for our change of accommodation was that we were going to be doing most of our work in the Sunshine community so we had to really be situated there so we could develop relationships with the people we met - the base at Surrey Hills is about an hours drive away, so no way would we be able to do everything we're doing now if we had been staying there. The house we are in only came about last minute and was a bit of a last minute miracle from God.
Anyway, so the first week was basically orientation and got the meet the people on the Sports DTS (discipleship training school) which is running at the same time as our church-planting DTS - love everyone on the team already - everyone is so down to earth and really fun to spend time with as well as passionate about God.
We started lectures this week, the schedule is pretty intense but really great as there's lots of space for worship, prayer, ministry, building relationships and sharing Jesus with people, in a genuine, relationship-based but non-Bible bashing way. Mornings usually consist of lectures and afternoons of going out into the community developing friendships with the people we meet and being open and honest about who we are as followers of Jesus, maybe even praying for the people we meet if they are up for it. Sometimes we exchange contact details so we can continue the friendship and be able to share more of what we believe, as well as getting to know them and discovering what they believe! Today we played basketball and spend time with the local teenagers.
There is way too much to report to put into this email, other than it has been very inspiring, yet challenging so far and have learnt so much already, even in just a week! So excited to see what God is going to do in my life over the next few months! One other point to note is that we are going to be going to Indonesia and Malaysia in May til we finish in Aug. One thing which has blown me away is the fact that God has provided all the finance I need to pay the school fees - money has just flooded in - I have to say I've always been a little bit of a doubter when it comes to things like that so this has really taught me that I can totally 100% trust God after all! Good stuff!
Right, that's about it for now as I'm hungry and would quite like to eat some dinner! :D
Hope all of you lovely people are well and enjoying life back home! Thinking of u all!
Will update you soon (ish!)
Lorraine xxx
For those of you who feel able to pray, here is a list of prayer points:
- God's protection as we are in a rough area
- Energy as am very busy most of the time and get tired very quickly (although going for some down-time at the beach on the weekend - woohoo! :)
- Please also pray that the team would continue to bond and get on well - hopefully this will continue - feel so blessed so far to have such a great team
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