Back in Australia!

Hey all!

The last 6 weeks or so seem to have been quite the whirlwind, but I've finally found some time to sit down and document a bit of what's been happening. 

I had a great month at home, got to spend a lot of time with my family and catch up with lots of people. I was really glad there was lots of snow!

 It was a good time to be able to communicate with people what I'm up to, freak out a little about how much everyone has grown in the last year, and have a little time off to pray and think about where God has me. When you're living in a certain reality, it's easy to forget what other options are out there, so it's always good to go home and get a little perspective. That being said, it was hard to leave everyone back home, but I do have peace about this being where God has me for now. He wants me to be seeing Adelaide as home, and committing to being here as long as he has me here. That is a scary concept, and one that I haven't completely accepted yet, but I'm getting there. I know that the only place I want to be is where God has me, but the ramifications of that on the future are a little harder to jump right into. I am really excited about the coming year(s), and can see that God is going to do some great things! I think he's still positioning us all, but it'll all happen soon!

When I got back to Australia right before New Years, I spent a day in Sydney with Zac and Graham, my Canadian friends, and then traveled up to Byron Bay for 10 or so days of outreach. We joined up with the YWAM base there and some other YWAMers for what they called Impact Summer. Byron Bay is a big backpackers destination, and a very spiritual town, so we mainly hosted events that were conducive to meeting people and having conversations with them. During the day, we'd set up volleyball nets at the beach and invite people for games. A couple times we had a volleyball tournament with people from all over the place. In the evenings, we set up in a park and gave away pancakes and chai, did some performances, and shared testimonies. Especially during the evenings, many people on our team had opportunities to share their stories and God's love with backpackers and locals. There was a local who used to be a crystal healer, and he was hanging out with us almost every night that we were there. Several people had chances to talk to him, and by the end of our time there, he wanted to be baptized. We were all there as he was baptized in the ocean and then prayed for him after that. It was an awesome experience! I personally talked to several people who had questions about Christian spirituality, and made some friends what I will be in touch with who are seeking. It was a really fun outreach - especially rough because we spent a good majority of our time on the beach ;). 

Since Byron Bay, I've been at my friend Nat's house, spending time with her family and relaxing a bit. Tomorrow we'll be heading back to Adelaide and getting back to work. I'm really excited to see everyone there as well!

Thanks to all of you for your prayers and support while I was home. It was great to see so many people and catch up. I'll continue to be in touch!

Blessings

Caitlin

Looking back, looking forward

As I write this I'm sitting in the Sydney airport (on very dodgy internet that I'm somehow picking up from someone for free), waiting for my plane to take me back to the States. Weird feeling. 

In the last few weeks or so, as I've been anticipating heading home for a while, I've been reflecting a lot on the year: what I've done, what God's taught me, how I've changed. To be honest, it's quite overwhelming but also exciting. If I look at where I was when I left Minnesota almost a year ago, I can definitely say God has done a LOT. I think that'll become more and more apparent as I am back in my "normal" culture for a while. 

I've realized that a lot of times, when I update on here

, I focus more on the practical stuff that I'm doing, so this time I thought I'd share a little bit of the things that I've learned and the ways that I've changed. I can definitely see that this season of my life is all about growing and God equipping me for the future, so it's exciting to see how he's doing that!

One huge area has been me getting used to the concept of growing up and being an adult. Being the oldest of 5, I've always had a strong sense of responsibili

ty, but the fact that I'm growing up still scares me sometimes and I find myself freaking out a lot when I have to commit to things and when I realize that life will only become more responsibility. God's working on me in this area, though, and I'm much more ready to make decisions that will affect a good chunk of my life now than I was at the beginning of the year. Growing up is scary, but it's good. I'm really grateful that God's placed me in YWAM and in Adelaide, because the

 people there have really become a second family to me and helped in the growing-up process. 

I've also taken big strides when it comes to friendships, communication, relationships in general, my self-esteem.  Why is being who God made you so hard sometimes? Why do we so often try to be like other people, tell God that he made a mistake, wear masks? 

Insecurity has been a stronghold in my life for too long, and God's really been working on me hard-core in that area. I'm learning to be ok with only what God says about me, not what everyone else says (or what I think they think about me). I'm learning to believe God when he tells me who I am. Sounds simple. Is simple. Is also hard. 

At the same time.... wow, it's nice to be myself. God just continues to free me from so many mindsets and beliefs that were such a part of who I was, but were so wrong. The exciting part is, I know so many girls and women struggle with the same insecurities that I have struggled

 with, and I know that as God heals me he gives me the authority to speak into other peoples lives and help them. yay! 

Looking back on the year, I'm so grateful for where God's brought me

. I know that I have so far to go, but I also know that the reason he's growing me and teaching me and blessing me is because he wants me to impart those things to other people. He's been revealing more of what my calling is, which is exciting, but also makes me very aware of the fact that I have a long way to go. I'm really grateful that I've had this time to grow and learn - not just in general, but in the exact areas that God wants me to grow in. He knows the future (SO comforting), and knows what I need and when I need it. Pretty cool. 

On the tangible side of what I've been doing: the last month was pretty crazy. A bunch of us went to Melbourne for the National Leaders Meeting, which was good. I did some good networking with people regarding Youth Street, so it was a productive time. The week after that, we had a fund-raising dinner for the base and that went fairly well. I helped decorate and serve on the day and random other things, as usual. We had a pretty good turn out and raised some good funds (so therefore were successful ;) ). We also had 

all the different ministries share about what they do and where God's directing them. That was a good opportunity for people to hear about what's going on in the world of YWAMSA and what God's doing through us. Last weekend, most of us volunteered at the Schoolies Festival, which is a 3-day party for all the graduating high school students. We picked up lots of rubbish, manned road blocks, helped drunk kids, and had quite a few good conversations with 18 year olds who needed a friend or a shoulder or a kick in the pants. Usually the first two. We also didn't get much sleep, but that's all part of the fun. 

A few fun things of note: a few of us went cliff jumping in a gorge about an hour away a couple weeks ago. We had some good fun and no one got hurt so it was a good trip (besides having a bit of trouble finding the place). (Pics are on the pics link). The highest point we jumped from was probably about 8 or 9 meters up. I also celebrated my birthday several times - one being with the party-in-a-box that my mom sent me (thanks, Mom!). I'm officially 21, which apparently means I have to act mature and behave and stuff.... bummer :). I'm also continuing to really enjoy and appreciate the people that God's blessed me with - which is good, because we all live together and it would be a bummer if I didn't like them (thanks, God!). 

Well, this has gotten long. Thanks to those of you who have made it this far. 

I'll be in the States in a few hours, and in Minnesota in a few days. I'm looking forward to seeing all of you! I hope that I can see everyone I'd like to - I know that 4 weeks will go quick, but please give me a call or send me an email, I'd love to catch up. I'm around till Christmas. 

God's blessings to each of you, thanks so much for your support. I'll be trying to send out a newsletter covering the whole year, with pictures and other info. I'll try to get that to everyone!

Cheers!

Caitlin

October

Hello everyone!

It's been a while since I updated... I've been keeping myself busy, but none of it has been too newsworthy up till now....

The first week on October, 11 of us from the base went to a youth camp for a weekend. The camp was different from camps I've been to in the past - there were small groups from several different Uniting Churches all coming together for the camp. I think there were about 400 kids there, all camping in tents out on the football field (we got to sleep inside, which was nice). Our role there was to be "chaplains" - we were there to talk to any of the kids who needed it, we helped with the large group speaking times, and just generally were extra hands and bodies. YWAMers tend to be good at doing whatever's needed and volunteering for the less-fun jobs, so I think the leaders really appreciated us being there. We did things like security shifts from 3-6 am, setting up tents, running workshops.... I always enjoy doing things like that, so it was fun! It was a huge blessing, also, because we made lots of good connections with people involved in youth. I've been trying to network a lot more lately, because that will be the key to having Youth Street work, so it was great to be able to meet people from around Adelaide who are passionate about youth as well.

In the weeks after that, we were just doing a lot of work around the base. We painted and fixed up one of the houses on base so that Paullette can move in, which was a big job. I also worked in the vineyard next door for some extra cash, and have continued working in communications and other odd things around the base. Like I said - I've been busy, but nothing too newsworthy.

This last week was different, however. We had another ministry come to bless us - called Vistorious Ministries Through Christ (VMTC). They are a Holy Spirit-lead healing ministry. We all received ministry through them, and also learned the principles behind their ministry so that we can use them to bless people as well. I think it was really good for all of us - we each got a personal ministry time with 2 people from their team, where we went through confession, forgiveness, and also processed any other things that the Holy Spirit brought up. It was amazing the things that God brought up to me... some hurts from the past that I didn't expect, but they really helped me to see the root of issues that I've been experiencing. God is good!

Other than that, I've really been enjoying the people here, as usual. There has been a mass exodus in the past few months - God calling people to other places - so that has been a bit hard, but it's exciting to see God moving in people's lives. Those of us here, though, have been enjoying each other - I think God is giving us a greater appreciation for the community he's given us and it's exciting to have new things happening in our ministry. There are also a couple Canadian guys here Mission Building (volunteering around the base), and we've enjoyed hanging out with them... despite the fact that they're Canadian ;)

Next week, the majority of the base will be traveling to Melbourne for the YWAM National Leaders Meeting. I am not a national leader, but I am going. It's a good time to network with people, see what other bases are doing, and receive God's vision for YWAM Australia as a whole. I'll be celebrating my birthday there as well!

That's about it from me! I'm really looking forward to being home in December and seeing all of you in Minnesota! Please have snow :)

God's blessings

Caitie

September

Family and friends around the world....

September proved to be a very busy month for me! As I talked about in my last post, Laura and I visited Newcastle for a week at the beginning of the month and saw JJ off. After returning from that, we spent almost 2 weeks at the base - in that time, we worked a lot on developing new dances and dramas and I've also been working on promotions for the base, among other things. I am definitely keeping myself busy!

From the 19th to the 30th of September, 13 of us (Oxygen and others) traveled 8 hours to Melbourne to work with an Anglican church there (check out photos in the "photos" link on the left). The church we were working with has a beautiful cafe set-up and we helped them start out a ministry through that. All week, in the mornings and evenings we gave away free espresso to anyone passing by. We had several people just come in and grab coffee, but others would stay and chat. We had a few different opportunities to have good conversations with people. One inparticular was a group of nursing students, all from overseas, who came in a few different times. We talked to them about their religions, their plans for the future etc. One of their instructors came in with them, and he said that he had previously been involved with curch but had gotten burnt out and wasn't going anymore. We hope that we were able to help in the healing of that experience for him, he was at least very grateful and positive about what we were doing. 

In the evenings, in addition to coffee we had a program each night that included 2 people from our team, Zoe and Fauger, singing playing live music, our team doing dances and dramas, and then people from the church shared testimonies. Although we only had a few people from outside the church come in the evenings, it was the first time many people had shared their stories and so was a great first step to the people around them The pastors and church in general had a huge heart to reach out to their community, which was very encouraging. All in all, it was a great week - and we were kept going by lots of free coffee! :)

In the coming weeks and months, I'll continue working on promotions for the base and also making new dances for us to use. The whole focus of our base is changing a lot, so it's interesting and exciting to see how many things are shifting and changing. We're getting a lot done - becoming a lot more involved in the community, doing fundraising, getting lots of building projects done around the base. At the same time, this entire year, God has really been challenging all of us to prioritize our relationships with him, rather than just doing all the time. That has been a personal challenge for me: it's so easy to just feel good about myself because of all the tasks that fill my days, but lose sight of why I'm doing all these things. God is calling me, and all of us, to be working hard and getting things done, but it must all come out of my love for God and nowhere else. Quite the challenge! 

That's about it from me! I'll be traveling to various other places before coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. To all of you back in Minnesota, I look forward to seeing you over the holidays! I'm hoping for a very white Christmas!

God bless you all!

~ Cait

Changes, Road trip, Bible Study and Rahab

Friends, family, loved ones,

Life has been quite busy lately, since the DTS finished up. We've gotten back into the swing of things back at the base... although what that looks like is changing quite a bit. 

For most of August, our whole base took part in a 3-week Bible study seminar where we learned to do inductive Bible study, look deeper into what we read in God's Word, and effectively apply it to our lives. It was a really good course, and I think we all got a lot out of it and God spoke to us a lot.

 

Since getting back from outreach, I've also been more involved in Rahab, which is our ministry to women in prostitution. On Friday nights, we go to brothels all over Adelaide and bring the girls a can of coke, talk to them, and let them know we're there if they ever need legal help or just someone to talk to. 2 weeks ago, myself and another YWAMer met a girl in a brothel who seemed to want help, and since then we've been able to get her into rehab and out of her former work. It's been quite amazing to see that happen. I'm really enjoying that ministry and feel like I have a lot to learn from Paullette, the woman who heads it up. She has an incredible heart for these girls, and also incredible wisdom into how to really help them. I'm really grateful to have that opportunity. 

I also just got back from a week on the East Coast of Australia, in a town called Newcastle. My friend, JJ, was moving out there, so Laura and I drove with him. We spent the week at a YWAM base there, where they have a youth ministry called Youth Street, which is like the one we're hoping to start here in Adelaide. Laura will be heading it up, I'll most likely be helping. It was a really good week, we learned a lot about how it works and got some insight into how we'll need to start it out. It's going to be a big project, but we're really excited to see how it all comes together. An extra bonus to the trip was that I got to see Liz Kennedy from church back home, as well! She's doing her DTS in Newcastle at the moment, so we got to spend some time together. 

Besides looking to start Youth Street, the base is going through a lot of other changes at the moment, which is really exciting! We're focusing a lot on building relationships within our community of YWAM and also in churches, the city, schools etc. I'm working 2 days a week with a communications/promotions team, and we'll be getting to know the people around us a lot more, serving the community where we can, and developing promotional material for the base. It's a good experience for me, and also very needed. I'm excited to personally get to know more people around Adelaide as well, since I'll be here more steadily now. I do love getting to know people!

That's about it from me... I am planning on being home for almost all of December, and I'm REALLY excited to see everyone. Thanks for keeping me in your prayers!

Caitlin

Check out my "Financial Needs" link for a testimony. 

God is cool

~Caitie

End of outreach

Hey All!

I'm writing this from chilly Adelaide, safely back from outreach. 

I believe the last I updated this blog was in Chennai, so I'll go from there. We spent a good 2 weeks in Chennai, which was probably my favorite part of outreach, especially going into villages to share with people there. God spoke to me a lot during that time, and I was thinking a lot about my future, so it was a really good time. 

After our 2 weeks there, we planned to 

leave on Thursday to go to Kolkata (Calcutta) by train. However, because it was monsoon season in Kolk

ata at that time, the tracks were flooded and all trains were cancelled. Like so many other times, though, we saw God provide, and just that morning we had enough money to be able to fly to Kolkata instead.  So, we flew on Friday and arrived to the last leg of our journey in Kolkata. 

The first thing we did 

was travel (again) to a village about 6 ho

urs away. There, the Kolkata YWAM staff was putting on a youth retreat for about 120 students there. Most students were from a Hindu back

ground, so it was amazing to be able to share with them. Though language was a barrier, we had several opportunities to pray for them, and they all wanted to accept Jesus as their savior. The most exciting part of that, though, is that the school principal wants YWAM to come back twice a year to run a similar program, so we know that the kids will have good follow-up and continue to hear about Christ. 

After that, we returned to the city for our final 2 

weeks, where the other half of our team joined us after being in Bejing. We did lots of different things there, mostly working with kids' ministries. YWAM has 2 different houses where homeless kids can come to shower, play, receive love from the staff, and a hot meal. We had lots of fun working with those kids and being able to support the staff that work there full time. I think my favorite, though, was one afternoon going to the street where lots of those kids live and see their families - some people played guitar for them and we provided medical care for those who needed it. Helping people in need like that really hit where my heart is at, and I can see myself doing something like that in the future. 

We also worked for a few days at the Mother Teresa ministry. The ministry has several different homes for different people - I worked at a home for boys with disabilities, which I loved (of course). We went in the afternoons and played with the guys, fed them, and helped 

out the Sisters as we could. It made me really miss my job back in MN! 

All in all it was a really good time - very challenging and different as staff. The team got along well and were all excited to see what God was doing. We saw God provide for us so many times - we so often had just about no money and didn't even know where the money for our meals would come from, but we never actually ran out, and always saw God provide. I know that all of us will be coming out of this trip knowing first-hand that God is faithful to provide for us. 

We're home now - basically unscathed. Several of us picked up some parasite friends along the way, and are still not 100% healthy, including myself, but we should be alright after visiting the doctors here. Actually, through a few interesting events, (which included receiving $250 in exchange for my stool sample...) we met a great travel doctor in Kolkata who saw many of us, and he was great - definitely God's provision. 

Thank you so much for your prayers for my team and I during our time away. I'll continue to keep you up to date with what I'm doing in Adelaide - I know that God still has a lot for me here! God bless each one of you!!!

Caitlin