Outreach Part 2

Hi fam! I hope everyone is doing well! I finally have some time to sit down and write and wanted to share an update of what God has been doing over the past 6 weeks or so. My last update was about our time in Manila, in the Philippines. After we left there we went traveled to the capitol city in Indo. and spent 4 weeks there. We got to be part of some really amazing ministries and really saw God moving in incredible ways in the nation.

One story that was really quite amazing is when the pastor of the church we were staying in took us to a local Christian school. We were able to perform a couple of skits, share testimonies and the gospel, and then the pastor gave an invitation for the kids to accept Jesus. Almost all of the kids (about a 100) raised their hands and repeated a prayer that the pastor said. But what happened next was the really incredible thing--the pastor invited us to go around the room and pray for each of the kids. There were kids from 5-15 years old and one-by-one they were touched by the Holy Spirit and many of them just started weeping. They stood in place with their eyes closed and just cried. This went on for 15 or 20 minutes and all of the kids and most of the teachers received prayer. It was such an awe-filled moment to be part of, just getting to see God touch each of the kids and knowing that we were part of a moment that many of them will treasure for years to come, and maybe even their whole lives. This is a picture of our students sharing about God at the school.

As a team, we were able to connect with the local youth in each nation that we went to over our 3 months of outreach. It was really such a blessing to see because there is only so much you can do in the span of a few weeks, but if you are able to inspire and empower the local church, the impact you have continues far after you actually leave.

This is a small group we were part of in Singapore.

These are some of the youth we spent time with in Indo.

While in Indo. we did a lot of relational-based ministry. We spent a lot of time getting to know the people in the church and joined a weekly life group. We also spent time with a local preschool and the moms that stayed to wait for their kids. It was really amazing to hear how encouraged they all were by us spending time with them. Even though there was a language barrier, they felt so loved that we came and spent time getting to know them. It can be tempting to become frustrated when communication is limited, but hearing the impact we made, simply by giving our time and love, reminded me that it's not about how I feel, but rather how we show the love of Jesus to others.

This is a picture of us with the preschool students and their teachers.

Singapore was an amazing final stop on our outreach. It was a bit different than expected because of limitations due to Covid-19, but the pastor we worked with was really incredible. We did a lot of prayer walking around the city and got to learn about the history of the nation.

After spending 2 weeks in Singapore, we made our way back to Perth. We spent the week reflecting back over the last 6 months with the students and celebrating the things that God has done. We finished the week off with a scavenger hunt and time of encouragement and said good bye to all the students. Because of the situation with Corona virus, some students left earlier throughout the week, but they had mostly all gone home by that weekend. Here is a picture of the students that were still with us on Friday. We were also combined with another DTS for the week which was a lot of fun because we got to hear all of their stories from outreach!

Since the school ended, I have transitioned back into the Health Care Ministry here at YWAM Perth. It is really nice to be back in the ministry and catching up with friends (from an appropriate social distance of course). I will be posting another update soon on the more personal side of what the last few weeks have looked like for me, what God has been teaching me, and new things for the future. But for now, a quick update is that I am no longer planning on coming home in May. There were a lot of factors to making this decision, a lot of prayer, and even more tears, but in the end I really felt peace with staying here in Australia for this season. If you have any questions, please reach out to me, I would love to share more. Also, like I said before, I will be writing another update and sharing a bit more of my personal process over the last month or so.

For now, I love you all, and miss you, and pray I will be able to see everyone sooner rather than later! :)