YWAM Townsville

For the past two weeks, we have spent a lot of our time helping out with Townsville's Stable on the Strand. During the first week, my team went down to the Strand to help with set up everyday from 8am- 12pm, although other workers were there as late as 10pm. It was nice to get out of regular routine and do some work outdoors in the sun. Despite the heat, we had a great time serving! In the afternoon, we went to some parks where many homeless people are. We talked to them and tried to direct our conversations towards Jesus. Most of them were pretty open about the Gospel, so it was really cool to apply what we've learnt. Since this was the first week of not having lectures, it was weird to not get taught more about God everyday. My hunger for knowing Him grew even stronger! I realized that in reality, I won't be spoon fed information about God everyday. In order to keep growing in my relationship with Him, I have to seek Him on my own. Stable began on Sunday night. After ...

This was one of my favourite weeks so far.  Caleb Brownhill spoke on Fear of the Lord. It was really cool because during Monday morning worship, I was a little discouraged since I was thinking about how much deeper I wanted to grow in my relationship with God. I wanted to learn how to really have an intimate relationship with Him, then Caleb started talking exactly about that! I knew from then on that it was going to be a great week. I loved everything he talked about, so I've written about my favourite points. One thing he really focused on was how to walk with the Lord by having a deep reverence of His holiness. I learned that since we are a temple of the Lord, we have to have a deep respect for God so that the Holy Spirit wants to come and dwell within us. God wants us to be passionate about following Him, and our whole-hearted devotion. In order to really give our heart to Him, we have to seek Him and wait upon Him. Hebrews 11:6 says that the Lord rewards those who do ju...

Hello again! This week was one filled with learning and growing. Bruce Skinner spoke on the nature and character of God, which, I learnt, are two very different things. God's nature is what he is capable of, like his omniscience, omnipresence, or omnipotence. Whereas, God's character is what he chooses to be. He doesn't have to be omnibenevolent, loving, or gracious, He's that way because He wants to be. We took it back to Genesis 1, and studied the first couple chapters of the bible in depth. It's amazing how much you can learn about the bible when you look at certain stories in a different way! I learned that a lot of questions we have about God can be brought back to relationship. For example, we were created with free will so that we may have true relationships with others, as well as with Him. God made the whole earth with the intention of everything having a relationship, so that He could fulfill His idea of perfect love. As December just began, we are ge...

I'm back from camping! This week was one that I will never forget. Since it's been awhile, I'll update you on last week first. Steve Aherne spoke on evangelism, which was so useful to learn more about. He taught how evangelism isn't always bringing people to God right away, but rather just bringing them closer. We looked at the Great Commission, and learned that since we are the messengers of God's word, we must deliver! He also gave us homework every night with strict time limits. It taught us that if we are the only way someone would ever hear or see Jesus, we have to know how to use our time wisely. If we just obey God's command for us, the Holy Spirit will do the rest. The Holy Spirit is what moves people, not us! It was so helpful to learn these things as it took a lot of pressure off. We learned that we can spread the gospel in more ways than just preaching. It could be telling someone how God has worked in your life. Sharing about your past experiences ...

Another week is done! We had the privilege of having Ken Mulligan, the founder of YWAM Townsville, as our speaker for the week. He challenged our thinking by asking questions that were hard to answer, such as, "why do you believe what you believe?" or "do you have fixed points of reference?"  He spoke on the importance of knowing the answers to these questions. I found myself at the edge of my seat, waiting for what he was going to speak about next. I learned that setting boundaries for myself and knowing the kind of life I want to live is critical to living a life for God. We also talked about the many different ways in which pride is shown, and how it can disguise its self as strengths. Ken is unlike any speaker I've heard before since he doesn't give any answers, we had to think of them for ourselves. I can't remember a time when I've had to think more than I did this week! As the days have gone on, we've focused more on the medical e...

Hello, from Australia! It feels like just yesterday I sat down to write my first blog post because this week has been crazy busy! As the days go on, I'm starting to feel more and more at home. It feels as if I've known all these people for my whole life. I can't imagine not knowing the amazing friends that I've made. It's like an alternate reality here, because everyone is focused on God, and only Him. Joanne Blaik was our speaker for this week, and she was a huge inspiration. She had so much knowledge to share, we even had two extra lectures during the evenings. She spoke on identity and how important it is to know God before ourselves. She explained how we can't believe that we are good until we believe that God is good. We also spent a lot of time on the differences between what the world wants of us compared to how God sees us. He created us all so uniquely, even though the world tries to tell us differently. There are so many more amazing things that sh...

Hey everyone! I left home a little over a week now, and it has been amazing. After three days of travel, I was ready to make it to my final destination. Arriving in Townsville was a huge relief, since I've spent half a year researching about the city and campus. I was extremely jet lagged during orientation, so the first day wasn't the best. It was a bit overwhelming at first to be surrounded by 80 new people from all over the world, but everyday I've been meeting new people and getting closer with others. The environment here is unlike anything I've ever experienced. Everyone you meet is extremely kind, and we're all here for the same reason, to deepen our relationships with God. It almost feels like I'm living in a fantasy, with really hot weather. Wednesday was family night and worship, which is when we have a communal dinner out on the courtyard with all the families living on campus. There were seven birthdays to celebrate that week which meant sev...