Back From The Outback!

Hey,
Well its been awhile, we just arrived back from our 3 week road trip to 3 different towns/cities and wow does it feel weird to have a bed and my own bed. Well when we left we were packed into our good ol' bus and our van and took off to Toowoomba for AGMF. Toowoomba is a city here in Australia and that’s where AGMF (Australia Gospel Music Festival) was being held. When we arrived nothing was really set up so after setting up our own tents and getting settled in we went to work. For the conference it is said that approx. 40,000 people come to this Festival. So we had quite a bit of work as we set up tents, sidewalks (Lego style flooring), dining rooms and lounges etc. For the first couple of days we had lectures from Stephan our Beach 2 Bush leader on Identity from 9a.m.-12p.m. and then we would go help set up. Some of the jobs that I had to do were arranging the Guests, Artists, and Media lounge and dinning hall. It was fun to see what the backstage artists got to see and actually set it up for them. Then of course security. During our stay at Toowoomba security was our main thing. We would be standing around for most of the day directing traffic and telling people where to move their tents as instead of staying in Hotels, a lot of the people camped in the campground behind the Festival. Once the conference was in swing on Friday (Good Friday) we had certain shifts and work duties throughout the day. Me, Susan, Megan, Dannell were all put on traffic patrol and were to walk around telling people where they could and couldn't put their tents. It was a long exhausting day. Most shifts were around a total of 4-8 hours. On Friday I had free time that night and I got to see Sleight Of Hand, Cavendish, and Blindside. I hadn't heard of them before AGMF but apparently Blindside is supposed to be pretty big for Christian Rock. I was surprisingly pleased with these concerts too even though I am not completely into that heavy music. Then on Saturday I was told to go with a team of 8 other students/staff to a small town called Roma. One of the town committee members called the base in Brisbane asking for us to come down to supervise a Disco Dance. So me, Hanna, Kristina, Charlotte, Luke, David, Brent and Jason went down with the van after working a 6a.m.-10a.m. shift. On the way we had an amazing time, some of the scenery was just like back at home in Saskatchewan ...flat. It was so beautiful though, it reminded me of old traditions that my family used to do during Easter. We also had an incredible time of worship and prayer before arriving at the Disco. Once we got to the town we met up with the committee member and went to "the shed" outside of their church in Roma where we unpacked our stuff. It was a nice place with showers and even mattresses. I have learned that while on Beach 2 Bush those are not needs but necessities. (Yes have I received a reality check on what I deem as NEEDS and not WANTS). We then went to the Disco Dance where we were told 14-16ish year old teens would be there but once we arrived we saw that it was mainly 9-14 year olds who showed up and their Disco machine (music system) was not working. So they asked us to run some games so Hanna and I took charge of the younger kids and got them to do some of the games that we did in school. It wasn't for another 2 hours that they stopped working on the music system and just got a cd player for the dance. But it was pretty good anyways. Kristina and I got the opportunity to talk to 3 young girls about life. We didn't even tell them that we were Christians when one of the girls started talking about God and how He doesn't exist. She said that if there was a God she would have "2 parents, not 4". She has been the most hardened girl I have ever met. She told us that there was a hell but not a heaven and if there was a heaven she would rather be burned than going to it. So me and Kristina shared about what we believe and see God as. She wasn't very open but at least we got to talk about it. Time ran out quickly though and before we knew it we were back at "the shed" and all cooking a chicken and getting ready for bed. The next morning we went to the small church beside the shed. It had cute little/hard pews with an organ in the front. Most of the people there were elderly with little to no youth. Only around 30 people went to this service. We heard that in the Outback towns there is a lot of depression and suicides because of the drought down here and because most of the people who grow up in these towns stay in these towns with no dreams or goals for their life. It’s very apathetic and that’s why the town counsel has been very eager to get us YWAMers down there and help out with different youth activities. That afternoon we went back to Toowoomba where we had the night off. I missed the Superchic[k] concert and the Barlow Girls concert but I made it just in time for James Morrison-a famous jazz performer who has played with B.B. King. It was so amazing to see. Then the rest of the night was going to the church service there and other concerts. On Monday we packed up our Chai Tent which was the YWAM's main tent with information about us and an open mic for some small performers to come in and play. Then we drove 8 hours to the small outback town of Emerald . When we got there we stayed at a couple's house that has 5 children. We had an amazing feast with lamb, potatoes, etc. then set up our sleeping bags on their living room floor. The next day we got up and made our tents and headed to the local church for lectures on Spiritual Warfare by Dean Sherman. It was a video series and it was amazing. It really opened my eyes to the Spiritual Realm and how powerful and active it actually is. In the Western World we usually don't think that the Spiritual Realm is actually real and active but that week totally opened my eyes and the other student’s eyes to the realness of it. The rest of the week was basically wake up, lectures, hang out, and go to bed. One of the days however I was asked to go to a daycare to help out. So I and a team of around 6 others were dropped off (without even knowing where to go or who was in charge). So we found the place and didn't know anyone who was working there but they took us in and asked us to run games. So Will and Hanna ran some games outside. Afterwards we got to hang out with them. The children were from ages 7-11ish. The daycare was open after school’s and then on holidays like Easter where the Australian schools have 2 week's off. So the kids go there while their parents are at work. So that was a fun experience, they totally admired us and I am sure we all signed almost all of the kids' papers or even arms and legs with our signatures. (I wonder what their parents thought.) After Emerald we took off on an estimated 15 hour trip to Stanthorp. It only took around 13-14 hours with stops for dinner etc. We stayed at the Storm King Dam at a recreational center. It had pool tables, table tennis tables, and a walkway beside the dam. It was such a relaxing time. We even had beds and showers (4 showers in both the girls and boys bathroom) it was luxury. Mark Parker came up from New Zealand to talk about Lordship. It was an amazing week of lectures. On the last day of lectures (Thursday) the staff set up the main dinner hall as the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. We learned about the Tabernacle and on the relevance in the New Testament on Wednesday but on Thursday we were actually going to go through it. So we started our day with Thanksgiving by the Dam. Then we "entered the courts with praise". So we had a time of worship. After the worship we were all seated around a wooden cross that they made and we were all to stand up and repent, lay down, and pick up things that we wanted. A lot of people laid down old relationships, life plans, marriage, etc. It led to a lot of tears but after that was all done we had a time of prayer. We all walked around praying for each other and encouraging one another. Afterwards we had a communion feast where we had bread, juice, crackers, and all sorts of cheese, grapes, and candy. Then we took down the veil and had more worship to end the day. It was a very symbolic and healing day, it lasted 12 hours but time seemed to fly (except the time at the cross). At first a lot of the students were skeptical about this and usually I would have looked at it as a Religious act or ritual. But it was a day of complete healing; we got rid of old baggage and learned so much in doing so. We learned about the importance of praising God for who He is even though we may not feel like it. Also that God is already Lord but we need to acknowledge Him as Lord and die to ourselves and pick up our cross and follow Him. He calls us to follow Him in order to save the others and we need to take away our selfishness and serve Him because that’s what He calls us to do as Christians (die to ourselves and our dreams and follow God). We also learned after returning to Brisbane the importance of continually laying these things down before God and how one day doesn't fix everyhting for the rest of our life. But we need to continue to lay down our life plans to God and continue to follow Him and "die to ourselves" because it’s a hard thing to do and the Enemy definitely doesn't want us to follow through with dying to ourselves and living to Christ and will attack us especially after days like Thursday. On Friday, the day after, we all left back to Brisbane which was a 4 hour drive. That night we set up our tents in Rhoda's backyard because the MAD DTS was back and it was their grad on Friday. So we stayed over at her house and just yesterday we moved back into our dorms as the MAD DTS members just left for home. It's so weird to see other DTS' graduate and leave and it’s sad to see how much time has flown. We have definitely grown and matured as a team, especially after these past two weeks. It is so encouraging to see others step out of their comfort zone and mature. Our unity as a team has grown so much and we have all been really soaking in the lectures and been practicing them out in our life most importantly. This week we are having lectures by Dean Sherman again by video on Relationships. Today was our first lecture and it was very good! His lectures are so powerful and challenging I love it. So that’s what we'll be doing this next week. Once again thank-you for your support and prayer as I have been here. It's been such a amazing experience, I have grown so much while being here and I can't wait to figure out what God has planned for me when I am done DTS. Sorry about the lack of updates but I hope that this lengthy one will make up for it and I hope to be more frequent with my blogs. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as I know I did (even though I missed my first Easter Egg Hunt with my family). But I hope you have a wonderful week!
Daneille