I've been getting really lazy with this blog. I apologize. But! A week from today I'll be in the Philippines!

We'll be leaving my house in the Sunshine Coast at 4 am this coming Saturday. We're flying from Brisbane to Singapore, then Singapore to the Manilla in the Philippines, then we're taking another flight to a smaller island in the Philippines. Please please pray for safe travels and that we all stay healthy and we adjust to the culture quickly and easily. And just everything else that happens when going to a third world country.

Also, I'll be celebrating my birthday the day after we arrive in the Philippines! I'm super excited.

Daily life here has been amazing. I'm going to miss this place more than anything in my life. This is my home. It's funny how quickly you can fall in love with a place.

This might be my last blog post, but our outreach team is going to have a blog so once I find out what that link is I'll let everyone know!

We made it to Byron Bay last week. It's my favorite town I've ever been to in my entire life. If I go missing for a while you'll know where to find me. :)

Happy Sunday! Sunday's are my absolute favorite day of the week. And I honestly hate posting on this blog, so I'm sorry this is so infrequent. But yes, this week was faaaantastic. The speaker was Dan Bowman, and he spoke on intimacy with Jesus/missions. Easily my favorite lecture week so far. He told so many crazy stories. He spent 9 weeks in prison in Iran, and was sentenced to death, and Jesus got him out of it. Seriously the best story. I suck at explaining it though, so I would highly recommend reading his book, "In Prison In Iran".

Anyways, last week at church this girl who's only been a Christian for a year and a half and is only 18 years old, heard God speak to her to go to the Philippines. She wasn't sure where she was supposed to go, or what she was supposed to do, but, trusting God's voice, she is moving there in a month. This story, along with Dan's stories through out the week had a very similar theme: You're not always going to be 100% sure about God's will, but right in the middle of God's plan for your life is the safest place to be. This really stuck out to me. I always end up second guessing whenever I think I hear God's voice, but learning to just trust is the most exciting thing I've learned so far. The most counter-cultural life you could live is following God's will. Love God and love others. It's as simple as that.

Last weekend a bunch of us went to a huge bonfire at this guys house. Literally the funnest thing. It was in the middle of a forest, and the fire was at least 6 feet tall. Burgers on the grill and pie and puppies. Too too good.
This weekend we had outreach Olympics, where the teams who were going to Fiji and the Philippines, Uganda, Sri Lanka/Indonesia, Thailand/Burma/Malaysia competed against each other for a prize. We had to eat yak brain, among other things like swimming races and whatnot. Needless to say our Fijipeans team won. !!!!! So we got $75 to use when were in Fiji and the Philippines.

Today was spent at the beach with some friends, trying to get some homework done, and not succeeding in the slightest. I guess tonight will be another late night.

This week our topic will be on the Living Word. So we'll see how that goes! Next week, we're moving to Byron Bay, this huge skate/surf/hippy community, just to meet and reach out to new people. I'm pretty excited to say the least. But if you guys could just pray for energy and endurance I would be very grateful. This schedule is really starting to take its toll on me. But other than that thing's are going great! :)

Hey! Last week's prayer week was awesome. Seeing the power of prayer was amazing. God showed up in a lot of areas I honestly wasn't expecting him to. We saw signs that had to be undisputedly from Him. It was beautiful. Prayer is insanely powerful.

Last Saturday we all made a trek to this waterfall. It was easily one of the most entertaining experiences. We drove through literally the most beautiful scenery on the way there. Picture Lord of the Rings-esk. Mountains, green valleys, everything. There was even a tree house mountain where everyone lived in...tree houses. Too too good. We got there and it started to pour. So, I wrapped my camera in my towel and put it in my backpack and we headed off. Low and behold we reached the waterfall only to be covered in leaches. Everyone was bleeding and drenched, and loving life. So I put my backpack under a dry tree, and climbed up the 50 foot cliff and jumped off into the waterfall. Scariest and most painful experience, but it was insanely fun.
       We got back to the van and I turned on my Canon Rebel and it didn't turn on. Apparently the spot I placed it in wasn't as dry as I thought. So! I called the camera repair store downtown and it's going to cost around $250 to get it fixed. I already was given $105, but I'm still lacking the rest of the funds to fix it.. If anyone feels like blessing me with the remaining money, I would be beyond grateful. I was asked to take pictures for our outreach to Fiji and the Philippines, and now I'm not able to. If you do feel like contributing, either send me a check to...

Youth With A Mission
Sunshine Coast
P.O. Box 5633
Maroochydore QLD
Australia 4558

Or send it to my house in Michigan and it'll be put in my bank account.

4720 Treasure Trail
Wyoming, MI 49519

Or just send me a letter here! I love getting mail. Either way your prayers are appreciated.

We just finished prophesy week, and more of God's character was revealed. I did disagree with some of the things that were taught, but overall it was an interesting week to say the least.

Yesterday, we experienced some extreme flooding. My house, the staff house and the boys house's basements are all flooded. Car's were underwater. So! Pray for that as well. Hahah

P.S we went and saw kangaroos today. WOO.

Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long since my last post. I've been crazy busy. We just started prayer week yesterday, and that means we'll be praying in 2-3 hour increments 24/7 this week. We trade off shifts. Yesterday, my team and I had the 1-3 pm shift. And today we have the same. But tonight we're taking on the 3-6 am shift. WOO! Haha it really is a great experience and I'm loving it so far. If you'd like to join us that'd be awesome! If you wanted to pray the same time as me, I think the time difference is 16 hours. Or just pray that God really shows His power to us this week!

I'm really loving life on the Sunshine Coast. It's really starting to feel like home, which is going to make coming back to Michigan all the more difficult! We're still preparing for outreach to the Philippines and Fiji. We leave in a little more than a month and a half! It's crazy how quickly the time is flying. Thanks again for all your prayers and support. Keep 'em comin'!

Hello everyone! It sure is hot in the Sunshine Coast today. Around 95 and very humid. We just finished orientation week, and God has really been breaking me, but in the best ways possible. He's been calling me out in all of the areas that I need to work on. If you could just pray for an opened mind to hear God's calling for my life and His goals for me while I'm here, and long lasting friendships with the group here. Thank you again for your prayers. It really makes all the difference.

This is a view of the beach in Noosa that we went to yesterday. Easily the most beautiful place I've ever been to.

I'm in the process of moving into my house in Australia! The homesickness has subsided, but now I'm just meeting all of the people I'll be spending the next 5 months with! Pray for unity.

I made it to Australia safe and sound! Thank you for all your prayers. It really has made all the difference. I can really feel Grand Rapids loving arms around me. Thank you so much for that. We'll be heading up to the base in Sunshine Coast in a few days, so pray for safe travel. I'm also fighting back a little homesickness, so please just pray for peace and for my sence of adventure to overcome my love for home. Thank you again so much for reading this!