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Hello and whats up in Jesus' awesome name my dear family and friends. I have now been in YWAM Perth for two weeks and it has been some of the happiest and fullfilling weeks of my life. When going through trials it can often be hard to know if you are really in the right place but when you push through the trial and recieve the blessings then you not only know you were in the right place before but you are very clearly in the right place now also. Here in YWAM Perth I find myself in the centre of Father Gs will and living out his plan for your life is the most exciting adventure anyone can live out. By last monday Father G had blessed me with $6000 in the space of ten days and I am so thankfull for his amazing provisions. In the following blog entry I hope to give you an insight of the lifestlye here in YWAM and all I have been learning.
From the moment I moved into YWAM two weeks ago I have been enjoying every day. I am living in a big building that has two dorms and a kitchen within it. I am in the boys dorm and there is around 24 of us and then there is around 24 in the girls dorm also. Within YWAM Perth there are people from all over the Earth with around 60 nations being represented here. I am one of only three Irish people on the base. I am doing the Frontline Discipleship Training School. We have a very busy schedule every day. We get up early in the morning to do thirty minutes of exercise starting at six. In YWAM we are taught to be good stewards of our bodies. Then between 630 and 8 we have breakfast, a wash and forty minutes of quiet time with Father G. At 8 we have half an hour of family chores and mine are sweeping class room floors. Between 830 and 1010 we do a variety of things depending on the day. Some days we do worship and some days we have intercession. Every monday morning the whole base has worship together at this time which is awesome. By the end of it everyone is dancing around the place filled with the Joy. Between 1010 and 1230 we have lectures. 1230 is lunch. Then we sometimes have the avos free but on other days like last friday we go out with the class to do fitness. We spent over an hour climbing up and down a set of 242 steps preparing us for hiking while on outreach. At five I start my two hours of daily work duties which involve setting the tables for dinner and cleaning up after dinner. The evenings are usually taken up by some activity like dance class on a wednesday or Friday night meetings which is are public Church service. The weekends are sometime free but for the last two weekends we have gone on trips as a class. Saturday ten days ago we went to a beautiful national park and did a 16km hike. We came across a lake with trees to jump off during this hike which was great fun. Photos of this can be found on Facebook. Yesterday we went sand boarding down massive sand dunes into a river an hour or so north of Perth in a place called Moure River. As you can tell our schedule here is pretty full on but it provides the foundation for life changing discipleship to prepare me for the future.
In the two short weeks I have been here I have been growing spiritually, physically and mentally. By the time I go on outreach at the end of December I expect to be at the highest spiritual, physical and mental state I have ever been at. I have been blessed through my life before coming here having attended one of the best schools in Ireland and doing a great Finance degree in Univesity. During both I had some great teachers yet what I have learned over the last two weeks has been the by far the best teaching I have received in my life. All I am learning here is not just head knowledge like most of my previous teaching has been but heart knowledge that I can then apply to my daily life. During the first week of lectures the topic was Hearing God's Voice. I received revelation of the many ways that God speaks to us. I got a deeper understading of the relationship I am in with Father God and how he is so worthy of my time simply for who he is. Some of the other main points from that week of teaching were that when we are seeking God it is an attitude of our heart reflected in our actions and that the kingdom of God is for true seekers not casual observers. One point that really stood out to me that week was the difference between knowing God and knowing about God. There are no short cuts to intimacy with God as it is a relationship in which we need to continually pursue him as there is always more to know which is so exciting. It was around half way through the first week that we started our daily quiet times with God which I spend in the park between 630 and 720. During these quiet times I have been deeply pursueing to know God more through reading the Bible and waiting on him to speak.
The second weeks topic was the Character Of God. This was an incredible week of teaching also. Some of the stand out points of this week were that we live out of our beliefs rather than the facts in our head. I know how big my God is and that has gotten me through the many trials I have been through over the last ten months. We studied Davids defeat of Goliath and how his beliefs in the living God gave him the stength to win this fight. We studied the nature of God, how he is eternal, spirit, lord and personal. We learned how God is the only one with the whole perspective and that we must trust him in times of suffering. I received the revelation that holy does not mean fair but does mean just. We often feel what God is doing is unfair but we don't understand, therefore we must trust that all he does is just and has greater purpose. I have been seeking to know God more and more as ultimately knowing God is the pursuit and adventure of a lifetime.
What is amazing about YWAM is that with everything we are learning we are encouraged to apply it to our daily lives. As true Christianity is a lifestyle and the fruits of this will be seen in our actions. Last tuesday I had an amazing experience. I was in town with a few friends and I felt God leading me to read in one of the parks in town. So I left my friends and went to chill out and read my book in this park in town for an hour before dinner. Just as I was gettiing up to leave a man cycled over to me and started telling me his life story. Within ten minutes he was pouring his heart out to me and it turned out he was homeless and under the influence of alcohol. He then told me how he had watched the movie about Bethany Hamilton earlier that day. She is the surfer who lost her arm but through her amazing faith survived and has been the most amazing witness as a result. I really felt the Holy Spirit stirring up my heart for this man. I told him about Jesus and ended up inviting him back to YWAM for dinner. Three hours later after a long and emotional talk David gave his heart to the Lord and invited Jesus into his life. Since last tuesday I have seen David a few times and he now has a Bible but he is struggling with alcohol. I have told him that for people to help him he has to help himself first which starts with giving up drinking. I am praying for him daily at the moment as I know God wants to use him powerfully as he has a massive heart and really wants to help people. YWAM have a job for him as a volunteer here but he must give up the alcohol first so for the moment I will keep on praying for him and loving him. I would appreciate your prayers for him also.
As you can tell I have been having an amazing time here and I have already made some great friends who I know will be life long friends. We are living a kingdom lifestyle here within YWAM where we all serve one aonther, love each other and encourage each other. We are to start raising money for our outreach now also which we will be going on for three months after Xmas. We dont know where were going yet but its likely to be somewhere in Africa and Asia. I cant wait. I need to raise close to $5000 for the outreach and once again I will be looking to God for provision as he has called me to a walk of faith. Father God I give all the glory to you and I thank you for what you have been doing in my life. I thank you Father God that you are the ultimate provider and I look forward to building a stronger foundation in my relationship with you over the coming months in YWAM. I also thank all of you for your support. Plus please let me know if there is anything you want me to pray for. Blessings of peace and love upon all of you.
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