Settling into YWAM

Soon before 9:40am on Saturday March 3, 2012, at Adelaide Airport, I boarded a plane headed east.

After a stop-over in Melbourne, I landed at Canberra Airport at 2:20pm.

Welcome to Canberra!!!!!!!!!

Welcomed by [predictable] Canberra weather - cold, grey, raining - I headed into the terminal to collect my bags, and then met the lovely Tamara, who braved the weather to come and pick me up (in my defence, I of course had no idea that the weather would be this crazy!). I had to walk down this very long path to meet her, and with a 10kg backpack, pulling a 20kg suitcase and carrying another 20kg suitcase... I struggled down that path! Two lovely gentlemen did help me down the last 20 metres, for which I was grateful :-)

This is what I saw when I arrived at the YWAM base

Upon arrival at the base, I was welcomed by my DTS leader, Toma, and shown to my room.

The sweetest welcome basket, fruit and card on my desk!! The best surprise!

Before I got settled...

I don't know if I had any expectations for my room, but when I arrived I was IMMEDIATELY thankful that I had brought some personal items that I knew would make it feel more like home.
It took a while to get everything set up! After some snacks... walks down the hallway... text messaging... a nana-nap... dinner... a cup of tea... sleep... I finally got finished!
So, this is my little room :-D

Settled in :-)

I spent a lot of time fussing over which shelves in the cupboard to put my clothes on, where to hide away the spare sheets and bags, and all of those fun things :-)
Even more so, I took a long time to set up the desk just how I wanted it. This is the feature of my room :-)
AND I spent a good time taking photos, because I knew you'd want to see ;-) Right??

See? My room's feature =P 

-Sisterhood-
Because I knew one certain man would be happy if I use it...

Jewellery box!

The cross is from my Work & Witness trip to PNG in 2010, and the little tin holds encouragement cards and notes from many wonderful people! To read on rainy days!

Because I love him :-) :-) :-)

My books!
With three additions, plus two more notebooks and two information books now

Apparently, I'm amazing =D (thanks, Mrs G!!!) And pictures of me with two of the best girls in the world

And I added a couple touches to some other parts of my room, too...

A bilem hanging on my bed, with this card to remind me why I'm here

A pretty scarf draped over the cabinet, with a flower for added effect

Aaaaaand... While we're at the mirror... Why not?!?!?! =P

So this is me, settled into my little room for the next few months. It truly feels like home. So, so grateful that I brought a few little things and was able to use some creativity to bring home here.

What do you think??
What would you do? - any suggestions?


~Rachel

Weekend with Belinda and Dani

This weekend was spent with two lovely people who I have "known" for a while yet never really spent time with - and this weekend we were able to just chill together and get to know each other a little more :-)
Belinda and Danielle visited Adelaide to do some mission talks - firstly, at The Craze (my youth group), and secondly at the church services on Sunday - to inspire the youth to be missionaries right where they are, and to share with everyone about the amazing trip that Dani is about to embark on. To read more and to support Dani, visit her page.

Note: If I had the photos from the weekend, I would post some... But my camera cable is not with me right now, and I don't have Belinda's photos yet...

On Friday night we had The Craze. After just one week's break, it was awesome to come back and connect again with all the youth. I love those guys and girls!!!
Belinda, Dani and I each shared testimonies / inspiration / encouragement / knowledge / advice etc on missions. Our main point was that every single believer in Jesus Christ is a missionary, and wherever we are is our mission field. We watched some DVDs as well, which made the night more interesting ;-)
We had one practical activity, where we baked cookies, and packaged DVDs and Christmas notes. These were for our church's monthly outreach sausage sizzle, which was held on Saturday - we figured, why not put this whole "mission" idea into practise, and start right here?!
Another activity we brought to the youth, was to get each person to create their very own mission statement. We each have goals in life, and on Friday, we set some goals for our spiritual life. I was so proud of each person there - there really was a sense of purpose in the room, as each one hunched over their chair as they wrote their mission statement.
I felt so peaceful and thankful and blessed and happy and content, there at The Craze! My heart was so full and so happy! I am so blessed to be a part of this ministry and to be with these wonderful people every week.
Belinda and Dani stayed with me for the entire weekend at the manse. On Saturday we slept in (SO GOOD!) and then I went for a walk. I took the dog, Chloe, with me, and she is seriously THE best dog to walk! This is coming from a girl who has house-sit and looked after many dogs, here!! She walked a little in front of me, and never pulled ONCE. Just had to tug her slightly and she'd follow me. And because she was so good, I really didn't care when she wanted to stop and sniff, etc (as dogs do. Ya know). It was SUCH a lovely, relaxing walk, where I was able to speak to the Lord and do some wonderful soul-searching.

After breakfast and showers, we went to Officeworks to do some printing. Then we drove up to One Tree Hill and had lunch at the hotel, and the food was delicious! The too-long-wait was worth it :)
We then drove to Whispering Wall, which was pretty great - Dani was ecstatic! I loved the laughs and amazement as we talked over / through the wall. If you've never been there, you've definitely gotta go ;-)
Then we came back to Gawler and went to Cups 'n Cakes. SUCH a cute shop!!! We fell in love with it! The cupcakes were amazing!! So sweet - next time I would literally share one cupcake with a friend!
Coffee and cupcake was the PERFECT finish to our girls day out :-)
At about 6pm, we went to the park for the sausage sizzle outreach. There was a nice group of people there... and LOTS of food! What is an end-of-year sausage sizzle without lots of food?!
It started getting freezing cold and windy later in the evening, so we went home and got all cozy in our PJ's, and watched Soul Surfer. This is a beautiful true story about a young girl who loses an arm in a shark attack while surfing, yet gets back in the water and goes on to be a professional surfer.
On Sunday, after church I bought some groceries and then we made lunch: taco mince on rice, with roast vegetables - sweet potato, carrot, asparagus, red onion and brussel sprouts. Mmmmm - so good!!!!
After eating, we went to the city and walked around Rundle Mall. I was rather dead, but it was lovely to do some window shopping, followed-up by coffee :-)
I took these two lovely ladies at the airport and then drove home.
It was so special to spend the entire weekend with Belinda and Dani. We are all very like-minded. Mission is in our hearts, and to be able to encourage each other and share with each other was such a privilege. I think that God places people like these in my life at the exact moment when I need it most.
Praise the Lord for new friends, and weekends to relax!!!
<3 Rachel