Devotional: Spread the Word

"For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything."

1 Thessalonians 1:8

Paul, Silvaneus and Timothy write to the Thessalonican church and commend them for the way the Word is shared through them. Paul writes that in every place their faith was spread.

I am challenged to be like this church. I am challenged to step out of my comfort zone and say the Lord's name and speak of His love. I am challenged to live in a way that people will see the difference in my life.

I want to be remembered for how, when and where I share my faith!! I want to be remembered for the way my life shines for Christ!

Let us be encouraged that this is possible. It truly is possible for Jesus to show Himself through us. When we rest in Him, talk with Him, and follow His leading, this is more than possible!!

~Rachel

24-hour Sydney Visit

This weekend I had the privilege to spend just over 24 hours in Sydney!

Arriving in Newtown. Kind of feels like a "home" of sorts to me, now :-)

Sunset...  

I'm loving the Australian flag these days :-)

Emma, Tamara and I drove up on Saturday to attend the memorial service for Belinda, a friend, missionary and Nazarene who passed away 80 days ago.

This woman is such an inspiration to me - from what I have seen, heard and experienced of her, her heart for mission was so passionate, and I feel that my heart is similar to hers, so I feel connected to her in some special way, even though I really haven't spent much time with her.

Us girls went to Andre's place after the service and chatted, watched TV and drank ginger and lemon tea (thanks, Marcus!).

Marcus also made me practise Portuguese, and I really appreciated the time spent having a [simple] conversation with Andre and him in Portuguese. I love the language! It's hard for me to speak it, because I'm nervous that I'll say it wrong. But as I keep saying to people who are learning English - the more you speak it, the easier and better it will become! I need to take my own advice!!

On Sunday after the morning church service at Enmore Nazarene, Andre and I went into the city and spent the rest of the afternoon there. We had a simple lunch of fish and chips at the Harbour, and then went to the Museum of Contemporary Art [in Darling Harbour].

One piece of art...

I don't think Andre and I are particularly huge contemporary art fans... We found some of the stuff kinda weird... But we enjoyed wandering around the different displays on a few floors there at the gallery!

[And don't take it personally if you're someone who enjoys contemporary art! Each to their own!]

Us :-) How I love this guy!!! I'm so blessed.

A friend's Mum visited from Brasil recently, and my boyfriend kindly kept some goodies for me =D mmm!!

"Sonho do Valsa"

Aaaand... He gave me a very, VERY beautiful necklace :-) SUCH a surprise!!!! I love it!! Thank you, my love!

Guess what [flag] this is?? Some of you SHOULD know!

I hope you had a good weekend! - I certainly did!! =D Nothing better than spending [quality] time with my man, walking around the city, chatting, eating, and silently enjoying each other's company :-)

What did you do this weekend?

~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