G'day!

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting men may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.” Isaiah 45:5-6

G’day from Australia! I apologize for being so slow at blogging. To begin, I’ve been living in Sydney for the past two weeks. We arrived safely and were able to recover from jet lag rather quickly. Praise God! I’m so blessed to have such a wonderful team. Everyone has such a heart for the Lord. We split up into two different teams and I am on the University of New South Wales team.
We started off a week ago from Monday by going to campus and meeting people. We were able to get to know a pretty lot of folks here. Tuesday we met our new friend Abbey. We’ve had a lot of fun with her. We got to have a prayer walk that day. On Wednesdays we’ve been going to the University of Technology in Sydney. There are mostly guys in that ministry, but they’re great. A week from yesterday would probably have to be my favorite day so far. Our team listened to a sermon by Tim Keller on the Perfect Freedom we have in Christ. It was so wonderful to be reminded that because of the Cross, God looks at us and sees Christ. We are united with Him. We had our Student Outreach to the World (SOW) meeting that night at UNSW. We talked about the freedom of Christ and broke up into discussion groups. I was so encouraged by the girls in this ministry. They have taught me so much. Such sweet people! Last Friday we got to go to Bondi Beach and it didn’t rain for the first day all week, Praise the Lord. It was great being out of all of the city traffic and noise and experiencing the awesome creation of God. We have been able to go to the Harbour City Church Plant twice and I love it so much. The room is rather small, yet it fills up with worship to God. I’ve been so encouraged by the church’s enthusiasm for missions and to reach their city.
This has been such a great week. I’m learning a lot about God’s timing and continuing to claim Ps. 27:14. Matt (our team leader) gave a great message about evangelism on Sunday night. One of our problems with reaching the world is that we have weak worship. We should be in wonder and attraction to God. He also said, “If you’re pursuing comfort, then you’re missing out on the joy in Christ.” I struggle so much with trying to find the approval of man. I know that this talk really impacted not only our team, but also the SOW students. I’ve been encouraged to hear about them sharing their faith with their friends. We also have been learning about prayer and fully depending on the Lord. It’s been so good to pray together as a team and be thankful in all situations. God’s been doing a great work not only in these students, but also in my heart. He’s so good and so worthy of praise. Thanks for all your prayers!