Easter Fest

YWAM Brisbane made its way to Toowoomba, Australia for a little something called Easter Fest. It is a lot like Michigan's Unity Fest where Christian Bands play, there are different organizations, and speakers. There were different groups like JC Epidemic, Red frogs, and YWAM taking part there as well. Brisbane's MAD school, Beach to Bush, and Sports all went out on April 2 and began a week of volunteering. whatever they needed done, we where there to help. so much goes into setting up a festival like that, its insane! Then when the festival began on the weekend we watched as youth groups, families, and more volunteers came pouring in. over the weekend we would work different shifts watching gates, helping with food, going out into the city, and also helping run YWAM's Chai tent. In the tent we had different performances throughout the day and played movies like passion of the Christ at night. We had gold coin donation Chai tea and we were able to just sit and talk to some of the people who where there for the festival. It was Hard at first to go right from Outreach to helping at the Festival, but by the end of the week I realized how refreshing it was to be in a place devoted to God and spreading His love. It was a great week and a amazing opportunity to perform at a festival like this and really see how many people give up their time and families to make sure everything comes together.

Peru Outreach

Hey everyone!!
It has been a long time since my last update. As you know our 6 outreach teams went out to different locations around the globe. Teams went to India, Japan and Saipan, Russia, Czech and Germany, Australia, and my team went to Peru.

My team left the 12th of February and headed to Lima, Peru. We stayed in the home of a sweet family who were also hosting a YWAM conference. It was very different to go from Australia to Lima. We Stuck out a lot because we are White and dont speak spanish very well. Also the Spiritual atmosphere was really heavy. We felt a lot of tiredness and that we were not making a large impact but we fought through it. Our Main contacts in Lima had lots of things planned for us and our days were packed full. most of our team also became sick from dehidration and the food but our weaknesses alowed God to Shine brighter. We often went to parks and did skits and dances along with painting kids faces, handing out balloon animals, praying for people and telling testimonies.

We went to a cancer Hospital one day and prayed for healings of the patiants. We went to an elderly home and performed for them and just hung out. We Did church services at a little church, performed our Everything Skit on the beach and in the streets. We played with Beautiful little kids with aids, Visited extreemly poor comunities and shared our hearts with them. We Ate a lot of food, met some amazing people, marched in the street against violance and much more. It was exosting and hard but so good at the same time. It felt alot like our Mission Sim that we did here at the base. We were really pushed. Then we flew to the Jungle.

The Jungle was an amazing experience for the entire team. It was a time of hard work and perservirance but also a time of rest and intamacy with God. We stayed outside Puerto Maldonado in a part of the Amazon Jungle with some of the most amazing people ever!!! The Lenz family is thins amazing family who after having 9 kids of their own have taken in about 40 others. Some are adopted and some are just part of the family. Bud and Laura Lenz were given a vision from God to start a YWAM base in the Jungle. Over the years the two of them have made amazing sacrifices to make this project begin. We met Bud and 10 or so crazy boys for a 2 and a half week adventure full of bugs, banana trees, and blessings. We woke up everyday at 5 and after breaky we would go out and hoe fields of banana trees, plant stuff and cut down crazy jungle weeds.

We were able to really escape from the world and spend more time getting to know God aswell. Bud is like a modern day Noah. It was amazing to learn from him and hear his heart. Laura lives in Cuzco with the younger children and girls. As soon as The house in the Jungle is finished they will all move there to be together. It was amazing to see how even though they have been through so much that thier marrige is still so strong and beautiful. Also their faith is humbling. They have commited their lives and families to the work of God and that isnt always easy.

We also saw God protecting our team as some of us got the flew and were cut in differant places and were sun burnt and tired. None of us experienced bad problems with infections or anything else. Also it was so cool to get to know the boys. they accepted us into the family right from the start and with that came lots of laughs and good times.

Then We took a bus to Cuzco. After being sick for the 10 hours it took to get there it was definatly a struggle for me to then deal with the altitude and also the things going on back home. However, We stayed with this amazing couple, Joy and Jordan Allen. They used to be staff here in brisbane. They moved to Cuzco with their kids about a year ago and they are working on building YWAM Cuzco. We spent our time there prayer walking, going to churches, helping the allens out and getting closer to eachother and to God.

For part of the 2 weeks we where there we helped cleaning up a piece of land that will eventually be a clinic. It will be open 2 days a week and there will be a place where bible studies and kids programs will be held during those times. It will be a great way to bring God into the community. After 7 weeks it was time for us to go home and we began the 2 day travel home.

Team Peru!!

Team Peru

Tomorrow I am heading out to Peru tomorrow, the 12th of February. My team of ten and I will be there for 7 weeks and our flight Home is on the 27th of March. There will not be a lot of communication because of there being no Internet connection. I thank you so so so much for all your support so far and it was an amazing blessing to see all of the money come in for my team and my DTS. Some things that you could pray for are. . .
1- Safety, while traveling, while in the jungle, and in the city.
2- Health, pray against altitude sickness, bad reactions to malaria pills, for our digestive systems because of the food and that we can both eat the amounts of food we are given and for everything to go through ok, ya know :) also against infections and things like that.
3- team, the unity, the communication between us all, that we will be listening for God in everything we do, that we will trust God, that we will have servant hearts, and find our strength and joy in God.
4-for wisdom and knowledge in situations
5- for strength and health while working hard in the jungle
6- that we may be a team of love, joy, kindness, respect, patience, and that we may be like Jesus in everything we do.

there are heaps of other things but this is a start. once again thank you so much for your support, I will update you in about 7-9 weeks!!!
Love Lindsey

This is the cool blog that I often fail to update.

Hello Everybody!!

Here is an update from the past month.

MAD had a week on the teaching of the Holy Spirit. It was an awesome week learning about Holy Spirit and how he works in us and through us. We learned about the spiritual gifts and callings and also broke through some walls that might have been keeping us students from excepting our callings.

Then it was Christmas break!!!!!! I stayed on the Brizzy Base, while some people flew home, went to the Sunshine coast, or found family to stay with. It was an awesome time! On Christmas I woke up early to help make our community breakfast, it was the funnest thing ever!!! We made french toast and eggs and fruit salad and lots of other yummy things. Then we all opened our stockings and secrate santa presents. After a great morning we had a christmas movie marothon in the Air conditioning. It was beautiful.

Then our school once again divided and one group went to Byron Bay and two groups went to Airlie Beach for a thing called Impact Summer. I was on the Byron crew and we woke up at 5 in the morning to drive to the amazing east coast of Australia. When my team got there we started off the week leading worship and then we had an orientation to explain why exactly we were there. Impact Summer's goal is to really just love on the people of Byron Bay and also to share our beleifs. We love Jesus and Jesus loves them and so we just want to serve them and share God'and had s heart. Along with YWAM Brisbane there was YWAM Gold Coast, Newcastle, Adelaide, Byron, and a group called King's Kids. We began our mornings with worship and devotions and then a meating about the day. Then after lunch we would hit the beach and play volley ball with people and invite people to hang out with us again. After we ate Dinner we then had worship again and Then we headed back into Byron for the night. On some days we had free Barbecues where we would feed people, perfome live music and dance performances, and share testimonies. The other nights where my favorite, free pancakes and Chai tea. We also had a day were we set up a little free market where we had cold drinks, more pancakes, hair wraps, Prophecy, healings, self portraits, a designated sleeping area, and other cool stuff that we set up just to serve the people. On New Years Eve we also had free healings and it was amazing the things that the Holy Spirit was doing. One person had a shattered broken hand and they walked away fine. a lot of people suffering from back problems were healed and also, one of the YWAMers who wore glasses had her sight improved. It was amazing!!!

The Spiritual atmosphere in Byron is really intence. Its kind of a hippie town and there are many differant people and many differant beleifes. Many where interested to hear what we personally thought on many differant topics. Its so cool to here peoples stories and see where they come from and what they think about things.

Then we drove back after a week and I went to Chinchilla for the weekend with a small group of students and staff. We led a prayer meating, did some work projects on the Church we were staying in, helped their youth pastor move into a house, ate watermelon, when to a barbecue, and then helped with their Sunday service. Then we drove back home and this week MAD took on a week of learning how to fear the Lord.

Thank you so much for your continual support and prayers. I am still raising money for Peru. We leave in less then a month. I will hopefully have more information to give you on that trip soon.

God Bless, Lindsey

a lovely little update :)

Hey there,
So after the week in Airlie there was a week on Spiritual Warfare and then a week of Father Heart of God. Both weeks were amazing!!! Spiritual warfare is something I really didn't know much about and it is something I have a bit of a hard time understanding, but it is very real and so powerful. We have so much authority against Satin and it goes unrecognized and that isn't good. Father Heart of God week made me really begin to appreciate my dad, and the rest of my family, and also it gave me a clearer perspective in seeing God as my father and daddy.

Then a very cool guy named Mark Parker from New Zealand came and helped us really surrender ourselves to God and the Holy Spirit. He spoke all week on Lordship. Then Friday we began at 8:30 in the morning and all together experienced an amazing transformation till 2:30ish in the morning on Saturday. We went through different steps as a school and did different things like giving thanks, worshiping, giving burnt offerings and sin offerings, praying, prophesying, speaking in tongues, Communion, and experiencing freedom from past things. It was amazing. God is so so so big and so good.

Now there is Peru. My team is made of 10, Madison, Cory, Nick, Anna, Anke, Katrina, Eva, Alina, Jess, and me. We represent 7 different nationalities i believe. We will be staying in the Jungle for about 4 weeks working with A family of one of the staff here. Her Parents have adopted about 50 children and are working on building a new house. We will be helping them build and do other things. They are amazing people and i cant wait to meet them!!! Then we will work our way up into the mountains to Cuzco. There is a family of 5 hosting us there. We will be helping at an orphanage there and also do other things dealing with ministry and spreading the love of God. We will be gone for about 7 weeks.

Things you could pray for. . . . .
- For both the families we will be working with, specifically the parents, Joy and Jordan, and Bud and Laura.
- For the finances of my team. We want to get out tickets before Christmas. That is soon. Pray that enough money will come in and that we will be able to get decent tickets. it will be around 2, 500 for each person just for our airfare and God is providing.
- For Our school. We just had a very Spiritual High and after that happens people can sometimes face difficulties. I ask you pray for our Staff and our students. That people will not be afraid to use the authority they have been given by God to fight against sin and the devil. Also pray for our attitudes to be fantastic and that we can be loving towards others and ourselves.
- Please pray for everyone as Christmas is almost here. That people don't forget what the meaning of the Day is.

Thank you so much for your support and Prayers, Love Lindsey :)

Airlie Beach

Hello there, sorry about taking forever to update!!

So last week I went on a 16 hour road trip (not including the stops and such) to Airlie Beach. Its this Beautiful location right on the ocean and a group of about 20 people from my DTS went there to help with schoolies. Schoolies is a big party after the Australians graduate High school. Its a big celebration put on by the government that not only involves theme parties and loud music but also drinking, drugs, abuse, and even deaths. During these weeks of partying students get into about everything imaginable. My team went into this environment with the intention of simply loving these young people and showing them we cared.

We set up what was called the chai tent. it was a big tent, and inside we set up little tables with pillows around them and we served free slushies and chai tea. As groups would come in some of us would just sit and talk to them and as we got to know them we would ask a little bit about what they believed when it came to a higher power. Sometimes it was easy. Some of the schoolies even asked out of the blue, "tell us about Jesus Christ". Others didn't care at all. Many of them went to catholic schools and knew about Jesus but didn't take it seriously or just had a wrong view of faith. Others believed in Evolution or something else. Others were so drunk they couldn't even form a sentence so this experience was interesting. But our goal was to have a safe, peaceful, loving place for the Schoolies to come and hang out where there was no alcohol or what are called toolies ( People who come to the schoolies but are older and there to try to take advantage of the drunk youths ).

For Me, the week was stressful at times but also very eye opening and fun. These people haven't rejected Christianity, they just don't understand it. We were able to really open some peoples eyes as to who Christians really are. We showed them that we were not judgemental, super religious, socially awkward snobs, but normal legit people who have faults and problems just like the rest of the world.

The week was full of questions and explanations and we were all tested by spiritual warfare. It was hard for some schoolies to understand why we chose to live the way we were living. They enjoy doing what they are doing, and why wouldn't they, for them its fun and it feels good. But by our group loving on them and being interested in their lives, we were able to show them a different kind of joy and a different kind of life.

We also had teams working with the Red Frogs, which is a big organization who helps schoolies by talking to them, bringing them home when they cant remember where their hotels are, cleaning up hotel rooms, making the schoolies pancakes in the morning, hanging out with them, taking care or those vomiting because they are so drunk, keeping people safe, and handing out little red frog gummy candies. It is a awesome opportunity for ministry!!!