orientation week!

This past week we have been on campus meeting freshmen, asking God for opportunities to share our faith with students who are interested in hearing more about what Christians believe and who the heck Jesus really is.

God totally provided for us!!! Firstly, the weather forecast was supposed to be rainy all week... but we had gorgeous, 90 degrees and SUN! Secondly, we had 10 of our students helping us reach out to freshmen, 8 of whom have been involved in Student Life less than a year! Thirdly, we had a huge response of students interested in either: 1)finding out more about Student Life Bible studies, events, etc, 2) learning more about Christianity, 3) finding out more about who Jesus is, and 4) Men's and Women's events throughout the semester.

Please be praying for us as my team and our students call students to set up appointments on campus over the next 3 weeks... join us in praying that God will bring 10 students into a relationship with Himself as a result of these orientation week surveys... Praise Him that we already have one new believer! Her name is Rita, she is from China, and she's actually going to be my new roommate! She's from the same hometown as my two other Chinese roommates, Phoebe and Jeanie. They were the only two people she knew in all of Australia, and they're my two Christian roommates... I think God just likes to show off sometimes :)

Photos of O-week to follow...

1. The guys helping the bouncy castle crew move it back a few feet... they were having trouble just the 2 of them :)

2. My teammate Ben and our students on campus

3. My teammate Danae and I, excited to see what God has in store this semester as a result of today's contacts:

4. One of our students Chris, along with our beautiful display boards, flyers, lollipops and surveys:

kicking it all off

From February 2-4 we had our first annual combined Kick off Retreat with 3 different universities... Griffith (where I am working), University of Queensland (UQ), and Queensland University of Technology (QUT.

The retreat was up in the Bunya Mountains, about a 3.5 hour drive from Brisbane... On the journey we saw a lot of evidence of the floods and how high the water levels had been... there were clothes up in the high branches of some trees over 30 feet tall!

Over those couple days, we re-focused the vision of the Great Commission, to make disciples of all nations... several students shared about how God has recently captured their hearts toward evangelism since being on Summer Project this past November.

We also got to spend a bit of time focusing on the upcoming year at Griffith... we had 14 students attend Kick off and made some great progress on planning and preparing for Orientation week, where we'll have the opportunity to meet all the first-year students.

I have this deep sense that God is at work more this year at Griffith than I remember last year... everyone is so excited and eager to commit time and energy into serving God through Student Life :) We even have 2 first-year students involved for this next year and it hasn't even begun yet!

Thanks for your prayers and support, I really appreciate it :)

Photos:

My team! (Danae, Ben, Kyle)

Al and Kyle singing some worship around the camp fire :)

The whole crew, from Griffith, UQ and QUT. What an encouraging bunch of college students; they're ready to take on the upcoming school year and serve God actively on their campuses :)

floods and cyclones

1. FLOODS.

I've never really had a personal experience with floods before. I mean I once volunteered over my spring break to help with some clean up down in New Orleans post-Katrina, but I had never been there before, I didn't know what it used to look like, I didn't have memories attached to the place...

Well... you've probably heard, in mid-January, Queensland experienced the worst floods they've seen since 1974, and now that I've been back in Brisbane for almost 2-weeks, I have seen a bit the damage thats been done... places where you can see the water line, where homes have been damaged, where torrent waters rushed through land and plowed down trees and everything in its path... But it hit home the most when I walked past Southbank, one of the places I've spent lots of my free time this past year.

Yes, the river is still a muddy brown color, but Streets Beach, a man-made beach and swimming pool has been completely dug up. Apparently the flood waters just barely made it into the water, but because it has sand on the bottom, its been contaminated and they had to take it all up.

Its so sad looking, so much left to do... Its such a beautiful place thats enjoyed by hundreds of people-- maybe thousands-- on any given hot, summer day... It serves as an on-going reminder of the floods that came and all the work that has yet to be done... Yeah, its only a pool, but to me its the first place to be destroyed by such a natural disaster that is so "close to home", as you say.

The Brisbane River, after the flood:

Southbank, Streets Beach, before the flood:

Soutbank, Streets Beach, after the flood.

2. CYCLONE YASI.

Last week northern Queensland got hit hard by Tropical Cyclone Yasi. Meteorologists saw it coming almost 4 days ahead of the storm crossing the coast, which was great. Many people evacuated and stocked up on food, preparing for the worst.

Cairns, the tourist town that is the outpost for visitors to the rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef was forecast to get hit the worst. Thankfully, Cairns is familiar with big storms and the structures (and people) are built for them. Unfortunately, the cyclone didn't cross the coast in Cairns, but a little further south where there are many more small towns that aren't nearly as strong and sturdy for such a storm. I've heard that many of these towns will not be able to recover because it will cost too much money.

The cyclone has left 150,000 homes without power, thousands will be made homeless. Disaster relief payments have been activated for residents affected by the cyclone. There are concerns about water supply in Townsville and Magnetic Island.

Thankfully, though, the storm was expected to hit as a category 5, but as it crossed the coast it dropped down to a category 2, and many lives and properties were spared. There has so far been only one death. Here are some visuals...

Satellite image:

Perspective. The size of the US, Australia, the UK and Tropical Cyclone Yasi:

The following photos are taken from the Brisbane Times (http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au)

Brisbane Times
Brisbane Times
Brisbane Times

Banana plantation near Innisfail, a small town devastated by the storm... the price of Bananas is expected to skyrocket :(

Please join me in praying for those who have been displaced by the floods and whose homes have been damaged and belongings lost and destroyed. Please pray that many people's hearts and minds may be opened to thoughts of God and what role He has to play in all of this devastation. God knows what He's doing, and He works all things out for good.

Please also pray for the many affected by the cyclone, and for the tourism industry. Tropical north Queensland is the holiday "hot spot" of Australia... Many islands had been evacuated and the government is very concerned about the future of tourism here.

Thanks for reading!

Emily

new years resolutions

Well, folks, I'm happy to say that I've arrived back in Brisbane, Australia once again :) I've really enjoyed being at home in Minnesota for the past 6 weeks catching up with friends, family, relaxing, enjoying the snowy weather and preparing for a second year of ministry here. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be back and am excited to dive back in, already knowing what to expect, more or less. The learning curve on STINT is pretty big your first year, and I didn't really feel like I knew what I was doing until about June. I know what to do and I know what I want to do better and differently than last year. While I'm on that subject...

I realize that yet again i've severely neglected this blog. my initial excuse was that i didn't think anyone read it... but to my surprise i was scolded by a friend during my time at home for stinking at blogging. so here i go. new years resolutions:

1. eat more vegetables

2. work on scripture memory

3. blog consistently

4. study apologetics ("New Evidence that Demands a Verdict" Josh McDowell. I got it as a gift from a supporter last year and have been intimidated by it for a while.)

so there you have it. more to come soon :)

new vocab

I still find it funny to notice the differences in vocabulary and pronunciation of words between Aussies and myself. I learned a new word last week- what I call a french braid, they call a "plat". I'm always learning!

And so, as I've been here over 8 months now, I must confess that I've adapted to some new terms:

college- "uni"

shopping cart- "trolley"

sweat shirt- "jumper"

gas/gas station- "petrol"/"petrol station"

trunk (of a car)- "boot"

candy- "lollies"

ketchup- "tomato sauce"

french fries- "chips"

Those ones definitely roll off the tongue with no hesitation. yikes! I of course still get made fun of-- there will be a never ending banter between correct/incorrect words and pronunciation i think... it doesn't get old :)

PS. We're going on a massive camping trip next weekend and I'm introducing the Aussies to s'mores! Thanks to Nate's girlfriend who transported "the goods"; you can't find graham crackers, jet-puffed marshmallows or hershey's bars in australia! Good ol' American summer tradition :)

the wonderful world of apologetics

I've been blessed with a team of guys who can study and speak about apologetics VERY well. God has gifted them with a brain like that. As I've heard them talk theology/philosophy/world views, etc for the last 8 months, I'm reminded of how much I don't know. Apologetics has never been something that I've attempted to study, but as I encounter more and more Aussies who are set in their post-modern ways, who are stuck on "tolerance" of all religious beliefs (meaning, a tolerance that says EVERYONE is correct)... I find myself frustrated and unable to stand up for the Gospel adequately.

So... I'm excited to announce that I'm doing something about it! One of my financial supporters gave me a book, "The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell. Its a MASSIVE text-book style book on answering those challenging questions that people often have about Christianity... and I've actually cracked it open and started to study.

I'm excited to engage my brain in a challenging way again... not being a student for over a year now, I forget that I actually liked studying and taking exams! (just a little bit)

Feel free to hold me accountable or ask me what I'm learning!

WWJD? seriously!?

Oh how I remember those WWJD? bracelets from middle school... I wasn't a Christian then and thought they were pretty lame... especially because the people who I saw wearing them didn't really act how I presume Jesus would act. (I think about Jesus as a pre-teen... how did he live through that age and NEVER SIN!? amazing!)

God has been showing me lately how much I do NOT live like Christ. God (Jesus) became man to live among us and give us an example of how to lead our lives. I had this "lightbulb moment" the other week about those "challenging people" in our lives... about those who sometimes bother us more than others or who get on our nerves more than they should. I had a realization of this: Jesus lived the MOST relational life of anyone who has ever lived! He hung out with prostitutes, tax collectors, hypocrites, religious leaders who glorified themselves... He was doubted, scoffed at, betrayed, murdered... He lived among people who I imagine are heaps more challenging than those I live among... YET, he never sinned! He never responded to sin with sin. never ever!

In all this realization, God has been showing me how sinful my mind is... how judgmental and critical I am, how quick I am to get irritated and annoyed. Boy, its a blessing and a curse to ask God, "make me more like Jesus!"... because HE WILL! and it has so far involved humility in ways I've not experienced before, and a dramatic encounter with my sinful nature. God is at work in me, and its a great and awesome thing when the Holy Spirit brings about change... I'm nowhere near "changed" in this matter yet, but I've found myself frequently asking "What would Jesus do?" It helps me to focus on HIM rather than myself.

Whew!