settling in

G'day! Its another hot, humid and sunny day here in MacGregor (the suburb of Brisbane where I live). Yesterday was a national holiday here-- Australia day! Pretty similar to the fourth of july for us.. Very patriotic, lots of barbecues, red white and blue, aussie flags everywhere and fireworks at night!

Theres a picture of me in front of the beautiful city. I got an entire patriotic outfit from K-mart so I fit in. My shirt even said "100% Aussie". (oops. I lied).

Today marks our team's official start to the year. We had a week at a staff conference, then we've spent the last week settling in and "nesting". We had our first team meeting today-- the most unique meeting I've ever witnessed. 3 of us were here and 2 were still in the US! Nate joined us on skype from a Caribou coffee in St. Cloud Minnesota, and Amanda joined us via skype from her home in Racine, WI. Here's our first ever team picture:

We got a lot accomplished today and are having another planning meeting tomorrow. Praise God that we have this incredible use of technology at our finger tips so we can get things going even if we're not on the same continent.

Thats all for now! Please pray (still!) for Nate and Amanda to arrive quickly! Nate's still waiting on his Visa, and Amanda has to wait to come with him.

Thanks and God bless you!

hello from the land down under :)

Hello friends and family! I've been in Australia for 3 days now, and am adjusting to the heat and humidity fairly well. Last night my teammate Ben and I joined 2 others at a Cricket match at the largest professional Cricket stadium in all of Queensland. What a cultural experience! It was a lot of fun-- especially once I understood what was going on on that field!

Tomorrow we leave for a 5-day staff conference called Nexus. I'm excited to meet other CCC staff in the country and prepare for the upcoming year of ministry! We'll be near the ocean as well, which I am especially excited for. Please pray that God would use this next week at the conference to prepare me for ministry this upcoming year!

God bless, Emily

PLEASE READ!

Hello friends and family :)
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog! I want you to know that my intentions for documenting my time here is so that you can share in this experience with me. I'm here as a missionary--Christ's ambassador, to share His love with students and help them to grow in their Christian faith. I want to thank each of you who have supported me financially and prayerfully, and for your encouragement along the way. I also want you to know that I also plan on including photos, stories and insights into every aspect of this year-- the fun things we'll do on weekends, trips to the beach and other travel experiences-- but its ALL to the glory of God. I hope that you'll be encouraged by how God is moving and by what He is teaching me through this experience!

Blessings, Emily

prayer letter posts

A friend told me how to do this and I'm just giving it a shot. I'm planning on posting my monthly prayer letters on my blog throughout the year. (this was my October newsletter) Thanks Londa :)

its a new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the past 5 new years eves surrounded by 1500 college believers at the Campus Crusade for Christ conference in Minneapolis, called TCX.

Twin Cities eXperience (TCX) is an incredible time to grow in your faith, learn practical applications and develop deep friendships with other Christians. I've made so many memories there during my 4 years as a college student, and this year was no exception. The theme was "RADIATE", and all about how we are called to radiate Christ's love to the people in our life, and take steps of faith so that everyone has an opportunity to follow Him. I'm so thankful that my dearest friends were there, many drove as far as 6 and a half hours to celebrate the new year in awesome community. There was fellowship, prayer, worship and of course, lots of dancing as we counted down 'till 2010.

I finally got to meet my STINT team mate, Amanda, and we hit it off right away :) The former stint team and our new team got to "pass the torch", so-to-speak, and I feel even more excited about this upcoming year of ministry. We also finally booked our flight! I leave January 12th!

I feel absolutely blessed with the best friends I could ask for. I'll miss you all this next year!

Much love and blessings in the new year,

Emily

the Lord is faithful!

Hooray! I GOT MY VISA! its just so beautiful :) I'm pleased to say that the Australian government has officially deemed me acceptable enough to live in their country for up to 2 years! It all happened so quickly... well, sort of. Let me explain.

I've been meaning to call the embassy in Washington DC for a few days now, just to check on how things are going with my forms, and hoping to get an estimate on when it might be done. So.. I finally got around to giving them a call this morning! The nice lady on the phone said that my Visa had been approved, and was in fact on its way back to me right then! So I went about my day super excited and thankful to God that I didn't have to worry anymore (and actually, that I never need to worry in the first place!) Hours later... I arrived back home after finishing up some errands and what do you know? THERE IT WAS! A little fed-ex envelope with my name on it! I was actually in the middle of telling my best friend all about the anxieties I had been feeling toward the whole Visa situation when I opened it. Its safe to say that I screamed in her ear.

So there you have it! All thats left is to book a little 15-hour flight and I'll be off!

Thanks, as always, for your prayers and support!

God bless you!

full support!!

"BEWARE OF KANGAROOS". Boy oh boy, I cannot wait to get a photo standing next to one of these signs :) It seems as though that will be happening SOON, because the Lord has provided 100% of my financial support!
PRAISE GOD for His faithfulness and provision... ALWAYS! It has been incredible to experience His strength and sovereignty over the last 8 months as I've been raising support for STINT. I've been so amazed by how the Lord has brought together all these people over the last few months to partner with me in ministry to reach college students in Australia. Right now I've got 125 individuals and families on my ministry team, and several of them I had never ever met (and some that I still haven't met!)

I've been so encouraged by the body of Christ who has totally joined with me and one another to reach the lost. I've absolutely loved raising support, which hadn't expected! I've been able to feel really connected with my family's home church that I once felt disconnected with during college and high school, I've been able to talk with my family about what I'm doing and why, I've seen college students, friends and complete strangers trust God along with me as they committed to give of their finances, and I've truly heard the Lord's voice and felt confident in the direction that He's leading me during the whole process. Its awesome to think that this STINT journey is really only just beginning, and I've been looking forward to it for over a year and a half!

Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me the past few months. The Lord has provided and answered those prayers! I look forward to sending an update FROM Australia, but alas, we're still waiting on our Visas. Please continue to pray for that!

God bless you and have a Merry Christmas!