Outreach Locations and Camping

Hey everyone!

Sorry I haven't posted anything on here in a while it has been crazy busy! This last week in lectures we were studying on "Relationships". I don't just mean boy meets girl and they start dating type of relationships but all relationships in life and what God has to say on them. I have to say it was enlightening and I loved what our speaker had to say on it. She talked about the four legs of all relationships, the foundation if you will. Love, honor, trust, and understanding. Just through her talking about all the legs of a relationship I realized I could use some growing in the area of trust. It's easy to have a hard time trusting, especially when you've been wounded and have had your trust broken time and time again. God is showing me I first need to trust him and that will effect and help all my other relationships.

The weather here is still incredibly warm. I have to say I'm loving it! Some of the students find it a bit miserable but I like having smooth skin and wavy hair. I don't even need to put lotion on my skin, the air is so moist. The one thing I don't like is that we have to leave our windows open in our dorms and some of them don't have screens so bugs get in. Australia has soooo many flies! It's kind of annoying when you're trying to enjoy a meal. And we don't have to worry about spiders unless it rains. They have the huntsmen spiders which are frickin' huge! I think if my brother saw one he'd pass out.

My roommate Bekki and I also had a cockroach named Zoot living with us for awhile which was pretty disgusting to say the least...I think we figured if we named him he wouldn't be as repulsive but it didn't work. It's still disgusting. I finally got rid of him with my ninja like qualities and chopped him with my flip flop. Quite a feat considering how fast cockroaches are.

If I haven't explained already, all the students, staff and school leaders live together in an old hostel called Lewis House. It can be pretty hectic sometimes but I love living in community with a bunch of people. I get along with everyone here and during our freetimes we talk about life and I've loved getting to know them. When I want quiet time I'll go on the backporch and smell the salty ocean breeze and relax under a tree. It's beautiful here.

My school leaders recently announced where our outreach locations will be. The locations are India, Africa, and Papa New Guinea. It is a tough choice because I would love to go to all of them. I've been praying about where to go and I feel like God is putting one of those especially on my heart. I can't say where yet because I'm not suppose to let the other students know. We all have to pray about it and they won't announce who is going where until the teams are constructed by our leaders just so people won't be tempted to go some place just because their friends are going.

The next two weeks we will go camping out in the Australia bush. I'm excited for it even though i'm a little hesitant to be excited about some of the wildlife. We will have dingos, kangeroos, spiders, snakes, giant ants, goanna lizards (for those of you that have seen Rescuers Down Under remember Joanna the Goanna?), and a bunch of other wildlife. In the past one of the students had their pack carried off by dingos because there was food in it so I'm making sure I'm securing everything and closing my tent!

There aren't any showers so that should be interesting...there is a lake closeby but we can't wash our hair in it or use soap because we'll be on a reserve. However we are allowed to carry buckets of water and wash ourselves on land which all of us girls are completely willing to do!!! I don't think any of us want to not shave our legs for two weeks. EeekkK!!! I bought this amazing invention called Venus gel razors so you just add water. All the girls are jealous. I'm going to the chemist today to get allergies meds in case I get eaten alive by mosquittoes. For those who know me they know just how bad my allergic reaction to mossies is!

Well life has been heaps amazing. I love it here and I'm going good. I love you all. I will definitely be needing prayer on where God wants me to go on outreach and I'll also be needing finances for outreach. I'll post my outreach costs as soon as the leaders post the teams and I can let everyone know for sure where I'm going. Love you all and God bless!!!!

Canberra

Canberra means “meeting place”. It seems fitting that our 50 year YWAM celebration was in Canberra and gave us a chance to meet together and spend the whole week meeting with God. The Canberra base once was a monastery and is made out of brick and reminded me of a University in England. In the middle next to the courtyard they set up a massive tent where we met everyday a couple times a day.

At first I wasn’t looking forward to going to Canberra. It seemed unfair for the base to ask us to pack everything up after only being in Newcastle for a week and driving six hours to Canberra to spend a whole week there. The entire school basically shut down and packed up (including the offices) and we all left on Sunday morning. On our road trip down there we didn’t have AC and our gas tank was small so we had to make way more stops than everyone else.

The best part about the drive was seeing the countryside as we drove by. Australia is such a beautiful country and the more I see of it the more I love of it. We passed a lot of farms and rolling green hills that made me long to go horse back riding. I tried to keep my eyes peeled for kangaroos and koalas but I didn’t see any.

When we got to Canberra we got our tents and sleeping bags and set up our campsites all around the base. Luckily there were bathrooms pretty close by yet none of us were prepared for the weather. The school didn’t mention that Canberra was having cold weather so at night we were freezing cold and most of us slept in several layers and our sweatshirts and were still cold.

The first night we got there we didn’t know what to expect. Our school was one of the first to arrive so there still wasn’t a large group of people. We all ate dinner inside the dining hall and met the staff of the Canberra base and then had worship the first night and no lecture on our first day so we were free to wander around and explore. Canberra is a lot more rural than Newcastle. They are currently having a draught so everything was dry and dusty and when the wind would pick up little dust clouds would blow across the campus.

As I said, all the students weren’t prepared for the cold weather so it got down to 3°C at night and most of us couldn’t sleep because it was so cold and a lot of us didn’t have mats to sleep on. Most of us crawled out of bed and wrapped our arms around each other and stumbled miserable to the dining hall for breakfast. I was horrified to discover that they only had instant coffee and realized my patience was being tested. Luckily later that day our school set up a café on the base to raise money for Youth Street and I was able to buy myself a latte. (Youth Street is a ministry my Newcastle base started to work with youth and do activities such as Art, Music, Sports, Skate, and Surf for afterschool)

The next day I begged Tessa my leader and bribed her with buying her coffee so she took me into town so I could get a blanket and something soft to sleep on. She was nice enough to take me and a few other students to Big W which is the Australia equivalent of Wal-Mart. It was amazing to see how similar yet different the mall was from the U.S. My favorite part was seeing little kids calling out “Mum where are you!” in a thick Australian accent. Also one thing interesting about Australian is you don’t have to wear shoes so a lot of people go around barefoot. We quickly finished our shopping then got back to the base in time for lectures.

Our school was able to find a speaker for lectures so Mark Brokenshire, a big leader in YWAM was able to talk during our lectures while he was in Canberra for the Jubilee celebration. He spoke on “Hearing God’s Voice” which was so perfect for the week. It seemed fitting that during our 50 year celebration in Canberra (the meeting place) we learned how to hear God’s voice and meet him.

That night we had Steve Ahern who is one of our school leaders and also plays a big role in leadership in YWAM Australia speak during our service and we had worship again. More schools began to arrive and it was amazing to see that huge tent quickly start to fill up. At first I guess it didn’t hit me how big of a celebration our YWAM Jubilee celebration really was.

The Youth Street café was set up in a separate building which also had a pool and ping pong table and was a big hang out place for our DTS as well as a lot of others. It was a nice place just to meet people and hang out and talk. I loved getting the chance to talk to each one of my YWAMers and get to know them even more. There is also a sport DTS going on the same time as our school at our base so I’ve been befriending them as well since we all live together at the base and eat meals together.

On Tuesday night the Canberra base hosted an event called a “Bush Dance”/ “Barn Dance”. At first I had no idea what to expect and I didn’t even know what it was but I heard the music start while I was in the café and me and a group of people went to see what all the commotion was and then quickly joined in the festivities. A Bush Dance is a huge gathering and is folk dancing. So we had live music and we did dance styles from all around the world.

Before each dance the instructor would tell us to partner up or tell us how many people we needed in a group and then we’d all so through the instructions together and do sort of a test dance. Then the music would finally play and we’d all start to dance. It was hilarious and so much fun! I’ve never done anything like it before and everyone was crying laughing so hard when they’d mess up and no one cared that anyone was watching.

My first dance was with Ashley and Matt. I was talking to Ashley trying to figure out what was going on and she was explaining the dancing to me when someone grabbed both our arms and yanked us in the circle of people to dance. It was a three person Russian dance and we messed up a lot at first all the while laughing.

The Australian’s in our school are hilarious. They are such warm, carefree and loving people. At my base we have Alana, Josef, Jono, Mark, Matt, and Nathan. Also the Stevensons are a family that live at Lewis house (the house where we live and have lectures in Newcastle) and David AKA Stevo our school leader is a true aussie. During the Jubilee celebration I got to know his family a bit more, especially his son Nathan who is 16 and is an amazing kid and a lot like his dad.

I first met Nathan right before the bush dance and we were talking about music together and then someone started shouting about how they needed another dance couple and then we got pushed and dragged out to the clearing much to our embarrassment because we had missed half of the instructions and had to “wing it”. I think I stepped on his foot and we ran into people because we went the opposite way and laughed the entire time.

I pretty much adopted Josef, Jono, and Nathan as my younger brothers. Nathan acts like he is 26 which is hilarious and amazing to see someone so young have such a mature outlook on life and such a strong relationship with God. He is a YWAM kid to the core and also is on the worship team. He and I instantly became friends because we discovered we have the exactly taste in music and were able to swap ipods and introduce each other to some amazing new bands we’d never heard of.

Jono has horrible taste in music. He listens to all the bands I listened to when I was 14, a bunch of punk rock and whatnot. But he’s hilarious and has a good heart and is the jokester of the group. We get along well because we both joke with each other mercilessly. Josef’s father is a pastor and been part of YWAM for a long time. Steve Ahern is also Josef’s uncle so I think its amazing that Josef is going to be part of YWAM now too. His mother is Swedish so he is bilingual but he is a true aussie. He goes barefoot more than he wears shoes and looks like a complete surfer.

When the rest of the school bases finally arrived in Canberra we had a huge worship gathering which was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. There is something incredibly powerful about a group of people coming together with a common purpose and the desire to praise God. I have a distinct image of everyone raising their hands while singing and seeing the joy on their faces.

Much to our excitement we had Loren and Darlene Cunningham arrive at our celebration to speak. For those of you who don’t know who they are, they are the original founders of YWAM. They both took turns speaking and Darlene was such a joyful and kind woman and shared some amazingly powerful stories of miracles and God’s mercy. Loren shared with us his vision of YWAM and how it has come true the last 50 years and what he sees what will happen next. I was excited to have my book “Is that really you God?” that Loren wrote signed by him. He even gave me a word and wrote scripture in there which I thought was incredible.

My overall feeling after coming away from our jubilee celebration is excitement. I feel a change ahead and it’s going to be huge. I never thought I could be called to missions yet here I am living in another country, studying 24-7, and feeling closer to God than I ever have felt before in my life. We find out in another week where we will be going for outreach so I’ll make sure to post our location options as soon as I find out. It is definitely something I will be praying about and will need prayer on. I also still don’t have all my outreach fees yet and could use some support in that area.

Thank you all for reading my blog and being interested in what is going on in my life. God is doing some pretty amazing things and I can’t see what else will happen. Things are a little crazy and hectic at the moment and I feel like I have zero free time. But its all worth it in the end. I have never experienced community like this before. I’m loving it! God bless you all and big hugs and lots of love.

Video Update First Week

AUSTRALIA!!!

Hey everyone!





I'm here safely in Australia. So far I haven't had a whole lot of free time so i'm sorry I haven't given you all an update in a few days. Tori, Ashley and I got to the LAX airport at around 3:30pm on saturday and waited for a few hours for our flight. We wanted to make sure we gave ourselves plenty of time to get through security and what not. I have to say....the whole 14 hour plane ride was INTENSE! I was in the middle and there wasn't very much legroom and a large Australian man from Melbourne decided to sleep on me and breathe on me with his very bad breath.



When we landed we were all pretty jetlagged and had bad hair, and got our luggage and beelined for the Happy Cabby who was to take us to Newcastle (over a two hour drive) on the bus everyone got to talk to each other and we got to meet a few new students that we hadn't talked to previously and were a surprise last minute addition to our school. Amazing!!!



The drive to Newcastle was beautiful! I kept looking out the windows expecting to see a roo or a koala but sadly I still haven't seen one. Once we got to the school we were greeted by a mob of people (the October DTS and full staff) who immediately dragged us out of the van and greeted us with hugs and high fives. The welcome we recieved was incredibly.



We were immediately taken on a tour of the school and our rooms. So far I've been staying in a room by myself, my roommate won't arrive until thursday. Please pray that Bekki arrives safely and that we have enough room for our stuff! Most people have 4 to a room and lots of storage and there is only two of us in our room. It sounds like we're have more storage since there is only two of us but FALSE. I had to go to Kmart the day of my arrival and get shelving units and what not.



So far everyone has been so nice and welcoming. I immediately feel at home here and I know I was meant to come here. I have such peace and I have no doubt in my mind as I sit here and see the faces that surrounded me. I know God is going to do something incredibly with the people here and the community that surrounds us. Please pray that this school sets aside all distractions and fears and we all focus entirely at what we are doing here.



I love you all, I wish I could say more but MORE TO COME!!!

Third Day in LA

(top to bottom) the three of us eating IN N OUT, Tori, Ashley

Hey Everyone!

I'm at Tori's house right now. Tori and Ashley picked me up this morning from my Grandma's house and we drove to Tori's house in Lakewood. I have to say it was amazing because it was our first time meeting each other face to face after talking to each other for a few months. I love how people can become instant friends, and thats what happened in this case. Such a blessing considering we're all going to be living together for the next 5 months!

After they picked me up and we loaded my extremely heavy luggage into Tori's car, then we immediately bee-lined for IN N OUT burger! We all needed our fix of american food before we left the states and we were all craving it!

When we got to Tori's house we ate our burgers (more like stuffed it in our face, you HAVE to stuff IN N OUT in your face thats the way to eat it!) and talked for a long time. Tori ended up leaving for the evening to go out on a date with her boyfriend. Ashley and I had a fun dinner with Tori's family and enjoyed talking with them and hearing stories about her growing up. We also got to tell them about our families and our lives.

Afterwards Ashley and I both went into the guest bedroom and opened up our laptops and spent some time responding to people's emails. We are both dedicating to staying in touch with people while we are gone. It was amazing to sit down and talk about what God is doing in our lives and what has lead us up to this point. I love that we all come from a different background, have giftings in different areas and God has brought us together for a similar purpose. I'm so excited that i'm lucky enough to have DTS with these two girls, and thats only two of them I have the rest of the students to meet still! TOMORROW IS SYDNEY! Well, here is Ash and I, we made a video for your enjoyment!

Second Day in LA

Hello from sunny LA! Today it was a beautiful 80 degrees and I loved going outside and not having to put on a sweater. I wore SUNGLASSES! Can you believe it? I guess I'll have to get use to it because I'll be in summer soon enough!

Today I enjoyed a cozy morning at my Grandma's house. We enjoyed breakfast together and then got ready for the day. We tried stopping by my Uncle's firestation but he recieved a call and had to leave. While we were waiting for him to return we ventured to a local dog park where my cousin brought her two dogs. It was hilarious to watch all the dogs playing together. A lot of wealthy people live in the area and they hire dogsitters to take their dogs to the park.

Afterwards we went back to the firestation and visited with my Uncle Rhion. They urged me to take a picture in front of his truck in the full gear so I thought what the heck and tried it on and struck a pose. I have to give it to them, that gear is heavy! It was great to see him, I've missed him a lot.

Now I'm currently relaxing on the couch while I'm writing this and it's starting to hit me even more what I'm actually doing. I'm living in AUSTRALIA! My bags are packed, I already said goodbye to my family and I'm leaving! What's amazing to me is that I'm not scared to death. I have such peace about all this and I know that it comes from God. He has made all this happen and he's been there with me all through it. I can see the evidence of his grace through this whole process and it is leaving me in awe.

Please pray that everyone else in the DTS with me will have peace about going as well. I pray that we'll all get along and get a chance to pray together before we board our plane. Ashley made her flight and Tori is picking her up from the airport as I'm writing this. The two of them are picking me up in the morning and then we'll get to spend time together and spend the night under the same roof before we board our plane that'll take us to San Fran, and to the other students who will be there waiting for us there. So great! I can't wait to meet you all!!!

First day in LA

Hey Everyone! I'm officially here in LA and I'm actually snuggled into bed at my Grandma's house. No matter how old I get she still fluffs the pillows and turns the covers down for me. She is such a kind and fabulous woman. I arrived around 3pm today at LAX and it was 70 degrees when I landed. It feels great to be warm! My Aunt Roberta and Aunt Rhio picked me up from the airport. I had a bit of trouble with my luggage, (a large suitcase weighing 57 lbs, a large back pack weighing 40lbs, a carry on and a laptop case) when I put my back pack on I toppled backwards and landed flat on my butt. Yes I am SOOOO graceful! Oh well I gave everyone a good laugh and it's definitely a funny memory! (wish that was caught on film!)

It's good to be here with family. My Aunt Rhio cooked a wonderful meal and we enjoyed catching up on conversation. My Uncle Richard came over for dinner as well and also my cousin Kathleen was walking through the neighborhood with a friend so I got to see her too! It's never a dull moment with any of the Morrone's. There is always lots of laughter, hilarious stories, and good company.

Talked to Ashley today and she's flying in tomorrow afternoon. Please pray that she has a safe flight and with no surprises! She was suppose to fly in the same day as me but since she's flying standby there were no open spots because of a game going on in LA. Tori and Ashley are picking me up on friday and we'll have some time to talk to each other. I'm so excited to finally meet them face to face after talking to them for a couple of months now! I'm excited to meet everyone. Saturday is right around the corner. I can't believe it's so soon after this long of planning and praying that it would all work out! Thank you all for helping make this possible. I couldn't have done this without you!

More to come!!!!

Goodbye Seattle!

Hey everyone, I'm leaving tomorrow morning bright and early for the airport. (want to make sure I make down to the airport and through security with no problems). My Aunt Roberta is picking me up from LAX and I'm spending a few days at my Grandma's house. Then on the 8th I'll be spending the night at Tori's house with Ashley. Both are doing the DTS with me and we fly out the next day from LAX, to San Fran, to Sydney. Also in San Fran, we'll be meeting up with about six other of the students who will be flying down on the same flight as us. So wish us luck and please pray for smooth traveling without any hitches!