The Adventures Contine

Say hello to the newest YWAMer on the block!! Yes folks, I successfully passed my DTS! (Don't laugh...there is actually a larger percentage than you would think of people who fail DTS!). This has been a very staggered goodbye period...I have said goodbye to at least one person every day this week but one. I cried a river at first but I feel like I'm all out of tears now (which is good, as there are more goodbyes to come!)

Some pictures from graduation...

 I am staying in Switzerland an extra 9 days to be with Joey as she prepares for her next school and to see more of this beautiful country. We are staying with one of our DTS friends, Elijah, in Basel, the city where Switzerland, Germany and France meet. To take advantage of this, on Monday we did a bike ride through Germany and France and back to Switzerland all in one afternoon! First we picnicked on the Rhine (some of us also swam) then rode to the point where you can see all three countries from one spot. Crossed the border into Germany and drank beer while looking over the river at France (what even?!?!). Then we went over the bridge into France, rode through a fountain, went inside a church and crossed back into Switzerland. Such a fun day!

Elijah and I mastered the tandom bike!

Standing in Switzerland, Germany on the right and France on the left

Cheers! (exciting ice tea for the person who can't drink beer!)

The awesomeness of this jump takes away from the fact that the flags weren't cooperating!

Yesterday we went for a traditional Swiss meal at Elijah's grandparent's house. After the meal his Grandpa played a traditional mountain instrument and...wait for it...yodeled!!! Haha, I feel like my life is now complete! On the way home we saw the cafe where Princess Di once dined.
Well, now you're up to date on my adventures. Not many more to go, though. I leave Switzerland on Tuesday and will be home a week from today. Not long to go!

Back in Switzerland....When Did That Happen?!?

As unbelievable as it seems to me, our group is reunited in Wiler for a last 10 days (6 now) together. I hope you were able to follow the school blog I posted the link for. I know it wasn't detailed but it gave a brief description of what we were doing! While in Athens we were involved with 4 ministries and we worked with them each week were there. I'll tell you a little about each:

Passage to Life: the was a ministry to the homeless and drug addicts of Athens. They held church services, welcoming everyone and feeding them afterwards. My favourite time with them was Thursday nights when we took food and tea to a local park where drug dealers and addicts hang out. We just handed out food and took the opportunity to talk to whoever came by (well, those who spoke Greek!)

Nea Zoi: this ministry did an outreach to the local red light district twice a week, as well as a midnight and 4am outreach to streetgirls. Unfortunately I wasn't able to be involved with the outreach but I was involved in the sewing ministry, set up to provide training and an income for girls out of the industry. My job was to look after 2 cute-as-pie African girls while their mamas sewed.

Refugee Centre: the centre helped mainly Afghan families and we worked with them for 2 weeks, doing practical things like cleaning, preparing meals, sorting donations and helping with the kids programs. As a part of this ministry we got to help at a camp for refugee families the last week we were in Athens. This was hard work, being the service team, but I loved how practically we were helping.

Mazi Brosta: this is a community development organisation. We only worked with them a few times; fence painting and participating in a community festival. This festival was one of our highlights: it was few hours packed with games, face painting, songs, balloons...anything that draws kids in! This festival was designed to bring families together and give the organisation a foot in the door to future programs, which is what happened.

It was hard to leave Athens, these ministries, and the new friends we've made. I know I'm still processing everything that's happened. I feel like I wasn't away for that long, but then I realise how much we did in the last 2 1/2 months....actually, we were away for a long time! It is nice to be back with the other team again, it's as if no time had passed. Funny how these times are so bittersweet - I am looking forward to coming home but I am dreading the goodbyes! Below are a sampling of photos from the past few months...check Facebook to see more!

Ancient Corinth

Getting ready to start the festival in sweltering heat!

I think I actually scared Leora more than amused her....

Singing at Passage to Life

The team who went to the family camp

The Acropolis in Athens

 

Yes, I'm Still Here...

Well hello! It has been a month since my last post and so much has happened....unfortunately that hasn't included a whole lot of internet access :( Let me give you a rundown on what we've been up to:

We spent our first two weeks in T***ey, 10 days in Is_tan_6ul and then we traveled down to Selcuk to see the Ephesian ruins. This was a fantastic two weeks, we had many opportunities to serve the people we met. We also experienced our first team conflicts, which we are getting better at solving! Our accommodation in the city was a church hall; everyone sleeping in the same room and one bathroom between 10 girls! This, and culture shock, added to the tension but we all learnt some much needed lessons about living together and serving one another. Our main reason for going to T***ey was to do evangelism on their national day, when people take a pilgrimage walk on a local island. It was a fantastic day and although we personally weren't that involved with talking to people, the team we were working with witnessed many miracles take place!

Off we go! 15kg...what will it be at the end?!

The hall where we slept

Inside the Grand Bazaar

The endless rows of Turkish delight...I was in heaven!

In front of the Hagia Sofia. The picture does not do it justice...

We had to wear headscarves inside the Blue Mosque

On the 5km walk to Ephesus

Becca and I...maybe Paul once leaned against these very pillars?!

After this we moved on to Greece, spending a few days on the island of Kos. We didn't have a program for this so we made our own evagelism plan: an evangelism photo scavenger hunt! We (I and 3 others are on the evangelism team) created a list of people our group had to find and take photos with. The mission was then to strike up conversation with them and, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, see where it took them! It was a lot of fun and one of the teams was even invited back to chat further with a lady they had met.

Whitney and I tried evangelising to a man but instead got invited onto his boat!

We arrived in Athens on May1, my birthday! Definitely the most unique birthday yet - I woke up at 5:30 am on a ferry! We were greeted at the docks by a transport strike so waited for 3 1/2 hours for a bus, finally it came and then we waited another hour for our next bus! But God was good and we made it to our living apartments early afternoon. We are living in 2 apartments belonging to American families living in Greece who had to leave the country for 6 months. We are so blessed to be living in this comfort!

Arriving in Athens, 6am on my birthday!

We spent the last few days getting orientation with the ministries we will be serving. One of these is  a ministry to the homeless and addicts and we have already done quite a bit with them. On Thursday night we went participated in their program for feeding the homeless. We have been involved with 2 Easter celebration services (this is the Orthodox Easter weekend), performing a skit in one and some worship songs in the other. I've pretty much conquered my fear of performing in front of people!

Praise points:
- I have been healthy this whole time!
- God has been teaching me some invaluable things, both about Himself and about life in general
- Our team has been blessed with God's miraculous provision in so many ways
- The house we are staying at gives us free international calls! This is such a blessing as, even though there is internet here, I don't have a computer and really struggled not being able to keep in contact with my family
- After a month of pain, my knee has finally started to improve!

Prayer points:
- that God would show us any other ministries He wants us to be involved in while here
- Health and unity amongst the team
- One of our team members suddenly had to fly home as her soon-to-be mother-in-law passed away yesterday. She will be returning after the funeral but will obviously struggle with the rest of outreach. Pray for her peace and comfort, and that we would best know how to support her.

Thanks for your support and hopefully you'll be hearing from me more often now! We have a school blog which regularly posts brief updates about what we've been doing:
dts-q.blogspot.ch

Off We Go...

Well it's hard to believe I'm at this moment....all packed up and passing the hours till we leave for outreach! This lecture phase has flown bye and I have enjoyed every moment. It's a bittersweet moment - I'm sad to leave Wiler (which I now call 'home') and the other half of our team but I am looking forward to this new adventure. I am really excited to see the way God moves and for the miracles He will perform. I'd say one of the biggest things He has taught me so far is to expect everything from Him and be surprised at nothing He does.
We will have very limited internet access so this will be my last post for who knows how long! Thank you so much for your support over lecture phase, it has been so encouraging and sustaining to know I am in your thoughts. Keep me in your prayers as I go on outreach, I will surely need them!

Thank you! Be blessed xx

Bonjour Paree!

Yes, yours truly spent the weekend in PARIS!!! I'm quite the cultured one now (cue funny accent) after a weekend in the city of love (yes it's true, everyone in Paris seems blissfully in love - or at least just very open with their affection!) What an adventure-packed weekend it was...the best kind!
We caught the bus from Switzerland at 11pm Thursday night (correction: was meant to leave at 11 but we didn't leave till 1am!) and arrived in Paris 8am Friday morning. Some of the group took our bags to the B&B we were staying in and the rest of us spend time starting to explore. We found this arch which we thought was THE arch so we took photos in front of it...and then walked a bit farther and found the real one! We were accosted by men selling souvenir Eiffel Tower's (even though we were no where near the tower) and wandered through a massive park full of naked statues (I think naked statues was pretty much Paris in a nutshell), played on the kids equipment and jumped on the back of a carousel for photos while the man wasn't looking. After we all joined up again, we made our way to the Palace of Luxembourg. SO beautiful. The day was sunny and moderately warm and just made everything more glorious! Only time for a quick look around then we navigated the bus system to the Eiffel Tower. Note: We were so lucky to Elijah with us! He spoke French and is just generally smart at everything...if not for him, we probably wouldn't even have found the B&B!

In front of the not-really-the-arch arch!

Whitney and I reliving our childhoods!

Of course, I had to be a tourist for the moment :)

Rachel, Elijah, Becca, Joey, Krista and Whitney

Krista and I in front of Luxembourg Palace

So we're driving to the tower, get to our stop and get off and WOW! THERE IT IS!! I had a moment right then and there. I"M IN PARIS!!! It was so close it was unbelievable. It is truly an amazing structure. We joined the long line to enter but eventually...we were going up! You take the elevator to the second floor, then join another line for an elevator to the top. It was soooo cold up there but worth every moment. Unfortunately the day was a bit cloudy and we didn't get a good sunset but the city was so beautiful when it started to light up. We were on the second floor about the join the line to go back down when a light show started! We didn't want to miss it from the ground so we ran down all the stairs from second floor to the bottom! Worst experience, never doing that again (actually, I think that's a given anyway!) but the view from the ground was spectacular! We were lucky - the show finished just after we took our pictures.
After this we made our way to our accomodation, about 45 minutes away. We were staying in a Bed & Breakfast we found on a travellers website. The price was really good and when we got there we discovered why...it was actually just some beds set up in the lounge and spare room of this guy and his wife! They hadn't cleaned anything and their food was still sitting in the pots in the kitchen. It was kinda gross, but then again it was affordable!

Saturday was so exciting....we went to the Palace of Versaille!!! All Christmas's come at once for a history buff! We bought a pass which enabled us to skip the lines...just as well, there was probably 1000 people line up waiting! We toured the gardens first. Honestly, not really worth seeing at the end of winter as everything is brown and bare but I still enjoyed it. Then we started the tour the palace. My goodness, so much richness! Everything was gold-covered and so much thick velvet and satin. Quite frankly, I wouldn't mind living in Marie Antoinette's bedroom at all! The palace was just so amazing, I am so glad I got to go there.
After a full day there, we headed to the Eiffel Tower again. Ok, let me back up...on Friday when we all went, Becca got sick in the line and spent the whole time in the bathrooms, poor thing (actually, no one knew what had happened to her for ages and we experienced something of a parent's 'I've-lost-my-child' panic!) So we went back for her but just as she was about to buy her ticket, after an hour of standing in line, the police closed the whole Tower because of a bomb scare! WHAT?!?! How often does that happen? So we headed home with a dejected Becca and ate dinner from the pot cause no one could be bothered to wash the dishes :)

Versaille!!!

Fair ladies in the garden!

The gardens go on forEVER!!

This was my fave room

French fries in France!

Sunday was spent having 'adventures' (read between the lines: things didn't go to plan!) - to start with, we forgot about the start of daylight saving so instead of leaving at 8:15 we left at 10. We went to some cute French markets and bought lunch (only successful thing of the day!). We excitedly made our way to Notre Dame but then discover that, being Easter Sunday, everyone else in the world decided to go then too! So we listened to the bells then went on our way. On a good note, we climbed the Arc de Triumpe today. 200 and something steps!! I just about died but the view was totally worth it! Next we tried to find the famous 'hill that people paint on' (sorry, don't remember the name :/ ). That failed miserably but we were able to help a lady into her house with her shopping :) Then we went to find the Louvre to see the famous Mona Lisa. This also failed...we got there as it was closing and all I got was a photo of a sign with the Mona Lisa :( Considering that we now had a free evening, we headed to the Eiffel Tower for the THIRD TIME!! This time Becca was successful! Krista, Joey and I had a cute roommate (minus Sam) dinner at a French restaurant.
We made our way to the bus to catch the 10:45 out of Paris. This time I got stuck next to some guy who was unimpressed with my lack of languages and took up half my seat. I spent half the night stretched out on the bus aisle..... (haha, Mum and Dad - you know I can sleep anywhere!). Even our trip home was eventful - we got stopped at the border at 6am and everyone had to get off the bus and line up outside with their luggage while a dog checked us for drugs. Very inhumane, making us stand outside for ages in the freezing cold!

Cute-as-pie markets

Notre Dame

Arc de Triumpe

Krista and I with our French crepes

Something happened to my knee while in Paris and Rachel took great delight in 'helping' me!

But I had the most awesome weekend! I'm so happy I made it to Paris and now I'll just have to go back to see all the things I didn't get to!

Lecure Overload + Sleep Talking =.....

..... sleep-preaching! Never heard of it before? You’re not alone! A few nights ago Joey was awake and heard someone saying something like, “Thank you for this day Jesus”. We couldn’t figure out who it was until a few nights ago my roomie Sam was awakened by the sound of me talking away, apparently sounding like I was preaching at someone!! My goodness, lecture overload I think!

Speaking of funny roommate moments, the other night I crept in the room thinking Krista was asleep already. I snuck around in the pitch black, tripping over and crashing into things but going to great lengths to be quiet. I brushed my teeth out in the hallway, probably put my PJ’s on backwards and tripped up the ladder to my bed. I hadn’t even been lying there 10 minutes when who walks in? KRISTA!!! Haha, I was so baffled at first but when I realised I had done all that creeping around and no one else was even in the room, I laughed so hard. I honestly think I’m losing my mind, though! Last week I broke Joey’s coffee plunger, the other day I opened the washing machine in the middle of its wash cycle and this morning I put all the clothes in but never turned it on! Sigh. Again, lecture overload! 

My fine roommates lookin' their best!

With less than 2 weeks till departure, preparation for outreach is in full swing. We finally have a plan for our time in Greece! We will spend the whole 6 weeks in Athens, working with community development projects. We are staying in 2 apartments temporarily vacated by American families and I’m not gonna lie....I’m so excited that our accommodation is, shall we say, nice :) Unfortunately can’t be said for the 2 weeks spend in Eastern Europe before that – apparently the toilets don’t flush the toilet paper so you have to throw it in a bin after you wipe! Ewwwww GROSS!! Unfortunately I don’t think I can hold on for 2 weeks....  But anyway, our stay is being organised by a group coordinator and we still don’t know the fine details but that doesn’t matter, we finally have a plan! We spent time working out our team responsibilities: I’m involved in laundry (again! I actually volunteered to do it along with the girl who does it with me now because we enjoy it so much!), intercession and evangelism coordination. I’m really happy with these responsibilities, especially intercession. God has really given me the gift of prayer and intercession since I’ve been here and I’m excited to get a chance to ‘exercise’ it!

This weekend I have a chance to get off base and away from all this planning - I’m going to Paris! Because it’s Easter weekend we get Friday off, so we are catching an overnight bus Thursday night to arrive in Paris Friday morning. We will spend Friday, Saturday and Sunday touring the city and get the overnight bus again to arrive back, ready for class, Monday morning! It will be a full-on weekend but I am so excited! Obviously we are visiting the Eiffel Tower! And of course the Palace of Versaille, the Louvre and a few other famous landmarks I can’t remember right now (Phantom of the Opera fans – I may be visiting the opera house!!)

In other news, spring has come to Switzerland!! It is just so beautiful, it’s making it hard to leave soon L The other day I had my quiet time sitting outside in the sun and by the end of it I had rolled up my jeans and stripped down to a t-shirt. Letting the sun warm my skin, I felt like I was in Australia again...and then I opened my eyes, saw the snowy mountains in the distance and remembered I wasn’t. Haha, my brain couldn’t understand how I could be feeling warm but seeing snow! But the spring here is crazy – the morning is sunny with blue skies, lunchtime its overcast and by 3pm it’s snowing outside! Switzerland, get your act together! Good news, Greece is going to be waaarm :) (Well only 22C but warm for here)

Well, duty calls (i.e a messy room that needs to be evacuated in a few days!) but before I go let me delight you with some food photos!

Joey and I played 'hooky' to sneak away and eat brownie chocolate! Haha, rebels!

We got another parcel; chocolate muffins this time! Thanks Ana and Megan xx