An Update Long Overdue...

Hello World!

I hope all of you are doing great. I just wanted to fill you in on what’s happening here on the Gold Coast!

It has been very busy these past few months. Between ministry, teaching, discipleship, hosting an outreach team, (and trying to have a life!), I feel a bit tired but extremely encouraged at what God is doing here at YWAM Gold Coast. There is so much to tell! I have highlighted some main points to give a condensed update:

THE INTERNSHIP

I am currently staffing two girls who have joined us for an Internship: Tina, 21, from Norway and Alexandria, 21, from USA.

This season of the Internship has been very different for me. The program may be the same, but each student makes for a unique experience. God has new and specific things for each student (and new challenges for me), and I feel privileged to be used by Him to speak into their lives and help them discover what God has for them here!

MINISTRY

It is hard to summarize all that is happening within our ministries here. I couldn’t be more full of joy when I reflect on it all. It’s honestly such a privilege to be involved in all of our ministries on a weekly basis.

The schools: We currently teach “religious education” to 7 different classes from grades 1-7 at two different primary schools, as well as our lunchtime programs that we run. Since there are only 3 of us from ywam doing these classes, I have found myself teaching quite a bit! It’s an amazing opportunity to share with these students about Jesus, about 250 kids a week! What an amazing door God has opened to our base.

Set Free Care: We still faithfully go to Set Free Care each week to feed the homeless and have conversations with them. It sounds crazy, but I feel like I am one of them. A lot of the guys know me and trust me, and have let me into their circle of friends. When I go, I feel like I am just sitting and chatting with friends. I feel like what I say is much better received when that level of trust is there. Sometimes the pastor has me go up in front of the group and share something on my heart or a bit of my testimony. I find it is more effective to share like that after people see that you are genuine with them, taking the time to build relationships.

Coffee Van: Coffee Van is going great. There are stories every week of people coming closer to God through this ministry. I personally look forward to every Thursday night, connecting with our regulars and meeting new people. Right now, I am very encouraged with what God is doing in the life of a man named Chris. He came to Coffee Van 2 months ago, lonely, homeless, and somewhat depressed. He admits that he’s been an alcoholic for over 20 years off and on, despite multiple attempts at rehab. I spent the whole night at Coffee Van listening to his story. He has come every week since! I can see that he feels like he belongs and knows that we care about him and want to support him. He is now 4 weeks sober, is back going to church, and attends our discipleship meeting on Monday nights! Praise God! Just one of the many cool things God is doing through Coffee Van...

With the money that was donated from OCC, we are going to buy 2 coffee urns and a grinder so we can brew coffee (rather than just use instant coffee). We look forward to this!

Monday Night Meeting: This is something that I started 4 weeks ago. It is a discipleship group for those we meet at Coffee Van who either get saved or are interested in learning more about God. It is very informal (we meet at a McDonald’s), includes a short teaching and we spend time discussing things brought up in the teaching, all questions welcomed. 5 guys from Coffee Van and Set Free Care are coming to it, me, and 3 other ywamers. It’s been a great opportunity for me to practice teaching, while seeing these guys mature in their faith. It’s going really well so far! They have lots of questions which is awesome.

DTS

I got the awesome opportunity to speak on the topic “God’s Heart for the Lost” to the DTS last Monday. Just a one-day teaching. I pray that I could impart a desire to the DTS students to step out and genuinely love people. It is something I am passionate about!

OUTREACH TEAM: YWAM TOWNSVILLE

Martin and I hosted an outreach team from YWAM Townsville last week. They participated in all of our ministries, and we also added more outreach in their schedule, including a soccer game on the beach with tourists, and a skatepark BBQ to reach youth. They LOVED their time here! We got amazing feedback from them.

I feel that this experience of hosting a team was a new challenge for me and helped me to grow a bit more in leadership. It was fun hosting a team so excited about evangelism, and hearts to serve and bless us. I wish they could have stayed longer!

SCHOOLIES OUTREACH

Schoolies is just 3 weeks away! “Schoolies” in Australia is like Spring Break in the United States. Over 60,000 17-18 year olds come to the Gold Coast to party hard, and unfortunately, leads to decisions that end in tragic statistics such as suicide, rape, and drug abuse. YWAM partners with an organization called Red Frogs to offer support to students by walking them home, cooking pancakes, cleaning rooms, handing out candy and most importantly, offer emotional support through what often can be a challenging week. Often this support leads to opportunities to share the Gospel, both by word and deed.

This outreach is from November 18^th -25^th and is $300 for me to join the support crew. Would you please pray about helping me finance this outreach?

THANK YOU for your continued prayers and support! I’m sorry it took so long to write an update. I will send a more formal newsletter in the coming weeks.

I love and miss all of you. Please feel free to contact me at any time! I would love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Stephanie

A New Chapter

Hi everyone!

It's been a bit of time since I've been able to update. I've sent out newsletters and e-mail updates throughout my outreach to Mexico City. If you did not receive any of these, please feel free to e-mail me and I can send the updates to you!

LOTS has been happening these past few months. Please take a look at what's been happening :)

Perth Reflection
It is hard to believe six months has gone by and the season of my life with YWAM Perth has come to an end.

What an amazing season it was! I grew in so many ways- going deeper with God, being trained and equipped in evangelism, growing in my gifts of teaching and discipleship, and emerging as a leader. I was mentored and given many opportunities by the staff to plan and lead groups of people out on evangelism, encouraging other people to step out and be used by God to influence the world for Christ. I am amazed at the grace of God - I never thought I would be able to do many of the things I now find myself doing. Starting out with insecurities in leadership, I grew in confidence each time I led, trusting God to help me every step of the way. Looking back, I can see exactly why God wanted me to do this school before coming on staff with YWAM Gold Coast!

Life on the Goldie

I arrived on the Gold Coast on March 20th. I took a week to relax and to pray and fast for my upcoming season with YWAM Gold Coast. It was a week of adjusting back to life here and for God to fully prepare my heart to give in everything I do here. He spoke to me words of encouragement and also confirmed some things He spoke to me in the past of how He wants to use me here. By the end of the week, I felt refreshed, ready to serve, and feeling incredibly honored and privileged to be used by God in this capacity.

The Local Evangelism Team (LET)
I am serving the Local Evangelism Team (LET), a ministry branch of YWAM Gold Coast. The LET aims to reach the community through several different ministries:

• Coffee Van- A ministry to bless our community (many poor and needy) in a practical way by handing out free coffee, tea, and food items.
• Set Free Care - A free lunch to serve the homeless, building relationships each week.
  
• Beach/Sports Outreach - Send teams to beach on Saturdays to play sports with tourists and locals to make friendships and share about Jesus.
• Religious Education - Twice weekly, we teach "Religious Education" in two different public primary schools, with the amazing freedom to share about God, the Bible, Christianity, etc.
  
• Kids Programs and Camps - Run a kids program called "Supa Club" at two primary schools where we play games, activities, and share a message to the kids. We invite these students to a weekend camp that we run twice a year.
  

Our desire is to use each of these ministries as an opportunity to share Jesus in a unique and personal way.

The Internship
In addition to serving in these ministries, I have also been given the Internship to look after. We have one intern, Cassie (19 years old, from Chicago) who is joining us for 6 months. I have the privilege to mentor and disciple her in evangelism, ministry, and discovering her gifts and calling. She joins us in each of the above ministries and also has assignments and curriculum to follow such as book reports, a journal, special projects, etc. We are connecting really well and having fun getting to know each other!

A Thankful Heart
"Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name." Hebrews 13:15

God has blessed me tremendously with a strong sense of home on the Gold Coast, which is something I am very thankful for. There is no doubt in my mind that I am exactly where God has called me to be. I am also so very grateful to all those who are continuing to support me through prayer and finance. I have been able make ends meet with my staff fees, airfare and other necessary purchases. Thank you so much for your faithful obedience to God!

Be Encouraged
I stand in awe of the amazing God we serve. His plans are so much greater than our own and He wants to do things that go far beyond our own lives. When we sacrifice our lives to God, He not only satisfies our own needs and gives us purpose, He actually uses our lives to impact and influence those around us - our communities, cities, our nation, the world!

"In a wealthy home some utensils are made of gold and silver, and some are made of wood and clay. The expensive utensils are used for special occasions, and the cheap ones are for everyday use. If you keep yourself pure, you will be a special utensil for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work."
2 Timothy 2:20-21, NLT

What is God speaking to you about? As believers we have a choice to be ordinary or we can be set-apart for Kingdom use, ready for every good work. God desires all of us to step into the glorious life He has planned and purposed for each of us. Ask God to refine your heart for honorable use. Ask him to show you or remind you of dreams and visions he has placed in your heart. He has a unique plan for you, a destiny that will bring life to your spirit and bring transformation to a world that needs Jesus.

Thank you for reading! Have a wonderful week.

Love and Blessings,
Stephanie

Viva La Mexico!

Mexico City Outreach: December 2010- February 2011

“…Your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:3

I believe this verse in 1 Thessalonians sums up our outreach in Mexico City. As a team, we witnessed God do amazing things through our efforts to make His name known in Mexico City, revealing Himself to people by the power of His love.

A word to sum up what happened in Mexico City is "momentum". We had to fight in prayer to see the breakthrough come. Our first day of evangelism, we had only one translator with our team and saw one person saved. Our last night of evangelism, we had about 60 people from local churches join us, drawing crowds of 50-60 people, and seeing over 20 people come into relationship with Jesus. Over the course of seven weeks, we saw a total of 110 people make a commitment to follow Jesus. In addition to salvations, we saw God do the miraculous through our team to bring healing, including a woman who was blind and can now see, and a woman who was deaf and can now hear. What a mighty and loving God we serve!

We had several opportunities to teach at different churches on evangelism, including the topics: God's intentions and heart for the lost, our responsibility as believers, personal evangelism, and how to share the gospel. We ran evangelism seminars and workshops and took teams out from churches to do evangelism. We saw four churches mobilized into evangelism and working together to see God’s Kingdom come in their region.

Through the work, labor, and endurance of our team, we saw amazing fruit produced as we put our faith, hope and love in Jesus Christ.