Tour de YWAM

It has been quite busy since we left Byron Bay and Graham and I have managed to cover a fair few kilometers between then and now. I could tell you where we are now and what we're up to, but than you'd miss out on some of the good parts; so here it is.

After Byron Bay Graham and I had plans to visit our dear friend Amy at the YWAM Brisbane base, which is only an hour and a half north of Byron. We made it to the base with no problems and Amy was just waking up (mid-afternoon I might add) from her 24 hour sports marathon. As we soon found out, it would be very easy to identify all of the other people on her sports DTS because of the way they walked. Although after 24 hours of sports, wind sprints, cross-carrying, and lack of sleep, who wouldn't be walking funny. We managed to spend the weekend with Amy and a few of her friends on base and I really enjoyed my time with them. It was nice to see a familiar face from home and she was more than excited to see us. Between going out for ice cream, going to Macca's, going to the cinema, laughing non-stop (courtesy of Mable and Kathleen), and just hanging out it was most definitely a fun and relaxing weekend. One of the funnier moments came when Graham and I were about to leave early Wednesday morning. Salome and Amy decided it would be funny to toothpaste our car with random sayings, some of which were quite complimentary I might add. They did it late Tuesday night and I'm sure they thought that they were both sneaky as well as hilarious. The only problem is that two blonde girls in the dark have the trouble distinguishing an '84 Mazda 323 from a slightly newer, more reliable, and ultimately superior Toyota Corolla. Needless to say, Graham and I both left Brisbane with smiles on our faces.

From Brisbane we made our way down to Newcastle, which is approximately a ten and a half hour drive. Our plan was to show up at YWAM Newcastle, who we had been keeping in contact with, and volunteer for the week. As it turns out Newy's base was chock full of new DTSers as well as a youth camp that wouldn't be over until Saturday evening sometime. Lucky for us, Natalie's family lives less than an hour outside of Newcastle and they were kind enough to let us stay there for a couple of days. We met Nat's parents in Byron Bay as well as three of her siblings. Nat and Caitlin were also staying there for a few days so it made for a full, yet fun, house. It was actually at Nat's house that I was able to Skype my parents and see them for the first time since I left home, so thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Broome for that. On Saturday evening we made our way back up to Newcastle and YWAM had a place ready and waiting for us, which was nice considering our escapade earlier in the week. Even though we've only been at the Newy base for a few days we have already had some awesome times with people here. I've managed to go skateboarding and even recover some of the old tricks I thought I'd lost, stay up way too late, and start working, which has been awhile. Although we'll only be in Newcastle for a week we're looking forward to helping out the base with preparing their recently purchased warehouse. The plans are fairly incredible and I can hardly describe what it will look like in the end. The main idea is that it will use recylced and vintage items. Picture this, offices in shipping containers, huge I-beam rafters, and old street signs kicking around. That's just a glimpse of it. Praise the Lord for making new friends and doing work with YWAM again, it's safe to say that I really enjoy it. By next Monday or Tuesday we'll be off to Adelaide and it's only a matter of weeks from than until I'm on my way back home.

So that's been our Tour de YWAM. In two weeks it will have been quite a few. Byron Bay, Brisbane, Newcastle, and Adelaide, as well as Perth for Graham. I should get going but again I thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers as well as encouraging e-mails. Hang tight through the cold at home and I'll be hangin' ten until I join you there. Cheers.