Beachin' Marksenfest

It's been another week or so since I've last written, October is flying by. I have most definitely been keeping busy with all sorts of things, a lot of them being the usual but some of them being fairly out of the ordinary. I guess I'll start with this last weekend, the beach. Our actual plan for this last weekend was to drive out to Mclarenville to do some wine tasting. Mclarenville is just over an hour away from Norton Summit and is a pretty big destination for those hoping to taste some lovely wine. Graham, Matt Macgregor, and I were getting ready to go when our DD canceled on us. You might say 'hey, shouldn't you be spitting the wine anyway?' To that, I would say 'NO'. Anyhow, plan B was put into motion. Plan B in Australia, on a nice day of course, is going to the beach. Although sometimes I guess it ends up being plan A. So we packed up one of the lovely YWAM vans along with the Macgregor family and headed off to Henley beach. The cool thing about living along the coast in South Australia is the endless choices you have when it comes to beaches. We spent the day at Henley and came back to the base for a lovely BBQ. Graham and I are also no longer the newbies on base, Sandra, a mission builder from Switzerland arrived last friday. We spent the meal time getting to know everybody a little more and Graham and I are still learning more about people.

Sunday was an interesting day in itself. Nine of us from the base had the unique opportunity to volunteer with an organization called Red Frogs. Red Frogs is an organization that attends uni parties etc. and aims to be a positive example to young adults. We drove into Adelaide to a small university wear a fund raising event was taking place. Thus, Marksenfest began. It is exactly what it sounds like, a booze and schmooze fest. The gates opened at 10 am and tickets cost 50 dollars, after you were in you could drink as much as you want. Our responsibility was to hand out red frog gummies (which, because they are incredibly sweet, makes the beer taste awful apparently). We also made pancakes, handed out water, and distributed sun screen to those who were less than able to make logical and educated decisions at that point in time. The event had a live band, sumo suit wrestling, and a bouncy castle. I was actually quite amazed at how most people were able to hold their liquor in the bouncy castle. Our time at Marksenfest ended at 1:30 when our relief volunteers showed up, after that we headed to, you guessed it, the beach. This time we went to another beach called Brighton. We were all pretty tired and ended up taking a lovely afternoon nap on the beach instead of actually going in the water. That is how our weekend ended.

As far as work goes we have been continuing on with the painting in the guest house. The painting is tedious but will be well worth it when all is said and done. We hope to finish up the painting along with some minor renovations by the end of this week, in hopes that Paulette can start moving in next week.

The last week has not been a huge week spiritually for me other than one thing. We are up against some intense spiritual warfare and opposition here at the base. I will not get in to details but I can assure you that our fight is not against the flesh and blood of this world. I, as well as others I'm sure, would greatly appreciate your prayers for peace. We know that the Lord is our comfort and provides incredible peace but would still greatly appreciate you interceding on our behalf. Blessings to you all and let me know if there is anything that I can pray about for anything concerning you. Seek first His kingdom and everything you need will be added to it. Hugs from down under.

P.S. A huge thanks to all those who have supported me financially as well as prayerfully.