Work, SAYCO.... YWAM family bonding?

Well than, let's not even look at the last time I posted. I was going to post before last weekend but I guess that never happened. I've managed to keep busy in the last two weeks mostly with base work, but I do have a few other things to share.

Recently the work on base has consisted of lawn mowing (which never seems to end), weed whacking (ditto on that one), and a variety of other aesthetic upkeep tasks. Today was a base cleaning day, which basically translates into a day where everybody helps out with our jobs and we all work a shorter day so.... woohoo!!. Most of the base ended up working at the guest house today. Our guest house is actually split in two, so one half is specifically called the guest house and the other half is referred to as the Thompsons' house (the name of the family who lived there previously). The house is currently being completely remodeled and will be used by Paulette for a short while until her house is underway. Paulette will use it for her Rahab ministry office. Rahab is a ministry outreach that deals directly with women stuck in prostitution. Base leaders recently made a decision that if women needed a place to stay in between getting out of prostitution and finding another lifestyle the house could be used for that. It's exciting to see the physical renewal of buildings here on base. The location is extremely old but exceptionally beautiful, so the TLC is much needed but oh so worth it in the end.

This past weekend in SA (South Australia) was October long weekend. I reckon it's probably similar to our May long since we're in spring over here right now. Eleven of the bravest YWAM people, yes that includes Graham and myself, volunteered at SAYCO this past weekend. SAYCO stands for South Australia Youth Camp Out. A very fun event with lots of energetic teens, heaps of activities, and almost zero sleep. Our actual responsibility was to be chaplains if the kids wanted somebody to talk to or have someone pray for them, but we had the opportunity to do so much more than that. The event took place at Cornerstone College (highschool) in Mt. Barker, Adelaide. Don't think it's a Mt. either, it is slightly in the hills I suppose though. The event brought out about 300 or so youth, leaders, and others. The kids camped out in the footy field (australian rules football) while the volunteer staff as well as us 'chaplains' slept on the floor in a few of the classrooms. Our responsibilities were different all the time and we got to do some pretty fun, and tiring, stuff. We weren't on a strict schedule so it was a nice weekend. Again, exhausting nonetheless. The friday was spent setting things up for the rest of the weekend because campers only arrived saturday morning. Saturday is when all the action really started to take place. The schedule was pretty packed for the campers. They had a session just before lunch after they finished setting up and they had various events planned until 11:00. Maybe you don't care about absolutely everything but I'll tell you some things anyway. They had two sessions a day and had mini sessions with their small groups after most sessions. Afternoons were filled with xtreme games and carnival type things (bouncy castle etc.). After evening 'devos' with small groups we had something called night life. The kids had options of doing laser tag, dance partying, dart guns, chillin' out (board games, pool etc.), and the list goes on. We led a few of the afternoon carnivals, xgames, and night life activities.

It most definitely wouldn't have been a youth event without lack of sleep. Saturday night was a real short night but lot's of fun; maybe I should say long, depending how you look at it I suppose. We had responsibilities to do security shifts during the night on campus just to make sure everything was running ship shape. Graham, myself, Caitlin, and Laura took the drag shift, 3 am until 6 am. The two downfalls, besides of course being the drag shift, was that saturday night was daylight savings here and breakfast was served at 7 for us. This means that I was only asleep at about 12 and our clocks went forward, so what was supposedly 3 am still felt like 2 for my body. Security was easy and I drank heaps of coffee (yes, real brewed coffee). I just stayed up and took a shower before breakfast and finished sunday at about midnight, so Sunday was a really long day needless to say. Although Sunday afternoon we had really good sun and I definitely got some color. The crazy part was that saturday night was probably just as cold here as at home. Plus 1!! It was really funny to hear the Aussies go on about how they thought they would die. It was cold but not that bad. Probably one of the highlights of my weekend was the alter call at Sunday nights chapel. The speaker hadn't been challenging them a whole lot but I know that the Holy Spirit was speaking to some people that night. It was also just a general call to prayer and we were just open and available to the campers for whatever they needed. Graham had the opportunity to lead a camper to Christ!!! So freakin' awesome. I haven't talked to him much about the details but it was just really exciting to hear. I had the opportunity to talk with Jamie, a 16 yr. old guy I had connected with earlier this weekend, and pray for as well as with him. He was just talking about growing up in the church and becoming complacent, something that I could hugely identify with. He was a really awesome guy and I think he's coming to visit YWAM, along with a few other youth who would be able to do DTS next year. Isn't it cool how God opens up outreach opportunities into recruit opportunities sometimes?

I have been both incredibly tired and amazingly blessed in the past several days and I know that the Lord can do huge things through ordinary people. Blessings on you and I pray that you will experience the fullness of the glory of the Lord in your lives. God Bless and cheers.