Walkabout

Hi again! I'm pretty impressed with myself for how I have been able to keep up to date with many of my friends in Australia, still not as well as I wish. I just got news just before Easter that one of the international girls we met last year prayed to receive Christ, awesome! Hearing news like that makes my entire day, week, life (after all this is what life is all about). From what I have heard it sounds like the team at Griffith this year are doing great. The next upcoming event is a women's retreat, I can't wait to hear about that since the population of women in Student Life has always seemed to be small in proportion to men.

Grace (met last year) and Saetbyeol (new girl this year) at a trip to the beach

As for me and my twin sister, Dani, we have been at home for more than 4 months now seeing friends and family. It has been fun, frustrating, exciting, and boring, but hey that's life. One of the most exciting things was my month of TESOL. I took a certificate course for teaching English as a second language. There was six students including me in the course and our trainer was from the Ukraine. We all got along so great and became like family. I especially praise God for one girl named Ayano (yup, she is Japanese but grew up in Hong Kong). Ayano came to America as an international student, studying at UW Madison for a year (where she was involved with Campus Crusade) and then transferred to Moody Bible College in Chicago. We were like kindred spirits, finding that we were sisters on the first day of class. We had some opportunities to demonstrate our faith to our colleagues. Our course would not have been as exciting if we didn't have our practice class. We held free class for 2 hours everyday at DePaul University where students could practice their English and we could practice our teaching. There I also met some people that became friends, including some students from Korea and Turkey.

Ayano and me downtown Chicago

Now that I have a certificate I have also been looking for a job in Korea. I happened upon one that I really really want in Seoul called SEV. It has a camp atmosphere because students come for a week or two where they have simulation type classes and fun activities, it looks like fun for both students and teachers. I had a phone interview with the recruiter of the school, so I am praying that I will hear a more definite answer from him soon.

Students at SEV

Thank you for your prayers, please continue to pray for Student Life in Australia and for all the friends I left behind, that one day I will be able to see them again. I would also greatly appreciate prayer for my future job in Korea, hopefully at SEV.

As I have been trying to keep up with things that are happening in Brisbane I have heard some great stories of how God is already at work in the hearts of those at Griffith Uni. The semester began a few weeks ago and like every semester Student Life works hard in the first week to meet new students and to let new students know that it exists. The first week is called Orientation Week or OWeek, where students are given heaps of free stuff and asked to take many surveys or sign up for different groups. Student Life has traditionally done a Chupa Chup survey, a quick survey to receive a sucker. This year, SL also had a table for women's and men's ministry. The ladies were able to connect with a few new women and invite them to some events. One girl that they met was Rita. Rita just moved to Brisbane from China to study at Griffith. As one of the STINT girls was chatting with Rita she discovered that Rita only knew two other people in the whole of Australia, two Chinese girls named Phoebe and Jeanie. Little did Rita know that these two girls had just moved into the STINT house with Danae and Emily (STINTers). Phoebe and Jeanie are also Christians who just got involved with SL at the very end of last year.

Rita met up with the girls later and went through the gospel where she prayed to receive Christ!!!! AND because the STINT house had an empty room, Rita moved in where she will lovingly be followed up and receive help growing in her new faith.

God is so good!!! Many people have been hearing the gospel and from the looks on facebook, the ladies have been holding many events to get to know each other better. Another answer to prayer is that Emily told me that they found my missing external hard drive that I lost months ago. It's amazing how God answers even the smallest of prayers.

Thanks for praying!!!

The semester has not even started yet, but Student Life seems to be running in full gear already. I got to briefly chat with Emily who told me about all the meeting that the new STINT team were having. She also shared about KOR (kick off retreat) where all the Brisbane campuses met up to start planning the semester and for some fun. Thanks to my facebook stalking skills I also found out that the boys of SL put on a Valentine's night for the beautiful ladies... kudos to whoever came up with that idea:-)

Back from Guatemala!!!!!! It was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I had the opportunity to see this part of the world. Even more than that, I am so excited to tell you that hundreds of people received medical and dental attention (over 500 each of the four days of clinic) and hundreds of them prayed to receive Christ! I don't have the exact numbers right now but it is so amazing to see God do such a huge thing in such a short time. The people of Guatemala seemed pretty responsive to the gospel. I was so happy to be a part of it even though I did not get to personally share the gospel (being that my fluency in Spanish is a bit lacking).

It was a tiring week but heaps of fun and it went by so fast! I loved the team I went with too! I now have a few more friends nearby to go on Chipotle dates with;-) and a few world wide friends I will have to keep in touch with thanks to the help of Facebook. I love that I can connect quickly with people over the shared hope in Christ we have.

I am not fully sure why God has sent me to many places of the world, but I do know that I love that He is the God of this whole globe that we share. I love that He is growing His kingdom in every corner and that we have family from every race and nation. I have made the it a habit to say "what ever you say Lord." This time it was to go to Guatemala and I saw Him work in me and in others. Thank you God!

Hey! Will you go with me to Guatemala as I leave this Saturday? I'm looking forward to traveling to a part of the world I have never been to before. I am going with my church as part of a medical and dental mission for 9 days. We will be in two villages, setting up clinic and working all day to help the local people as much as we can. There will also be a local missionary team that will focus on evangelism. This mission has been going for years and have seen hundreds of people meet Jesus, and we are trusting God to bring even more people into a relationship with Him. We would greatly appreciate your prayers for the people we will meet, safety, and growth. I can't wait to tell you about what happens!

So because I have left the beautiful land down under does that mean that my walkabout has come to an end?

I hope not, I have a vision for the world and I will continue my spiritual journey no matter where my feet take me. Because I have a God with a perfect plan, I will not be wandering (although wandering is a favourite past time of mine), no, I will be following wherever He leads.

Just because I am no longer in Australia does not mean that this blog with cease either. I plan to get updates from Griffith and then inform you about what God is doing. Please keep praying for Griffith, the students and the team: Ben, Kyle, Emily, and Danae. Also pray for Andrew Baron as he is still working on getting his visa and support to work long term with ISM (international student ministry).

Thanks! Love, Amanda

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