Walkabout

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

Schoolies Newsletter

November/December Newsletter

I don't have much time to tell you all about project but I will;-) Just wanted to thank you for your prays and say it was amazing! I will be going to Melbourne this week and then have a couple days to say some final goodbyes before heading back to the States. My heart is hurting already, but I am looking forward to seeing family and friends and trying to share my experience with you all, it will be hard to really express what these past two years were like.

It Thursday already, where have the days gone? I've eaten way too much sugar, haha. I will be without internet for the next two weeks as my team, a few other missionaries and about 40 Aussie and Kiwi (NZ) students hit the beach of Burleigh Heads to reach out to high school grads, tourists and locals. I'm at an awkward stage where I'm not sure if I am nervous, stressed, excited, or what, but no matter how I feel tomorrow morning we'll be heading out and I will have to trust God that things won't fall to pieces. I am in charge of evangelism on this project which is a huge responsibility since evangelism is one of the main focuses of project. I have two Griffith students helping me, Jeremy and Beth and it has been so much fun planning with them. We make a great productive and enjoyable team. They are both first years and this will be there first project, sometimes I forget that so I pray that their inexperience will not cause them to be nervous nor things to be overlooked or not known. Please pray that even among any failure we face we praise God and rejoice in His will and partnership with us. Please pray for me as I will need much patience and endurance for the next two weeks.

This week we had our final roommate date and I had my final discipleship time with Megan where I made her the most delicious chocolate cake (thanks to a recipe from my teammate from last year, Susanna). I said goodbye to her as she flies to her summer project in Japan this Sunday. Tonight I go over to the Park's house, they are a Korean couple who work with ISM (international student ministry). They are so sweet and invited me over for dinner and to talk to me about Korea (they got excited when I told them I would like to work there next year). Well, hopefully I don't stay up too late as I still have to write a talk for Saturday's evangelism training (I still procrastinate, hehe) and Min Jun might come over to dye my hair a random color again (but maybe I will just have to stay a red head for project). Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!!!!

This week has been very busy and so will this next week as I continue to prepare for Summer Project and as I wrap us discipleship. I've had a few meetings this week and spent a whole day with Kelly, one of the girls I disciple, we had a really great chat about the two years I've been here and how much she has grown. She thanked me for not letting her stay the same as when I first met her.

Dani and I went to see a girl I did a Christianity Explained course (CE) with last year at her job. Her name is Dannie and she is from China, I met her through my beloved friend Mel. She was surprised when we walked in and I told her that I was leaving for the States in a month, I thought she was going to cry. We were not able to meet up this year but I still remember when she told me that she hoped to be a Christian one day and that at our last CE lesson she said that she knew the gospel in her mind but not in her heart. Please continue to pray for her with me as I ask for someone to pursue her with the gospel.

There are a quite a few students who need to be followed up and many I hope will be pursued by Christ loving friends. I know that my time with them was impactful and exactly what God wants and that now I can leave them in His faithful hands. It's just so hard to say goodbye and what is a huge fear of mine is that I will not be able to say goodbye to everyone. I know there will be people I will never see again, all those acquaintances I have at uni that I never even told I was leaving, will they wonder where I went? Will I remember them 6 months from now? Memories are important to me, especially the memory of people, these are just some random panicky thoughts that run through my mind as I think about leaving. I especially hope to say goodbye to RyuSho who will be busy with summer classes when I get back from Summer Project.

Tonight a bunch of us went out to dinner for Andy's (one of our graduating students) birthday. It was fun to hang out with a huge group. I said goodbye to everyone who I may potentially not see again, I was glad about that. I spent most of the day with Mary, we chatted, walked around the city and she bought a guitar that we played in the park. Please keep Mary in your prayers as we will be limited to talking through the internet, I hope that we continue to speak about the gospel and that she will turn to Jesus as her Savior.


Thank you for all your prayers... I'm going to sleep now as I will be going to Chinese Church in the morning with some of our students.

Love, Amanda