First Day in the Philippines

So it's our first day in the Philippines! The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was that Manila smells like a homemade sauna- the kind you make with a tarp, hot rocks, a pot of water, and a hole in the ground. Not too bad of a smell, actually. The second thing I noticed was the traffic- it's nuts! We got to YWAM Balut around 1:00 AM this morning, after around two hours of driving through several different traffic jams.the streets are just crammed with taxis, buses, and bycicles.
Since we are going to be in Manila for a few days while we submit Tirza's London visa form, we decided to do some ministry. We headed out at around eight this morning to hang out with the kids at YWAM Balut's elementary school ministry. They are so adorable! Many of them are also very touchy- they were holding onto my hands and sitting on my lap and playing with my hair and they hadn't even known me for an hour! Part of that is that they are just super sweet and friendly. I think the other part is that we are kind of a novelty. Everywhere we go people stare at us, particularly at Nath (tall with red hair) and Elena (bright blonde hair). It's fun though, because despite the stares, they are all really friendly and smiley.
We came back to the base for lunch (rice, veggies in coconut milk, and fish), then headed out to do high school ministry. Just as we were leaving, it started to pour down rain and flash lightning. Honestly, I don't think I've even seen it rain that hard in Campbell River! The streets were flooded with muddy water, and even with an umbrella the front of my shorts was soaked through in a matter of minutes. It was cool though, and very unexpected! We saw kids rolling and sliding around in the rain, people washing their hair under overflow off of shop canopies... It was awesome :)
The high school kids were great too. We sang some songs, played a couple games, did a skit, shared some testimonies...
The school ministry is located right beside a place called Smoky Mountain. This mountain is made up of garbage. Pretty great for our first day of outreach!

The Next Stage

It's been an awesome three months here at YWAM Perth, and I think that the next three months will be even better- though I'm certainly going to miss the friends I've made who aren't on my outreach team.
Last night was commissioning night- kind of like graduation. All the schools here went up to the front one by one and did a little presentation. Ours was a couple of personal testimonies and a lovely song which our staff and a few students wrote. Then, the leaders of our base came and prayed over all of us. It was a really nice time, and it was fun to get all dressed up and just hang out together one last time.
My team is flying out to Manila, the Philippines at 7 AM tomorrow morning. Tirza, Hannah, and Zury will be flying out on a different flight a few hours earlier because they got their outreach fees later, but we are just so happy that they can come! We will be Staying a few days in Manila, and then we will be heading by bus around ten hours (not sure what direction) to San Fernando- which sounds exotic and somewhat Mexican.
I am a little nervous- I've never done anything like this before, but then again that seems to be kind of a way of life with YWAM. I know that God is going to work miracles through our little team and I'm excited to see them happen.

It's been much too long...

Hey everyone!! Sorry it has been so long- things have been super busy, as always!
We finally moved into the new base, and we actually all get to eat together now! Before, we ate in these little groups called clusters at different people's houses, but now we eat in a big, beautiful dining hall. It's almost like being at summer camp, and I love itt!
Our cafe opened up on Monday night, so now we can get thickshakes (milkshakes), coffee, tea, and snacks right on base. We had an open mic night on Monday. There are a lot of good singers here!
This week, the topic is evangelism and the speaker is Paul Childers from the Kona base. He's a very good speaker- very passionate about spreading the good news! This is good, because it's something I am not very good at and would like to improve at. I guess it's mostly just about having faith and trusting that God will come through for you if you actually step out and obey him in telling someone about him.
The weeks seem to be speeding by more and more quickly. It's only about four weeks until I will be in the Philippines on outreach! I'm quite excited. Our team is really small. There are seven of us in total: Elena from Switzerland, Zury from Mexico, Nathan from Australia, Tiare from Canada, Tirza from Indonesia, Hannah from Australia, and of course me. Hannah and Tirza are our leaders.
We have also been having a lot of fun times! A couple of weeks ago, a group of us went out to Heirison Island to pet some tame kangaroos. Then, we home and made kangaroo steaks and hamburgers. It was actually really delicious! We had a baptism last Sunday (which I missed because a friend and I fell behind the group and got lost on the beach. We walked all the way to one end of the beach before finally realizing that they must be on the other end.) and then a few of us decided to walk up to this place called Fremantle. They have really good fish and chips there, and the place kind of reminds me of Courtenay. Unfortunately, we also got lost on the way there and ended up in a maze of shipping yards.
I spent this weekend doing homework mostly. I had a book report to finish, and also a journal which we do weekly. It was actually a pretty nice weekend though- we had a girls' night on Sunday with a movie, ice cream, and Timtams.
Love you all!

Camping Trip/Week Four

It's been a really good week, although the internet has been down a lot. We are moving into our new base soon though, so I should be able to get on more often!

Before I start talking about this week, I guess I should say something of last week... It was Repentance and Forgiveness week, which was really hard but really good. It was all about turning from sin and to God. We prayed about what God wanted us to repent of, and then on Friday, we spent all day repenting together. One of us went up at a time and just talked to God about it and left it at his feet. At first I didn't feel any different- in fact, I didn't feel anything so I started to kind of stress out a bit. I mean, some people are so emotional and so I kind of felt like there was something wrong with me since I didn't- that it wasn't meaningful or something. But I know that no matter how I feel, the truth is that I repented of that sin and God forgave me of it. It's more about making the choice, not about how you feel after. Now that I've realized that, I do feel like a lot of fear and shame has been lifted from me. I'm still processing a lot though- repentance and forgiveness is a lifestyle, not just a one day thing.

This week was all about worship and intercession, which was also really cool. It is kind of neat to realize that your prayers are actually effective- since God is a relational God, he wants to involve us in his decisions and in what he is doing on Earth. One way we can do that is to intercede for people- to pray for them! As for worship, it is a choice to honour God in everything you do. I am also still processing this stuff, so if anything isn't super clear, I hope you'll forgive me!

We left to go camping at around 11:30 AM on Friday. The place we went camping (somewhere south of Perth) was almost like Vancouver Island (but not quite). There were lots of trees and there was a river... the weather was kind of similar as well (it was pretty chilly- under 30 all weekend! I think I'm going to be really cold in London... I feel like I'm sort of acclimatizing to Perth weather). Anyways, on Saturday, the staff brought canoe/kayak-like boats in and we got to paddle down the river as far as we could. We had a relay race in the afternoon, which involved running with someone else on your back; eating Oreos, peanut butter, and Vegemite; swimming; canoeing; and eating the baton (a cucumber). I did the last stretch of canoeing and the eating of the cucumber with three other team members. We almost won- we were like 10 seconds away! Our team name was the Brave Watermelons, and I feel we had a pretty genius cheer.

I slept under the stars that night, though I was feeling a little sick so I kind of went to sleep before I could admire the stars much. Still, despite the cold and hard ground, it was really nice!

I've been learning a lot about doing things full-heartedly lately. I guess it's sort of something God has been speaking to me, and it is something I have troubles with. But I have decided not to allow fear or insecurity hold me back anymore- I want to fully trust God and be fully involved in this DTS.

Love you all, and hopefully I will write again soon!

Highlights of this Week

Since I haven't posted in some time, and many things have been happening, I will just give you a few highlights of my week:

1. We found an amazing public bathroom (Australian: toilet) last Sunday. Seriously, it was almost like a Disneyland ride. Everything was automated (even the toilet paper dispenser) and there was a ten minute usage limit (after which time an alarm would go off and the door would open). It even spoke to you and played elevator music while you used it.

2. We went to the mouth of the river last Saturday, which was quite delightful. Lots of big waves, and we got to swim across the river and go sandboarding! I was rather concerned about crocs on the way across.

3. Australia Day is next week so Miki, Kirsten, and I went into the city this Saturday and bought shirts. We also went to a really cool restaurant called Jus Burgers.

4. We had street evangelism on Friday night. I've never done that before- it was so scary just introducing myself to someone and asking them if I could pray for them! But I did do it, in the end, with a little pushing from Clarissa and Tirza (my one-on-one)

5. Tyler, Jake, Aiden and I all went for bubble tea last night. I had a mango smoothie with mango jelly in the bottom.

6. Danielle, Clarissa, Whitney, Faith, and I walked to Coles today and bought ice cream, TimTams, and gummy snakes and had a junk food splurge. It was wonderful and delicious.


The topic this week was the Nature and Character of God. We talked about the Truth Box (you put things you consider truth in it. Example of a truth in the truth box: the Earth is round.) and how we often put truths about God in the Truth Box that aren't actually true. It sounds confusing, but it makes sense.

It's hard to process everything we've been learning, but I hope a lot of it is taking root. Something that I think God spoke to me this week was how humble he is. I guess I've never considered God humble before, but he really is! The way he loves us and pursues relationship with us... he talks to us personally. The Bible says that he always tells at least one person what he is planning. Sometimes he even does things our way (Abraham and Sodom and Gomorrah).

Something else really amazing: we talked about the ultimate consequence of sin. The classic answers: separation from God, the Curse, etc... but our speaker said that the worst consequence is how much it hurts God. Just think: every time somebody chooses against God, he loses one of his children to Hell. Imagine one of your children turning against you, and there's nothing you can do to get them back. He will grieve over them forever, and nothing can fix the problem.

Important to note: we can affect God (he made himself vulnerable to us when he chose to love us and give us a free will) but we can't change him.

Classes Have Started!

So the Young People's DTS has officially begun! We had orientation day on Monday morning, which went pretty well. It was cool to hear about how YWAM Perth started, and to hear Shirley Brownhill, the leader of our base speak. We also got to learn some new Aussie slang terms:
- Jumper: sweater
- Cuppa: hot drink
- Mozzie: mosquito
- Bogan: redneck
Tuesday was Registration Day. It was somewhat stressful, but everyone was really nice so I got through without any problems.
On Wednesday, classes actually started. Quenton, our DTS leader, is the first speaker. He has been really good so far! There's a lot to ponder over and think about.
On Thursday evening, several of us went to Hyde Park and had a TimTam Slam (our Aussie friends, Faith and her brother Joel, are quite expert at this) and went tree climbing. I got a gazillion mozzie bites (seriously, it's like having Swimmers' Itch. I counted at least fifty.) and we saw a gigantic spider. This has made me somewhat wary of tree climbing: I hate spiders!!
The internet has been kind of sketchy, which is a good excuse for not writing much. Also I have been very busy. Still, I will do my best to write more often!

First Day in Perth!

Clarissa and I flew into Perth last night around 10:30 PM and got through customs without any problems. Two of our DTS leaders picked us up from the airport and brought us to our house.
It's nice, and there's more space than I thought there would be. Our sleeping area is one big room filled with bunk beds. It kind of reminds me of living in the bunkhouse at Camp Homewood last summer. Hopefully this will be as awesome as that was!
We got to look around in Perth a little bit today. It's a really pretty city, though some of their decorations are a little odd. It was also kind of weird seeing a Christmas tree up in the summertime.
Classes start on Monday,so we pretty much just get to hang out and explore for the next couple of days. We are going to the beach tomorrow!
I really enjoy all the people on our DTS- everyone I have met has been really friendly. Everyone seems really at ease and down to earth (pardon the cliche).
In fact, one girl I met today shares my love for tree climbing! However, she is much better at it. We actually climbed a tree in the park today. I got up okay, but then I sat in an ants' nest (yes, a typical Hayley thing to do). They crawled all over my shorts, and I didn't notice till halfway out of the tree when I was notified by one of the people I was climbing with. It was a rather shaky descent also- I'm kind of like a cat that way, I suppose- I like climbing up a tree, but I hate getting down! And my natural clumsiness does not help me at all.
Anyways, it's 11:20 PM, so I'm going to sleep. Goodnight!