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!