Hey everyone!! Just to make sure you all know…I am still alive…I just haven’t had internet for a while!! Last weekend was crazy as we left Sunday morning for South Africa and outreach!! (I still can’t believe it?!) I decided after the face that I should have blogged on Saturday before I left but oh well. :S I have a couple of weeks to talk about so I guess I’ll talk about my last week of lectures at Perth first.

The topic was Evangelism and it was pretty interesting. One thing that I learned was that not only is love the center of Christianity, it’s also the center of evangelism—it’s our motivation for reaching others with the gospel. Our job in evangelism and also in life in general is to love everyone and to show them how valuable they are…and that’s actually evangelism! The majority of DTS outreach is personal evangelism which can be really tough, but that’s when God’s power can work through me. I’m going to have to trust Him and rely on Him for all knowledge, courage and strength on outreach…huge for me. So prayers for that and prayers against discouragement would be amazing.. :)

This first week in South Africa has been spent at a spa resort…oh yes… :D. Hot springs, Jacuzzis, amazing…although I haven’t had a lot of opportunity to use them…it’s crazy this week!! The University of the Nations which is a big part of YWAM and is based out of Kona, Hawaii, had a conference and we were lucky enough to be able to attend. We had seminars in the mornings in which we were connected through Genesis (a variation of skype) with 3 other locations—Kiev, Cairo and Lausanne. The afternoons consisted of seminars here on location that we were able to choose from. I went to a few excellent sessions—very challenging. The first was called Leadership: The Call to Slavery…pretty self-explanatory—be a slave through prayer, evangelism, fellowship and hospitality, etc. Another seminar was called Bible Education and Leadership Training. It was mostly about how the Bible is not only for salvation, but it’s also a guideline, an instruction book that shows how to live in community with others. It was pretty good.

So tomorrow I start outreach. Insane. Our days are going to be packed full and I’m not sure when I’ll have opportunity to get online and update everyone or even talk to anyone. Hopefully I’ll get some opportunity at least once a week so I’ll try to keep you all in the loop as much as possible but I’m not making any promises…unfortunately. :( I know this is pretty short…compared to my other blogs anyway…! Ha! I need to get some laundry done since I’m not sure when the next time I’ll be able to use a washing machine is… :S I just wanted to say thank you so much for all of your prayers and I would really appreciate continued support. Prayers for courage, endurance, energy, boldness, patience, etc. I also really want God to break my heart on outreach. I want my view of the world and of life to be changed forever. It may wreck me, but it will create an opportunity for me to be extremely close to the heart of God and that’s truly what I desire. Even though I may be scared and nervous about outreach, I really want to be broken…to be forever changed for the better. Please pray!? :)

I love you all and thank God for you and the blessing you’ve been to me. I miss you and can’t wait to tell you more about the adventures and experiences I’m gaining half way around the world! Have a wonderful week…

Love, Rachel