Canberra Parliament House; Ryan and Alice's wedding; B & B in Newcastle at Jets game; with Hanna in Sydney

B & B enjoy a hike; NSLF Bollywood style; NSLF small group; Josh & Elise Drexler at the Hunter Valley & beautiful Australian spring

Brooke's Australian Adventure Update - Spring 2008 - November 18, 2008

Brooke’s Australian Adventure Update– Spring 2008 - November 18, 2008

Dear friends,

It has been a bit of time since I wrote and in part it is because my last update was so long I figured many of you might not have recovered! The other part of it is that I still don’t feel completely settled back here in Australia and it is not easy to write to you all and say I still don’t have my act together professionally. I have honestly been struggling with my pride as I’ve been applying for jobs with non-profits and haven’t had any success with these endeavors. So, you may ask, what have I been spending my time doing? Well in part working at a restaurant in Hornsby and learning to do small things well. Mother Teresa would say that ‘ we can do no great things – only small things with great love.’ I would add it is humbling and difficult to do these small things. But in truth, how can we be trusted with great things, if we have not been faithful in the small things? I have actually really been enjoying working at the restaurant and getting to know the locals that frequent the café, sometimes even multiple times in a day. It has been fun to test my memory about what these repeat customers get and know their life stories that some inevitably want to share. I am enjoying being a part of this ad-hoc community and have also been working out at the local gym and feeling like Hornsby is a home to me. I have also been very much enjoying spending time with the Saxton family and attempting to vary their palates by cooking some good American dishes, particularly Mexican options once a week at the dinner table. It has been fantastic to be back with them and it feels like exactly the right place to be right now.

A huge bonus to working at the restaurant and the flexibility that shift work offers is that it means I often have free time to devote to voluntary work that I enjoy participating in. So, in the past two months, in addition to facilitating a small group with Brendan at the National Student Leadership Forum in Canberra, I have been able to serve as a volunteer quite a few times with a youth leadership organization that goes into schools to teach principles of servant leadership to students. It has been so fun to be in schools and has reminded me of my days studying youth ministry in my undergraduate days with Young Life and we would participate very actively in the school life of students. Rising Generations is the name of the organization and it is very motivational and has been a fantastic part of my time returning to Australia. If you are interested in learning more about this growing organization, their website is: http://www.risinggenerations.org.au/. In terms of volunteering, I was also brought on the team to help with the logistics of the 22nd National Prayer Breakfast (NPB) that was held last Monday in Canberra. Having been involved with the NPB in Washington since 2002, it was a privilege to be asked to help serve here and it was a learning experience as well. The expectation for what these events look like vary from country to country and I have been to prayer breakfasts in Argentina, Uganda and Mexico as well but didn’t know what to expect here in Australia. Our team was quite small and it was intimate working together in the office and having the ability to also get to know quite a few of the participants that came from around the nation for the event. One of the greatest joys of the 2 days of events was to also get to know a little some of the speakers. We had a seminar after the breakfast on the Monday and both the keynote speaker, Mama Maggie (Gobran), called by some the Mother Teresa of Cairo, along with her Norwegian friend Karin Tonnevold, and a member of parliament from Sydney, the Honorable Pat Farmer shared very intimately and their talks were both emotional experiences for me. Mama Maggie’s humble demeanor and complete focus on Jesus and knowing His voice and His Word were very powerful. It was only in and through her relationship with Him that she was brought into the work of serving the children in the garbage dumps of Cairo, not because it was what she particularly wanted to be doing. She also invested in a group of us who had been involved in student leadership in Sydney the day following the NPB and again she pointed us to Jesus and the Word of God. She said many people want to give her gifts for the ministry or ask her what can be done to help. She said to us, the greatest gift we could possibly give to her would be to read our Bibles everyday and if we did that we would change the world. It was a very powerful message and reminder that it is only God who changes us, and thus the world. She also spoke such loving and encouraging words to us about how beautiful we are and powerful and important. She reminded us of our uniqueness and personal identity in Christ and also spoke that there is no competition for us. In Jesus, all things are possible and we are not in competition with anyone else. This was so important for me to be reminded of as I am in this season where I am seeking to do something that uses my gifts and experiences but where I have been a bit frustrated to not be seen to be wanted by any of the organizations to which I have applied (if I take these rejections seriously). If you are interested in hearing Mama Maggie’s comments at the Prayer Breakfast you can hear them here: http://web.me.com/jocko/Site/Blog/Blog.html. Her message, and that of Pat Farmer in which he said his fear was to be ordinary (believe me as an ultra marathon runner amongst other things, he certainly is not), reflected my own motivations that often point me to a desire to live a life bigger than myself. I do desire to be part of a world that is bigger and I want Jesus to be bigger than I often limit Him to be in my worldview. But in order to do this – I need to get out of the way… I need to listen more and talk less… I realize that God is in control, but how much do I trust Him, that He truly knows the best plans and His timing is also right on…? Also, I was challenged as to what is my motivation to want to live a big life, is it for my glory, or the glory of God? If it is for me, it will all pass away, but if it is for God, of course He is concerned about where I am and when and will put me where I need to be, at the right time. I’d appreciate your prayers for this season of continued reflection and seeking where I am to be professionally.

Proverbs 16:3
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

Socially, the past two months have been fantastic to catch up with friends I had missed in the previous six months. The highlight was a fantastic wedding weekend held in the wine region of the Hunter Valley. This event was to celebrate the union of Alice Jones and Ryan Richards. Ryan is Milt Richard’s youngest son, a friend I’ve known since my early days at the Southeast White House. Since Ryan grew up mainly in the US, there was a great conglomerate of friends from the US as well as Australia and all over that gathered for the event. Alice and Ryan are incredibly creative and they pulled out all the stops to make sure their guests had a fun weekend full of activities from a chauffeured wine tour, to cricket, an outdoor BBQ complete with viewing of “Casablanca” under the stars to a jam making competition with scones the morning after the wedding. It was a fabulous time that really celebrated marriage and was a lavish reminder that marriage should be celebrated with all the stops. Brendan and I attended, along with my friends from Bermuda, Hanna and her sister Grace, a relationship seminar the weekend following the wedding at Ellel Ministries and they taught that marriage points us to the hope that Jesus is coming back for His bride. Whenever we celebrate marriage and believe in it, rather than being cynical and pessimistic about it or quoting statistics about divorce, we demonstrate to the world the belief that Jesus is coming back. I found this hope to be alive and well at this wedding and made me very excited for the future. Enjoying time with Hanna and Grace has also been a social highlight in the past 2 months. Hanna and I served together at the SEWH back in 2004-2005 and have maintained our friendship through visits to where each of us has been living. Praying with her is always a highlight for me. Brendan and I were also able to spend time with my dear friend Elise Drexler and her husband Josh and they came through Sydney on a trip in September and share the beauty of the Hunter Valley with them. It has been so fun having friends from my time in DC experience where I am at this stage in my life and get to know Brendan and I together. Another great praise report is that I have been meeting with a small group of young women that is exactly providing some of the intimacy and prayer I was lacking when I was here before. Out of some of these relationships I have also been meeting one-on-one to pray and get to know some of these women both older and in my peer group and this is such a blessing. I can see the Lord in so many ways has been so faithful and kind to me in my return. In terms of Brendan, praise God he has just returned to Sydney to live and work and it is only in the next suburb over, so it makes it very nice for our relationship to be able to see each other during the week now, and not just on weekends. Please keep his grandmother in your prayers. She has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer and the prognosis is not good. She is not trusting of the doctors and has refused to get any more radiation treatment at the present time. Please pray for wisdom, particularly for Brendan’s parents, as they go with her to doctor’s appointments and try to help her. We know God is a healer, and would welcome your prayers and for God’s will and timing of her life to be accomplished. Pray especially for her emotional state as she has become very angry, pray that this would pass and that peace from God would come upon her. Henri Nouwen says that prayer is breathing with the Spirit of Jesus. So, I hope His spirit leads you.

Psalm 42:5, 7 &8
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.”

As Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, American Thanksgiving comes next week, financial markets are down, and America has voted in a new administration – it is a time with much to be grateful for and a time in which many are uncertain. Our hope can’t be on the temporal, or just our current circumstances, but must look to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2). I am so thankful for all of you faithful friends and for your journeying with me in this life. Please keep in touch as I endeavor to do the same.

Humbly yours,
Brooke

Philippians 4:13
“I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”