Small Cabin group at camp, larger cabin group at camp & Sydney crew at camp

At Nelson Bay with Johanna, Brendan and I with the local wildlife at Blackbutt Reserve, some snaps from YL's Extreme Summer Camp 2011

Brooke's Australia Adventure Update - Autumn 2011, April 3, 2011

Dear friends,

I absolutely love the in-between months of the year – the autumn and the spring… not too hot and not too cold. Today was one of those perfect blue-sky days where you don’t need a sweater and the sun isn’t too hot but you feel comfortable. It was one of those days you want to bottle – what Australians call a ‘bottler’! These are the days I remember from in between the seasons… I have wonderful news to announce… I am 19 weeks pregnant! It is very exciting! And as the summer recedes and the cooler temperatures reach Sydney I am oh-so-grateful! The past three months have meant the fan directly on me as Sydney’s humidity reined supreme. Brendan and I are very much looking forward to this next season of parenthood. I am very blessed to not suffer from much morning sickness, although the past few weeks my hands have been swelling from fluid retention and carpal tunnel has impacted my wrists leaving my hands numb and with pins and needles… but as long as we have a healthy little one! I’d love your prayers for the continued healthy development of our baby and good health for me. If you have any pregnancy health tips – feel free to send them on! You may remember in my last update, that I mentioned my hectic October… Brendan and I had been trying to fall pregnant for a few months at that stage and being so busy and also disappointed that pregnancy had not yet come meant more tears for me than normal. But, it was the catalyst for me to simplify my life and we were so grateful to find out just a week after finishing up with my part-time job for Women’s Forum that indeed, we were pregnant. This has been so great as I’ve only been working four days this year and that day “off” can be used for all my medical appointments and to read up and prepare. To be honest, God had prepared us for the timing of our little one by speaking to us in prayer last August. We heard that we were to conceive in December. I look back and chastise myself for not believing that word and enjoying the months of August to December… but no, I still stressed out each month until December and then sought to rest in that word. Truly, God is in control and He is worthy to be praised!

Matthew 11:28-30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

2011 has been a year of transition for us, as we knew it would be, and thankfully we were able to find a new place to live and moved in the third week of February. We have moved to a suburb called Dundas, an area between Carlingford and Parramatta, for those of you who know Sydney geography. It is a suburban community, about a 35-minutes drive from Woolloomooloo where we were living previously and means Brendan now has about an hour commute, taking three separate trains, compared to his 10-minute walk before. I, on the other hand, live only 15 minutes from my office and less than 5 minutes from many of the young people I work with and the main high school I minister in, Marsden High. This is a great joy for me to live in the community I work in and seek to have my life be more whole as I focus on this work of Young Life in an almost full-time capacity. Our new place is a 3-bedroom townhouse – complete even with a small yard! And the amazing thing is that we save $70 a week on rent compared to our previous place! It was truly a Godsend to be able to have so much room and yet save some money. We now have space both for a room for the baby, and a room that serves as an office for Brendan’s studies and a guest room, complete with en-suite bathroom! Brendan’s parents have delighted to help us fill the baby room with a crib, change table and bath that date from Brendan’s birth, along with many beautiful new baby clothes and nappies. The guest room provides another incentive for friends from afar to come visit! But if you want to see the new addition, come after the end of August, or if you want a quieter trip – come before! The new area is much quieter, of course, than city life, and is filled with nice trees. The house was not void of small surprises though – including cockroaches, fleas, plumbing issues and other handyman jobs – as well as a large rotten tree falling in the backyard on our second week in the house. But, all those minor jobs have been accomplished now (or unwanted guests chased out) and we are feeling more at home.

“Dance as though no one is watching. Love as though you have never been hurt. Sing as though no one can hear you. Live as though heaven is on earth.”
- Souza

The first term of work with Young Life and ministry to kids and communities has been very rewarding, challenging and fun. I promised you last update to let you know what happened at our annual Extreme Summer Camp. Camp was held in January from the 16th-21st and it was according to my seasoned boss, the hardest Young Life camp in his 20 plus years serving the mission. We had quite a high proportion of kids from extremely troubled circumstances and there were many struggling with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual problems. Out of only 45 kids, there were 10 trips to the hospital that were made through the week as one example of the hardships. But, out of the darkness, Christ’s light emerges, as it always does. Even in the hardest cases of stubborn hearts towards the gospel, the Lord can soften and open up a person to the Good News of His salvation through Jesus and the intimacy of the truth of the plans He has in store for their lives, living as His children. From the Sydney area, I witnessed four young men give their hearts to Jesus and the beauty of seeing this and the privilege of what it has meant in: their lives, their friendship groups and amazingly in the lives of their families. By no means is making a life-changing decision to trust Christ with their future an easy option, many have faced hardships, but what a journey of adventure! It is also great for our leaders to begin the process of discipleship. Please pray for Masi, Kurt, Sam and Ross, and for Tim and Brad as they meet with these new believers. My week at camp was consumed with caring for a group of girls from the Redlands area of Brisbane. The Ryde area I manage did end up having one girl come on camp, but due to the dynamic of the girls in the cabin, I ended up not being her cabin leader but sharing about half my time with her and staying with the Redlands girls the rest of the time. These girls’ attitudes were very tough and in the way they treated themselves, one another, and myself and the other cabin leader, I could tell from the very first night we were in for a rough time. They displayed virtually no respect for themselves, each other and certainly not for authority. Again, through the week, I witnessed God do His redemptive work, and one in the cabin responded to the message. I know that God works in mysterious ways and that I did see each of them respond to learning and hearing throughout the week, but it was a heavy camp in that much was left undone. That is the nature of the relationship ministry of Young Life though… the journey certainly does not end at camp. The leaders go home with the young people to continue to minister Christ’s love through weekly contact at school, at club, at their sporting events, and if they choose at church. I keep up with some of the Redlands girls on Facebook, but please pray for Rachel and the other Redlands leaders who display Christ to them each week and for perseverance in the face of many disappointments and hard circumstances.

2 Timothy 3:1-5
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

The term of ministry in Ryde and Northern Sydney has been a very fruitful one. I am so pleased to report that we’ve seen new kids virtually each week at the Ryde club and although our re-launch for the Northern Sydney club was small, it was fun. One of the great blessings thus far this year is the abundance of leaders the Lord has brought. Truly our prayer for more labourers in the harvest field is bearing good fruit. Although Johanna and Jan-Michel finished up at the end of February, Brad, the senior leader for Northern Sydney has become an intern one day a week and in addition to his taking on of more responsibilities, we have added a few more leaders. They are: Nick, a former Chatswood High student that went on work crew this year at camp for the first time and is a junior leader for Northern Sydney; Eddie, a Canadian working holiday maker that was a Young Life leader for a few years in Alberta also helping with the Northern Sydney team; Les, a Morling Bible School student that loves Young Life’s passion for the unchurched and he drives a van (a great bonus to the team!); Kyle, a junior leader for the Ryde club that’s been involved with this club for 5 years; Becca, a study abroad student at Macquarie Uni who has been a leader in the US for three years and is an answer to prayer for female leaders at Ryde; and Joseph, a Youth Work student at TAFE that is doing a Work Experience with Young Life. He hails from Sri Lanka originally and is a humble and faithful servant in the work. You can still be praying that more female leaders join both teams, and also for someone to come and be in my position as I go on maternity leave, preferably female since both teams are still very male dominated. One of the amazing testimonies from the ministry in the beginning part of the year is the level of trust I have built with moms in the community that are calling for extra support with their teenagers. Most of these moms are in situations where the father of their child isn’t helping out much with their raising and they need someone to listen, care for them, as well as continue to care for their teenagers and teach them about love and respect that they are not necessarily able to do because of the lack of partner support in the parenting process or a myriad of other issues. I am not sure I have all the resources, but I definitely know the One that can comfort them. Perhaps because I am pregnant now, or due to ministering consistently in the same area for over two years now, I see the trust that has been built and am able to see families change through the ministry. Another exciting part of the work that has been flourishing since the beginning of the year is the opportunity to see the body of Christ being more unified in the Ryde area. I’ve been able to start praying regularly with others from several churches at the Ryde Council once a month and with Council member Vic Tagg. It has become a treasured part of my month and has led to the genesis of a youth pastor breakfast and network for the Ryde area that developed out of a new friendship I made with one of the other youth pastors that attends the prayer time. In addition, there have been joint events with churches like our combined “Fun for a Reason” night held on Friday the 1st of April with Macquarie Chapel Presbyterian Church. It was our second event together and was primarily a social event where our youth to get together, play a bunch of retro video games and old school games like Jenga, Uno and ping pong, eat a lot of sugar from fresh doughnuts, fairy floss, ice cream spiders (think Coke floats for Americans) and be able to donate for each portion of the night to help kids in the developing world through the ministry of Compassion Australia. Other events like the Stampede Music Festival which brought together 14 local youth groups for a massive outreach night of music, laser tag, skating and a message and the planning for the annual Easter parade and festival have all been such a blessing as it answers so many of my prayers that the churches would be unified in the building of the kingdom in our community, instead of competing with events. Pray that these relationships continue and that more are added to the numbers who believe because of this unity.

John 17:22-23
“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one, as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”

As Brendan and I prepare for all the radical changes that will inevitably come with being first-time parents, we are cherishing this season together. Brendan has had a busy start to the year but we’ve managed to still enjoy the times we share by going together to ultra sound appointments, have a vision day together writing down and praying through our next 5-10 years of marriage, enjoying church, and our family and friends. He is such a faithful husband and I am so grateful to be growing alongside him in this season. We are hosting a dear friend of mine from my hometown that has been teaching English in Cambodia the past two years, Erin McElroy, and this will be a great delight for me to share our worlds after a few years of not seeing one another. It is always a challenge to keep up with friends and family who live far away, but visits like this are so precious. She is coming during our annual Presence Conference for our church. Bill Johnson, from Bethel Church in Redding, California; Kong Hee from Harvest Rock Church in Singapore; Marcos Witt and Kari Jobe from Lakewood Church in Texas and our very own Phil and Chris Pringle from C3 in Sydney are all sharing in ministry at this amazing conference. It will be Brendan’s and my first Presence, but we’ve heard amazing reports about past years and are looking forward to it and to share it with Erin. So friends, there is much to look forward to for us in the coming months! Thank you for journeying with us and for your prayers and sharing your lives through your blogs, updates and personal e-mails. If you’d like our new address, please send e-mail to me directly and I’ll respond. I’ll leave you with some inspirational worship lyrics that came out of Bethel Church’s ‘Jesus Culture’ worship group that our church has fallen in love with in the past few months. If you are looking for an anointed worship CD that will take you to a greater place of intimacy, I would highly recommend it.

‘Rooftops’ by Jesus Culture

I lift my hands cause You set me free
So I shout out Your name, from the rooftops I proclaim
That I am Yours, I am Yours
All that I am, I place into Your loving hands
And I am Yours, I am Yours


With loving friendship,

Brooke