Brooke's Australia Adventure Update - Autumn 2012

Brendan and JJ at Hyams Beach

The family photo with the "whitest sand in the world"

the first time I came in to see JJ standing in his cot and NOT sleeping! 

JJ with Sam Sam in mother's room during Presence Conference 2012

Jeremiah's first camping trip with AJ at Newnes 

Brooke’s Australia Adventure Update – Autumn 2012, April 25, 2012 

 Dear friends, Life is so full and so truly blessed! I am amazed how the Lord continues to give and stretch us so that we have more capacity in our lives. John Bevere spoke at our C3 annual Presence Conference recently (April 10-13 at Darling Harbour Convention Centre). He gave a message entitled, “Relentless” (also the title of his book of the same name) where he used an analogy of weightlifting and resistance training to talk about how our present trials simulate a level of hardship that will prepare us for what we will face tomorrow. As more and more gets added to my life – responsibility, leadership, and greater maturity in the roles I have - I realize how much God has used other seasons to prepare me for this one. Today’s obstacles are tomorrow’s opportunities. Phil Pringle said at Presence that, “a trial is a handshake from God.” I have opportunities every day to praise God for His faithfulness in my life and rejoice when things are tough, or I can whinge and become paralysed in the situation. I know which one I hope to live out and I hope you do too!

 Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”

 Life as a mum has much joy and requires even more balance and appreciation for the small moments of rest you may get. I feel I need to live fully embracing the moment because Jeremiah is growing so quickly. He is now almost eight months old and has five teeth, is crawling very quickly – following me from room to room instead of just crying if I leave him for a second (which can mean no privacy in the bathroom anymore ☺), and is pulling himself to a standing position on almost any piece of furniture or person he can – including the cot, which makes getting him to stay down for a nap more of a challenge. He is also very talkative. His latest word is “uppa” which he says when he wants to get up from a seated or lying down position. We’ve definitely been enjoying the parenting role and have also been very grateful that Brendan’s mum has been helping us out each week looking after JJ as I’ve gone back to work part-time. She’s taught him to clap his hands, It is also nice for me to enjoy an evening with her when Brendan is studying, and we have even began a Beth Moore Bible study together on the book of Daniel. JJ has had some great milestones these past three months including the introduction of solid foods, with the faces he pulls in reaction to new foods giving us lots of good laughs. It is interesting to see what foods he loves (passion fruit) and which he hates (carrot, who knew?). He also has had his first cold when he was about seven months old and he hated having his nose blown - it was as if we were about to murder him. Brendan gave me the nickname the “boogie hunter” as I tried desperately to keep his face clean. We are now fully in autumn here in the southern hemisphere and although we had a rainy and disappointing summer, the beginning of autumn has made up for it. As a family we’ve been able to have a few weekends away recently. First, to a stunning part of the world, not too far from Sydney, called Jervis Bay. Here we were able to enjoy the beach before it got too cold, enjoy being together as a family, and drove around the gorgeous landscapes, including Hyams Beach, which, according to the Guinness Book of World Records has, the “whitest sand in the world.” We were also able to spend Easter with Brendan’s parents. During our visit we were able to do some: snorkeling, walks together as a family (after JJ wakes us up at the crack of dawn) and even kayaking. We also had wonderful family BBQs and board game time. I loved this time during the students school holidays in April as it has given me more time to enjoy God in nature and the beauty and diversity of His creation. I appreciate it so much because it is time outside of the ordinary grind.

 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

 Going back to work after maternity leave has been full of blessings, but has a very hectic nature to it and life feels like it doesn’t have that much fat in it to trim off. One awesome answer to prayer is that this year has brought with it a slew of new leaders that I am training. Many of them are from different ethnic groups, which enables us to better serve students from those cultures. Quite a few of these are also females, which has been a need for our area for so long. In Northern Sydney, Sarah has joined our team having just moved to Australia from Singapore and Alex and Emma have stepped up as junior leaders to train while still in high school. In Ryde, we have Emily training, as well as Mohe and Mata from the Tongan community who all came on camp as leaders for the first time, as well as Richard from a local Korean church and Claudia and Mervin who are Malaysian and from a dance ministry that wants to use Young Life principals in reaching students. It is a very rewarding part of my role to train and lead people in the Young Life model of going where young people are and like Jesus did build relationships that point them to their true Father who has good plans and purposes for them. It has been great going back into the schools we are ministering in as well and having that weekly time with young people at our outreach clubs and seeing these leaders step up in their interactions with these precious ones. This year, Tim Morris, a local Ryde boy who became a Christian through the ministry while in high school and is now in his second year of uni, has become our area intern. Again, this is a very gratifying transition to witness. It is also gratifying to see him step up in his leadership and intentionality: he is now meeting with some boys weekly to help them grow in their newfound faith following camp. I am still a bit amazed at the generational differences regarding time priorities I face with the young leaders I work with and the different cultures that exist just within a few different suburbs of Sydney, but I am so grateful to continue to learn to be flexible when required, and to teach discipline and communication skills when required. Another answer to prayer lately in the work world is that Ryde and Northern Sydney areas combined with Bathurst Young Life to run a discipleship camping trip for students who wanted to grow further in God. It was at a beautiful spot called Newnes, which is about 45 minutes away from Lithgow in the Blue Mountains - 20 of these minutes down a dirt road. This was a tent-camping experience and there were so many firsts, not just for Jeremiah, but also for the majority of the 7 campers that came along. For some it was their first time sleeping in a tent, for one it was her first time peeling an apple, for another the first time to see a possum. For others, it was one of the first times, or perhaps the first time, they spent intentional time in devotion – we focused on prayer and what this is and how to begin to practice this with our heavenly Father. We were very blessed that these few days had gorgeous weather because of the days of deluge before we went. It also was a trip without any injuries and a real unity to the team, made more profound after Brad’s (the Northern Sydney senior leader) car got bogged and we all had to push and pray it would get unstuck. A helpful goodGood Samaritan in a four-wheel drive stopped and unhooked his caravan to help and the experience made us all grow closer. Taking kids out of town like this may not seem like too big of a deal, but the simple actions often can make the most profound impact and what may seem like no big deal to one person, can be so meaningful to another e.g. taking your first four-hour bushwalk to see a glow worm tunnel (yes, we actually did this!). I loved hearing the teenagers thank God for different aspects of our trip at the end while we practiced Examen prayer, which is an intentional remembering of the past 24 hour period of the things God has done. This trip has been three years in the making, with Heather from Bathurst and I dreaming about trips like this that too often have just been too hard to get organized. Now that we’ve done the first one, I am hopeful we’ll do it more often and that the trust that was built between us as leaders and the parents that let us look after their precious children for a few nights will continue to grow as we think about summer camp next year.

 “The essence of the training program of Jesus was simply having his disciples with him. They learned first by association with him. Almost everything Jesus is recorded as having done, he did in the presence of at least some of his disciples. He was building men by being with them.” Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan of Evangelism

 Young Life Australia is celebrating 40 years of ministry this year. If you live in the Sydney area, or would like to come join us, we’d love you to come celebrate with us by joining us for our annual fundraising dinner at The Epping Club on the 25th of May. Our theme will be “Forever Young” and there will be many opportunities to celebrate what God has done in and through the mission over the past four decades. For more information, or to reserve your spot, please go to our website: www.younglife.org.au.

 I’ve been reflecting on gratitude in life lately and in prayer. I thought I would just share a few of the recent parts of my life I am grateful for. I am so grateful I have a husband who supports me so much and the calling I have to work in ministry and mission. I am so appreciative of his understanding when work bleeds into so many different corners of time as a family and trusts me to take our little baby camping when I need to go away with work a few nights. I am so grateful I have a resilient little champ of a son who is very social and loves having teenagers around and in his face for a few days and even doesn’t cry on a four-hour bushwalk that includes 30 minutes in a dark glow worm cave. I am so grateful for a God who makes all things possible and has given me great times of refreshing in His word recently through both Hillsong’s annual Colour Women’s Conference in March and our C3 Church Presence Conference in April. Both were filled with fantastic times of worship to focus on our relationship with Jesus and teaching from world-class pastors and Bible teachers like: Beth Moore, Priscilla Shirer, Steven Furtick, John Bevere, Kong Hee as well as of course the hosts – the Houstons at Hillsong and Pringles at C3. Although I spent most of the time at these conferences in the mother’s room, with tons of other babies and mums, watching a telecast on a TV screen, I am still so grateful that these mother’s rooms exist and that even in the midst of a very full-on season I can take time away from the routine to focus on what God is speaking in this generation and to me specifically. Being His daughter and resting in that identity is a lot of what I am being reminded of - to enjoy my relationship with Him as a trusted dad. To climb up onto His lap when I am troubled rather than running away or turning to distractions or idols. Of course I do forget this from time to time, but I am so grateful that His mercy never fails and how great is His faithfulness.

 Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

 I will close this update with sharing two t-shirt designs I saw recently at Sydney’s annual Royal Easter Show. JJ and I were helping collect money for the Salvation Army, a wonderful mission that has acted as Christ’s hands and feet to the poor around the world since its’ 1865 birth in London. The first t-shirt I saw read, “Find Me.” I reflected on how all of us want to be found and there’s a story my boss tells of when his daughters were little and loved playing hide and seek. They would always hide in obvious places and he would take ages to find them, playing along and looking in all sorts of other places to extend out the game. Eventually, they would call out to him, “daddy, we are over here.” They wanted to be found, just as all of us do… and although we don’t all wear it on our t-shirts, often we are looking in so many other locations rather than realizing God has come to earth in earthly form as Jesus, precisely to show the full extent of His father’s love for us as His creation. He comes looking for us, to find us and for us to be reconciled to Him. AMAZING! The second t-shirt read, “love soMEone.” This shirt I also found so honest and what we are all looking for, someone to love us. Both of these shirts were worn by teenage girls, girls with questions and longing, not unlike everyone else in our society, but perhaps a little more vulnerable and able to be influenced. Working with young people is an incredible privilege because often they are malleable and real in their questions. Please pray for me and the team of leaders I work with to have God’s wisdom on how to reach these young ones in a way that is relevant and meets them at their point of need and questioning with God’s Word in a way that will come alive and be active as it is meant to be.

 Here’s a helpful tidbit on prayer I found recently and I hope it helps you too.
 Prayer structure of the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11:2-5), from Red Moon Rising by Pete Greig
 Reverence and awe – hallowed be Your name
 Hope – Your kingdom come
Request – give us this day our daily bread
Confession – forgive us our sins
Protection – lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil

JJ and I at Parramatta Park one sunny Sunday arvo

helping get donations for the SALVOS at the Royal Easter Show

on a hike at Newnes with Young Life 

The bodysuit says it all - at Colour Conference mother's room 2012

enjoying his solids - homemade vegetable purees! 

 With loving friendship, Brooke