The Time Has Come!

The time has come, we are officially heading off to Papua New Guinea!!!

As I previously wrote, there were definitely some prayer requests that we had as a team. Our staff have been working very hard to see that our visas are cleared and that we can get good deals on flights.  Well last night, we got news that our visas FINALLY cleared. We have been waiting for about 7 weeks for this to happen.

So here it is, our team leaves this Friday (this is Thursday for everyone in CA). We will be taking a grey hound bus up north to catch a flight into Port Moresby, PNG. Friday night, 17 of us (two teams) will be staying with a host in Port Moresby. The following day, or possibly a few days later, we will head out to Balimo and remain there until April 17th. We will catch a flight back to Port Moresby that weekend and welcome the ship in. Once the ship comes in, we will be staying there!

As I reflect on this past week, I realize that it was definitely trying. Daily we were hoping that today would be the day and when it wasn't, it was disappointing. One thing that our staff shared that really touched me was that as they prayed over our school, they got the verse Philippians 4:4, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" I realized at this time that all of this was something that God saw coming. I find that a lot of times I try to take situations into my own hands and at this point, things get frustrating.

I am definitely glad that I am called to rejoice in every circumstance because rejoicing is much more fun than being down. I am grateful that we had extra time here in Australia to prepare. We learned skits and went over testimonies so that we can give the people in PNG our best. While praying, it was really put on my heart that it is such a beautiful privilege that God is entrusting the lives of the people in PNG into our hands. With all of this said, I am so excited to go out and build relationships with these people. I do not know what to expect but I know that it is going to be a life changing experience.

No matter what obstacle comes my way, I want to always make it an opportunity. I want to rejoice because I have a reason to! I am blessed to be a blessing. This does not change because things aren't going how I want them to go. His plans are much greater.

As we prepare to leave, please keep us in your prayers. We would love prayer for safety, health, relationships that are to be built there, and that we are in-tune with what God wants to do. Thank you for all of your support! A special thank you to those of you who donated this past week, we are coming close to reaching our funds as a team.

I am grateful for all of you! I do not think that I will have internet for the next month but I will write as soon as I can :)

EXCITING!

Hello!! It has been some time since I have blogged. The last two weeks I have been camping in the good ol’ Australian Bush as well as going to a campus retreat. 

When I got to the site where we were camping, I was a bit overwhelmed. It was incredibly hot so I was dripping sweat and it was in the wild meaning bugs galore. We set our tent up and I sat inside thinking, “what in the world am I doing right now.” I was dripping sweat, dirty, surrounded by bugs. I am not going to lie, I did not want to be there. As the night went on, I felt lifeless as I was just going with the flow. On of my tent mates, Bithja, and I began to pray. We prayed that God would change our mind sets so that we could take in all that camping had in store for us. 

The next day we woke up to the lion king blaring at 6:45 am. Every morning we had two wake up songs. I woke up feeling a lot better seeing that I made a commitment to embrace the beautiful nature and what was in store during these two weeks. The next two nights were a little tough as there were massive rain storms. I was drenched in rain from head to toe as I was determined to not have my tent flood. Unfortunately, a few people’s tents flooded or broke during the storm. Thankfully, nothing was damaged other than the tents that are replaceable. The weather the rest of the trip was absolutely beautiful. During the day it was pretty hot but when you are walking distance to a creek, it’s not too bad. At night, we had camp fires where we would have worship. 

The first week, our teaching was on Relationships. We had a couple who led the week, Matt and Nomes. It was a great week! We went over the power of relationships and how God loves relationships. Not just boyfriend-girlfriend relationships but relationships with friends, family, and a relationship within a marriage. All of the teaching on relationships came back to the importance of an intimate relationship with God. How God desires to know us personally and that this relationship is the most important! We committed to God things in our lives, good or bad, in which we give Him full authority in.

The second week was on Lordship. We learned a lot about how to live in the middle of God’s blessings rather than around the outside. We have to actively resist what the enemy wants to do in our life. What do we lose by resisting? Nothing. What do we gain? Everything. God wants to work miraculously in our lives and sometimes there can be things that are holding us back whether it is prioritizing a job, a relationship, a marriage, etc. So at the end of the week, we had baptisms and we also wrote done everything we could think of to give to God in which we nailed them to the cross, proclaiming that God is in ultimate control! 

During the weeks we had a lot of free time where we were able to enjoy the nature around us as well as get to know each other more. Some pictures:

Some of my sweet room mates 

Playing games at night

Beautiful hike that most of us did up to the cross

We had dinner prep the second week of camping! Yay for cooking, now I know what to make besides scrambled eggs

We would sit in our camping chairs for lecture every day

My view for my quiet time with Jesus every morning!

When we got home we went on a retreat for staff and students (another school just got back from PNG and are leaving home in two weeks so they are currently here with us). We went to our brand new ship, the YWAM PNG, to stay the night. Connected to our ship was our old ship the Pacific Link. We had some guests speakers from YWAM Kona, Hawaii, Brett and Karen. Some of you may or may not know but at YWAM Kona, there is also a medical ship dts where they reach out to the Pacific Islands. At the beginning of this year, there was a massive storm in Hawaii where they ended up losing their ship, as well as the life of a guy named Aaron who many people at my base knew. As Brett told the story, it was heart wrenching. But, there were two purposes for this weekend. One was to commission our ship as it heads up north this Monday to go to dry dock and prepare for PNG in a month. The other was that the our old boat, the Pacific Link, was being gifted to YWAM Kona. We skyped in their staff as well as with all of us and told them! Majority of the staff had no idea and you could see it was a very emotional time for them since it has been a rough start to the year. At night, I got to sleep on the Pacific Link and pray for it as I know it is going to do some mighty things for the Pacific Islands. 

Another very exciting thing that I found out was where I will be going for outreach!! My school will be leaving the weekend of the 20th, next weekend, and flying over to PNG. There we are breaking up into three teams, going to different provinces. I am in a team of 8 people, 2 leaders and 6 students including myself. We will be headed off to Balimo which is in the Western Province. To get there we will fly into Port Moseby ( in PNG), fly to Daru (the capital of the Western Province), then flying into Kawito, and take a dingy up the river to Balimo. There we will be traveling through villages. While there we will be helping them develop their villages, as well as educating them on proper hygiene and oral hygiene. We will also be speaking to them about the love of Jesus and the hope that is found in Him. After a month, we will all meet back up in Port Moseby and welcome the brand new ship, the YWAM PNG, for the first time! There we will load into the ship and be on the ship serving along the coast of PNG until early June. This is a picture of the Balimo team!! 

Again, I want to thank all of you for your loving support during this time! This has been a journey of a lifetime and it is still in the beginning stages. If you could be praying for all of us! There are many prayer requests:

-cheaper charter flights to these remote areas 

-finances that need to be raised in order for people to go

-strong contacts that need to be made in PNG for accommodations and such

-softening the hearts of those in the villages

-fast processing of our visas

-rejecting passivity

-that we will  be filled with the spirit

-the processing of applications for the nurses here to be able to work in PNG

-weather, there is supposed to be a cyclone coming

-our leaders

-unity within teams

-health

I appreciate all of you! I know that God desires for all of us to leave next weekend and there is a lot that needs to take place for this to happen so PLEASE be praying. If it is on your heart to make a donation, please email me at glemos39@gmail.com. There are still many people in need of finances in which you could bless :)

LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!