Hi!
Let's see where to start....
As some, if not all, of you know I grew up on the mission field with my family who works with a non-profit organization know as Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM's goal is to disciple young people in an educational and Biblical way, in order "To Know God, and Make Him Known" (their motto) to all nations. This is the atmosphere in which I grew up from the age of three, and for twelve years my life was unlike most children born in Canada, and in many ways still is, because I grew up in the Caribbean. More specifically in the Dominican Republic.
Now before your jaw drops and you start exclaiming how lucky I am, let me assure you that I did not grow up next to the beach, or go to school with other kids, or eat yummy tropical fruit every day of my life. In fact, I lived at least four hours away from the nearest beach, was home-schooled (with the exception of grade three), and found out that most tropical fruit does not agree with my taste buds.
During those long twelve years of making good friends with the other missionary families, learning Spanish, making friends with some locals, doing school, and being a crazy kid, I learned a few things that I'll share with you. 1. I enjoy travelling, even if it means getting car sick every once in awhile on windy mountain roads. 2. I had an interest in doing a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with YWAM, which would teach me more about myself as an individual in God's eyes and about His character in general, in the course of roughly three months followed by another three months of outreach. 3. I like the ocean. 4. Home-schooling is not for the faint of heart.
In 2010, after all three of my older brothers where spread out over the globe, my parents decided to move back to Canada to keep an eye on my mom's parents. Despite popular vote, I was happy to move again. Seeing as we had been living in the middle of nowhere, four hour's drive from the nearest YWAM family, I was glad to be going. Some may think that four hours isn't that far...to me it could be the most exciting or depressing car trip I went on, depending in which direction we were going. Don't get me wrong, I love my family and have worked through that time with my parents. But, here I am rambling, so moving on....
Through all the battles of high school and a good deal of culture shock, my childhood desire to do a DTS was being quickly forgotten. I made some amazing friends in school, and changed a good deal as most teenagers have a tendency to do. Upon graduation, I realized just how uncertain I was of what I wanted to do with my life. University was definitely an option, but what would I study? Taking a year off to work, and figure out my life the idea of doing a Discipleship Training School worked it's way through my brain.
In August, I started looking into some schools. I firmly decided that if I didn't go this fall, I probably wouldn't go at all. I found one in Australia beginning in October, and non-committally I applied. Things started to come together, and except for a battle with the visa people I found myself boarding a plane on the eighteenth of October to begin what I thought was going to be a two day journey to Australia, and the start of a very exciting adventure.
Turns out the birds in Dallas had other plans. I stayed in LA for two nights, ran into one of the other girls who I'm doing school with and was on the same plane, and arrived in Australia two days later than planned.
Here I am safe and sound, thinking this is a really long introduction. Maybe I should have told you this at the very beginning, but this blog will be about what I learn during these six months. So if you would like to read about my adventures you are at the right place. I would also appreciate prayer, as I learn more about God and what he is wanting to do in me during this time.
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