Opportunities, Challenges, and Adventures.

This year has been quite the whirlwind, just the other day I was talking to a friend and calculated that I’ve roughly spent about 180 hours traveling by car which is more than a week! That’s also not including flights and trains.
We’ve got a few more weeks left in the year with a handful of exciting things. Here are some recent highlights of what’s been happening in my life.
Outreach for SOIYM: This was the first year that we’ve been able to split into two teams! One team is in Thailand with Matty my staff for the school and the other team is here in Australia working with our youth ministry- Youth Street.
I recently got to go and visit the team in Thailand and see how they were going. What a special time, it was actually quite surreal for me because I have been leading the outreach teams myself for the past four years, but now having the opportunity to train and equip another leader as well as seeing that practical multiplication & growth for the school has been so rewarding.
Another highlight from this trip was being able to see my youth pastor, Buddy and his family who have been living and doing ministry in Thailand for the past several years. He spoke for a week during the lecture phase, so it’s great to continuing connecting.
There are only two more weeks left of the school, so please be praying for us as we finishing this season.

Awesome Newcastle Grant: One thing that we had heard from God while praying for outreach was “grants” We wanted to apply for a few grants to be able to upgrade some of our equipment for Youth Street and our activity teams (surfing, sport, performing arts, dance, art, and skate)
I put in an application for a $1,000 grant and after not making it through the first round I felt a bit discouraged. What i was unaware of is that our application automatically rolled-over for the next entry round. To my surprise I got a phone call saying that we made it to the final three. I had just 3 minutes to pitch our vision and hope for why we should get the money. I was extremely nervous beforehand but was able to take a moment and pray with my housemate and allow my heart and nerves to settle in God’s peace. To my joy and surprise we were picked as the winner! 
Those are just a few things I’ve been up to these past few months.​

Byron Bay Outreach
Now heading into next week I have the privilege to lead our team to Byron Bay, eight hours north of Newcastle for a schoolies outreach with a group called Red Frogs-
read more about them here RED FROGS
We’re looking forward to an incredible week of getting to connect with loads of young people and also the practical aspect of helping “safeguard” them.