Planning for the first Missions Trip team for Darwin!

Tonight after conference we met with a faith filled team from our church. This team is going to be the first missions trip team to the first ImagineNations church plant! They will fly up and assist in our Easter outreach services we have planned. Each of the team members have varying gifts and talents to contribute. The team is being led by Stu and with him is Brendan, Matt, Josh, Emily & Chloe. I am so excited that we will be seeing them in less than a month after we depart Penrith. To keep costs down for the team, they are going to be staying at home base with us. Some will probably camp in our backyard!
This will be the first of many missions teams who will come and support the work in Darwin. We are also looking forward to having a missions team come later in the year all the way from Mt Zion Church in Yuma, Arizona! There are plans for a team from Calvary Assembly of God in Hawaii to also come sometime in 2011. So grateful we are not doing this church plant on our own! All for God's Glory.

House floor plan

One week till we are "Territorians"!

Sorry it's been a long time since I last blogged - I will try to update more frequently from now on!
This week at church we are having our Missions Conference - "ImagineNations Conference 2010". I am just loving it! All of the messages we have been hearing have been brilliant, inspiring and life changing! I really want this passion that i burning in my heart for missions at the moment to stay with me throughout the whole year. I want to bring that passion with me to Darwin.

.....Speaking of DARWIN....... this time next week we will be spending our first night in our new home city! We fly out of Sydney airport at 2pm and arrive at Darwin airport at 5pm (6:30pm Sydney time). We will spend our first night in a hotel and the next morning we will sign the lease and receive the keys to what will be our home for at least the next twelve months. It will be a full house as we will be living with Laura, Ollie and their baby Marley, as well as Christina! The house has a good layout though and im sure it will be just fine.
For the past two weeks we have been living at my parents house because our furniture has been packed into a container and is now waiting for us in Darwin.
Ollie, Laura and Marley are driving the church 12 seater bus up to Darwin so they are leaving sooner then us, on Monday morning. Hopefully they will arrive sometime on Friday!

Ohhhhhhhhhh, it's getting sooooooo close!!!!!

God Moments

So at youth tonight during the worship time I was thinking about the 11 years I have been going to my church/youth ministry. I kept picturing me in different places around the building at defining moments in my journey with Christ. I remember standing at the back of the old auditorium (before we got the stadium seating installed), looking at the big world map on the wall and telling God "Which country will it be Lord? Send me, I will go wherever you want me to go"! I remember standing praying so desperately for the Holy Spirit to empower me at a youth service. I remember bringing in a bunch of friends from school to youth. I remember the first church service I came to - was freaked out, amazed that I listened to a whole 40 minute sermon and loved it! I remember different leaders praying for me at different times over the years. I remember getting baptised one night with 90 other people! I remember singing in the youth worship team. I remember when Troy proposed to me at a youth service just after he had preached - it was so appropriate for us! I remember walking down the aisle to marry Troy and I remember the prayer Pastor Jack prayed over us when he gave us communion - nations. I remember the old prayer meetings after the night church service. I sometimes felt like I was the only person my age who would stay in the auditorium for this & wondered why more youth wouldn't stick around! I remember sitting in Pastor Jacks office the night he asked us to go to Darwin. I remember standing on stage with my very first cell group from Jamison High and we were all holding pom poms! I remember the day Hannah was dedicated at church and the church was told we were being sent. I remember.....

So many amazing memories and God moments! It will be so hard to leave the church I have come to love so much. I guess we are not really leaving though - just extending the church I love which will have it's own God moments. So excited :)

First things first...

Okay - so Im gonna try out thing blogging thing. I love reading stuff, so I reckon I should start writing stuff!
This blog will be updated with details of our plans while still in Penrith, and then of course when we make the big move up north to Darwin.
Enjoy