{welcome}toAUSTRALIAnight

A couple weeks ago a new DTS started. The first night the school leaders organized a "Welcome to Australia Night". For those of you who have been on the Sunny Coast, you know how awkward the "Welcome BBQ" normal is. Whitney & Mindy, the school leaders, were determined to overcome the uncomfortable & slightly dreadful "Welcome BBQ" with a new, nicer & integrating dinner.  We served the Lot Burgers-bun, burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pineapple, beet root(red beets sliced), shredded carrots, & egg with BBQ, tomato sauce & mustard. It was held at the YWAM base in the blue room, with Melissa Geltch sharing some history & culture of Australia. They finished with the nut bush dance (I think that's what it was called). I think we would all agree that this night was a hit and much more successful than the traditional welcome BBQs.

As servers we were told to dress Australia, this is Jeremy & Bryan's interpretation....

some other bogans

assembling the burgers

Aaron one of our favorite Aussie bogans

{BALLINA}

We're back from our Christian Surfers(CS) weekend trip to Ballina! A little tired but still in good spirits! Unfortunately there weren't many waves :( The group made the best of it with trips to the skate park and a couple fun surfs in some really small waves. We were so blessed to be able to stay at a church in the area. No showers & outdoor restrooms added to the adventure. Jordy shared his testimony and had an awesome chat with the group. We are praying that seeds were planted and that they would continue to ask questions. Most of the kids that came on the trip come to Bible studies Friday nights. Pray that they will continue to be drawn to Christian Surfers' events.

Meet Aaron! He's an Aussie from Coolum and is also on staff at the YWAM base. He's also the Coolum Mission Coordinator for Christian Surfers. HE IS A LEGEND!

Jordy sharing part of his testimony

Watching surf videos at night... these kids eat, sleep & breathe surfing

our car full of fun! The 2 girls that came along were awesome! They could totally hold their own against all the boys and were troopers the whole trip!

Ballina {CAMP}

Tonight, Friday, we are heading a few hours south to Ballina for a camp with Christian Surfers. There are 22 of us going total, about 7 leaders the rest are "groms" kids from the community who LOVE surfing. Most come from non-christian homes. We're especially excited as there are 2 girls coming along on the trip.


///Please pray for this weekend...///
///  traveling safety
///  protection during surfing and fun times
///  surf! It's supposed to be "flat as".... no waves!
///  relationships to be built between leaders & groms
///  spiritual imput times would be well received
///  groms hearts would be open to Jesus
///  an overall positive experience so they will want to continue the relationships with Christian Surfers!

We know that prayer is very powerful! Thanks for your prayers & we'll update you again when we get back!

1st {DAY} @ HERITAGE HM

It was a great first day at Heritage HM Film Distribution for me(Ashlee)! I made lots of phone calls to each mission coordinator of Christian Surfers. There are 40ish local missions in beach towns all over Australia. Our heart at Heritage is to see how God uses positive films to change peoples lives through stories! With the movies Soul Surfer just being released here we thinks it's a great opportunity especially for Christian Surfers, as they can also use it as a fundraiser.

I work with a great team of people who all love the Lord! I feel like this is such a huge answer to prayer, so thank you to all who have joined us in prayer!!

Engagement Party

Last weekend, we hosted an engagement party for Jono & Kelsie! They are both DTS staff here at the YWAM base. Jeremy was Jono's one-on-one on Jono's DTS, so they're good mates. Some of you may remember him from our wedding.  He came from England and spent a couple weeks with us. He willingly took my(Ashlee's) orders in helping clean and decorate the barn as well as paint the farmhouse. We don't know what we would have done with out his hard work!

yummy food & punch (Australian punch consists of Ginger Beer, Tropical Punch & crushed tropical fruit)

Our favorite game!!

Kelsie the beautiful Bride-to-Be

Jono the groom-to-be

praying for them

Jeremy :)

Thanks Jordy for taking all the pics!

Ashlee's {"JOB"}

I don't like using the word job; to me, it has more of a negative connotation. For us my "job", is a very positivity thing. It's "ministry" but I'm getting paid from it. My new job is working for Heritage HM. It's a Christian film distribution company that exists to see people's lives changed through movies. They distribute both "christian" films & also family friendly, faith based movies & TV shows. They also love brining awareness to social injustice & promote many films that do just that.  Check out their website MOVIES CHANGE PEOPLE

I start tomorrow and will be working part time to help subsides our finances, as support raising didn't quite meet our needs. We see this season as a great time for me to work part time & hopefully save a little so we can some day buy a house.

My first "project" will be working to get the movie "Soul Surfer" into communities & churches through out Australia.  To meet the owner of Heritage and more about the "Soul Surfer" movement check out this website and watch the youtube vide!!  SOUL SURFER

It's taken longer than I expected to find a job so I am SO grateful for it! Thank you so much for your prayers!!

Please continue to pray for open doors to witness to the people in our community and especially the youth that hang out at the surf shop!

A Few Days in Byron!!

So we headed to the place where we got engaged! Byron Bay is the most eastern reaching place in Australia. It is this little hippy town that is gorgeous! After spending some much needed "us" time we are already back on the Sunny Coast and back in the swing of things. 

Today I (Jeremy), am in the Surf Shop and Ash is meeting with the Chaplain that runs "RE" (Religious Education) for the local primary school around the corner from the shop. We will be starting to teach RE for the local school here in about two weeks! We are pumped to get into the schools and continue to build relationships with groms and their families. 

Some more great news is Ashlee got a JOB!!! I will let her write what she is going to be doing. 

We love all of you and thank you sooo much for all the prayers and support!

Much love

 j&a

{a GRATEFUL heart}

We are so blessed to spend a couple days in Byron Bay @ the YWAM base. Byron is where we got engaged almost 2 years ago. There was no real reason for the trip, other than we knew that if we didn't take a couple days to get away now we may not get to until next year, since Ashlee will be getting a part time job and Jeremy's busy season at the surf shop is just around the corner.

During our 2 days here, we are constantly reminded of all we have to be grateful. My(Ashlee) heart is "heavy" with gratitude. There are sooo many things to be grateful for and it's so easily to not thank God and give Him the glory for them. As we chatted we were grateful for having parents who modeled healthy marriages to getting a bed last week & an awesome vacuum cleaner this week. What a wide range of things but non-the-less grateful for it all!

We hope that this week you take some time to reflect on all that you have!

PROMO VIDEO

 The Christian Surfers Annual National Gathering (conference) is in Coolum Beach this year! Ashlee is serving as conference coordinator, relieving Jono, the Queensland Regional Coordinator, of a lot of the work. One+ day a week she'll be working in their office and from home to see the event come together. It's Easter weekend, from Thursday evening - Monday morning. We are expecting around 250 people!

Here is a promotional video some of the guys have put together... check it out!!!

PROMO Video