OCTOBER 8th

It's Jeremy's birthday today! WOOO HOOO!!! He's in the surf shop working today, and then we have a fundraiser auction tonight for Christian Surfers Queensland. We celebrated last night with a guys only, steak dinner night at our house. Tomorrow we hope to spend the day in the mountains inland from us.

The fundraiser tonight will help with expenses of the Queensland region. I do a day a week of work for them. We are hosting the National Gathering next Easter  so that's my main focus right now. Tonight we are serving tapas and having an auction to hopefully raise a few grand. We're expecting 50+ people, hopefully even more!

Pray for a "successful" night, that people would feel they are supporting a worthy cause, and everything would run smoothly!!!

Aaron is selling is dreads, $50/ a piece and then shaving his head!! 

{RE} Follow UP

Teaching Religious Education (RE) on Thursday went great for both of us. Unfortunately, we both only taught 2 classes but that may have been a blessing since it was our first day. I (Ashlee) will most likely only ever teach 2 since there are only 2 4th grade classes. There was a scheduling issue with Jeremy's 3rd 5th grade class so hopefully that gets worked out soon.

Parents can choose not to allow their children to take RE at the beginning of the year. In each class,  3-8 kids leave and sit outside the class and work on something else. We are praying that they will change their minds. Some of the kids seemed sad about having to leave and others happy.  Also, at the beginning of the year they were supposed to pay the $6 for the workbook that they get for RE. Less than half the class has books so it makes it difficult to do some of the activities. Jeremy & I are brainstorming and are going to see if there is another option. Either we'll pay for the books so we know each kid will have one or we can pay for photo copies of other activities they can do (we make up our own). The school doesn't fund any of it, but we are not complaining cause it's AWESOME that we can even be in the classroom!!

Thursday's lesson was on Jesus caring for people. We told the story of the crippled man at the pool being healed. The kids thought it was pretty neat! We talked about how they can care for people who are sick, sad, hurt etc. One class I had there were several kids who knew a lot about Jesus. Then in the next class a little girl said "who's Jesus?" and a boy said "how do you know God is real?". Tough questions...and that is exactly why God has us in those classrooms!

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE KIDS WHO AREN'T ALLOWED IN THE CLASS, THAT THEIR PARENTS WOULD CHANGE THEIR MINDS!

.... FOR THE KIDS WHO ARE IN THE CLASS TO HAVE UNDERSTAND OF THE STORIES WE SHARE AND FOR AN OPENNESS TO WHO JESUS IS & THEIR NEED FOR A SAVIOR.

.... FOR THE TEACHERS WHO'S CLASSROOMS WE ARE IN(They have to stay in the classroom), THAT THEY TOO WOULD HEAR SO MUCH MORE THAN A SIMPLE CHILDREN'S STORY.\

THANK YOU ALL SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR PRAYERS!!

{RE}

Tomorrow is our first day teaching Religious Education(RE) at Pacific Paradise Primary School!  Ashlee will be teaching 3 different 4th grade classes, and Jeremy 5th grade classes. Please pray that the kids would simply like us and want to hear what we have to say. Pray that they would see God's light in us and know that we care for them!

{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!!