Day THREE!!!

Day three of camp we were truly fully functioning at full capacity. Kids were moving, laughing, learning, and fun was being had by all. Most importantly the kids were learning even more! The cheer girls had put actions to their memory verse, and the boys and girls at soccer were coming right along! Skeeter started the day off with mentioning his friends and facebook, and who was his number 1!.   and, then later at Bible time today we gave the kids the opportunity to hear the gospel message!   Jeff shard about how God was his best friend!  And, 39!  YES 39! kids accepted  Christ!!!  It as a God moment. You could have dropped a pin in the place all eyes and ears were on Jeff.   Relationships were built and the team coaches were then able to share he colours of their bracelets and their stars.  See each day the coaches had been "awarding" The kids with stickers and stars to share with them skills about leadership, and friendship, and teamwork. But, the stars put together told the kids about the most important person ever and how they needed a relationship with Jesus.  And, without the coaches we could not have had such an impact as well as all the leaders and staff. Because each person built relationships and had shared their life with the kids up to this point! 

 

After our day, we packed up the hall quickly, loaded up our van and headed to Harrisdale. It is about a 45 minute drive from Landsdale. When we arrive we put on a soccer camp as an outreach tool for the church plant there.  They had all new people visit. And, it was great for the team to see the grass roots of where our church started. As well as get to be hand on, in the starting of the Harrisdale church.   God was good and it was awesome to see how we could impact another church with the team visiting.   After our long day, we drove back through the city to show the team the city lights and then headed home to debrief about the day, and go to bed!   We have all been getting up between 5-6 am and heading to bed about 11:00-11:30.. So, we are EXHAUSTED!!!!

Wedesday Day 2 of Camp!!!

By Day two, we had all the sign in quirks fixed, and we were a well oiled running machine~!  The kids came in got signed in, and off to a booming start we were.  This day I got to run the jump station! It was a lot of fun.. But, I am getting old!!!   I got to teach the girls important core moves and jumps that went with their chees and routines.   It was a lot of fun!!!  The sun was out and it was a bit windy... But, no rain.. So, we were able to be outside having a great time!   The Soccer kids were super excite as well, because no rain... MEANS lot's of game and skill time!   A great day was had by all.   The Bible lesson for the day was the Bible was true and it was God's instruction book to us on how to live life... It was a fantastic day, and the kids are really listening and starting to connect with their coaches, the leaders, and the church! God is moving!

First day of Camp!

This morning people were buzzing around the house as early as 5am!  We were up and getting ready to set up for camp... Sandwiches were being made, and then the hauling of all the equipment to the hall occurred!     We quickly entered and realized the city had given us the wrong keys for the facility next doors!  God is so good! And, in walked a maintenance person who was able to help us quickly get access to everywhere that was needed.     As kids arrived there was excitement, anticipation, and the room was a buzz! The Kids were so excited to put on their jerseys and cheer uniforms!   WE had four teams... The Joeys, The Skippy's, The Big Reds, and the Boomers!  Everyone was registered and in! It was a success!  And, then we were able to start our program.  Each day we started with a visit from Skeeter... (Chris... dressed up as a crazy kid who knows nothing about much!)   He did a great job breaking the atmosphere each morning and starting to get people to think about the Biblical point that was going to be taught that day!

Although we had 10 people from America and 13 volunteers and a few more from Oz.   There was heaps for everyone to be doing! The teams were between 12-17 kids each!  But, it was fantastic!  We had a bit of rain, and we were really hoping that the rest of the week would become sunny. Because it is winter here, and cold... And, wet and cold can make for some miserable kids! But, God was good and he didn't give us more than we could handle!

We broke for our first devotional time and the bible verse for the week was shared. The kids were encouraged to memorize John 3:16.  

The cheer girls started their banners and started to learn their jumps, and actions... The soccer kids started to rotate stations and learn their skills.  

At the end of the day each coach got to tell each child something they saw that they loved that day! This was a time for the kid to learn to trust them... But, also a time for the child to learn they were important and that they mattered to GOD!  and also to the coach!

DAY 1 was AWESOME!!!!!

warm-ups!

 Stretching!

 Skeeter and Pastor Jeff O'vell

Cheer Leading.. Jump and Actions Station

US TEAMS First Day in OZ

Today was spent building relationships between the Americans and the Australians.  And, doing lot's of last minute preparations.     To get to know each other we spent the morning at an Australian Petting Zoo..   The team got to meet all of our native animals, cute, slimey, furry, and weird! :)

Jeff had the special Jeff T. and Jeff O. had the special opportunity to be chosen and crack the whip! They actually didn't do too bad!    After the team saw sheep rounded up, and a sheep sheared, it was onto petting the kangaroos, and hearing about dingo's!  

After our outing we headed back to the house to put together 110 camp bags with all the goodies and jerseys! Upon sorting the cheer poms we realized that when we opened the package, they didn't automatically poof! Each strand had to be twisted by hand!  And, if we have 60 girls.... That meant we needed to do 120!   With 20 people including the guys.... this work was accomplished... But, not with out making some people EXTREMELY exhausted!!!

Upward Down Under has arrived!

Today the team arrived.  They were exhausted but super excited to be here! To be honest going to the airport was hard for me.  As I stood there and saw a family next to us hug their grandmother and tell her over and over how much they loved her.. It was a bit hard for me! As, I would have loved to have been that family... I would have loved my kids grandmothers to have gotten off that plane... Don't get me wrong.. I am EXCITED to have a team here! And, our first team ever since we came on the field 9 years ago! But, it was hard for me and I had nothing but excitement and joy in my heart the whole way to airport.  I guess you don't realize how much you miss until you see someone else experiencing that moment... But,  I looked at Chris and I saw him tell me to be strong, which made me want to be strong  for our kids.  They had made and laminated signs for the team! And, we only had to wait a  few more minutes and we were  hugging the team and telling them how glad we were they had come to Perth!

We brought them home and delivered them to the billets.   It was a joy for us to see people that are connected to our church step up and host some of the team.  We were getting 4 guys at our place! So, there will be a lot of men in our house this week!   After everyone was showered, we welcomed the team with our Sunday Service and had an Australian feast of food!   It was very YUM! (as an Aussie would say!)

Parsonage picture updates

Upward Soccer and Cheer Camp

Later today a team of 10 will meet at the Orchard Park Wesleyan Church in New York and begin their long journey to the other side of the world.  They will arrive in Perth, Australia on Sunday at noon and will hit the ground running.  Why would they travel all that way?  Because they are stepping out in faith with a willingness to be used by God to share the good news to over 100 kids and families in the Landsdale community.  There has been much planning and praying in preparation for this camp and we can't wait to see what God does through this team. 
Pray for the team as they travel and as they begin their week long ministry here in Landsdale.  Pray also for the local church here that we would be able to minister with the team and reach kids and families with the message of Christ. 

Praises and Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests Pray for the USA team to not get sick while travelling to Australia. They are travelling the 13-14th. to Oz Pray for the brickies as they lay the bricks for the parsonage! Pray God would call children to him and that we would connect with these new children in a way like never before. Pray for the parents of our regular kids club kids to grow in their faith this week. Pray for our current youth to connect with the team a build stronger relationships with Christ this week.

Praises July 5-7th was an AWESOME Women's Retreat! With many women committing to "Fix their eyes on Jesus!" The kids have done well at school as we received their 1/2 year report cards. Praise God we have families who have volunteered to host the USA team. Praise God we have 100 + kids registered for sport camp! Praise God the parsonage construction is under way

Women's Retreat!

"Fix your Eyes on Jesus!"

This was the theme of this year's Women's Retreat.  This was our 4th Women's Retreat in Western Australia.  And, these women are really starting to open up and let God use them to impact their friends and their families and they are really starting to grow a deep trust and a relationship wit God.   The picture to the left was our 2013 WW committee.   We are missing one person, Gem. But, it was Shannon, Myself, Glynis, Pella, and Elaine.  This year God used EACH of them to help with camp and many hands made light work for the first time ever! Each one of these ladies tackled, registrations, worship, decorations, welcome kits, games, you name it, they helped! I had an amazing team that let God use them!    As a result, the weekend  was an amazing weekend with 25 wonderful women. 

Juy 5-7th we went away to some cabins out in the "bush" and it was beautiful!  It was cold! But, beautiful!   God really worked on our hearts, and our minds.  It was a beautiful weekend for ladies to build relationships and Laura and Rachel's Mum,  Jo came away with us for the first time and she had an awesome time!   Last year we had 18 ladies go, so I was really excited to see that we had 7 new ladies this year!   We had 4 sessions where we did Biblical study and heard the Word of God through Annette Dobson, our Wesleyan Women director for all of Australia. And, then we had some game times, and craft times.  We recycled t-shirt scarfs and had an amazing time.  Although I was busy running the weekend and ended up having to cook three of the meals, it was quite relaxing and I felt God replenish my spirit!

Minute to win it games!

Pella, Myelf, Laura and Jo

 Caira doing the "elephant walk".

Karen and Bethany working on their picture frames.