simply me

Hello! I have now been in Melbourne for just over a week and the Lord is already moving in awesome ways! There is too much to express each detail in length but I will give you the overview. After a few lovely days with David and Robyn we moved to our home with Maria in Frankston. That night there was a single ladies hang out which continued the following day. Through our time together we discussed many Biblical things and questions. It was really neat to see people from a few different theological backgrounds come together and chat about what we believe. Sunday was a great day of fellowship with the joint McKinnon and Frankston congregations. These congregations currently worship together at the McKinnon facility. It was so nice to see and catch up with members from both locations! Through the week we have been spending time with church members in assistance capacities (like cleaning and watching children) as well as exploring the beauty of Creation around us. This weekend there is ...

Winchester Week 3 Review Greetings! I am excited to share that the Winchester, Kansas, mission trip finished up well! This past week my one remaining team member and I did various tasks for members of the congregation. We also spent time with some of the families. It was so nice to get to know some of the church members a bit better by just spending time in their homes. We also got the chance to interact with one of the unchurched children who had been in my class for VBS. His sister was playing softball with one of the pastors daughters. This boy saw me first and initiated conversation. He then sat with our group at the game. This was encouraging to me because I could see the way VBS had already made an impact on my community interaction. Something about his time in my group at VBS made him comfortable enough to approach and converse with me in another setting. That was such a blessing! Throughout the week we prepped some sound panels for the worship center, washed and cleaned wind...

This past week was VBS week in Winchester. I had the great pleasure of leading our group of Archaeologists -the 4th and 5th graders - for our "Faith Expedition". The theme this year was archaeology and the stations we participated in each day helped us to dig into scripture to learn about those in the Bible who had the faith to follow, believe, obey, repent, and share the good news of saving grace in Jesus Christ. My group of young Faith archaeologist were a rowdy group. But I would not trade working with that group for any other job this week. I had an interesting smattering of churched and unchurched children with a wide range of family backgrounds. It has been a blessing to share the love of Christ with them and be an influence in their lives for 12 short hours this week. Two of our team members departed for home on Monday, and arrived safely. Thank you for praying over their travels! Another member returned home on Saturday morning. We were blessed to have her working w...

This update was written on Friday, some more adventures gave taken place since then which mostly include our first fully sunny day of work, supper with two other families, s'mores, Church, and lunch with Pastor and his family! Week one of the Kansas Mission is now in the books! Myself and 4 other young ladies have been coming alongside the local RP church and presbytery in their efforts to increase use of the 60 acre camp they own and facilitate. Thus far we have done lots of tree trimming, sapling cutting, wading through poison ivy, staining of the caretakers’ house, fence set up, painting of the swing gate, window frames and grill. We have visited with members of the community almost every night of the week. Baked goods are our gift of choice when on house visits! Scones and muffins have been made thus far, we'll see what the choices are for our next hosts. Most mornings the pastor of the Winchester congregation, Kyle, comes out to the camp (where we are residing for the ti...