Impact Summer

     The week of New Years was spent in Arlie Beach for Impact Summer! My school split up and half of us went to Byron Bay and the other half to the beautiful beach called Arlie. There we sent up a tent and served free chai tea! We had live music from the music students from my school and hung out playing checkers and talking. The week was really relaxed and our ministry consisted of a lot of intercession and evangelism to the back-packers we came in contact with.
     The environment there was not what I consider my cup of tea with bars open all night and drunk people everywhere you turn. But God was not intimidated :) The tea brought people to the tent, but the holy spirit is what radically changed their hearts. The people of Arlie were hungry for the truth of God and soaked up our words and asked many questions.
       I got the privilege of actually making a few friends while I was there. It was those same friends that I ended up at a gypsy tent on the beach. A wonderful woman then taught me how to twirl fire! Only with God would I have ended up on a beautiful beach, twirling fire and worshiping on New Years Eve!
       And only with God could I have gotten the opportunity to meet Tony. He was drunk out of his mind the first night we met, but so funny! My friends and I continued to hang out with him the rest of the week (where he stayed sober!). The second night our conversation went a little like this

Me: "Tony, I just want you to know that Jesus loves you"
Tony: "Of course He does, how could he not? Tell me about your god"

        Our conversation went on for a good 2 hours where we talked about heaven and hell and how great God is compared to what other religions believe as there god. He also allowed for me to pray for his shoulder. I know that it is healed! We wont know until he goes back to work but he promised that "if my shoulder is healed, I will believe in your god" so I may miss him, but I look forward to seeing Tony in heaven :)

        Tony is just one of the MANY testimonies people had that week about the conversations they were able to have! You could feel the ground shaking from the Lords presence.
        Some other opportunities we had consisted of snorkeling at the edge of the Great Barrier Reef and spending a glorious afternoon on the Whitehaven Islands (top 10 prettiest beach in the world!) What a fantastic new perspective on creation and the depths of Gods beauty. I was absolutely blown away! Two of my fellow YWAMers were baptized that week and to see God moving and using their acts of obedience to bring light and beauty into those places was extraordinary!
         After that week, I have a new passion and understanding of the heart of evangelism and how God can move through it. I am excited to take what I learned there and make it a part of every day life both here and back at home.