Comming to "Aussi-land"

The sun is heating on my pale skin, while a gentle breeze strays my cheeks. You would think that it was in the middle of the summer here in the country "Down under", but it is not – on the contrary. This would be a perfect summer day at home in Denmark, but here in Australia they call it winter. While the summer home in Denmark now is about to end, spring is slowly coming forth here Australia. Whew – it will be exciting to see how hot it gets during summer down here!
​
But enough about the weather, because we talk enough about that in Denmark already. We are now in "Aussi-land", as they call it down here (in Australia they use a lot of slang and many abbreviations), in a town called "Brisbane" – which is in the State "Queensland":

Here we are doing a DTS (Disciple Training School) in the missionary organization YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Our DTS is called "Pathfinders" and it focuses particularly on finding your way in life with God, which is what we want the most for this time – to find our way in life with God and with each other.

​When we arrived in Brisbane, it was late night and therefore quite dark. I remember that I squeezed Aron's arm when we came out of the airport and enthusiastically exclaimed: "We are in Australia!". Then a familiar face popped up to pick us up – it was one of the other Danes at the base, who we knew from home. We got our luggage and ourselves stuffed into the car, and then we started to drive towards our new home. When we arrived, we were shown around the YWAM base, and then we got our own "Honeymoon-suite" (as they called it). We were so tired and sweaty that we went straight into bed, after a short shower. The next day we found out where we where:

On the video and the images above, you can see our new home. When we arrived, it was so dark that it was hard to see where we were, but the day after our arrival, we began to find out where we were– approximately 15.000 km. from home, in the country of Australia. This was also the start of our new adventure with each other and with God.
​
Since I only know Australia from other’s stories about "Kangaroos", "Aboriginals" and "the Outback", it surprised me that Australia was much like home. I imagined dry land and more primitive ways of life, but instead I found Palm trees, rivers, big cities and stunning natural scenery. The first week I was shown up to a point, not far from the base, with a fantastic view over the city. Since then I knew that this was not Denmark, but Australia.

Another thing that surprised me is the many different birds which they have down here. Some of them sound like monkeys, some sounds like an alarm clock (trust me – it is really annoying to be woken up by them!), and others have a lovely little melody, which they whistle again and again. But it is neither the birds, the weather or the beautiful scenery, which made us come to Australia. We came here because we want to learn to know God better, and find out what He wants with our lives.
​
The first weekend, our DTS took us on a camping trip to a place called: "Triple C". Here we took a hike up a creek, where we got the opportunity to go swimming in a lake. But this was also a time where we were able to share our testimonies and stories with each other. It really struck me, how many people had experience to be broken and had wounds from the past. But it was also an eye-opener for how much God appreciates the fellowship. To be able to share your burdens with the fellowship, was for many the beginning of a new process, which will lead us all towards more freedom and healing.

​This week we had our first teaching about God's character and nature. Dean Sherman, one of YWAM´s founding fathers, taught us about this. This week came with many new revelations to us about who God is, but the most important thing I got from this week, was the importance of knowing God. I truly realized that the more we know God, the more we will also know ourselves. We are created in His image, and that is why we are also created to show who He is. This week has also shown me the importance of relationships, and if there is anything that I can pass on to you, it is that God is a God of relationship, and He is not just a God who is far away in the sky — He is a God who wants us, loves us and who wants a relationship with us. It is truly amazing, that such a great God, wants to have a relationship with us! He's just waiting for us to come to Him – He wants to show us more of who He is, and thereby also to show us who we are in Him. Therefore, I can say with great joy and anticipation that this DTS will be a new beginning, where we can learn to know God more and more, and also find out who we are in Him and what He has called us to do.

Thank you for reading this blog-post!
Please pray for us, and our journey together with each other and with God. 
You can also pray for:
1. The breakthrough of God in our life
2. Clearness from God about which path we should follow
3. On saturday we will go on a week hiking-trip, on "Fraser Island" (The biggest sand-island in the world! :D), where we are going to have teaching on hearing the voice of God. 
- Please pray for the trip, and for protection over the team.