UPDATE:
It's been a couple weeks since my last support update and I apologize for not updating you guys sooner! My life has been nonstop and I still have a growing list of things to do, but let me just announce that God has provided all my support for the summer...!!! Wait, there's more. He not only has provided all my support, but He has also provided more than enough. Woo woo! BUT, it's still not over. I am still accepting support if anyone is still wanting to give because my team is still raising the funds they need so with whatever I have extra, I am giving it to the TEAM GOAL. Don't think that I'm going to spend it on a rockin' kangaroo skin jacket or something haha even though that would be super cool. In the amount raised, we have all the funds we need for the trip. If any of you are now wanting a kangaroo skin jacket, you can get in line behind my brothers who are requesting the ultimate safari guide suit. But on a SERIOUS note, if anyone wants to receive a postcard from Australia this summer, please send me your address via comment, FB, email, etc.. whatevs- as long as it gets to me, I will work my magic=). So far, I've received a couple addresses from you guys. OH and another thing. I have been blessed with some correspondence from two ladies who are currently living and serving in Australia right now. They have sent me a couple emails so far and, hopefully, we will continue to stay in touch. They have been so helpful with giving me helpful ways to be preparing for the trip as well as praying for the country, so please continue to pray for Australia! We leave the 17th of May and will be returning the end of June.Thank so much for your support in following my blog. Without you guys, this experience wouldn't be as exciting because i wouldn't have your support- so thank you from the bottom of my heart. Y'all have made this journey such an encouraging one for me.
I was actually going to post last week but I knew I would have a ton to say about this past weekend, which was Outback America on the farm, so I just decided to wait a little longer (www.outbackamerica.org). Outback is a weekend adventure developed to give parents and youth a practical strategy for daily living. The strategy focuses on the participant's vertical relationship with Christ and their horizontal relationship with family, friends, church, and family. During the course of the 48-hour weekend, parents and youth find their lives transformed through inspirational talks that help them develop a daily strategy for life purpose, instill personal standards for moral purity, and begin cultivating a Christ honoring parent/child relationship. My family has been a part of this since my dad tag-teamed with Bruce Johnston, owner of JH Ranch in California, to see the vision of Outback America come alive. So far, Outback has reached many cities around Alabama and surrounding areas as well as countries, such as Kenya, and Israel. Who can say God ISN'T doing something big right now?
Outback America is most likely one of my most favorite weekends out of the whole year. No lie. If I had to choose, I would pick Outback America over the Iron Bowl. Yes, i would. These weekends are packed with miracles and you can clearly see the Lord's hand in the lives who attend and in the staff who volunteer of their time. Maybe the part I love the most is the community i feel when we all the staff comes together again or maybe it's the undistracted environment. Of course, you see new faces every Outback but you also see faces that have served ever since the first Outback was brought to the farm years ago... the days of when I had braces (DEFINITELY been awhile).
I helped coach the amazing PURPLE PIRATES this past weekend, a father/daughter team who rocked my world, with the lovely help of Frances Dove. My co and I, along with the adult coach Steve, had five amazing father/daughter couples in the group who i grew very close to during the span of the weekend. Upon them arriving with their nervous daughters, I tried to loosen up the anxiety of the weekend into trying to crack jokes here and there... If any of you know me really really well, I know you are shaking your head right now because you think I have lame jokes. WELL, for your information, they liked them! Uhuh, they sure did. Maybe it was to make me feel better about myself but I don't care. As long as they laughed, I'm good to go, even if it wasn't truly genuine or not. Haha but seriously, I did tell my girls to forget everything they had been working for, such as that smokin' hot bod for prom, because we had unlimited free food for them to eat. If they needed a buddy to go back over to the serving line with them for seconds, they could just signal across the table to me and I would not let them down. My girls made me proud to say the least. I had one girl text me after she left on Sunday that said, "Hey Ramsey its Mary Adeline, GO FOOD!".... For a second, I felt like a glutton but just for a second. God is good and so is food... free food.I will say this Outback was very different from others we have experienced before. During Friday night's talk, i felt an uneven feeling in the air.. like something wasn't right or just different. On Sunday, I was talking to two other coaches and I mentioned it to them, the uneasy feeling I got the first night. Right as I told them, they both expressed to me that they felt the same thing and another lady who was over the prayer tent all weekend said she sensed the same thing, like a very strong sense of spiritual warfare over the farm. We all got on our knees right there and prayed over campers, praying against whatever the devil was trying to scheme up. You know when the devil is in the mix that he is trying very hard to resist against something big God is doing in the lives of God's people.
There were many breakthroughs this past weekend, but I am certain many more happened after the weekend ended. I encourage any of you to be apart of an Outback weekend if you ever have the time. It's an experience like no other and you will encounter God in such a real way. Look on the website to find a date that works with your schedule or just call me if you have any questions. I did think it was cool that I've worked about 15+ Outbacks in my life but never did i realize I would one day get to go to the REAL outback."As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands."
Isaiah 55:10-12
INTERESTING AUSTRALIA FACT:
Here are some unusual terms and thier meanings:
-barbie-barbecue grill
-clobber-clothes
-cozzie-swimsuit
-fairy floss-cotton candy
-Give it a burl!-means give it a try!
-mozzie-mosquito
-ripper-terrific
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