Prayer Week

Good Day!

Our Thaibodia Team!



Soon to be Mr. an Mrs. Cunliffe..yay!

Well apparently we are in tropic rainstorm season now because one second it will be completely sunny and then the next it is pouring down rain.  It is kind of fun though and I love the rain, although I did not bring any proper rain gear.  When we get to Thailand, we arrive during the peak of monsoon season so I am sure that there is a lot more rain to come :)   Last Sunday, the one day that is didn't rain, Kelsie and Jono got engaged!  Kelsie is one of my outreach leaders, and I also know her from back in Santa Barbara.  Jono is also on staff and is from England and I know that he will make a wonderful husband.  I love both of them so much and am so excited for them!

Praying for Trisha

This week was quite different from any other ones thus far as we focused in on prayer.  Our speakers for the week were Leon and Trisha.  Leon is from New Zealand but now lives here on the Sunny Coast and is on staff with YWAM.  Trisha and her husband are the base directors of our YWAM Sunshine Coast.  They both came with only a few notes because they really wanted each moment that they spoke to be led by God...and boy was it! This was very different from some of our other lecturers and it was quite refreshing.  Leon had so much amazing insight into what our group was going through as a whole and was so passionate about prayer and praising God.  At the beginning of the week he talked with us about "harp and bowl" which is a style of prayer and worship that intertwines musical worship and prayer.  The term comes from Revelation 5:8-11 which says that the heavenly creatures "each had a harp" and "were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."  Pretty cool huh?  One of my favorite things that Leon said was "Be expectant for God to move, but don't be expectant for God to move in the way you want Him to move."

Andrew, Jason, Mandie and I in the prayer room

At the beginning of the week, we were each assigned to a prayer group with one staff and two other students.  Then everyday, our groups were given a three-hour time slot where we would come to the church and pray in the prayer room that the staff set up.  Andrew, Mandie, Jason and I had an amazing time getting together each day to devote time to prayer.  Thursday night was absolutely amazing and I would have to say that it was the most amazing prayer time I have ever had....ever.  It was from 9pm to 12am and when we all got there, we were not really sure what we wanted to pray for.  Andrew suggested that we start out with a worship song.  From there we just kept singing and praying for the next three hours and God blessed the four or us in amazing ways.

Steph, me and Lauren

This past Saturday, our Thaibodia team went to the Eumundi markets for team bonding.  Eumundi is another part of Sunshine Coast and every weekend they have a huge farmers/craft market.  It was definitely the biggest one that I have ever seen.  I didn't buy anything, but I loved walking around and looking at all of the crafts and clothes that people had there.  I was taking mental notes of all of the things that I want to try and make when I get home.  On our way back, we stopped at this deserted house that is covered in graffiti.  Torrey brought his super nice camera (he's a photogrpaher) and we took a slough of crazy team pictures.  I am going to get them from him so that I can put more up on the blog!

Aussie phrase of the week: "getting needles" = getting shots (as in vaccinations)