a huge long April update

Oh dear friends, my apologies for the silence on this blog! Things have been so busy lately.  For those who get my ministry/college/prayer newsletter a lot of this will be familiar, but I know not everyone is on that mailing list (you can totally sign up if you want! Click the link at the top of my last newsletter).  And it doesn't hurt to go over it all again, as much to remind myself why I'm feeling kind of tired!

So I last wrote on the final day of Moore College mission. A week of college followed that, and then we were on break - which, for me, meant a lot more busyness!

We ran a fantastic kids holiday program at church called WildKids, where we explored for 5 days what it means to be on Jesus' team, with him as your captain. It was lots of fun to turn the church upside down, play lots of games, sing heaps of songs and teach the kids from the Bible. I had only volunteered to lead the singing for two days because I wasn't sure how tired I'd be after college mission, but I found I had plenty of energy so pitched in for the whole week.  I was glad I did, as there's something wonderful about seeing the progress of the kids from the beginning to the end of the week.

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Then on the Friday, we made the leap from kids' ministry to youth ministry with our trip up the mountains for KYCK conference. Had a great time with our pseudo slumber party on the floor in a Katoomba High School classroom with a bunch of Wild Street Youth girls, with the boys bunking down in a neighbouring classroom (but won't mention the toilet/shower situation apart from saying I didn't bathe that weekend). We heard some great, meaty talks from Hebrews, and it was a great bonding time for the group.

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Then a week of...what did I do? [checks calendar] Oh I worked at kikki.K.

Then it was my birthday!  We were going up to the mountains again for Katoomba Easter Convention that weekend, but to celebrate my birthday and Easter, I had saved up a bit and booked mum and I a lovely little cottage in Leura called Leura Lush (not such a fan of the name, but that is the most minor of points). It was such a delightful place! Really comfortable, well equipped, and just perfect for us really. After I had a birthday lunch with Lachy, mum and I headed up to Leura and settled in.

Our friends the Kershaws were also up early before the convention kicked off, so we had my birthday dinner at their pink rental house.

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The convention itself was wonderful. Exciting and exhausting at the same time. It was a pretty emotional weekend, talking about suffering and 'commitment in the age of disposable love'. I was so grateful for the reminder and encouragement that Jesus is the only constant, the only one who can show true commitment in love, and that if we truly believe in him,

[box type="shadow"]... neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)[/box]

Hallelujah!

It was hard to leave that beautiful house on that weekend, after time with friends, time spent in the Bible, and time relaxing.

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And it was back to reality and routine.  Oh! But I got to see Through a glass, darkly play in their full band format (with Amelia on drums) for the first time at the Townie! And it was so good even though 2/3 of the band were half asleep (as they didn't get on til about 11.30). So I'll leave you with this moody rawk photo and try not to leave it so long between posts next time!