catching up, and catching my breath.

So once again, it has been a long time since my last transmission. When last left you I was about to tell you of my adventure in Sydney and beyond, which is where I will pick up now again.

After leaving Townsville on the 2nd of February, part of our team (Sonya, Seyoung, and myself) went on to Sydney, Australia, meanwhile; Deni and Hanneke went ahead of us to Tarunga, in New Zealand.

I left Townsville for Sydney not exactly sure what was in store. You see I had been the one to plan the first month of the outreach, so I new at least the majority of what would be happening. I have also learned however that part of leadership is delegation and so I had delegated the planning of two weeks in Sydney to Sonya, one of the girls on my team.

For Sonya, Seyoung, and I, Sydney came with a much needed breath of air. We had a bit more time to rest and take in some of the scenery there. Which is indeed beautiful. We were all able to absorb the start of our tour and reflect on how things were going, while also taking the time to really reconnect with the reason we’re doing all this, and thats our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sydney wasn’t just a relaxing time for us though, we also had a great connection on the ground there who was able to get us several bookings with local churches, ywam bases, and even into a k-6 school (we even got to meet with the Hillsongs hills campus church to discuss our ministries and how we can work together). Sonya, Seyoung, and myself each took turns presenting at the different venues. Some nights we even had to split up to cover multiple speaking engagements. For me, being uncerertain of what this time was going to hold for us ministry wise, we were immensly blessed by our local conctact and their hearts for our ministry. Their willingness to drive us from place to place, and their persistence to line up the places for us to speak could not have been matched. God really hooked us up with some great people, whom I hope to reconnect with in future ministry.

We have been having awesome prayer responses at each of the churches and ywam bases that we have spoken at. I’m really excited about the headway we are making in the spirit. We are also seeing young people being engaged at a heart level with this issue, so we are definatly accomplishing some of the goals we set out from Kona with.
On some other notes, Seyoung had a birthday while in Townsville, which we were able to celebrate in real tradition with pizza and ice cream. (oh the memories) And then we celebrated again once more with Hanneke in Sydney shortly before she jetted off to New Zealand. (she had already left Townsville and missed our classy celebration) So we went out to Pancakes on the Rocks for some chocolate pancakes with chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup on them! Pancakes on the Rocks seems to be a semi-annual tradition for us, as we were previously there during our outreach to Australia in July ‘07. Our time in Sydney was definitly blessed.

One must have an understanding of history in order to properly interpret the present.

Okay, so when I last left off I was leaving for Australia to begin the tour of raising the church to awareness and activity in human trafficking.

I have just completed the first leg of that tour through Australia. So once again I will recap for you a bit of that journey.

I left home, after the Christmas and New Years celebrations, on Jan 4th. And then, after 27 hours of flying and 16 hours of layovers, I arrived in Perth, Australia Jan 6th very travel weary but ready to begin a new journey.

Perth was unbelievably busy, our contact in Perth (the "lost in traffik" crew) were amazing. They arranged for us to display pictures in two local cafes and hosted our photo exhibition in the YWAM base. We could never have pulled off our first exhibition without them, and they definitely helped us be prepared for more to come. We also got to speak to two dts classes and the frontier media school there. And I got to teach a photography seminar for almost 2 hours. I didn't know I knew so much about photography.

Perth was a huge success thanks to the lost in traffic guys, and a great kickoff to our tour.

^
our books table


our exhibition!



sharing the message

The lost in traffic crew

After saying goodbyes to our new friends we headed off across the Australian continent to the city of Townsville.

This wasn't my first trip to Townsville, I had actually been here for a week during my dts outreach, and it was amazing to see just how far God has brought me from that point until returning again this year.

Sometimes we merely need to reflect in order to see God at work in our lives.

Townsville was, like Perth, very busy.
In Townsville we stayed with a Tongan family in one of the base houses. It was super convenient for us all to be living in the same house.
(In Perth we were several blocks apart, which meant lots of time spent walking just to meet.)
ALSO, we were enormously blessed by a new friend from the base with a vehicle to drive the entire two weeks we were there. I felt so British driving on the left side of the road... even though I was driving in Australia... go figure. But, I enjoyed driving immensely.

For ministry we were able to set up a booth in the local mall, displaying some of our photos and trying to discuss with people about the issue of trafficking. We actually had our picture in the local paper and a write up about what we've done and are doing.

While in Townsville we also spoke at a youth detention center, telling the boys our testimonies and where we've all come from and sharing with them our dvd and the mission that God has brought us on, encouraging them to make a change in their own lives.

We also were able to lead the entire Youth Street program the base runs every Saturday for kids 12 - 17. The kids were really into the program and we got a great response from them. Also during the week we were able to teach photography at an after-school mental health center. This was a place that encourages young teens to express themselves an tries to equip them with different arts and mediums to give an outlet for their emotional stress.

And back at the YWAM base we were able to speak to the music for missions school who is also focused on human trafficking. It was good to encourage them and set before them the focus about what they're doing and why. It was also encouraging to us to see new soldiers with passion for justice and using their gifts coming into the field.

While we were in Townsville, the amazing holiday of AUSTRALIA DAY! had its annual festivities. It was a truly Australian experience, with meat pies for dinner and Pavlova for dessert. The guys all played "footy" (Australian rules rugby) in the afternoon while I took a much needed nap.

And that brings us to Sydney.

My sincerest apologies for my lack of communication. If you've kept up with my adventures personally, much of this may be a review but nonetheless I want to recap.

April '06 - I began honestly, and earnestly seeking for truth, and then reconciliation with God.
After finding God for myself, my focus began switching off of myself and to what more can I be doing with my life than what I had been. Once having a revelation of the grace of God, I felt the need to extent that out of myself as well.

Februay '07 - I left Pennsylvania for Kona, Hawaii to do some volunteer work for YWAM. (restoring an old house, that will be used for missions training and missionary leader meetings)
While working there I caught wind of an opportunity to use photography in missions to expose injustice around the world, and to receive further discipleship in my walk with God

April '07 - My Discipleship training began. This was a six month commitment with three months of lectures learning more about God and deepening my relationship with Him, and really dealing with things that needed healing and changing in my life. And then, a three month outreach which took me to the northernmost region of India.

September '07 - After completing my discipleship training, I set out on a 9 month track around the world using photography to meet people and then writing their stories. This track to me to 13 different nations with 20 other photographers. Each one displayed to me different aspects of God through the people and landscapes. Each nation also has its share of challenges both for me, and the people living there.

July '08 - After completing the 9 months of travel and arriving back in Kona, it was time to process what really touched our hearts and what made sense for us as a group to bring together from our experiences during the travels. We all discovered that what touched our hearts the most was seeing and meeting people who had been affected by the abuses of sex and money.
From July until October we worked tirelessly on recounting our experiences, photographs, and formatting them and designing a book and two dvd clips to display them in.

We decided that since the focus of the book was around the abuses of sex and money that we would focus on a single issue that is truly the international expression of these two in one, human trafficking.

January '09 - I set out for Australia with the book and dvd to raise awareness about the issue of human trafficking, and to encourage the church to pray/give/go to bring an end to this horrible injustice.

And that pretty much brings us to present day. This is an incredibly brief overview of what has been going on in my life for the last few years, but gives a bit of a framework to were I've come from and where I'm going right now.

Pulling Together

Pulling together is such a feel-good idea; and yet, there can be a somewhat painful process which needs to occur for it to be done. Its a process in which you must rid yourself of pride and indifference, and gain the willingness to sacrifice yourself and prefer others. Pulling together has really been the theme of what the time here in Kona has been to this point. There are so many things which need pulling together. In the last 6 weeks, 20 people have been working together to do something we have never done before: to create a publication. This has required us to come together, bringing our photos and stories and deciding what needs to be included. It has been a difficult process selecting only one story per person and writing it in a simple way which will be precise and yet concise at the same time. This time has been ridden with difficult decisions that have needed made. Choosing the overall look of the book, the topics of focus, and the message we want to send. We have all had to make sacrifices about our ideas for what we had envisioned and really come together and pray and see what is God's focus for us at this time.

I too have been on a personal journey of seeking what God's focus is for me for the months after finishing the publication. Currently I'm praying about traveling in Australia for 3 months to speak out publicly about these injustices and get the word out about how people can practically make a difference. I have been taken captive by the friends I have made around the world. Despite their desperate situations and their undeniable and very present physical needs, they have shared with me. They have shared their food: showing me what it means to serve, and their joy - teaching me what it means to truly be grateful, and they have also shared with me their stories and their felt needs. God has laid it heavily upon my heart that these experiences are not mine to hold on to, but to speak out about. The people who were so hospitable to me deserve their stories to be told. I am their voice, crying out, and God says He will hear the cry of the poor and the needy. (Psalm 72:12-14)

Back to Business

So I've been back in Kona, Hawaii a little over a week now. I would like to simply fill in the details of what my life here entails and what I will be accomplishing during this time.

Even though I was only apart from them for around 10 days, it was a sweet reunion with all my friends from the track. Sometime during the last 10 months of traveling and living together we have become more like a family and community than a class. I think the relationships we have formed during this time will last and continue to shape our lives after the course has completed, just like the relationships with have made with the people of each of the nations we have been immersed in this past year.

In the last week our class has been planning and conceptualizing what our publication will look like, and also how we can make it in the most concise and effective way. We have really hit the ground running here and the goal is to have a finished product ready for print in the next 6 weeks.

There are a number of different issues which have touched each of our hearts during our travels
and will shape our hearts for years to come. We are trying to impart that same change which occurred in our lives to others through this publication, and the speaking tours which we will embark on in January.

As I begin to look back again over all of the pictures from my journey, and think of the people I have met, I really realize how much I have learned this year and how much I have been changed.

On my way back to Kona!

So, its 3:40 am and I just recently got in to Charlotte Airport. My flight from Philly was delayed from 8pm until about 10:45. Actually the flight I was assigned to was canceled and I was transferred onto another flight. #333. Anyway it worked out, just had to wait around a lot longer and stand in a long SLOW moving line in order to get my boarding pass switched over to the new flight. My transit flight from Atlanta I made really just in time, I only had to wait about 10 minutes in order to board. When I got on the flight I realized I didn't have a seat number however, because I was put on a holding list. So I just kinda wandered to the back of the plane and found an empty seat two rows from the very back. So I put my camera bag in the overhead compartment and sat down. I was one of the last people to board the plane so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. There was even an empty seat between myself and the man I decided to sit with. He was in the window seat and I had the isle. Well not but a minute later two Indian guys also board the plane and walk directly to the seats in that row. One of course was the seat I was occupying. So then I got up and told the stewardess that My ticket hadn't been assigned a seat number and asked whether she could assign me to an empty seat. (which there weren't many left, but I was certain there were some that were available.) She looks at a list of names she has and tells me that my name is not on the list and that I would have to remain standing in the very rear of the aircraft (where the stewardesses normally sit until she found out whether I could have a seat or not since my name was not on the security checklist of names and seats. After a couple minutes, all of which I spent silently praying that God would bless me with A Seat, any seat, she waves me to the front of the plane. She apologized to me for the inconvenience and showed me to my First Class seat! It was a pretty nice deal. Except.... my camera bag was still in the overhead compartment in the very back of the plane and all the spaces in the front were already filled. Even though it was only a 45 minute flight, it felt pretty awesome to ride in first class. So when we landed I simply had to patiently wait in my comfy first class seat for everyone to de-board the plane in order to retrieve my camera bag. And really with all the waiting I had already done, it was quite alright with me. As I was settling down into my seat God reminded me of the story Jesus told in Luke 14. "...don’t sit down at the place of honor in case someone more important than you was invited by him. 9Then the host who invited both of you would come to you and say, ‘Give this person your place.’ In disgrace, you would have to take the place of least honor. 10But when you are invited, go and sit down at the place of least honor. Then, when your host comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up higher,’ and you will be honored in the presence of all who eat with you. 11For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the person who humbles himself will be exalted.” Perhaps it is a little corny, but I thought it was cool how relevant it was at the time and how it was really a spiritual blessing, rather than a physical coincidence.

Anyway cool story I thought. God is good, and I felt like his little kid that he wanted to spoil, even for just a short flight. And also the whole time I've had this strange confidence that I wouldn't miss any of my flights. I feel like I'm right where God wants me to be right now, and He's ultimately in control so He'll get me where He wants me to be. Its a really good feeling to have, that I'm where God wants me. Like I said it brings a kind of strange confidence even with uncertainties. Although it is a fleeting feeling, its nice to come across every once in a while along the way. So, everything has been going smoothly to this point, and really now its just less of a wait for me here in Charlotte. I'll be able to catch some better sleep on the plane on the way out to Phoenix anyway, I won't have to worry about waking up in time for anything.

So today is the end of my traveling, for at least the next six months. I have been all over the world and have seen God at work in many ways and in every place. From Africa to Asia to Europe to South America. I have learned and experience many things on this trip which I will never forget. One thing I have learned is that there is one God, and He is the same just God to the entire world. There are many characteristics of God the He has placed in the different cultures, each revealing its own form of that character. However, there are also the fallacies of man which have pervaded all cultures as well. Every people group and culture has its own story, its own take on the world, how it came to be, the nature of "God", and the nature of men. These things shape their "worldview." These patterns of thought then form the basis for values, and a societies values effect their everyday actions. When these things are out of an alignment with the Biblical truth, there begins to be corrosions in these societies. I have been burdened now with the responsibility of communicating to the world the things I have seen, how they fall into line with this pattern, and what we as the church are responsible for doing in order to see transformation in these societies. There is a lot to be sorted out to be presented in an orderly and concise fashion, but this is a labor of love that God has given me the blessed opportunity to take part in. Thank you so much for your support in what I am doing, I hope to be a much better communicator over the next few months, and continuing on for the rest of my life as I continue to carry out the work the Lord lays on my heart.