Debrief with a little bit of coral reef.

What an insane last few days.

This past week has included the following:
sharing our faith with incredible boldness, pouring into the Aussie Student Lifers as much as possible, saying so many goodbyes, taking infinite amounts of pictures, lots of laughs, cleaning and packing, debriefing and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef.

Exhausting? For sure. Sad? Some parts. Encouraging? Of course. Adventurous? See last activity of the week. The last week of ministry I can honestly say that I went all out for my Lord. The conversations that He led me to were incredible. I had made up my mind on Sunday night that I was going to give every conversation I was in everything I had and not hold anything back. Because of how great our God is, He led me to people who fortunately, were not overwhelmed or freaked out about how much urgency was behind my voice and questions. The Holy Spirit took my tongue and was in complete control this week. I made the comment to my friend Shannon (who was my partner both days of sharing) that I have never felt the Holy Spirit lead a conversation like the ones I had been in. Each person we talked to we let them know exactly why we were in Melbourne and how much we desperately wanted them to know and experience the abundant life of Christ. I know it sounds a bit strong... well, it was. But thankfully, God had prepared the hearts of each person and none of them reacted negatively to the Holy Spirit's work in us.

As far as fellowship went with the Aussie students we've been working alongside, it was so great. I was able to sit and talk with one of my beautiful sisters in Christ, Bella, who is so on fire for the Lord. Just listening to her heart and her desire to bring others to Christ brought so much joy to me :) I was able to hear some of her current trials and I know God will bring her out of each one victoriously. I will miss her so much and pray that we may one day see each other again :)

Our last night in Melbourne, the STINTers threw us a going away dinner at a local restaurant and invited all the Student Lifers. It was such a great time of fellowship and laughs and was followed by an incredible praise session back at our hostel. Worshipping our wonderful Lord alongside fellow brothers and sisters who I've come to love was so great :) It brought so much peace to me and all of my teammates and we all agree that we couldn't have left on a better note.

And now, we have just finished debriefing from the last 6 weeks in Cairns. We flew up Friday morning and spent all afternoon and evening on Friday as well as all day Saturday debriefing and discussing some important topics and such that is super beneficial to cover after a journey like we just experienced. Since today was our day off, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we were in Cairns and spent the entire day out on an island off the coast called Green Island. There we spent the day snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef. I know, pretty sick. It was incredible!! There will be more to come on that adventure when pictures are avaliable to help illustrate the day.

So to wrap up... it's just been a phenomenal summer and God has shown up in some mighty ways. I'm really at a loss of how to summarize all of it, so I'm just not going to. When I get home I will be sit down and process through all of my thoughts and memories and lessons learned and I encourage you to shoot me a message or find me on Facebook if you want to know more. I would love to talk about it with everyone! There's just so much to share and not enough time in the day to write about it all.

Thank you again to all of you who have been praying for me during this journey of my life. I cannot wait to tell you more of how your support helped further God's kingdom this summer!

My last prayer request is for safe travels back to the States. We fly out of Syndey on Tuesday (Aug 9) around 1pm and arrive in L.A. at 9:45am (Aug 9)... time change is going to be the death of us. I fly from L.A. to Atlanta and then finally up to Richmond. My flight, if all goes as planned, will arrive in Richmond around midnight on Aug 9th. Pray for sustaining energy and good, joyful attitudes for our hearts as we take this last long trip together.

I love you all and I can't wait to see you and hear about how God worked in and through you this summer!