Motion Youth Conference 2011

My mom and I flew into Birmingham Alabama on Thursday to experience The Church of the Highlands during their conference week along with my dad who has already been here for 2 weeks. Thursday night was the kickoff for Motion Youth conference. There were over 2000 students just on fire for God and it was such an amazing thing to see and be apart of. Some of the most incredible worship services I have ever experienced featuring the Highlands worship team and Leeland. I was also able to hear some awesome and challenging messages by some of the most influential pastors in our nation today, such a great experience. I also heard a really great message based off of the Dr. Seuss book Oh, The Places You'll go... which explains the new blog title!


This morning we went to the 8:00 service at the main campus and then went to two different campuses for the 9:30 and 11:30 services which was really cool. It was typical service except for the main message was on a screen, streaming live from the main campus. Tuesday night is the kick-off for Grow Leadership Conference. More lessons, classes, worship and messages to come my way and I cannot wait to see what I learn and bring back to Michigan!


I wanted to share 5 of the most important but simple things that I have learned or have been reminded of through the Motion Conference:


1. God speaks in a whisper. The close you are to God, the clearer you can hear His Voice. (Rick Bezet)
2. The person on this planet you love the most is compared to filthy rags compared to God's love for us. (Leeland)
3. God is first and everything else must follow (Mark Pettus)
4. I need to both understand and encounter God. Know the word, and experience Him. (Chris Hodges)
5. Have honor in everything you do, show honor. So many times in ministry things may seem not important but they need to be done for some reason. Do tasks that seem small or unimportant with honor. (Dino Rizzo)

A flashback on my week

Tell the world I'm coming home!

Today was my 1 week mark of my time in Sydney and though totally unexpected to me and many other people I am sitting writing this on my couch at home in Michigan. For so long I wanted to take the opportunity to study at Hillsong in Sydney. I love Hillsong, I love Sydney and I love the ministry so everything seemed perfect, but I was missing the incredible once in a lifetime opportunity that was right in my face which is to help launch our new church in Michigan. Being apart of the local church is such a huge passion in my life, making it thrive and exciting. So, through listening to the opinions of my friends and family and asking for God's guidance I have decided to follow my heart, move back home and be a part of this incredible opportunity. I believe that sometimes God will close one door and open another, but I also believe that sometimes He opens two doors and lets you pick, so I had to choose what was more important to me and where I'm at right now. and that is to be apart of New Generations Church. I'm thrilled to be home, I can't wait for the opportunities that are going to be thrown at me. I'm sure many people are not going to understand my decisions, but I'm not going to let what people think of me and what I do determine where I go in my life. I know that God gives us the desires of our hearts. I hope you all understand that I have to follow my heart on this one and I couldn't be more excited. Living life with no regrets! I guess this Sydney Experience is shorter than we all thought it would be! I'm loving blogging and will continue to write as new things happen in my life!

Looking back on yesterday.

I'm sitting here in a convenience store right around the corner from my apartment. Its really hard to concentrate due to the Indian rap blaring in my ear. Yesterday was quite interesting we cleaned our kitchen.... I think the people who lived there before thought it would be nice to leave us some food. I'm not sure how long it has been since someone lived there but by looking at the chunky milk, dried cottage cheese and rotten meat I'm guessing it's been a while. Success! Its all clean now :)

My roommate and I decided to go shopping at Ikea to look for furniture for our completely empty apartment. And I needed clothes desperately! Did I forget to mention that my bags got left in Los Angeles?! Big bummer. So I needed to go shopping. We took a bus to the train station and then took about and half hour train ride to a shopping center. I got a few new sweaters and kitchen stuff like measuring cups, a pot, and knives! We took the train back but then had no clue how to find our bus again... it took about 45 minutes to figure out where we were!

Got some pizza, bought some juice boxes, and watched Toy Story 3 to end the night!
- by the way  my luggage found me last night!

This morning we were supposed to go to Bondi Beach, but the weather resembles a Tsunami, so it go canceled. Missing summertime in Michigan! All that has lead me to this convenience store... The guy just changed the station. This song has probably said the F word about 60 times. I think it's time to go. Miss ya'll
Keep me in your prayers!

Here at Last!

Well, after many months of planning and prepping I'm finally in Sydney!! Leaving my family at the airport was honestly the hardest thing I've done in my whole life. There were many times In the plane I thought to myself, "what the heck and I doing?!?" I wanted so bad once I got to LA to turn around and head back home. I knew in my heart I wanted to be in Sydney though, this is where God has called me. I started in Detroit and flew to Chicago, had a very short layover which meant that I had to run to my next flight which was actually very fitting because I was in the same hallway that Kevin and the Mcallisters were in in Home Alone! I made it, then landed in Los Angeles, and once again had to book it! I got to the internation terminal with 20 to spare before boarding... and I still hadn't gone through security. But all that chaos aside, I'm here and so excited! Went for coffe at an amazing shop called Sanoma and got a "Dirty skinny Chai latte" soooo good. Met my first roommate Diana, and went shopping for the apartment. So far it's just me and her but 2 more should be coming soon! Such a cool aparment too! Theres a swimming pool, sauna, hot tub, and gym all included :) niiiice.
Internet is still a problem, can't seem to get it. So me and Diana are in this crazy little internet room where you pay $3 for 30 minutes. We are surrounded by young guys yelling at their screens and across the room playing some interactive video game...
Also still working on getting up pictures. Just got notified I have 2 minutes left! I'll try to post soon, keep me in your prayers!