Walkabout: Prayers from Brisbane

Dear Prayer Warrior,

So this is it, the end of my first STINT year is over. I flew in on Thursday and
I can’t believe how fast it has gone by. This year has had its ups and downs but I
have seen just how amazing our God really is. I spent much of November saying
goodbyes, finishing Christianity explained courses, and preparing for summer
project in Byron Bay.

Summer Project was one of the greatest things I’ve experienced this year. I have never had so
many deep conversations saturated with the movement of the Holy Spirit. Byron Bay is a
small town known for its new age culture (hippies, drugs, and surfers). The two weeks we were
there was also Schoolies week, where recent high school grads hit the beach for drinking,
partying, and everything that goes along with that scene. We focused on reaching these kids,
but God also introduced us to heaps of European backpackers and a few locals. I would like to
tell you a few stories of some conversations I had.
The first is the story of April and Jackie. One of our
Griffith students, Lauren and I went out one
afternoon during a scheduled evangelism time. This
was at the end of the first week and we were both
tired and frankly not in the mood to talk to anyone.
As we walked into town we talked about our pathetic
feeling mood and soon called upon God for His help. We
walked past the main bus stop, past shops, past many
people asking the Lord to strengthen us and not to
rely on our mood but on His promises. We repented of
our attitude and decided to turn around and just talk
to someone. So as we walked past the bus stop again we
saw two women looking at a map. We sat down and told
them who we were, when I mentioned Christianity they
quickly shook their hands at us and said they were
not in the mood, so we quickly wished them a nice trip
and left. How could God do that to us we griped! Just
when we thought we couldn’t be any more discouraged
He placed those women in our path. Instead of getting
upset I chose to laugh it off and turned to Lauren
and said “its okay, next one.” So, on we walked, but not
far until I noticed two girls in a park. I told Lauren
that we should talk to them. And so, we met April and
Jackie, two schoolie girls waiting to go home that
evening back to Melbourne. We told them who we were
and why we were in Byron Bay. They told us about
their experience with Christianity. We found out that
they went to a Methodist high school but never
learned much about the Bible, April seemed very keen
on learning about Christianity but Jackie told us she
wasn’t into religion but respected everyone. I felt a
bit discouraged because we had heard that many times
when people didn’t want to talk. However, Lauren kept
chatting to them and soon ended up sharing her
testimony. (Lauren just became a Christian a couple
years ago through Student Life missionaries) These
girls needed to hear how someone could come to know
Christ later in life especially from a non-Christian
family. They became even more interested and soon we
shared the gospel with them. Not only did we give them
an explanation but God soon gave us the opportunity
to show them the gospel in everyday life. Jackie
received a phone call that she may not have transport
to the airport. We offered to pray for them but they
were a little scared of that but soon became curious
about prayer and asked what we would say. So we told
them. We then continued explaining the gospel and a
guy named Manu walked up. Manu is a slightly
My Aussie Hospital Stay
I had my first overseas, as well as,
public healthcare experience with an
ER visit. While on our summer project
in Byron Bay I got a severe infection
from bacteria in a bug bite on my leg.
Now, this is not the story of how much I
loathe hospitals but it is the story of
how good God is and how He loves to
answer the prayers of His children.
“ I am still confident of this: I will
see the goodness of the Lord in
the land of the living. Wait for
the Lord; be strong and take
heart and wait for the Lord.”
-Psalm 27:13-14
I, like David in his psalm was anxious
when things were not going to my plan.
However, I turned first to the Lord and
waited for Him to answer. In my case it
was a swift reply. All day Friday I
watched a small bug bite on my leg
swell up and get larger until that
evening friends forced me to go to the
ER. We were having our closing dinner
and I wanted to spend as much time
with these students I grew close to
over two weeks. I was shocked that
the doctor wanted to keep me
overnight, I had no idea it was so
serious. I was put on iv antibiotics and
forced to have a lonely and painful
night. The next day the doctor told me
that I would have to stay another two
nights. Everyone was going home that
afternoon and I was stuck there alone.
My team soon came and so did many
students to say goodbye, I was so
happy to see them. With much praying
and persistent asking of my
teammate, Sarah, another doctor
came and decided he would let me go
home with some oral antibiotics. I was
overjoyed and praised God
immediately! It gave me a bit of
perspective too. For two weeks I talked
to young people on the beach about
God and His great love. Many resisted
with questions about the bad things
that happen. I would guess that
someone who has not experienced
God’s love and grace would have
blamed Him for the infection. While I
sat in a car back to Brisbane I could
not help but thank God for his healing
hand and for rescuing me from the
hospital. He is the God who answers
prayer Who answers our
prayers!
mentally handicapped 22 year old man who prayed to receive Christ with Lauren just the
night before. He saw us using the Knowing God Personally (KGP) booklet we use as a tool to
help explain the gospel. He walked up and asked us about the familiar book. Lauren
introduced us and the girls and told them how he became a Christian last night. April was
shocked and said, “that quick?!” Manu got a huge grin on his face and I quickly replied, “yup,
and look how happy he is about it.” I was praying that his abrupt visit would not hinder the
gospel for these girls but as he walked away I saw in their faces that it actually aided in
their experience of it. We came to the point of decision and both girls said they needed time
to think about it. April exclaimed that she was going to read it over on the plane home. She
thanked us for the explanation and for making it so real. We gave them our contact details
and told them we would be happy to help them get to the airport if needed. They were
awestruck at the love we showed them. All this happened in spite of us and our initial bad
attitude. I turned to Lauren as we walked away and said, “this is just one more example of
how I know God exists.” We did not see them trust Christ but we saw them move very close to
Him. God really taught us a huge lesson that day: trusting Him is awesome and even when
things are not easy perseverance has a wonderful way of making things amazing.


The four points of the KGP:

1. God loves you and created you to have a personal

relationship with him.
2. People are sinful and guilty before God, who is perfect and
just. Sin has separated people from God and the
relationship between them is broken
3. Jesus Christ is God’s only solution for people’s sin. Through
him you can have a personal relationship with God.
4. We must each respond to Jesus Christ by placing our trust
in Him as our Saviour and Lord. Then we can know God
personally.



The next story is about a boy named Matt and a boy named Eddy. One night I took two students
both named Andy (Andy and Ando) out to share the gospel with schoolie boys. After an
awkward conversation with a huge group of guys we ran into two boys named Matt and his
“Christian” friend, Tim. We chatted awhile but Matt took everything as a joke, his answer for
all my questions was “partying.” It was a great learning experience for the Andys because
they spent their time repeating analogies they had learned during training times without
even listening to the boys, I mean really listening. Ando interrupted and even belittled
Andy in front of these two lost kids. After the conversation I took some time to correct
Andy and Ando and offered advice on how to listen to people. I told them that what I want
more than seeing them learn how to share their faith was to learn how to love people like
Jesus. After that we headed out to talk to people by the bus stop, but God had other plans.
Not more than 20 yards away was two boys on a swing set. As we passed by them I commented on
how the ground was bouncy and jumped up and down on it. They chuckled and said hey. I
smiled and quickly launched into a conversation with them. One was named Anthony and the
other was named Eddy. Andy and Ando became my wing men and started a spiritual
conversation with Anthony who proclaimed to be a Christian. Ando took my advice and let
Andy talk to this boy while he supported him in prayer and Andy tried his hand at
listening. Soon this kid poured out his heart and even started crying about how he was a bad
Christian. I had no idea this was going on because I was lost in conversation with Eddy. He
was drinking ice tea and telling me he wanted to recover from a sore throat because he was
playing Mr. Beaver in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Very quickly after I told him
why I was there he became very interested in hearing a clear gospel presentation; he grew up
in a Catholic school and often fell asleep during religion class. He told me he was
embarrassed to ask anyone what exactly a Christian is because he went to a Catholic school
and should have known. I told him my experience with the gospel of Jesus and then showed
him the KGP. After each point he had a couple questions but was satisfied with all the
answers I gave him. After the fourth point is a picture of two circles: one has Christ
outside and the other has Christ inside, each representing a different kind of life: the self
directed life and the Christ directed life. What amazed me so much was how easy it was, how
quickly he understood and asked to have a Christ directed life. In the KGP there is a
suggested prayer. My heart was singing as I heard Eddy read these words in the dim light.

“Lord Jesus, I realize that I have been running my own life and have sinned against you.
Thank you for dying for my sins. I want to be the kind of person you want me to be.
I receive You as my Saviour and Lord. Thank you for giving me eternal life.”

I asked him if he could honestly say that to God and mean it. He nodded and genuinely
accepted Jesus into his life. After that I went through some of the promises he now has in
Christ, including the Holy Spirit, complete forgiveness, adoption into God’s family, and
eternal life. I was so excited by Eddy’s decision; I was “buzzing” the entire next day, I
wondered to myself, if only Matt could grasp the overflowing joy Christ brings instead of
his temporary highs from partying.

Eddy was one of 16 people who prayed to receive Christ during the two weeks we were there.
Total we were just shy of 1,000 spiritual conversations with about half of those leading to
gospel presentations. We were able to rejoice not only with our summer project team but also
with three other missions: the Gold Coast team who last I heard saw over 70 schoolies pray to
receive Christ, the Beyond Brisbane team who is a bit over halfway through has seen over 10
international students trust Jesus, and the Japan team was encouraged to see a couple girls
turn to Jesus. It’s amazing to see how the body of Christ really is meant to work together as
we were constantly texting prayers and praises to each other.

So I am home now but this is nowhere near the end…

Thank you for a wonderful year! I hope you truly feel a part of this team and a vital part
of the impact the gospel is having in Australia. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for us next
year!
Love,
Amanda