YFC General Assembly

I had THE BEST time at GA!  I am part of an AMAZING worldwide family and this week convinced me of that. I am incredibly privileged to be part of what God is doing through this worldwide movement called Youth for Christ.

My room mate was Judy from the UK. We are the same age and got on SOOO well.

The worldwide YFC family is a fantastic family. They are fun, relational, dedicated and totally committed to giving young people all over the world an opportunity to make an informed decision about following Jesus.

Here I am with Sheuneso from Zimbabwe, Suzi from Northern Ireland and Ellian from The Gambia during our day out to the foothills of the Rocky mountains,

 and new friends from Egypt, Sri Lanka and Tunisia

and the crew from Hungary .
What a diverse and beautiful family we are!
(and a Sri Lankan again)

People came from 80 nations.  Some of the nations represented were Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, Samoa, Taiwan, Antigua, Haiti, Barbados, Jamaica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemela, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Columbia, USA, Canada, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Liberia, Angola, Tunisia, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tanzania,  Lebanon, UAE, Egypt, UK, Northern Ireland, Italy, Denmark, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, Cyprus, Ukraine, Netherlands, Germany.  I learned so much about Geography too! Bonus!

There is too much to tell.  As I went through the week I thought about all the interesting posts I could put on my blog but knew I would have no time, and so there are only a few snippets for you to enjoy. Hope you can view the videos from our 'family fun night' when we all dressed in national costume (I wore Rwandan!). These people REALLY know how to enjoy themselves.

Represented here are Venezuela, South Africa and The Gambia

and Hungary again

 and N.Ireland

Click on the arrow and just watch these Latin Americans move!

And from Central Asia - I forget which one of the 'stans' they were from!

And the team of young South African who spend a GAP year singing and dancing for Jesus (and YFC). They entertained us every night and were absolutely fabulous as singers, dancers and young people.

And then this mottly crew joining in together having a great time.


These people (Youth for Christ) are totally sold out to Jesus. They make huge sacrifices on a daily basis so that young people around the world can understand the love that God has for each one of them.
I am indeed privileged to be a part of what is happening in this incredible worldwide movement.

I fly home from Denver today, travelling via New Zealand to see Mal's brother and his wife for 24 hours. It will be great to see them as I haven't seen John since he came to see Mal when he was in the hospice over two years ago. And his wife, Lesley, much longer.

If all goes according to plan (and I know from recent experience that it doesn't always!) I will arrive back in Melbourne on Thursday morning to a welcome party of 5 little grandchildren and their mummies! I am so looking forward to that!

Thanks for coming on the journey with me. I'm not sure where God will send me next but I hope you'll join me on that leg of my earthly journey too.

Coaching 101

On Saturday, 25 of us began Coaching 101 training led by Chris and Linda Harding from Australia.

Coaching isn't mentoring, isn't counselling, is new for me and interests me a lot. It's all about asking important questions! I think it will be very useful tool for me in my 'Senior Servant' role.

We were fed a ridiculous amount of food,

we worked hard and had lots of fun,

 were presented with certificates at the end

 
and I got to know 24 great YFC people from all over the world. Wow!
(Note the background! Good on you, Chris and Linda))

 

When the course was finished we were all shipped off to
The Red Lion

 

to register for the General Assembly.