"Hey no fair!"

my first week at camp? check!
it's been an interesting week to say the least, including an unexpected position switch, a wonderful handful of a camper, two incredible co-counsellors, and a beautiful group of girls to hang out with. I got switched to being a 1-on-1 counsellor, hanging out with a great little girl all week, singing "do you want to build a snowman" and listening to her pray for extended periods of time. the week started off rough, as I wasn't expecting to be a 1-on-1 and wasn't prepared for the handful side of this great little girl. however, the rest of the week significantly improved and definitely turned quite great towards the end!
so now I have 2 days to relax before going back to camp for another week... though this week should be a lot easier, but not counting on that. what I am counting on is that God will bring me through it and that I will learn so much.

new beginnings | blog titles explained

I've had the privilege of working at camp for the past few summers, and as this camp is a little more southern than where i live, the staff (and citizens of the nearby city) have developed their own vocabulary. this includes many things, such as calling people a gem or saying "i'm peacing" instead of "i'm leaving". i think my favourite one has been "the Jesus life", which essentially means living life for Jesus.
essentially, that was my purpose for my blog. i wanted to share my adventures following Christ, my adventures living the Jesus life in Australia. hence, "the Jesus life down under". however, now that i'm home, i'll be continuing to post on occasion, not about my DTS experience but about my "regular life" experience. it's always an adventure following Christ!
hence the new blog title- "the jesus life". no longer down under, but still following Him! the new URL is www.livingthejesuslife.blogspot.com
blessings to you! thanks for reading :)

thoughts | one week post DTS

well it's Saturday evening... approximately a week ago (taking time difference into account) I was on a plane leaving Australia. it was a rough trip home, but it feels so good to be in my own bed again.
main major differences from my life over the past 6 months:
1) sleeping in a room by myself. will never underestimate it again.
2) having so much space for my things
3) having so many things (read: not living out of a backpack)
4) driving (I LOVE driving)
5) air conditioning- it was 35 degrees outside today. I was wearing a sweatshirt the first time I went outside, decided it was too hot, so I went inside and was cold. what a concept. Australians don't have internal heating or cooling so this is still a novelty :)
6) temperature controlled showers
7) the sheer amount of meat. we had steak for supper today and it was beautiful
8) having free time
9) no dress code- what I was wearing today didn't cover my knees or my shoulders (our dress code in Cambodia) and it was so nice!
10) no one making fun of my accent ;)
11) being by myself most of the time. my family still has lives that went on without me (strange, I know) so I've been alone quite a bit this week as they're still busy. pretty tough!

while these things are pretty difficult, it's so nice to be home. it still feels surreal, like these past 6 months never happened, but I know it did and I can still feel the changes. I miss my DTS family though, and Australia, and I even miss Cambodia a bit :)
Prayer would be so appreciated as I continue to adjust back to jet lag... I get so so incredibly tired in the late afternoon (2-4 am in aus) and the last couple days I have succumbed and taken a nap. and then I go to sleep a few hours later aided by melatonin... I have some exciting news about the rest of my summer though that will be posted later ;)
thank you for your continued interest in my life! i'm blessed to have such a great support network!
-Cailey
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37)

And 6 months later, I'm back in LAX.

So I'm back in LAX.
6 months ago, I was here, and spent most of those 8 hours upset by myself, sure that I was doing the wrong thing.
And 6 months later, here I am!
It's been a crazy 6 months full of meeting new people, experiencing new cultures and new lifestyles, and falling in love with God again and again and again.
Tonight I go home! It may be around 7:30, it may be around 11:30, but I'll be home, in the land of hockey and poutine and polite people and Tim Horton's. I am so excited to see my family again, but I will miss my YWAM family, for sure.

Romans 8:37- "no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us."

2 weeks | thoughts

today is Monday, March 24. in 2 weeks from today, the second half of my adventure starts- we board a plane to get to southeast asia, where we'll be spending the next 3 months. we'll be working with a local youth development centre, teaching English and other topics like computers and hopefully music.
so how do I feel about living out of a hiking backpack for 3 months? pretty scared, as of right now. it's a whole bunch of new experiences, and my human side isn't so sure it wants new experiences. it wants to stay in my comfortable bed with mostly reliable wifi where we aren't sweating like crazy most of the time... but the rest of me is SO excited for all the new experiences we're going to have!
we're going to work with kids, experience a new country with rich heritage, and most of all we're going to see Jesus move in INSANE ways. i'm going because of Jesus, but also to bring Jesus to those who need Him most.
lately, I've been really challenged by the song Oceans (where feet may fail) by Hillsong, especially the bridge:
Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders
let me walk upon the waters
wherever you would call me
take me deeper then my feet will ever wander
and my faith will be made stronger
in the presence of my Saviour
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy9nwe9_xzw
(ps it's 9 minutes, sorry... but it's so good!)
there's so many good parts to that bridge! i'm going to dissect it with how it relates to my life lately.
"Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders"
so often, I think that trust in God is something that holds us back. we don't want to trust in God because we don't think he'll pull through... but yet he's so good! He's SO GOOD! he deserves borderless trust!
"let me walk upon the waters, wherever you would call me"
whenever I picture myself hanging out with Jesus (using Joel's classic exercise for those of you who know what that is) we're always walking on the water together down a river in Alberta that we went white water rafting down, so this line is especially poignant to me. I want to trust Jesus enough that I can walk on water; trust him enough that I would go wherever he would call me willingly.
"take me deeper then my feet will ever wander"
I don't really know what this means, to be honest. I'm spending a lot of time trying to figure out what this line means, because I want to figure out what it means to be taken deeper then my feet will wander... sounds like something i'd want to do!
"and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Saviour"
such a truth. a solid truth that you can lean on.
I think that every part of this song is worth listening to. it's in my heart and will continue to stay there over outreach :) so many parts to cling to.
so I guess that's kind of all I have for now. i'm feeling really blessed, especially by the incredible girls on my dts :) we're planning a trip into Sydney this weekend, and i'm really looking forward to spending time with these girls!
prayer would be really appreciated for the following:
-health (my stomach is still bothering me :(  )
-safety (as always)
-wisdom for leadership
-money for those of us who don't have all of the outreach money yet
-peace about our situation- whether about money or living situation on outreach
-visa stuff to fall into place
-team unity

thanks so much! i'm excited to continue to share my journey with you :)
again, i won't be posting on outreach, so if you want to keep updated, email me at cwieler@ywamwollongong.org to receive emails.
Blessings,
Cailey

"If I were not upon a stage somewhere else I'd rather be *clap clap* if I were not upon a stage..."

Wow! what a crazy few weeks it's been here at base.
we've been frantically preparing for outreach, fundraising money and buying plane tickets and learning skits... we found out our locations typically a bit later then most schools so we're a bit pressed for time. the fact that we were gone last week also meant that we had 6 scheduled outreach prep times left as of sunday, which has now gone down to 4. we leave in approximately 16 days for outreach, (april 5-6 ish) so things are getting tight!
this afternoon, we learned two skits to use as tools while on outreach. we'll be based out of one location but going around to do different things in different areas, and so one of the things that people typically experience on YWAM outreaches is the locals saying "Oh white people! can you sing /do a skit for us?" so we now have 2 in our arsenal in case that happens.
the first skit is called "If i were not upon a stage" (which is where the title comes from). basically there are 6 of us standing in a line on the stage, and we start off saying "Iiiiiiif i were not upon a stage somewhere else i'd rather be *clap clap* if i were not upon a staaaage" and then each person steps out in turn and says a different occupation. "A policewoman i would be." or "a dance instructor i would be." altogether there's 6: a policewoman (me), a dance instructor, a painter, a carpenter, a washerwoman, and a ballerina. so then after they say "a _________ i would be" then they do something with that action (eg. the painter would paint, the dancer would dance) and the rest of the line sings "And as s/he walks a long, s/he sings her/his little song". then it gets a little confusing. each person says a line about their job and they do an action. so the policeman says "stop! come here! get back on the pavement!" and gestures to the front and to the side, etc. the painter says "dip the brush, stir the paint, slap it on the wall." with the appropriate accompanying gestures. the funny part for the people watching (who haven't seen it ten billion times before like us) is at the end when all of them are doing it at the same time. each person is doing their own action while narrowly managing to miss the people beside them so it works! ... it's confusing but i can see how it's going to be such a good tool! then at the end, we all start arguing because we want to be the painter and the painter goes "it's okay! we can all be the painter!" and so then we sing it again with "a painter we would be" and then when it comes to "dip the brush, stir the paint, slap it on the wall" we all turn the same way and everyone gets hit by each other's brush and falls over. the point being that we all have our own gifts that work well because we're different. when everyone tries to be the same things don't work out.
the second one was a little more simple... it's no talking, just set to music. Funny music though, and then everyone acts really silly so it's just lighthearted. one person walks out to a chair in the middle of the stage and starts "painting it" and then puts a sign on it that says "do not sit" then walks off. the next person comes on and, pretending to be tired, ignores the sign and sits on it anyway, getting stuck. the next person that comes on is a "strongman" (or woman in our case) and tries to get the one stuck off the chair, but doesn't succeed so leaves. the next one is too busy to talk (in our skit this is so funny because the girl doing this part is married to the one stuck in the chair so the look on his face when she ignores him is priceless), and the next one is a flirt, trying to tease the stuck one off the chair but they can't follow. then someone with a Bible comes on and prays with the stuck person and they get off right away. the idea is that God is the only one that can get you out of stuck places!
so needless to say, we had an extremely entertaining afternoon.
prayer requests:
-health! my stomach has been bothering me lately :(
-patience for leadership as they book tickets and do visa stuff
-that the price of the tickets will stay down
-team unity
-that God will move through EVERY SINGLE circumstance!
-specifically for our outreach leader... our school leader is getting married so isn't able to come with us on outreach, so one of the staff on our school is our outreach leader. pray for him as it's his first time leading outreach, that he would have wisdom in every circumstances and peace leading up to our departure.
-for the staff staying behind, that they wouldn't be too disappointed and that they would be praying and interceding for us!
thanks so much for reading, and keep us in your prayers :)
-Cailey

School of the Circuit Rider

So this week, we've been down in a city called Newcastle at the YWAM Newcastle base. There are a number of different dts's here as well, from Brisbane, Gold Coast, Byron Bay, etc. we all travelled here for a "conference" called "School of the Circuit Rider". It's run by these two guys, Andy Byrd and Matt Nelson, and the whole week is focused on evangelism, how to do it and where God is calling you. 

This week has been INCREDIBLE. The worship (led by a guy named David Brymer) was amazing, the speakers were so empowering and radical, and living in community with 250 people kinda feels like SOAR, except for we're from all over the world. 

Let's start with the worship. This guy David Brymer, he's this super humble, honest, vulnerable man of God. He managed to lead us into the presence of God so often, it was amazing. One morning, the band decided we were going to have no music, just voices, and David stepped down off the stage and put the mike down and joined us in acapella worship to our beautiful creator. A bunch of us got to sit down with him at the end of the week to hear his thoughts on leading worship, and it honestly just impressed me that much more. So humble and so not focused on putting on a show. 

Okay, the speakers- Andy Byrd and Matt Nelson. These two guys were so great! They brought the word of God and the challenge of sharing the Gospel in a real and powerful way, and I was so challenged by what they had to say. My favourite day of the week was Thursday, where we got to go up and share where we were putting our "stake" down as a kingdom builder. Some people said things like God was calling them to work with teenage girls, to make films, to learn to tattoo, to open a skate park, all this super cool stuff. People talked about going to certain countries, and learning certain skills. It was incredible! And after each person shared, we yelled "Heart and soul, we are with you!" To show each person that we were standing behind their call. 

I had actually been hearing from God on what my call was earlier in the week, but I wasn't sure if it was Him or what. However, it definitely was- God is calling me to be a mobilizer. To equip people with the tools to be sent out to preach the Gospel. Not to be the mobilized, the one going, but to be the one sending. This is a little more of a compass then a blueprint, but I know my direction. God is good! I'll be attending university in the fall, in the international development studies, and I'm so excited to see where God takes me after that! 

Today (Friday) has been rough, I've been feeling quite nauseous all day and in a lot of pain. I know Satan is trying to discourage me and it's working this far... I need prayer, lots of it. I am becoming a threat to him and he's trying to get me down which I won't allow! Jesus Christ is above all things, and in Him all things hold together. 

Again, if you would like to either watch our fundraising video or get my email updates on outreach (t-minus 3 weeks), you can send me an email at cwieler@ywamwollongong.org and I'll be sure to respond when I can. 

Prayer would be so appreciated, my stomach feels like crap and my body just hurts all over. God is still good, and prayer is still appreciated. 

Thanks so much! 

-Cailey