Moving Update!

First, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! I’m writing this the day after Christmas, but it’s still Christmas in the States. Whew, this has definitely been the oddest holiday season of my life! Things have been non-stop and crazy with the big move to Port Kembla!

We started packing up the entire base over a week ago and began the process of moving EVERYTHING in to our new building on Wednesday. I knew moving an operation of this scope would be massive, but I didn’t have a clue until we actually started doing it. We moved Wednesday, Thursday, and the first half of the day Friday and finally have almost everything in our new home! The past few days I have cleaned/ bleached smoky walls, cleaned/ bleached/ disinfected numerous toilets and showers, unloaded moving trucks, hauled mattresses, and cooked with cooking supplies in boxes all over the kitchen! It’s definitely been a CRAZY experience!

I cleaned a few toilets...

owning that bathroom!

This is our new base from the outside... we call it the "pink palace" sometimes.

Side note: Our room is tons better. It’s still quite small (I think smaller than my dorm in college), but it has its own bathroom, which is amazing! Before, I lived in a cubicle with paper thin walls. This room actually has concrete walls, high ceilings, a real functioning door, and a window! What a blessing! It’s a small space, but it feels much more permanent and homey already. There is still a lot of work to do to make it into a haven and a place where I can invite people into, but I’m excited about the possibility of that.

This is definitely a "before" picture of our room, but I thought I'd put it up anyway!

All in all though, I am absolutely amazed by the joyful attitudes and willingness of the community of people that I live with. There is no way we could pull something this huge off without everyone’s help, but it’s amazing to see what God can do when everyone comes together for a purpose bigger than themselves. It’s exciting to be a part of pioneering something new and to be present for God setting up the foundation. It all feels very purposeful and exciting. There’s still boxes everywhere and a ton of work to do, but somehow even in that, it feels like home. Being here in Port Kembla just feels right.

So, thank you all so much for your prayers. I’m so excited about being in this building and having a permanent place for our ywam family to call “home.” God is birthing something new in this place... that’s for sure. I'm cutting this short and going to post again about our Christmas here with more pictures. Enjoy... part two will be up shortly!