God called and I answered...

God called me and I answered, and that is while I'm here now. its been a crazy journey to get here.

The beginning of the story starts here...

In late December of 2012 i was first time leading of CE Camp and had an awesome group of 16 year olds.  On of these girls was from a country area.  She told me of the struggle it was to be a christian teenager in the country because she was the only one her age and the youth group was just an occasional dinner or something at the ministers house with her younger sister and a few others.  I left that conversation thinking that someone who was passionate about youth should really go out to the country and support them and care about them because that's what they were passionate about rather than that was a need to address.  

About a week later (Jan 2013) i was at Beach mission and talking with the Minister of Naracoorte UC who was on the team. I was talking about the plans i had that year to serve in my church with camps/events and how everything was planned out.  He made a comment about my passion for youth ministry and how if i wanted i should consider going country and serving in his church. It was such a random conversation and wasn't really that serious. 

Fast forward a couple of months, I didn't get the job at my church, the subjects i had picked got changed to distance subjects due to not enough enrollment and the place i was going for my uni placement, pulled out on me at the last minute meaning i needed to reassess what i was actually going to do with my year.  I made the last minute decision to enroll in a Certificate IV in Youth work to do as well as my Bachelor of Ministry. I figured the certificate was something which would become quite useful in the future.  

I was on the Uniting Church's Kids Camp Out (KCO) as a chaplain and i spent a lot of time chatting with campers and leaders who were alone  and looking lost.  The majority of these people i spoke with were junior teens or in the final year of being campers and told me about how they had to come back to KCO as a junior leader if they wanted something to do as their wasn't any opportunities to be a young christian in their country environment.  Again i was challenged that God should raise up or send passionate and capable leaders to country regions to specifically lead youth ministries.  

This seemed to be a constant theme in my life, i tried and tried to ignore it and ask God what he wanted to do to use me in my life, but every time i asked i seemed to get, that the country needed passionate and capable leaders to lead their youth.  

I also decided to explore what this country ministry thing looked like, to see if it was even possible.  So i contacted The minister i knew from Naracoorte and asked if i could come and visit his family in the April holidays.  arrangements were made and i jumped on a bus Naracoorte bound. Id never been to Naracoorte and if i was honest, i had no idea where i was going.

I spent 10 days in Naracoorte and in that time, got to know a few people, found out about the town and the church and began to paint a picture of the struggles and exciting opportunities that faced those in rural settings.  

CE Camp had a focus on the South East region in 2013 to run regional youth gatherings.  i signed up to join the team to lead them.  This gave me more opportunities to meet people and gain an understanding of rural ministry in a diverse setting. 

Fast forward again to October long weekend 2013 - I invited Naracoorte Youth to join with my church Hope Valley for the SAYCO (State Youth Camp for the Uniting Church).  It was really fun having a combined group because both groups of youth got to meet new people and understand that the church was bigger than their context.

Naracoorte UC wanted to get someone to lead their youth but the issue was that there was no funds to support that person. it pretty much shut all opportunities.  However If God wanted something to happen, surely money would somehow come available.  They applied for a 3 year grant and sure enough they were successful in receiving this grant.

Come December 2013 and a position was advertised for a Youth Pastor at Naracoorte.  I thought God had called me to that position and had so far paved a way for this to be happening. So I applied for the position.  Timing for finishing well at Hope Valley was a bit awkward since the job interview wasn't until January. I had been a big part of many of the youths lives for a long time and it was important that i left well and so that there wasn't awkwardness and so the youth ministry at hope valley could continue to grow.  I was really sad to be leaving hope valley, it was where i had come to faith and had been my home church, plus some of the funniest, most beautiful, loving and friendly people were leaders and young people there.  Also when i was saying goodbye and leaving, i didn't actually know if i was successful in the position or if in fact i would still be around next year. My pride was on the line a little.

December and January was pretty crazy.  We finished the youth year 2 weeks before Christmas, Hope Valley had a week long Christmas event at church, then we had Christmas and straight after Christmas i was off to CE Camp for this year where i would celebrate New Years.  It was an interesting time because i had felt called to country ministry a whole year before and was currently sitting right on the edge of the cliff of this possible change.

Straight from CE Camp i had a day to repack and get ready and was off to Beach Mission in Pt Vincent.  Here i lead a team of people and ran a teens tent.  We had a lot of opportunities to spend with the young people who were in Pt Vincent, however it was one of the hardest things i have done as i found it really hard with team dynamics as well as some issues that the teens brought. It was really rewarding though and i would do it again even if i had to endure those struggles again.

After Mission i had a week to think and to prepare for my interview which was being held on the 21st January2014 in Naracoorte.  I had asked a friend to come with my on the trip, but she couldn't get the time off work so i asked another great friend.  It was really great having her with me on this trip.  To pray with and be really real with. Plus it was really fun just hanging with her.

Later that day after my interview, i was offered the job.  It was really exciting, but to be honest i was mainly excited that where i thought God was calling me was actually where God was calling me.

I went back home to Hope Valley, had my last service that week, packed my stuff and moved 10 days later. It was super quick after that and massively scary but exciting.  I drove to Naracoorte with my mums car and my stuff packed inside, not sure where i would be sleeping when i got there. - But that's a story for another day!