A typical dinner for an extremely appreciative korean homestay student :-)

Homestay

Well it turns out that my two students from Brazil cancelled, so they gave me a student from South Korea! What an hilarious change in plans. So suddenly all my food preparation plans changed to an Asian theme. Haha

Well i am so grateful to God for the change because I just love my korean student and couldn't think of a better one to have. She is the sweetest, purest, most respectful girl. She is gentle and really quiet because she speaks almost no English. That's ok, we have learnt to communicate with very minimal words and drama, which is kind of fun. I am re-learning the Korean phrases I used so frequently in South Korea.

Yesterday, my friend June who has two homestay students from Columbia and Japan and only lives one road away, decided to combine our students for an outing. We took them to Hillarys for coffee and then to Pinneroo to see the kangaroos and then to June's house for a yummy dinner. It was so nice.

Getting involved with hosting a student has resulted in new found joy. I am just so thankful to God. He is so worthy to be praised. Hallelujah!

Selling these B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L boots cos I need the cash!!!

Two new students to move in!

So after bidding farewell to my housemate, I met with the homestay coordinator at the English school nearby and she liked my house :-) Then Friday I hadn't heard from her so I called her and we decided that I would take in two young girls from Brazil who have opted to do twin share half board. In the middle of the night last night, I shuffled furniture around and came up with this! It turns out that my sofa bed squashes in very nicely into the room and I had a valance spare and a matching quilt cover :-P I think the room is just gorgeous. The girls move in 6 July 2013.

Final cuppa at Dome in the international airport with Miriam and Tri

Farewell to my housemate

Feeling sad as I bid farewell to my German housemate who is heading home today - well home for her is Switzerland. I have learnt a lot from her. I will be getting two more international housemates in to live with me. My life will change a lot soon! I need change.

Putting up a curtain rod

My housemate cracks me up - I was using the drill to put plugs into the wall and then screws so I could put up a curtain rod and then some curtains. She snapped me in action! haha

Earlier this week, some random person just decided to cut all the trees along my wall so now you can see straight into my house! Thank you so much dear stranger. So today, I raced out and bought some curtains on sale in Spotlight (~$21 for one pair of ready to hang curtains) and the rod from Bunnings (~$47 with 21 rings).

Formal marathon results

Today they posted all the results online and in the newspaper. It turns out Daniel and I both got exactly 25.23 minutes as out time! How bizarre - what are the odds of getting the same time. I was very impressed that the photographers managed to catch every person on film and they have made available a video of the race for each person crossing the finishing line - so in my personal video it has Daniel and I crossing together. Pretty amazing media team.

I look a bit retarded in the photos because I had a very daggy headband and long pants to keep warm. The majority of people wore their HBF fun run shirts. These are the photos the professional photographers put up that are for sale!!!

HBF Fun Run

Somehow I miraculously managed to run 4km in 25 minutes!!! AND I won a raffle with my C25 orange ticket. I got a fitness ball. God is so good.

After that week of training where I ran 3km four days in a row, the next week I was in much pain when I ran, to the extent that I couldn't run more than 2km. I found out from a fitness magazine that I had achilles tendonitis. It's when you train too much, more than what your body can cope with and the tendons in your legs become stiff and immovable. So for the rest of the week, I simply had to rest. Saturday, I went to a prayer meeting and I think I somehow got miraculously healed, though I didn't even ask for prayer!

So then today, amazingly I completed with run without stopping (except for a drink break) and I just couldn't believe it. I ran past lots of people and finished same time as Daniel. Yukari, his wife, beat both of us!!!

Three laps around the park across the road from work

Miraculously managed to run 3km today in 22 minutes. What a miracle, given I could only run 2km last week :-) Somehow I have to work my way up so I can complete the HBF fun run in 2 weeks. Oh my goodness, what was I thinking when I registered?!?!? lol

God is faithful

God told me that everything would come out well and I believe him :-)

Prayer connect

Last weekend, Ps Anne asked me to teach on prayer at the Prayer Connect, which is a once a month gathering of intercessors and prayer warriors. I started by sharing the story about the farm workers I heard in South korea.

Then I gave a 15 minute testimony about how I used to be just like those workers who tried to please God without seeking His perfect will. I rose to a high permanent position in govt and got to a state where i was very unhappy and dissatisfied with my life, feeling like I had missed God's perfect will. He spoke to me in a dream and I obeyed His leading to quite my job, despite it meaning giving up financial security for the rest of my life and laying down my desire to buy a house.

I gave an overview using powerpoint about following the Holy Spirit's leading to Mexico, America and South Korea and showed a few photos and shared little gems about what I had learnt about prayer in each nation. Then I shared the testimony of coming home, God restoring my employment to get me an even better permanent govt job and then buying a house one month into my job. What a God of restoration!

Then I showed the promo video from my IHOP internship and shared some teaching on apostolic prayer and how to apply them. I broke down Ephesians 1:17-19 and showed how you can look up each key word in the dictionary and find scriptures for each one. Then I demonstrated how you can pray it as a comprehensive extended prayer. Then I played some IHOP recordings on two other apostolic prayers and got them all to write down the words they heard, basically to expand their prayer vocabulary. Then we prayed in tongues for 10 minutes before I broke them into small groups to pray for the church while IHOP music was playing in the background.

It was received so well and everyone seemed to get into it! So now Ps Anne has asked me to lead the next Prayer Connect at the end of May!

I really don't want to do it, but decided to take on the challenge of waiting for the Lord to provide an inspiring message to me to give.

I went to Ps Anne's house to pray yesterday and she prophesied over me. She said this is a preparation time and I will go overseas again. Wow.

Calling words of encouragement into our lives

A really cool thing I learnt to do at bible college was to call those things that be not as though they are and specifically to call words of encouragement into my life. On Friday, i called words of encouragement into my life and scored this beauty to my boss about me :-) 

From: Christianne White
Sent: Friday, 3 May 2013 3:07 PM
To: Alberts, Ruth
Subject: excellent customer service

Good Afternoon Ruth

I thought that you should be aware of the excellent customer service that I and my colleagues at the WA Centre for Health and Ageing have received from Michelle.

Michelle, not only provided us with helpful information, she was patient with our endless questions and dealt with our questions in a helpful and professional manner.

I would like to thank Michelle for her excellent customer service, she truly went over and above to assist us with our Ethics submissions.

Best regards

Christianne

Business Development Manager

What a day!

Had such a lovely chilled out day. Went to the Post Office and mailed Brisa's pressy (it was her b'day almost two months ago - dulp!) and a little note to Jess in South Korea with some teachers reward stickers. Then I went to the op shop and scored a pin-up board and a couple of lovely formal dresses for work, then I went to Officeworks and bought Paul a present. I got him this really cool-looking book that is really a lockable hiding place for valuables. It is very clever and appears to be a book on Australian wildflowers.

Then I went home and typed some receipts out and did some washing and then headed out again to donate some stuff to the op shop and buy some groceries and get Chester a bone (Chester is the cute dog that comes with the rollershutter guy). Then I went home and filled almost two bins full of leaves and prunings and cleaned up my courtyard some more. Then i cleaned the window for tomorrow's rollershutter and had a shower and spent some time in prayer. I am so grateful for a day off. I really needed it.

Tonight my housemate and I are heading to Tri's house for an Indonesian dinner.... and there begins a busy weekend! Tomorrow morning both the rollershutter guy and plumber are coming. Then I am having coffee with Lill and Tri at 4pm and then possibly going to hear a great speaker in Subiaco at night. Then I'm taking Viola out for a bday breaky at the Pines buffet restaurant in Scarborough, then going to Paul's b'day party. Praise the Lord for good friends.

Love my Jesus who directs divine friends into my life.

Psalm 91

Yesterday I awoke from a very unpleasant dream. The devil is such a liar. So then I gave him a headache by praying loudly in tongues from when I got up (about 4:20am) to 6:00am. In the car, as usual, I prayed Psalms 23, 27 and 91 over my family and the pastors and my friends and I.

Amazingly, I had the best day at work. I wasn't tired at all and I was really productive. I worked 8.5 hours. On the way out, I slipped in the rain and went crashing down the concrete stairs. I remembered praying Psalm 91 and I knew God was faithful. My body was just stunned for a moment and two ladies  and a guy witnessed my fall. One came to help. She said "oh thank goodness us ladies have fat in our b..." then she stops, looks me up and down and goes "Ohhhhh", as if to imply I had no fat! hahaha Oh it made me laugh inside, though my body was in shock. It took me a while to get up and I felt a dizzy cloud of nausea come over me.

As I crossed the road, I began to declare Scripture over myself and thank God He is my healer and protector and that He sent His angels to lift me up in their hands so that my feet would not strike stones. I started to sing in tongues and felt the deepest joy as I walked to the train station. I got home and could feel pain and swelling in my butt, but overall, I was in great shape. No serious damage - just three bruises, no cut skin. I thought I had torn my skirt, but actually it was fine.

As I lay down to sleep early at 8:00pm, I could feel pain. I woke up to see the HUGEST bruise on my butt and decided to use my fall as an excuse to take the day off work, as one of ten free sick days we are entitled to when we work for Government. Praise the Lord.

Another testimony of God's special care and protection over me. I am so grateful to my beautiful Jesus.

Earlier in the week, one of my bosses was hit by a car on her bike. She hasn't been back to work since. Poor thing. My heart is grieved she doesn't not know Jesus.

Wonderful spiritual parents and my lovely German housemate

Isaiah 54:17

How awesome is God. Well after this ridiculous misunderstanding with Simon, he went around telling everyone a very distorted view of what happened and spoke many unkind and untrue things about me and it seemed that he got so many people worked up and against me. I was also thinking of my sister and her unkind and untrue words against me. I was feeling deeply distressed. So I talked to my spiritual parents, Pastors John and Tri, and John wisely said this scripture that "no weapon formed against me will prosper and any tongues raised against me will be condemned" (Isaiah 54:17) and he said weapons will be formed against me and tongues will be raised against me, but they will not succeed.

For the last day or so i've been meditating on the latter half of that scripture wondering what exactly God meant by He will condemn any tongues raised against me. So I did a little google search and this is what I found: 

Basic English Translation (BBE)

No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.



Wow - I am so incredibly encouraged by this scripture. PRAISE THE LORD. So even though my photo has been put up in various places with lies about me, saying i am abusive and a threat to my sister's kids, and even though it feels as though a huge crowd has been stirred up against me at church - all these lies will be rightly judged false! Thank you Lord Jesus. What a relief.

Reconciliation

Love my new home

God is so good to me. New home is amazing! I had every room (walls, ceilings, cornices, doors and frames) painted, mouldy carpets ripped up and gorgeous wood floorboards laid down, rollershutters installed on the three bedrooms, then a fourth one done yesterday, new gutter guards put in and a couple of down pipes replaced, my eaves painted (mind you, doesn't look like it now), ugly plants ripped up and soil removed and rocks put in instead. I spent $70 just on rocks! Haha

I'm VERY happy with the renovations and love living with Miriam. I'm sad now she is moving out two months earlier... but I guess it's to make way for the best housemate ever. He's on his way.

Settlement has arrived!

TODAY is settlement day!!! Settlement is booked for 2.00pm. I am so excited.

The flooring guys are going to start 3.00pm. They were meant to start yesterday, but obviously we had a little misunderstanding. Not to worry though. I am so grateful for a wonderful real estate agent, Jeff. He is just awesome. I think of all my helpers (buyer's agent, mortgage broker, settlement agent and real estate agent) he is my favourite. What a legend. He is just super nice and friendly and overall, wonderful.

Last night I went to Bunnings and bought some butcher paper and masking tape to cover the windows with. This morning I went to an op shop and bought a whole pile of tupperware. Actually, this is my third tupperware bulk purchase from an op shop. I just know that it is so expensive brand new and carries a lifetime warranty, regardless if picked it up secondhand :-) hehehe Praise the Lord. He is so good to me and is gradually restoring everything the devil has stolen from my life, like 100-fold!