Blogger, Update?

So I was thinking today that i would like to start blogging again but i don't think many people use Blogger these days. Is this true? ....Or maybe it's just that people don't visit me anymore. I'm sure the lack of posts are to blame. Is there a better site than Blogger? I mean, there was that one i can't remember the name of and then Xanga, Blogger... What's the new one?

-Bren

Australia Update...

Hello Everyone!

I think it's been about two weeks since my last update but, it doesn't really feel like it. Well, it's weird; sometimes it feels like time has gone by extremely fast and then there are some days when i feel like i've been here for years. Both feelings are good though, it's just weird how it goes back and fourth.

In the last email i said that i was just going into the 'Spiritual Warfare' teaching with Dean Sherman. Well, Dean Sherman wasn't actually there. It was more like Dean Sherman via DVD box set, an old TV and two horrible speakers. Man, his words were so muffled; i really had to pay attention. That week was really good; some really solid teaching. I knew pretty much all of it but again, it was good to hear for the second or third time. Every time i hear a teaching i've heard before i feel like another piece of it sticks to me; or i'll get new revelation on it. Currently, i'm learning about 'Lordship'; how to make God, Lord in my life. I just got out of a class where they were talking about Idolatry (things in life that we have allowed to take the place of God or even become more important than Him to us). I could think of a few, okay...a lot. Then we were talking about how God has given us rights as people and how we have come to abuse them. Meaning, God has given us the right to be intellectual but, to some people, being intellectual has become more important than God. It has taken God's rightful place in their lives. Yeah, so, today was pretty much recognizing the areas in my life that I have given to things other than God and laying them down before Him. So, it's been a good week so far. I'm about halfway through.

When I got settled into my house (Gladstone), i was told that it was right smack in the center of the most dangerous crime area in Perth. Well, wouldn't have known except for the two brothel's that are next door to me. Last week i really got a taste of the area I live in. It was about 12:30 at night and one of the guys i lived with, Jeremy, decided to go for a walk down the ally to call someone on his cell phone. At the same time, three other guys i live with, Jonny, Dean, and Mike went out skateboarding. Jeremy was about halfway through his call, standing at the end of the ally where it met the road when a car of about four aboriginal kids drove up slowly starring at him. The car stopped and all four kids jumped out and run up to Jeremy holding a knife telling him to hand over his money. Just as this was happening, Jonny, Dean, and Mike were skateboarding down the same ally. The four kids saw them coming and immediately backed off and jumped back into the car. Jonny, Dean, and Mike were almost to Jeremy when the kids in the car threw it in reverse and tried to run them all over. The car barely missed them as they dove behind a rubbish bin. The four guys, including Jeremy, somewhat shaken up from the 'attempted' mugging slowly looked around the corner of the bin at the approximate one hundred meter run to the security fence that surrounded our house. Thinking it was safe, the four guys began running toward the gate. They were almost there, only a few more meters when car lights in the distant dark ally ahead. The car tires screeched as it bolted out from ahead of them. Dean jumped out of the way and ran down the ally away from the house while the others, Jonny, Jeremy, and Mike dove to the ground avoiding the car once again and quickly jumped to their feet running to the gate. The car made it to the end of the ally and turned around heading towards the house. It got there just as the three guys did. The aboriginal kids jumped out of the car, knife in hand; trying to get Jeremy. Having trouble with the gate's combination lock, Jonny and Mike jumped over the fence, opened the gate door and grabbed Jeremy just before the Four kids did. One of the kids jumped up onto the roof of the car and when he saw that there were about fifteen guys living there, they all decided to take off.

So, yeah. It was a crazy night. Jeremy was pretty shaken up after that. We all were. I was on the patio just after they left so i didn't see them. We took about half an hour just to pray protection for the area surrounding our house and the girls house which is just a few houses down the ally from ours. Also, we prayed for the aboriginal kids; that they would make it home safe and we just took time to bless them.

Every Tuesday night i have 'small groups' which is just a time to hang out and talk about the weekly teachings. Well, last night my small group leader took the day off because his girlfriend from Colorado was in town and he wanted to spend time with her. I'm sure if i had a girlfriend that lived on the other side of earth come to visit me i'd take the day off too, ha ha. We ended up combining four different small groups and we all went to the beach for a barbecue. Oh man. the beach is so beautiful at sunset. We spent like forty five minutes and went swimming in the ocean. The waves were so nice. Just after sunset, we played rugby, well i didn't because i was still feeling stick from having tonsillitis the week before. My throat was in so much pain for a few days.. but, it's pretty good now.

So, you know how i told you i would let you know what my options are for out reach as soon as i find out what they are? Well, i know!

Okay i have to pick one from five teems. I'll give you the price for each one. I'll list them for you here:

Outreach 1
Jakarta Indonesia for two months
Tunisia for one week
Egypt for 2 and a half weeks.
$5,173 AUD

Outreach 2
Jakarta, INdonesia for 3 months
$2,900 AUD

OUtreach 3
Jakarta, Indonesia for two months
Ethiopia for two and a half weeks
Eritrea or Djibouti for one week
$5,500 AUD

Outreach 4
Jakarta, Indonesia for two months
Egypt for two and a half weeks
Libya for one week
$5,239

Outreach 5
Jakarta, Indonesia for two months
Central African Republic for three and a half weeks
$5,500 AUD

I have to make a decision by November 8th, which is tomorrow. So, by the time you read this email mail i probably will have made my decision. I'm really praying because i want to go on the Outreach God wants me to go on. I want to go on outreach #1 but, that's just me. I don't want it to be my decision. I want it to be God's. Also, i currently don't have any out reach money. I'm really trusting God to provide for me on this one. Because i may have to raise up to $5,500 AUD by December 9th. If i don't have enough money by then i won't be able to go on outreach and i won't be able to graduate which would suck but, i'm not worried about it because God provides.

I just want to say that i can't do any of this without your help and it's not just me helping the people and children of Jakarta but it's all of you. So when you support me; you're really supporting the people and children of Jakarta, Indonesia, Tunisia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, Libya, and Central African Republic... Wherever it may be. People's lives will be forever changed...because of you.

Any donations can be sent via money order or certified cheque made out to Youth With A Mission - Perth. It can be mailed to me at:

Brendan Serez

P.O. Box 8501, Perth Business Centre, Western Australia 6849
Perth, Australia

....Or, you can just click on the 'Donation' button below..

Thank you guys so much for all your support over the years! You guys are awesome! Thank you all for continued prayer support while I'm over here.
God Bless You!
Love,

-Brendan Serez

P.S. It is really great to receive real "mail" while I'm over here. (You can use the above address)

Australia Update...

Hello Everybody!

If you didn't already know...I have just recently joined Youth With A Mission In Perth, Australia. I've been attending the Discipleship Training School. It's really awesome! I've been here since the 5th of October and started the school on the 7th. When i first got here i didn't really know what to expect because to be honest; i didn't know very much about YWAM. All i knew for sure was that they focus on missions. I landed in Perth thinking "wow, that was fast!" when in reality it wasn't. It took about 38 hours from Toronto to Perth. The reason it felt fast is because i was very nervous about coming to YWAM and Australia. I've never been away from family and friends for this long. It really came down to trusting God and putting Him first in my life and realizing that i am never alone because God is always there. Anyway...Things are going pretty good for me at the moment. I live off base and share an apartment with 6 guys. it's pretty nice; very modern looking. Every morning i wake up at 6 to exercise. You're probably think..."Bren, getting up at 6? no way!" Well, it's true. It was hard to get used to at first but, it's in my routine now. I've been making a lot of really great friends and connecting with some pretty sweet leaders.

I have three months of lecture and three months that i spend on outreach in two countries. For the lecture phase, we get a different speaker that comes in every week to teach on a different topic. Week one's topic was "The Character of God". Pretty basic stuff that i already know but it was good to hear it again. That's pretty much how it's been with the teachings... It's all stuff i know already (thank you TACF!) ha ha. I've learned to ask God for more revelation on the teachings. I'm slowly getting stuff out of it all. Though, i have no doubt that I'm about to get a lot from it, No doubt. Week two was on "Repentance and Forgiveness". Same story.... since TACF is so focused on this area... I was pretty "up to date" on all these things but, there's always something i have to ask forgiveness and repent of. So, that week went pretty good. Week three was on "Intercession and Worship". That week was pretty good, again, it was all stuff i knew already but, i tried to make the most of it. One of the things God has been telling me is that "Having knowledge in a certain area is nothing if you don't do anything with it". I thought i was an expert on all this stuff but, i guess not. It was good to hear that. Tomorrow I'm starting Spiritual Warfare with Dean Sherman. So, that should be fun. Also, i have a lot more work than i thought i would have. I have to write three book reports, keep and hand in a weekly journal, several class presentations, research projects, and i think there's a bunch of other things i have to do. I mean, it's not that much work. It's just more than i thought i wold have,

I really have been having a lot of fun. Like, sometimes the school takes us on small day trips to cool, must see places. At least that's what they say. For example, 2 weeks ago the whole school went to a National park called Serpentine Falls about an hour and a half from Perth. It was beautiful with rock canyons, wild flowers, and waterfalls. Me and two other guys thought it would be a good idea to climb the sixty five foot cliff and jump off of it. We reached the top and looked down. It looked so much higher from the top as it most often does. The first two guys jumped off it and landed as well as they could have. It was my turn to jump and i didn't really feel like "just jumping". I decided to do a front flip. It was so much fun.........until i hit the water and bruised five ribs and chipped two teeth. OUCH! I over rotated and my chest slammed against the water as my teeth also slammed together. Good thing my tongue wasn't in the way. ha ha. I had to file my teeth down when i got home. All in all... i still think it was a good idea. Apparently YWAM is going to take the whole school on a weekend camping trip.

If you guys are wondering where i'll be going on outreach....I can tell you know because i just found out myself. Well, I'm going to two places but i only know one of them. I'll be going to Jakarta, Indonesia to Start the Megacities program which is a project that targets a city of over one million people for a period of 12 months acting as a laser catalyst for city wide transformation. We do this through strong partnership between the local Body of Christ and international, multi-disciplined teams. Together, we work at a grassroots level to strengthen existing ministries and pioneer new works. We go out into a city and do evangelism in the streets and provide food for the many children running around the city that don't have families or homes. We're going to just really love on the people of Jakarta and Minister to them the best we can. I don't know what other country I'm going to yet but it could be Western Africa, China, Japan, or Kazakhstan. I think there are others but, I'm not sure what they are at this point. I'll let you know as soon as i do.

Let me tell you a bit of my schedule for the next five months....
I'm in Australia for three months in the school during the lecture phase then, I'm flying to Jakarta and staying there for one month then, I'll be flying to that 'other' country and staying there for one month them, I'm flying back to Jakarta and staying there for another month then I'm flying back to Australia... PHEW! Crazy eh?!

I'll be trying to update this every week or as often as i can.

The outreach phase will cost about $4,000... and i currently don't have any of it. So, I'm really trusting God that He will provide. As you can see... I need a lot of help! If any of you would like to support me so i can help the people and children of Jakarta, I will be extremely thankful and so will they I'm sure. Thank you guys so much for all your support over the years! You guys are awesome!

I have come to realize that my previous post was extremely lame.. Sorry about that.. I'll try to post something more interesting next time..

37 people are killed every year due to Piñata related "accidents"...

For years i've been trying to prove that Piñata's are dangerous and life threatening... Nobody would ever listin to me, UNTIL NOW! I have proof!

Quarantine...well, not really...at all....

Lately i've been feeling dry. Okay, we're talking mega crazy dry.. I feel so dry that somtimes it feels like i'm stranded in a desert somewhere thinking i'm seeing a mirage. Metaphorically speaking of course. "Is that a mystical oasis thriving with life Mr. talking coconut man"? ha ha, seriously... "No, i'm sorry Bren, that's just more sand". I hope by now we're understanding the intensity of the dryness i'm feeling by now. I've been living in the middle of nowhere for just over a year and i don't think i can take it anymore. I'm losing my mind...slowly... Okay, so... maybe i'm overreacting slightly but, my main feeling is, i need to get out of here. I think the thing i miss most is spending time with friends on a regular basis. It's hard when you lose touch with friends. You know how usually when people lose touch with friends but then make new friends, well, i haven't made any new friends because there's nobody to hang out with in the middle of nowhere. ha ha. Don't get me wrong, i do have friends, i just don't get to see them as much as i'd like. I miss not being able to just call somone up and say "hey man, let's go catch a movie or go for a ride". I can't do this anymore because my closest friend is about two hours away. I guess i've just been feeling down lately for these reasons. well, that and i'm slowly realizing that i lead an extremelt boring life. Here's my daily schedule: Get up, eat, work, eat, work, work on my computer, sleep, and repeat. This lifestyle makes me all the more excited for Australia!!! I can't wait! I really need this, if i wasn't going i think i would actually go crazy. You know when you're so tired of everything being the same? Well, i do....I need something new...NOW!

47 Days to go!!!

war greed selfishness anger power Silence.