Small Groups

One thing that Sean and I have enjoyed since we've been here is our young adult group.  We meet everyone Tuesday night for Bible study and then we will do things on weekends together sometimes.  In the beginning, we were meeting in one large group which was often between 12-15 people each week.  This term we decided to split into 2 smaller groups so we can have better conversations and to help people feel more open because there are not as many people.  We started studying the book Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby and we're really enjoying it.  We're each challenged by the lessons each week. It's a great place to have fellowship with other believers our age.  

Our group is led by a couple, Matt and Gemma and they do a great job.  Recently, it was Matt's birthday so we decided a celebration was in order.  Sean found a delicious looking cake on the internet and we wanted an excuse to make it.  We decided Matt's birthday was the perfect time.  Below are some pictures of our group.  Sadly a few are missing for various reasons, but you can see some of them!!

Our group minus 3

Happy Birthday Matt!

Doesn't that look delicious?!  It was a layer of cookie dough, cheesecake and devil's food cake.
 We were all a bit too ambitious with our portion sizes and got sugar highs!!  

Trivia Night

This weekend we held our 3rd annual Trivia Night Fundraiser.  This fundraiser helps raise money for Chaplaincy in the schools.  There is a Chaplain in each school and they are like counselors for the students.  From our understanding (we'll need an Australian to correct us), they aren't allowed to talk about God with the students unless the students bring it up.  They play a really important role in the lives of the students.  We just finished adding up all the money and the night raised a little over $1600!    

A trivia night is exactly what it sounds like!  A night where people come and play trivia!  The night starts off with delicious soups.  About 6-8 people from the church make very yummy soups.  Then after everyone has finished eating and everything settles down, we start the first round of trivia.  Everyone from the table works together to try to answer all the questions in 10 minutes.  There are 4 rounds total.  In between each round there are games for kids and other trivia that you can do to earn prizes.  Later on in the evening we have delicious desserts.  

We had about 100 people show up for the night and we had a great time!  Sean won a prize for winning the "google question."  For this one they give you a question that you have to look up on your phone or ipod, then you have to text the answer.  Sean was the speediest. There were lots of other prizes that were donated by local businesses.  It was a great night of fellowship and fun :)      

The whole gang

Our table won the table decorating contest!  

There was a silent auction

What Next?

    So much has happened over the last year!  Can you believe that we've been living in Yeppoon for 14 months now?  We sure can't!  It's amazing because we feel so at home that it feels like we've been here forever, but it also feels like time has flown.  We have enjoyed every second of our time here and are looking forward to the next 9 months as well.  Things are starting to look a bit different as we make adjustments for the baby.  Although I (Sam) am still at work everyday and attending the children's and youth programs, I am slowly starting to hand off some of my responsibilities.  We can't believe that the baby will be here in about 5 weeks!  This pregnancy has really flown by quickly even though this last bit seems to be moving in slow motion.
    We really have no idea what these next 9 months are going to look like.  Our job now is to work ourselves out of a job...we've never had to do that before!  By the end of the year we'd like to have handed over most of our large responsibilities and be a mentor to those who are taking over.  It's difficult to not start thinking too far into the future.  A lot of people have asked us what we're doing after this and we can honestly say we have no idea!  It kinda feels like that's been the motto for our whole marriage!  We just kind of take it as it goes and go where God wants us to go.  So far it's worked out pretty well for us.  We've thought through a few options for after this but we don't feel like God is showing us one way or another.
    We are doing a study in our small group called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby.  We were both reminded this week that we need to be focused on what God's doing here and now and how we can be a part of it rather than looking too far into the future.  We have a precious little baby that will be joining us any time now and we have a church full of youth to minister to.  Please pray for us as we welcome Baby Schwarze into our family.  Also pray that God would help us to focus on the youth right now.  We want to continue to build strong relationships with them and serve them.  Pray that we would be focused on our tasks at hand here!  Thanks for all of your love, support and prayers over the last year :)