Generation Music

This morning started very early with a 7:30 sound check at Generation bali new home bosche nightclub. It is hailed as having the best sound system anywhere in Indonesia and from what we experienced today it was hard to argue.

It was a brilliant morning. Ps Nathanael led worship with the team with great passion followed by an inspirational giving message from Ps Kristian. The main message was brought by Ps Joel on raising the arms of your leader from Exodus 17 and Hebrews 13. It was very well received. There was a real sense of cohesion between everyone and it was very inspiring for the team as it felt like they were at home!

One real highlight was the head security guard coming into the service. He had a scooter accident this week and had broken his wrist. During our time of prayer he asked that we pray for his wrist. It was completely healed! He then experienced the greatest healing in salvation. It was all captured on video where his wrist was broken and now a very happy man who encountered the power of Jesus for the first time.

We then all headed for our Sunday Family Lunch at flapjacks. The team shared the highs from the trip and what they have been taking away. It was very inspiring to say the least.

After a short turn around we headed back to Bosche ready for Youth Breakture event. The night was a first for Generation Bali. The pre-event outside included live radio broadcast, snakes and reptiles, skaters and breakdancers. Everyone headed inside to be treated to a fashion show by one of the local designers from Generation and then a few pre bands and then the team were on. Instantly the mood on the room shifted as everyone came to the front to enjoy the songs. By the end of the evening and a short word on the special passport by Ps Joel we saw over 80 people make their way down the front with even more hands going up throughout the venue and over 650 attend the night. Shirts for salvation was an absolute hit with the locals as people from everywhere got shirts and were so thankful. So many peoples lives were changed as tears flowed from people who walked in backslidden or were muslims, nightclub workers, etc. An amazing evening. Praise God!

Today we had a big day ahead of us with the first public event in the form of an Encounter night in Denpasar. We headed in for a soundcheck/rehearsal for a few hours and prepared for the evening.

The venue was about 15 mins from our hotel in sanur. Arriving for the evening  the team lead with great passion and enthusiasm and throughout the evening there was a strong presence of God. There were many prayers and words over peoples lives. As soon as the evening finished the team headed back towards the venue for Sunday night armed with flyers and new shirts to promote Sunday night and make their presence felt.

Saturday was scheduled as a full rest day to be fresh for Sunday. Some of the team headed to Ubud with the monkeys while others braved the kuta markets for a long afternoon of bartering and shopping.

What an incredible day! We made our way to Denpasar for the final day of the renovation of the orphanage. We started by finishing off the painting inside and also a few spots on the outside. The boys then began heavy labour in the afternoon sun by leveling out the yards dirt and preparing for the grass. Next the top soil arrived an we spread it out throughout what was a concrete jungle. The exciting part was to come. In Australia when you lay new turf it comes in roles and you place over the surface area and spreads quickly. Not here, every member of the team dropped what they were doing and we all planted the grass strand by strand. It was an exceptionally tedious process but as it started to take shape the team worked faster to see the final product. We could here all the little children arriving and the excitement outside of the whole village gathering to see their new facility.

As soon as the final piece was transplanted and the team was cleaned up, the kids were allowed through the gate. The smiles began to be exhibited from ear to ear as each child made there way through the gate staring at there new brightly coloured toys, walls and real grass to run on. This was a stark contrast to the previous concrete war like zone that they had played in only the previous week. As each child made their way through, they were meet with our team with big high 5′s and gifts from Australia like hats, koalas and little key rings with Aussie icons on them. They loved them! We descended into a time of photos, photos and more photos as the kids loved posing and then seeing themselves in the picture. They were so thankful and it brought an incredible joy to everyones faces seeing all the little kids so appreciative and happy.

We headed back to the hotel quickly for a quick shower and dinner before heading straight back out to host Fusion with the Generation Bali team. Straight away the team Lead worship and you could sense the excitement and passion in the room. Tiger lead exceptionally and had a word from Psalms 66 which was very inspiring. We then headed into
specific musical and vocal training but only after the Bali team got up and blessed us by playing Generation’s own ‘Real Life’. It was quite amazing to hear our own songs being played perfectly in one of our overseas campuses. It actually choked up a few of the guys to see how inspiring that was. We finished off the night at Kuta having some late night frappacinos and shopping.

May it be said for the record the girls were exceptionally impressive the last two days. It was hot, humid, dirty, muddy and unhygenic, yet there was not one complaint once even in the final afternoon when we were all covered in mud and dirt from head to toe. A real credit to them all.

Tomorrow we head to visit a number of local mercy orphanages with kids who have been in them from a very young age. We are taking lots of presents ad then we head of to play in a local futsal tournament against the locals.

After a slower start to the morning and becoming accustomed to the hotel, we quickly went and all exchanged our money, brought a few cheap t-shirts and hats ready for the renovation.

We headed into Denpasar really not sure of what would be confronting us today. Upon arrival we were greeted by a very rundown building that could hardly be described as habitable and an outside play area that looked more like it had been involved in a war than a educational centre for little orphans. Each week this place hosts 590 children at different stages and between the 3 classrooms it would be lucky to hold 80 students. There was much to be done.

Brodie assigned working areas to all the Aussie team and I must say it was an impressive first few hours. Kristian, Tiger, Joel, Nathan, Joe and Azza Q were in charge of the outside walls. To give some context, it felt like the equivalent of 50 degrees outside and we were sweating incredibly. On average we would have consumed between 6-8 litres of water each. We worked at a rapid pace while Aaron Dyson went to measure up for the building tomorrow. The girls were not to be outdone who shone in the oppressive heat. Kelsi, Megan, Leah, Carly and Anji repainting all the play equipment bright and colourful colours. As the afternoon wore on, it was looking a far better place but the troops were also fading while they painted their way through oppressive heat. After 5 hours of labour intensive work, it was time to call it a day and head back to the hotel for a well deserved swim and freshen up. We then headed into Denpasar for some authentic Indonesian cuisine of mainly seafood. The average cost for the meal was around AUD$5 including entree, main and drinks. Not bad after a big days work!

Day 3 is in sight where we finish off the renovation and get to meet lots of the little orphans. We have lots of Aussie gifts, like koalas, Aussie hats, etc that are awaiting them, so we are excited to see there faces an give them some big hugs from the other side of the ocean. Your generosity has made this reno all happen and 590 kids lives will be changed by the end of tomorrow!

Hi everyone, we have arrived safely in Bali. We left on Monday morning at 5:30am and made our way to Brisbane Airport on the AirTrain. While not the cheapest option it definitely guaranteed that we wouldn’t miss our plane so we took the lowest risk option as people from SE QLD would appreciate the traffic from the Gold Coast to Brisbane airport run on a Monday morning. We arrived and checked in had some breakfast, a little duty free browsing and then we were off. We boarded the plane and buckled in for the 6 and a 1/2 flight to Denpasar. We also discovered that one of the more outgoing members of the team Azza Q was venturing for the first time out of the country.

We arrived safely after a small holding pattern because the airforce decided they wanted to land 10 of there fighter jets before we could land. We felt pretty special that they would give us a military welcome. Having cleared customs and baggage we were greeted by our Generation Bali family who had all cone out to the airport to greet us. Each team member was garnished with a traditional orange flower necklace. We jumped in the mini buses and headed to our hotel where we are staying for the duration of the trip. It’s in Sanur the opposite side of the island from Kuta. To celebrate our arrival we headed into kuta for our first team dinner of the trip and then went to reborn massage for a 2 hour massage. Everyone felt relaxed after paying the equivalent of $12 each for the experience an we headed back and everyone slept very well.