sex trafficking awareness

hey this is some stuff that has really been on my heart. i need you guys to really get a heart for this too. these children need your prayers. i've had my heart broken for these children. please read these stats. i hope it breaks your heart the way it did mine


* 1.2 million children are trafficked every year; this is in addition to the millions already held captive by trafficking

* Every 2 minutes a child is being prepared for sexual exploitation

* The average victim is forced to have sex up to 40 times a day

* The average age of a trafficked victim is 14 years old

* Approximately 30 million children have lost their childhood through sexual exploitation over the past 30 years

* Sex trafficking is an engine of the global AIDS epidemic

* People are trafficked from 127 countries to be exploited in 137 countries

* Between 14,500 and 17,500 victims are trafficked into the USA each year

* The total market value of illicit Sex Trafficking is estimated to be in excess of $32 billion

* By 2010 Sex Trafficking will be the number one crime worldwide

treasure hunt

hey guys! sorry i havent posted anything for the last couple of days ive been pretty busy with orientation and our first two days of lectures. lectures are really really good. Chris Twin a pastor from brisbane is teaching us about the nature of God. he has been working with ywam for twenty years or so. i kinda forgot the exact number. sorry. ummmmm yeah! he is super smart when it comes to the word and he teaches directly from it. im really learning alot. we also got assigned work duties around the camp. i got put in charge of the pool and out door shower and toilet. woohoo.... but its ok. i asked for humility and whats more humble than cleaning toilets. OH! we did this little thing called a treasure hunt. basically we pray and ask God to give us a specific person to find and pray for. so i asked God to give me clues. i got a location- on this corner by a restaurant, i got clues as to what this person was going to be wearing- cowboy hat and blue jeans, i got a name- clarence. so anyways we all went in to town to find our "treasures" so i walked over to my location and there standing in front of me was a dude in a cowboy and blue jeans. no joke. freaked me out dude. like i was speechless for a good minute. then i called out "clarence!" he didnt turn around. so i ran up to him and asked him if his name was clarence he said no and that he was busy. he worked for a local strip club and was handing out fliers. so i let him go about his work and left it at that. but the part that blew my mind was that i had seen this cowboy hatted guy in my mind when i asked God to show me who to pray for. it still freaks me out when i think about it. im really excited to see what the rest of my dts is going to be like. later dudes.

surfs up

dudes the last couple of days have been sooooo cool! we have almost all the guys from our school here. tommorow morning we are getting the last dude from the airport. should be sweet. so far its been sand and sun all the time. on tuesday we had a scavenger hunt in byron which was just awesome. so now i know how to get around this sweet little community. i absolutely love this place. its paradise. jungle and ocean. perfect. all the leaders at the dts are really cool people. its kinda funny cause me, nick, and this other dude jared are the only americans. everyone else is either canadian, english, scottish, or something else. its pretty sweet. i got to go surfing today for the first time. i got up twice but lost my balance and fell down both times. im goin out tomorrow morning to work on getting up and staying up. we were at a beach that looked like it was in the pirates of the carribean. sooooo cool. cause if you know me, then you know that i love pirates. and this landscape is perfect for making me feel like a salty sea dog. haha. sorry if this blog is super rambly. its late and im pretty wiped. tomorrow we start school. so im gonna head to bed. night.

Hey everyone! i am finally in australia! it took forever to get here. but it was totally worth it! And its my birthday today! im officially no longer a teenager. it feels really weird. australia is really hot and muggy. i love it. its totally one hundred percent better than living in the frozen north of minnesota. i got to swim in the ocean today! it was super cold! im looking forward to getting a surf board cause the swells are hugenormous!!! byron bay is full of all sorts of people mostly just hippies though. which is pretty sweet. ive got super bad jet lag so im gonna hit the sack early tonight. im gonna post a new blog everyday if i can so i can keep everyone informed. nighty night!

Today is the day!!!

Hey guys!
this is the first of many updates you will get about my trip. its 9:32 AM my flight leaves in nine hours!!!!!!!! its crazy!!! the ride over is gonna take about twenty four hours total. including all the stops along the way. i hate planes sooooo much. i hope i can make the full twenty four hours without puking my guts out. anyways, im going to land on my birthday so my twentieth birthday is going to be spent sleeping! jet lag is gonna be killer. alright thats all im gonna write for now.

later dudes,
Dan