January 1

A Word for the Year

Happy 2025!

Many people use the turn of the new year to make New Year’s resolutions and set goals. When I was in high school, my pastor challenged our congregation to pick a word every year. This word would be a character trait or Fruit of the Spirit that would be focused on throughout the entire year. We were encouraged to memorize Scripture, read books, have purposeful discussions about our word, and in turn grow in our understanding and embodiment of that word. I encourage you to join me this New Year in choosing a word to concentrate on. This year my word is “rewild”. I wonder what word you might choose.

Held by Him,

Christy

MAK IN THE OUTBACK

G'day!

​If you haven’t already heard, I’m moving to Australia in January! I've been accepted into YoungLife Australia's Gap Year program and I’m going to be living in a small town called Armidale (about 6 hours North of Sydney) from January-June and then working with YoungLife in the Philippines in July.

I will start my gap year with serving at YoungLife Australia’s summer camp (their summer is in January!) for one week. From the relationships formed at camp, I will pour into the lives of middle school and high schoolers for the next few months. In Armidale, I will be hosting and helping at YoungLife clubs and other events, all to show them the love of Jesus. YoungLife has played a huge role in my faith and relationship with Jesus, and I can't wait to help other kids feel known, seen, and loved. In addition, I’ll be working a part time job in the community while also growing in my own faith by participating in discipleship and leadership trainings and some weekend intensive retreats with other gap year students.

I am thrilled to have the chance to end my time away by serving at the YoungLife summer camp in the Philippines. I don't know exactly what to expect, so I cannot wait for the chance to experience camp from a new perspective.

I'm so excited for this opportunity to travel and experience ministry across the world and anticipate having a front seat to see how the Lord works in the coming months. However, I also understand that there are going to be many challenges. I've been very blessed to have a strong community and support system, so I would really appreciate your support in prayer leading up to and during this next chapter in my life!​

In order to participate in this program, I need to pay for housing, weekend intensives, and food. I have a goal of raising $6,500. I am working part time and saving money towards that goal. I am also interning part time at a local church in Colorado Springs and instead of pay, the church is making a donation of about a third of this amount. If you are interested in supporting me financially, you can donate by clicking the "Donate!" button on the right or by cash or check.​

A couple notes:

- This link works best on computers

- If donating online, after clicking the green "Next" button, please leave the recipient category as "Australia-University"

- If Mailing a check, please address it to:

Young Life, P.O. Box 5184, Harlan, IA 51593-0684

and include: “X5110 Australia Gap Students – Makena Farrell” in the Memo

​                                                                                                         ​                      Donate!

I'd love to talk more!

If you have any questions or pieces of advice, please feel free to text/call me at 719-493-8456 or email me at mfarrell06@icloud.com.

If you'd like to keep up with the day-to-day aspects of my trip, follow me on Instagram @makintheoutback!