Today I had a day off from work which was nice and relaxing! I was able to go to Wildlife and see some Australian animals which was super fun! Since everyone was working, I went on my own which was actually really nice. As everyone who is reading this probably knows, I love being with people, which is a good thing- but I think God forces me to have time to myself as well without the distraction of others around me (even if it is good distraction). As I was walking to Darling Harbor where Wildlife is, I was able to think and reflect on the time I've had here and the ways in which God has blessed me. It seemed like such a long time ago that I arrived in Sydney, vulnerable and expectant. I didn't know who I was going to meet or where my provisions would be coming from and today, three months later, I was able to look back and admire God's handiwork. He provided me with an amazing apartment at just the right time and through that, an awesome Kiwi friend/roomie who I had adventures galore with :) He provided me with an incredible church to flourish in and a job that overlooks the harbor, opera house and bridge. He has also provided me with opportunity to do everything I hoped to do in coming to Australia. He has protected me through mistakes and has matured me through my experiences. Today as I was walking, I felt that God was so close to me, leading me, loving me as He's always done. I was able to observe others and take in children's spunk and excitement for life as they laughed and played together. I watched as each individual was focused in on their mission to make the most of the time they had in that single day, all with their own unique sphere of influence and experiences. If any of you reading this are thinking about travelling somewhere, but the only thing that is holding you back is that you are scared to go alone- do it anyway! It will not only stretch you, but you will discover so much about yourself, about other people and about cultures in ways you would have never dreamed. It makes you feel so alive to build relationships with people from around the world and to experience the love of God through adventuring into the unknown. Is it scary? Sure, at times. Is it worth it? No doubt about it. There's nothing else like it... :)
My roomie and I went to the Blue Mountains last week! I was sooooooo good! It was really refreshing to get out of the city for a bit and even just breathe in the crisp, unpolluted air haha. The mountains were beautiful. We took the train into Katoomba and got a bus to where Scenic World was where we did the three different attractions (cable car, steep railway...). It was a lot of fun! We did a lot of hiking and climbing on things and goofing around. The creation there was unbelievable and there were lots of adventurous/outdoorsy people around which made me feel at home like I was at camp. We ate delicious food and enjoyed and incredible day together. The next day Almaz departed for LA to do some travelling of her own. I'm sad to not have her here, but I know she'll have an amazing time!
Work is going great. I feel blessed to have the job that I do and I really enjoy everyone that I work with! Our food area alone is incredibly diverse. We have people from London, US, Columbia, Ireland, Australia and Italy. I love it! The Aussie's are always asking me whether I'm from the US or Canada. When I said Chicago, at least three of them broke out into the Frank Sinatra song, Chicago (full fledged singing here). These people just crack me up ;) The view is always incredible and everyone is really nice so I can't complain!
I also just bought my ticket to Brisbane! I'll be travelling with one of my friends and will meet another friend while I'm there. I'm planning on staying in Brisbane for a week and then going to Cairns to dive the Great Barrier Reef! I can't wait! I'm excited to hold a koala bear, do some diving and check out Hillsong in Brisbane- apparently there are a ton of young people there, yeaaaaaa.
Well, I'll end with some lyrics from Charlie Hall's, Constant that I was listening to on my walk today that will hopefully be of encouragement to you.
"Just like the sunshine, you have been our light. Leading us into, beautiful places... faithful Jesus, healing Savior, compass, center, bread of life. Faithful Jesus, cherished treasure, our portion, wisdom, God's great light... My God you are here with us, constantly here with us, you are our everything faithful and true."
If you let him, God will lead you into truly beautiful places... :) He has for me.
Today I had a day off from work which was nice and relaxing! I was able to go to Wildlife and see some Australian animals which was super fun! Since everyone was working, I went on my own which was actually really nice. As everyone who is reading this probably knows, I love being with people, which is a good thing- but I think God forces me to have time to myself as well without the distraction of others around me (even if it is good distraction). As I was walking to Darling Harbor where Wildlife is, I was able to think and reflect on the time I've had here and the ways in which God has blessed me. It seemed like such a long time ago that I arrived in Sydney, vulnerable and expectant. I didn't know who I was going to meet or where my provisions would be coming from and today, three months later, I was able to look back and admire God's handiwork. He provided me with an amazing apartment at just the right time and through that, an awesome Kiwi friend/roomie who I had adventures galore with :) He provided me with an incredible church to flourish in and a job that overlooks the harbor, opera house and bridge. He has also provided me with opportunity to do everything I hoped to do in coming to Australia. He has protected me through mistakes and has matured me through my experiences. Today as I was walking, I felt that God was so close to me, leading me, loving me as He's always done. I was able to observe others and take in children's spunk and excitement for life as they laughed and played together. I watched as each individual was focused in on their mission to make the most of the time they had in that single day, all with their own unique sphere of influence and experiences. If any of you reading this are thinking about travelling somewhere, but the only thing that is holding you back is that you are scared to go alone- do it anyway! It will not only stretch you, but you will discover so much about yourself, about other people and about cultures in ways you would have never dreamed. It makes you feel so alive to build relationships with people from around the world and to experience the love of God through adventuring into the unknown. Is it scary? Sure, at times. Is it worth it? No doubt about it. There's nothing else like it... :)
My roomie and I went to the Blue Mountains last week! I was sooooooo good! It was really refreshing to get out of the city for a bit and even just breathe in the crisp, unpolluted air haha. The mountains were beautiful. We took the train into Katoomba and got a bus to where Scenic World was where we did the three different attractions (cable car, steep railway...). It was a lot of fun! We did a lot of hiking and climbing on things and goofing around. The creation there was unbelievable and there were lots of adventurous/outdoorsy people around which made me feel at home like I was at camp. We ate delicious food and enjoyed and incredible day together. The next day Almaz departed for LA to do some travelling of her own. I'm sad to not have her here, but I know she'll have an amazing time!
Work is going great. I feel blessed to have the job that I do and I really enjoy everyone that I work with! Our food area alone is incredibly diverse. We have people from London, US, Columbia, Ireland, Australia and Italy. I love it! The Aussie's are always asking me whether I'm from the US or Canada. When I said Chicago, at least three of them broke out into the Frank Sinatra song, Chicago (full fledged singing here). These people just crack me up ;) The view is always incredible and everyone is really nice so I can't complain!
I also just bought my ticket to Brisbane! I'll be travelling with one of my friends and will meet another friend while I'm there. I'm planning on staying in Brisbane for a week and then going to Cairns to dive the Great Barrier Reef! I can't wait! I'm excited to hold a koala bear, do some diving and check out Hillsong in Brisbane- apparently there are a ton of young people there, yeaaaaaa.
Well, I'll end with some lyrics from Charlie Hall's, Constant that I was listening to on my walk today that will hopefully be of encouragement to you.
"Just like the sunshine, you have been our light. Leading us into, beautiful places... faithful Jesus, healing Savior, compass, center, bread of life. Faithful Jesus, cherished treasure, our portion, wisdom, God's great light... My God you are here with us, constantly here with us, you are our everything faithful and true."
If you let him, God will lead you into truly beautiful places... :) He has for me.
How's it going America? Things are good here in Aussie land! I HAVE A JOB!!! It's a blessing, I'll be excited when my first paycheck comes through :) I'm working for this big event that Sydney is putting on. Basically, across from the opera house and bridge, they built a stage on the water that the Handa Opera performs on. It's really neat! I attached a link below and there's a youtube video that gives a virtual tour of the event! I'm working in the food section of the Northern Terrace. It's pretty awesome, but gets super busy so we definitely need to be paying attention while handling the money :) I really like everyone I'm working with so it should be a fun three weeks!
http://www.operaonsydneyharbour.com.au/index.html?gclid=CMWE5t6s_q4CFeRKpgodCnuv3Q
Last weekend we had colour conference with Hillong Church at Sydney Entertainment Center! It was SO GOOD! There was about 15,000 women at the conference. Bobby Housten, Priscilla Shirer and Beth Moore spoke- all incredible speakers! The worship was awesome and they discussed how to get involved with Compassion and some other great organizations! I was so blessed to be there with so many women.
Since I've updated, my roommate and I have gone to the open-air cinema to see Rocky Horror Picture Show, Luna Park, built a legit fort and went to Newcastle which was all SO FUN! I also went to Sydney Aquarium and yes, I did take that shark picture in the underwater tunnel :) For those of you who have seen the Mary Kate and Ashley movie in Australia, we discovered that there used to be a roller coaster at Luna Park, but they had to take it down because they were getting noise complaints. They have new rides in the section where the roller coaster used to be. So turns out they didn't actually make that up, it's just a bit of Luna Park history! It was a lot of fun though, it's been around a long time so a lot of the rides and decorations were pretty old school. You can see a picture of our awesome fort as well. It was short-lived because we used both couches, but was no less epic. We took the train to Newcastle in the morning and got there by lunchtime. I call it the Wisconsin of Australia. It has such a small town feel to it compared to Sydney. Everyone was super nice, the bus drivers were really helpful and dropped us off close to our hostel even though there wasn't even a stop there! It was just so different than Sydney, haha. They even had a fair going on with a blown up cow on one of the roof's (see, pretty much Wisconsin). On Saturday we got situated in our hostel (which was pretty much a house that was converted into a hostel lol) and after a lot of waiting for public transport (again, not in Sydney anymore), we went to Merewether beach and hung out there. Surfest was over for the day so we ate at a cafe since we were starving by then which was elevated and overlooked the water where all the kite-surfers and surfers were rippin it up out in the water. Such a great view! The weather felt fall-like that day so there were a lot of kids running/skate boarding around on the boardwalk with their jackets on. It was a great day, we sat there for about three hours :) That night we got some Maccas (McDonalds) and went back to our hostel. Sunday we got up early, ate some breakfast and went to Surfest! It was awesome! It was much more chill than Manly, not as many people and they were giving away a lot of free stuff. We watched the guys semi-finals and the jetskiiers doing flips and getting some awesome air with the big waves in between heats. Sadly we couldn't see the finals because we had to catch the train back into the city, but it was a great weekend!
My roommate and I are going to Blue Mountains on Monday because I'll have a day off! It should be AWESOME! It'll be the last major even because she heads to the US on tuesday to do some travelling, good for her- sad for me, but I'll be busy with work anyway and hopefully she'll be able to come visit in Chicago when I get home! That's pretty much most of the new news here. Still loving church and all the friends I've met here and super busy working now. Miss all of you and hope you're enjoying the beautiful weather you've been having! It's weird because it's been colder here than there because fall is upon us in Sydney.
Peace out!
Hey everyone! I am still alive and doing well! I've had some people wondering when the next update would come along so here it is! Alrighty, what have I been doing since I last wrote...
I've definitely been enjoying having an apartment with free internet and AWESOME roommates! Tonight I cooked my roomie some dinner cause I really hadn't cooked an actual legit dinner since I came to Sydney. I made some pasta with pesto and basil, bruchetta, she made some salad with veggies and we had to have some Aussie ginger beer to go along with it!(it's a brand of pop they have here for those of you who don't know) It was so nice to have a cooked meal and to be able to enjoy it at the table with someone instead of just eating in front of the TV.
I've been helping out with kids stuff at church which I have been LOVING! They've had me do the offering message a few times, so it's cool that they're getting me really involved :) I help with a lot of the set up as well since I'm on Saturday service which is actually really fun! I set up the video games every week (my cousins would be proud) Other than that, I have connect group every other week with some people from Powerhouse, Sisterhood (women's group) Thursday mornings, KDG's (kids discipleship groups) every other Friday and church all weekend! I LOVE it! Hillsong is such an amazing place to be. All of the college students try to convince me every time they see me to do college next semester haha. I really do love the way they do church. It focuses so much on the relationships and community and building each other up. It just incorporates a lot of what I love which is why I think I enjoy it so much! I am definitely taking in a lot that I'll hopefully be able to use at camp and other future events!
My roommate, another friend and I went to the Manly Australian open of surfing a few weekends ago! IT WAS AWESOME. I loooove surf culture! We went Saturday before lunch- watched some surfing, went in some surf shops, watched some skating, loved life... Bethany Hamilton and some other rip curl sponsored surfers were doing a signing but sadly we weren't there early enough so we got all the way to the door and they had to leave! Bummer :( But there was a church at Manly that was playing Soul Surfer and then they interviewed Bethany Hamilton so we got there super early and just sat in line so we could get a good seat. It was awesome and it was so cool to hear Bethany talk! God is really using her in incredible ways. We went Sunday again and watched the skating finals. I am in love with Manly. It's such a small little surf community. Right by the beach, surf shops all over the place, people longboarding and skating with their board shorts and surf boards. If I was here longer term that is probably where I would live! My roommate and I are a little obsessed with this whole surf competition thing now (especially since we both secretly want to get incredibly good very fast to be able to join one, like they would in a Disney movie haha) so we're going to take a train to Newcastle on March 17 cause there's another surf competition going on and we'll be there all weekend. Stoked! Bethany Hamilton will be at that one as well and they're doing another signing so we're going to make sure to be in line SUPER early this time!
Another amazing thing about Hillsong is they have a surf ministry! It's every Monday morning at Bondi beach and I've been twice so far. It's cool because backpackers hear about it and come as well! The first time it was really windy so I was hardly able to get out, let alone get up, but this past Monday it was much calmer. I got up for a short short time! I'm getting the hang of it a little more though- with what waves to wait for and the feel of them when they pick you up. It's hard because the ministry doesn't have too many boards for the amount of people, but it's free which is goooood. So hopefully I'll get a good ride in soon :)
I am still jobless, but there is some hope glistening in the horizon. I must say, this job thing has been way harder than I was expecting it to be. Coming in January is not exactly the best job season in the world. But I do have a lot of people who have been encouraging and lots of people at church who have been praying. I know God has a plan and I'm just trying to enjoy the time that I do have to do different ministries that may have been harder for me to do if I had a job. I know He'll bring me exactly where He wants me (before I run out of money lol) and I did say I wanted to be able to really rely on Him during this trip. Yup, that is sure the case. I may hopefully be able to start babysitting a family next week which would be perfect and on Tuesday I have an interview for a catering business that would be needed in Sydney from March 22-April 14. So if you could pray that those could work out I would greatly appreciate it! I really want to be able to have a good amount of money so that I can travel up the east coast to Cairns for a couple of weeks in April to go diving on the Great Barrier Reef! I would love to see more of Australia than NSW. It's amazing here, but I want to be able to experience more of this beautiful country because I've heard that so many places are absolutely incredible!
So yea, it's been good. I'm more settled now which has been nice. Been doing lots of fun stuff with people like going to the pool, eating dinner in the park, having coffee, lunch or dinner with people... we're also going to go to the open air cinema sometime next week because they only go until March so that should be fun! Trying to do as much as I can without spending a whole lot of money. It's been great and I am undoubtedly blessed to be here. God is good! All the time!
Miss all of you very much- I wish I could fly you all here to experience Australia with me! I would definitely recommend it if you every get the chance to come :)
Shout out to Johnny who has his last Les Mis shows this weekend! Last big musical of high school. I'm sad I can't be there, but I've heard from so many that it's an AMAZING show! Way to go little brother :)
Hey everyone! I haven’t done an update in a while, so just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and well! The weather here over the past few weeks, however- not so well. Rain, rain, rain and more rain. Buuuuut I’m in Australia so I know I can’t complain :)
So last time you heard from me I had done Voltage camp. Well, since then I have done two more camps! I’m pretty sure Heaven is going to be just one big camp for me because camp is pretty much the best thing ever. Wednesday 25/1/12 (that’s how they write it in Australia, weirdddd I know) I helped out with All Stars camp! They are the 7-9 year olds. I had three girls and they were sooooo sweet! It was only a day camp so it was pretty action packed. We took a bus an hour and a half to the Christian conference center- I taught my girls how to play “go fish” on the way. We had an awesome day despite the fact that it poured all day long! We had our morning session which was luckily inside, had lunch in the movie room and went on the waterslides and in the pool for about two hours! It was super fun and everyone was soaked by the end of the day- whether or not they went in the pool! I helped prepare the burgers for dinner and we fed the chillens and then departed back to the church (we got to drive over the bridge on the way back too! I was very excited) I always feel like I get a taste of what it was like to be there when Jesus fed the 5,000 when kids are fed at camp haha.
Once we got back to the church Powerhouse Summerfest was just about to start! BEST two days of my LIFE! We had the most incredible worship and speakers ever and God moved in awesome ways! I also met some amazing amazing people. After Wednesday night’s session they had buses running back to central station which is right by my hostel so I was able to just go back and sleep at the hostel which was nice. Thursday started off great with a couple of amazing sessions and then we had about four hours of free time! I hung out with the girl who leads the connect group I’m going to join and a lot of her friends! Mostly girls from Australia, New Zealand and the UK! LOVE it! We grabbed the bus to Bondi Junction which is basically an incredibly gorgeous mall close to the beach! We got lunch and just talked. AND I tried Turkish Delight for the first time. It was kind of weird, but it was good! Once we were done eating we had to grab the bus back. Before our night session, I helped serve smoothies that people could buy in the garage area which is outside the auditorium. I had so much fun learning the art of smoothie making. :) Once the night session was over, we went to our celebrations because it was AUSTRALIA day! They had rented out a room in Darling Harbor so we had an epic dance party, watched the fireworks over the city, talked and played cards until it was time for the buses to bring us home. It was so much fun! Friday I grabbed the bus after a long morning of moving all my stuff to my other hostel and we had our morning sessions and for free time we went to Surry Hills to a cute little café (which apparently Leonardo Di'Caprio ate ate while filming a movie here). We grabbed food and took it to a park to eat it. Then we talked about Hillsong and Willow (who would have though people in Australia would know Willow Creek? God is awesome) and just chatted about life. After that we prepared all the food stuff and I served smoothies again. It went a little smoother this time since we actually knew what we were doing haha. Then we had an awesome night session and it was time to go home- I was wiped out by that time. So that was my awesome Powerhouse experience.
My most favorite thing in the entire world that is a part of the Aussie culture at Hillsong is that they call each other legends. I have had so many people say to me “you are such a legend” or be like “hey legend…” when they’re talking to me. I love it! I want to bring it back to the states. What a way to refer to someone! I hear it all over, leaders say it to kids, they say it onstage, friends say it to each other… it is the best thing everrrrrrr. I mostly rested up during the day Saturday- then Saturday night I helped with Voltage and Sunday morning I helped with All Stars. Somehow I caught a bug from someone too, so I slept Sunday afternoon and then went back for the 7pm service to meet all the friends I made at Powerhouse! So yea, that was my exciting week last week!
This week was not as exciting- I have been mostly trying to find a job. It has been frustrating and disappointing, but I have great friends and family who are super encouraging and I know God will provide. It has sure been testing my faith though let me tell ya! I trust in His plan though, even if I don’t understand it right now, I know something will work out- I’m just trying to enjoy each day as it comes, although since it’s been so rainy there hasn’t been much I’ve been up to, but I’m trying to keep myself busy. On Tuesday I used one of my friends vouchers that she got from the bridge climb where you could go to the Plymouths which are a part of the bridge, climb those and see the view of the whole city. Once I finally found how to get there the view was INCREDIBLE! It was a nice day when I did it and this city is seriously beautiful! Other than that I've been mostly looking/applying for jobs and hanging out with my awesome roommates and everyone else I’ve met. There’s a lot of people in and out so I’ve been able to keep meeting lots of different people. I’m super excited for this weekend because it will be packed with church activities and I’m excited to see all my friends again! Tomorrow I’m helping with KDG’s which are basically Bible studies for Voltage, then they have vision Sunday this weekend AND baptisms Sunday night (which a lot of the kids in voltage are getting baptized) so there’s a lot of good stuff coming up! I’ll probably play some ultimate/throw the boomerang again Sunday too since I couldn’t play last week cause I wasn’t feeling the greatest. Well, that’s about all for now. Again, impressed if you’re still reading this. Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement, it means the world to me! What legends :)
CAMP WAS AMAZING!!! Time to break it down. It’s incredible how camp felt so similar to Timber-Lee, even though I was halfway across the world. I think God just puts in people’s hearts the right way to do camp. My awesome three days started early Wednesday morning. I took a taxi to the church so I could be there by 7am. My girls were super cute, they are going into their 6th year (it’s still so strange to me that they’re summer is right now and they go back end of January/beginning of February). They all grew up in Australia- kids are somehow even cuter when they have Aussie accents. It’s interesting though, at first their accents all sound the same, but after you’re around them for a while you start noticing even slight differences in their dialect. The conference center was really nice. It was great to be in the woods again after being in the city for a week. They set up two tribes to create some spirit and fun rivalry which mostly consisted of a lot of cheering while watching kids jump through an obstacle course or knock each other onto mats (organized chaos of course). One of the greatest parts- leaders got their OWN rooms! So I was in a room with three fabulous Hillsong college students, a girl from Germany who is traveling for a while like me and one of the main kid leaders. We also had a leader lounge we all hung out in after the kids went to bed where we could talk and play ping pong- it was so fantastic. Everyone is so great and on fire for Jesus (again much like Tlee ) During free time we did a lot of swimming in the pool and a lot of playing outside. I showed a couple of my girls how to throw a boomerang. First boomerang throw in Australia yeaaaaaaa. One of the guy leaders saw me carrying it as well and said he wanted to learn so hopefully it’ll be broken out a lot in the upcoming months.
Worship was AWESOME. I was so hot and sweaty by the end of it because of how much we were jumping around. The team was incredibly energized- I had such a blast. And the best part of it was that we sang Hillsong songs- but that’s because they’re the ones that came up with the songs! I couldn’t even believe that I was dancing to songs I have danced to so many times before at a HILLSONG CAMP! Worship was definitely my favorite part of camp. The kids were so excited to encounter God and learn about Him- it was great. These kids have such servant hearts too. Two of my girls cleaned up our plates and got everyone water every single meal without being asked, just because it brought them joy to do it. What 11 year old does that?! I was blown away by them all weekend. Of course they were typical crazy, funny and energized girls- but so precious. Let me just tell you about the food- I love Australia. For breakfast Thursday morning we had huge sausages, beans, toast and I had yogurt with this delicious Australian cereal (I forget what it was called). For dinner was beef and rice with jello and custard for dessert! First time I’ve tried custard- it was delicious. Friday morning we had spaghetti in the bean sauce (tasted like spaghettio’s), an egg and huge bacon. Finally for lunch Friday we had fish and chips (aka fish and french fries). They also had morning and afternoon tea which was basically just a snack and water. Haha, waaaaay different.
There were a few other things I learned at camp that is different when you’re in Australia- let me share. #1- Lollies mean candy. I thought they all just really liked lollipops as they consistently said they brought lollies to camp. I finally figured out that lollies means all candy, they aren’t just obsessed with lollipops (however, there were quite a few that made an appearance this weekend. Even giant lollipops). #2- They call a bathing suit- swimmers and flip flops-thongs (yea had to think about that the first couple of times kids were asking where their thongs were, lol). #3- Never forget to put sunscreen on your feet- you’ll look like you’re wearing red socks all the time. The Australian sun is HOT and can burn you before you even get your sunscreen on. Even hotter than FL sun. One of the other great things was we all got dressed up Thursday night and had a disco- so much fun. So there’s a bit of a glimpse of my awesome camp time. It was hard to leave to go back to the real world, even when the real world is still Australia. But I’m so excited to get to know the people I met even better and there is a Powerhouse retreat (18-25 year olds) this coming Wednesday to Friday. I am getting my fill of Hillsong awesomeness! God is just so good you guys and His love is incredible. I’m still looking for an apartment that’s close to church and a job (task for tomorrow), but I know that God won’t leave me hanging. He’s already opened up a few possibilities through some of the people I met at camp. So we’ll see what happens! Right now I’m just enjoying getting to know the beautiful girls in my room and discovering who they are and more about their culture. I’m helping out with voltage tomorrow at church and then will go to my own service Sunday. I’m praying for all of you and appreciate the prayers you’ve been sending my way! XXX (Australians end written things this way all the time- it just means kisses!)
Well, hopefully this post won't require as much reading as the last one did- but here's another update for ya! Life is fantastic :) I love Australia. Since my last post I've had the chance to go on a city tour for FREE and see the opera house, bridge and botanical gardens. They were all so great. There's a lot of park space by the opera house so before we went up close to it, our guide took us to eat lunch on a hillside overlooking the opera house and bridge. Best lunch view of my life. The opera house was fun up close. Lots of touristy stuff inside, but it was beautifully structured. The botanical gardens were super fun as well- you can't even hear the city from inside- it's like you just entered into a whole other world. We don't have anything like that in our US cities- another reason Australia is the coolest! There were lots of bats chilling in the trees as well. It was an exhausting tour cause we walked around for four hours- but it was really good cause I had the opportunity to talk to a ton of different people. Since I've been here I have met people from Sweden, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium, London, Whales and France. My naive eyes have been so culturally opened since I've been here. I still have not met another American and I love it! You can learn so much from people of different cultures. It's so fantastic.
Meal time in the kitchen is one of my favorite things about staying in a hostel. I have met a lot of friends just through talking for hours with them in the kitchen. It's a little sad because a lot of them are heading out quickly, but I will hopefully have a chance to meet up with a lot of them when I venture up the east coast or back in sydney. I love every person that I have met here. I see the beauty of their culture through my interaction through them and God is blessing me by simply showing me how He has made them each beautifully and individually and the qualities about each of them that make them unique. I wish they just knew the love God has for them. Most of the people I've met are a lot like me- just from different areas around the world. I guess it's cause not a lot of people travel on their own so those that do think similarly (although when you're in a hostel it feels like so many people travel by themselves). So the people that do love to be with other people, are friendly and easy to talk to. I can't wait to see who else I meet while I'm here.
In other news... Hillsong church is AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! It was smaller than I was expecting, which is why they have so many various services- but it is so great and I love that it's smaller. They offer a free bus service from central station which is about a 5 minute walk from my hostel and it takes about 10 minutes to get to the church. Their worship is INCREDIBLE! People are so genuine and I feel like I'm at camp again! They even jump, hehe. The message was great as well. It was about being an influential christian and the light of the world by genuinely loving others, serving them and having compassion on them while not judging them. Good message for me as I am among many young people right now! It's also cool because they don't have one service that just plays over and over all weekend. They have one saturday, sunday morning and sunday night and they're all different! I heard a lot of people who do Powerhouse go on Sunday nights so I'm going to check it out again tonight. Afterwards, I was able to talk to a girl from New Zealand, some Hillsong college students and the girl who leads the kids ministry! She's excited that I'm wanting to volunteer AND they have summer camps coming up!!! I get giddy just typing it! Camp in Australia?! AAAAA!!! I cannot EVEN wait! It's going to be so great. The New Zealand girl said she'll be there again tonight and knows a lot of the people my age so she's going to introduce me to everyone! God is good! I met a girl on the bus home who is from India and she's been here for three years, so it was fun to talk to her as well. I was just so happy as I was walking home. You know when you are full of so much joy you feel like you could just explode? It that joy where you can't help but laugh because smiling just isn't enough? That's the joy I felt. Same joy I had when I passed comps senior year. How do people experience joy without Jesus? I know I couldn't. Well, once I went back I went to the kitchen (favorite place), I saw heaps (aussie talk yeeeeeeaaaa) of people I knew in the kitchen so I talked to them for a long time. They're all just so great and I had a vibrant new energy after having some Jesus time :)
This morning I had brekkie with some girls I met. One from canada, Switzerland, my friend from Belgium and then Italy. Now I'm at the internet cafe where I get free internet (SWEEEEEEET) and then tonight I have church again! Good good stuff! Well that's about all for now. They have a harry potter exhibit here (who would have thunk it haha) and a girl I met from Germany really wants to go to it so I may go to that tomorrow. They also have the biggest IMAX in the world in Sydney so I want to do that before I leave as well. Then camp would start this wednesday! Then I get to look for a job and some cheaper housing. Woot woot!
Hope all is well at home, miss you all- I wish I could bring you all here to experience this too! Well, until next time... cheers!
