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!
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