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 :)
