Week3

This morning I woke up at 5:00am for no apparent reason. Since I had to run in half an hour anyways I decided to not go back to sleep, and now I'm feeling the consequences of that. This morning when I gathered my things for the shower, I stumbled upon my razor and sliced my finger deeply. (I know mom, I should have learned from your Mexico story!) Then when I went down to breakfast we were out of milk for cereal, we didn't have fruit, and we were out of peanut butter and butter for toast. So it was toast with vegemite! Ick! Because of this, my friend from the UK, Becca, and I treated ourselves to some fish 'n chips in town during our lunch break. It tasted fantastic! For dinner we decided to ditch recipes and cook lasagna, salad and garlic bread. It should be good, and I'm excited for that!



We have been learning on relationships during teachings this week. It's cool to see it immeaditly applied with the people we live with here. We're starting to get really close, and I enjoy the fun conversations I get to have with my fellow kitchen workers. Learning about relationships this week has also made me realize how utterly blessed I am to have such amazing family and friends. So, thank you all! Your presence in my life is a huge part of who I am, and I'm proud of that!



Next week I head off for a 10 day camping trip on an island by the bay. Have no idea what to expect, should be heaps of fun! I'm really excited. Pray that no spiders or nasty insects find me while I'm there--I'm a little worried about that.



Some prayer requests:

- I've had a nasty sensitive tooth for a while now, and though I don't notice it often because I never drink or eat anything that cold, it still bothers me sometimes.

- Outreach locations have been on my mind. I don't know when I'll know the locations, but pray that God starts putting a nation on my heart now!

- There's been a couple girls get really sick already, one was taken to the hospital last night for stroke symptoms, but I think she is ok no.

- Safety in the kitchen! (there has been lots of accidents in the past)

- Safety while camping! ( and that God keeps the bugs away from me!)

God Resides in the Most Humble of Places

There is no air conditioning here--I eat the same cereal every breakfast, and have last night's dinner leftovers for every lunch. The drinking water is straight from the tap, and is ALWAYS room temp if not warmer, and most of the food we get has either just expired or is bulk flow over. I have not had a chip, cookie or anything resembling a snack since I've been here (except for bread and apples.) I miss paper towels and napkins more than ANYTHING! I haven't seen any yet. But as Nanny told me: "I went to Australia, not Heaven."
Although I know God lives in my heart-- I'm pretty sure he has a vacation home in Oz, and it's called Lewis House.

The dining room! The kitchen. ( I spend heaps of time here)

The Hub. (Just to hang out-- we never do, it gets too hot)

My bedroom! (Bottom bunk is mine- notice how the sun shines directly through the window. Lovely.)

Lewis House: aka my aussie home.

Feelin the Heat

Today I'm a bit discouraged. The heat is really getting to me and my entire back, chest and face is burnt and itchy. There is no air conditioning in any of our housing or kitchen (only in the lecture hall) so sleeping is uncomfortable and sticky too. I go through at least two outfits a day because I sweat through them, or get them dirty during chores and I cannot do laundry because I have absolutely no cash, and cannot get any more until my credit/ATM card arrives in the mail.

I got to sleep in until 6:30am this morning, because I did not have morning run today and I had showered last night. The extra hour of sleep was a blessing. I was also excited because today is Wednesday, meaning it's a base worship and intercession prayer day! -- But it turned out that they cancelled worship, and instead we went down to a giant warehouse that my base recently purchased and is constructing into a youth center. I spent 3 hours there scraping off the rust and peeling the siding off of train boxcars that will be painted and turned into offices. Except for the 100 degree heat, it wasn't too bad of a job. But it was dirty! Danny, Live, Christina and I kept each other fine company during the task. A bunch of rusted metal did fall on my head though-- luckily it wasn't at all heavy, so I wasn't hurt, I only had pieces of dust and metal in my hair and eyes for a bit, but it came out all alright!

I also sat through a 2 hour "lecture" about the runnings of Youth Street. I kinda had a bad attitude during this because they were restating what they had said during orientation. It was literally one of those things that they could have EASILY said in 15-20 minutes, but instead it took ages. I wish I could say that I learned something new. But I really didn't. HOWEVER- tonight we're having a lecture on the Fear of the Lord, and this speaker I really admire, and I'm excited to hear about this topic. So the boring stuff should be over!

For dinner tonight, Faith, Kim, Brooke and I made Roast Beef w/ mashed potatoes and gravy with cooked carrots and green beans. We peeled heaps of potatoes. Heaps. Also, our food shipment from the Food Bank came in, and we had to carry in all the boxes and put it away in the kitchen which was a much larger task than I could have guessed. We had to do all the dishes from lunch, and on top of all of this, the health inspector is coming tomorrow, so, of course, we had to fix the kitchen up as well! It's been a long, hot, dirty day.

I just got up to get my laptop charger, and a staff member named Kate (who I've only said a few words with) pulled me into the back of the kitchen, and shared with me a secret banana split that she had just bought and made. It tasted so good. It was the first time I have had ice cream or something that cold since I've been here. It has made my day heaps better! I am tired and a bit discouraged over today, but even so, I enjoy being here. I'd rather go through hard days like this and be here, than to spend easy days elsewhere. So if you could keep me in your prayers for my strength daily, an open attitude and for me to show some heart towards Youth Street, that would be sick! (sick = "awesome" in Oz)

And that was my Wednesday!

Contact Info.

I can receive mail at:

PO Box 162
The Junction NSW 2291
AUSTRALIA

I can receive phone calls at: 4960 2615

I can receive faxes at: + (02) 4968 1992

Beach Day!

Sunday I went with a group of girls to a popular beach just out of town. We took the bus there, had to walk through town and a carnival, but we got to the beach and had a ton of fun! This is me, Jenna, Lizzie and Shayla.

Roomies at the carnival!

I learned some very important things today:

1.) There is a hole in the ozone layer above Australia. Meaning- the sun is very intense, and even if you put on lotion, you will burn!

2.) When ordering a banana milkshake in Australia, this means that you are ordering a frothy, cold milk drink with banana flavor. This is much like a cold tea instead of a milkshake. When wanting an american style milkshake, you must order a "thick shake".

3.) Subways down under do not have pepper jack cheese. Nor do they even know what banana peppers or pepperchinis are. They do not use the word "peppers" so green peppers are chachoai. (have NO idea how to spell that word!)

4.) Nothing is more fun than swimming in the ocean with friends in Australia!!!!!!

A few pics

My friend Danny from Tazmania (Australia)-- In this picture he's trying to be asian, he doesn't really have a mushtash, he drew that on! He's a funny guy! A wallabee! (much like a kangaroo)

Koala Bear!

My friend Sarah from England, and I!

Some people from my DTS during our nature walk. Starting from the left: Zack (from pennsylvania), Shayla (my roommate from Canada), in the back we have Joel from Canada, Jenna (from Ohio), Becca (from England), Faith (from New Jersey), crouching in Jess (another roommate from New Jersey), Katelyn and finally Danny (tazmania)

Animal sighting!!!

Today the temp. reached 109 degrees, yet we decided to go to a park to have a picnic anyways! I had a great time, a group of the DTS took off for a nature walk, and I got to see emus, kangaroos and even koala bears! I was so excited! We ate some burgers and mystery bags (sausages)-- oh, and I found a spider that's just smaller than the length of my hand! Ew.

We had lectures on praise, worship and evangelism. The usual topics to get us off and going, I think. During the evangelism lecture it was announced that every thursday from here out we will be going to a local mall, the midpoint of the adolescent hang-out. There we will have the opportunity to invite young people to Youth Street, strike up conversations and let them know about God. I feel a little uneasy about this, not only is it out of my comfort zone, but it seems so impersonal and I don't know how to take it. But, I feel that way about many things here, but I'm totally open to difference. I'm going to keep my heart and mind open to all these new things to see what God has to show me, I guess.

Tonight I along with 5 others made dinner for 100 people. Fresh cut salad and spaghetti with meatballs. Let me just tell you that if you have never experienced cooking over a giant stove for two straight hours in a non-airconditioned kitchen in 109 degree heat-- it's not that easy! Despite the heat, I did have some fun though... I plugged in my iPod and jammed out to Jack Johnson and Bob Marley; the other workers say I have great taste in 'kitchen working' music. Yep. That's right! So, this is now my job for the rest of my time here in Newcastle. Every single day for two hours I work in the kitchen to prepare dinner, then assist with the dishes afterwards. Also, in the mornings directly after breakfast I am sent outside to do yard work. I don't mind these chores yet, but they keep my busy!

There's a thunder and lightning storm going on right now. The rain is hot and the lightning reflects off the black/purple clouds. It's beautiful. I hope it continues throughout the night to cool off tomorrow and to give me music to fall asleep to.

Day 2

I live in a house with about 60 other people. I'm not sure about the final count, because the number changes nightly. I have about 25 students in my DTS and 6 to 8 staff members, but the staff members from the Oct. and April DTS also live here. So do their families. Some of the youth from Youth Street, called "the crew" stay here too sometimes. The hostel I live in is a home to children, youth, elderly, and missionaries from all over the world who needs a place to crash for a few weeks. I have met people from England, Canada, Germany, Fiji and New Zealand, so, naturally the base is full of different kinds of accents. Every next person you talk to has a different accent-- this can be confusing and also amusing. Although there are lots of Aussie's and Kiwi's (New Zealanders) around, it doesn't feel like I'm in an Australian culture, but a unique sub-culture. We eat dinner and mock each other's way of speaking and the lingo used.I'm really starting to like it here.

It's so crazy how intentional God is about every aspect of life. Today I realized that being a Young Life leader has prepared me so well for this specific YWAM base. We put on Youth Street, which is just like the Australian version of Young Life on steroids. Every Saturday from noon to 9pm we cater to the youth of Newcastle, we have activities for them, dinner, worship, lesson, bible studies and small groups. For some of the youth, the older ones called "the crew", we will help equip them for a short outreach of their own. There are five teams that serve these youth, a surf team, sports team, music, art, skateboarding and dance team. My first choice would to be on the music team. I don't really know why I want this, because I can't sing, or play the guitar well enough to assist in leading worship, however, I want to grow in the musical area of my life. I just do! So I hope I get on that team. If not, I'd be fine with surf (cause I could just play on the beach) or sports team. I don't really know what to expect from Youth Street, I'm already ahead of a lot of my fellow students, because all of the training of how to deal with minors I had gone through with Young Life, so I'm glad God has prepared me for this role! Just hearing about Youth Street made me feel tired... I hope it won't actually be like that! Every morning I wake up at 6:00am because the sun shines through my window, and tomorrow morning I have a prayer meeting. Not sure what that is-- but I figure I should get some sleep tonight. :)