Out Of The Cup, But Still Loving It

Monday we left for Beaudesert or as the Aussie's call it... the bush... for our team retreat. It was a great time of fellowship and planning. It was so nice to see the Australian outback and all the cattle. I mean, I thought I saw a lot of cows in my life, but this does not even compare. We also had time set aside for quiet time with the Lord. Man, it was good. I read Jeremiah 29:11 and decided to read around it for context. I loved how the Lord was promising His people to bring them back to the place where He originally took them. Now, I'm not saying I feel banished to Australia, but I do feel that God took me away for a month for a reason, and He will bring me back to the place He took m e from. Now, I am praying with an expectant heart that He would fulfill His plans for me this summer. They are not to harm me, but to prosper. I am promising to seek Him with all my heart so that I can find Him. I also loved the reminder that He is the vine and I am the branch, and my ultimate goal is to bear fruit. I know full well that fruit does not grow unless it is being nourished, so I am choosing to remain in the One who gives nourishment.



Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to keep the kids at church while their parents attended Chris' midweek Bible study at Holland Park. This is a big deal because they don't normally provide child care, which we found out last Sunday sitting in the service with kids running around. It was nice to give the parents a chance to really listen and soak up the story of Exodus as Chris is presenting with "The Road Trip" series.

Thursday was our day trip to the city! It was full of adventures starting off with two of our guys and our Kiwi friend running onto the train with 30 seconds to spare (without a ticket, might I add). We went to Queenstreet Mall downtown which is much different than our malls in America. The city was very busy and we enjoyed being as touristy as possible. The only places we bought things were from the Australian souvenir shops. I got a socceroo jersey that I am pumped to wear even though they are out of the World Cup. We rode the CityCat (water taxi) and went to Kangaroo Point to watch the sunset behind the city.



Friday was AWESOME. We went to Redlands College (the grades 1-12 private school) and plugged Camp Orion and Camp Connect (two camps coming up) in the homerooms. They split us up so that we talked to two "form" (homeroom) classes about ourselves and the camps. I was paired with a grade 11 girl named Kristy to speak to two grade 11 classes. The first class was great. I couldn't believe that they were able to sit on the tables and chat as much as they did, but I think their teacher was just a chill guy. They were very interested in my accent and if I was related to Chris Daughtry, of course. I loved asking them questions too. I kept telling them how much I felt that I was in an Australian Hogwarts because they all wore uniforms and the feel of the school just felt like a place Harry would go to school. When I said this, a redheaded guy said, "Well I guess I'm Ron." Ha. He later called me Hermione just to go along. It was the best. As if it could get any better, I got to follow Kristy around for the morning and she told me all about her school and introduced me to her friends. She was a part of the SALT leadership team at Redlands (sound familiar PTC people?). I can really see how God is going to use her in her school. And then we went to a few different assemblies, one of which being the announcement of the HOUSE CUP! Yes, they are split into 4 houses, can you believe it? Her house won for the sports carnival they held the day before. They didn't have a big feast, but it was close enough. I loved the school and seeing all the kids in their uniforms. I wanted to take pictures, but I didn't want to be creepy. Had to keep my cool, ya know.

We went back to Wellington Point to plan for KidzDay and some of us walked to an island.



Friday night was "Family Fun Night" where we go to another family's house for dinner. Steffani, Leslie, Nikki, Swinea, and I went to the Johnson's house. Andrew and Danielle just moved to Brisbane from up north with their three kids Laura, Harry, and William (yes... like the royals). They were GREAT! I loved the fellowship and the food. We talked about all the places they had visited in the North America including Atlanta, Kelowna, Calgary, and Edmonton! Small world huh. Andrew was really curious about our chosen majors and what we might do with them. He was the headmaster at a private school up north and now he works with more schools down here, so you can imagine that we talked about the school systems a bit.

Today was KidzDay where we watched the kids from 9-3 while their parents listened to more teaching from Chris. Tonight we rest and hang out with our host families to prepare for Camp Orion which starts tomorrow! Pray with me for my buddy and our relationship. I pray that God will shine through me and that He would get all the glory.

More Aussie vocabulary:
Dodgey = sketchy
Brekky = breakfast
Sweet as = great... but it throws you off when they say it at the end of a sentence. With their accent it sounds like something else.
Kiwi = a person from New Zealand