I literally do not remember the last time I write anything in this blog or anything of my own. Things here have really picked up the pace! Its crazy how when you have a ton of time on your hands its so much easier to take note of that time where as when your busy time doesn’t become something we even think of! A lot has happened in this past month!
At the end of March Carrie came and stayed with me for two weeks, which is always a good time! She came to all of my lectures and had to hang out in my room during my tutorials and when I had to work. It was such a refreshing time to have a roomie again! :) We walked from Boni Beach to Coogoo Beach along the coast line, there is a path all along the coast line for hikers, you can literally hike and camp for days! The walk took about an hour and a half, then we just spent some time hanging out at Coogee for a while, took a nap in the sun! One of the coolest things that we saw were these pools that were made of rocks that allowed the ocean water to fill the pool without there being waves so people could swim laps and smaller kids could enjoy a safer ocean!
Here’s some pix from the walk!
We also had the opportunity to hear Shane Claiborne speak for free! He came to Sydney University and spoke on the power of prayer and had a Q&A after his talk. It was realy impactful and put things into perspective for me. One of the things he’s said that has been echoing in my head was, “we pray to God asking him to send someone to do something, and God is answering our prayers saying, “I did, I sent you!”’ Just speaking on the active part of prayer that we so often forget.
The next weekend was pretty fun packed! On Saturday a few close friends of mine were having a Hip Hop Housewarming party! So Carrie and I got dressed up all gansta’ (yes I had a fro) and rocked on over there!
We looked like this:
They had built a half pipe themselves for people to skate on and hung a ton of glow sticks from the ceiling, they even got a smoke machine and strobe lights! It was hoppin, but we couldn’t stay too long because we had another party to go to! Haha My friend Joel was turning 21 so we headed over to his part afterwards. I seriously love 21st birthday parties here! They are so sentimental, like they are truly celebrating that person with songs, poems, hand made book stories and more! Every 21st party I’ve been to has been so touching!
Then Carrie left :(
The next weekend I went on a retreat to Heathcote, which is about an hour out of the city for a retreat with Student Life! The theme was White Hot Faith! We stayed in cabins in rooms of four and had speaker and activity filled days! We also had small group worshops on how to make a greater impact on our campus. The small groups are what convicted me the most. I’ve been a Christian my whole life, I go to Bethel University and I’ve takena course in Christian Apologetics, but none of that has actually taught me how to evangelize with my friends in everyday life. How to answer their questions in a way they will understand and how truly important evangelism actually is. One thing that we get to do in student life is go out surveying people. It’s a short survey with pretty deep questions that pave the way for opening up casual conversation about Christianity. We literally just walk up to students on campus and start talking to them. It is absolutely amazing as to how many people legitimately have no idea about Jesus. They may have heard of Christianity but when I ask them who they think Jesus is they say, “I don’t know, no ones ever told me!” It’s really opened my eyes to how this world really hasn’t heard the news!
The other aspect of Connexions I really enjoyed was just the community. There were about 4 other Student Life groups from other universities so it was a pretty big group. I made it a point to be sure to talk to people from other uni’s so it wasn’t a hug clicky event. It was so fun! Everyone there were just genuinely amazing people! I’ve got plans to meet up with a ton of them before I leave and a few of them might even come to the stated later on this year so I might get to see them at home!
Here’s a picture of the whole group!:
The next week a few Canadian girls came into the Gelato Shop and we got to talking. They apparently worked for this family with two autistic girls and were looking for another person to work for them! I told them I would gladly do it! So it was a pretty busy week for me! There was some schedule mix up at the shop so I just picked up all the extra shifts, I worked 5 days that week! On Friday I went for training with the autistic girls, then after that work I had to go to the Gelato shop so I ended up working a 14 hour day! It was absolutely insane! After a lot of consideration and prayer I decided not to take on the 2nd job. I figured I could rearrange my schedule to incorporate both but it was too much of a bother and I don’t need the money that badly. The next day I spent with Erin (she’s a missionary from the US who’s working with Student Life, she’s become my closest friend here and has been a HUGE encouragement to me!!). Then I went to Jess’ 21st birthday party! On the way there I accidentally got off at the wrong bus stop so I ended up walking like 2k in the rain… hahah but I made it there and it was a load of fun!
Last week was pretty busy mostly with activities and such. On Wednesday I had bought my bus ticket to Canberra to leave on Thursday at 3pm. I went over to Erins on Weds for dinner & board games & to do my laundry (she lets me use her facilities for free!). I spent the night there then headed home on Thurs morning. As I was packing and trying to figure out what homework I needed to bring to Canberra with me (all of my major assignments worth like 20-45% of my grade are due in the next two weeks!) I discovered that I had a 2500 workd paper for my Love in Different Languages Class due at 4pm. That. Day. Worth 45% of my final grade. OF which I had not started or had finished the readings because I thought it was due the next week… I sat at my computer and speed read/wrote while my hands were literally shaking I was so nervous! I stopped myself at 1:30 to just turn in what I had because otherwise I would have missed my buss and I hadn’t even packed yet! The paper was about 1700 words long…. I’m just praying that the professor will have mercy on me, although considering I’m going to Sydney Uni, the hardest Uni in all of Australia I feel like that is highly unlikely :( Nonetheless I got on the buss to Canberra just in time!
It was a 3 hr buss ride and it felt like heaven after such a high stress day! When I got to Canberra I was welcomed by Carrie and her friend Ashley. They took me to a Mexican restaurant that actually tasted like Mexican food! Aussies just can’t do Mexican food right like anywhere else. I miss Chipotle!!! Haha Then we headed over to someones house for a LOTR move marathon. Carrie and I were soooo hyper so we didn’t last too long in the silence haha.
Our Easter Sunday was kind of a fail. Haha We wanted to get to church that morning so we got up and walked to the church we had looked up online and had walked past the day before. It was all closed up, no church there…. So we ended up just going grocery shopping because we had no food left. It felt so weird grocery shopping on Easter morning! Then we decided to make some lunch and discovered how to make No Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal cookies! The ended up being piles of goop that never really hardened… but we ate them anyways! Haha That night we got a ride to another Church service. IT was a really good Easter sermon. I really missed my family all day. I couldn’t imagine spending another holiday without them!!
Monday was Anzac day which is like a day in honor of the Australian and New Zealand Armies. They had a few events going on but it was like impossible for us to get there via bus so we didn’t. We ended up visiting th Old Parliament house which was really cool, it was a really interactive museum so we had a lot of fun! Then we had a mini picnic in the Parliament rose gardens. The sun was starting to set so it was the most beautiful sight, and smell just to sit and eat there! We spent the rest of the night just watching movies and chillin with a few friends
Last night Carrie’s friend Zoro took drove us to the top of Mount Ainsley which is this mountain that overlooks the entire city. It was absolutely gorgeous at night with all of the lights! The mount is in direct view of the old/new parliament house and you can see the beautiful structure of the city beautifully from up there! An American called Griffith designed Canberra so it’s extremely symmetrical and really pretty to look at! I think it’s pretty funny that an American designed the Capitol of Australia… haha
I’ve been in Canberra for almost a week now! It’s been hard to really do anything because the bus services have been on a weird schedule because of Easter & Anzac day… so we’ve had a TON of just chill time. Today is when classes begin again so I’m planning on working on my mega assignments while she’s in classes. I have a lot to catch up on as far as school goes… I’ve pretty much not done anyschool work thus far to be honest! It’s hard to be motivated to do good when I know that the grades aren’t going to transfer back to Bethel anyways.. it’s a pass/fail status that I’ll get, so as long as I pass the class I’ll be good to go! (and you only need a 50% to pass a class here hahhaha).
It still blows my mind how much God has truly provided for me here. He proves his faithfulness SO MUCH! I just feel so blessed to even have this opportunity to be here. Every person I have met has been such an encouragement to me relationally and spiritually, weather they’re Christian or not. I love this place more than words!
Shout out to alla my prayer warriors out there, it would be awesome if ya’ll could lift me up! I’ve been really struggling with a decision this past week. I have the opportunity to stay here an extra month, with a place to stay for free and I get to keep my job. It sounds like the perfect set up, but I’m really struggling to decided weather I should just return home and work as planned and catch up with everyone I miss so much and rest before starting my position as an RA and possibly my Psychology Internship next semester. It’s going to be a hectic one next year…. But staying here is honestly an opportunity of a life time! So if you could just pray that God would just tell me what to do that would be amazing! :)
Well I must get back to actually doing my school work now!
To all who are reading this: I MISS YOU!!!! And thanks for caring! :)
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