nothing too new.
I have a refrigerator so I can drink cold liquids now. I can also eat meat, and even leftovers if I want! Those first few weeks were definitely 'college living' in it's fullest form. I have never eaten so much peanut butter in my entire life.

A girl from the states is flying home and selling everything in her apartment for super cheap--so we got a:
-microwave
-rocking chair
-lamp
-bar stool
-5 matching chairs
-desk with a hutch

all for $200

We can't have her washing machine for another week, which stinks. It really stinks.

I have been sleeping with a sleep mask on because my room looks like midday at 5am.

I got my first Ozzie aussie sun burn today. I played a bit of volleyball with people from all over the world-- the best part is that I know all of them :)

Apparently America has more cuss words than any other country.

Rosie arrived and is doing swell.

We went to the Darling Harbour Aquarium and met with the biggest fish I've ever seen-- including a Dugong which looks surprisingly like a manatee.


There is a Power House Retreat coming up next weekend and I wasn't planning to attend, and then God told me I should. And then God told my flatmate(who also wasn't going to attend) that she needed to go. So we're going. And I'm pretty stoked to see why I'm going, and what He will be sharing with me once I'm there. It's amazing how God speaks unbelievably clearly when we're willing to listen. When I want my own answer, I don't usually hear God. But when I want His answer, it's as if He's speaking into a Cambell's soup can in heaven attached to a baked beans can at my ear. It's so clear. He's so clear.

FYI: Powerhouse is a service for ages 18-24. College age. Or as the Ozzies call it, Uni age.

Thats all for now. Dinner at the flat--
Grace & Peace

view from my sick flat! (7th floor)

Coles Grocery experience.

This is my detailed list of highlights from my college experience thus far.
No internet yet, so bare with me.
It is $1.29 a minute to contact y’all. .50 a text to send (although you guys can send me as many as you want!). It cost the price of a Chai latte down stairs to upload this diary of sorts.

My new friends Amy and Danny from Florida have Skype phones. To my utter joy, it is not compulsory to own an iPhone during my stay. I can spend $30 a month and get 4,000AU minutes—100 for international calling. An hour and a half of free international calling!!! Phones are so different here, so much cheaper here; although it is one of the few luxuries that cost LESS than the states.

Day 1
Wednesday
TRAVEL

-Lady at United MCO booked our seats together in Economy Plus even though we bought Economy. She put us together even though we were stationed apart. She had no nametag—we suspect she was an angel.
-April sat right next to Kara(the girl from Hills on our flight) and we were able to talk on the ride to Sydney.

Day 2
Friday
ARRIVAL

-Taxi drive right out of Bourne Identity
-Pulling up to Hillsong church and trying to load everything into the lobby while April ‘guards’ the remaining luggage. 4 suitcases, 2 carry ons and a sister. I was stressed.
-Met Naomi. She is as sweet as Jess told us…times 2.
-Naomi and Corey helped us get our luggage to my new flat. Building 10, Floor 7. The numbers on our doors are in no particular order. It’s hilarious.
-Met Fa Fa from France(flat mate) and Rebekah from Sweden. Found out my 4th flat mate is from Illinois. I think I will like having an American around.
-First experience being treated with prejudice at a bank in Sydney. I am a female Hillsong student from the states. I was told I don’t go to a real school because it isn’t a university and that student accounts don’t exist for my kind. He was a really big help ☹. And he barely touched my hand, much less shook it when I decided I would ‘wait’ on my decision to utilize his bank. He was angry with me over a silly savings account (that is what they call checking accounts here.) Apparently that is going to happen a lot.
-Some of the students warned me that I wouldn’t get jobs just because people don’t like Hillsong. Others said I wouldn’t get jobs just because I’m an American.
Double whammy.
I guess it doesn’t matter how popular something is worldwide, the locals will be teeming with haters. I suppose that is everywhere. Jesus dealt with it; He’ll show me how to be gracious here as well.
-I had pumpkin, greens and thick Feta cheese on a pizza—and it was amazing! Right by my future new bank ANZ(I hear they don’t don’t hate ☺ )
- First Coles shopping experience-everything is so expensive!!!!
-New friend Amy(from Boca!!) gave Fa Fa and I a coffee table, a kitchen table, 4 chairs, sheets, towels, silverware, bowls, plates and some extra kitchenware. She is also lending us 2 mattresses so April and I don’t have to sleep on the floor. We currently believe God for a bookshelf, chest of drawers, couch or something like it, pans, washing machine, and refrigerator. I feel like we are off to a good start though.
-FaFa found soft outdoor chairs in a wonderful thing called the ‘Treasure Room’. It is a place in the parking garage where the hundreds of people who live in the Apartment drop off their unwanted furniture. It’s like garage saling in the most literal of terms.

Day 3
Saturday
-Woke up way too early (jet lag) to find my French flat mate cut up Watermelon to share for breakfast. We chatted over bread, peanut butter and hot tea. In her country they cook full meals for every meal. We are limited in that we don’t have a refrigerator so we are eating rice, peanut butter everything, soup and pasta. It isn’t bad so far. We introduced her to honey on her everything. She likes that. I’m glad us Americans have something to offer the rest of the world.
-Amy, her brother and his flat mates(who remind me of home-they’re all beach rats too) took us to the ‘Reject Shop’; a heavenly mix between Walmart and the Dollar Tree. Toothpaste is $2AU instead of $7.
-First church service! Sanga Samways delivered a message about riding the storm. Good stuff. New music. They are getting the congregation used to the music that will be recorded in July. So I get a fresh taste ☺.
-Deseree from Aabama and Johannes from Germany made us dinner.

Day 4
Sunday
LAZY day.

-Woke up early again and made crumpets with peanut butter. I did the breakfast making. Booyah.
- Went to the first Sunday morning service—Christine…something. She was exciting. I wish I could remember her name, but apparently she travels 300 days a year all over the world speaking. Everyone was so excited that she was sharing this morning.
-Literally slept the day away. I had fancy plans of Bondi Beach and Cremo Café with free Internet, but it all changed when I woke up from my afternoon snooze at 6:35pm. Everything closes at 5 here.
-FaFa and I walked to Coles to get chocolate ice cream and a Pepsi for April. April’s treat. The ice cream tasted like Chocolate Almond. They’re weird flavors.
-Contemplated my grumpy attitude (I have been grumpy since I got here, but I couldn’t pin why. God gave me insight and I am going to learn a lot about love in action. He is setting me free from chains I didn’t know were binding me. Good stuff)
-We had a mini movie night—I watched Little Miss Sunshine with French subtitles! I tried to get some French lingo out of it, but all I can remember is Oui.
-Bed at 11:30.

tomorrow.

I get fillings in the morning. I pick up my make up bag at Kaitlin and Bens. I switch music with Ron.

I wait to find out about my sister coming with me or not.
If she can come, I pack my third bag while rejoicing.
If she can not come, I cry until I can't anymore and repack everything so that 3 bags of stuff fits in 2 bags.

I call to change my phone plan to international.
I finish painting Joe's shoes.
I make a spool full of my DVDs.
I figure out what to bring in my carry on.
I weigh my bags at the vets down the street.
I paint my nails.
I read my student handbook.
I eat something.
I print out my ticket stuff.
I make a resume.
I print out happy things that I need to get me to Sydney.

I say goodbye to most people. I say good bye to Joe.
I will probably cry some more. I'm so good at that.

I hate volleyball and I love volleyball. I just wish it wasn't so daggum hurtful to my sister. My stomach is doing flip fops. Pray for my sissy.

deciphering me?

I'm thinking this alone may be more than 50 pounds.... I should go to publix and check.

The worst part is that that was only my shirts and dresses. I'm going to have to slim down this crazy process....

PS please note that everything on my bed from the first picture of the last post is what is now in my space bag. which is now in my black suitcase.

the beginnings of packing.

I need good packing music. Right now I'm jamming to a bit of everything, but nothing feels right. Nothing makes me feel upbeat and efficient and capable. This is intense. This packing stuff. As you can see by the pictures, so much packing has been done...not really.

How do I fit all this stuff in my 2 suitcases? How do I decipher what needs to go?! How do I decide which whats I should withhold?

I think I should listen to Brook Fraser's deciphering me. I will. Here I go.

Why I'm doing what I'm doing.

Very few of us debate with the sordid and evil and wrong, but we do debate with the good. It is the good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh" - it is going to cost the natural in you everything, not something. Jesus said - "If any man will be My disciple, let him deny himself," i.e., his right to himself, and a man has to realize Who Jesus Christ is before he will do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.

The natural life is not spiritual, and it can only be made spiritual by sacrifice. If we do not resolutely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural in us. There is no royal road there; each of us has it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of performing. --Oswald Chambers

When he calls I run to my funeral of independence. Waterloo. Sydney. Hillsong. Meritan Apartments. I can't just sacrifice something, it must be everything.

accepted by the country

They like me! They really do!
(visa has been approved.)