April 1 - april fools!

April Fools day!
Hello everybody, I hope your march was awesome (mine was).
So this is my last post before i head to Hong Kong tomorrow for 2 weeks, and don’t expect a blog posting during that time.

2 weeks ago our lectures were on New Testament, then a lecture on revelations before getting good Friday off. Last week we had lectures on Abraham and this week we have Ecclesiastes.

On Thursday we had a Passover dinner, which was interesting. A new experience for sure. On Friday that week we got to sleep in, I got up for pancakes then went back to bed and slept til 12:30!! After lunch a bunch of us went on a photo scavenger hunt. Chloe, Kylie, Jen, Linden and I drove around Bowral and Mittagong and took photos. The other group had 6 people in Tyler F’s van. That was fun. that night I looked at photos and videos on my laptop with some friends and then watched Tarzan.

On Saturday(the 22nd) i got up early with Tyler C, Daralynne, Stacia, Sam and Carla and we went to Bowral at 9:30. We caught a train to Macarthur at 10:30. The bunch of us hung out and shopped in Macarthur for the afternoon. Bought some flip flops but that’s it. Came back around 6 and got pizza in Bowral. Tyler F was nice enough to pick us up in his van and drive us back to school. I set up for our breakfast in bed thing for Sunday and then watched some aussie football with Sam and Mark, then watched Big Fish with Mark and Woodsy. It was a crazy movie.

Sunday the 23rd it was Easter Sunday (HE IS RISEN). As a fundraiser for Hong Kong and a treat for everyone, Woodsey and I(with the help of Stacia and Daralynne) brought brekkie to everybody’s rooms, so they didn’t have to go to the main house for brekkie, and they got cinamin buns. It was good, everyone loved it, but it was more work than we expected.

On Monday, we had hermeneutics and old testament. On Monday i worked on my bible study outline most of the day. Maxy wasn’t back yet so we didn’t have soccer, Tyler C, Daralynne and I made our costumes for the bush dance. It was cool.

On Tuesday we had the principle from Capernwary hall in England, Rob Whittaker, come in as our speaker and we had 5 sessions on the early life of Abraham. He was a great speaker, lots of applicable stuff, he dealt with real issues and dug really deep into about 2 chapters and also illustrated his points really well. Rob was also did our lectures on Thursday. In the afternoon we went to the salvation army where we could fill a bag of clothes for $5, i got some wierd stuff. On Tuesday night i finished by bible study outline and helped people get ready.
Also on Tuesday i called home and got to talk to my dad and my sister, it was great to talk to them, and i felt better after.

On Wednesday we had a bible study on New Testament intro in the morning then we had work day. I cleaned the main house then fixed holes in the driveway. I met with Woodsy about Hong Kong after work day. On Wednesday night we had the bush dance. Everyone (well almost everyone) dressed up as something Australian. Daralynne, Dorthe, Tyler C and I dressed up as Vegemite. After everyone took lots of pickies(pictures) we ate some kabobs and then started doing folk dances. After the official bush dance finished they blasted dance music(this is all outside). It was a fun but tiring night.

On Thursday it snowed!? I was like what the heck? Heck what the? The what heck??
......April fools, actually it didn’t snow, it isn’t that cold, yet. It was prob about 15 actually. To give you an idea tho, it was about 5-10 outside and about 15 inside our unit at about 8 in the morning. we made a funhouse video then went to funhouse. It was a wild time, there were alot of kids this time. on Thursday night we had guys group then i went on the net.

On Friday we had a session on Old testament then Orals. After lunch i hung out in the conference hall with Andrea and Kiwi listening to music and watching music videos. Then i went to town with those two and met some people (Adam H, Sean, Barb, Forgie, Kim, Sarah) at Gloria Jean’s for coffee after Kiwi and Andrea rented tons of movies. After supper, Adam H, Sean, Grahame and Margaret went to Bowral and saw “Death Defying Acts”, which was a weird movie, not great, but not bad. 3 stars out of 5. After i got back i watched bone collector, which was good. After that i went to bed early to get some sleep.

On Saturday i went for a walk with Sarah in the morning. After brekkie i went on the internet and talked to my Mom and then i talked to my grandparents, both on Skype. It was good to talk to them. I went to Bowral at noon time with Stacia, Carla, Kim, Mark and Maxy. We went for coffee then I went to the store with Stacia and Carla, then went and got pizza at Domino’s with Stacia and Kim. Stacia, Kim, Carla and i went to Briars with Colton and Brendan after that. Then i did some laundry and relaxed in my unit. After doing cooks dishes at dinner, i went to the bonfire. The fire was big and hot. After hanging out there for a few hours i watched Pearl Harbour in the retro room with a bunch of people, then i went to bed.

On Sunday, i went to church, i definitely miss my church back home, but oh well. On Sunday afternoon i listened to a flames game(they lost tho) then did powerpoint for snac. Snac service was great.

Yesterday, i went to town and bought a 2gb card for my camera so i can take lots of pictures in Hong Kong. Because it was our last night in our rooms, unit 7 had a party last night for the units. Fun times, then we stayed over in their unit, watched a movie and slept there.
The last few weeks ive been going to quiet time at Woodsy’s which has been great. A few of us usually go to his house at 6:30am til about 7:15am to spend some quiet time with God and our bibles. It’s a great way to start the day, even though it can be extremely tough to get up. On Wednesday he slept through his alarm, so Adam and I got there and the lights were off, so we went to the briars and had a hot brekkie and a good chat. It was great.

We switched rooms on today, crazy times. I’m going to miss my roomies big time, but having kiwi as my roomie will be fun, and there will be good times in the Hilton.

I might not get on the internet for a few weeks, so it will be a while til my next post, pray for me as i go to Hong Kong for my mission trip.

A little explanation again of the Hong Kong mission trip for your knowledge....
ok so the lady that started the ministry is named jackie pullinger. basically she jumped on a boat a long time ago and randomly got off in hong kong, leading to working with druggies. so now there is a place called Newboy house. basically drug addicts get told about jesus, and accept him. once they do that they come into the house and are surrounded by peers and house leaders and they have no access to drugs, in a strict community where the workers(people like me) come in and pray overthem while they sleep. they stay in a house for about 6 months, gaining more responsiblity over time with the freedom to leave at any time. they are "spiritual babies" so we just need to show them love. there is alot to it but i think thats the essence of it. they come to meetings on tuesday, and they pray in tongues there and during prayer each morning. its going to be out of this world!i hope that all makes sense.

I got to open a card from one of the youth back home on March 21, exciting stuff. It was a card from Chris, he asked in what ways i’ve experienced God. It’s a tough question to answer at this point, but i’ll take a stab at it.
The first thing is how much God has blessed me. Providing for this trip through money i didn’t know was coming at a perfect time, then for the Hong Kong trip, first i saved $30 on airfare, then the school payed my travel insurance...the cost of the mission trip went from about 2200-2600 to around $1500. Awesome.
God has also blessed me with great people here, i love how there are so many other students here that are great to talk to and spend time with. Some i have had great discussions with and also i have felt uplifted and encouraged.
God also placed people here to challenge me in understanding what i believe, and people who are not of a great mindset, also people to get deeper with and who have been through some of same stuff. Also people who reveal things in me i like or don’t like and people who have tested my patience. Some people have better mindsets and attitudes then others, regardless of how close to God they are. The Holy Spirit allows for more outworking of those positive things, and the lack of the Holy Spirit in some people allows the negative parts of people to be more evident (I hope that made sense). Of course there are challenges (that’s how we grow), but i really feel like God has lined things up here.
Another example is work days and weekends, countless weekend trips and workdays have been escapes from weeklong rain into sun for a day.
I have experienced God’s love in this community and God’s wisdom through the staff, who are quite relatable.
Also I have experienced God doing little things, like waking me up a few minutes before my alarm one morning to spend quiet time with him, after i had prayed the night before for it to happen. Cool stuff.
As i mentioned earlier, i have been having quiet times in the morning lately, through that i have seen God’s wisdom in the word and peace and energy from spending time with God. Awesome. Also through the speaker last week, i gained some good insight in life.
Another way that God has shown himself is the beauty here. It was incredibly green here when i got here, but not only that, but the rolling hills, the huge trees, the nice landscape, the amazing sights from the escarpment(like the illwara tree top walk), and all the huge beautiful beaches with sand that creaks! God has created everything a little differently here.
So i guess you could say i have seen God’s wisdom, peace, Love, blessing, challengingness (probably not a word...) and faithfulness. Wow, so i hope that answers the question and gives you a little insight into my time here so far.
pics arent working on here, trying to get more up on facebook though

Check this site out if you get a chance, the week that was – our vegemite group is on there
http://www.torchbearers.com.au/pages/page.php?page=42

Thanks for reading.
From Down Under,
Adam