Hello everybody,
Its update time!
Well I am back from prac week and it was great. it was tiring and challenging but also a great time. yesterday we had a day off and i got to sleep in! Awesomeness.
Before I get to that though, some other things. God totally blessed me again in the last week. On my University of Calgary application, I found out a few days into May that I needed to apply for my coop program by May 1. Yikes, even to send it in late would mean i need to send in a resume (which I don’t have here in Australia and write a letter). So I worried about it of course, but I shouldn’t. Still I didn’t know what to do. I prayed to God to help me to work it out because I still want to do the coop program. While on prac week, I was emailing back and forth with my mom, she called the university and found out that I can still apply for the program in December, awesome...hallelujah.
Another thing has to do with the church (not necessarily my church back home). Alot of people go to church just to do the Sunday thing and thats all they do. We are called to be Jesus to the people around us. Being in Pendle hill was a cool eyeopener. Working with people who were living in homes that were the churches, outreaching to feed people in the park twice a week in another community. At the park in Paramatta that where we fed the homeless (“our friends in the park”) on Sunday, Wednesday and Sunday, there is a catholic church across the street. Huge church with big steeple things, im sure its beautiful on the inside, they have huge ceremonies, classes etc within...but do they reach out to the poor across the street??? No they don’t. I know not everyone is gifted to go and do that, but as the body of Christ, we should be Christ to people. There are churches that don’t get involved in the community, they spend money on the church, which is fine but we are the body of Christ, not the physical church. One of the guys we worked with in Pendle Hill had been working as a youth pastor in the blue mountains, he was talking about the Holy Spirit there and the elders started slandering him and told him not to teach about the Holy Spirit. Eventually he got kicked out because of it, and it was a mainstream Baptist church. The focus of Christian teaching should always be on Christ. more could be said on this, but I think I am done for my rant...for now.
On Saturday (the 10th ) I slept in and it was great. Forgie and I went to Bowral and got subway for lunch. We got on the bus and 17 of us students and 2 leaders went to Pendle Hill where we got to Williams cottage where we would stay for the week. I was in a room with 4 other guys and we slept on mattresses on the floor. Saturday night we hung out in the church meeting people and playing pool, ping pong and foosball.
On Sunday we got up early for church (we ran both 8:30 and 10 services) and Jonny made us coffees. I ran powerpoint for the services. After the services, we packed up the van and went to Paramatta park to feed the homeless there, which is done every Sunday at lunch and Wednesday at dinner. It was hard to go and talk to people. I always find it hard to go out and talk to new people, so it was a challenge, but i talked to a few people. After hanging out at the park for an hour and halfish we went to happy jacks for some more food (happy jacks=burger king).
On Monday, after our morning coffee, 6 (Forgie, Curtice, Tyler C, Katelyn D, Margaret and I) of us went to a place in Blacktown and scrubbed some grease on some cafe parts for a new cafe some people are starting. We did that for most of the day, I was a little sore after that.
Tuesday we went to an old folks home (Shaw House) by the church and put on a church service. Tyler C, Forgie, Maxy and I took some garbage to the dump before lunch, after lunch we put on a concert for the old folks. The concert was dramas, music and worship, it went alright but was not very organized. After that I ran and mailed a letter, then we hosted kids club at the church from 3:30 to 5, which was fun.
Wednesday we had a church service in the morning at another old folks home and a concert again in the afternoon, which went much better. Wednesday night we went to the park and fed the homeless again. It was good, I went out and talked to some random people and had some good chats, I also felt more comfortable then Sunday. Afterwards we went to macdonalds and got more food.
On Thursday we split into 2 groups and my group did a concert at a nursing home while the other group did one with some retired people. In the afternoon some people went to tea, while Forgie, Colton and Maxy went to fix some walls in a house two places down.
Friday we had a day off. Most of us got on the train at Pendle Hill station and went to central station (downtown Sydney). I went to Paddys Markets and checked out all the deals and things, but I didn’t buy anything, I’ll go back before flying back home for sure. Sean and I left after awhile and walked around to find some places. Tyler C and Katelyn D came with us and we went to Darling harbour and got Starbucks, chilled out there for a few hours. Eventually Daralynne, Kim, Curtice and Tyler F met us there and we wandered around Darling harbour for a bit before heading to the RSL club in Sydney to meet with everyone for dinner. We went to the movies after that, a bunch of us saw 21, which was good, but not great.
Saturday we had a mostly free day. After a slow wake up and a hot brekkie, some of us headed out to a mall in Paramatta called Westfield, a huge mall. We walked around the mall and shopped, I bought a pair of jeans. We (Sean, Kim, Tyler C, Katelyn, Daralynne and I) went to Macdonalds and headed back to the church to be there for 3:30, but Jonny wasn’t there to open it so we waited outside for almost an hour. Saturday night Bruce and Lynn (they hosted us at the church, Bruce is the Pastor) made us an awesome dinner, 4 types of pasta and 2 deserts. We ate by far way better food there then we get at capers. We watched I am legend on the big screen at the church.
On Sunday we did the two services again. Afterwards we went to the park to feed the people there. I talked to 2 people i talked to the first Sunday (Gary and RJ) which was cool. After the park we went back and cleaned up and packed the vans to head back to the school. After being nice and hot in Sydney, it was cold back at the school. We had supper, then snac and caught up with everyone. I had a great talk with Sean after going to the Briars.
Monday the people on the two prac week teams (Pendle Hill and Triple care farm) had a morning off, so I slept in til 10:30. Sleeping in was great, the sore side I had since Tuesday (from scrubbing and my mattress) went away, thou i was still super tired and still sick. I went to Mittagong and Bowral with Forgie and Sean and got some lunch and groceries. I went to bed early because I was super tired and still felt sick. I managed to get 2 loads of laundry done even though we only have one working washing machine for 43 students, so thats good. Im still feeling a little tired and weak today but I am getting better.
Tuesday was an alright day. I didn’t feel great, nasty cough. Didn’t really do that much, I wrote most of this blog (hoping to post it that night but the internet wasn’t on). Wrote a letter to a friend and worked on the capers semester dvd a bit. Tuesday night we didn’t have sport, some of us had a little fire.
Yesterday was work day, I finished putting songs into powerpoint (319 songs) and chopped some wood. We had combined family night and had a fire/barbeque.
Picture count = 2737
Got to open a card from a youth back home (Carlton!). I am learning more and more about God and I am fulfilling the goals I wanted to accomplish, it’s been amazing. I feel like I’ve changed and grown but I can’t really tell, and there are still 2 and a half months left until I get home. Happy birthday in 5 days bud. Hello to everyone back home
Thats about it, having good times here (other than being sick), spending time with friends, making the most out of my opportunities and learning more each day while trying not to look forward to the future too much and make the most of the 4 weeks we have left
Thanks for reading.
From Down Under,
Adam
No comments:
Post a Comment