July 16

July 16

Hello everybody,

Alright, so here is the latest on my Australian journey.

So on Saturday the 5^th, my billets (Angela) woke me up and made us some omelettes and gave us toast and cereal, then we got to the church (southport Baptist) and got ready for the service on Sunday. In the afternoon we went to a big mall where it took forever to find a spot, and I did some shopping with Mark, Cheryl, Lisa and Kim after some lunch. We went back to our billets for dinner, they made us spaghetti and curry, it was really good, then we had some ice cream. Mark and I played some pool, and then Chris (our host) played pool with us. Mark and I watched Bad Boys later in the night. Chris and Angela said they would love to have us stay again sometime, they were pretty awesome.

On Sunday the 6^th we led the church service, I shared my testimony, we did a skit with everyone and Sean shared the message. The girls along with Maxi did worship. We stuck around visiting with people and had lunch at the church, I played some pool with Mark and Caleb (a former capers student) in the church. we left southport in the Gold coast at about 1. We had some dinner at Red Rooster just north of Port Macquarie. We went through Sydney and got to the school at about 2am, the guys slept at Maxi’s flat, girls in the Hilton.

On Monday we woke up at 9 and cleaned out the van. In the afternoon we (Sean, Kim, Mark, Cheryl, Lisa and I) went into Bowral for a nice lunch, I had a steak. After forgetting a few things and having to run back to the school, and getting my mobile that I left in Maxi’s car, I got on the train to Melbourne and said bye to my friends, sad saying bye. I called my billets but they weren’t home so I went to Olympic park for the Hillsong conference with my two backpacks. They held my big bag for me there, so I went into Acer arena for the 7:30 evening session, which was great. there was some HIllsong worship and then Judah Smith spoke on embracing grace. Basically he was saying that God’s grace is like a hug. We might as well accept it, a hug is better if you embrace it, that may sound kinda funny but true. Judah Smith was one of my favourite speakers during the conference. Afterwards I made my way to Toongabbie station, which is actually one station away from Pendle Hill where I had prac week...interesting. after missing a train, I got there at 11pm and had to call Mr. Southcombe to pick me up from the station, as it was dark, and I had no idea where his house was.

On Tuesday morning I met Fiona and Miranda from Capernwray New Zealand, who I had connected with so they could have somewhere to stay too, and discovered it is a 15 minute walk to the station, good thing I didn’t try walking the night before! The morning session was again really good, Brian Houston was the first speaker, he said we need to be the unapologetic Christian. Hmm, well basically we can’t be tied down with insecurities, thinking we or our idea isn’t ready or good enough. He looked at Luke 19 from vs 28 relating to Jesus using a little unproven colt. Tim Cummins spoke shortly after about the heart of God being freedom, mostly speaking about the poor and oppressed. Joel Houston came out after and he was really honest and said he had no idea what to say, so he would let the Holy Spirit guide him. He talked about the I heart revolution being about a desire for hearts to come as one and resonate with God. He talked about being the light in the darkness.

Next it was off to the youth leaders stream (the one I was in). Sanga talked about lots of things to do with youth ministry, and one thing that stuck out to me was that Jesus chose Peter to shepard the flock of the new church, but John was the disciple he loved. Interesting. Anyways, that was just one thing, I don’t think I’ll go into detail with the rest, but I do have notes for all of them. At 4:30 there was the first evening session, Paul DeJong spoke about confidence, Hillsong opened with worship then Isreal Houghton led worship. Mike Pilavachi, another of my favourite speakers, in the second evening session spoke about worship, evangelism and justice being intertwined, at least that they should lead into another. I got back to our billets place around 10:30.

On Wednesday Paul DeJong spoke again in the morning about enlarging expectation, not limiting what God can do, and that our faith is evident in the tough times. The second speaker was Darlene Zcsech, she talked about our hearts. Robert Fergusson was our next speaker, talking about bridging the Gap between the believer and God, reflecting the heart of God. In the youth stream, Chrishan spoke more about youth ministry and mentioned that youth often have a public passion but not private devotion, and some other things. For the evening sessions HIllsong and Micheal Gungor led worship. Joseph Prince was the 4:30 speaker, he talked about Jesus the servant, grace, peace and power. The 7:30 speaker was Joyce Meyer, she was really good. She talked about a dog named fred, relating to us. The dog lusted after legs to bite, when a muzzle was put on him, he was miserable, he was still lusting but he couldn’t even get them. The idea was that it needs to be a heart change, thats grace, Jesus didn’t die so that we could have a religion. Dying to the law is essential to our faith, which is something God has been teaching me the last few years. Relating to salvation, its hard to get in a chair we are already sitting in...just think about it. Ok moving on.

On Thursday the 10, Joyce Meyer was up again (awesome) and talked about having peace through change and transition. Later, Brian Houston came up and talked about God’s heart for the house (the church), and Bobbie Houston followed and added to it. For the youth session, Mike Pilavachi talked about his experiences in youth ministry, like with Matt Redman, and he was hilarious. He talked a few youth related things. For the evening sessions, HIllsong did worship followed by Leeland, awesome. Marcos Witt was the first speaker, he talked about the mystery of the power of God. The second speaker was Joseph Prince, he talked about this being the Benjamen generation (in relation to Joseph in Genesis), he went through a ton of stuff and it was a little too much haha. The girls from New Zealand had two friends out for the conference that night and they came back to our place for the night.

On Friday Judah Smith spoke again, and he was really good, his session was called whats your point?. He was talking about our perspective and how it influences the way we think about the kingdom, the bible and God. Sometimes we need to get out of our little tents like Abraham when he was upset with God and wanted more.(Gen15:1-6). Gary Clark spoke after him about getting from where we are to where we want to be. In the last youth stream, Judah Smith spoke about youth ministry of course and talked a bit about David. Joyce Meyer was the speaker for the 4:30 session, she talked about only having one life to live. We need lead spiritual lives live by example. Showing God’s love by what we do, going into a 3^rd world and talking about Jesus doesn’t fill their belly. Another thing was that love is the highest form of spiritual warfare, love is the way. Say no to self centerdness. So the last session of the conference (7:30) was a worship session, it was pretty sweet. There was a little break in the middle, but it was pretty awesome. Before I knew it, 9:30 hit and after we were prayed over, they left the stage. But the crowd still wanted to worship, all 20,000ish of us, so we sung for 5 or ten minutes, and all of a sudden the lights went off and the band came back on. we worshipped again til almost 10:30. It was amazing. It seems like everyday through the conference I had a moment during worship that I could just feel God around me, I’m not sure how to explain it. Overall the conference was really good, I was separated from the girls quite abit so I was on my own, I talked to whoever I sat next to for the night sessions, which was cool, and one lady I spoke to was from the church in Southport, Gold Coast where our group had been last Sunday, cool.

On Saturday the 12^th my billets took me to see the Hillsong HIlls church, which is super big, but I didn’t have much time so I’ll probably go back on my last weekend here. I took the train to the airport and had to go to the international terminal to fly to Melbourne, wierd. Missy, who was on the Queensland trip, organized for me to stay at her parents place in Melbourne, so she picked me up from the airport and we went downtown. We went to the Eureka skydeck and checked out the huge views, and walked along the waterfront, as well as checking out the Crown casino building. She took me to her parents place, which is in a suburb called Belgrave, a long drive to the edge of the city, in the hills of the Dandenong ranges on the east end. They live at the end of a road, in a nice old fashioned and isolated house. Its cool.

On Sunday I slept in (yay) and went to Phillip Island with Missy. We went to a Koala habitat and saw lots of koalas, then to a seal lookout, then to the penguin parade, where you have to sit out in the cold at sunset to see tiny little fairy penguins come in from the ocean. It was a slow night, most of the penguins mustve stayed out at sea for the night, but we saw some. We stopped and had some fish and chips on the way back.

On Monday I went to Melbourne to explore. I took the train at 9 from Belgrave and it took about an hour and 20 minutes to get to Flinders street (the major downtown station). I got there and went to the Melbourne Cricket Ground(MCG) and it was huge. They play AFL and cricket inside. I did a tour which lasted just over an hour, seeing all the parts of the stadium, the best parts being going to the top (seeing all 97,000 seats) and seeing the view of downtown, beautiful. It would have been amazing to see a game at that stadium...someday. then I walked back to downtown and had a look at federation square, then walked down the waterfront and checked that area out. My next thing was to get on the tram, I took the city circle tram to the aquarium and had a look around in there, it was cool, not amazing but cool. Then I took the tram around to central and had a little look around the area, and went in the mall. I took the train back and had a great steak dinner, and a relaxing night, also went on the internet.

On Tuesday I had to get up early to get to the corner of Spencer and Flinders streets for my great ocean road tour at 7:30am. The train is free til 7, so I thought I would be ok, I ended up being rushed for time, so I got off at parliament station, thinking it might be faster to run, bad decision. I jogged across downtown (Melbourne is like 4 million people, so big downtown) and made it, but I was sweating in the cool morning air. The tour was alright. We went to Bells beach first, which was good, some big waves on the northside, but it was chilly and cloudy, not too much happening, but now I’ve seen Bells beach. Other stops were at a lighthouse, then Apollo bay for lunch after a Koala spotting time, then we went on a rainforest walk called Maits rest. Later in the day we went to the famous 12 apostles, all 8 of them...they were pretty cool. After that we went to Lochard Gorge, which was cool, one of the guys, who is from Miami, jumped in the bay there. I ended up talking to the girls beside me who were from Ireland some of the time. our last stop was London bridge, which was alright. It was an interesting tour, I’m glad I did it, but I wasn’t blown out of the water. I got back to my billets place at about 10.

Today I caught the 9 train to Melbourne CBD, then took another train to the zoo. I checked out the zoo, it was a nice zoo, saw some Kangaroos, wombats, emus, monkees, platypus and lions. After that I went back to the CBD(central business district) and had a wander around, checked out Southern Cross station, and sat at a Starbucks and relaxed for awhile. Later I wandered around a bit, went to the mall, and checked out the Library and the parliament building.

Picture count = 4200ish....wow + lots of videos

As for my next 3 weeks, I am heading to Perth tomorrow, where I’ll check out Fremantle and relax, while staying at the Billabong resort (hostel) until Monday the 21, when I fly to the Whitsundays via Brisbane at 11:30pm. On the 22^nd I’ll check into my hostel, and pending notice from a sailing company be sailing the Whitsundays until the 26^th. Then I’ll head to Brisbane for a day, then to surfers for a dday or two, then to Byron bay for a day and night(2 maybe), then to Sydney for my last weekend. On Sunday the 3^rd(i think) I’ll head to the school and stay two nights, before flying to Singapore for two nights. Then I fly home to CANADA on the 7^th. Also, happy birthday dad!

Thats about it, new adventures every day, as I plan things out day by day.

Thanks for reading.

From Down Under,

Adam