After a couple of days of no posts, I figured I'd better check in with all of my readers, since I was reminded by my dad this morning that he has friends at work that are reading my blog! Who would have thought?
So I can say that I've finally tried Vegemite and will never need to eat it again. For those of you who don't know what Vegemite is, it's a dark brown savoury food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuits. Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, a by-product of beer manufacturing, and various vegetable and spice additives. It tastes salty and slightly bitter...kind of like a beef bouillon cube. The texture is smooth and sticky, much like peanut butter. To me...it's disgusting! But Australians love it!
Monday was pretty uneventful here, because it's the Sims day off usually. I was able to get some wedding stuff done. I'm not focusing in on all the details until I get home, but there are things that I'd like to get accomplished before I come home in December. Right now, we're looking to get married outside, but the odds might be against us. I (and my faithful helper Becky) will probably spend some more time in the next week or so searching for a place to have the wedding. I would be satisfied to have the wedding in my parent's back yard and put up a nice white tent, but then you run into the problems of parking and restrooms! Anyway, enough wedding talk...since this is my "Life in Oz" blog!
Tuesday, Ed and Joyce had some visiting to do, so they dropped me off at the church and I worked on getting the mission's conference decorations taken down and put away. Put the ipod on and worked away and time passed by very quicky! Around lunch time, Ed and Joyce came back and brought fish and chips for us to eat! After that, I worked on a power point presentation for Kid's Club for Sunday night. That took me almost the rest of the afternoon and before I knew it, it was 4 in the afternoon. The Sims picked me up and we went home. Had a couple of hours to rest up and then spent the rest of the evening with Tash and Beth.
I was able to sit down with Ed yesterday and go over where I think I would fit in best as far as ministries go. There are plenty of opportunities for me to get plugged into music, so we discussed that I would be playing the piano for the month of August. The youth (Matthew, Andrew, Tash, Ruth and Beth) are in charge of putting all of that together, so I will be practicing with them every Friday night. I'm looking forward to it! They are a good group of kids and are enthusiastic about their opportunity to minister. I'll also be getting involved in Kid's Club on Sunday nights. I will either be taking over the teaching of one of the classes or just doing administrative things such as making sure all of the lessons are printed out for the teachers. As far as teaching in the schools, I go tomorrow with Joyce to observe her classes. That will give me a clear picture of what I should expect when I get into my own classes. I had a chance to look at the curriculum and it looks very easy and should be simple to facilitate.
I will celebrate my 28th birthday on Friday...not sure what is planned, but it will probably just be a normal day. We will also be celebrating Christmas on Saturday. The Sims usually celebrate Christmas in July because December just doesn't feel like Christmas and it frees up their sons and their families to be able to do things with other family members.
Well, off to work on a powerpoint project!
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
First Sunday
Today has been quite the packed day. It started early for me...around 5:15 am early. I had the best night of sleep that I have had since I got here. I went to bed the night before at 9:30 and slept until 5 am! That was quite the accomplishment for me! After being up for a bit, I was able to talk to my family (the whole Halsey clan minus John and Brennen), talked to my little brother for a bit, and then capped it off by talking to the love of my life, who had just finished up with Unwasted Day at Grace. By the time I was done chatting with everyone, it was time to leave for church.
The church is located in Inala. It's called Great Hope Baptist Church after the Great Hope Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA. It's a small church composed of mostly elderly people but with a smattering of young people (ages 17 to 23). Pasta's message was about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
After church, I went to Portside Wharf (near downtown Brisbane) with 2 of the girls in the church (Beth and Tash) for a coffee and chocolate festival. All kinds of vendors had set up along the water and were handing out free samples and selling their goods. We got to taste brownies, chocolates, and we even got to dip strawberries into chocolate fountains (milk choc, white choc, and dark choc)! It was absolutely delicious! We also enjoyed a wonderful fish and chips lunch complete with the most excellent tartare sauce I have ever had! After spending a couple of hours at the festival, we headed back to get ready for Kid's Club at church.
Sunday nights are Kid's Club nights where kids in the neighborhood and surrounding areas come for a time of games, bible stories/lessons, and singing. Kids range from ages 3 to 15. This was a good time for me to see the church in action. I was able to sit in on Ruth's class which consisted of the younger kids and watched them interact with her while she taught her Sodom and Gomorrah bible lesson. Then as the evening came to a close, I was able to play the piano for the song time.
Jetlag is still hovering over me. I am not so tired during the days, but I do hit a rough spot around 2 pm and I feel like I can't go on, but once it passes, I'm good to go until bedtime that night. It stay may take a week yet for me to start feeling totally normal. So until then, I'll keep going to bed before 10 pm and waking up before 5 am. Good night!
The church is located in Inala. It's called Great Hope Baptist Church after the Great Hope Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA. It's a small church composed of mostly elderly people but with a smattering of young people (ages 17 to 23). Pasta's message was about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.
After church, I went to Portside Wharf (near downtown Brisbane) with 2 of the girls in the church (Beth and Tash) for a coffee and chocolate festival. All kinds of vendors had set up along the water and were handing out free samples and selling their goods. We got to taste brownies, chocolates, and we even got to dip strawberries into chocolate fountains (milk choc, white choc, and dark choc)! It was absolutely delicious! We also enjoyed a wonderful fish and chips lunch complete with the most excellent tartare sauce I have ever had! After spending a couple of hours at the festival, we headed back to get ready for Kid's Club at church.
Sunday nights are Kid's Club nights where kids in the neighborhood and surrounding areas come for a time of games, bible stories/lessons, and singing. Kids range from ages 3 to 15. This was a good time for me to see the church in action. I was able to sit in on Ruth's class which consisted of the younger kids and watched them interact with her while she taught her Sodom and Gomorrah bible lesson. Then as the evening came to a close, I was able to play the piano for the song time.
Jetlag is still hovering over me. I am not so tired during the days, but I do hit a rough spot around 2 pm and I feel like I can't go on, but once it passes, I'm good to go until bedtime that night. It stay may take a week yet for me to start feeling totally normal. So until then, I'll keep going to bed before 10 pm and waking up before 5 am. Good night!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Saturday
Friday night was another night of unsuccessful sleep!!! I tried to stay up late to make myself extra tired, so I found myself going to bed at 1 am. It didn't help though, because I was awake at 2:30 and then again at 6:15. Hopefully tonight will be a different story!
My day was rather relaxed. I was able to make several phone calls to family and friends and chat it up with them. Greg was able to get me a fabulous setup on Skype to where I can make unlimited phone calls to anywhere for only $10 a month. I had already had Skype and was using it computer to computer, but now I can call anyone's phone and it's the same as talking on a regular phone...and Greg is paying for it! I don't feel so disconnected from my home in America now! After my phone calls, I helped Aunt Joyce get ready for my first Australia BBQ...and yes we used the "barbie" to cook our hamburgers and sausages. Uncle Ed and Aunt Joyce's 2 sons and their wives and children were all over and we had a very enjoyable time sitting around and talking.
As I close on my 2nd full day here in the land of OZ, I look forward to tomorrow and my first Sunday at Great Hope Baptist Church here. The church is small so there will be many opportunities to form great relationships with the people there.
Words that I am learning as I get settled in:
nappies = diapers
thongs = flip-flops
dummy = pacifier
barbie = grill
More to come!
My day was rather relaxed. I was able to make several phone calls to family and friends and chat it up with them. Greg was able to get me a fabulous setup on Skype to where I can make unlimited phone calls to anywhere for only $10 a month. I had already had Skype and was using it computer to computer, but now I can call anyone's phone and it's the same as talking on a regular phone...and Greg is paying for it! I don't feel so disconnected from my home in America now! After my phone calls, I helped Aunt Joyce get ready for my first Australia BBQ...and yes we used the "barbie" to cook our hamburgers and sausages. Uncle Ed and Aunt Joyce's 2 sons and their wives and children were all over and we had a very enjoyable time sitting around and talking.
As I close on my 2nd full day here in the land of OZ, I look forward to tomorrow and my first Sunday at Great Hope Baptist Church here. The church is small so there will be many opportunities to form great relationships with the people there.
Words that I am learning as I get settled in:
nappies = diapers
thongs = flip-flops
dummy = pacifier
barbie = grill
More to come!
Friday, July 25, 2008
First full day
So after a not so normal night of sleep on Thursday night, I got up at 4:30 am and started my day. There are plenty of things to do at that time of the morning: read, pray, facebook, skype with Greg and my family. With the time difference, I'm trying to figure out how to schedule talking times with people. It's difficult until you get the hang of it. I know that when I'm getting up in the morning around 7 am, everyone else is typically getting off work around 5 pm the day before me. So right now, it's actually early Saturday morning, but yet for everyone else, they're still working on Friday! It's crazy, but it's fun!
Today I went to the grocery story for quite the experience. Food is very expensive here and I spent $63 on I don't know what. It seems like when I came home, I didn't have much to account for my money spent. I was able to pick up a handful of things though for breakfast and lunch. The Sims are very generous here and feed me, but they have told me to feel free to buy stuff that I like too. So I will admit, I went very American while shopping. I bought things such as hotdogs, raisan bran (only it's called something different here), and various other things.
I came home from the store exhausted. Ate some lunch and decided to lay down for a nap, but couldn't sleep. So tired and yet couldn't sleep. Rested for a good while and finally got up. I had a full evening ahead of me if I felt rested. Friday nights are youth nights at the church. The youth are not so young. Tash is 17, Andrew is 19, and I'm not sure of the ages of Ruth and Matthew. They lead the kids club that happens on Sunday nights and they are also in charge of the church music for the month of August. So they got together tonight to practice and I hung out at the church during that. I got to jump in and use my rusty piano skills and even did a little bit of singing. After music practice, we settled down for an informal bible study. They are going through a study regarding the church and what role it plays in our lives. So after a long night at the church, we finally got home around 11 pm. It's now 1 am and I am trying to kick the jetlag. Sleep will be precious tonight!
Today I went to the grocery story for quite the experience. Food is very expensive here and I spent $63 on I don't know what. It seems like when I came home, I didn't have much to account for my money spent. I was able to pick up a handful of things though for breakfast and lunch. The Sims are very generous here and feed me, but they have told me to feel free to buy stuff that I like too. So I will admit, I went very American while shopping. I bought things such as hotdogs, raisan bran (only it's called something different here), and various other things.
I came home from the store exhausted. Ate some lunch and decided to lay down for a nap, but couldn't sleep. So tired and yet couldn't sleep. Rested for a good while and finally got up. I had a full evening ahead of me if I felt rested. Friday nights are youth nights at the church. The youth are not so young. Tash is 17, Andrew is 19, and I'm not sure of the ages of Ruth and Matthew. They lead the kids club that happens on Sunday nights and they are also in charge of the church music for the month of August. So they got together tonight to practice and I hung out at the church during that. I got to jump in and use my rusty piano skills and even did a little bit of singing. After music practice, we settled down for an informal bible study. They are going through a study regarding the church and what role it plays in our lives. So after a long night at the church, we finally got home around 11 pm. It's now 1 am and I am trying to kick the jetlag. Sleep will be precious tonight!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I'm finally here!!!
So after 2 days in airports, 4 planes, and 24 hours of actual flying time, I made it to Australia with no problems whatsoever! When I arrived in the land of Oz, it was rainy and chilly. They are experiencing their winter right now, but winter for Australia means temperatures of 50's and 60's - no extreme cold temps. Uncle Ed and Aunt Joyce were there to pick me up at the airport and as I slid into the back seat of the car behind the passenger seat on the wrong side of the car, reality started to set in as we drove off and we were on the "wrong side" of the road! It is definitely taking some getting used to riding on the opposite side of the car and road.
We came straight home from the airport, had some lunch, and I started to unpack and get settled in. They set up a nice little room for me complete with bed, dresser, closet, heater and ac unit. It's a cozy little place and will be even more cozy when I get some pictures up of those that I love!! Anyway, got settled, showered up, and had dinner and by 6:30 pm, I needed major sleep. So I headed to bed, slept a good 4 hours or so, woke up at 11:15 pm, checked my email, and then went back to sleep. I woke up again probably around 3 am and I was awake for the rest of the day until after lunch. This jetlag is killer! Australia is 14 hours ahead of the time that I'm used so it definitely takes some adjustment.
Uncle Ed is giving me several days to adjust and rest up and then starting next week, I should be good to go. At that point, I'll be put to work! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to come down here, work with the Sims, and experience church planting on a whole different level. I'm excited to see what God's going to do and pray that I can be used in so many ways here for His glory. How exciting to know that HE has sovereignly led me to Australia because HE has a plan and purpose for me. What an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity!
We came straight home from the airport, had some lunch, and I started to unpack and get settled in. They set up a nice little room for me complete with bed, dresser, closet, heater and ac unit. It's a cozy little place and will be even more cozy when I get some pictures up of those that I love!! Anyway, got settled, showered up, and had dinner and by 6:30 pm, I needed major sleep. So I headed to bed, slept a good 4 hours or so, woke up at 11:15 pm, checked my email, and then went back to sleep. I woke up again probably around 3 am and I was awake for the rest of the day until after lunch. This jetlag is killer! Australia is 14 hours ahead of the time that I'm used so it definitely takes some adjustment.
Uncle Ed is giving me several days to adjust and rest up and then starting next week, I should be good to go. At that point, I'll be put to work! I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to come down here, work with the Sims, and experience church planting on a whole different level. I'm excited to see what God's going to do and pray that I can be used in so many ways here for His glory. How exciting to know that HE has sovereignly led me to Australia because HE has a plan and purpose for me. What an amazing once in a lifetime opportunity!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
