I did not know that I could sleep for 16 hours straight-but I sure just did! I am back in America and back home in Dothan. Our flight got in Tuesday morning and I made myself stay up all day so I could get back into the right pattern of sleeping. I guess since I hadn’t slept more than a few hours on a plane from Sunday until Tuesday, I had a lot of catching up to do. I also have a lot of catching up to do as far as what’s gone on the past few days. I found a place to get on the internet in the Sydney airport and started blogging about everything we’d done but all of the sudden the internet timed out and I lost everything! We had to board before I could restart, so now that I’m back I’m ready to try again.
Thursday night two of the missionary kids we’d met offered to take us out to eat while Dr T led a Bible Study at the Japanese church. That sounded like a good plan to us so we went and had pizza and ice cream. The ice cream was pretty exciting because they took us to Cold Rock-their equivalent to our Cold Stone or Marble Slab. I decided to try Milo ice cream with crushed up Tim Tams-an Auzzie favorite. All I knew was that it had a lot of chocolate-so it sounded good to me. They were right-it was delicious. Once we finished our ice cream, they guys drove us to 4 different lookout points around Sydney. We got to see the city all lit up at night and each of the different beaches we’d visited, all from the top of cliffs (which, by the way, we had to hike up-but this time we were prepared with tennis shoes). The views were all amazing, but at one spot, while we were looking around a huge star fell right in front of us. It was the biggest, brightest, shooting star I’ve ever seen and was a breath taking experience. Once again God was reminding us-Here I am! It was awesome!
Friday morning we went back to the old people’s home. This time Brian led the service and what an adventure he had. He spoke about heaven and in the middle of his message one gentleman started asking questions about having a new body and a new heaven and earth. Brain would answer the questions and the guy would say ok and then ask the same one again. Finally a nurse stepped in and told the man they could talk about it later. That appeased him for awhile but then he asked another question. The old lady behind him kicked his chair and told him to hush, and that finally quieted him down. Another man yelled out in the middle that cigarettes are poisonous and that we shouldn’t smoke. Brian agreed and carried on with the message. He did a really good job handling the situations.
We came back to the church and did a little more cleaning and work around the church. Then we headed out to the beach to do our mimes and paint faces while Greg sang. I had so much fun! It was neat to talk to all of the little kids that came by to get their faces painted. We handed out tracts to the parents and invited them to church. That night, we had scheduled another youth meeting, but once again nobody showed up. We were somewhat expecting that to happen, but it was still disappointing. I know God had a purpose for it though.
Saturday morning we got up bright and early and went down to the beach to see a beautiful sunrise. We grabbed some coffee and headed out on a 2 hour drive to the Blue Mountains. On the way, we drove by the Olympic Stadium which was pretty neat. At the state park we walked to a place called Echo Point and looked out over the Blue Mountains. It’s kind of like a mini Grand Canyon, but there’s vegetation on the floor, not just rocks and dirt. It was really pretty. We got to ride the world’s steepest railway down into the rainforest below and hiked (which we’re becoming quite good at) to a waterfall. Then, we rode huge cable car back to the top. The views were amazing and it was so neat to see how a short drive led to completely different scenery. We could see big city, beaches, rainforests, and canyons in less than 2 hours. Our next stop was back in downtown Sydney to Chinatown. We did some shopping and came home worn out.
Sunday morning we went down to the beach first thing in the morning and did pretty much the same thing we’d done on Friday. We shared the love of Christ through face painting and mimes. God gave us a beautiful, sunny day, so there were lots of people at the beach and we had a great time! After lunch we went to the Japanese service at Bob and Gail’s church. We got to see a lot of the people we’d met at the fellowship and Bible study. We did a mime and listened to the service in Japanese with the English translation on powerpoint on the wall. Each us were given a bag of goodies, including our own box of Tim Tam cookies. We each ate some and decided that we needed more to take home, so Dr T took us to the grocery store and we all stocked up on Tim Tams. When we got back to the church we packed as much as we could and then went to the night service at New Life. We said our good-byes and went to bed since we knew it’d be a long time until we slept again.
Monday morning we left the church at 6:45 and headed to the airport. We flew from Sydney to Ackland and then from there to San Fransisco. When we got to San Fran it was only noon on Monday which was really weird. Our flight didn’t leave until 11:50 that night so we spent all day hanging out and playing cards in the airport. Finally we headed to Atlanta and then on to Mobile. Boy were we glad to get home after 48 hours of traveling and no shower.
My trip was an amazing experience that words can’t begin to describe! I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go to Australia. God taught me so much about what missions really is all about and how He shows Himself in many different ways. I don’t have to lead people to the Lord or build a church from the ground up; I can serve God in little things. This experience is one I will never forget and one that has definitely helped me grow in my walk with the Lord.
