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| My team at their favorite activity |
Go West was so awesome! The team was fantastic, and we had lots of discussions about spiritual disciplines, the differences between Australian and American faith communities, what's going on in the world, and how not all Americans are completely ignorant. I was glad I could be of service on that one.
I took so many pictures over the week, but I'm only going to post a few here, but I'll give a run-down of the week and then post pictures at the end!
Two Fridays ago was the youth lock-down. For a service project, they cleaned graffiti off of a wall in the park. I was very impressed with the youngest two girls because they were the hardest workers and were definitely living out 1 Timothy 4:12. I did a short talk on living for Christ that evening, but all the youth were wiped out and not paying attention, so I wasn't as intense as I probably should have been.
Saturday - up at the church at 6:30 am to head to Mundubbera. The whole day was spent driving. We stopped at some markets, but other than that, no excitement other than them making fun of my accent the entire time. We even made up a game called Rick, Pepper, Sisters because I apparently say Rock, Paper, Scissors way too odd for the games to be the same.
Sunday - two church services, lunch at the cattle farm where we were having the camp and then we spent the afternoon setting up. We had a campfire that evening and looked at the glorious Southern Hemisphere's stars. It was just breathtaking! I saw the Southern Cross, the milky way, and just marveled out how huge God is, yet He still listens to my prayers and cares for me!!!
Monday - We walked around town handing out some flyers for the camp and then did leader training. That evening the team threw me a surprise July 4th party! It was so great, and it made me feel super special that they'd go through the trouble. They decorated the dining hall with red, white, and blue streamers; we lit sparklers; and a couple of them made sparkler bombs since we couldn't buy fireworks in Australia.
Tuesday - First day of camp! I met my group of five 7-year old boys. They ran me ragged. We hiked all over the area, did some archery, set up a gunna (fort-like thing made of twigs), and rode a flying fox. Two of the boys informed me that Jesus is fake, but God is alright, and I realized that I was just going to have to show them God's love and tell them why I believe in Jesus.
Wednesday - Second day of camp! I kept the boys busy with all sorts of activities. They climbed ropes, went orienteering, did some crafts, did some archery, and went to chapel. State of Origin was on that night. Queensland won, but I fell asleep and missed the ending.
Thursday - Last day of camp! The boys were pretty tired, so we did crafts most of the day. There was a celebration service that night, and the boys put on a puppet show for it since each group was supposed to do something. The boys turned all shy on me when they got in front of people, but they did a good job. The boys were completely captivated by the story in chapel about Jesus, which is so encouraging after what they said on Tuesday
Friday - We went horseback riding and took down all the camp stuff. Then we packed up as much as we could before going to bed.
Saturday - Headed back to Cleveland
I think this week will have definitely been a highlight of my time in Australia. It was so wonderful to stay busy and to actually see the seeds being planted in each of the kids lives.
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| Scenic views of the Australian bush |
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