We Finally Have the Internet!

So, I am finally in Armidale! And we finally have the internet! haha, its been quite interesting experience being so disconnected from technology for so long. I finally got to use the phone yesterday and make a couple calls, but we now have a consistent phone and we now have consistent internet, so i should be able to update more often. Its amazing how connected we are to technology, I didn't realize how dependent on it we really are, and its been really hard to be so disconnected.

Just to let y'all know everything from the last week: we flew out of Altanta on Monday May 17th. We landed in LAX and had about a 6 hour layover. We then flew from LA to Brisbane overnight on a 14 hour flight, and landed in Brisbane around 7 am Brisbane time on Wednesday May 19th...we did not have a Tuesday May 18th (so weird). The C.O. Staff and some student from Brisbane were at the airport to meet us. We had a great 2 days in Brisbane having orientation and adjusting to the time zone. Then on Friday May 21st we boarded a bus for Armidale. After a long, smelly bus ride, we arrived in Armidale about 9 hours later. We met the staff of the church we are partnering with, St. Mark's Chapel.

The church is located on campus and they are involved with a lot of campus ministry here at the University of New England where we are living and laboring. We are so blessed to be living in a newly renovated wing of one of the dorms here. This dorm is called Mary White College (they call dorms colleges) and is actually the college I will be doing ministry in while we are here. I am partnered with Savannah and Amy. The other students will be working with Duval College and Robb College. The church has bible studies that meet in each college and several other meetings throughout the week, which will be great for meeting students at first and then to invite other students to as well.

We went to church on Saturday night, Sunday morning and Sunday night and have gotten to meet a lot of people already. The church has been so welcoming to us and hosted a trivia night after their Sunday night service, which is called UNEChurch because its the student service.

We are starting our regular schedule this week and should start to get a regular rhythm going with different activities, meetings, and events. I am so ready for some consistency.

But we are having a great time and are really enjoying Australia. The people are fantastic. We have gotten to see some kangaroos! We were very excited about that even though they are actually not very nice animals and have been known to attack people, but don't worry they were behind a fence. We have experience the fact that they drive on the other side of the road, and I keep looking the wrong way before I cross the street. But I'm starting to get the hang of it. We have gone to McDonalds...and it tastes so much better here. Its incredible. They call it Mackers. Its hilarious. They have so many interesting words for things. Its fun, we are going to try to pick up the slang as well as the accent. They have a wonderful tradition here called morning tea...they often also have afternoon tea, and one of the guys on the team wants to start having midnight tea. So basically we are eating all of the time. Its great.

Anyway, we are having a blast and God is really providing. Several students have already made new Aussie friends, a couple of our guys are going to play rugby today. But please pray that we would continue to meet people. Particularly in Mary White, we have had a really difficult time. Few people at Mary White are involved in the Church. Many internationals live in Mary White as well so its a diverse group of people that don't really hang out with each other, while the other colleges are similar to our sororities and fraternities, and are made up of similar kinds of people who hang out with each other a lot. Pray that we will meet students who will want to hang out with us and introduce us to their friends. Also pray for ways that we can serve the church here and can come along side the students at the church who are believers and can be an encouragement to them, as unlike the states, they often have few Christian friends.

Thanks so much for your prayers already.
I should be able to update more often now.