We have arrived in Brisbane and it is hot. I didn’t think it would be a big deal because it hot in Dallas, too. But I forgot that we stay inside in the air conditioner all the time. Not so here. The one building with air conditioner only runs it a few hours a day to conserve energy costs. Speaking of, the place we are staying is another YWAM (youth with a mission) base called Island Breeze. This one is used for outreach training for people doing missions in the islands and also for those interested in doing missions through playing rugby (for men) and dance (for all)….pretty cool, huh?
We actually found out on Sunday that we would need to find a place to stay in Brisbane for 5 days until our flight to Darwin. We were expected to arrange our own accommodation. We checked out some hostels there that were out of the budget and then some of the Christians we had done airport pickups for as a part of our job in Auckland told us about the place where they live in Brisbane. Turns out, the director of the Island Breeze base was at our conference and I had already met him when he checked in….small world. So, on Monday with two days notice, we made arrangements to stay 5 nights for a rate that fit our budget. Pretty convenient. Honestly, I hadn’t even think about how God provided this connection for us until this morning when we were getting a ride home from church and the pastor asked how we got here.
I am not too familiar with the YWAM concept but have learned a lot in the past month. For starters, all the staff and leadership are support raised–no salary. Many, if not most of these guys are in lifetime careers and do it all on a volunteer basis all the while raising their own money to live. Wow, I’m humbled. God is providing for them.
The kangaroos here are wild, but they are used to seeing people around. So, they let you get close, but our contact said they will “box you” if you get too close. There are also lots of snakes and spiders here, too and beautiful birds that sing all the time.
We had a chance to serve at a local food bank-doing some cleaning, organizing, and serving visitors. We worked hard, had a great time, and were treated to some “cream buns” that were fabulous!
