we are here. we made it. the land of australia is waiting to be conquered.
We arrived in Australia on the 27th and due to flight expenses stayed back in Brisbane for 5 days and planned to fly out for Darwin on the 1st.
After arriving at the airport Monday and realizing our flight was cancelled, our team leaders began rescheduling. We flew out at 3:30 P.M. rather than noon and had a layover in Sydney and after running through the airport with about 20 of us laughing in the midst of trying to stay together and struggle through carrying our bags we made it to the other side of the airport for our second flight. We left Sydney at about 6:30 P.M. and enjoyed a meal and popsicle on our 5 hour flight.
We arrived to meet our contacts Carl, Liz, and Anderson. We all loaded up in a bus and headed for a camp where we stayed for the night. We spent Tuesday learning about our ministry. We listened as Carl broadened our knowledge on Aboriginals. He gave us a surface overview of the community and culture and explained our role and responsibility. I quickly learned that we would need to be completely spirit led in order for this to play out in the most beneficial way.
The Aboriginals are a very closed off group of people and working with them and building a community with them, from what I understand, takes work. We must work closely to our contacts and be very mindful of our actions and words.
I quickly learned that it is not about us at all. We must constantly direct them back to Carl, Liz, and Anderson for love, support, understanding, and community. Those individuals are the ones staying to love them and grow them. It is not about me. It is not about me. Hard lesson.
The Aboriginals are a beautiful people and it is in their eyes that you are captivated. Their eyes draw you in to look deeper and you smile as their eyes glow.
We drove 4 hours on a bus last night to go to our specific ministry this month and my team is in a town called Katherine. As I rode in the bus, I thought what it must be like to live a free life. to be free. free of schedules, schools, jobs, etc….and I think I am beginning to understand what it would be like to leave everything and truly cling to the cross. truly hold tight to what God wants of me. Now, whether or not I will grasp that is still up in the air.
I was listening to a pastor and he was talking about how we read the same scripture over and over and at times there are those moments in which the holy spirit breathes life in to it and makes it come alive to you. He mentioned the scripture in which God says He is working everything together for the good. The pastor goes on to say that what a God we serve, a God in which LOVES US IN SUCH A WAY that He uses situations, settings, good, people, children, nature, bad to work TOGETHER and change us, mold us, love us.
We are staying in a place in the middle of no where with nothing but land around us. I don’t know if you know but the Northern Territory is hot man. It is interesting to know that snakes, crocs, and bugs of every kind are all around us and we don’t know exactly where. My teammate Sarah goes looking for them. She is crazy though.
Well my friends, those are my thoughts and life at the moment, random and all over the place I know. I apologize. Love you. I hope you are well.
