Friday, January 19th
After 64 hours of traveling, I was thrilled to be standing on solid ground and know that Australia was where my feet were going to be planted for the next 23 days. I loved having layovers in places that I had never been but, I was ready for no more long security lines and sub par airline food. We had landed in Gold Coast, Australia on Friday at 8am and just the warmth of the wind blowing in the airport got me really excited. It’s more beautiful here than I had expected. So many different shades of green from the grass to the trees. The ocean is bluer than any other ocean I have ever seen. And the sand ranges from bright white to trench coat tan. Nothing beats the mornings here when the sun is not quite all the way up in the sky but it is still the perfect amount of warm outside. Speaking of the sun, we were told as soon as we got into the van to our ministry base that there is no ozone in Australia. Honestly, I thought it was a myth that they said just so people would wear more sunscreen here. The sun is very VERY powerful here. Many of us got sunburnt within the first two days here even with sunscreen on. I know my mom has been praying against a sunburn so, so far so good! Our first day here we got to wander around the town of Byron Bay a bit and see some of the local cafes before heading straight to the beach. We only spent about 30 minutes in the water before we had to head back to base but, jet lag was slowly getting the best of me at that point. After orientation about the base and team meetings, I could barely keep my eyes open. The lights turned off at about 8:30pm and everyone was crawling into bed.
Saturday, January 20th
When we woke up the next morning I felt pretty refreshed and back on track. After a short presentation about evangelism and what it looks like in a community like Byron Bay, we went on a tour of downtown. This is where all the shops, cafes, restaurants, and tourists are in the area. Full of life and people traveling. Just a short walk to the beach, people are so willing to stop and chat with you when you are sitting on a bench or enjoying a latte at your favorite café. I love the curiosity and genuine care that some people have in why you’re here. We only spent about 2 hours in the town before coming back to base for more team time. We talked about Sunday being our Sabbath and what that looked like to each of us. I never really had a focus on Sunday being the day of rest just because I usually worked on Sundays this past year and it was never really a focus when I was growing up. So after chatting about it a bit, a few of us went back out to the beach for a nice swim in the waves of the ocean. The water was the perfect temperature and the sun was not too hot. It was the perfect day to swim so I thought for my sabbath I would try to make it out to the beach for a while one more time before my schedule got busier. Another good nights sleep and I woke up wondering what the heck I was going to do for my day of rest.
Sunday, January 21st
My teammate Heidi and I decided to go back to a café that we had made a connection with when we first got here but it was closed. If you ever want to visit Australia, just know that everything shuts down at about 3pm on a weekday and 12pm on the weekend. We found one shop that was closing down but willing to make our drinks. We sat outside for a while and tried to finish some work without the much needed WiFi that is hard to come by. We gave up quickly especially since it was hotter than a hot pocket. After walking back to the base, we needed a rest out of the sun so I took an hour nap before heading back out to the beach. The waves weren’t as strong on Sunday so it wasn’t as fun to play in the water. I stood out far from the shore and watched as waves rolled in lots of sand. I started to get worried about what other things the waves were carrying in. The water was clear but when the waves were moving in, the water looked oddly scary to me and I didn’t know why I was suddenly getting scared of the waves that I found so fun the day before. A lot more people came to play in the ocean so we had to spread out a bit. I forgot about the silly fear that I felt a few minutes earlier just because it was great to see everyone and we were all just excited to be in the water. The tide kept coming in but I did catch a glimpse of something bright blue in the wave coming towards me. We had been warned about jellyfish at the beach we were at, nothing deadly, just to be conscience of them. So, I immediately started to swim away from where I thought I saw the bright blue spot. I couldn’t see anything in the wave but I did feel a sharp sting on my arm. I screamed mostly because I was scared and I couldn’t see where the dang little thing was. I booked it out of the water and gave some of my squad mates a scare. I told everyone to keep a look out for jellyfish in the waves. We had a few run ins with tiny jellyfish when we went swimming the day before which just felt like bee stings but this was much different. I felt a clear line on my arm where the sting was. As my arm swelled up a bit I thought,”All I need to do is hold a koala and see a kangaroo and my Australian adventure is complete!” After drying off my arm and walking along the beach for a while it already felt better. No one had to pee on it or anything so don’t worry too much mom. When we walked on the beach I found a whole bunch of dead jellyfish washed up with no tentacles and it made me feel sad for them. They looked like clear little heads of mushrooms some the size of a drink coaster and some the size of a dessert plate. Maybe I got jellyfish senses after getting stung! By dinner time, after some time in the sun and a cold shower, my arm felt totally normal there was just a bunch of dots on my arm where the sting was. My guess is that I just swiped one of the legs of the jellyfish when I was swimming away accidentally. By Monday morning I couldn’t tell where the sting was anymore.
Monday, January 22nd
The students at the YWAM base nearby came to worship with us in the morning. YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission and they do amazing mission work around the world. I met people from the states, Canada, and Australia. After a great morning worship set, we got to explore the lighthouse at Byron Bay. This beautiful all white lighthouse gives the perfect view of all the beaches and even a pod of dolphins far out at sea. We were able to pray for and sing worship over Byron Bay. As a squad we sat and sang the Doxology before separating into teams for time of prayer. It was time to pray over the town and praying for the right way to reach out to the people of the town. We spent about two hours up there before we were brought to a beach that apparently some celebrities live near. Think the Hemsworth brothers and Miley Cyrus. After some fun on the beach as a squad, my allergies started to get the best of me. When seasons change, my body goes into sinus infection mode. It usually only lasts a week but when I only have three weeks here its something I really don’t have time for. Usually my allergies only consist of sneezes but I was feeling exhausted and the sun didn’t really help. I could tell that my body was fighting the oncoming cough and fever. After dinner and a safety meeting I went straight to bed in the hopes of really pushing off this infection.
Tuesday, January 23rd
I woke up Tuesday morning not feeling my best. I think what I hated most about being sick is that I never felt like I was getting enough rest. During our morning team time we prayed for healing in my body and I honestly did start to feel better. Tuesday was our first day of ministry outreach in the community and I wanted to be on my A game. The day started off pretty slow with just walking around and walking into some stores. I love building relationships with people who own stores or coffee shops. Building those relationships shows your loyalty and your consistency to their establishment. The more you go, the more they open up, and the more questions they ask you. My favorite store in Byron Bay is this bookstore owned by an older lady who isn’t really keen on conversation. I love books, she loves books, this friendship should run smoothly I think this month. I also love building relationships with coffee shop baristas because they are always getting travelers and they meet a lot of people. Of the coffee places that I have been in, they are curious of who you are and your story if you are a consistent customer in their shop. So, I decided to turn the tables and ask them questions. Once you have them opening up, you have other customers opening up and before you know it, you are a well known customer of the store and people will remember you after you’ve left. That is my goal in every town that I go to on this trip. I scoped out my café for the month and used the much needed WiFi while meeting some of the ladies who worked in the coffee shop. I decided to see what some of my other squad members were doing on our first ministry day so I left with that intention, but found myself walking into a shop that sold clothes and sarongs near the beach. Sarongs are very needed when you are living out of a backpack and you can use it for multiple purposes. Shoot you name it you can make it with a sarong~ towel, blanket, dress, shirt, skirt, head wrap, or bag. It was at that small shop called Skally Rags that I met Rob. I am very thankful for Rob, mostly because I felt like I hadn’t done much on my first day of ministry outreach and I didn’t really know what I was doing. Rob does alterations and makes some of the clothes in the store with old sarongs. He made some beautiful clothes in this little opening behind a whole closet rack of sarongs. I’m thankful because he was able to make me laugh and remind me of some of the great people I was going to get to meet on this trip. He was just hilarious just making jokes, giving discounts, and telling us what not to wear. In the midst of feeling like I hadn’t done much all day, he was able to bring my mind back to joy and remind me to build those relationships first. After a short chat with Rob, we went back out onto the beach and that is when my body started to shut down again. As soon as we got to the beach, my nose got stuffed up, I got an achy headache, and I became exhausted. It’s at this point that you just get annoyed with your own body. I couldn’t tell you what we did the rest of the day because my mind was in a fog. We made it back to base and started to cook dinner for the squad and I couldn’t see straight. My team member told me to go lie down and I did for a while before taking a cold shower while everyone enjoyed taco Tuesday. Nothing seemed to be helping how awful I felt. My team was sitting together for dinner in a room with air conditioning in hopes that it would help my condition. I just sat there while everyone else shared about their day and couldn’t help but think that there was something else going on beside just my sickness. This mental fog was something that I had never experienced before so after some prayer with my team, I realized that I had more going on than just sickness. I will get more into this in a different blog post but, after a prayer of release and casting out the mental and physical oppression, I started to feel better again. As the night went on my fever came back with a vengeance and so I decided to stay home and rest on Wednesday.
Wednesday, January 24th
It sucks missing a day of ministry but I needed to get back to 100% health. From 11am until 4:30pm I slept only waking up once to eat my sandwich for lunch. I was amazed at how much rest I didn’t know I needed but I started to feel like myself again. I found myself laughing and smiling more than I had been in the past two days.
Thursday, January 25th
By Thursday, I was getting back to myself minus the occasional blowing my nose. Just in time for Pancakes and Chai in the park. YWAM does free pancakes and Chai tea in the park for anyone who wants it on Thursday nights in Byron Bay. And ANYONE can come and talk with you while eating pancakes and watching live music. We had families, couples, homeless people, college students traveling, high school students traveling, drunk people, high people, happy people, and angry people join in the festivities. I had some great conversations and loved the general surprise of people thinking there was a catch to the word “free.” Of course we had free bibles and played some worship songs in the live music set but I was no there to convert people. I was just there to reach out to people sitting alone and start a genuine conversation. The lives that some people live was so fascinating to me and I know that those stories are going to become more numerous the more that we travel.
Friday, January 26th
Three teams out of the squad traveled to Coffs Harbor to a new church and it is a beautiful place about 3 hours away from our host church in Byron Bay. Team CrossFit, G-POD, and G-WOP are here to serve Lifehouse church. This church that is hosting us reminds me so much of Churchome and it makes my heart happy. It’s beautiful here but also my head is clearer here. I’m starting to feel like myself again and I think that there was a lot more spiritual oppression than I had first thought in Byron Bay. We are only here until Wednesday and then we head back to Byron so we are only here for a short time but I am in love with the hosts that we have and the church that we get to be a part of here in Coffs. I’m excited for the time that we get to spend here and the people that we get to build relationships with. I will give you a full update on Coffs harbor when I get WiFi again. It hasn’t been the easiest transition into missions, especially since I’ve been sick most of the time, but I think that Australia was a great place to build us up as a squad before sending us out separately as teams. The culture shock isn’t very big here and there is no language barrier to talk to locals. But, I think that is one thing I am looking forward to In the months to come. Different cultures, different languages, different people, different stories, I still cant believe that I have 10 more countries after this one. Please keep my squad in your prayers for continued health and strength through the spiritual warfare going on in Byron Bay. Some people are having trouble sleeping or nightmares that are preventing them from having good nights sleep that we desperately need to make it through the hot sunny days. Just pray for protection of my squad and the continued strength to do what we were called to do in this first country. It is clear that something is trying to stop us so we must be doing something right. I can’t wait to see how we are used in Coffs Harbor and share with you some of the experiences that we have here.
If you made it this far reading, you are a true friend and I appreciate you. Thank you for your support and love. You mean the world to me and I would not be able to do this without your prayers. Thank you!
