I had all kinds of ideas of what Australia would be like. I have wanted to come to Australia since I was a little girl and I had seen it on TV and in the movies. I had some sort of fairy tale image of the place I was going to serve. Beautiful beaches with rough and tough guys chasing down crocodiles on their 4 wheel drive all terain Vehicles. Kangaroos and koala bears around every corner and surely I would run into Hugh Jackman.
As you can guess from my sarcastic tone, that is not what I have found. Yes I have seen beautiful beaches but the water is infested with crocodiles. Yes I have seen kangaroos and koala bears, at the koala sanctuar. I have been told that Darwin, the place where we are serving this month, is like another country compared the rest of Aus
tralia. The temperatures are very, very hot and humid. More like a tropical island climate. There are thousands of crocodiles with in like 10 miles of where we are staying. The area we are living is so multicultural. I did not expect to to run into so many language barriers here in Australia. I thought that wouldn’t begin until next month. However, the people are beautiful here. The Aussies we are working with run a hostile for the indigenous people of Australia. They have affordable housing for aboriginal families who are either patients at the hospital or visiting someone there. The women and quite and shy but very nice when they do talk. The aboriginal children are gorgeous. It is hard to get them to open up but once you do they are hooked. The first day I was here at the Christian Outreach Center I made friends with a boy named Lenny. It took me several tries to get him to talk to me but once I started playing with him on the playground it was all over. He followed us around the rest of the time he was here telling me to come and play and bring my big brothers with me. ( The other guys on my team)
tralia. The temperatures are very, very hot and humid. More like a tropical island climate. There are thousands of crocodiles with in like 10 miles of where we are staying. The area we are living is so multicultural. I did not expect to to run into so many language barriers here in Australia. I thought that wouldn’t begin until next month. However, the people are beautiful here. The Aussies we are working with run a hostile for the indigenous people of Australia. They have affordable housing for aboriginal families who are either patients at the hospital or visiting someone there. The women and quite and shy but very nice when they do talk. The aboriginal children are gorgeous. It is hard to get them to open up but once you do they are hooked. The first day I was here at the Christian Outreach Center I made friends with a boy named Lenny. It took me several tries to get him to talk to me but once I started playing with him on the playground it was all over. He followed us around the rest of the time he was here telling me to come and play and bring my big brothers with me. ( The other guys on my team) I have learned a lot of things since landing in Darwin, but one of the things I have been dwelling on today is that you never know what God has in store. If you had asked me even 4 months ago if I thought I would be working with aboriginal families, butchering pigs on a farm, sorting through rotten fruit and vegetables, or speaking Indonesian in the kitchen here in Australia I would have said no way. But I have done all of these things and enjoyed every minute of it. Not only enjoyed it, but have learned a valuable lesson in the Lord.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
Sometimes that doesn’t look like what we imagine but it is always better than we can hope for!
