G’day friends and family!
I’m pleased to inform you that I’ve safely arrived in Australia. I’m currently sitting on a couch at East Gate Church which is located just outside of Byron Bay (see map below).
It’s been an incredible 12 days since leaving Atlanta, Georgia and journeying across the globe for 2 days. Yes I said 2 days. In total we had roughly 30hrs of flight time and 3 layovers totalling roughly 20hrs. I have no idea why in the world it took that long but we trust our logistics team that there was good reason behind the decision.
On the positive; we did get to enjoy some cities along the Pacific coast such as Los Angeles, Shanghai, and Singapore. And we got to bless some of the people in those cities with the love of Jesus #goodnews
It didn’t take our squad (consisting of 41 people) very long to get settled in to the new environment/culture. Within a few days we became familiar with the warm temperatures and the beautiful beach/tourist hotspot that goes by the name of Byron Bay. Within a few hours we began connecting with the locals or the wanderers that were passing through and sharing about the love of Jesus and his heart for people.
Byron Bay is known for it’s beautiful beaches and it’s natural attractions, but it is more known for its vast array of spirituality that draws people from all ends of the earth. People are desiring to find real truth and are very open to discussing the life and ministry of Jesus.
I’ll share one encounter where we were playing volleyball with some locals and I started sharing about the love of Jesus while we were playing. They immediately lost interest in the game and started firing questions across the court. To sum it all up, we got to pray for them and Jesus was glorified 🙂
A lot of our ministry is located either at the beach or at the park. Often we’re just hanging out and connecting with the people around us. On Thursday night we got to partner with YWAM (Youth with a Mission) and serve pancakes and Chai tea at the park. I will be posting videos this week to give a glimpse of what that looks like.
For now I want to thank you for tuning in and supporting me. God has really blessed the first stages of our adventure/mission and He has used YOU to bring me this far. I ask that you continue to pray for unity in our squad and our team and that we would continue to take advantage of every opportunity set before us.
I pray Gods peace over you and I pray that He continues to reveal the riches of His glory to you through my blog.
Chow for now,
Tristan
