An Update from Australia :)

Post 2

Hello my dear family and friends!

Just in case you were interested in how things are going here in Australia, I thought I'd write about what's been happening on this YWAM adventure.

I felt like I couldn't write anything until there was a routine, and now there is. (thank goodness!). So now I shall write.

Every morning on Mondays-Thursdays at 6am, there is an optional time of worship/prayer/personal devotions. I've been trying to get up and do it, but I'll admit, this morning I failed... Since we've started the official 'lecture phase', I've already found how important it is to be rested as much as possible in order to be awake and grasp what is being taught as much as I possibly can.

This is not to say that morning devotions aren't super great, and incredibly important, just that I don't think I'd have picked up on as much during class today if I had not rested enough.

At 6:45, breakfast is served. As in, the cereal, milk, fruit and toast are out and accessible. 

7:30-8:30am is to be used as quiet time or, for those who came to breakfast in their pj's, time to get ready for the day.

At 8:30 we have either worship or prayer. (By 'worship', I mean singing. I know that prayer is another form of worship)

9:30 we start lectures. We go until about 11am, when we pause for the all-important 'morning tea'.

Then back to class until 12:30ish (AKA: lunch time)

After lunch we either have free time, or we will do our work responsibilities. 

One of my work assignments is baking for birthdays or morning tea.

I'm delighted to have been given this responsibility, I love to bake!

Yesterday, Tabea (another student who is from Switzerland, how cool is that?) and I were taken to the grocery store to pick out all sorts of baking ingredients. So fun!

Side note: Australians have cool food.

Then we came back and decorated 2 birthday cakes :)

Dinner is served at 5ish.

Some of the other students have the work responsibility of making dinner.

I applaud their culinary ability. We had some fantastic home made pizza this evening.

At 7 or 7:30pm, we gather together again for another lecture, or announcements, or something else. 

Around 9pm, I'm usually exhausted and hauling myself back to the room that I share with 3 other lovely young ladies. (One from here in Australia, one from Canada, and one from Denmark)... We've already spent an evening chatting past my typical bedtime ;)

Basically at this point, I get ready for bed, crawl in, pass out for the night, and awake to an obnoxious alarm on my iPad and start the routine all over again.

I'm liking this.

Learning so much, learning to be open to trying new things (like ping pong and soccer and playing guitar in front of people I don't know that well) making friends, spending time getting to know my Heavenly Father. In fact, the subject we are studying this week is "the character and nature of God".

My mind is already blown. There's so much to think about and process! But some of the things that the speaker has pointed out in the Bible has caused the entire class to just gasp. It's hilarious, all of us at once being hit with some amazing revelation.

So cool.

This is an environment that is very open. 

Open to expressing feelings, thoughts, what God is teaching us.

And while I've experienced this kind of environment back at home, it's still neat to be able to go for a walk with someone and talk with them like you've known them forever.

God's seriously working in each of our hearts, way more than we even realize. 

And it's only been a few days!

So that's what's going on around here.

I miss everyone at home, so if anyone's up for a chat, shoot me an email!

Love,

Chelsea