Christmas time

My time speaking in church went great! Both Saturday night and Sunday morning I felt there was something specific that someone there needed to hear so I said it. I shared 4 times and each time was different; and each time, numerous people said it had impacted them greatly and prompted them to changes in their own lives. It is so encouraging to know that God is speaking through me when I just let Him!

After sharing on Sunday morning, I left for Saskatchewan. 700 miles, one family gathering, and one Boxing Day shopping trip later I’m now ready to spend another 7 hours or so driving out to see friends in another province. I’m planning to head out early tomorrow morning and get a couple days in with a few friends and a day of skiing in the great Canadian Rockies before driving back to Saskatchewan to share in a church here, take in an extended family gathering and spend a few more days with immediate family and some friends.

I joined my brother and his wife and children for their family Christmas celebration. We had a great time of reading a Christmas story, having a good meal, and exchanging gifts and playing with them.




Before the meal






During the meal, after one of the children took a solid swipe at a cup half full of pop and sent it sprawling over the table. I was so proud of my sister in law laughing over this as we cleaned up the mess – ok so she cleaned up most of it while I stood around taking pictures.


I also ended up having some fun with a new toy my nephew received. The fun came in the form of some photo editing, an email, and a later confession to my brother in Saskatchewan that I had not actually bought a snowmobile. This picture is actually of a toy snowmobile about 2 inches long. The background is an original picture of an actual house. I thought it had worked out quite well considering I was on a very tight schedule with it and it was my first time doing something so detailed.




The evening sky in the Prairies as I drove from Manitoba to Saskatchewan.

First week at home

I just have to tell this story… Over the last month or so, I’ve been trying to decide if I needed to share in church what God has done in my life in the last couple of years. (for those of you reading this who don’t know my life over the last few years; I had an incredible marriage with a phenomenal woman and just before our fifth anniversary in 2002, she was diagnosed with cancer. She died from it in May 2005. God has done some incredible things in my life during the time of sickness and following her death) As I was thinking and praying about this, I felt strongly that God wanted me to share in the church I grew up in so I made contact with the pastor there and arranged to speak there for a few minutes. I also wanted to share in my current church but wasn’t sure if that desire was only mine or if it too came from the Lord; so I said to Him that I was very willing but considering my lack of confidence that the desire was from Him, I would not pursue it so if He wanted me up, he should get the pastor to ask me for this and I would consider that confirmation. My pastor spends a lot of time in prayer every day and gets a lot of direction as a result of this. So my first weekend at home, I was in the choir (which was great!!!) and he saw me there. As we walked off stage after the worship time and went out the back door, my pastor was there waiting for me. He had left the service that was continuing at the time to come ask me to share next weekend! Can’t tell me God doesn’t speak to people today!
I’ve been enjoying time with friends and family. So far every evening has been busy with something. One friend asked if I had been running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off and I said I had been hoping for that but it hadn’t been the case. Side-note: In case anyone from around home is reading this while I’m at home, I am quite busy at this point but that’s the reason I came home. Please call me at my brother’s place (I will not post his name or phone number on this site for privacy reasons but if you don’t have it, leave me a message with your email address or phone number – include in your message a request for me to not publish the message – and I will send you his number or call you) to set up a time to spend time together. No matter how busy I get, my whole purpose in coming home for Christmas is to spend time with people so I want to make it very clear that I want to have something up all the time. I can relax after my time a home.) I’ve spent some time working on an ice rink here and have been enjoying the fresh air outside. It’s been great weather and I feel like I’m starting to adjust to winter again. I spent an hour playing badminton with a friend and it was great just to be so active. Unfortunately, I’m not in the greatest shape of my life and I’m feeling the results of an intense activity that I’m not used to. We’re hoping to get another round or two in yet before I head back to Australia.
I’m planning to head out to another province in a few days so my travel begins again; this time with a ten hour drive starting after sharing in two services Sunday morning. I’ve already bought the energy drink to make sure I’m awake for the driving time. I have a gathering to be at the next day.
I’ve had some contact with some friends who are staying in Sydney over Christmas and I miss them and feel like I’m missing out on things there but I’m enjoying where I’m at too.

Arrival home

As expected, my time here has been very busy so far. Sleep has been a bit scarce for someone getting over jet lag.

I got my car out the first day I was here and had to do some coaxing to get it running but after a good boost for the battery, it’s working well. My first time driving it I hit the wipers instead of the signal switch for three of the first four corners (the switch is on the other side of the steering wheel in case you don’t know this). I’ve also hit the door with my hand a couple of times as I reached to change gears. Fortunately I haven’t forgotten how to drive 5 speed standard and staying on the right side of the road feels very natural. I guess 15 years of driving on the right side doesn’t leave you in a few short months. I’ve also been able to drive on slippery roads and in blowing snow and snow drifts. Oh, the joys of winter.

I’ve been to my former workplace to see some great people there. They were happy to see me. I couldn’t resist singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” as I walked in the door.

I had a chance to stop by one of the best local restaurants and have also had some “squeaky cheese” (cheese curds) from the best cheese factory around, Reese’s Pieces, Cheese Whiz, ketchup chips, and farmer sausage. I’m still looking forward to the real A&W and a few slices of the best pizza in the world (http://www.vernspizza.com/) home of the legendary “Single slice is a meal”

Last night I was a choir practice for my church and had a great time there. One of the people was so surprised and excited to see me that she almost fell over (ok, I think it was basically surprise on this one)...I'm looking forward to being in church and singing in my home choir this weekend.

Below are some pictures of my trip and arrival home.




One of the sunsets on the way home.






The first winter clothing I saw when I got home was “earmuffs.” I use the term loosely to describe something that was made for me out of a plastic ice cream pail, some old rags, a bit of tape, and some cardboard. I chose to put up a picture in the real winter clothes I wore the next day as I went with my niece to her school bus stop. This walk also helped me realize I’ve started adjusting to the Australian climate because it was only 5 below zero (very warm for December in Manitoba) but I felt cold in only a few minutes.








On my way out of the airport, I saw this polar bear with a pine tree lit up behind it. It was a welcome site.





There was a Christmas tree in my room when I got home. My brother couldn’t resist when he saw it and his daughter insisted it needed to have an angel on the top (which didn’t make it into the picture because of size) even though the tree is dead. If you look closely, you can see on the wall is a picture of some of my friends in Australia. My brother and sister-in-law printed two pictures off my blog and put them on the wall. They help me remember where I’m away from for the next few weeks.










This Coca Cola bottle was also in my room. Anyone who knows my brother will know this was a real sacrifice considering his undivided devotion to the drink that claims to be something of competition for this great beverage icon.



Here’s my car on the first morning I could drive it. Yes this is my car, unlike a previous post regarding a car in Australia. But also remember, on that other post I didn’t say the car in the picture was mine, that was just assumed by some people. This picture actually is of my car in Canada. It’s so great to get the snow off a car before driving it!

Travel's done

Well, the day is done. I got up 37 hours ago, looked at a house which I may be moving into when I get back to Sydney, finished packing, said goodbye to some friends, and started my travels. This time around I got smart and took a sleeping pill on the plane and managed to get over 4 hours of sleep during the 14 hour flight from Sydney to L.A. That’s double the sleep I got travelling to Sydney!!! I am getting tired now though (4 hours in the last 37 is a bit short).

So on my arrival at the airport, I went through security – no problems, went through customs – no problems, went through secondary security because I was flying to USA – no problem. I arrived in L.A. and had to join everyone else going through US customs although I was only flying through. At this point I wondered why I had gone through customs in Sydney… but whatever. As I approached the customs desk, I saw a sign promising a friendly welcome, courteous treatment, fair treatment, etc. Now I know what you’re all expecting so I have to be honest. No problem at customs. They followed through with the pledge on the sign. After this, I had to get my luggage and re-check it even though I was flying through on the same carrier (didn’t have to do this on the way to Sydney) and follow directions to the area for continuing passengers. I followed the directions through a door, up an elevator, and on to what I hoped was the right side of security. At this point I was told I needed to go down the escalator to the back of the line that apparently started there (where I had just been sent from). When I explained that another airport agent had sent me this way together with some other people he was barking at (yes barking) He very sharply interrupted and said “And I’m telling you to go down there!” Maybe I’m wrong here but communication issues (different directions coming from different employees in the same area) ??? Courtesy issues??? A friendly welcome??? I guess the pledge on the sign doesn’t apply to airport personnel, only to customs officials. Now as I think back, if this employee was the only American exposure I’d have had, I can definitely see why people don’t like Americans! Fortunately, I’ve had many more experiences with Americans and I find this man to be the exception and I still like the people of that great nation. So I went outside and joined all the people coming in off the street in going through security again – no problems. I now had to wonder not only about going through customs twice and security twice, but now security three times – for the same trip. Again, maybe it’s just me, but if I have no banned substances the first time through security, or the second time, and I have no opportunity to get banned substances because I’ve been inside a controlled area the whole time, will I have banned substances the third time? It would be so much easier to just let continuing passengers through the hallway past security once clearing customs one time. But I guess that would cut down the number of employees, so it would put people out of work and potentially lower ticket prices; and it would save an hour or two for every passenger making this flight. Wouldn’t want to increase those efficiencies! Lesson for the day; if you’re doing an international flight with a layover in Los Angeles, make sure you have at least two hours extra to clear customs and airport security – even if you’ve already cleared those places once, twice, or more in the same trip. Maybe one day the people at that airport will learn from McDonalds that a burger is better if it’s only fried once. On to Denver…

“Attention please, passengers on United flight 6648 to Winnipeg. We seem to have a problem with the booking on this flight and as a result are looking for two volunteers to come forward and give up their seat on tonight’s flight. In return, we will book you on a flight the same time tomorrow or you can choose to fly through Chicago on an earlier flight tomorrow. We will also put you up in a hotel for the night, provided you with a good dinner and breakfast, and give you your choice of a free round trip to any North American United destination or US$600 towards another United flight.” Upon hearing this, I decided to volunteer myself. I talked with the agent and called home to confirm my ride from the airport hadn’t left home yet, and then was told “We’ll tell you either way” “what do you mean ‘either way’?” I thought, “You asked for a volunteer and here I am. Now you’re changing your mind?” So I waited until everyone else had boarded the plane and my luggage had been removed. They then told the other volunteer and me that we could board the plane after all (I think there were some other no-show’s) so I had to call home and tell the people to come pick me up from the Winnipeg airport after all. “Go ahead and call home. You’ve got 4 minutes till departure” I had to laugh at this one. They do all this last minute stuff that I volunteer for and then tell me I’ve got four minutes or the plane will leave without me because I offered to help them out. I laugh even now as I write this! They wouldn’t actually have left without me. They knew what I was doing and were ok with it…and my luggage did make it back onto the airplane!

“As your crew about United flight 6648, we would like to thank you for flying United; and let us be the first to welcome you to Winnipeg…you can pick up your luggage after passing through customs...” And one last time I had the privilege of answering questions for official with the authority to send me home (oops, that’s were I am now) detain me, do the wonderful searches that people are concerned about, question me endlessly about where I’ve been, how long I’ve been gone, why I was there, how old I am, what my shoe size is, when the last time is I used the – you get the picture. And one last time, I was asked no more than half a dozen questions before the agent decided that I’m a safe and honest law abiding person; and welcomed me through the gate.

What awaited me on the other side of the door were some very excited people. I heard from a third party (who shall remain anonymous for the time) that some of the people there were almost (or maybe completely) jumping for joy when they saw me waiting for my luggage before I could go through the doors to meet them. Hugs all around and I’m home with family. It’s great to be loved.

I heard my niece (who’s house I’m staying at) was in tears earlier tonight that I wasn’t here yet so I need to make sure I’m up in the morning before she heads off to school. Based on my body’s sleep schedule from Sydney, with the time change, I should be going to bed soon and getting up around 2 in the afternoon. She leaves for school closer to 8:30 in the morning so I’ll be getting up early. Need to get some sleep.

I’ll try to get some pictures up in the next couple of days too.

Home time

I can hardly believe this time has come already. It really feels like I just got here but it's time to come home for Christmas. Last night I went to one last Christmas party after packing most of my stuff. Today I go to look at a couple of houses with the hopes of finding one to live in when I get back here. The plan is that the people I'll be living together with will move in January and they will take my stuff from the apartment I'm in to the house so that means I need to have everything packed and ready for them to move it. So in the next three hours, I need to seen those houses, possibly submit an application to lease, finish packing (almost done) and get ready for the flight home.

I will try to keep this blog updated over Christmas but it may not be quite as regular as it has been till now. Keep watching as I have some exciting plans in the next couple of months. I'm scheduled to be back in Sydney on January 28th and life back here will start with a bang so watch for the updates. I'll see many of you in the next few days.

ps. I'm singing in the choir at Southland this weekend so if you want to see me from a distance, come to any of the services this coming weekend (Sat 5 and 7PM and Sun 9 and 11AM).

See you soon!

More Leisure Activities

After a short night and an early morning to bring classmates to the airport, I found a good place to relax. This is what a typical beach looks like midweek. I have not yet seen what it looks like on the weekend but I gained a new understanding of the beach culture in this country.




We heard there was a Walmart and an A&W close to here so some of us went on a hunt. We found the Walmart (Called “The Big W” in Australia) and a place that called itself A&W, using the same logo as the real restaurant and selling the same Root Beer (in a can) but having nothing else same - or even similar. I can’t help but wonder about trademark infringements on this but ???. The food was good after getting over the disappointment of it not being what we expected.


After some shopping and lunch, we went off to a wildlife park. We saw a ton of brightly coloured birds, some reptiles, penguins, Tasmanian devils, Wallabies, Kangaroos, Koala Bears, a 15 foot Crocodile, and a bunch of other animals.




Yes, I got a chance to pet a kangaroo. Sorry to disappoint some of you, they are not big enough to ride so I stopped at petting them. The picture is actually of me petting a Wallaby.








These bats have bodies about the size of a household cat. We saw one of these in the city the other day too.







Koala Bear – this is not a teddy. We got to pet one of these too.












It may be cute, but it’s still a bear; and we witnessed two males duelling out a short territorial battle just before I took this picture - yes, I took it myself; one hand on the bear and the other holding the camera.

It’s about time for another update. I’m finished classes and exams; and as the previous post mentioned, am making plans for Christmas time. Below are some pictures of my happenings in the last while.


Thanksgiving just doesn’t come often enough so, as you may recall, I went to two Canadian thanksgiving parties; and I’ve now done the same for our lovely neighbours to the south. Here’s a picture of one of the groups. In case anyone’s interested, two of the people in this picture are pure bred Americans, one has dual Canadian/American citizenship, one is South African, and the rest are pure Canadians.



The Frontline (25 to 35 years old) group went on a harbour cruise. We had a great time with a few hundred people, mostly from the church and mostly non college students. There was a lot of noise, loud music, a dance floor, and generally a good time as we sailed around the Sydney harbour for 4 hours. Here’s a shot of some friends having a great time.



One of the married couples was taking a picture and somehow I ended up in it. According to their blog (http://ryamy.blogspot.com/) I was being thrown overboard at the time but that’s nothing more than wish-full thinking. They did manage to get some better photos and also had a chance at a dance later. And speaking of dancing…since I know my family’s ears are itching to hear about this…ahh, if your ears really are itching, the itch won’t be soothed by anything I can say.

Another great view of the Opera House – I figure if this is one of the most recognized buildings in the world and I see it on a regular basis, I’d better have a few pictures of it on my blog.






We had a great graduation dinner at a high end restaraunt. Here’s me with one of my circles of friends at the dinner.







Hillsong Men’s weekly meetings have wrapped up for the year so we had some special activities on the last day. One of them was a mechanical bucking bull. As you can see, there were safety precautions taken. No one got seriously hurt but the longest anyone stayed on the thing was about 40 seconds, second place was around the 20 second mark.



No pictures of this, but I just got home from the golf course. Ryan (see man in couple’s picture above) and I left at 7 this morning and enjoyed a somewhat cool morning that turned into a beautiful summer day. We were warned at the beginning that if we encountered the snake on the 13th or 14th hole, we should not approach it. We should not try to get it to move (I assume this includes if our balls had gone close to it), and we would be ok. We had a great time and look forward to doing it again. We're also working on a few other people we know will enjoy golf once they try it.

Well, that’s about it right now. I’m expecting a great week here yet before I come home to see you in Canada! I know you’re expecting me to have bit of colour to my skin when I come home so I’ll do what I can to make sure I don’t disappoint you. I think the beach is calling me...

Suffering for the Cause

So I was checking into the cost of getting back to Sydney after Christmas and all of the standard options are expensive. I checked with three travel agents and a number of different web sites and found the cheapest direct flight would be booked online instead of through a travel agent and would cost more than my ticket when I came here the first time; and would have some extra hassles with it. After much searching, I got as creative as my accountant-type mind can and checked two different airlines for separate tickets meeting in the middle. Here’s what I found.

Canadian carrier Westjet has a seat sale from Winnipeg to Honolulu and Australian carrier Qantas has a seat sale from Sydney to Honolulu and back ($150 cheaper to get a return ticket instead of getting a one way from Honolulu to Sydney). As a result of these two seat sales, it’s substantially cheaper to take this option than to buy a direct flight.

Now everyone knows it’s not wise to get tickets with two different carriers without allowing enough time between flights; just in case the first one is delayed (a very real possibility for a flight out of Winnipeg in January) so I felt I needed to make sure I had enough time between the flights. Also playing into the equation is a limited flight selection by the time I had made enough other arrangements to actually buy the tickets; but in the end, the tickets end up leaving me stranded in Hawaii for 5 days in January. The savings in ticket prices will cover about half my costs while I’m there, and as a result of doing this, I could save between $500 and $1,000 on plane tickets next Christmas – and save hassles of changing flight dates around mid-year. All in all, it looks like I’ll be saving money by spending some time in Honolulu.

Now I realize there’s a price to be paid for going to school and getting into ministry; so I’m willing to do this. If any of you has been to Honolulu before and has some good advice for me on what to see and where to stay while I’m there, please leave me a post with that advice or send me an email. I appreciate all the help I can get in minimizing the difficulties I have to endure in spending this time on a small island in the middle of the Pacific.

Harsh weather

I just have to tell you all that yesterday was the coldest November day in Sydney in 100 years. We got down to 8 degrees Celsius and only hit a daytime high of 15. Ouch is that ever cold!

Men's Conference

Just a quick update to let you all know something is happening here. Last night was the start of men’s conference. It was a great evening with around 4,000 men out worshiping God and bettering themselves. It started with half an hour of “fun” which included four men in a competition of some common “domestic” duties like ironing, taking care of a baby, and waxing (their choice of which part of their body). Then we all settled in for some great worship and moved on to an amazing message from Casey Treat about renewing our minds and the need for change in our lives in order for growth and improvement. The place was packed like I’ve never seen this building yet and there were many commitments to change. If my camera would take better pictures, I’d put a few more up here but here’s the best I got.

Saturday continued with more great stuff and then the keynote speakers, Casey Treat and Kevin Gerald, also spoke at the Sunday services. We also took up an offering that is going 100% to mission work in Rwanda and got just over $242,000 for that. The conference was truly great.

In case any of you are interested in coming to the Hillsong Conference next year in July, some of the people coming out for it were announced at men’s conference. Steven Curtis Chapman, Chris Tomlin, Israel Houghton, T.D. Jakes, and Lou Giglio to name the ones I remember. It will be great!




Taken just after the session ended Friday Night










A nice shot of my friend Ryan before the evening began. Even Ryan though this was a good picture.

Time to let it out

There’s something I have not said on this blog yet but I think the time has come. Actually the time has come because I feel it’s time for an update but I don’t know what to write.

I’ve come to the realization that one of the most amazing things about the Hillsong Church is that the church does something well in such a laidback society.

From the day I got here, I’ve noticed poor quality in almost everything and I thought at first that it was just my perfectionist nature coming out. It’s not.

Case one:
I was talking about this with another man the other day and he said he and his wife had started a business when they got here and had a really hard time selling something with quality attached to it. He had actually been told by some Aussie’s not to bother trying to do quality because it wouldn’t sell.

Case two:
In Canada, if you measure one step in a staircase, you can generally tell the size of the rest. Not so here. You might be walking down a flight of stairs and all of them are the same height until the last and then there’s an extra inch on one step. Or this extra inch might be in the middle of the staircase.

Case three:
Driving down the road, every second car has a dent in it. To many reasons to get into why.

Case four:
A million dollar house is built and there are half inch gaps between the door and the frame.

Case five:
Paving stone in used in a lot of places but a proper foundation is seldom laid so the bricks are loose, move freely when you walk, and do not keep their position for long

Case six:
There’s an apartment building being built across the street from my place. When I got here two and a half months ago, there were four floors to it. There are now 4 and a quarter floors to it. Any slower and they’ll have to redo the bottom before the top is finished. Now the problem isn’t actually the speed of their work but I’m looking at it from about 200 yards away and I can see from here that the concrete is not strong. Anyone who’s worked with concrete would know this is a problem. From a few feet away, I should be able to tell; but not from 200 yards!

Well, there’s someone here to check the value of the property I’m in so I need to go. So long

Starting a Connect Group

I met up with the pastor in charge of the people aged 25-35 a couple weeks back and after two minutes of talking, he told me I should start leading a connect group. I wasn’t sure how serious he was until later that evening when I was at my connect meeting and my leader talked with me about it. The pastor had told her to make sure she talked with me and encourage me to do it. Well, one thing led to another and I’ve now been to a meeting for new connect leaders and am working through the process of becoming one. I’m planning to start it after I get back from Christmas. The people in leadership I’ve been in contact with are quite excited about me starting one and as I was talking about it with some other students the other day they said they would like to join mine. I hadn’t really thought about leading a connect group already but when it was suggested to my I realized I had no reason not to and tons of reasons to do it; so here we go… I’m here for two years training for leadership. I may as well put it into practice right from the start.

Confession on my car

Many people have the impression that I have a “Mr Bean” car. I took that picture on the street and just said in the post that I had bought a car. I need to confess that the car in the picture is not mine. I wanted to see if people made the assumption that it was a picture of my car and most of you did. One person did question this and I thought that may lead others to question it too, but apparently this has not happened. The car I bought is quite different than the one in the picture. It’s very much like a large Oldsmobile. It’s a big car and gives a good ride but takes a lot of gas to run.

Mormons

A couple weeks back I was on the side of the street waiting for a couple of friends and two Mormons came to talk with me. As I saw them approaching, I prayed for guidance and started talking. They went through their normal lines and I asked some questions. As the conversation moved along, there were more and more questions they didn’t have answers for and they got to the point of admitting they didn’t have answers. Part of the conversation went a bit like this:

“My Bible says it’s complete, why are you adding to it with the book of Mormon?” “We’re not adding to it, the book of Mormon only clarifies some things that are not clear in the Bible. Many things have been lost from the original Bible so there are some things that are unclear.”
“Have any of those things been found?”
”No”
“So how can you know that they are missing?”
Blank stare
“So you’re assuming that something is missing and your filling in the blanks.”
“The book of Mormon gives further clarification of these things”
“So the book of Mormon adds to the Bible?”
“In no way does the book of Mormon add or take anything away from the Bible.”
“So what’s the point of the book of Mormon if the Bible is complete?”
“The book of Mormon clarifies things in the Bible that have been lost over time.”
“I’m not sure this makes sense. The book of Mormon adds clarification to the Bible but doesn’t add anything to it. It fills in things that have gone lost over time but these things have never been found and there’s no evidence they are actually missing.”
“There are many different denominations in the world and that is proof that the Bible has changed over time.”
“Really? Isn’t it just proof that people are not perfect and we make mistakes and misinterpret things and some things and have different preferences? The different denominations tell us something about us as people; they don’t say anything about the completeness of the Bible”

They realized my friends were now waiting for me and asked if there was a better time to come back. We arranged a meeting for two weeks later. I promised to look at the book they gave me and asked them to find answers to the questions I had asked.

Last week Saturday, we had the next meeting and they had done little homework in finding the answers. Through my reading, I was able to come up with some more questions and they were once again stumped a few times and caught contradicting what they had told me previously. The best case of this was probably on the idea of worshiping Jesus. They had told me they highly revere and respect him and he is the way to God but they worship Father God only. I made sure to clarify this in the second meeting before bringing them to a passage in their own book that said they do worship Jesus. I felt the meeting had gone fairly well. I had not pushed them or told them they were wrong but had simply asked questions to which they did not have satisfactory answers. At one point they asked me why I believe what I do. This opened up the opportunity to tell them about various things including a short lecture on why the Bible is trustworthy and accurate; going through historical and archaeological evidence as well as evidence within Scripture and personal experience.

As I was praying about the third meeting we had arranged for this past Wednesday, I felt I needed to be more aggressive in my approach. When we met, the two of them basically asked me why I was meeting with them and tried to cut off our contact (I can only guess it was because they had asked their church leaders some of the questions and the leaders had told them to not see me anymore). I asked them if it was because they had a true message, I was going to hell, but they didn’t care; or if it was because they were concerned that maybe they were wrong and I might point them to that and they didn’t want to face that possibility. I thought this question was about as aggressive as I could get. At one point they commented that we were just going back to the same questions all the time so I just told them “That’s because you haven’t answered them!” We talked for another half hour and when it looked like the end had come, I asked them to do me a favour. I have an assignment for one of my classes where I have to talk with someone outside the Christian church explaining one of our beliefs and get feedback on whether I explained it in terms they could understand. After only a little convincing, they agreed and I had a few minutes completely uninterrupted to share with them the doctrine of salvation. They have not yet decided to believe but they did tell me the understood completely what I said. When I got that assignment, I wasn’t sure how I would get it done because of my very limited contact with non-church people but in the end it created an open door to share the message of Jesus Christ with some people who needed to here the truth! Thank you God, for that doctrine assignment!!!

Christmas is coming

How weird it is to be walking down a sidewalk in shorts and a t-shirt and hear Christmas music coming out from a store. Isn’t it a bit early for that? The snow hasn’t come down yet, I don’t have to plug in my car, and I haven’t even seen frost on the ground in the morning when I get up. Yep, it’s definitely too early. But not so, said the store manager. And all the other stores agree. They haven’t all started playing the music, but they’ve been putting out the merchandise for a while now and for the retail world, Christmas is starting. A friend of mine works in a clothing store and was told she could buy clothing at 50% off for her husband any time and for her friends over Christmas and the other day I was in there and her boss said she could give me the discount (neither of us had asked, I had just been introduced as a friend).

Plumpton School project

Here are some pictures from the school renovation project. In the end we had about $150,000 donated for this project and had 2,300 church people out for the event along with some teachers and students from the school and members of the local police force – not to mention the people and time involved in preparing for the event. One of the students from the school said he realizes now that he needs to work on transforming lives of other students like the school has been transformed and make this a lasting change.


This hallway was a little worse than most hallways in the school but it was still quite typical of what we saw coming in.















Over a hundred people were out on Thursday prepping the school for the rush of people on Saturday. This was typical scene for the afternoon.






I wasn’t quite sure what to think about this one. On Thursday as we were prepping the school, I came across this. Did they think we would actually paint the computer??? Actually I know better (they were making signs for some rooms that they didn’t want painted) but it made for an interesting picture…




Graffiti removal team









A typical hallway as the work was being done
















In addition to the inside of the school, professional landscapers were brought in to oversee some outside work. A bunch of trees were removed and an ugly brush was turned into a nice lawn with new sod, new pathways, and flowers and shrubs. By the end, it looked like a nice park that just needs some time and water to get settled in.




One of the classrooms at the end. I’m not sure why, but the blog is not allowing me to post more picture to this entry so I’ll just leave it. This classroom is now typical of the rest of the school.

Beach pictures

I was invited to take a day off with some friends so we went to the city and also spent some time at Bondi Beach.

Far left, facing the ocean is Stephen (also in picture below). Next to him and looking very cold is Ryan, another fellow Canadian. Then is Paula, the lone American with us this particular day (she’s been learning the Canadian national anthem!!!) Next, in the pants with wet pant legs (with a face you can’t see in the picture) is Amy, Ryan’s wife. And the girl in the white shirt on the right side is Coral from South Africa.


We had heard the weather forecast and hoped it was as wrong as it often is in Canada. Unfortunately we were wrong; but we had a great day anyways. I got some very interesting color on my arms by the end of the day – actually I should say arm (singular) because one of my arms got a really mild sunburn and the other got nothing at all. It looks like I spent the day with one side of me facing the sun.


Apparently some people are having a hard time believing I’m actually in Australia because there have been no pictures of me on my blog so I made a point of taking one on one of the most recognized areas around here. Like my hat? I bought it one day when I was away from home and expecting to be indoors most of the day and found out when I got to my destination that I would be outside all day in 36 degree weather with hot sunshine. The other guy in the picture is Stephen, a fellow Canadian. He also happens to be one of the few other guys here who have some sense of cleanliness. I'm actually hoping to move out of my current apartment and rent a house together with Stephen, Ryan and Amy (in picture above) and one other couple. If it works out as planned, we will be living in a spacious house closer to school and paying less rent. Looks like we won’t be able to do this until after Christmas but hopefully it works out then.



I’ve had a question here for a long time about the sun. When you’re at risk of sunburn more quickly, the UV index is raised. In Manitoba, a UV index of 7 is about as high as we get on a hot summer day and that is officially called high; so with the hotter climate here, I wondered if the same scale was used. I found out that the same index is used and we are just in a higher category. Yesterday was not a hot day and the sun was blocked by a lot of cloud (see pictures of cold people) but even so the UV index was 9. I have yet to find out what it is on a hot and sunny day.

Lest you start to think I’m here for a holiday, I’m still very busy with school and church. I’ve been spending time this week doing assignments and even on this day off, I did some homework. I’ve also been asked to become a connect group leader. I met the pastor in charge of this the other day and after talking for 2 minutes or less, he suggested it. Within 4 hours, he had told my connect leader about our conversation and she talked with me about it too. About a week later (yesterday) he had his assistant call me to talk with me about it. I will likely be taking up this challenge starting after Christmas with some preparation beforehand.

I bought a car - Unfortunately it's not as nice as this one

Summer/Winter

It's 6:30 AM and I just opened the window to let in a cool breeze since its quite warm inside and much to my disappointment, it makes basically no difference. I take some condolence in hearing about the weather conditions back home because yesterday I spent most of the day including the hottest three hours standing outside at an entrance to a youth event. We hit 36 degrees Celsius with virtually no wind - and the hot weather isn't even here yet...Then I find out that the forecast was right for my homeland and you had snow - up to two feet in one area! Thank you for sharing some of you weather information with me. It helps me appreciate the heat out here! Today, I'm heading out to a local high school to work on a renovation project the church is doing. We've got over $100,000 worth of money and materials donated and are expecting over 2,000 people working on it today. The plan is that the students will hardly recognize their school when they get back on Monday and if the previous projects like this are any indication (today's is the biggest yet) there will be a complete transformation by the end of the day.

I just thought of it, that's a great illustration of how Christ wants to come in and completely transform our lives. Just like only some schools accept the offer to be transformed, so only some people accept Christ's offer. In this school, there are some classrooms we are being told not to fix, in the same way, even those of us who are allowing Christ to change our lives have areas we try to keep Him out of. Just like our church has put a big investment and a lot of people into this project, so it is with Christ investing in us and putting many people into our lives. Just like the renovation offer is the initiative of the church and not of the school, so Salvation is the initiative of Christ and not of us. Just like it is offered completely free; with no strings attached, so is salvation. Just like the it takes work on the part of the school people to maintain what’s being done today, so we need to continually work at improving out lives even after Christ does the work in us.

I’m sure there’s more comparisons and I know these fall short of bringing out the truth of what God has done for us but hopefully it helps someone to realize a little more of the reality of Salvation.

Thanksgiving

Two thanksgiving parties in a country that doesn't even know what the holiday is... Now that's how to start influencing another land. I had one on Saturday with a small gruop of some of my better friends then had another one on Monday with about 25 other Canadians. They were both great and I had to make sure I didn't eat too much on Sunday because of the two days of feasting before and after. I've got details below of the one on Monday but thought I'd put a link http://ryamy.blogspot.com/ to another blog where one of my friends here has posted details about the one on Saturday (From his perspective).


We had a Canadian Thanksgiving party on Monday which we all really enjoyed. It was great to be together with people from my homeland who ask where you’re from and mean which province – and it means something to them when you answer; who know my national anthem and more importantly, the theme song for Hockey Night in Canada J; who speak somewhat similar to me; who know what a toonie is; and who have some idea what snow is all about. In this meeting I was actually able to play the Mennonite Game!!! The closest connection I found was that I know part of the family of one of the girls’ uncles but she knew my home town and has some friends living in the Osler and Warman area!


The most important thing for a Canadian Thanksgiving party is food, and specifically dessert; at least that’s the conclusion I’ve come to since we had a potluck lunch and had just enough regular food but lots of extra desserts.

Notice the pie with "EH" on it...I was told you can't find pumpkin in Australia and most people here have missed pumpkin pie for a long time so I found pumpkin and made a few pies!!!! They were the best pies I've ever had - or maybe they just reminded me of home.





What's anything about Canada without Tim Hortons Coffee?!!! No, I didn't have any, but it sure felt more like home and many others almost thought they were in heaven








Some of the people decided to act like they were in a parade and started "playing the bagpipes" by plugging their noses, making a horrendous sound through their mouths, and hitting their throats at the same time. It sounded about as good as the real bagpipes - don't believe me? I got a video I can show you when I get home.





This man is amazing! He's actually an Australian but he has a heart for Canada like no one I know. God has just laid a burden in him for my home country. He's never seen an NHL hockey game but ask him a question about hockey and he can talk for hours. He knows more stats about the NHL and CFL than most Canadians. Even though He's not from our country, he was invited to our party and I've dubbed him the honorary Canadian.

Snake in picture "Day off" post

OK, I've kept you curious long enough. I have to admit the snake was fake. It was in the wildlife park in a hallway and I thought it could give a good picture. However, there are snakes in this country that do get to that size and I'm hoping I don't meet one up close and personal.

Blue Mountains hike

I had a chance to go for a hike in the mountains. When I was invited, I had the understanding it would not be a very difficult hike. When I got to the meeting place to head out, I was asked if I was going "bushwalking" and by the time we were done I had climbed down and back up many hundreds of feet along narrow trails with "stairs" made of rocks in the path, some of which were challenging enough I needed to help some of the other (shorter) people to make it down. We spent 3 hours walking in some incredible scenery. It was so good.


View from the top of the highest point in the Blue Mountains. The reason they are called the Blue Mountains is the blue haze you see from a distance (like in this picture). The haze is caused by oil coming out of the leaves of the Eucalyptus trees that cover the mountains.




We walked down to the bottom of this canyon on the other side of the mountain then walked back up to the point this picture was taken from. Although the mountains are very small compared to the Rocky Mountains, the views are still spectacular and the views along the trail were amazing.






There were many views like this as we walked along the bottom. There were also many rocks haning over the trail and some caves along the way making for some interesting sites and a few heads being bumped along the way.







This was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's the best I could get. It's a small stream about half way through our walk; right at the bottom of the canyon.



It was a tiring walk but well worth it. I was really energized by being out in the fresh air, away from the 4 million people of Sydney, enjoying God's great creation with a small group of friends. Given the chance to do it again, I will jump at the opportunity!

Day off

Here's a few pictures of my day out on Saturday. A small group of us spent the day in Sydney doing some sightseeing and basically just spending some time together away from church and school - a much needed break even though school and church are great.




Yes, I got to see this world-famous site. From pictures I've seen in the past, I thought it was a few stories tall. WRONG buy about 10 stories. This thing is masive. There's a few of us thinking of going to see a show (A symphany or something since my current music taste says I wouldn't go see an oprah unless I was paid to do it) here sometime and seeing the inside then since we didn't get inside today. For those who don't know; this is the Sydney Operah House. It is truly an incredible building.









One tall bridge - it's about 130 meters (over 400 feet) high and people regularly climb up the side. I'm not sure it's worth the $100 cost but would love to climb it.






I won!








A shot of what I saw underwater.








Some friends (mostly fellow Canadians) that I spent the day with.








A walkway at night in a park in downtown Sydney