I was walking outside at the school waiting for registration to start and I saw a full and bright rainbow. I stood there for a bit and remembered the story of the flood and Noah and God’s promise with the rainbow; that it was to be a reminder that He would never again destroy the earth with a flood. Then He spoke to my heart and said “Never again will it pour like this.” In a similar way to how Noah experienced rain like no one around him had, so I have experience rain like few in the Western world have at my age. Just like the rain destroyed his world, so the rain has destroyed mine. But just as everything came back brighter and better for Noah, so it is in my life. Ten minutes later the rainbow is gone, but its message is for a lifetime.
We've started school but not the regular schedule yet. Today we had a big group session that included some teaching time and some praise and worship. It was amazing. Hearing a thousand people excited about praising God... I'm looking forward to a lot more of that since each weekend service has up to 3,500 people doing the same. It's an amazing privilege to be here enjoying God's presence in this way and I look forward to much learning and growth. In case anyone was wondering, I will not be the same when I come home.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
More international exposure
I’ve now found out there are over 40 different countries represented in the student body. Another interesting story about the language challenges:
One of the second year students had sent an email of encouragement to the pastor who had spoken that morning and she said in it “Thanks for the great massage this morning.” No, the pastors do not make a regular practice of giving out rub downs to the women in church, she had just appreciated what he had preached about that morning.
I’m hearing more great stories all the time. One of the people here was recently traveling and after going through three levels of security at an airport and being cleared to board the plane, he looked at his passport and found out it was his wife’s. In his words “I’m a pretty decent looking guy, but I don’t look anything like a woman!” This happened only four days after the latest terrorist threats in London. How’s that for increased security. Fortunately, he has a passport (legally) from another country so he had one with his own picture with him and was still able to get on the plane.
One of the second year students had sent an email of encouragement to the pastor who had spoken that morning and she said in it “Thanks for the great massage this morning.” No, the pastors do not make a regular practice of giving out rub downs to the women in church, she had just appreciated what he had preached about that morning.
I’m hearing more great stories all the time. One of the people here was recently traveling and after going through three levels of security at an airport and being cleared to board the plane, he looked at his passport and found out it was his wife’s. In his words “I’m a pretty decent looking guy, but I don’t look anything like a woman!” This happened only four days after the latest terrorist threats in London. How’s that for increased security. Fortunately, he has a passport (legally) from another country so he had one with his own picture with him and was still able to get on the plane.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Aug 28 Update
I’m planning to get a phone soon and will be sending out an email with my phone number and mailing address when I figure out a place to hook up my laptop to the internet.
I’ve been meeting tons of new people. Besides all the new people in the city of Sydney and in the church, there are about a thousand students. This is the most culturally diverse place I’ve been in. Hillsong can definitely not be called a “white” church. I’ve been in other places where there are a couple of different large ethnic groups like Steinbach with Mennonite – ok so Steinbach is basically Mennonite; Vancouver with many white people and many Asian people, Southern USA with many Whites and many Blacks, Winnipeg and Toronto with quite a variety. Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba with many Natives; but this place tops them all. The city and church are not quite as diverse as the school but a normal conversation at the schools starts something like this. “Hi I’m Larry” “Hi, I’m ______, where are you from?” I’m from Canada, and you?”… and here’s where it gets interesting because it could be anywhere in the world. Of the 1,000 students, about 250 are from Australia, 200 from USA, and the rest from other places. So far I know people from France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Austria, Australia, Canada, and I’m sure there’s some more I’m not thinking of off hand. It makes communication interesting. We all speak English since that’s a requirement for coming to school with all the teaching being in English, but you can imagine the fun we have with the many different accents. I’m proud to say I was told the other day that my accent is not very strong even though I have not yet met anyone who talks like me since the other Canadians I’ve met are from Ontario where they have an accent of their own more similar to northern USA than other parts of Canada.
I was reminded of the danger and harm of stereotypes yesterday. I’ve been warmly welcomed by all during my travels and time out here and have been told that I was a good person because “Canadians are good people.” Actually this I was told by an Asian man as I was helping him find the gate for his next flight at the Los Angeles airport. This same man said Americans were not nice or friendly and that he didn’t like them. Fortunately my experience with most Americans has not been the same as his. Then yesterday I heard one of the American students here, who is a nice person, say how it hurt her to be hated everywhere she goes because she’s American. So here’s the reminder people; please don’t look at people through painted glasses. Just because someone say’s she’s an American; or just because someone has a different skin color or dresses a different way than you; or just because he has long hair, 15 ear, nose, and other rings, and 50 tattoos; or just because ______________ (you fill in the blank); each one of us is created in God’s image and needs to be and feel loved. That is something all people need to live out but especially Christians who are called so shine God’s light and love to the world.
I’ve been meeting tons of new people. Besides all the new people in the city of Sydney and in the church, there are about a thousand students. This is the most culturally diverse place I’ve been in. Hillsong can definitely not be called a “white” church. I’ve been in other places where there are a couple of different large ethnic groups like Steinbach with Mennonite – ok so Steinbach is basically Mennonite; Vancouver with many white people and many Asian people, Southern USA with many Whites and many Blacks, Winnipeg and Toronto with quite a variety. Northern Saskatchewan and Manitoba with many Natives; but this place tops them all. The city and church are not quite as diverse as the school but a normal conversation at the schools starts something like this. “Hi I’m Larry” “Hi, I’m ______, where are you from?” I’m from Canada, and you?”… and here’s where it gets interesting because it could be anywhere in the world. Of the 1,000 students, about 250 are from Australia, 200 from USA, and the rest from other places. So far I know people from France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Mexico, Austria, Australia, Canada, and I’m sure there’s some more I’m not thinking of off hand. It makes communication interesting. We all speak English since that’s a requirement for coming to school with all the teaching being in English, but you can imagine the fun we have with the many different accents. I’m proud to say I was told the other day that my accent is not very strong even though I have not yet met anyone who talks like me since the other Canadians I’ve met are from Ontario where they have an accent of their own more similar to northern USA than other parts of Canada.
I was reminded of the danger and harm of stereotypes yesterday. I’ve been warmly welcomed by all during my travels and time out here and have been told that I was a good person because “Canadians are good people.” Actually this I was told by an Asian man as I was helping him find the gate for his next flight at the Los Angeles airport. This same man said Americans were not nice or friendly and that he didn’t like them. Fortunately my experience with most Americans has not been the same as his. Then yesterday I heard one of the American students here, who is a nice person, say how it hurt her to be hated everywhere she goes because she’s American. So here’s the reminder people; please don’t look at people through painted glasses. Just because someone say’s she’s an American; or just because someone has a different skin color or dresses a different way than you; or just because he has long hair, 15 ear, nose, and other rings, and 50 tattoos; or just because ______________ (you fill in the blank); each one of us is created in God’s image and needs to be and feel loved. That is something all people need to live out but especially Christians who are called so shine God’s light and love to the world.
Excerpt from my journal August 27, 2006
Yesterday was quite the introduction to the heart and actions of Hillsong Church. I woke up at 2:30AM after 9 ½ hours of sleep (went to bed at 5PM on Friday after the long travel time and getting started in Sydney. Once the rest of the world was awake I found out one of my room mates had arrived and then found out there was a youth event, Big Exo day, happening that was supposed to be big. Boy was it ever!
We met at the church then took a bus to the biggest indoor facility in Sydney (The Acer Arena, formerly called the Superdome, and incredible structure built for the Olympics). They had rented the entire place for the day. There were tons of things to do and see. There was a neat wakeboarding machine so people would start at one end of a long portable pool and get pulled by a machine just like a boat would do on the lake. They had brought in a professional BMX demo team. There was also a motocross demo team and a pro skateboarder putting on demos and interacting with teens at a skate park. Then there were the carnival rides, face painting and temporary tattoos, numerous makeup booths for the ladies, a dace troupe, a dozen or more bands, car display, pro basketball demo and free for all, an x-box competition, and more. In the week leading up to this event, the people, including many of the pros brought in from oversees spent time at many of the schools in the city talking with people, inviting them out, and presenting God’s message to them. It was all wrapped up with a session in the evening. In the session were a number of bands, a rapper, and Darrel Scott, who’s daughter was the first one killed in the Columbine Massacre. There were over 10,000 people there and when it was finished, there were 1,331 new citizens of Heaven. Now that’s quite a youth event. I got back from Exo day after 11PM so I was exhausted.
I still got up at 6:30 this morning to catch the shuttle bus to church. I took in both services in the morning then went back in the evening for number 3. They were so good. There were a couple thousand people at each service. The music was great; the messages were great; and the people are passionate. The topic was forgiveness and I was so glad to hear a message on that topic because I’ve had to go through some very hard things on that front and am glad to see other people learning about it.
We met at the church then took a bus to the biggest indoor facility in Sydney (The Acer Arena, formerly called the Superdome, and incredible structure built for the Olympics). They had rented the entire place for the day. There were tons of things to do and see. There was a neat wakeboarding machine so people would start at one end of a long portable pool and get pulled by a machine just like a boat would do on the lake. They had brought in a professional BMX demo team. There was also a motocross demo team and a pro skateboarder putting on demos and interacting with teens at a skate park. Then there were the carnival rides, face painting and temporary tattoos, numerous makeup booths for the ladies, a dace troupe, a dozen or more bands, car display, pro basketball demo and free for all, an x-box competition, and more. In the week leading up to this event, the people, including many of the pros brought in from oversees spent time at many of the schools in the city talking with people, inviting them out, and presenting God’s message to them. It was all wrapped up with a session in the evening. In the session were a number of bands, a rapper, and Darrel Scott, who’s daughter was the first one killed in the Columbine Massacre. There were over 10,000 people there and when it was finished, there were 1,331 new citizens of Heaven. Now that’s quite a youth event. I got back from Exo day after 11PM so I was exhausted.
I still got up at 6:30 this morning to catch the shuttle bus to church. I took in both services in the morning then went back in the evening for number 3. They were so good. There were a couple thousand people at each service. The music was great; the messages were great; and the people are passionate. The topic was forgiveness and I was so glad to hear a message on that topic because I’ve had to go through some very hard things on that front and am glad to see other people learning about it.
I'm in Sydney
Sorry I haven’t updated this any sooner. I’ve been having a terrible time finding a place and time where I can access the internet to post this update.
Written August 25, 2006
We’re nearing the end of winter in this cold place. Officially, spring starts on September 1st. When I walked out of the airport at about 7:30 AM, I was greeted by very humid air that felt like a bone chilling 15 degrees Celsius and I thought to myself, “This is the best air I’ve breathed in years.” (Anyone with sinus problems who’s been to Victoria BC, knows the feeling of suddenly being able to breath better; and this place is similar but possibly to a greater extent.) The second thought in my head was “I can handle this kind of winter.” By lunch time I was glad I was in shorts instead of pants – actually, this was true the whole time. The weather today is very similar to what I left in Manitoba two days ago. OK so I should not be talking about winter while my Canadian family and friends are trying not to think about what’s coming in a few months. Right now (3:00AM local time) it’s too cold outside for shorts only.
My traveling went well. I left Blumenort at 9:30 Wednesday morning and after 20+ hours on airplanes and 9 hours at airports, plus waiting for luggage (which thankfully did all make it on the same plane as me), clearing customs, looking unsuccessfully for my ride to school, calling the school, having the bus driver (who left without me) turn around to pick me up, getting a 45 minute introduction to a twisted and confusing road system with people driving on the “wrong” side of the road, meeting some people at school, being invited out to the young adults ministry for ages 25-35, and a “Connect” group (Hillsong’s name for the small groups within the church), and buying some bedding, I made it back to my apartment at 4PM Friday local time (1AM Friday in Manitoba), I thoroughly enjoyed my first shower in two days before crashing into bed for a long nap.
Jet lag is interesting. I guess two hours of sleep during two days of traveling doesn’t help the cause too much; but it should help me sleep better at times when I should be sleeping – as long as I don’t let it help me sleep too much during times I shouldn’t be sleeping.
It sounds like my room-mates will be arriving early next week. As a result of this, I need to wait with getting phone and internet set up so we can make some decisions on this together. There are a lot of options for these and each has different costs and benefits. The housing market out here is crazy. There’s almost nothing available and as a result, there will be four of us in a two bedroom apartment at a total cost of $400 per week – that’s right, per week. The landlord is even so cheap, there’s no furnace in here – hang on, we don’t need furnaces. Oops, another “Winter” comment. It’s actually a nice apartment and is brand new. Other costs are also higher than in Canada but sales taxes are 10% instead of 14-16% that non-Albertan Canadians have been used to for many years; and I’ve found a country that got it right with sales taxes as they are all included in the price shown in stores so you actually know what you’re paying for something before you get to the till. I’m really looking forward to getting settled in and getting into regular life.
I’m finding that the people out here are truly as friendly as I’ve been told; except for a shuttle bus driver at the airport who attacked another one for taking his customers or something – not to worry, the only person to get hurt was the attacker, and it stopped with some more threats and a warning that if it happened again, the defender would not be as gentle the next time. It was interesting though to see airport security people walk past the scene and do nothing.
There are a ton of things to do and see. A vacation out here could easily take a week or more just for Sydney; and a lot longer for someone wanting to relax or get to other great places in the country.
Things are very different out here. Not only do people drive on the other side of road, but as I found out by running into people in a mall – literally, they walk on the other side of a staircase. I guess it could make a difference that I was not walking straight due to lack of sleep. The phone options are very different here than in Canada and I will likely only have a mobile phone (That’s a cell phone in North America). It’s not even standard policy to install a phone line in a new apartment. The light switches are wired differently than at home so when I think a switch is in the on position, it’s actually turned off. I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this oddity, but the apartment comes furnished with a gas oven, dishwasher, and laundry dryer; but without a fridge or a washing machine. The roads are well maintained – or for all you Manitobans I should simply say they are maintained; and every second intersection has a traffic circle. The shopping carts out here have four turning wheels and are called trolleys. And that’s just the beginning.
I have not yet developed much of an accent (What? a day is too quick to pick it up?) but I’ve been hearing it in my head so I’m sure I’ll be able to pick it up quickly. I just need to practice getting the sound from my head to my mouth. As many people know, the language out here is different than in North America. Someone was showing me around a bit and as we walked past a shoe store she turned to me and said, “In Australia, a thong is a sandal.” Apparently a short while ago, the church was putting on some sort of casual function and pastor Brian Houston had announced it from the pulpit saying that people should wear their sunscreen and come in their shorts, hats, T-shirts, and thongs. A fairly new American student had been very offended at this. I’ve already encountered some other words that were new to me and I’m sure there are a lot more to come.
A quick lesson on some of the more important language differences; (note, some of these are slang and not regularly used.) a mate is a friend and everyone is your friend; a Barbie is something you put meat on to cook; Bastard is a term of endearment and something you might call a friend when you’re getting along well; Bloody means very and is not considered swearing; a Bushman’s hanky is your finger – actually it’s blowing your nose by closing one nostril with your finger on the outside of your nose like farmers are known to do in Canada; a cockie could be a farmer, a chockatoo (similar to a lama I think), or a cockroach; a Hottie is a hot water bottle; a jug is actually an electric water kettle; lippie is lipstick; a mob could be a group of people, not necessarily dangerous, or may be a herd of kangaroos; to mug someone is to tease them with a friendly insult (if such is possible); and Sheila is any woman.
So far I’ve been too busy to take pictures; and have not yet figured out a good place for internet access so I cannot yet put all I want on this site, but I will keep working on it.
Written August 25, 2006
We’re nearing the end of winter in this cold place. Officially, spring starts on September 1st. When I walked out of the airport at about 7:30 AM, I was greeted by very humid air that felt like a bone chilling 15 degrees Celsius and I thought to myself, “This is the best air I’ve breathed in years.” (Anyone with sinus problems who’s been to Victoria BC, knows the feeling of suddenly being able to breath better; and this place is similar but possibly to a greater extent.) The second thought in my head was “I can handle this kind of winter.” By lunch time I was glad I was in shorts instead of pants – actually, this was true the whole time. The weather today is very similar to what I left in Manitoba two days ago. OK so I should not be talking about winter while my Canadian family and friends are trying not to think about what’s coming in a few months. Right now (3:00AM local time) it’s too cold outside for shorts only.
My traveling went well. I left Blumenort at 9:30 Wednesday morning and after 20+ hours on airplanes and 9 hours at airports, plus waiting for luggage (which thankfully did all make it on the same plane as me), clearing customs, looking unsuccessfully for my ride to school, calling the school, having the bus driver (who left without me) turn around to pick me up, getting a 45 minute introduction to a twisted and confusing road system with people driving on the “wrong” side of the road, meeting some people at school, being invited out to the young adults ministry for ages 25-35, and a “Connect” group (Hillsong’s name for the small groups within the church), and buying some bedding, I made it back to my apartment at 4PM Friday local time (1AM Friday in Manitoba), I thoroughly enjoyed my first shower in two days before crashing into bed for a long nap.
Jet lag is interesting. I guess two hours of sleep during two days of traveling doesn’t help the cause too much; but it should help me sleep better at times when I should be sleeping – as long as I don’t let it help me sleep too much during times I shouldn’t be sleeping.
It sounds like my room-mates will be arriving early next week. As a result of this, I need to wait with getting phone and internet set up so we can make some decisions on this together. There are a lot of options for these and each has different costs and benefits. The housing market out here is crazy. There’s almost nothing available and as a result, there will be four of us in a two bedroom apartment at a total cost of $400 per week – that’s right, per week. The landlord is even so cheap, there’s no furnace in here – hang on, we don’t need furnaces. Oops, another “Winter” comment. It’s actually a nice apartment and is brand new. Other costs are also higher than in Canada but sales taxes are 10% instead of 14-16% that non-Albertan Canadians have been used to for many years; and I’ve found a country that got it right with sales taxes as they are all included in the price shown in stores so you actually know what you’re paying for something before you get to the till. I’m really looking forward to getting settled in and getting into regular life.
I’m finding that the people out here are truly as friendly as I’ve been told; except for a shuttle bus driver at the airport who attacked another one for taking his customers or something – not to worry, the only person to get hurt was the attacker, and it stopped with some more threats and a warning that if it happened again, the defender would not be as gentle the next time. It was interesting though to see airport security people walk past the scene and do nothing.
There are a ton of things to do and see. A vacation out here could easily take a week or more just for Sydney; and a lot longer for someone wanting to relax or get to other great places in the country.
Things are very different out here. Not only do people drive on the other side of road, but as I found out by running into people in a mall – literally, they walk on the other side of a staircase. I guess it could make a difference that I was not walking straight due to lack of sleep. The phone options are very different here than in Canada and I will likely only have a mobile phone (That’s a cell phone in North America). It’s not even standard policy to install a phone line in a new apartment. The light switches are wired differently than at home so when I think a switch is in the on position, it’s actually turned off. I have yet to figure out the reasoning behind this oddity, but the apartment comes furnished with a gas oven, dishwasher, and laundry dryer; but without a fridge or a washing machine. The roads are well maintained – or for all you Manitobans I should simply say they are maintained; and every second intersection has a traffic circle. The shopping carts out here have four turning wheels and are called trolleys. And that’s just the beginning.
I have not yet developed much of an accent (What? a day is too quick to pick it up?) but I’ve been hearing it in my head so I’m sure I’ll be able to pick it up quickly. I just need to practice getting the sound from my head to my mouth. As many people know, the language out here is different than in North America. Someone was showing me around a bit and as we walked past a shoe store she turned to me and said, “In Australia, a thong is a sandal.” Apparently a short while ago, the church was putting on some sort of casual function and pastor Brian Houston had announced it from the pulpit saying that people should wear their sunscreen and come in their shorts, hats, T-shirts, and thongs. A fairly new American student had been very offended at this. I’ve already encountered some other words that were new to me and I’m sure there are a lot more to come.
A quick lesson on some of the more important language differences; (note, some of these are slang and not regularly used.) a mate is a friend and everyone is your friend; a Barbie is something you put meat on to cook; Bastard is a term of endearment and something you might call a friend when you’re getting along well; Bloody means very and is not considered swearing; a Bushman’s hanky is your finger – actually it’s blowing your nose by closing one nostril with your finger on the outside of your nose like farmers are known to do in Canada; a cockie could be a farmer, a chockatoo (similar to a lama I think), or a cockroach; a Hottie is a hot water bottle; a jug is actually an electric water kettle; lippie is lipstick; a mob could be a group of people, not necessarily dangerous, or may be a herd of kangaroos; to mug someone is to tease them with a friendly insult (if such is possible); and Sheila is any woman.
So far I’ve been too busy to take pictures; and have not yet figured out a good place for internet access so I cannot yet put all I want on this site, but I will keep working on it.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
I finally got word that my house is sold. This was the last major thing I wanted to get in place before leaving. All the paperwork still needs to be signed (hopefully my part of it can be finished before I leave in a week) but my real estate agent called to tell me it was going ahead. I certainly would have preferred to have this done long ago but I was confident God would take care of the details. Looks like He has now done that before I leave; which I am very happy about.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Welcome to the site. I'm still working out some gliches in the settings as I find them so please let me know of issues you find.
My departure date is coming up very quickly and the last couple of weeks are very busy with seeing people one last time and packing. I'm also waiting for the finalization of a house sale. Everything is a bit overwhelming at this point put I'm excited about what's going to happen in the next couple of years. I know God has some big plans for me and I look forward to seeing those being fulfilled in my life.
My departure date is coming up very quickly and the last couple of weeks are very busy with seeing people one last time and packing. I'm also waiting for the finalization of a house sale. Everything is a bit overwhelming at this point put I'm excited about what's going to happen in the next couple of years. I know God has some big plans for me and I look forward to seeing those being fulfilled in my life.
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