Vegemite, cuppa, sunscreen, and all things Australian.

Greetings from down under!
it is now our second official day of dts here at Wollongong. we haven't really settled into a solid routine yet, and probably won't for a few weeks. we're doing different things every day, doing a lot of introductory things this first week. i'm not as completely emotional, but talking to my mom does make me tear up a little :) i'm blessed to be a part of this base! on sunday, I was at the beach with a girl from Washington and another from Alberta... we went swimming, and I swear even though we were only outside for an hour I have tan lines on the top of my shoulders from my bathing suit! sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. we have "cuppa" every day at 10, where we literally have a break to have tea :) it's pretty great! we have base worship every Monday, and lectures every afternoon. they fly a different lecturer in every week for the week. i'd hate to fly 14 hours just for a week!
here's another weird thing about Australia- vegemite. I tried it once in Canada because my mother thought it was funny, and I really don't know how on earth people eat this stuff all the time. I wasn't expecting it at all to show up, but it actually was on the table at breakfast and yuck. it's like yeast extract and onions and carrots and a whole lot of other nasty things. ew.
right now, i'm listening to "Set a Fire" by Jesus Culture. This song so personifies how I want to be in my dts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujQJQnxTFjc

There's no place I would rather be
there's no place I would rather be
then here in your love,
here in your love, Lord

So set a fire down in my soul
that I can't contain, that I can't control
'cause I want more of you, God
I want more of you, God

that's literally the whole song. but how powerful is that? I want to want God. I want to need Him. I want to want Him so bad that I can't control it. how crazy is that thought?
another thing that is really on my heart is how God can still use us when we fail.

I absolutely love that. he is so much higher then everything. in 2 Corinthians 12:9, it says "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." the most incredible :)

a piece of advice that my dad gave me was to always look forward and to throw myself into everything. I've been able to go to the beach and go for a walk to the shore so far, and play dutch blitz... it's been amazing!

it's hard to remember sometimes why i'm here, why I've left my comfortable life to come here and serve. why I left my family to move to the other side of the world for 6 months. it makes me sad sometimes. but i know that God is so much greater and he is going to get me through this.

here's another relevant thing about living on base with people from all over the world. we're constantly asking about where people are from. so all the people from the states, whenever people ask where they are from, say the states. so like Oregon, or Washington, or Minnesota, or wherever. but the few of us who are from Canada just say Canada, because i guess we assume that no one knows where any of the provinces are. so one of the leaders asks me and this girl from alberta where we're from, and of course we both reply "Canada". he goes "i'm from BC" and we go "Oh! i'm from Manitoba! i'm from alberta!" it's apparently called the "Canadian curse" :)

also, the sand on the beaches here is just really nice. apparently they ship the sand from port kembla beach all over the world, to beaches in Honolulu and everything! it squeaks when you walk on it :)

i have to go eat breakfast before they put it away, but the one thing i'll continue to ask for is prayer for homesickness. it's been hard adjusting without Alanna here and it will probably continue to be hard for a few weeks.

thanks so much for all your continued support!

serving our beautiful and colourful Lord all the way from down under,
-Cailey