Thoughts | the end of week three.

today came with the revelation that we've now been here for three weeks. it literally feels like we just got here yesterday, not three freaking weeks ago... it's been three weeks since I cuddled my dog, since I hugged my family, since I wore a parka, since I complained about being cold, and since someone told me to have a great 6 months, because it's now closer to 5 months.
This week was a great one. we had "character and lecture week" (as referenced in my last post), we went to the beach a few times, played some Swiss games, we went to Hillsong church (I KNOW RIGHT), we spent yesterday in Sydney, and we had a grand old adventure losing contact with people and then finding them again!
Let's go through the week. Monday afternoons are community service and evangelism, so we went to the beach (it was also a holiday because it was Australia day) and talked to people there. Tuesday afternoons are bonding time with the separate DTS's, so we played some Swiss games, led by a married couple from Switzerland (my turn is coming up this week, going to dust off some drama games :) ), Friday we went to the beach yet again, and then yesterday Alanna and I went to Sydney for the afternoon to meet up with a friend we graduated with. we spent a few hours walking around Darling Harbour and then went to Hillsong (Life dream fulfilled) for the evening service. it was incredibly cool.
So where our base is here in Australia is a little bit sketchy, especially after dark. so the girls aren't allowed to walk alone after supper, we have to be in groups larger then 3 people and there always has to be a guy in the group. when we were planning to go to Sydney, they told us that we weren't allowed to walk back from the train station after dark (because our train got back at like 10:30 pm) so we had to take guys with us. the two guys that came wanted to spend more time in Sydney then we did, so they came a few hours early. So as they left they came and asked us where we wanted to meet. I ran to ask some staff a few questions pertaining to hillsong and when I came back they had left. so the only thing we had was Alanna asking them to meet at the train station at 5:30. the train stations in the surrounding towns to Sydney are quite small, but the train station in the middle of Sydney is huge. so that really didn't help. at 5:30, we were at the train station, obviously not at the right place because they weren't anywhere. so we moved about 20 metres down the road to the bus stop that hillsong runs a free bus transit service to/from their service locations, and waited till the last bus at 5:45 to get on without them. sent up a few prayers that we'd find them because walking around after dark is still sketchy in Sydney... our friend from high school had a phone so we texted our leaders and arranged to call them when we got to the stop we had to change trains at via a payphone so they could come get us from the train station. our friend left to go back to his school, and then we got on the bus and were talking to some sweet people we met when I looked out the window and saw our two friends! Jesus pulls through even in the small things. they got on and were like "we never thought we'd find you ever" to which we totally agreed. every thing went great after that, both guys fell asleep on the train ride back to base (which was about 2 hours), I got some great pictures of them, and I borrowed a new friend from hillsong's phone to text our leader which was hilarious because it was in dutch or german or some European language and i'm pretty sure I sent a few half finished texts.

so all in all, life is good. we're at base, I now own some super ugly pants that everyone in Australia seems to own, we have a day off to write a paper and go to church in the evening, and I have an excellent beginning of a tan. this place finally feels like home.

Now unto the Lamb, who sits on the throne
be glory and honour and praise
all of creation resounds with the song
worship and praise Him,
the Lord of Lords

In Him, the Lord of Lords,
-Cailey