I have arrived in beautiful Australia! The flight here was definitely a journey that I will never forget but I made it safely.On Sunday morning (I skipped Saturday because we are 18 hours ahead), I arrived in beautiful Sydney, Australia. I thought that it would be smooth sailing as I had about an hour and a half to catch my plan to Townsville. Well, that was definitely not the case. Unlike the usual get off the plane and walk to the next gate you need to board, I had to check out at a passport stand, go through the ebola check, wait for my luggage, and go through quarantine where the dogs sniff your bag. At this point I was looking at my watch, freaking out. Number one, I have never traveled alone. Number two, I was pretty sure I was going to miss my flight. Number three, I had no cell phone reception so how do I go about making accommodations. At this moment, I took a deep breath and prayed. I asked God to give me peace and to guide me. I kept telling myself that he has opened all of the doors to this opportunity and so he is not going to stop now.
I walked about 10 minutes to where I needed to check my bag in and waited for a bus to take me to where I departed. As soon as I walked outside for the bus, I immediately began to drip sweat. The heat and humidity here is on another level. When I sat in the bus, I began talking to the girl sitting next to me. Just so happens she is doing the exact same Medical and Marine DTS that I will be doing. This was truly an answer to my prayers because at this point, we figured at least we would have each other if we missed the plane. Well, we arrived to our boarding gate with 6 minutes to spare. It was truly an experience.
We were picked up by staff from the school and taken to our living headquarters. The following picture is the outside of the school as I take a picture from the car. A lot of things are walking distance from the campus. There is even a Macca's which is the Australian name for McDonalds.
5:35am yesterday morning (Monday), my alarm goes off. I debate in my head whether or not I should attend the 5K. I was thinking that it probably wasn't a good idea since I would probably pass out due to the extreme weather and I do not run. Well, God didn't let me go back to sleep so I got up and went.
I do go to the gym on a regular basis but NEVER do I run. So coming into this 5K I was very timid. I did not know any of the people doing the race but was able to build some friendships.
One of the girls, Alex, and myself decided to jog. About 1/4 through the mile I thought okay I may need to walk some. The next thing you know we were 1/2 way done and hadn't stopped. I was pretty shocked but we kept going. As we started getting closer, I was like okay I'm exhausted. At this moment, I had some one-on-one time with God. He really put it on my heart to not stop, no matter how difficult it was. He wanted me to keep going, and He was going to equip me. As I came close to finishing, Alex says, "let's sprint and finish strong!" I was thinking, you are crazy!! But, I did it. We finished the 5K jogging strong the entire time without stoping one time. I was definitely in awe.
I though that this was a pretty awesome experience, especially on my first full day here. God spoke to me through this race that I almost did not attend. He showed me that life is going to continue to give me obstacles. It is full of unknowns. But, God made it so clear that He was with me and I was not to give up. He was going to give me strength and guide me. As I sprinted, it reminded me of the reason I am here. I have been living a pretty steady life. But, I am now sprinting into unknown territories and through these God is going to shape me. He is ultimately in control and I want to say, "YES," to whatever he calls me too.
As the day went on, we celebrated National Australian Day! It was very laid back and I even tried some kangaroo, I almost barfed.
We got back and had some free time as well as dinner. Then we were off to see the NEW SHIP that we will be sailing on to Papua New Guinea. The first picture was the old ship and the second is the new ship.
God had put it on the staff's heart to raise money for a new ship that would be able to reach remote areas up streams. The old ship had to have 3.1 clearance (they didn't say if that was feet) and the new one only needs 2.1 clearance even though it is much larger. They had 5 months to raise 6.5 million dollars and they were able to do it. The name of the campaign was Overcoming the Impossible because it truly was.
We had a tour of the ship and prayed/worshipped on the top! It was absolutely beautiful. We started worship with the song Oceans, which has been my theme song for this journey in my life. I had one of the staff pray for me and it was beautiful. We were then asked to pray with a partner. I turned to the girl next to me and we chatted about what we wanted to get out of our trip. As we began to pray she asked if she could pray for me in german because english was a little difficult for her. I was stoked because I've never had anyone pray for me in german!!
After that moment, I realized that God has uniquely crafted each and every one of us on this adventure. We all come from different cultures but yet he is going mightily use us as a team. No matter what language we pray in, we are all praying to the same God and he hears us and will answer us! This is going to be a time of learning from one another and reaching towards our life purpose, to know Him and to make Him known!
We finished the night with a tim tam slam! It's an Australian thing, lol. You bite the corners of a tim tam which is an amazing chocolate type bar, then you use it as a straw to suck up the hot chocolate. The hot chocolate melt the bar and you eat the bar fast and it's an awesome goodness in your mouth.
We are onto day 2 of the week as we will go through orientation and tours!! I hope all is well back home :)
