Aus Life

First of all, let me apologize for not blogging sooner but the reason for that is we have been busy, Janelle especially.  At this moment Janelle is at work and Brad is doing the housework.  Given that our apartment is approximately 180 sq. feet, the housework goes pretty quickly, so today, the housework includes blogging J  How did we get here?

We arrived just over two weeks ago and initially got familiar with Sydney as well as doing some job searching.  Janelle got hired right away as a coach.  (Janelle here … I just had to explain this one a bit!  I got hired with a company called FlipSport to go in to schools and coach sport programs.  On the first trial day, I was being driven to the school by another coach and she was giving me a quick crash course in the curriculum, coaching methods, and everything I would need to know.  In the midst of this, she informed me that for the time being we would be coaching the gym program … as in, gymnastics.  Yes, GYMNASTICS.  She must have been able to read the look on my face, that look that said, “Do you understand that I’m 6’4”, can’t do a cartwheel, and have the flexibility of a tree trunk?!?  Do you understand that this is the antithesis of everything I am?!?  Dear Lord, you really do have some twisted sense of humor!”  She assured me it didn’t matter, so I went in still not sure what to expect.  To make a long story short, I made it through, and have gone through some significant coaching and curriculum training as part of the start which has been very insightful, but very intense.  I was at a different school everyday, so it has been cool to start to see how Australian schools are run, compare them, and interact with the kids!  Perhaps I’ll share some more stories on that later … back to Brad.)

After Janelle’s first week, the schools are on a break in between quarters (year round school) and Janelle had another interview setup in an administrative role for a company called McArthur Consulting in downtown Sydney.  Due to her awesomeness (yes, it’s a legitimate word according to spellcheck), Janelle got offered that job as well and started this last Monday and she loves it.

During our first week here, we went down by the harbor and had a great time seeing the sights.  The Sydney Opera house and Harbor bridge are absolutely beautiful.  Near the Opera House is an area called the Rocks, which is essentially the historic district of Sydney where the first English settlement was established.  You can see where all the soldiers and sea captains stayed and there is also a really cool weekend market that we browsed.  That night we saw a fireworks show over Darling Harbor as well with people packing themselves in to see it.  The official reason for the show? Because it’s the weekend!  At first I didn’t believe the guy that told me, but sure enough, they do fireworks every Saturday night just because it’s the weekend.  

At the Rocks market ... why not a kangaroo nativity?

Darling Harbour

This past weekend we did some apartment hunting and then went for a cliff walk along the ocean for a couple miles between Sydney beaches and it was simply breath-taking.  Along the way, we saw humpback whales!  They were breaching and slapping their tails just barely out of the beach area and it was the most incredible sight we will never forget.

 Bronte Beach

Coogee Beach

Couldn't capture the whales ... but they were just off of here

Our church experiences so far here have also been pretty interesting and couldn’t be more different.  Our first Sunday here we attended a Uniting church in which we were 2 of 17 people in attendance.  To give a little background, the Uniting church of Australia was formed in the 1970s when the Presbyterian, Congregational, and Methodist churches of Australia joined.  It’s a fairly large denomination in Australia and we found one nearby, so we wanted to check it out.  The best way to describe the church is that it appeared to be quite eclectic.  The church was celebrating “Earth Sunday” that day so the service was filled with praise to the earth, sky, and cosmos.  Two seventy-ish year old women (one sporting a Mohawk) provided the music, playing a recorder and banjo, and the cockatoos hanging on the stained glass windows joined in.  The three kids were happy to make arts and crafts throughout the service at a table in the corner and attendees were invited to share stories about their interaction with the earth throughout the service.  There seemed to be a very broad range of people from all walks of life in attendance, and all were very friendly.  We were curious what a “non-Earth Sunday” service would be like, and we suspect that there is a wide range of styles of Uniting churches, so we hope to check out other ones in the future to compare.

Instead, the next week, we attended a branch of the Hillsong Church.  To be perfectly honest, I have always been somewhat skeptical of mega churches, feeling that sometimes the messages aren’t always that theological, and that they tend to be a bit “showy.”  (That is not to say that mega churches aren’t good or important or can’t be theological; they are!)  Anyway, we were blown away by the whole experience.  Immediately the church felt like home to us and we loooooooved it!  We were immediately welcomed/shown around by several people who then invited us to join their young adult group in the service.  The worship was like nothing I’ve ever experienced and Janelle commented that she has never been so comfortable freely and passionately worshipping God.  You could tell that God was working in that place and that every single person there was so incredibly happy to be there and be in God’s presence.  Their worship is genuine and they love each other and their church so much! In addition, the church is very multicultural and there’s quite a lot of young people there as well.  Before, during, and after the service, we met tons of the most friendly, welcoming, and warm people you could imagine and were invited out to lunch afterward with a young people’s group.  We were offered a ride home (we had walked about 40 minutes to get there) and we are already getting connected with a Frontline (young adults) group and hope to continue to make friends.    

This brings us to our big “God lesson” as of late which has really sunk in.  One of the things that hit me during the service is that worshipping God is worshipping God no matter where you are.  Janelle said that even though Australia is a very Westernized country, everything is new so nothing has made her feel like she’s at home until she stepped into that church.  A true love for God and his people is a universal that is the same everywhere.  Whether you have two song leaders on stage or whether you have seven song leaders, a band, and three big screen TV’s on stage, it does not matter.  What matters is your personal relationship with God and the place or way in which you praise and worship him doesn’t really matter as long as it’s genuine.  When the Holy Spirit is present, the most foreign place in the world can be the most familiar and comfortable.  We look forward to making Hillsong our Australia church home and are thankful that God provides spiritual homes for us all over the world.  And finally, we’re thankful for all the prayers from all of you in our spiritual homes in Washington, Colorado, and all over which have been keeping us in your prayers!  You are all important to us and we are thankful for God providing and expanding our network of spiritual homes!