Dear Wifi...

Dear Wifi.... it's SO nice to have you back again. The last host home I was staying in had no wifi, so here are (essentially) summaries and thoughts of what we've been up to for the last week or so. I apologize as there are no exciting pictures and few funny stories, but all this just needs to be posted. I'm getting too far behind!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Welcome to Sydney! We flew into Sydney this morning with problems, which was a blessing – as of 3 this afternoon, all flights are grounded due to the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Fiji. Lisa had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for later this afternoon and was going to fly in tonight; if they had not canceled her appointment, Lisa would be stranded in Melbourne. God is good!

Saying goodbye to everyone at the church this morning was hard. I’m going to miss Saralisa and Zoe! The flight was quick; once we landed, Danny picked us up from the airport with the smallest bus ever crowded with all our luggage. We drove to Pizza Hut for lunch, which turned out to be just a take-away place, so we ate on the side of the hill next to the parking lot. Then we drove to Tracy’s house, which was amazing. God is working! She has just enough space to house the nine boys upstairs and six girls downstairs. The other five of us – Ali, Lisa, Debby, Brittany, and I are staying at her friend Leslie’s house. We just hung out at Tracy’s house all afternoon and watched Tyler Perry movies and Harry Potter amidst gummy candies and a delicious dinner of curried chicken and rice, and bolognaise. The rest of the group went to an indoor soccer game, but we went to Leslie’s house and drank coffee and hung out for a little while; Ali and I are planning on watching a movie and eating Tim Tams all night long. Tomorrow is a sightseeing day; so excited!!!

Yesterday, our last day in Melbourne, was amazing. It was a little hectic at first, because Sarah and I woke up early to do our dirty laundry and it wouldn’t work correctly. The washer left soap on our clothes, and whatever we tried, our clothes refused to dry (We had stayed late at the Loftis’ house the night before singing Disney songs and playing Catchphrase, so we didn’t do our laundry Sunday night). But I still wanted to go out, so I did. AB was giving us a tour of the city. Jon, Darris, Charmaine, Aaron and I all piled into Hannah’s car and went drove to PT’s house. We met AB, exchanged Shaun for Jon, and walked to the train station to head into the city. We just ended up walking around all the high-end shops and eating Kababs – the most delicious lamb and veggie pita wraps with garlic butter sauce. They were AMAZING. We caught the train and made it back just in time to pack our luggage and get it to PT’s house on time. Then, Sarah and I made a good American dinner for our Aussie family – fried chicken, mac’n’cheese, corn, and biscuits and gravy. Somehow, it turned into a formal dinner with candles, low lighting, and non-alcoholic wine. I actually liked the wine, which worries me because I was counting on hating all alcoholic beverages. Oh well – I’ll figure that out later. But it was a lot of fun.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Today was a sight-seeing day. We walked along the Sydney Harbor Bridge and saw the opera house, which together took all day long. The most exciting part of the day was definitely getting stuck inside the bridge elevator with Brandon, Justin, Ali, Allie, Brittany, Wayne, Darris, Debby, Sarah, and Charmaine. It all started when Debby was talking about how she was afraid of elevators, and Justin decided to motion everyone to jump. Not everyone did, but it was enough to stop the elevator. We hung there for at least 45 minutes; meanwhile, Justin blamed the whole thing on Brandon and we watched the maintenance men and police scratch their heads below us. Once we got out, it was dinner time; Brandon, Lisa, Hope, Charmaine, and I got a half-chicken and chips (with chicken salt) to eat, and everything was delicious. Tomorrow is another sight-seeing day, but we sing at a nightclub at the end of day… good luck to us!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Back from the club! Today was an amazing day, but my feet hurt so bad. This morning Ali and I woke up bright and early to Debby’s cheerful greeting and went to the other house to eat breakfast. After downing a few pieces of raisin toast, we drove to the Blue Mountains. Although the top of the peaks were cold and windy, hiking warmed us up. We climbed down 800 of the steepest, curviest “steps” you have ever seen, walked 2km across the gap, and rode the world’s steepest incline train up the other side. We also may have taken a detour or two to climb some rocks. After a lunch of sandwiches, chips, and fruit up above the posh café that wouldn’t let us eat at their tables, we headed back to the house. Then we crashed for a few hours and watched Friends while drinking coffee and eating biscuits (the Aussie term for cookies). Then our night began. We got ready for the club, ate leftover ziti from Tuesday night, and hopped into the bus. After an hour drive, we arrived at the club – and it was classy, not trashy. We set up our mics and instruments, hung around for a while, sound checked, and then picked up lattes and kababs at the mall across the street. Justin, Aaron, Hope and I split a box of mini cinnamon doughnuts too, and they were delicious. We crossed back over to the club at nine, and our set began at 9:30. Meanwhile, we danced – Allie was tearing up the dance floor. I’d say they also enjoyed our music – I know we had fun. The soprano section was barely audible, as usual, but no biggie. Then we danced, danced, sat, and danced some more. Even Taylor and Aaron got on the floor. Right now, I’m exhausted – but it was a fun night. Who says you can’t go to a club and enjoy yourself without alcohol? It’s totally possible.

Friday, June 24, 2011

BEST DAY EVER. Ali and I decided that the last 24 hours have been the best. This morning, we sang at an all-girls school as a part of their multi-cultural celebration week. It was sort of a talent show where the girls sang and danced – a few did an African dance, and a girl from Iran did a dance with a bangles around her waist. Another group sang a Maroon 5 song, and another Bruno Mars. We started off with Whip My Hair, and then sang a few more of our songs. They were screaming the entire time – and we had been afraid they were going to boo us! (We heard them boo a girl earlier when she was rehearsing.) To quote Taylor, “I recognize that OneVoice is supposed to be a ministry… but today has just made me feel like a rock star.” They loved us – we hung out afterwards and gave out high fives and t-shirts. We danced around with them a little bit, and got to enjoy “multicultural” food that they had prepared. All those girls were such a blessing to us, and I pray that we blessed them as well. We went back to Tracy’s house – and slept the entire way there. After enjoying coffee, an apple, and some biscuits… it was off to our next gig.

So tonight. AHHH. We were invited to sing at Hillsong’s youth service out in the Hills! We were singing one song for the senior high group, right after the offertory. We arrived as their band was finishing their sound check; they sounded just like the Hillsong CD. A little intimidated, we took the stage for our sound check; it was a little rough at first. After the fastest McDonald’s break ever, we checked again; it was a little better. Then the service began, and it was incredible. Loud, energetic, and wonderful. Then it was our turn to sing; we went up on the stage and sang Sold Out. And then what happened? The kids started chanting “USA! USA!” …and we sang You Are Good. The energy was incredible; we were all jumping around and having a great time. Then at the end, they asked us to come up again! And we got to sing Take It All – a Hillsong song – WITH Hillsong! And then we closed the service out with Call to the Nations. Charmaine killed it, as she usually does – but this time, she killed it at Hillsong. We spent the next half hour talking to some of the youth, convinced that this had been the best night EVER. And then we got on the bus… and discovered that they loved us even more than we thought. Justin told us that the youth pastor told him that (a long shot, but still) he would ask if we could sing… AT the conference!! He also gave us an open invitation to sing at Hillsong wherever whenever, and told us that the youth hadn’t responded that way since Israel Houghton had visited Hillsong! Ali and I are convinced that Jesus did a little something to the sound waves in between the speakers and the audience, because we couldn’t have been THAT good. But God is just that good. He is amazing, awesome, incredible, and is doing great things – especially on this week that we had nothing planned for. I guess that’s just how God works.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

We got to sleep in today – which was wonderful – and went over to Tracey’s house for breakfast at ten. After Justin’s fabulous pancakes and eggs, we had some team time. And we prayed and cried. It’s amazing how people so often complain about little things, or about their own lives, when in reality everyone is constantly dealing with pain. That’s just how life works; it’s just up to you to choose joy in every situation. That has been the theme of our trip – “press your joy button.”

Later that afternoon, we went shopping at the markets down in Sydney. Everything there was cheap, which is our favorite word. And there were at least five of us who bought more luggage in order to have enough space to bring everything home. I’m hoping my credit card bill isn’t TOO outrageous when I arrive back home…

After shopping, we had a late lunch of kebabs and pizza and then went to the grocery store. As usual, everyone headed straight for the Tim Tam aisle, and you could hear us from a mile away. The last event on our agenda was a concert at a church downtown. It was a warehouse church, small and plain, but full of energy and passion. We did a full concert set, and had an amazing time.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

Oh, today!! Today was also amazing. I haven’t taken any pictures in two days – totally unlike me – but all we have done is concerts. We had two concerts today, both in very charismatic Polynesian churches. Darris called them the “black Christians of Australia.” A lot of the same people were at both concerts, and we hung out with them all afternoon. After the first concert, we just hung out in their “sanctuary” – both churches were just single rooms in industrial parks – and they were so wonderful. They fed us delicious food, and then we napped on the floor. They brought blankets and pillows and everything, and Wayne, Justin, and Darris spent the entire time playing soft gospel music on the keyboard. Then they fed us barbecue – so so good! At the second concert, we used choir mics, which was different. But once again, it was amazing. The Spirit led that entire service – a man was saved at the very beginning, which had Brittany’s praise legs going. Darris extended You Are Good to about twice its normal length, Lisa blew How He Loves out of the water, and Shaun SANG his part on Something About the Name. It was an amazing concert. We ate a quick dinner at Tracy’s, and now Ali and I are about to finish a movie before bed. Good day, good day.

Monday, June 27, 2011

Another sight-seeing day! Today, we took the ferry to the harbor and made three different stops. The ferry was nice – big, with cozy seats – or you could stand outside. First, we went to Manly Beach. It was by far the most beautiful beach I have ever seen; the water was so clear that you could see the shadows of the bubbles on the sand below. It looked like it had been poured out from God’s water bottle. Hope, Aaron, and I went to 7-11 and bought slushies and then ran onto the beach. There was about a quarter mile strip of shops that you had to walk through to get to the beach, but we went straight through to the water – and we were so glad. The three of us also found some amazing shells, and Hope and I are planning on making some of them into jewelry. They were everywhere! And then it was lunch time – the fish and chips that Aaron and I ate were the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. Hope ate a kebab from Manly Kebab, and “made friends” with the guys that she bought them from – i.e. they gave her a discount on cheese and sour cream for her kebab when she complained that it was extra. The seagulls around there were insane made them swarm around me by throwing crumbs at my feet. During lunch, Aaron figured out that they would jump if he pretended to throw a chip at them. He also found a pigeon who only had one foot and made a new friend.

After barely catching the ferry out of Manly Beach, we went to Luna Park. Luna Park is an old-fashioned carnival-like theme park, with a bunch of trippy painted clowns and colorful rides. It you’ve seen the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie where they go to Sydney, you’ve seen Luna Park. I didn’t ride anything, because just one ride costs a whopping $10, but Hope, Wayne, and I sat out by the water and chatted. Oh, and Wayne “braided” my hair. I’ll let you guess how that ended up. After Luna Park, we went to another wharf place and only stayed for a few minutes, but Hope and I found a sketchy restroom and then bought some delicious lattes. It was a good thing we had them, too, because we decided to stand outside on the next ferry. It was cold and windy, but the sunset was beautiful.

Straight from the ferry, we went to our Debby Dinner. Aka Dinner on the Prez, aka dinner on the board of trustees. I wish I could remember the name of the steakhouse we went to, because it was SO GOOD. I want to say Louie was in the name; and they had the coolest flame space heaters next to their outside tables. I had a New York strip with a potato and vegetable medley, and had both with sweet tomato chile sauce and Lisa’s lemon garlic cream sauce. It may have been the best steak I’ve ever eaten – and then Hope and I split crème brulee. And THEN we all went to the Chocolate Room on the way back to the bus – I didn’t get any, but they have THE best hot chocolate in the world. We decided we have to go back during the Hillsong conference.

And then, we were back at the house. We switch host homes tomorrow, which is sad – it’s been fun having almost everyone in the same house, and it’s honestly been nice not having the family around a whole lot because then we don’t bother them. And we’re not here much. But hey; things have to change sometime. I talked a lot with Lesley, our current host mom, a lot, and she’s really nice. But I could live without the ants in the bed.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Yesterday was Tuesday, and nothing too eventful happened – but we did leave Tracy’s house and move to our new host homes. It’s kind of nice not having 15 people all together in one house, but at the same time, it was fun being all together all the time. Allie, Lisa, and I are in the same host home now; the family we’re living with has four teenage daughters living at home. We watched Father of the Bride last night, and it was so much fun; we can already tell that it’s going to be awesome.

Today, we sang at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in downtown Sydney near Darling Harbour. We led the worship for St. Jude Anglican’s healing service, which is basically a prayer service where they worship, listen to a short message, and lay hands on people and pray. Most of the people in attendance looked like they had walked straight off the streets, and many were elderly; I met one lady who was 92 years old. All of them, however, seemed loving and enthusiastic about the Lord. We arrived at the church in the morning, and ended up doing nothing except climbing (technically illegally) into the bell tower – a very cool experience. The stairway leading up to it was TINY, and the spirals seemed to never end. 

Basically, we had the entire day to kill – we didn’t have to be back for sound check until 4:30 in the afternoon. Danny (our bus driver) took us to Darling Harbour, where there are lots of shops and a few museums. Aaron, Hope, and I just hung out in the mall all day – we read for a while, ate gelato, bought sweatshirts, and drank coffee. It was relaxing and fun. I already talked about the service, so I suppose I’m done talking about today… the only other thing that happened was that the church bought us pizza and we (like the vultures we are) scarfed it all down in about ten minutes.

So, we’re having a good time. Can’t believe it’s coming to an end soon! I’m intent on coming back here someday. But, it’ll be nice to home.