halloween!

so... we had a halloween party! they don't really celebrate halloween here... a lot of the aussies actually didn't know what day it was. but we had a party because... well... we're american, and we like halloween. plus we live in a sweet flat that just needs to be partied in. heaps more people showed up than i was expecting and it was fun as.
i was pretty excited about my costume. elle was a bee... and i was...

that's right... old school. yeeeeaaaaaa!

far out!

haha... the most random thing ever happened to me today. let me just tell you a little background information first...
so when we went to featherdale (the wildlife park where i pet kangaroos and koalas), they had this contest going on where you could name a baby koala. you were supposed to give a donation so you could get an entry form, but the kid just gave me one even though i didn't pay. you had to put all your information, including your age and where you were from, plus a girl name and a boy name. naturally, for the girl's name i put kailey (i think it's a good name for a koala! kailey koala... sounds good, hey?) but then i had to come up with a boy name, and nothing was coming to me. well, elle and i have this thing (i'm not really sure how it started... it was pretty much from the beginning though...) she calls me little jelly bean and i call her little peanut, so i told her that i would name a boy koala after her. this was all completely as a joke... i really just wanted them to have a koala named kailey.
so today i get home and kieran says "there's a letter for you" and it's this huge envelope from featherdale! by this time i had forgotten about the contest, so i was seriously confused. but, as you have probably already guessed... i won! haha... so now there's a little boy koala there named peanut (they took off the "little" so it would still work when he's older). i got a certificate of sponsorship and a koala fact sheet and a family pass to featherdale too! it's for 2 adults and 4 kids... so really it's only good for 2 people because i dont' have any children under the age of 15 (unless braedon wants to go...).
i was dying laughing. i can only imagine what they probably thought when they saw some 20-year-old american had put in a dumb name like "little peanut." but... sucks to be them! haha.

totally blog-worthy

tonight i came home from a long day of gift-buying and group project-doing to find heaps of profiteroles chillin in the kitchen!

needless to say... it was a good night.

MMMMMMM!

where has time gone?

so... i've been very busy the last few weeks. VERY busy. hence the lack of postage...
so here's a bullet point version of what i've been up to recently:

• the wesley choir (which includes ALL the musos) put on mozart's requiem. it was long... but good!
• a new lady came to the nursing home... evelyn. she is absolutely wonderful. she has all kinds of great stories, and she loves to talk :)
• i found out that oomera, my aborigine teacher, is even cooler than i thought!
• i went and watched a soccer game at a pub with kieran and friends :)
• i went to elle's service with her at a place called newtown mission. it's in this old church that has the largest painting in the southern hemisphere on the ceiling. basically they do a short church service, then serve food to the homeless. i got to help out, and i also got to just sit and talk to people. it was absolutely wonderful, and i met some phenomenal people. i'm going back tonight :)
• i went on the coast walk from bondi to coogee beach with a bunch of the asc girls. it was a lot longer than i expected. but it was fun.
• i went back up to alex's last weekend. it was way different than last time, but SUPER fun. we went fishing and i learned how to kneeboard! it was sweet :)
• monday was my last official day of service :( i'm going back next week, though. i'm really sad about leaving st. mary's! it has turned out to be so much more of a blessing than i ever thought it would.
• i have written 4 papers in the last 3 weeks. i have 2 more papers, 2 presentations, and 1 exam left. eek!
• GRAND FINALE: last night i went and saw la boheme at the sydney opera house!!! it was so awesome! seriously... going to an opera at the opera house was at the top of my list of things i wanted to do while i was here. and the fact that it was la boheme just made it even better!

it's been a busy, exciting, ridiculously up and down last few weeks. my emotions are going nuts... i'm not really sure how i feel about the fact that i'm leaving in just 17 DAYS...

think on this...

it's 1 am and i just finished writing a paper on propitiation. love the topic... hate writing papers. but check out this quote that i used from Leon Morris' book The Atonement:

"It is because He loves us that He is so opposed to the evil in us, that evil that makes us so much less than we ought to be and cuts us off from so much blessing. The wrath of God is not a reaction born of pique at being slighted. It is God’s strong opposition to that which cuts us off from the best that we can be. God’s love is not a mindless sentimentality. It is a purifying fire, a force in the strongest opposition to everything that mars those whom God loves.”

think about it. awesome.

i'm going to bed now... goodnight :)

random thoughts while i procrastinate...

this morning i got to go to the markets with michelle and braedon. it was absolutely insane! there were so many people yelling and trying to sell their fresh veggies and people were slamming their trolleys into everyone... it was so entertaining. and it was great to hang out with michelle and see her in action. that woman is fierce! she just wove in and out of everyone like it was her job... braedon and i had a hard time keeping up. even though i had to get up ridiculously early it was fully worth it. hopefully i'll be able to go again before i leave... it was so fun!
i can't even describe the range of emotions i've been going through lately. i heard before i came that, when you study abroad, your highs are really high and your lows are super low. i don't know that i've experienced that necessarily. but i have found that i can go from really high to really low in about 4 seconds, and there is no apparent reason behind it. perfect example: the other day i was having a really really good day. nothing in particular... i just was really happy and excited about everything, even though nothing especially exciting was happening. then all of a sudden i just didn't want to be where i was. i didn't want to be around anyone, i didn't want to do anything, all i wanted to do was talk to my parents, and i knew they were out of town, so i couldn't. but, God is GOOD! during that moment i locked myself in the closet (the only place in my flat the internet works...) and got on facebook and who just happened to be on? my MOM! it was probably 3 or 4 am where she was, and she just happened to not be able to sleep at that time when i wanted to talk to her more than anything.
it never ceases to amaze me how God is always right there when we need Him most. every day He'll give me some little thing that just brightens my day. it's amazing the way the smallest things can make such a difference. just things like the bus coming on time, or someone giving me a random hug, or a funny billboard at the train station, or a random email from someone i haven't heard from in a while (or someone i have... those are always good!)
i think that is one of the biggest things that being here has taught me... the little things count! even when i don't always feel close to God (and... to be perfectly honest, that's how it's been most of the time...), i know that He's still there.
i was talking to my friend rachel yesterday about God. the asc is putting on the gathering (like chapel) next week, and our theme is "God as King." she was saying how she hates that phrase, because she doesn't like feeling like God is just controlling her life and she's just like a puppet. i was thinking about it and, while i don't think that is really how it is, i actually love that. i love that God is completely in control. i love that i don't have to worry because He is in charge, and He will take care of me. i've been learning so much about the world and social justice and how God cares about the whole world. i've been really challenged about how i live and how i can help those who need it, and i've been so focused on how much God loves all these people in the world and i need to love them that i've almost forgotten that He cares about me too! He doesn't love me more, but He does love me and He cares about ME! i guess sometimes i just feel like i am over here, and the rest of the world is over there, and that is where God is focused, and i need to shift my attention there if i want to be closer to Him. but God meets me where i'm at! i do need to care about the world and i do need to love and i do need to do my part, but none of that will bring me closer to God. i need to seek Him where i am, right now. because He's here... i just haven't been looking.
that was really random and long... sorry!

gettin my fun on...

o man! the last week has been crazy as!
sunday night i finally went to this little church i've been hearing about called small boat big sea. it was alright... interesting--not what i was expecting and slightly disappointing. but it was ok. it was funny because i went by myself (i spent all day sunday by myself... it was AWESOME!). but then all of a sudden i felt someone hugging me and my friend bekah was there with my other friend matt and his parents! (they came to visit him during the break... hehe) it was super random, but cool!
monday was a completely lazy day with my host brother, which was beautiful.
tuesday i hung out with brittany all day. we got coffee with a guy that she was meeting with to talk about architecture (i promise that girl gets me into the most random situations. ask me about being the awkward 3rd wheel on her date... haha, i'm not even kidding!) anyways, he ended up being really cool and i was glad i went. after that we went to a dinner thing at some lady's house that she met at church on sunday. we met lots of people our age, but i doubt i'll ever talk to any of them again. they were cool, though.
early wednesday morning brittany, esther, and i caught the train up to the central coast to hang out with our friend alex from wesley. he lives on a bay and really close to the beach, so we hung out at the beach all day then went back to his house and just hung out there. it was a beautiful area, and he actually lives in woywoy (which is where the bush trip was)! it was fun to just chill and get away from the city without the entire group. so we came back from his house on thursday, then friday morning we got the same train back up to the same place for the bush trip!
it was SO FUN! i don't think it was as good as the outback, but it was really awesome. the first day i was in a TERRIBLE mood and it was hot and miserable and i was not excited about the trip at all. but after a good night's rest the weekend just went uphill. over the whole time we learned all about aboriginals and connection to country and stuff. we got broken up into totem groups for the weekend. mine was wallumbang (kangaroo). we made a totem symbol for ourselves, and we learned an awesome aboriginal song (i will sing it for you when i get home!) and we made a dance to it then danced around the fire! i also learned how to throw a boomerang (not one of my spiritual gifts...) and play the didgeridoo (also not so good...).
hahaha... this is an actual quote from the guy that taught us how to throw the boomerangs (he said it right after my first throw): "I've never seen a boomerang fly like that before!" haha... it was pretty bad.
anyways... my totem group had an awesome time together and we got into all kinds of innocent mischief. it was just an awesome, educational, relaxing time. i am soo not ready to go back to school yet.
fact: i have 4 weeks left of class, then 1 week of stuvac (a time to make up missed classes, and i'll probably have to take a test during that week), then i'm off to new zealand for a week, then i'm home! it is unbelievable how quickly my time here has gone. i can't believe it's almost over.
i can't focus on that right now though... i have too much homework and exploring to do!