Hey friends! Thanks for checking in and seeing how everything is going! Things really have been so great… I can’t believe how time is going so slowly though- it is such a blessing! I feel like so many things have happened in this past week here in Armidale and I still have 3 more weeks to look forward to! Gabe and I have gotten some great time in Robb this week. We went to a Bible study on Monday night, which was great. Pray that Gabe and I would be faithful in asking the friends we have made already to come with us. Most people are completely turned off to church, God, or any kind of Bible Study period. So please pray with me that their hearts will be softened and they would at least be interested to hear.
Wednesday night was the State of Origin rugby game between New South Wales and Queensland. It has been a pretty big deal here considering we are on in New South Wales. So Mel invited us to come to watch the game with Robb. The game was pretty intense but Queensland won big time. The next game is in a few weeks.
Thursday Gabe and I thought it would be fun to show the Aussies what a real American cookie (not bikky, or biscuit) would taste like. Their “cookies” here are not warm and gooey like ours so we thought it would be a fun thing to do. We made them in Steve-o’s flat at Robb. The first batch… was… not quite up to par you could say. Gabe got some jenky recipe off the internet, and so our first batch was somewhat of a failure. The Aussies wouldn’t have known the difference, but Gabe and I were practically crying (half from laughter, half from sadness) that they weren’t right. We made two batches though and I think the second one was pretty good! Regardless, it was a fun time making them, and we got to hang out with a few Aussie girls in the process. Afterwards, they decided to make us Americans watch The Castle. This is an Australian movie that pretty much makes fun of Australians, and they all think it is hilarious. I would compare it to America’s Dumb and Dumber… But I didn’t get most of the humor in this movie. They all thought it was hilarious- which it was at some parts- but I probably wouldn’t watch it again. Guess I have to be Australian to understand.
We have been spending the majority of our time with a girl named Mel. She is one of the only Christian girls in Robb, and she has been introducing us to all of our friends and hanging out with us every day. She has been SO wonderful. She has not only helped us to get to know everyone else, but we have been getting to know her pretty well in the process, and I love her. She has just been a huge encouragement to us so I hope we can be the same for her.
We made brekky for the boys Saturday morning, which turned out great. We had pancakes (with chocolate chips of course), eggs, toast, bacon, and some different kinds of fruits. It was delicious. There is just something about doing nice things for others that really brings a joy to my heart. It is probably because Jesus humbled himself and served me ☺
God has been showing me a ton about just having confidence in who He is. We get so get caught up in ourselves… How we look, how people perceive us, how we want people to think about us… But all of that is irrelevant. All that matters is who Christ is, and what He is doing in you. We try to be in control of so much, but it is Christ who fights our battles. We need only to be silent. What a beautiful thing to finally let go of control. It isn’t us! There is NO good in us apart from Jesus. Praise the Lord that he gives us mercy and compassion. Armidale is getting to be FREEZING. It has been raining a bunch here the past week which hasn’t helped one bit! But it really is just so beautiful here. We are on top of a hill that is somewhat in a valley, and so everywhere you look the sky is taking over and you can see from one horizon to the next. It is so pretty. The sunset is beautiful every night: a camera can’t even capture the colors that come from it.
Last night, I was with Mel and Gabe, and we were going to netball training with Mel. Kendall had seen a Koala earlier so we went back to check it out! And I saw one!!! It was the cutest thing ever. It would climb up the tree to get away from you and then it would peek its head around the branch to peek out at you. And then it would just stare… Eat some leaves and keep staring. Haha it’s funny. But the Aussies here won’t let you get away with calling it a Koala Bear… because it isn’t a bear! It is a Marsupial. Don’t get it wrong! Anyway, I feel pretty complete now that I have not only seen a wild kangaroo but also a wild koala… both in their natural habitats. It was pretty neat. I have been doing my personal development plan on humility. One of the books I am reading is called Humility by Andrew Murray. I have only read a chapter but I wanted to write some of the things that have really enlightened me this week:
“It [humility] is not a something which we bring to God, or which He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness which comes when we see how truly God is ALL, and in which we make a way for God to BE ALL.”
“In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness.”
“I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their experience has been very much like my own in this, that we had long known the Lord without realizing that meekness and lowliness of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of the Master. And further, that this humility is a thing that will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire and prayer and faith and practice.”
“Let us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit that there is nothing, so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride.”
Good stuff. ☺
Some personal prayer requests I have this week:
-That I would be confident and secure in who I am in Christ.
-That I would be an encouragement to my team, and not hinder any unity between us all.
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