SYDNAY!

So, Sydney has been INCREDIBLE so far!  Justin had no idea what we were doing or where we were going or where we were staying the first week in Sydney up until a few days before we left for Melbourne.  God totally opened up all these doors for us to stay with an amazing woman named Tracy in a huge house and she’s hooked us up with all these concerts for this week!

After exploring downtown Sydney, seeing the Opera House, getting trapped in a glass elevator, and hiking down a thousand steps in the Blue Mountains, our first concert was in a night club last night.  It was crazy how receptive the people were to our music and we sold a lot of CDs as well!  After our concert we got to hang out with the people there and dance (Cedarville-appropriately of course).

            This morning we were at an all girls high school that was really culturally diverse.  However, apparently most of the girls in the school were Muslim.  We sang for their culture celebration along with many other musicians and dancers!  When we sang the students went CRAZY!  They were singing and dancing (and screaming) along to all of our songs! After that concert we were able to spend time with the girls and give out free t-shirts and just hang out a little bit.

            And then there’s tonight.  Oh, tonight.  We were asked to sing at Hillsong’s youth service tonight.  We were only supposed to sing one song but we ended up singing three!  After we sang “Souled Out”, they chanted for an encore so we sang “You Are Good.”  Then after the message, we were asked to sing another song so we went up while their normal worship band was playing and we all sang “Take It All” with them.  Yes, we sang a Hillsong song at Hillsong church with a legit Hillsong band!  THEN we closed out the service with “Call to the Nations!”  On top of all that, the youth pastor told us that anytime we were in Australia, we are welcome to come back!  Then he told us if we ever go to New York, they would hook us up with the Hillsong church in NY!  AND, this is highly unlikely, he said he would ask if we could sing at the Hillsong conference!  Highly unlikely, yes.  But that’s how much they liked us!  It’s insane how much God has worked out in such a short amount of time for us, but we know that He had all this planned out in advance before we even got here! He is so good!!!

Australia is just kind of cool...

TUESDAY: Tuesday was a free day. We got up early and went to the Victoria Market. I bought a boomerang and a didgeridoo just like a good little tourist should.  We walked around and bought these jelly filled donuts that were AMAZING.  After we left, we went to a wildlife preserve where we hung out with kangaroos all day.  It was incredible!  Kangaroos are so awesome in real life!  They totally exceeded my expectations.  We saw other animals too like koalas and wombats but who cares about them? Am I right?

When we got back to the house, Jordan and I went bowling with some new Aussie friends and then back to Zoe's house to play cards.  Another fun night out.

WEDNESDAY:  On Wednesday we actually had to do some work.  We went to Heathdale Christian College at 7:30 AM and we played for the students' chapel service.  We also sang for the teachers in the teachers' lounge.  After we finished up at the school we went to a nursing home and had a kind of acoustic concert for the older folks.  We played mostly soft or a cappella songs and it went over really well.  Darris sang a hymns medley with Wayne on the piano and it was seriously one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard. Seriously.  It was one of those songs where you just have to hug somebody afterwards.

That night our group split up.  Half of us went to the youth (grades 6-12) and the other half went to the children's club (pre-school-grade 5).  I went with the kids and we had an awesome time playing games and learning about Noah and building arks and learning new songs and getting scared by gorillas.  After the children's club we all went to hang out and I got to drive on the left side of the road for the first time. I was the only American who didn't hit or run up on the curb.  Way to go, me!  After we drove we squished far too many people into a hot tub and had fun relaxing after a long day of ministry.

THURSDAY:  On Thursday we went to Good News Lutheran School at 7:30 and we played for their chapel service.  These kids were really excited and energetic. After that school we went to Pastor Tim's house to have lunch and hang out.

That night the Cracknell's (Taylor and Lisa's family) invited my family over for an Aussie BBQ.  I had pumpkin for the first time that wasn't in pie or bread.  It was tasty.  We also jumped on the trampoline on which Lisa fractured her ankle a few days previously.  A fantastic time was had by all.  After dinner, we had a Aussies vs Americans basketball game at Heathdale.  We didn't keep score which is probably a good thing.  Everyone remained friends afterwards.

FRIDAY:  Today was a sight-seeing day.  We went to the Great Ocean Road and we climbed on rocks, explored caves, and took many pictures.  It was so beautiful!  We had to meet at 8 AM to get there by 11 and then we explored for a few hours.  After we were all done, the Lathams and Walters came out to meet us and took some of us surfing.  It was so much fun, but it was freezing cold!  The waves were kind of small but I was ok with that because I didn't want to die the first time I tried surfing.  We had fish and chips for dinner and now we're chilling back at the house.  I'm pretty sure that every part of my body is sore...

Tomorrow we're singing at the plaza from 10-2 or something like that.  Should be exciting!  Hopefully next time I post, it won't be four days from now...

I really shouldn't get behind on this...

Ok so I'm really far behind!  So after the meat pies (which weren't made of people) Jordan and I played downball outside with the two youngest kids.  It's like four square but with two squares and a tiny ball instead of a kick ball.  We had fish and chips for dinner which was amazing.  Apparently it was shark meat and it was delicious. Nom nom nom.

The next day we actually only had two services instead of three.  I accidentally lied in my last post.  Justin told us the set list for the first service about two minutes before the service started so that was exciting.  It keeps us on our toes.  Afterwards the church fed us lunch and we talked with all the people in the church.

After we left, we went to a mall to kill time.  It was pretty similar to American malls although it was a lot bigger than any other mall I'd been to.

When we finished there, we went to the second church which turned out to be smaller than we'd expected. So small, in fact, that the singers didn't use microphones and the band was plugged into the sound system but turned way down low.  It was one of the most challenging concerts I'd ever been a part of.  For one thing I could barely hear myself or the rest of the band.  At the same time, Justin was telling us which songs to do right before we'd do them.  One at a time.  It was an adventure to say the least.  But it went very well and everyone in the church loved us (or at least I think they did).  After that service, the church fed us dinner and we mingled with this congregation as well.

Today we had a pretty lazy day.  We slept in and then Jordan and I went with the Lathams to Zach's basketball game.  It was about an hour away from the house so we got to see some of the country a little bit and it is BEAUTIFUL.  Much prettier than America.

Tonight was a young adult event at Suburban Church (the church that's hosting us) so we got to hang out with the 18-25 year olds in the church and play games and whatnot.  Afterwards we went to McDonalds and then played games at somebody's house.  Now it is really late and I'm tired and have to be out the door at 8 AM tomorrow morning...  What am still doing up?

Living in Melbourne

Apparently airplanes put me to sleep.  We took a plane from Dayton to Dallas, Dallas to Brisbane, and Brisbane to Melbourne and I slept probably about 80% of the time.  The 16 hour flight from Dallas to Brisbane didn't seem nearly as long as I thought it would.  I slept a lot and the plane had plenty of movies and TV shows to keep me occupied.

We had lunch downtown and then went to meet our host families.  Jordan, Debbie, and I are staying with the Lathams (who are awesome).  Rod Latham is actually from Cincinnati originally (crazy eh?).

Last night we had a Family Fun Night at the church which was a blast.  Afterwards we went back to the house and watched Australian Football League (AFL or Footy) and attempted to learn the rules.  It makes more sense than American football at least.

We had one more OneVoice practice this morning before our three services tomorrow.  We're all really excited to start playing and singing.

Right now we're about to eat meat pies and I can't help but think about Sweeney Todd...  It'll be alright though.  I'm sure they'll be delicious.

(PS pictures can be found on Facebook.)

Day 2 = Completed

Today was loooooong but practice always seems to go by so fast.  There are very few things I'm willing to do all day every day and playing with OneVoice is one of those things.  We went through about six hours of practice today... Crazy.

Also, we're going to be singing at Hillsong's youth conference something or other.  Like, seriously.  How amazing is that?!

We fly out tomorrow!

Australia Blog = Go!

I have arrived at Cedarville for training before we leave for Australia.  It's been a long day but practice went much better than I thought it would!

I'm going to attempt to keep everyone updated with this... I should probably tell someone that it exists...