Tuesday

Another good day. We did some teambuilding and other things and then went to the mall together for a group outing. Tomorrow we start lectures and our normal schedule for the next few weeks.
I know you won't believe this, but I have been up every morning at 5 am. Obviously I haven't adjusted to the time change yet! : ) One thing is that it is daylight early so it seems easier to get up at that time.
The schedule goes something like this:
Breakfast at 7, Devotions or Worship at 8, Lecture at 9, Morning Tea at 10:30, Lecture at 11, Lunch at 12:30, Small Groups at 1:30, Workgroups at 2, Lecture at 4, Tea (Dinner) at 5:30, and either lecture, free time, or outings at night.
They told us about the spiders, toads, ants and other creatures to stay away from. So far we haven't seen much more than we see at home.
No I have not seen a kangaroo or koala yet! They say that we will sometime, but not around here. Our typical stereotype to figure that they are everywhere in Australia.
We found out that we are going to the very Northern tip of Australia - Bamaga, Cape York for our outreach. We will be spending 2 months there working with Aboriginal people. Also we will be going down to another Aboriginal community for 1 week and spending 2 weeks in Sydney. I will give more info as the time comes.
I pray that everyone is doing well and not missing me too much.... I know it is hard but I will be back in 6 months. ; )

First day so far so good

Today we learned more about the base and the many different ministries and departments that they run from here. It was a good day of starting. I have met so many people here and can't even come close to knowing all of there names.

Hi! It's Pete here! And I'm a crazy Brit. I am in the same DTS as these lovely American pyschos ffrom Michican or something. (Basically Canada) I hope you lovely people back in the U S of A appreciate Canadians and accept them as North Americans because they should not be disregarded because the country is cold! I am not Canadian, I just sympathise with them. We in England have to cope with the Irish so you should respect the Canadians as much as possible. Anyway, I have been given the opportunity to write something here but Katie wouldnt let me! No trust! I am horrified!

I will hand you back over to Tami to talk about the boring stuff so hope this section lightened up your day.

I hope you enjoyed meeting Pete, maybe I will let others add as time permits.

I hope things are going good for all of you. I appreciate your mail and email!! - By the way Katie and I have a contest on the first one to get snail mail and the first on to get a package, so I am putting in a pathetic plea to you to help me win.

Thanks and have a great day!!!

First day of classes

It is Monday morning and classes start today. I am excited to start the classes and experience what we are here for. It has been a good couple of days getting to hang out with the group, but it is time to get going.
Yesterday we took a tour of the campus -I hope to add a video so you can see it sometime soon- and then went to Brisbane. There is a park in the city that has a swimming pool and beach area. We spent a little time there and enjoyed the refreshing water. Then we went to a lookout to see the city. After a short break we had our first official "Aussie Barbie". It was steaks and sausages grilled out at our directors house. That is when we had our official welcome and met another one of our team. There are 9 of us here and one more hopefully coming. It is a diverse group in age and somewhat in culture. There are 4 Americans, and one each from Thialand, Fiji, New Zeeland, England, and Brazil. The ages range from 19 to 40 something. It should be interesting how we mesh all together.
The weather has been about 85 degrees and sunny!!! I love it! I do not miss the snow at all. Also the stars here seem so much brighter than I have ever seen before.
Better get going, worship starts soon. Please continue to keep me updated, I love to get mail! ;)

Moving In

We just arrived on base about 1 hour ago and are waiting for lunch. Katie and I are sharing a room with just the two of us. It is really nice that we can stay together, but I hope that we mesh well with the group.
Going back to yesterday a minute, we did a lot of walking around downtown Sydney and got a lot of pictures of the Opera House and the many other sights in Sydney. It is still very strange that I am in a country that I have talked about for so long. The Opera House is awesome! It is even much more extravigant than the pictures that you see. We spent the day walking around and then headed back to relax and get ready to leave this morning.
Today we flew from Sydney to Brisbane and met most of our team and some of the staff. The base is nice and as I said Katie and I are sharing a room. There are 9 or 10 people on our DTS, so it is a nice size group. There are also 4 staff that will be working with our group. We are going to have lunch now and then head to the mall so that we can get some more things to make our room more "homey". We are not sure if we are going to have constant wireless access, but I should be able to keep you all up to date.
Thank you for your emails, I love hearing from you all! Don't feel bad if I don't always respond, I still want you to send me updates!!!!
Thank you all for your prayers, we are doing great!

We made it to Sydney

Wow after 26 hours of traveling (for me) we have arrived in Sydney and are already seeing God at work. Katie and I had different flights, but for both of us they all went well. Katie was going to wait in the airport for me for about 1/2 hour for my flight to come in, but God made it easier for us than trying to look for eachother. I said goodbye to the people that I met on the plane and went into a restroom before getting into the long line for Customs. When I was coming out of the stall, guess who was the next person waiting to go in..... yes it was Katie. We didn't even have to look for eachother and we could then wait through the line together and talk about our flights. Our first God sighting in Australia!!!
We then checked into our Guest House and are spending today relaxing and walking around our neighborhood, Glebe. Tomorrow we are going to go sightseeing around Sydney and then on Saturday we will be heading on to Brisbane and our base.
Please pray for us as we try to adjust to the 15 hour time difference and as we find our way around Sydney. Also pray that our flight to Brisbane goes well and that we make it to our base on Saturday. We will then have free internet so I will be able to keep you up to date.
Thanks for your emails, thoughts, & prayers!

9 Days!

Thank you for checking out my new blog! 9 days and I will be in Australia - a dream come true. Plans are coming together, but there is a lot to do in the next week. At times I am feeling very overwhelmed at all of the details and the thoughts of packing for 6 months. Also, I have been saying goodbye to some very special people. I am so glad for the technology available today so that we can keep in touch!
Kate & I talked in front of church today and asked for prayer & financial support. It means so much to know that we are supported by our friends and families.
Please pray for us in the next week that we can have a clear understanding of what we need to take and how to pack. That we receive the funding that we need. Also, that we get everything done in the time that we have.