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G’Day from down under!
Please
forgive the details of this lengthy letter.
The purpose is mostly to inform my family. I will not always go into so much
detail. Enjoy…
I’m glad to report that I have made
the trip over deep blue ocean. The trip
from Oklahoma to Denver
was good, and the trip from Denver
to San Fransico was wonderful. I had 3
seats to sleep across, and it was the closest to heaven that I have been in a
long time…lol. But the trip from Sanfran
to Sydney was
not so great. I was squash like fruit in
a smoothie between two guys for 14 hours.
I think that I’m just a little claustrophobic. We had a good conversation, but I was ready
to sleep. If hadn’t been for the stress extract Rodney England gave me, I would
have never slept. Boy who needs drugs or
alcohol, when you have stress extract.
God is good….very good. I did
make it to Australia. Kevin and Scott picked me up from the
airport. When I saw them they didn’t see
me so I had to actually touch them and say “here I am.” Kevin had a blank look on his face like he
didn’t expect to see me. I don’t know
why else he would have been at the airport that day. It was really funny. I spent the day playing on the computer with
Scott, and putting together a weight bench.
After that I took a little nap until it was time to go to Bible
study. I went with Kevin, Scott, and Mel
to Gosford for Bible study. My goal for
the evening was not fall asleep, and after head bobbings I succeeded on my
goal. It was wonderful seeing everyone
again. They had spaghetti before the Bible study,
then after the bible study we went to Maca’s (McDonalds). After Maca’s I crashed for the night until
6:00 am Thursday morning.
On Thursday it was nice to be able
to wake and pick-up my computer in order to check my messages online. The Brown’s have wireless, which has been
most wonderful for me to use. It’s like
waking up at OC. After waking Scott up
from his beauty rest at 8:30, we clean up around the garage. I felt like a new man as I was able to do
some work with my hands. Sitting behind
a computer is not my favorite thing to do.
Around 11:00 A.M. we ventured over to meet the HIM and AIM girls to help
watch kids from the church. This week is
a holiday for the kids. The HIM and AIM girls
decided to give moms and dads a break for part of the day by watching the
kids. While at the park with the kids
from church Scotty and I help the kids develop some of their soccer
skills. That was heaps of fun. For lunch I was able to enjoy my first fish
and chips. OHHHHHHHHH! It was wonderful. Not the best that I have had, but very fullllllfilllling. After the park I went to Stef’s and Sara’s
place. It’s a very nice place. Gosford is really taking care of them well. Sara and Stef are really embracing the work
there. It was wonderful to see them in
action. For tea (dinner) that night we
treated ourselves to KFC. It was ok, but
they didn’t have the biscuits, which is one of my favorite parts. Thursday night is bowling night with the
youth at Gosford, so I decided to embarrass myself. I didn’t disappoint myself either. I had a high score of 96 and 82. Whatever pride I had left in my body is now
gone. I’ll just have to trust in God
more. After bowling Scott drove us home. I was really ready for bed, but Kevin had a
friend over. As soon as his friend left,
I pulled out my bed in the living room and went to sleep with everyone else
there talking. I didn’t hear a thing
until the next morning.
On Friday Scott and Crystal, and I
went running on the beach. It was hard
to do but someone had to do it. The
waves were really high that day, but it was really fun running barefoot in the
ocean water. We just had great
time. Later that day Stef and Sara came
by to take me to the Reptile
Park. It’s basically an Australia zoo. We saw the koalas, alligators, crocodiles, dingoes,
big turtles, snakes, and kangaroos. Stef
took a picture of me feeding a kangaroo, which was pretty cool. There were two funny highlights of the
day. One was when a little girl asked
her mommie “What is that coming out of the back end of the kangaroo?” (use your imagination on that one) The other was Sara’s face when the kangaroo
licked her hand. We have pictures to
prove it. I promise you will want to laugh
and roll around like a little girl…lol. After
the retile park we ran around Gosford and did errands. Stef dropped me off with Glenn (a member from
Hunter Valley).
Glenn and I traveled through
Sydney, who takes forever, to a church retreat.
Glenn is a single top ranking officer in the Australian air force. I look forward to getting to know him better. At the retreat I was able to catch up with
David Carr, Ann Carr, John Gray, Denise Gray, Kim Gray, and Kate Wilson. All these people are from Hunter Valley. I have also realized why God has sent me
here. There is a lot of need for me
here. The young people are going
crazy. On Saturday night a couple of the
teens told me that we were going to sing.
So I grabbed my computer and we had a worship of song that would put
most teen groups of 20 to shame. It was
great! Their desire is high, and they
just need some spiritual encouragement and guidance. I’m soo pumped! The retreat has been good. The theme is about climbing the mountains of
life. I have had plenty of alone time to
really pray and think about my mission.
I love not being rushed around all the time.
On Sunday was the first day that I
only slept 6-7 hours. I only had a
little jet lag. I was always ready to go
to bed at 10 pm, which is very unnatural for me. We had worship in the chapel over looking the
beautiful Australian scenery. There is a
valley with a river running through the mountains about 300 feet below the
chapel. I wish I could show you
pictures, but I do not have a camera. Mine
broke before I left. I will send you
pictures as soon as possible. After
worship we had an Australian BBQ. It was
wonderful! I really have enjoyed getting
to know a whole new group of people from Bankstown
church of Christ.
The rest of the afternoon was spent traveling 3 ½ hours home to Newcastle. When we arrived and Lauren was home yet so we
could not get into the Gray’s house.
They were still on their way up from the retreat. So Glenn and I tried all the doors around the
house. We found the laundry room door
open, but it had a portable cabinet blocking it. I barely squeezed through it. When I say barely, I mean barely! I getting too fat..lol. The rest of the night was spent watching the
tele with the family (John, Denise, and Lauren.)
I hope to talk to you soon.
Love,
Joshua
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