God's provision

Well it's been an amazing couple of weeks since my last post. I've only been here three weeks and God's already done so much. Last week, they had some fun activities for all the first semester students that really allowed us to meet a lot of people and see some cool stuff in Sydney. On Monday, they served us brunch. Tuesday they took us to Bondi beach where a friend and I went into the water in spite of it being a little cold. Wednesday, we went over to Manly beach and walked around the town there. That evening, when everyone else took a ferry back to where we started, I stuck around in the city and connected with a friend who had been here for the last year and a half going to the Hillsong city campus. He was getting ready to go back to the states, so it was good to connect with him once before he did. It was a fun three days and I met a lot of really cool people. The next couple of days we had orientation and got our schedules for the next two weeks.

Last Thursday night, I went to what was called Creative Team Meeting. It's designed for anybody involved in the church through worship, dance, or media. It's a time of worship and exhortation and the Spirit of God was there from the moment it started. Through the time of worship, God really started speaking to me about areas of my life I need to change. Towards the end of the night, they took up an offering for the people affected by the tsunami. They take up an offering for them every Thursday night. I still hadn't received a job, so I was trying to hold on to all the money I had and not spend much. I had $25 in my wallet, and I really felt like God told me to give it all. I was obedient and put it in the offering. Later, as I was praying I felt like God told me I would receive a job the next day. The next day, I went back up to a restaurant that had told me they might be hiring and asked him if they still were. He told me to give him another week. I noticed a couple other places that said they were hiring so I gave my resume to them. I went through the rest of that day and still hadn't heard anything. I figured I must have heard from God wrong. The following day, I received a call from one of those places to come in for an interview later that afternoon and they gave me a job. So God did get me a job the day He told me He would by leading me to the right place to turn in my resume. Praise God! He's showing me each and every day that He will provide for me.

Classes started this week. They have gone really well. I've been blown away by all the teachers and how genuine they are. They really seem to care about the students. They love God and they love people. One might think that with such a big church, (well over 20,000 people attend each week) when people climb the ladder so to speak and have positions of authority, it could get to their head. But everyone I've come into contact with has really seemed to have such a heart of a servant and are willing to do whatever it takes to further the Kingdom of God, not their ministry or their ego. God, would you give me that heart as well. Sometimes I think I care more about my passions, my dreams, than I care about people. More and more I'm realizing that when you have a servant's heart and are willing to do whatever needs to be done to further the Kingdom, then God can use you and then He will cause the dreams that He's given you to come true. So God, use me however you want, whether it be leading worship, setting up chairs, or cleaning toilets. I'm your servant.

The first week

Well, the adventure started before I even left Salt Lake City. My plane was scheduled to leave from Salt Lake at 7:52 on Monday night. Jacob came over that afternoon to say goodbye and suggested I call them to see how full the plane was. I called and they basically told me I had next to no chance of getting on that plane. So I rescheduled to leave the following day at the same time. When I called the next day, they told me the same thing. Finally I had someone helpful though. She suggested leaving the following morning because the morning flights aren't nearly as full as the evening flights. The next morning there were 28 empty seats, so I easily got on the flight to LA. I got to LA at 9:30 am and the flight to Sydney left at 10:35 pm. So I sat around for the next several hours. I spent some time reading and playing games on my computer (no free wifi in the LA airport, lame). I had people checking on the flight to see how many empty seats there were and it seemed like there were plenty and I shouldn't have any trouble getting on. Someone came to the gate around 8:00 pm. I went up to ask her how the flight looked and she told me it was oversold by 6 people and I was number 10 on the standby list. So it didn't look good. Apparently the night before, nobody on the standby list had made it. So my mind began flooding with what I was going to do with another 24 hours in the airport, or even longer if I didn't make it the following night. I contacted my parents and a few friends and asked them to pray. Over the next couple hours, they let a few people on standby on the plane, but not many. Finally at 10:30, 5 minutes before the plane was scheduled to leave, they called my name and let me on the plane. I was the second to last person to get on the plane. I got on the plane to hear them say turn off all electronic devices. I disregarded that for just a minute to call my parents and text a few friends to let them know I got on. As I was sitting there, I felt the Lord just speak to me with the same words He spoke to Peter after he started to sink when he was walking on the water, "Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt." God has provided for me each step of the way since I decided to come spend this year in Sydney, and yet when an obstacle appears in my path, I forget about all that. In that moment, I just felt God saying, "I love you and I'm going to take care of you. Now just trust me." Even now as I'm here wondering what I'm going to do about a job, I'm reminded that God has been providing for me. He's not gonna leave me hangin' now.

So I got into Sydney 6:35 am on Friday morning. I'm 16 hours ahead of Utah time, so that's 2:35 pm Utah time. I had a few troubles finding the right bus I needed to get to where I'm staying, but eventually found it. I didn't do much that first day, just settled in, unpacked, ate, and went to bed early. The next day, Bonnie, the person I'm staying with (a friend of my mom's who lives just a few miles from Hillsong), took me around Castle Hills, the suburb of Sydney where I'm staying. Then on Sunday, I attended two services at Hillsong. They just finished their big conference, so they had a bunch of people from there that were helping out with the services. Andy Stanley, pastor from Atlanta, preached at the morning service. Darlene Zchech led worship along with Israel Houghton. Then that evening, Ed Young, pastor from Texas, spoke. That service was packed. Both services were great.

This week, I'll be looking for a job, going to the college on Wednesday to figure out what my schedule will be like as classes start next Monday. I'd like to make it into the city sometime this week also. Well that's about it for now. Talk to all ya'll soon!