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!