Thursday 4th Feb to Thursday 11th Feb
Matt and I came back to Ballarat on Thursday 4th Feb. After a brief navigational error we found our way to Adrian and Aimee's house. They are so hospitable and nice. It is such a blessing to be staying at their house.
So we still didn't have much idea why we were here or what we were going to do. I had been struggling a lot with this, but Matt said that he really felt like God had something for us to do here, so I chose to trust and follow my husband, but truthfully, I didn't have the best attitude. Matt kept trying to contact people and churches, and we both started settling back in to life in the camper. We still didn't have running water, which is a bit of a bummer, and our attempts to fix that kept failing. Also, our car's boot wouldn't unlock, but these were all minor trivial things compared to the the constant overhanging question "why are we here?" We prayed about this and Matt really started feeling like we were hear to help unite the churches of Ballarat. I was like "Wow! That's a bit more than what we were expecting to do," so I was a little skeptical.
Sunday
Apart from that, nothing much really happened until Sunday. We went to Ballarat City Church (BCC) in the morning. The sermon was on having a vision. It was really relevant to us and what we were doing. Matt had actually met up with the pastor a few days before, and he mentioned what we were doing in his sermon. I really thought about what he said and thought about different people and events in the bible and how they related to our situation now. Often when people followed God things didn't turn out quite the way they expect (funnily enough I was expecting that because I know that's how God works, but I wasn't expecting it to be different in this way, so technically I still wasn't expecting it :P). I also thought about (and this was one of the Pastors points) how the people of God in the old testament had God rescue them from Egypt. God did everything for them, and then when they came to the land of Canaan it was their turn to actually do something and fight the people there, but they bailed out. They didn't trust that God would do a miracle, just like He had been doing this whole time. The start of this trip wasn't what I thought it would be, but God had brought us here, and even if it wasn't what I thought it would be, it didn't mean He wouldn't use us. Also, God seems to be calling us to do more in Ballarat than I thought we could ever possibly do, uniting churches...what? But nothing is too big for God, and if He wants to use us to be part of that then what an honor. I guess we will see what happens.
That night we went to York Street Church again. The sermon there was really great too, and I felt really encouraged. We met some more great people. When Matt and I prayed that night we really did feel like God was wanting to use us for something different than we thought. It seems like we're not here long enough for anything of any real significance to happen, but God has shown me time and time again that He can do a lot in a short amount of time.
Tuesday
I went to a woman's bible study, and Matt and I went to a prayer meeting at BCC. We got the opportunity to get to know some people a bit better, which we are feeling is a very vital part of what we're here to do. It had been hot for the past few days and we were both having a really hard time dealing with it. It gets SO hot in our camper, so there is no escape from the heat. We found ourselves down at Maccas in the air-conditioning eating 50cent cones. Then when we felt like we'd been there for long enough we went down town to find out about getting some work. Air-conditioning everywhere :). And we just happened to park outside the Anglican Diocese for Ballarat, so we went in there and got heaps of info about churches we can visit and potentially help. How randomly helpful.
Wednesday
Wednesday turned out to be more interesting than we'd first thought. On the way to get silicon, to attempt to fix our water tank and get running water, we walked past a Uniting church that advertised a free lunch for anyone who wanted to come. We thought that might be a good way to meet people in the church, so we went along. I was really nervous going in, I guess because I didn't know what to expect or if we were the sort of people the lunch was designed for, but in we went. We met the Reverend (named Adam) who was super friendly. He's trying something really different with the church. They've gone a bit alternative with their worship and the way they do church, they are really big on hospitality and different ways of reaching/helping people in the community, and they promoted fairtrade stuff. Basically, first impressions, I thought they were great. They have a church service on Saturday evening, and Adam invited Matt to come along to play and teach some stuff to the team -they only have a small team of musicians who are still learning, perfect setting for someone like Matt to come into. I'm going to be helping them with their lunches on Wednesday. I am really excited about this church, just as a church and about what we can do to be a blessing to them. So after that Matt dropped me off at the library and I went about my various things. I was enjoying looking outside at the heavy rain, wind, and lightning, what a blessing the rain was to our country. About 1 1/2 hrs later I'm on the phone to Matt who is informing me that our annex is falling down, things are getting flooded, our camper is leaking, and everything is wet. So Matt comes and picks me up and we do the best we can to save our annex and put collecting devices under all the leaks in our camper. It was nice in a way, being out in the rain bashing away and tent pegs and straightening polls; we had been so hot for so long. It was a relief from the heat. Our washing was hanging up everywhere and there were containers filled with water all over the place. Our bedding was all wet, everything looked cluttered and messy, and things were a bit difficult in general, but nothing too bad had happened. Things would dry, and all would be ok. We had a good laugh about a few things which made all the difference. We had dinner and headed off to a bible study at BCC. It was about marriage, really good. It was the pick-me-up we needed after such a hectic and wet afternoon.
Thursday
Today we've been mostly looking for work. Nothing yet, but we're not stressed. If God wants us to work while we are in Ballarat then we will, if not then we wont.
A lot has happened this week, and we are looking forward to seeing what else will come of our time here. We've connected with 4 churches, 3 denominations, and this is just our first week back.
Prayer points
-Coping with the heat
-Running water
-Continued understanding for what God wants us to do here
-Work (doors to be opened if that's what God wants)
So we still didn't have much idea why we were here or what we were going to do. I had been struggling a lot with this, but Matt said that he really felt like God had something for us to do here, so I chose to trust and follow my husband, but truthfully, I didn't have the best attitude. Matt kept trying to contact people and churches, and we both started settling back in to life in the camper. We still didn't have running water, which is a bit of a bummer, and our attempts to fix that kept failing. Also, our car's boot wouldn't unlock, but these were all minor trivial things compared to the the constant overhanging question "why are we here?" We prayed about this and Matt really started feeling like we were hear to help unite the churches of Ballarat. I was like "Wow! That's a bit more than what we were expecting to do," so I was a little skeptical.
Sunday
Apart from that, nothing much really happened until Sunday. We went to Ballarat City Church (BCC) in the morning. The sermon was on having a vision. It was really relevant to us and what we were doing. Matt had actually met up with the pastor a few days before, and he mentioned what we were doing in his sermon. I really thought about what he said and thought about different people and events in the bible and how they related to our situation now. Often when people followed God things didn't turn out quite the way they expect (funnily enough I was expecting that because I know that's how God works, but I wasn't expecting it to be different in this way, so technically I still wasn't expecting it :P). I also thought about (and this was one of the Pastors points) how the people of God in the old testament had God rescue them from Egypt. God did everything for them, and then when they came to the land of Canaan it was their turn to actually do something and fight the people there, but they bailed out. They didn't trust that God would do a miracle, just like He had been doing this whole time. The start of this trip wasn't what I thought it would be, but God had brought us here, and even if it wasn't what I thought it would be, it didn't mean He wouldn't use us. Also, God seems to be calling us to do more in Ballarat than I thought we could ever possibly do, uniting churches...what? But nothing is too big for God, and if He wants to use us to be part of that then what an honor. I guess we will see what happens.
That night we went to York Street Church again. The sermon there was really great too, and I felt really encouraged. We met some more great people. When Matt and I prayed that night we really did feel like God was wanting to use us for something different than we thought. It seems like we're not here long enough for anything of any real significance to happen, but God has shown me time and time again that He can do a lot in a short amount of time.
Tuesday
I went to a woman's bible study, and Matt and I went to a prayer meeting at BCC. We got the opportunity to get to know some people a bit better, which we are feeling is a very vital part of what we're here to do. It had been hot for the past few days and we were both having a really hard time dealing with it. It gets SO hot in our camper, so there is no escape from the heat. We found ourselves down at Maccas in the air-conditioning eating 50cent cones. Then when we felt like we'd been there for long enough we went down town to find out about getting some work. Air-conditioning everywhere :). And we just happened to park outside the Anglican Diocese for Ballarat, so we went in there and got heaps of info about churches we can visit and potentially help. How randomly helpful.
Wednesday
Wednesday turned out to be more interesting than we'd first thought. On the way to get silicon, to attempt to fix our water tank and get running water, we walked past a Uniting church that advertised a free lunch for anyone who wanted to come. We thought that might be a good way to meet people in the church, so we went along. I was really nervous going in, I guess because I didn't know what to expect or if we were the sort of people the lunch was designed for, but in we went. We met the Reverend (named Adam) who was super friendly. He's trying something really different with the church. They've gone a bit alternative with their worship and the way they do church, they are really big on hospitality and different ways of reaching/helping people in the community, and they promoted fairtrade stuff. Basically, first impressions, I thought they were great. They have a church service on Saturday evening, and Adam invited Matt to come along to play and teach some stuff to the team -they only have a small team of musicians who are still learning, perfect setting for someone like Matt to come into. I'm going to be helping them with their lunches on Wednesday. I am really excited about this church, just as a church and about what we can do to be a blessing to them. So after that Matt dropped me off at the library and I went about my various things. I was enjoying looking outside at the heavy rain, wind, and lightning, what a blessing the rain was to our country. About 1 1/2 hrs later I'm on the phone to Matt who is informing me that our annex is falling down, things are getting flooded, our camper is leaking, and everything is wet. So Matt comes and picks me up and we do the best we can to save our annex and put collecting devices under all the leaks in our camper. It was nice in a way, being out in the rain bashing away and tent pegs and straightening polls; we had been so hot for so long. It was a relief from the heat. Our washing was hanging up everywhere and there were containers filled with water all over the place. Our bedding was all wet, everything looked cluttered and messy, and things were a bit difficult in general, but nothing too bad had happened. Things would dry, and all would be ok. We had a good laugh about a few things which made all the difference. We had dinner and headed off to a bible study at BCC. It was about marriage, really good. It was the pick-me-up we needed after such a hectic and wet afternoon.
Thursday
Today we've been mostly looking for work. Nothing yet, but we're not stressed. If God wants us to work while we are in Ballarat then we will, if not then we wont.
A lot has happened this week, and we are looking forward to seeing what else will come of our time here. We've connected with 4 churches, 3 denominations, and this is just our first week back.
Prayer points
-Coping with the heat
-Running water
-Continued understanding for what God wants us to do here
-Work (doors to be opened if that's what God wants)
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