Lakes Entrance part 2

Monday 15th March - Friday 19th March

Monday: This week was mostly about getting used to a routine. Sarah was working and so was I. I have decided to split my time between doing 3 hours of admin stuff and 3 hours of practice. Admin stuff incorporates everything from doing the blog (which takes a lot longer than you may realize), contacting churches and schools, meeting with people and a whole lot of other stuff. Practice is fairly self explanatory, however I have written up a practice routine to make sure I utilize my time as well as possible. I believe it is important for everyone to work and even though my work is technically unpaid our ministry won't run by itself and takes a lot of organizational work. Also I believe I owe it to all the people who have supported us so generously.

Monday night we moved to another house up the road where there is a little more room. The family we are staying with has two kids. They are all lots of fun, very generous and hospitable. We were greeted by the words "make yourselves at home, what’s mine is yours."

Tuesday: The family we are staying with got a kitten last night. It is so cute and so distracting. Both Sarah and I are doing work. As we get absolutely no reception here, the family have very generously said we can use their wireless internet and their computer. Of course the computer is in the same room as the kitten. I still think I got a fair amount of work done, it was just interspersed with playing with and cuddling the kitten.

Sarah is doing really well with her transcription and has been told that if she does ok today that tomorrow she can move to paid work. All of her files will still be proofread by someone else which means that Sarah will be on a lower rate, however it's worth it for the peace of mind.

One of the wonderful things about the house we are currently staying at is that not only can you see the ocean but you can hear it occasionally, especially as you go to sleep at night. We have been and will be frequently visiting the beach, going for relaxing strolls. Oh yeah, life is good.

Wednesday: Sarah started work today. She is doing really well. Trying to adjust to some of the various challenges but she's getting there. We will be picking up a package later today with some programs that will make various aspects of her work much easier. We are both really grateful that Sarah is finally able to start working and that we will have an income.

We went to a bible study tonight. We got to fellowship with a bunch of people from the church up here. The study was about tithe. We heard a lot of amazing testimonies about how God had come through for people just when they needed it. At the end of the study I shared my song “Surrender” with everyone.

Thursday: I finally began the process of putting my songs up on iTunes today. They will be processed in two to four weeks, so keep an eye out. One of the biggest issues I have had is playing somewhere and having people wanting to buy a CD but not having any money on them at the time. It will be such a relief to be able to say to people don't worry you can get it later on from home. In a number of situations I have just given the CD's away, especially when it comes to youth.

That afternoon we helped out with an event the church was running. The event was an Easter workshop. I helped out as a leader and Sarah started out as a leader but then suddenly got delegated the role of photographer. The workshop was great. There were a number of songs which the kids really got into, unfortunately leaders also had to attempt to dance and be silly, not massively my forte but I gave it a go. They also had a play and then some activities. My group’s activity involved colouring in these really cool fold-out things which told the Easter story. I took great pride in my colouring in. It was wonderful to see Sarah hovering around taking photos, she did a really great job.

That night the kids convinced us to go out riding with them. It was a lot of fun. They showed us around some of the paths and where they like to ride. Of course we came inevitably to a massive and steep hill. So I did the responsible thing of riding down as fast as I could, setting an excellent example for the kids. Don't worry I told them not to try what I was doing, because that stopped them. For the record I managed to get up to 59kph. We all had a lot of fun.

Friday: Today mostly involved a nice little seven hour drive from Lakes Entrance to Ballarat. Sarah was wonderful and did most of the driving as I was still feeling a little bit sick and needed to do a lot over the weekend. We arrived in Ballarat and were really grateful to have somewhere to stay. We chilled out that night and went to bed fairly early, ready for the big weekend that lay ahead.

Lakes Entrance part 1

Friday 12th March - Sunday 14th March

Friday: Today was the day that we would finally set off in the direction we had always planned on going. We were both exited and there was a great sense of anticipation as to what lay ahead. We packed up the camper, said goodbye to parents and set off for Lakes Entrance. We arrived at about 5:00 to a very full house. Including us there were ten people staying at the house at once. The people we were staying with were old friends and it was wonderful to see them again and catch up on two years of happenings. We knew we were only able to stay there for a few days and would need to find somewhere else to set up, however by this stage we had experienced enough of this sort of thing and we were not even remotely worried. We have learned to trust God and know that he has prepared the way for us, including were we will rest our heads at night.

We were invited along to the youth group that night so we went along. It was heaps of fun and Sarah and I spent much of our time connecting and meeting the youth who were running around and being generally crazy like youth are. I got asked to play a song so I played "Hope in You." It went down really well and everyone seemed to appreciate the song. After we heard a brief sermon I helped lead worship and was blown away watching all of the youth really get into it. We both had a great time.

Saturday: This morning I went to a men's breakfast. It was at a floating restaurant which was a very different experience. Again it was great opportunity to get to know a number of people from the church in a different environment. The meal was really nice too. One of the men got up and gave his testimony, it was really powerful. Sarah went and had breakfast with the women. She also had a good time getting to know everyone a little better.

We both chilled out on the beach for the afternoon. We did that because the beach is practically on our doorstep, oh yeah. Sarah had fun playing in the waves and I collected some really cool shells, mostly smooth broken ones with really strong colours. Later on I made some necklaces out of the shells and gave them to the young girls from the family we were staying with.

Sunday: This morning we went to Lakes Community Church. The first thing we noticed was that the seats were really far away from the stage. The reason being is that during worship everyone comes up the front dances around, sings and really gets into the worship. It was a pretty amazing thing to witness and be a part of. After the service everyone stayed and we all had lunch together and fellowshipped. When I say everyone stayed I’m not talking about five or ten people but more like around 50 people. It was a wonderful example of good community.

Visiting Home

Thursday 4th March - Friday 12th March

Thursday: After a few more days in Ballarat, spent mostly catching up with people, saying goodbyes and preparing to travel again, it was finally time to leave. We packed up the camper and began our journey onto the next destination. We were planning for this to be Lakes Entrance however we got a phone call that very quickly changed that. My brother and his wife who were expecting to have a baby in about two weeks had decided to induce the baby due to some complications with the pregnancy. I was going to become an uncle, a prospect which I was quite excited about. For this reason we decided to go back to Somerville first.

At this stage I was feeling sick, with a cold. We drove home only to have to stop five minutes away from our destination because the car had overheated. We made the last tiny little leg of the journey on the back of a tow truck. I should probably mention that we did one of those things that you know you just shouldn't do but you just don't think at the time. After the car started overheating we pulled over and had lunch to give the car a chance to cool down. After waiting 15-20 minutes I had the thought that maybe the car needed more water. I went to check and Sarah having heard the cars can spurt a bit of water suggested we put a cloth over it before we open it. I was having difficulty opening the water cap so Sarah had a go. It certainly opened or rather exploded everywhere. It was like a volcanic eruption of water and coolant as we ran away from the car as quickly as possible to a safe distance. Sarah got a little bit on her hand and although it stung it didn't leave any scolding. I had to improvise pulling the lid off one of my toolboxes to put water in it for Sarah to hold her hand in. The man from RACV was very kind and drove Sarah to the doctors where they gave her an ice-pack. I stayed with the car waiting for the tow truck. We are very grateful that neither of us got more seriously injured. My advice is: don't ever remove the water cap off a car that has just or recently overheated, just don't do it, it's stupid.

To end the day on a better note I got a call back from Wes Jay who I had sent my CD to. He said that it was great and that he had listened to it twice, which for someone as busy as Wes definitely means something. We proceeded to talk for close to an hour. He basically explained that he believed that I had enough musical training, songwriting ability and talent to make it as a professional musician. He said that I had a good voice but that he believed it could become much better and that he wanted me to get some high level lessons and focus on improving my voice. He exclaimed that he felt I was not ready yet for his level of promotion and that he wanted me to acquire more performance experience and learn to bring out myself in my music. He also said that I needed to work on my appearance. Not for self centered reasons but because the reality is that people will judge first on appearance and I shouldn't allow this become a stumbling block to people hearing the heart of what I have to say. Wes explained that if I can work on these things and improve that in a couple of years he would be interested in working with me. This is a massive encouragement to me and positive confirmation that I really could pursue a career as a professional musician, something that I had been seriously questioning for a while. I now feel that I have something to work to. I should explain that I will never be a career or money driven person, my life is committed to following God and loving others, but this has presented a whole new direction and forum for me to be able to do that.

Friday: At 2:30am Lila Kate Charlesworth was brought into the world. I have a little niece, daughter to my brother and it's the coolest thing ever. We went to the hospital and met her. She is so small and so cute. I really hope I can be a good uncle. Both parents and baby are healthy and it is wonderful the two doting parents care for their baby like they are long time naturals.

Sunday: We went to church this morning at St. Andrews. It was good to be at our home church seeing familiar faces. We were even lucky enough to back on the Sunday when some good friends of ours were having their baby baptised. We got up later in the service and shared some of what we had been doing in our time in Ballarat. After the service we had many conversations with friends as there was much to tell and much to catch up on.

Monday - Thursday: I spent most of this time catching up with friends and family, getting the car fixed and attempting to recover from my cold. We have come to realize that in future when we come back we definitely need to allow for two weeks as one week is nowhere enough time to catch up with all the people we want to see.

Sarah has spent most of this time working really hard at her new job. She is still in the mentoring process however it is going really well. Most of the issues she is coming across are specific formatting requirements directly related to the company she is working for. Otherwise it’s mostly computer related issues. It will be great when Sarah can be paid for her work.

We are both exited about getting back on the road and seeing what lies ahead on the journey.

Ballarat part 5

Monday 22 Feb to Sunday 28th Feb

Monday: The start of a new week. Things are rolling along quite nicely. In the morning I gave a guitar lesson to one of the musos from the Delacombe Uniting Church. In the afternoon I met with one of the pastors from York St Church of Christ to discus playing in the service on Sunday. In the evening I got in contact with the family I stayed with in Eden. They are living in Lakes Entrance now and are happy for us to stay with them for a little while. This means that we are definitely going to make Lakes Entrance our next destination. Beyond all this we are simply trying to recover from the camp over the weekend. It was fantastic but very tiring.

Tuesday: I went to do a radio interview this morning at Good News Radio. The interview was conducted by an amazing man named Jonathan Jones. He is both partially blind and deaf, as evidenced by our first meeting where he stood about a foot away from me to see who I was. He serves the radio station diligently and has a book about his journey which I am looking forward to reading. The interview went really well and I even played a few songs live on air.

Later in the day I spent some more time working on the water tank, we can get it to pump water but it still leaks. This has become a major frustration and we have tried a number of things to fix it. Today I got Adrian, who we are staying with to help me with it. We ended up threading a new brass piece with a bigger thread and surrounded even that with silicone. If that doesn't work I don't know what will. We will need to allow the silicone about 24 hours to dry so it will have to wait till tomorrow to see if it worked.

Wednesday: In case you are wondering what Sarah has been doing, she has been working hard at a job interview for a medical transcription company for the last three days. The interview is more like an exam and involves a number of different sections. Sarah must maintain a 95% or higher average. They take accuracy very seriously when dealing with the transcription of people's medical reports. Today Sarah has completed all of the tests and she is feeling confident that she will have passed. They have said it can take up to five business days to find out the results.

In other news for the day: THE TANK WORKS!!! It has finally stopped leaking!! This means that we can finally have running water in the camper. There are still plenty of other things to fix between the camper and the car but this was a big one and it feels great to have finally done it.

We went to Ballarat City Church at night to see more of the seminar "Laugh your way to a better marriage." Again it was very funny and insightful.

Thursday: Up to five business days my foot, Sarah got an email from the medical transcription company already offering her a job! She can start as soon as she has read through the paperwork. From there she will move into a mentored position. This is where she will be typing up real reports however a mentor will check over all of her work. Sarah can also ask her mentor any questions regarding the work. The work is unpaid however and they have said that this process can last between 1 - 3 months. Basically until Sarah's mentor decides that she is ready.

I got up early in the morning had some time of prayer, reflection and bible reading and in the midst of all of this a song began to form in my mind. I instantaneously had a concept, a few lyrics and a melody, however I proceeded to spend the following two hours of intense concentration trying to write all of the lyrics. It did not come easily. I was worried that it was going to be just as hard to put music to... five minutes later I had worked out all of the music. I am very proud of the song and it is the first one of the trip. The song is called "Without Excuse."

Today I bought a new pair of shoes. I'm sure this doesn't sound like much but for me it is a rare occasion. I only buy shoes about once every three years and that is only when my previous pair of shoes is so worn that they are on the verge of falling to pieces. I find that there is only one kind of shoe that is comfortable so I always buy the same ones. The lesson I learned today is that prices go up in the course of three years, significantly. In short the shoes were very expensive but hopefully they will last another three years. There you go you all now know one of the more strange facts about my personality.

Friday: Tonight we had been invited to play at Ballarat Christian Fellowship youth group for their "Godspot." We had a lot of fun watching them play a bunch of different messy, youthy kind of games. We even got included in a couple of the games. I am the "eating a donut off a piece of string without using your hands" king. Later in the night I got up and played for half an hour. It was difficult playing over a bunch of rowdy youth without a microphone or P.A. but I managed. I tried to get everyone into the songs with clapping along and singing along where possible. The reward of a free CD went a long way in holding everyone's attention. Victory Song went down the best. I also told a few stories and spoke some, hopefully, life imparting words. All in all it was a great night.

Saturday: Today I had the privilege of doing a photo shoot with a very talented photographer I have met up here named Buzz. We went mostly around the outskirts of town looking for good locations and we found a few. Unfortunately the weather was not ideal, showers and overcast made for really difficult conditions. Still we managed to get a number of great photos. Buzz will need some time to touch them up on that amazing program called Photoshop, you know, make me skinny and all that. Only kidding. I can't wait to see the end result.

That night Sarah and I went to Delacombe Uniting Church again. We shared some music and some fellowship. It was a good night and a great church, we will miss them lots. I also gave them the piece of artwork I had made from the log we cut off the branch that was overhanging the prayer labyrinth. It was a cross made out of slices of the oak log with three surrounding blocks of wood with "faith hope and love" carved into them and a small dove. They really appreciated it.

Sunday: Today was all about playing at York St Church of Christ, which is one of the biggest churches in Ballarat. It was also the last church I would play at in Ballarat, this time around anyway. I showed up in the morning to the church and they didn't have a bass player or guitarist so I ended up jumping in with the music team and playing guitar with the band for the morning service. Later in the service I got up and played "Hope in You." I spoke a little in the bridge, relating the song to the sermon. We got an excellent response, meeting a number of people after the service and selling a number of CD's. I will never cease to be amazed at the generosity of people towards what we are doing.

We came back for the evening service to play again. Concerned about time, it was a very full service, and being at the end of the service I tried to be much more brief in questions I was asked and I didn't talk throughout the bridge. I have learned a valuable lesson in this, as we didn't receive the same kind of response after that service as we did in the morning. It is so important to convey the heart of what we are doing as that is the thing people will most respond to. The service still went great and we met more people after the service.

Ballarat part 4 (One2one Youth Camp)

Friday 19 Feb - Sunday 21 Feb

One2one Youth Camp

Friday: We showed up at around 6:00pm to One2one Church of Christ to a large group of youth and leaders, most of whom we didn't know at all. Sarah and I packed our bags on the bus and began meeting people and being presented with a sea of names and faces we would hopefully remember by the end of the weekend. We proceeded to the destination on the "2 hour bus trip" (yeah right Nick) and were exited at what lay ahead. The camp site was beautiful and best of all, we got our own room with a personal en suite. Needless to say it still wasn't enough to block out the sound of a group of girls chatting and giggling to all hours of the night.

Saturday: I got up early in the morning to go practice the songs I would play and warm up my voice. After breakfast we did a morning session. I played a bunch of songs and taught everyone "Hope in You". I was surprised how well everyone picked it up and seemed to really enjoy it. After the music Nick did a talk and we broke off into groups. Sarah and I both joined various groups. A wonderful thing generally happens after I play, people tend to open up and become a lot easier to get to know and talk to. This was definitely no exception as we proceeded to get to know both youth and leaders really well from that point on. After lunch we did a variety of activities including flying fox, water slide, canoeing and swimming. We really appreciated a long activity time because it enabled us to engage in a number of really good conversations. That night, after dinner, we did a few more games including a really cool new one for us called Hiaki, which involves running, forgetting peoples names and hiding in trees and ditches. We were then treated to a fantastic band called No Greater Sky, all the way from Nashville Tennessee, USA. When we eventually got to bed we were exhausted.

Sunday: Had to get up early again to warm my very worn out vocal chords. After breakfast we did another morning session and I led the worship for the morning including what had now become an old favorite "Hope in You". After the morning festivities, which mostly involved watching a bunch of teenagers attempt to operate on no sleep, we had lunch, packed up and left for the long journey home. We arrived back for the One2one evening service, which we also really enjoyed. We went home and got some much needed rest.

We had an amazing time on this camp, made some wonderful new friends, both youth and leaders, and were touched by a number of people more than they may ever know. Can't wait for more experiences like this.

Ballarat part 3

Friday 11.2.10 - Thursday 18.2.10

Things in Ballarat are going great. As doors are opening for us to serve and play in a variety of different settings, we are beginning to see why we were called to come here.

Friday: This morning I went to meet with a man named Justin Gall. He is the music director of Kardina Christian Fellowship in Geelong as well as the guitarist from the band "Compliments of Gus". We discussed various aspects of the trip and listened briefly to a couple of songs off the album. Justin encouraged us in what we were doing, particularly in the fact that we were supporting ourselves along the way. After listening to some of the songs, Justin stated that he thought they were good but not up to radio standard. As I left he complimented us on what we are doing exclaiming that he believes it will be a difficult but rewarding road. Also, he recommended that we contact a man named Wes Jay, who helped them (Compliments of Gus) get off the ground. I left the meeting encouraged believing even more that our trip will only succeed if God is behind us and what we are doing.

Saturday: Today we went into the city to explore a little. We found a fairtrade cafe called, "The Bean Barn", which to anyone who knows us, this is a very exiting thing for us. We had guilt free hot chocolate and hedgehog slice. Sarah also took some wonderful photos of Ballarat which we have posted on facebook.
That evening we went to Delacombe Uniting Church. It was a small church of maybe about 15 people. We had previously met the pastor of the church earlier in the week. After explaining who we were and what we were doing he asked if we would like to come and teach some new songs to the congregation. At first it was slightly awkward, not knowing the congregation or the musicians choosing a song was quite difficult. I chose Brooke Fraser's "Soon" to introduce, which didn't go down amazingly well. However I played one of mine, "Fall into God", as an item and people seemed to respond a bit to that. It was difficult either way not to feel like I was some random person trying to impose my way of doing things on this church that didn't know me. After the service people left fairly quickly however we had enough time to find out when the next music rehearsal was on and I asked if I could join in. Everyone was very receptive to us but in such a small church it was fairly obvious that we would need to establish a bit more of a relationship and a foundation before we could have any kind of impact. When we got home we proceeded to plan out what churches we would visit for the remainder of our time at Ballarat.

Sunday: This was the day that God would show us that He had His own plans for us despite what we thought we were going to do.
In the morning we went to York Street Church of Christ. It is apparently the biggest church in Ballarat. We really enjoyed the service and found the teaching to be very profound and confronting (in a good way). After the service they asked if I could play at their 2nd morning and evening services the following fortnight. We were both pretty excited about being asked to play at the biggest church in Ballarat, not to mention a church we had developed a lot of respect for.
That night we went to One2One Church of Christ, another good service. After that service the Youth Pastor asked if I would be able to play at their youth camp the following weekend. This was another really exiting opportunity and another example that we could only plan so much and beyond that we just follow God's lead.

Monday: Sarah's Birthday!!! We spent the day chilling out and having fun, it was great. I took Sarah out for lunch at the Pancake Kitchen. This much must be said, the pancakes were deliciously evil and we were left feeling very bloated. Sarah really enjoyed the day, as did I.

Tuesday: In the morning I went to the music rehearsal for Delacombe Uniting. It was an excellent opportunity to get to know some of the team better and learn more about the church. We made some music together, had coffee and learned some new songs. Also I offered to give one of their musos some guitar lessons. Later that day I got a phone call from someone from Ballarat Christian College. We met up and talked for a bit about what Sarah and I were doing. He asked if I could come and play at the school the following day. It was a bit short notice but fortunately I like to improvise so I figured it wouldn't be a problem.

Wednesday: Today I played at Ballarat Christian College. It was a fantastic experience both teachers and students were friendly from the moment I set foot in the college. I set up and played for 30min for their Chapel service. The song to receive the biggest response of course was my arrangement of "The Climb". All of my originals were also really well received and I gave away a number of CD's. Afterward a number of students came up and chatted. I really enjoyed meeting them all, although I probably shouldn't have been encouraging them to be late to class. One of the students I met was named Steve and he invited me to play at Ballarat Christian Fellowship Youth Group's once a month open night service.


Thursday: In the morning we went down to Bunninyong Uniting Church and helped out with a working bee. The work we did revolved around helping to make a Prayer Labyrinth. The Prayer Labyrinth is a pathway that moves around in circles gradually bringing you into the center. At the center of the labyrinth is a large circle with a cross in the middle. The idea is that you pray as you follow the pathway and at all times you can see the cross at the center. It is designed to create a more meditative style of prayer. It is a very beautiful sight and I would highly recommend anyone in the area check it out, it's visible from the road. We helped out by digging through a dirt mound for rocks and moving those rocks into place in order to create a rock wall on one side of the Labyrinth. In the process of helping I cut a log of oak wood from an overhanging branch that was cut down. It is my intention to see if I can make some kind of artwork from the log for the church to use with the Labyrinth.

Later that day Sarah received her exam results. This was quite a momentous occasion as nearly 12 months of work had gone towards her course and these results would determine whether or not Sarah would be able to get work in the near future. This was obviously a crucial element to our trip and ministry. Sarah needed 85% or higher to pass (no pressure). I am proud to announce that she passed with honors 93% on one section and a staggering 98% on the other section. She was contacted almost immediately by the organization in order to send there congratulations and explain the further steps to acquiring work as a medical transcriptionist. I have to say that Sarah worked extremely hard to make this happen and I am so proud of her!!

The day didn't end there (it was a good day). After much effort and many attempts to fix our water tank we were finally able to get running water in our camper. We were so exited we made little boats in the sink. The tank still leaks a little but it's a big step in the right direction.

Ballarat part 2

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)