The Final Countdown!

Yes, you counted right! 8 days til I'm out of here!

I know there are several of you who are wondering what I'm going to be doing "down under". From what I read, I will be very busy and me being a "Type A" kinda person loves hearing this. I will live with 2 different families just to save me traveling time and money. Adelaide is a rather large city so I will be using the busing systems for transportation. I'm not excellent at navigating so this should be interesting to say the least. There are 6 different organizations/churches that I'll be working with this summer which are all a part of the GO Christian Network. This was kind of difficult for me to understand so lets see if I can word it so y'all aren't too confused. In Australia they have problems keeping churches running therefore main will turn into night clubs or bars. The GO Christian Network is an association of churches and programs that keeps God's word flowing throughout Adelaide. To break that down even more for ya, it's like a family. The parents raise the children to be able to function and be independent right? Well, the GOCN are the parents who are nurturing the smaller or newly planted churches to run on their own. Still confused?..well too bad. =) Now on to the 6 projects that are set out for me this summer (winter):

1. Glen Osmond Baptist Church- This is the church I will be attending most of my stay in Adelaide. I'm not 100% sure of my schedule and where I'll be on what days during the week. The pastor did inform me that I will help out at Glen Osmond as if I were a staffer. In other words: coffee runs, making copies, and anything else to help out around the church.

2. Strewth! Youth- This is a program for the youth of Glen Osmond to come and hang out on Friday nights. I related this event in my mind to 5Th Quarter at Wynne Baptist. Strewth! was designed to keep the teens off the streets and out of the bars. Yes, you read that right! The legal drinking age in Aussie is 18 so teen drinking is a huge problem and that's what Strewth! is trying to avoid.

3. Spark kids- Spark kids is also held on Fridays at Glen Osmond. This program surrounds the Adelaide kids with tons of fun things to do. Here they do crafts, eat, sing, dance, and are presented a message about God's love for them.

4. Soul Food coffee shop- Since coffee is such a popular drink in Australia (praise God), GoCN opened a coffee shop to help them really reach the community. I will be working here 1-2 days out of the week. When I'm not working here, I'll be participating in 2 different small groups that meet at Soul Food. One is for families on Sunday evenings and the other is "Girls Only" which is held on Wednesday nights.

5. War Vets Church- I was told I wouldn't get to visit this church too often but I should be able to meet the church members a few times. This church is constructed of elderly, war veterans who live in the War Veterans Home in Adelaide. I love war stuff and older people tell the best stories so I'm pretty excited about this one!!

6. Adelaide Korean Baptist Church- Koreans take up a large amount of Australia's population. The GoCN planted a church so that they too could come together. Not that Koreans aren't welcomed in the other churches, it's just at AKBC they are able to hear the word spoken in their native language. Just like the War Vets church, I wont get too much time with these members but there will be a couple of visits.

All this information and pictures can be found on the Go Christian Network's website:
http://go.asn.au/

One of the ladies I'm staying with told me that even though I don't have a partner to work with me, I wont be alone. In the "Girls Only" group, there are a few new Christians whom are around my age so a lot of mentoring will take place. I will also be interacting with several Aborigines people and sharing God's love with them.

Although I just dished out all this information and details, I truly have no clue what this summer holds. I'm not really nervous anymore...more anxious. I was really challenged by a message that Kirk Owens gave last Sunday night about his journey on the mission field. Not just challenged but also encouraged to not lose my focus and my mission for why I'm alive.

Well, that's all for now! Smell ya later!
-Kristy