"Good On Ya, Mate"

Oh please forgive me for not updating as much as I should! I stay busy so by the time I'm at home there is no motivation in me to blog.

So with a cup of warm Milo (Australian hot cocoa), I will attempt to bring everyone up to date on my life in Adelaide.

On Mondays I work at Glen Osmond Baptist church as an assistant to the Children's minister. What an experience this has been for me! Never in million years would I see myself helping in children's ministry other than Cubbis at WBC. I look back now and realized that I limited myself and how God could use me. My heart is overflowing with love for working with kids and helping them learn about our wonderful Creator. Also on Mondays clean up the Chapel and set up for Playgroups in the youth room. Mondays are the days I usually tell myself that I'm going to blog but I always find something else to do. =)

On Tuesdays I head to Glen Osmond Baptist church at 9 a.m. for Playgroups. My role here is now to take over Karen Ray's job (the IMB mobilizer for the Oz students) since that family is now in Arkansas celebrating the birth of a grand-daughter. Here I cut up fruit and serve morning tea to the mothers and their kids. I'm the one behind the scenes so the ladies can fellowship. Something new to my Tuesdays and Thursdays is the fact that I'm now helping out at West Care. West Care is a Baptist based facility that serves lunch to homeless people. I originally had Thursdays off but since I don't have a partner, there was nothing to do on my days off. God laid on my heart a strong passion to love on homeless or less fortunate people. I expressed this feeling to the amazing Andrew Turner (pastor of Glen Osmond) and he connected me with West Care. I've been going to W.C. for about 4 weeks now and words can't describe how much this place has changed my heart. The staff was so welcoming and I had an instant connection with them. The kind of connection to where we make fun of each other and joke around all the time. Some days they don't need me in the kitchen and I take this as a blessing b/c then I'm given the opportunity to mingle with the people.
My first day there I met this older man named Walter but he told me to call him "Uncle Wally". He was sitting with another lady and I approached them with an ice cream bar. The lady didn't like Americans so she soon left. It was a good thing she did b/c I was able to sit down and chat with Walter. We talked about his family and his faith. He is a very passionate man but some of his beliefs didn't line up to what the Bible says. He kept saying that he was the "mighty one" and I would explain how that's correct but it's when we die that we will reign with God forever. We developed a strong relationship over one sitting. Even before he left, he came up and gave me a hug. What a sweet man. He kisses my hand every time I run into him now at West Care.
My second time there I walked into the kitchen and they threw me on "grill duty". I was in charge of flipping the pork chops and steaks. This was a fun day b/c all the staffers would make comments like "Oh great, the American is going to burn all the meat" and so on. I wasn't able to get out and talk to anyone this day but some days I feel like I'm needed more as a servant to the staff. Each day has a different mission for me and I want the staff to see Christ through my actions and not to see that I'm just using them to talk to the people who eat there. It's a balance that needs to be taken carefully b/c I don't want to mess up my witness there and Glen Osmond's reputation.
Another cool story from West Care:
I was walking down the street about to turn into the West Care parking lot when I just stopped. I realized my head wasn't right and that I wasn't focused on my true purpose of serving at West Care. I stopped on the sidewalk and listened to Jon Foreman's "Your Love Is Strong" on my iPod. In one part of the song it talked about the birds singing a melody and that they were never out of tune. Well at that moment, the birds were super loud..like louder than usual b/c my music covers them up most of the time. Then the song said something about flower and I looked to my right and there was a beautiful bush of flowers. The song reminded me of God's faithfulness and how His love is strong. It shook me and helped me see that these people need to see and hear about this amazingly awesome God that I serve. Going in and finding out I wasn't needed saddened my "spiritual high" until I sat down and started talking to a less fortunate lady named Beverly. She was such a beautiful lady and she would call me "love" after everything she said. I didn't really know what to say to get her talking but God directed my words (thank goodness b/c I can't do it on my own). We talked about her family, her husband's cooking, and her daughter suffering the death of her husband. It was such a God thing b/c earlier at Glen Os. Bap. a lady from the church invited me to a pampering for mothers. She asked me to come just to talk with some of the ladies but I took this as an opportunity to invite Beverly and her daughter. She rejected the invite and told me how Kathy (her daughter) needed to recover on her own. I didn't understand but shortly after that she needed to leave so the conversation wasn't as deep. It's like once I mentioned "God" then walls were built and she didn't want to hear what I had to say. When we went our separate ways I got to thinking about how I should have prayed with her. I was walking out of West Care on my way to the bus stop and low and behold, there was Beverly. We had a 30 second conversation about my apple that I was eating and then I was able to share with her how I'd be praying for her and her daughter. It was a rocky conversation but it happen to be a wonderful base built to a relationship. I've seen her a couple more times and now we are able to pick up where we left off. Cool huh?

Mercy, I could go on and on about different things that have happened at West Care but I don't think my fingers would enjoy typing it all. OH! One last short story!
Yesterday I was being "radically intentional" about having conversations with some of the people at W.C. and building new relationships. Something I'm super thankful for is my country accent b/c it's a foot in the doorway to HEAPS of conversations!!! So yesterday, I got to meet 2 older men and have about a 10 minute conversation with one and about a 20ish minute conversation with the other. The 2nd guy I talked to kept saying things like "when I go to Heaven" and different comments like that which made it easy to slip God's name in the conversations. I asked him if he thought everyone was going to go to Heaven and his answer was very sketchy. He curved the topic from Heaven to rich people being so heartless. Right after he answered I was about to twist it back to God and insert the gospel into the conversation. At this moment, a West Care worker turned out the lights and told everyone to leave b/c he was going to start cleaning up. The guy jumped up, said a quick goodbye, we exchanged names (had a 20 minute convo and didn't know each other's name..pretty funny), then he was out of there. I was super bummed b/c my adrenaline was pumping and I was so ready to share with him the truth about Christ...then it was cut off before I could get a word out. I'm praying that guy will show up again and we will be able to jump right into it again. I was willing to continue the conversation outside but it wouldn't have been as personal as it was in the dining room.

That's all for now! In about a hour I'll be headed to a BBQ (praise God) at West Care. I'm super excited b/c it's in the park lands and we will be playing cricket, eating, and fellowshipping with everyone.

I'm also sooo thankful for the awesome "Soul fooders" that join me in this West Care adventure. Ella Duncan comes with me on Thursdays to help out and she is such a hardcore servant. The girl works her little heart out in the kitchen!! It's funny b/c she has such a strong Aussie accent but since she is with "the American" people think she is from America. It's so funny. Abi and Kate will randomly join me on Tuesdays but as of right now, I go alone on those days.

Please pray for this ministry and the people that visit West Care.