I GOT TO DRIVE IN AUSTRALIA!!!!! ARGH!!!!!

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So yer as you can see by the title this weekend has been tres exciting! I went on a roadtrip to a friend's house who lives 3 hours south from Perth in a place called Busselton. We left after the mammoth application which we had on friday (which I'll discuss later) at around 11:30ish. We took 2 cars and there were 4 IPHC (Introduction to Primary Health Care) and 6 YPs (Young Persons DTS - what I'm doing right now) and it was just so EXCITING to leave the base for a bit. I was so kiddy. It was like being a little kid again. On the way down we had a little window situation...i possibly broke the window i was sitting next too. It was an electric window and when i tried to put it up because i couldn't hear anything (because of the wind rushing past) and because it was kind of cold all it would do was jerk around and make a really scary noise, so after trying to fix it i gave up and had to sit there, being freaked out occasionally because it would just randomly start to jerk around and make horrible noises. Eventually we managed to pull the window up high enough for it to just stay there but every time i shut the door or if we braked suddenly it would come down and freak out. It was pretty hilarious and definitely added something unique to the trip down!
We also had an hour of prayer on the way down as YP does the friday night/sat morning on the base prayer chain so as a car we prayed for the base which was pretty cool.

We arrived at the house at like 3:30 and were all pretty shattered. Slept pretty much as soon as i hit the pillow and woke up to Beck's (the friend's house who we stayed at) mum making pancakes for us! Was soooo nice to have a cooked breakfast. Then we began our epic saturday! We went to the longest jetty (pier) in the Southern Hemisphere which was very long. We swam out and climbed up so we didn't have to pay (don't worry...i'm pretty sure that wasn't illegal) and then walked down it and some jumped in. I tried for like 20 minutes to try and force myself to jump in but i just couldn't get over my rational mind/'common sense' thinking and fear but it's all good. Then we went back to the house and had chip butties. It was pretty entertaining watching all the non-australians/non-english as they were just completely confused by the whole concept and were very cautious about it. It was so nice to have some food which symbolizes home tho!
Next we drove to another beach so some people could try to surf and this is when something truly epic happened...I DROVE AN AUTOMATIC CAR IN AUSTRALIA. Yes that's right...i drove my first ever automatic car in Australia. BEAUTIFUL. Firstly automatic cars really aren't something you drive...very little effort is required! Secondly the views that I got to drive past were just phenomenal. Argh it was soooooo good. There are no words to describe it. The beach its self is the cleanest beach I have ever seen. It was pretty much deserted and the sea was SO blue. Seriously....so so beautiful. I didn't surf as I was feeling very unco-ordinated and I got lost just walking down to the beach (took me a long time to scramble down a stony bank and lost track of where everyone was so spent a while just wandering and someone had to come and find me) so i wasn't really feeling very confident in my ability to balance on water....but the beach was SOOOOO beautiful I didn't care...was nice just sitting and looking at it.
After this we visited another beach, a bridge over some rocks and then drove back via the scenic route. IT WAS SOOOO BEAUTIFUL. Seriously guys...if you've never thought of going to Australia, just go because of the beauty. It is so beautiful.
When we got back the family held a BBQ (good old Australians!) in honour of their daughter visiting and us coming down which was so sweet. It was so nice to eat home cooked food and hang out with people in a home setting. Argh it was so nice. There are no words to describe how nice it was and how much we all appreciated it. If any of you guys know a person in a Missionary organization/working for a voluntary organization please invite them around to you house/treat them in some way! It really will make their week/month/year!

On Sunday we held our own church service on her roof (as you do)...bit of worship, i gave a testimony and then another person talked about a bit of the bible. It wasn't really fun getting up and down (hate ladders) but it was pretty cool doing it!
For lunch we went for a picnic with her family and then we went round to one of her friend's house who made us all ice-cream which was the BEST ice-cream i've ever tasted which is saying a lot coming from me (massive ice-cream fan) and she even gave me some money for outreach which was really really sweet considering we don't even know each other! Was very much appreciated!
Then...another epic thing happened...I DROVE A MANUAL CAR FOR THE FIRST TIME IN AUSTRALIA FOR OVER ONE HOUR. It was a special time. I drove half the way home. I was a little offended when people decided to pray for their safety when i got in the drivers seat but it's all good, my driving can be shocking a lot of the time! I did lose the person i was following though because i didn't want to break the speed limit so i was guessing where to go for a lot of the time which kind of took the enjoyment out of it but it was still cool! I DROVE IN AUSTRALIA TWICE!!!! If i had a list of things to do before I die i think i would have crossed something off right then and there!

Anyhoo that's enough about the weekend! The topic for last week was 'Father Heart of God' which I had been looking forward to for pretty much the whole DTS. The speaker was from Newcastle, Australia and if you've ever met someone from that part of Australia you'd know how difficult it is to understand a word they are saying. All the ESL (English as a Second Language) were just lost for the entire week and all the non-australians were lost for big chunks of what he was trying to say but what we did understand was really inspiring and encouraging.
I think the parts which I got the most from were from the last 2 days of the week. On thursday he asked us to write down when God had shown parts of His character supernaturally and through other people/situations which is something which i've never really sat down to do. It was so encouraging to hear other people talk about how God had shown parts of His Father Heart to them through their parents/leaders/role models or in situations where they really struggled etc. It also really forced me to look for positives in my life and God really changed the attitude I had towards my own dad on that day too. Which is something which I really needed and something which has brought healing which will continue to really grow and develop as I live in the truth that God has revealed in me.
The application was basically us standing up and talking about things which God has shown us a being obstacles from understanding who God is as Father including past hurts and struggles with peers, parents, relationships, friendships and tough situations we've gone through which have tainted how we see God. God really showed me how I have carried around soooooooo many negative situations which I have faced and so many negative perceptions in my life that it has just completely altered how I look at the world and how I process what happens to me. I used to think that I have a really bad memory but now I've realised that I have such a bad memory for all the good things that have happened/things that people have said/good things in my life and a really good memory for destructive things and things that really taint my thinking on a daily basis. God also showed me how intense my fear of failure was and how this led on to a fear of rejection...when I fail at something I immediately think that people will think of less of me and they will reject me in some way. The speaker talked to us individually about things and then we prayed and the class wrote out encouragements for people which was so nice. I did actually feel like after the application I had stepped up a level in my understanding of God as a Father and as my own life and how there are things which are daily affecting how I see God and see what I go through.
A lot has been learnt even though we couldn't really track what he was saying most of the time! Definitely one of the best weeks for teaching! Loved it!

So yer i think that will have to do for my blog as it's turning out to be another epic essay!
Just a little encouragement for those who like to hear about my finances. I now have over $3000 in my outreach account! It is just so fantastic! So many people have supported me in various different amounts and I am so thankful! For all those who have supported me thank you so much and for those who have offered to pray/hold me in their thoughts I greatly appreciate it!
There is still $2639 to go and since there is less than 2 weeks to go before outreach is scheduled there is some talk about the people who still need finances (about 15/60) having alternative plans made to accommodate the amount of money they've seen in, so there is a possibility that I will be going to Indonesia and Australia instead of Cape Town, Milan and Australia but we'll have to see. No definitely decisions have been made yet and we are all most definitely trusting that God will provide for us whether this is through crazy and miraculous ways or whether it is through people supporting us (although that is still a crazy and miraculous way considering attitudes on money going around at the moment, especially regarding the recession!). So prayer would be greatly appreciated right now as although Indonesia would be pretty cool, my heart is with the team which I was initially assigned to and I would really love to go with them like I believe God told me to all those weeks ago!

Thanks for reading the pretty epic blog! I really appreciate the time you take out of your day to keep up with what I'm doing and I just really enjoy keeping you all updated via the blog! My mood has already improved soooooo much since writing this! Hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Love and blessings to you all!
Rachel

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