My First Australian Beach

Since most of my school arrived a few days before the program began, on Sunday afternoon we decided to take a little beach trip. We all gathered into one of the bases buses and headed to the closest beach out of Perth. When we first arrived there i was immediately aw-stricken. I had been out of the country before, to places like Hawaii and the Caribbean but the water here was a different color, a very unique color. I found it so beautiful. Nothing like the rocky shores of Northern California, which you can't really compare they are so unlike each other. 

Our group is an interesting bunch of people, the funniest thing was when first stepped foot onto the sand, instead of running straight to the water line, everyone pulled out their DSLRs and were snapping shots of everything. I feel at home being around a bunch weridos like that. That afternoon we spent chatting about details of our home and getting to know where we stand in our walk. I will share more about my group and where they are all from very soon. Unlike other schools here there are a high number of American's so that has made my feel at home a bit faster than others. For the rest of the evening we cooked some hot dogs got to know each other. All talking about what we think its going to be like the next 6 months.

My new friend Elijah!

Most of my class and leaders

one of my school leader's little girl, so cute!

Nations!

One of the base leaders giving an orientation about or entire group. 30+ nations!!!

Monday was the first organized day of our school. All of the DTSs and staff got together for breakfast and than immersed into over an hour of worship, it was a beautiful sight to see so many people from all over the world completely excited and joyful. No one needed to speak the same language to understand the emotions going on in the room. The picture above is one of the base leaders here named Ari (I will come back and fix that spelling if its wrong haha so many names to remember!) Everyone shouted out their home countries and he wrote it down. We ended up with 30 different nations on the board! It is incredible that there are so many people from all over the world and from ages of about 17-50+. There are also even complete families with kids. It is rocking my world to see such a variety of individuals all in the same pursuit.

Over half the day was spent gathered as an entire base getting to know one another and creating family and than we split apart with our schools individually and had some intimate time with our smaller group who I will spending classes with and the outreach. It felt great to have everyone finally here and to start diving into the new adventure.

...

Matthew 14:22-32

"...22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

....

This was the scripture for the day. Remember in the hard times and in the middle of the storm to look towards Him and be strong and courageous. He will always grab your hand and pull you through if you are sinking.

BE FEARLESS!

Cali - Auckland - Perth

Hey there! Welcome to the first official update of this incredible adventure!

Let me tell you how my travels went! Marissa and I left our families at the San Francisco airport on Wednesday April 2nd. Our first flight was just over 12 hours long!! It went from SF all the way to Auckland, New Zealand. This was by the far the longest flight that I have ever been on, so I had no idea how it was going to be. The unfortunate thing that happened was about an hour into the flight I developed some bad cold symptoms; a massive headache, runny nose, sneezing, itchy watery eyes, etc. So it made the trip feel even longer. Despite that we were fed all sorts of delicious foods which was exciting and were able to watch all sorts of movies on our personal television screens!

We arrived in Auckland at about 5:00am on April 4th. April 3rd pretty much disappeared. Our layover was 9 hours long so we decided to leave the airport. we just spent a couple dollars and took the shortest bus route to try and see some scenery. It was cool to briefly see some of the way of life there, but we ended up going right back to the airport because I began to feel really sick. I ended up just falling asleep on a couch in the terminal. We left there for our next flight to Perth which was only 6 hours. That one felt like nothing compared to the first one. 

It was just before 5:00pm when we landed in Perth. We got our bags and there was a staff member from the base waiting to pick us up, along with some other students that had just flown in. We proceeded to the base and dropped Marissa off to be taken to the house that she will be living in with a few other women. I went with the group to my housing area. That night felt like a dream, riding in the front seat of car that was driving on the "wrong" side of the road, meeting a bunch of new people from a variety of countries, and than finally passing out in an unfamiliar bed.

The Saturday was just spent learning about the base and being shown where things are and resting because I was still getting over my sickness. which I am finally feeling better. I have met SO MANY new people that it has been hard to remember all the names! Sunday is the first official meeting of my school and the beginning of the process. I cannot wait to share what goes on and what the Lord is doing in my life at this base. I can't wait to grow and experience His power. Their are still things that I fear and so much unknown. I am trusting that God will provide the rest of what I need to make this whole process follow through. I am so thankful for everyone that supported me through prayers, through finances, and through love. It is all such a blessing. I am ready for God's hands to shape my life.

Here is some photos that I got along the way! I didn't have my camera with me as much as I wanted because I was sick and was resting a lot. This is what I was able to capture so far! Enjoy!