Wow, it always seems like it's been so long in between every post. I suppose that means I'm keeping busy, that sounds better than lazy. This last weekend was heaps of fun (yes, the slang rubs off on you). On sunday morning Graham and I went to church, our first time worshiping in a church building since we've been in Australia. We went with Matt Newman, one of the guys who we've been working with quite a bit here at the base. The church is about a 40 minute drive south from the base and it's a community church. It was nice to be involved in a regular worship service again, although I've really enjoyed our times of worship on monday and thursday mornings. Right after the morning service we went to Matt's dads' house in the city and picked up four kayaks, his friend josie, and headed off toward a river. The plan was to kayak a ways up the river and eventually make it into the ocean and have a little bit of fun in the waves. We made a pit stop before we got to the ocean because it was a windy day and Josie decided to call it quits. We portaged Josie and Grahams' kayaks up the hill to the car park and Matt and I continued, let the fun begin. The waves on sunday afternoon were incredible. They were breaking super far out and even some of the smaller ones were breaking up to my head in the kayak. Needless to say I was tired at the end of the day. That was it for sunday.
Today, being wednesday, Graham and I started the dreadful, yet highly anticpated task, of demolishing the old shed. Alright, so we were only assigned to demolish part of the roof. This building was originally built in 1930 something and one of the only changes was that the tin had been redone once or twice. Oh, and the fact that a giant tree caved in half the roof sometime last year. Our assignment was to strip the tin off the remaining half and remove the rafters, in a safe and orderly manner. Ok, so I'm not sure they specified on the safe and orderly manner part. We managed to strip off most of the tin by noon and figured we'd just laze around until lunch at 12:30, but we decided to get back to work anyway; this is where the fun begins. We were supposed to keep the conventional rafters somewhat in tact so that the lumber could be used for something else. 80 year old conventional rafters aren't typically in great shape to begin with. Alright, I'll just cut to the chase. As we were strategically knocking out supports to slowly let down the rafters Graham managed to step on an old, and cracked, 2x10. This was nearly at the peak of the roof, so his feet were about 16 feet off of the ground when he was dangling there. But, fear not. Graham is a strong young man and managed to pull himself back up to safety. Nonetheless he had quite the scare and was most definitely trembling for a few minutes after the incident. Needless to say this was most definitely our highlight of the work day and the afternoon was not nearly as exciting. Any mothers who may be reading this, be glad you aren't our mothers. Keep fit and have fun, what more can I say?
Prayers and Blessings
Zac
Sep 24, 2008
Sep 17, 2008
Getting into the Swing of Things
It has once again been quite awhile since I've posted. I think sometimes after e-mailing people back and taking some time to relax I dread having to post. It's not that I don't want to keep people updated, it just seems like I have been doing a lot of the same things, although today's job was a little different than the usual.
Today, being wednesday, I had the lovely privilege of mowing some of the grass and doing some trimming. Mowing grass in the hills sucks, a lot. I'm not really sure how to describe, let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable experience I've had here so far. To top it all off, when I was almost done one of the more steep embankments I hit a tiny little rock and it cracked a window on one of the YWAM vans, lucky for me people are fairly forgiving around here. We're almost done the last of the retaining wall with a large stone staircase and we're starting to rebuild an old shed. It seems that we won't run out of anything to do on the base in the three and a half months that we'll be here for.
For those more interested in something else besides work: Graham and I, along with three of the girls from the base, went down to Glenelg on saturday. Glenelg is one of the biggest beaches in South Australia. The drive was about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. The beach goes on for quite a way and the beautiful condos, restaurants, and cafes that run along the sand are a site to see as well. It was quite a windy day and still not too warm so we stayed out of the water, for now. When the warmer weather comes along in December we'll have the opportunity to go surfing, kayaking, and most likely cliff jumping. (Don't tell my mom, but South Australia has a high population of great whites in some areas). Anyway, as I was saying, lot's of amazing opportunities to take advantage of.
Well, seeing as I entitled this post 'getting into the swing of things' I should probably give you an idea of what the schedule is like here at the base. Most days we're up at around 7-7:30. We don't have an alarm clock, so it depends on whether or not the sun wakes us up. We usually start the day off with some PD's (personal devotions) and than header down for breakfast at 8 ish. Breakfast isn't prepared for us so it's usually cereal and toast or something creative like that. So far that's the only part of our schedule that's consistent. Mondays and Thursdays we have prayer and worship meetings and so we only start work after morning tea, which is usually about 11:30. Otherwise we start our work day at 9, with everybody meeting in the sunroom for duty dish out. Lunch is at 12:30 and we start work again at 1:30 ish. Most days we end up working until 5, I guess depending on which jobs we're doing and how urgent they are. Dinner (don't say supper or you'll confuse the crap out of them) is served at six. Graham and I usually end up taking a shower and than playing a few games of ping pong or respond to some of our fan mail. The evenings are something else over here... actually, they're quite boring sometimes. A lot of people end up shutting themselves into their rooms so that they don't feel like they're still at work, but Graham and I have slowly worked some of them out of that routine and convinced them to be social once again. So... if you're ever having a bad night and can't sleep at say, 3:30 in the morning, I'm sure one of us will be on the computer ready to have a nice little chat.
But alas, I must be off for now. It's been a hard days work and my body is telling me it's time to turn in. Again, I appreciate your prayers and encouragement. Keep encouraged in serving Him and I'd love to hear from all of you.
In the name of Christ,
Zachary
Today, being wednesday, I had the lovely privilege of mowing some of the grass and doing some trimming. Mowing grass in the hills sucks, a lot. I'm not really sure how to describe, let's just say it wasn't the most enjoyable experience I've had here so far. To top it all off, when I was almost done one of the more steep embankments I hit a tiny little rock and it cracked a window on one of the YWAM vans, lucky for me people are fairly forgiving around here. We're almost done the last of the retaining wall with a large stone staircase and we're starting to rebuild an old shed. It seems that we won't run out of anything to do on the base in the three and a half months that we'll be here for.
For those more interested in something else besides work: Graham and I, along with three of the girls from the base, went down to Glenelg on saturday. Glenelg is one of the biggest beaches in South Australia. The drive was about 40 minutes, but it was worth it. The beach goes on for quite a way and the beautiful condos, restaurants, and cafes that run along the sand are a site to see as well. It was quite a windy day and still not too warm so we stayed out of the water, for now. When the warmer weather comes along in December we'll have the opportunity to go surfing, kayaking, and most likely cliff jumping. (Don't tell my mom, but South Australia has a high population of great whites in some areas). Anyway, as I was saying, lot's of amazing opportunities to take advantage of.
Well, seeing as I entitled this post 'getting into the swing of things' I should probably give you an idea of what the schedule is like here at the base. Most days we're up at around 7-7:30. We don't have an alarm clock, so it depends on whether or not the sun wakes us up. We usually start the day off with some PD's (personal devotions) and than header down for breakfast at 8 ish. Breakfast isn't prepared for us so it's usually cereal and toast or something creative like that. So far that's the only part of our schedule that's consistent. Mondays and Thursdays we have prayer and worship meetings and so we only start work after morning tea, which is usually about 11:30. Otherwise we start our work day at 9, with everybody meeting in the sunroom for duty dish out. Lunch is at 12:30 and we start work again at 1:30 ish. Most days we end up working until 5, I guess depending on which jobs we're doing and how urgent they are. Dinner (don't say supper or you'll confuse the crap out of them) is served at six. Graham and I usually end up taking a shower and than playing a few games of ping pong or respond to some of our fan mail. The evenings are something else over here... actually, they're quite boring sometimes. A lot of people end up shutting themselves into their rooms so that they don't feel like they're still at work, but Graham and I have slowly worked some of them out of that routine and convinced them to be social once again. So... if you're ever having a bad night and can't sleep at say, 3:30 in the morning, I'm sure one of us will be on the computer ready to have a nice little chat.
But alas, I must be off for now. It's been a hard days work and my body is telling me it's time to turn in. Again, I appreciate your prayers and encouragement. Keep encouraged in serving Him and I'd love to hear from all of you.
In the name of Christ,
Zachary
Sep 12, 2008
New Experiences
Wow, so it's been quite awhile again since I last posted on this blog dealio. Let's see here, that would mean I'm keeping fairly busy. This last week was filled with new experiences, some of which I'll try to share and maybe even re-live for you. So one of the first ones, and probably not a big deal for most of you, was the fact that I had the privelage of driving a right hand drive car. The thing that you have to understand is I was experiencing many new things at the same time. We were hauling backfill for the retaining wall and Matt, whose truck we were using, was in class. Long story short, I drove standard (not new), right hand drive (new), while backing up a trailer (new), beside a steep embankment (not entirely new). That would be only the beginning of new experiences. One that isn't new to Graham and I, but something I thought I'd share anyway, was eating a cricket. Michael, one of our friends on base here, paid us 35 bucks for the two of us to eat a cricket. Being desperate for cash and both having eaten grasshoppers before we did it no problem. The other new experience came this evening during our weekly time of outreach which is done every Friday night. I guess it's not entirely new, but it was my first time going back into the city of Adelaide since we were picked up from the airport a week ago. The city is absolutely beautiful in the evening when all the lights illuminate gorgeous fountains and prestine chapels. Adelaide is a very artistic city and it shows in the design of buildings and the way people present themselves.
I suppose this post officially marks the end of our first week of work here at the YWAM Adelaide base. As we head into the coming weeks we would most definitely appreciate your prayers in the area of not only physical, but spiritual strength. Some days it's hard to stay motivated when you know you aren't getting earthly rewards, but the Lord has promised us so much more than anything we can ever imagine. Let us know how we can pray for you and we will most definitely keep you in mind. God bless all of you; give him free reign over every part of your life and he will blow your mind. Blessings.
I suppose this post officially marks the end of our first week of work here at the YWAM Adelaide base. As we head into the coming weeks we would most definitely appreciate your prayers in the area of not only physical, but spiritual strength. Some days it's hard to stay motivated when you know you aren't getting earthly rewards, but the Lord has promised us so much more than anything we can ever imagine. Let us know how we can pray for you and we will most definitely keep you in mind. God bless all of you; give him free reign over every part of your life and he will blow your mind. Blessings.
Sep 9, 2008
The work begins
My last post was from Sunday sometime. In the off chance that the days are confusing any of you I'm referring to the days as we experience them over here, the time change being fourteen and a half hours; so we're a day ahead. Monday was our first day of work and needless to say we were both quite excited to get started. After sitting on different airplanes for twenty three hours and lounging in different airports for several days we were more than ready to start working. We don't have an alarm in our room because our adapter can't run anything that requires more than 120v, which includes our alarm clock. Luckily for us we have been waking up with the sun at about 6:45, it rises earlier but doesn't make it over the hill until than.
As we learned monday morning, every monday and thursday we meet at 8:30 to find out which cleaning duties have been designated our way. As expected, they gave the new guys bathroom duty. Lucky for us we've both experienced camp cleaning and this really wasn't a stretch. After cleaning duties are done we meet for a time of worship and prayer with all the staff. A lot of our time was spent asking ourselves where has God called us into ministry and more specifically, why presently at YWAM? It was a good time for me to think about my various involvements at home, not only 'where is God calling me?' but to what extent. After worship and prayer we had morning tea, yes, morning tea at about 11:30; than we started work. Our first job designation was to help two other guys here at the base build a large sandstone retaining wall. The base is a nice place but most definitely needs some TLC in places, so this is a good start. Tuesday was followed by more of the same thing but without the meeting and cleaning in the morning. If I could take one thing from home at this point it would have to be a tractor. Manual labor is alright, but moving several tons of soil for backfill with a small trailer and a few minuscule shovels seems a little ludicrous to me.
It is now tuesday evening and in accordance to the previous nights we've spent here in Adelaide, I'm quite tired. Our first two days of work have been quite productive and I'm eagerly looking forward to the other jobs they'll have us do. They just found out today that I'm capable of cooking, so we'll see how far that makes it. As for now I would appreciate your prayers for both health and energy. Graham and I both left the country with colds and the time change has not been a help; it would seem that we are getting better though. Feel free to give us an email or leave a comment if you have any prayer requests of your own. We, as well as others here, are more than willing to remember you in our prayers. God bless all of you in whatever it is He has planned for you. Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. Heaps of love.
As we learned monday morning, every monday and thursday we meet at 8:30 to find out which cleaning duties have been designated our way. As expected, they gave the new guys bathroom duty. Lucky for us we've both experienced camp cleaning and this really wasn't a stretch. After cleaning duties are done we meet for a time of worship and prayer with all the staff. A lot of our time was spent asking ourselves where has God called us into ministry and more specifically, why presently at YWAM? It was a good time for me to think about my various involvements at home, not only 'where is God calling me?' but to what extent. After worship and prayer we had morning tea, yes, morning tea at about 11:30; than we started work. Our first job designation was to help two other guys here at the base build a large sandstone retaining wall. The base is a nice place but most definitely needs some TLC in places, so this is a good start. Tuesday was followed by more of the same thing but without the meeting and cleaning in the morning. If I could take one thing from home at this point it would have to be a tractor. Manual labor is alright, but moving several tons of soil for backfill with a small trailer and a few minuscule shovels seems a little ludicrous to me.
It is now tuesday evening and in accordance to the previous nights we've spent here in Adelaide, I'm quite tired. Our first two days of work have been quite productive and I'm eagerly looking forward to the other jobs they'll have us do. They just found out today that I'm capable of cooking, so we'll see how far that makes it. As for now I would appreciate your prayers for both health and energy. Graham and I both left the country with colds and the time change has not been a help; it would seem that we are getting better though. Feel free to give us an email or leave a comment if you have any prayer requests of your own. We, as well as others here, are more than willing to remember you in our prayers. God bless all of you in whatever it is He has planned for you. Thanks so much for your continued prayers and encouragement. Heaps of love.
Sep 7, 2008
Moving In
Here I am, in Adelaide Australia. Graham and I left on Sep. 3rd and arrived here on the 5th, so apparently Thursday just flew right on by without us knowing. It was Friday just before lunch when our plane landed and we cleared Australian customs without any major problems. The actual act of moving into our dorm style room didn't take too long and we spent more time getting to know the base and taking in the scenery.
The base here in Adelaide is located about ten minutes into 'the hills' from the edge of the city. The beach is actually through the city and a little further away than we anticipated, but it's still the end of winter here and beach season doesn't begin until October. Australian winters are another peculiar thing because today was probably the coldest day we had at 12 degrees or so with rain all day. Around Christmas time it gets up to 40 degrees and really dry, so we'll see how Christmas without any snow goes. The scenery is beautiful as we expected and there are some very large trees and some good sized cliffs. Looking out of our dorm room from the balcony you can see a vineyard next door, huge trees with cockatoos in them (which are very loud by the way), and large rolling hills with narrow roads winding through them. Nearby is a national park which we will check out sometime in the next little while if we don't see any kangaroos or koalas near the base. Another thing we're planning on checking out are the waterfalls; within a half hour hike are three different water falls. I'm not sure how big they are but they sound beautiful. I'm attempting to paint a picture of how things look because our computers are incredibly slow and it doesn't look like we'll be uploading any pictures to facebook anytime soon. Sorry.
As to our positions here as missions builders the work has not yet begun. We start tomorrow (monday) and are more than likely going to be doing some outdoor maintenance and upkeep of the property. The building is quite old and needs some attention. The driveway is also a force to be reckoned with but Australia doesn't have tractors 'o' plenty like manitoba, so we'll see if we decide to tackle that project while we're here. We may also be involved in kitchen duties as well, they found out that I cook and so I may not have a choice. During the weekend we're required to cook for ourselves and so that has been nice because I haven't had the opportunity to cook much since spring. You'll notice I haven't talked about people much, the weekends are fairly dead and we've only met a few people so far. The ones that we've had the pleasure of meeting have all been really nice and we look forward to meeting the rest come monday morning.
That's about everything I can think of for now, feel free to ask comments, leave questions; however that goes. You know what I mean. G'day for now.
The base here in Adelaide is located about ten minutes into 'the hills' from the edge of the city. The beach is actually through the city and a little further away than we anticipated, but it's still the end of winter here and beach season doesn't begin until October. Australian winters are another peculiar thing because today was probably the coldest day we had at 12 degrees or so with rain all day. Around Christmas time it gets up to 40 degrees and really dry, so we'll see how Christmas without any snow goes. The scenery is beautiful as we expected and there are some very large trees and some good sized cliffs. Looking out of our dorm room from the balcony you can see a vineyard next door, huge trees with cockatoos in them (which are very loud by the way), and large rolling hills with narrow roads winding through them. Nearby is a national park which we will check out sometime in the next little while if we don't see any kangaroos or koalas near the base. Another thing we're planning on checking out are the waterfalls; within a half hour hike are three different water falls. I'm not sure how big they are but they sound beautiful. I'm attempting to paint a picture of how things look because our computers are incredibly slow and it doesn't look like we'll be uploading any pictures to facebook anytime soon. Sorry.
As to our positions here as missions builders the work has not yet begun. We start tomorrow (monday) and are more than likely going to be doing some outdoor maintenance and upkeep of the property. The building is quite old and needs some attention. The driveway is also a force to be reckoned with but Australia doesn't have tractors 'o' plenty like manitoba, so we'll see if we decide to tackle that project while we're here. We may also be involved in kitchen duties as well, they found out that I cook and so I may not have a choice. During the weekend we're required to cook for ourselves and so that has been nice because I haven't had the opportunity to cook much since spring. You'll notice I haven't talked about people much, the weekends are fairly dead and we've only met a few people so far. The ones that we've had the pleasure of meeting have all been really nice and we look forward to meeting the rest come monday morning.
That's about everything I can think of for now, feel free to ask comments, leave questions; however that goes. You know what I mean. G'day for now.
Sep 3, 2008
So, here I am at home, a day before I leave to Australia. I should probably be packing right now, but how much could one actually need to pack for six months? So I'm a bit of a blogging umm.... how do you say it? Beginner? Yeah, we'll go with that. I'm pretty excited about going to Australia but I'm feeling pretty sick right now, so If you happen to think of me while I'm traveling your prayers would be much appreciated. Also, thanks to all the people who have already been supporting me both prayerfully and financially; it's encouraging to know that people are praying for you. I'll be back before you know it, until than.. Cheers.
To God be the Glory
To God be the Glory
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