Sunny Australia

It’s my fourth day Down Under today. Yesterday we went to church not too far from where I’m staying. The church here is next to the Adventist primary school and college. It’s a beautiful sight. Off course I forgot to take a picture of it, but I might visit there again later. Seventh-day Adventists pretty much have the same format for their services all over the world. We start with singing (and when I say “we” I really mean “they” because I was a little bit late for church, ok more than a bit since I missed all the singing prior to the Sabbath school discussion). Then the church will split up into different groups and we’ll have a bible study. I was in the group with the youth, I think there were about 15 of us. We had an interesting discussion trying to answer the question of what freedom really means, and if doing everything you like without asking the question whether or not what you’re doing is right will allow you to still have freedom since making unwise decisions will leave you with binding consequences.*

The sermon was good, the people were friendly, church was nice. For Sabbath lunch tetka Maria had some friends over; a Chilean family of four plus their daughter’s boyfriend. Lunch was marvelous, I’m going to have to write some of those recipes down!
Anyone who’s ever been to my mum’s house in June or July times will know about the cherries in my mum’s region. They are huge and delicious. Tetka Maria was at mum’s farm this last June so she knows about the cherries. As she was serving us with smaller, not as delicious but still quite tasty cherries, she shared with her Chilean guests her cherry experience in The Netherlands. To which the dad of the family responded that the cherries in Chili are so big they call them pigeon hearts. Now I always thought that pigeon hearts were small, but then he explained to me that the pigeons he was talking about were really big. He showed me with his hands how big they are and it seems that Chilean pigeons are as big as hares. So beware if you go to Chili, the pigeons there are big enough to eat you.. He invited me to come to Chili so that he can prove to me that the Chilean cherries are bigger and better. So Ines.. Nolan and I are going to Chili for Christmas next year :)

Is there anybody else who, when thinking of summer in Australia, gets vivid images of whole forests burning to the ground and Australians evacuating their homes to be safe from the flames? Or maybe you’ve heard that Australians can only take two minute showers because they desperately need the water since their country is so hot and dry?
I’ve heard that. That was part of my reason for coming here (the hotness, not the dryness). To see the sun and be burned by it is quite high on my to do list. Apparently usually that’s not a problem at all in an Australian summer, but now it is. About two hours ago the sun was shining so much that I fled inside where the air-conditioning was. As I look outside now the sky is different shades of grey. It just stopped raining, and I no longer hear any thunder either but apparently we can expect some more showers tonight as well as tomorrow.


Mireya left today. She took her daughter and a sister (so she left me one sister (Melody), a brother (Mervyn) and a mum (tetka Maria), she’s got two, I’ve got three, fair enough I guess). I’ll miss little Aria, she’s such a fun and beautiful baby. We took a picture together before we left. I’ll see if I can figure out how to post it on here.

We ( Melody, Mervyn, Marko (friend of Mervyn) and myself) are going on a road trip in about a week and half. We’ll start in Darwin and then drive down to Brisbane. We’ve still got some shopping to do for that so that’s what’s on our to do list for today. Mervyn had an interesting suggestion about the type of tents we could buy. I’ll ask him what it was called when he wakes up, but it basically entailed a net like tent construction that enables you to see the stars as you lie in your bed, which is great. I was just a little bit concerned about what could see me as I’m trying to sleep, and if maybe some non vegetarian animal would be more inclined to see me as their potential dinner on a silver platter. Such an incident would especially be problematic because I promised Charlene I wouldn't get eaten by anything here in Aussieland. I’ll have to see what this thing looks like in the shop because right now I’m a little bit freaked out by the thought.

To be continued..







* We answered the question with “no”, reasoning that freedom is best enjoyed when you love others like yourself, which means you will refrain from actions that will harm others. Christ lived for others, and laid down his life for others, and is in heaven now still living for others so that they could be free. Now we as Christians should do the same, because we claim to understand that life is not (just) about ourselves, but that life becomes interesting when we’re not self centered, but have the best interest of others in mind.