May the lectures begin

Hey Guys! I know it has been a while but I am still alive. Things are really picking up here and I am loving every second of it. Everything about this journey is amazing. On Monday my lectures started and I am now adjusting to my new schedule. I guess the easiest way to inform you on what's going on is by talking about each area of my journey so far. 

So I will first start with my living arrangements! On the base there is one student house, one flat, and the base directors house. The student house is where we all eat and have meetings and hang out. There is a toilette room and then a shower room, a kitchen, two living rooms, a large veranda, two offices, and three bedrooms. One of the bedrooms is where I stay. I sleep in a room with two other girls. Although it can be loud some nights and mornings it is really nice to be in a central location where most of the stuff is going on. My roomies are great and we get along really good. They understand my craziness and sometimes join in with me! It also has been an adventure learning to live with nine guys! They live in a dorm style flat right outside the house, but other than sleeping and showering we share the same house. The guys are great and we all seem to get along great. For the most part they are actually really good about cleaning up after themselves and being respectful, so praise God.

Now onto the lectures! Lectures are every weekday in the morning and go until about 1:00ish. The lectures take place at one of the local churches, Eastgate. Most times there will be a speaker that comes in to speak to us. For our first week of lectures we had the pastor of Eastgate speaking. He is so intelligent and has so much knowledge to offer us! He is very energetic and at times can be hard to follow because his mind just works so differently because he is so smart. I wish my brain worked that way sometimes, but then again I guess that is why God called him to be a preacher and not me. The topic for our first week of lectures is theology! So much for easing into the subject matter, this is some heavy stuff but it is great. Basically what they say for lectures and DTS is, you get out of it what you put into it. So if you want to learn a lot and come away with a lot then you will have to put in the effort and not just skim by on everything. I intend to learn boat loads and just soak up the word of God like a sponge!

I will inform you now on what I do when I am not in lectures or sleeping. I wake up and have breakfast and get ready. When we get back from lectures at the church we have lunch. After lunch, depending on the day, we do different things. We may have base development, where we do whatever the base director has asked us to so that we can keep the landlord happy and just help out. Or we may have beach outreach, this is where we go to the beach or I guess somewhere else and play volleyball or soccer and just hang out with other people from the community and create friends and let them know who we are and then they can come to dinner that night at the base if they want to with us. But after that we all come have dinner and then depending on the night we wither have the evening off or something else to do.

But that is pretty much the low-down! I am doing great and God is teaching me so much already and I thank him for bringing me to where I am! I am praying for you all and God Bless!!!! Love you!

Oh and I will try to post more pictures and just let me know via comments if you have any questions and I will try to answer them via email or on my next post.

Finally Settled In

Hello Guys, I am so very sorry that I have not been keeping you updated. It has been a couple of crazy days! The days go buy so slow here, but I guess that is a good thing when you are surrounded by the amazing nature that God has created! Byron Bay is just absolutely amazing!!! The ocean is fantastic, the people are so laid back, and the creatures are one of a kind. Lets see here, I guess I will just try to give you the low down on how things have been going to the best of my ability, a lot has happened.
My trip went well but it was really long, I mean like REALLY long! My stomach was a bit upset about three hours into my five hour layover in Los Angeles and continued on until I got off the plane in Australia. Oh and before I forget, if any of you know Nigel Lythgoe from "So You Think You Can Dance" I sat a few seats away from him in the airport! At about the ten hour mark I was almost out of my seat and on my way to the washroom to throw up, but that didn't happen thankfully. When I got to the airport in Australia I went to pick up my suitcase and hiking backpack at the baggage claim and my hiking backpack ended up not being there :( So we are in rout of trying to find it and it sounds pretty hopeful, but not to worry because I can survive without most of it. When I finally got through customs, two of the YWAM Byron Bay staff members were there to pick us up. They had one of those cool signs that people hold when they are waiting to pick up in a limo, so that made me feel pretty special. So we made our way to Byron Bay and it was so word, I wanted to yell at the guy driving and tell him that he is on the wrong side of the road :) We made it to the base and it is not what I pictured, but it was still very nice. I am staying in a little room with two other girls, Kayla and Marissa. So we are all settled in and have our clothes all laid out in our drawers.
The first day here we had a laid back day because there were people showing up at different times. We had sandwiches and fresh veggies. Mom and Dad you would be so proud, I ate lunch meat Turkey. I decided that it might be all I have to eat so I should try to get comfortable eating it, of course I had a ton of mustard on it. :) But I have been eating so healthy, in the two days that I have been here, but it is great! We just hung out and then had tacos for dinner. My roommates and I went into our room right after dinner to just sit for a second and ended up falling asleep in our jeans at like 6:45, we were very tired.

You might have to zoom in but the koala is in the center of
the screen!

Today was amazing! I got up and had breakfast and played a game of pool and then went and read my bible for a bit. It is so relaxing here and you are literally right smack in the middle of God's country, there is nothing you can do but praise him when you look around you! But after that I went with one of the staff members to go see a koala bear that was hanging in a tree! WOW it was amazing! We came back and had pumpkin soup for lunch and it was pretty good, I also had salad without dressing so I cut up oranges and had natural juice as dressing (see I told you that I was eating healthier) We then loaded up in the van's and headed out to the town of Byron Bay and did a scavenger hunt. We then went to one of the really nice beaches, not that they are not all beautiful. I learned how to surf for the first time!! It was so much fun but it is really hard. Lets just say you have to have really good balance and that is something that I do not have. But I did stand up once and when I did I felt like a true surfer chic :) We then had a cookout at the beach and I had my first piece of kangaroo meat... Yuck!!! Imagine a piece of meat that you have to chew and chew and it never breaks down into smaller pieces and it has a really gamey taste to it. But then again I am really picky when it comes to meat :) I am trying to not be picky, this is very good for me. We then went home and played a couple of rounds of picture telephone. And that brings me to my computer and talking to all of you! Tomorrow I start orientation and at lunch time we are all going hiking to a waterfall. Then Thursday my classes start. I am so excited for classes to start and to learn and soak up all the new and amazing things about God!! I love you all and please remember this would not be possible without you! I love you all!

These are my two roomies, Marissa in Pink and Kayla
in grey!

In his name,
Autumn

This is a true Australian cow pie!

                   

Hello Los Angeles

Hello everyone from Los Angeles, California! Thank you for all of the prayers! Things have gone amazing so far. God has not left my side for one moment and I will share some amazing God stories later!! I have meet up with my friend from Canada that I will be traveling with and we are currently sitting in the LA airport. It is only 8:35PM and at home in Michigan it is 11:35PM, so as you can imagine I am getting a little tired. I am just trying not to sleep because I want to do that on the plane! So I am sorry for the short post but I will put up more pictures and tell you more about my journey when I get adjusted and arrive. Talk to you soon, after my 14 hour flight!

Ready or Not Here I Come

    Hello everyone! Well, I am all packed and have everything that I should need. There are always those little things you forget while you're either walking out the door or sitting in the car, but there is nothing that I can do to prevent that from happening. I guess that is an even better reason for me to completely rely on God's guidance and provision throughout this whole journey! 
   I have been receiving one common question from many, "Are you excited or nervous?" Well, I will be honest with all of you, I am actually quite nervous. As you can probably imagine it can be a little nerve-wracking being 18 years old and traveling across the world to an unknown county without the guidance of your parents. But I guess you could say, "welcome to the real world Autumn". But it has been made very evident to me, in more ways than one, that this is exactly where My Heavenly Father wants me and that it is in his perfect timing that I am embarking on this journey! I know that his spirit will be with me through it all and I can rest in the supernatural peace that he surrounds me with. 
    I wanted to give you guys the low-down on when and where I will be in these next couple of crazy days! Late Friday afternoon, my mom, dad, and I will be heading down to Grand Valley to have dinner with Noah and say goodbye to him. On Saturday we will have lunch with Luke at U of M. Then, with all intentions of trying to avoid the 100,000 U of M football fans on their way to the Big House, my parents and I will head to the Detroit airport. My departure time is 3:25. From Detroit I will fly five hours and arrive in Los Angeles. Lastly, I will leave LA at 11:55 and fly 13 hours to arrive in Brisbane, Australia at 7:00AM. So there you have it, my entire schedule.

    I will try to keep you all as up to date as possible. I will try to let you know when I arrive in LA, but I don't know where I will have internet and where I won't. Please leave comments, I love hearing from you and especially when I am missing home it will be so nice to know that you guys are all following my journey and right there with me.
God Bless,
Autumn