These guys are my new heroes!

Watch all the way to the end...

apparently uni students are sophisticated?

Yep, pretty sophisticated - me, Hannah, Tam-ster, Tom and Jeremy (ooh, boys in a girls school! What chick-magnets!)

So last Friday was pretty awesome.

Tamie did a talk in the chapel service at Saints Girls a few months back, and Catie (the chaplain - she was on the pilgrimage last year too!) asked her to come back to talk with the year 11's for an hour about what EU does. An hour! About what EU does! What does EU do? Tells people about the gospel on campus! So what could we do? Tell them about the gospel!

So Tamie got a few of us along with her to help her out, in what was a pretty jam-packed hour. We got into smaller groups and brainstormed what came to mind when they thought of uni -unibar was pretty high up there, and surprisingly in my group things like 'sophistication' and 'maturity' were considered seriously, teehee. It was also pretty funny, each group had to report back on the top couple of things, and one girl, instead of saying 'co-ed' accidentally said 'uni-sex', which was followed by much uproarous giggling.

But anyway, as well as talking about the things we do (like Tom (el presidente) talked about what EU is, & I talked about Commencement Camp), Tamie worked it so that we could use talking about those things as a neat segue into talking about the gospel.

Hannah, in talking about FAT (Fellowship and Training) did the Two Ways to Live outline (what an opportunity!!), and then each small group got the 6 pics and raced against each other to put them in the right order and explain it.

From there Jeremy talked about Jesus Week - and the whole theme of 'Has God Failed' - and in typical Jeremy style was pretty up front with asking them 'do you think God's failed?'.

This is where the best bit came - we then, in our small groups, opened that topic up for discussion. We were prepared for what to do if our girls didn't talk, but it was the opposite! From talking about which 'has God failed' issue resonated most with them (poverty, injustice, natural disasters, too many faiths, and one dead Messiah) a whole host of issues and questions came up, and they were so open to talking. In about ten minutes I think my group talked about poverty, God's responsibility, predestination, the authority of the Bible, God sending Jesus to die as 'cosmic child abuse' - so many things, and so little time! Having the 2WTL pictures there really helped as having something to keep referring back to. It was fantastic to see that hunger as opposed to apathy. Please pray that they'd keep looking for answers!!

It was a fantastic opportunity that I really enjoyed - but more so I'm glad that God works even through our bumbling words!

Go team!

here in this place

WOOHOO, uni stuff done, finito for the year - exams are done (quality questionable, but they're done), and last essay handed in on Monday. Yesss. All the best to everyone who's not quite finished yet -almost done! Hang out for walking out of your last exam/handing up your last assignment.

Although I keep having this strange fear that there'll be some big essay or exam that I haven't realised I had and not do/hand it in ... A little paranoid, Woody Allen-esq? I think it's stemming from when I slept through my alarm for work a couple of weeks ago and woke up a half hour after I was supposed to be there, eep!

BUT I'm enjoying the freedom to read and nap and think and process and have space and get put-off things done.

Also, I found this quote the other day which I thought was pretty awesome:

"No man who bothers about originality will ever be original ... if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it"
- C.S. Lewis

Go C.S.

it's an unjust world

hello!


At the moment my excercise book is lying open in front of me, taunting me with as yet unrevised fun things to learn. What better thing to do, then, than update my poor neglected blog! This time with something of a bit more substance than name-alike people ... I've been meaning to for a while actually, to let you know about a book I've been reading for my history subject, one of the more confronting one's I've read in a while:

Granted, I haven't actually finished it (yet!), but I first started reading it on the bus home from uni one day, and was so drawn into it that I missed my stop - never have I done that before! That, I thought, is the sign of a good book (a non-fiction one at that!)

It's basically about modern day slavery - even though slavery is illegal in the world, there are 27 million people trapped in a new kind of slavery (e.g. it's not racial anymore). That there is still such a huge amount of slavery in the world today was a revelation to me - I thought that apart from a few abnormal situations, it was pretty much non-existant. But not so. It's a hugely lucrative business - big profits are made out of cheap lives. It's pretty hard reading - the second chapter's on Thai sex slaves, where young girls are lured away (or sold) from their villages and homes with a false contract. Anyway, if you're interested http://www.freetheslaves.net/ has got more info.

sunsets viewed in the rear view mirror

I just discovered I have an alter ego on a British soap.

The second line in the description, I have to say, it clearly immensely accurate. ;)

The things you learn on Wiki!

song of da song

Heydiho!

This term at EU we're doing Song of Songs (basically a giant, and at times a little explicit, love poem written by king Solomon in the Old Testament), and so at CV Geoff gave the girls the task of turning one section into a modern day equivalent... While Reuben did a fine job transforming his 'boys' section into engo's language ('your hair is like a cluster of network cables, and your neck is like a stoby pole'), here's what the girls turned out... (from 5:10-16 - read it, it may make more sense!)

Song of Da Song
CVMinistries feat. Missure Ong

Yo my boy he so rad,
He make all the homies look bad
His pimpin' face so covered in bling
Black hair swaying while he doing his ting
With eyes like a toucan, I can, You can

I be a spice girl, he my sugar dandy
Check his cheeks yo, sweet as candy
Lips they glow, yeah see his grills
Glowing so bright, give this fly girl chills.
With his sweet, phat, wicked golden guns

Matchin' with those killer ripped ones
His bod so fine, he drippin’ in ice.Glowin' like da gemstones…nice
He got trunks they fully sick,
Tis tru dey flowin' like an oil slick
He look so fly, I dig his styles

Best in da hood, none like dis fo' miles
A kiss like honey my baby, it's true
You got me twisted, you da boo
Check his sweet puckers dey mesmerizin'Drawin me in, aight hypnotizin'
He be my boy, so hip, so fly
My coolio gangster he is my guy

Watch me bust a love boat on your posse……werd.



Yo.

food + friends = :)

On Thurs night Annie and I were treated to a homecooked meal with the beautiful Lauren!
Photo face!

'Alright guys, let's do a photo where we look really cool'
the RatFace(tm). Check out Lauren!
There was bolognaise (spag boG)
Golden lighting ....
Restaurant quality dessert

A completely candid shot of Annie, demonstrating we could not only admire, but also EAT the dessert - woah!

Also ... CV [camp/conference where you think about your future directions in ministry] was last weekend, which I was initially a little apprehensive about (wary in case there was a 'Gospel ministry is the only real ministry' push), as well as having to come up with a 5 year plan in our couching sessions (!) but my fears were soon allieved and I soon felt relaxed, and I had a great time. Joel's blog pretty much sums up all the highlights!

A particular highlight for me was an elective on state of the Anglican Church - which I found was encouraging and helpful for redirecting my attitude... Also Chris Joliff's talks on the Reformation through the Psalms, and Peter Adam's talks on Ezekiel (he must be gifted if he can make Ezekiel make sense and hit the soul!) ... And of course the chance to just hang out with awesome people and have many good talks about *real* things [such as on our late night walks to and from Granite Island, with the Teen Rager playground featuring... many times]! Haven't quite got my five year plan finished stitched up, but at least I was pushed to actually think more than 12 months into the future, and have some ideas floating around my head.

Also, Peter Adam is a new hero of mine after delivering a line along the lines of 'when I see a woman who knows the gospel, loves the scriptures and has a passion for sharing it, I beg them to be ordained, [because there's such a need for women who can teach in ministry]' - it can sometimes feel like it's like we need to find positions that women can fill, so it was affirming to hear that there's actually a need for women. Women in ministry is a pet passion of mine ;)

Also... yay, Dad's home today from his 2 week trip to Greece! :D

people watching

There was a busker outside work this morning, playing an accordian.

He's been around before, but never right outside.

It made my day (well, the working part of it at least!). There's something about accordians, they're just cool. Selling croissants at the same time, I felt a little bit French (pseudo-French anyway).


There was this one Dad who was with his heavily pregnant wife and kid in a pram who insisted on sitting on the bench opposite the accordian man for about 15 minutes, talking to him, and watching him in awe. It was pretty funny because I could only see the family and not the accordian man - the Dad entranced, sitting down, and his pregnant wife standing patiently (read 'come on, let's move on now!') by.

[note: not actually him. He may have looked similar though]

breathing space

The time where uni is lacking, the days become consistently sunny, and life seems a bit more enjoyable... My holiday's thus far have been filled with many-a good (and sometimes dramatic) thing.

Mon-Wed was EU leadership conference down on the beautiful Murray at one of my favourite camp sites, Ankara. We talked about the important things in life (a mere smattering = the Holy Spirit, poverty & the needy, response to and understanding of our culture), we ate, we laughed, we canoed, we got capsised, we got fat lips and ouchie leg rashes, we prayed, we late-night-hiked, we mix-taped, we watched 40+ pelicans mysteriously linger on the 50m of river in front of the campsite, we had light night convo's about breaking and biting people's noses off and other things that were innocent but if I write them on here they may sound strange and innappropriate.
I also evidently didn't learn how to write short sentances.

Wed I again had the pleasure of Mim and Jordan's hospitality at a short but fun-filled dinner with ever-growing numbers, with Mim and Jordan (duh), Alex (our vip over from Melbourne), Anne, Erin, Edwin, James & Karen, & Liv ... Liv and I then made our way to small group (my first in about 5 or 6 weeks - all my open shifts at work have meant I haven't been able to go!)

Thurs Dad left on his epic 2 week+ journey to Greece
I had an averted incident at work where I very nearly was able to apply the term 'unfair dismissal' to myself (I've told the story too many times already, ask me if you're intrigued! Plus I'm lazy and like being mysterious).
Annie and I also were treated to yummy (highly recommended) tea, tim-tims (in combination), and wonderful girly chatting with Karen at the Harricks'. There's nothing like a 3 1/2 yr old pelting towards the door to open it for you for your arrival, then being enveloped in a leg-bear hug to make your day :D

Fri Brought a meeting about the pilgrimage next year - refocussing, re-gearing, list-making, and firming up of plans (Sudan's most likely out, Kenya, Egypt and Ethiopia are in).

Youth on Fri night led to Emma's sleeping over and...
Sat where we spent the day in creative chaos as we made a going away book for Dave who leaves on Thurs for a 9 month DTS is Quebec. Lisa joined us in the arvo - fun times with millions of photos, sequins, feathers (now affectionately known as 'flever's, lol. Sorry, maybe you had to be there?), glue, and in the end a pretty darn good book. I love time with friends :)

Flew from that to pick Anne up from the girls bball g-final (sadly a loss, but I hear there was unfair tech-fouling and shirt fronting involved - drama!) to whiz to Ez's Gang-Show where we proudly witnessed her writing, singing and dancing abilities.

From there... to Dave's farewell par-tay (the book, now + lovely notes went down well).

Em slept over again which lead to...

Sun - we watched I Heart Huckabees (not quite what we were expecting, but it was quirky), and a SAS dreaming day... ending in Subway, and fun unexpected family couch catch-ups with Dan and Phili dropping round...

Wow, well done if you got the end of that blow-by-blow account!

carickalinga cheer

Even though it was a couple of weekends ago, I wanted to put up some pics of the mini-family getaway we had down at Carickalinga...
These first one's are some of Dad's amazing arty shots - the man's got talent! The latter (the blue scarf makes many a cameo appearance) are Dan and Phili's...

Moody clouds make for great contrasty lighting

My favourite shot - isn't it amazing?! Dad and God make a good team (lol that sounded a lot less corny in my head!)
Mum and Jon

Loving gaze...
Not a very exciting shot - the car, the house (a friend's place we stayed at)
A nice natural windswept laughter shot
Dad goes for the little stone, Jon goes for the massive log!

The sunset - we could actually see the sun slowly disappearing over the horizon, it only took a couple of minutes!
I love that you can even see the bees legs

Dad was very excited that he actually got a natural non-posing shot of me - don't know why ;) Lovebirds...
Sparkling rivulets
Contemplative walks...

Jon doesn't like to thrown any old little pebble in the water, oh no. He seeks out the BIG rocks!
Here I am! Embrace me nature!

The original lovebirds...

Phili, Dan and I decided to take a walk up a nice steep (possibly illegal? We never worked that one out) hill to enjoy the view.
We then discovered that the wind + my blue scarf + mobile phone tower made a very cool combination - that's all wind-stick!
Ahh, the wind is so strong, we've been thrown incapacitated against the fence!

Oh no! The wind changed direction! We're going to blow away! It's true.

Oooh, what happens if we get UNDER the scarf??

OR if we put it over our faces?! Clearly this was turning into a major photo shoot. Lol, you can even tell Phili's pout. Pose, baby, pose. Stunning (yet stern!)
Hey, it's like a ... sail... thing! You can even nudge it with your foot! (who'd have thought?!)

Taut as. The scarf, that is.

Pretend you're a flag pole! Like this?
I am Jess, hear me roar! (there are sadly many more photos where this came from ...)
Come on, if you could have a scarf suctioned on to you, wouldn't you do the same?

Oh, is that a camera?

Oh, how candid!
Phili decided to get into some interpretive dancing
I tried to do a Grace Kelly... (We had to get some hair happening on the left, otherwise I looked a little too urban-Mary)
Dan's turn to pose with scarf! How much can you tell it's him?!

Naww, Dan's ear's got cold. In' he cute?

We had these two flown in from Milan.

Skipping through the meadows! How wholesome and fun :)

Then we skipped (literally) back to the others on the beach. You know, it's really tricky to get a shot of all three people looking like they're skipping at once!

Picture-perfect aren't we? Family reading on the lawn, in the sun. Quite amusing to see what we were each reading, so typical!

Even our feet were relaxed and happy, as you can see.

Intensive reading... I'm trying so hard to look like I don't realise there's a camera there!

Ahh, twas only 24 hours, but lovely times!