Beginnings

I've officially begun the ministry work I came here to do. It has already had its challenges and rewards, but overall, I like it. :)

Just here are some pictures of the view from the house we live in - isn't it beautiful?! I honestly am calmed by the presence of the ocean outside the window. Some days, especially when I am feeling down, I catch a glimpse of that beautiful blue landscape and I feel at peace. What am I going to do when I come back to Indiana?! I guess I'll just stare at lots of pictures. There's also a picture of a beauitful graveyard that's visible from our balcony - it overlooks the ocean, and while I haven't been there yet, I hear it's a peaceful escape.

Last weekend, I went to see a cricket game, but instead of watching cricket, I got to watch the team desperately try to dry the playing field - it had been raining all morning. Needless to say, the game did not actually happen. It was quite amuzing watching them try though! In an attempt to make up for the disappointment of their attempts, (Don't tell them I wasn't actually disappointed.) the cricket team took Rachel and I for pizza. Just as we finished our meal, the sun came out. What irony! Last year, the same thing happened when I went to see a professional cricket game - I'm slowing liking cricket less and less as a result of these terrible matches they are taking me to watch...exactly what kind of impression of this game do they want me to have?! How I miss baseball...

Monday, Feb. 11, was our first retreat - the beginning of a year of ministry! We worked with year 5 and 6 students and it was such a successful day. Everything went really smoothly, especially for it being our first retreat, and the kids really had a good time, that was apparent. At the end of the day a couple of the girls tried to get me to come on the bus with them back to their school, and I asked them how I would then get home. One girl said, "Well you'd take the bus back, of course!" Sure, like public transportation and I are best friends.

That night Rachel (the English girl) and I went into the city for Mass and had dinner. I unexpectedly ran into a few friends from last semester - the one girl said, "I was just asking if you were back in Australia, and HERE you are!" On the flip side of that, I still get a few messages now and then from people at Millikin wondering where I've been. Maybe I should have publically broadcast my plans?

Tuesday was my favorite day of the week - Some issues had been rolling in and out among the team and that day we had the opportunity to discuss some of them in an open environment, which was much needed for all of us. I felt so much better, being able to finally talk about a few of the things I have come across since being here that were getting under my skin, and I could feel the love and support in the room, and the willingness of everyone, including me, to work together to make things better. It's not that they're terrible, it's just that a few things here and there were in need of improvement. Our team manager gave us the rest of the day off for some team bonding time and after eating a lite lunch, we all headed down to the beach and played rugby! I was just sort of playing like it was American football, but there were a few times when that got me in trouble - "Missy, you're offsides AGAIN!" Maybe someone should actually explain the rules to me?! Eh, it was a great day at the beach anyway!

Valentine's Day was meant to be a day of team bonding, and we were all going to sit down for a nice dinner together and I was going to make zucchini bread (another delicacy the Australian culture knows nothing about) and the love was going to be felt all around! So why did it end up being just Rachel and I for dinner? The boys decided to join a rugby team who's first practice was Thursday, two of the girls had some course to go to, the rest of the house had meetings, and Rachel and I are international and have no lives...just kidding! A couple people ended up joining us for dinner, a pleasant surprise, and then even more pleasant, one of our team coordinators and a guy who works for World Youth Day (WYD) treated Rachel and I to a movie! We watched Jumper...not the most romantic film, but who cares. It was interesting, and it got us out of the house!

Friday was our second retreat, and while it was less of a success than the first one - year 7, all girls school - as a whole it went well, and was a good learning experience. We were on a high from our first triumph that we didn't spend as much time as we should have preparing it. However, it ended up just fine, and we can make improvements in the future! This is how it's going to be - up and down, all the time!

I've spent this weekend relaxing and trying to catch up on a few things here and there. It's been really nice not to have anything planned.

Tonight (Sunday) we have our commissioning Mass at the Cathedral. The Cardinal is saying the Mass and we'll be blessed and fully commissioned as a team. Most people from the team have their family coming, and they're reserving a special section for the families. When they asked how many people I would need seats reserved for, I smiled and said "Eight!" My Australian friends are coming to be my family :) They're so good to me! We're all going out for dinner after as well, so it should be an enjoyable night.

If you'd like updates on the blog, click on the link below next to subscribe to: Posts (Atom) - it will explain a bit about how the feed for the blog will automatically update your computer when I made another post. I'm still learning about all these methods of communication! If any problems arise with the blog, whethering reading or replying, let me know, I'll see what I can find out. Your guess might be as good as mine though!

I'll leave you with one last dilemma, one that was posed to me at the retreat on Friday. A girl in my small group asked me, "How do we talk like you?" A good question, I said - how do you teach the American accent? It'll take a professional to help these Australians!

Have a good week, and until I write again, may God bless you!