DTS Outreach Sydney: Week 1 Recap

Our first week in Sydney was great (at the time of writing this, we're at the end of the second week. Oops).
We are staying at the Oyster Bay Christian Church, which is a little church in a beautiful [rich] area about half an hour's train-ride out of Sydney.
The Sunday School classrooms have become our bedrooms, with the fellowship hall as our kitchen, and the manse down the road our bathroom!
Here's a photo journal of our first week here.

First meal in Sydney 

Resting in our private quarters :-)

The pastor of Oyster Bay Christian Church has just resigned, and he and his wife are moving into a new home, after over 30 years in the manse.

Our job while we are here is to clean the manse (which is down the road from the church) from tip to toe!

On our first day here, we helped by moving all of their boxes out of the house.

Moving dozens of boxes upstairs from the basement. Tough work!!

The things you find when cleaning out a room after 30 years!

Nearly finished! 

My reward: lime milkshake =D mmm! With delicious  sandwiches from The Centre

I threw my pear core into the bush... And it neatly found its place on this branch =D Made my day!

Just for you, Dad!

During the first and second week here, we have completely cleaned the manse!

Moving the fridge and freezer up the road to the church...
Is this legal???!?!?!?!
Wait. Don't answer that.

Meticulously wiping down the venetians. One row at a time. Column by column.
The left side is clean; the right side is not.
Can you tell the difference?
Didn't think so.
:-/

I swear some of the skirting boards and above the curtains haven't been cleaned for 30 years =P

*gasp* "TOMA!!!! Be careful!!"
We're ready to risk our lives in this job.

Can you see the dirty window? Poor Toma cleaned this the day before :-(

On Friday (June 1) we went to the Island Breeze YWAM base, which is in Blacktown (between Sydney and the Blue Mountains).

We're on the road again!

It was great to see the base there - the only YWAM base I've visited, other than Canberra! It was very different from Canberra. More people, from many different nations; different rooms to sit in and relax; brightly coloured sofas; TVs. 

We went with two Island Breeze guys to a public primary school, to help with some kids activities. Their lunch break was from 1-2pm, and we helped with some lunchtime activities. It was SO much fun! I played a game with the kids, called "Fly". Similar to "Jump the River", for those of you who have played that before - only "Fly" is played with a whole bunch of metre-long sticks, laid out on the ground. The aim of the game is to run the course without touching the sticks. Of course, in each round the sticks bet further and further apart. They had such fun! And I did, too!!!

We had to wear hats, because of school policy. So, we had to take this awesome photo =D

Dianne, me and Jamie

Getting caught up on work on the free Wi-Fi at Island Breeze

They have a coffee night every Friday. They sell coffee (derr), and there's a little stage there, for people to sing or act or dance or perform... any and all of the above... Good entertainment :-)

Their decor is amazing! Love it!

These girls are GORGEOUS!!! They sang "Fireflies"...

...and did the Makarina!!!! Adorable!

I love images like this :) Makes my heart happy

On Sunday (June 3) after church, a sweet lady from church treated us to lunch at Tradies. To me, Tradies sounded like a bit of a cheap place, but check out the entry! [modern chandeliers...shiny floors...and further in the hotel, fountains and plants all over the place - very swish!]

Waiting for lunch...

This Kids Menu is AWESOME!!!

Courtney's lunch - amazing burger!

My chicken schnitzel - probably the most expensive meal I've eaten in the last few months!
I enjoyed =P

Every Sunday night, there is a service called Connections at The Centre (the church's coffee shop - it deserves a post all its own). This service is pretty relaxed, and is a place where people from all over the place join to worship and hear from the Word.

Tim and Chris leading worship. Great guitarists!

Worship

Supper :-)

Jamie sharing her testimony - a.ma.zing.

Sunday night toasties

Waking up to this on Monday morning...

Trying to get our clothes dry. Our little lounge became a laundry!

Overall, the first week was good. We have been living very comfortably ("This is NOT normal outreach!", Dianne keeps telling us!). The weather here is WONDERFUL!! Thank you, Sydney!! =D 

Please pray for physical, emotional and mental strength at this time. 

I've been REALLY tired for this entire time, and have only been getting through by the grace of God. I'm trying to eat more healthily and drink more water, in the hopes that that will sustain me more, physically.

I'm missing home and am struggling to stay focused here - I keep thinking about what I'll do when I get home! Focus, focus, focus!

Today I had a good chat with Toma, so I think that has helped me mentally - knowing that we're on the same page and he understands me.

Boa noite!

Deus te abencoe :-)

Crazy-crazy

Good evening...

I think there will probably be PLENTY of opportunities in the future to title blog posts the same as above. Life just seems to be full-on... I'm just always doing things. And I believe it's starting to "get" to me.

See, last week was busy. For example, on Thursday I left for work at 8am, got home at 6pm, helped Ryan make tea, ate tea, left for music practise at 7pm (still wearing my work clothes), got home from music just before 8.30pm, sat down on the couch and started kind of chatting to Ryan and listening to music... And suddenly felt exhausted. I realized I hadn't stopped all day, and that realization was NOT a pleasant one!! You know how things just kind of overwhelm you? Well, that's what happened then! And that was just one day of last week.

This week is not looking much better. As in, it's going to be crazy-busy. Today I worked. Tomorrow I'm going to TAFE, shopping for my birthday party, cooking tea, and I have netball practise at 7pm tomorrow night. Wednesday I'm working and have Bible Study, Thursday I'll be at TAFE and have music practise, and Friday I have a piano lesson, I may be working for Simply Elegant, I'll be preparing for my party, and... my party is Friday evening/night.

It might not sound like much, but it is, when you take into account that I have plenty of other little bits and pieces to do inbetween all of that. If you could pray for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Some things have happened in the past couple days that are making me emotionally... emotional... at times... And the busy-ness doesn't help!

My next post will be more cheerful, but I had to write this somewhere--and what better place to write it than here, where my lovely friends will (I hope!) feel sympathetic for me????

I hope your weeks all go well... And I hope to see you soon :)

God bless.

~Rachel