Feast at CitySoul

Hello,

So today, I woke up and got ready to head to work. I had to look nicer than I normally do because I was working at Sefton Park. This is the more "upscale" of the offices - even though they have just as much fun there as we do at Magill.


So I walked the mile to work and then hopped in Helene's car to head to Sefton. Helene is hilarious. So that made the ride to work quite fun and enjoyable. El and I are going to look into seeing if we can get a visit at one of the uni campuses - either in the city or at the Magill campus just down the road.


I arrived at Sefton and started work immediately. Andrea had me read the proposal that LCC sent in to the government and then she gave me some other things to read up on. I spent all day doing research on the background of the South Australian foster care system as well as on different types of counselling, programs, etc that we can use in our proposal for our system at LCC. And I did that all day until about 5pm. There was a lunch break in there in which I discovered that Melitta is a comedian - not literally, she's just THAT funny. I also spent some time talking to Ian who works in the same office space as Andrea. Ian asked where I was from and in the middle of this phone conversation he looks over at me and goes "Radar was from Iowa." And I said, "You mean Hawkeye?" And he goes, "No, Radar. You've seen M*A*S*H right?" To this I replied, "Yeah! My freshman year roommate watched it all the time and I watch it from time to time myself."


The conversation continued as follows:


Ian: "Then you know who Radar is. And he's from Iowa."
Hilary: "Are you sure you don't mean Hawkeye?"
Ian: "Radar had the funny hat..."
Hilary: "And he was always on the phone ringing people."
Ian: "Exactly. Hawkeye's nickname was given to him by his father. It's from the book - The Last of the Mohicans."
Hilary: "I learn something new every day. And did you know that Iowa is known as the Hawkeye state?"
Ian: "No. Because of Hawkeye?"
Hilary: "No. Because one of the unis in Iowa are called the Hawkeyes. You either love them or hate them."
Ian: "Uh huh."


And then we proceeded to discuss 18 ft and 26 ft long crocodiles that live in billabongs in the northern territory. Ian informed me that I need to watch this show on Saturday night at 6:30 called something with Mike... so that I could learn more and see more of the country through the tv. I told him I didn't have a tv to which he just exclaimed that was too bad. I agreed to an extent, but then again a good chunk of the shows on tv we have in the US and have seen like two years ago.

By the end of the day, Andrea gave me a lot of info to take home so that I can work on the next section of the proposal - therapeutic services. I am excited! Homework! :) Secretly (which isn't secret anymore) this makes me feel like I am actually doing something worthwhile while I am here. And it gives me something to actually do which is quite nice.


After work I went to Andrea's house and met her roommate Shin Shin. I think that's how you spell her name. She is from China and is very quiet. But her food looked and smelled amazing. Andrea and I watched some news on tv - which was probably boring for her - but lovely for me since I don't have a tv. I really miss the show Cash Cab on Discovery. Anyway, I learned that one of the Australian Navy divers was bit by a shark in Sydney Harbour. I also learned more about the Victorian bushfires. It seriously just blows my mind that people would stoop so low to light a fire on purpose knowing that people could possibly die and that there was a burn ban in effect. As of right now there are still 20 fires burning in the state. Officials are worried that the 20 fires could possibly merge and create an even bigger problem. Prayers are welcome and needed for this catastrophe!


After the bushfire reports there was a story about this seventy year old man who was in trouble with the law. He had been drinking at his son's home and became angry thus leaving the party he was at. He did a five minute burnout in some section of a town - I don't think this was in Adelaide. He tore a chunk out of the road and also destroyed his rubbers (tires) in the process. He cannot drive for a year and has to pay $450 dollars in damages to fix the road. They refer to this kind of driving as being "hoon." This launched Andrea and I into a conversation on whether or not hoon driving existed in the States. I said yes, but that it was usually in the younger population and not the older. We then discussed the process of getting your license in Australia versus the United States. We determined that you can get your license at quite a young age in the US.


We left Andrea's house and headed downtown to CitySoul. It's this new church that was just formed in April of 2008. It's an offshoot (this reminds me a lot of the verse in the Bible that talks about the offshoot of David - I think or maybe it is Jesse - check the Old Testament) of the Uniting Church of Christ. I will give you an overview of the Uniting Church later because I find it quite interesting and compelling and it's worthy of it's own blog entry. Anyway, Uniting Church gave money to fund CitySoul. CitySoul is incredible with the types of hands-on ministry that they offer to their members, visitors and to the city. They actually go into the city and are noticable in places where you might not think to find Christians.


O-Week is coming up this next week and this is where CitySoul is trying to make an impact. O-Week is filled with a lot of drinking and then more drinking and more. So those at CitySoul are going into these parties and hanging out with the kids who may not want to drink, but feel peer pressured to. They are saying that it's okay to not drink, it's okay to stand on the wall and it's okay to be who you are. This coming Monday night they are packing backpacks for the new students at Australian Lutheran Seminary and at Lincoln College. El and I are going to go and help with that and it's also a chance for us to get to meet some more new people. YAY! I'm not sure if Morgan is planning on going with us or not. We'll see.


The service was good. I knew as soon I arrived that it was going to be a good night because I felt comfortable. I haven't really felt that yet at some of the churches I've been to here. To have others be comfortable that your beliefs might be different and to engage in conversation about that is really nice. I hung out with Andrea while we ate dinner. We waited for Morgan, Helen, Yvonne and Ellie to show up. I met Naomi, her sister, Dave, and a few other people as well.


After dinner it was time for the service to begin. We moved from one side of the room that had couches and part of a bar set up to the other side that had a few couches, tables and chairs. There was a time of announcements, prayers and chatting with people around you to introduce yourself. Then Naomi was invited up and asked 5 questions about her faith walk - this is part of CitySoul's way for people to get to know each on another level. The sermon followed that and I have to say that it was interesting and was one of the best sermons I've heard here thus far. It wasn't anything new or that I hadn't heard before, it was just spun in a different way that really gets people thinking about issues and other things. The sermon was over what type of Christian you are in relation to other religions (there were three sections): the exclusive, the inclusive, and those who are in the middle. The exclusive believe that Jesus is the only way to God and aren't really very tolerant of other religions (I actually know plenty of people who are like this). The inclusive are those who believe in God and Jesus, but are very open-minded when it comes to other religions and their beliefs. The middle riders are those who believe in God, etc., but don't really know what they think of other religious views. We ended up breaking up into little groups and discussing what was said in the message. After that it was communion (they had the best communion wine I've ever had!) and a bit more chatting before we headed off back to HH.

Andrea dropped Ellie and I off - and Ellie double seat belted herself in the backseat. Andrea and I both had tears running out of our eyes because we were laughing so hard. Good times y'all.

Cheers.