. Your Light Will Shine In The Darkness .

Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to Colour Conference, which is basically a women conference through Hillsong Church. It was incredible. It was huge, the Sydney entertainment center was packed, over 10,000 women. The key speakers were Jeanne Mayo, Craig Groeshel and Lisa Bevere. The funny part is, they were all American so I felt right at home. Jeanne Mayo has done youth ministry for 40 years and is a crack up. She started both talks off with fantastic jokes. So pretty much I loved her. Craig is the pastor of lifechurchtv which is the fastest growing church that also has an online service. He had some fantastic things to say. Lisa Bevere wrote a book about the lioness, basically talking about how we as women need to be strong but also compassionate.They were all fantastic speakers that gave me a lot of things to think about. I also admire what Hillsong does as a church, and the organizations that they work with. One organization they work with is to help with human trafficking. They started this house called A21 which is a place for women to go that are able to get out of human trafficking go before they head into the real word. A21 restores their dignity and builds their education. They make it so these women are able to truly start over and not get sucked back into the life of human trafficking. They also help fight the men that are setting these things up, and these men are finally going to jail. It is really really cool to see how they are aren't just helping the situation, they are changing it. Hillsong also works with an organization that gives women full face reconstruction that were involved in situations in Africa with the child soldiers. They are very focused on restoring the dignity of women they can feel beautiful inside and out. It's amazing. 
The conference was really the highlight in the past week. Other than that it was good to spend a little time in the city and around Darling Harbor. My roommates, a few girls and I also decided to try out this cute tea place in the shopping centre on Wednesday. It is called T2 and there is a little store across from the actual restaurant. In the store they make sample mixtures and there was this one that was apples and cinnamon mixed with toffee. It was incredible and the best tea I have tasted in my life. I am hoping that I will be able to buy some so that I can have some when I come home.
Tonight I went to Chatswood for dinner with a few friends from church. Every thursday night there are markets where they have all different types of food. I had indian food for the first time in my life and I LOVED it. It was so amazing. I don't remember exactly what it was called but it was basically chicken with some vegetables in some pita bread with some sauce on it. It was delicious. For desert I had dutch pancakes which are mini mini pancakes with powdered sugar and chocolate sauce. It was also delicious. Very successful night!

. Life Can Do Terrible Things .

Alright! Its been quite some time since I have blogged and some people seem to think I am a bit behind. So school has been going fairly well. I feel like Sydney is like Spokane in some ways. It will be nice and about 75 degrees..and then all of a sudden it will just start pouring out of nowhere. This has happened many times and I get stuck on campus in shorts and a tank top walking through the rain. Stuck is kind of a strong word though since I love the rain and it doesn't get all that cold. I am pretty soaked by the time I get home though. Anyway. Probably the only thing that exciting that has happened in class was sitting next to these 2 Australian guys in my human resource management class. They were amazed I was from United States and couldn't understand why I would come to Australia. They wanted to know if parties in America were just like they are in the movie American Pie (I actually get that question a lot). They also wanted to know if I see "stars" a lot and then asked if I have ever seen The Rock. It cracked me up, I am sort of starting to love the different stereotypes Americans have. I also really love the reaction people have when I tell them I am an Accounting major. They kind of give me this odd look...and then say oh..but.. you are American..because apparently 90% of Accounting students here are Asian. I guess they don't realize that Americans also need to do accounting!
Let's see here what are the other highlights...
A week ago I decided to do the responsible thing and skip school and head to the beach! The day was absolutely beautiful. I laid out and just enjoyed the sunshine. I planned on doing my homework but I thought catching up on my book on CD was good enough. :) School is just so hard to do with the beach so close and the weather so warm!
Last Saturday my roommate and I took the train about 30 min to Koala Park Sanctuary. It was kind of like a mini zoo (pictures are on facebook) my favorite part was I got to play with a kangaroo! They have some animals just fenced in but you are able to go in and pet them and feed them. Kangaroos are super cute and soft! I am planning on bringing one home with me for sure. I also got to pet a koala. They really aren't as soft as you might think. When they sleep in the trees they really look like they are just stuffed animals sitting there. They sleep 18-20 hours a day. I want to be a koala!
Last Saturday my room mate, Candace and I got up at 5:30 am to go to a surf camp! We met a group in the city, mostly other Americans, and then headed out with a program to another beach in a national park. The beach was absolutely gorgeous. It was a quieter beach and the people that were there were there to either surf or fish. Unfortunately after getting up at 5:30 am and being in the sun I sort of crashed around noon and didn't really want to do any physical activity. I also realized that surfing is HARD. First of all. You have to fight the waves and the current to just get out there. Which is very hard when you have strong currents and the ground is coming out from underneath you. Then. you have to try to find wave that is good enough..turn the board around super quick. and then jump on as fast as possible..start paddling..then a litlte harder..and then attempt to stand up..and if you are lucky..you will get 10 seconds of a fun ride!..Needless to say to me this wasn't worth it. I stood up a few times and figured that I got my money's worth it and called it a day. Especially since the last time I attempted it I sort of did a nose dive and sort of flipped under the wave and got a bunch of salt water up my nose. I decided right then that that was the end of my surfing career! I won't complain too much though because the day and the beach were gorgeous :)
I think those were the main points. Other than that things are going well. I am getting along super well with my roommates. Especially since one of them has made a cake every day for the past 4 days. I really like her.
A few random Aussie facts I have learned:
they are very stingy with their ketchup or "tomato paste"..if you ask you can get like one packet and most of the time you have to pay to get anymore than that. Voting here is compulsory, meaning that if they don't vote they will be fined.
People actually like Mericans!
Thats all i have for the moment.
Other than that I would just like to say that my prayers really go to everyone in Japan. Everything that has happened is just unreal. Between Japan, New Zealand and the floods in northern Australia it sort of feels like we are surrounded. Every time we turn the news goes on something new has happened.
Anyway! I should maybe think of quit procrastinating and finally do my homework..