So tonight I was able to experience a Mexican restaurant in Australia. :)
Maija and I went to Montezuma's "the taste of mexico"... and it actually wasn't that bad! It was maybe just under El Torito. I don't quite understand their "Nachos". It was a plate of probably 15 chips laid flat out in a circle with beans and - what looked like tomato sauce but was supposedly salsa. I miss Pico de Gallo... nice chunky salsa. But it sufficed.
I had Chicken Enchiladas and... well... I did have a Margarita. Had to... it's a Mexican restaurant. :)
I am looking forward to going to Chipotle when I get back though...
Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm thinking and praying for everything surround the fires in SoCal. I really hope everyone is okay and that your family and houses are safe.
Australia is thinking of you too! The fires have been covered on local news.
Stay safe!!!! Love you all!!
Roudy Saba, after returning home to find his house burned down, "...I prayed and said, 'You know what, if you don't answer our prayers you got something better for us later'...And he will...He'll provide...He will provide" (CBS News)
MOSQUITOS: like 10 (that's total, not just what I have now. Right now I have only 2.) ANDIE: 1!!!
I GOT ONE!!!
Okay, here's the scenario: I'm sitting in my room, minding my own business, trying to write my paper when I look up and to the right and see something flying in the air. My eyes focus (remember, I've been staring at a computer all night) and realize that it's a mosquito. And a HUGE one at that. So I follow it around my room as it moves more towards my window. I put my hands up around it to give it the clap of death. I clap. Look at my hands. Nothing! I look around. Nothing! Crap!
So I proceed to spray my entire body with Rid: Tropical Strength Repellent (my handy dandy friend that I keep on my desk). I sit down to write my paper. Mind you I'm in the zone, got my groove going. I look up again and I see it!!!! Right above me. Hands in position, I clap. Open my hands. NOTHING! What in the world?! Maybe I hit it and it landed on my desk. I look. Nope. Maybe it missed my desk and landed on the ground. Nope. Dude! What is up?!
I then proceed to light my Outdoor Citronella candles that I have located on my desk and bookshelf. And continue to type.
Five minutes later it's buzzing right in front of my face. Taunting me! Clap of death and miss. Then, it makes a move that costs him his life... he flies between a rock (otherwise known as the cement bricks that make up my wall) and a hard place (okay... not so hard... just my hand). I slap the wall and BOO-YAH. Andie's up on the scoreboard!! I must admit I did have a small celebratory cheer directly following the death of the little vampire.
But my candles still burn... because you never know when his friends will come in to look for him.
This past weekend I was able to go to a youth camp with the United group from church (Garden City Christian). United is a youth group that consists of 18-25 year olds.... so that pretty much makes me the oldie of the group. :) But that doesn't matter... the weekend ROCKED anyway.
Friday at around noon sisters Sally and Sharon picked me up. :) They are such great girls. And their nationality is so confusing!!! Get this... they were born in Japan, had American schooling (in Japan), are now living in Australia, and their parents are Finish. So what are they? They sound American. Are they Japanese? :) It's fun.
Anyway... we drove up to Coolum Beach for the retreat. It was about a two hour drive (just north of where the women's retreat was).
We got there early so we could just laze around, look in shops, walk around the beach, get situated before the first meeting started at 7pm. So we walked around the little shops right there on the beach, grabbed some sorbet and went to eat it on the beach. We were just sitting there when Sharon gasped and said "Did you feel that?", Sally and I both looked at her. A huge droplet of water landed on her shoulder. We all shrugged it off. Then it started kinda spitting. Then it got harder. This is all in a matter of minutes. So we proceeded to find shelter in a hut-like structure just above where we were sitting - thinking we could finish our sorbet, the rain would stop and we could go on with our lives. Well... let's just say we terribly misjudged the power of God. :) Cause SECONDS after we got under the hut, it started pouring. And then the lightning and thunder rolled in. And then the wind started to blow... HARD. And we had a bonifide storm in our midst. We were pretty much stuck there for a good 20mins. No umbrellas. Far from any building other than our hut. It was exciting. The rain finally let up to a slight sprinkle so we took our chances and headed for the hotel which was across the street. We were probably 15 feet from the door to the hotel room when it started to rain again. And by the time we got up to our room it was pouring HARD yet again. But 30mins later the storm passed through and God sent us a rainbow... I like to think it was Him saying "Just kidding!" - because EVERY TIME I go on a trip it rains the whole time - "No more rain for the rest of the weekend... I promise". And the rest of the weekend was gorgeous.
Friday night's meeting was good. We talked about Monday Missionaries - and how we should bring our Christian lives out of church and into the world. The strongest thing I got out of the message was that we usually only speak Godly in front of our Christian friends (the ones that don't necessarily need it)... we should be speaking Godly in front of the nonChristian. Talk about church, youth group, camp etc in front of your coworkers. Don't brag or boast or push... but just be normal. Tell them that you felt God moving...
Saturday morning the regular speaking, Matt Garner, came in from Perth to speak for the rest of the weekend. His message was to "Take the Lid Off" of your Christian lives. His main points were these:
1) Vision... If you're tired, if the money's run out, if you feel that God has done all He can do in your life, OPEN YOUR EYES, the vision isn't done, God's not finished with you yet. "Gird up your loins" - Get ready and remove all restrictions, anything that would get in your way. Prepare yourself for God's vision/mission for your life.
2) Be prepared... "Be ready in season and out of season" (2Tim 4:2). Don't let tiredness keep you from being ready to experience God (this means if you've been busy or tired by choice don't use it as an excuse to not be in God's presence: devotionals, church, small group). Live your life, but be ready/willing/open to God.
3) Change your thinking... "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Rom 12:2) Be spiritually minded. You have to change the way that you think FIRST and then your behavior will follow.
4) Faith... (Heb 11:1) It operates on a 4th dimension: the unseen. Like the wind, you can't see it, but you can see the effects of it.
5) Dreams... Treasure and go for the dreams God has given you. God's place for you in ministry will always be there. We have a lifetime of opportunities to worship God.
6) Language... Speak words of faith. Don't be 'Godly' only around Christians. Shine and speak God in your regular life.
As noted earlier... the message of the weekend was "Take the Lid Off". Saturday night Matt really pushed us. He set an empty kettle (b/c we didn't have anything else) up in front of the auditorium. And he opened it up to all of us to come up whenever we felt led to while he was talking. He challenged us to give it all to God. And not just money. Anything. If we have no money, come and just "drop" it in the kettle, as if whatever we need to give over to God was there in our hand. He explained that it was a tithed offering... he didn't have any prior idea of what the money would be going to... it was just there for us to give whatever we needed over to God. During the extent of the time that Matt spoke, people began to get up and walk to the kettle. You could hear clinking of money drop in. Matt finished speaking. Then one girl walked up and put her jacket next to it. Another put her flip flops. The drummer ran up on stage and took a cymbol off the drum kit. Another band member took his guitar and gave it to another member of the youth group. The band came up and started playing. People were on the ground, kneeling, some laid flat on the ground. Others stood with their arms raised. Other sat with hands on their heads. You could hear people crying. Others praising. It was amazing. An amazing night.
The whole weekend was incrdible.
I wish I could explain it better. Even more, I wish you all could have experienced it too.
I didn't take many pictures... And I took video, but the audio was horrible on it. All I have is what is in the video below. I know it's not much... but it will hopefully let you understand a little bit of what it was like.
Another storm was scheduled to roll in tonight - and boy did it.
All afternoon the clouds have been coming in. Around 4:00 the thunder started to roll. Starting around 5:00 it started to rain slightly - just after I took out the trash, good timing. :) Around 5:15 it started to really POUR. So I thought I'd take it all in from my bedroom window. Pulled up a chair, put up my feet and just watched the rain come down and listen to the thunder. It was great. Then it started to get louder and I began to hear a "clinking" sound. Thought it was just the rain coming down really hard. Then I noticed small balls falling from the trees. Just thought it was pieces of the trees falling off. Then I realized that the things coming from the trees were white little balls. So I went out to the kitchen to get a better look. It got louder. I went out the door and saw the hail. Pelting down from the sky about the size of marbles.
Just listened to the news and the newscaster was saying that in some parts of NorthEast Brisbane got 40mm of rain in an hour. That's about 1.6inches in an hour. Which is very good for Brisbane. Crazy weather. I love it.
Oh... and since the weather has been nice and wet during the evening and hot during the day, the mosquitos have been out and biting again. So I'll incorporate a new update:
Mosquitos: 3, Andrea: 0
They found a new location though - they're at the knees instead of the feet. Which is good, because they don't itch as much.
First, let's start off with the Multicultural dinner. But before that we have to go back. Mom told me how to make pork chops and applesauce. :) So I went to the store, bought the necessaties and decided I'd make it for dinner. On my arrival back to my flat I was told by a friend that the Postgraduate housing was going to be having a multicultural dinner in the common room. I was going to make pork chops anyway... why not share it with a bunch of people?! So I cooked up my pork chops - which has a little funny story with it too:
Apparently applesauce isn't that big of a thing here. Because when I went shopping, I couldn't find it. After speaking with an employee I was told that they only have Apple Puree, and it only comes in lunchbox size containers (well that's nice). So I ended up buying a can of sliced apples, brought it back to the flat and mashed my own applesauce. :) Tasted pretty good actually!
So now I'm making my pork chops, with my freshly made applesauce - first time EVER making pork chops mind you - and it turned out beautifully!!!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the entire plate after cooking. Sorry... wasn't thinking...
In addition to my tasty pork chops, I took along the extra applesauce and even made up some peanut butter and jelly sandwich bites to take along also. I was proud of myself.
The dinner was nice. Lots of food!!! Soup, mashed potatoes, curry, salad, spring rolls, tim tams, lamingtons, and so much more!!! Got to socialize with people that I don't normally hang out with. One of the RAs has been trying to get me out of my room ever since I got here, and he was blown away that I actually came to the dinner. :)
As exicting as the dinner was, it wasn't the highlight of the evening. The best part was the storm that rolled in. As soon as the sun went down there was this massive roll of thunder, and the sky lit up. It lasted for a good hour and then rolled on through. Same exact thing happened tonight. And they say it's supposed to continue for a few more days. I'm looking forward to it. I know the video won't be that good..... but I'm hoping you'll be able to see some of it. If anything, just enjoy it for the song... because it rocks.
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