So things have been amazing here, and we have done a terrible job trying to keep this blog up-to-date. The reality is that I [Patrick] am learning things every day. In my classes, during chapels, in church on Sunday’s, in conversations I’m having with people from all over the world, and not to mention all the things that I have learned out side of all this. God has been changing me, shaping me, growing me. My world has definitely been changed forever. My experience here is only the beginning of what God wants to do in me, and in my family. It will take years to process what I have learned in these 9 short months.

We are just in awe of what God is doing, not only in America and Australia, but all over the world. It has been a privilege to serve and be a part of Hillsong Church. It is a church that has major influence all over the world. In these past months I have really gotten to experience the day to day runnings of the church as well as taking part in and watching the unfolding vision for the church and the ministry all over the world. Here at Hillsong they have a huge heart to reach people for Jesus. Every week, every service, they do an alter call [give people a chance to get right with God, or meet Jesus for the first time] at the end and people respond. I’m not saying that every church should do an alter call at the end of each service but I am saying that these times are very powerful and for the people who respond, you can see that there is something going on in them.

So that’s all for now. I hope that some of this made sense to you and I hope that you are all blessed by it. It is really hard to try and explain what is going on here, but I hope to be able to unpack some of the stuff a bit more before we leave and even after we return.

Questions:

What are some things that God is speaking to you about right now?

How can we start to see things from a Godly perspective?

So since I last wrote something, too much has happened to explain it all, let’s just say that God is good! We founds some amazing friends from the states, we found friends from here in Sydney, Australia, We were blessed with furniture, we found a car for pretty cheap, we found housing that we are sharing with two other families at a reasonable price, and we have been blessed just by being a part of the Hillsong Church. Every week we are just blown away when we hear/see what God is doing here.. We really miss home, but as we have learned here at the college.. “Home is where the heart is”, and at the moment our heart is hear in Sydney as well as back in the states.

So, the first week we started College.. It was pretty relaxed, just introducing us to the college and the church a bit.. Then the next two weeks are called intensives.. We have class three days straight from about 9am – 5pm with little breaks in between. It is a lot of information, all good, but just a lot of it. Also every morning we have chapel.. This is no, Simpson College chapel.. This is full on really creative fun exciting, heart-felt, powerful worship. The students who lead it are amazing, and have a real heart for God. We also get to hear from some amazing speakers from the church. These are not times to fall asleep or just check out, these are moments you really don’t want to miss.

So we are here.. We made it. The flight was a little nerve racking. We had all our bags packed checked and all of our carryon bags as well. We waited about three hours for a standby flight and after everyone else got on the plane we were told, at first that we would not be on the flight, which was then changed to you guys are good to go.. Once on the flight we found seats that were not together, Bethany and Promise were, and Josiah and I were.. The second half of the flight someone switched and we all sat together. The flight wasn’t too bad though, and the kids did great and it really didn’t seem too long.

Once we got off the plane things started to get a little crazy.. We had to go through customs get all of our bags and then go through Quarantine.. And then find a ride from the airport.. Oh I forgot to mention that the person who was supposed to pick us up wasn’t able to, and that it was an Australian holiday called Boxing Day, so most of the cars we could rent were not available.. So we called every Australian we knew, which was difficult because we had no Australian money and didn’t know how to use the phones.. So we stopped and prayed. We then decided to rent a car for a few days that was really expensive, but it got us around.

We show up at the YWAM base and just relaxed.. It was pretty cool there, they had lots of room for the kids to play, free Internet access and food to eat. So we ate and I hopped on the Internet and immediately was met with a message from a family that had been here for about 6 months who was going to the college as well.. They had had a similar experience to ours and wanted to meet up with us and help us.

We showered, took a nap, got in the car and headed for Hillsong.. We were driving with a GPS and typed in Hillsong church and when we arrived at our destination we found that we were at one of the extension campuses.. We were totally lost, and the GPS wouldn’t show us any other results for Hillsong church. I tried typing it in one more time and it gave me a new address, so we start to head there and as we are driving toward the church it looked as if we were heading to the downtown campus, but we kept driving and did finally end up at the Hills campus.

We parked, got the kids out and headed into the service.. We were late, so we weren’t able to meet that other family right away, so we just headed into the auditorium and sat down. It was a Holiday the day we arrived so it wasn’t as full as normal, but it was pretty packed. The music was great, the message was great and we finally had a chance to just breathe. I was able to sit and relax and say we had a rough start to being here, but this is why we are here.

Bethany had to take Promise out to the parents room and feed her, and while she was there she started talking to another mom named Emily.. They chit chatted for a bit and then Emily realized that Bethany was with me and that we were the family that they were going to be meeting up with.. So after the service we all met up and headed to their place. On the way Emily and Ariah decided that the extra room in their house was not getting any use and we would be more than welcome to stay with them for the time being.

So after a rough night, long flight, crazy first day.. God totally reminded us that He is here with us, no matter where we go.

Sorry it took so long to write this blog, and another one will soon follow, we are just trying to settle in and figure this country out at the moment.

Talk soon. Please continue to pray for us, and if God lays it on your heart to help support us on this journey, please click on the donations button at the top of the page.. We would greatly appreciate and donations.

Also we are still selling our Australia shirt back in the states to raise awareness and support. Go here for that.
We love and miss you all.
God bless!