Back in Sacramento

We've made it safely back home. Thanks for all of your prayers and support! We'll try to mail out a post-trip mailer in the next couple of weeks.

Melbourne Day 3

The weather has been quite windy and cold in Melbourne... with a little rain here and there. But its all good. We decided that coming during the southern hemisphere winter was good, since we wouldn't be deceived by warm sunny days.

On Friday morning, we met with John and Kate, a couple working part-time with the Navigators ministering to the International students at Monash University. They had lived a few years in China, and now back in Australia, they are still ministering to mostly Chinese students.

Afterwards, we took a quick tour of Monash University, which is outside of the city. Unlike Melbourne University, it is more spread out and even has a religious center complete with different size chapels and meeting places.

For the evening, we attended a large group meeting of the international students in the Navigators in Monash. It was held at Bruce and Kathy's home, another couple who works part-time with the Navigators. There were about 20 Chinese, Taiwanese, and Malaysian students there for dinner and fellowship.

After dinner, we sat down to watch a video series on boy-girl relationships by Joshua Harris. Then we broke into small groups for discussion questions. Most of the students agreed with the main point in the video, that maintaining purity in a romantic relationship comes from a desire to honor God and be holy. A couple of the students, however, were non-Christians, and were just taking it all in.

Aussie Vocab of the Day: Furphy (very obscure... even in Australia)

So, during WW1 or WW2 (it was a long time ago... I forget), this company named "Furphy" made large water-storing tanks for troops in the field. Much like the watercooler in the white-collar office, these storage tanks served as a gathering area. As the men gathered to get water, they would share stories from the day.

As men tend to do, they would embelish their stories to impress their buddies. And, there is only so much embelishing one can do before the real-life story becomes a tall-tale.

And, that is what a Furphy is... a tall-tale.

Melbourne Day 1 & 2

Well, there is one thing you can thank Hollywood for. It puts out all of theses popular movies with actors/actresses with American accents, which gives Australians (and other peoples of the world) practice processing this accent. So, they can understand us pretty well. We figured we'd watch Crocodile Dundee 84 times to even it out.

On Wednesday we left Canberra for Melbourne. Upon our arrival, we were driven straight to Melbourne University for lunch and to meet a student in the Nav ministry there. Esther (the student) is one of the many international students who come from Asia and Southeast Asia for education at Melbourne University. In fact, there are so many Asian students here that there are times when walking around in the student union that you forget you're in Australia.

We also met with Quek, who had graduated from Melbourne University and now works in the city while working with the Navigators in community groups.

We are staying about 40 minutes east from Melbourne with the Utley's, who have been Navigator missionaries for many years.

On Thursday the Utley's showed us the city, then brought us to an informal coversational English class run by Navigators at the university. There were 5 Asian students there for the first meeting. We talked about all sorts of topics with them, including differences between Australian, Asian, and American cultures.

The conversational English class is a great way to make contacts in the international student body at the university. These students were excited to be there and even wanted to invite their friends in the future.

In the evening we had dinner with Barbara who does work in the Navigators with Church Discipling Ministry (CDM) in the community. It was encouraging to hear about the different ways she builds relationships with other women in her local community.

Aussie Vocab of the Day: Bikki

You may know that a cookie is sometimes called a biscuit in Australia (and maybe even in other countries). We have no feelings about this except that "Biscuit Monster" on Sesame Street just doesn't sound right.

Oh, and the shortcut word for "biscuit" is "bikki".

Canberra Day 2

Well, I (Chris) am feeling tons better... after a day and half of rest. Those Aussie bugs really take it out of you! Thank you for your prayers!

Today we met with all of the American Navigator missionaries in Australia. The Fitzgeralds have 3 daughters and have been ministering at the Australian Defence (Aussie sp) Force Academy for about 3 years. The Johnsons have been here for about 19 years and lead the Australian Navigators. Finally, the Meykolths have just been here for 6 months and are serving the students at Australian National University.

With the Johnsons, we got a tour of the Parliament House, in which we saw the Prime Minister's office. Well... it was just the Prime Minister's Office Door. We also got to sit a while in a question session of the parliament (where we saw the Prime Minister in person). During these sessions, each party takes turns asking questions of any minister they want. Sometimes this will result in a "lively" debate... which is mostly just for show for the public.

Sorry, no pictures... we forgot the camera!! :-(

Aussie Vocab of the Day: A Fair Go
Is your "mate" on the track for failure in his phone-cleaning business? Well, don't warn him or persuade him to stop. Everyone deserves their "fair go". The best teacher is failure.

Canberra Day 1

Sorry we have not posted in a couple of days. We arrived in Canberra last night on the shortest flight ever and had a nice evening with our host family. Today and Saturday we have been resting because Chris has been fighting a cold all week and he can't seem to shake it. His fever was back up again last night so he is spending the day in bed taking drugs and vitamin C. Please pray with us that he gets better soon--it's a shame to be here and not able to see or do anything.

We did stop and see some kangaroos last night (from a distance). Apparently, they are quite prolific here--almost like deer in terms of car and animal interactions, if you know what I mean...

Sydney Day 5 (Video) & 6

"Jen, how come we can't have kangaroo for dinner at home?"
Though we probably won't see a kangaroo, we did eat one tonight. It was a very tender red meat with a nice aftertaste.

Today we returned to the university to meet with some more students, and the Navigator intern who works with Grant on campus. He will be trying to start up a bible study on John with some students in the dorms for non-Christians this semester.

Afterwards we met up with a Nav staff couple who are doing work with the People Resources Team (PRT). The PRT are support staff and counselors for the Nav staff who are working in the field.

Aussie Vocab of the Day: Hit the Frog and Toad
Sounds violent, huh? What did the frog and toad do to you? And, why couldn't you leave it at the frog? Apparently, parts of commonly used phrases are replaced with words that rhyme to make them sound funny.

So, "I've got to hit the road." changes to "I've got to hit the frog and toad."

Sydney Day 5

Well, today we provide evidence that we are actually in Sydney, Aus. We got a "day tripper" ($15 each) to ride the train (45 min.) into Sydney and then catch a ferry (30 min.) to Manly Beach. We took these pictures after we got off the train and walked around on The Rocks, which is the historic area of Sydney. Strangly, we also got a free mini meal from the massive red lunch box parked outside the train station. Inside was a small can of Coke and some nasi goreng!

It seems to be some sort of marketing scheme put on by Coca-Cola. Not sure why they would feel the need, but we're not complaining...

So far this week we have met with about 14 students: mostly one-on-one but also one group of four. Tomorrow we have our last full day of meeting with students in Sydney. This has by far been the highlight of our trip. We have really enjoyed being able to watch and participate as Grant disciples these students. We are amazed at the interest and faithfulness that the students have shown. It is exciting to see God at work!

Aussie Vocab of the Day: bubbler

What bubbles up from the ground in a refreshing spring? Water, of course! If you want to quench your thirst in a public place, you would look for the bubber, or drinking fountain. The tap water tastes quite nice in Sydney, actually.

Sydney Day 4

No new pictures for today, since we returned again to Macquarie Univeristy and met with quite a few students. Most meetings were one-on-one, but one was a group of four students.

Topics ranged from another study on Ephesians 3, to how to bring up God in conversations with non-Christian friends, to the existence of God. One of the students we met with was a self-proclaimed agnostic, but was still open to discussing Christianity with Grant in the weeks to come.

So far we have seen quite a spectrum of spiritual maturity among the Navigator contacts at Macquarie. The variety definitely keeps one on his/her toes.

Aussie Vocab of the Day: Footie Match
We all know that when you travel to another country and start talking about how good you are at football, everyone thinks you're really talking about soccer. In fact, you talk such a good game, that the local boys challenge you, then you quickly discover that there was a misunderstanding.

Well, in Australia soccer is also soccer, but football can mean a number of things...
1. Rugby League (this is the rugby that Chris learned to play)
2. Rugby Union (slightly different rules than above)
3. Aussie-Rules Rugby (but the Outback Steakhouse guy always says "no rules, just right"...)
4. Soccer (the Aussies are sensitive to the other use of the word, unlike the rogue Americans who just *have* to use Farenheit and Standard measurements...)

So, a Footie Match is a game (match) of any of the above.