A bit down in a land down under...

So today was really the first day I’ve had some doubts about what we are doing. I’ve been boastfully saying how New Zealand was soooo easy for us and how we were carried the whole time, and then we hit Australia and all of a sudden random kind families don’t want to take us in and show us around the country! I know it’s hard to imagine, but I get the impression that just maybe, some people have some other stuff going on in their lives that’s not soultouch! (Shock horror I know!) However, as Laura has said we have after a wee hunt managed to come across a brilliant wee flat really close to the church which suits us great. But after a couple of nights restless sleep and a few stressful days (where we spent the whole time trying to see the positives and trust something would come out of it all) waking up to pouring rain at 6.50am just seemed to push me over the edge and a little tear ran down my cheek. It was one of those tears that you don’t even give permission to roll, but it does anyway (I hate those sneaky ones). I wiped it away as doubts flashed through my mind about if we were even helping anyone at all or if this trip is a waste of time. But I didn’t have much time to really think as we were off to our first street team meeting at Hillsong church.

As we sat with all the street team volunteers I began to perk up a bit, giggling with Laura about nothing really at all (like I said we’d just had a few nights restless sleep). The leader of the street teams then shared a quote with us (I didn’t get who said it) about how we can’t and aren’t expected to “save the world” or take on everyone’s problems ourselves, but rather, we each have to responsibility to simply do what we can and no matter how small a thing we may think that is, so long as we do what we can, that’s enough.

I looked around me at all the smiling faces agreeing with this quote from people who had also gotten up far too early for a Saturday, and it hit me that just like High School Musical said; we really are “all in this together” and that’s perfect. And so as the day slowly unfolded into a good day with lot’s of encouragement from those at home, I began to realise that 1 wee tear every now and then isn’t a bad thing afterall. It simply shows we care enough. But the important thing is that we wipe the tear away, put on our rain coats and go out and face the storm. And if we all do this in whatever little way we can, then that’s enough. It’s just like in a football game, during a free kick from the opposition all the defenders are worried about getting hit by the ball where it might hurt, but they put on a brave face and huddle close together so as to protect their joint goal. And the more the scared, huddled defenders the less chance the “baddies” in the other team will get anything past them.

So as Laura and I huddle in close to this team of incredible people at Hillsong who are desperate to serve others, we giggle with nerves and excitement at what might be coming flying at us next!