Surviving Lent... ish!

On Thursday Jenn and I were off out for another night on the streets of Sydney with Hillsong’s homeless project, Street Beat. We had a few new faces joining us so had a short meeting to discuss the vision of the project and also do a little training. It was fascinating to see the daunted faces of our new team members, only a week before Jenn and I had been in their shoes and I remember well the nervous butterflies in my stomach as we headed out.

I had been so anxious about approaching a stranger in the street and attempting to start a conversation, and I am far from shy! But when we got out there I realised that most people pass these guys by in the street, pretending they can’t even see them. So most of them are happy to have a bit of company. When I listened to the new folks, amazed at how easy they had found it, and how different it was than they expected, I had a wee giggle remembering my own relief the previous week.

We spent Friday in the Hillsong City Care office with Gary (Street team and Street Beat leader) making up booklets for the training day on Saturday. We also helped him shop for pancakes and toppings which was a bit of a trial as Jenn and I have decided to do a traditional lent this year, giving up all things sweet!

Training day came and we were faced with plate upon plate of pancake - 4 days into lent Jenn and I were still going strong!

We arrived home at lunchtime to an empty house, Tanya had gone to pick up our new roommate, Micah. Micah is from New Zealand, and has a guitar... this was the first two things I liked about her, but after spending more time, she’s also a very sweet and fun girl. I hope she’s going to survive a week in a room with Jenn and me! We do get a bit manic before bed...

Unfortunately Micah had to go to work, so Jenn, Tanya and I took a trip to Bondi Beach for an iced coffee. Now I feel like I’m in Australia. This is what I’d always pictured! Bodies bathing in the sun, surfers out on the water, surf and tourist shops, trendy bars and cafe’s along the promenade. It was ‘beautiful’!

On the drive home we debated about what to do in the evening, coming from Scotland means we don’t really know what to do on a sunny Saturday night! However we worked together and came up with an awesome plan! We stopped at the supermarket for some meat and salad, headed home, chopped and marinated everything ready for cooking, packed one of the best picnics ever and headed to Marubra Beach for a BBQ. We arrived around 8pm, stuck on the iPod, lit the communal BBQ up and began cooking. An hour later the wind was blowing a gale, and nothing was cooking. We tried our best to salvage our plan, but it just wasn’t happening.

Laughing hard we began to pack up, wondering what the people around us might be thinking, and headed homeward bound for a fried burger and a movie on the couch.

Sunday morning we headed back to Redfern Anglican Church, for a familiar feeling family service. After the service we got chatting to one of the members who told us about Tropfest, a short film festival which was taking place on the Sunday evening and was FREE! So after Hillsong in the evening we headed to the domain for the festival.

Tropfest is the largest short film festival in the world, with around 75,000 in the audience and stars such as Toni Collette and Elijah Wood judging and presenting.

So after a hectic, but very fun and sugar free weekend Jenn and I are relaxing a bit before helping out and being completely challenged and inspired at Shine again tonight.


Please keep the comments, texts and e-mails coming, we might not always get a chance to reply but it’s so good to hear what you’re all up to!

Loads of love and blessings from down under!

Laura xXx