Happy Newyear!

This must be a quick post, so pardon the sparse details. I'll hit the quick talking points and flesh out what I have time to do.

First, New Years in Sydney.

Jenny and I actually got to celebrate the new year twice! While helping Christmas day at the Newtown Mission Church we ran into a Swiss girl who had 2 spare tickets to a fireworks show at 9:00 on New Years eve, which was awesome! We arrived just as people were lining up, so we got to sit in the very front. We got a great view of 2 different fireworks shows which were near the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was great!

After that, we headed down to the Harbor area where we rang in the real new year. We got so close to the firework show that a guy in front of us had to dodge one of the lower flying pieces of debris. AWESOME. We made our way home through some very loud partiers, and I think Jenny and I both are realizing that we must have skipped a season in life... or we are just old souls. I can't remember a time in life where peeing off a overpass or singing loudly in the streets would have appealed to me. When I was your age...! (Okay, Jenny just said I sang loudly in the streets, so maybe I am stretching the truth a little.)

The next part of our trip saw us to the Blue Mountains, at a backpackers hostel called "Cecil Guesthouse". Our first impression was the Bates Motel, it was a bit creepy with some creepy characters there. However, it has been really nice! It's very old, but we met some interesting people there. Our first night in we met some Israeli and German folks whom we hung out with for the evening. We also met a Chicago guy named Thomas whom we went hiking with a couple days ago.

OH THE HIKE! Gosh, i will probably exaggerate that one for years to come. But you, my loyal blog readers, shall hear the truth right now. It was 50 miles, in the snow and broken glass up a mountain and up a hill both ways!

or... it was 17 kilometers (total), including up a mountain, and down the mountain was even harder than the climb. I felt like a lazy bum because I was definitely the dead weight at the end of the trip. I kept needing to sit down because my legs had given up. Perhaps working in an office and sitting in a car all day has made me weak and flabby...? At any rate, Jenny was a champ and talked me through each agonizing step and we finally made it to a road. We called a cab for the last 5-6 kilometers because I was a whiny wuss, it was dark out, starting to rain, and we were cold-tired-hungry. We did leave with a sense of satisfaction, having trekked in a single day what many people stretch over 2 days. I have some great pictures! (If you wonder what satisfaction feels like, take a hammer and hit both your legs all over, then rub your feet on sand paper til they blister. Then run on a treadmill for 11 hours)

Today was another amazing blessing. We went to a Melanesian church, on invitation from another person we met while helping on Chirstmas day at Newtown. The pastor was a man named Johnny, who was from Vanuatu (Van-ah-wah-too), so this was the closest experience I've come to seeing what Jenny sees in the village. The service was small, and I was a little freaked out that Johnny asked us to get up front and say something on our invitation. But I was also flattered, and I had a wonderful time. They showed us such amazing hospitality! After the service, I exchanged contact info with Johnny, we will probably stay in correspondence. If you would, pray for him and his church... they face a lot of trials ahead with a growing muslim population in their neighborhood. (Lots of opportunities too! - Jenny)

I have to go, so there you are... my "condensed" update. Expect more soon!


Aussie Word of the Day - "Pram"

Meaning - A baby buggy, or stroller.

Used in a Sentence: "I wish that mum would get her bloomin pram out of the way before the door shuts on the train!"