Spring in Movember

Decoding Oz with American glasses on...

Oh the fun I have had!

A chicken kabob is pronounced kababb

 The French word fillet is pronounced with the t sound on the end.

Business Casual is Smart Casual

a coffee French Press is a plunger and a toilet plunger is a plunger

so, be careful which plunger you ask for in the morning...

A Canteloupe is a Rock Melon

Flip Flops are Thongs, and Thongs are G-strings

only one photo is necessary :)

911 is 000

A cookie is a biscuit

A scone is a scone

but biscuits they don’t have

If you need to go to the hospital, you say, “I need to go to hospital” there is no ‘The’.

In the states, we live on the rewards of credit cards! I never knew how intense that was until I came here. You don't hear or see advertisements. People use their debit cards. Living only on what you earn, USA, is possible! (but I did earn a free ticket here through good ole' AMEX)

Paper size is not 8 ½ x 11, but 8 ½ x 12 and it’s called A4. And that’s not Bingo.


 

A purse is a Bag
And a wallet is a purse.
To put a check mark on a piece of paper is to ‘tick it’

A Plumeria flower is a Frangipani

 

A Hyndai is pronounced He-undi

Tires are Tyres; color is colour

 

gas is petrol

 

and, the most frustrating part of getting petrol is you have to stand and hold the lever on the pump! Oh my goodness. You are literally stuck there and you can’t move for 2 full minutes. And ‘paying at the pump’ is non-existent. Yep, you guessed it. You have to go in and pay.

(Note: cute photo is taken in the outback. not in Sydney :))

 

Rental cars are called hire cars and hire cars are only white, but all white cars are not hire cars.

 

The word 'school' ,where I come from, is all forms of education; but school here is only elementary. Yep, want to put a bewildered face on a child, have a conversation with them and tell them you have to go to school now.

A Mustache is a Mo… and it has it’s own month. Yep, all the men grow a mo in Movember to raise money for prostate cancer awareness! (and optional for girls.)

Ketchup is creatively called Tomato Sauce or just Sauce for short.

Fries are chips and chips are chips.

Burger King is Hungry Jacks, but McDonalds is McDonalds

Sleep is used to measure time. Going away for 3 days? We will see you in 3 sleeps!

If you really want to throw off an Aussie, just say that you can see them ‘every other week’ and they will say, ‘every other to what?’, and you will say, ‘to every other week’. It’s called fortnightly.

They had a prime minister one day and a different one the next with no election.

No one has guns here and everyone thinks we all own one.

‘Busting’ means you need to go pee.

Rubbish bin is the trash bin

Skinny jeans are not just for skaters. All boys under 30 wear them.

All eggs are brown and the chickens have fro's

A swimming suit is called a swim costume or a cozzie for short.

Our fiscal year ends and begins in January, their fiscal year ends and begins in July, but both months are in the winter.

Our schools start in August, theirs in February, both are the last months of Summer.

 

A parking lot is a car park

The park full? kerb side parking may be available

Want to make huge men crashing into each other, chasing a ball cute? Add an ‘ie’ at the end.

Footie

Hungry this morning? Lets get some breakie, Heathie?

 

The Sacrifice of The Call

So, here I am living in Australia, interning with the Kubala's while going to school at the C3 College in Oxford Falls, Sydney.   Humm...It's funny how when I write that sentence it sounds so simple, but it has literally taken me these past 6 months to mentally and emotionally detach myself from the Heather Hetzendorfer who was once defined by her successful 12 year career. There was a lot of surgery that needed to take place!

But, I know this is where I am called to be.

As any purpose and destiny God has marked out for us, there is fire, washing, chopping, and molding that must take place (can you feel my experience behind each one of those?).  And while I am surrendered to being completely molded into what God has set out for me to do in this world, He has asked me to start by being a servant and a student.  And please note, this is no humble chant here, but pure honesty and passion behind what my role is now.  I'm not serving at a soup kitchen, handing out tracks or preaching from the pulpit (although I did do that recently for a grade :)). I'm serving a beautiful couple who are traveling the world bringing hope and healing to those who need it.  I answer phones, work on e-mails and manage my boss' itineraries for approximately 50-75 churches a year.  Hearing the stories of the salvations and healings that have taken place while they travel, daily blows me away.  God is real and through the simple things I am called to be faithful to do, I get to take part in this incredible Harvest.

As with any new start, there is a cost. 

With all of the personal/career sacrifices that have been involved, there also naturally comes the monetary sacrifices as well. In order for me to attend school full-time and intern for the Kubala’s, I have not been able to work in Australia for the past 6 months. Just to give you an idea of what the cost of living looks like, the rent for a little one bedroom apartment is $800 a month ($720 US dollars).

God has provided so much for me during my time here and I am overwhelmed by His love. I am overwhelmed by my friends and family who believe in this ministry and what I have been called to do.

I am overwhelmed by people like you.

Many of you have asked how you can help support me and this ministry and although the subject of money is never comfortable to talk about, I would be remiss if I didn't share this opportunity and the testimony of God's incredible goodness with you.

If you would like to and are able to donate to this amazing cause, it would mean so much to me. You can use this link to support me monthly or to make a one-time donation. All donations are tax deductible. http://www.thecause.cc/australia.php


Your support, prayers and encouragement mean more to me than could ever know.

Much love,
Heather

The Kubala’s are itinerant evangelists and are the founders and directors of Get Smart National Youth Trust, Dream International Trust, and the Kubala Ministries. Andrew and Janine Kubala are powerful and inspirational communicators who are popular conference church speakers all around the world. Their personal testimonies, visions, gifts of prophetic, healing, revelation, and humor inspire people to live their dream and make a difference.  Please go to http://www.kubalaministries.org/ for more information.

Aussie Soup for this American Soul

God has been so good to me, daily showing me how He is taking care of everything that concerns me.  One example is, when I first got here, I was asking God for a night stand to place some of my things in and a small desk to put my laptop on.  But, I didn't want to pay for anything expensive.  Sure enough, at 6am one morning, during a random trip outside to the rubbish bin (aka: trash can), there sat right next to the bins a small night stand and a small desk, that even matched the wood furniture that was already in my room!  God so cares about the littlest things!  So, one by one, I ran each upstairs, trying not to wake anyone up with my big smile and my wide load coming through the narrow halls. 

Another miracle was when I dropped my 10 month old MacBook on the tile floor.  That wasn't the miracle.  Ya, it wasn't one of the most brilliant things I've ever done before.  Well, I took it to the Mac store since I had insurance that covered everything but dropping it, and so I asked them to fix it pretending that they wouldn't be able to see the huge dent on the corner of the laptop and the slightly, split-in-two, cracked screen.  Nope.  Didn't work.  Two days later, the tech guy calls me and surprises me with the words, "since you dropped it, it's not covered by the insurance."  I tried to ask him, "who told you that I dropped it?", but it failed to make it out of my mouth after the $920 words came out of his. 

So, I did the only thing I knew to do, I gave it to God and reminded Him that He was greater than any problem I could ever have.  Four days later, I got 2 random checks in the mail of places that do not owe me anything!  A credit for $600 and another one for $320.  God is so good to me!

Stay tuned for more good things...

better is this heather

I know, I know...it has taken me forever to write an update!  But, I do have a pretty good excuse why I haven't.  Just in case you thought all I was doing was carrying my board around looking for the next wave, I will have to recap...once again (actually I do this a lot to humor myself)...so you can fully grasp my mental state...

Listen up...

i left my favorite career (my only career I guess, but still, my favorite), I packed up my clothes (that is a lot) and moved to the flipping other side of the world (that's further than just the other side of the world),  i take tests now and write papers and sit in a class with people 10 years younger than me (they are still cute though),

 Only the coolest, Creative Ministry professor cannot teach unless he has his shoes off.

(Many of you have asked what classes I am taking.  Here are my 1st quarter classes I just finished...
Christianity in Culture; Survey of Christian Doctrine; Models of Creativity; Book of Galatians; Preaching and Public Speaking; Character and Spiritual Formation 2.)


These are the new classes I start now!
Leadership 2; Church Health; The Book of Isaiah; School of the Holy Spirit; Survey of Christian Doctrine; Marriage and Family Life (i know i know...one day!)

 In class with my best Aussie friend, Cherloe!

i work for an incredible ministry (also my favorite ministry in the world) while strengthening my scary skills on excel spreadsheets (and also scaring my boss with them),

(Some of you have also wanted to know what I do for the Kubala Ministries, I am the Assistant to the amazing evangelists, Janine and Andrew Kubala. I manage all their travel itineraries, which involves traveling to 50-75 churches in a year, I book their flights, I communicate with the pastor's PA's to arrange details of their speaking engagements, and I look after all of their resources (sending them to churches, inventory, etc)).

i force my brain each day to drive on the left side of the road (and scare lots of people when I don't).  

 

i have wrestled with larger than life roaches,

i even drink tea and have learned that "regular tea" does not mean Lipton,

i have learned how to put 2 kids to bed, wake them up and feed them and I even love it!

i have learned that "busting" is a term used for the bladder and the bathroom,

 Having a blast with the boys!

LIVE! 9 News with Sam and Jonny

oh, and I have managed to battle all 5 stages of culture shock in a 4 month time period (I think it's suppose to take a year...SO, I am either just extra advanced or I am still stuck in stage 2 and won't know until the most appropriate time.

 This is our florescent yellow mailman.  Yes, it is!

To all my BBW peeps - take a load of this...The mall hours.  AND you get paid time and a half to work on Sunday's!  Crazy!

So through all this, I sort of lost who I once was and had to look for myself again...but, thank God, He has brought me through this all to show me!  I have run the course...but I know I haven't finished the race...but I'm back, and better is this heather!

A while back, when my mind was stuck somewhere in one of the culture shock phases, i pulled out one of my going-away gifts that I got from my friend.  It was the most perfect thing to read being in a state of...well, a state of everything listed above.  God totally knew if He was going to speak to me in a way that I could understand,

it needed to be really simple, and it needed to rhyme.  

He is so amazing like that!  He always meets me where I am.  So, here you go.  I have attached the entire Dr Seuss book (hopefully this isn't a big copyright issue), so you can read my inspirational journey, that rhymes!

Enjoy!

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
by the incomparable Dr. Seuss

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!

You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.

You’ll look up and down streets. Look’em over with care. About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.

And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. It’s opener there in the wide open air.

Out there things can happen and frequently do to people as brainy and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen, don’t worry. Don’t stew. Just go right along. You’ll start happening too.

Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.

You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.

Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.

You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.

You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.

And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darked. A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? How much can you lose? How much can you win?

And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters? Or, maybe, not quite? Or go around back and sneak in from behind? Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.

You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.

Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No or waiting for their hair to grow. 

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance. Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!

Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! Ready for anything under the sky. Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!

Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

VIDEO: Don't call me Big Bird

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

(Thank you for the book Lydia!  You are amazing!)

God is taking me there.  I am going places!

Together we get the most perfect mobile phone reception

Caution: Broken Girl Ahead

Evidently, when I signed up for this journey, I had no idea that it entailed a beautiful land, cool people, AND losing myself to who I thought I was.  This second month has been quite an emotional journey. A journey towards finding myself. I did, however, find myself in a book today. Boy, was that a relief! It’s like a doctor diagnosing your problem with a big, official, medical title, instead of hearing, “We don’t know what your problem is. Let’s run some more tests.” I really knew this was what was going on, but to read it in a book made me feel like my experience wasn’t necessarily normal, but real.

“It is imperative that we submit our lives to the hands of the Master Potter. We must allow the Lord to break us, refashion us, and if necessary re-commission us in a way more suitable for His purpose. If we miss this appointment on the Potter’s wheel, we are forever doomed to a life of mediocrity. If we make the connection, we will be transformed from glory to glory into the very image of Christ.” Larry Randolph, "The Coming Shift"

That's it? That sounds painful.

I feel as though my mind has been washed clean. Dumped out. Emptied. I was once full of experience, awards, and passion to lead others in the business world. I drove results, developed leaders and stood tall in my usefulness and success. Now, all I can execute are memories. That’s all that comes out. But the memories aren’t fulfilling me any longer. I am no longer me. Who I was is fading. I feel like a USB memory stick inside a non-compatible PC. All the training and developing of who I was in the business world is simply not converting to where I am.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding..." (Prov. 3:5)

I heard that Scripture the 2nd Sunday I was here. Little did I know that it was would be a huge, yellow caution sign that marked the road ahead. That scripture now rings inside this emptied mind. I always thought it was just a fun little scripture that reminded me to always get God’s opinion and perspective on whatever task/problem I was working through. Cute, huh? I am now living out and defining the deepest aspect of what that scripture could possibly mean to me.

"Lean not on your own understanding" = to have all of your understanding washed from you so you can’t even lean on it even if you wanted to.

I never knew my work defined who I was this much. That every part of my being was wrapped up in the success of my career. That is, until it was all removed. Every bit of it. A tall empty body is all that is left.

I am now officially broken wide open and am being re-built. This 6 foot girl is still growing.

I have been sent to an environment that is divinely orchestrated by God to break down my confidence in my flesh. And if I didn’t make this move to the other side of the world, then all that I once was wouldn’t continue growing anyway. The memories of the excitement and prestige that I can play in my mind would have ended in a life of mediocrity.

It's no longer about my performance, but about His grace.

A Bonzer Time

Why you should come to Australia! Check out this video.

Valentine's Day officially has meaning to me!  As of February 14th, I've been here one full month! How awesome is that?! (ha - and you all thought I met someone).

However, this 2nd month has been one of the most exciting and yet scariest times of my life. The roads and grocery store no longer scare me, but finding myself and learning more about who I am...that has been the scary part!

But, speaking of scary...I did almost get into my first bingle (Translation: "car accident"). No, it wasn't in a roundabout or turning into on-coming traffic (although I've done that too). It was much more intense than that. One thing you may not know about me is, when I moved out of Florida, I moved out because of the roaches. Yes. The ones that fly, the ones that live in pretty palm trees, the ones that literally make you climb on top of a table and scream like death is near.

I'll live with spiders, snakes, furry rats, but not roaches. Especially not the most hated roach of all - the German Roach, which I discovered, followed me to the other side of the world.

There I am, successfully driving down the street enjoying a breath-taking summer day when out of the corner of my eye I saw something run across the passenger side floor. Then my eyes met with his. He froze. I froze. It was him. The German! With one eye, I quickly looked to the seat next to me while my mind was chanting, "they're here! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!" With one hand on the wheel, I grabbed the only possibly weapon, my grocery list.  Then with one bend forward and a blood curling scream, I smashed him! Success! I won. I was victorious!

Remembering I was still driving, I continued on my journey glancing down every once in awhile to enjoy my grossed-out victory. However, there was one particular quality I forgot those things posses - they fake death really well. How do I know that? You guessed it, he was gone. The faker is still out there just waiting to plan out his next attack.

Enough about bugs...how about fish?

I had a fish swim past me while I was swimming laps in the pool the other day. That was truly an answer to prayer...not the fish, but the pool. One thing I quickly learned when I got here was that the $17/month I was paying for a gym membership in the States equals $17/WEEK here. So my options were to get flabby or find free ways to stay in shape. So, with my passion for swimming, I prayed that I'd find a free way to swim. With nothing but a big, free, open ocean in front of me, the sound of waves, currents, and small sharks made swimming laps feel slightly unappealing. 

So, I began accepting that I was just going to have to learn how to enjoy working out on dry land. But, driving along the coast back to our flat one day, Kelly told me about a rock pool that most of the beaches have. The city pumps in ocean water into this protected pool that sits right on the ocean. YEA! It was a miracle. The smallest things of my life are being taken care of.

Someone told me me they liked my accent. 

I wanted to quickly correct them and explain that it wasn't me that had an accent, but it was them that had the accent. I wanted to say, "We speak very plainly. You're the one with the cool swing on the end of each word you say." But I was in line at a barby (Translation: "Barbeque") and to prevent stopping up the entire que to the snags (Translation: "line to the sausages"), I smiled and kindly said, "Thank you."

It's funny what comes out of my mouth that doesn't make sense here...

I suggested to Drew, our business manager, "that wasn't a 911, so we can do that later." As soon as I said it, I realized that Australian's don't have 911. So, I paused, then corrected myself and said, "000." That's the the 3 most important emergency numbers to know. (Thanks Dad for quizzing me on that before you left. Very helpful.)

I'm also learning that my Bath and Body fragrances are very foreign here. I walked into an auditorium a few weeks ago and these guys in front of me said, "What is that sugary, cake smell?" Busted. It was my Special Edition Vanilla Yuletide Pear. In the States, the response would be more like, "Oh, what is that delicious Bath and Body fragrance I smell? I think it's the new special edition fragrance Yuletide Pear. How wonderful. You smell really good!"

It looks as though I have a few things to teach these Aussies.

PHOTO OPS!

The tall and cute Joel Houston at our C3 Conference. 

(This was where I wore my "cake" fragrance. Awesome!)

My super cool boss about to rock the stage at C3!

Kelly and I at the cafe downstairs under our flat. We went and splurged on breakfast.

Look!  The cockatoos are wild and all over the place!

I must say, all in all, having a BONZER time!

(Translation: I'm having a great time!)

My First Aussie Adventures

I actually had a California to-do list that I had to complete before I left. I had to re-fuel myself on everything that was American so it could cruise me through 2 years in a non-American land. Every American burger (or just In and Out), every Mexican restaurant, of course Disney Land. Oh, and then seal it all off with a Hollywood Dr. Phil studio taping. That almost didn’t get crossed off the list…I had to squeeze that one in 8 hours before my LAX flight. But, it paid off. No, they didn’t pull me out of the stage and ask me to be a movie star, but being there hours before my flight did keep my mind off the fact that I was about to make a leap over the Pacific ocean to the other side of the world, leaving everyone, everything that has made me, me. I guess it was a good thing they made me sign a waiver before I went on the show, “being a member of the audience does not allow you free, personal counseling by Dr. Phil.” I would have been tempted to ask him if I should stay.

Before we arrived at LAX I reminded myself how smoothly everything was about to go. After all, I was being obedient to where I know the Lord has called me, so He will make sure I don’t have any problems with my “slightly” over-packed luggage, no delays getting on the plane, and then 2 lengthy bulk-overhead seats waiting for me and my dad to stretch out our 6 foot legs for the entire 14 hour flight. “What? I’m sorry, did you just say my dad needs a Visa in order to arrive in Sydney for a week and he doesn’t have one on file? Umm, the plane is full and the seats we reserved only fit small children? I think I heard you wrong about my heavy luggage. It sounded like you said $300… “(gulp) This is where I completely lost it. Yes, tears began to fall. I held it in through all the good-byes, all the final hugs and kisses, and then at the airport in front of the luggage lady, it all came out. The world hates me…what am I doing…THIS is the sign, I’m not suppose to go. Take me home! I was distraught. God left me…something had to be wrong up there.

“God, don’t forget I’m being obedient!”

I know what you are saying. Slightly naïve form of thinking, Heather. Blame it on my emotional levels or the mean luggage lady, but I was treading unrealistic waters feeling like I was untouchable in this world I was stepping into. I was exempt from this test called Life. Everything was going to be better. But, God never allows me to wallow in my own self-pity for long. A few hours over the Pacific, I unfolded myself from my seat to reach my Ipod and turned to the good ole Jentzen Podcast. As if he only spoke the sermon for my ears, I quickly shifted back to my purpose. “Satan doesn’t ever attack a retreating army, but an advancing one.” That was what I was doing. I was advancing. I had to stay strong and realize there will always be battles. Its just part of life. But I will choose to pray, fight, and still look for God’s miracles.

Landing in Sydney was already going so much better than taking off. Successfully passing through the friendly Australian customs officers I felt like, this is perfect, I am one of them. I am a Sydney-an. No one thinks I am a foreigner. But as I approached the final line to exit out to the blue, warm skys of the south Pacific, this little guy with a big badge approached my dad and I asking if we had any fruit, nuts or food of any kind, including Ranch dressing. Cover was blown. Apparently, I look so American that he had to ask if my over-sized luggage was full of Ranch dressing.But, for fear of more fines, I had to confess that I didn’t have Ranch but I had a ton of guacamole mix to last 2 years!

The first few days exploring the northern coast of Sydney we were running on adrenaline and delirium. We were going so fast to register every aspect of my new life…buy car, drive on left side of road, move into apartment, buy insurance, register car, drive on left side of road, shop for groceries, visit Target (surprise they have Target), drive on left side of road, buy cell phone, buy internet connection… I never had time to realize that I was really making myself as permanent to this country as an Aussie sun burn. I am really doing this!

While driving on the RIGHT side of the car on the LEFT side of the road, I measured the effectiveness of each day based upon how many honks I received. There were some days I got four in a one second moment. I guess that made up for the moments that no one honked at me at all out of sheer shock as I was coming towards them. But I triumphed through bracing the steering wheel like an old lady in a Cadillac and peering over the dashboard, saying to myself, “I will survive…this country will not beat me!” The roundabouts also were something to graduate from. I had to learn how to courageously roll into the parade of cars following each other in a circle then spit out into four different directions (I mean you pick one of the four). When in doubt, just circle around and around a few more times and eventually you will flow out into the right spot.

I would have to say hands down, beyond the car shopping, insurance buying, and re-learning how to drive, the biggest stress was going grocery shopping. Those that know me will not be shocked right now. I can probably count on one hand how many times I go to the grocery store in a year. I thought of every way possible of how I could survive without doing this but everyone of them ended with just not eating at all which is not a good idea according to my family. I learned that the nearest grocery store was only 3 roundabouts down the street, and then take the first exit on the third roundabout. Sure enough, at the bottom of the first exit I rolled right into the car park (parking lot) of a Woolsworth grocery store. My survival mode kicked in again as soon as I stepped out of the car.

I can do this. It’s only a grocery store in another country. What could be the big deal?

Once again, if I could step into this food world, buy what I need and not look like a foreigner while doing it that will be success. Under the awning of the weather worn store I spotted green shopping carts. Perfect! They have four wheels and are identical to the ones where I am from. We are doing good so far. As I approached the carts, I pulled one to claim it as mine to begin my adventure of food shopping, however, the cart would not move. They were all chained with a little lock that connected each cart together. For fear of appearing that I had never experienced a chained cart at a grocery store, and to prevent opening my American voice to actually ask someone what I needed to do, I just stepped back away from the cart and stared with a sort of bewildered look, thinking, I have absolutely no idea what the heck I need to do. I’m not quite sure how long I was staring, but it was enough for the guy in the bread aisle to see my stress flares and come to my rescue. He was a grocery angel. He explained that I needed to put a dollar coin in the lock in order to free the chained cart. I told him Thank you in my American accent and then it all made sense to him.

Cover blown once again.

Wading through each of the aisles you instantly search for something familiar. A familiar brand, label, bottle, anything that reminds you of home. Unfortunately, energizer batteries and Coke-a-Cola was all I could come up with, however, the double digit prices immediately made them quite unfamiliar. That “free the cart” bewildered look instantly came back on my face as I stopped looking for food and decided to walk the aisles just looking at the prices like a museum. A six pack of batteries back home would be close to $5…here $12. Medium size box of laundry detergent $35. As my father as a witness, we did even see a 36 pack of coke cans for $32. How about just needing 2 single banana’s and 2 single apples (not bags, just individual)…$3.50. And with the American dollar and the Australian dollar almost equivalent, there is not much of exchange rate. Standing in the middle of the aisle, I began fighting back every form of fear that was trying to creep in. Fear answering the question, am I truly capable of surviving out here?

Did I mention everything was double digits??

Anyone want to save money and go on a picnic?

My first Sunday arrived and I was able to officially visit my new church (myc3church.net). Andrew and Janine saved my dad and I two seats in the front with a “reserved” card. I felt like a celebrity. I was able to meet so many amazing leaders in the church, the president of the college, the dean of students, even one of the executive pastors. I felt right at home. I was so encouraged there. The sermon was, once again, spoken right for me. It was on Grace. The pastor referenced a scripture that was on the power point screen and I felt compelled to look up in my Bible. I quietly thumbed through to 2 Corinthians 9:8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” And then...wow...I was so humbled and encouraged...hand written on the left side of the scripture were the words “Australia 2010”. My eyes began to well up. I don’t remember when I wrote that note near the side of that scripture, but God was bringing me back to it. He was reminding me that no matter how scary the roads gets, how expensive the stores are, HE was able to make ALL grace about to me.

I will have all I need. He is my income. He is taking care of me. God provides where He guides. This is the beginning a new adventure. An adventure of Grace.

It's going to be amazing!