Well this last week has been a seemingly long one. Well Friday morning we woke up and drove up to the blue mountains. We went straight to the hiking area and hiked for about 3 and 1/2 hrs. It was incredible! The view was amazing and I love to be out in the mountains/woods just walking around so it was great. Then after we grabbed a bite to eat we went and checked into out hostel for the night, The Flying Fox. Well being winter here and being more inland in the mountains it was quite chilly that night. The place wasnt very well insulated so it was pretty cold in there as well. The common room was warm as there was a fire and lots of people hanging out reading, playing cards, putting together a puzzle or just enjoying company. The next morning we drove back and on the way we stopped at the featherdale zoo. It was nice. It was fairly small for a zoo but it was perfect for what we wanted. Aussie animals! We got to pet and feed kangaroos and wallabees as they just roamed freely. We got to pet koalas too! several other native animals and some more common ones. It was great to see outside the city and more of the countryside as well as some of the animals. So all in all it was a great trip. Then that night we all went to Darling harbour where the FIFA fanfest is set up and watched Korea beat Greece 2-0 with all of our new Korean friends. It was great to get in the spirit and cheer on their team and learn some of their chants! That was at 930 so after that and a quick stop to Macca's(McDonalds) we went to the apartment for a quick nap as it was 1230 and had to wake up at 345 to come cheer on the USA against England which we drew 1-1. We painted our faces and sprayed blue hairspray in our hair. Came back went back to sleep then woke up for church at 12(luckily we have a late church haha). Then that night we went to Hillsong church. It was a bit different than Im used to and I felt as though I was judging the whole time because it was not what I was used to. Later realized it and changed my mind as so many people worship and pray differently but if its to God and sincere from the heart who are we to judge. I was glad that we went as God shows me and the team more and more about our sinful selfs every day.
Well Sunday night Matt, Haley, Ramsey, and I went to Dan and Theresa's Apartment to sleep and then wake up at 430 and watch Australia lose to Germany 4-0 with a bunch of students at one of the Uni's. The girls went back but Matt and I took a nap back at Dan's then went back to Macquarie Univeristy to give it a look around and see if it would be good to come back for more investigation. Well since it was the Queen's Birthday it was a holiday and everything was closed so we just lookedat the layout of it and saw a few students studying and left.
Tuesday and Wednesday we went and worked at Newtown Mission, which is a church that runs a soup kitchen for the poor. It was really great just to meet some of them and serve them food. I got to talk with this man on tuesday named Michael who has only about 8 friends in the world. As we were talking made me greatful for all God has provided me with as I am here and have twice as many friends just here in Sydney. So again God showing me sin just as we always want more but God provides us with everything we need yet we always want more. He told the same stories over and over as he doesnt have much to talk about as well as being depressed. Met another guy Greg who had been in prison for awhile and he was nice as he was surprised as we really wanted to listen to what he wanted to say as he was not used to that from prison. Like I said it was really great just to help out there and serve the community. We went back Thursday night and went to their chapel service and then helped with their Thursday night sit-down style dinner. Today we talked with the leader of a ministry at University of Sydney Paddy Benn. He talked with us about post-modernism and evangelism. We then skyped with Summer Beach Project to give them an update about our summer and things like that. It was great to see a lot of familiar faces and ones we will be seeing in person in about 8 days. We then went on a ferry ride over to Manly to walk around and just to experience a ferry ride. It was cool to see the bay and the city from the water. Tonight USA plays Slovenia at midnight so we are about to head to that.
B

Well Its been awhile since my last post but Its been a great week and a half since then. Last week at UNSW was a good one for the guys. We met a good amount of guys and so that was encouraging. Tuesday was my first chance to see the University of Sydney because we all went there for the Gospel night(which was the last meeting of the semester for the SOW ministry). Well we went there but I didnt get to walk all around and see all of the campus because I had a meeting with Matt. Anywho Wednesday we went to UTS and passed out flyers for their Gospel night that was actually this week because they have a different schedule. It was funny as many students would just walk by and then when I mentioned free food they turned around and were suddenly interested lol. Well we had just a regular meeting but after the talk we broke off into small discussion groups and I had Pastor Jim and then a guy named Hiep who is an atheist. We got into a good discussion with him and I think he is really close to becoming a Christian. God just seems to be doing so much in his life that he has to be close. Well the other Brandon had lunch with him today and had a good talk with him today about spiritual things for a couple hours today which was great. So please be praying for him! Today was our last day on campus and it was a great one. We decided to come to campus and give students free coffee and tea as they are studying hard for their exams coming up. At first they seemed skeptical and asking what group we were promoting or why we were doing it. We told them we were here to serve the students and so since we didnt have much to do and they were studying hard we would give them a break and by the time we ran out of cups more and more people heard about us so we are going to do it again! I think it was a great success and will be a great way to reach the students. Tonight the guys went to University of Sydney to meet with a guy named Andrew who lives in St Andrews college(which are like our dorms). He is a strong christian and we went out to eat with him and got to know how it is like in them and ministry things like that. Well the time has finally arrived! Tomorrow night at midnight the World Cup officially kicks off!!! Even though we will be in the mountains for the first couple games we will be back sat night for the Korea Greece game. Which we will get to watch it with all the SOW students that are all Korean lol. The Harbour has set up screens out in the water and there is a whole fanfest park setup www.fanfest.com.au It is gonna be really amazing to view the games there and be around all sorts of people! Well USA England game is at 430am on sunday morning and yes We are waking up to watch it :)! well we are heading to the zoo and the mountains tomorrow so more to update when I return!
God Bless