Day 90: What a Wednesday

Ah, rest days; sometimes you get to do what you want, and sometimes you end up doing something completely different. The morning was basically procrastinating on going to the post office; I took most of the morning re-doing some vocal tracking on my songs. Because there was bits of noises here and there, I wouldn't fully use my voice, so seeing as how the other guys were in class, I took the opportunity to get it done. So I have 5 songs completely finished and ready for the world. I finished what will be the 7th song for Here and Alive, so all that's left is my complete re-imagining of the 2nd song and the 6th song. After that, it's only a matter of releasing it. How will I do that is the real question...

So after I did some pretty good recording (by good, I mean that I accomplished a lot), I traveled to the post office. I've been waiting on a package for about 2 weeks now, so I went to see if there was any information on it. Unfortunately, there wasn't any word on the package, so I just went back home. On the way back, I got some yellow curry over rice at a nearby Thai restaurant and ate it while checking out the Charmaine's CD, Love Reality; not only was the curry good, but that CD is great. I found out she was a backup singer for Rebecca St. James back in the day, so it's no wonder this Australian girl got my attention right away. After having a small chat with Hannah, I went to Powerhouse for the Warehouse Wednesday night. Basically, this was a special chill night featuring some local Australian talent that performed some of their music for us. That's something I've looked forward to seeing in a long time, so it was great; the guest artists rocked the auditorium, and they were surprised at how welcoming we were to them (that's the love of Jesus, yo!) Anyways, it was a good day; tomorrow's another Sisterhood morning!

God bless,
Steven

P.S. if you want to listen to Charmaine's CD, Love Reality, the awesome people at Jesusfreakhideout.com are hosting a listening party, which means they're streaming the whole album online for free. here's the link to have a listen at her amazing album:
http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/listeningparty/party3.asp

Day 89: Fighting the Exhaustion

Today, as the title states, was a battle to stay awake. I woke up a bit earlier than I normally would have wanted (6 a.m.) to go on a run with my other Norwegian friend Jorge; probably the most brutal workout time I've ever had. Lots of running, a few sets of pushups and tricep dips; all very hard to do after a while. I got back to the flat and did a couple stretches to prevent feeling like a stick tomorrow, and then I started getting ready for class. Today's Personal Leadership lecture was on planning out the vision for our lives and how we could start moving towards it. Duncan is an excellent teacher; I always look forward to his lessons. After the class, we had chapel, which was incredible. Our wonderful principal Catrina gave an awesome message on being each other's armor bearer, referring to the story when Jonathan and his armor bearer stepped out in faith and defeated the Philistines. The most interesting part is when she mentioned a story in modern history when an Israeli soldier read this passage the night before the next battle; he approached his leaders and asked if they could try the same tactic Jonathan used. In the end, it was an almost exact repeat of the Bible story; I think that was a pretty cool story! When I came here to the flat, I had a good chat with the family, and not too long after I had a chat with Hannah and Nadia (mostly Hannah, of course). Praise be to God for creating whoever came up with Skype; seriously, this program is so convenient. It's the perfect way to communicate with people; if any of you people back home in San Francisco use Skype, I'd love to chat with you sometime! The remainder of the evening was hanging out with the Connect Group; we had a dinner night, which was awesome. We also talked about conspiracy theories, free masonry (just like National Treasure), and church related stuff; it very much was a connecting time instead of just a Bible study time. That was mainly because there was four of us out of the usual 7 or 8 guys that come regularly. It was a good day; I have some errands to take care of tomorrow, so I'm gonna need some rest to handle it all.

God bless,
Steven

Day 88: Music Beyond the Horizon

So today was pretty much all about music. We started the morning with a lecture on being ready. There are many times when we might have a certain plan set, but something last minute comes up and we either freak out, or we are fully prepared. Usually the person that works and prepares on their own time is the one that succeeds. Also, sometimes we have to be ready to die to ourselves and watch other succeed; it's all parts of being a good servant. Mary is a great communicator; she knows how to get every point to make sense!
Music Excellence followed, which is the one class where we work firsthand with the instruments. Our performance day is 2 weeks from today; so fast!! I feel my group is ready, so I'm not super worried. We worked on remembering whatever things we may have forgotten, and we also got to talk a little bit on the next song we may be doing for the next performance. Overall, it was a good session. The tutorial was also great. We had a very good team exercise/game called the Love Circle, where we would give a chocolate to one person and tell them one encouraging thing about them. It ended up being just constant passing around of chocolate haha it was great. I spent the afternoon recovering rest I didn't get from lack of enough sleep (I didn't sleep too well last night, but I'm alright now!) I also got to spend some time with my flatmate Anders; seriously, this is one cool man of God. Erik was gone most of the day because his dad flew in for the week, so they're spending quality time together. I also got to share the love of music with some people by making a couple CDs, which is cool. Tomorrow will be another short day, so hopefully I can find something to do in the later half of the day.

God bless,
Steven

Day 87: Progress and Comfort

This morning started pretty cool. Around midnight I prayed that God would give me the strength to wake up early, since I had to be there as part of my position as choir security; I spent the whole week freaking out over it because I didn't know what to expect. It turned out being really simple, so thank God He answered my prayer and made it easy for me to accomplish my task. The 8 A.M. service is fascinating; since the worship is more of an acoustic style it's a soft but still powerful way of starting the morning off right. We also got to hear from Pastor Brian, which was pretty cool since he doesn't always come out to the City campus. We had an incredible prayer moment that really encouraged me. Afterwards, I got to present an "item" (that's what they call a special song performance); I went with a personal favorite, Starfield's Son of God. That song will always be dear to my heart, and I love being able to share it with friends. The remainder of the morning was invested in resting from the loss of sleep earlier in the morning. I also did some recording work for Here and Alive; I finally got a solid formula for the last song, but I still have to work on the 6th song, as well as the revise of the 2nd song. It's causing some setbacks, so I don't know when it will be completely finished. Lord willing I can get it done before the end of April, because I want to get started on my SFC tributes and Christmas music before the year is done. Can you believe we already passed a quarter of the year? Wow, time flies. I also got to meditate on some excellent Scripture; I read out of Daniel 1, which is when Daniel and his posse ate veggies and water for 10 days and ended up looking healthier than the other guys. It reminded me of how the world offers us things that seem tasty and good, but they end up not helping our health. But when we choose the healthier choices (God, obviously), we become stronger, more confident, and in better condition than the people that don't. I felt pretty good after that read, so I got to relax even more. I also got to make a Facebook AND MySpace page for my music project; it'll be difficult to run those 2 consistently, but we'll see how it goes.

God bless,
Steven

Day 86: Long, but entertaining =)

So Saturday turned out to be very good. This morning started off just the way I like it: with ministry. We had the Servolution kick-off, and we had a blast. My particular placement was in the Towers (the usual awesomeness). I spent most of the morning with friends Sarah and Becca going door to door through about 8 floors, inviting every person that answered to come and join the barbecue we had going on downstairs. It was great to see all the wonderful faces I usually see during Street Teams mornings; since we had the conferences and Justice Projects going on the past 2 weeks, we haven't gone to the Towers as often. The general reception of the barbecue was fantastic; this kind of thing is what many of the tenants consider the highlight of the year, since they tend to not get as much activity over there. It brought back memories of when I first came to Australia, but more importantly when I would serve with my parents and sister in C.P.O.M. It was just so refreshing. Plus, I got to practice my Russian in a bit, which was sweet; turns out Becca really wants to learn Russian, so we're going to be Russian language partners. We even spoke to a lady from one of the Towers that enjoyed the fact we were learning her language so much, she offered to help teach us; how cool is THAT?!?! God is so good, I tell you. I spent the afternoon in the flat, relaxing as I usually do when I'm in need of rest after serving. (Mom, you're going to be very, VERY surprised at this next part; esta lista?) With the help of my good friend and flatmate, Anders, I made my first self-cooked, self-prepared meal EVER: spaghetti with beef and mushrooms and some romano cheese tomato sauce. Of course, with Anders being Norwegian, he gave me tips on how Norwegians normally make spaghetti, so it was a learning experience as well as a cultural one. Believe it or not, I actually didn't do a half bad job on my first try, but it didn't come without some sacrifice:

Now, let me explain that this burn was NOT my fault. It was a complete accident from my other flatmate Erik, who set down the lid of the pot of boiling hot water on my arm without noticing I was there. I'm alright, but I have to wear this mark to remember my first time legitimately cooking (unlike just putting rice in a rice cooker and letting my mom do the rest). It was fun; I might have to do this more often! Tonight's church service was awesome; it was a prayer meeting, and it was phenomenal. Lots of movement from the Spirit! Afterwards, I was randomly invited by one of the guys to hang out with several other students that were going to have dinner and chill. So we ended up having some pasta (more noodles, oh yeah), observed the guys play Halo 3, and watched the movie Hot Fuzz (more British comedy awesomeness that I'm sure my sister might like). Overall it was a good day; tomorrow should be even better.

God bless,
Steven

Day 85: All About Awesome

This morning started off with a great Old Testament lecture on the Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible. Catrina talked about the journey from Exodus to Deuteronomy; lots of discussion on the covenant and grace that God had since the beginning. She's really good at taking this part of the Bible that most people don't necessarily care about and making it the best thing we could ever read. Technically it is, but anyways.. after that class, we had chapel. It was sweet to be part of choir again; loads of fun (or as the Australians say, 'it's heaps fun!' ." We got an incredible word from a visiting pastor from Michigan; he spoke on forgiveness and used the life of a Holocaust-surviving Jew who wrote a book on his experiences. After a quick lunch,we had the Personal Leadership tutorial. I really like this class; it's so informative and helpful. Esther liked the card I made for her (awesome!) and I'm happy all that work was worth it. What I truly enjoy about that card making activity is that it takes my first love and original path and incorporates it into my new path; God allows me to use both my passions as a student seeking His will for my life. How cool is that?? Tonight was Empire night, which is basically all the age groups (Fuel, Wildlife, and Powerhouse) from all 3 campuses (City, Hills, and Southwest) are linked for a whole service. It's awesome. Lots of energy, lots of movement in the spirit, and lots of need of air conditioning; I sure had a blast. Tomorrow is the beginning of Servolution: the week long movement in Australia for service in every way. Let's get started!

God bless,
Steven

Day 84: Discovery, Shock, and Awe

Today was excellent. It all started with Sisterhood, which was loads of fun as usual. For the guys time, we attempted to play Bullrush, but it had to be stopped due to a serious, bloody injury (I don't need to go into details, and I don't want to). So we played some rounds of Dodgeball. With very tiny, light plastic balls. We went from playing a super rough sport to playing Dodgeball with harmless little spheres haha. It was fun and funny. After the packup we had an Old Testament class over the Tower of Babel; it made me realize God's sense of humor. Genesis 11:6-7 says "The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' " Like God acknowledged the people for being united in this task, and then He says "C'mon, let's mess with them and see what happens." Ah, God and His humor; amazing. But it brought out some great points: The people building the tower were doing it to glorify themselves, not God. So because they were not relying on Him, He made that spark of cultures. It's the same with us. Anything we try to do on our own will most likely fail; we HAVE to rely on God to complete our tasks, just like any person building the tower would have had to communicate with God for things to make any sense. Never thought of it that way... the afternoon was great too. We flatmates of 272 had dinner together for the first time (well, us and Anders's future wife, Caroline) and it was great to have that time together as buddies. then it was off to Team Night, where we had amazing worship thanks to Jill McCloughry and the team. Unfortunately, Team Night had to be cut short because of the prayer and healing service happening right after, so I just went back home and worked on an encouragement card for one of the girls in my PL Tutorial class tomorrow: I sure hope she likes it, I put a lot of effort into it. And I have officially fallen in love with this Christian band called Paper Route; they are everything that I've been looking for and way more. So good. Well that's all for now, so until tomorrow!

God bless,
Steven

Day 83: An "eh.." Day

Not much happened. It was a relaxation day, just as I pictured it. BUT I got to talk with Hannah, which was nice; helps take the worry and sadness off her mind for a couple hours. Other than that, it was just sitting in the living room, going out and treating myself to some Aussie fish & chips, and chatting with the guys. Tomorrow is back in action with Sisterhood; can't wait!!

God bless,
Steven

P.S.: I got to listen to Poema, one of the Tooth and Nail bands that released their debut EP yesterday, and they are a great band with a charming, pretty sound. I recommend them, as well as the new Queens Club CD, Young Giant, which I also got to listen to today. Tooth and Nail rocks.

Day 82: Smooth.

Today began with an awesome Personal Leadership class talking about prayer life. It was a wake up call for all of us in some way; for me, it showed me that the way I pictured prayer life in my head is different than it should be. I was used to the idea that a good prayer could have been something like waking up super early to pray and praying for a long time. But Duncan talked about how it was not about having a routine, but rather having a solid relationship; instead of trying to make goals and feeling condemned when you don't accomplish it, you could make your own pace and let it develop as you do it more. That was one problem with me: I would try to have a committed plan for praying, and when it didn't work, I felt like I needed to get saved again or something. But I felt encouraged knowing that the method I have now is enough as I'm progressing towards an intimate level with God.
After the combined staff/student meeting, I went back home to chat with the family; I like being able to keep in touch with my family, it's great. When we parted ways, I decided to record; didn't really go anywhere, but I guess it's because I can't come up with a solid idea on how to finish these last 2 songs. I also finally uploaded the 3rd video blog, which was a relief. Other than that, it was a relax day. Tomorrow hopefully will be just as relaxing.

God bless,
Steven

Day 81: Designing the Future

Today was especially interesting. I spent the whole morning relaxing here in the flat. That's it. Nothing much else.

The afternoon, however, was quite the different experience. I met with a man named Shane Bailey, who runs his own little business called Cognitive Fury. It's a graphic design business, and he specializes in website development, art, media, and also logo design. He dropped his business card in our mailbox a couple days ago, and it caught my eye. So we had a small talk via email over the possibility of his helping me out on designing the cover for Here and Alive by giving me tips and such. So since he actually lives here in the Meriton apartments (precisely the building right next to mine) we met at the nearby cafe; and since I sent him a picture of the original cover:

he was able to make a quick preview of what it could look like should I choose to make it a digital picture. He showed me the work on Adobe Illustrator, which is a great program (great, as in it's a very, very good program that is unfortunately worth the $1,000 price for it.) It made me really go past my limited imagination to see what I could make using art programs. They're complicated like crazy, but when you understand it like another limb on your body, then it's much easier. (I kind of want to see if he would hire me; having an internship job as a graphic designer would be awesome!) Anyways, the evening was excellent too. Jorge and Ben stopped by for an unofficial dinner party, thanks to Erik's fantastic lasagna. What I like about Erik's lasagna is that he doesn't completely overdose it with giant chunks of tomato, onions, and stuff like that; I like simplistic yet full stuff, and this definitely made the cut. I miss my mom's cooking though; Anders took me to Coles and showed step by step the kind of stuff he gets for good food that will last more than an hour. I feel inspired; ah...... well, other than that, the third installment of the vlog is almost complete, and I have some more ideas flowing through my brain for the music projects. Can't wait to get this all out of my head and onto something!

God bless,
Steven

P.S. Oh yeah, I almost forgot to SHOW you the preview Shane made for me. Ready? You sure? Well scroll down and check it out!!

Day 80: Changes Within

So today was absolutely mind-blowing. I started bright and early for my service in choir, which was awesome. Since we had too many guys in the back row again, me, Donny, and William helped lead worship from the very back where no one could see us. As weird as that sounds, it's so awesome; you get a lot more room back there! The morning message was incredible, thanks to Dr. Robi Sonderegger who gave a powerful message on seeking first the kingdom. It's so cool because he's not only an anointed speaker, but he's also a clinical psychologist that's a professional with the human mind; talk about serious brain talk! He inspired me to jump further into God's course of action instead of trying to take my own course, and I'm super grateful for that. During the afternoon, I was just on the internet, having conversations with several people, updating some things like this blog, and I also stumbled upon a great Christian music label called Come&Live!. They have some pretty good bands, not to mention all the bands are 100% all about spreading the Good News; so if you want to hear some great bands of believers and get lots of FREE music, then check out Come&Live!. I love being able to explore the internet and find new bands to listen to; that's the beauty of the language of music. There's always something you haven't heard before. The evening service was just as fantastic, if not more. We got to hear from the wonderful Priscilla Shirer again, and she spoke on taking Jonah's experience in Ninevah and incorporating it into our own lives. It was so good; it gave me a whole new perspective on that 4 chapter book. God is so good, people; His word is so awesome that even when we've read it before, there's still things to discover within the words. Well tomorrow's a day off, so I get to sleep in again 8)

God bless,
Steven

Day 79: The Change Continues

Today began with Street Teams; another excellent morning of service for the local community. We returned to the Towers to offer cleaning services and chat with the residents; today was all chat, and it was a blessing. We had a few deep, intimate conversations with a few residents; sometimes that's all it takes to make the effort worth it. Being good company for lonely people is always a great way to minister to them through love and care. After the wonderful morning, we had a period of time before we would be summoned to help run the evening service. I was assigned to Meet & Greet, which is basically socializing with visitors and things like that. I got to really connect with a guy named Ryan, who has been in Australia for about a week and came all the way from Alaska to just get away from the normal life. It was cool to hang out with him before, during, and after the service, and as he was chatting with others, I felt that that's all it took from me tonight to contribute to God's plan. I'm excited for tomorrow; can't wait to serve some more!!

God bless,
Steven

Day 78: I Am the Change

Today. Today was incredible. Really incredible.

This morning we were able to link with the Hills campus for 2 of the Colour sessions; the first was with Holly Wagner, who co-pastors a church in Hollywood. She gave a great message on running the race of life, talking about how we need determination, strength, and courage to keep on going. The quote she gave that got me most was "rest is a Who." That means in life when we need a break, we should rely on the One who is rest, not on a what or where. Man, that's so good! After a small break, we came back to hear on the partnerships that Hillsong has and to see it's progress in a year. That whole session made me teary-eyed, because it made such a reality check on everyone. They spoke on human trafficking, HIV/AIDS support groups in Africa, Compassion's efforts to bring hope and a future for the next generation, and a small look on what we do with Citycare. Every testimony was just so inspiring, and that brought back the memories of the love and appreciation I have for the mission field. It was great to be able to get in on some of the Colour action. The best part came with Be the Change; we got to return to the Towers!! I felt so separated from that place since the conferences, and it was so good to be back to bless our neighbor community. It was a bittersweet time; the bitter side being that I got the unfortunate news that Bob, one of the residents that we were developing a friendship with, passed away the day of our last visit with him. I was absolutely heart-broken; he was just starting to open up to us more, and now... he's gone. We never even got to know if he was a believer or not; makes me worried.. but the sweet side was so uplifting. So Sarah, our group leader, decided to first visit a woman named Maria who according to our sheet was having some stomach problems. We arrived at her door and knocked; what came next became one of the greatest examples of God-ordained opportunities. She told us of all these problems that were happening over the past couple weeks: how her sister was arrested back in Colombia for some supposed affiliations with a rebel gang several years ago, the stomach problems, and also a situation of financial need for a scan report on her neck and shoulder. She poured her heart out to us, and it made us all just so connected at that moment. We prayed for her and her sister (they are a family of believers, which made it okay for us to pray over her), and Maria couldn't stop saying things like "Thank you so much for coming." and "I still can't believe you came at such an important time." The thing is we almost never do Street Teams on Fridays, so for us to come at her door on an unlikely day made it more than apparent that she could have been the sole reason for God to have our leadership try out Justice projects today. It was so worth it. The best thing she said to us was this: "You are like God visiting me." How wonderful that we got to represent His love and caring of Maria by visiting her at such a crucial time; just goes to show He is amazing beyond our own comprehension. Here's where it gets awesome: since she is Colombian, she speaks Spanish; so I got to bless her with having a small talk in her native tongue, which was just awesome. God keeps sending me to Spanish-speaking people!!!!! Why, I wonder....? So mom and dad, if you're reading this, just know that God is answering your prayers and making me use more of my Spanish out here; I'm sure I said some things wrong, but I'm doing my best haha. I feel so blessed after that, and I can't wait to go at it again tomorrow!

God bless,
Steven

Day 77: Justice Projects

Today was all about Be the Change; the first year students were split up into different groups that were heading into various parts of Sydney. I was originally part of a group called Graffiti Blitz, but it turned out there wasn't really a team called Graffiti Blitz, so those of us in that group were allocated to other groups. I was reallocated to Response Teams/Street Teams (so excited about that), and this specific group of teams were going to Maroubra. So we packed up some cleaning supplies and headed out to the Maroubra beach area. I was with 3 other friends and we were sent to Lexington Place to ask for any help with cleaning. In the end, we didn't clean anything, but we had many good chats with the residents. Since most of the men were working, it was all women that answered the doors; such precious women, I'd say. There was so much life that came from them all. One particular friend we made was a dog that was in the front yard; he was howling for such a long time, and it made us curious and worried. We probably spent the most time with him than with anyone else; such a nice, wonderful dog those people had. As soon as we arrived, he was jumping for joy, his tail wagging like no tomorrow. He was so happy to see new people, and it made us wonder if he got enough attention from his owners. Overall, it was nice to share the love of Christ even to His most adorable of creations. I also got to practice more of my Spanish-speaking skills with a lady from Peru; it just so happened that I was the only one that spoke "fluent" Spanish, so I became the main communicator. Fortunately, Lee is from Brazil, so she could speak some Spanish too, but not as fluent. I'm sure if my mom is reading this, she'd be very surprised about that haha. For lunch we had Australian Domino's Pizza, which was most excellent compared to the U.S. version (no offense to the States). When lunch was done, we split up again to clean up the streets of garbage and other little things that would help make the area cleaner. I witnessed the largest amount of cigarette butts I've ever seen in my life; I'm sure I picked up around 60 to 70 in just one block. It was lots of fun, and our great leader Gary even got us some ice cream near the end. After the first bus left to drop off most of the team, the rest of us decided to play some soccer; so much fun, yet SO exhausting. I'm happy the sun wasn't any hotter than it was then, because I was in serious need of water when we finished. That pretty much summed up our day, and it was most excellent. Can't wait for day 2!

God bless,
Steven

Day 76: Getting Ready to "Be the Change"

So today was the day before the Be the Change weekend begins. Normally, every college student would go out to the Hills campus to help run Colour Conference 2, but this year the leaders decided to try out something never done before. First year students are given the responsibility of being the labrats to a 3-day Be the Change weekend, leading up to Servolution next week. Can't wait to get started.

This morning started out with a chapel. Worship and prayer was just awesome. We also got to congratulate those students that were observed by Hillsong "spies" during conference 1 to be nominated for the Volunteer of the Day awards. Of course, everyone was deserving of these awards because of all the hard work we put forth together as volunteers to make the conference a breeze for the ladies; but the leadership wanted to recognize specific people. The first real friend I made here, fellow Venue Safety partner Aaron Creasy from Oregon, was nominated for his service as part of the Venue Safety team. It's a tough job, so I'm glad one of us got recognized for all the standing in front of doors we did. Aaron totally deserved the nomination; he was such a great guy to work with. All the nominees and winners received free movie tickets, which is pretty cool I'd say. After more worship and prayer, we were dismissed for the day. Jorge and Anders, the incredible Norwegian men of God, invited me to join them in going to the beach; figuring that would be a nice break from staying in the apartment, I agreed. We went to Maroubra, which was the very first beach I ever visited here in Australia 4 years ago; nice memories came back into my head as I recalled doing street ministry in the winter. Walking along the water was refreshing; I didn't want to surf or boogieboard so I just decided to take a walk (I know, very generic thing to do, but it was cool. So now I can honestly say I like long walks on the beach) After that, I went with Anders to help set up for the Powerhouse guys night. We had bacon & egg rolls, Modern Warfare 2, college guys serving as baristas making coffee/mochas/hot chocolates, playing soccer and ping pong, and watching UFC 19 on DVD (that made me really miss my dad...) but it was a great time; I even got to take the extra bacon home! So now we can have bacon with the usual cereal and crepes for a hearty breakfast for the next few days, or as the Aussies call it, brekke (pronounced brecky). I need me some sleep, because tomorrow is going to be a long day. But it's going to be a good day too.

God bless,
Steven

Day 75: All about filming

Today was, as mentioned in the title of this blog, a very film-oriented day. I went into the city and got a lot of footage of beautiful Sydney in it's prime season. Seriously, this city is amazing; when I finish this video, you'll see what I mean. I also decided to try out the KFC over here; I gotta admit it's different than the U.S. style, in a good and bad way. The good way is that the skin isn't deep, DEEP fried, so it's a bit more healthier and is definitely some real chicken. The bad side is that because it's KFC, it's VERY expensive; I don't think I'm going back there. After about 2 and a half hours of filming, I returned home to chat with my parents; I love my family. I don't know what I would do without them. After that talk, I finally got a chance to use Skype to chat with Hannah (we had been using email, and that just wastes more time than anything) it went very well; hopefully we can set those talks up often. When that was done, I went into video editing; it's a long process, but it's worth the wait when you see the product you've worked so hard to get accomplished. That about sums up the day, so until tomorrow, adios!

God bless,
Steven

Day 74: R&R

So today was all about recovering from Colour; as you can imagine, being part of a massive conference can take a lot out of you. I spent most of the day relaxing here in the flat, having a wonderful chat with the family back home, and listening to music. Ah, music; it's just like fuel to me. I feel like music just flows through my veins; there's always a song in my head and I just can't stop exploring and finding new bands. I found a few interesting ones today: I Am Empire, Lions and Tygers, and Blood and Water. Pretty cool stuff, I would say. Today's highlight was hanging out with some fellow Latinos, watching a movie, checking out cool/funny videos on Youtube, and talking about music (particularly Family Force 5, which brought a smile to my face 8D ) I also got to go through most of my library with a couple friends, introducing them to great Christian bands and such. Not much happened today, but I'm sure happy that God gave me this day to just sit back and enjoy. So thanks to You Lord; couldn't have enjoyed this day any more if not for You!

God bless,
Steven

Day 72-73: Colour's End and week's beginning

Sorry for not updating this yesterday; I arrived back here in the flat very late, and I was exhausted. Unfortunately, I didn't get to record as much yesterday, but I did get little pieces here and there. As you can imagine, it was quite busy on the last day; venue safety went all out to get the job done. I loved working with those guys; it's a shame I'm probably not gonna see some of them again. We all worked together so well, it was so much fun standing at a door for an hour while having random conversations over the radios. Colour conference just rocked; and to think we're only halfway done. The second conference is this weekend, and this time it's going to be at the Hills campus; much less of a problem concerning how much you would have to walk to get around. This year, the college decided to try something else: having the 2nd and 3rd year students serve at the second Colour, and us 1st years working diligently here at the City campus for a Be the Change weekend (Be the Change is just a service project we have every other couple months). My feet are still aching over the excessive walking from the weekend, but thanks to God that I can still walk at all. Now that I'm relaxing, they're feeling much better; I just hope I don't have to do THAT much walking next time. When the conference was officially finished, it was cleanup time; everyone worked together to try and get it done as soon as possible so we could all go home as soon as possible. I noticed the Logistics guys were staying behind and working extra so everyone else could go and sleep, but because I love Logistics and it was my original roster area, I decided to stay and help them out. It was actually pretty fun; Logistics happened to have some of the craziest guys on the team. After about an hour of pure work, we were treated to a midnight snack at Macca's (which just so happens to be the Australian slang term for McDonald's; cool, hey?). I'm still recovering from conference, but thanks to the Lord that the next 2 days are off.

Today was good too; I woke up nice and early around 5:30 for Sunday morning choir. We did a half hour of warm-ups, and then preceded to practice with the leaders on stage. The morning worship was just incredible; being on choir just brings back all the wonderful memories I have as part of the SFC choirs. One more reason to be grateful that I was heavily involved in high school choir before this; I can handle it with excitement instead of fear. The morning sermon was given by Priscilla Shirer, who spoke on being in our "certain places" in life, using the story of Jacob's dream in the certain place mentioned in Genesis. I was an incredible word, and it made me a fan of ShirerAfter that, I went back to the flat to get some rest back; although I didn't sleep as much as I would have liked, I still got to relax. Later on I attended the evening service, where Holly Wagner gave a message on patience. Both messages seemed to connect, and it was so good to get that encouragement. That about sums up my past 2 days, and now I am going to get some sleep so I can try and gain some sleep I lost over the weekend. Later everyone!

God bless,
Steven

Day 71: Colour Conference, Part 2 of 3

Today I woke up at 6 a.m. to get ready for another day at Colour. The buses were planning on leaving at 7, so we had to get ready fast. Once we got ready and entered the buses, it was off to the Sydney Entertainment Center. Once there, we met up with our groups to discuss the plan for the day. Venue Safety had a basic repeat of yesterday, doing shifts through all the gates to make sure no one sets off an alarm. It was fun to do that; since we're more comfortable with using the radios, we would have silly talks every now and then. At around 10, those of us with breaks were called for a quick training concerning the Gift Moment: a part of the second morning session where volunteers would present pre-prepared gifts for every woman attending. The gift was a tea set, and it was placed in a cute cylinder box. We had a whole process of sending them up the stairs and sending them across the rows. Hillsong is one organized church. Creative too. After that short section of the day, we went right back to our work. It was a lot of serving and sacrifice, but we worked together and it ended up being an excellent day. God is so good at blessing our days when we ask for it; after all, the Scripture says, "ask and it shall be given unto you." Tomorrow is the final day of Colour, and it will be one trial of a day. The Venue Safety team definitely set the bar for excellence fairly high today; can't wait to go at it one more time.

God bless,
Steven

Day 70: Colour Conference, Part 1 of 3

Colour started early, around 7 a.m. for me. We arrived at campus and then got on the bus to head to the Sydney Entertainment Center. We were then allocated to our respective positions where we would work in all day. My job was venue safety, which is basically security (yes, I was a security person.) The team was split throughout the building, and we used radios for communication; it was awesome. We looked spiffy, dangerous, AND important! It started off a bit boring due to the job of watching a section of doors to make sure no one used them to exit (they were all fitted with alarms; very annoying alarms). Our breaks helped us relax, but after a while, it was boring to not have anything to do. Even on my breaks I ended up helping people just to be active. It was such a great experience though; I met lots of great guys, I ran into a very old friend from my first mission trip to Australia (he's on his 3rd year working towards a degree!), and I got to familiarize myself with the area. Although I missed the opening sequence for the conference, I got bits and pieces of it all thanks to Flipper, the camera. Hopefully I can find some time to put this video together for you all. Lots of serving, lots of smiling, and lots of making women feel special; that's the mission, and that's the success so far.

God bless,
Steven

Day 69: The Night Before a Colourful Weekend

So today was all about preparing for the big Colour Conference; we woke up early to get on the bus heading to the Sydney Entertainment Center, where the conference will be held. We started right away, moving tables, chairs, boxes and other things around the building. I gotta say the Logistics team has the best of times, because there's almost always something to do. we were practically always on the move, going from section to section working away at making the place look like a woman's dream come true. We have an area called Pamper, which is basically a beauty parlor (very interesting that they do that at conference), several booths advertising sponsors and partners in ministry like Compassion International, a couple cafe areas for people to hang out on off time, and a HUGE kids area for when all the moms are in sessions. It's truly incredible when you see how much work is put into making this conference like home; they want the women to be comfortable in this environment, and they sure do a great job. The one thing I wish I did was take my camera, because then I could show everyone how big of a deal this conference is; however, I WILL be taking it along for the next 3 days to document this historic event. Hopefully I'll get opportunities to record though. Alright, I need to get some sleep, because many of the muscles in this body are worn out/pulled/sore/in need of a rest. It's gonna be an amazing time.

God bless,
Steven

Day 68: Colour Is Coming

Today was all about preparing for Colour conference. This morning we had a combined staff/student meeting going over details, schedules, and allocations. It's quite a load of work that's coming our way, but I feel we're all more than ready to take it on. I got to serve in chapel choir again, which was so awesome. I have so much fun when i'm up there; it feels great. We also got our laminated passes for getting access to the conference; something EXTREMELY important. In the afternoon, I got a chance to talk with my mom, updating each other on what's going on. I was then invited by Anders to go hang out with some other college guys at this place called EQ, which is a small but super convenient shopping area that's less than 5 minutes away from where we're staying. There's lots of restaurants, activity places including the good ol' bowling/laser tag combo (It's called laser skirmish over here haha) and even a movie theater. But I won't be watching any movies anytime soon. We did a round of laser tag, and it was crazy; you can just tell who plays more video games than others. I did an average job in that battle; eh... we then hung out at Gloria Jean's Coffee (interesting fact: Gloria Jean's is very much like Peet's Coffee from San Francisco; locally started. BUT it was actually started by a member of Hillsong church; how cool is that?!). It was nice. I also got to see a spot for an incredible view of the Sydney skyline, which I will definitely be using for a video or something. Tomorrow is when preparations begin for Colour; it's gonna be one crazy awesome weekend.

God bless,
Steven

Day 67: Music is my hobby

Today we started the morning with a lecture that was based on Colour Conference; it was so much fun, and it got us excited for what's in store this weekend. the rest of the morning involved our teams working on our performance songs; my group made great progress today. We finished the whole run-through of the song and it's sounding just great. This place is good at making you more and more passionate about music; I feel more encouraged to learn new things, and it's something they actually recommend. After the tutorial session, I got to work with Donny on an item (a.k.a. song special) that we might be playing on Sunday. WE pretty much have the song down, so it's all good. And the rest of the afternoon/evening was just enjoying the day. Tomorrow is gonna be long but very productive, so I'm more than stoked about it.

God bless,
Steven

Day 66: Sunday's Greatness

So this morning's services went great; as part of the vision for 2010, Hillsong made new service times: 8 and 10 a.m., and 12 p.m. instead of 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 1:15. It turned out to be a very smart move, because every service was pretty much full, which ended up being a good problem. As for the choir, it became quite the interesting situation. We had a original setup for where we would stand on the platforms, but when it was time for us to be in our set position, there were these two random guys already standing there. Since there was no room left on the platform, me, Donny, Alex, and Rafael decided to worship from behind the platform, worshipping our hearts out without being seen. It was funny seeing Gabe Kelly look over at us while playing the drums and laughing at us 4 guys singing and jumping in the VERY back, completely invisible to the congregation but very visible in the spirit of worship; as our fieldwork specialist put it, "God saw us". It was so much fun though; having all that room to move around in joy and peace was awesome. I kind of want to do it again! Joel A'Bell spoke on kingdom greatness today; he gave an excellent perspective on it. He spoke on the story of Saul before he became king, and how it was set that he would meet Samuel. Saul's father Kish sent him along with a servantto find some lost sheep. God used this servant of the house, one whose name is never mentioned. Joel said that this exemplified that greatness comes from anonymity: not being identified or recognized when working. When Saul was ready to give up and head back home, the servant spoke up and mentioned a prophet that was in a nearby town; through this it was exemplified that greatness requires the ability to hear the voice of the Lord. The servant could hear the voice of the Lord telling him of Samuel being in that town. We as servants have the ability to hear the voice of the Lord too; sure we can hear it through sermons and songs and prayers from other people, but WE have the ability to hear it for ourselves. Saul then asked, "What can we give him? We are almost out of food." Then the servant said, "I have a quarter of a sheckel of silver that we can give to him." This exemplified that a servant of greatness is ready. He is prepared. We have to be prepared for God's path so that it can be fulfilled. The final point is that when Samuel was going to anoint Saul to be king, he asked Saul to send his servant down the road so that it would be just the 2 of them. Greatness can sometimes be moving aside so that others can be blessed. This servant, who was used to orchestrate this event, could have stayed, but he wasn't required then. It takes greatness to be a good servant, especially when you won't be recognized for what you do. Isn't that such a great word; I love it. After those incredible services, I got to spend some quality time with Donny, a fellow American amigo, playing around with the piano and having lunch together; it's nice to get those chances to just hang out with people you barely get to see. It was so good. The rest of the day involved just enjoying the beautiful day indoors and relaxing; it is after all a tough week coming up with the Colour Women's Conference!!!
God bless,
Steven

Day 65: Just What I Needed

Today started with the one thing I love more than worship: outreach ministry. Street Teams was awesome this morning; we helped a friend with setting up curtain rod holders, and we spoke to many other tenants of the Waterloo Towers. Lots of good feedback is coming from the Towers, which is great not only for the ministry, but also the church. After that great morning, I came back to the flat, not expecting to do much else; but my roommate Anders told me about a new bed that's been hanging around. I went with him to check it out, and it's SOOOOOOOO much better than the one I had. So with Anders's help, we carried/rolled the bed all the way back to the flat, and now I have a much more comfortable mattress. Praise be to Jesus, the greatest provider EVER!! I was debating whether or not to go to church tonight; honestly the only reason I saw good enough to go (at first) was for the Welcome to Church Party, but I humbled myself and decided to go in order to receive from the spirit. And boy did God deliver!!! Not only did I get a confirmation through the worship, but it turned out that the one and only Robert Fergusson was presenting the Word!! I felt so refreshed after the service, and it got even better when I was invited to join the Welcome to Church party. So not only was I fed in the spirit, I was also fed in my physical body too! I had a gourmet Bagel Bite (sounds funny haha), a ham and cheese croissant sandwhich, some chocolate snacks, and to top it all off, I was reunited with an old and very missed friend: cheesecake. what a blessing =) So basically I got to eat for free today; AWESOME!!!!! Saving money and enjoying my day to the fullest. That's how it's done.

God bless,
Steven

Day 64: Mind blowing

Today was very good. Despite the fact that I had to get to school at 6:45 for production training, it was a lot of fun. The soundboard Hillsong has is intimidating. Seriously intimidating. Old Testament was amazing as usual; allow me to explain why:

Catrina spoke on the Covenant, as in the covenants God made in the Old Testament. It turns out there's a pattern that these covenants followed: First creation, then sin, then judgment, then grace. Of course it started with Adam and Eve, but that pattern carries on throughout Genesis. For example, after A&E, there was Cain and Abel. Cain kills Abel, that being sin. Cain gets punished for what he did, that being judgement. Adam's other son, Seth, is the first recorded account of someone that loved the Lord, that being grace. Then we get to all these people that don't care about God. So what does He do? He causes a flood to wipe everyone out. Everyone but Noah, his sons, and their wives. Later on, that same pattern goes with Noah's sons; Shem goes with the Lord, and his other brothers don't. Anyways, it's a good pattern. What really got me was this part of explaining the process of a covenant. First there's the words, speaking the promise. Then there's the act of making the covenant, which during those times had a big process using animal sacrifice and such. Then there's a mark or scar that's made to signify that a covenant has been made; basically in example that whatever one person asks of the other, that person must do in equal. After that is a test of the covenant, to test the trust and loyalty made by the covenant. Lastly, the covenant is fulfilled. The best example of this process is Abraham: In Genesis 15, God spoke the words of His covenant. In Genesis 17: the act (being circumcision) is carried out. In Genesis 22, the test is carried out when Abraham is asked to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. Here's the part that got me: Catrina was explaining this whole scene, and then she said this: "Keep in mind that when you made a covenant, if you asked the other person to do something, you had to do the same yourself. Does that sound any familiar???? If God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, God would also have to make a similar sacrifice as well. How crazy is THAT?!?!?!?! Even thousands of years before the prophecy of Christ's arrival, He had it set up. That just blew me away; just goes to show, my God is a God of promise and of glory. In Genesis 24-50, the covenant is partially fulfilled through Isaac, Jacob (and later Israel), and Joseph. He is just so incredible. I could stop this blog right here.... but I'm not done yet!

After that awe-inspiring class, we had chapel. This is when I got to see exactly how these production people handle all the sound mixing, lighting, camera and media, and other things that create the atmosphere of worship during chapel; it's awesome. I want to try it again; I hope I get another opportunity. After a great lunch, composed of a beef kebab with lettuce, tomato, cheese, and barbecue sauce AND a Dr. Pepper, we had a Personal Leadership tutorial, which is now one of my favorite classes. We had SO much fun; because of this course, my love for art has been reborn. I get a chance to draw something for someone every week, and I love it. God even made space for me to use my first love in college; how great He is for that! After class, we had practice with the band to go over the performance. So far, I think we got it down pretty well; we just have to work a little on the bridge. Other than that, we're gonna have a lot of fun.

Other than that, the day was a major success; thanks God!

Hope you all have a good Friday!
Steven

Day 63: Service is my middle name.

Sisterhood again! I gotta say, it's so refreshing to be able to be part of such a wonderful ministry. Specifically, being on the logistics team. Basically, logistics is the part of the Sisterhood team that works solely on setting up the environment and breaking it down once it's all over. This particular morning tested my strength, and before I knew it, I was recovering from the most intense "workout" I've had in weeks. I'm still feeling sore even as I type this. But soreness aside, it was good; us men got to show the ladies how a real gentleman serves. I took it upon myself to serve as a water distributor during the first couple weeks of Sisterhood starting, and it's turned out to be a blast; and not just for me, but for everyone that gets the small, anonymous service from me. Whenever I'm done with my logistics duties, I head to the water station, serve myself first to get rehydrated, then fill cups to hand to whoever comes by. Most of the reactions are either gratitude or surprise, which is good to me. I'm just curious as to why Hillsong never had anyone try that out... interesting... anyways..
After all the intense work, I got an hour break before my Old Testament Tutorial class; I'm starting to love this course so much. It's gradually opening my eyes to the wonders and mysteries of the OT in ways I've never seen or thought of before. Our principle, Catrina, studies the Old Testament regularly, and with her knowledge of the original Hebrew language, you can almost guarantee every thing she teaches about is completely accurate. No joke. However, the tutorial is different; it's more of a review of what we learn in the OT lecture from Catrina. We are led by Bill Knock, who is the dad of Sam, one of the rising worship leaders here in City Campus. Bill takes what Catrina speaks about and puts it into the simplest form, making it exceptionally easy for all of us to understand in case we don't get it the first time. That's a great help.
Creative night was amazing too. We got to hear Reuben Morgan speak from the Word, particularly Psalm 34 where it says "Taste and see.." He spoke on how we should prepare to taste and see from God in our spiritual lives. Pretty powerful stuff, considering Reuben uses four to six word sentences almost all the time. And I totally didn't even notice Joel Houston; he's a sneaky fellow he is. Always wearing a hat. When the service was done, I couldn't help but notice there was a lot of breaking down and setting up that needed to be done, and since there was only two guys working, I figured "why not?" So I stayed for another hour and a half, breaking down the stage and setting up chairs for tomorrow's morning class.
Well, I gotta go; my call time is 6:45 tomorrow morning for production training. Before I'm allocated to serve on stage as a worship team member, I gotta work production first; it not only serves as a step to being a solid member of the worship team, but it also gives you perspective on the guys that people almost never pay attention to. The ones behind the scenes, making sure the music sounds great, the microphones are on and set, and the lighting and camera work is in order. Sounds fun to me!

God bless,
Steven

Day 62: Exploration

Yesterday went quite well. For the most part. I went into the city mainly for a couple specific reasons, but I ended up just exploring. I took the ol' Flip camera out and just started recording random things I liked. I visited Paddie's Market to see if they had any potentially good deals on ties for later on in the year, but the shop was closed. Bummer. So I went back to Darling Harbour to have some lunch; very relaxing, indeed. Then I went to get a haircut; as usual with almost every time I've went to get my haircut, they cut it differently than how I wanted it. So, as usual, I have to look a bit ridiculous for a week or two. It makes me miss Veasna. Oh well, at least it was $10 and not $30, like they price it here in the apartment area. I did however, manage to make my contribution for the possible NLA movie. If it doesn't happen, at least it will be like a webisode or something. That pretty much was my day, so until next blog!

God bless,
Steven

Day 61: To Be Continued...

This morning went quite well. We had another Personal Leadership lecture about having the right attitude for the cause that drives you, including things we should and shouldn't tolerate. Chapel totally made my morning; worship was phenomenal (as usual) and God just poured down on us (as usual). Catrina, our principle, spoke a message called "To Be Continued..." (hence the title of this blog), about how we shouldn't consider any part of our life as a tragedy because our story isn't finished yet. The Hebrew dictionary does not have a word for tragedy; the word "tragedy" was non-existent in Bible times. And for good reason. God doesn't want us to look back at our dark periods of time and think, "What a tragedy that was." The Word encourages us that God will make things beautiful in their time. Basically, if we are in a hard situation, we shouldn't accept a spirit of defeat because in our time God will make magnificence through those dark patches of our life. Because HIS story is not finished, our story isn't finished either. I felt so empowered after reading that. Nothing super special happened until evening, where we had Connect Group in our flat (which was great, might I add) we had a couple visitors from NSW University, or UNI (pronounced 'you-knee') as the Aussies call it. We discussed the vision of the church and what we as members can and should do to move towards the vision. It was also a great time for me to connect more with a couple of the guys, which was neat. Overall, I'm very content with how the day went. Tomorrow's my day off (praise be to GOD!!!!), and I have a couple errands to take care of.

God bless,
Steven

Day 60: Just another amazing Monday

So today was quite productive. We started the morning off with a lecture on culture; what makes culture, how it changes with every generation, and how we should portray the same message with every generation. An excellent lecture, I'll say. My favorite part of the day was the band practice; we worked on the song for our first performance, and it went pretty well for our first time. I feel confidant that we'll do a good job. The other highlight was a prayer/worship meeting at a neighbor flat; it was incredible. Lots of praying, lots of encouraging words, and lots of joy filled the room for a good 3 hours, and I don't regret going in any way. Plus, I got to see an amazing piece of equipment: a Korg R3 synthesizer and vocoder. I gotta say I am impressed at how awesome that piece of machinery is; playing with it made me really want to get one, but we'll see(it's a bit pricey).Today was a blessing, like every other day; God's so good all the time. And all the time.... God is good.

God bless,
Steven