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Hello!

A few quick updates: Day 38 of P90X, still going strong (haha...). I recently had a day at the beach where I learned how to surf! I'm officially a lighting operator for the Hub Auditorium at Hillsong and I am in the weekly rotation for Powerhouse! Now for the bigger stuff:

School is out! The official classes for the year are now over and Summer has begun. Monday is the official graduation date for everyone. However, some people have already left and it's really more of a formality anyway. On Thursday, instead of mashed potatoes, gravy, and turkey for dinner, I was treated to a nice Scotch Fillet and some strange beetroot salad for dinner at a really fancy pants place called Le Montage for the graduation ball. It was incredibly gorgeous and was a great opportunity to meet with some of the guys from the TV/Media stream and find out how God led them to study at Hillsong. The best part of the night was definitely the live music put on by members of college and our teachers. The amount of space that we had to dance to the music was too small though, so everyone ended up doing the penguin shuffle.

I got a job! For the past couple weeks, I've been praying for God to provide something for me to do in the Summer that will prepare me for the future and help me to pay my way through next semester. On Tuesday, I received an e-mail from my connect group leader that someone had phoned to her office about casual warehouse work over the Summer. I followed up, sent in my resume, and God provided favor and an interview for Friday. In the interview, God's grace came through again and I received the job. The job is to do packaging for a medical supply company called EcoMed. It's a 30 minute walk from my house and the hours are from 8-4:30 every day. God has definitely provided above and beyond all that I could hope or ask for. Praise the Lord.

A lot of people ask me what they can do for me to help me out here in Australia. Recently, through reading 3 John, I've realized how we can build and sharpen each other. John is writing to his dear friend Gaius and says in verses 3 and 4, "It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." I definitely don't feel like I have any children, but the greatest encouragement that I can hear from a friend or family member is how God is working in their world. As Christians, we need to be constantly fueled and built up by hearing how God is still working in circumstances today. John says that he has "no greater joy" than hearing this. Please continue to pray for me and help me however you can, but never withhold the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ from anyone. I'm sure they'll appreciate it. I hope that by writing down little snippets of God's faithfulness here in Australia and in my life, you are all encouraged in some way.

Gidday!

Busy

Hey people! It's day 13 of P90X and I've been faithful to my commitment every day. Thank you all for any prayers or thoughts that you've sent my way.

This past week has been an incredible whirlwind of activity at Hillsong Church. Because of that, I've been incredibly busy as well. On Thursday, a team of about 80 men were gathered to the Acer Arena to prepare for the album recording on Sunday night. We placed envelopes and cards in over 21,000 seats. It was definitely an incredible test of my patience and endurance to continue doing the most monotonous job ever for over 3 hours. I've found that most of my problems with patience come from my motives. If my motives in doing a job or putting forth an effort are not in line with the will of the one who can carry me through, then I'll get tired very easily. The only way to get through 21,000 seats is to realize who you're doing it for.

Friday and Saturday was Men's Conference. As with any good manly event, there were sports, music, and a lot of barbecuing. However, the most important sections were definitely the teaching and the worship. The theme for stage design this year was Top Gear. The best part was a section where the lead pastors from the Hillsong churches around the world came up and gave seven minute sermons. *Small sample of my notes: James 1: "each is tempted by his own evil desire...conceives...gives birth to death." Our desires determine the fruit that we produce in our lives. What do I desire and what fruit am I seeing from it? Am I eagerly desiring the spiritual gifts?* This incredible revelation came in a space of about three minutes and has completely changed my way of thinking about my desires and what I pray for in that area.

Sunday at Macquarie, we finally got our new digital soundboard. It is incredibly genius and simplifies almost everything about running sound out there and removes half of the cables that we were using. However, it also removes the position of a monitor engineer, so I won't be doing that anymore. On the other hand, I'll soon be hanging out with Jared at his house so that he can teach me how to run a fully digital soundboard. Tonight for powerhouse, I'll be doing my last assisting job as a lighting technician in the hub. If everything goes well, I'll be able to operate lights in the hub for anyone at any time.

Also on Sunday was the new Hillsong Live album recording. So far, this is definitely my favorite album that Hillsong Live has put out. There are so many songs that are beautifully written that allow you to simply belt out the praises of God. I heard that over 200 songs were submitted to be used on the album and those were narrowed down to about 15. For the recording, I was able to serve on the catering team. I served on a coffee cart with the staff at the arena until about the second song, and then I was able to praise for the entire rest of the night. I was right in the handicapped section, which gave me the opportunity to pray for a bunch of people in wheelchairs. The absolute best part of the night was during a song which has a chorus that goes, "We are running! Chasing after all that you are!". It was incredible to watch as a lot of people in wheelchairs fistpumped the air to the beat and praised God.

If you want to pray for me, please definitely pray for discipline. I'm really learning how to use my time well and keep a very tight schedule. I've been busy for the past couple weeks and I'd be falling apart if the Lord wasn't my strength. I need everything that God has for me every day, and I'm absolutely sure that prayer is going to help.