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We arrived in Sydney on Sunday, July 8. We got settled in at our hostel, and had some free time to grab lunch. Then we tried to find our way to Hillsong church that night, but couldn't find the right bus. So we went back to the hostel and had our own worship service.
 
We had cereal and toast for breakfast and PB&J for lunch. We had a couple of Korean ladies
that made our supper. Sometimes if they won't there Gus (our project director) ordered pizza or they gave us money to go in our approved groups and get something. They had Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Subway, KFC, Burger King. It was a lot like the States.
Monday through Thursday we had free days. Our groups wandered all over Sydney, visiting art museums, cathedrals, the harbour, and of course, the Opera House. We were able to do lots of souveneir shopping too. On Friday, we had ministry in the morning.
Rachel - "My group went to Hyde Park. This park was only a few blocks away from the hostel and we went there a lot during our trip. Another girl (Megan) and I talked to one girl sitting on a park bench for an hour! Her name was Sophie, and we found out she was a Christian. She told us a bit about her youth group and church, and we shared with her why we were in Sydney."
At about 1:30 Saturday morning, our team leaders woke us up and told us to be down in the cafeteria in 5 minutes. We had no clue what was going on, and were a little worried at first. Gus met us downstairs and told us (after a few sets of jumping jacks) that C trip was over and we were B trippers now. Then he told us that the rest of the B trippers would be here in about twenty minutes. We were all shocked, but really excited. We thought they were coming the following day. We welcomed the B trippers with a lot of enthusiasm and noise. They had been at the airport for a couple of hours, so they were really tired. It was exciting to add 100 more missionaries to our group. We were back in bed around 4 o'clock, and were able to sleep in 'till 8:30. Yes, that was considered sleeping in.
On Saturday, we found out who was on our teams. Jon (one of the team leaders) had pulled some strings and put us both on the same team. We were so thankful for that. It would have been hard to be separated for another month. In New Zealand, we were able to see each other in the evenings and eat together, but we wouldn't have been able to be together very much in Sydney. We had our first team time in Hyde Park, learning each others names and a little about everyone. Our TL's (team leaders) were Tony and Jessica.
Our ministry began on Monday, with training by Hillsong Street Teams. When we worked with Street Teams, we would go door-to-door in different neighborhoods and apartment buildings, asking people if they needed free cleaning service. We brought cleaning supplies with us, and sometimes a lawnmower or rake. We also handed out free cereal if anyone needed it. Another ministry we did with Hillsong is nursing home ministry. We visited nursing homes every Tuesday, performing line dances, the Hokey Pokey, singing, sharing testimonies, and bringing laughter to the homes.
  Australia was very eye opening and spiritually stretching. There were lots of business people who were pretty closed off and didn't want to hear what we had to say. We did lots of personal evangelism in Sydney. It took courage to just go up and start conversations with people, but it became easier. Sometimes we would do it in the park, sometimes while people were eating lunch.
  Rachel - "Once in a food court, a friend (Aimee) and I talked to a businessman and an Indian lady during lunch. Both conversations started out with asking about their food. The businessman was eating pizza, and I told him it looked really good, especially considering we had PB&J for lunch. That started the conversation, and before you know it, we were talking about Hillsong and working with Street Teams. After he left, I asked the lady if she was eating lamb. She said yes, and I told her we don't eat it very often where I'm from. She asked where I was from, and soon she found out that we were from America and were here on a missions trip. We found out she was Catholic, but two of her brothers were Pentecostal and her sister was Baptist. Interesting combo, that. Many more conversations were held, but those are just a few."
  Stephanie - "The most effective thing for me was surveys. We would start by saying we were students for the United States and that we would like to know what they think about different issues. Most people didn't mind doing it. We would start with some easier questions and then get deeper. Most of the time we got to God and what they believed in. It was good. I liked doing that."
  This trip was definitely seed planting. Our team did not see any salvations in Sydney, but we had many good conversations, and were able to be a blessing to many people. Even if our conversations never came around to talking about God, having a friendly conversation with someone can make a difference in their lives and make their day a little brighter. Smiling at someone while you're walking down the street can make them think, "Why did they smile at me? What makes them so happy?"
Hillsong also has a kids ministry, called Impact Kids. Our team worked with them twice. Once we helped at a party in the park. We had crafts, face painting, games, and sausages. The next time we worked with them was at the Funfest. They have this every year to kick off the next half of the year. We held it at Hillsong City church. There were giant inflatable slides and games, crafts and face painting, songs and a message. 4 out of 5 of our teams were there - that's nearly 100 teenagers helping! The lady we were working with from Hillsong told us that they were so blessed to have us there helping, and that they were more confident now to do things on a bigger scale like that. They also met several new families, and were able to sign many kids up for their program.
  We met lots of people while we did door-to-door as well. Both of us were in different MIGs (ministry groups), so we have different stories.
  Rachel - "The first time we went door-to-door, we met a lady named Linda. We weren't able to clean for her, but we found out she was a Christian. She was from Yugoslavia, and we talked to her for quite some time. She told us she had some back problems, and wasn't able to get around as much as she would like. We prayed for her back, and gave her some cereal. The next time we were at that apartment building, our team leader said we could visit her again if we wanted. He came along, since he was with us when we talked to her the first time. She shared a lot of stories from her life. She told us about her daughter, and how she used to go to church, but her husband didn't so she stopped going. Linda had been praying for her daughter and son-in-law for a long time. We prayed for them, too. She read us a passage out of her Yugoslavian Bible. It was so powerful to hear God's Word in a different language, but mean exactly the same thing."
Stephanie - "Part of our ministry with Hillsong was Street Teams. In our ministry groups (the picture is the group that I was in) we went door to door asking people if they needed anything. One of the most memorable times for me was when we talked to an Russian woman. She could not speak English so it was very interesting to communicate with her. She invited us into her home and made us a snack. She keep bringing out food for us to eat. She was very nice. Even though we couldn't understand each other we could feel God. We prayed for her before we left and gave her some money."
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