Sausage Sizzle

Our team is still going! This past Monday we had our first of 2 or 3 "sausage sizzles." One of the local grocery stores, Woolworth's let us set up outside, giving us a grill to use and everything! Sausage sandwiches, as they call them, are definitely an Aussie cultural thing. I had NO idea that they would be so popular!! But those Aussies definitely love their sausages! I would call it a success! :) Enjoy some pictures of our day!

Laura, Jenn, and Sam sizzling up some sausages on the barbie! Haha.

My art skills coming in handy... wouldn't you want to buy a sausage if you saw this sign?? :)

mmmm... sausages! haha. I promise, they like them!

"Hey yall, come to our sausage sizzle!"

Fundraisers galore!

My team has been going, going, going putting on fundraisers galore! After the event night, we had a massive bake sale at our church, complete with homemade Swiss bread, orange almond cake, lemon coconut squares, brownies, fudge, and apple pies! We definitely went all out for this bake sale, but it was worth it. We made quite the profit and are that much closer to sending our team to central Asia!

Check out our mad skills!!! Quite the spread... :)

Bryan baked the apple pies... they sold so quickly!

Eliane and the special bread she made from Switzerland, called Zupfe. :)

I made lemon coconut bars and others in my team made fudge and brownies. Yum!

Event Night Update...

Dear family and friends,

Thank you all so much for praying for the event night we had last Thursday for our upcoming outreach in Central Asia. I saw God do amazing things through this evening. I am in awe of His faithfulness and provision in it all.

I’m amazed at everything that had to come together in order to pull this thing off and make it such a success. I’m also humbled in thinking that God used my team of 8 young people- who had never done anything like this in our lives- to mobilize the body of Christ here in Australia into responding to His invitation to join His work in the world.

It’s really incredible when I think about it. God has been speaking this entire 12 plus weeks of SOSM to us about “team” - working together in interdependence. This has not only moved from head knowledge to heart revelation for us, but it has moved to application and behavior. This night would not have been possible without the transformation God did in each of us to be able to work so well together in a team. We needed every person to pull it off. Some made videos and powerpoint and visuals. Some transformed a plain gym into an incredible atmosphere with wall murals with maps and stats and quotes and floor lamps for lighting and more. Some slaved in the kitchen to cook up traditional Tajik food (cooking for over 100!) Some worked hard on their speaking parts for the presentation we did on God’s work in the world and in central Asia and His invitation to join Him. It was truly a grand production.

The result? We worked hard and achieved each element with excellence, but it would all be in vain if God’s spirit didn’t move the way it did. We prayed so much, surrendering ourselves before God and trusting that we could do nothing on our own without Him. But He was so faithful to meet us. People were inspired by God’s call to go. Their eyes were opened to God’s work in a part of the world mostly ignored. Perhaps people of the Australian church are now praying for the first time for a country off the radar of most of the Western world. That amazes me. There are people interested in giving their lives more to missions. There are people inviting us to speak at churches and Bible studies to share more of our vision and our passion for the gospel to reach the least reached peoples of the world- that all may hear of God’s love. We even received over $1,800 just from donations that evening. God truly is providing for the needs of my team and is proving His faithfulness time and time again. I know there are deep-reaching seeds that the Spirit of God planted in the hearts of those present Thursday night. He truly inspired and motivated the people there.

Thank you so much for praying for this and being a part of what God did. I believe this night was a part of a greater story God has been writing to awaken the church in Australia into His heart for all the nations. You are a part of that. God’s Spirit is moving here. I believe He has asked me to come here and be a part of it for such a time as this. Thanks for coming with me through prayer and your partnership. I couldn’t do it alone.

For His Glory,

Christy

Enjoy some photos from the night...

Three of the girls on my team and I before the event night began- Kiki, Laura, and Jenn

my friend and team leader Bryan sharing our SOSM vision

one of our guests seeing where we are going on the massive wall

map that Eliane and I made together

My friend and I cooked a "taste" of central Asia for 100!

This is rice plov (rice pilaf), a very traditional central Asian dish! :)

Cooking Turkish

Ever since we moved to Port Kembla, I've gotten to know the owners of some of the local shops on our street. Our street is kind of abandoned, but still buzzing with activity during the day with that small town kind of feel. One local shop that I visit frequently is Port Kembla fruit and vegetable market. It is a family-owned business owned by a family originally from Turkey. Once, the dad invited my friend Britani and I upstairs above the shop to try the food he was cooking. We went up with the mom, the dad, and little five year-old boy and ate the most amazing meal. Afterwards, he invited us to come back and to learn to cook a Turkish meal!

Last Saturday, we took him up on the offer. 4 other girls and I showed up, and he graciously bought ingredients while we hung out with his son and his cute cat, Henry. :) We learned to cook an incredible Turkish stir fry and these sort of fritter things with chicken mince, potato, onion, and egg. While we cooked, the grandfather told us some unreal stories of growing up in Cypress. It was a wonderful time enjoying the hospitality of this family above their shop. Then of course we got to try it, and it was AMAZING! Now I'm going to have to try out my Turkish cooking skills. Here are some photos we took...

This is me mashing this stuff with my hands.

Watching carefully... how many eggs are you putting in that??

Enjoying after cooking... the best part!

Turkish stir fry!

My roommate, Jenn, and I

trip to the city

Well, it's been a busy 12 weeks of studying in the School of Strategic Missions training program I have been doing. It will be another busy month this month preparing for our outreach in Central Asia, but first.... a nice 2 day break (addition to the weekend) to catch my breath! I spent the day in Sydney, by myself, just exploring the city. Such a refreshing way to rest for me! I thought I'd include some pictures of my day to show you what I did...

First I went to a massive Bookstore- Dymocks- where I bought a fiction book to read. I picked one out that seemed to be pretty popular and recommended. It's called "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and is set in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960's. A good read so far!

With book in hand, I set out to find some lunch... walked by this guy selling flowers and pretty buildings so took a picture....

Guzman and Gomez= yum! Burrito stand in Sydney. If I was in Sydney, you better believe I'd be hitting up the Mexican because you can't really find it anywhere else. :)

Then I went to eat my lunch in Hyde Park... sat in front of this fountain by Saint Mary's Cathedral. I even wandered in to the cathedral at one point... beautiful.

Hyde Park is beautiful... Walking around here reminded me of walking to class through Retiro Gardens in Madrid, Spain.

This little guy was stalking me waiting for some lunch. I wonder what kind of bird he is?

I actually resisted the temptation to get Starbucks! But I had to take a picture anyway because it's just that familiar "homey" place... part of the Sydney experience.

That's all... just wanted to share my day. Definitely feeling refreshed and looking forward to gearing up for more excitement in this next month. Thanks for all your prayers and encouragement!

love, christy