I'm in Perth! My plane landed about 11:55pm on Thursday, June 3rd, but it took me awhile to get through customs and quarantine officials. I finally got to the arrivals waiting room by 12:45am and was greeted by 8 smiling faces! It was really great to see familiar faces in Josh Nipps and Jessica Duty. (Josh graduated from LU in December and is working as the youth minister at Westchurch over the next year; Jessica will be a senior at LU in the fall.) Six other members of the youth group also came along, and were so friendly and greeted me with huge hugs! After such a long trip, I can't tell you how welcomed this group made me feel, especially since most of them had never met me before.

That night I spent the night at Helen's house where Jessica is living; I will be living with the Ross family from June 10-18, then move in with Helen & Jessica after that for the rest of our stay. As soon as we arrived at Helen's house, Jessica began showing me all of the different things about the house. For instance for every outlet there is a switch, and the toilet has 2 flush buttons. (This is a family-friendly website, so I'll leave the reasons for the 2 buttons up to your imagination.) Right away Jessica also brought out some chocolate "biscuits" for me to try. They are called "Tim-Tams", and, thankfully, they are not the kind of biscuits I expected- they are cookies! And they are amazing. (It might be worth leaving a pair or two of shoes behind and replace their weight in my luggage with Tim-Tams!)

Though going to bed at 2am, I was able to sleep until 11am the next morning, so I felt good the rest of the day. On this day we left for the Western Australia State Youth Games held in Bunbury, about 2 hours south of Perth. Jessica & I relaxed and watched Dr. Phil & Oprah until Josh picked us up for the trip. These games are comparable to LTC, because it is churches of Christ in the state coming together and playing each other in a number of sports. This was the 18th year these games have been held, and they are sponsered and organized by the Warrick Sports & Leisure Center, which is like a huge YMCA, except run and supported by churches of Christ. Youth ages 16-28 of age are allowed to participate, but because of just arriving in town, I decided to be the team cheerleader, not their star player. Westchurch took about 20 kids in all to play, and participated in games such as basketball, Ultimate Frisbee, softball, volleyball, netball (a combination of basketball & Ultimate Frisbee), and a triathlon. This was Westchurch's first year to participate, so I was quite proud of them when out of probably 20 churches who came to the event, we came in 3rd from last. We all had a lot of fun, and it was obvious that some kids from other churches live for this event, like LTC or summer camps. We stayed in a large gym with 3 other churches, sleeping in sleeping bags on the hardwood floor, with girls on one side & boys on the other. Most of the girls were very jealous of my earplugs, as I probably slept better than most- the boys were very loud! When Josh first asked me in an email about going to the event, I wasn't sure because of my having just arrived in town and dealing with jet-lag and all. However I am so glad that I went, because I was thrown into spending a lot of time with these kids right away and I already feel like I have known them for years.

The games lasted through Monday afternoon, because Monday was a WA (Western Australia) holiday. We arrived home on Monday evening, and I spent some time with the Nevill family. Woodmont Hills folks might remember Joyce Nevill or her sons from when they visited church on a couple of Sundays. Her twin sons (Luke is 7'1"; Sam is 6'6") were exchange students in Atlanta this past year, and Joyce spent a good part of April and May with Mark & Amy Phillips. Anyway their family is very precious, and they are taking very good care of me! That night Craig & Amanda Ross came and picked me up from the Nevills' and took me home with them. They live in a beautiful part of Perth! It is a resort area where kangaroos live in their natural habitat. Even Australians are surprised when they come out and see the roos just lounging in the yards. Over the next week & a half I will be going to school with their children, Candyce (age 11) and Jonathon (age 10). They attend a very small Christian school called Beechboro Christian School.

Well so far that's about it! The kids in the youth group are very close and love hanging out together, so Josh keeps the schedule packed with fun things to do. On Sundays we eat lunch together, then have some sort of activity. On Monday nights & Saturday mornings the guys have a church basketball league they play in. Tuesday nights is Bible study, then there are other various activities that go on from time to time. Though the Ross family lives a good 45 minutes away from the rest of everyone else, all of the kids have insisted that I come to everything and have volunteered to come out and pick me up so that I won't miss out. That is just how generous these kids are and how excited they are to have us here. Something to keep in mind is that though I use the word "kids", a good number of them are older than I am! The youth group ages from 16 to 25. When I arrived I just assumed everyone was under 18, so I even have to remind myself that some of them are older than me! I have done pretty well with jetlag; it didn't set in until yesterday, so please keep me in your prayers as I try to find the energy to keep up with these school kids! The Ross family is amazing and only moved to Perth a year ago from Cape Town, South Africa. So I am learning about 2 different cultures while I am here! The kids have all sorts of questions for me, and it is interesting the similarities between SA and the USA that are different from Australia.

Today (Wednesday) is my first day in the schools, and this is where I am posting from. I have been visiting all of the classrooms, and getting a feel for the school. I am not sure what the principal has planned the rest of the week! I am not able to get on the internet too often, which is why this post ended up being so long! I have having probably more fun than I should be, and I am already amazed to see the Lord's hand at work in this trip. I am already seeing how awesome the camp will be for this youth, and how much encouragement they need from us. Please pray that God will put the right words in our mouths as we lead the youth in Bible study, class, and just everyday encouragement and guidance. Thank you again for the support that each of you has given me, and I hope your summer is going well! (It is winter here, but not too harsh. More like our October & November.) I love you all! Cheers!