Were Those Christmas Decorations I Saw???

Well it's true! I was walking in downtown Perth yesterday and they were already putting Christmas decorations up . . . I was shocked and amazed when I saw it! It just seems so wrong! But then I realized it is November and there are probably Christmas decorations up at home too . . . . afterall Halloween is over, and last year I'm pretty sure all the Christmas stuff went up even before Halloween was over! But regardless it feels odd because it is so hot! I know the heat right now is nothing like it will be in the coming months (which by the way I am NOT looking forward to!) but it is far too hot for Christmas decorations! I thought it wouldn't be too hard to adjust to Christmas in the summer since at least I am not used to White Christmases every year (though we did get one last year . . . YAY!), but 35 degree Christmas is a far cry from merely not a white Christmas. I'm told there are a ton of very fun traditions for Christmas here and that the whole base heads down to the beach to celebrate Christmas day. It sounds fun, but is also weird! I never thought I would say this, but I actually miss the cold and dreary rain! It rained a couple of days two weeks ago and I (along with all the other BCers) were so ecstatic to see it! It is November so my brian says it should be raining, but it's not. It is all very strange and hard to get used to, but exciting all the same!

Speaking of exciting we had the National Leaders' Conference on base here this week. All the YWAM leaders from Australia met together here in Perth and it was a week filled with amazing teaching, fabulous fellowship, and ever so much food! I'm pretty sure everyone on base gained about 10 pounds this week, but it was so worth it! The food was fabulous, and oh yeah I guess the teaching was okay too. Did I say it was okay??? That is a bit of an understatement! It was absolutely phenomenal! We had amazing worship sessions every morning where everyone could really feel God moving, and then we signed up for different teaching modules for the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon as well. I signed up for the Destiny By Design class and it was AMAZING! I heard great things about some of the other modules too. I definitely wished I could have taken about 5 different modules as I was especially intrigued by the mercy ministries teaching, the class on Paul's letter's, the biblical studies module, and about 50 others! All in all it was a crazy and fabulous week, but we were so busy! I pretty much feel like I need a week just to recover from this past week because I am so tired! But alas I must press on! Tomorrow morning we resume our 6 am morning workouts (boo!) and our regular schedule. I know most people in my school are very excited about our topic for the week: relationships. It should be a good one for sure!

This was a week of a thousand happenings, but at the same time not that much went on, so I think I will now draw this to a close. Please pray that everyone will adjust well to being back on a regular schedule and that we will fall back into routine easily. Also be praying for the general health of the base; there is a lot of illness making its way around right now. Colds and chest infections have been going around for awhile, but this week we were also hit by a really nasty 24 hour stomach bug. I was fortunate enough to avoid the bug, but many others on base and in my school spent the better part of a day throwing up and all that accompanies it. We are heading into an intensely busy couple of weeks in my school as we have a major research project due in just a couple of weeks and it can be very difficult to coordinate schedules for groups to meet together. The last thing we need on our plate at this time is to be fighting illness as well, so thank you for being diligent in your prayers. I think that's all for now. Maybe I will have to go on another adventure next weekend so I have more to write about then!