Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Summing Up a Year Down Under


I'm coming home soon, and no doubt you will want some sort of account of what I've been doing for the last year.  What exactly do you do as a youth and families church intern?  I should probably start practicing the spiel now because these sorts of adventures don't happen every day, and people feel obliged to ask about them. 

Answering that question is kind of like trying to cram a year of life into the family Christmas letter.  How can you make people understand that you graduated from university, went on a family vacation, started 2nd grade, bought a puppy that ate the house? - or whatever happened to your family this year.  What's the most important thing?  Usually Christmas letters can be condensed to the following: we did fun things, got older, may or may not have gone through hell and come out alive,  went places, and Merry Christmas to you too. 

What does a year in Australia boil down to?  We learned stuff, met people, went places, and helped out.  That'll be my three second version, just in case anyone is silly enough to ask me as we're passing on the sidewalk.  The more detailed-without-being-drawn-out version is that we taught Bible to 1st and 2nd graders once a week, led a high school girls Bible study, assisted with church pre-k playgroups, spoke at community/church events, led a youth group study at a neighboring church, staffed two camps, organized family/community church events, helped on Sunday mornings and sang in the choir.  Those are the programs we helped out with.  It sounds kind of shiny and nice, hey? 

But those programs just form the backbone of our schedule.  That list of stuff in our planners doesn't convey the salty ocean smell you get when you have coffee at the yacht club in the afternoon.  It doesn't say anything about Miss Margaret's hugs on Sunday morning or Ted's Liverpudlian humo(u)r.  Listing things we did would take a long time and wouldn't capture the magic of Uluru or the startling moment when you realize you're swimming with a stingray. 

We did a lot of stuff.  We baked scones, changed the soap in the soap dispenser in the ladies bathroom, learned how to be waitresses, realized God was in control, cleaned up after kids, babysat, prayed our knees off, cried, set up toys and swings, ate lamb, ate TimTams, watched Australian movies, played cricket, went to the footy, got sunburned, shook hands, hosted dinner parties, celebrated Thanksgiving 3 times, watched God provide for our every need, learned about culture, went to meetings, made phone calls, wrote thank you notes, sang about kangaroos, bush danced, swam in the ocean, stressed out about details, drank tea, got homesick, fell in love with Australia.

How can I even begin to talk about the people we met?  To not talk about them seems a dishono(u)r, but to talk about them without doing them justice seems almost as bad.  Ian and his love for Mercedes.  Dick and his storytelling.  Nancy and her attention to details.  Ian the giant farmer.  Allistair and Mae, the gentle Scots.  The crazy twins.  Oscar and his Spiderman suit.  George the old detective with the gentle smile.  Zophia the librarian from Poland who calls us "the writers". 

Perhaps it is enough to smile a far off smile and say it was wonderful.

Little Miss Sunshine

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