Working backward...I am now living in a little flat behind the house of some of the members of the church and loving having my own space. It is great to be able to make a mess or not and cook for myself. I love living in community but there are times when I just want my space. I may still be moving around a bit before Irene’s Place starts next year but for now I am cosily settled and pleased to be so.
I spent Saturday through Tuesday this last week as part of a conference called Voices For Justice run by Micah Challenge. Micah Challenge is an international ecumenical group that is working with Christians across the world to raise awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to halve poverty by 2015. The central verse of the Micah Challenge is Micah 6:8 – “What does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” We spent the first two days learning more about the MGDs and how to get our message across and then the next two days at parliament house talking to politicians, asking them to put policy in place to help achieve the MDGs. Not only was it informative, it was inspiring to see 230 
Christians from all over Australia and from many traditions and denominations all gathering and speaking out for the poor. We presented the government with 4550 letters asking for increased international aid. A group rode their bikes down the eastern coast to raise awareness and raise money for this cause.
The weekend before last I was at Black Stump a larger Christian music festival outside of Sydney. We took a group of 11 from our church, mostly the older youth from the youth group. The long weekend was spent listening to music and teaching. We camped and I spent part of my time trying to raise awareness of Irene’s Place and to see if I could connect with any possible participants. It rained parts of the weekend but this didn’t drag down many spirits. I think we all enjoyed ourselves but returned slightly sleep deprived.
In between these two events I tried to get my head around my experience in India and sort through the work and e-mails that I had not attended to while in India. I managed to get out and enjoy some of the beauty of spring in Canberra. There is a tulip/flower festival that is put on in one of the central parks every spring. I wandered over one bright afternoon and drank in the beauty and the glorious perfume.I realise I have written very little about my time in India. It was an intense experience. It was lecture based with long days of input. Because of the bombings that happened the day before we arrived and a few days before we left and the persecution of Christians going on right now in India, they were very protective of us. So between this and the packed schedule we got outside
of the walls of the compound rarely. My window into India seems very small yet I learned much from those I met at the conference. Being a young woman in the ministry of discipleship with more liberal theology made me an anomaly among the participants. Out of the 110 or so people involved there were 6 westerners and 5 Nepalese with the rest of the participants being Indian. Whenever I travel to another culture my biases and understandings of life are thrown in my face. The way I see life and the world and thus the way things “should be” is not internationally held, imagine that! While it is good to think about this and to have my mindset challenged it is also exhausting. Many of the participants work in Hindu and Muslim areas as evangelists and church planters. 
This is so far from the work I do and some days the divide seemed extreme. I tended to feel continually on edge and thus worn out emotionally, physically and spiritually. I was so grateful to see my parents when I arrived back in Sydney. I told them story after story.A surprise met me when I opened my bag in Sydney as well. I tried to turn on my phone and discovered that the battery had been stolen. I think that it was taken on one of my flights flying home to Australia, I never thought about my bag not being safe in the overhead compartment. But at the same time I am so thankful that my computer and other things were not harmed.
Now I am trying to get into a pattern of work. This term I take over full supervision of youth activities at the church. I am teaching Sunday School this term as well as helping out with Bible Studies, youth group nights and pastoral care. It will be a time of learning how to balance the work of the church and Irene’s Place without letting one dominate the other (as well as trying to have a life beyond church and work). I look forward to staying in one city for a awhile even if I will not be staying in the same house the whole time. Living out of a suitcase is a rush for a while but the thrill has worn off.
I would appreciate prayers for an upcoming event at the church that we are running trying to do some long range visioning and planning around christian formation.
