1. Camping

We went camping with about 50 other brothers and sisters and had the BEST time! And guess what?! We ran into a brother that we knew from the States!! A brother that used to live in Arizona and attend Nikki's congregation! It was the CRAZIEST thing. Not only are we in Australia but we were in the middle of the Australian Bush(forest) hours away from civilization and we run into someone we know! Jehovahs organization is soooo big, yet So small. But camping itself was amaxing! It was so beautiful out there. We spent most days swimming in the dam, hiking, walking, 4wheeling and exploring the bush. Most nights were spent around the campfire telling jokes, we even had a dance party!!

2. Bethel

Wow, the highlight of our trip. We spent 9nights at Bethel and it completely changed our lives. Being in that environment, surronded by Jehovahs people night and day really highlights that the way the world is today, the way people are today, is not how we were meant to live. Jehovahs people and his organization are so loving, so organized and just flat out amazing, we were truely touched and feel like we got to experience a bit of what we have to look forward to in the new system. It was honestly the greatest experience yet. Wish I could go into more detail but time is running out....

3. Jarad &food

A friend of ours from Dubai came down to Sydney to spend time with us(he is a flight attendant originally from AZ, he travels to Syd for work frequently)! We loved having Jarad around as he is like a big brother to us. He took us to all his favorite spots around the City. We had the most amazing food during our week with him! Korean BBQ, Malaysian, Thai...we basically covered evey Asian Pacific type of food!! It was AMAZING!! I didnt know food could taste so good!!

ANyways, thats all the time I have for now...I plan to write a big update when we get back to the States...complete with pictures and everything.
We leave in 6 DAYS!!!! sooooo crazy!

Missing you all!
Look forward to seeing most of you really soon!

written by  lisanikki on January 12, 2010 from Ingleburn, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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Tonight was Chester Hill's Theocratic School and having just now arrived home from the meeting I can't even explain how excited Nikki and I are... so much happened tonight!

The brothers and sisters in the Congregation were SO sweet and super happy to see us at their meeting! The brothers announced mine and Nikki's names and our congregations so that was awesome! They sent their love back as well! After the meeting heaps of people came up to meet us. We meet Brother Patrick Cootsee (the Coordinator and the brother who had been setting everything up for us) he was super nice and encouraged us to keep in contact with him and his wife about our travels and any good experiences we have along the way. We have plans to go to the Assembly Hall cleaning with his wife and baby boy tomorrow morning!
Brother Graham Martin approached us and said "So your Lisa and Nikki?! I came across your letters of recommendation, I work on the Service commitee at Bethel. It's nice to see you girs here, the letters from your bothers were so nice!" Crazy right?! He was unaware that we had been assigned to his congregation but he was haappy to meet us and said we had to make sure to come for a "cuppa" (cup of tea) with him and his wife when we visit Bethel! Awesome! We also met a young brother that we had previously heard about (we met his relatives in Coffs) that is assigned to Chester Hill and serves at Bethel as well! He was super nice and invited us to dinner after the meeting! We also ran in to a contact that we had previously made while still the States that we hadnt been able to get in contact with. He was attending the meeting at the Hall adjacent to us! We made plans to see him in the next couple of weeks!
We ended the night at "Mackas" (McDonalds) with about 30 brothers from the Hall and 3 young Bethelite brothers! We grilled them with questions about the procedures at the Australia Branch. They put us at ease about alot of things. They were such nice brothers, we were super happy to meet them and get a taste of what to expect (like a gameroom, outdoor pool and SingStar in the dorms!! haha)

It was a lovely night!

written by  lisanikki on December 17, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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I think what Nikki and I have appreciated and enjoyed most about this trip is the love of the broherhood. Jehovah's people come in all different shapes and sizes but the love among us is unmistakable, its quite amazing to experience it on an international scale.

written by  lisanikki on December 15, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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All is well in Brisbane! The congregation we are at has about 50 publishers and 2 regular pioneers so its been quite a shock! The friends are really loving though and happy to have had us at their meetings. We recieved a really nice card from one sister saying that we had been an encouragement to her and her family so that made us feel really great! We had another contact in Brisbane, a young pioneer sister that came to the States for the International Convention this year and met some friends of ours, so we have really enjoyed spending time with her and her family. Went to a congregation BBQ(thats the Australian thing to do on the weekends, we've been to about 4 bbq's so far!) so that was super nice. We got to meet alot of nice people from a neighboring congregation.

We are looking forward to a busy week in service and then also to our assignment from The Branch in Sydney next week. From our travels thus far we've really learned to lean on Jehovah and let him guide and direct us in all matters...and its only been 2 1/2 weeks!!

Side note: We've been trying tons of new foods since we've arrived in Oz! I especially(as many of you probably know) am a terribly picky eater, but lately i've been eating whatever is put in front of me! And im loving it! From simple things like onions(yes, i usually dont touch onions) and pesto to beetroot, curry and PRAWNS!! Its been soo amazing, and has opened my eyes to so many amazing foods I had been missing out on! Im eternally grateful! :)

Also, my camera broke(of course!) so picture uploads will be less frequent...

Thats all for now, cheers!

written by  lisanikki on December 7, 2009 from Brisbane, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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We will head to Brisbane late tomorrow afternoon to begin our assignment with the Creastmead Congregation! The brothers seem super excited for us to come and they are eager to meet and get to know us so we cant wait to arrive there! We are a little nervous about fulfilling our first assignment but with Jehovahs help we're sure everything will work out and go smoothly.

written by  lisanikki on December 1, 2009 from Coffs Harbour, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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We recieved an email from the Australia Branch offices informing us that we had recieved another assignment to serve a congregation, this one in Sydney central!! So we're super excited about that! In addition to us helping out in Brisbane we'll be able to visit the Sydney brothers for a bit and then we also have been approved for the priviledge of staying at Bethel for about a week and a half! Just an amazing opportunity! We still kind of dont believe it....but we have lots to look forward to over the next month or so.

The sister from this morning offered to take us out surfing and we gladly accepted! There ended up being more tanning than surfing happening but we had a great time nonetheless. We all got pretty burned up...some of us turned red, others black(finally!)

The mid-week meeting was tonight and we really enjoyed that!! The brother are very expresive in their comments do that makes things really interesting/encouraging. Nikki made cards for ua that included our information, a picture of us and a cute farewell('Catch ya on the flip side!') so we handed those out to a few sisters that had been super sweet to us...we gave those out along with handmade bookmarks and bracelets from mum! The sisters couldnt believe what we were giving them! You wouldve thought we gave them a million dollars or something! They were so appreciative of a little act of kindness, they couldnt stop hugging and kissing us, some almost giving way to tears! Thanks mum!

We came home to a homemade dessert from Lloydie and then off to chat and a good nights rest!

Missing all of you reading this, hope all is well:)

written by  lisanikki on November 24, 2009 from Coffs Harbour, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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