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Aussie trip 2009-2010

a travel blog by lisanikki

Full-time pioneers, part-time employees, best friends with no money but a desire to travel and see the world; embark on a journey to Australia for two months. After months of preparation, saving money and "FREAKING OUT" we're finally on our way to The Best Trip of Our Lives!!
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Back to Sydney!

Strathfield, Australia

Today we embarked on the 7hour train ride to a suburb outside of Sydney, Strathfield NSW to start our assingment from The Branch with the Chesterfield Congregation. We arrived around 4pm and after another bus and taxi ride pulled into the driveway of Brother Jim and Sister Jessica Sing, a super nice older Asian couple. We were excitedly welcommed into their home and they instantly started to prepare fried rice and vegetables for us. Sweet! Although the room they prepared for us is rather small, equipped with one single-size bed, we instantly felt right at home. Brother Sing showed us the Watchtower and Awake in all the different languages they use in the territory (Arabic, Chinese, Turkish, Vietnamese) so we're excited to begin working with those! We made a few phone calls to the local pioneers and made service arrangements for tomorrow morning.
We're looking forward to a fun and activity-filled week!

permalink written by  lisanikki on December 13, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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Our first day in the field!

Strathfield, Australia

We made arrangements with a sister Gladis Saad to pick us up for service today! She is a Leboniese sister with a young son and daughter who just got baptized this past Saturday. What a lovely Sister! She instantly connected with Nikki, consisdering their Leboniese backgroud in common. She taught us many Arabic words and was super excited to be able to meet "the Sisters from America"! The Chester Hill teriitory has been quite a shock to Nikki and I. Every door is someone from a different part of the world. Chinese, Islamic, Arabic and Leboniese people are behind every door so its been extremely interesting speaking with them. We found it difficult at first (in the States we dont commonly come across many that arent either Christian or Cathlolic) but with all the help from the local brothers and Sisters we've brushed up on our knowlegde of differing religions and have thus been able to establish common ground and feel comfortable with the householders in the territory. Our first day out Nikki was able to place a book and a couple of magazines so it was really nice way to start the week!

permalink written by  lisanikki on December 14, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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2nd day out

Strathfield, Australia

We went out preaching again today! We got to meet some more of the brothers from the Hall so that was super nice. Although the brothers come into contact with alot of opposition, because most people are bound to a religion by their culture, the territory is very fertile. I preached to a young woman dressed in her native garb from Afghanistan and was surprised by her attentiveness to the versus I was reading from the Bible. She commented that she didnt know whether or not there was hope for the future. I showed her the pictures in the Bible Teach book comparing the world we live in today and the hope that the bible holds out for us. She accepted the book! It made me feel really good because prior to that i wasnt feeling like i was being as effective as the other brothers and Sisters (and Nikki!) so it was nice. I hope to return to her before leaving.
We were invited over to Sister Saad's House along with a few others for dinner tonight! She made a typical Leboniese meal for us and it was so amazing!! We did the Bible reading with her family and then sat around and talked about our backgrounds and about different aspects of the Truth. It really was an enjoyable evening, we instantly felt right at home with this sister and her family, she treated us like we were her own children.

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.

permalink written by  lisanikki on December 15, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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You never know who you"ll meet...

Strathfield, Australia

You know Brother O'Brian and his wife that we blogged about previously?! Well if you look in the November 2009 issue of The Watchtower you'll see his life story! Cool, right?!

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!

permalink written by  lisanikki on December 17, 2009 from Strathfield, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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Catching up...

Ingleburn, Australia

We are soo sorry that we havent been able to update lately. We have been so busy, having a great time and havent had much access to the internet!
Over the past couple of weeks...

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!

permalink written by  lisanikki on January 12, 2010 from Ingleburn, Australia
from the travel blog: Aussie trip 2009-2010
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