Adventcha'

Today was our first day out on the campuses in Melbourne and it was pretty amazing. 

We met the STINTers at 10am on the RMIT campus. They sent us off in pairs to walk around the campus and pray for what God is going to do in the next 4 weeks. Today was sweet...prepare yourselves :)

Description of today = ADVENTURE

Shannon and I partnered up and started walking and ended up at our first stop, "the Hub". For those JMUers who are reading this, it was what looked like our Warren Hall. For others, it was pretty much just an information office, a few computers, some lounging areas, and lots of bulletin boards to advertise clubs, events, etc. We found a cute little semi-circled booth and began praying. We prayed for the incredible opportunities that await RMIT because of the diversity of their students. The mindset: We reach out to them, they take it back home to their countries. After that stop, we made our way over the the uni's spiritual center, because of curiosity of course. We went into what we thought was the center, was greeted by a woman named Allison, and was led to an open office where she said we could pray. We met with Jesus, exchanged our hearts' desires for this campus and how we would love to see the students really take advantage of the spiritual center. On our way out, sweet Allison offered us a cup of coffee/tea...and of course we said yes. We sat down with Allison and I started asking her questions about the students at the uni and what primary religions were present. That lasted for a while, and then for some reason I felt the need to ask her what she believed...I mean, she does work with chaplains in the uni spiritual center. From her reactions to us from the beginning (surprised that we were "prayer walking", and her interest in why we were here) I had the feeling that she had some faith of her own. Her answer was not at all what I expected, and I think Shannon would agree. Her answer: "I grew up a Christian, but now I don't believe there's a god." Didn't see that coming. We continued to ask her about her past and why she had come to that conclusion. She told us that she grew up in the church, taught Sunday school through high school but when she got to college and began taking classes for her major (math and statistics) she started noticing that things didn't seem to add up. Her final statement about her reasoning was, "it takes faith to be a Christian, and I just don't have that kind of faith." Shannon and I asked a few more questions before we left to finish up our walk around campus. We talked about it after we left her office...and we were heartbroken. It was so sad to hear that someone knew the Truth (or said they did) and then has chosen not to accept it. Shannon and I believe God put Allison in our life today for a reason. We know where she works, so we know where to find her to talk to her again. She has a skewed vision of Christianity...she is basing it all on facts. We want to change that for her. We want to love on her during the next 4 weeks like she's never seen. We want her to experience firsthand what it really looks like to be a Christian, and we think what she's lacking in her life and has lacked is Christ's love. 

So that was a good start to the morning. I think the best word to describe it was humbling. The conversation with her was difficult. And I believe God used that just to show us a glimpse of what the next 4 weeks will look like.

There's one more thing I want to say about RMIT...the spiritual center, it's built into what used to be a prison. It's now used for tours and what not, but at one time it was the state prison. This is a sad, sad thing to say but it's unfortunately very true. Being built into a prison, this paints a picture of the current status of the spiritual atmosphere of Melbourne and the campuses. I, as well as my team and the STINTers, pray that this will change. These people are in bondage. Bondage of sin and lies. They are slaves to themselves and to Satan and are so saturated in it that they have become numb. Our plea for this city is that they hear the Truth that will break those bonds and set them free. 

After lunch we headed to Melbourne Uni. I'm going to do my best to paint a picture of this campus. In your head, imagine Hogwarts and Oxford combined and put it smack dab in the middle of a city. That's what this uni looked like. The buildings were amazing, the campus is beautiful and I'm so excited to spend time there!

Shannon and I were wandering around praying, taking pictures and talking when we ran into 2 students who offered to take our picture. The guy, Ryan, is actually from the States. He graduated from the University of Utah and is here at Melbourne Uni for his masters studying architecture, and the girl, Angie, is a purebred Aussie from Melbourne studying architecture as well. They were so nice and offered to show us around a little. We ended up getting Ryan's number and email so we can meet up and hang out some more :)

God provided some pretty sweet divine appointments today and I am so excited about the remaining 4 weeks. Today was just a glimpse of what it's gonna be like, and I really really liked what I saw.

Continue to pray for us. We're about to dive in to ministry this week. Tomorrow we have orientation of the unis and with the other Christian Aussies who we will be working alongside. Wednesday we're getting sent off in the city to share our faith. 

Prayer Requests:

-eager hearts for the gospel

-team unity, continual encouragement

-team sickness (still dealing with coughing and runny noses)

-RMIT and Melbourne Uni

What I've been meditating the past few days:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you." -2 Corinthians 4:7-12