The Australian Experience

Towards the end of the year, I felt very upset about the decision I had made to go to Australia. I missed so many things my friends had planned, including the 'once in a lifetime' prom experience which I was in the committee. I entered Australia with both excitement and at the same time regret. However, going to Australia had been much different from how I expected it to be. In fact, I felt that it was actually God who put me here to learn so much more about myself and the things around me. The experience was a good one, no, great one. My eyes are so much more opened to the things that I taught were taboo around me thus changing my perspective on many issues.

Starting from the simple, we did learn lots of living skills, mainly cooking. Cooking is very much enjoyable especially, plus because of the fact that you can simply experiment with different sorts of spices, it makes it all the more exciting. We made pasta, lots of italian food, and a lot more. Besides that, James, our naughty uncle brought lotsa alcohol for our consummation. Wow, he knew all the tricks for making cocktails, shots and more. Haha. In other words, we have been drinking. In moderate amounts only though. Don't worry, still haven't gotten myself drunk. I wonder if my mum would allow me to buy some lemoncello (not sure of spelling) back to Malaysia.

Camping was also another awesome activity of the whole trip. Again, thanks James for helping us pack tons of camping gear for one of the most enjoyable bush camping trips yet. It was awesome cept the freakishly annoying flies which attack your face, and the fact that they dare enter the nose and exit your mouth. It was so bad, we had a 10 minute quarantine procedure before entering the tents. We had to bring the table for eating inside as it was unsafe to be consumed outside. The beach at the campsite was really nice. I really love waves. A lot. The 1 metre high waves were just so so so refreshing and enjoyable to swim in. Just the feeling of the current pushing you towards and away from the shore is so relaxing and calm. The windy beach was also good as it helped produce bigger and more powerful waves.

And yes, we went BUSKING! Really really enjoyable. Love it so much. Haha. Most of you probably know that I'm not a good singer, or guitarist, or drummer. So what? People still give you money for doing what you like to do best. We have been playing in Fremantle and Perth and enjoyed ourselves so much by playing random melodies. We took turns singing, playing the drums, guitar and shaker and did a lot of silly improvisations to many of the songs. Guess what? We earned RM20 an hour per person! Thats more than I could ever earn from working at Maccas (Its what people call MacDonalds here) or anything else. Wow, really love it. I mean, how much would someone give if Jason comes to beatbox? RM200 a session I think. And imagine, It's from doing something you love.

Most importantly, my trip to Australia most benefited me by helping me understand Catholicism better. When I first came to Australia, I went for a Catholic camp, I go for Mass with my cousin every week (though I don't fully participate). Sung for some Catholic choirs, went to Midnight Mass and much more. I really understand it so much better than I used to and I really thank God for that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not converting or anything but I understand the differences between us so much more. I have had many discussions about the differences between the two denominations of Christianity with my cousin David. It's really interesting to know more about another denomination that you thought you always knew.

I recall my cousin saying that many 'Bible Christians' (thats us) frequently attack the Catholic church which is actually true because many do not know the truth about the Catholic churches. (Don't quote me on this). Moreover the understanding of so many differences has led me to want to know the truth with greater hunger. What does the bible say about all these things? What does it mean by the unity of the church when all of us are so divided? What is Christianity all about amidst all the inter-denominational confusion? It's something all of us, as Christians should always think about and continually seek the truth from God. For the bible did say that those who truly seek him will find him. I really do pray that I would understand all this so much more when I go study God's Word during RBS.

And now, I'm just so excited to see everybody again. Lurve yah all.

1st week

And so ends the first week in Australia. Been hanging around my cousins house in Willetton playing board games and stuff.

Hahaha. Me, marcus and David have been doing lotsa cooking recently. It's something we decided to do ourselves, a living skill we would like to acquire.
Pasta
Smoothies!
Bah! Picture uploading errors! Maybe nexttime lol.
Bye

Australiaaaa.

Haha, so here I am, technology deprived and sorts. Just came back from a camp, ETG, embrace the grace by the Catholic Youth Ministry of Aus. Haha. You might be wondering why I went for a catholic camp. Haha. Sot this is the account of me in Aus so far, enjoy :)

We arrived at the airport at 5 am, but at that time, the sun was already shining brightly and temperatures were cold at 15 degrees though it was summer. My cousins (or uncles whichever you prefer) fetched us from the airport to New Norcia, an area north about an hour from Willetton, the area my cousins lived. We arrived on the second day of the camp.

The first day wasn't too bad, me and my brother had slight difficulty speaking with the Aussies. The fact that they said words like 'ay' repeatedly like how we say 'la' and 'ma' was kinda odd too. Haha. I guess by now we would have developed a bit of slang or accent. The format for the camps there is quite similar to the camps over in Malaysia. But it was catholic so yeah it was really new for me.

I was quite afraid to talk to the australians there as communication became a barrier for both parties. I couldn't understand them some time, and neither could they. It was funny, trying to speak their way. When I was at the airport, I tried to talk to the lady who attended us at the airport but she asked if I could understand her if I could understand her as if I could not speak english at all.

At the camp, there was quite a lot of drama as I and my brother were the only protestants there and the people there (the speakers) were quite harsh towards the view that protestants were not the right way. Wow, It was really an eye opener for me. I really prayed so hard that God would show me the truth. Their points were quite strong and they had evidence form scripture too. This is what I found out about the catholic faith during my trip there (by the way, these are strongly my thoughts only if I'm wrong please correct me)

Catholics believe that there are seven 'sacraments' required to be furfilled after believing in Jesus in order to enter heaven. Eg: baptism, good works, belief in Jesus, taking part in the holy communion and more. Protestans believe that only Jesus is the way. Then God did answer my prayer by providing an answer for my questions which I found to be utterly amazing. Firstly, I taught of the passage Romans that says that there is no other way but God. It was really like the prompting of the Holy Spirit, it wasn't in my mind until that moment. Besides that, I met a guy named Ludwig. He was a Catholic who was becoming a protestant. He came to this conclusion after studying the bible more carefully and realised that Jesus is the most important thing. He told me that the reason was that he was changing was that the Catholics were really focusing not entirely on the most important thing but they focused on many other 'obligations' that protestants believe would come naturally if you have a good relationship with Jesus.

The main differences in belief of the Catholics and protestants is that Jesus is not enough to enter heaven. Jesus, plus the doing of good works and furfilling the sacraments are required for salvation. Protestants believe that Jesus in your heart is the ultimate requirement for salvation for salvation comes by none other than Jesus Christ. After believing then fruits of the spirit are bound to be shown BECAUSE of faith because faith without works are dead.

I mean, the main point, what is Christian faith at the end of the day? It's all about Jesus. I'm sure performing good deeds and all are fairly important but not the central belief of our faith. At the end of the day, Jesus is the only answer to our salvation as he is 'the Way the Truth and the Life'. And that noone goes to the Father except through him.

I'm actually really pleased that I met Ludwig on that day. On the second day of the camp, I was so confused with both of this Christian divisions that I even was considering catholitism (or however you spell it).

Okay, that aside, I met so many friends. The people of the catholic church can really sing really well. Haha, it's great meeting a lot of people that have the same interests as you do like singing. For praise and worship, everyone was like doing improvisations and that sort of stuff. I met really cool people too. Ben, someone from camp was a climber. He climbed the rooftops of the facilities and was not scared to die. Let me tell you, my balls were shaking when he scaled the tree like nobody's business. He practically jumped from branch to branch. It was nuts. Met many handsome Australians, some Polish people, some chicks. Haha. I'll try to get some pictures up the next time. Some of them lived in the farm and they basically do sheepherding for a living. Awesome people.

Now, I'm back, going to join the choir, busk and all. Love yah :) Btw, good luck to those taking the Chinese exam and see yah soon. =)

Goodbyes

I'm off. See you soon.