Australia 2010

Andy Darlington & Pastor Shaun jamming

2010-07-20T19:34:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,

So I found this most AMAZING video, it's a beautiful musical composure, check out the video! The funny thing is the musicians look like our very own Andy Darlington (Piano) and Pastor Shaun Rossi (Cello)!!! I think it's about the time to get the two involved in our worship team! ENJOY :)

Fuel SummerCamp

2010-01-16T16:31:00.000-08:00

SUMMERTIME!

Hey everyone! So, Im back in Sydney Australia if you didn't yet know – Im back in Hillsong College to study for another year for my Pastoral Leadership course (Diploma in Ministry) with Youth. God has been so faithful bringing forth everything I needed in order to get back here, and WOW - what a faith journey it has been! I have learnt to lean unto God and rest in Him when my circumstances keep telling me it's not gonna happen, people around me doubt and reckon I've just lost it. There been a supernatural peace over the holidays, rooted in confidence that God will keep His word so I have nothing to freak out about.

So I went home for Christmas holidays and had an absolute blast just seeing friends, family and beloved church family. It was the best winter since 1990's so I really got to make the most of it – snowboarding, sledding, ice skating (& hockey of course) etc. I got to be present when my practically little brother Alex got baptised in the Avanto (a whole in the ice) and I met my niece for the first time. I met some new people and was able to minister to the lives of so many people – to share what I have learnt here with my church leaders as well as to be inspired by the journeys of others. I must say it would have to be the best holiday I have had so far in my life!

And let me just tell ya – God works miracles in these days just as He did thousands of years ago! 5 weeks ago I had no money whatsoever to be able to pay for my sencond year in College, but here I am in Sydney, freshly enrolled to my second year studies with my fees paid in full!! If that's not a miracle I dont know what is. All praise to be to God the Father who holds all the trings of our lives in His hands, outworking His perfect plan for our lives in His perfect timing!!

So I flew back to Sydney on the 7th of January, and at the airport I had a splendid surprise comitee waiting for me – my good friend Gavin was picking me up and had made a bright welcome home sign for me. That was nice, since I got stuck in Hong Kong for a few hours due to some visa problems, and the stinking hot Australian weather embraced me to the fullest right away. We drove home through the beach – just to truly feel as I had arrived home again. Walking at the beach in twilight, allowing the whitewash of the breaking waves to wash over my feet I gave thanks to God for the amazing things that were ahead for the year.

Just a few days later we left for Fuel SummerCamp up in Newcastle. 4 out of my RDG girls came along to the camp, and me and Jenn we absolutely thrilled for them! I couldn't afford to pay for the camp, so I stayed at my friend Benjamin Cotton's parents house (about 10minutes drive away from the campign area) and we drove to sleep there every night after lights out time. It was GREAT!Sleeping in a comfy bed and being able to shower every night made the camp just so much more enjoyable, and we didn't miss out on anything spectacular (stinking tents, millions of mosquitos, late night security shifts...). I just felt absolutely blessed by it all.

Tribal wars were obviously the most crazy times ever – Our tribe was called Thunder and so we all dressed up as Greek god's and goddesses of thunder :D We looked great in our linen robes, instant self-tan and golden accessories.. it was one of the most fun things ever!

Out of our RDG there were Grace, Felicity, Sharna (which was a miracle in the making to get her there in the first place!!) and Jessie. Jessie's little sister Amy also graduated from Voltage to Fuel and joined us for camp. She's just so lovely, and I adored watching them together, since they truly enjoy and appreciate each others company! So different from most siblings, they love spending time together :)

We also had a whole bunch of new year 7girls come to the camp, and they had an absolute blast! All in all, we had 10 huge busloads of kids from all our campuses: City, Hills, Southwest, BRISBANE and various extensions!! The best thing was – it truly felt like one church, one youth ministry, one family.

It was crazy and sweaty and fun, yet there were dozens of God encounters and moments where our young people met with God for themselves, were filled with the Holy Spirit, got lost in worship, broke free from bondage and let down they guard. I loved standing in worship, just skimming over the massive crowd of young people so hungry for God. To see our girls encountering God for themselves without us having to be facilitating that was absolutely beautiful. I watched this generation in awe thinking where they could take this world in 10 years time. It brings goosebumps on me every time I even think about it!!! God's troops are arising – and I cant believe I get to be a part of equipping this army of selfless young warriors to get out there to tackle the enemy from every side!

One night there was a huge thunder storm and therefore night activities were cancelled and people gathered to the meeting tent to watch a movie together. Instead I grabbed a few girls and took them down to the beach to watch the storm, and we shared one of the most powerful encounters of God's power on the beach. The whole camp was filled with special moments where young people would just open up to you – in the mall Jessie would casually ask how one can hear the voice of God – Sharna would put her hand up to be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues, Felicity would be praying for people during worship and our kids would get up with confidence in from of the masses of young people on the last day of camp to share testimonies of what God had done in their lives during camp. Words are simply not enough to tell you what took place during those 3 days – but I can tell you, every young person left more confident and more free than as they came.

I heard sad news at camp too – our wonderful amazing tribal leader Nickey who has been sowing her heart into Fuel over five years is leaving us soon in February to go back to the States. She's going to leave a huge gab but at the same time, even though it makes us all sad, we are excited to see the next chapter of her life unfolding. We live in such exciting times!!

We drove back down to Sydney with Matt Wallace, one of the most recent new Fuel leaders, after we had packed down all production gear once all kids were jammed in their buses and on their way home. We had much fun packing up, driving and chatting away and sharing dinner with the production guys from the Hills. All in all, the whole camp was just so AMAZING I could even start to describe. It's one of those things you'll have to experience in order to fully understand what I mean.

The most exciting part is that there is more - PowerHouse Retreat starts up in Central Coast TONIGHT!! It's never over until God says it's over :)

Brand New Proud Auntie

2009-08-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

On 6th of August 2009 God sent the cutest little bundle on earth as a blessing to my brother and his girlfriend - a BEAUTIFUL baby girl was born to this world.
49cm tall and 3344grams - the cutest little package ever!!

Here is the proud brand new daddy with the bundle... :) It's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that my brother truly is a father now! He'll be the best of them all.

We have been praying for this tiny treasure for months, and praise God she is healthy and well! What more could one ask for?

This little miracle has completely stolen my heart from the first glimpse across the globe.. How I wish I could be there to hold her close and sniff her sweet little head.. The wonder of a new life makes me stand still in awe!

-Brand New Proud Auntie Päivi

Holidays & Intensives

2009-07-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

Ok so it's been forever since I last wrote, I know I know! Let's take a look through the past 5 weeks or so that have passed ”unnoticed”...

So we had holidays for a whole 10 days – I didn't go anywhere but it was a great opportunity to rest, rewind and catch up with people I normally don't see!

First couple of days I spent pretty much alone just unwinding from JAM – for once I was quite happy not having anyone around! All the girls went to Blue Mountains for a couple of days so I had the whole flat for myself – pretty good!

We had Lisette's sister Nicke staying with us, and for the holidays also Rachelle's sisters Janel and Abby stayed with us – you can imagine the line to the bathroom in the morning with the ratio of 7 girls in an apartment with 2 bathrooms.. :D it was hectic but lucky enough we had no strict schedules since it was the holidays! :)

We threw a surprise birthday dinner for Lisette's 29th birthday when everyone came back from Blue Mountains – it was awesome! Plenty of food and good company.. I got back into the cake making again! ;D

Janel cooked all the food (except for the cake which obviously was my duty) – she is a really great cook and has such an hospitable and generous spirit. We were all blessed beyond measure throughout the weeks they stayed at our place!! It also challanged our spirits towards such a genuine generosity.. :)

It was a great night to just hang out with the flat and all sisters – one of the last nights we had together. It was like one big family and I found myself fitting into the American crowd very well which surprised me extremely – I always thought I didn't understand their humour but I found myself grown used to them and chatting away, teasing them and sharing in their experiences.

I had to put up this picture of Rachelle, I just though it portrayed so well how much the Finnish cakes are appriciated here! :D

During the rest of the holidays I learned to relax and take it easy – even though I had no money to do anything extravagant I found an appriciatian to be able to meet people I haven't had a chance to see so often throughout the semester! We caught up with Ashton a good couple times :) We did the beachwalk one night, and got caught up in the rain in the middle of the two hour track! :D In the beginning we saw quite a few rainbows in the horizon, but above us spread to it's full enght the biggest and brightest rainbow I've ever seen! We were stunned and stood there our mouths wide open in awe, then shouting with joy! (it's not the one in the picture). I love it when God manifests Himself to us through nature, and that whole walk was one big God adventure! We passed a huge graveyard and I felt the Spirit whispering to me to avoid crossing it – the urge to go around grew so strong in me I gave in and abandoned my normal behaviour patterns that would have taken me through the magnificent scenery there. We sat on the beach talking and listening to God, and He totally used used to minister to one another.

I also went to the hairdressers finally with the money my amazing friends back home sent to me to be used only for PLEASURE – I hope they'd be glad to know I did obey their instructions :) On Monday Lisette moved out, I spent the whole day taking apart beds, moving them around and putting them back together! God answered my prayers for a bed that I could not afford to buy and someone sent me a text message that one night that she was moving out and God had told her to give away her bed to me! What a blessing... It was not just any bed, but really pretty white bar princess bed... I was blown away!! However it felt strange to fall asleep on the first night in a normal single bed after 6 months of staring the top bunk and prayers written in slips of paper, taped to the top bars... I missed Lisette so.

I got a new roomie, her name is Mana (which in Finnish means a curse, what a great start! :D) and she is 20 years old and from Japan. She's a really kind girl, a little shy and quiet compared to the rest of us in this flat but she fits in so well! She has defenitely opened up and I am so grateful that God sent someone like her to replace Lisette. No one could ever take Lisette's place but this girl has defenitely made the transition much easier and I think we'll be good friends!

One of the highlights of the holidays was the day we went to donate blood with my Norwegian friend Liv and ended up spending the afternoon in Luna Park, the small amusement park in the harbour! Instead of a full day of fun we bought a couple single ride tickets and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine!

and what would a visit in Luna Park be without Cotton Candy/ Fairy Floss? :) This has been a tradition to me ever since childhood and so I stayed true to myself making sure not a single visit to an amusement park would pass without this special pleasure :)

We spent hours in our favourite ”ride” - Coney Island which is a huge FunHouse filled with different little rides and experiments! I woud say the best one out of all must have been the exit hole of aircondition air that made our hair stand straigh in the air like those of x-men!! Cheap are the joys of the simple.. luckily!! ;D

The utmost highlight of the holidays was our RDG day out – we took most of our youth group out for a picnic with Jenn! It was a beautiful sunny day filled with laughter and giggles in the light atmosphere amongst friends..

It is such a big thing for both me and Jenn what we have been able to establish in these girls in the past 6 months – from the day they were given into our hand, having been abandoned for several months without a leader to look after them and love them, they were were suspicious towards us and broken inside. We could see all the scars their previous leaders had left by poor transitions and it broke our hearts too. We decided that our greatest goal was to make these girls feel appriciated, loved and safe with us. Today we can both testify that this is exatcly their state on this very day!!

Jessie Patmore was from the beginning one of the ones I knew would need us the most – her parents have recently separated and her mum has a new boyfriend who now lives with them. Coming from the background I do I knew God was going to use my hurt and survival story to bring hope to her too! There is so much more than meets the eye with Jessie, but I am so glad she has been able to stay her joyful self and we both hope to have brought at least some kind of stability to her life.

Our hardest nut to crack was Felicity – she had had a really great relationship with their previous leader and was so hurt by her departure that for the first months she only kept pushing me and Jenn away. Many night we would pray for her in frustration, on the verge of giving up on her. By the consistency that we have been able to show her through the grace of God she has slowly opened up and allowed us into her world. Her sister keeps telling us how much she loves and adores us, but she never really shows it to us. God has been teaching me so many things through her and our love for young people has only grown through the frustrations we have been through with her! On that day in the park, she stood on a pole, calling me to her. As I walked to her she extended her hands down to me and I grabbed her, asking if she trusted me. She said yes – and I tested her trust by allowing her to lean on me, kind of hanging in the midair me as her only support. She laughed and screamed but loved it. On that moment I knew we were in – it meant the world to me. All the hard work, extra time and money invested to her life was making a difference and slowly healing the wounds in her heart.

God has taught me the most through these bautiful and so different girls – they are my world. I have learned with them more I could ever learn in a classroom – and am so thankful I was trusted with so much from the very beginning. I carry them in my heart and take the full responsibility of shepherding them well, and I could not hove done this without Jenn. She has been an amazing support and source of inspiration to me and our teamwork has become seamless – we compliment one another in a way no one similar to me could ever do! Where I am weak and inadequate, she shines, and I carry her through her wobbly bridges :)

And as one sows, so does she reap... The time and resources invested into the lives of these girls has both increased our faith in God and allowed Him to brovide us literally our everyday bread.

In the beginning of the term we sat down with Jenn to talk through what we are expecting from this semester, setting goals for the group in general and for each individual girl personally. We established some new ”culture” elements such as a prayer wall to highlight that we truly are a fmaily and will stand in faith for one another in their needs, as well as being able to encourage one another through the praise reports in our lives! Everything we do is very pusposeful and our hard work has been recognized by all our youth Pastors, even moreso by our fellow youth leaders and God! I believe we are setting and standard and example worthy of following.

Since the new semester started I've made a few new friends from the new intake – Jared, Donny, Lazarus, Josh and Riley are fun to be around but people I believe to build me up and strongly impact my life and challange me! Jared is an amazing man of God, who has a powerful testimony of how he got saved after years of drug addictions and jail. He embodies the saving grace of God and inspires me beyond measure! We have the best chats with him and I know this is one of the friendships for lifetime. His faith and generosity stirrs me to a new level...

Donny had a birthday and he was feeling super homesic, he's only 19 and it's his first time away from home, and Jared decided that he would buy keys to Donny to cheer up his birthday!!! We threw a surprise party for him, and since he refused to leave to house for any great excuses we made up I had to talk to my security guard friends and include them in the plot, so they called him down and we set up the piano in the middle of the living room, lit up candles and waited! It was a great success and Donny teared up when he saw all we had set up for him.. he nearly passed out when he realized the keys were for him!!

So here are some of my new first semester friends –
Top right: Jared,Donny,Riley and Jade. Bottom right: Me, Lazarus and Joshua.
They are all cool and most of them do Fuel with us too! I've had the priviledge of walking them into the college/Hillsong culture – they are catching up with it so quick, I am so very proud of them!

We hade a trip to Ikea last week with our flat to shop for some essentials – since Lisette moved out we are mingling furniture around and trying to make it look more consistent and pretty! Weve done pretty well by covering the ugly yellow couch with a natural white sheet (it seriousy looks brand new and pretty amazing!!) and we have set a Japanese style low table into the living room! I will put up some pictures in the next post, I have none right now and it's way too late to start taking any :p

Of course we had to go a bit silly in the kids section and have some Swedish meatballs for lunch.. It was a great trip all in all! Victorious we returned home with selected bits and pieces :)

We've been focusing on hanging out with out kids heaps more with Jenn and one Sunday I invited Grace to hang out with me between the services – we had luch and then she came over to my place to bake some rasberry & white choholate muffins! We had so much fun and the muffins were delicious even though flat since we didn't have a cupcake pan! :D

I had a great opportunity opening up for me this week – I got to share the offering message in Chapel as a first first year student for years!! It went so well, God totally took over and communicated with a passion and clarity only He can.. Even our principal was impressed with the word that was brought forth! God is opening up many doors to me in leadership and I feel like everything I touch just flourishes!

I learned so much from our Intensive lectures of youth ministry introduction and teamwork, both so practical subjects that fire me up for the work that awaits back in Finland with UCC – I am gaining more and more tools for effective ministry! The new subjects for this term blow my mind – Christian doctorine, World Religions, Spirit Filled life, Church History and Personal Evangelism are going to fully change my life!! I am so excited for what God has in store for this semester and am rady to grap it with both hands and run with it!

Well, I quess that would be the biggest events from the past weeks, I try to update more regularly since it feels impossible to write all the great things that have happened the more time I wait.. :)

Check out my new cutie nice!

Lots of Love,
-P

JAM 09

2009-07-12T04:49:00.000-07:00

We'll, here we are recovering after a hectic Conference week, enjoying the company of sisters in the house – Lisette's sister Nickey has been entertaining us for a couple of weeks now and today Rachelle's sisters Abby and Janel arrived for the holidays! They are so much fun, bubbly and as much chatterboxes than myself :) The house is buzzing with 7 girls in a tiny flat with only 2 bathrooms... :D but it's so much fun to get to know each other's families, you learn a lot more about each other as well!

We ended up staying in this flat, since college actually released the flat we were planning on to move. So my address will remain the same and all of that, and on the other hand we've got kind of cozy here anyway :) however, in a weeks time Lisette will be moving out and that'll be very weird. My new roomie Mana is from Japan!! Im so excited for her to come, her arrival day will be hectic since Lisette is moving out on the 20th too.. I don't know how on earth Lisette is going to pull off this move, since she hasn't even started to pack and the whole house is full of her stuff in every corner and cupboard! It shall be interesting.. ! :D

It's Lisette's birthday on Wednsday, and all the girls are going to Blue Mountains tomorrow. I can't go, I really don't have the money for it. Makes me a little sad, not that there's anything that special to see there but it's one of the last times we get to hang out together as a flat. But oh well, whatever. Can't always have everything hey?

My finances are actually very challanging for the month, since God really challanged me to give a lot more in the Heart for the House offering than I was planning on to give on the first place. I don't really see how Im gonna make it through but I know that regardless of my circumstances God's always faithful and will come through to me one way or another. I refuse to panic over the future or regret my genorosity and simply choose to trust in His flowing provision as I put His Kingdom first. We raised AMAZING 6 MILLION DOLLARS in the Heart for the House offering and this money will go to change the lives of so many – how blessedam I to get to be a part of it!

Anyway I wanted to write about the Hillsong Conference and JAM – the most amazing and life changing four days since I've been here!! I was serving in the general registrations for the Conference on the first day and totally missed out on everything that was happening, but the three next days I got to spend full time in JAM as a Connect group leader, hanging out and connecting with kids as my mission! It was mindblowing to see the five thousand young people gathering to seek after God...

In the morning we got to hang around in the Acer Arena for the morning rally, since most of our kids had the opportunity to attend the morning session of Hillsong Conference. Then we packed up thousands of young people in shuttle busses and transported them to our very own JAM venue, the State Sport Centre!

Once on the venue, we battled between the four tribes through the Tribal Wars – always so crazy yet so much fun! After trillions and billions of points the kids went crazy, jumping, screaming and chanting.. :)

We had both morning and night rallies, so basically we had our own conference now! It's really remarkable since this is the first year we had our own night rallies for youth and we had the main speakers from Hillsong conference coming to speak in our venue, directing their messages straight to our age group of teenagers!! It was so amazing challanging and life changing.. I know these kids will never be the same.

Since most of my kids were scattered into different tribes in order to hang out with their friends, I targeted to befriend the lonely kids. I met Alisha and hanged out with her the whole day – not the most glamorous or fun thing to do since she barely spoke to me, but halfway through the day when I was about to give up on her she asked with a tiny voice if she could have lunch with me.. my heart skipped a beat when I realized I had actually made her conference even though it might not have been obvious to me until that point. I realized that such small things can change a person's life forever..

The worship was so powerful and the presence of God could be sensed so tangibly.. We had the amazing Chris Tomlin coming to lead worship for one night and as the whole auditorium sang ”How great it our God” the voices of the teenagers echoed into my heart – I found myself sobbing in the wonderful revelation of the faith the next generation has and the change they will bring to our world.

We had electives for the teens too. I attended the combined Justice and Worship stream and LOVED to hear more about how tightly the two are tied together – justice is worship.
Joel Houston said to us:
”Justice+ Worship=Change. If you ain't changing, you aren't really worshipping.”
To see the masses of kids who take the mission of bringing justice seriously made me bowl my eyes out.. To see their determination, faith and love totally changed me too.

For the last night we brought all jammers to the main Conference, where we had priority seating on the main concourse. It was a night to remember! All the amazing messages brought by Louie Giglio, Jentezen Franklin, Phil Dooley, Craig Groeschel and many others spoke volumes both in my life and the lives of thousands around me. I was inspired, challanged and encouraged to push forward for God! These conferences always greatly encourage us as believers to see the reality of millions of fellow believers all across the earth rising up with us – the truth is we're not alone.

The last night we got out of the bump out around 1 a.m, relatively early this year! There was no crazy confetti rain in the celebration finale which we all were very grateful for.. :) isn't it funny how your perspective can change according to your responsibilities? I still remember standing in the midst of tons of falling confetti in Hillsong Conference 2007 as a delegate, admiring the wonder of it, just to sweat in fear of the same two years later as a volunteer responsible of the cleaning up afterwards.. :p

I feel very very blessed to have had the opportunity to see what God is doing amongst the generation rising up, and it truly has inspired me for the things to come and ministry to build once I get back to Finland. I am still praying for God to bless me with an opportunity to get a hold of the Conference recordings, I was planning on bying the whole recording pack not to miss out on the amazing leadership messages that were shared in the main conference, but for now I simply have no finances for it. It is my desire to save up the money in the coming months to get a hold of it! I wanted to buy the Conference pack to bless others during the holidays by hosting the conference again at my place and inviting students who also missed out on the messages to build them up.. but the pack is $200 and I have no such money at this stage.

Anyhow, I better stop here and get out, I want to take a walk with the girls before I need to start concentrating on teaching Finnish online for my Texas mate Stewart :)

Love you all so so much, wish you all could have been here to have a share of the blessings God has been pouring on me!

Lots of Love,
P

The Sickie

2009-07-03T23:03:00.000-07:00

So as you may guess, this week I have been really sick. There is a vigorous virus going around in the College world just a week before conference - no coinsidence I say. The enemy is darting us with all his arsenal trying to strike as many soldiers down as he possibly can to diminish what God wants to do in and through our lives during next week, and he will give his very best shot to have a negative effect on the impact to the nations that this conference inevitably has!

3 out of 4 in our flat have been targeted so far, but we all know what is really going on and are praying hard against the forces of the darkness. It's been a lot of sleep, prayer, more sleep, the Word, napping and Lemsip, and we keep trying to tackle the sickness. We're not giving in an inch and it inspires us to know God has great things in mind and we are obviously a threath to the enemy.

We have 2 more days to go, and the recovery is finally starting to take place for me. Though I feel bored to just lay in bed and constantly sleep I know I need to do just that in order to be ready for conference. So more sleep, lemsip and prayer it is.

..and then LIFE happens!

2009-06-29T06:17:00.001-07:00

CIAO!

Time flies and days pass by, and we are only one week away from the amazing Hillsong Conference!! Right now we are half way through our intensives, I have the amazing priviledge to intern these two weeks with Kane Keatinge, our Fuel youth pastor and prepare stuff for Friday night programs and JAM, the youth conference that runs alongside with Hillsong Conference! I am so excited for Conference – I get to serve fulltime in JAM (12 to 17 years of age) and this year for the first time EVER, JAM is held in the Sydney Olympic Park at the massive Sports Stadium!! We ALSO have JAM nights at the same venue, so basically we have overtaken the actual Hillsong Conference! :D

Last week was such a good week! Intensives are great because all assessments are done and everyone is working on something FRESH and new, and by doing so starting to take more ownership of the conference ahead! I have only recently started to realize how little people catch the spirit of this house – and how hard it is for many to own the ministry they have been placed in. Many consider themselves too good for the things that have been given to their hands and that frustrates me so! Did Jesus not say that only those whom are faithful with the little they have been given will be entrusted more? It's obvious that many of the students here come from small churches where they have been the big deal and they have hard time realizing that other people have talents too and that they will need to learn to do other things too than just what they love doing/are good at. It is so true that pride is the root of all sin!

Many of my friends outside College have been leaving – Keith left a week ago back to L.A and Florence and Esmeralda are now travelling, but they'll be back before they head home. We had lunch with Esmeralda at the fishmarkets before she caught her flight to Cains, and we had the best time ever! We nibbled on sweet chili crabs, baby octopus and stuffed lobster! Yummy...

We also had our fare share of the terrorizing seagulls :D It was all worth it though when a pelican swam over to pose for us :) It was such a magnificent sunny day in the harbour..!

Afterwards I ended up in the film shooting for our Conference opener, which was way fun! My connect group leader Tylea studies and works with the TV crew in our church so she invited me along, and we had the joy to act high school students chilling out in the yeard of a private school in the middle of the city! Funny thing was that St. Andrew's (the school that is) is also a boarding school, so halfway through the shoot we had gained nearly every students attention and dosens of eyes stared at us through their bedroom windows! :D

We had the Heart for the House offering happening this week – we as College gave our offerings on Tuesday and the rest of the church family throughout the weekend. The Heart for the House offering really stirred me up to believe God fr miracles in the almost impossible circumstances that people back home are facing. I love being a part of a church that does not stare at it's own belly but actively reaches out to the community and nations, and that is what this offering is all about – the corporate miracle that our offerings can produce together. To change a life of a little kid in the streets of Mumbai, to provide for a struggling family in the Sydney area.. the list goes on and on, and the impact this giving will have is inevitably great!

It's also been a great week of taking a little ”me-time” - a bubble bath, a long walk in the park, reading a chapter of a good book and going a little silly in the park whilst no one else is watching :) You know me – one part of my heart will never grow too old to swing in the swings watching bright night stars.

It was Jenn's birthday this weekend – we of course celebrated ahead of time with our RDG on Friday (another great excuse to have something sweet!). We totally surprised Jenn with all of the girls – I faked the whole week like I didn't remember that it was her birthday on Sunday and called all our kids to make my masterplan work – all my little ”partners in crime” were delighted to be of a help!! So we decorated the RDG area with Jenn as normal and then I sent her home as we were way early. Then my little helpers appeared and we tossed and turned some ice cream and skittles into a cake :) The girls had the most fun throwing the skittles around and trying to catch them with their mouths wide open.. :D

Then we redecorated the RDG area with balloons etc. And made sure Jenn did not walk in before it was time! The girls went off with their funky birthday whistles right on Jenns face! :D It was so much fun! ...and the cake was yummy as always... :)

We've had the priviledge of hosting Lisette's sister Nicky here for a couple of weeks now – she is staying the total of 6 weeks and has fully integrated into our flat life by now :) They look dangerously alike.. :) After Conference we'll also have both of Rachelle's sisters visiting us, such a delight! I think it has really deepened out relationships too, being able to see a glimpse of a life from back home through the loved ones we have had visiting! :)

On Sunday me,Lisette and Nicky went to do the Coogee to Bondi beach walk :) Bright blue skies, warm sunshine and a gentle breeze in my hair.. OH MY, it was so BEAUTIFUL!

As we walked, we saw breath taking scenes and I seriously started to consider if an hour bus ride to school every morning would be that much of a pain if I lived right next to the beach... :)

I also have bittersweet news – we are most likely moving to another flat in the Meritons complex which is great since the new flat will be bigger & better! However, Lisette Marie Carrillo, my dearest roomie, will be moving out as she has found a way cheaper accommondations within the Meritons. I've been quite sad thinking about it lately, since we have bonded so well and she truly is like a big sister to me! Lisette is the voice of wisdom in this flat.. so it's weird thinking about what our life will look like without her.

Not to even mention that this will mean that I will have a new roomie within just a few weeks or so! We are having someone from the new intake, since I figured this was God's way to pass on the blessing I received when I first arrived – to move into a all ready flat with amazing people who know everything from the bus routes to assessment tips. It makes me smile when I think of it :) The only drama in this is that Lisette will most likely take most of the furniture with her, and so I am right now desperately trying to find at least a bed for myself.. Our new spacious flat might look even more spacious as I really dont have the money right now to buy anything at all – but Im sure God will bring it abouts and provide just what we need in whatever form He chooses to. He has always come through to before, and I have faith that He will in the future too!

Talking about provision.. We had the most fun happening at the Sisterhood last week! We had a cloathes SWAP – everybody brought their good conditioned non desired goods and we organized everything to a mall looking fantacy! I got some great bits and pieces to myself too – this pretty dress was actually a skirt size 44 but with a belt and some magic it turned into a dress for me! :)

We had tons of cloathes and shoes! :D The fun thing was, our Senior Pastor Bobbie Houston wanted some items to be brough on the stage whilst she was entroducing the cloathes swap – and a moment later I found myself in the toilet changing with our youth pastors and only minutes later from the stage with Bobbie with a hilarious combo of a wetsuit, pink wedding hat and a huge winter scarf! :D Fun times... You never know where you end up whilst cordinating a cloathes swap at our church! :D

I don't have much here but I've learned to love the simplicity of life – the greatest things that can not be measured or bought! Walking in taped shoes to be able to support someone in need has become a lifestyle once realizing there is a cause and purpose much higher than myself!

Biju Thampy, an ordinary man whom has changed the lives of thousands of children in Mumbai, India shared with us something remarkable last weekend at church, something that has impacted me greatly and will continue to shape the way I live my life:

"I believe that the love of God can never be measured - but it can be demonstrated."

Lots of Love,
-P

P.s. My return flights are now officially booked, I will arrive back to Finland on the 4th of December!

Snufkin

2009-06-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

I opened an envelope the other day and read something that deeply touched my heart. My dear friend was writing to me ahead of time and looking at the seperation we were going to face for another year as I was departing overseas from a totally new perspective. She quoted a story from Moomins to describe her feelings on the eve of my departure to Australia:

Moomintroll stood aside watching as Snufkin packed away his tent.
- "Are you going to be away for long?" he asked.
- "No" answered Snufkin. "On the first day of spring I will be here
again and will whistle under your window. One year will pass quickly!

A tear rolled down my cheek as I read this and reflected on it - she is right. I am Snufkin and I am just so blessed that at least one of my friends has grasped the greater reason behind me travelling.

SUGAR HIGH!

2009-06-13T01:15:00.001-07:00

When you are turning 22, you need to make sure you are getting the most of it! I wanted to make sure this years celebrations would be the best yet, and so I decided to celebrate several times!! I must admit I am still in a sugar high after all the cakes I have consumed during the past weeks..

Obviously I celebrated on the actual day of my birthday with my mom, flatmates and my tutorial group. That's 2 parties so far. And 2 cakes!!

Then I celebrated with my Fuel RDG girls, to whom I baked another cake! So that's total of 2 cakes, and 3 parties. My co-RDG leader Jenn had organized all beautiful decorations for me, and we even had special free pony rides available!! How fun is it to have a birthday hey?

Then I hosted a MASSIVE brunch for my best friends here in Australia : On the V.I.P questlist were my connect group leader Tylea, Luke, Ben and Jenn from Fuel, Ashton and Liv. We had the abundance of food – fresh fruits, stuffed crapes with most delicious fillings, bacon and egg muffins etc etc. It was defenitely my favourite meal I've ever had here, with all the great food and amazing, inpsiration company :) That added up the Party count to 4!

Then me and Jenn took off to the Centennial Parks to spend the afternoon with the Fuel Sisterhood for a PICNIC!

The day was beautiful with clear blue skies, warmth and laughter. We fed the ducks, played games, raced around, decorated some cupcakes (and Nickey's cheecks too!) and chatted on and on. We didn't have the traditional cake but a dosen of cupcakes surely counts!!! Score: 3 cakes, 5 Parties!

I do really love our lively youth ministry and I feel like Im learning a lot more than just how to run youth – Im actually falling in love with this age group more and more everyday.

With the rest of my friends, I had organized an adventure night in the honour of my birthday. We started of with some scavanger hunt in teams to find some of the party items around the Meriton Apartments area which created a lot of fun competition between the teams! This gave me and my flat time to start heading to the closeby hilltop in Moore Park to set up the party venue itself :)

Once all teams had found their way to the park, we had cake and tea on the top of the hill, chatting away and admiring the gorgeous view of the entire city! We played some fun games and the whole night was such a blast! Part count:6 Cakes:5

Then after all my celebrations were done, my friend Luke decided to host a Cake party!! Jill came home that day and simply told me: ”We need to make our cake to look like Luke's face!” And so we did ;)

The cake actually looked a lot like Luke, he just doesn't have his glasses on this picture! However we put a lot of time, effort and thought to it.. :) We defenitely won the ”Most Creative” award with our masterpiece! ;)

In the end we had around 10 different cakes to try and you can quess how sick I felt after all that sugar... Even though I tried just tiny pieces of each one, I could feel gaining weight as I chewed the heavenly feast of the sugartable.. :D So my Cake Count suddenly jumped somewhere around 15!! :D

So for now, Im pretty confident that I've had my fare chare of cakes for some time.. I assume you'd all agree with me on this and support me in the changes that my future diet must contain!! My whole body is craving carrots and broccoli, so I need to take action and really lay aside all the baking for some time!!

So, hopefully you're all kind of on the page now what has been happening here..
On Tuesday we had our finalization day and so now all school assessments have been turned in competent and we have a moment to take a breath before the start of Hillsong Conference!
From next week onwards, we have Conference Intenses at school, so no normal classes anymore but we are all preparing stuff for the conference under our specialists! I have the priviledge to Intern with Kane (our Fuel pastor) and Im really looking forward to the next two weeks!! After that, we are hitting Hillsong Conference hard, and I have been priviledged to make JAM (Youth conference for kids from 12 to 17 years) happen!! So it's all exciting and new and Im so looking forward it all!!

My roomie Lisette's sister is arriving to Australia tomorrow morning, so were going to have some life in the house again, and we are actually considering to move into a bigger flar within the Meritons, from which some of our friends are moving out and so it just might be that soon I'll have a slightly changed address and a way bigger balcony!!!

Anyhow, I love you all so so much, hope you are having a great time all around the world and to those whom are in the summer season.. We're pretty much even!

Lots of Love,
-P

Mom <3

2009-06-12T18:03:00.001-07:00

So as many of you would know by now, my mom decided to make a surprise trip to Australia to make my 22nd birthday so ever speciall! So I had the priviledge of hosting my very special, loved mum for a whole week here! What more could a girl wish for..? I LOVE my mom!

The whole week was filled with walking around, and at the end of the day our feet would be sore but we'd wear bright smiles on our faces because of the beautiful, warm weather that lasted exactly the duration of my mom's trip! It had been so rainy before mum came, but was totally blessed with sunshine and blue skies! After mum left it's been still pretty but FREEZING – I reckon God organized the best just for her. :)

My flatmates absolutely loved having my mum around – mom brought a pair of oven mittens and a moomin mug for everyone, and you wouldn't quess that now no one drinks out of any other cup! :D Jill loved the oven mittens so much that she cooks them on.. finally she doesn't have to be afraid of the boiling hot sprinkles of oil! They also thought my mom was the sweetest thing (which she sure is!) and were amazed by the closeness of our relationship. They got to keep company to mom at times when I was al school, and also challanged her English through the continuos practise! I must say Im so proud of her and to where she's come to with her language skills.. My mom's the bomb!

So we had two days to take a full day trip when I was off from school and ministry responsibilities – so right away on Monday we took off to the Blue Mountains to explore the nature and get away from the hectic city. We catched the train and once we arrived to Katoomba, our sweet red english double decker was waiting for us to explore the sights around!

Since it had been raining so much before mum arrived, the waterfalls were amazing! It took my breath away (and the high we were standing from the ground took mom's.. :D)!! A bummer was thought that we couldn't see much of the majestic landscapes as it was CRAZY FOGGY – I felt like walking in the cloud for the most of the time!! I quess mom was just glad she didn't have to stare at the steep drop to the ground all the time :)

Mom's eye of course caugh the most random things like an orange little mushroon that looked just like the ones we spend our autumn days picking up in Finland! :D Random, I know :)

We walked a few tracks and enjoyed the peace and quiet – also hear some pretty random birds singing and tried to avoid the flooding steps in our non-waterproof sneakers... It was heaps of fun! :) Even though locals were wearing full winter gear me and mom got going in a thin long sleevers!

We also hiked to take a look at a ”garden” marked on the sights map, only to discover a dead end path in the midst of the burnt forrest.. anyhow, we did find something beautiful outside the ”gardens”.. the stunning colours of autumn!

Some of the best things we did with mom was just to grab a cup of coffee and sit outside, in the harbour or walk around the city. Not to even mention OUR SWEET AFTERNOON NAPS!! I must admit that was the absolute highligh of mum's visit and I took full advantage of it as much as I could! :) Im glad we both consider it as a mother-daughter-quality time! :)

Of course the pressure was on since it was no longer my mom's first visit here and I had been carefully considering all possibilities to entertain mommy.. But I loved the fact she just wanted to relax and of course we saw a lot of stuf, but she was happy just taking a walk in the morning, reading a book in the park and baking a lot of yummy stuff for us whilst I was at school! You can imagine how much my roomies love my mom after all that cooking.. !

One of my favourite past times was when we visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in the Harbour. I've never really got the eye for contemporary art, but we found a few very interesting pieces of art, out of which my absolute favourite was this circles of letters companied with a video where a funny old man was reading the nonsense circles fast and moving from cirle to another.. I know my words won't quite give it it righteous honour, but just ask my mom – she would tell you how HILARIOUS it was!! :D

We ate like kings and queens for the whole week - eating out, eating in, baking and cooking.. :)

And of course, it was my 22nd birthday too whilst my mom was here – the best birthday I've had ever! My flatmates had attached a huge congratulations poster on our wall so it was the first thing I saw when I woke up.. They had a pink cupcake with two candles for me and also a silly indian hairband that I was to wear for the whole day at school (and if you know me well enough you would have already guessed that that was exactly what I did!:)) and they sang happy birthday as the first thing! They gave me a beautiful black and white picnic basket and a jacket I really really like as a gift :)

My mom crawled next to me and I had a bunch of gifts from friends back home – it was the best!! Apparently I had communicated well enough that Australia doesn't quite have the selection of sweets and lollies I desire.. so my massive picnic basket soon filled up with all sorts of Finnish lollies, chocolate and xylitol gum! :) I think I might be ale to survive to the end of the year with these!!!

So for my birthday we designed a Bday cake in the shape of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House for my tutorial group! We had a lot of fun designing and constructing the whole thing and it certainly did receive all the praise from my tutorial!! :)

First we checked the original model.. :)

...and then we got to work!!

It was a true masterpice, even though I say it myself...!

Our second daytrip on Saturday was to the capital of the nation, Canberra! It was about the time for my mom to see another city – obviously not one of the busiest ones :D:D:D But however, they do have a respectable amount of culture and history down there (plus obviously the operating governmental organs too!)

We took the Countrylink train down on Friday night and slept in hotel for the night to be fresh and ready in the morning for the big day of exploring around :) We WALKED around the WHOLE DAY, it must have added up around 20kilometers in total! We visited the stunning World War Memorial and explored the AMAZING National Museum of Australia, for free of charge!! The technolgy & multimedia of the museum still blows my mind and I cant wrap my mind around the fact that all of that wonder and awe is available for free of charge!!

We also bumbed into a scene I have not yet discovered in the midst of the city – a dead kangaroo on the footpath! Poor little thing, it scared my mom so...

Once we were finished with the Museum, we really wanted to visit the Parliament House but we had to walk around this big lake to get accross to the right side of the connecting bridge, and then we could not simply find the footpath to the top of the hill!! So we jumped around accross the car lanes and finally ended up climbing over a small barrier to reah the Parliament House, which we both found exhausting yet quite hilarious!!

Once we had found our way up we soon realized we had ran out of time and now we didn't have enough time to actually visit the building itself, but had to be satisfied in only admiring the infrastructure from the outside, get a few pictures with the remarkable landmark and the rush on to the trainstation to catch our 4hour ride back home!Oh boy were we exhausted from all the walking and fresh air by the time we got to sit down and have some dinner in the train.. Im pretty sure we we both slept like babies that night!! :D

On the last day we slept in a little bit and went to relax at the Fox Studio Markets close by my place. It was a nice sunny day and we found many cute little things for mum to bring back home for kids, and I got a really pretty souvenier bracelet too! :)

We also took the Essential tour inside the famous Opera House – a quided tour through the most famous venues inside this piece of art! It was truly amazing to see inside the sails and discover the variety of stages they had for different performances! My absolute favourite was the Great Concert Hall which has been built to facilitate Symphony Orchestra, and together we both agreed that for mum's next visit we'd have to come to listen to a Symphony there!

It was so interesting to also learn the history of this breathtaking building – I never knew it took a whole 16 years to finnish the building!! As we discovered the secret of the shapes of the sails which had been built by thousands of individual iron ”ribs” I found myself wondering how far to the future a human mind had flewn to find this answer to the impossible problem at the time.

Mom cooked a farewell meal for my flat – of course something typically Finnish would be mom's meatballs and potatoes! Jill, Rachelle and Lisette got all excited about it since I've once made them before, and I think at that time they first fell in love with the Finnish food! :) (Maybe I should try some mämmi next time? ;D)

We all had a great time having my mom around and even though it felt strange to see her go again, I am just so glad she came and we got to spend time together! I don't feel homesick like I thought I might after she left, but I rather feel refueled for the next 6 months ahead, and that's the whole point of having people visit you in the end!! :)

I LOVE MY MOM.

School Holidays!

2009-06-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

Oh dear Lord, I know I haven't updated for 5 weeks now and Im so so sorry you all have had to wait for what must have seemed like an eternity to hear from me :D It's just that a whole lot of stuff has been on, and our internet has been really slow so updating pictures has been quite impossible :/ However the internet bill is now paid and uploading happens smoothly – so it's time to pour out the events of the past weeks! I've devided the updates into categories since otherwise I'd myself get all confused – in the end, 5 weeks is a long time and a lot has happened :)

So we had school holidays in the beginning of May, for a whole ten days!! Most of my time ”off” however was spend working on the assessments that were due after the holidays, so I must admit I felt more stressed than ever througout the holidays. I did got to have a few days off however, and we certainly made the most of the time on those days! :)

I visited the Reeds Residency for a few days and got to see the boys again – it's been quite a while since I last saw them and I am realizing how little I actually have time to visit them even though I am in the same city with them! So it was nice to be around, and I had the whole big house for myself during the days when kids were at school and Gretha at work! :)

We also organized a Pyjama Party with Rachelle (Jill and Lisette both went to America for the holidays) and it was the best ever! :) We dragged all the mattresses out of our beds and laid them on the livingroom floor so that it made one HUGE bed where we all slept! We had yummy dinner, games, giggles, words of encouragement and a fair amount of sleep, and in the morning we all shared a massive brunch with omelette's, wide selection of fruits and sweet stuffed crapes before everyone went off their ways!

Me and Rachelle had A BIG DAY OUT in the Royal National Park, which happens to be Australia's second largest National Park! Of course we set off with the thirst for adventure, and once arriving to the park information centre after a brief hike the truth dawned on us – the country's second largest park was obviously MASSIVE and way too big to walk around! We had picked our favourite hiking track and everything online without realizing that we entered the park from the other side and so it would have took us DAYS to hike down to the start of our track! :D

So instead of a massive 5hour hike, we chose to rent a canoe and explore the still waters of the park. It was such a restoration of our souls to paddle down in the quiet and beauty of the untouched nature.

We paddled to end of the stream and camped out for a picnic. We had some great times observing some stubborn antz trying to drag away massive pieces of food, and after a good nibble we hiked up the hill to a cave that's opening was shaped like a heart! We made friends with the birds of the park and admired the majestic scenery caving us in. Words are not enough to discribe the peace in our hearts!

Afterwards we got caught up in the rain waiting for the bus – it was great as we discovered that the forecast for the rain had been stormy and wet, but the skies were clear and blue and the sun kept shining down on us throughout the trip until we were out of the park. I figured it was just God reminding us that He truly does hear even the silliest little requests of our hearts :)
Of course He had to have a little show off at the end of the day just to remind to whom the glory belongs..

Once we got home it was time to throw a party, and so we ended up baking: churros dipped in chocolate fondue and sweet stuffed crapes – it was AMAZING after all the fresh air and walking! I had finally invested a whole $15 for an electric mixer so we didn't have to whip the cream manually.. I have started to view the old day's baking mothers from a whole new angle because of this!! :)

We' ve been also investing into our RDG girls with Jenn by taking them out one by one, and having a blast with them outside the church environment to reassure our genuine love and care for them!We took Felicity to a chocolateria for some churros and Jessie for funny dress-ups shopping.. It has been the best!

My days and thoughts are filled up with Fuel and our RDG girls, and I am growing to love them more and more each week! We had a big youth event a few weeks ago called groundswell where thousands of younster between 12 and 17 gathered together and the next day smaller group of core kids from our youth ministries got specific training a IMPACT to equip them to live radically for God! My heart skipped a beat as I was watching the next generation, our future leaders, worshipping God. Now this is why I love what I do – I get to take part in equipping these future leaders to change the world!

Im singing in the rain, just singing in the rain..

2009-05-10T19:36:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the RAINY SEASON!

It's your favourite Finn from the land of Oz :)

Well, winter is officially here and after some hilarious encounters with the floods that take over the whole city we decided with Rachelle not to go to school our socks soaked any longer – so to embace the ”refreshing” daily showers we went hunting for some gumboots. It was so much fun! To save up money, I was of course looking at the kids sections UNTIL we popped into K-Mart and KABOOM were in the winter wonderland of gumboot heaven!! We got a sweet deal for two pairs and saved both our money and our poor feet! We were so excited to wear them that at night we prayed for the rain to fall heave the next day.. and of course it did!! :) I love my boots, now I never have to go wet again and they're quite funky in the end!

Two weeks ago I had the GREAT PRIVILEDGE to visit the Sydney Concervatory of Music – one of my co-leaders in Fuel and a good friend of mine Chris happens to play chello and invited me to their performance during the weekend. As I sat down in the QUITE IMPRESSIVE concervatory with my free ticket that he had managed to get me, looking around the massive symphony orchestra getting ready in front of my eyes, I could not believe I could experience something so incredible whilst being a student here! The music was wonderful and soothing to my soul, like water flowing from a waterfall and totally magical, nearly too wonderful to comprehend! I've never been to a symphony orchestra performance before, and now I think I've been very dumb not to!! Oh the amazing new experiences.. :)

Last night after church was my Connect Group Leader Tylea's 21st Birthday!! so we had a great small scale Mock Tail party with delicious non-alcoholic drinks and hot crapes with marble syrup! The night ended with merry Norwegian kids-sing-along with a hectic boogie boogie song. What a night to remember! :) Our bartender Corey sure impressed me that much that I might order him to host my party in a few weeks time too.. I am kinda planning on a big painball party and then a chilled night together, since last year we never got to the paintball field in the end. But first, I will celebrate with my mom!

I LOVE my RDG.. it's growing and they're loving it, growing closer every day.. I can't believe I was once intimidated by these precious young women..!!

I've been really stretched in all directions in my relationships here from every possible angle, and last week I had a serious talk with my Heavenly Father about the romantical relationships policy that we could agree on. As I was praying, I had the revelation that God has already reserved me for somebody – a man that He is preparing every day just as He's preparing me for our future relationship. It was a great relief to understand I don't have to try to make it happen, but as I seek after God's heart and get busy with His business, the man I desire alongside will come into my life on just the right time. So I sealed this with my own weak flesh in the willing Spirit by something I'd like to call a ”commitment ring” - not an engagement ring as such but a ring that reminds me that God has already someone in mind to promise me to. As I wear it every day it reminds me that I don't have go looking for that man but that when the time is right God will bring that man into my world and will guide our steps in the relationship. It also communicates the commitment to wait for that man – even when the time for me feels right to prayerfully keep seeking God's way and timing. I've messed up enough relationships by now to know that in my own strenght and wisdom I'll never find the man who'll love me for who I am till the rest of my days, help me to reach for the dreams God has put in my heart, walk alongside with me through this life and be a man of God I can fully trust, commit to and build up with everything I am. Such relationships are divine, and so they need to be orchestrated by the Divine God we serve!

So now, let the holidays begin! I am heading to the Reeds Residency for the next few days to entertain my beloved boys :) after that there is HEAPS of homework to be done, things to plan, ministries to run, pyjama party and a day out hiking ahead.. so these next 10 days are going to be GREAT!

Love you all, hope you are enjoying the sunny warm weather back at home!

Much Love,
xoxo P

The RESCUE

2009-04-26T18:01:00.001-07:00

Did you know that to this very day there is a war waging on Northern Uganda? This was has gone unnoticed for the Western countries for too long – a war that is still continuing after 23 years of unthinkable horrors that leave the residents of this country wounded, living in fear from day to day.. thousands of children have been abducted from their homes as they lay to sleep and forced to become child soldiers, as young as at the age of 5. These children are forced to commit the most horrific assaults, terrorizing their own communities by killing and torturing. All this is taking place because of one man – Joseph Kony. This man has destroyed the lives of millions of people living in Uganda and the surrounding countries.. Can you believe this really is happening in the 21st century right under our noses without any action of justice being taken??

Three young american men were on a holiday in Uganda six years ago when they discovered the injustice and terror that was taking place. These guys were just average kids but they have become fighters for justice for Northern Uganda, rising awareness of the problem in America. They have established the organization called ”Invisible Children” that started from the film they made on their holiday – and they carry on to this day, fighting to bring justice and end the war in Uganda.

It is about a time the Western countries wake up from their ignorant sleep to come alongside to fight for peace and justice for this war torn country! Please visit the website www.invisiblechildren.com, for more detailed story and ways to get involved in saving Joseph Kony's Child Soldiers! You can watch a 30 minute short video to hear the story and see to yourself the horror that is taking part in our world today. (On the website, click ”the rescue site” and choose ”english → enter site”. Click on ”watch the video” and prepare yourself to see things you could have imagined people would have to go through in today's modern world...)

So Invisible Children organized a overnight rally called ”The Rescue” last Saturday 25th of April on 100 cities around the world in 10 countries. I was priviledged to take part in this event to raise awareness to the problem right here in Sydney.

The event started by a march from Milson's point to Botanic Gardens, over the Harbour Bridge. Thousands of young people walked across the bridge holding unto a rope, ”abducted” and removed from their families to the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army – Joseph Kony's army) camp. The idea of the whole event was to ”abduct yourself” and represent one child abducted in Uganda.

The main part of the event took place in the Botanic Gardens at Flinton's steps with a breat taking background of the harbour, Opera House and Harbour Bridge as the scene for this! There we camped out to film the event and the masses of young people coming together to demand justice and involvement of the government of this country in ending the war. We had a lot of fun alongside – group singing, dancing, mingling aound and meeting new people – but most importantly, we wrote thousands of letters to the governmental organs pleading for their involvement.

As we waited in the ”LRA camp”, we were waiting for both the media to come and broadcast the problem to the whole nation, as well as waiting for our ”rescuer” to come and rescue us – a person of great influence such as a governmental official or a celebrity. We were rescued later on by one of the well known actors in Australia, Damien Walsh Howling as he showed up on the site and declared that he'd use his voice in the media to raise awareness to this problem.

As people wrote letters we also made a collase in the share of New Sout Wales of the family pictures that people had brought with them, circling the ”abducted” on the photos to give face to the voices, which would make it a lot harder to ignore and was pressing the poin – is their life as valuable as mine?

We were not so successful with the media – all the major medias promised to be there but did not show up regardless of the phonecalls made to them during the night. This only proves to us how hard it is to make people aware of such injustice in our Western world.

For the night we changed city and gathered next to Hyde Park to sleep outside. It was a lot of fun- we played games and got to know each other a little better, and then we all laid down in our sleeping bags on top of each other to keep warm. Believe me or not but the nights here are freezing already! However, we did not care of the cost which was nothing compared to what the children in Uganda live through everyday.

Early in the morning, at 6am Channel 7 finally showed up to film us – too bad most of the people were fast asleep at this time!

So we marched to stand outside Channel 7's studio's glass windows during their 3 hour morning news flash show ”Weekend Sunrise”, hoping to be given a few minutes in the show to share the issue. I had to leave before this took place since I was serving at morning church, and even we felt a little defeated with out media success it is encouraging to know that there are 100 cities doing the sae, and the world cannot ignore close to 100 000 people standing up to say
”WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH – STOP THE WAR!”

Zack Efron

2009-04-26T17:49:00.001-07:00

Im not quite sure if I have already told you guys that we have a celebrity in our school.. My favourite cutie from High School musical & 17 again: Zack Efron!!
Now seriously, at Summer Retreat the leaders called him up on the stage and I was seriously fooled to think this guys truly was Zack! May I entroduce to you: Scott Parker, my fellow Fuel leader! So Scott really is in our school and truly looks like Zack.. so ever Friday I get to have my dreamtime staring at Zack/Scott! :D It's way cool. He's a great bloke and is obviously flattered by the constant praise he gets from all our teenage girls (and not so teenage anymore leaders!) for just looking the way he naturally does! Just wanted you to know :D To you who see a potential dating situation is this, throw away your hopes - this man is happily married and is only the pleasure of our eyes! :)

a bunch of updates!

2009-04-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

My best greetings for friends around the world!

It's been a while again since I've sat down to debrief you all about the happenings that have taken place here but that's all right, I am convinced that you must know by now you are in my thoughts daily even thought you may not hear from me for weeks!

Life has been full of Fuel lately – teenage kids everywhere! :D Our RDG has been gathering and I've hanged out with the kids at my freetime too – a few weeks ago I went to Annika's place for a proper Finnish sauna! You should have seen Jenn's face when I promptly announced that Finnish people go to the sauna naked! She didn't know should she laugh or cry, and she was not taking me seriously. In the end I ended up in the sauna, wrapped in a towel since she simply refused to be in there with us if I was naked! :D The thing is though when I packed my gear to go the tought of bikini's didn't even cross my mind, because I was thinking in my Finnish mode :D How funny are all culture diffrences eh?

Easter celebrations were absolutely incredible here, – church all weekend for me! Sunday church was held in the city again at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and we had a wicked ”Art from the Heart” festival where people from our church had the opportunity to express and display what the cross ment for them through their artistic eyes! I had a master idea for our RDG meeting and so our precious girls Jessie, Isabella and Felicity got all artsy in order to submit our RDG artpiece to the festival! Cute isn't it? The climax of the festival was the short movies screenings – we truly have some talented people in our church for sure! Here is my favourite piece of artwork – all our inadequaties and pain nailed to the cross. Praise God, He is risen!!

I've spending a lot of time just sitting at God's presence lately, learning to quiet myself and allow His Spirit to strenghten me in my weakness. The battle of finding friends has been waging on and I have learned to come to Jesus on those times of loneliness and weakness. It's amazing how the fellowship with the Son refuels the soul and pushes away all fear and anxiety. I've been given great words of advice and have actually started to focus on the people I have already met instead of looking for those potentials on the rear. I really am starting to realize that the friends God has for me hear are not the ones I would have chosen, not the obvious ones that would ”fit me”. I think this is a phase of learning to give unconditionally and look beyond what I can see, allowing different people to teach me lessons about life. I listed down my friends on a piece of paper and all the sudden had the revelation that God has actually given me a whole bunch of amazing people to hang out with, but I have just been looking elsewhere and haven't been appriciating these peple as much as they deserve. It feels like I am learning to fight the battle in my mind and through that my eyes have been opened to see all the friends I am surrounded by!

I love my flat – honestly Jill, Rachell and Lisette have become my best friends here as soon as I started to invest more time and effort into our relationships! One morning when he girls were out changing the world through Street Teams, I baked an appli pie and left it on the stove with a note for them to find. It was probably the best apple pie I have ever made, and we were all happy to devour it!

Our flat hang out time on Sundays is always a time to look forward to – it's funny how you can live in the same flat and not to really have time to spend with one another if you don't reserve it! Last week we went to this amazing mexican restaurant for dinner – the legendary Mad Mex! The other week we had knitting club – I taught everyone how to knit! :) Our all time favourite is however the good old group nap on the floor!! :D

RDG has been the most amazing – we baked cupcakes the other week and talked about Jesus – man do I love these girls and just thank God for how much He really has entrusted in my hand with these precious pearls... I love em so much!

We took all the Fuel girls to the movie the other week – we went to see oh so cute Zack Efron in 17 again which turned out to be quite a flat movie BUT was surely worth $8.50 for being able to stare at the gorgeous high school musical star. This time there was no singing, but he hasn't got ridd of the basketball playing yet.. :)

Crazy enough, couple weeks ago my past was thrown at me unexpectedly as my ex-boyfriend Gary sended me an email. He was wondering what his life would be if only he had followed his heart to Finland with me and wanted to get in touch through email again – a sugar coated message about love.. It really was like a wet cloath tossed right at my face, I had not expected anything like this after the way we broke up and especially afte a whole year of silence – I simply tought we had both moved on with our lives. WRONG! Someone stil seems to be stuck in the past mistakes and choices he himself made. However, I knew I had moved on and no matter how much I once loved him, I have moved on with my life and so would he have to learn to do. I simply pressed ”delete” and walked away without regrets.

I had one of the most fun nights last night after church when one of my Fuel leaders Chris invited me to hang out with a bunch of people at Glebe! Yes, so I headed back to the scene of many memories, but didn't allow any of them to affect me. It was about the time to make new memories and let the past be past.

On that note, history is repeating itself in a great way – my mom is coming to visit me for my birthday!!!!! So Im getting ready to host for my mom for a whole week in my flat in as short time as four weeks!! I cant not even start to describe how delighted and excited I am – now it's time to work really hard to finnish all school work early in order to spend as much time with mom as I possibly can! This means I get to ”order” some winter clothing from my wardrobe back at home and the best of all, have afternoon naps with mom if we so wish to!! I LOVE MY MOM.

We have 10 days of holidays before mum comes – I haven't even started to plan anything yet! I will defenitely use some days to do my school work, and I don't have a lot of extra cash to travel heaps (nearly everyone from the College is taking off to go to New Zealand) but Im sure I will enjoy the time off even if it's pouring down with rain the whole time as it has been lately! It might be just a perfect time for a day trip and some cozy chats one-on-one :)

Anyways , hope you are all well and loving the spring - I love you and miss you all!
Lots of Love,
xoxo P xoxo

Look-A-Like

2009-04-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

I have been told I look like another student, Beatrice, about a thousand times by now, and it's been so bad that lecturers confuse us and come talk to me about the things they ned to discuss with Bea! It's been frustrating yet hilarious, and even as I don't agree that we look that similar I must say we have something in common - however, judge yourself!

Hopefully still unique in your eyes too? Now I can start to sympathise how identical twins must feel all the time! :D

Lots of Love,
-P

Nackered!

2009-04-01T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hey ya my loves!

Colour is over now and man are we all exhausted! It has been so so good and I didn’t even feel too tired during the conferences, but today as we’ve had a day off from school the physical tiredness has been rushing over my poor little body like a wave! Im so happy to be able to sit down and scribble down everything that has happened during the past week – so many WONDERFUL things have taken place in such a short time!!

So on from Sunday to Tuesday, a few days before colour Jonna spent her last days in Sydney here with me – we had the best time ever!
We got to just chill out in the park, go to church together, chatter about life.. On Monday we went to Coogee beach and it was such a warm, lovely day on the calm beach!! We went a little crazy as always with our pictures, it’s always fun to have such memories :)

On the last day we went to to city and went through probably every single tourist shop in whole wide city! :D Jonna bought finally the UGG-boots she’s been craving for and I got a pair of cute ”roman-times” sandals – how funny that I bough a pair of summer shoes now when autumn is upon us here in Sydney and she bought a pair of full on winter boots as she returns back to Finland’s spring! After all the shopping we sat down at Hyde Park for a picnic – it was so yummy!! I got a VENTI caramel latte – man that amount of coffee kept me going till the early hours of the morning!! We also bought chocolate eggs to celebrate easter a little early :)

We finished the night at the oh so famous Pancakes on the Rocks, ordering ”the usual” and enjoying both nachos and pancakes with Lemon,Lime&Bitters.. the best possible way to finish our time here together according to the good old times :)

Then started the craziness of the past week – am I glad I got to rest in Jonna’s gracious company to gain enough strenght and energy for the week to come! Wednsday we were ”bumping-in” to the Sydney Entertainment Centre – we got to prepare all kinds of things for conference and set-up the venue! After we were ready I went down to the pool with a few of my friends just to chill and then early to bed!

On the first days I was helping with the Registrations – Helping women to get their conference passes and registering their kids to kids programs!
The opening ceremony was absolutely adorable, and such a large crowd of women gathered to fill the entertainment centre that there were not enough seats for us volunteers to sit down!

2nd day of conference I got down to the business: I served in Pamper (giving manicures and hand massages!) and also hung out at the CarPark ticket sales desk the times I was needed at the Pamper! During the nights I got to do ”New Christians” –team and greet new Christians after the altar call to give them a bible as a gift and chat with them! It’s so cool to meet people who have just been brought to the Lord!

3rd day the same pattern repeated and the closing ceremony was stunning, breath taking and so much fun! We had the Sisterhood morning which is all about how we can be the change and do our part in making this world a better place – the Sisterhood Vision video that the team had prepared was inspiring, heart breaking and breath taking! I never knew of some of the issue people still face in the 21st century, such as HUMAN TRAFFICKING all around the world, especially in Europe, and CHILD ABDUCTION in Uganda.. I am convinced we all must play our part to change these circumstances to those who are the victims of these terrible human crimes and so thankful the Sisterhood offers a pathway to step up and make a difference. The seed was sown into many women’s hearts and I am confident those seeds will grow and we’ll see great victories in those areas!

This year we received knitting needles and a ball of wool – a gift that can keep on giving! I have been knitting for the Sisterhood lately and am so excited now Im not the only one! Knitting is hip! (I know I know, you all think Im such a grandma but it’s not true – knitting is in and young people can also contribute through hand skills such as! Our dance team had prepared a hilarious knitting dance prior to the gift moment which was heaps of fun! :)

Then on Sunday we had the FABULOUS live album recording – We accommondated the floor with all youth groups from church and I got to hang out with both Fuel kids and Powehouse fellows! This is my Fuel tribe leader Nicky – she’s an amazing woman of God and so good to be around!

The church did something remarkable – we had a project called ”Kilo of Kindness” and everyone from church brought with them a kilo of non-perishable goods to donate to our CityCare who take the food, packs it and contributes it to the poor in our city who are lacking in such basic needs as food! So as an result of this request from the church, on the night of album recording 10 tons of non-perishable foods were brought to us!!! CANT YOU BELIEVE!!! I love the fact the people in our church commit to actually being the church and carrying what is in the hearts of Bobbie and Brian with such passion!

The night was amazing, the songs so powerful and Robert Fergusson’s (He’s my all time favourite preacher and teacher here at Hillsong) altar call so INCREDIBLE that my heart must have left a beat and streams of tears soaked my face – and hey, I am saved so you can imagine what it was like to those who have not yet met the Lord Jesus!! I had to take notes afterwards, his words just captured me!

We grabbed some Subway and Gelato icecream with Esmeralda, Florence, Keith and Ashton at Darling Harbour and sat there chatting away – such a good night it was! Was great to be able to catch up with Ashton again and we got to encourage each other in our walk here - I believe God connected us beforehand to make sure we’d both make it through and would have someone to lean unto when days seem too hard to bear alone. His friendship has saved me from many harmful thoughts and other way round too! It’s a perfect balance of compassion, challange and companionship that keeps us both going no matter what happens!

Then Colour 2 started: Registrations on Monday and since I knew I’d be sitting around the whole day, I went to donate blood at the red cross donation truck that was parked next to the venue! It was great to be helping again since I haven’t been able to donate for a long time because of certain medications I’ve been on, but from now I can do it every 3 months and I most certainly will! It’s such a simple thing to do and can save lives ! So many people who’d like to donate blood can’t because of their medical conditions.. But I CAN! ..and do I will :)
It was great to see that many people took the chance!

God has been so generous with me – I received so much support right before colour with my finances, adding up to nearly $1000!! And on the last morning of colour a girl came up to me to deliver $80 which anonymous fellow college student had felt God wanted to bless me with! Money is so not the issue when you are doing what God want’s you to do and when you give generously to Him and His people even when you yourself are in need! God has all the money in the world and the amounts are nothing to Him, He just want’s to see where our hearts are at!!

On the 2nd day of Colour 2 God really started to work with my personal things – Sy Rogers was preaching and his words unlocked in me the feelings I had still held unto agains my dad – the bitterness of the loneliness and abandonement he had left me to and the secret wishes that he’d have to go through what he put me through. I realized God was not condemning my feeling and by no means devalidating the hurt I’d been through, but he whispered into my ear: ”Daddy sees it and daddy’s sorry you had to face it”. I broke down and wept as I realised God had already placed the horror of abandonement I had wished over my dad over His own Son when Christ was crucified and I woke up to realise that loneliness was not what I wanted to find my dad in, even though the he right now is in the very middle of it. God touched my heart with His healing hand and uprooted the last unforgiveness I had had in me toward the past..

Also our other quest speakers stirred me up – Lisa Bevere’s magnificent sermon about the ”lioness” we are called to be as women and Marilyn Skinners inspirational life story of how one woman could change the world in the way she and her husband Gary have. Full of fire and faith, the woman of Provers 31 is ready to rise in me!

It was pouring down on the 3rd day like crazy as we got up in the early hours of the morning – streets were flooding so bad me and my roomies picked up our shoes, rolled up our pants and went barefoot, making our way to church in the hammering rain! Autumn has officially arrived..

The sight of Volunteers on the last night was not surprising: everyone felt so tired that people simpy just laid down in the volunteer area and went to sleep whenever they had a chance! However, the packdown was not even too bad and we all got the next day (today) off from school to recover, so it’s been very gracious and not as exhausting as I thought it might be! I’ve been running around the whole time of both conferences and album recording, and I quess that’s what kept me energizised – I had no time to be tired! Serving also brought me so much joy and satisfaction that I found it hard to complain about anything at all!

Well, I quess that would be it for now, it’s beautifully only 9pm and I hope to take a little walk before I head off to bed. Tomorrow life’s returning back to normal, with amazing classes at school and Fuel at night. I am also popping into my old workplace – I got a call from the new manager today and Im going to meet with him to see if I’d still like to work there. If I can raise the pay a bit and change my hours a little I think Im up for it :) Saturday we’ll meet with Jenn (my RDG collegue) to chat about RDG stuff and we’re also invited over to Nicky’s place for dinner, which will be great!! Life’s just so good, don’t ya reckon?

Heaps of Love,
Hugs and Kisses,
-P

Just a quick hi :)

2009-03-22T21:50:00.000-07:00

I thought to drop a few lines to make sure you all know what's going to happen for the next two weeks in my life: Tomorrow Jonna is coming over for the last night before she flies back to Finland. Do I miss her already!!

Then from Thursday to Saturday, we have Hillsong Colour Conference 1 for women, and we'll spend every spare moment trying to get some rest; after all, we are serving from 6a.m to 10p.m every day full on at the conference! So do not think I have started backsliding again with my emails and blog - I simply have no time for the next two weeks to even probably check my email! On Sunday we have the Live Album recording and then from Monday to Wednsday we have Colour Conference 2. We are all very excited what's going to happen, as women from all around the world gather together to be empowered and what a priviledge it is for us to get to be a part of that!! All of the events are held in the very heart of our city in Sydney Entertainment Centre in Darling Harbour!! So it is very exciting days we are living right now here!

I've had such a lovely weekend, resting to get ready for colour and just taing care of all practical things that have been kind of hanging in the air. I have been sleeping well, napping a lot and eating well since my Church back at home has truly blessed me by donating some money for me to take care of myself - furthermore I have received first aid money from my mom as well, so I feel very blessed and am so thankful that God has answered to my needs through people who love me. I am still looking for a job and hoping to find one as soon as possible to gain financial balance.

We had the best flattime ever with my flatmates yesterday - after morning church we all wnet to Bondi beach to lay down, chat, nibble some yummies and go around the shops. It's been great to hang out with them since I still feel a bit outsider most often as we talk, since they are all Americans and I simply don't know/get eveything they say.. However I want to invest into my relationship with them, they are the best and such a big blessing in my life here!!

So yep, I will update you on things after Colour - until then, take care and enjoy the lovely spring! (we still have hot summer days here in Sydney, UNBELIVABLE!)

Lots of Love,
-P

Im still alive!

2009-03-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!

I know I know, I apologize for my endless silence both here on my blog as well as in emails: I simply have not been able to take the opportunity to sit down and write the hapening for ages! So this will be very brief update about everything that has been happening: after all it’s been a whole month and I can’t remember all details of my days – please do forgive me. I promise to try harder next time and keep updating more often!!

So what have I been up to – well, school has been full on with a lot of assignments from a massive written assessment about effective ministry to a casual business presentation delivered in our public speaking classes. I’ve learned a lot but also been extra busy since I still work within all the ministries and have school alongside. Now we are entering an exciting two weeks – From Thursday onwards we have Colour Conference (Hillsong Women’s Conference) for the next two weeks, the live album recording in the between, and all of this is held at the very heart of the city, in Darling Harbour Sydney Entertainment center! Exciting times I say! Of course we as students serve in the conference, I have been rostered for pamper (giving massages and doing women’s hair as well as nails, like a little luxury treatment :)) and Im all pumped!! We are all expectant of what God’s going to do throughout the conferences..!

Anyhow, the best times Ive had have been with the youth program FUEL, as I am serving as a leader there on Friday night, making it incredible for all the preteens in our church! We’ve had our theme series of ”passing the remote” and a few weeks ago we had Discovery channel, which was absolutely crazy!! We has all kind of insects and lizards, snakes and crocodiles at church, and chickens running around amongst the kids.. What a blast! Maybe one of the most fun nights ever!

With Fuel we always come up with all the best things to do, one week as we were having History channel we built a cardboad castle and had a dragon around, so during the set up we got a bit carried away and created the following little drama… :)

Me and Jenn have got the priviledge to lead an RDG (that is, a connect group for fuel aged kids) and we have been blessed four beautiful girls to look after! We are so pumped about this – it’s a really big deal to have been entrusted young lives into our hands!! Our girls are from left to right: Annika, Jessie, Felicity and Isabella (isabella is missing in the picture). Would you believe if I told you Annika is a quarter Finnish?? We got so excited when we discovered this – she invited me over to their place for Sauna anytime I wish!! Oh man – how good is that?

I’ve been really struggling emotionally, not finding real friends but I have decided not to allow that to stop me from doing the things God has put on my heart here – I believe the friends will come sooner or later as I keep pushing through and pressing in. Finances also have been a huuuuuge issue, since my emloyer totally bailed out and put the restaurant I used to work in under renovations, not even letting me to know when they would reopen. So I have been living with a $0 and no food in the fridge for some time, but God has been faithful and has provided for my needs daily. It’s been a great season of leaning unto Him as I have not been freaking out about the fact I have nothing to live on, but I have this peace inside of me that everything will sort out. And there has not been a single night during the past week when I would have gone to bed hungry – God has always sent what I need through people around me. I feel like I’ve been in the desert receiving manna like the Israelites – receiving enought for one day at a time! Now my church has just blessed my abundantly in helping out with the finances, and I am so grateful to God of how he cares for me.

We also celebrated my friend Keith’s birthday – we had a great italian meal and after that an hour and a half of the best fun – KARAOKE! Only that this time we rented our own karaoke room in this korean karaoke place – man it was so much fun!! You get to sing all the time, there’s no one to laught a you and mock you (except for your lovely friends of course) and you are literally underground – what a crazy night is was!

And then of course, my lovely Jonna returned from Perth and spent a few nights at my place hanging out with me, by which I was so ever blessed! We had a great time chilling at the beach (We found a potato washed into the shore.. how random is that??!! :D) and having a picnic in Hyde park – the weather has been absolutely incredible to be officially autumn so I reckon Jonna brought the sunshine with her from Perth :) In a few days she flies back to Finland and Im going to miss her TERRIBLY *tear*

So that's about the most important things that have taken place - Im sure there'd be plenty more to tell you about but it's getting late and I need to get to bed - anyhow, new things to be told will come daily, so don't worry, you are not missing out, we'll just pick it up from here and keep this up!

Good night my loved ones all around the world - I am so thankful you are in my life<3 align="center">
Lots of Love,
-P

GRACE

2009-02-22T03:28:00.001-08:00

What an amazing week it has been! I’ve received so much outpouring of God’s grace I simply can not contain it and my joy has been spilling over the edges.

Since my last update, there has been a great victory over my struggle with the relationships here. On the same night when I posted my last update, I met with God and cried out to Him with all my emotions, longings and frustration. It was only then when I had thrown myself down to the floor, kicking and screaming in a tantrum that I could actually hear God. O boy, was it amazing what He was saying to me! My God is a jealous God, and He wanted to confront me of putting my trust in relationships and people around me instead of fully unto Him. He wishpered in my ear that He wanted all of me – that He longed for intimacy like I’ve never known before with Him. And there, after cleansing my heart and thoughts, I allowed God ro rock me in His arms where I found my love and comfort.

I think many times we forget to be authentic in our relationship with God. We get caught up in the routines, and somehow think that we need to act a certain way around God. Well, that’s simply not true, and will turn into hypocricy. For me, I tried really hard not to be angry with God, but once I allowed God to see that I was angry, He was able to take away all that and open my eyes to see the reasons behind the scenes. Always go to God just as you are.

That encounter really changed me and I changed my attitude towards my relationships here too. Im not anxious to speed up the friend making process anymore, and patiently give people time. What is the most dramatical change thought is I genuinely consider Jesus as my best friend and in my freetime choose to go to Him, hang out with Him, sing to Him and talk to Him. That gives me an enormous amount of energy and joy as I place my trust in Him alone to provide all those things that I will need here – including right kind of relationships!

Saturday I hanged out with Jonna before her departure to Perth, we had a great time chilling out in the rainy city!! We missed our beloved Mari-Anne there by our side badly.. Sydney isn’t just quite the same without her here. For the sake of her memory we grabbed a cup of coffee from Gloria Jeans, and sat in my secret spot on the Rocks in the Harbour taking pictures and chatting about our journey with God.

When we said bye and walked to our own bus stops, I had just missed the bus and had to wait for 30minutes for the next one, but I simply chose not to get upset and man, was I glad then I always carry my pocket Bible with me! So I started reading, and MAN, God poured down such an insight to a poetry passage Ecclesiastes 2 that I could have killed for a pen and paper!! I was so amazed and kept reading the passage again and again, every time receiving more and more understanding to it – so once I got home I rushed to my laptop to scribble down some notes. It turned out as a full on mini sermon I could preach one day! And the best part is I actually really want to preach it! and I always thought I had a hard time to understand the poetry books in the Bible.. not anymore!

Here by the way is my Carpark serving team, the blokes that faithfully serve with me in the 11a.m service every week to find a parking spot for everyone. They are the coolest! We always share the most bizarre chats through our walkie talkies... :)

Sunday we had church in the very heart of the city, in CAPITOL THEATHRE!! I served in the 11a.m morning service in street greet team, so I stood in a corned of an intersection with a bright neon yellow cap and bright orange vest helping people to find the way to the new venue :)

After the service we hanged out with Ashton, Keith and Florence and grabbed a handful of new people who had come to church! Esmeralda, Amy and Laura were lots of fun to hang out with, and we headed to King’s Cross to have the world’s best meatpies for lunch! Afterwards we slowly rolled over ourselves to Botanic Gardens and finally to Circular Quay, where we took a little rest after some yummy ice cream right next to several wedding picture shoots!We played a few fun games and got to know each other a little better before we headed back to church for the night service – which totally blew my mind! Brian Houston preached a powerful message about how we NEED MORE NEED.. I am totally inspired by his thought!

And oh, I nearly forgot to tell ya.. My mate Ashton is serving in the kids ministry, so he got the honour to be Max the mascot on Sunday night!! HOW FUN IS THAT?! :D we totally cracked up when we saw him jumping around outside the venue… !

Monday I worked at Pasha, it was really good. I like the place and the relaxed atmosphere, and the guys are fun company. It’s really a blessing to have this job!

Yesterday I just worked on my assignments after school and had a fun night at Connection Group. Im having a bit of a flu but won’t let that slow me down – Im hoping to visit the Reed family on Saturday since I haven’t seen them since school started!

Anyway, gotta go – ned to have a shower before school starts. Hope you are all doing well around the world where ever you are my beloved friends and family! I love you and miss you!

Lots of Love,
-P

Day in day out for God

2009-02-19T01:50:00.000-08:00

It’s been a while since I last had the chance to update, it’s starting to be busy with the Lord business which is of course good, hope you all understand I don’t have so much time on the laptop these days anymore unlike when I was still on holidays..

Well, a lot has happened since I last wrote! We sure did go surfing and it was crazy dangerous out there.. I kicked the boys up from bed at 5 a.m sharp (rise and shine, it’s butt whipping time!:D), packed Josh’s tiny little car and off we went! When we arrived to Bondi beach it was still pitch black so we had to wait for the dawn. Currency was dangerous and we had seven stripes (the amount of the set of waves to the first breaking point where you want to get to surf) to get out there. You can only imagine, three beginners and Josh out there, he first doubt if we should go at all. Anyhow we gave it a go, but we didn’t get through all the way out. It was really rough out there and with the new long board I borrowed from Josh I was unable to duckdive, so got damped pretty bad quite a few times. I didn’t give up though and Josh taught me some tricks, but we ended up just cathing the whitewash and drinking heaps of salt water trying to hit the waves for a decent surf.. :) Sounds odd, but it was still lots of fun! Just the bizarre fact it was 6 a.m and we’d have to be at school by nine created a certain atmosphere! It was so freezing though… The wind was the worst! Anyhow I was alright, since I had a wetsuit.. See how it pays to think ahead? :)

School obviously has been happening, and our INTENSE studies are over now, which means we actually get to do tutorials and stuff like that – I would describe it as shewing the messages we receive! It so good, and church involments are starting to be clear to us. So my schedule is filling up with all these amazing and exciting things to do for different ministries. Im delighted that it’s all happening! We’ve got out first assignments as well – o-ou… :) No just kidding, it’s good. Very challenging but that’s why we’re here for right?

So Jonna, my Finnish friend arrived back to Sydney last weekend and obviously I got to spend some quality time with her! We hung out and spent Valentine’s together, missing the third piece of our puzzle – our dear friend Mari-Anne. We were both surprised by the fact how ordinary it felt to be back in Australia and how much we missed Mari-Anne to spice up our days.. I received lots of goodies from back home, M-A had advised Jonna with her divine knowledge of my preferences, so I got my favourite rye bread, my all-time favourite lollies (Smurffi!) and other goodies which made me want to cry out of joy! Of course we had to grab some Starbucks for the sake of good old times, but all the sudden it was not as fun when no-one was arguing to go to Gloria Jeans instead..

I have a total praise report to share with you – on Saturday when we were having dinner out with Jonna after church I was offered a job!! The owner of the restaurant asked if we were from Hillsong and when hearing our yes, asked if we’d need a job to do some hours! I have been planning on starting job hunt since my finances have not been adequate to meet my living expences – and there I sit, only having had asked God to quide me and a job is literally thrown at my face! So I started to work there, it’s only 2 minutes walk down the road – SO CONVENIENT! I am so blessed! I only work one day a week and it will cover my expences plentifully, leaving me even with a little money to spend on random things :)
HOW GOOD IS GOD?

I’ve been facing a week of testing, since I am starting to feel really lonely here. I have people AROUND me all the time, but I feel like I have no real friends. Im getting tired of all the chit chat and small talk and long for genuine sharing.. but since no-one really knows anyone yet that doesn’t really happen. With Ashton and Ben I can share my heart, but Ash is off to his classes and we don’t see each other too often. Benny has truly been my rescue, but I still long to have girlfriends too – and that doesn’t seem to be happening too well. So I’d truly appriciate your prayers to be wise about my relationships here and God to point out the right people to me. I’ve had a really hard day and feel so lonely right now, but Im so glad I have Jesus as my best friend and I can just lean on Him and trust it all into His mighty hands. I lean on His chest and am held by Him, and I pray this season of dryness will bring abouts intimacy like I've never known before with Him.

We were painting a massive curtain today for tomorrow Fuel night at the church garage after school, and I feel Im getting kinda connected into Fuel life little by little – Wednsday we made check-up calls to new Fuel kids to see if they are coming on Friday night. I really loved it and will be doing it weekly, connecting with those teens and making sure they feel plugged in and cared for! Teens are just so amazing and I am discovering a whole new passion for this crazy age group I've been tossed into to be involved!

I am most happy and feel alive when I am serving at church - no matter what kind of task it is. So I am aiming to be productive and hope I will bring blessings into people's lives along the way!

Well, gotta go now, but hope you are all well back at home - know this: I am missing you all and I have to admit Im a bit homesick right now in the midst of it all... Love you all!!

Lots of Love,

-P

School has started!

2009-02-08T21:19:00.000-08:00

G’DAY MATES,

Wow - what a week it has been!! School started and everything has been so exciting and hectic, I hope I will be able to update you on the most important events of the week! Everyday so much happens that it’s hard for me to keep on track.. It’s amazing!

So school.. I LOVE IT! We are having two weeks of intense studies, so we only study two courses at the moment – however so much to think about and it has really challanged my thinking! Their method is kind of to tear down all your beliefs first and then start building from the scartch, and it’s actually really great coz we all come from so many different backgrounds! I've met two Australian students, Ben and Josh, and we have become real good mates with Benny :) He's really into learning Finnish, so I teach him and in exchange he teaches me to play the quitar! They both study at the Youth stream too so I get to share classes with them! We've been hanging out heaps, Josh has a car so we drove to Cronulla one night and Annina and I took a skinny dip while the boys were busy with their own things.. so much fun! So this is my friend Benny :)

I absolutely love chapel times, we have chapel twice a week, where we get to worship for an hour during school time! I’ve only been here for a month, yet already twice during worship random people who do not know me have delivered a Word from God to encourage and challange me!! It’s amazing how the Holy Spirit leads people to say things you need to hear, about things that have taken place and things that will come to pass..

I’ve realised I am one of the few students who actually came here with the attitude of spending themselves and taking every opportunity to serve the people in His House! We are going to be so busy during the year, but Im so much looking forward to just doing as much as I can and that really isn’t the attitude for the most.. which is a shame, because they are the only ones who actually loose in the deal!

So I have Mondays off from school, then school from Tuesday to Friday. Saturday is off as well, but I go to church during the night : ) Sunday I serve in the CarPark at 11a.m and 1p.m services! Plus to school, Monday nights I attend a course called Shine – it’s my fieldwork so I first need to attend the course and then I get my hands on the ministry work there! It’s about empowering women and helping them to discover their value in Christ! So that is very exciting and well placed ministry since I have a heart to release women in ministry! Im sure God’s going to use this opportunity as a exertion platform for greater things.. : )

Tuesday nights I attend a Connection Group and Im planning on starting to lead one for teenage girls, since we do it forthnightly. Wednsdays I attend Powerhouse (my age youth night) and Thursday mornings I serve in the Sisterhood (womens ministry) in the bus transportation which should be fun! Friday I go all out and lead in Fuel, the youth ministry for 13-15 years of age. So as you can see, I have filled up my calendar pretty well by the end of first real week of school! This really isn’t usual here, but I’ve got so much encouraging words from God that I know this is exactly why He called me here for and I will certainly not allow anyone to slow me down!

I went to Fuel on Friday with Ben and I was so scared, but it all turned out to be so awesome! I fit in so well.. most of the kids there thought I was around 16 :D :D what an compliment for such an old fart I am..! ;) It was so much fun, all the leaders are so much fun and the spirit of togetherness is so evident. We had a cooking theme so we had ”chef hats” made out of cartboard and white binbags! I got to show around to three new girls, which was quite hilarious since it was my first time in Fuel! However they had a great time and their parents were real keen to brings them again since I used a few minutes to chat with them too.. I know I know, I just tend to get along with the parents so smooth!! :)

Saturday we took off to Manly beach. It was such a HOT day +45… Cooking as you can imagine! :) We took the ferry there, and spent most of the time playing in the waves. Unfortunately we got huge swarm of bluebottles (nasty jellyfish) in and we were advised not to go into the water. Of course you know me and I thought to be above all that :D I had a quick dip, long enough to get stang by one.. :P My knee bubbled with blisters but I wasn’t too concerned, and endured the pain like a man! We took a scenic tour on the cliffs and it just took our breath away.. SO BEAUTIFUL!
This is Ariel, he is one of my new cool hard working friends! He's a missionary kid and really into taking part in serving, so we are on the same wavelenght with school :)

And my good old mate Ashton was of course with us too :)
Sunday I served in the CarPark, and it was sooooo much fun! I mean many people whine about their Church Life allocations (these are things we need to serve in to complete our course and quite often have nothing to do with the subject we study) but I decided to give my best shot and do whatever they told me to do as well as I could. Well, no suprise, I got many people telling me I should be a Teamleader because of my excellent work,sunny and initiative attitude :)

We shared an international dinner after the night service – lots of good food and friends to chat with. I cooked mashed potatoes and meatballs in brown sauce, yummy! Unfortunately many people came uninvited – as college people apparently do – so I hid the cake we had baked with my friend Jenn and we sneaked out with it to share it with the core team :D I made my roomies real happy by bringing some home and we had a cake party that night!

Tomorrow we're gonna go surfing with Josh, Ben and David before school, so I have an early wake up call around 5a.m! I am so excited, Josh has an extra surfboard for me and Lisette will lend me her wetsuit! School doesn't start until 10a.m so we have a good few hours to surf at Maroubra beach since Josh has a car and is going to drive us there!! :) CAN'T WAIT!

Until soon again!
Love,
-P

Beach, sun and lots of fun!

2009-02-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Beach, sun and lots of fun!

I am so so sorry for taking so long to update, please do forgive me you all precious people! It’s not that you all wouldn’t be on my mind everyday, but it’s just been really hectic after the Retreat, having had school started and all! Man, I love it! School is so awesome, we had enrolment and orientation days before the Retreat, where we got general information and enrolled to our courses..

I have big news to you all – I changed my pathway from kids to youth! I was sitting there in the auditorium when all the sudden I heard God speaking to me directly, questioning my choice of a pathway. I realized it would have been the easy thing to do since I am gifted with kiddos, have done it quite some time by now and feel comfortable around them! However this year is about being challanged by all means, and for me to take the kids pathway when my church desperately needs a youth ministry established would have been both selfish and comfort-seeking. I wrestled with God for some time, trying to argue and justify my preference, until I had to admit He was right and I was being a coward. I mean I have never worked with teens and I am intimidated by the thought of it, but I knew right then what God wanted me to do – so I signed up for teens! Is that cool or what?

The Retreat was INCREDIBLE. I served on the first night in registration, so I travelled to Central Coast on my own early in the morning. The night was phenomenal –lots of praise and prayer until the late hours of the night. I got really lucky with my roommates – Annina, Amy, Alana and Ulla were the best and we became friends instantly :) I've started to meet girls finally!! We only had two beds and five girls, so I slept on the floor, cuddled up in all the blankets and towels we could find. I felt like a bird in it’s own little nest – but slept well like I always do! Next day teaching was so challenging we could expect something very special to take place. After the Tribal war on the beach our night session totally exploded – we worshipped God for over two hours, having a massive dance-party there! Our youth pastor had to shorted up his message to get everybody to bed in somewhat of a decent hour.. It was awesome. Lives were changed that night!

God took so good care of me there – firstly placing me into a great flat with the girls, then blessing me throught awesome teaching and also feeding me throughout the whole Retreat! I simply had $10 to eat for 3 days, but sure enough, when I left from the retreat, I still had $10 in my pocket and my tummy full from all the eating throughout the weekend! We got a lift with Ashton and Florence from Mark and Ben, so it was luxury to sit on the back seat chilling and singing oldschool worship songs after it was all over. It was so so good but both spiritually and physically draining three days!

After the Retreat we had Monday off (they are always our days off since church is closed and everyone kinda needs a rest after serving all Sunday long :) ) and I chilled out at home reading a great book called ”The Shack”, trying to rest my voice after the intensitivity of the retreat worship sessions! Later on I went over to my new Aussie mates place, Ben and Josh – two nice blokes from Newcastle whom I am especially fond of in the student crowd. It’s been great getting to know all these people and there are still around two thirds yet to be met! Unbelievable. I love the fact that even if our campus is considered big it’s possible to get to know everyone whereas at Hills it’s simply an impossibility!

We had an awesome start for the school, going to visit Hills campus on the first day of real school and had Robert Fergusson teaching for the whole day on communication –absolutely mindblowing! Afterwards we went swimming and Ben and Josh taught me to play the quitar a bit – they are pastoral (youth) students like me but are also great artists, having all kind of musical instruments all over their place! Believe it or not, but these mates have a whole drumset in their flat!! It’s always good hanging out with them since they know how to serve some Aussie tea with a slash of milk!

Today we had some more great teaching and I am really getting pumped about what God is going to establish during this year in my life! Tomorrow we have the ladies ministy meeting (the Sisterhood) and I get to serve in pampher, so that will be so much fun! I would have so much more to tell but I quess I'll never have the time to write about everything that happends here, so hang in there and keep writinh emails to me :) Now I need to rush off to get to Powerhouse youth meeting on time!

Lots of Love,
-P

! AUSTRALIA DAY !

2009-01-28T00:32:00.000-08:00

...Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free..

So Australia Day has passed, and my goodness, did we have a blast! At church everything was decorated with flags, australia towels and other native stuff, and people went all out to dress up fully Aussie! We also had our fare share of the celebration yesterday in our College orientation day where Hillsong United (youth for young adults) entroduced the newies to Australian culture by an Aussie quiz on the stage, and surprise surprise I found myself on the stage for secod a time in this specific event. For those of you who do not know, whilst in Australia for the first year, in the SummerRetreat 2007 I stood on the stage for the very same reason to represent Finland's knowledge of Aussieslang and prove my physical Australian citizenship through Australian chocholate called Vegemite.. What a Dejá Vu! However, it was heaps of fun :)

Of course if you know me at all you'd know that I love dress ups and am ready to go all out for the fun of it! Not to even mention that Australia is close to my heart, so dressing up in Australian flag colours, brading the same colours with ribbons in my hair and painting Australian flags to my cheecks would seem nearly normal to you! :) I was lucky to have a few others who were - using my friend Jason's words - "way too patriotically dressed to consider I was not an Aussie" by my side! :D

We took the gang downtown to check out Hyde Park, Circular Quay and Darling Harbour. There ought to be a Hawk & Hornet flyover show and some Red Beretts (parachooters with aussie flags) jumping out of the planes, but unfortunately because of the overcast weather clouds were too low and the show was cancelled. We still had awesome time chilling out in the park with all true Aussies, even when it started to rain! :D We got soaked, especially Ashton and I since we were too lazy to move out of the way but at least we got to enjoy some Aussie humour and music!

It was really just a day to enjoy many people's company and rejoice - as said - with Australians on this special day! We ended up leaving home since the rain fell quite some time, and we expected the Australia Day spectacle and fireworks to be cancelled since you could no longer see half of the skycrapers, but apparently the show was on, so we missed out on that too! However it was an awesome Australia Day no matter the fact we missed out on all the special treats!

So we went home and the guys came down to our pool to play Marco Polo - it was a perfect ending for the day!

I would have so much more to write, but I need to rush to finnish my packing and get out of the door in half an hour, so first days of school will be covered in my next update! For now, it's SUMMER RETREAT TIME! I have signed up to help out with the Set-up team to make the experience awesome to others and just serve people, since that's what this year is all about!

We're all looking forward to it and expectant for God to move powerfully in people's lives within the next three days!

Lots of Love,
-P

Friendships for life

2009-01-24T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

Its been an AMAZING week here, we've broke the records for this summer since Friday it was +42 here!! Cooking hot I must say, but with a cool breeze running through my hair while sitting under the shade of a palm tree, I still enjoyed hours of reading in the park!

I have officially found my long lost twin - Ashton (I may have entroduced him to you before as Ian from Utah, but he's now going with his middle name so to all of you who wonder who is Ashton, that's Ian!) and I met up and immidiately just clicked perfectly. We are so alike and we have so so much fun together, we just laugh until our ribs are sore and we can talk about anything! I feel like I've known him all my life! We instantly created such an unique bond that I know this is one of those friendships for life! I am so blessed to have found such a friend!! Ashton was supposed to study at Hills campus but when we met here in the city campus he decided to transfer and now lives here in the Meritons too! It's awesome, coz I really enjoy hanging out with him!

I felt so sick yesterday morning, since I have been taking medication to prevent whooping couch (my host dad was diagnosed with it after our holiday together so everyone has to take the medication as a preventative precaution) and the side effects were really getting me. But Ashton came over, and so we prayed and man, after like 5 minutes I felt a lot better and within an hour I was totally well again! God is just so capable to sooth our pain and bring relief in our discomfort! Praise the Lord!

I really needed to burn out some extra energy last night - I went jogging for a good hour and a half, ran all the way down to Bondi and then back! We went to the park with Ashton after that to just share our life stories and get to know each other a little better, and we talked for hours until we realized it was 2a.m and really time to go to bed if we did want to go to sleep before sunrise! It’s just so easy to talk to him and we really enjoy each others company, so I am just really blessed to have found such a friend here! I believe our chats really build us up a lot, and that’s what it’s all about anyway.

I am seriously way too energized here during nights - one night we watched a movie with the blokes and after the movie had finished and guys gone to bed I got this prime idea to get ridd of all the ice that had stored up in our freezer for the past few years… So there I was, chopping huge stacks of ice with a knife from our freezer at one o’clock in the morning! And the craziest thing is no matter what time I go to bed, I still wake up by 8a.m all by myself!

We went down to Bronte beach the other day and it was so much fun – the boys have bought boogie boards and we also brought along an American footy, which me, Ashton and Keith played heaps! Colby also bought a second hand surf board, which I hope to have a go on SummerRetreat! Seriously the best part of going down to the beach with the boys is that they don’t just lay down on their towels but we swim and play around, which Im all about! That’s the way to go :)

Something really scary happened there too – I was about to get out of the ocean and right on the breaking point for the waves, I got a massive cramp on my right calf and just dropped down. I got damped pretty bad and I couldn’t get up, so I tried to cry out to Jason who was only a few feet away from me, but got just damped over and over again. Lucky enough my friends soon realized something was not right and dragged me to the beach, where Ashton gave a somewhat of a sportsmassage to my calf until the pain eased. It was scary, since for a while down there I thought I was not gonna make it…

Im really excited for the night – we are going to celebrate Australia day tonight at church! The real thing is actually on tomorrow, but we’re gonna jump the gun at church which is awesome! So I’ve just had an awesome picnic with Ashton and Keith and then I went down to pick up some facepaint and other materials to get ready for tonight and tomorrow… You’ll see at the next update how it all turned out!

So it’s going to be an awesome week – tomorrow celebrating Australia day and also Chinise New Year, and Tuesday the kick off for College! So after orientation on Tuesday and Wednsday we’re gonna hit Central Coast on Thursday! Sunday we have Vision night, where our Senior Pastor Brian Houston is going to share his vision for the church this year! So Im trying hard to update before we leave for the Retreat, since that will defenitely be another great chapter in itself! Im so excted!!

I wish you all a great week and will be updating soon again!

Lots of love,
-P

FLAT 65!

2009-01-18T13:19:00.000-08:00

FINALLY

I have got all my stuff in so much order that I can proudly present our flat to you all :) We had a ridiculous stuggle with our home delivery company for our Ikea furniture, and ended up having to have pick up our stuff ourselves.. Oh it was horrible but God really blessed my day by sending my host mother to drive our stuff here. Am I so so thankful she did that!!

I enjoyed putting the stuff together - I think I am a bit of Ikea addict by now! But it is just so convenient and amazing how one tiny box can build up into a whole drawer! I helped my friend Jonathan to put his stuff together - American's just don't have a clue what it's all about :D So now finally I have a spot to work on assignments and all that once school starts :)

The Reeds family donated kindly some stuff to me which I am so blessed by, like bed linen, beach towels, a chair, reading light etc etc. I hadn't realized how little money I had reserved for January living and am right now making it barely through. I hope it get's easier once my student benefits (which are an amazing blessing to me, I have come to understand since meeting people from all around the world and seeing that they have nothing like that!). I really really want to buy a bike to save up with travelling expences but I don't have the finances right now. I hope I will find a cheap old dodgy bike from a garage sale or something with $100 or so.. Im sure God can figure something out :) I mean God knows exactly what I really need and He has already shown such kind care for me! The other night I was hanging out with some College students and they just gave me a microwave for free! But I have to say that I am so thankful for God placing me to live with the people I do - I could have never afforded to come here having to buy everything from a washing machine and fridge to beds and sofas etc.. that's what most of my new friends came to. I am so so priviledged to live in flat 65.

So here are some pictures of our flat so you can create a little picture in your minds of what it looks like here. It is of course very student like since most of the stuff we have here we have got for free, so nothing matches and it's old - but it works all the same! Please do not compare it to my previous flat with Mari-Anne, since that was not a student flat at all!! :)

This is our wardrobe - we have awesome glass sliding doors and we write stuff on the doors we need to rememeber - extremely handy! We write with white board markers elsewhere too - on bathroom mirror, kitchen tiles and so on! It gooood, and after you've finished you just wipe it off! We're saving paper doing this as well :) No more "Post-It's!" :)

This is what our (Lisette's & my) bedroom looks like from the door. The first messy table is hers, mine is on the back facing the window. We sleep in a bunkbed which reminds me of the days of my childhood :) I sleep on the bottom and she sleeps on the top bed!(I bet you could have told anyway since my bed is made and her's is not!:D)

So this is my sleepy corner - I have sheets that the twins used to use in their beds, and I can stare at some of my best friends while going to sleep, since they gave me an adorable calendar that I have hung above my bed. Its extremely handy too since the pages are laminated, so I can mark all kinds of dates there (e.g when rent is due) and erase them as I wish without leaving the calendar messy! Good on ya girls ;)

My "work department" - everything ready for school!

Our bathroom - Jill and Rachelle (my other two roomie whom I have't yet met) have their own too and we also have a bathtub in theirs!!

Livingroom

Kitchen

Balcony <3

Colby has become one of my best best friends here in very short time. He is so much fun to be around but we can also share what God has placed in our hearts.
I've also again met a whole bunch of new people - to my delight also some girls who are starting to study in pastoral stream! Vanessa and Sarah come from the States, Fafa from France and Cecilia from FINLAND! She will be taking the kids stream just like I am, so we'll hang out heaps and heaps! We seem to really click with Cecilia so you'll hear more of her for sure! I've also met Stewart whose just finished with College, Jeremy from India, Erik from Sweden, William from France, Alex and David from the States and Jason from Canada. Im sure you won't be able to keep up with all my new friends, since even I can't! I have started to write down their flat numbers and names of the people who live there, since they're all so awesome and I don't want to miss out a single person!

Here are some of the core team down at Coogee - from left upper row: Simeon (Switzerland),William (France),David, Alex & Jonathan (States). Colby (States) lying down in the middle and next to me on the lower row is Erik (Sweden).

We've been going down to the closest beaches - Bondi, Coogee and Maroubra have been conquered (they are all 30minutes from where we live) and I can tell that we have so much fun there - altought Im a little scared for all the crazy Americans since they don't seem to have the respect for the waves... However it's been so much fun, and school hasn't even started yet! We are all so excited for Powerhouse Retreat next weekend at Central Coast...!!! It's going to be life changing three days!

That's all for now - I want to get out to the beautiful sunshine so Im going to a park just around the corner to have my devotional time and just spend some time with God thanking Him for everything here and praying for people back at home - especially for my home church and the Treehouse. Thank you so so much for all your prayers for me - I have been blessed beyond measure!

'Till soon!
With much Love,
-P

One night in the city

2009-01-16T22:13:00.000-08:00

Australia sends it's love!

I know I promised to write about my flat and all that, but before I do that I want to entroduce some of my new friends here! All my friends so far are guys exept for my roomie Lisette! She is the sweetest thing ever. We were hanging out with her on Maroubra beach the other day, it was so good! This is Lisette :)

right, so meet the guys! :)This picture is from our favourite restaurant downtown at the harbour, called Pancakes on the Rocks! Im sure some of you know what Im talking about here..! we basically go just to eat pancakes for dinner since they have the towns best pancake menu ever!

left front: Jonathan from South Carolina, me and Colby from Texas
right front: Mo from Germany, Filipe from Brazil and Toast (Sean)

These guys are crazy and we have had so much fun together so far! We went to hang out at the harbour and weird things happened.. You could have spotted a human pyramid in front of the Opera House that night!

Anyhow, new people come in everyday and it's awesome to meet so many Christ-focused young people at the same time! I got a call from a long waitedfriend today: Ian from Utah has arrived safely from Hawaiji, and we're going to meet next week. Im so excited!! People come from all around the world but I've realized about 80% of student come from America, so I've learned to see that Im very special in the eyes of many since I come from Finland, which is so funny! :D

I'll add pics about the flat very soon, stay tuned and updated!!

Love you and miss you all,
-P

Holiday house at Forster

2009-01-11T03:13:00.000-08:00

CRAZY!

I've just arrived back to Sydney, surprisingly well-rested and somewhat sound!
It has been a relaxed week at Forster, a beautiful little place four hours up north from Sydney.My old host-family here in Sydney had rented a MASSIVE holiday house there with huge surroundings for their four kids to run around. The place was sooooo beautiful!! I loved the old country style it was reflecting but how they had mixed modern elements in without making it tacky!

When EJ and Harrison (the two older boys) saw me, they simply flew across the room to hugg me and were so excited they could have wet themselves! I was so happy to see them too, and unbelievable but true - even the twins remembered me! The dog licked me like crazy and of course the parents hugged me till I was short on breath! It was a happy reunion :)

The twins have changed though - grown to be such big boys and very naughty ones too.. Goodness I nearly lost my mind with them!I don't think I really want to babysit them, I'll rather go just visiting them every once in a while :) That way I remain sane and can still hang out with them. EJ and Harrison are pretty much the same than when I left, so that was a relief! The family has had some really bad luck with their aupairs recently so they aren't taking another one now.

As said, the house was big and beautiful and surroundings big enough for us to feel peaceful while having four kids running around! I personally loved the hammock on the back yard porch!! my room was also beautiful - on top of the garage to ensure I got to sleep in every morning and have my devotional time before kids would torture me :D It was really great since my bed was queen size (read: MASSIVE!)! We also had chickens, so we got fresh egg every mornig for brekky! One thing we did not know beforehand was that we also had a holiday dog included in the package! :D Well, not really, but the neighbours lovely shepherd visited us every morning to have a play with the kids, which was just lovely. She was the most adorable and friendliest dog I've ever met!

So we did heaps of fun stuff together - played cricket, soccer, climbed in the treehouses, went to the beaches and bowling, saw the tallest tree in NSW,went to the pictures, had a roadtrip, played in the parks, went shopping and other fun stuff :)

We visited a church called Greens Cathedral - it was a beautiful opendoors Christian church where I would have loved to listen to the service too!

The beaches there were incredible - there were beaches like Nine mile beach and Seven mile beach which were actually that long! I loved to swim in the ocean again and catch waves - I seriously need to get a surfboard as soon as possible! The sand squeeked under your feet because there are no pollutions in the beaches up there! I thought it was funny because no matter how much I tried, I couldn't stop squeeking!

We also had a trip to the local hospital - Deakin tripped over and had a hole through his chin! They took him to the hospital by ambulance to glue the wound and he was really brave.. Bevan kept saying "Dad, I want my T-shirt cut off too..!" :D:D:D silly billy!

but some things never change.. They're still adorable while sleeping! :)

On our last day we went to the sand dunes and got the kids to run up and down.. man it was really hard work I have to day! Had the exercise for the whole week with that.. :p some guys were going down the dune with boogie boards, looked heaps of fun! I might need to try that one day :)

all in all, it was a great holiday and I was really happy to be there - no matter that the kids have no manners anymore. They're still speciall to my heart and as long as I am not responsible of their behaviour I can endure it.. Makes me to miss the Darlingtons and Stuckers kids heaps though!!

I'll be soon writing about my flat and roomie and stuff like that, but for now I need to get to bed, Im tired after fighting the cockaroaches in our kichen! I have washed all the cupboards and washed the floods with eucalyptus oil to get ridd of them.. Let's see if my hard work will bear any fruit!

Lots of Love,
P

N.Y.E -08 Sydney, Australia

2009-01-01T00:51:00.000-08:00

Well Well Well,

I took off from Helsinki escorted by a group of wonderful people that have chaged my life for good. Thank you all for making the effort to come, I love you and you remain in my hart forever and ever!

Flight to Brussels was awful - I sat next a lady who just wouldn't stop talking, and all I wanted to do during the flight was to have a big fat sleep to keep me going for the flight to Abu Dhabi! 5 hours in Brussels went all fine and a wonderful surprise waited me once boarding my flight -

I HAD BEEN UPGRADED TO BUSINESS CLASS!
So this flight was probably the most luxureous one ever! I was also blessed to be seated right next to a young aussie bloke named Matt, so I had some nice company to stay awake! We enjoyed all the awesome service full on - You know they bring you a drink straight after you sat down during the economy is boarding! I had a fresh stwarberry drink, then good wine, cappucino's and latte's etc etc!! Food was incedible - I had two sets of entrés (which were absolutely lovely), beautiful sammon for main and fresh fruits for dessert! GOSH!!it was all served as Alá Carte with poslin dishes.. gosh it was sooooooo good! seats were so spacious and soft, and we could lay down like in a bed!!! I enjoyed many desserts while others slept, and it was just GREAT!! I'm so gratefull God wanted to treat me a little spoiled :)
In Abu Dhabi we chilled out at Diners Club lounge which was fancy, and then economy until Sydney, but was fine since I only slept. Lucky I had boardie shorts and thongs on my carry on bag, since it was +32 when we arived in Sydney at 7.30 a.m!!

and then.. I finally got to take the train to the city just like I had dreamed for so long to do. Man it's good to be back!

it was a big hassle for me to find my roommate but once I did - it was all good ever since. She is a good girl, Lisette we're talking about here. She had everything ready for me here - and it was not all empty since all my three roommates are 2nd or 3rd year students! I have a bed and Lisette has washed fresh bed linen and towels for me! We went shopping for groceries together and she invited me to come with her and all her friends to downtown to see the fireworks. Man God has blessed me with this roomie, she is so awesome!

And N.Y.E was just incredible - I was quite jetlacked but still managed to connect with many people during the night. We went under the Harbour Bridge to camp and see the fireworks, here are sneakpeaks for you from the 12 o'clok! it was absolutely mind blowing...

So it's all good here and I have been enjoying the day with my roommate Lisette and my new friends Johannes and Brett. I have unpacked and slept in badly (woke up at four o'clok in the afternoon) and it's all great. I am so so happy. It's going to be a year to remember.

For now, I sign out and will be writing soon again! A very Hapy New Year to you all!

With Love,
Päivi / Pepe

Farewell Party @ AussieBar 18th of December 2008

2008-12-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

G'day mates!

Welcome to my blog, friends and strangers! I will be updating here weekly of how life down under in Australia is flowing, so stay tuned if you wish to know the latest news!

I want to thank all of you who made it to my farewell party, I had absolutely terrific time with ya all! To those who weren't able to attend, here are some of the juicy bits... :)

We started in laid-back aussie style chilling out and chatting along, until most of us had arrived. Lemon, Lime & Bitters must have been the favourite of the night! Only a few people had the guts to obey the dresscode which was Aussie beach style, here are pictures of these brave friends of mine who do not take themselves too seriously :) Good job guys, loved it!

To melt the ice walls between different groups of people, we had an Australia quiz with mixed teams! After some tricky questions team "Hi5" collected the best score and won the quiz with 9/10. Anyhow everyone was a winner since all got to try some Australian flavours.. It started with having a laugh with Minties, Australian
lollies that have gleeful pranks on their wrappings! I quess everyone enjoyed them equally, but then meanie Päivi had something far more tasty in store for everyone...

It was Vegemite time!!! Vegemite is very typical and popular toast spread in Australia and kids there absolutely adore their Vegemite. They would happily live with Vegemite toasties only if they had the choice! Vegemite is made from leftover brewers' yeast extract, from a by-product of beer manufacturing, and the taste is very salty. I couldn't describe the response people had on it so I better just show you some pure emotions... :D

Yes, it apparently was something they had never had before! :)

I also had the honour to have a surprise guest, Elisa,my friend whom I first met in Australia!It was a happy reunion of the Sydney's Fantastic Four!

...and what would life be like without my high school powerpuff girls?
I don't dare to think about it! I'm going to miss you <3<3

When other guests started heading home, we had some "lap dancing" going on among the nursing students since there were not enough seats.. This is what the nurse students came up with!

Since Minttu kindly offered her lap for me to, I kinda had to pass on the kindness to Unckle Joe! And since love was in the air, our very own Günther also found a comfortable spot..

All in all, it was an awesome night, and it just reminded me of how much I will miss you all!

Thanks for being there and we'll defenitely keep in touch; you ain't getting rid of me this easy! :)

Lots of Love,
P