Our journey started with a few goodbye tears as we were the first to leave the base in Oxford. Anticipation quickly trumped our tears though as we headed to the airport. A quick three hour flight and we were in Sydney, Australia gearing up for a 23 hour layover. Not being the type of team who likes to sit around for long periods of time, Steven, Heidi, Magdalena, Melissa, and Becky decided to take a walk to the Sydney Harbor/Opera House--possibly a bit ambitious because the distance from the airport to the Harbor is 9+km! Justin stayed back to guard our bags and Grace went to spend time with a cousin who lives in Sydney.
A few things we learned on our walk:
1. Hitching doesn’t work so well in a business district on Saturdays
2. Australian birds make the weirdest noises
3. Trust that the Lord is orchestrating events to bless his children—just ask him what you desire: we wanted a cheap transportation option to and from the Sydney Opera House because after 45 minutes of walking we were spent and Mark at a train station hooked us up with 5 round trip tickets for $22-and it just so happened that our dear Aussie friend Jane had given us $35 to use before we left New Zealand!
The harbor was beautiful and buzzing with people; we enjoyed the fresh air and scenery so much! (see pictures below) We had been talking about how sweet it would be to enjoy a juicy hamburger when we got back from our sightseeing and lo and behold one of the first restaurants we walked into had a special on burgers! Yes Lord!
Full bellies?..check, tired?…check, showered?....check, comfortable place to sleep in the airport?….not so much. However, being innovative YWAMers we quickly found a solution to make a cozy sleep nest. (see pictures) The airport security guards woke us up at 5:30am (aren’t they sweet…) and once we were showered we feasted on some peanut butter and jellies and turned our attention to the Lord! We had some awesome devo and worship time in the middle of the airport—we figured what better way to start a journey than to worship the Lord and invite him along with us! We boarded our 747 and were off on a 14 hour flight to South Africa!
Highlights from the flight:
1. Justin scarfs his food and then hides his meal tray to make it look like he didn’t get one in order to get a second—genius!
2. Hot seat with Justin and Grace in the middle of the flight
3. Compression socks rocked by Becky and Magdalena
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ReplyDeleteHello Mrs. Dixon,
ReplyDeleteI came across your old blog and saw that you are a nurse. I am with YWAM Ships in Kona, Hawaii. I would like to let you know about an opportunity in which you could use your skills to bless isolated people who have little access to health care. YWAM Ships is doing medical outreaches on our new ship, the PACIFIC LINK, this year. The ship will be travelling throughout Papua New Guinea to bring medical and dental care to people in isolated villages. One of our volunteer needs is nurses.
The outreaches begin January 13, but there will be several opportunities until next summer. The ship will be doing multiple two-week outreaches until late-July. You could choose to participate in a single two-week outreach or do them all.
The cost for two weeks aboard the ship is about $800 (that does not include whatever the airfare is to get there). Please pray about joining the PACIFIC LINK in Papua New Guinea crew. Below I have attached a brochure about the PACIFIC LINK as well as an application link.
God bless you,
RAYMOND BILLY
Communications Department
YWAM Ships Kona
e: raymond.billy@ywamships.net
c: 1.808.757.9150
SAIL . STUDY . SERVE
www.ywamships.net
APPLICATION:
https://ywamshipskona.formstack.com/forms/medicalvolunteerapplication
BROCHURE:
http://ywamships.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MARINE-Crew-Volunteers-.pdf
Hello Mrs. Dixon,
ReplyDeleteI came across your old blog and saw that you are a nurse. I am with YWAM Ships in Kona, Hawaii. I would like to let you know about an opportunity in which you could use your skills to bless isolated people who have little access to health care. YWAM Ships is doing medical outreaches on our new ship, the PACIFIC LINK, this year. The ship will be travelling throughout Papua New Guinea to bring medical and dental care to people in isolated villages. One of our volunteer needs is nurses.
The outreaches begin January 13, but there will be several opportunities until next summer. The ship will be doing multiple two-week outreaches until late-July. You could choose to participate in a single two-week outreach or do them all.
The cost for two weeks aboard the ship is about $800 (that does not include whatever the airfare is to get there). Please pray about joining the PACIFIC LINK in Papua New Guinea crew. Below I have attached a brochure about the PACIFIC LINK as well as an application link.
God bless you,
RAYMOND BILLY
Communications Department
YWAM Ships Kona
e: raymond.billy@ywamships.net
c: 504-496-6628
SAIL . STUDY . SERVE
www.ywamships.net
APPLICATION:
https://ywamshipskona.formstack.com/forms/medicalvolunteerapplication
BROCHURE:
http://ywamships.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/MARINE-Crew-Volunteers-.pdf