Australia

Dear Judith,

Oh boy.  I have not blogged in such a long time.  It's a beautiful Friday afternoon in Saipan, and Krystin and I are sitting at Java Joe's, drinking soy chai, and I'm trying to remember the details from RCT's trip to Cairns Australia.  

We left on a Thursday afternoon.  In the airport, we were assigned children to watch.  I got Joy and Tali, and we quickly formed Team Jet.  Everyone was jealous of us.  Our motto was, "We enter with style!"  

We stopped in Guam for a bit, and everyone ate dinner.  The kids were so excited to get Burger King!  I was lucky to have an empty seat next to me, so a friend came to sit by me.  I practiced my Japanese and wrote in my journal on the 4 hour flight.  

Customs took awhile longer than it should have, due to some of our props, but we finally made it out and loaded up into some taxis.  Our taxi, however, did not start, so Carol, Megan, Michi, and I had to wait for another one to come get us.  

We arrived at the Bohemia Resort and were amazed at how nice it was.  We settled in for the night and woke up early Friday morning for our show at the Cairns SDA Elementary school.  It went well, and the little Australian children were so cute!

We were lucky to have the afternoon off, and we went to Cairns Tropical Zoo.  It was epic-ly awesome.  I held a koala and fed kangaroos.  I loved it.  

We had a performance that night at a church plant, and they seemed very receptive, especially to our Lifehouse pantomime.  

Saturday started off with a performance for Youth SS, followed by church and a yummy potluck.  Some of the kids went with Sean and Rhonda to be on the radio, and the rest of us got ready for the afternoon performance in Edmonton.  Again, Tali performed beautifully, and they weren't many dry eyes in the house at the end of Lifehouse.  

The evening was spent playing volleyball and wandering around the Night Market, and the money began to disappear.  Australia is very expensive.  

On Sunday, we went to a lake and went tubing and kneeboarding.  Amy, Michi, and I left a little bit early, trying to make it up to Kuranda, an aboriginal village, but we were too late.  By the time we got there, almost everything was closed.  We sadly went back to Bohemia and chilled until bedtime.  

Amy left the next morning, so we had no more cars.  Rhonda, Michi, and I tried Kuranda again and this time we had great success!  It was a really cool place, and it was a neat experience to walk through all the shops.  

We left that night, headed back to Saipan, but not before hitting up the night market again.  I spent so much money, but it was well worth it.  Australia was a really great experience, and I feel very lucky to be able to have gone with some of my favorite people.  

Miss you Judith.  I haven't heard from you in a long time.  Hope everything is great!  Love you!