Would You Rather…?

As a self-described normally “wordy” person, I’ve had a lot of trouble putting into words how much the recent trip to Australia meant to me.  I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever simultaneously worked so hard and laughed so much. 

So many memories roll through my mind when I try to think of what to say that would encompass all I felt about my time with this particular group of people in this particular place.  I think of laying in the grass in Hyde Park on Aussie Day, talking and eating delicious thai food and marveling at the gorgeous architecture and bright colors. 

Visions of our first and last day on Bondi Beach, crowded with people and the smell of salt in the air also fill my mind. 

One of my favorite memories of the trip was our “Would you rather…?” conversations that started on our first night in Sydney.  Several us were sitting around, talking at dinner, and in order to get to know one another, we began to ask questions about situations or circumstances to see how we would each react.  “Would you rather __________ or ___________?” 

Those conversations continued throughout the trip.  One conversation that occurred, as we drove our four cars through the Australian countryside like a scene from the Italian job, still makes me laugh when I think of it:

The walkie-talkie crackled and someone proposed, “Would you rather eat a pound of butter OR bite a baby? 

Donnie’s voice came over the speaker, taking the lead: A bite from anywhere?
Kira: Anywhere.
Donnie: A human baby?
Kira, confirming: Yup. A human baby.
Donnie generously offers: Ummmm….I’ll do the butter so no one else has to.

The conversation appeared over.  And everyone returns to their respective thoughts after a good laugh.  But not so fast.  The walkie talkie crackles again:

Donnie: Wait! Are we talking about a fat baby or a regular sized baby?

Cause of course that would make all the difference.   

There were other moments.  One day we are working hard, filthy, and bombarded by flies.  I turn to Drew when he makes a funny noise.  “No kidding!” he exclaims, “I just had a fly go up my nose, I coughed, and I spit it out of my mouth.  Alive!”

It’s laughs like these you can’t put a price on. 

But it wasn’t all fun and games.  There are other memories that resound in me.  I will always think of spending an entire day removing debris from beneath a conventional foundation house with Caroline.  Sweet Caroline who is my “birthday twin” (we were born on the same day, 10 years apart) and a woman I came to deeply respect.  Hopefully she will be a life long friend/little sister…

It was hot, hot, hot in Texas, Australia…but under that house…words can’t even describe.  The only way we could get under the house was to bend over at the waist and half-walk, half-crawl for the 25 feet to the pile of debris the flood left behind.  For the entire day.  Now, just add in five crapping chickens (or “chooks” as the Aussies called them) and a Border Collie intent on having “Chook” for lunch…and you’ve got one crazy job worth remembering.  It taught me that you could never, ever emotionally prepare for what you may be called to do when you are serving, but with the right attitude and the right company (thank you, Caroline!) you can get through anything.  Among all of the filth and back pain, I feel like I realized that “doing life” with people aint always fun and it aint always pretty.  But you’ll be equipped with what you need, when you need it. 

It was such a priviledge to serve several families in Australia but the one that stands out to me was the Marshall family in Toowoomba. 

Our team…Drew, Brandon, Caroline, and I with John Marshall:

Our precious family…

When we were leaving them, it felt like leaving family.  I think Jenny, the “mom” of the family said it best and touched my heart the most when she emailed us a heart felt “thank you” after we left and told me, “You didn’t just mend fences, you know?”  Well, the feeling was mutual.  In blessing others, I know that I felt like I was the one blessed.  As I sat on the porch with this wonderful family and Caroline on our last night, quietly listening to Donnie sing and play guitar, Drew play the harmonica, and Brandon use an old ice chest to beat out a rhythm, I knew without a doubt that these are the moments and memories that make life soooo worth living. 

On our trip home, Brandon, Caroline and I were in “our” car…the same group that had started the trip together, looking out our window at the beautiful scenery. 

After a long two weeks, we sat quietly, each of us lost in our own thoughts of Australia when John Mayer’s version of Free Fallin began playing in the background.  As if we’d planned it, each of us began to quietly sing…

She’s a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She’s a good girl, crazy about Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too

It’s moments of harmony like this that I’ll remember.  Breath taking views.  Hard work.  Sweat.  Being so tired I can’t sleep.  Making a difference in the lives of those who were strangers to me but now I call friends.

So thankful for such an amazing experience

As you know, we all arrived home safely Saturday evening after the long flight home.  Words cannot begin to describe how truly amazing my experience in Australia was, and I am so grateful to have been blessed with such an incredible opportunity.  Our crew alone was reason enough to go.  Never in my life have would I have imagined simultaneously meeting twelve of the greatest, hard working, kind and generous people.  We all worked so well together and, even though I’d never met eleven of the twelve others, quickly became like a family.  The people we met while in Australia were indescribably amazing.  To see their spirit and positivity even in the face of such destruction was an inspiration to us all.   Seeing just how far the human spirit can go even in the worst of times gave me a whole new outlook and appreciation for life that I otherwise would have taken for granted.  I can honestly say that these people helped me as much if not more than I them.   We quickly formed a bond with each family we met which made the work we were doing so rewarding and worthwhile that it’s hard to describe it as “work” at all.  I’ve gained so much from having met each and every person that was involved with this trip and formed friendships that I know will last forever.    This truly was the experience of a lifetime which, although I’m sad is over, am happy and forever grateful for all I’ve taken away from it.  Thank you so much to Matt, Kira, Aubrey, Brandon, Brett, Karla, Drew, Donnie, Jo, Amy, Caroline and Kyle for making this such an unforgettable and amazing trip, ya’ll are the best!-Hugh III

Grateful

How do I describe my gratitude for the amazing places that my life has taken me recently? I know that I have done nothing to deserve the opportunities that I have, nor do I deserve the amazing people that God has placed in my life. How is it that at each turn, more blessings continue to be heaped upon me? I am truly grateful.

The last time I had the opportunity to go to Australia, it was borderline surreal. Everything happened so fast, that I wasn’t sure exactly what was happening. What I do know is that the opportunity to go to Victoria after the bush fires was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was one of the truest blessings I can recall. I smiled more on that trip than I had in two years. I met people half a world away who were able to love me in spite of who I was. I was able to offer nothing but good, and love, and help to people. It was awesome.

When I heard that the country that had offered me so much hope had suffered from another disaster, I could not wait to get back on the plane. I wanted to help. I reached out to so many of my close friends, and was again humbled by the response I got. Twelve of the greatest people you can imagine were chomping at the bit to join me. They wanted to help out.

We have all suffered in one-way or another, and there is certainly no quantifying the human experience. Some certainly suffer more, but the one thing I think that we can all agree on is that the world we live in is broken. It is one thing to recognize this, but another thing to stand up and say that you want to do something about it. Here I was faced with a dozen young people who wanted to do what they could to make the world a better place for others. They were willing to go out of their way, and make themselves uncomfortable, exhaust themselves, burn themselves in the hot sun, go without sleep, and do all that halfway across the world without a thought of personal gain.  The world may be broken, but I am certainly grateful for the people who are unwilling to accept that.

I am afraid I do not have the words to describe my experience down there, other than to say that it was truly amazing. I got to hear some horrific stories about the floods, but always capped with stories of hope. I am grateful to an old farmer named Lindsey who told me how grateful he was that his son had been spared, and that when we showed up to help from a world away, that it was just something that let him know that God was still paying attention, and He still cared. I get choked up with goodbyes, and so did some very tough farm hands, but I am so grateful for the new relationships that I have forged.

I am truly grateful.

Unplanned and Exciting

This is not the post I planned to write upon my return from the other side of the Pacific. I had planned on writing an in-depth recap of the trip based upon notes, poems, and jots I had made in my Field Notebook throughout the trip, but that notebook was left in my apartment and I am not at my apartment at the moment. Plans change.

My trip to Australia was a series of dreams. We cleaned fences, rebuilt irrigation systems, and laughed a lot, but more importantly we made lasting relationships with beautiful farmers surprised at our love for them and our willingness to help. Farms washed bare by flood waters were put back on their feet and lives were able to start again. The impact the farmers had on us was equally staggering.

The team I was on worked with the Marshall family and we never saw them without a smile. Their gratefulness and pleasant disposition brought contagious smiles to the faces of everyone on our team. We worked alongside them, learning about their family and their farm, and it was perfect. An idyllic expression of the connectedness of humanity, my time on the Marshall farm can be distilled to one moment. Sitting on their porch, playing harmonica while Brandon slapped time on an ice-chest and Donnie did a little picking and singing on guitar. While we played, everyone around us sat eating, laughing, and being caught up in the pleasure of the presence of each other. It is the seminal moment of any trip I have ever taken. The strongest love imaginable washed over the entire scene and hopefully seared it in my memory forever.

Love is stronger than floods. Love is stronger than heartache. I have a belief that negative emotions are inherently stronger than positive emotions. That belief doesn’t include love, because love supernovas and burns all around it. Even the most cynical person alive couldn’t look at what we did in Australia and say that we just fixed a few fences and helped a few farmers. We shared a Love unimaginable with people whose world’s had been turned upside down. We showed that there are people around the world who care about even the most nondescript farm in Australia. I am exceedingly thankful to be used as a tool for the Master to show His undying affection for the inhabitants of earth.

Thanks

I woke up this morning in my own bed after days of sleeping all over the world. The first thing I thought of was our friends back in Australia. About how they are doing and what project they might be working on today. What an amazing opportunity I was given to go to Australia to work alongside Aussie’s in helping to reconstruct their lives after the devastation of the floods. I loved the trip. I loved the people I met and the work we did. Everyday there I would slip into bed thinking about the work we accomplished that day and the relationships built. The trip was amazing. From the beauty of the country itself to the people we met to the new skills acquired it was phenomenal.

As we traveled home my boyfriend and I discussed our favorite parts of the trip. There were many laughs as we went over hilarious moments of the trip. However, both of us agreed our favorite part of the trip was the four days we spent in Texas, Australia working on a farm owned by a man named Ian. Everyday spent with him and his family was filled with countless stories, hard work and meals shared between new friends. We worked hard and each of us were so proud of the work accomplished on his farm. I built fences (with the help of others) and my heart felt full of the joy of a hard days work.

Ian is a wonderful man. (He showed us our first kangaroos which of course made him the best!) A man worth looking up to and days with him and his family were unforgettable. I was talking to his sister one day and she said that she was so happy to see him laughing and joking around again. She said the devastation of the floods had depressed him but having us there had lifted his spirits. Ian also shared with me one day that at first all you can do is cry but then you start working and you cry less until one day you aren’t crying at all but just working hard. It was an honor to be with them and to help bring back laughter through camaraderie and hard work.

Thank you for supporting TWCD so it can continue helping out people in times of crisis. Thank you TWCD for allowing me to help Australia. Thank you Australia for welcoming us into your lives.

Back at Home

After spending the last two nights trying to get over jet lag, I can now look back and say that I am very happy with the way the trip went.  I think we got a lot done, met a lot of great people and had a lot of fun while doing it all.

While in Texas, Australia, My group, which included Drew, Caroline, Amy, and myself, worked on an irrigation system for three days.  We cleaned them of debris, attatched gear boxes and replaced the oil.  By the time we left Australia, the two full-sized lines were operational, but unfortunately one of the smaller ones had taken too much damage in the flooding and collapsed shortly after we got it working.  The last work day, I worked on a different farm and put up more fences.

Travel back home to the US was long and a bit hectic, but we made it home.  This week I’m going to go through a lot of the pictures and video and organize and post what I can on the web site, so keep checking it for updates!  So, good trip, glad to be back home and I hope everyone else on the trip enjoyed it as much as I did!

Wrap Up…

Friends and teammates – I didn’t have a chance to blog on the trip, but it was filled with opportunities and memories and thousands of evidences of God’s love for the Australian people and for us. We arrived on a national holiday called Australia Day, which is similar to the U.S. Independence Day. It was really neat to start the trip with a celebration of Australian pride! It was perfect, actually ;o) Between that and the drive from Sydney to Toowoomba, I fell in love with the Aussie landscape. But the landscape is nothing compared to the people, both those we helped and the volunteers who served with us. They are remarkable, kind, funny and loving folks who I am honored to now call friends!

I think a good way to wrap up the trip is to share the story of the first farm I got to work on. Kyle and I were paired with two young Aussies, Cameron (19) and Jaidyn (17), to help out on a chicken farm outside of Toowoomba. Roy, the property owner, told us that a wave of water had come over the property, washing over their sorgum and their fences and covering their land with about 2 feet of water. This wasn’t the first time we’d see crops washed over…in fact for most of the trip we saw hay and grass swept to a 45+ degree angle, either from the ground or covering fences. In the past year, Roy has suffered a near-death accident on his tractor and lost his wife, Ivy. Now his farm, run by his son Damien, was flooded and his egg production is about 5 months behind. They lost just over 1,000 chooks (chickens) in the flood, leaving lots of open coops and lots of customers who may withdraw their orders.

But neither Damien nor Roy took much time to dwell on the disaster. Instead, we all worked hard and quick to clear fences, dig holes, pack posts and strain barbed wire. The guys also didn’t take long to start cracking jokes and making fun of their token female worker. For me, this was the legacy of the trip – stories of real people, bonds made and enjoyed, hard and hot work, and lots of laughter. Goodbyes to each family were difficult and often tearful, reminding me that sacrificial love in action creates the strongest bonds we can share this side of heaven.

Thank you again to those who invested monies and to those who continue to donate to TWCD. The people we met were floored to hear that there were dozens of folks in the States that cared enough to send laborers to their areas, often times almost overwhelmed with wonder. I was so proud to explain how generosities of time, money and energy converged to make our presence there possible. So proud to serve with all of you!