“Nothing brings a couple closer together than being homeless.” - Jordan
It’s been one full week since our adventure to Australia began. And my goodness, what an absolute whirlwind of a week it has been - a whirlwind of events, of energy, of emotions. Most of me would like to share all the great things God has been working out here, but part of me just needs to be honest with you. It isn’t roses and butterflies. Rather a mixture of frustration, laughing, crying, and absolute dependence on God.
Sometimes it becomes really easy to question God’s presence or His working when things seem silent, but we know from our smooth pre-departure preparations, our flights, and our connections with church family in Brisbane, that God is most certainly on our side.
Let me take you back in time and recount the journey alongside me.
Tuesday, January 7, 2014: Depature
Part 1: Toronto-Vancouver
In light of historical weather trends, when Jordan and I booked our flights for January 7th, we assumed that we would miss the significant portions of winter weather. Far from it! Can you believe that December alone brought us feet of snow, an ice storm, power-outages, a polar vortex, and near-record lows?! While the weather allowed for a beautiful white Christmas, it was creating havoc on the airport tarmac. Delays upon delays just before we were scheduled to fly out.
But hear this out.
Jordan and I arrived at Pearson around 5 am, two hours prior to our Toronto to Vancouver flight, only to be told by a WestJet representative that “ALL flights have been grounded til 9 am”, and that other flyers who missed their flights due to previous delays would be accommodated. When I asked her what a delay would infer for our connecting flight from Vancouver to Guangzhou, the representative responded, “You won’t make it. You will most likely have to stay in Vancouver until another connecting flight becomes available.” Not the most pleasant way to start the morning. At least we knew a few people in Vancouver…
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| Last goodbyes to some family at the airport. Hope to see you in a year! |
Our plane was scheduled for take-off at 7 am. We boarded the plane around 6:40 and were warned of a few baggage complications, but by 8 am we were on the runaway lifting off to stop one of three! Once stabilized, our flight attendant offered us beverages and food and informed us that our flight 701 was the FIRST plane to take off when typically it is the ninth or tenth. When we landed in Vancouver, all the TVs were highlighting flight delays/cancellations at Pearson…over 600! Incredibly thankful to God working this one out for us!
Part 2: Vancouver-Guangzhou
Originally our layover in Vancouver was scheduled to be a couple hours, but due to the baggage complications in Toronto and the polar vortex affecting the jet stream, our flight landed later than intended. Jordan and I ran to the gate of our connecting flight just as the last 20 people were boarding. Because we landed so late, we had to sign a waiver understanding that our baggage would not make it on the flight; but at least WE made it! Thankfully we did not have to retrieve our own baggage in Vancouver, otherwise this week could have turned out much differently!
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| 20 hours in: Fatigued and frigid. |
From Vancouver to Brisbane, for 25 hours, we pondered the potential whereabouts of our luggage. But as we waited in the line for customs, our questions were answered as we saw all 5 bags make their way round and around the carousel. Side note: I may have squealed and clapped my hands like a school girl. How could one not? I was so thankful that Jordan, myself, and our remaining possessions made it across the Pacific concurrently and timely.
God is good!
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| As of now, this is all we possess. Beyond thankful we all made it together! |
Thursday, January 9, 2014: Let the Australian Adventures Begin
The days here are beginning to blur together with all our house hunting, but I have taken the advice of Pastor Kevin to write out our journey, especially the little details God is working out. The workings may be ‘little’, but certainly not insignificant! While I could create word vomit by detailing all our daily adventures, I will just try to give you an idea of what our week has consisted of.
Thursday:
Pastor Luke and Renee picked us up from the airport and drove us to Barbara's house where we will be staying for an indefinite period of time until we have success in the rental search and application process. It was absolutely wonderful to meet these three and their families as we previously only had email communication. These servants of God are genuinely caring, lovely, and giving of themselves; Jordan and I would be lost without them, so all glory to God for connecting us together!
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| Our temporary home with Barbara. Located in Forest Lake, south of the Brisbane core. |
Barbara brought us to the mall to tackle our first important necessity: phones.
However, we stumbled upon a slight problem. While phone plans are much more reasonable here in Brisbane, the process of receiving one appears to be much more difficult. Since we were unable to bring our locked phones across the Pacific, we were somewhat obligated to get a phone-included plan (we really cannot afford to buy two phones outright). But in order to get any plan, you need proof of address; to get an address (rent an apartment), you need proof of income; to get income (supply teach), you need a phone. We appeared to be caught in a cyclical current.
Friday:
Barbara graciously took us on a tiki-tour of the Brisbane hospitals to show Jordan the public and private hospitals where he could be interning. There seems to be quite a few hospitals here!! Maybe that's why their medical school class sizes are greater?
Obviously Jordan is pretty thrilled to be a medical student and eager to begin his studies, so we toured the St. Lucia campus of UQ to determine where his classes would be held. This campus is fairly extensive and beautiful - the buildings, the view, the greenery, indubitably a great campus to be at!
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| Home for the next two or more years! |
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| The Great Courtyard |
With no transportation, Jordan and I humbled ourselves and cycled the city - heading to two house viewings in Toowong - using the CityCycle bicycles. It's similar to the Toronto system and just as tacky. By law, cycling in Australia requires wearing a helmet, so just image us peddling these 3-speeds bicycles while sporting awkward, oversized, bright yellow helmets. Might as well write TOURIST on our foreheads.
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| CityCycle. There is a reason very few bikes are used. |
To make matters even more awkward, my bicycle was stuck in 3rd gear as Jordan and I tackled one of many hilly roads. By the way, Australia is much more hilly than we expected, so bicycling can be a serious workout! I managed to work my way up the hill with little speed but much energy, and by the time I reached the stoplight at the top of the hill, my blood pressure dropped dramatically and I became severely lightheaded. I walked the bike over to the nearby bus stop bench and sprawled out. Jordan was a little embarrassed and a little frightened as to what was happening inside my pale body, and just as a bus pulled up to pick up and drop off riders, I hurled my breakfast all over the sidewalk.
Jordan wasn't the only embarrassed one...
Saturday:
We are eternally grateful to Barb and Renee who have housing us and running us around town for endless house viewings and errands. We spent all morning at house viewings, then returned to Renee's to continue our online hunt and for a little dip in the pool. The days are pretty warm here - apparently this summer weather is near record-breaking for significant parts of Australia. I'm finding it quite interesting how there are simultaneous polar vortexes and heat waves causing record temperatures on both sides of the world!
During our online search on GumTree (it's equivalent to Kijiji), we stumbled upon a granny flat, fully furnished within our price range and within biking distance to school. We viewed the home, spent time with the couple in charge of renting, and left feeling really optimistic that this would be our new home!
Pastor Luke and Renee went above and beyond and temporarily added Jordan to their car insurance policy. So Saturday afternoon, Jordan and I left for town, attempting the right-side drive ute, and braving the left-lane roads. Jordan really is a great driver and with reduced speed, he began to get the hang of it! The unfortunate part is that I am the one that will be needing to drive, not him... not so sure if I'm ready to tackle the roads!
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| Trucks are a rare breed in Brisbane. A ute is a typical hybrid between a car and truck, a utility vehicle with the guts of a car but the capacity of a truck. |
Sunday:
Great to be back in church! The pastor that we connected with is pastoring a church plant called Impact Ministries, a small community of believers, but a community indeed! As this is currently summer vacation from school, Impact has teamed up with Fuel, another small church in the area, to host services together; and so Jordan and I had the opportunity to meet young adults from both churches, some of whom are studying in the fields of education and medicine!
Pastor Nathan of Fuel encouraged us with a message of GOD CAN, a muchly-needed reminder that with a God like our God, there is no reason to doubt. Honestly, it was a message Jordan and I (and most certainly I) needed to hear because we were beginning to feel a little defeated with house hunting. We learned that the granny flat from Saturday was given to another couple and we began to question why God didn't align it for us. But the sermon reminded us to substitute doubt for scripture, believing that God remains true to His word and true to His people. In worship, we sang 'God is Able' and the chorus became more impactful than ever:
God is with us
He will go before
He will never leave us
He will never leave us
God is for us
He has open arms
He will never fail us
He will never us
God has brought us to Australia with such smooth transition and so we have faith that He will provide us with the perfect home in His perfect timing. Hindsight is always 20/20, but when our visions for the future are Christ-centered, God overrides our lack of clarity and directs our step with HIS perfect vision. We KNOW God is with us, for us and going before us, and so we are placing all our trust in Him for every step we take here in Brisbane.
"The purpose is in the process" is a much harder truth to accept when the process is difficult. Thankfully we have wonderful church family here to support us, and even though they barely know us, they are genuinely eager to bless us as they have been blessed and are praying with us and for us.
Monday:
Exciting news for the beginning of the week:
1. I had a successful interview with ANZUK and am fully registered on the supply list for private schools in Brisbane. I am currently working on registering with TRACER, the supply system for state schools in order to increase my teaching opportunities.
2. Jordan purchased a hybrid bicycle! At least one of us has a personal mode of transportation other than our sore feet. Once we get settled into a home, we are planning to purchase a bicycle and/or car for myself depending on our location and access to public transportation.
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| Jordan's new ride: Hybrid Merida Cross. |
Tuesday:
The most successful day thus far. Our lack of communication and lack of address was proving to be quite frustrating as it was inhibiting our applications for rental homes. With Barbara in tow, we went to the Ministry of Transportation to use Barbara's address for our Australian driver's licences. Can you believe that Canada and Australia have a licensing agreement? All we had to do is show our Canadian licences, pay a fee, and we walked out with full eligibility to drive in the country. It's completely legal yet I feel far from ready!
And now that we have proof of address, we were able to get phone plans!! We are no longer limited in our international communication, and with iMessage, BBM, MagicJack, and all other sorts of apps, we can text and call home for not even a penny. If you would like our numbers, please message us via email or Facebook.
Bit by bit we are progressing towards getting settled. Thank you for your prayers, we are so blessed and humbled that people around the world are praying for God's guidance in areas big and small.
Reasons to Rejoice:
1. The people of God are amazing!! Barbara's heart is so rich. She understands how much God has blessed her through people around her and she lives to share the blessing. We are honestly eternally grateful to Barbara, Luke, Renee, and other church family here who are so graciously willing to help us out.
2. We are beginning to see the light in the house hunt! :)
3. There are literally endless reasons to rejoice with us - praising God for safety, no jet leg, beautiful weather, and progress in getting settled.
Points of Prayer:
1. Pray that God will guide us to right place shortly. We would like to be somewhat settled in our home before Jordan begins school.
2. Pray that Jen will be given many opportunities for part-time and/or full-time work in the teaching field once the school year gets started. Successful relief teaching days will lead to more permanent supply or full-time.
3. Pray that God will reward those here who are so clearly living to serve Him and others.
4. Pray that we will not be worried about finances, but fully believe that God will provide if we wholeheartedly live for him.
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