Merry Christmas Everyone... We beat you all to Christmas and are just wrapping up our Christmas as you are starting yours. I guess that is the advantage of being 16 hours ahead. We had a very nice Christmas. We were taken in by a family and were had a very multicultural Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with a family from South Africa, one from Botswana, a few people from Canada, a New Zealander, someone from Denmark, and a native Australia. Our Christmas Eve dinner was Australian style however, straight from the barby. We then had a nice Christmas dinner with travelers who are crashing at our house for the holiday break. So we ate our first "Irish Christmas Dinner" here in Australia. Lindsey was a baking machine and churned out heaps of Christmas treats. I overindulged and got a pretty bad stomach ache. Christmas afternoon we headed to the beach and enjoyed the sunshine and warm weather. We hope that your Christmas is amazing and we miss you all terribly. Happy Holidays...

nate

Oh yeah... Here is a little Christmas treat for you all... Check out these links, we have a special surprise... Thanks Mock!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=b11e46327f6cf12a29b5056G06122416 (Nate)
http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=87ec025f62f43e05a97dde5G06122416 (Lindsey)

As Christmas is fast approaching Lindsey and myself are staying busy getting ready. Christmas in Australia is different... Most people are throwing Christmas Barbeque's and are gonna head to the beach. I guess the beach thing isn't all that foreign for us Floridians. Lindsey has been baking up a storm and I have been enrolled as her helped. Needless to say we have enough sweets to feed an army.

Also wanted to share with you some great news and an answer to prayer for us. Now this will require a little background info. Since moving to Sydney Lindsey and myself have started playing poker in a few of the pubs around the area. We enjoy playing the game and found it to be quite big over here. We go and play at the same two pubs reguarly... dont worry... No real betting is involved, just strictly for fun. Anyway it has been a good opportunity for us to meet people where they are at and develop relationships with them. We are trying to live out the command "go into the world and make disciples". We have been praying that God gives us opportunities to share our faith with people at these venues... Anyway we have had the opportunity to share about our faith and church and why we are over here. About two weeks ago a lady took us up on our offer and attended a "Christmas Spectacular" put on by our church. The night was awesome, the program was incredible and a the gospel was presented. Our friend was really impacted by the program and went to get a Bible after the show. What an answer to prayer. Please keep her in your prayers that God continues to reach her and draw her unto him... Also keep us in your prayers that doors will be opened and that the people we come into contact with will get a realization of God's all encompassing love for them... We thank you so much for your cards and prayers , they mean so much to us. Have a merry Christmas...

Nate and Lindsey

Summer is here! So how are we keeping "busy"...let me tell you. Well, we are renting our the rooms in our student housing complex for the summer. As of now, all the renters are great! Nate started to work for a constrution company, until finding out that he needed a specific "green card". Oh well, tarring in a clay ditch during 100 degree weather wasn't all that fun anyway. We both took on some odd jobs, including a taxi service to the airport and deck work. Some hightlights from the past few weeks: Nate took me to a beautiful graduation dinner put on by Hillsong College. So, we put on the spifiest outfits we could find (of course I found mine at the mall that day), and headed of to Le Montage (even sounds fancy). The dinner was wonderful; it was a great way to end the year! We also had the opportunity to take a Harbour Cruise one night with the college. Not exactly the boat we had hoped for, but it was still a lot of fun! Well, we are just getting ready for Christmas. It's a bit hard considering it's in the 90's, but we can pretend. Hope you are all enjoying the Holiday season, we miss you!

Lindsey

Wow... I can't believe that we have been over in Australia for almost half a year. Time has passed quickly. While being over here there has been one topic which God has taught us a lot about through many different ways. It has been the topic of sermons we have listened to, we have read about it in books, and we have been challenged to show it in our interaction with our students and people in the community.

"The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church. You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace." (Gordon MacDonald)

This quote from Philip Yancey's What's So Amazing About Grace? has challenged us to live our lives differently. We have been challeneged to live our lives as a conduit, where the grace we have so freely received flows out from within us to a hurting world.

We miss you all and look forward to seeing you all again!!! Happy Holidays!

nate