Mission trip and conferences

Yay! Road trip!
Woot. So from 8 - 21 January, we were in the United States for some conferences - Urban Forum in Atlanta (Georgia), and Roots South in Talladega. We drove down on Monday to Atlanta, and it took like, 19 hours from 2:30pm, till whenever it was on Tuesday morning. It was quite tiring actually, and I got 1hr and 20 mins sleep. The Urban Forum went till Friday, and we stayed at the Salvation Army training college there. Afterwards we drove with the Birmingham people to Talladega (Alabama) for Roots. The conference was pretty good, but really I liked the first speaker the best - everyone else I thought was kinda ordinary. And I got to catch up with Jesse Green who was there with her mates from the War College in Charlotte. Rock on.

Then we had to miss the end of Roots to head off for our mission week helping out the Salvation Army 614 in Birmingham. Seriously, those guys are LEGENDS. Andy taught me how to say "cornbread" with a southern accent; and Major Riley bought us krispy kremes :)

But seriously, it was a completely different dynamic down at the 614 Birmingham than it is at 614 Regent Park. It is in the bible belt for a start... But hey. At church everyone was fully expressive when they sing and stuff (lots of clapping and dancing). When there's preaching, every 5 seconds (exaggeration) there's an "amen!" or a "hallelujah!" or a "preach it sister! say dat!" Quite encouraging really...
Especially seeing I got put down to preach for 20 mins (10 minute testimony, 10 minute message) ... eep. Not exactly fair, - Grace only had to do bible study, and Kingsley had a 5 minute testimony to some kids. Of course I'd have to do the sermon. With 2 days preparation (nonstop begging for divine intervention)... Major Riley and Andy wanted me to just go up there and make it up on the spot...(tell him he's DREAMING!) Obviously I didn't...

So yeah. It actually didn't go as badly as I thought it would. I barely looked at the audience... But Tara counted, and said I got 2 "say dat!'s" and a couple of "amens" so yay :) I have discovered that the way to keep peoples attention is to tell them heaps of stories about Australia. I can handle that :) Gotta love my accent...

And of course, an awesome message :) But then again, our God is an awesome God, so my job's pretty much done already...

Photos up top are the stained glass at the back of the hall in Birmingham, and the front of the Training college we stayed at in Atlanta.