church

We attend a great international church about 1/2 hour drive away from Kangaroo Ground. It's in a little suburb called Watsonia. Here are some pictures from various things we've been involved in there. Pastor and his wife are great at making everyone feel welcome and loved. We've been invited as a big group over to their place for lunch every so often after church and are impressed with her ability to cook for a huge crowd. They are church planters from the States and have two children of high school and college age.

The church meets in an elementary school so there is quite a bit of set-up and tear-down each week but it is a good size space for the group and is a fairly established church plant. Just this month an Arabic service was started for the large Lebonese population in the church. There are quite a few Philippino attendees and others from other countries so we enjoy the diversity there.

In an earlier post I mentioned the VBS-ish day we were involved in. Every so often we sing or play as a small group or in a choir. We've been practicing for Christmas for some choir pieces and also some songs using chimes, a first for me. We help with nursery and children's church from time-to-time.

In a week or so I'll post pictures from the missions conference. Videos will soon be coming your way that we showed for the missions conference and that show some updates from this last year that we've been away. The missions conference ended with an international dinner. Who can say no to trying all kinds of new foods!

One Story

An opportunity presented itself on campus to attend a workshop called One Story (http://www.onestory.org/). The workshop was for a full weekend and was hands-on, super practical, and interesting. We learned how to tell a Bible story in an engaging, interesting way that can be remembered for the listeners to then be able to retell the story to their friends and family. We also learned how to lead a Bible study with Bible storytelling techniques. During the weekend we worked with partners to learn two stories. At the end of the weekend, we told our stories to an audience on campus. It was so fun to see how everyone in the course (including my teammate Tania and her daughter, Grace), grew over the course of just a weekend in confidence, in ability to learn in an oral way, and in storytelling skill. I hope to continue to practice what we learned and especially make use of it in the oral culture in Vanuatu.

Aussie-American English Dictionary

Language learning isn't what I expected to be doing in Australia but it turns out that there are loads of words that are different between here and the States, not to mention all the different pronunciations and getting used to a different accent! Here are the main differences I've learned over the last several months.

Australian English - American English

4WD	SUV
"That's $5, thank you" (salesperson in a store)	"That's $5 please"
Afternoon tea	Coffee/tea break
Aluminium	Aluminum
Arvo	Afternoon
Bacon	More like ham
Barbie	Barbeque
Bin	Trash can
Biscuit (bikkies)	Cracker or cookie
Bitumen (pronounced bitchumen)	Tar/asphalt
Bloke	Guy
Bludger (pronounced blujuh)	Lazy person
Bonnet	Hood
Boot	Trunk
Bottle shop	Liquor store
Brekkie	Breakfast
Bring a plate	Potluck
Bush	Out in the country, the woods
Bush fire	Forest fire
Bush walking	Hiking
Capsicum	Green/red/yellow pepper
Caravan	Motor home
Chips	French fries
Chemist	Pharmacist
Chooks	Chickens
Chuck a left/right/u-turn	Turn left…
Chuck a wobbly	Throw a fit
Clucky	Wanting your own kids
College	Tech school
Creche	Nursery
Crook	Sick or below standard
Cuppa	Cup of tea
Dacking	Depantsing
Diagonally	Kitty corner
Dobber	Tattletale
Dodgy	Shady or below standard
Dressing gown	Bathrobe
Doona	Bedspread
Dunny	Outhouse
Esky	Cooler
Fair dinkum	For real, true
Fair go	Give someone a chance
Flat out	Going as fast as possible
Footpath	Sidewalk
Footy	Aussie rules football
Fortnight	2 weeks
Full on	Super busy, overwhelming, intense
Gaol	Jail
G'day	Hey
Get sacked	Get fired
Give way	Yield
Good as! (can be used with most any adjective)	As good as (fill in the blank)
Good on ya	Good for you, way to go
Year 1	1st grade
Hand in	Turn in
Heaps (can say things like 'heaps good)	Lots (exp. Like "super good")
High school	7th -12th grade
Holiday	Vacation
How ya goin'?	How's it going?
Ice block	Popsicle
Jumper (pronounced jumpuh)	Sweater
Kindy	Kindergarten or pre-school
Lollies	Candy
Lolly	Sucker
Loo	Bathroom
Maccas	McDonalds
Mark	Grade (on an assignment)
Mate	Friend
Milk bar	General or corner store
Milkshake	Actual milk with syrup or flavoring in it
Mince	Ground beef/hamburger
Mobile	Cell phone
Morning tea	Coffee/tea break
Mozzie	Mosquito
Muesli	Granola
Mum	Mom
Nappy	Diaper
No worries	No problem, it's alright
Ocker (pronounced ockuh)	Aussie version of a redneck
Oval	Sports field
Over (used as a verb) the page	Turn the page
Parcel (pronounced pawsull)	Package
Partner (pronounced pawtnuh)	Husband/wife
Petrol	Gas
Pinch	Steal
Plaits	Braids
Poo	Manure or poop
Pram	Stroller
Primary School	Elementary School
Rock up/turn up	Show up
Rockmelon	Cantaloupe
Rubbish	Trash
Sanger (pronounced sanguh)	Sandwich
Schmozle	Mess, chaotic situation
School	Up to age 18 Only
Semi trailer (pronounced semee trailuh)	Semi
Serviette	Napkin
Servo	Gas station
She'll be right	It's all good
Shop	Store
Shout	Treat someone (pay for their meal)
Sickie	Sick day
Singlet	Tank top
Skivvy	Turtleneck
Smoko	Smoke break or tea break
Stone	Pit (as in a fruit)
Sneakers/runners/joggers	Tennis shoes
Spider (pronounced spida)	Coke (or any other pop/soda) float
Stonefruit	Any fruit with a pit in it
Sultanas	Raisons
Supper (pronounced supuh)	Post-dinner snack
Swimmers/bathers/swimming costume/togs	Swimsuit
Ta (pronounced taw)	Thanks
Tea	Evening meal
That's all right	Sure, you're welcome
The toilet	Bathroom
Thongs	Flip flops
Tick	Checkmark
Tin	Can
Tinny	Can of beer
Tip	Dump/landfill
Tomato sauce (pronounced tomawto sowce)	Ketchup
Track	Trail
Tracky daks	Sweat pants
Trolley	Cart
Trousers (pronounced trousas)	Pants
Truck	Delivery truck, semi
Tyre	Tire
Uni (university)	College
Ute	Pickup Truck
White tea/white coffee	Tea/coffee with milk
Windscreen	Windshield
Zed	Z
Pronunciations
Ah mund	Almond
Ashfelt	Asphalt
Core dee ull	Cordial
Fawstuh	Faster
Heytch (H)	Aytch (H)
Nyewspeypuh	Newspaper
Pasta (1st a like a in apple)	Pasta
Semee	Semi
Sixdeen	Sixteen
Chune	Tune
Whoa tuh	Water
All R's at the end of words dropped unless following word begins in a vowel Exp. "computa" for computer or "caw" for car
All R's in the middle of words dropped if in a consonant cluster. Exp. "Cala" for Carla or "ama" for armor
R's added to words ending in a vowel if the following word begins in a vowel. Exp. "Montana(r) is a great state"

Wow, pretty incredibly long list! Who would have thought!