Townsville

Its hot, very hot.
What I've been up to:
So I've been here (townsville) two days, its good, lots of fun, tiring and VERY HOT - Did I mention that?
Yesterday when I arrived it was very overwhelming. After getting up at 5.30 to catch the plane at 6.45 I was very tired. It took 3 hours on the plane and when I got here I got a mini tour around Townsville - I thought it was going to be bigger but its not. I arrived at the base at about 10AM met the girls in my dorm, there are 8 of us in one room all bunkbeds and limmited storage - they weren't kidding when they said that! We all went to the beach anout 10.30AM - there was loads of us doing the 30 minute trek to the beach, it was deffinately worth the walk, the beach is all palm trees and white sand. Stingers are really common in Australian summer so there is a part of the sea that is netted off so we don't get stung by them which is really good. After the trek you just go and jump in the water, which is a very ncie warm temperature, not freezing just cooler than the air temp (which is REALLY HOT) Chilled out for the rest of saturday. Major problem: as I couldn't fit a pillow in my suitcase over here, saturday night without a pillow really sucked! But i managed to get about 8 hours sleep. All the dorm woke up really early though 6.30 so today (sunday) it feels like I've been awake forever!!

Today(Sunday) has been another chill out day as the rest of the January DTS students get here. Me and a few of the girlies went to the Sunday market accross the street - it was more like a carboot sale! and then over the the shopping centre which is 15 minutes away .I bought a pillow (good night sleep tonight I hope!) and some other bits and bobs. Today has again been REALLY HOT! Give it a week or two and I'm sure I won't be mentioning the weather but for an England girl this weather is very hot! We had orientation this afternoon which basically meant we were all together chatting and then had to go through all our home info and put things in the safe! :-)  Worship was at 4PM and it was really awesome. :-) really moving! I feel like the next 5 months is going to be AMAZING! :-D

How I'm feeling:
I really need prayer at the moment, I'm struggling to find my confidence, I'm struggling to believe in myself, I might be jumping to conclusions or being paranoid but these were the feelings I felt last year when I was first struggling with depression, I'm anxious in massive groups and the need to go hide is really strong. So I guess I ask that within your prayers you could pray that I am able to be apart of the group and not withdraw into myself. However, when I'm on my own I'm really looking forward to what God has instore for me which is great but not good. I'm not giving up hope and I know God brought me here for a reason and I believe one of those reasons is to become more reliant on him. He will keep me safe and He will guide me and He will protect me, which is great but at the moment I'm struggling to believe that He'll proetect me which I know doesn't make any sense but I'm human and that's one of the best things about us, we are complicated.

What's in store:
Tomorrow (Monday) the course actually starts so we start doing lectures and worship and get into the swing of things which is really exciting. :-) I guess as the not know what we are doing is making me anxious so when everthing actually gets going it will get much better! *fingers crossed* We actually get a lot of free time which is great for getting settled but also for doing assignments when the course is really going. :-)

¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.
 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.
 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.
 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.
Psalm 121.