Well, Colour Conference is over. Colour Your World is Hillsong's annual women's conference. We served at two Colour Conferences and then a day of serving at the live album recording for Hillsong's next album release. So basically I've had a week of 12-14 hour days this past week. It's been sooo tiring, but incredible! I got to go into a few sessions. These included sessions by Lisa Bevere, Sy Rogers, and Pastor Brian and Bobbie Houston. I worked in kids (ages 1 and 2) for both Colour Conferences. For album, I served in choir. Both areas of serving were amazing! Colour Conference One was 3 days long. Then on Sunday I served in my normal area of serving on Sunday mornings (security) and ran out to catch the church bus to the Sydney Entertainment Centre to get to choir practice and was there til late that night. Then Colour Two was another 3 days long. Seriously, it was amazingggg!
Some ministries came and were represented at the Conference. The biggest thing was Compassion. Compassion is a Christian child sponsorship program. The president of Compassion Australia spoke and Colour Conference was celebrating 10 years of partnership with Compassion. Compassion Australia is just a part of Compassion International. I actually got to volunteer with Compassion International once. It was so fun! I got to go to a Riverdogs game and work at a Compassion booth (for those of you who don't know who the Riverdogs are, they are a local baseball team back home). I loved it...Caedmon's Call introduced us as we passed out "children" to be sponsored to people.
Another ministry represented was Samaritan's Purse. Samaritan's Purse is actually Franklin Graham's ministry (Billy Graham's son). Every year they do something that you might be more familiar with...does Operation Christmas Child ring a bell? Okay, I LOVE Operation Christmas Child. I try to do a shoebox every year. My mom will tell you that it's one of my favorite things to go to the Dollar Store back home and just buy all kinds of toys and fill up boxes and wrap them. Haha, I go through the "Mom, do you think this is a standard sized shoebox?" as I rummage through closets in the house, searching for empty shoeboxes that no one needs. So let me explain what Operation Christmas Child is. Basically you get an empty shoebox and fill it with toys for a child around the world that otherwise wouldn't get anything for Christmas. I got to visit and work at the Samaritan's Purse headquarters a couple years ago. My job was to open and sort through the boxes to make sure that everything inside was acceptable (i.e. no war-like toys, no candies like chocolate that could melt, etc). I want to go back again so badly! It's just in North Carolina..not too far from home. So yeah, they actually had an Operation Christmas Child booth at the conference, where you just would pay $20 and fill up a box for a child! I got to do one and meet this really cool lady who had a full time job and volunteered in her spare time at Samaritan's Purse. There are some truly amazing people in the world!
I also found this out at the conference through the guys that served. I met some really cool people because the City and Hills students were combined (the two college campuses) for the conference. This is like the only place we ever see each other. haha. But anyways, the guys worked the conference as well and all of the girls got to go in for some sessions. The guys on my team were super nice. Most of them were from the city campus, so I hadn't met them before. But I just remember sometimes being amazed by their hard work. God caught me off guard a few times and would say things to me like, "See Rian, there are some really good guys out there." He reminded me that He's got a great guy waiting for me somewhere. :)
Well, I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch much, but like I mentioned, I have been super busy this past week! Thankfully I had today off and I have tomorrow off as well. As much as I miss Colour, I'm so happy I get to sleep in! Having to stand at the bus stop at 7am in the pouring rain for a bus wasn't the funnest thing in the world, but hey, you don't get that experience everyday. I forgot to bring my umbrella one day, so as I was walking through the city during my lunch break, it began to pour. Haha, sometimes you just have to learn to let go and run in the rain (and pray you don't get sick)!
By the way, please consider sponsoring a child. I sponsor a boy in Ethiopia named Temesgen. We actually write each other alot! It's nice too, because you can write him from your online account or you can choose to send via "snail mail". I get to send him or his family money gifts for different occasions - his birthday, Christmas, etc. Or just whenever I want to. I love how personalized it feels. You can even meet your child on this side of eternity...I hope to visit Temesgen one day in his hometown! I love him so much! There's lots of poverty right now around the world. My heart was broken as I watched some of the stories that Compassion shared through a video at Colour. There was a little boy during one part who was saying he wanted to become a doctor and support his grandparents and he began to cry as he said "I pray that my sponsor will always be happy." I couldn't stop crying (part of that was probably from a lack of sleep as well). To these children, you're not just someone who gives them money and an occasional letter. For alot of Compassion kids, you are their source of hope...you seriously are like a parent to them because your money shows them you not only care, but that you BELIEVE in them. Anyone who has kids knows that's what a child wants to feel like - that someone believes in them. We all want to feel like way. Many sponsored children's wall decorations are just letters from their sponsor. There was a girl at the Compassion tent outside at the Conference that was speaking about her life and how her life and her parents lives have been completely transformed because of the sponsorship program (she looked about my age). She said "now my kids won't have to be sponsored children, because I have the opportunity to live a successful life." Compassion works with the children's local churches to set up the children for a win in life. I don't know everything about Temesgen - what he goes through everyday physically and spiritually - but I do know that I make a difference and bring hope to his life - a hope from God! Please sponsor a child. It's only $32 a month. That's seriously so cheap if you see it for how it is - giving someone the opportunity to live life!
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