Australia Day

Yesterday was Australia Day (January 26). Daniel, Kris, and I hosted a BBQ for our neighbors. And just as Daniel suspected, not a single one was Australian. We asked them all to bring a dish from their home country so we could celebrate the multi-ethnic culture here. We had twelve join us, ranging in origin from central America to Africa, to central Asia to east Asia...and America and Australia. I made a very American dish - my mom's cheesy potato casserole. Very fatty, and very delicious.

Everyone who had come said they had wished for a long time that there would be a sense of community within our complex, but nothing had been organized, so they were thankful that we reached out to them. Pray that these relationships would continue to develop into strong and open relationships, and that God's love would become evident to them not just in our loving actions toward them, but in Truth that we profess to them.

In the evening we headed to the city...to Southbank. Southbank is a park on the south side of the river, just across from downtown. They have created a manmade beach for people to swim in, and have bbq pits, and even a ferris wheel. We joined thousands of others to watch the Australia Day fireworks celebration display over the river. Here are some photos from the night:

South bank beach at night overlooking the city

 

Ferris wheel at southbank

Here's the view of the city from where we watched the fireworks..

Here are some fireworks...oooooohhhhh...aaahhhhhhh.

And some more.

And here's me after...smiling...because I like fireworks, and other types of explosions (that's probably why I like watching Mythbusters). And because downtown Brisbane is gorgeous at night! As you can tell from my photo.

Well that's good for now. More to come later.