Sausage and Salad Night!

So on Thursday (3/3) I spent the whole day at the Church at the work doing work (believe it or not). Jon Joyce, my mentor and host, works part time as a physical therapist and part time as the young adults pastor. As such, he wasn't in the office Thursday and it was all me. Thus, not only did I work...I worked of my own volition ;-).

I ended up staying at the Church until 5:30 or so. I had forgotten that every Thursday, the church hosts a sausage and salad night for the community (a free will donation sort of charity) at 6:00. The link sausages are grilled up just like our American hotdogs and served bread (to wrap it in) and "tomato sauce" (the word "ketchup" is very American apparently). While the salads tend to be more casserole type salads than lettuce based salads. It is a pretty good meal for pretty cheap! Being at the church so late, I figured I might as well stay and help prepare for the event and meet some people in the community. I am glad I did!

I went to help the grillers and pretty much became a master Aussie sausage grilling machine. My teachers were two of the funniest old men I have ever met--Ron and Murray. They were great and I hope I get to talk with them some more. Almost the whole time I was there they were talking about American car manufacturing (at least one of them worked for GM) and what spot in Australia was best for vacationing. They were a real riot! They shot each other down left and right and just really made for good, playful banter. I think I fit right in ;-).

I had the opportunity to talk with a bunch of other people at the event to and that was good. I am really happy to pour into this community here at Hope Valley.

In the evening, I went out with Jon and Katie to hang out with a bunch of friends who were saying goodbye to someone visiting them from the states. He used to be the worship pastor at Hope Valley and moved to the U.S after marrying an American girl. He now is a big-time worship leader at a church in Georgia. He's a good guy and I am glad to have met him.

Jon also had to play in a community pick-up game of basketball that night. I went to support him and a few others on the team and somehow got roped into keeping score on the scoreboard. This was an experience, as I really don't know that much about basketball at all. Jon's team won by a landslide so it didn't matter that I likely messed up the scoring.

In Christ,

Chris