tim tam slamas!

[The Australia Video Journal]

the dog days are over

[The Australia Video Journal]

hey guys! so much stuff has happened in the past 4 days, i'm feeling overwhelmed trying to document it all! So first off, on Thursday I got to meet all the girls from Brisbane, they are so awesome and cool. Sara, the one you saw is hi-larious, you should have seen us laughing our heads off for hours haha. Thursday night all the teens were watching HARRY POTTA and there was an extra ticket so Sara and I got to go! It was a great time (even though i was still super jetlagged and....slept through like half of the movie.....) And then Friday was when the Bliley's came who are leading the internship and we all met at Deakin University to have our first meeting. I was so nervous, feeling like I'm so inexperienced, younger, less spiritual, not knowing what to do or how to study the Bible and all that. Right after we met all the Sydney disciples - I always expected people to be cliquey or to not pay me any attention, but everyone had such great hearts and were so genuinely encouraging and warm! It was so refreshing! That's when us 6 interns split up into 3 girl/guy pairs to go sharing for the first time. At first, I was really nervous, but after the first one it was actually fun! Everyone says how hard it is to share with Australians, but God was so great, we got almost a full page of numbers. It's easy for me to be prideful and think "I'm so good at sharing my faith!" But it was totally God. After that, we all hung out and then boarded a coach bus for the campus retreat!!! There was a gorgeous beach 5 mins down the road with the most beautiful view. We had really inspiring lessons about faith and love, and I learned that it doesn't matter how small I may feel but that God wants to use those who are weak and humble. We also played fun games like tennis and bump, Sara and I belted out Florence and the Machine, and we had a dance partay the last night. I met a guy named Kapil who's from CANADA! woo! He moved to Melbourne 2 years ago and was reached out to by Aaron, a teen here and got baptized this year! We played Canada vs. Australia tennis and..lost. It's all good. Oh my gosh, there are a lot of Filipino's here, they would love Canada! It was sad saying bye to the Sydney people like Ashley, Brooke, Tia, Tash, Evan, Rob, James, etc etc etc etc. After the retreat, we went to the York's for a party and to celebrate Olivia's 21st bday! It was a lot of fun. Right now I'm pooped and trying to make sense while writing all this, and I think we're all going to drink some champagne for Olivia's sake ;) haha I won't have too much..

alright apparently i write HEAPS, so I should stop. I'm in love with these Aussies but I still love Canada! haha okay.

gday!

meg.

land down unda

[The Australia Video Journal]

This is Olivia Mains from LA, we're saaaaoooo kewwwwllll

- meg.

departures and arrivals

[The Australia Video Journal]

Hey guys! I made it safely, thank the Lord! I still can't believe I'm actually here haha. I know I'm going to learn so much and be forced to grow, the whole idea of the internship part is sinking in and I'm anxious about studying the Bible with students and sharing my faith in a new country, but we're starting officially Monday. God is definitely teaching me to trust in Him! Until then, He has really encouraged me with the people I've met  en route to Melbourne, and the amazing people here. We're a cool motley crew you could say lol. Anthony York has 3 little girls aged 2-5, they are like the daughters in "The Holiday" - so adorable! Especially with an aussie accent! This Friday is the Australia/New Zealand campus retreat, so it will be good meeting even more people and growing in my faith more. I'll definitely need it!

Love, Meg.

good life

:)


2 Timothy 2:22
"Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart."


It's really cool cause I was reading 2 Timothy last night and this was Paul's last letter he ever wrote. He was in jail, practically alone, and sentenced to death because he followed Jesus, and so these were his last words to Timothy to stay strong as he was leading a church. It's easy to be bored reading the Bible or to not fully connect, but this showed me that it's not just "the Bible" but a collection of letters filled with zeal, passion, hope, love, sadness, and much more. It's so real! Hard to find in any old book, movie, or tv show where everything seems 'too good to be true' and unrealistic. This was a normal human being who was writing to his friend that he would never get to see again. I can kind of sorta relate because I've had to say a fair share of goodbyes the last couple days as I leave for the summer and won't be seeing a lot of old friends once we all start our separate university lives. 


I hope you all have a wonderful summer and promise me that you won't just let it pass by but show your friends and family how much you love and appreciate them! You won't always have that chance.


- meg.


:)

encourage my soul to the maximum

hey guys,
so yeah the video says it all - wow it cut out early haha you didn't get to see my bungalow dance move! Today was one of the best days of my life, just seeing firsthand how God works and how trusting in Him paid off so well with today's events. He's teaching me how essential prayer is, and I can feel Him strengthening my faith - I believe a lot more now the extent of God's power and how limitless it is.
It's starting to set in that I'm really not going to see these people for a long time, and I'm becoming extremely sentimental and ponder-ful (?) about the whole thing. There are so many lasts to come, but also so many firsts :) This whole bittersweet thing is interesting, it's like my emotions are playing Pong. :P


I better get some rest for a long day of..sleeping in and packing and cheelin :D tomorrow haha I haven't had a chill day since last friday! woot woot! Let's hope people don't schedule a showing for my house (since it's for sale) and i don't have to clean up and leave for hours at end. Crossing my fingers!


much love,


- meg


Psalm 1:1-3
 "¹ Blessed is the man
   who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
or stand in the way of sinners
   or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
   and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
   which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
   Whatever he does prospers."

our home and native land

hey yall, i'm super cool with my intense video effects aren't i?! :P i forgot to post this last week, but yeah time's just flyin by. The fireworks were a-maaazing, it felt like a 3-D movie when things pop out at you - only it was 3D..because it was real life...

ANYWAYSS ciao for noww :)

- meg

lol.

time may change me, but i can't chase time

Thought I'd start my video blogs (vlogs?) since very soon i'll be jetting off to the land down unda! Hopefully I'll still have these videos when i'm 40 and I can look back at those good ol' days of youth :P

peace outt!

Imogen Heap - Speeding Cars

I'm growing up too fast and not fast enough at the same time.

speaking of nuggets...

today was the best day EVER!!
slash not THE best, but quite a delightful one.
why may you ask? weeell, my wonderful friend Ronnie trekked it to ma crib and we had a jammin time!
Last night she was the special guest at my bible talk which was a barrel of monkeys (minus the monkeys plus laughs and hummus). Then, we ate more food (naturally) and did what girls do best - nuttin! haha just kidding. We talked and chilled and laughed, the usual. I came home from school to the aroma of PANCAKES, gosh gotta love friends.

We danced around in the kitchen and made fools of ourselves on film. Oh and while I was walking home, I spied one of those wooden chair thingys on the side of the road, and after a couple minutes of contemplation, i decided to snipe it.

Who wouldn't want a rattan swivel chair?! Well apparently my parents who dismissed it as junk. rudee. It's honestly the most comfy thing of life and I tanned a little and read Nicholas Sparks' "Message in a Bottle" before coming upstairs and painting our nailz.

Off to midweek soonsies and we're gonna cook up some dindins before. sweetness.

i'm in a rand mood, feeling nonsensical :P

tata for now!

meg.

squeak squeak squeak

hey yall, guess who?! :D
haha i have pretty well extinguished my blog the past, erm, millenium?
but i just got inspired by the lovely chelsea-rebecca and her kooky blog! 
so i decided to let the creative juices fuhh-loww again, it actually feels quite nice, THERAPEUTIC even!


i just had multiple stare-downs with a not-so-friendly little critter that decided to scamper under my tv set :S. I still don't fully understand how humans (a.k.a me) can be afraid of an animal an 100th of my size which can never harm me - unless it decides to bite and give me rabies - yess i just unintentionally alluded to the office, the best show evurr {rabies is a very serious disease which affects 4 Americans every year! Raise your hand if you know someone with rabies} 

It's quite humourous actually, every couple minutes the little mouse will stick it's head from under the console, as if it's trying to stealthily get past me on the couch. I look back, and the staring contest begins. So far, I'm 3 for 3!


In other news, my senior year is slowly but rapidly coming to a close - only 7 more weeks of my high school career! It's a weird feeling. I go through stages - right now I just can't wait for it to be over so I won't have to think about homework and I can git on down to Australia! But then other times I'm like: "I need to savour every last moment! Why is it ending so fast?!" It's been great having my college-boy brother back home from his first year at universitayy! We've surprisingly got along well, haven't gotten into any arguments as of yet! (it's only been 3 days...) But it's awesome having the fam back together once again :)

God's been teaching me a lot lately too, just how I need to draw my strength from Him and not base my worth on how other's view me, but on God alone - or else I become an insecure and emotional wreck --aaannd jerry's back again, giving me the stink eye - hehe a little fake remote throw put him back in the dark.

So hopefully I'll keep this writing and posting thing up, maybe you'll be hearing from me down unda!


ciaoo for noww,


meg.

convert

hey yall, it's been a mighty long time!

i've recently discovered the not-so-secret TUMBLR and am quite hooked on it, like phonics ;)

http://meaganshantz.tumblr.com/

check it out! all 11 of you! haha... who am I kidding

peace out,

meg.

CROIKY!

....i got some news.... :)


GUESS WHERE I AM GOING THIS SUMMER?!!


(..where?)


AUSTRALIA, THE LAND DOWN UNDER! 


Melbourne, to be exact. 


So I applied to this church campus internship in Melbourne for six weeks this summer to work with their campus ministry and share my faith and grow in leadership, it sounds like an amazing opportunity. Not to mention that Australia has been my dream destination for EVER! Well, since I saw "The Boys are Back" movie which wasn't even that great, but the cinematography and scenic views won me over! I applied on a whim and did not fathom that this dream could actually become reality. First, I had to convince the parentals - it took some time, but they eventually warmed up to the idea (my mom getting over the fact that I might "go there and fall in love and never come home" according to her haha like THAT'S gonna happen). We figured out that the flight is paid for by airmiles, and I can take exams a week early to get there on time! Ahh this is so exciting, God is good. 


However, I haven't officially confirmed yet. Mom and Dad still need to "discuss things and find out more details" before I sign the dotted lines. What more is there that needs to be known? It's Australia! hahaa.


What a great way to start off the new year. Until I get to witness this beautiful and unique country, I guess a couple pictures will suffice :)

sydney, absolutely gorgeous

quiet time spot? i think so!

this is where I'll mainly be - in Melbourne

but in my free time maybe i'll give surfing a spin !

or enjoy a meal i've never tried - i hear it tastes like chicken! ...

not to mention the Great Barrier Reef - a.k.a setting of Finding Nemo :) duuudeee

cheers! I mean.. G'day mate!