What, what? (Why am I going to Australia?)

Hello. The name is Brian. Brian Connolly. I'm planning on going to Australia this fall for a study abroad program at a small arts Christian college called Wesley Institute in Drummoyne, NSW (suburb of Sydney). I am taking a few classes translating to my major (animation) back to my home college, Northwestern (St. Paul, MN) and also taking some fun classes. These include: Video Production, Faith and the Contemporary Artist, Visual Communication and the Designer, Adventure Based Ministy Field Experience (my favorite); and two required courses: Indigenous History, Cultures & Identity and The View from Australia.

The program is called the Australia Studies Centre through BestSemester. It consists of a team of about 33 American students joining some 300 other students from around the world. We all love Jesus and wish to know more about Him by studying His life, and how we can be like Him when we one day enter the working world. Although, some (possibly one day, myself) will abandon this pursuit of figuring one's way in the business world and drift towards being a full-time missionary. Either way, we can all make the world a better place through the work of Christ and His example of being a peace maker.

And this is my aim. Our aim. Not to make a vacation/"holiday," or even just to say I studied the arts in Australia. Although my curiosity of this adventurous country/continent led me to start filling out paperwork, God had always planned this for me--and to go with my friend Andrew (also from Northwestern, in animation). And He has planned each student to go. A lot of us have already met on Facebook (some ACTUALLY met in person, lucky Biola students...) and we can just tell this is going to be a fun group. (Especially for us guys...hehe, just kidding!)

From what I've read (in a required book to read before the semester abroad, In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson) this country is in dire need of Christ. It is not a Christian book--I would automatically conclude that a travel book is--but the author/visitor of Australia really points out that there is tension between the Australians and the Aborigines. The only solution is the love that we can share from the One who first loved us. Australia has a bad history, as with a lot of countries, of hatred, prejudice, and other non-resolving attitudes of its peoples, especially between the surviving natives and the conquerers.

Pray for me, and for us, as students to learn more about the great world and the way that it works, that God has created and allowed us to ponder so endlessly. Pray for us to always be in awe of Him who is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and to Him belong all things. Pray most importantly that what we learn does not just stay with us, but that through the encouraging power of His Spirit, He sends us out to continue our mission.