Yesterday I got up way to early after going to bed at around 1am the night before.

I picked up Tanya and Kirsten and drove to church ready for an 8am (actually it was 8:20, I was running late) Canberra get away.

I drove to Canberra with Matt, Emma and Nic, in a posh new Falcon. I had breakfast at Maccas where we met everyone traveling down that morning. I had a lot to eat because I'm trying to please my mother who says I'm too skinny.

We had a lot of silly conversation on the way down. Much toilet humor and bad jokes. Lots of laughs. Good fun. I read my sermon (I don't know if you call it a sermon at Soul Survivor things. I can't remember what people call it. Not ministry of the Word. I don't know, doesn't matter.) and fell asleep while doing that. I don't think anything went into my brain and it was a wholely ineffective sermon preparation time.

We arrived in Canberra and after lunch we went to visit Parliament house. I got to see where George was. It was a little strange because I got to see all the places I'd seen on TV on Thursday. We went through the metal detectors, so I took off my belt because I can't be bothered getting the wand thing when I beep.

As I walked into the foyer putting my belt on, I got nominated tour guide. That was fun. People laughed at my jokes which was polite of them. I felt like the tour guides might get a bit annoyed at me for paying them out but most of them thought it was amusing.

I talked to one of the tour guides in the House of Reps and asked her what was in the boxes that the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition have at their microphones. She told me the Prime Minister had religious texts so that you can swear on them when you get sworn in. She said they had all kinds. I asked if that meant that they had Scientology in there. I don't think she knew what Scientology was but she assured me, if it was a religion it would be in the box. I told her if I became an MP I'd swear on the Scientology religious text and if they didn't have it in the box they could order it in for me. She assured me again that it would be in the box. So I said "Ok, cool" and went to continue my job as tour guide.

I got to see the Magna Carta too. That was exciting. Not that I know what the Magna Carta is but I do know it's a very important document for some reason. I read a book about people trying to steal the Declaration of Independence once. But that's not really important.

We arrived at the church in where Soul was happening and the festivities began. We had a sock wrestling/bullrush game so that everyone could get to know each other. I didn't get to know anyone really but I did feel a little scared and confronted. I really didn't want anyone touching my socks. But I played and managed to be mildly helpful.

We did kindness projects. I was on a prayer walk, door knocking asking people if they had prayer requests we could pray for. It was the one I think I least wanted to do, but I had to because that was the group that was finishing early.

I felt like a Mormon. We had two people shut the door in our faces, two polite rejections and the rest of the houses weren't home. But I'm glad I did it, even if it all felt a little strange.

We finished up, I practiced the talk, this time I didn't fall asleep. Then we had dinner. Very messy burritos. I liked them though. I was a little too nervous to fully enjoy them. I get nervous too often these days.

The evening celebration came around and it was really good. People shared stories from their kindness projects which was really encouraging. We sang and sang good. I talked, that went well. I did it almost all without notes. We sang some more and God did good things during the ministry time.

The talk I did was the same one I did on Sunday night so I had many people pay me out for being like Mike Pilavachi and always doing the same talks.

Other people said nice things to me and I had difficulty responding. I find getting praise for doing a good talk really difficult when you're trying to glorify God. When really you are only trying to speak His words. I don't know what to say. Usually I say something really weak and quiet, something like "Oh, thanks" and then wonder whether I hogged the glory.

We drove home with a bit more silliness but a lot more sleeping. Emma gave me her pillow and I slept most of the way home. Emma's a lovely person.

I stayed the night at Matt and Emma's house and woke up an hour later than I should have this morning (darn daylight saving).

The Sunday morning group went good today. Kids talked about refugees. They thought, talked, and read their Bibles. It went well.

Now I'm here blogging.

Phew, that was a lot.