Wandering

On Sabbath (which was also the Day of Atonement) I went for a morning walk before getting ready for Church. The Brisbane congregation meets weekly about 20 minutes from where I have been staying, so it should have been a convenient drive away, but I had to sort out a parking issue from the previous day, and I made several wrong turns along the route, lengthening my trip extensively. When I finally arrived, I was almost immediately greeted by several of the Brisbane young adults, so I felt at home right away.

After services, I took the opportunity to slip in some piano practice for one of the songs I’m playing during the Feast. Then, as the sun set, I joined a group of people who were going out to eat. I was grateful, once on the road, that I was following them, as it was rather a maze to get into the parking garage at the mall. Once inside, there were a lot of turns to get to the food court, but at last we made it to our reserved table and ate a much-awaited meal.

My food came a bit later, and most of the group had left by the time I finished. I quickly got lost inside the mall. Panicking, I took several wrong turns, but was actually much closer than I realized to the right exit when I met some people from Church who, though not certain of the direction themselves, helped me find someone on staff who ultimately led us in the correct direction.

As if my wrong directions hadn’t been enough for the day, I accidentally keyed the wrong address into my GPS for my AirBnb, and as it was now dark outside, ended up parking several blocks away and walking the rest of the way, since it was harder to find good parking with everyone’s vehicle parked for the night.

Though it was, by far, the most stressful day of my trip so far, I am grateful for the new friends I made and for the welcome I felt from the local congregation.

On Sunday morning, I woke up early, packed a few essentials for the day, and got coffee before driving to my next adventure. Still very nervous about driving in Australia, I decided early was better to avoid heavy traffic, and as it turned out, I needed the extra time to cover another series of wrong turns. It was, I found, a much better drive, because there was less city to navigate as I approached the location of the hiking trail.

I met with friends at the Toohey Forest Conservation Park and hiked a trail that was 4.5 miles. There was plenty of signage indicating the presence of koalas, but sadly we didn’t see any. However, I did get a few good pictures of a kookaburra.

Following the hike, our group drove to the food court of another shopping center, and this time I paid very, very careful attention to where I parked, and succeeded in not losing the car or the route back. We chose from a selection of Asian cuisine in the food court and stayed to talk for a while.

When I got home from this adventure, I went for a long walk in an attempt to find more shopping within walking distance, but most things were closed, except for a frozen yogurt place. At this point I had walked about 6 miles that day, so I figured I'd earned a treat, and put together a bowl of the most random flavors.

If there is one thing that I’ve learned from this weekend, it’s that we can’t let mistakes and setbacks act as a signal to give up. There was a point this weekend at which I nearly called up the rental car company and arranged to turn in the car early, thinking it would be easier to navigate solely by buses and taxis for the remainder of my trip. However, after much prayer and reflection, I realized that giving up now would not allow me to come to a place of peace about the situation, but rather perpetuate the fear for future occasions. Continuing to face the challenge and push through the anxiety with God’s help has actually been an encouraging process. I also hope that when I’m out of the city it will be easier to get around, so if I can handle this, the rest will feel easier. For now, I’ll just take it one step at a time.