Preconception

        Had my first real encounter with prejudice today.  I’ve seen it before, but never been the brunt of negative assumptions that I knew of.  Today, before prayer, a German girl started to cry, turned to me, and said she needed to apologize for having bad thoughts about me when she first met me.  Me!  Out of everyone in the group, she judged me.  She said that Europeans have a general preconception that North Americans are stupid, uneducated, and shallow. Perhaps they are right to a degree.  We are very prideful and are raised to believe that America is the best nation with the strongest military.  Why are we the best?  Who gave us the right to run around telling other nations how to live or how to operate?

She also said that because of the way I look, she assumed I would be rude and conceited.  I had no idea how to respond to this outburst of honesty.  By the end of this course, I truly believe that all of the students will consider each other to be brothers and sisters.  An extended family is already being formed.  Right now, however, there are major walls being broken down.

There is a Fijian rugby team staying at the base for the next two weeks.  They all speak English so I will make an effort to get to know them starting tomorrow.  Tonight it is time for bed.

I’ve had nightmares about sexual immorality, lust, and broken relationships since I got to Sydney.  Husbands cheating on their wives, dreams about men I’ve been interested in the past, ex-boyfriends, etc.  The nightmares actually began before I left for YWAM now that I remember correctly.  Today two girls, LaChelle and Clancy, and our class leader, Gary, prayed that I would be released from these demons.  They reminded me that I have been washed of my sin through the blood of Christ.  I am not my own; I have been bought with a price.  LaChelle believes that Christians cannot be possessed but they can be oppressed.  I tend to agree with her.

Today we went to a petting zoo where we encountered Koala bears, kangaroos, lizards, dingoes, etc.  It was fun but I’d rather see them in their natural habitat.