An illegal Birthday

Well guys, another year has been added to my life. I am officially 19 years of age!! One more year of being a “teen”. So great!! My birthday was amazing, filled with two days of festivities! Because first, I had my Australia birthday since we are a day ahead of the States here. And then the NEXT day it was my birthday in the States, so I got even MOOORE happy birthdays!!! I got showered with love, hugs, chocolate, and delicious CAKE!!! They show me soo much love here, I can’t complain. And that night we had to break off into pairs and go out to the city and do ministry. So my school mate Tye and I decided to take a guitar out to the city and see what adventures God would take us on.

So I bundled up with lots of layers, its still a bit chilly here. Summer come already! To get to the city, we had to take a train so Tye and I caught got on and sat down. I casually propped my feet up on the seat in front of me and Tye fiddled with the guitar. It was only minutes before THREE Australian Police came up to our row. I just thought they wanted to check my ticket so I gave that to him, but they were all glaring at me!

         The Police asked me if I was aware that it was illegal to put my feet on the seat, and I apologized and told him no. Then he asked me if I would step aside and talk to him. So we walked to the back of the train and he asked me a list of simple questions, like my address, and what I was doing there, and I couldn’t even remember the base address!! And every time I spoke he shushed me and told me to talk quietly because they were also interviewing Tye at the other end of the train to make sure our answers lined up!! I was shaking and so scared it was awful.

         So he finally sat me down, started writing me a ticket, and asked me for my date of birth. I informed him that it was my birthday. He looked up at me and then scratched off the ticket and said that “He would let me off for this one since it was my BIRTHDAY” and as he walked away, one of the Police officers told me that he never gives off warnings. Ahh Australian Police are SOO intimidating and scary!! And then I started crying because I was freaked out, and the Policeman then came back and asked me WHY I was CRYING. Wow really? Haha Then he laid newspaper down on the seat in front of me and said that if I ever want to prop my feet up on the seat that all I had to do was take off my shoes. And then he laughed at me.

         But even if I was totally shaken on the train, Tye and I met a lot of cool people, I played the guitar and worshipped God as we walked across the city, and really got the heart for Melbourne.

         Ya see folks; Birthdays with YWAM are never anything less then an adventure. Remember, don’t ever prop your feet up on the seat in front of you on the Australian Trains, or the mean cops will get you! And that is the moral of the story. The End.