Greetings from Melbourne!

G'day mates! After a VERY long flight complete and lack of sleep, we are now into our third "full" day in Melbourne and have begun our Magis experiment. There are 20 of us from Ireland, India, Croatia, Italy, Korea and Chicago. Today, half of us went to Sacred Heart Mission to serve lunch to the guests and spend time in the elderly hostel. Being on the lunch crew, it was quite amusing to hear people say "you've got a funny accent, where are you from?" The Mission is quite amazing in all the programs it offers and the gourmet 3 course meal it serves to a few hundred people every day.

After lunch, we joined in with some of the visitors for their art group. Some people got into it right away, others (including yours truly), found it a little tougher to get started. After a few failed attempts with pastels and crayons, I discovered that if you use watercolor paints, you can erase things you don't like just by adding more water! The mission now has the artwork of a few errant Americans hanging on its walls.

Tonight we'll take part in the Magis reflection component and have Mass and the chance to see how God was present with us during our activities throughout the day. Tomorrow we get up and start again!

-Lauren G