Aug. 12, 2007

Sydney, Australia - (EDITOR'S NOTE: For second straight year, Irish rising junior center/forward Luke Zeller from Washington, Ind., is traveling and touring with Athletes In Action (AIA) and a group of Division I basketball players. From August 10-23, he will be in Australia and will once again provide a diary of his travels as his squad will play games against the top NBL clubs -- the Sydney Kings, West Sydney Razorbacks, Wollongong Hawks, Perth Wildcats, as well as a Tasmanian All-Star team.

Joining Zeller on the team are: Josh Carter (Texas A&M), Jimmy Graham (Miami), Matt Hall (UT-Pan American), Jason Holsinger (Evansville), Wes Johnson (Iowa State), Michael Niemi (SMU), Whitney Robinson (Central Michigan), Ray Schafer (Oregon) and Jay Watkins (San Francisco).

In August of 2006, Luke was instrumental in helping AIA capture the gold medal at the William Jones Cup in Taiwan.

This is Luke's second entry, covering his time from Aug. 7-10.

Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Today we woke up and had team time at 8:30 in the morning. It was a good time to get focused before the day. Many of us were tired after the practice and scrimmage the day before. It was good to get us focused and realize that we had to get ready and couldn't waste a practice. A verse that helped me to get going this morning was Colossians 3:23 that says whatever you do do it with all your heart as if serving the Lord and not men. This morning we were playing for God, not our coaches or teammates. It is a calling to a higher purpose.

Practice this morning was good. We went over more of our plays and defenses. We are just trying to get our play to be more fluid. After practice we went back to Coach Nelson's house and had lunch. After lunch we had team time. At team time some of us shared our stories of where we come from and how God had impacted our lives. After team time we went to a small gym and played scrimmaged against Wright State. They have been together for a while, so it was good to play against a team that was organized as well as it being good to play against someone besides ourselves. We played pretty well. Brian dislocated his finger in the game. It didn't look real good, fingers definitely aren't supposed to bend that way. He came over to the sideline with his finger pointing straight in the wrong direction and Coach Nelson asked him if he jammed it. At halftime of the scrimmage we had our short team time that we usually have at practice. I shared a bit of my story of how God has impacted my life at the team time.

Today was a good day. I'm staying up a little bit later to make sure I can sleep on the plane and make the trip go by a little bit quicker. It is 14 hours earlier in Sydney right now. I can't believe I am actually going to Australia tomorrow. I've wanted to go for such a long time and to be able to go and also share the Good News of the gospel is about as perfect of a trip as I could imagine.

Wednesday August 8, 2007
We woke up again and had team time at 8:30. This morning we listened to a taped sermon by Tony Evans. He was very fired up in giving the sermon on the Holy Spirit and how when the Holy Spirit comes into your life it makes a big difference. There were probably two things that really stuck with me this morning. The first was the fact that when becoming a Christian none of the desires to sin or temptations change, it's just that you have a conscious about it that is the Holy Spirit. The other was the analogy of having the battle as a Christian between the Spirit and the Flesh. It is like two Clydesdales in a tug of war battle and whichever you feed the most will win the battle. Whether you feed the Spirit more or feed the flesh more that's which side will win in your life. I thought that was a neat illustration.

Then we had practice this morning and went through everything one last time before leaving the States. After practice we had a quick lunch and finished packing. Our plane was supposed to leave at 4 so we got to the airport about 2. We got on our plane and were on the runway ready to go when they told us that we were going to have to wait because O'Hare Airport in Chicago had grounded everything. We waited for about an hour and a half. Then we finally left and had a smooth flight to O'Hare. I had on a Notre Dame shirt today and it was just amazing all the people that came up to me and told me that Notre Dame was their favorite school or that they knew someone that went there. It is amazing to see the broad spectrum that Notre Dame covers across the world. Then we got on the plane on time in O'Hare and found out that they had to replace a tire and it would be atleast an hour, so we went and ate and came back. Then we left and flew four and half hours to San Francisco. Then we left and headed out for the 14 hour journey to Sydney. There were some of the guys from Hillsong United on the plane as they had been touring and were just headed back to their church in Sydney. I've known the guys for a while and it was awesome to see them again.

Thursday, August 9, 2007
I fell asleep for a while...don't know how long but I never saw Thursday.

Friday, August 10, 2007
We got in to Sydney at 6 in the morning. It was 4 in the afternoon at home and they planned a full day for us so that we would stay awake the whole day and adjust to the time difference. We got off the plane and stepped outside the airport and someone had on a Notre Dame sweatshirt. That was a welcoming site into a new country! First thing we did was go to Bondi Beach just outside of Sydney. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. The water was incredibly clear and the beach was nice white sand. The water came up on the rocks on the side and it was just a beautiful site. I was hungry though, so Jimmy and I walked up the street and found a place to eat. We asked the guy how long it would take and he said five minutes. Talk about quick food! I had eggs, toast, bacon, and a tomato because that was the special of the day. The bacon wasn't crispy, actually I'm not sure how cooked it was but it was real good (or I was just glad to be getting more food than we got on the plane). We got some water and the water was served in what looked like a wine glass...and yes I'm sure it was water. After hanging at the beach for a while we went to the gym to practice. I did an interview with a Christian radio station on the way to practice and it was just a crazy experience to be doing an interview in another country. Practice was good. My ankles were as swollen as possible. I had what my roommates refer to as cankles. It's where you can't tell where your calves stop and your ankles begin. For some reason my left foot was swollen as well. I don't know if my ankle taping job was tighter or I slept weird on the plane. It was tough to move today because my legs just felt so heavy from flying, but I'll be ready to go by the game tomorrow.

After practice we went downtown and ate some food from these stores outside of the mall. Some of the guys went to McDonald's or as they call it here Macker's or Slack Mac's. I went to this little shop and had a chicken kebab and chips (which are just fries). The chicken kebab was real good it was basically just chicken on a burrito. Then we went and hurried over to the ferry. We took the ferry down the river and around the bay. We say the Harbor Bridge and the Opera House, both were spectacular to see. Then I found a boomerang, so I bought it and am going to try and I want to learn how to throw it before I leave. (it has directions on the back, so hopefully Tyler and Cody can figure it out when I get back) Then we took a train about a half hour to the south side of the city to the Sutherland area and went to the church that is helping us out here. We had our "Aussie Orientation" and learned more about the culture and the way that people are here. We learned some more about the history of Australia that has shaped and molded the way that the people are today. We were told not to say the word root and also fanny pack as both of them have sexual references here. That is good to know to save from some embarrassment. They said that the United States was found from religious convictions and Australia was founded by convicts. We learned that saying mate comes from when there were the convicts here and their mates were the ones that were the absolute closest to, so when someone calls you a mate it is a term of respect and friendship. After our orientation we met with our billets, which I thought was one big family that we were staying with. It is actually a word for host families. I am staying with Wes Johnson from Iowa State. Our host family is a family of four with two kids. They are very nice. We were both tired when we got there though and didn't know how long past dinner we were going to make it. We had a good dinner. It was a kind of macaroni and cheese casserole and some salad. Much better food than being in Taiwan that's for sure. One thing that I definitely like to hear them say and have picked up a little bit before coming here is when you say thank you to someone. Instead of saying no problem they say no worries. That is definitely getting into my vocabulary. I would love to have an Australian accent to take back with me, but if all I can pick up is the vocabulary that's a start. Well it is about 9 o clock here and I am going to go to sleep because I am exhausted. Hope everyone at home is doing well. I miss y'all and can't wait to show some great pictures when I get back!! Go Irish!!