Thursday we weren't quite sure what to expect, but it was a fun experience nonetheless. We had 2-4 people manning the drinks, 2-3 people out front announcing to the masses of the free caffeine, and a couple people on stand-by to go on supply runs. Anyone else in the morning was either on a campus or passing out flyers in the neighborhoods. I've done similar stuff like this in other church events before, but never halfway across the world. My first job was to stir and place lids on the drinks. As I did this it was fun to people watch. Many passed by going about their day, not making eye contact, and ignoring our very existence. Others noticed but kept on going. Some paused at the word "free" and would slowly walk by or keep stopping debating on whether they would take us up on our offer. The funniest one's were where two people walking together would pass by and one would want to stop and the other would drag them away. In light of all this, people did stop and they stopped often. For most of the day Thursday the breaks between where drinks weren't being made and they were I would say never lasted longer than 5 minutes max and that length of time was uncommon.
Eventually I found myself no longer stirring but out in front of the stall announcing we had free hot drinks. To help attract attention, I twirled an empty coffee cup off the tips of my fingers. That got a decent amount of extra attention. Also throughout the day, saints from the church came by and helped out which was fantastic. They were excited, involved, and a big help. And it wasn't just the young ones, but their parents and grandparents as well. Everyone was involved and I believe the people who stopped noticed that.
People moments of note. On occasion people would stop just to see who we were and would end up taking a flyer with no drink. One lady mentioned she was looking for a church, lived nearby, and would show up on Sunday (whether that happens or not remains to be seen, but was still encouraging). The look on people's faces when they received a free hot drink was that of joy, day changing you could say. My favorite was when the nearby school let out and the kids started passing by. The first wave passed on by, but with a lot of hesitation. It didn't take long for the second wave to see if we were legit. Pretty soon we had a line of 15-20 kids wanting a hot chocolate. Some noticed my Cavs hat and asked if I was a Cavaliers fan. I told them of course I was and that I'm an American from Cleveland. Some cheered being Cavs fans themselves, and some groaned. In response to the groan I would ask "You're not a Warriors fan are you?" One lad said he was a bulls fan and I let out a sigh of relief. Other's were Warriors fans and I playfully gave them a hard time. All in all, those kids day was made and they all had church invitations to give to their parents. Another guy struck up a conversation with me. He was super nice and was the first Aussie this whole time I've been here to ask me where in the States I was from because of my accent. Super cool dude and it's safe to say we made his day.
We kept the stall running to a bit after 8pm and the people kept coming the whole time. The only part of me that was tired was my legs because of all the walking I did in the morning and all the standing I did the rest of the day. Thursday was a blast.
Friday. We were slower getting set up because our power strip for the coffee and hot water was missing as well as some other things were in different cars that arrived at different times. Pretty soon we were up and running and just like Thursday, people kept stopping. There were less passersby because Thursday is payday in Australia and so they treat it sort of like how Friday is treated in the US. But we still had a similar amount of foot traffic to the stall. We also added an extra element this day as well. We added music! We had a guitar, a cajon (box drum), and our voices. This definitely helped the atmosphere and more people noticed us and some stopped to listen.
Throughout the day I rotated between making drinks, being an announcer, and singing. Each was as enjoyable as the other. not once did I feel like I was doing a job or that it was and arduous task. The saints were also back helping and supporting the church. The school kids returned and some asked if I remembered them from yesterday. Some other strangers who stopped by yesterday came back today as well. There was a guy who pulled up in a wheelchair and boy was he a fun character. He loved talking to us (well mostly Tim) and is a radio voice on a contemporary radio station. He talked with us so long, he kept ordering more drinks. It was all good though as he said he would make mention of us on his 6am show on Sunday morning.
In the two day total, we went through approximately 1300 cups so an average of 650 people a day! If you put that into perspective, that's almost 1300 people that learned of the Church in Sydney, that received an invitation, that had their day changed by a free hot drink, that may now have an opening for Christ. For the cost of the supplies, that was totally worth it. Hopefully some fruit of our efforts will show up on Sunday.
Some more Australian fun facts: If you want lemonade here you better be prepared to drink it carbonated because they don't sell it without the fizz. McDonald's tastes the same as it does in the US, and their presentation is similar, but their bun quality is much higher. It takes at least four years to get your full drivers license here! You have to work your way up through a few sets of restricted licenses before you can get your full license. That's all for now. Cheers!
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