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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Hi there, everyone. I'm Jared. And I'm Zanita. We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well.
We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice.
Let's go live.
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Record Live. It has been a little while since Jared and I have been together. We've been tag teaming the last few months. around the place here and there,, but we are back. And today we have a special guest. She's most commonly known for her music today.
We actually talked to her about something a little different, , Haystack challenge that she undertook during COVID, but we are excited to dive into it. So welcome Anna .
Thanks, Anita. Good to be here, guys. Thank you for having me.
For anyone who doesn't know you, Anna, can you just give us a little overview of, yeah, what you do, what life looks like for you?
Yeah. Awesome. , so I was raised as the youngest of six kids in the beautiful sunshine coast., I'm part of the Beaton crew originally, , but now I'm a Lindbeck and yeah, love doing music.
I teach now, , casually just moved to the Blue Mountains. So I've been teaching up there for a while. Yeah, the last couple of months at least. And yeah, it took this year off to travel. Um, yeah, just love traveling, love life and yeah, teacher, musician, haystack, entrepreneur.
We had to get you on Anna because you wrote a story for record about your experience with haystacks. You, , went deep into the world of haystacks now, Adventists. like haystacks. It's a staple food group for Adventists. We have them at sometimes at potluck after church. We have them on a Friday night gathering or a youth gathering at home.
It's for anyone that may not know, it's like a, I think in the States sometimes they have an option called a nacho salad. It's kind of like nachos, but they add salad and Adventists. It's usually , corn chips, beans, salad. Sometimes some dairy, sour cream or cheese or,, whatever your preference is, some salsas and then people get more and more creative.
Some people like beetroot, some people like pineapple, all sorts of things. Probably those are Australian additions, , less than in other places of the world. For some reason, you decided, I'm going to eat Hey, stacks every day. Can you tell us how that happened?
Yeah, look, it does seem crazy now that I look back, but anyway, it all just started with a humble dinner time conversation.
To be honest, I have heard it around the traps, you know, everyone's like. everyone that eats haystacks and loves haystacks, which is 99 percent of people you meet. They're always like, Oh, this is so good. I love this. I could eat this forever. You know, we just say those things so flippantly.
And I was, , I was, finishing up a haystack and I was like, I reckon I could eat this every day. I just love it so much. Yeah. And then me and my husband, we were just chatting like. Do you reckon we really could? , do you reckon we should just give it a go? So anyway, we were driving past Aldi.
Yeah, the next day I'm like, let's just pull in and , let's just commit. Cause I think once we just buy the whole, you know whole bean section and chips and, , everything, we'll just fully commit to this. And so we just did it. So yeah, May 10th, 2020. And yeah, we had been stuck in lockdown for a few weeks and maybe we were just like, Oh, what can we do for fun.
And that became one of the great things that we did that year. So yeah, that's, I guess just a simple conversation. And we'd like, and basically we made some ground rules. Like, okay, so what's this going to look like? Like, well, it has to be a haystack, some minimum chips. , beans and at least one salad topping.
That was like the bare minimum. we even had carried little emergency stacks in our car. Like,, corn chips, a thing of beans and some, cherry tomatoes, but they last a bit anyway. So it was, it was, yeah, it was a wild time, yeah, that was kind of the origins. And then we said we'd eat it every day until we got sick of it.
That was the thing. , but we never did, but yeah, anyway. Yeah.
It would last seven months. Was that like, Oh, we've done well. Or were
you hoping to do more? Well, so once we hit our six month anniversary, which we made a little six, big mammoth six haystack. And we had that together. It was very nice. We were like, this is quite impressive.
Do you reckon we could go a whole year? But, , as things kind of ended with COVID, Mitch and I, we don't actually like to spend that much time at home. And so I think. You know, we were both planning trips. So I really wanted to go back to the sunny coast for a couple weeks. , and yeah, we were just starting to be allowed out and Mitch was planning some like canyon trips to the Blue Mountains.
So,, like literally multi day through canyons. So very hard to carry haystacks on that trip. So it came, yeah, it was our seventh month. It was the last day of school. It was the day before we both left on our benches and we were like, I think convenience has got us in the end. We're going to finish.
We're just going to be happy with seven months, even though I was so tempted because I was like, I could definitely make haystacks at home. So I was like, Oh, maybe I should just push through. But I was like, nah, nah, we'll end it together. So yeah, seven months.
how did you keep it fresh?
How did you be creative? Was it like different things? Did you try weird combos? Like what were the weirdest things you tried on Haystacks?
Totally. I think actually one of the golden tips. So every time I posted maybe like. four or five times throughout the year. Like, Oh, Hey, we're on day 37, just letting you know.
, and then some people would just put in random, like, Oh, have you tried this? Have you tried this? I think one of the coolest things we tried was actually carrots ground up, whizzed up in the bean mix. It really thickens it., but it's also really healthy and it just adds this really nice flavor.
So we did that for quite a while, and then we semi got sick of that, so we went back to no carrot. And one is I really love whizzing up the beans, to make it like a bit of a, yeah, like a thicker, but like, refried beans kind of taste. , that was cool. That was a nice season of that. And in terms of like on the tops, yeah, just honestly, everything eventually, like even like the stalk of the broccoli, I was like, well, I'll just chop it up and see what it tastes like on there yeah, definitely beetroot. That was, I loved beetroot day. Like, you know, cracking one of those out was a good commitment. Yeah, I was actually vegan for like half of it too. So I ended up making all these random cheeses using like cashews and, , yeah, like onion salts and stuff like that. So that was kind of fun experimenting with how to make it.
Like, you know, that little creaminess that's really nice., and we even did the style of corn chips. Went from like the triangular ones for like six months or five months. Like, let's try those circle ones. Let's try those straight ones. Rectangular ones. So I think we both hated the circular ones.
, just too big, like barely could fit in your mouth. , and then the rectangle ones, I think were both our favorite, but they're a bit more expensive. So just on special occasions. Gotta keep it exciting.
Rectangle corn chips for Sabbath
only. Yeah, legit. Special Sabbath treat.
I did have someone make a comment, they were like, they'd obviously written the
article you wrote in the record and you
wrote in there how you started making pesto and putting that on.
Pesto isn't for haystacks, she's changed it, she's not doing it anymore., and so what was like, the
most, I don't know, risque Haystack that you made that was like borderline not borderline. Yeah, that's so funny. Oh yeah, I did, I did love the pesto topping. Oh yeah, you just have to try a bit in the end.
But I think, I think probably when we had to have the, I had, once we had the emergency one, so we had to stay late for something and then it was like 1130 PM and we hadn't had a haystack and we were like, no. So like we were basically just sitting in the car park, like just with this, yeah, chips, beans, and just like cherry tomatoes.
And I feel like it just didn't feel, like a haystack. But, , yeah, look, I'm still calling it a haystack because it's still at our three basic requirements of a haystack. Also, there were so many times I was like, can we just have like rice, like rice and then everything? So I kind of like a burrito bowl, but my husband, he wasn't having a bar of it.
He's like, nah, corn chips. Otherwise it's not a haystack. So I think he definitely, caught us from going over the edge a few times. Yeah, we're lucky though that mostly they were pretty haystack, haystacking. So what about other
meals, Anna? Lunch, breakfast, like?
. Well, normally, okay, so breaking it down, I alternate between like porridge and smoothies.
Like, I just love both those combos. So yeah, I'll do porridge for two months and then smoothies for a couple months. , but Mitch, he'll just have four Wheat Bix, Sultanas, honey. milk every morning. So I suppose we had, he had Weepix every day for seven months. So he's probably had it for 16 years to be honest.
, but Weepix isn't, I suppose, as exciting. , but yeah, and then, I don't know, like sometimes it actually made us have a haystack for breakfast so that I could actually get creative for like dinner. Like I've got some revived cookbooks and I was thinking this whole time, I was like. I should just be learning to cook, but I'm just basically cooking haystacks every day because we had it all the time in the world, right?
Like COVID, Melbourne lockdowns, like hours and hours every day. I've got to be creative with desserts and stuff, made some really cool raw desserts., but yeah,, I think, yeah, definitely usually just wraps and sandwiches for lunch, made a risotto over now, like, you know, just. But it was
So you weren't eating other things, you just had to have haystacks every day, at least once a day.
Yeah. So there was some variety.
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, some variety there. Yeah, I guess
for a lot of people, , a lot of people really struggled during COVID. Was this a way to kind of like make things exciting and bring some,, life
to the lockdowns? Yeah, I think so. I mean, at times it got a bit mundane, but for the most part, it was kind of fun to just see like how long we could go for.
And often we played a bit of a tradition. , we would have our haystack while playing this card game called 500, which is a very fun card game. You can turn it into two play version. And so, and often it would take, two hours, like sit down, eat our meal, play cards, and it became like a nice little bonding time.
Cause sometimes evening. In your own household. You can just be like doing your own thing and just, I don't know, so it was nice to have that time of routine and fun. And just , something that you maybe did look forward to because I do, I actually really do love haystack. So I was like, yeah, haystack.
, you had your favorite meal every day, which is good. , yeah. So I think definitely brought a little bit of fun and especially even. Like when I did remember to actually post about it, like the engagement was just so funny. Like everyone was like, just so supportive and , you're living my dream.
And, it was so funny cause they were like the ones in Queensland, , actually living the dream at the beach and stuff. And I was like, they want my life down here in Melbourne. Were
there other things you did during that time, like intentional things that you did? To kind of lift your
spirits for sure.
Actually. , so me and my husband, we created this thing called the duathlon, which I'm sure actually exists, but so we had an hour outside a day. Right. And so once a week we would see how far, or it was called an equidistant duathlon, which means how far we could ride our bike and run, , the same distance for both sports.
in under an hour. So we had to return in under an hour with transitions. So it was really cool. So the first week I started off just with the 6. 5k goal. So I like rode 6. 5k's, ran 6. 5k's, and then I had like 10 minutes spare. And I was like, that's so cool. So then the next week I tried to get like 7 and then like 7.
2 and we're just seeing how far we could push it to get in. So that was like a good little fitness goal. My husband did so well. I think he got to like eight or nine K's in the end. So he improved like two K's, which was really cool. And there was another thing where, , My husband, he like loves like rogaining and orienteering. , and so he actually, he printed off a map of our five kilometre radius, and there are 109 parks. And he went, he rode around to all of them over like this whole week, and created questions about the parks, and then gave it to me like a little,, I don't know like treasure hunt and so that was really cool so I like ran around I was I rode my bike and answered all these questions and so I don't know honestly I feel like you were really pushed to get really creative and the last thing that I would say that kept me entertained was I would I'd go for runs on my hour and I would find Cole's trolleys and I would push them back to Cole's and see if I could get them.
Could get them back to Coles and run back to home in under an hour. Anyway, I feel like there was many little random things that just evolved over a time of being, , locked down.
I feel like that we're on the cusp of a lesson or a teaching moment here, but maybe you can articulate it. Maybe I won't put words into what can we learn from.
These little challenges, you know, adding joy to our daily routine. Like, did you find yourself learning any lessons out of the lockdown and trying to find ways to be creative?
Yeah, definitely. I think. I think the idea that it's actually okay to slow down, , and that good things can come from that, I suppose I, I lived a, pretty go getter life before lockdown.
So it was quite a shift for me. Like I was, you know, getting to things late, leaving things early to get to things like, you know, like everything was just back to back and so many fun things like that. I just love doing the camps trips, , this, and then you know, in one second, it was like, Over, , and I think it was actually a really good year of reflection and Even like growing who you are because sometimes you don't even have time to like stop and think about what do I really want.
You're just booking in all these random things and going around but you're not really stopping to think what are my priorities here and what do I really want out of this life and what's really important to me and I think in post COVID world now I feel like we're still We're kind of back to the busyness of it all so I think kind of just forcing yourself to slow down a bit and take time to do things, , and reflect on, yeah, I guess who you are even, I actually wrote a song about this.
It's called meant to be, and it's actually about my time in COVID and which is a weird, weird, I would never thought that I would say that time was meant to be at the start. I was like, this is the worst. But then I was like, you know what, that time is really important and yeah, time to really grow who I am, reflect on what I want and yeah, make some goals , and do things that you love rather than maybe just filling your time for the sake of it.
Have you found that going back, like now post COVID, um, have you found it difficult to maintain that kind of like slower pace or to find that time to rest? Or have you kind of just slipped back to how
things were before? Yeah, it's a great question. I think to some degree, I am more, I try to make more space For important things, I think my husband's really good at this too, because he really loves like rock climbing, spending time in the bush, which naturally can take seven or eight hours of like, I don't know if you've ever gone rock climbing, but you're like delaying, just like standing there for like maybe an hour while they do a pitch and you're just like looking at the leaf, like looking at the wall, like obviously looking at the climb actually, but like, you're just, you know, there's beautiful views.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think doing more of that stuff with my husband has also, I think., he does, I think he does, , chill time really well, and that has also helped me in that. And I think moving to the Blue Mountains has been cool, but I've also been like, Alright, what can I get involved in? I've already got, , a futsal team on tonight, and I've got, a Bible study group tomorrow, and I love playing frisbees on Mondays, , in the park.
But yeah,, I think I am naturally more of a person that, like, Loves to have things to do and look forward to, but rather than having things like this out and this out and this out, like fitting, you know, sometimes I'd feel like three or four times the things in the other slash night. So I feel like maybe I'm just doing one or two or three things that I really love throughout the week, but trying to leave some things more open.
So, yeah, I think I have changed, but I still am a bit of a go getter and it's hard to remove that part of me that wants to do everything.
You're a, you just mentioned,, a song that you'd written, you're a singer songwriter. Did you write a song about haystacks? I have to know. Oh,
So I, I am hoping to write a song about haystacks, but there's a guy named Lawson in Newcastle.
You might know him, Lawson Walters. And he already has written a song about haystacks, which is very good. , and I've actually combined with him a few times and he's just like a bit rappy. And then I sing like the girl part where you're just like, haystacks, kind of in the background. And it is very funny.
It is actually on my Instagram because I was like, can you do this with me at one of my concerts? So we performed it together and it is hands down one of my favorite songs. And so I just don't know whether I could write something as good or if I should,, maybe I'll just, we'll just combine forces and release that one day because I think it's just a, great Haystack song.
But I think maybe at some point , if inspiration hits. , I
guess when you're, well, I would think as a songwriter that in order to be able to write songs, you have to kind of step back and create that space to write,, being like such a fast paced person. Do you struggle to find space to write songs or does that kind of just come to you as you're going
about?
Yeah, that's a good question. I've got a lot of voice memos of just like, when I am just wandering through the bush or belaying or driving, just driving. I'm like, Oh, such a sweet little tune. And then I'll like just voice memo it. So I've got like a hundred voice memos and about three songs written from them.
But like, I think if I actually did take the time to sit down and go back to it,, yeah, like even last Sabbath or the Sabbath before, Yeah, it was, we were planning to go out into the bush, but it was like storming really bad. And so we were just like, Oh, let's just stay in. And then, yeah, I found myself having four or five hours and I just sat in my room the whole afternoon, just writing a song.
And I was like, man, I miss this. This is so awesome. So yeah, , I think you're right. I think when I do create space, like really good things come and I have that time. But, and usually when I do sit down, I can write a song. Like I just, it just really flows for me. And if I have a concept or really want to nail something, then I will.
But I think you're right. It takes time to, to have that. Yeah, I suppose opportunity. And I also think that was the blessing of COVID. I wrote six or seven songs and , some of my close friends, I share my songs with early and get some feedback and they were like, I reckon this is some of your best work yet.
And I think it was because. I actually gave them, I would say, 10 times longer than my normal songs that I've written because I did have that time. And so, yeah, I think I was privileged to have a lot of time and that really led to some good quality
things. What can Haystacks teach us about faith?
Ooh, this is a great question.
, I think faith takes consistency. , like I think consistently leaning in and trusting God. And, yeah, faith is a relationship with God. And I think That daily consistency of going to him, hearing from him, praying, reading the Bible, . Which,, is what we kind of did daily. , being so committed to the challenge for seven months.
And we still eat it probably two or three times a week. Like we love it . , and it's so simple. , and so,, I think maybe it could link in that way in terms of the consistency of the challenge. Like we, we were so determined , and in that we, we found success in it and think obviously God doesn't need us to like.
Yeah, to make or break everything or whatever, like God is the one that has, he came to us in the form of Jesus. He wants us so badly. He's just there with open arms. But yeah, when we come to him, he is there and that consistency I think can help build our faith. And I think times where I felt like my faith has been a bit shaky is maybe times that I haven't felt as connected and maybe realizing, oh, I actually haven't spent that time prioritizing.
And so, yeah, when we prioritize, hey, sex, we did it. We smashed it., when we prioritize, maybe I say it grows and flourishes, which is beautiful.
You wrote a cool line here. You said you wrote it for you. You said when life gave us lemons, we didn't make lemonade. We made hummer fries.
But
then I think Jesus made us with a creative and humorous streak.
Sometimes we need to lean in more with our hearts and stomachs rather than with our heads
so much.
I love that. Can you just elaborate on that a little bit more? Like, what do you
mean by that? Yeah. I don't know like spiritual pathways. There's like similar to personality types. There's a guy that wrote a book kind of outlining, , the personality types of church and your relationship with God.
And it was really eye opening. Like, you know, there's people that are like. Contemplatives or there's naturalists, so they might be like John the Baptist, , you know, love being out in nature, things like that. Or , they really love all their senses being alive, and so,, it might be like, or enthusiastic, so it might be like a Hillsong vibe or whatever.
And I feel like our church Really nailed. There's like traditionalist and intellectual. Those would also to like ones that just love traditions. I mean, it might be more like Catholics or Anglican, they have more of those traditional services and then intellectual, the ones that really, , they understand the Bible inside and out.
Baptists, I don't know, like each church I'm obviously pigeonholing. There's a lot more to this, but, , as a brief concept, I think Adventists, we tend to be very much about , the facts, the figures, the timelines, , which is beautiful because you have this awesome gift of like the understanding, the prophecies and things like that,, which have really helped my own faith.
But I think sometimes I feel like people, , are so in their heads that they really miss the heart of things. And. , yeah, , I don't, I feel like I've always been a little bit of an enthusiast, like, I really love when people, feel the passion and, , are energized by their relationship with God and, I know, yeah, sometimes I've been to church where I felt a bit, , sadder leaving, like, Yeah, like, you know, they talk about, like, we're praising with our hands up and things like that, or, praising with tambourines, but it's like the saddest tune in the world, like, oh, , so I don't know, like, I think it'd be great if we could see more parts of, God , and what God has created and the different personalities that God has made us with in our churches, and I think sometimes that is okay , to really just feel, experience, laugh like God has created us with like an energy and, yeah, with humor and those sorts of things.
I think God wants us to be joyful and to, , yeah, I think have fun in this life too. I'll actually share a quick verse because, , In my, in my small group that I've just joined, which is super fun, , we've been looking through Ecclesiastes, and there was a verse that really jumped out at me that made me, , reflect also on this concept that I wrote about, but, and yeah, it says, so it's found in Ecclesiastes 3, verse 12, and it says, I perceive that there is nothing better for them.
Then to be joyful and to do good as long as they live. And I know there's like that climax in chapter 12 as well of that. Yeah, it kind of like the point of the whole book. And there's also some very depressing things in Ecclesiastes, but I feel like when I read that verse, I was like, yeah, that's awesome.
If we just have joy in our hearts and we do good in this world, I think that's exactly what Jesus did. He brought so much joy and happiness and hope to people's lives. And he just did. Yeah, the best he could and served everyone with love, , did so much good in this world. And I think, yeah, it's such a small little Haystack challenge, but I feel like it brought so much joy to random people.
And so many people like, Oh, I love that. And even just that like joy or connecting or chatting about Haystacks is like, Such a beautiful way to connect and get, have a bit of fun. Definitely.
As we wind up, let's make it practical. We love to do that here on Record Live. , we bring the practical to our faith in our life.
Joy. How do we practically infuse joy into our everyday, the mundane, the routine., give us a, in a nutshell, what do you think? How can we get better at doing this? Cause we're not all great at living
joyously. Yes. Yeah. , I actually read a book about gratitude, this year and it was really powerful.
I would actually recommend that maybe. I don't know, maybe, I can't quite remember the author. I think it was literally just called Gratitude, but it's similar to Joy, but she had some really cool strategies about, focusing on one area in your life per month. And trying to show more gratitude about it.
So, her relationship with her husband, relationship with her kids, , her relationship to, to her own body and self esteem. And she just , it was really amazing the way that she , picked that. , she did it for a whole year and it changed her life. And I've heard of many testimonies where just flipping around,, circumstances, this thing's happened, this or whatever, but actually turning some things around and realizing the positives, the blessings that you have in life, And it could be as simple as writing down three things you're grateful for before you go to bed.
And yeah, or maybe it is focusing on something that,, is a bit challenging for a month and being like, okay, how can I turn this around? How can I show gratitude? And she found that the more she actually expressed the gratitude or joy to people, the more it really became a part of her life, like cemented in it, rather than.
, it's easy to be like, Oh, can you pick that up? Because you always drop your clothes, not in the basket. , you always pick up on those things rather than like, Hey, thanks for fixing the car door. , you know, the things that they are doing, sometimes we miss those in the light of the things people aren't doing but trying to really grab onto those positive moments. I think as a teacher, this is paramount to like, there's 60 things that kids will miss, but that one thing they do, you're like, Jeremy, excellent job with that. And they're like, You know, it really changes everything, like the persona, even the attitude towards the next 10 minutes in class, , it's a real powerful thing, I think, expressing it.
Yeah, I think I've said a lot of things there, but, , yeah, maybe tackling things in small chunks to try and turn your view around. Expressing it might make it cement a bit more in your, in your life. , and maybe writing it down physically is a good thing. Three things per day. Yeah.
Awesome. Yeah. Graduate super powerful.
So there's some awesome pointers. For anyone who. Anna is often posting things on Instagram that are fun little ideas, so I'm sure they can check out there and get some inspiration as to how to be more creative. They can also find your music on there, so if anyone wants to learn more about you and what you're doing, where should they
go?
, yeah, so Anna Beaden is kind of all my music stuff. , so yeah, Anna Beaden music, Anna Beaden. I'm sure you'll find it. Yeah, YouTube, Spotify, Facebook., yeah, you'll hear my life musings. And if I don't reply for six months, I've done a little hiatus. , anyway, I'm a bit sporadic. I'm so lucky. Yeah, glad I got Zanita's message.
Bye bye, happiness. Well, it's
been great to have you on. We really appreciated your Haystack journey story. , so yeah, thank you for sharing with us and we wish you all the best in your creative travel,
music endeavors. Thanks Anita and Jared. And it has been my dream to be in the record. So you've, you've made it, you know, just this wannabe, just very grateful.
Honestly, I was stoked you accepted the idea. You're like, Oh, that sounds fun. I was like, they're going to post it or publish it. So it's so cool. So yeah, thanks for having me. It's been fun. It's been awesome.
Cool. Thank you. And everyone, I'll see you again next week for another episode of Record Live. See
you Record.
Bye.