August 19th

This morning we did some preparation at the flat, then went to church and did some more. I drew up the outline of the new building for one of our prayer spaces (not bad, even if I say so myself) and Jon did lots of photocopying.
Once we were finished we went down the beach and the girls and I went swimming. The girls got hungry so Jon went and got chips. The girls played again while I sat and read, same as Jon. Then they got hungry again so Jon went and got a plate of Chinese food – Bethany particularly liked beef in black bean sauce, Abi liked the sweet and sour beef – then he went off again and bought Abi and Bex a Dagwood Dog each (see EKKA entry!).
The girls pleaded with me to make a sandcastle together - they said I was really good (I told them I had been taught by an expert!!!)
When we got in we found that Ian had sent us some photos for tomorrow, so we put the presentation together. It took longer than we had thought so when we had finished it was nearly dark (5.30pm - even after 5 weeks it is still weird and we can't get used to it at all.)
Having come along by Kangaroo Point Cliffs last Monday night, we thought we would go and have a proper look at them as they are floodlit at night. We took sausages in the hope of using an outdoor bbq but all of them were being used, so we came back and ate them at home.
This evening has been a mix of things - we have done yet more preparation for tomorrow, planned the children's story for the morning service, packed one suitcase and wrote our goodbye cards - not bad for one evenings work! Sunset tonight over Mt Coo-tha was fantastic again - Jon is getting a lot of practice with his camera...we have MANY sunset shots now.

August 12th

I took the girls down the beach this morning to free Jon up to prepare his sermon for tomorrow. It was really hot today and Abi and I have got a bit sunburnt. The girls went in the water and dug in the sand while I reviewed what I had already prepared for the service tomorrow.

After lunch we walked along Kangaroo Point cliffs to Story Bridge. We walked over the bridge which is incredibly high. None of us could imagine wanting to do the Story Bridge walk which goes up and over the top of the bridge! Once we had walked all the way over we crossed over to the other side under the road and walked back. The views were fantastic.

Jon has worked all evening on his sermon while I finished my planning for tomorrow. Again we have found it difficult this week to fit in all the preparation for Sunday, as well as the other events we have been involved in. Having only one laptop between all of us has proved to be more of a challenge than we thought! And living in a fairly small apartment has added its own complications. Working in the same room as the TV, kitchen, dining room, lounge is hardly a quiet environment suited to study and preparation!

August 10th

Jon took the girls to a new park nearby while I went and led the devotions at the women's meeting. It went really well - they asked if they could have a copy of what I had prepared to let everyone take one home! I had to leave early so Jon could go out and got back just in time. Jon had just had a call from Ian - so he rushed off to the church to meet up with him.

Jon went with Ian to the pastor's meeting - there were three other pastors there from two churches. He was struck by the fact that both churches had significant missionary programmes overseas. Peter Law, who spoke at Malyon yesterday, shared more about his organisations work. It was good to be able to learn more about what is happening in Eastern Europe.

This afternoon we managed to visit the beach, after I had finished my preparations for Home group this evening, to keep the girls entertained for a while.

Ian picked me up for Home group in his mini (he had told us previously that it has dodgy brakes!) which was an experience in itself. This week there were two children and five adults so there was more discussion during the study this week.

August 7th

We spent this morning reviewing last week with Ian and covered this weeks plan. We then arranged our placement project with him - a prayer event due to happen on our last Sunday here. There is a lot of preparation needed to get this together which we will have to start this week.

There seems to be a lot of things coming up, we will be going to the Baptist College on Wednesday after the change in our arrangements for last week. We will be going along to all the regular events that we have already been involved in - English conversation, Home Group, local pastors' meeting, etc., but in addition Ali will be leading the devotions at the womens' meeting on Thursday and Jon will be involved in the youth group on Friday.

This afternoon Kerry took us to the Gold Coast - the journey is a good time to talk about church and about our ministry as well.

The Gold Coast is a magical place with golden sands and huge rolling waves. The girls and I all got soaked, several waves took us by surprise and we got our trousers/shorts all wet! It was really blowy, but absolutely - take your breath away - beautiful! I found several fan shells which are gorgeous!

This evening we did planning, but are struggling with getting thoughts into words.

July 26th

We walked into the city centre to get a couple of things and to show Jon where we walked the other day. We took the girls to the park afterwards back on South Bank, where they played and we did some reading - relevant to our placement (See, Rosemary, we have read the handbook!.)

This afternoon we went along to the beach where the girls dug and paddled while we worked on our sermons and Jon also did some reading about the devotions he is preparing for the AGM at the church on Sunday.

I went along to the English conversation class this evening and led a session on love and marriage after the ice-breaker about Aussie slang and a sentence game. I found this a little scary, but it seemed to go well. I then led a small group, me and two others, before the group finished with reading definitions of love that we had written, with Ian finishing on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 as the perfect definition.

July 19th

This morning we all went to look at Kangaroo Point Cliffs. The city looks amazing – the cliffs are quite steep and the view from the top gives a great vantage point to look over the central business district. We walked back along the base of the cliffs and saw a couple of people rock climbing. Having stopped for a coffee we then got organised and took the girls to Streets Beach. The sun was really hot and the water was icy cold. Jon sat on the beach, I paddled and the girls got themselves all wet – they are much braver than us! The water was so cold it was almost painful to stay in it for long. Lunch back at the apartment – much more successful (Australian sausages, potatoes and beans) then the girls and I went to the park and beach again leaving Jon behind to do some preparation for his sermon. After tea Jon went along to the church to join in with the conversational English class. I got the girls to bed – it is so weird them wanting to go to bed from around 6.30pm and that includes Rebekah! The girls have dropped off the sleep last night and tonight so fast it is amazing!! I did fall asleep while Rebekah was having a shower but I've dragged myself off the sofa to type this while I wait for Jon to come back.

Jon came back at around 9.30pm. He had chosen to wear his Redcliffe t-shirt – the one with Chinese characters on it – Knowing, Being, Doing – and there were several Chinese people there who understood what it said. He said there was a Japanese girl there who said that the Japanese use the same character set as the Chinese but they make different words – instead the characters read 3 different boys names!!!

The group played some games and had drinks and snacks which included jelly! The jelly was because someone had mentioned it the previous week and there were people who didn't know what it was.

We are all still flaking out late afternoon - 5-7pm is the trickiest time but we think this is because we are getting up so early rather than jet-lag.

July 17th

I woke around 5am and had the privilege of flying towards the dawn as we approached Brisbane. We banked sharply twice over Brisbane before landing were it took ages to get through customs as three planes arrived at the same time!

Still, got there eventually and were met at the airport by Kerry Connell (friend) and Ian (Pastor and supervisor), who had brought the church minivan to collect us! It was good to meet Ian who we had only had e-mail contact with so far. He prayed for us all once we and all our luggage had been loaded into the minibus before we set off for the church. Ian arranged to meet up with us tomorrow afternoon and left in his red mini.

Kerry took us into the church to use the 'restrooms' and look around. We found out that they have 'morning tea' after the Sunday morning service and there is to a special one – in our honour – this coming Sunday!!

Kerry then took us for a walk to stretch our legs again along to the South Bank. The sky is gloriously blue and very clear. It is quite warm in the sunshine! We saw the purpose built beach – a bit weird in the centre of a city! Then we went back to the minibus – from here on known as the Edmobile – and went to Kerry's house in Mitchelton. He offered the girls some books to read – Bex being her usual self refused any at all so Kerry suggested going to a local charity store – I forget what he called it – and we got a couple there – I spent my first Australian dollars! Kerry took us home then popped out to do an errand while we were able to send an e-mail home to let family know of our safe arrival. This was 12 noon Brisbane time so it would have been about 1am back in the UK.

Kerry came home and bought us 'Aussie' pies and sausages for dinner – he said Nancy – his wife – would have been appalled, but he said it was the difference between a woman and a man looking after the guests! Once we had eaten he took us shopping for food to a shop called 'Woolworths' (nothing like our Woolworths really – more like Tesco or Asda). It was odd shopping there because everything was the same but at the same time strangely different. There were familiar brand names on the shelves – Nestle, Kelloggs, etc. but product names were slightly altered – Rice Krispies are Rice Bubbles over here – peculiar!

Once we had got our shopping Kerry drove us to our apartment. Abi spectacularly ran into the glass patio door and bumped her head and fell over! She said she didn't see it. Kerry said goodbye and we were on our own. Beth fell asleep watching Australian kids TV – it was a bit young for all of them but we all needed a break. We tried to wake Beth up but she kept dozing off so we decided to get something to eat about 4.30pm and then shower them and put them to bed. Showering them woke Beth up and though we let her sit up and colour while Bex had her shower, she and Abi then wound Bex up for half hour by giggling.

Jon kept falling asleep, often mid-sentence. I had to wake him up while he was holding a hot cup of coffee - he had me worried! And he keeps snoring. The time it has taken me to type this I've had to wake him 4 or 5 times because he is snoring so loudly and he has tried talking in his sleep as well. When I've done this I will wake him up and go and have a shower but I bet he will fall asleep again! (Later note: He did!)