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 9th

Today we went to visit Malyon College, the Baptist training college of Queensland. Kerry showed us round then after morning tea we had the opportunity to sit in on a tutorial, while Nancy, Kerry's wife - who works in the office - took the girls to a local playpark.

After the lecture we went to chapel – what is it about colleges and chapel on Wednesdays? The worship was really great, then Peter Law, the founder of Crossover Communications International, spoke about mission and living life on the front line for God. Ian is part of this same organisation and knows Peter – so it was good to hear a bit more about what the mission does.

We stayed for community lunch and chatted with some of the students. It was a good opportunity to learn more from people in different churches in South Queensland.

Once lunch was over Ian drove us back to the city so we could pick up some food. A short ride home on the ferry gave us just enough time to do some service preparation - Ian has asked me to lead the service this week, not the one after as that one is their church anniversary service - then I dashed off to English conversation class. Ian had me lead a session about remembering things – looking at a picture then asking questions about what the class member's could recall. People who know me well know that I don't feel comfortable doing things without much preparation, but I think it went ok!