February 6th

We can't believe we are in week 5 already - time is racing by so quickly! Jon went on a walk with some people from the church on Saturday in Adlestrop - great weather and good fellowship.

Ali did the children's talk in the morning service on Sunday. She blew a balloon up, let it go and then hung grapes on a piece of string! And all to illustrate John 15:1-17.

Jon led communion in the evening - but without the balloons, string and the only grapes were in the wine!

Ali went along to the lunch today and then shared some of her personal story at the Ladies Fellowship. Jon is busy planning the Home Group material for tomorrow evening.

August 6th

We managed to do our preparation last night for today's service, but it did take some time and we felt really tired this morning. Jon lead the service and I did the children's talk and we both shared our testimonies. We are so aware that God has been with us as we have organised things as the service, with Ian's message and our participation, along with communion really worked together well with one theme coming through. We are also so grateful to God for providing us with the strength to serve Him even when we don't feel we have the energy. We think people are beginning to treat us as a proper part of the church - more people are talking with us and we have been invited out to dinner!

In talking with Kerry after the service, he offered to take the girls out to Ipswich, to a playpark they had seen on Wednesday that we hadn't been able to go to, while we tidied up at Kangaroo Point apartments. While they were out we cleaned up ready to hand the keys over tomorrow and had the opportunity to have a nice quiet lunch together. Bliss! We feel this afternoon has made a big difference to our energy levels - Kerry has helped us more than he thinks!

Jon went to the evening prayer meeting at church, which he found to be a valuable opportunity for sharing and prayer.

August 5th

Today we went into the city where Jon and the girls took me up City Hall clock tower so I could see the view and the bell rang 12noon while we were up there – it was really loud! They then took me to Roma Street Parklands - which are lovely. Beautiful flowers and ingeniously designed waterways and garden areas.

Late afternoon we went up to the apartment where we will be staying for the rest of our time here. Once the couple, who are travelling for several weeks, had left we went back to collect our things. We are so grateful for this provision which will save us some money (God is so good!) but I am now completely exhausted. Jon has some preparation to do as he is leading the service tomorrow, I still have to read through my children's talk, and we are giving our testimony! The fun never ends!

July 29th

Jon got up early to go and help at the garage sale at church which started at 6.30am! The weather was glorious compared with yesterday – complete opposite – with cloudless blue skies and strong sunshine. I did more preparation on my sermon and the girls amused themselves. Jon came back late morning and after lunch we went along to South Bank so the leaflets advertising The Living Room could be handed out. We stopped off at the beach to keep the girls happy. This evening has been full of preparation for both of us – I preach tomorrow while Jon has the childrens talk to do as well as lead devotions before the church's AGM.

July 23rd

First visit to church today and it is nice to know that Baptists are Baptists the world over – no-one sat in the front row! But as the 'special guests' we decided to break with tradition! We were made to feel very welcome. Our first talk went OK, and after the service we had a proper opportunity to meet people over coffee. A couple of people have offered to look after the girls to free us up to get involved in the church activities.

Kerry took us for a drive this afternoon up to Tamborine Mountain. It is about 40 miles from Brisbane and is around 560m high. We took a walk through a rain forest to Curtis Falls, a small waterfall (that would be bigger if there had been rain in the last 18 months) which falls into a pool where platypus live (they only come out at the beginning and end of the day though so we didn't see any - shame!) and also where glow-worms can be found. I heard a guide say that at night the whole area is lit up. There are lots of incredibly tall trees, some of them gum trees which shed their bark and many of them have strangler figs growing on them – the seeds germinate in the branches and grows roots which reach down the trunk, each year the roots get bigger and eventually the fig kills the host tree by strangulation!
As we drove back we stopped at a view point that simply took our breath away. We were able to look out and see the mountains of the Great Dividing Range in the distance. It is truly awesome to be able to experience God's world in all its glory.

We will meet with Ian tomorrow to find out about what will happen this coming week.

July 21st

Up bright and early again – for Jon at least (3.45am!). Maybe we haven't quite got over jet-lag yet! We got ourselves organised then went on our first Australian bus to the local supermarket. Really cool being able to have a really good look at what is on offer. Bizarre things like Dove chocolate (that's Galaxy in the UK), lime cordial (which is an intense green and looks like disinfectant), multi-coloured popcorn (that the girls were desperate to have, and we weren't as we thought all the e-numbers would turn them hyperactive) and a vegetable called brolliflower (a cross between broccoli and cauliflower – looks like a cauliflower but is green!). In the afternoon we walked down to the river and caught a city ferry upstream to a place called Sydney Street. We then caught a CityCat back up river to North Quay. Once home we did some preparation work for our childrens talk for Sunday.

This evening I went to Bridges (a student group) at the church. There were 9 people including me from several different countries. We played a few games, then Ian did a short talk about Baptism and Communion. As we left one girl said I had a very attractive accent, like Keira Knightly, and I spoke proper English – I said I was very flattered!