August 13th

This morning's service went really well despite a couple of logistical hiccups at the start. There were a couple of changes in the order of service which I found a little disconcerting but it didn't seem to matter in the end. Jon's preaching was well received - seems his accent wasn't as much of a problem as had been anticipated! Many thanks again to those who have been praying for us. It is a priviledge to be used by God in His service.

Jon stayed at church for a special church meeting about their building project while I took the girls back for lunch. Once the meeting was over Kerry and Nancy came with the Edmobile and drove us up to Toowoomba to a viewpoint called Picnic Point. (They said they hadn't been up there for a couple of years!) The journey took over an hour each way, so we had a great chance to catch up with Nancy. The views from Picnic Point were breathtaking. It is an amazing thing to be able to look out over such a great distance. The Great Dividing Range is awesome, and just goes on as far as you can see. God has made some wonderful things!

We got back just in time for bed (for the girls - not us!) and we have done some preparation for next weekends prayer event and watched a movie.

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.