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!

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.

August 2nd

(Apologies for the late posting but our internet connection dropped out yesterday evening. Blog entries may be a little infrequent for the next few days.)

Change of plans for today – we had thought we were going to visit Malyon College – a local Baptist college - but this will happen next week instead. Instead I went with Ian to visit an elderly lady who lives in a care facility. Unfortunately she was attending a service that began moments after we arrived, Ian said he would try again later in the week. When I got back we took the girls to a new park – Pineapple Park - that Jon discovered yesterday on the way home. They played for a bit then we took them to KFC – instead of beans and coleslaw they offer mashed potato and gravy! Ian was so surprised when we told him!

He took us to visit a Baptist church in Ipswich, south west of Brisbane. The pastor, a good friend of Ian's shared with us all about the church. It has only recently bought an old sports centre and they have renovated it beautifully. It was interesting to discover how the move affected the church as a whole.

The church has a strong focus on discipleship despite having three quite separate services and congregations. We were struck by how ambitious the pastor's vision for the future is.

This evening Jon went to the English conversation class again and led a session about the weather and whether! There were a few people away, particularly some of the helpers from the church, but it still went really well with the dozen or so who were there.

July 31st

While waiting for Ian to arrive for a meeting with us, we spent the morning organising the placement project that Ian has asked us to plan. Once he had arrived we discussed this weeks activities, and reviewed last week.

Things planned for this week include: going to the Baptist college here and sitting in on a lecture, more conversational English, Home Group, Bridges Group, leading next Sunday's serviceas well as doing the children's talk and giving our testimonies and some other things as well!

This afternoon Kerry drove us up to Brisbane's Redcliffe - it's just not the same as ours! He took us to visit his parents (they know about us via Jon's family and Kerry), then on to Wynnum.