January 9th

Yesterday evening Ali was invited to a meeting that was discussing arrangements and plans for a women's away day. It was very interesting to see how they view the importance of women in pastoral care within Cambray.
Today we began by meeting with John, Fred and Don to talk over what we'll be doing during the week. We then went along to the lunch club and got to know a few of the more mature members of the congregation. The food was great, and the club seemed well attended.
After lunch we went in two different directions; Jon went to the men's prayer meeting and Ali to the ladies fellowship meeting.
The prayer meeting consisted of about half a dozen older men, although some people were away today. Jon was asked if he would mind opening with a brief moment of devotions - five minutes before the start! It seemed to go OK, and it was good to spend time in prayer with these men.
The ladies fellowship was a well attended group. Two ladies shared their personal verse for the year and Ali was interviewed (but at least had had prior warning and was ready to be questioned.) Fred spoke about Psalm 138 and afterwards there was a welcome cup of tea!
This evening Jon has gone along to sit in on a deacons' meeting.

In the next couple of days we will be attending home groups, a bible study and the toddler group, so will be quite busy dashing back and forth to Cheltenham.

August 21st

We had our last meeting with Ian this morning. We discussed the Prayer Wheel event which happened yesterday. We all were very positive about the event - we felt it had gone really well and that it had offered people the opportunity to pray in different, non-threatening, ways. Ian wants to get feedback from people next week to let other people know about what went on and he also wants to run another event in a month or two's time. He sees the prayer wheel gathering momentum.

In the afternoon Ian took us to Greenslopes Baptist church to have a chat with the pastor there - Graeme. Graeme showed us the buildings and church and we had a chat about the ministry of the church. It is interesting to see the differences between Australian and UK churches.

Late afternoon Kerry brought the bus to take us up to Paul and Cassandra's for a meal (they are a couple from the church, Paul (a Canadian) is studying at Malyon College). It was lovely to spend some time with them, and with Nancy and Kerry as well. Kerry drove us home and we said goodbye for the last time and waved them off.

More packing this evening - still wondering how we are going to fit everything in!

August 20th

Today was our last Sunday here - shame! It was the church's anniversary today and they had the President Elect of the Baptist Union of Queensland - Lorraine Walker - who preached. Goodness - two women preachers in less than a month! The morning service went really well - including my speedstacks demonstration in the children's talk about choosing good foundations - Christian's need to build on Christ. We had prepared a presentation as a thank you but because of technical hitches with the laptop at church we had to show it without sound. Ian thanked us for our involvement in the church and gave us a beautiful book called 'The Great South Land' which funnily enough was the title of the song that we had chosen to accompany our presentation. People have written some lovely messages to us in it.

After lunch at McDonalds (a most interesting Sunday lunch) we just had time to complete the communion service leaflet and get back to church for the Prayer Wheel Event. With only half an hour we managed to get nearly everything done but people began arriving before we were totally ready - Jon needed to get the photocopying of the service leaflet done, but someone was photocopying the womens' meeting devotions leaflet as more people wanted copies – it's taking over the world!!

We did communion as a guided service with led responses. We gave people the opportunity to share what God had laid on their hearts – and a couple of people spoke, though with a bit more time others might have been willing to share as well.

Once communion was finished we all took lots of photos of each other while we waited for the pizzas. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and were able to give our thank you cards to the church. Ian thanked us again at the end. Then more photos were taken and we swapped e-mails before we all came back to the flat with Kerry and Nancy for coffee.

We are both tired but glad that today seems to have been a real blessing to the people in the church.

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 17th

After spending the morning trying to get on with preparation for the prayer wheel I went off with Ian to the pastors' meeting. I was able to share about the Prayer Wheel event there. The pastors at the meeting said it was a shame we hadn't had much opportunity to visit other churches. We prayed together and they prayed for our journey home which was lovely. (Left to right: Sue, Graeme, Ian, Don and Col)

After the meeting Sue (a pastor in all but name) and I went for a coffee and a chat. We shared our stories and I discovered that she has been instrumental in creating a way forward for women in Queensland in Baptist ministry, but still retains the title 'Ministry assistant' which annoys her! She said in the last 12 months that women are being recognised as being able to be pastors, but that it would take years for things to really change for the better.

Sue brought me home and shortly after Jon and the girls got back from visiting the park. On the way home they saw three lizards, one snake and a heron by the river's edge.

Jon led Home Group this evening and said it was an interesting study based on Psalm 137 with lots of difficult questions on the last couple of verses. It seems strange to be doing things for the last time. We are realising just how much we could do if we had the time. We seem to have barely scratched the surface with what we have been involved in – maybe another 6 weeks might do it!

August 16th

Yesterday completely tired us out so it took us a while to get going this morning. We spent this morning and most of this afternoon preparting for the Prayer Wheel event, though late afternoon we took the girls out for a bit of fresh air. Ian had said that today was a public holiday so people can go to the EKKA. This was especially noticeable when we were coming home because usually around 5pm it's really difficult to cross the road because of the traffic. Tonight, though, there were hardly any cars and we crossed the road really easily!

This evening Jon went out to English conversation class. He said that there were a lot of people there - the two people who started last week as well as two new people. The group had a lot of fun and there was a lot of discussion going on. It is encouraging seeing new people coming every week and becoming a part of the group.

August 14th

Played tennis with the girls this morning before Ian arrived. They are hitting the net more often than not! When Ian arrived we went over last weeks activities with Ian and discussed the programme for the week. We are going to have to spend quite a bit of time preparing for our prayer event but we will be involved in all the same things as the last few weeks as well.This afternoon we had to go food shopping again. I shall be so glad when I am not having to live week by week as it is challenging to manage meals and budgets! I had not thought that this would be quite as tricky as it has been.

This evening I went along to sit in on the deacons' meeting. I have only been to one meeting before quite a while ago and I found it a worthwhile experience.

I forgot to say yesterday that a lady at church gave us a crucifix orchid to look at. She said they are quite prolific over here and she has loads in her garden. It is a shame we can't bring any back as they are truly beautiful. She also gave us a custard apple to try - not so beautiful. Still, shouldn't judge a book by its cover. We are going to all try it and see what it tastes like!
P.S. - Custard Apples have a very intense sweet, melon-y flavour, but have a more gooey, sticky texture.

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.

August 11th

Jon had the opportunity to visit the same couple as last time (two weeks ago). The lady had been at the womens meeting yesterday and had taken a copy of my devotions home with her - she has already given a copy to her neighbour.

While he was out I did some preparation for Sunday. Jon got back just before lunch and I went straight out with Ian to the Foundations group. They were having a pancake party to encourage newbies to the group. There seemed to be more people round and the conversational English class (based around a newspaper article on the water shortage here) attracted a bigger group than the previous time I was there. Afterwards we moved into a time of games followed by worship. As we were waiting for the games to begin I spoke with one girl, from Hong Kong, who happened to have been born in England – near London! Her parents moved back to Hong Kong when she was about 5 so she doesn't remember much about the UK.

I took the girls along to South Bank, leaving Jon to work on his sermon once I had got home. Ian rang me while I was out to tell me youth group wouldn't be happening so having got back and told Jon, he decided to go to Bridges. As we arrived home we found Jon taking pictures of the beautiful sunset - the colours were amazing!

I didn't say anything yesterday but we heard about the news from the UK at around 7pm Australian time. It is a weird experience to know all that is going on back home. We are hoping it won't affect our journey back which is coming all to quickly - we can't believe we've got less than two weeks left!

Jon has just got in from Bridges - he found the group really encouraging tonight as he saw the young people really starting to build relationships with each other and grow as a group. When he gave out a leaflet advertising the prayer event we are planning, they were all shocked that we are going home so soon. They can't believe it any more than we can!

August 8th

We got up ridiculously early (6.15am) to catch the train up to Australia Zoo. The journey was really easy, with some fabulous views of the Glasshouse Mountains as we arrived. The zoo was really good – the whole day focused around the Crocoseum – with four shows back to back - a snake show, a tiger show, a bird show and a crocodile show which lasted over an hour. We saw loads of crocodiles, more cute wombats and several Tasmanian devils (which are cuter than the cartoon would have you think!).

When we got back we took the girls to the IMAX to see a movie called Hoodwinked – which the girls loved. It was pretty impressive on the large screen and a very cleverly put together movie.

More prayer event preparation this evening - and Jon has to fill in a form for the Australian census. How bizarre that we are included!

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 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.