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 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!