Travel Log

Whilst floods are devastating Northern Namibia, Eastern Australia has been battling with deadly fires in the South, floods in the North and a massive cyclone in the Far North. (I attach a photo of a flooded road David was faced with a couple of weeks ago, when visiting churches to the west.)
People talk about ‘global warming’ but I consider more accurate Colin Buchanan’s phrase, ‘global warning’, in his song from his ‘Super Saviour’ album:

Listen to the GLOBAL WARNING
Coming at you and me
Jesus’ GLOBAL WARNING
Repent and believe
When you repent you turn around
You turn away from sin
When you believe in Jesus Christ
You put your trust in Him

Life has been quite busy for us recently (surprise, surprise!). Last week Thursday I flew (via Sydney) to Brisbane. I did two talks on that day and another two on Friday. One was a Bible study, one was part of an evening designed to help answer questions of people enquiring into the possibility of serving as missionaries themselves, and Friday was part of a weekend to help prepare some CMS short-term missionaries by discussing issues. I talked about Culture and Culture shock/stress. It was a great day and I enjoyed meeting these people. Friday was an ‘African day’; they ate some African food and learnt some of the cultural approaches, such as women serving men and eating apart from them.

I managed to really hurt my back by dragging my case around during this time (especially when I managed to miss one of my flights) and was grateful to the ministrations of a chiropractor who got me back on my feet in time for a church camp at Baradine this past weekend (4 hours’ drive away).

The other thing I did in Brisbane was attend a Children’s Ministry workshop that CMS arranged for me to attend. One of the electives I chose was balloon modeling – something I have wanted to learn for a long time. As you can imagine, from the photo, it is a hit with children, and should prove an effective ministry tool . Caris has also shown an interest in learning. I also had the opportunity to catch up with friends whilst up there. The ‘goodbyes’ in store for us started that weekend, knowing we will not see each other till we get back from Namibia next time!

This past weekend was spent on a camp with Narrabri church. As you can see by the photos on their blog, the children had a ball. It was a good time for us, too: getting to know the people in the church who are so supportive of what God is doing in Namibia. David gave 4 talks on Philippians and I spoke to the children on the Sunday. Coming home, we noticed a wobble as we drove and discovered a swollen tyre about to burst so were able to change it before we had an accident.

Even though I have not posted much since being in Australia, due to time constraints, I want to say how much we have enjoyed visiting all the churches to date. Since February, David has been to Walgett, Collarenebri, Mungindi, Emmaville, Guyra, St Mary’s (Armidale) and St Mark’s (Armidale). As a family we have been to St Peter’s (Armidale), Guyra (by going on their church camp to Urunga) and Inverell, Tenterfield.

This week we drive to Tamworth where we will speak to the children of Calrossy and William Cowper schools. On Thursday I also have the opportunity to speak to all the children of Étienne and Caris’ school, in their chapel session. On Friday, David will leave for a weekend camp with first year uni students. Please pray that what we say will have an eternal impact on these young lives.