Highway in the Desert

Monday, March 16, 2009

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.

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Welcoming in 2009

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door," [Bilbo] used to say. "You step into the Road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.” J.R.R. Tolkien

We have not had a dangerous time of it, but our feet have taken us to some great people and places over the past few weeks.

We spent Christmas in Armidale, visiting and being visited by friends, which was a gift in itself. The children enjoyed the novelty of a hail storm just after Christmas, and all the puddles to splash in. We especially enjoyed being at church on Christmas Day. The house we are staying in was very wonderfully and thoughtfully prepared for us.

On New Year’s Day we drove up to Mt Tamborine, in Queensland (and near Brisbane), for the annual CMS Summer School. During this week we got to hear some fantastic Bible teaching, updates and challenges from missionaries home on home assignment and, via video and powerpoints, from those still serving in their locations (CMS missios generally come back about every 3 years for about 6 months).

We have caught up with many friends and made lots of new ones. It has been a great privilege to speak to people interested about what God is doing in Namibia.
We got to do a number of presentations about the work in Namibia, including speaking to each of children’s and teen’s groups.

As you can see on the children’ blog, they made friends, too, and enjoyed the children’s programme. David joined the traditional volleyball match on the penultimate day and his team won! I was taken out for coffee with friends who were fellow clergy wives when David was a minister in the Armidale diocese. They are wonderful ladies and I loved spending time with them.

Summer School usually invites a musician to perform on one evening. A bonus was to hear one of my favourite singers, Nicky Chiswell, perform.

Before we went to Summer School, we took the children 10 pin bowling. That was fun, especially when we scored a few strikes and spares. Caris went horse riding twice. She insisted in learning to trot the first time out! A friend has also kindly given her a couple of informal lessons.

Someone has mentioned that it is not so easy to spot our children now that we are back in Australia! But you will find it easy to spot the green! Caris says she misses the sand back in Ongwediva a bit, as you could play IN it rather that just ON it, as you do with grass. She also remarked on the fact that people’s fences and walls were only half built and you could see into the gardens – and that some people only had flowers for a ‘wall’. (She has been so used to high walls and fences.)

‘Down on a farm’ resulted in playing with friends they have known since they were young; swimming and canoeing in the creek, going blackberrying on a quad, having a ride on a pony, and seeing some ‘roos and a long-necked turtle! The children met up with interesting creatures, as well. Australia has some very colourful birds. (See www.matthiasmail.blogspot.com for pix)

1st February saw our deputation start off with David preaching 4x at St Peter’s Cathedral in Armidale. (He was the assistant minister there for 4 years so there are a number of familiar faces.) The children and I did a children’s talk in church, then Étienne spoke about Namibia at Sunday school and answered a few questions.

School has been a real hit. Other than the fact that Caris comes home very tired each day, they love it. Being small classes, they have quickly got to know their classmates and both have excellent teachers. They are undergoing 9 swimming lessons to improve their style – late afternoon swimming lessons in Armidale can be rather chilly. Caris does German in her class and Étienne is doing French. They will also have piano lessons this term and Caris starts her weekly horse riding lessons this week. Last Friday I took her to gymnastics, which she LOVED and I think Étienne will join her next time we can get there. However, on the next two Fridays we have other commitments so we won’t get there. The second Friday is when we drive down to the coast to join one of our link churches on their church family camp.

Sorry if this posting is rather bitty. I have been adding to it, sporadically, over the past month. I shall close now and upload it! BTW, the new heading photo on this blog is of a road in Armidale, just next to our street. A bit different from a road in Owamboland, hey!