Today will be our last day at the base in Brisbane. It's a bit sad to be leaving just as we are starting to really get settled in; however, we are both very excited to be coming home! This morning the ladies on base are having our small groups meeting at the Ikea restaurant down the road for their $2 breakfast as a sort of farewell for me. Isi on the other hand has been asked to speak briefly to the DTS students on Inductive Bible Study this morning for part of their lecture. I guess that is his farewell :) I'm sure he will do a great job as usual.
There is a lot happening here at the base this week and I'm a bit sad that we are missing it just as things are starting to really pick up around here. The DTS group is here for the week and so there are a lot of people around, which is nice. Isi and I did a brief orientation for the new students on Monday. We are both looking forward to working with a DTS group in February when we return to Australia.
The weather has definately decided to be summer already and today is another hot, hot day even though it's not even 9 am. I hear that the weather in Manitoba is still quite nice also so I'm looking forward to that.
Tonight we will be moving all our stuff to Sikeli's house (Isi's cousin) and picking up our rental car tomorrow morning. We will probably leave for Sydney the next day and may even break up the 10 hour drive into 2 separate days to make the trip a bit easier. We will stay at the Island Breeze base in Sydney until Sunday morning when we fly home. Even though we leave on Sunday the 28th and the flight is aproximately 20 hours, because of the time zones we will arrive home on the same day at 4 pm. Strange eh? I guess we are pretty used to it already and just refer to it as 'the day that never ends.'
Please pray for us that our travels will go well and we will be safe and as comfortable as possible. Please also pray that our adjustment back to life at home will go smoothly and that we will recouperate quickly.
Thanks so much! We look forward to seeing everyone soon!!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Hot, hot, hot!!
Although it's only spring in Brisbane right now, the weather is acting a lot more like summer. The high for today is 28 degrees but we must have passed that already. This entire last week has been hot and it looks like it's staying that way.
We asked the boys to bring out an old canoe that was lying around to make us a small wadding pool to beat the heat. Hopefully that will work out for today :)
This is our last full week at the base and next week (probably Tuesday or Wednesday) we will start heading down to Sydney in our rental car to make our flights on the 28th. Even though we have started settling in nicely here, I am still very excited to be coming home. It will be nice to feel a bit more prepared before the arrival of our baby in November.
This weekend we went to the Gold Coast for the first time since being back in Australia. It is still as beautiful as I remembered it. There was a strong cool breeze that prevented us from swimming but walking along the beach was great. We also celebrated our cousin Masina's birthday on Sunday. Isi baked another cheesecake and it was probably the best one he has ever done!
Yesterday we presented our ideas for an orientation package (for dancers and band members) to the production manager. We also had worked on a package to hand out to schools, churches, and other people who may want to hire the production team for a function. The rest of this week looks as though it will be fairly quiet for us. Considering the heat and what is all coming up for us, I'm quite happy about that.
Isi and I are both doing very well. He is enjoying rugby training that happens here almost every evening, and I am enjoying watching our little bub grow bigger everyday.
Well, that's it for us on this end! I hope you're having a great day :)
God bless!
We asked the boys to bring out an old canoe that was lying around to make us a small wadding pool to beat the heat. Hopefully that will work out for today :)
This is our last full week at the base and next week (probably Tuesday or Wednesday) we will start heading down to Sydney in our rental car to make our flights on the 28th. Even though we have started settling in nicely here, I am still very excited to be coming home. It will be nice to feel a bit more prepared before the arrival of our baby in November.
This weekend we went to the Gold Coast for the first time since being back in Australia. It is still as beautiful as I remembered it. There was a strong cool breeze that prevented us from swimming but walking along the beach was great. We also celebrated our cousin Masina's birthday on Sunday. Isi baked another cheesecake and it was probably the best one he has ever done!
Yesterday we presented our ideas for an orientation package (for dancers and band members) to the production manager. We also had worked on a package to hand out to schools, churches, and other people who may want to hire the production team for a function. The rest of this week looks as though it will be fairly quiet for us. Considering the heat and what is all coming up for us, I'm quite happy about that.
Isi and I are both doing very well. He is enjoying rugby training that happens here almost every evening, and I am enjoying watching our little bub grow bigger everyday.
Well, that's it for us on this end! I hope you're having a great day :)
God bless!
Monday, September 8, 2008
Back in Brisbane
Well today we arrived back in Brisbane from the outreach to Northern Australia (Townsville & Mt. Isa). The outreach went well and the team did great despite many long hours of travelling.
The church service at Happy Valley was really interesting. Isi lead some praise & worship songs, a team member shared a testimony, and then one of the local pastors shared a brief message. Afterwards they ate the food that we brought for them.
There were about 8-10 homeless people that attended the service. I knew that their 'living conditions' weren't going to be great but I was still a bit surprised. Most of the people there shared 3 wall shacks made out of steel siding and had a make shift door of some fabric. We could see everything in their small quarters. Some of them lived in small vehicles, and the service was held in front of an old van that housed someone as well. One man that joined us half way through was drunk and making noises during the message. No one really seemed to pay any attention to him or mind his distractions.
I was probably more surprised, however, by the warm welcome that we recieved when we got there. We were all dressed up for another church service afterwards and although they could have wanted nothing to do with us, they shook everyone's hands and thanked us for coming. We even had the opportunity to pray with one woman who's boyfriend was in the hospital. It was clear that the people there were blessed to have someone take time for them. I was also very blessed by their openness and kind hearts. They loved the songs and told us to come back again.
After Happy Valley, the team spent 2 days helping out at the Townsville YWAM base and practicing for the big performance in Mt. Isa. They (everyone except me) travelled 10 hours up to the mining community of Mt. Isa to perform at a Cultural Festival of sorts. 6 team members danced, and Isi and two other guys made up the band. Isi played guitar, sang, and played the island drums for most of the songs. He also ended up being the emcee - which he was a bit nervous about having never done that before for an Island Breeze performance. As you can imagine, he did a fabulous job and was told by some of the locals that he should come back and emcee for their weddings! It was a job well done by all. The team then travelled back down to Townsville (where I was still staying) rested for a day, and then continued home.
We arrived home in Brisbane this afternoon and I have to say that I am extremely grateful to be back in my own bed. Isi is sound asleep after driving so many hours - poor guy! He has been doing a tremendous job in everything that he is a part of. I have been trying to keep up where I can, although at 30 weeks of pregnancy I am definately a lot slower than I used to be :) We are both doing very well - and of course baby too.
We are leaving for Sydney on the 26th of this month, and from there flying home to Canada on September 28th. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel and travel home. We are very excited to come back to Canada and see all our friends and family - and of course have a little break.
We have been recieving a lot of emails from you, prayers and financial support. Thank you so much for all of these! They are very much appreciated :) Thank you also for reading this update and for your comments.
God bless,
Tessa, Isi & baby
The church service at Happy Valley was really interesting. Isi lead some praise & worship songs, a team member shared a testimony, and then one of the local pastors shared a brief message. Afterwards they ate the food that we brought for them.
There were about 8-10 homeless people that attended the service. I knew that their 'living conditions' weren't going to be great but I was still a bit surprised. Most of the people there shared 3 wall shacks made out of steel siding and had a make shift door of some fabric. We could see everything in their small quarters. Some of them lived in small vehicles, and the service was held in front of an old van that housed someone as well. One man that joined us half way through was drunk and making noises during the message. No one really seemed to pay any attention to him or mind his distractions.
I was probably more surprised, however, by the warm welcome that we recieved when we got there. We were all dressed up for another church service afterwards and although they could have wanted nothing to do with us, they shook everyone's hands and thanked us for coming. We even had the opportunity to pray with one woman who's boyfriend was in the hospital. It was clear that the people there were blessed to have someone take time for them. I was also very blessed by their openness and kind hearts. They loved the songs and told us to come back again.
After Happy Valley, the team spent 2 days helping out at the Townsville YWAM base and practicing for the big performance in Mt. Isa. They (everyone except me) travelled 10 hours up to the mining community of Mt. Isa to perform at a Cultural Festival of sorts. 6 team members danced, and Isi and two other guys made up the band. Isi played guitar, sang, and played the island drums for most of the songs. He also ended up being the emcee - which he was a bit nervous about having never done that before for an Island Breeze performance. As you can imagine, he did a fabulous job and was told by some of the locals that he should come back and emcee for their weddings! It was a job well done by all. The team then travelled back down to Townsville (where I was still staying) rested for a day, and then continued home.
We arrived home in Brisbane this afternoon and I have to say that I am extremely grateful to be back in my own bed. Isi is sound asleep after driving so many hours - poor guy! He has been doing a tremendous job in everything that he is a part of. I have been trying to keep up where I can, although at 30 weeks of pregnancy I am definately a lot slower than I used to be :) We are both doing very well - and of course baby too.
We are leaving for Sydney on the 26th of this month, and from there flying home to Canada on September 28th. Please pray for us as we prepare to travel and travel home. We are very excited to come back to Canada and see all our friends and family - and of course have a little break.
We have been recieving a lot of emails from you, prayers and financial support. Thank you so much for all of these! They are very much appreciated :) Thank you also for reading this update and for your comments.
God bless,
Tessa, Isi & baby
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hi Everyone!
Okay, so this is our first official update that is taking place on our blog site. I have a few older posts as well while I was testing things out that will give you an idea of what we've been up to lately.
Since our last update and arriving at the base we have encountered a few challenges. One in particular would be our living accomodations. Getting used to community living and not having a space of our own has been trying at times, but a bigger concern are the many furry unwanted guests that live with us in the house. We will have to find different living arrangments once we return with our baby in February next year. Isi also had a bad case of bronchitis for a few weeks which made it hard for him to breathe and was quite scary at times. While he was still recovering, I got the flu but fortunately now we are both doing very well. Our baby is also doing very well and growing by the day. Thank you so much for your prayers about my nausea. It hasn't been a problem for quite a while now :)
A few weeks ago we had the chance to map out with Jade and Waqa what next year will look like for us. It was really great to have a game plan set out to plan around (since I'm a planner). We will hopefully be doing quite a variety of things next year including working with a Discipleship Training School for 3 months, attending an Island Breeze International conference in Alberta, and possibly even going to Kona, Hawaii to take in a 3 month course there. (The course is called Principles of Redeeming Cultures School and it is something that Jade and Waqa have high on their priority list for us to take in if possible.) Obviously things may change within the next year, but this is currently what we are looking at. This poses some challenges for our financial support at this point since there are (and have been) many additional costs that we did not anticipate. If you would like some details on our financial needs, we would be happy to share those with you - just send us an email specifically indicating so.
Right now we are back in Townsville (northern Australia) on an outreach with a team of 10 other people. It was again a very long drive for the team - and especially Isi since he is one of only 2 drivers on the trip. I (Tessa) decided to fly up since it is getting increasingly more difficult for me to travel at 28 weeks pregnant. It was a 2 hour flight compared to a 14+ hour drive over 2 days.
This outreach is focused on Indiginous Ministries. We will be taking part in a church service tomorrow that is at a "homeless park" area called Happy Valley. Each week, the pastor here does a service for the regular homeless that sort of live in Happy Valley (at their request), and also brings them a meal which they look forward to. I am interested to see what this looks like. Today the boys went to Happy Valley to do some grass cutting and garbage picking. They encountered a lot of snakes while they were there but thankfully no one was hurt.
In 4 days, the team (aside from me) will drive another 10-12 hours north to a town called Mt. Isa to participate in a Cultural Festival. They will be performing their island dances and Isi will most likely be playing guitar, singing, and when needed also dancing. I will wait in Townsville with family here for the 4 days that they are gone. Once we return to the base in Brisbane it will be a few short weeks until we arrive home in Canada on Sept. 28th! We are both excited to come home and reconnect with friends and family.
Here are some prayer requests:
- Please pray for a safe/comfortable trip home to Canada since I will be 32 weeks pregnant and not the traveller that I normally am
- Pray for continued good health for Isi and myself
- Pray that God will provide financially for us in the new season that we are stepping into since there are many extra costs involved
So that is what's new with us. Please send us an email. We would love to hear how you are doing! You can check out this blog site over the next 4 weeks before we come home. I will try to add more posts with new things that are happening over here as they come up. Thank you again for all your prayers, thoughts, and emails!! It's wonderful to have so much support from our friends and family back home :)
Since our last update and arriving at the base we have encountered a few challenges. One in particular would be our living accomodations. Getting used to community living and not having a space of our own has been trying at times, but a bigger concern are the many furry unwanted guests that live with us in the house. We will have to find different living arrangments once we return with our baby in February next year. Isi also had a bad case of bronchitis for a few weeks which made it hard for him to breathe and was quite scary at times. While he was still recovering, I got the flu but fortunately now we are both doing very well. Our baby is also doing very well and growing by the day. Thank you so much for your prayers about my nausea. It hasn't been a problem for quite a while now :)
A few weeks ago we had the chance to map out with Jade and Waqa what next year will look like for us. It was really great to have a game plan set out to plan around (since I'm a planner). We will hopefully be doing quite a variety of things next year including working with a Discipleship Training School for 3 months, attending an Island Breeze International conference in Alberta, and possibly even going to Kona, Hawaii to take in a 3 month course there. (The course is called Principles of Redeeming Cultures School and it is something that Jade and Waqa have high on their priority list for us to take in if possible.) Obviously things may change within the next year, but this is currently what we are looking at. This poses some challenges for our financial support at this point since there are (and have been) many additional costs that we did not anticipate. If you would like some details on our financial needs, we would be happy to share those with you - just send us an email specifically indicating so.
Right now we are back in Townsville (northern Australia) on an outreach with a team of 10 other people. It was again a very long drive for the team - and especially Isi since he is one of only 2 drivers on the trip. I (Tessa) decided to fly up since it is getting increasingly more difficult for me to travel at 28 weeks pregnant. It was a 2 hour flight compared to a 14+ hour drive over 2 days.
This outreach is focused on Indiginous Ministries. We will be taking part in a church service tomorrow that is at a "homeless park" area called Happy Valley. Each week, the pastor here does a service for the regular homeless that sort of live in Happy Valley (at their request), and also brings them a meal which they look forward to. I am interested to see what this looks like. Today the boys went to Happy Valley to do some grass cutting and garbage picking. They encountered a lot of snakes while they were there but thankfully no one was hurt.
In 4 days, the team (aside from me) will drive another 10-12 hours north to a town called Mt. Isa to participate in a Cultural Festival. They will be performing their island dances and Isi will most likely be playing guitar, singing, and when needed also dancing. I will wait in Townsville with family here for the 4 days that they are gone. Once we return to the base in Brisbane it will be a few short weeks until we arrive home in Canada on Sept. 28th! We are both excited to come home and reconnect with friends and family.
Here are some prayer requests:
- Please pray for a safe/comfortable trip home to Canada since I will be 32 weeks pregnant and not the traveller that I normally am
- Pray for continued good health for Isi and myself
- Pray that God will provide financially for us in the new season that we are stepping into since there are many extra costs involved
So that is what's new with us. Please send us an email. We would love to hear how you are doing! You can check out this blog site over the next 4 weeks before we come home. I will try to add more posts with new things that are happening over here as they come up. Thank you again for all your prayers, thoughts, and emails!! It's wonderful to have so much support from our friends and family back home :)
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Townsville
This last weekend we spent up in Townsville (an 18 hour drive each way) visiting Isi's aunt and uncle. It was very exciting for us to connect with them again after a long time. Randini (Isi's aunt) is a sister to Isi's mom. Her husband is a pastor who spends a lot of time working with the Aboriginal Australians in the surrounding communities. We were able to learn a lot from talking with them and hearing about their ministry experiences. We are hoping to learn more from them in this area in the future.
We also got to see Pastor and Randini's daughters again - who are both extremely pregnant at the moment! Miri was due on Monday and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first daughter, and Salome is due in September awaiting her second son.
Isi had a fabulous time singing Fijian songs with the guys there and watching Pastor's rugby team win a game on Saturday. I also enjoyed spending time with the girls and catching up after the last 5 years. It was a refreshing time for both of us - despite the long drive :)
Currently at the base we are spending time focusing on the Indiginous Ministries that run out of this base since that is something we would like to also bring back to Canada. The other 2 areas we will be learning in while we are here are: the Discipleship Training Schools and the Production (Dance/Music) Cultural Team. These two will be our focus once we return in the new year.
This week we will continue to observe what is going on at the base and spend time participating in the Indiginous Ministries at this location. We will also spend some time with the base directors planning what will be coming up for us in the near future.
We also got to see Pastor and Randini's daughters again - who are both extremely pregnant at the moment! Miri was due on Monday and is anxiously awaiting the arrival of their first daughter, and Salome is due in September awaiting her second son.
Isi had a fabulous time singing Fijian songs with the guys there and watching Pastor's rugby team win a game on Saturday. I also enjoyed spending time with the girls and catching up after the last 5 years. It was a refreshing time for both of us - despite the long drive :)
Currently at the base we are spending time focusing on the Indiginous Ministries that run out of this base since that is something we would like to also bring back to Canada. The other 2 areas we will be learning in while we are here are: the Discipleship Training Schools and the Production (Dance/Music) Cultural Team. These two will be our focus once we return in the new year.
This week we will continue to observe what is going on at the base and spend time participating in the Indiginous Ministries at this location. We will also spend some time with the base directors planning what will be coming up for us in the near future.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
At home in Brisbane
Hi Everyone,
We are finally starting a blog in hopes of being able to post more pictures for you to see! We are now at home in Brisbane and of course, settling in always brings a few surprises along the way. Today is Wednesday (Aug. 6th) and I (Tessa) am sitting in our community house/my living room waiting for the chance to do some laundry and about to eat lunch. Isi is looking for some scrap wood to fix the stairway outside our house that is needing some repairs. I had my first pre-natal appointment today since arriving in Aus and was happy to hear that everything is going very well :)
Life here is very different from what I initially expected. Before we left Canada, we heard that some of the base buildings had been condemned and were going to be demolished. I didn't expect how many buildings would be in that category. There are about 20 staff members here and the facilities left are straining a bit to accomodate all of us. It's a big change from the spacious hall and dining room that used to be functional.
Here are some pictures of where we are living and of what the base looks like.
We are finally starting a blog in hopes of being able to post more pictures for you to see! We are now at home in Brisbane and of course, settling in always brings a few surprises along the way. Today is Wednesday (Aug. 6th) and I (Tessa) am sitting in our community house/my living room waiting for the chance to do some laundry and about to eat lunch. Isi is looking for some scrap wood to fix the stairway outside our house that is needing some repairs. I had my first pre-natal appointment today since arriving in Aus and was happy to hear that everything is going very well :)
Life here is very different from what I initially expected. Before we left Canada, we heard that some of the base buildings had been condemned and were going to be demolished. I didn't expect how many buildings would be in that category. There are about 20 staff members here and the facilities left are straining a bit to accomodate all of us. It's a big change from the spacious hall and dining room that used to be functional.
Here are some pictures of where we are living and of what the base looks like.
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