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 :)

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.

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.