Aussie Pilg Part 11 - Tasmania - Week One

I'm currently writing this from Launceston, Tasmania. It's hard to believe our time in Tasmania is nearly up. Tomorrow will be two weeks since we landed in Hobart and in a few days we'll be flying back to Melbourne and then a week later back to Dallas.  

Our first week in Tasmania was busy.  (For my non-Australian readers: Tasmania is an island state of Australia. It's shaped a little like an arrowhead and is 240 km (150 miles) south of the state of Victoria. 

The night before our flight to Hobart we stayed at a motel near the airport. On the way there we had tea (dinner) with Tim and Sophie, John's nephew and his wife. It was delightful to finally have a chance to visit them after all these months!

Tim, Sophie, me and John

Our first week was in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, which is close to the southern tip of the 'arrowhead'.

We stayed with, Phil and Elizabeth Prebble. They deserve a medal for putting us up considering that their daughter's wedding was only a week away and they were heavily involved in organizing the upcoming missions conference that we were to take part in as well as the other ministries they help run at their church. But despite all their busy-ness we had a lovely time. They are a lot of fun and very hospitable. It was great to get better acquainted with them. 

Me, Elizabeth, Phil and John

The first Sunday John gave a presentation at Hope Christian Centre.

Before his presentation to the adults we visited the children's class to give them a special gift to thank them for their support. For some time they have had a project to raise money for our work with Wycliffe. They raised around $900! As a thank-you John created a book for them using the Bloom computer program that he works on. The book has photos of of them and tells something that they like to do. We got the photos and info from one of their teachers, Alison Ferguson. The kids were delighted with the books.

Here they were playing a funny quiz game at the beginning.

Group photo with their special books. Some of the kids have their book open to their photo. A couple of them are showing the front which has a collage of all their faces. The adults in the back are from left to right: Alison, me (Sharon), John, and Jill Norton, the children's Bible teacher.

After church we had morning tea and then lunch for those that could stay. It was a good time to visit with various ones.

Alison Ferguson and me

One of John's Mum's cousins, Gail, introduced herself. She told me that Mum was always a great favorite with her and their other young cousins when they were children.

The rest of the week was busy. In addition to several meetings with various groups and individuals, I spent a lot of time preparing a devotional talk to share on Thursday with a group of ladies at Elizabeth's church.  

Monday 

Monday we had afternoon tea with John's uncle, John Elmer.

A visit would not be complete without admiring the view and watching boats crossing the River Derwent.
John with Uncle John out on the balcony.

Tuesday evening John led a Bible study via zoom for the Prebbles' church. John zoomed from the dining room and Elizabeth, Phil and I joined in from their office.

Wednesday I was flat out working on devo prep. In the evening we had dinner and a small group presentation at David and Alison Ferguson's house. I thought I got some photos of that but I can't find them at the moment. But I did discover photos of a walk we took earlier in the day.

View of River Derwent from Prebbles' street. 

Gorgeous flower garden a few blocks down the steep hill from Prebbles' house.

Same flower garden from a different angle.

Outside on Prebbles' balcony. You guessed it, it's the River Derwent again.

Thursday was the day for sharing my devotional with the ladies. I focused on Jesus's promise to give his disciples peace. He told them, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."(John 14:27 NIV) It was the night of his crucifixion. He wanted to prepare them for the difficult hours and days that were ahead. He wanted them to have the kind of peace "that passes understanding." It's not based on circumstances but is instead based on Him and his promises. We too can have that same peace. First we have to trust in Him as our Lord and Savior and then we need to hang on to his Word even when times are tough.

Before the devo we had morning tea. At the end we filled Samaritan's Purse Christmas shoeboxes. 

Several of the other ladies helped as well but had to leave earlier so we didn't get them in this photo. Left to right is Irene, Sharon, John and Elizabeth 

Elizabeth Prebble and me

Afterward we went to lunch with both Prebbles and Irene. Then had afternoon tea with an elderly man named John Ferguson. He and my John are third cousins or something. John F is the one who arranged most of our meetings in Tasmania. He was hoping to hold a meeting at his house too but became unwell so it was moved to his son David's house. When we got to John's house for afternoon tea we were pleasantly surprised to find David and Alison there too. John F's daughter, Janette, was staying with her dad to help out while he was recuperating.

The two tall men in back are l-r: David and John Ferguson. The three ladies in the middle are myself, John F's daughter Janette, and David's wife Alison Ferguson. My husband, John, is sort of squatting down in front. I've noticed it's easier to get smiles from everyone in group selfies because everyone ends up laughing about how awkward it is to take them.

Friday I got to go with Elizabeth to a meeting of her ladies Bible study group. We met at a coffee shop as it is school holidays so they were taking the time off from their regular study. It was a fun time to just hang out with the ladies.

John also worked on computer programming and preparing for his presentation for the WOW missions conference. WOW stands for Windows on the World. 

Saturday was the WOW conference. It was held at Hope Christian Centre where John spoke on the previous Sunday. There were several other missionaries who also gave presentations. It was inspiring to hear what is happening in other parts of the world. I was especially encouraged to hear from another Wycliffe member who told how her Bible translation in (a restricted area) has been received. The last time we saw her a number of years ago she was having a difficult time and feeling some discouragement. So it was great to hear how things have improved and that the translation is finished and has been well received even by some of those who were opposed to it at first.

I'm surprised that I didn't take many photos that day. Partly I suppose because I was tired and distracted by all that was happening and partly because I accidentally left my preferred cell phone in the car for part of the day. 

We saw this beautiful rainbow when we went for a walk after the conference with a lady whose name, I think, was Christine. 

Christine (?) and me

We went out for dinner with several of the other speakers and organizers from the conference. But alas I forgot to take any photos.

It's now almost a week later and tomorrow will be another missions conference, this time in the northern part of Tasmania. Many of the speakers will be the same. I'll try to do a better job taking photos. But considering how tired I am I can't promise.

This week we're staying in Launceston, Tasmania. We arrived Monday. I'll tell more about that in my next post, Lord willing. 

Australian Pilg Part 10 - Last week at the Ringwood house

This past Sunday we went to Glenroy Gospel Chapel. It was my first time at church since I got hit by Covid two weeks prior. 

The people were really nice and welcoming and John did an excellent job with his presentation. But it was a challenging morning in some ways. My fibromyalgia has been flaring for several days. Seems ironic especially now that I am over Covid to be suddenly hit with so much fibromyalgia pain. But anyway I haven't been sleeping well and that morning I woke up with a lot back pain and then a head ache not long after.  

By the time we got to the church--about 45 minutes away, but it felt a lot longer--I just wanted to lie down somewhere.   

We learned of another challenge when we arrived. The church's projector was broken. John and a few of the other men tried to fix it. But in the end John came up with the idea of setting a small portable computer screen he happened to have with him onto a podium at the front facing toward the congregation.  

The podium with the portable screen is just to the left of the man with the white beard who is introducing John.

John suggested the people in the back move closer so they could see the screen or else they would need binoculars.

But despite all that I enjoyed the time. 

Before service, the ladies had a prayer time in the kitchen (the men prayed in another part of the church). The ladies seemed an enthusiastic and caring group. They covered a lot of ground in a short time: everything from a local outreach, that morning's worship service and various people who needed healing and encouragement. They also prayed for my back when I asked. 

The worship time followed. One man led a few hymns and gave a short teaching from the Bible. Then they had "open worship" which is when it is opened up for any of the other men who wish to give a word or scripture reading or request a hymn. Several men took part and had a lot of good things to say. It was encouraging and uplifting. After about 30 minutes one of them prayed over the Lord's Supper.

After the Lord's Supper time there was morning tea and fellowship for about 15 minutes. Then John spoke. He gave a sermon as well as talking about our work with Wycliffe Bible Translators. He did an excellent job. He always does. But this time seemed even better than usual. 

After his presentation we had a potluck lunch. It was a good time of food and chat. And there was even some food that was gluten and dairy free so I had plenty to eat. It was all delicious and healthful too. 

Monday I finally got a negative Covid test. (I wore a mask on Sunday at church since I was still testing positive. But since I was over 14 days from the onset and I was clear of symptoms we thought it was safe for me to go. And yes we told the people at Glenroy GC and they were fine with that.)

Since I was testing negative at last we were able to get together with our friend Alyson Prescott.

After a quick tour of her garden we followed her to a botanical garden near her grandsons' school where she needed to go to pick them up. After letting them play at the play area for a while we went back to her house for a refreshing cup of tea and more visiting.

This is an enlarged view of the flowers in the next photo. They were so tiny but also so pretty en masse.

John with Alyson's grandsons,
Ben and Daniel. He had on the mask because Alyson was a little nervous about covid due to some health problems. 

Tuesday morning I got to hear our friend and former pastor, Vicki Mustafa, speak  at a gathering of women from KYB (Know Your Bible) groups in the area. Her message was an introductory teaching on the Old Testament book of Ruth which the groups will be studying next. It was a great message. 

Afterwards Vicki came over to our place for lunch.

It is Thursday afternoon now.  We'll be flying to Tasmania in a couple of days. We'll be in Tasmania for two weeks and then another few days back in Melbourne with John's Mum and then back to Dallas.

So much has happened that I haven't managed to blog about yet. I still hope to write a 'catch-up' post but I should be getting dinner started at the moment--not to mention packing and cleaning. So the catch up post will have to wait.