Update ..

Well the last few weeks have certainly been busy. I had a great Christmas; we drove up to Dee Why to visit my Aunt, Uncle and family. It was great to spend time over Christmas with my extended family, since that is something I seldom do.

I’ve pretty much always been far away from my extended family, so while I do value the time we spend together, it is often hard to think that I really know them as we see each other infrequently. So it is interesting and fun when we do catch up.

Boxing Day, I went to Return of the King with friends, and family, which has been habit over the last few years. My first impression of the movie was really positive, but I think I need more time to really process my thoughts about it. After the film we went back to Dee Why and saw more family.

On Dec 27th I went to mission which was great. I posted before about Mission, and God heard the prayers, and answered them in grander ways than we could imagine.

We had more kids than for a few years, and I was really encouraged by spending so much time alongside so many awesome Christians. I learnt a lot about God’s faithfulness, I am still learning that I need to trust God, as He is the one who challenges, and converts souls – from Isaiah 55, God’s word always fulfills what he intends of it. God will always work when the Gospel is preached, though we often use secular standards of success, how many people made a decision, how many people came to our activities. Yet God works as the Gospel is proclaimed, and the team may never know of its impact...

One of the highlights of the mission was how God united the team, and sharing communion on New Year’s Eve. It was really strengthening to have leaders who were humble, and dedicated to serving Christ, and infected us with a prayerful enthusiasm for being there, and strengthen our understanding of God as they served God completely in all that they did, and said.

And as I sit down to type, I really do miss the company, I miss being surrounded by Christians, and talking about the impact of our faith, being challenged through our experience, and encouraged as we see God act in the pages of scripture and on the hearts of campers, and team members. I miss the singing, the joyful smiles. Yet, these are things I can do each day to be salt and light in this world.

Now I have another 7 days before I go back to work. It’s nice to have a little bit of time to simply relax. I'm going to head up to the cricket tomorrow. During the rest of the week I aim to catch up with friends and possibly watch a few movies, the top two being Goodbye Lenin, and Return of the King (again).