Changi

A fantastic miniseries which was first aired in 2000 on ABC and which i recently bought on dvd, follows a group of 6 Australian prisoners of war in the Changi Japanese prisoner of war camp in Singapore. These friends form a society called the Secret 9 and agree to meet up every 9 years after the war is over.
There is an episode dedicated to each of the friends, which has them as old men look back at something that happened during their time at the camp. Their memories are jogged by the approaching reunion, which is probably the last, and by something that is happening to them in their life.
It shows the importance of mateship in getting you through tough times, and the horrificness of war, and how it brings out the best and worst of people.
I reccomend that everyone watches this

What have i been doing lately...

I have been slack with this of late, but i will rectify that. I have been back in Sydney for a little over two months, you may be wondering what i have been up to...

Christmas
Well we had our annual Dinkum/Aussie carols, wish was really good, we had 43 people attend, and everybody enjoyed it.
We had 31 people come to our Christmas day service, which was good, and everyone who came enjoyed our service.
The Christmas Lunch was a succes we had 49 people come and we had enough to eat and there was even a little left over.

I spent christmas evening at my aunt's house, which was a fun evening, and included the watching of Merry Christmas Mr bean, and a good catch up time. We went together to the family gathering at my grandmothers house, prior to which we chopped up the fruit salad for lunch. It was a lovely time at granny's house including playing Uno Attack and Disney Trivial Pursuit.

Mum's Birthday and Australia Day.
Just before Oz day my mother had her 50th birthday, it was a good day doing exciting things, like palying the game that my brother gave her called backwords, where you either have to work out what a word said backwards is or turn a forwards word backwards. Hilarious fun.
The best present that my mother got though was that my brother and sister in law returned from England that day, which was exciting for all of us.
As the birthday was so close to australia day we had the big party on that day, it was also a welcome home for jon and amy. It was a lot of work but it was an enjoyable time, especailly seeing all the rellies.

What about the day to day?
Well I am looking for work again it's not always easy but God is here and i know that he has a plan for me, i just have to trust him. It's good to be back with my family, but i do miss Tassie sometimes especially the people.

Update

Well many things have happened since i last wrote on my blog. A family here at college had a new baby, he is absolutely gorgeous.

I have also been to the Tasmanian Craft Fair at Deloraine, which was fantastic, it is the largest in the southern hemisphere, there were 13 diffent sites all over Deloraine, with shuttle buses between the sites. They had so many things ranging from woodcraft, to jewellery, to hand made soaps, candles, furniture, paper craft, hand made paper.

We also had a two part surprise 40th birthday for the father of the new baby. First of all we went on a cruise on the river, and discovered about the history of Launceston, it was fun to be there, and discover it all, as well as to be with everyone (and hold the baby). Then we had a bbq at the gorge. The birthday boy was surprised when he turned up to both parts, he was especially amazed that with so many people knowing about it he still didn't find out.

It has been a lovely time here in launceston, but i will be leaving in 16 days which i am extremely excited about. woo hoo!!!!!

JESUS. All About Life.

This campaign started in Tasmania yesterday. It is a series of adds on the television, on the radio and on billboards etc. There are three adds on the television, one aimed at youth, one aimed at parents and one aimed at baby boomers. Basically they are to get people thinking about Jesus and ringing the number or visiting the website for more info and to get a booklet, which is one of the gospels, as well as helping churches to connect with people who do not attend regularly.

This is the first time that it has been done on a state wide scale, in the past it has been done in Canberra and Adelaide, it was originally going to be just Hobart or something, but due to the lack of people in tassie they decided to do it for the whole state. I believe that sometime next year it will be run in WA but i am not sure if that is the whole state or just Perth.

Pray for this campaign, that it will get people interested and attending local churches, that churches will get behind the campaign, pray for the call centre, that the staff working there will have good relationships, and be friendly etc, especially pray for that because the call centre is at the college.

If you want to find out more about it www.jesusallaboutlife.com.au

There's a bear in there

We recently took the kids to see the Play School concert. It was so much fun, for us adults as well as for the kids. They have it balanced so well plenty of funny stuff that the kids will get and also a sprinkling of stuff for the adults as well. The children were talking about it for days afterwards it is an experience to remember. The one thing that is amazing is that Benita is still doing the concerts, I remember watching her as a little kid on the tv. She still does it so well, she should still be on the tv. Teo was also good but he didn't hold the same memories that Benita did for me. It was a fantastic time.

Goodbye...

Well it was a very sad time recently, not only did my grandfather died, but some very good friends of mine who were students here at the college, returned to England because the husband was unwell and was not improving. I will miss them so much, they were such good friends to me, so generous and welcoming. I will also miss there two little girls who were such a pleasure to have in the play centre, so happy and fun to be with.
Goodbye, God bless you.

He Has Gone Home

The next day after going to the snow I got some very sad news. That was that my Grandfather had died. So I have had a sad time lately. I have been back in Sydney since Wednesday and returned to Launceston this afternoon.

It was great to see all my family again, but it was sad at the same time. I also really enjoyed seeing my cousins etc that i have not seen in a while. We had people come from all over Australia, Perth, The Sunshine Coast, Mt Isa, Eden and of course Launceston.

I think that one of the hardest things about it was that it was such a long time since i had seen my grandfather. I think that the last time that I saw him was in January. He was such a faithful Christian and he helped so many people. He was so loving and he cared for us and what we were doing. He also cared about the people that we had knew, even though he didn't know them himself he had a list and would pray for the people in the church or that we had contact with. He will be missed. But the good thing is that his suffering is over and that he has gone to be with His Heavenly Father. R.I.P. (Rise In Perfection)

Let It Snow

Well a couple of weekends ago it snowed at Ben Lomond. So a group of us from the college went to the mountain. For a couple of us it was our first snow. It was a good experience. It was cold but that was ok. Cause it was fun. We hired a few tobbagans and took turns at using them. One girl brought skis but couldn't use them cause the boots were too big for her. But she was giving a couple of the others lessons so they weren't wasted.

Food Glorious Food

Last Sunday we had an international food night here at College. We had food from, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, India, England and Australia. My contribution was of course......Pavlova. I made two, and the first one fell apart completely, but it was apparently still delicious. It was a fantastic night and it was good to get to see different cultural eating habits.

Elizabeth's No Good, Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad Day

Well it has been one of those days. I have no idea why everything went wrong today, it was just one of those days when I got out of the wrong side of bed (which is pretty hard considering that my bed is up against a wall). Maybe it started before I got out of bed though, I really didn't feel like getting out of bed this morning. Then I was late for work and it was all locked up so Karen and I had to rush around opening everything up before the kids came. Then I found myself getting anoyed with the kids for no reason, they were perfectly reasonable requests that they were making but today they really got to me. Then I told one of the parents off because they were standing around with the gate open and I was worried that one of the children would escape.
I did improve after that, I was perfectly happy by dinner time. I guess taking the time out to look at ALFIE Stories really helped me.

Take You Back

The reason why I stand
The answer lies in you
You hung to make me strong
Though my praise was few
When I fall and bring your name down

But I have found in you
A heart that pleads forgiveness
Replacing all these thoughts
Of painful memories
But I know
That your response will always be

(Chorus)
I'll take you back always
And even when your fight is over now
Even when your fight is over now
I'll take you back always
And even when the pain is coming through
Even when the pain is coming through
I'll take you back

You satisfy this cry
Of what I'm looking for
And I take all I can
And lay it down
Before the throne of endless grace, now
That radiates what's true

I'm in the only place
That erases all these faults
That have overtaken me
But I know
That your response will always be

(Repeat Chorus)

I can only speak
With a grateful heart
As I'm pierced by this gift
Of your love

I will always bring an offering
I can never thank you enough

You'll take me back always
And even when my fight is over now
Even when my fight is over now
You'll take me back always
And even when my pain is coming through
Even when my pain is coming through
You'll take me back always

Even when my fight is over now
Even when my fight is over now

You'll take me back always

Even when my pain is coming through
Even when my pain is coming through

You'll take me back


This is a song by another of my favourite artists Jeremy Camp. I like this song because it helps me to realise that no matter what happens to me, no matter if I turn away from God he will always be there waiting for me. When the things that happen to me hurt and make me feel down 'even when the pain is coming through', God will be right where he was last time. I am so thankful for this

Hobart

Last week I went on holiday to Hobart for a week. Hobart is a really beautiful place with lots of interesting things to see.

While in Hobart I visited some historical places like Narryna Heritage Museum. This is a house that was built in 1836 for a seafaring gentleman named Captain Andrew Haig. It is set up as a merchants residence and shows items that were used from 1803 to1900. It is a very interesting place to visit

Another historical place I visite is shown in the pictures above this. It is St David's Park. Now this site was originally the public cemetery for Hobart. It was then turned into a park and the headstones were placed into walls in the park. The larger headstones were left where they were. It is another interesting place to visit.

This picture is of a view from Mt Wellington. This is the mountain near Hobart. it was very cold when I went up there. There was no snow but there was frost on the ground. I was glad to get back on to the bus as there was not mush visible there as the clouds had come down on the mountain.

This is from another historic site in Hobart. It is the Peniteniary Chapel Site. The Chapel was built along with barracks for convicts when free settlers arrived in the Colony. They did not want to mix with the convicts so a seperate church was built for them and Solitary Confinement cells were built into it underneath the seats that sloped down from the top. Most of the cells were not able to be stood up in. After new convicts stopped coming to the land the barracks were bulldozed and two wings of the chapel were turned into the Local Court and the High Court. These were still in use until 1984 with tiny cells for those awaiting trail that were like cages. There was also the execution area where the criminals were hanged. When someone was hanged the bell was rung 13 times to signify that the judge and 12 man jury had spoken. For the same reason there were 13 twists of rope around the top of the noose.

While in Hobart I also visited the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery which had some interesting exhibitions. I also had a look around the waterfront and saw Constitution dock where the Sydney to Hobart finishes.

Where's my hair?

I got my hair cut, here's a pic.

Who is wearing that Silly hat?

Well you may be wondering about these silly hats, why on earth are all these people wearing such silly hats?

I will expalain it too you. Last wednesday we had our end of term dinner and to enter the dining room we had to wear hats. These are a selection of the fantastic and silly hats that some of the people were wearing.

It was a fantastic time with a delicious meal and we even had a game.

We were divided up into 5 teams of 5 and given a scenario which was that we were missionaries in a country called Absurdistan where the chickens roosted in the ceiling and the eggs were always smashing on the ground so the people were malnourished. We had to make an egg catcher that would catch an egg dropped from 2 m. The materials we had were 10 straws a thick piece of cardboard and a thin one big scissors and small scissors sticky tape and a balloon. Each team was given two tries dropping an egg onto it from the 2 m height and awarded points depending on how the egg ended up. My team one woo hoo.

Things that go Bump (or Rrrrrrrrrrring) in the night

Well recently I have had some night time adventures.

Firstly a couple of weeks ago on Monday night/Tuesday morning I fell out of bed, at 1 am. Now this happened because my bed is one of those beds with a base made out of a mattress with legs with another mattress on top. Now the top mattress was hanging over the edge of the bottom one and rolled over to that side of the bed and tipped it. The mattress landed on it's side on the floor and I landed next to it. In fixing up my bed i bumped the light switch which is behind my bed and turned on the light thus waking me up fully, and so I noticed the time. I did get back to sleep pretty quickly though.

My latest adventure in the dark happened last Monday morning. The fire alarm went off at 6 am and so the whole college went out to the car park in the cold, foggy morning in their pyjamas. The high light of this or deal was that the children were excited to see the fire engine. The low light of the ordeal was that the trigger came from v block which is the single female block and so we all had to stay out after all the others could go back inside. I gues that something that we can praise God for is that there was not actually any fire.