Hi again.
January has been a very busy Month for us in which a full weekend was quite rare. We did get through it though and really enjoyed it at the same time. God has been teaching us lots and placing us in some great situations which really required us look to him for strength.
After our time off over Christmas, the New Year and my Birthday, we were slightly apprehensive about going back and finding everything really tough to get back into. However we didn't go straight back to work but had a few days of training including another 2 day bushwalk in the blue mountains, 2 days canoeing on the Colo river and abseil vertical rescue assessments. The bushwalk was a fantastic one and although quite challenging terrain with dense vegetation, we really enjoyed it. We started with some really steep climbs which were pretty tough going, then finished with a nice hike along the ridge, and then down into a valley where we set up camp on a really nice area of sand next to a wider section of river. At the end of the first day we had a lot of time to rest, swimming in the river, jumping from rocks and relaxing by the camp fire. The next day involved a shorter walk but a much more challenging one during which we did a significant amount of off track bush bashing to test our skills with a map and compass. Katie, Nathaniel and Myself were very pleased with our efforts as our decisions took us with pinpoint accuracy to our final destination, which we were so happy to reach at the end of a long hot day. The second day was made much easier with a midday stop at some deep pools in the river of which we could jump into from large boulders. It was very refreshing, even when you had to make your jump quite far to avoid landing on a large eel...
Our canoe trip was like luxury in comparison. We canoed down the Colo river in a beautiful area North of Sydney, staying overnight at a nice spot next to the river before finishing the next morning. Canoeing allows you to carry a lot more and because we had just completed a bushwalk during which you only the necessities, we packed with us many luxuries. We slept with actual pillows under our heads and took many breaks to eat mangos and plums as we cruised down the Colo river.
After these two trips and our final abseil vert rescue assessment (passed) we began a 5 day Leadership in Training camp. The camp is for young leaders in churches across New South Wales and Victoria. During the camp Katie and I played the role of leaders to the young leaders. We got to support them and teach them, as well as learn with them the key elements to running a great bible study. We spent a lot of time with God, praying, listening to great sermons, worshipping and preparing for our morning bible studies with our group of young leaders. It was a very exciting time with God and Katie and I learned a lot throughout it.
During the first week in February we got the chance to visit and work from another site west of Sydney called Attunga. It was a lovely site with some lovely people of whom several were from the pacific northwest (Seattle) so chatting to them was fun. Katie and I both enjoyed it because we were able to run quite a few of the sessions by ourselves now that we have been trained. We also had our first camp-out expedition, with 60 year 7 boys! As they were from the city - hiking down a mountain carrying all their gear, camping at the bottom and cooking their own food was quite an experience, and they were quite hilarious for it. The rain did pour though, and so Sam's group of 60 whom were due to camp the next night, had to sleep in the barn instead. The most exciting part was that we were able to run our own 1.5hr christian discovery sessions with our individual groups of 15 which meant we got to chat to them loads about who we are in Christ, how God provides for us and how he sent Jesus to die on the cross. What an awesome opportunity to tell them about such exciting news.
We are now starting another week of school camps back at our usual site in the national park. Lots of activities to run and assessments to pass. The main ones over the next couple of weeks are abseiling, climbing and canoeing.
Other than work Katie and I are enjoying our time relaxing at home and on the beach, surfing, kiting and reading. Katie was asked to photograph the church youth formal recently where she got some great photos. In other news Katie was also bitten recently by a white tip spider on her leg. They're only semi dangerous, but it looked pretty nasty and was quite painful. So after a couple days off work, some anti-biotics and medical cream to boost her immune system and stop her skin dying she is fine again. We also recently discovered a huntsman spider nest in the bathroom! So the pest control have been in today to sort it all out...Australia hey!
We are super excited that Sam's parents are coming to visit in about 3 weeks! They'll have about 10 days here and were hoping to get a few days off work to do some stuff with them.
Love and Prayers, Sam and Katie
No comments:
Post a Comment