I didn't have a chance to write about yesterday, so I will start there.Yesterday morning we got picked up by Helene to go to Glynde Lutheran Church again. After being out the night before, and just having time catch up with us, we were all a bit tired. The service was a bit more traditional this time, or atleast the music was for certain. The great news is that it has cooled down here, to 25 C, which is around 77 F. After church we visited with Simon and Jeremy and some of the church members who wanted to meet us. After a while Helene asked us what our plans were for the day and invited us to a meeting at the church. We were all very tired and hoping to get a nap in before our plans for the evening so we declined and headed home. We had lunch and then headed to our rooms. I spent some time painting with watercolors I bought at Cheap as Chips until we heard from Helen about our plans for the afternoon. We were invited to hear Gabby, the daughter of Julie who was in a picture or 2 from the barbeque last week, speak at a youth service at their church. We all were excited to attend a more contemporary service, especially one that was lead by youth. Julie picked us up and we headed to their home to visit with the kids before walking to the church. They provided supper for us at the church. The service reminded me a lot of the ones that I was a part of in my church growing up, but some of the music was new. Gabby, who is 18 and already graduated from University, gave a message about her recent trip to Indonesia. She used her story of running out of "undies" to talk about the realization that God is in control. It was a great message, but I was a little shocked when she got up in front of the group and talked about her lost undies, and even used a powerpoint with a picture of undies drying on a line and admitted that they were hers and she'd taken the picture that morning. All in all it was a great service. When it was over we visited for a bit and then headed home. We sat and talked until Julie and her husband Chris came home and gave us a ride back to Hosanna Heights. During the time we spent visiting I developed a fairly intense headache so I opted to go straight to sleep when we arrived home around 11pm rather than blog. This morning we had an early morning. We got picked up at the Magill office at 8:30 to head to Blair Athol for the day. We spent the morning working in the Op Shop there sorting clothes for emergency relief to the Victoria areas affected by the bushfires. I am sure that the news about the bushfires has spread to the US and it is troubling to know that the death toll is at least 200 now, but they suspect that many more haven't been confirmed yet. It is especially scary to think that these fires broke out in much of the same conditions that we were experiencing here in Adelaide. Helene was telling us today that the people who have been killed and had their homes destroyed live in communities where they have been trained how to handle these specific situations, and yet have not been able to get to safety in this situation. We continue to keep them in our thoughts and prayers. We were picked up at the end of the day and got a ride all the way back to Hosanna Heights, which brings me back to the present. It is quite an exciting day for Morgan and Hilary since they both got packages today. Upon receiving them they both came to my room, at which point Hilary entered exclaiming "Who loves bubblewrap!" excitedly while playing with a sheet presumably from her package. It truly has been a great day on our part, but the concern for Victoria and the bushfire victims is weighing heavy on me.
The pictures above are of Gabby giving her message and the youth band that played during the service.
These pictures are from Hilary's camera taken during our trip to the pub.
This is the prime example of our picture taking exploits at the fountain in Victoria Square that I talked about in Saturday's blog.
These pictures are from Hilary's camera taken during our trip to the pub.
This is the prime example of our picture taking exploits at the fountain in Victoria Square that I talked about in Saturday's blog.
These are pictures from the Op Shop that we were working with today. The sign explains how the profits from the shop are handled and lists the services that are provided through Lutheran Community Care through the Blair Athol site.
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