Oh and yes... they have forecast snow for Stanthorpe tomorrow!!!
WOW! (I've never seen snow)
Another great day in Stanthorpe.
It was a tad overcast this morning, but I was still able to get some nice photos of the place where Ben and I are staying. I'm not on my laptop at the moment but if I get a chance to duck up to the McDonalds and use their free wifi I'll put some photos up.
Today 4 of us headed with Darryl to the highschool to assist with the No Limits program that the chaplain (Noel) is running with a group of grade 11 students. The program is not evangelical, but focused on teaching moral and life skills to boys who may not be fitting in their social scope. They are about mid way through the program and it was good to see the boys able to recall so much of the previous material when asked about it.
Highlight of the day was probably as we were walking back to the car and Darryl found himself sliding down a muddy hill (even stopped the locals driving past long enough to point and laugh at their Baptist Pastor rolling in the mud)...
This afternoon we visited the Carnell's farm (Andrew Carnell is a friend from City North and college so was great to see where he'd been brought up), and we had a good look at how much is involved with the fruit farming routine - and also to sample some fantastic country baking!
We then visited Symphony Hill Wines and had a tour of the facilities. It is run by a couple from the Baptist church and was interesting to hear how they were using the vineyard as a ministry tool. And tasting some of the wine was unreal as well - excellent stuff.
Tonight we've been at the young adults Bible study... so it's been a long day.
Not quite as cold here as we were expecting.
Only down to 1 degree last night, didn't even dip in to the negatives. Tonight though I think we're -3 already, but the place I'm staying is totally climate controls (amazing!) so I'm sitting here in a t-shirt and feeling fine.
Yesterday the team went to the Sunday Service at Stanthorpe Baptist and was introduced to the church. We had lunch with our host families at the local park and spent the afternoon doing our own thing.
Today we did a cultural walk of the town, learning from the senior pastor David about the culture of Stanthorpe and how that effects ministry. Lunch was at a cafe/winery out of town and then the afternoon was spent at the associate pastor's, Darryl, home talking about pastoral life in the country - and coming from a city church to a country church.
Tomorrow I'm going to the highschool to run a program with boys at risk, not sure exactly what it involves but I'm looking forward to actually doing something practical to help out around here.
Alrighty. Part of college this year is to participate in Malyon's Week of E - a week of practical ministry in either a city, surburban or country setting.
I'm on the Stanthorpe team, heading out into the country to work at the local Baptist church for the week.
I'm looking forward to it, and will be leading the service there next Sunday.
Probably not looking forward to the cold so much...
I've got some fantastic photos of the Watoto Children's Choir from Wednesday at Whitehill and tonight at Stafford Salvation Army, but you'll have to wait to till I get back.
Or you'll see the Whitehill ones on my flickr account.
Do you ever wonder if all the work you did for years really mattered?
Or if for some reason you're not doing that same thing one year people will even notice you're gone????
Beautiful story and great movie...
... just not the best thing to watch only two weeks after having to have your dog put down.
It hurt. But this movie really summed up how I felt about Wilson.
Reuters July 07, 2009 07:40amWorld's oldest bible made available to the public online.
A COPY of the world's oldest bible that has been made available online will help unlock several mysteries of Christianity, experts say.
The Codex Sinaiticus was hand-written by four scribes in Greek on animal hide in the mid-fourth century around the time of the Roman emperor Constantine.
Head of Western manuscripts at the British Library Scot McKendrick says that the digitising of the historical artefact means academics can examine the early workings of Christianity.
"The limits on access to this manuscript previously have meant that people have tended to dip, so that they have seized on particular things,” Mr McKrendrick said.
"This 1,600-year-old manuscript offers a window into the development of early Christianity and first-hand evidence of how the text of the Bible was transmitted from generation to generation,” he said.
The Bible's remaining 800 pages and fragments - originally some 1,400 pages -contains half of the Old Testament. The other half has been lost while some pages have been rendered unreadable.
According to McKendrick, the digitising of the Codex Sinaiticus was a four year project that allowed experts to uncover evidence that a fourth scribe had worked on the text.
"The Codex … is arguably the oldest large bound book to have survived," McKendrick said.
"It marks the definite triumph of bound codices over scrolls - a key watershed in how the Christian Bible was regarded as a sacred text," he said.
The assembly of the book includes previously unpublished pages of the Codex found in a blocked-off room at St. Catherine's Monastery, at the foot of Mount Moses, Sinai, in 1975.
Collections of sections of the bible are currently held by the British Library in London, the Monastery of St. Catherine in Sinai, Egypt, the National Library of Russia and Leipzig University Library in Germany.
The Bible can be viewed online at www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/, includes modern Greek translations and some sections translated into English.
Check out www.watoto.com to find where the choir is going to be. They are only around the Brisbane area this week.
They are certainly something you should catch if you can.
Amazing!
Smaller cars could factor in future
The next generation of V8 Supercars could end up being Cruze and Focus models rather than Commodores and Falcons.
Car of the Future is the new buzz phrase in V8 Supercars after Executive Chairman, Tony Cochrane, announced a committee for the next generation of V8 Supercar at Hidden Valley Raceway last month.
Five-time touring car champion Mark Skaife heads the committee, whose only terms of reference are that the next generation car must have a V8 engine and must cost less than $250,000 each.
The July/August edition of V8X Magazine, which hit the newsstands this week, features a six-page spread titled “Future Shock” and brings up some interesting points about the proposed Car of the Future.
While journalist Steve Harkness addresses the possibility of the next-gen Supercars being based off small cars like the Cruze of Focus, he also points out that it would be hard to squeeze a V8 into the smaller engine bays of cars more compact than the Commodore and Falcon.
Cochrane said at Hidden Valley that the first season for the Car of the Future will be 2012, however it may be introduced as early as 2011 as part of a ‘phasing-in’ period.
I'm sorry, but a racing series of purpose built cars - with nothing related to their road counterparts does not interest me in the slightest... how could you class any type of Focus as a V8 Supercar????
This is a sad sad development.
Well I spent last night in Ipswich after visiting Dad. Mum needed some company after being in this big house all by herself for the last week and a bit.
Today I drove Mum into Greenslopes and Dad was discharged from hospital. We're back in Ipswich, and just the fact he's out of hospital has made Dad feel so much better.
He's still really weak, and gets tired quick - but at the moment he's gone for his 5 minute walk, and instead of it being up and down the hall of the ward, he's able to go out with Mum into the garden and the sunlight!
There's still a long road to full recovery, but God has been working amazingly over this last week. Thank you all for your prayers.
Back in 2004 when I was in The Gambia the easiest and best way to have a drink was to keep an empty glass soda bottle in your bag so you could go to a pitiko (a small shopfront) and get a cold soft drink. By handing over your empty bottle you could then take the full soda and walk off and drink in your own time. Otherwise you'd have to stand at the pitiko and finish your drink and hand back the bottle.
Not being able to trust the water in the country to be safe to drink, softdrink was always the best option if you were out somewhere.
I've never been a big Coke-a-cola drinker, and during my time in The Gambia my fav
ourite drink was Vimto. It's a berry flavoured, creaming soda like drink which I found very refreshing. However, returning home there was nothing like it to be found in Australia.
I've been keeping an eye out in those novelty candy shops which sell US softdrinks (Cherry Coke ect...) but since Vimto was a UK soda I'd never seen it anywhere.
Untill last Friday, I was in the Brisbane CBD and a novelty candy store right near Central Station had a small can of Fizzy Vimto in their fridge - very excitedly I bought a can and was able to experience a memory from my time in The Gam!
I've had another can since, but it will be a treat, as it is not the cheapest can of softy around! But I think it's more the memories it brings up that makes it so special.
