Missing

We have been on the quest for a new church for a few months now and I'm really missing the regular get together with people. In the meantime we've been visiting a few churches and catching up with people, Michael has also had opportunities to preach (in his role as SIM WA Ministry Director). Its been nice meeting new people and catching up with old friends but at the same time I'm looking foward to the regular catch up each week that comes with attending one place.

There is a possibility on the horizon of one church but we're waiting on that. What do I miss about regular church attendance?

- catching up with friends each week
- the opportunity to sing songs each week in a group
- the little bit of sermon I usually get to catch (inbetween keeping Keziah busy)
- morning tea!
- the chance for Kezi to play with other kids

I don't think finding a new church is too far off!

Photo Friday 'Heat'

This week's PF theme is 'heat'. Living in Perth means that heat is a part of life. In summer itusually gets to around 42C (thats nearly 108F), sometimes a little higher and usually for a few days in a row. Sometimes we have a heat wave where this last for a week or more. This summer wasn't too bad. I'm not posting about Perth though because the hottest we ever experienced was in Niger, West Africa.

I'm fairly sure we had days where the temp got up to 50C (thats 122F). When we went to Papua New Guinea on our way home someone commented that we didn't look very 'brown' for people who'd lived in such temperatures. There's a reason for that. When its 50C outside you don't really go and bask in it and try to get a tan (well, we didn't anway). Besides, two words.....skin cancer.

Anyway, this photo is from the heat we experienced in Africa back in 2000-2001 (spot the giraffe by the way) and the second shot shows just how 'white' we really were afterwards!

Niger, West Africa

Papua New Guinea (notice the volcanic soil!)

SIM Stuff

Each week I spend roughly 1-2 days attending to SIM admin type work. This of course involves the usual office work such as reports, emails, phone calls, arranging meetings and mail. Occasionally my artsy world and my SIM world cross paths which is exciting for me. It means I get the chance to use my artistic skills for missons.

That happened recently when Carol Wilson asked if anyone was able to put together a specific image for the March issue of SIM's International Magazine Mission Together. I was able to play around with an image using pastels and Carol liked it so....its now on the front cover of that magazine's current issue. You can see it here.

I'm quite honoured to have one of my paintings connected with our mission in this way.

PS Thats the painting there on the left

IF - 'Communication'

Haven't entered in Illustration Friday for a while but this week's topic is something I can enter so here's mine.

I did this for some literacy work in Niger for SIL while we were there with SIM. They are sitting and writing which is a big form of communication. I have had some of these illustrations made into cards which I painted with watercolours. All proceeds from the sale of the cards goes to SIM's work in Niger. Those are for sale on my Etsy site here.

SIM Focus

SIM around the world has many opportunities for ministry. If you are a Christian who has a heart for overseas ministry then read on. If not, maybe you know someone who would find this interesting.

I'm amazed at the range of 'jobs' and opportunities SIM has listed on their site and it seems that theres something for everyone. For example, did you know that currently, SIM Ethipia is in need of a radio coordinator? Did you know that SIM Peru is seeking a Camp Ministries Developer? Currently SIM South Africa is in need of a dentist. SIM Botswana is after an IT Assistant. There are so many examples of needs around the world, here are some more:

SIM Angola - Mechanics Trainer
SIM Senegal - Literacy Specialist
SIM Ecuador - Veterinarian
SIM Bangladesh - assistance in the Arsenic Allieviation Program
SIM Mongolia - an Addiction Recovery Counsellor
SIM Bolivia - High School Science Teacher
SIM Malawi - Home School Teacher (German Speaking)
SIM Kenya - Orphanage Worker

I could go on as there are thousands of needs around the world within SIM. If you are interested in any of the listed opportunities you can click directly on them but if you would like to search for a ministry that suits your current skills and abilities then go here.

SIM in Western Australia

As my regular readers know, Michael and I are part of SIM (Serving In Mission). Michael is the Ministry Director for Western Australia and I am the Representative. It's been a busy few months since Michael completed his studies at Trinity Theo College in November with setting up for the coming year, planning, meeting with people and sharing. We have some interesting hopes and plans for 2007, if you are intersted in receiving the WA SIM quarterly Newsletter (called SWAT - SIM WA Team - first mail out is pictured to the left), please let me know.

There are several ways you can find out information about SIM in Australia and around the world. Firstly, through the Australian Website which can be found here: SIM Australia.

Secondly, through the International Website which can be found here: SIM International.

If you are from any of the following countries and are interested in SIM, please click the link:

SIM Canada
SIM East Asia (Singapore)
SIM France
SIM New Zealand
SIM Northern Europe (UK)
SIM South Korea
SIM Southern Africa
SIM Switzerland
SIM USA

There are a couple of other sites worth visiting.

HOPE for Aids website
SIM Kids website
SIM Niger website

and a few SIM related blogs besides my own:

Nancy's Blog - Hannatu's Happenings
Richelle's Blog - Corazon Latino
Carol's Blog - Carol Wilson Update
Jeremy's Blog - Jeremy In Africa
Suzanne's Blog - Barefoot Bushkid
Anna's Blog - La Vita e Bella

It's a great feeling to know you're a part of something bigger than yourself. WA is a very isolated place so we're glad to connected to the rest of Australia and the world in this way.

Around world around the House

I was looking around my house today and thinking about the variety of things from around the world that we have. Most are things we have bought ourselves but some, particularly anything from Asia were bought in a shop in Australia. I have a real love for other cultures and love the variety of styles that can be found. For example, I have this (we bought this in Austria):

hung right next to this (which was bought for me for Christmas by my parents from a little Japanese shop in Cairns):

We returned from Niger (with our mission SIM) over 5 and a half years ago now and there are still a lot of Niger things around our house with no plans of putting them away any time soon. Such as these:

and these (they are actually small cards with batiks on the front that I've framed):



How could I forget this (if you are from Niger or live there you will know what it is!):

To top it all off (there's much more than the above but the post would be too big if I kept going) we have some lovley little items from our visit to the USA (bought in the town of Galena, Illinois) in 1998 such as these:

How could I complete this post without mentioning Papua New Guinea. We spent 7 weeks there in 2001 visiting my parents and we bought back quite a few nice things (they also have given us a lot!), including this pig:

Anyway, thought I'd share my love of culture. It's much more interesting to me if the item has some sort of direct connection with a culture I visit so I hope that one day we can visit Asia and south America (only been to Singapore and that was just for one day!). I've got more (deep!) to say on this subject but for now I'll let you enjoy the pretty pictures!