March—May 2008

Dear Family & Friends,

We’re almost half way through the year, and pleased to be able to share with you some of our life and ministry in SW QLD over the last few months...

Patrol Highlights for March, April & May

Beetoota Gymkhana.

On Friday the 11th of April, Kerri, John and Andrew travelled to the western town of Beetoota (approx. 8hrs drive west) for their annual Gymkhana. Andrew was able to assist over the weekend by helping with judging and setting up the events. It was agreat opportunity to catch up with many of the property owners in the western part of our patrol area. Highlights from this trip included going up in a local plane to do an aerial check of stock along the Diamatina river, and having several gospel conversations with people over the course of the week. John is a bit of a favourite with many of the kids out this way— they all want to ‘play with John’ !! Ever since the Gymkhana weekend, John has been very interested in horses and motorbikes and is always quick to point them out to us!

Easter Services in Windorah and Quilpie.

This year Andrew had opportunity to hold Easter services in Windorah and in Quilpie. Each service focussed on the gospel message and also included a Kid’s Talk. For these two services the music was played on the laptop, but we do hope for future services to be able to convince a couple of musicians to make the trip with us and have live music!! The services were well attended and the kids really enjoyed the Easter Egg hunt after the service (and I think many of the adults had just as much fun hiding the eggs!). It was a great privilege to be able to preach the gospel in these isolated communities where there is no regular gospel preaching available.

The Season So Far…

Recently there has been some scattered rain across the patrol area in late May and early June, however in the west of the state, more rain is needed. Areas up around Boulia are very very dry—still no rain this year. Conversely, some of the properties Andrew visited in March were still recovering from the big wet in January/ February. Several properties in the Carnarvon area had lost dams due to “wash—outs”, and many kilometres of fencing had been damaged. One property had lost seven dams, and had a coolroom deposited several km downstream. They had also lost a large 100,000L water tank in flash flooding—it was carried for kilometres down the creek until it came to rest in some trees… Quite a few of the dirt access roads in the area had been badly eroded in flash flooding. One of the women visited commented that getting her young children into town for Playgroup had been a real 4WD adventure!

On The Home Front

Manse Improvements

Recently we received council approval to build a deck at the rear of the PIM manse. The deck has now been completed and has really extended the ‘liveable area’ of the manse for us. It also means that the steps at the rear of the house are far less dangerous than they previously were.

John Robert

Walking—John is now walking, and getting quicker on his feet each day. Kerri found out recently that he is able to open the front gate all by himself and get out onto the street. This means that we now need to be much more vigilant about “where” John is, and “what” he’s up to!! This is particularly important for us when we’re out on patrol as a family. John is also drawing, feeding himself, and saying a few selective words like “No”, and “Ice cream”. First Fishing Comp— In May, John entered his first Fishing Competition. We went to the local 10 Mile waterhole where the U16 competition was being held. With only an hour to go, John managed to catch one fish to be weighed in (with a large amount of help from daddy!). It was a good fun family afternoon, and John was pleased that he managed to win a prize (almost as pleased as Daddy!!).

Kerri Due

Our big news is that Kerri is pregnant, and expecting in early December! She is mostly over her morning sickness now, however there were some days in April and May when she was feeling quite off colour. We have had the 12week scan in Roma, and it is all confirmed—there’s definitely a baby in there! Two children in the family under three years will certainly make things interesting for us.

Men’s Shed Night

Dennis Howard, PIM padre from NW NSW, hosted our first Men’s Shed Night in Charleville in early May. It was an excellent night with Dennis demonstrating competition wood chopping, and speaking to us about rules, regulations and tactics. Dennis also showed us how to sharpen an axe, replace an axe handle, and how to use a crosscut saw. One of the highlights of the night was when Dennis raced our session clerk Mr Rob Johnson on a chainsaw!! The evening was capped off with Dennis giving his testimony and a clear presentation of the gospel.

Coming Up

We will be having a PIM Stand at the QLD assembly this year. Among other things, Andrew will also be presenting the PIM report to the Assembly. We are also looking forward to catching up with many of the ministers and elders in QLD whom we haven’t seen since last year.

 

 

 

This was a dam wall “washed away” by the January/February rains at the start of the year. Property owners were working hard to repair their water storages before the next rain, and repairing damaged fences to stop stock wandering onto neighbouring properties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mt Tabor road north west of Mitchell—a reasonably severe washout caused by the Jan/ Feb rains. A bit worse than your average pot hole...

 

                                                                    John pictured among the winners of the Charleville Under16’s fishing comp for 2008. He won a small lure shaped like a frog!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction under way on the deck at the rear of the
PIM manse. The deck has now been completed and looks good!!