Plants, teaching and travel to come

This week is an office week – catching up on emails, planning for future teaching, study, etc. [left: Mary's plants are finally gathered after other folks have cared for them for two years]






Recently Mark attended the Australian Association for Mission Studies (AAMS) conference in Canberra (2-5 October). He presented a paper as did several other AAANZ folks – It was a good networking opportunity.

Mary participated in the AAANZ tele-conversation with Tim Costello on 4 October. She joined others at the Longleys for the call.

9 October we hosted a young Korean couple who were on their honeymoon in OZ. The husband is interested in Anabaptism and would like to go to theological school in the future.

18 October, Mary helped lead a half-day retreat with Sally Longley. Mary has also been working with Doug Sewell on getting PayPal up and running (as well as her usual run of phone calls and visits with people).


[Right: Mary presenting the Peacebuilding wheel by Barry Hart]


20-24 October we taught a course on “Community-Based Trauma Healing” through the Peacebuilders International programme here in Sydney. Mary put the course together and was the main instructor with Mark assisting. [Below: class participants]













The Tuesday evening during the week we attended their annual dinner. The course was taught at The Kings School so we had at least two hours of driving each day as well as eight hours of teaching. These courses are exhausting but worth it in the affect that they have on people around the world. We had students from nine countries from around the Pacific and Africa We hear stories from past students and others about how what we teach gets applied in their countries.
[Below: PNG Group illustrating their first thoughts on trauma]









Tonight we are scheduled to do a mediation session with a church in our local area but we are not sure if it is going ahead or not.

Some future events:
1 November – Speaking in a Blue Mountain’s house church
6-9 November – Attending the national Pace e Bene National Gathering, Adelaide (two day drive on either side)
10 November – Tabor College Adelaide, speaking on “Living As Peacemakers in Ministry”
17-21 November – Mark teaching a PPBI course on “Practices That Sustain Peacebuilders” (with Mary and Sally Longley assisting)
24 November – 15 December – Western Australia – We are planning for about ten days of AAANZ work in Perth and then some holiday time in the south of the state (Moriah joins us 3 December)
[Below: Each day of the trauma class we had circle time when we shared our views or experiences of trauma healing. This day we used photos to tell stories.]

October Greetings

We went looking today for our last Greetings and saw it was sent out the end of July. Where does time go? In the last Greetings we were talking about the Aussie dollar reaching parity with the American – today it is below 70 cents to the American dollar. A lot has happened recently in the world financial scene.

[There are two new blossoms in our garden; do you know either of them? I like the fruit of one and the birds eat the other.]

TEAR and Toilets
Where have we been since the end of July? We attended the annual TEAR conference where Ched Myers spoke about “The Biblical Vision of Sabbath Economics” – a vision where the poor are taken care of rather than the rich (like Wall Street bankers).TEAR Australia is a movement of Christians in Australia responding to the needs of poor communities around the world (similar to Mennonite Central Committee). Mark has an article on nonviolence in one of their recent publications. If you visit our new home, you’ll see that Mary has put several TEAR posters on the wall in the loo (toilet room) with “Toilet Trivia” from around the world like this fact: “The average Westerner spends three years of their life in the loo.” You can read more about the International Year of Sanitation at http://www.tear.org.au/getinvolved/international-year-of-sanitation. (How many mission letters do you get that talk about toilets?)

[During the TEAR conference, we took turns at our resource table. Mary is eating on the job. Mark with Doug Hynd, AAANZ’s vice-president]

Family in OZ
Moriah arrived back in OZ at the end of July and after several days with us in Sydney took up residency again in Canberra, the nation’s capital. On August 17, she was inducted into pastoral ministry at Canberra Baptist(read about it at: http://www.mennonitemission.net/Resources/News/story.asp?ID=1318). We were privileged to attend as the proud parents of the new associate pastor.

Mark’s writing and our travels
We’ve found ourselves in Canberra several times over the past few months. Besides times with Moriah we were there for a two-day conference on restorative justice and just this past weekend Mark attended a missions conference where he presented a paper on “Anabaptism: The Beginning of a New Monasticism.” (You can read it in our latest Journal at: http://www.anabaptist.asn.au/index.php?type=page&ID=3002 ) After one Canberra visit, we continued on to Melbourne for meetings about church conflict and visits with people interested in Anabaptism.

Continuing Renovations and guests
[Mark keeps us out of the renovation dust. He also painted the entry stairs, railing and windows. Left: new paint in entry
Right: Mark washes windows after painting.]

At home, we’ve been dealing with continued housing renovations and were able to welcome our new neighbour downstairs. We’ve also hosted a number of visitors including one overseas Mennonite and two Aussies helping start a Christian Peacemaker Teams programme here in OZ and NZ. Mary has written about these events on her blog at: http://greetingsfromozontheroad.blogspot.com/.

Pastoring on the road

In September we spent ten days in Tasmania visiting AAANZ members and speaking in a number of small groups. We’re spoiled by the more moderate weather we have in Sydney and really feel the cold when we visit Tassie in winter or spring. Returning to Sydney felt like going directly from winter into summer.

[Left: A sign warns of Penguins crossing and (right) Sue and Josh listen while we talk about being alternative, attractive and articulate with a house church in Tasmania. Mary needs to talk less and take more photos of folks.]

What is coming up next?
Later this month and in November we have two courses to teach at the Pacific Peacebuilding Initiative here in Sydney In November we’re also travelling to Adelaide, South Australia for a conference and speaking in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney to a house church where we have several AAANZ members. The beginning of December we hope to go to Western Australia In between all of this travel, we continue to work on making this new house our home.

Mary made tutus for our grand-daughters’ birthdays

Fiddly Bits

[I have been trying for weeks to publish this post but for some reason Blogger wouldn't allow it. But here it is now]

I complained to several people today that I get tired of the bits and pieces, the fiddly bits. Some day it seems like I can't do anything straight forward for I have to do something else to complete my intended task, or several other things. Today it was signing up for PayPal for AAANZ so that folks could register and pay online for our January conference. AAANZ's president had registered for his business and it only took a few minutes, not so for me.

Because we are a not-for-profit organization, I have to find and provide proof that we have that status from some authoritative source. I also had to provide a posted bank statement. But, I am not the treasurer so don't have those at my fingertips. I had to write someone else and have one sent to me.

To top it off. Our internet server kept going off line at most inopportune moments. which reminded me that I needed to pick up a new filter for the phone line.

I asked myself (and God). "What am I to learn from this?" After some reflection I came up with a few ideas...

1. I am such a westerner and expect things to work well and to happen when I want them to. I had to remember that I am spoit and most folks have to wait much more than I ever have.

2. I had to 'do' other things while I waited. I talked across the fence to our neighbour, looked for the possible koala or possum that tramped across our roof around 1 am last night, watered my plants, or typed to my niece in America on Facebook. I need to 'be' more and enjoy little spaces for God's gifts to appear.

3. I want to accomplish BIG things, while often it is the little things that make an impact.

4. I am glad that God did fiddly bits like create tiny things (my compost worms) that reduce my food scrapes into usable bits for my 'plants that will be'. Another tiny thing is delicate flowers in bloom in my back yard.

5. While I was complaining, Mark was painting our elderly neighbour's dormer. Our neighbour had fallen from his ladder while trying it before. He had also broken ribs, his wrist and had a concussion. (Mark also glued and painted my rocking chair and our entryway)

I am sure that God has more to teach me about 'bits and pieces' and that I will have many more spaces to 'learn' such things.

Visitors and making space for others

Our son, Micah recently spoke at a gathering of Eastern Mennonite University staff and faculty. He spoke about welcoming others and making a space for them to feel that welcome.  He suggested that we maintain an outsiders stance even when we become insiders so that we can connect to the outsiders.  I am sure that is a Jesus action.  How does that play out in everyday life?  How do we do that?  

We often receive a variety of visitors, lately it has been no different. 

Today I helped lead a silent retreat, and welcomed folks into a space to encourage them to connect with God in silence.  I always feel inadequate but God seems to use the little I have to offer and speaks to people.  We used parts of Moses' story to look at the seasons of life through which we travel.  I introduced winter using the story of Moses leaving Egypt and caring for sheep in the wilderness for his father-in-law.  Raised as royalty, Moses tried to help his family of origin (The Israelites) with this own strength and failed, losing both his families.  What was God doing for forty years with Moses the royal, watching sheep?  Was Moses learning; learning to shepherd people, learning to let God work through him not doing things on his own?

Red Grammer sings about receiving 'strangely wrapped gifts', those gifts that we may not want but we learn from them.  I folded a box for everyone, asked each one to write on slips of paper the strange 'gifts' they have received in wintry times and place those slips in their boxes.  Later as we reflected on Autumn times, we celebrated by tying ribbons written with praises on those boxes.

This past Thursday, I spent 3 hours with a woman who is trying to start a business using dialog and a restorative process to work at clashes between cultures.  I served tea, homemade muffins, and resources while listening and asking questions.  

Earlier that day, I served many cups of tea. homemade biscuits (cookies for North Americans) and later soup and muffins as lunch to the folks moving our new neighbor into the lower level of our house.  Friday I offered coffee and lunch to our new neighbor for I know what moving-in takes out of you and how easy it is to forget to stop to make meals.  

I have been offering bikkies for morning tea to the construction workers, plumber, tiler, sparkie (electrician) and painters who were trying to quickly reconstruct our lower level before our neighbor needed to move in.

Wednesday, I helped find accommodation for someone who was flying through Sydney.

Tuesday, friends offered me welcome in taking me out for lunch to celebrate my birthday. 

Last weekend, we hosted and provided transportation for a young couple traveling around Sydney to speak about Christian Peacemaker Teams.  That Saturday, I made lunch for seven and bikkies (cookies) for several of their speaking engagements.  There we also welcomed, offered tea and coffee, and answered questions when the young couple engaged with other folks.

That Friday morning before we picked them up at the airport, I traveled to the southern part of Sydney by bus.  I was trying to read but once again, God had other plans for me.  A woman asked me questions and engaged me in conversations.  She was Australian but lived in the USA, was only in OZ for a few weeks but I heard of her life and troubles.

The second to last weekend of August, we welcomed a traveling Mennonite to our city and offered accommodation and suggestions for tourist sites.  We swapped views on children, the US election process, the environment, and world issues.

But, the most interesting visitor was one that was sneaking up our drive at night but caused our motion sensor to turn on our floodlights.  He was a Long-nosed bandicoot and is probably the culprit who had dug holes in our garden.  All we had to offer him was grubs and insects in our soil.  I even scared him off attempting to take his photo.  I had to google a photo for this blog.

We try to do hospitality.  In many ways, as an inadequate, Jesus

-follower, in this culture, I am an outsider so try to connect to both insiders and outsiders.

We leave for Tassie Tuesday so will experience others' hospitality.

See great close-up shots of our bandicoot's kin at: http://pbase.com/sheila/image/7860635 or http://www.pbase.com/wildlifeimages/long_nosed_bandicoot 

Bandicoot Photos from : http:// www.americazoo.com/goto/index/mammals/12.htm and http://fnpw.org.au/OurProjects/Plants_Wildlife/Long_Nosed_Bandicoot.htm

Mark and Mary's techniques for dealing with construction noise and dust

Our house will be a wonderful place of hospitality when it is finished.  We are so grateful for this gift and all the work being done on it but....

When the house is being reconstructed, how do we work around the noise and dust?

  

When the plumber is drilling holes through

 sandstone walls and he can wear earplugs

 but we have to work just above that commotion with the walls shaking, what would you do? 

 

When another builder is popping tiles off another wall, also wearing earplugs and mask but we have to organize travel plans or teaching schedules, what would you do?

 

  How do we concentrate when they saw boards just outside the window at our desks?

When can we have time for quiet reflection?

Mark does a great job keeping up with the fine dust that settles on everything but no sooner is he finished his 

cleaning and a new layer arrives.  The plaster dust from the reconstruction on this floor is still between the floor boards in our lounge.

Attempted solutions while they work on the lower level of our house:

1. Try to ignore it all and stop for a cuppa when it gets to be too much 

2. Take a walk, a bike ride, or go for a swim while they work and do our work after they leave at 3:30 pm

3. Close all the doors we can between them and our workspace

4. Use headphones and listen to our favourite, soothing music

5. Go for a trip somewhere else, work while there and hope that the builders do the noisiest, dirtiest work while we are gone

6. Get up and work before the workers arrive at 7 am

7. Teach all day at another location

Since we returned to our home at the beginning of June, we have tried all these solutions.  

The reconstruction really hasn't stopped us being hospitable for we have had guests for meals and overnight guests throughout. (The builders don't work on the weekend.)

We purchased a twenty visit pass to an indoor pool and Mark uses his wet-suit vest to swim in the ocean every now and then.  

The week 14-18 July we taught a one week intensive post-graduate course on church conflict a Baptist Theological College.

Our daughter, Moriah arrived in Australia on 30 July and that weekend we drove 3.5 hours to deliver her to Canberra where she started work with Canberra Baptist Church.  

 

The following Sunday we drove to Canberra again for meetings on restorative justice on Monday and Tuesday at St. Mark's Theological Centre.  Tuesday night we drove towards Melbourne (seven and a half hours drive) for a Wednesday noon meeting with a variety of denominational representatives dealing with the common concern of conflict in the church.   

That Thursday we met a young Chinese-Australian man who works with a group offering accommodation for international students.  A pastoral worker lives on each floor as a living witness to the love of God.  It was quite exciting hearing of his work and that we might have a chance to do some teaching with those pastoral workers and students.   

Then for the third Sunday in a row we visited Canberra on our way north from Melbourne just in time to be present for Moriah's induction as Associate Pastor at Canberra Baptist.  We are now the proud parents of a REV.  That makes three Reverend Hursts in our family, though we seldom use that before our names.  To most folks here, we are just Mark and Mary.  (We can't keep up visiting Moriah this often even though it is nice to have her on the same continent.)

The reconstruction hasn't really slowed us down or interfered with our work, in fact talking to the builders gives us a reason to take a break, get away from the computer and walk around.  When 4 September arrives so will the moving van for the grandma who will live on the lower level and we can only pray that the reconstruction on her part of the house is finished.

A specialist says...

Friday, I visited the fracture clinic and the specialist said that the suspected break wasn't there.  He couldn't see any break in my hand bones or thumb bones.  So instead of six more weeks with a cast I am cast free with no restrictions of movement except those that hurt too much.

I found another positive from breaking my hand.

When returning home after walking to Mona Vale to purchase a few groceries and collect our mail at the post office, we met our neighbour, Bill walking toward Mona Vale. In February, this 80+ year old neighbour tried to paint the side of his house not long after we moved into our house, the first time. He is very independent, lives alone, and couldn't reach the peak of the dormer so piled a step ladder on a table. Unfortunately, the legs of the table gave way, he fell, broke his wrist, several ribs, and probably had a concussion but walked to the hospital across the street. At that point, we exchanged phone numbers and encouraged him to call next time or just yell till we heard. He had a cast on his arm for a few months and had sore ribs for about that long as well.

When we saw him Thursday, and showed him my cast, he laughed. After apologizing for laughing, he said that it made him feel good to know that he wasn't the only one to fall. He went on to say that he had lost his nerve after his fall and hadn't even gone out much. My broken hand gave him the courage to try more things, again.

In our weakness, we encourage others to be strong.

Mark offered to paint the peak of Bill's dormer, in a month or so, when we borrow an extension ladder from our friends to paint our entryway. We will see if he will let Mark but we can at least offer a safer alternative to a ladder on a table top.

The Dangers of Composting and Moss

While sifting my compost, I found all sorts of strange bits of aluminum, nails, plastic, etc. I separated them out and after adding the new compost to a large pot on our deck, I headed to the garbage bins to throw out those foreign bits.

(The photo shows what was left after I fell and tossed most of it into the air)

Unfortunately,I headed down the side of the house with the “slimy moss covering the brick” walkway (we’ve had so much rain lately that we have a great crop) and both my feet took off over my head.

(photo :moss at another spot)

We walked across the street to the hospital and four x-rays later the doctor decided that I have a fractured thumb bone in my hand. So I now have a cast to my elbow on my left arm. I also hit the end of my spine and several other spots for they have all started to ache.

The Doctor has me on pain killers and anti-inflammatory medication for he said that tomorrow I will feel worse. It only took 3 hours including x-rays, not bad for a small hospital.

I have a new appreciation for parts of the human body like opposing thumbs. My pointer finger and middle finger work well together to grasp things but my thumb is much more nimble; except now when it is immobilized.

Speaking of body parts, have you ever noticed how fantastic lips are? They are soft, and sensitive but strong. Not even air or water can seep through if you don't want it to; hence food stays in even chewing. Bones or other skin wouldn't work in quite the same space.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

By the way, today we sprayed vinegar on the moss to kill it so that no one else will fall!
(Photo: walk after the vinegar treatment. We live on a hill so this walk is on a slant.)

Reconstruction Continues and Living out of a suitcase

Since we have lived most of our married life in rented apartments or houses, I’ve not had much experience planning paint, carpet, or tiles. Though our new house is also rented it is in need of all the above (due to the reconstruction after termite damage) and our friends, the owners, are allowing us to choose. Before we left for Cambodia, we chose fairly plain tiles for our newly constructed bathroom and toilet room but I found a few tiny tiles with gum leaves and blossoms to use as feature tiles. I love eucalyptus trees and learning how they seem to be created to just fit this dry continent. The leaves of a mature tree are long, sickle-shaped and most often point down so that rain funnels directly to the soil at the base of the tree rather than bouncing and splashing into droplets as on Deciduous leaves; less water is lost to evaporation. The mature tree leaves are also tough, leathery with a waxy or oily coating and turn on edge so that less moisture is lost through transpiration. Their frilly flowers[1] have no real petals but make a show of their stamens. Flat large petals would also invite loss of moisture in a drought ridden land.

All that to say, I chose the tiles and left for two weeks in Cambodia. When we returned, the tiler had just tiled the bathroom and the first thing I noticed was that the special tiles were in upside down. For days it irritated me every time I entered the room. How could they not know that mature gum leaves hang down? They live here and see them all the time. Why didn't they just check the front door glass image with Gum leaves and a Blue wren. My eyes were drawn to every eucalyptus tree I passed, checking to see if the leaves hung down. When I had mentioned to the tiler that the tiles were in upside down, he said that he hadn’t known so had asked the sales person at the tile shop who said that flowers point up. I returned the sample tiles late last week and posed a question about placement of the feature tiles to the sales person. Sure enough he said, “Let's see, I guess flowers always point up.” ARG! Flowers don’t ALWAYS point up.

Do I ask for the tiles to be taken out and put in properly? Is it worth the hassle? Will I eventually get used to their unusual angle and ignore it? Should I just keep track of who notices and mentions it?

In the meantime, I started to reflect on our time in Cambodia. While traveling by bus on the main road from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, we saw some of the poverty and daily struggle to provide for family that we had heard about from our friend with TEAR Australia who had visited Cambodia's poorest of the poor just a few weeks earlier. (Sorry that the photos are blurry but I took them through bus windows and the house pictures I took with my mobile phone. Clicking on them enlarges them and makes them a bit clearer.)

Typical houses were on stilts to keep them above the water in the rainy season, with wooden floors, thatch roofs, and woven palm frond walls. (metal corrugated roofs were evident on larger houses closer to the major city - note the boat houses for the less advantaged or maybe for those who earn their living fishing and the shaded area for gardens) Often animals wandered on the dusty ground around the large pots for their water supply stored under or around the houses . (We heard that having animals was a sign of a better financial situation. Note the boys guiding the scrawny cattle through the water logged fields.

These house were some of the better looking ones; many looked uninhabitable by western standards. ) Mounds of grass or hay piled around a large branch was in many yards for feeding animals. Sticks or branches formed fences for flocks of ducks or chickens and palm leaf mats provided spaces to dry red peppers (as in the photo below) or fish.

Our bus careened around hordes of bicyclists and motorcyclists, both adult and children. We heard of seeing dead bodies along the road to Phnom Penh but we didn't see any, only feared them. Mark wished that we didn't have front seats to see the close calls. (Most vehicles give a friendly toot on their horns to alert others of their presence but buses blast their horns to warn bikers and smaller vehicles to move aside.)

Our TEAR friend told us of parents going to Thailand either legally or illegally to work, leaving children in Cambodia for weeks, months or even years at a time just to provide for their families. Those children are in danger of being stolen and trafficked as laborers or for sex. One caring person holds 'school on a mat' to provide some education for such children. He rides into villages, rolls out a mat and teaches a few hours, providing some consistent awareness of the children's wellbeing and offering some instruction to avoid traffickers before he rolls up the mat and bikes to the next village.

(Of the two windows in our new bathroom, only the new one on the right is seen from the inside; the other older one is covered with plaster board and will house the mirror over our sink.)

After returning to Australia, early last week, I was tired of traveling and living out of a suitcase. I figured out that we left our place in Sutherland nearly 18 months ago and have been in transition ever since; even though we were at Seminary most of last year we only stayed for a few months at any one place. We slept in too many different beds to count. I was feeling sorry for myself that we had to wait even longer to have a place to live. Our house still wasn't ready for habitation and won't be ready until sometime in June.

(The window in the corner was part of our old laundry room but is now giving light to our study.)

God gently or not so gently reminded me that I have never been without a roof over my head nor struggled to have enough food to feed my family nor lacked in education nor lacked health care. Not only those gifts but I have been able to travel and visit so many interesting places and meet such a variety of people. I have been loved greatly and have learned much. How can I complain of upside-down tiles and times of transition?

(The mirrored doors of our new built-in closet stands open to expose the new shelves and double rods inside.)

Find out how rich you are [and this only demonstrates monetary wealth] at: http://www.globalrichlist.com/index.php

I am very rich, in the top 7% in the world. I found a short clip on Nooma about our richness given as a gift from God so that we can bless others.

http://www.nooma.com/Shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=316&PMID=13&mode=FLV

So, I realize that the house isn't just for me but for me to share the blessing with others in offering hospitality and welcome. (The awning had to be removed from the front window of our guest bedroom when the new double glaze one was installed. The other large window on the back section lets more light into our study/bedroom. The double glazed windows will let in light but not the hot summer heat.)

For those who like details: Friday, six trucks or large vehicles were in our drive or on the street outside our place. Yesterday, we chose wall paint. Today the plumber, two painters, the electrician and a carpenter were all at work on our house. The primer is on our walls; the toilet as well as bathroom, toilet room and laundry room sinks are in; most of the lights, outlets and switches are functioning; our new double glazed windows and fascia are in place. A new carpet for our enlarged bedroom/study is ordered and our new built-in closets are constructed. (The photo on the left is our new toilet room with no fixtures installed; only pipes waiting for the connecting.)

On top of all that, God gave me another gift; our guava bush had three tiny ripe fruits for my morning fruit smoothie.








Whether ready or not, over the weekend Mark enjoyed reading in the sun on our deck.

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[1]Flower photos copied from : asgap.org.au/e-sider.html; members.iinet.net.au/.../waflora/waflora.html; home.vicnet.net.au/~herring/flowers2.htm; lukasland.com/oz/Flora.htm