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.