Recently I began exploring the country west of Olds. The photo above was taken from a spot just a few kilometers south west of Sundre. I've realized that adventure and exploring is okay, but it's even better when it's tied to our purpose, and it's in our purpose that we come alive and experience more of what it means to be human.

Well I've finally made it back to my blog, it's been too long! There's so much to share about all that's been happening. On January 4th I came down to Kingston Jamaica to work with the Fusion team here and it has been an adventurous two and a half months so far. Having already been here before helped alot with the transition and as you might guess living on an Island the size of PEI next the the equator, could have a lot of differences from living in a wintery country as big as Canada is. Both countries having very different histories and events that have shaped their unique cultures. Being in Jamaica has helped me to see that "normal" is quite a relative term. Each day that I spend here I see and experience all kinds of new things, and slowly the crazy and absurd becomes a bit more normal. And as I've been changing I have seen lots of changes in others as well, in the lives of the kids, teenagers, and adults who I have gotten to know. I look forward to sharing more with you about it all. Please see my new photo and video links and I hope you enjoy them. Bye for now, Dave.

I've made it back to Tanunda and Friday nights are my night to cook... yep... it's a gong show :) Cooking for four people doesn't sound very hard but I'm still learning a few important tricks. Like that it's best not to cook something that you've never cooked before... or to think "That'll be lots of food!" Well last Fridays dinner tasted good but I'm working on keeping things warm. It's challenging but fun, which pretty much sums up things here in the Barossa Valley.

Below is a shot of one of the beaches in Adelaide that we went to which is about an hour and a half away. It's a pretty nice spot and it'd be good to head down there again to relax on the weekends.

On my way from Tasmania to the state of South Australia I had a day to look around Melbourne. A friend and I checked out a really cool art gallery and then looked around at the shops. The weather was awesome and it made me pretty excited for summer and to be heading out of Tasmania which is quite cool most of the time.




Melbourne was pretty bustling and it made me want to check out more of the big city life in Adelaide once I got up there. I think that I'm pretty fond of big cities and it makes me miss driving around Edmonton. It'd be great to be back in Edmonton for Christmas and I'm still working that one out. Well that's all from me, hope to hear from you soon. Dave.

From mid Sept. to mid Oct. I was back in Poatina and it was a busy month that started off with a ten day International Conference. One of the best parts was getting to see the guys from my course again and to hear a bit about what they've been up to. There was a lot of sitting and listening/daydreaming in the conference so I found that a bit difficult. Meals were a good time and one night when all of the Canadians were sitting together (10 of us in all!) we had fun singing "Alouette gentile Alouette..." and other french songs that we half remembered from elementary school. On the expo day we had booths set up telling others what was happening in our area and I roamed a bit between the South Australian and Canadian booths. The Canadians were making Smores in the microwave with real imported "No Name" marshmallows, and then we played a bit of street hockey to make it complete. This conference was good because it was a bit more relaxing than some of the youth conferences and other events throughout the year.

Above are some of the International workers from countries like Ghana, Nigeria, the U.K., Albania, Germany, Thesaloniki, and Canada.

Above is a photo of beautiful Tasmania in Spring.

After the conference we had two weeks of classes and had a bit more time to hang out with people before we headed back to our centres. During the month in Poatina I was pretty sure that I'd head back to Canada quite soon. As I prayed about it and looked at where I was at on my journey it became pretty obvious that now wasn't the right time. So my flight has been bumped back atleast until December and thankfully God has given me a lot of peace with that decision.

Oct 14, 2006 Hey guys, I'm still in Poatina at the moment but I thought I'd send a few photos that I just received from a friend. The photos are from our trip to Uluru which was quite a while ago now. It was an awesome yet extremely busy time so one of my favourite parts of the ten day bus trip was probably the mandatory half hour quiet time each morning. It was the craziest youth event I've ever been on, a crash course in youth work :)

Above - Waiting for the sunrise

Below - My small group

I'll send an update soon, hope you enjoy the pics.... Dave.

Sept 15, 2006 Tommorow is the last day of my six week placement here in South Australia and now I'm off to Tasmania for about a month. It will be a big change for me heading in to the International Conference with three hundred people and their families and I will likely be missing the quiet atmosphere back in Tanunda.

My placement here has been a great time of fun and learning and growing and the highlight has to be last weekend when four of us went camping in the outback. We loaded up our "swags" (which apparently is a sleeping bag with a waterproof cover) and most importantly the Dirt Bikes !!! Although I've been in Australia for eight months I hadn't experienced the outdoors like this before as we had lamb chops and pulled up "Mallee roots" to burn in the fire. Most Australian wood is impossible to chop and these roots are like concrete. As you can see in the photo we found a few groups of kangaroos and I've figured out that they can run about the same speed as a dirt bike going flat out, but I haven't quite mastered their maneuverability, well I can go straight, it's a start :) We saw some Emu's as well, and the whole experience felt a bit like I was in the middle of some National Geographic documentary.

This past week we went out to a local primary school to put on some activities for the students as a part of their math week. I was running the Tug 'o War today and at the end of the day my boss asked me "So how did you tie in math with Tug 'o War", all I could think to say was "Uh... I didn't?" Managing twenty elementary kids hanging on to a rope seemed to be enough of a challenge without adding in some times tables :)

Also this week we went out for my farewell lunch and they gave me a big card full of nice notes. It is hard to say goodbye to the friends that I've made and with a fairly small team here I know that they will continue to manage a heavy work load. Wherever I end up it will be great to be able to contact them for ideas and resources and to find out how the work is moving along. By mid October I'll know where I'll be off to next and if you could please pray for direction for that I would appreciate it.

Well I hope you enjoy the photos, I miss you all.

Bye for now, Dave.