Aug 24, 2006
Last Saturday was a monthly Daytrip here in the Barossa and though I'm still recuperating from it we had a great day out in the Adelaide hills. Daytrips are where leaders and young people from different programs go out for a day of high energy activities where we can experience community and continue to help role model Godly values.

From Tanunda we headed by bus to a property ran by Youth With A Mission (YWAM), which was a great location and the weather turned out to be excellent. In the past I have been in more of a supplies/behind the scenes type of role for Daytrips but this time I was able to be a "Small Group" leader which was a nice change. I had a great group to hang out with for the day and it was nice to have some more youth-work experience under my belt to help me deal with some of the challenges that always seem to present themselves. I'm still learning tonnes but it is nice to experience some "wins" to keep me encouraged.

The time here in the Barossa feels like it is quickly flying by as I only have three weeks left before returning to Poatina. In Poatina I'll get to be a part of my first International Conference and then have a few weeks of Diploma training intensives (9 a.m. - 9 p.m.). I'm looking forward to connecting with the other Diploma students who have been placed in other centres around the world.

Tonight we had our weekly Talk 'n Tucker night with the youth which is where we all have dinner together and then the girls and guys break off in to seperate groups for a casual bible talk. The guys and I played hacky sack afterwards for about an hour and it was cool to see how all those hours of playing hack in High School can help me to connect with the guys.

With the chain left over from the Daytrip the boss has decided to implement the new "Lock and Chain" employee desk policy, which you'll see below :)

I hope you're all doing well. Bye for now, Dave.

Aug 15, 2006
Last week was a good one, though by Friday I was feeling pretty beat and was ready for a relaxing weekend. I went pretty much non-stop on Wednesday and Thursday and so was thankful on Friday night to sit and watch a bit of ‘Aussie rules’ football (which isn't as good, in my books, as ‘rugby union’ but is growing on me). One highlight of last week was when three of us stopped by a local seniors centre. I really enjoyed talking about the youth work in the area and chatting with some of the people. All the men were sitting on one side and the women on the other and we had to turn up the microphone so loud that you could feel it in your chest :) but we had a really good time.

On Sunday I took a nice walk through Tanunda to the grocery store and I was so amazed at how beautiful the town is. The combination of the stone houses with all of the green shrubs and blue sky was unbelievable. I have a few assignments that I need to be working on for Diploma, as well as journaling five times a week, so this is keeping me busy. There are also plenty of challenges that present themselves along the way, and we have a daytrip in less than a week so it should be another busy one. I'll try to send another update some time next week. Bye for now... Dave.

<<< size="4">Hey guys, here's a bit about what I've been up to lately.

From the Certificate 4 course I have now begun my next step of training which is a Diploma in Youth and Community work. The purpose of this training is to learn how to lead a group of youth workers and volunteers, where as C4 was more about how to be an effective group member. It's a bit daunting learning how to lead workers when I haven't had a tonne of time to be one myself, but I am quite interested in being a part of the bigger picture and many communities all over the world are asking for trained community workers to support them. In the Diploma course there are about five, one month long intensive training sessions throughout an eighteen month period. Between these training sessions students are placed in established centres to get hands on training in the field.

I was looking forward to the possibility of returning to Canada for my placement but the training staff suggested another opportunity and we agreed that the state of South Australia would be a good spot for the first part of my placement. So I'm currently living in the Barossa Valley of South Australia and learning how they are connecting with people in the local area. In mid September I'll return to Tasmania for a Diploma training session and then my next placement will be negotiated after that. The Barossa Valley is a beautiful wine region similar to the Okanagan in Canada, and Fusion has been loaned a forty acre vineyard property near Tanunda where the office and living space are located. There have been a lot of challenges throughout the past six months, but thankfully God brings about exciting opportunities and great people like those here in the Barossa and I am really thankful for his generosity.

On July first (Canada Day!) I graduated from a six month long Certificate 4 program in Youth and Community Work (Christian). I had a pretty huge pile of assignments that needed to be completed to graduate. I remember falling asleep at about 5 a.m. the day before graduation just to get up at 7 a.m. and head to our last few lectures for the course. It put my "cramming" skills to the test and made for an exciting last week of uncertainty, where graduating on time wasn't exactly a foregone conclusion. I was a bit dreary eyed for the ceremony but it was great to celebrate all that had happened over the six months and the day after graduation I had the chance to share a bit of my journey through C4 at the Poatina worship service on Sunday morning. I loved sharing about how I have grown in my faith and as a person and to share things that are real for me and close to my heart. I'll let you know when I update this site next.