LittWorld conference Day 1

A not-so-lengthy post from the conference I'm attending in Singapore. Today is the first full day. I arrived in the early hours of Sunday, but we didn't begin until dinner-time last night.

The conference is a Christian Global Publishing conference. That is, there are people here from 52 different countries (more than 250 people). They include publishers, writers, editors, designers, screenwriters, and marketers. It's quite an extraordinary collection of people.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the Biblical and godly focus of those who are running the conference, but also by the non-Western input we've already had. We've had two worship times already and they've been a blessing to me. The theme of the conference is "the Word made fresh", so a focus on the Bible. Last night we had a speaker from the Egyptian Bible Society. He told us some amazing stories.

Often these "international" events are very US or UK biased, but thus far the only American speakers we've had from the front are the MC and a tiny bit from the President of the organisation running the event (MAI Media Associates International). I'm used to being a part of an international organisation, but the OMF has its limits, as in, our focus is on East Asia and most of our missionaries come from a limited group of countries, countries that have an official OMF home-side presence (though that is now changing). So, there is limited African, European, and South American influences. I'm losing count of the nationalities of people here I've had conversations with. Here's what I can remember: Egypt, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, US, UK, Italy, Costa Rica, Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, South Africa, Japan, Laos, Australia, and Hungry.

Here are some things I'm already thinking about: 

• What other value can I add to what we do with Japan Harvest magazine aside from the magazine. Can we do something else that gets people more involved outside of them actually just reading the magazine?
• How can I think more globally about my writing about things local?

What follows are some photographic "thoughts" of the last couple of days.

A largely empty Brisbane International Airport. Middle of the afternoon on a Saturday, I was really surprised! I had a very smooth flight, but I was very tired by the time arrived, having had a 23 hour day (we spoke at a breakfast meeting in Brisbane on Saturday).

Upstairs garden. This was the view outside the first room that I occupied. I arrived at about 1am and was given a single room for 11 hours. After that I changed to a double room for the rest of the conference, I don't know why I couldn't have booked into the second room when I first arrived on Sunday morning, but oftimes when you travel you just have to go with what you get.

Below are more views from my first room.

More view. It's a lovely area. I wandered around here a bit yesterday as I looked for a cheap lunch option.

Gorgeous display that greets those of us who "live" on the third floor.

A street-level view of the local area. This is close to many vendors, but it delightfully thought out.

Lunch. I didn't sit at this table, but most tables have a quite the variety of nationalitities. People are mixing well.  Many people don't know a lot of others. Each meal has been a
buffet with a fair variety of food. We're certainly not starving: for food or conversation.

This is where we are located on the island. Quite close to the airport, but the plane noise hasn't been a big concern.

Australian bushdance

Our eldest son's church has an annual bush dance, that's where he spent last Saturday night.

I never thought about it being an Australian thing, one that our kids hadn't learned. But then, I think it is also somewhat of a historical thing that many kids growing up in Australia haven't experienced either. It used to be a big social gathering for the local community, especially in rural areas. Even growing up int he 70s or 80s in a largish-town, it wasn't a common thing. Our church went through a stage of having quite a lot of them, and I've also done it at various camps and possibly at school (memory's a bit vague on that point). In any case, when our youngest heard where his brother was last Saturday night, I had some explaining to do.

Wikipedia tells me that Australian bush dance is similar to the American line dances or square dances, but actually mostly came from various folk dances in the UK and Europe. 

"...in that all dancers know certain steps and execute them together. Partners are often changed in the course of the dance".

Here's a video I found showing you one of the common dances: 

I don't have photo or video evidence of our son dancing—but have heard from an eye-witness that he did a pretty good job. I would have loved to gone myself, but we were otherwise engaged. It's been a long time since I've attended an Australian bush dance!

I'm typing this in the departure lounge of Brisbane airport, boarding a plane soon to fly to Singapore for the week. Hopefully, I'll get some time there to write at least one blog post.

So many unwritten things

I've got several topics of many unwritten posts in my head. It's a writer's dream or nightmare, depending on which way you look at it. 

Some pretty flowers from Toowoomba.
Unrelated to this post except that it
reminds me about some of the beautiful
things I've seen while travelling around,
and have been able to take photos of.
I'm taking my camera on this trip,
so hopefully there'll be some nice photos
to share with you at some point.

I'm shocked to realise that I've only published seven posts in October, I guess this makes the eighth. That means I've just surpassed July and September. Rarely in the last nine and a half years of blogging have I written so little.

The fact is, I've been busy, probably too busy. If I haven't had time to write, I've been recovering from being overly tired or I've been sick. But if you've been reading what small amounts I've managed to get up here, you'll know that. There's also been a bunch of stuff this year that I just couldn't share in this public forum, and that's clipped my wings a bit.

The crazy-busy metre is about to go up a notch, I'm afraid. I'm flying to Singapore tomorrow evening for a International Christian Writers and Editors conference. That's from Sunday to next Friday when I'll fly to Perth (closer to Singapore than it is to Brisbane) and meet David and our two younger boys. 

In Perth we'll be visiting five churches, most of whom have supported us for the last 20 years, plus a mission prayer group and an OMF meeting. Eleven meetings in total, over ten days! My guess would be that I'll probably have time in Singapore to write, but Perth will be more difficult, although most of the meetings are on the two weekends, so during the week will be easier. We'll be back on Nov 12, and I'll breath a sigh of relief that this "big rock" of our home assignment is completed.

In the meantime, for the record, here are some things I've been thinking about writing on:

• friendship
• Australian bush dance (acutally, I might get this one done in the next 24 hours)
• boundaries
• grief
• about this conference I'm going to
• Christmas on home assignment
• internally judgemental
• When are you next coming to Australia? (I just wrote a short bit about that in our prayer letter that I sent out this afternoon)
• Kid's newsletter (which has completely fallen off the rails)
• the books I've been reading: Awe by Tripp, Making Sense of God by Keller

So you see. Tonnes of material. Just no time or frame of mind to get sorted in my head and down in a form that's in any way presentable.

But for now: it's off to packing on this stinking hot spring day (forecast around 36C, but very dry at 25%).  Let's consult the weather of my destinations: 

Singpoare weather: excessively humid (>85%, so currently feels like 31C) but not stinking hot (forecast temperatures around 28C), however I will mostly be inside in their famously cold air conditioning. But, as it's a professional conference, I can't wear jeans all week. Hmmm.

Perth weather: it's jumping around between high teens and mid to high 20s, but is dry (today 50%). With lots of up-front events, I also can't be too casual in my clothing most days either.

Sounds like layers are the thing! But now I've got to do it! (We've got a breakfast meeting tomorrow, so there won't be too much extra time to spare...sigh, it's going to be a long day.)

It was a big weekend

It was another big weekend! They seem pretty common these days, indeed we seem to lurch from weekend to weekend. 

Friday night we had our usual Scrabble date at a couple of local restaurants (mains at one and a cheap dessert at the other).

David and I playing travel Scrabble on Friday night.
We had two strangers say, "What a good idea!"

Queens Park in Toowoomba. Looking beautiful in
the springtime after the rain they've had these
last three weeks.

Saturday we got to sleep in, then headed up to my hometown after an early lunch (1.5 hr drive). It was delightful to see the difference that rain has made in the three weeks since we made this journey.

This is a portion of my parents' front yard. The top photo was taken at the end
d of September, the bottom one at lunch-time on Sunday. In the intervening
 three weeks, they'd had 80ml of rain (just over 3 inches)

We dropped the boys off at my parents' house and then spent 3 1/2 hours with friends I've known since I was 16. They asked great questions and the time flew by!

On Sunday morning we visited a traditional Presbyterian church. The congregation contained more than half a dozen people who I knew as a child in the church our family attended at that time. It was great to also meet others, afterwards, who've been praying for us over the years. Just before we spoke the pastor gave a testimony about two Japanese exchange students they had had at their home (and at the church). Both had become Christians through their experience in Australia and are both persevering in their faith back in Japan. It was a moving story and such an encouragement to hear.

We went back to my parents' house for lunch. During lunch, a storm came through that threw down 30.5mm in a short period of time. The wind was quite strong and they lost power. It was exciting to see the rain, there has been precious little of it in the previous months of our time in Australia.

Three galahs drying off after the storm.

We followed the storm east as we drove back home after lunch. I didn't have a great trip, though. I had a stomach ache and nausea, and an hour after we arrived home I threw up. Thankfully I felt better after that and there was no more pain. However, I took it as a warning sign that I needed to rest (I think the probable cause was stress). I spent the rest of the evening resting and a good portion of yesterday too.

An awkward selfie of me reading yesterday. My favourite way to relax
and favourite place to read a book.

I'd like to rest more today, but am also aware that I've got responsibilities to attend to. Trying to balance up those two things is definitely not easy! Also weighing on my mind is my trip to Singapore on Saturday afternoon and then on to Perth for deputation—a total of 16 days away. Preparation is needed. So...one day at a time I venture forth. Very aware of this:

He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
 but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:29-31 NIV UK)

A typical week?

Keeping my eyes heavenward is often a challenge,
but essential when feeling unsettled.

It's been an interesting week, not typical, but then I don't think we've had a "typical week" since we've been in Australia. 

It started with a painful ear infection, and interrupted sleep. I didn't do a lot on Monday or Tuesday, and felt guilty for seemingly being lazy. I wish I could shut down that part of my inner dialogue that accuses me of such things. My body and mind was simply not up to work, and I should have just been able to accept that rather than fight against internal judgement.

Wednesday, though, I got back into work and spent time with David planning upcoming speaking opportunities. It's amazing how much time can go into preparing 10 minutes of talking! The familiar iceberg illustration comes to mind!

I also finally got to writing the editorial for the upcoming Winter issue of Japan Harvest. Writing the editorial is really hard. I'm aware it's often the first thing many people read when they pick it up...no pressure! However, once I decided that it was okay to use a wrestling illustration (after checking that I hadn't actually done that before), it all flowed out.

I did some baking, continuing on my quest of baking
my way through a small Women's Weekly Chocolate cookbook
that I bought in 2013. These are Mini red velvet whoopie pies.

There's been a lot of email and instant messaging traffic this week on a wide range of topics, from our organising our upcoming trip to Perth to ingrown toenails (don't ask!).

It's been a rainy week. A delight after so much dryness.

Wednesday evening also saw our youngest son finally get back to the wrestling club he was a part of last time we were in Australia. His eyes are on preparing to join the CAJ team as soon as we get back in January (that's the main month of competition for the middle school team, but they start training there soon).

Then yesterday, between the two of us, our car barely saw the garage between 8am and 3pm, then went out one more time at 8.30. Our eldest son was here from 3 till 8.30, it was delightful, but a little unsettling to have him around. I struggle with knowing what to do with myself. One wants to make the most of the time, but how do you do that with a 19 year old boy without making him feel uncomfortable? Intense, prolonged conversation isn't the way to do it. 

We've been doing our best to feel our way through this new stage of having an adult son in the same city, but not living with us. We see him every week or so, but often just for a couple of hours. It's great that he's really settled in his life and doesn't need to rush home and hang out with us. It's just taking some adjusting to for us all. Last week we went to McCafe for a decadant afternoon tea. We sat around doing word puzzles in the newspaper that was lying around for customers. It was great fun. So much so, that we're going to try that same thing again next week.

Today I've been at the regular ladies Bible study at church this morning and working on various email, writing, and editing tasks this afternoon. Oh, and Japanese study. Yes, I'm spending at least an hour or more on that every day these days.

Tonight is our regular Scrabble date at a local restaurant while youth group is on. Tomorrow we may or may not be getting up early to take boy/s to a Park Run (starts at 7am). But then leaving after an early lunch to go up to Toowoomba for one more ministry meeting there on Sunday. We'll stay the night at my parents' house and come back home after lunch. So before we turn around it will be next week!

Those are many of the physical things that consumed my week. My thoughts and emotions have been roaming around in various other territories, including—friends, boundaries, secularism, judging, Christmas with family, and, of course, the sad news about new abortion laws in Queensland. In general I've continued to struggle with feeling unsettled and feeling unable to settle. I'm guessing that that feeling will persist well into next year when we'll, hopefully, be back in Japan.

How's your week been?

Thoughts on home

After our recent camping trip we drove back to David's sister's place for a few more days. As we drove in the front gate we said, "We're home." That quickly got edited by the family into: "We're back at our home away from home away from home."

Our home-away-from-home-away-from-home.

Does that make sense? If you trace it back, Tokyo is "home" and Ipswich is our "six-month temporary home-away-from-home" and their aunt's place was our even more temporary "home".

Yes, "the question of where is home" is an ongoing theme in our lives. We were on the receiving end of a Q & A session at the church we spoke at on Sunday. It's another church that has been journeying with us for nearly two decades now. A wonderfully mission-minded bunch of people. We fielded many excellent, thoughtful questions. One was related to the question of "home". David quite simply stated that "We have two homes now."

It's very true. They are different in so many ways, but each has enough of a quality of "feeling at ease" in it that we can call them both home. We have spent enough time in both places that we have significant memories stored away for both. 

But the "home away from home" feeling that our boys expressed about Australia is revealing. Australia isn't a place that our boys feel so much at home in. They have spent much more time in Japan than Australia and don't have the years of memories of growing up here that we have.

At another time recently I was reading a passage in John and noticed Jesus using the word "home":

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (John 14:23 NIV).

What a wonderful thought: that God comes and makes his home with me . . . which really means that no matter where I am, no matter where I call Home, I'm "at home" with him!

Other photos from our rural Queensland holiday

I lost a couple of hours sleep last night with pain from an ear infection and so I'm not firing on all cylinders today. Here's a post I've been meaning to put up with photos from the rest of our time away (i.e. the not-camping bit) on our recent holidays. There's quite a few photos, but not much text. So sit back and enjoy.

Carnival of Flowers
This is an annual event in my hometown that will celebrate it's 70th year next year. Its two main events are a street parade and a garden competition. In the week following the parade, the private gardens are open for the public to wander through and enjoy. Mum and I did just that when we were there a couple of weeks ago. Here are some photos, starting with the Japanese garden at the university.

My mum enjoying this small garden that was
completely packed with plants. 

This garden included a number of whimsical non-floral items. 

Central Queensland
The next day we travelled up north to visit David's family. It had been a while since we'd travelled these outback Aussie roads, where there are almost no passing lanes and not a few large trucks. I got my adrenaline going a few times passing trucks with two trailers.

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law manage a property between Emerald (13,500 people) and Springsure (1,100 people). It's a vastly different locality to where we usually live in Tokyo.

An outback sunset from my sister-in-law's house.

Their house. The only other house in sight of this is their boss', just to the right of the photo. 

View out the front of the house. 

My sister-in-law also breeds alpacas. Such fun to photograph: they were very curious and friendly. 

My sister-in-law with her passion: alpacas.
 

Our youngest mowing the lawn (that was only green because it was watered with bore water).

On our last morning, the boys climbed one of the silos. Pity we missed the sunrise, but it was still spectacular.

My sister-in-law's verandah is a place I sometimes daydream about in Tokyo. Very
peaceful, just a little dusty at present, with a dirt road only 100m away.

The main street of Springsure, the closest town to where my husband spent his first six years of life (on a property).

Guinea fowl. These are fun birds to watch. Quite hilarious when they run. They move around in groups and function as "guard dogs" alerting people to danger by loud "hooting". At night they roost in trees near the alpacas, so if
something like a dingo shows up, my sister-in-law and her husband know about it. 

Three cousins enjoying the trampoline in the cool of the early evening.

We received great country hospitality and it was a relaxing week. Here, on my last day, I enjoyed a cup of coffee enjoying the view and hoping those clouds would bring rain soon to the parched land. Getting out of the city was wonderful, though. I didn't take my computer and didn't check email for a week. It was a much-needed break.

Acquainted with grief?

I have a few blog posts that I want to write, I just haven't got here. We got back from our holidays a week ago and have barely stopped since.

My heart is feeling a bit raw, but also encouraged by various things. It probably doesn't help that I'm dealing with physical pain (ear infection) as well as generally being tired. 

On Wednesday I took the morning to visit our mission's psychologist to talk about some difficult things (unfortunately their offices are more than an hour from where we live, so it's quite a round trip). She was encouraging, and, as always, asked excellent questions. I've now got homework, though! But that homework is, hopefully, a way forward in some areas that have been weighing heavily on my heart in the past few years.

One of the things she brought my attention to was that Jesus was "acquainted with grief".

He was despised and rejected by men,    a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;and as one from whom men hide their faces    he was despised, and we esteemed him not.(Isaiah 53:3 English Standard Version, ESV).

Here are two friends I had to say goodbye to in June in Japan.

One of my challenges is to think about becoming acquainted with grief, as in not thinking of it like a foe, but rather an acquaintance. That's going to take some pondering. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? How we can become more friendly with "grief"?

I've always thought of that phrase as an old way of saying that he knew what it was like to experience grief, not that he thought of it as anything other than an enemy.

Our lives as missionaries mean that we know many hellos and goodbyes, some bigger than others. That can wear you down, especially if you have a lot of turn-over in friendships. I've been longing for more stability in the friend-department, but somehow need to become more at ease with how much grief I've been called to.

I'm not really here with answers today, more the case that I'm just airing some of the things I'm thinking about and keeping it real.

Today's been a delightfully quiet day (aside from a trip to the doctor and a session with our very noisy vacuum cleaner). By God's grace, I'll have the strength for another big day of driving and speaking tomorrow.

Next week is looking a bit more sedate, so I'm looking forward to that (and perhaps you'll see a bit more blogging from me).