I'm dropping in here quickly from Western Australia. We've been very busy since we got back from holidays just over two weeks ago. In Queensland we spoke at a church and two Bible/theological colleges before flying to Perth (five and a half hours) last Friday. In Perth on Sunday we spoke at two churches. This coming weekend we've got four more speaking opportunities before we fly to Tokyo on Monday.
In between all these up-front opportunities we've been meeting various people over meals, in fact we're out every night this week except one. It's been a lot and my body is protesting. It's been very encouraging, but also very tiring, despite getting good food and sleep and even some exercise (we've walked nearly 30,000 steps in the last three days). Unlike some missionaries on home assignment, we've only slept in six different beds over the last 11 weeks, and one of those was for a total of about seven weeks (in three segments). That's definitely worth being thankful for! But nonetheless, we're longing to be home in our little apartment, and back into our own routines.
It's also been a lot easier doing this HA without any children or teens under our care. We've spent time with them in the last 11 weeks, but then they went back to their own lives (in their own cars to their own homes). Juggling the care of kids while doing speaking on home assignment was the norm for us many years and it's really nice to put that behind us now.
One thing we've continued to do, though, is try to appreciate the localities that we have passed through. This week we've been enjoying Perth. We've been to Kings Park and walked along the nearby stunning rivers (Canning and Swan). Our hosts even took us to Fremantle to enjoy fish and chips (but it was at night, so we saw little of this historic city). Here are some photos from our recent outings:
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| Canning River and a Coral Tree. |
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| Perth and the Swan River from Kings Park |
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| Fraser Ave in Kings Park |
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| False Sarsparilla or Native lilac (Australian native) |
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| More Swan River |
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| Pink (or Hill) gum, viewed from the Federation Walkway |
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| A portion of the elevated walkway |
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| Queensland Boab tree |
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| Ornamental pincushion (native to southern Africa) |
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| The above sign describes the below flower—an astoundingly large flower on a gum tree. |
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| Close up of the Coral Tree flower |
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| Another gum tree in silhouette. |
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| The soil here is very sandy, hence river-side beaches aren't uncommon. |
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| Can you see the Black Swans, the birds the river is named after? |
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