Sunday Observances

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The first observance for Frank was rowing.  Up at 4:30ish.  On the water at 5:30.  Off at 7am and away from the shed by 7:30.
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The second observance was church.
It was Flashpoint Sunday (Last Sunday in the month).  We started in Church and at about 9:20 the kids leave.  As a full immersion baptism was planned to be held at Tim and Ro's place as part of the morning church service, we decided to have the kids walk there.

During church, I (Frank) got up and let the parents know that we would be walking and handed out a map so they knew where to find their little darling after the service.

Flashpoint was based on the John 13:31-35 reading.  “A new command I give you: Love one another.....".  More detail here.

We started with a prayer at the church and walked to Hives Park where we sang a couple of songs.  Bob had his guitar and Paul and Dan had djembe.

We then walked to the other end of the park.  There Paul told the story of Mother Teresa.  The theme here is looking out for others.  We continued our walk to Francis Lookout.  There we reread the bible reading and talked about greeting others with a smile.  Then we looked through binoculars and the telescope that Bob had brought.  Not sure how he carried it along with his guitar.  (Next weeks theme will deal with the sin of jealousy and coveting others goods and chattels.).

Then on round the corner to Tim and Ro's house.  As had been walking, the oldies had finished off the service in the church and driven up. 

We gathered round Tim and Ro's pool.  An absolutely beautiful day.  Warm and sunny.  The pool was .... how do we say this...

$#%$&^%$@freezing.

Being quietly thankful that it was not us who were about to freeze caused a little sing song.

The lady in White (how appropriate) is our new minister.  And the lady in the pool with her back to us is Claire.  She was inducted earlier in the day as an 'elder' and that qualified her to be drafted into pool duty as well.

We had a Husband and wife dunked.  Their two children were also baptised but they stood beside the pool and had water poured over them.

It was really fantastic to see and I wish them all the best for their life as it unfolds as a family.

A nice picture of Chris

3
The third (religious? ) observance of the day was a trip to the dump.  To dispose of half a mulberry tree that Chris had demolished with axe and machete.

4 Good by to Sarah.
Our exchange student Sara has been with us 10 months but on Tuesday she leaves us to fly by to Deutschland.

We had a gathering of friends and family to farewell her.  Actually only one of many farewell parties.  She had one on Saturday with some of her friends and there seem to be several more at school tomorrow (Tuesday).