Monday 19 November 2012

There are new adventures to be had...

So, to announce it officially, Dunstan and I are moving to the Tiwi Islands. 


Yes-Tiwi Islands is still a part of Australia. Yes-it's going to be really really really hot. Yes-we are excited to see what God has in store for us as we embark on a new adventure. 

What are we doing in the Tiwi Islands? Well we are going to be Family House Parents to a group of around 8 children (we're not sure of their ages or whether it will be girls or guys yet).  Pretty much we will be doing everything a parent does-help get the kids ready for school, help with homework, make meals, run some programs etc. We are not entirely sure of what our roles will entail, but hey, that adds to the excitement right?!

Dunstan and I are both passionate about working with communities, discipleship and living a life of love and faith in action. When this opportunity to serve as house parents in the Tiwi Islands came up, we knew it was something we would be honoured to be a part of. 

When does all this begin? On the 1st of December we will be flying up to the Islands for a two week crash course in how everything works and to meet the kids. We will then go to the Philippines for two weeks and return to Brisbane on the 2nd of January. Then we'll have a bit over a week to pack our house up and move everything up and ready to begin officially on the 19th of January. (Yep, we have a busy month ahead of us)

We will keep this post short, we just wanted to give you a brief update on our lives and what is happening. We wanted to use this blog as a means of communicating to our friends and family in hopefully a functional and exciting way, as well as to document the journeys we share together. Feel free to subscribe to this blog via email and that will simply mean you will know when new posts are up, to stay in touch with us as we head up North and beyond in the years to come. 

Please keep us in our prayers as we have a lot of logistics to figure out, as well as wrapping up our time at our respective jobs.

Love Mr & Mrs M

PS: Here is a little more info about the Tiwi Islands- The islands of Melville and Bathurst are known as the Tiwi Islands Northern Territory. Located 80 kilometres of Darwin, these two Australian islands are composed of long sandy beaches, rock pools and thick rainforests. Melville Island is Australia's 2nd largest island. Most of the 2700 islanders live on the island of Bathurst but around 900 people still live on the island of Melville. The Tiwis who live on Bathurst return to Melville every year to learn and teach others about their culture.