The Adventure Continues

Day 11 - May 21, 2009 Quick entry today as I need to finish packing. We transfer to Sydney tonight and then teach the 1 day Blessed are the Peacemakers Course on Saturday. Monday we transit to the Canberra area to teach the Conflict Coaching 3 day Workshop to the New South Wales pastors of LCA. Then back to Sydney and the 5 day Mediation Practicum.

The picture is the altar space of St. Michael's Hahndorf. As with most pictures, it doesn't do the worship space justice. We will be winding up our Conflict Coaching Practicum today with the extended roles plays. Each participant will have 1 1/2 hours to practicing applying their new skills sets in a fact situation. This is actually the most fun of the whole course, even for us. It's so cool to see these people in action - their passion for their ministries and their desire to take risks to learn new skills that they can better serve their people is really inspiring.

A quick thank you to Pastor Stephen, Paul, Neville and all the members of St. Michael's who have served the rest of us to help make our time with them a success. God bless each of you in your lives and ministries. God often blesses us most through those with the quiet gifts.

Soli Deo Gloria

Francis

Second Round of Conflict Coaching Begins

Day 10 – May 20, 2009
So we started round two of our conflict coaching training with the West Australia, South Australia and North Territory at St. Michaels, Hahndorf. It is quite amazing how each group you teach has its own personality. Our group today is quite engaging and somewhat more vocal than our earlier groups. It has made keeping on schedule more challenging as they love to engage the materials and engage us during question and answer. But they are a great group and we are looking forward to wrestling with this material together with them!
The first day is largely lecture, covering the basic material that the students will be applying as conflict coaches. The concept of conflict coaching is quite straight forward and lines up quite well with pastoral ministry. The conflict coach assists the person they are working with in applying biblical principles and practical strategies to help them resolve a conflict they have with a third party. Day two deals with more discrete skills and involves lecture, demonstration and guided practice with each skill set. The final day involves two ½ day role plays which allows the participants to have an extended opportunity to apply the principles and skills sets in a less structured environment that better simulates real life.
The ladies of St. Michaels again provided a wonderful supper for participants. We were also blessed by Paul Schmidt, congregational member, who again helped us with sound and AV. Notwithstanding the fact that his farm will be receiving 100,000 chicks tomorrow (yes, that is not a typo!), he came out today to ensure everything was running property. He also trained someone to assist us tomorrow and Friday. Thanks Paul for all you’ve done for us – it is always a privilege to work with a great sound/AV guy!
“And so to bed”, as we start early tomorrow.

Back to Work

Day 9 – May 19, 2009
Had an opportunity to work with some of the Lutheran teachers, administrators and chaplain. It was a very interesting session as we only had a half day to present what we normally cover in a full day. Went quite well, actually. We highlighted a number of key concepts and dealt with them in some detail. Enjoyed interacting with them – brought back memories of my own public days. In the afternoon, we prowled a bit more around Adelaide.
One of the many small pleasures we’ve had in Adelaide has been the fruit and vegetables we’ve had access to. Down the street from where we are staying is a small fruit and vegetable shop. Featuring Australia fruit and produce, the shop is home of some very intriguing items. My personal favourite is black tomatoes. Yes, that’s right, black tomatoes. The shopkeeper told us that these are one of the types of heirloom tomatoes – the wide variety of tomatoes that existed before the powers that be decided that tomatoes “ought” to be bright red and proceeded to breed all the variety and life out of the fruit. Now to be fair, black tomatoes do look a bit odd to the modern eye. The flavour, however, is rich, sweet, with a strong tomatoes theme but a slight hint of individuality. Do I prefer them? That’s the wrong questions. Both types of tomatoes have their own flavour profiles and I like both a great deal. I will truly miss them when I come home and if I found them for a reasonable price in Canada, I would buy them in an instant. The shame is that I won’t.
Golden kiwis were the other item I will miss. I like regular kiwis but I love golden ones. Having again the same basic flavour profile as a regular kiwi, golden kiwis have a bit less edge to them and are sweeter. Kiwi light – great taste, just as filling. That’s not to denigrate them – as I say, I prefer them to the traditional kiwis we get in Canada. This is another one I will definitely look up when I get home.
Tomorrow we start another 3 day training session with the balance of the West Australia, South Australia and North Territory pastors. When we finish Friday afternoon, we hop a plane to Sydney. Saturday is a one day training in Sydney, then off to the Canberra area for a 3 day session before returning to Sydney to provide mediation training to some of the pastors and laypeople of Lutheran Church of Australia.
Soli Deo Gloria
Francis

Sunday in Fleurieu and McLaren

Day 7 – May 17, 2009

We began our day with a quick drive down the Fleurieu Peninsula with President Voigt of the South Australia and North Territory District of the LCA. It was somewhat misty, though we largely managed to avoid the rain for the entire day, often arriving at a location shortly after a rainfall or seeing the rain begin as we left. We took the long route round the peninsula Victor Harbour, stopping briefly at the south end to look out over the ocean. Despite the drought that South Australia had been suffering, the recent rain had left the area beautiful and lush, albeit not yet fully green.
We saw a number of groups of wild kangaroos on our way down the peninsula. It was quite amazing to see the kangaroos sitting in a field just like you see mountain goats and deer on the way to Lake Louise and Radium. Apparently there is a large kangaroo population, to the point that they have become something of a problem – negatively affecting the land holdings and their vegetation. This is parallel in the desert region by a large population of feral camels, not native to Australia, who move through the desert in herds, churning up the sand and negatively affecting the environment.
We had the privilege of worshiping with the members of Victor Harbor Lutheran Church in Victor Harbor, South Australia, one of President Voigt’s former congregations. Having outgrown their original worship space a number of years ago, the congregation purchased an old cheese factory, which they converted into a church. The result in an open and flexible space, with numerous offices and a number of larger flexible use spaces. The worship space itself is open and airy.
Most remarkable is the altar space. The altar itself, which is more in the tradition of a table rather than a formal altar, is made out of a enormous tree stump, turned on its side and set with a number of medium size pieces of glass forming a multi-level table. Behind the altar is a copper cross, created by an artist who is also a congregational member. Surrounding the cross at its base are a variety of rocks and plants. The back of the altar space has a facade of what looks like what we would call in Alberta “Rundle Rock” blocks about ½ way up the wall, with the balance of the wall being plaster. The overall design is simple, modern and sleek.

Victor Harbor (spelled, for some unknown reason, in the US fashion) is a former whaling station. We spent part of the afternoon exploring Granite Island. Connected to Victor Harbour by a causeway, you can take a horse-drawn tram over to the island. Chuck, Ted, Robert and I elected to walk across the causeway. Well, Chuck rode in the backpack. Chuck, as you may remember from an earlier entry, is the stuffed beaver who has been accompanying Ted and I on our journey. Part of a fundraiser at my law firm, Chuck (together with photographs of the various places he visits as he travels with a number of firm lawyers and employees) will be auctioned off to raise funds for the family we are adopting this Christmas through the Calgary Urban Project Society.
Granite Island stands out in the sea and during other times in the year is the home to some local penguins. The penguins come to the island at night to rest and have their babies. While there is not land between Granite Island and Antarctica, it is still thousands of miles away. Since the penguins breed on the island, I don’t believe they actually make it to Antarctica. The Island itself is littered with burrows where the penguins breed.
Chuck insisted we have a pub lunch, so after a pint of Coopers and some wonderful fish and chips, we wandered briefly through the town before heading off to Goolwa and the mouth of the Murray River. I was astonished by how low the river was. Perhaps the most visual, was the docks on the River. The boats were literally metres below the jetties. The tips of some of the sail boats were just sticking up beyond the dock. Many of the docks were hundreds of metres from river, with some boats that had formerly been floating on the river now being aground. The river itself was perhaps 30% of its former width, with most of the former riverbed now being dry land. It stuck home to me very deeply what poor stewards we often are of the gift of this world that God has granted us.
We returned to Adelaide via the McLaren Bale, one of the state’s many fine wine regions. Of course, Chuck insisted that we couldn’t go through McLaren without stopping at a couple of wineries, merely for educational purposes. Our first stop was at the Serafino winery. We tried their Shiraz, Cab Sauvignon, Merlot and their intriguing wild fermented Chardonnay.
Our next stop was at the Scarpantoni Winery. We tried their School Block Shiraz, Cab Sauv and Merlot blend, which was quite full bodied and flavourful. Their Block 3 Shiraz was a classic example of the wonderful Shirazes that come from the McLaren. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was their Shiraz based port. Wow! Full bodied and flavourful, it avoids that harsh edge that if often evident in the finish of many European ports. It is a remarkable value. Chuck, being a bit of a mooch, insisted we buy a bottle. I considered a case, but I didn’t think I could fit it into the small plastic bag they give you at airport security.
Snaking our way through some beautiful rural back roads, we made our way back to North Adelaide by suppertime. We enthusiastically thanked our host and called it a day. Monday is also a rest day, so after we hope to have an opportunity to explore a bit of Melbourne on foot.