A gem from our devotional reading this morning was this one:
“I am a God of surprises – infinitely more creative than you can imagine. The universe displays some of My creativity, but there is more – much more. I am making a new heaven and a new earth. Moreover, I am preparing My people – all around the world – to live there with Me in endless ecstasy. Let this eternal perspective strengthen and encourage you” (Young 36).
We shared the breakfast table with new friends – our hostess, Val Thomson’s son, Matthew who is a missionary with Mission Aviation Fellowship, her long-time friend, Barbara Scott, who served with her husband for years in Papua New Guinea, Denise, who’s father is a pastor of a church near-by where there are many Samoans, and Phillipinos, and Paval, the father of the Indian family next to us. What a flurry of conversations! Matt knows our MAF friend from Nampula, Mozambique – David Lepoidevan.
We packed a lunch for a day in Brisbane City. Val took us to Cleveland to catch the train to city center.
We walked through the gardens and across the Brisbane River on the “Good Will Footbridge” to the South Bank of the City, recommended by Dr. David, last night, and also by two of the other walkers who helped us find our way through the Gardens to the Bridge.
After the bridge, we walked along the South Bank, filled with parks, resting places, children’s play areas, terraced restaurants, and ferry boat stations. We decided not to take the ferry, but to take the train.
By the time we got to the South Bank Train Station, we were pretty tired, so we decided to have a “long expresso” (nice) at a corner café. Just as we were leaving the café, we noticed they sold “kibi balls”. Kibis are friend meatballs made of ground lamb, bulgar and pine nuts. In Brazil they have a black olive in the middle of them.
We first met “kibis” our first month in Peace Corps/ Brazil in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim (hometown of Roberto Carlos, a very popular singer, then). A little Lebanese lady had a kind of general store. When we went to look at her things there, something came over me, and I felt very faint. She came to my rescue and took me behind the counter to a little room with a bed and a table. She had me lie down for a few minutes then she brought be two things – a kibi and a glass of yogurt – to refresh me. I had never had either before. I ate both of them and felt refreshed. She must have served Jon, too. You may never have had these, but I MUST learn how to make them. We ordered one to take with us to the train station. It was just as tasty as we remembered! Quite a treat for us. =)
The several rides we took today gave us people-watching time. We talked throughout the day about what we were seeing. In general, Brisbane Area reminds us of urban South Africa. (This is a pleasant association; we traveled from Mozambique to RSA quite frequently for educational meetings, my studies at U of Pretoria, and for shopping 2.5 hrs. from Maputo in Nelspruit.) What is similar? The laid back attitude of the people, going barefoot in the street, the shape of the men’s hats, the kinds of birds, the kinds of cars, the obvious camping/athletic mode shown by back-packs, skateboarders, bicycling, jogging, and outdoorsy activities, the classy shops that actually looked different than European ones.
Anyway, we had a very enjoyable day as tourists in a very modern, tall, clean, stylish city.
The train brought us from Brisbane to Cleveland, where we shopped for the holidays coming up as stores are closed from today through next Monday. We peeked at some other shops in the mall there. Shells like the ones we brought from Africa were in one shop – very, very expensive! Easter is a four-day holiday! LOTS of people were shopping for food! Val met us at the food-store and brought us back to campus.
Tonight we were pleased to be able to attend a very unique Maundy Thursday service at Redlands Church of the Nazarene. We got a ride with Gretchen and David Freeman, who are assistants to the Field Strategy Coordinator for Australia and New Zealand. They are most recently from Tucson, AZ but also served in Europe and know our missionaries in Romania – Dorothy and Roberta! We didn’t get to talk to them very much because the ride was short.
The service leader at the church is from Holland. The service consisted of a musical presentation by Sebastian Johanne Bach called “Mateus Divino”, an Easter concert from the Passion of Matthew’s Gospel put to music and interpreted by solo voices of Jesus and Judas, choral voices of the Disciples and the crowd. He told us that this is performed all over Holland (and probably Germany) leading up to Holy Week. It seems to be used like Handel’s Messiah leading up to Christmas, but neither Jon or I had ever heard of it. We certainly appreciated the 10-minute selection he played for us. The singing was in German, with the words in English projected on the screen in the darkened sanctuary. We had communion, sang a hymn and left the church in silence.
But outside the church we didn’t keep silence. Our new friends, the Kerrs, were at the service and wanted to talk to us =). They had worked on their Timbercrete blocks on campus all day so had stayed for the service. It was really nice to see them again.
To close the service, I wanted us to sing, “Man of Sorrows” instead of “Crown Him with Many Crowns”. Maybe we’ll sing it tomorrow in the Good Friday service. “Man of sorrows, what a name, for the Son of God who came. Ruined sinners to reclaim, ‘Halleluja! What a Savior!” We are quiet this evening, thinking of the Last Supper, thinking of Jesus’ agony and suffering, and thinking of the high price He paid for our salvation.
