Home Again

We finally got home from our week at Bruny Island just last night. What a glorious week we had. The four members of our ministry team all went for the week. I actually traveled over with Marshall & Yvonne in their boat.



It was pretty windy as we landed on the beach at Bruny. It felt like the Normanby landing. With the wind blowing a gale and the water really choppy. We had the boat loaded to the hilt with all our food and luggage for the week. It was somewhat fun unloading the boat, running back and forth for more boxes.

We stayed at a 'shack' belonging to some friends of ours in our church



We had to put up with the view for the whole week!




The first two days we spent just telling our life stories. Each person took around three hours to tell the story of their life. It's an amazing experience to sit and listen as someone opens themselves up and lays their life out in detail. Each of the team were incredibly honest and open in talking about the experiences they have been through.

We seemed to spend plenty of time in the boat as well. In fact one of the life stories we heard was told in boat. We cut the motor, dropped the anchor and sat and listened to a story.

Of course there is an important lesson to learn about boating - don't moor your boat close to the shore at high tide. We sat and waited for a whole day before we could shift the boat.



Besides listening stories and boating around the island, we took some time to talk about team values and expectations. We worked hard to get foundational things in place.

On Friday evening we had the elders come over. We had to tidy up the house ready for visitors, and served them a great roast dinner and then settled down for a worship and sharing time together. Early Saturday morning Marshall took the elders on a high speed 45 minute boat ride to start the day. We then had time to talk with the elders clarifying some priorities for the year and discussing our different roles in the ministry structure.

Overall, a fantastic week away. The investment of time together was so valuable and has laid a strong foundation for us to build healthy relationships together. I'm glad we went.