News and prayer information from Richard and Pinuccia Wilson

Last week was a bit more relaxing, at least after the first couple of days when there were two meetings and a lunch with friends to go to. We even had time to go to Bondi Beach on Friday, which we all enjoyed. On Sunday we did manage to exhaust ourselves however, going to services at 7.45 (it was good to be able to sing songs that I knew again! ie that were written more than 15 years ago) and 9.30, followed by lunch with the extended family.

For the next week there are no deputation meetings (one that had be planned for tonight was postponed), although I will nevertheless be fairly busy going to see the family twice, and on Friday being a tourist guide taking the family and someone coming to visit the mission from Europe out on the harbour.

We are back in Sydney now after our trip to Canberra. It was our most intense week of the whole time we will be in Australia, with 13 meetings in 8 days, as well as going to have meals with some friends and getting in a bit of tourism as well. (Stefania finally saw – and patted – her first kangaroo, and now bounces around the house.) It is a lot harder doing all this with a family rather than by myself, but Pinuccia is a great help with the family and with encouraging people to think about mission. She is just as committed to mission as I am. Stefania loved all the changes – each place we visited had new toys and books, so it seemed like every day was her birthday. Daniele coped well also, as well as getting another two teeth and getting a lot closer to walking.
The time in Canberra was useful for encouraging people, and we had some good conversations about mission. And it was good for us to be encouraged and supported as well. Today and tomorrow there are another two meetings and a visit, but after that there will be time to rest again for a few days.

Tomorrow (Saturday) we go to Canberra for 8 days, our first trip of our deputation time in Australia, with three services to speak at in one church on Sunday, two services in another church the following Sunday, and seven other meetings of the two churches in the week in between. So we will be kept quite busy. Pray for energy for us, and that the children will not get too upset by all the changes and moving around. Pray also for these meetings, and for all those in the next couple of months, that we will be able to help to produce “world Christians” and especially support for Trento.
But so far they have enjoyed the time in Australia. Stefania loved our visit today to the centre of Sydney and especially to the aquarium; she kept looking around at everything new. And in the aquarium, at every tank it was “More fish! More fish!”. Daniele on the other hand arrived in Australia and immediately started to crawl – or at least half crawl and slide, but in any case a lot more than he was doing in Italy. The trip has also encouraged his teeth: now the fourth tooth is ready to come up in the next few days.

We have arrived now, a few hours ago. Despite Daniele’s tooth coming out two hours before we left home, the children travelled quite well, and both slept most of the time. Which is more than I can say for the parents! So apart from the jetlag, Pinuccia and I arrived quite tired; I have already had a four hour snooze (and could do with some more, but I will try to wait until tonight), whilst Pinuccia lasted longer than me before going to sleep, but is now into her fifth hour. Anyway, we are happy to be in Australia again.

Whilst we are in Australia, I will probably be updating this blog less often, but I will try to keep you up to date with our movements and meetings, so that you can be praying for those as they happen. But the first will be in 10 days’ time, so we have a period of rest and preparation to begin with. Time to do some tourism to show Australia off to the children, so they understand their origins!

Only another 7 hours until we leave the house now. Then there will be 26 hours in planes and stopovers, 30 hours from door to door. Having an evening flight makes things a bit more relaxed, as we can do the last bit of packing today, and there are also a few chores to do this morning. I just managed to finish off a couple of projects yesterday as well, just in time: material for my presentations, and a new version of my Bible computer program.
Daniele has had his third tooth about to come out for about five days now, so he has been a bit agitated at times, and we have been hoping that it would come out before we left. We hope now that it stays in for another couple of days! Having a new tooth during the plane trip would not be a pleasant experience for any of us. Although with his other two teeth, he did have a lot less reaction than Stefania did with her new teeth.
In the meantime, last week we went to a meeting at the pre-school for the parents of the children starting in September, like Stefania. (There is another “meeting” on Thursday for the children to get to know the school, but of course we will miss that.) It turns out that of the nine classes in the school (of 25 children each), Stefania has been placed in the one that Pinuccia taught in last year for a couple of weeks, before she went on maternity leave. So she knows some of the teachers in the class already.