A wonderful start to the Leonora Bush Mission so far. Read below for a recap of Day 1-3!
We set out on Saturday 23 September at 8:15am ready to participate in God’s mission in Leonora and minister to the community. Over the coming days we will try and post student thoughts and summaries of what happened each day, along with photos that can help tell some of the story of what’s been happening!
Please pray for the team and God’s mission here in Leonora.
Day 1 – Saturday the Stupendous
Day one was mostly driving through the “big flat bush”. Maccas for dinner was very nutritious and delicious – “Big much yummy food”. We got out to Leonora at about 10pm. After settling in at our new sports centre home, and some of the students hosting their own devotion, we got to sleep in a horizontal position.
Summary of the first day
- Arrived at school 7:45am
- Frantic packing beforehand
- Finally began our trip at 8:30am
- Conversations on the bus
- Stops for rests and meals > Roadhouses (lonely towns)
- Moved around on the bus
- Overtired last leg in the dark
- Finally arrived
- Took in the town at dark
- Moved into the Sports Centre > Much struggle for sleep
“I am too tried to be more creative right now…” – Deon, 2023
Day 2 – Super Sunday!
We woke up at various times (a large range of evening and morning people). After having breakfast and going for a walk around town, we attended the local church service at the “little church” where we met several of the local families. We went on to setting up for the holiday program, putting up decorations and arranging the sound systems; “much rec centre work”. We went out to the “big flat bush” away from the town buildings and had a hand at camp cooking. There were lots of pasta dishes, some potatoes, and damper (big much yummy food). Together we watched “orange sun go down”, and eventually devoured some s’mores.
Summary of the second day
- Early risers for showers > way too early for breakfast
- Walked down to the ‘Tanker Hill’, we took in the views of the flat, sparsely vegetated landscape
- Continued to the church, heard a message from 1 Timothy > Sang from hymnbooks! And sang to an organ
- Walked back to sports centre and prepared for going out bush
- Had lunch at the Recreation Centre > Did much preparation for Holiday program (sound, decorations, entertained the small humans)
- Hopped on the bus and travelled to Malcolm Dam
- Open-fire cooking
- Marshmallows and s’mores
- Wrote the day recount
- Sleep
Zia Thyer (Taking Deon’s bullet point summary and adding some creativity) 2023
Day 3 – Monday the Magnificent!
Here is the day from the perspective of Darcy (scribed by Mr Taylor and with input from Macayle).
I awoke at 6am… the sun had risen, the shower was hot, and there was time for breakfast, Rubrik’s cubing, and reading some of God’s Word. Breakfast was honey and Weet-bix, a staple in my life, however, the honey was not pure (despite it’s best intentions).
After breakfast, we also had time for a game of jungle speed before we met together for devotions as a team and praying in small groups. After devotions it was off to the Rec. centre. A group of students and I went with Mr and Mrs Taylor to the Earth Australia site, Pete Terpstra drove us in the local shire bus and the Earth Australia site was chock-a-block full of ‘boys toys’ – every possible earth moving vehicle you can imagine. While Mr and Mrs Taylor looked for the storage room where some of the Leonora supplies were stored the boys and I explored the various diggers and tractors… Mr and Mrs Taylor were unsuccessful (this time – although we did come back about half an hour later with more success).
Back at the Rec. centre we strung many paper chains made from ticket stubs, and streamers and paper stars from the netting and then we raised the netting to stand and take in the fruit of our hard work. We then had time to run through the music, I spent lots of time mixing the sound and playing bass, it was lots of fun.
Lunch was pulled pork buns (although for me it was veggie patties) and coleslaw. Thoroughly delightful and many thanks already to the excellent cook, Sam Downes!
After lunch we had a big run through of our song list and actions which was lots of fun. Then we drove out to Gwalia, a ghost town and open cut gold mine – the mine is 1,600m deep and has 15km of tunnels! We explored the museum and the shanty town made from tin sheeting, we had a conversation with Mr Taylor about video games whilst walking through the shanty town… we also saw the biggest steam winder in all of WA for pulling up people and product from bottom of the pit in 4 minutes!
When we got back to the sports club, we could see the rain and storm in the distance, heavy rain fall one side and clear blue skies on the other, then a mini storm hit and it was thunder, lightning, and enormous winds and rainfall. We had to hide inside. The solar panels on the roof went flat in the wind and then returned to normal after!
Then lots of people ate noodles while we cooked an excessive amount of sausages for our big opening BBQ for the community. Lots of folks made up a song about Leonora with Mr Thomson, but he broked a string and it came to an end – Daniel Staer was great on the Cahon. As kids arrived, we started a soccer game. Arden was being a frog with some of the kids. Lots of people arrived and we got to meet a bunch of kids from the town and there were also lots of adults who came along. The sausage sizzle was a success, and the slice was delicious!
After dinner, we cleaned up and headed back to the Rec. centre to do final preparations for tomorrow. We are excited for tomorrow and looking forward to getting into the program and seeing the kids.
Back at the sports club and getting ready for bed, we were waylaid by the Uncle Toby’s Cheerio’s scenario…
Day four, here we come! Yay!
