One of the joys of living in Fiji is its close proximity to Australia -which means we get lots of visitors. For the last 2 weeks we have had some very good friends from our Lindfield church in Sydney. They wanted to come and see how we live, learn more about ministry in Suva and support us however they could. I especially loved having them join me in the women's prison. Not only was it fun showing friends around and sharing our life with them, but it really helped us all settle back to life here after our 6 week stint in Sydney over Christmas. Besides, they are both REALLY good cooks! I think Soph summed up how much we loved having them here when she said " what are we going to have to look forward to after school when they go home"?!! Here are some photos of their time here.

First taste of real coconut milk.

Yep...pretty much sums it up..

Celebrating Australia Day with some other local Aussie friends.

Ethan dazzling them with his magic!

We also put them to work- here's Roz teaching some ladies from the bible.

Ev trained the men too.

Soph showing off her school

Enjoying some meals out together

Teppanyaki on their last night.

January 2014 onwards

Tony and our friend Steddy took Ethan fishing one very early morning-looks like it was worth it!

Having dinner at Katoomba during Summer School

Very happy to be with family for Soph's 9th birthday.

Cool dudes at the Opera House seeing The Illusionists with Ethan, while Soph and I went to Build-a bear.

A quick milkshake at the airport -fast becoming one of my most unfavourite places..

Nadi airport ready to board our 20 minute flight to Suva.

We are hugely thankful for our time in Sydney -one of the joys of doing ministry in Fiji, so close to Australia. We are all feeling mostly happy to be back, even though our families are not here. However, it will be good to get back into routine and busy again. First lot of visitors arrived today -some great friends from our church St Albans Lindfield. They are here to support and help us in the ministry and life here for 2 weeks and we can't wait to see them!

Christmas in Sydney

Here are a few more snaps of our time away.

Frozen yoghurt with one of our God-children

Celebrating Caleb's 7th birthday

Meeting new babies

Catching up with old ministry friends

Hanging with cousins

Celebratign Bailey's 14th birthday at Little Manly

Coffee and swims with old friends

Tony and his folks on NYE

Smashing Dave in singstar on NYE

Meeting more new babies!

National Training Event in Canberra

We just got back from a 6 week break in Sydney. It was a whirlwind of activity as we listed off the 3000 things the kids have been missing and wanted to do. Also there were 7 Fijian students who came with us to attend NTE in Canberra and then spend 5 days with our home church of St Albans Lindfield. It turned out to be a fantastic time in terms of bible teaching/training and also very encouraging for our Lindfield friends to spend time with the Fijians and understand the culture more. There were even tears as they left for the airport on the last morning!

The girls singing at NTE

On top of the Shangri-La in Sydney