The weekend!

Life goes on at a million miles an hour here. The weeks just fly past and then after what seems like a 5 minute break we are into the next week. February has been a busy month for us. We have had our Circuit Overseer's visit, our circuit assembly and Jim and Susi were in Melbourne for a week. Busy, busy, busy.

It was great to catch up with Jim and Susi. We haven't seen them since they left NZ to move to Darwin. They are currently on their way around Australia. I'm so jealous, they have been to some amazing places. They stayed with some friends on the other side of the city, but we managed to catch up twice during the week they were here. On Monday night last week we had them over to our house and we had a massive feed of nachos. So yum. High five to Mrs B for a great brew. Then on Wednesday we met in the city and went to Lygon Street to our favourite haunt called Mercadante. We have been there a number of times since we first came to Melbourne in August (for my interview) and have never been disappointed. It is an Italian place that specialises in my favourite food - wood fired pizzas. Yum yum.

After going there we went up the road to a chocolate cafe where they serve everything drizzled in the most amazing chocolate. In the fact the hot chocolate you order to drink is exactly that, chocolate that is so hot it has melted and been poured into a cup and topped off with cream.

Oh so very decadent.

The Circuit Assembly was fantastic. We were very impressed with the quality of the talks and speakers. The Aussies have a very down to earth way of speaking from the platform, but done in such a way that reaches our hearts. The District Overseer is hilarious, when he came out for his first talk, the first ten minutes was basically a stand up comedy routine as he regaled us with stories of their travels around Aussie and the Timor Islands. He is very funny and has a gift for getting important points across. The Circuit Overseer is a bit of a larrakin too. He has a cheeky smile and a great sense of humour. He is very good at making comparative illustrations. He often doesn't have to say his point directly as we have already figured it out from his illustration. Jolly good skills I say.

The assembly hall itself is fantastic. It is on a massive section out in the country in the town of Melton, about 40 minutes from where we are. The grounds are park-like and well maintained and there is tonnes of space for the kids to run around safely during the lunch breaks. The hall sits 1700 and we had about 1600 in attendance.

The rain we have had in the last week has really helped with the fires. There is now only one major fire going so the firies can focus their attention more directly on it. Still no brothers or sisters majorly affected by it, just a couple of homes destroyed. Pretty amazing when you consider that there are more than 200 dead and 2000 homes destroyed. Scary stuff.

Anyhoo, I have the rest of the day to go to the beach and read a book so I best be off!