Western Shores

I arrived at Perth airport ready with a list of things to declare, which I hoped would bring me to the head of the customs queue, but it didn’t.  My bag was first off the carousel, which is a first ever! Australian passport holders have their own check in which is now automatically done by machines which scan your face and passport then issue a ticket.  This ticket is then handed in at customs, no immigration checkpoint.  There was a long single queue for customs as two flights had arrived, one from Singapore, the other ours from Kuala Lumpur.  Finely my turn came.  I was very open and honest with all the things I was bringing in: dried ginger, salted plums, rujak and laksa paste and my kefir culture which had lasted the whole trip. After trying to explain what kefir was and rabbiting off the list of stuff, no, I didn’t have any dried herbs only those in the paste which I think were already cooked, I was told to go without anyone checking it.  I was very surprised, I honestly thought I’d have to show someone my produce.  Praise the Lord for His favour!

I had asked my friend Glenda to pick me up from the airport and sent her a detailed email with how to avoid the exorbitant parking fees.  Unfortunately she never saw my email so by the time I arrived she had already done five laps around the pickup area and had just parked.  As we walked back to her car, I carried my poor broken suitcase.  I’m glad it lasted this far.

My friend, Karen had done a wonderful job looking after my garden while I was away.  Everything looked so healthy. She had written a lovely WELCOME HOME sign and stuck it on my front door, left milk in my fridge and some of my yellow roses in a glass.  Very thoughtful.  I collected my second phone from my neighbour who had kept it to receive the SMS codes sent when I was doing banking transactions. Jess from across the driveway and Ann from next door came over to welcome me home too, it was lovely catching up with everyone.

While I was away the plumber had been in to put safety valves on the flexi taps after the neighbour’s flexi hose burst and flooded two apartments.  As a corporate body we decided to get safety valves put on all the flexi hoses.  Because I hadn’t been home to test them out, I thought my water had been turned off.  No, the other taps worked but not the kitchen ones.  I found Bob at home and asked if he had had problems with his new valves.  He came up and together we fiddled around till the water came on.  It later went off again so I rang the unit manager, who was in Adelaide and she asked her partner to come and take a look.  He said that running the water for some time would remove the air in the pipe, which could help.  It seemed to help but at least now I knew how to fiddle with it to get it flowing again.

I did a bit of shopping with Karen, who came over to welcome me home, then returned with Jess to have Pizza as I was too tired to cook.  I’ve been so used to eating off the streets or with friends.

I prepared my breakfast to soak overnight and checked the kefir which had been in the fridge for 6 weeks.  It didn’t smell or taste very nice.  I was so glad I had been able to bring my culture back with me.  I set aside some with fresh milk and the other with soy milk as my sore throat was now a stuffy nose.  I dosed myself up with Vitamin C, and Olive Leaf Extract and had an early night.  The end of my first day back.

Tuesday morning I woke at 6 am to get ready for my usual Tuesday barista duty at church helping make coffees for the North Beach Primary School teachers and playgroup mothers and anyone else who happens to visit while we are there.  We have a regular team that help make and deliver the coffees and Glenda who is a regular visitor as she cares for the church garden.  Those who come for the prayer meeting also come for a coffee so we are kept quite busy from 8-9:30 followed by the cleaning up.  This Tuesday I suggested Glenda join me and Karen, who I’d invited over for a vegie soup lunch.  The rest of the day I took it easy, resting up, giving me time to recover as I was still feeling rundown.

Wednesday was a morning in the garden. I woke around 6am again and decided to go for a jog.  The sun was already in my eyes as I headed east.  I’ve missed my morning jogs.  It’s an effort but its well worth it especially at this time of the day when there’s hardly anyone else around and the air is so fresh and cool.

Spring is such a wonderful time to work in the garden. I tested my reticulation system and watered all my garden which was looking very dry.  I took the secateurs to many of the plants which had had a growth spurt since my departure.  Unfortunately there hadn’t been much rain during my time away and my water tank, which was used on the garden, was now bone dry.  I was devastated, as this is my drinking water, as I intently dislike the taste of Perth water.  In fact it makes me retch when I drink unless I add something to it.  Praise the Lord someone had given me a water filter jug.  I just needed a new filter for it.

It was a day of working around the house and trying to get things in order and rest up to get well again.

Thursday I had a busy day.  Up at 5am as the sun rays were reaching into my room.  A perfect time for a jog.  It was a crisp morning so I was wearing my gloves, which must look a bit strange as I jog in knee high leggings and a short sleeved T shirt.  I met a regular dog walker who mentioned I was taking the short cut.  I said yes as I’d been away for 6 weeks and was a little out of practice and needed to start slowly.  I hadn’t actually jogged since Thailand so that was about two weeks which wasn’t too bad but still felt I wasn’t up to par for my usual full track.

I had made an appointment to see one of our pastors, Alan Raven, to talk to him about the prospects of returning to Phuket next year and to pray with him as we committed things to God’s Hands.  There were several things I still needed to sort out and organise.  Ps Alan had requested I send my testimony and a resume of my Christian activities before he wrote a reference for me. Another friend from church also offered to write a character reference as I have worked with him on several occasions, including every Tuesday in the church coffee shop as baristas.

Later on, around midday a friend, (I’m going to call them ‘M’) asked me to drive them to the emergency department of the Charles Gardener Hospital as their back had gone when bending over to do up a shoe lace.  ‘M’ packed a small overnight bag just in case they were admitted.  After two and a half hours in emergency I had to leave as I had promised to help other friends in their garden and to do some chores. I didn’t realise ‘M’ wasn’t coming home from hospital for quite some time!  They ended up having their scheduled back operation brought forward to 28^th October.   ‘M’ had been on the wait list for a year’s time.  The bike trek that was planned down south for when I had returned home so that I could care for their garden was now off.  Praise God I was home from my travels to help out during this difficult time – to bring things into hospital, look after plants and visit.  They are still there struggling with pain but is slowly recovering.

During these weeks, I was back to my usual weekly routine, up early, jogging, Monday Bible studies, Tuesday barista duties and in between dropping the car off to have the recalled airbags replaced, a farewell party of a neighbour, dental checkup and my Saturday bread pickup.

I’m also pleased to say the Lord has been answering the prayers for our nation’s drought.  I have heard good reports of how God has brought rain to parched areas of Australia and has begun to fill my water tank.  I’ve also saved buckets of rain water which I’m filtering to use for drinking.  It is so much sweeter than this terrible Perth water although I am very grateful for the water we do have.  I’m told 60% is from our desalination plant.

I have also planned and booked my next flights.  A quick trip to Victoria for my sister Jen’s 60^th birthday celebration, which she has planned for the 8^th of December at her place in Ocean Grove.  I’m not sure where I will be staying as her place will be full of overseas friends and family as well as those visiting from interstate.  I’ve made lots of inquiries on Couchsurfers but no one has offered to take me in, so once again I am relying on the Lord to show me the way.

I have also made several delicious Rojak salads, although I’ve had to water down the sauce as it was really, really spicy which is saying something as I’m usually able to take things hot! I was able to find green mango, cucumber, green guava, pineapple but not the Chinese sweet turnip so I substituted this with apple which was delicious!

And that brings me to the end of October 2019.

Photos:   1. Spring rose      2. Jess       3. One of Mum’s orchids that hasn’t flowered for years    4. Strawberries with leaves!     5. Karen and myself      6. Rojak salade

Prayer & Praise Points:
Praise the Lord for a safe and successful ‘spying out the land’ adventure throughout South East Asia.  For the amazing time I had and my safe return.

Please continue to pray for the Lord’s leading, guidance and provision as I seek Him in preparations for my return to Phuket in April 2020.

Please pray for my friend ‘M’, for successful surgery and speedy recovery and that she will draw closer to the Lord during this time.

Please continue to pray for the salvation of my three sisters, Tricia, Jen and Kat and especially for reconciliation and forgiveness between Tricia and the rest of us.

Please continue to pray for the success of the business, Senior’s Benefits and Rewards.  We are at a crucial time and pray that our trademark will be approved this second time around.  There has also been a huge shift in developing the app which will now operate with something called a progressive web application enabling us to have our own personalised map and not just the generic one.  Please pray for Grace as she develops this and for our pending launch.  If any seniors would like to volunteer to trial our product please let me know.  We will launch firstly in Perth and Sydney as this is where Grace and I have contacts.

Thank you to all my supportive friends and prayer partners; it’s reassuring and encouraging to know you are all standing with me in prayer.