Jason Caldwell

During the holidays my, wife Vanessa and children Geoff, Jade and Jasmine had the pleasure of visiting 17 wonderful families in South West Queensland. We covered a total of 4459 kilometers in two and a half weeks. We started off in Dalby with a computer skills workshop attended by 25 of our students. Then we visited each family traveling out to St George, back up to Roma, out to Charleville and Quilpy then back to Chinchilla, Nanango and Kingaroy.

This trip I realized just how much God Blesses my family and I, as we share with each family a part of our lives. We made the most of every opportunity to encourage, work and have fun with each family. This trip I particularly enjoyed spending time with other fathers and hearing what God is doing in their lives. Several late nights were spent sharing the Word of God and prayer. Not only did we have opportunity to encourage other parents but I myself was also encouraged as we learn together.

There was a definite “Horse” theme to this trip and my family enjoyed many opportunities to learn about and ride horses. I especially enjoyed helping Jason Jones round up twenty or so steers that had wandered over the river into the neighbours property. I felt like the Real McCoy riding though the deep river and cantering after the cows for a couple of hours.  Vanessa and the children have on several occasions since asked if we can buy some land and have a horse and animals, each time my reply is, “ you better start praying and asking God for that one…”

Every house we went to Geoff and Jade made friends and would not want to leave, it was sad that time was short and we had many kilometers to cover. I would like to thank each and every family for their wonderful hospitality and welcoming spirit.  I was impressed with the amount of quality time so many of the fathers spent taking devotions or playing with their children. Once again it was clear to me that our mums and dads on the whole are doing a great job of educating their students. It was good to see young people so active and not sitting in front of the TV or playing computer games all the time (or at all) as this is often a challenge for city students.