Australia, my new home

"Well, I'll try, but if I fail, I'll blame you." "I know you won't fail. God will be your guide and I'm sure you will enjoy it."

From the following Sunday on I was a Sunday School Teacher. Teaching helped me to dig deeper into the Christian faith, and every Sunday evening I went to the service. I taught the boys who were in year five at primary school, and were about 10 to 11 years old. They were interested in the material I presented and were a great pleasure to teach. In fact they taught me a great deal, it was a real mutual growing in faith. Bob was right. I enjoyed it very much. The following year I continued with the same pupils, who were then seniors at primary school. I had built up a close relationship with them.

As our wool business prospered, Michael suggested that Alison and I deserved a holiday. We should get someone to look after the children and spend a week away at the firm's expense. That sounded wonderful, but where could we go? Someone in the Church had a friend who was married to a minister in Fiji. She said that Fiji was a lovely place for a holiday, and we could, at the same time, see what the church is doing there. So, we decided on Fiji. I asked my Sunday school children to make a scrap book about their life here in Australia, to take to a Sunday school class in Fiji. I hoped that they would do the same for my class.

It all worked out better than we could have planned. Audrey Sommerville, the friend of our church member, invited us to her place in Laotoka, near Nadi, on Viti Levu, for dinner, and gave us several addresses to visit on our tour around the main island of Fiji. Her husband Ian was away on church business.

We hired a car and travelled around the island. We had a most relaxing time, and the tropical island seemed a paradise to us. I was particularly impressed with the Navuso Agricultural College near Suva, run by the church. We were shown around the college by one of the Australian lecturers.

Church life and the teaching of the Christian faith was a major part of the curriculum, as well as the agricultural subjects. The students seemed keen and happy. One senior student showed us a fenced-in garden which had been allocated to him for his final year. He had to prove to the College that he was able to look after it all on his own, and I could see the pride and joy in his face as he showed us a beautifully tended garden with a great variety of crops growing.

Seeing the beauty of the place, the purpose of its existence and the enthusiastic students who benefited so much from their training there, I suddenly saw a better purpose for my own life. Had I not also learnt agriculture? What if I could become a teacher at such a school? I suddenly became aware that God was showing me that place to point my life into a different direction. I could see a life with a purpose, rewarding and fulfilling. Until then I knew that I wasn't happy with my work, but I

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