Ministry in Australia

Services on Sundays commenced at 8 am at Oak Flats, 9.30 at Dapto, and 11.15 at Albion Park. This did not allow me much time to talk to people after the services, which I regretted. Also, after three services, I felt quite exhausted, but as there were no evening services, it was not too bad. Our children went to Sunday School at Dapto, as this was the biggest centre where Sunday School was at the same time as the service. Also, having only one car, it would not have been possible any other way, as I was able to return the family home before going to my last service at Albion Park.

With the help of a young teacher we started a youth group at Dapto and encouraged the youth of the other centres to join. It ran reasonably successful for some time. I tried to teach scripture in schools. One day I lost my temper during a class in James' year. One boy was behaving particularly badly and I threw the blackboard wiper at him. Fortunately I missed, but it made me realise that I was not cut out for teaching scripture.

There were three hospitals which I had to visit when someone from our church was ill, Wollongong, Warilla and Kiama. Visiting people on our list was high on my priority. I felt, that this was the best way to get to know my people.

Many parishioners, especially in Dapto, came originally from Scotland. They found employment in the mines around Wollongong. After hearing Indonesian all day, my ear had trouble getting used to another 'foreign language'. It wasn't easy, but gradually I learnt.

Coming home from a conference on Small Groups, led by John Mallison, I was keen to implement one idea of his straight away. He suggested to invite every member of the congregations in groups of about 15 to 20 over a period of three weeks to the manse. It would help to get to know them better, and to open the manse to them would tell them that I was approachable. It would also help to establish a good relationship, not only between us and them, but also with each other. I asked each elder to help me with the people under their care, and while the time of these 'parties' was extremely hectic for all of us, it was well worth while. It created goodwill and co-operation amongst everyone.

When Eric Knight came to the Dapto Methodist church in 1974, he encouraged me to attend a Ministers' fraternal. It met once a week and we received a lot of support from it. We also organised seminars at Dapto High school, which was a much better way of teaching scripture than individual classes. I am sure the students also enjoyed it much more.

As my social conscience had been wakened during my student days, I became more and more politically aware. One day the Rev. Jan Groenewegen of Kiama invited me to join an Amnesty International group. As I had experienced Human Rights violations in the anti-aircraft unit and as a member of the Hitler Youth myself, I didn't need much persuasion to join. This was in November 1973. At first I was a fairly

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