The Australian Missionary News IPTV anchorwoman Delma Tronson initially asked Sue Spencer about her early life. Sue said she was born in Cooroy which is small town on the Sunshine Coast's hinterland as her mother and father were in Naru as he was a mechanical engineer in the sulphate mining industry. Her mum came home to Cooroy to have the baby and then went back where she lived for the first four and a half years.
After her father's contract concluded they moved to Brisbane where she did all her schooling and afterwards completed a Business Communications degree, her major being Public Relations. It was difficult to get into the industry in Brisbane at that time but got a job in Melbourne with a property management company doing their bouchers and other secretarial work and eventually found her way back to Brisbane working for a marketing company, then a major road building contracting company, and by this time they had three children and time to be a stay at home mum for a time.
Sue Spencer explained she met her husband Sean when she was 15 at a new year's eve party as her father his uncle were friends and she saw this 'beautiful man with blond hair' and was smitten (all of 15). Sean became her Prom partner at high school and they were married in 1991. They bought a very tiny three bedroom home in Darra in Brisbane which they totally renovated internally and when their third, Holly was born, they realised that this very small house was simply too small.
It was at this time they came to a decision, quite independently, that a sea change might be a good idea. They owned land in Midge Point on the Whitsunday's Carlisle Coast and came up for a two week holiday with a nine month old baby in July onto the property without power or water. But their two little boys caught fish and they Curlew bird noise (screeching) of a night time gave them some frightening dreams until they identified the bird. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_Stone-curlew
In 1994 Sue was pregnant with their first, and met a Christian man in Toowoomba at a Garden Show who had a stall next to her parents' Stall. He explained to her about God and as she was searching within herself for meaning, she gave her life to Jesus. This man's son worshipped at the CCC (Christian City Church) at Westside in Brisbane near where Sean and Sue lived and so they began to attend.
Sue explained that she and Sean had been reading their Bible in private and had been considering attending a church when all this happened, and they began attending where there was 'rocky' music and she figured she could handle that, and this is where they served for the following 10 years before the sea change to Midge Point.
Sue Spencer noted that the original purpose behind her passion for scrapbooking was to provide each of her children (Luke, Joel and Holly) a book of their lives when they leave home to initiate their own life as independent young people. Luke is leaving home at the end of 2012 and his scrapbook will be ready for when he leaves. The scrapbooking has also become a small business and Sue runs a Tuesday class in Proserpine, 25 minutes away.
Many years ago Sue recalled, while at the CCC in Westside a guest preacher gave a prophecy over them, that would be involved in a Respite ministry whereby they would be in a position to have a home for missionaries and burnt-out pastors whereby they could come and rejuvenate and be refreshed and have a holiday.
Delma Tronson filled in the other side of the story that when their Well-Being Australia 'Laguna Quays Respite' was secured in February 2011 (the third such facility, the first in 1992 Moruya south coast NSW, the second in Tweed Heads 2006), and she and her husband Mark saw a scrapbooking advert at the general store.
Delma and Mark followed the directions to the address in Midge Point and it happened to be Sean and Sue's place. One thing led to another where they discovered not only their mutual faith but also their vision for Respite. Since June when the Laguna Quays Respite facility was opened, four mission couples have visited.
Sue Spencer says that all this has dove tailed for as the co-ordinators they've visited the missionary guests and its been such a refreshing experience for themselves. Sean Spencer's interview on the Australian Missionary News IPTV YouTube Channel can be viewed at
http://www.youtube.com/user/marktronson#p/u/1/n41JBm55eKc
Enquiries for the Laguna Quays Respite for missionaries and pastors timeout@bushorchestra.com 0487 245 207
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html