Australia Day Fires!

Today is Australia Day. And, when we sat down at lunch at a friends house, we received a phone call from a family in our church telling us we needed to come home right away as there was a terrible fire in Landsdale. Chris quickly loaded up the car and he ran home to turn off the air and close all windows on our house. But, as he arrived the fire was incredible close. About 1 block away! And, if you did a straight b-line to the fire there were only 10 houses between us and them. Chris collected our important belongings, because FESA suggested that we be prepared to leave, and so he grabbed our passports, and our computers, and pictures albums, and that was it. There were 80 fire men, three helicopters, and many VERY hard workers. Who worked very hard on the ground in really hot weather to keep everyone's homes safe. In the end no homes were lost. But, we did find out that the fire started by another person in our suburb burning rubbish! So, it was a mistake. But, we are at a complete fire ban. So, I am sure these people will be in some pretty big trouble. We have lived here over 6 years, and this is the CLOSEST fire we have ever had to us, and it honestly was a bit concerning. Especially since we knew people who were even closer to the fire than we were...
PRAISE GOD, for his protection over all the homes in Lansdale. The fire was moving at 3 metres high, and over 100 metres an hour. So, God is sooo good!!!!

YOUTH CAMP 2011

This weekend was an incredible weekend of team work! The theme was a survivor theme, and the kids were awesome at helping out cooking meals and putting up the tents. But, it was hard work for them to pull off their tasks that they needed to accomplish.

We had a few injuries this past weekend. But, God was there and was protecting people and keeping them safe! We had one girl fall down crossing a river, and she banged her face on a rock. But, luckily she did not hit her head on the dangerous spot, and even though she passed out and gave us a HUGE scare, she did not have a concussion. And, God protected her!

The teens got to hear some testimonies, and were challenged that this school year, would be a year that they commit their lives first to Christ, and then let him guide their lives this year. Each teen was given a bible! We had 12 teens who participated on the weekend, and it was HEAPS of fun. It was exhausting hard work, but a joy to get to spend three days with all the teens!

Please pray for us this weekend as we take the teenagers on a teen camp! Chris, Darrek, and myself will be going down to a town called Dwellingup out in the bush, where there are no toilets, and electricity for two nights and three days to do a youth camp! Esepcially pray for me as I do not have a voice, at the current time due to, too much singing and talking this past week at the Holiday Kids Clubs!

Harrisdale Holiday Kids Club

After we did a week of Kids Club in Landsdale, we travelled 45 minutes south each day the next week to do the same Holiday Kids Club at a church plant in Harrisdale which is south of the City of Perth. The Kids Club ran every day from 3-5 in the afternoon. We had between 8-16 kids that were involved in this program. This church has not had any services yet and this was a major outreach to the community. God was amazing and we had people who came out and showed interest in what was going on through out the week. We had to be a bit more creative as we did not have a building to pull this off in, and I ended up loosing my voice by the third day, because I had done way to much talking the week before! But, we had a wonderful week, but was very exhausting. Our kids were going to bed late, and they had School swimming lessons that we had to be at every day in the morning by 7:30! So, it was a very exhausting week, but God is good to those who work hard and Our children were super excited to get to participate in the Holiday Kids Club Again! Pray for these families that were impacted this week, that they will continue to be interested in the Harrisdale church plant and that they will even call it home!

An exciting aspect to this week was that we took teenagers down with us every day to help us run the holiday kids club. And, these teens were impacted incredibly, just by serving!

Holiday Kids Club 2011

Our week of Kids Club was amazing and we had many new visitors that have not attended kids Club before. The kids Learned that
-God is With us
-God is Powerful
-God Does what he says he'll do
-God gives us life
-God cares for us!

We had some awesome turn out. We had 26 children and then adults and teenagers write their names on the walls of the Israelites house instead of putting blood above the door frame the chidren put hearts and then their name in the heart, saying that they were committed to Loving God! And, then the second day, we told about, how God sent his son Jesus and then we gave them an opportunity to ask for forgiveness adn write their name on the cross and pray for Jesus to come into their hearts and be forgiven! All the children got up and made commitments it was an amazing turn out and the kids were so excited about the week!

Thank you to Brookside Wesleyan for donating all the materials for this Holiday Kids Club we had. It was a fantastic week full of exciting twists and turns and seeing God work in the childrens lives was unforgettable! I hope you enjoy the picture I have posted below!
Melissa

Holiday Kid's Club

This week (10-14 January) we are holding our Holiday Kid's Club program (VBS). We were very excited about the response that we were getting and anticipated that we would have at least half of our regular Kid's Club kids and possibly a few visitors. Today was the first day of "Crocodile Dock" and we had a great time. There were 21 kids in attendance and several teen and adult helpers. God blessed our time and many kids were able to hear through the program that God is with them.
Please continue to pray this week for the ministry of our Holiday Kid's Club. Pray that God would speak into the lives of their families and open up opportunities for us to minister to them.

The Carols in The Park

On WEdnesday the 8th of december we received the final stam of approval for the carols in the Park! God blessed us with it right when we ABSOLUTELY needed it. Immediately we advertised. Chris and Darrek (our intern from Bethany) letterboxed ALL of landsdale... It was ALOT of walking and they did it very quickly. Then, we sent home invitations with all the children from school. And, God blessed our event. There were atlesat 400 people who came out and joined us and sang christmas carols, and saw the kids club perform the live nativity as well as sing O come let us adore him. And, the evening was just Phenomenal! It was TRULY a community event in many sorts. There were jumy castles, and ice cream, and a dance troupe, and our kids club, and singing, and people who were out to be joyful about Christmas! It was truly a wonderful night. I will post some picture below so you can see a glimpse of what God did!