Signs, signs everywhere...I have been going through a series entitled "Road signs in the Bible". We looked at the "one way" sign where Jesus says that He is the only way to the Father. Then we looked at the "do not enter" sign where we talked about dealing with and resisting temptation. We looked at the "detour ahead" sign where we talked about times in our life when we seem to go down a different path than what we planned. This week, I will try to encourage everyone to stay on the path and run the race to completion with the "no U-turn" message. I plan my series topics well in advance and never really know what to expect when I start writing them. This series took a surprising twist and has focused much on the life of Joseph (from the OT). How he was able to handle the temptation from Potiphar's wife and then all of the detours that he faced and yet was able to still trust in his God. My life is much different than his but I think I have gained more from this series than many of my congregation. It's funny how God does that sometimes. I have heard of preaching to the choir, but what do you call it when the the preacher is preaching to the preacher... hmm!

Things are going well at the moment and we are beginning to feel the coolness of the nights as summer has officially ended. Today is our day to relax and it will be spent cleaning our house (it is easier said than done with two small kids) and spending time together at home. School goes back tomorrow for term 2 and so things will seem to be "normal" again.

The past week has been the first week of School Holidays here in Australia. It is hard to believe that term one is already over. As quickly as term one has flown so has Kids Club and Youth Group. We had our Kids Club Awards night for Term 1. All the children who attended to get their sashes had perfect attendance! Isn't that unbelievable! It excites me to know that they have so much fun being there that they come every week. I and the children have learned so many cool lessons about the fruit of the Spirit, about being Strong and Courageous about our faith, and about sharing our faith. The children sang three songs for their parents and we really did have a good time rewarding them for their work and effort. We also had one student, Thereza memorize the books of the NT and earned a Hands On Bible. (The Bible challenge is one we ran last year, and have promised that we will keep it running for the time being because our kids need Bibles in their hands that they can take home and be reading with their families!)
Term One is also always slow on attendance and we graduated 5 children to youth group. However, we have already had three families contact us and say they would like their children to participate during Term 2. So, I look forward to the next term! Please pray that people in the community would learn of Kids Club. And, that we would be overwhelmed with Children. For Once I have extra teachers! As I pray, please pray with me that next term we would have 4 children for every teacher,(20!)

Thank you to the Avon Wesleyn Church for your Easter Package
We received a wonderful Easter Package on the Thursday before Good Friday. It had suckers for the kids, and Easter books, and bunnies that sang Jesus Loves Me and little socks which Makayla won't take off her feet! And, wall hangings, and dish cloths, and all kinds of goodies! We are truly spoiled!

I can't explain the power in a package. Other than the Package is loaded with so much of God's providence for us and His care. At times when we miss our family the most and have been very homesick, we receive a package reminding us of what God has called us to do and reminding us that He knows we miss our family and friends, but at the same time He has called us Here to further His kingdom and we will do that! However, receiving a package was just the icing on a wonderfull weekend we spent doing ministry! We were spoiled with a little taste of home! Thank you so much!

Thank you to the Hyde Wesleyan Church and David and Melinda Finlay
for all their work in sending us a Valentine's Package! WE greatly appreciated it. It was such a lift for us. It arrived the day after Chris's Parents left. And, it made us feel very loved. Inside the box were all kinds of goodies God was providing for us right now! Inside were two toothbrushes, and floss! (YEAH!) we actually just that morning were saying we really needed money to go out on and get these. Also, inside was WINTER clothes for Dawson! WE desperately needed these! Somehow the boy came on this journey with no larger clothes! I guess I thought ahead for Makayla but not for Dawson. Also, was little valentine's bags and the coolest gumball machine ever! Also inside were two little gift bags for mommy and daddy! We greatly appreciate all you have done for us. It made us feel so special and cared for! Thank you almost doesn't sound like enough! We are truly blessed by your care! May God bless you abundantly in return! Here are some pics of the kids with some of the things in the package.

Our Easter Weekend!

It is the Tuesday after Easter and I can literally feel that the pace of my life as a pastor has slowed down from what it was last week. Easter is a very busy time for those of us in ministry, but it is so worth it and I wouldn't trade it for much of anything in this world. I know that many of you out there are interested in knowing about our weekend so I will do my best to update you on our Easter experience.

Greenwood High School: On Thursday afternoon, I went to one of the local senior high schools with my Bible, some words that I believe God gave me and absolutely no idea what to expect. As I entered the school I felt confident that God was with me (thanks much in part to your prayers). We went to the music room as the lunch bell rang and we waited to see if any of the students would give up their lunch to come hear an Easter message. We had 12 students and about 6 faculty who came for the time and I believe it went very well. It was the first time that we had tried anything like this in the school and I was encouraged by it. Some guys from our church are going to be playing basketball in the school during the lunch hour beginning in a few weeks. We are so excited about the connections that we are able to make and the ministry that we can have in the public school system.

Easter Sunday: I brought the message at both the church in the city as well as our church here in Landsdale. Both of the congregations had good responses to the message and we were very excited to have some visitor at Landsdale. Thanks Melissa for putting up invitations down at the supermarket. Please pray that we can draw our visitors back for another service.

Easter Monday: Yesterday, we went down to our Aussie family's house for an Easter meal. It was a good time all together and we all have so much chocolate we don't know what to do with it! We are so thankful for all that we have and wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to all of you who remember to pray for our family and support us as we are in Australia. Thank you and God bless you and your family.

Easter Eggs: I am not sure of where this tradition came from but people all around the world over the last week have coloured eggs for Easter. You hard boil them and then you use food colouring and crayons and other things to decorate these eggs. That isn't the funny bit, it is what people do with them after they are finished that is funny. We used to keep them in the door of the refigerator and we would go and get one, crack it and enjoy it for a snack. My brother and I would always crack the eggs by smashing them on our heads (yes, that is what happened to us). This tradition stopped when my brother smashed an egg that wasn't hard boiled over his head. My son, has found his own way of getting the eggs open. A tennis racket! In the picture below, you can see my son hitting an egg with a racket straight at everyone who is sitting on the couch.

We hope that all of you had a wonderful Easter and that you were able to celebrate the Risen Saviour with your family and friends.

Our Normal Busy Lives! Let me start out by apologizing to everyone out there in blog world that likes to keep updated on our lives through this site. I have been very lazy with this blog and I will try to do better in the near future. So many things have happened in our lives and our ministry over the past few weeks that I have decided to designate a paragraph for each thing. (You may need a few minutes to read it all) So get yourself a cup of coffee, sit back and enjoy my review of us over the past few weeks.

1. Mum and Dad George's Visit- They were here for three weeks and we had a great time spending time with them. It was great because we were saying that when we are home in the states we travel so much that we don't even see them as much as we did in those three weeks. We spent the first week living our lives. Mum enjoyed seeing how we live our daily lives and getting to know our church family and hanging with the grandkids. The second week, we visited a lot of the local attractions that Perth has to offer (many of which we had never done). There were some busy days but evenings were nice to relax and enjoy family at our house. The third week we took a road trip. We went for a six day trip down south where we hiked the highest point in the southwest of Australia, stayed at several different caravan parks and drove just over 1000 kilometers. Their visit seemed short but we did have a great time and we are so blessed to have wonderful parents. Thanks mum and dad for making the "long" trip to Australia.

2. Church Beach BBQ- The first Saturday that mum and dad were here, we had a church bbq at the beach. We dipped dad in sun-screen and headed down to the sand. We had a great turnout and everyone enjoyed themselves. We had several new young adults come and join us for our picnic and our time was very enjoyable.

3. Valentine's Banquet- The youth group put on a Valentine's banquet and we had around 40 people in attendance. Everyone said that it was very good and are looking forward to next year. The most exciting thing was how excited the teens were to serve. That was our original purpose, to allow the teens an opportunity to serve others, and we think we succeeded in that. We were able to make a few hundred bucks for the youth group as well.

4. Melissa the preacher- We are currently in a series "Faces of Easter" where we look at several characters in the Easter story. Melissa took on the task of Peter and did a great job. Her message was both informative and challenging and all of our church members enjoyed it. Now maybe I can have a week off once in a while...!

5. Youth Group Sausage Sizzle- We held a sausage sizzle for all the teens in the area where we openned up the youth centre and gave out free food. We had 20 kids (a few of our regulars were missing as well) and we were very encouraged to see that many teens said they will be back next week. It was a good night and I am still the ping pong champ over the teens!

6. Easter Egg Hunt- On Palm Sunday we had our second annual Easter egg hunt in Landsdale. We had around 75-80 people and many new families. We were very excited to see all of our church pull together to put this event on. There was kilos of chocolate, crafts, contests, give aways and egg tossing. To reach out to people this year, we had a booth where they made the christian bracelets with the colors, and at each spot was a card, and the parents could read what the colors represented to their children. We also had a skit room, where we had the keeper of the tomb do a mystery skit and the kids would go into the tomb and figure out the surprise that Jesus Christ rose from the dead! It was great and alot of fun. Please pray with us that we will be able to make contact with the families that came for the first time and somehow tie their chilren into kids club and into our church.

7. Wilson- We have a housemate. He is a nursing student from Zimbabwe who is attending a University close to our home. To make a long story short, he was praying for a Christian family to stay with closer to his school and we were praying for help from God with a bit of relief on our finances because of the exchange rate right now. Wilson stays in our guest room and has been a blessing to have in our home. He is a confident Christian and has already been an encouragement to me.

8. Greenwood High School- Chris has been invited to share an Easter message at a local PUBLIC high school. Look here later this week to see how it went. Pray that God will be able to use me in that setting to challenge the teens.

I hope that gives you a picture of what we have been up to over the past few weeks. If there is something that you were hoping to be updated on that I missed, please just leave a comment with your question and I will try to answer for you. Otherwise, I will see you next time. God bless you and have a wonderful Easter weekend.

Woman's Scrapbooking Bible Study

God works in Mysterious ways, yet HIS ways are always better than our own!

This saturday God did something that frustrated me, but that worked to his GLORY! On saturday I had 4 people call me within an hour and cancel from coming to the once a month woman's Bible study. I was quite dissappointed and was very sad that I had not had success at having good attendance. However, God was orchestrating something LARGER and bigger than I would know. I still had 3 people coming. Two are students.. Lisa a girl I have been mentoring from Korea, and Fei from China, and then Chipo (a strong Christian from Zimbabwe). So, I was glad to spend time with the three of them and we were doing a bible Study on Mary Magdalene about how we need to be tenaciously loyal to Jesus Christ! Fei opened up with us and shared that she was afraid she really didn't become a christian. I think if everyone would have come, Fei would have never opened up, and she would still be wondering today if she was a Christian. However, I was able to share with Fei, that YES God truly has come into her life, and yes she HAS made a decision to follow Him. She is going home on Friday for two months to visit her family. Her Family is ALL atheist, she is the first to become a Christian. And, in her mind, it was easier for her to say, "I haven't really become a Christian", than it was for her to start to think through what she might say to her family. I am going to meet with her again before she leaves and we are going to do a Bible study on her assurance that she is a Christian and when she returns I will mentor her one on one. But, pray that Fei would be Tenaciously LOYAL to Jesus while she is home in China, and Pray that if God does want her to speak to her family about her decision to be a Christian that she would listen to what He has to say, and speak the words Christ has put in her mouth.

Youth Centre

This weekend was awesome! Friday night we started up the youth centre again. There were 10 kids that attended. Please pray that Chris and I would be able to use this group as our base support and grow a strong youth group off of these kids. Two of the girls (Jade and Cindy) that I have been asking prayer for asked to come to church on Sunday. So, I picked them up and they asked to come again next week! Please pray that THEY would hear God speaking to their hearts. Jade became a christian last year at a youth concert, but has not showed much change in her life or commitment. Pray that we would start to atleast immediately start to see some behaviour change! Cindy's dad came out to my car when I dropped her off and was VERY thankfull that I have taken cindy under my wing and have started to care for her. Please pray for Cindy. She comes from a home that is falling apart, and so much has changed in her life. Pray that Cindy would realize that she needs God in her life to give her attention. She has been acting out lately, but I think it is a cry for attention. Pray that she would not do anymore dangerous things and that I would be able to connect with her and begin to talk with her abut her life, the life God has given her.

New Year's CHURCH CAMP!
After Christmas we had our annual church camp. On the 28th we loaded up our cars and headed South. Months of preparation was finally coming to the reality of camp was here! Chris and I picked the place, I planned the activities calendar for the camp, and did the children's sermons, Chris spoke at the camp, and then we both had alot of fun! We had 42 people go on the camp and 3 people come down as day visitors. WE had 12 tents to set up, and we used two cabins and a caravan as well. So, there was a large group of us. Pastor Phil the lead pastor over seeing the inner city church and also guiding us with the landsdale church, did all the menus. And, he helped everyone prepare the food. WE at our meals together and had teams of people who took turns cooking and cleaning. The trip was 5 days and it was WONDERFUL! What was even more wonderful was seeing God unite the two churches together and realize that there is a large group of us Wesleyan's here now in Perth, and he is using us all in so many different ways. Some Highlights we would say of the trip, was the speakers speaking, the kids would say the digital scavenger hunt was a blast,

This was our team!

we did parents vs. kids kickball! nobody had EVER PLAYED BEFORE! WE looked for dolphins, never saw any. And, one of our friends took us out on a boat the last morning and we did get to see some. Also, the young adults and kids had a great time crabbing. WE got more little ones than big ones. But, we did finally end up with out of 40 that we caught, three that were big enough to keep, so we boiled them up and ate them.

. And, then we all packed up and came home. The last night we played capture the flag to midnight to see in the New Year. It was such a good time. When we got home we slept for like 15 hours, ALL of us. The bugs were the worst. Dawson had spider bites all over him (6) . And, was very swollen, but he survived and we will definitely go camping again! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Sorry, it has been awhile since I have written I will try to update everyone with everything that has been going on. When we arrived back from Singapore our life became VERY BUSY! Between two churches doing Christmas the week before Christmas we had 6 functions in 7 days! The highlight of functions for us was the Christmas play the Landsdale church did. The community of Landsdale is REALLY big on doing Christmas lights! So, we decided to do a living Nativity. We worked like crazy to prepare. I sewed 12 outfits it took me and another lady, one whole day to make the under pieces, and then myself another day to make the top pieces to the outfits. The Kids practiced and practiced and practiced. And we did a really cute Nativity. They acted out the Nativity to "Angels we have heard on high" by Third Day. They smiled and did such a good job. Our children were in it as well, and they also had a blast. We acted in the front yard, and cars would drive by and stop and watch the play (4 minutes +Christmas caroling after each time we did the play). We then gave everyone who was watching a candy cane with the church logo on it and the story of the candy cane on the other side. We figured we had over 100 people get to see the play. This was much better than trying to get people to come to the "church" to do carol singing. Although, Australia is not very Christian, singing Christmas carols at Christmas is huge! Next Year, we figure we will do more lights etc. But, for our first year of trying something new. It went really well. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Singapore

Singapore.. Chris and I have sat in the airport in Singapore many times, but never been out of the airport. So, thanks to Sim and Soo flying us there, and our parents giving us b-day money, and Christmas money a few days early! We were able to do some very fun things! I would have to say Singapore is a very clean country for the most part. There is no graffiti (which is EVERYWHERE in Australia, the transportation once you figure it out is amazing, and the people there LOVE children. Everyone we saw ran up and pinched our children's faces and kissed them, and then gave them a lolly. Or if they were near a shop, they would run into the shop buy a lolly and come out and give it to them. In other words our children were very spoiled. We did not go to bed any day before 11pm. So, we were all exhausted when we returned home. But, we had our first Sunday off in over a year and it felt great! It felt great to spend every minute pouring into our kids and just doing what they wanted to do. So, here are a few highlights of things we did.

The first day after we slept until 9:30am because we arrived at 2am. We did a duck tour. It is an old US army boat transformed into a tour service. So, we went on land and then on water and back on land and and it gave historical facts about Singapore. Very informative. The kids had fun riding as well just because it was different. We then had lunch and walked 25 minutes in the rain to get to where the wedding rehearsal was. We then went out to dinner at Lau Pa Sat, which is an indoor food market. But, they didn't sell fruit and veggies, just meals. It was very good traditional Singapore food. Transport home was the problem. As I said, this was our first day in Singapore. So, we waited over an hour for a taxi in line with atleast 30 other people. A taxi never came... not the right time of day (very strange) Then, we took a train, got off and no bus went to our hotel from there. So, we then walked for a half hour to get to our hotel. Atleast we had a map! But, we did not get home until 11:45pm. Needless to say we were tired and Makayla had WALKED all that way.

This is our family in an enclosed cable car riding from Singapore to Sentosa island off Singapore. Sentosa is their retreat/holiday getaway place.

This is Makayla and Dana (her Australian Auntie. She is 18 and loves to babysit our kids, but her parents came to the wedding as well, so she came too) with a pink dolphin. This was her highlight of the day. We waited through the rain, yes more rain. And, then she was jumping around with her hand in the air to get to pet a dolphin. So, we did it. Dawson was not as excited, but Mommy was. We toured the island we were on with Judy and then she treated us to dinner. Judy lived in Perth for a year our first term in Australia. She suggested we have a traditional meal called chicken rice and it was so yummy. Basically rice cooked with chicken. For Mommy's birthday I wanted to go to a laser light show. It was EXCELLENT. And I was so glad that we choose to do this. Thank you Mom and Dad for giving this to me for my birthday. Afterward we once again took transport home. This time was a little better. However, the bus was very full and I had to stand on the bus with Dawson in my arms and two bags of groceries! on the bottom step. So, I was a bit scared... But, we did arrive back safe in one piece.

Saturday was the wedding.

Sunday we went for Dawson's B-day to the Singapore Zoo and a Night safari. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma, Papa, and Grandma! This was also a ton of fun. Highlights were ... Makayla loved the zebras and Dawson loved the white tigers! (No surprises there)

Dawson in front of Prowling Tigers. They were waiting for their meat!

Makayla in front of zebras

Makayla and Daddy rode on an elephant.

I got chosen to throw a Frisbee to a sea lion. Luckily I can throw a Frisbee and hit my target. Because if the Sea Lion didn't catch it, then I had to stand still and let it splash me.

Night Safari, we saw a dance and a night animal show with a VERY big snake, and then went home again very late. 11:30.

Monday we did Orchard Road picked up souvenirs for our nieces and nephews (Which we have mailed to them for Christmas) and went out for Daddy's b-day at Hard Rock Cafe. Thank you papa and grandma! We had a wonderful time!

Sim and Soo's Wedding

Thank you to everyone who prayed for Sim and Soo's wedding. We have now been home a week and are finally able to catch a minute and sit down and update you on what has been going on in our lives. The wedding went very well. The kids did everything they were suppossed to. Dawson got a bit scared at the beginning but, then walked the rest of the way down the aisle. He just had a bit of fright when he realized everyone was watching him. The wedding was gorgeous and the most important thing that happened at the wedding was Jesus being glorified and the salvation message given. All of Sim and Soo's immediate family are not Christians. So, the most important thing to them was glorifying Jesus Christ through their ceremony. Below are some pictures from the wedding. The reception was the most elegant reception we have ever been to. It was at the Four Season's hotel on Orchard Road which is a pretty famous road in Singapore. And, apparently usually there are up to 600 people invited to the reception. However, Sim and Soo wanted their man focus to be their wedding. So, more people were invited to the wedding than to the reception. We had a 10 course meal. It was very yummy. We ate so many new things. We had shark fin soup. And, yes there were shark fins in it. It tasted more like chicken. That is what I kept telling myself. And, we had honey sesame chicken, that was also yum. We were served octopus, and fish, and many other things as well. No cake was served. However, the bride and groom did cut the cake. That was the first thing they did. So, it was alot of fun. the children wore traditional Chinese outfits to the reception. We were honoured to be able to be there for Sim and Soo! The whole day was awesome.

A background on Sim and Soo. They were in the young adult group Chris and I led when we were in Australia for our first term of missionary service to Perth. We had dinner every Saturday night (usually pizza). Obviously, they became very good friends and were very close to our kids as well. We look forward to when they move back to Australia and join us in the ministry here again.

A plane, a hotel and a Wedding!

Three words to describe our life over the next six days. We have the opportunity to attend (and be involved in) our friends wedding in Singapore. We fly out tonight at 10:30 and arrive in Singapore at 2:30 am! That should be a very eventful and interesting trip with the kids. As I write this I am running everything through my mind to make sure that we don't forget something. I know, something always gets forgotten, I just want to make sure it is a toothbrush rather than something really important. It is 4:15 pm and all of the kids from Kid's Club are here practicing our Christmas program and we leave for the airport in three hours, I know, the busy life of the pastors. We are really looking forward to our time in Singapore and will be sure to update you all as soon as we get back. Please pray for us since neither of us have been to Singapore before. Hope everyone in the States had a great Thanksgiving and that you are getting into the Christmas spirit. See you in six days, enjoy the snow Americans!

Landsdale School Fete

We had an excellent turn out for our booth that we had at the public school fair. It was definitely a God thing. Because we had a really bad location. However, we had 48 kids who do NOT GO to our kids club participate in making a chirstmas ornament. We had 18 people make a beaded cross. We had 20 candycanes made. And, there were numerous other wreaths, and wooden christmas ornaments that little kids colored in on wood. It was a lovely time and we were able to chat with the parents and the kids and then at the end we sent church people out with flyers about our church. It was a lovely time and we will definitely do it next year. And, ministry costs money. However, when the night was all said and done and we paid back what we had paid for our booth, and the crafts. The church actually made $30 dollars. Was very cool. Thank you for all your prayers. It would not have been such a success without your prayers.

Thank you for praying for Chipo

She has been able to turn in her thesis in Zimbabwe and it was accepted and finalized. Now, she will just have to wait for her grades. Thank you for praying for her. Now, she will be in Zimbabwe for three more weeks as she is waiting for a renewed passport. Pleasey pray that this would come quickly! So, she can return here to Australia and be wtih her family.

END OF THE YEAR KIDS CLUB AWARDS NIGHT

Sunday November 11th was an amazing night. We finished up our year of Kids Club! We had most of the families attend the evening service on Sunday night. It was a wonderful time for me to say thank you to our teachers, and to the parents for bringing their children. We handed out well over 100 badges! We had 6 children who earned extra badges for bringing friends and then 7 kids who earned the extra badge of perfect attendance! the kids were ecstatic. And, we had been running all year for the kids to learn the books of the new testament. And, well, many of them accomplished it, INCLUDING Makayla. (I was not working on them with her... I figured she was too young. Then, two weeks ago Makayla new the first 5 all on her own. So, Mommy figured she better start working with her. And, wouldn't you know... In 14 days Makayla learned them all. I am going to try and post a recording of her doing them on the website. She can say them without singing. But, she would much rather sing them!) So, we gave out 6 certificates for children who have memorized the books of the new testament. And, I think before February I will at least be handing out 3-4 more. There were some kids who were close but, not close enough. We gave them only two errors in saying them for example like one out of order or saying one twice etc. So, I am sure we will be awarding many more children as they are still working on them. Here are some pictures that were taken that night. We are missing at least 8 children who normally attend. We also shared special music and sang the books of the New Testament for the parents. I am proud of our kids. Kids Club was not run while we were home in the states. And, well it was a bit of a rough start at first trying to get our kids to come back. But, it has gone well and God has blessed every one's efforts for Kids Club. Pray that as I look back over the year I will know what we can improve on for next year! WE will continue to have kids club on Friday afternoons as we are preparing for our Christmas program, the Living Nativity! Thank you for praying for the Kids of Australia. WE have seen Christian growth in them and I need to THANK YOU! Because, you pray for these children. And, you're prayers make a big difference in their lives. Thank you so much!

Makayla and Dawson had a wonderfull opportunity this week. A family from Kids Club invited us up to the school to see the 6 month old Joey they have in their classroom. This is actually very rare apparently in Australia. (Kangaroos being in the classroom) Kangaroos can only be kept by people approved by the zoological society. And, well this teacher hit the mother with her car and noticed it had a baby inside. So, she rescued the baby and had it licensed to raise. The baby sleeps all day in a blue handbag. (purse). The baby does not know how to jump yet. And, it drinks from a bottle. And, it has become potty trained in the last week. So, it wees when the kids take it outside. Makayla and Dawson thought this was so cool! And, well Mommy did too! Suppossedly this baby would stay in the mother's pouch for atleast another 5-6 months.... And, would nurse possibly longer than that.