GOD IS GOOD
This week I have had a dear friend find out that her sister in America needs a kidney transplant. Irene is here in Australia. But, she wants to go through the process to probably be a donor, and she was very scared, worried, not for herself, but her sister. But, we serve a BIG GOD who so just soooo good. Because, the day I found this out, Randy and Linda Freeman (Our Pastor to Missionaries) were actually making their first ever visit to us in Perth! Randy had a kidney transplant a few years ago, and he was able to share with Irene many facts, and details, and thoughts, and most importantly we were able to tell her that we would be praying for her! But, God is amazing. He puts everyone right where they need to be at the right time!

As a side note, we had a wonderful time sharing our lives with Randy and Linda and giving them just a sample of what our life is like here in the land down under!

Could you please continue to pray for Irene and her sister in NJ?

We honestly do covet your prayers! It is through your prayers that God uses us in the MOST UNEXPECTED WAYS to reach people here in Australia!

Pray for Strength for our Family!

This is the last week of term 3 in Australian School. Our kids are weary. But, not only is our family weary. It seems that everyone we know is weary. And, a lot of people are facing some really hard stuff right now.

Chris just spent three days in Melbourne for our district Conference. It was a great time to catch up with pastors from our district as well as to see what God is doing across the district! Chris attending district conference is a BIG reminder of how different things are here in Australia than how they would occur in America. Chris boarded an airplane and flew 4 hours to Melbourne, on the EAST Coast. He then got in a car and drove a few hours to where the meetings occurred. Because of the cost this year, the kids and I stayed behind. IT was a good thing we did. God knew we needed to be here.

This weekend we had the teen girls stay and have a sleep over all weekend. They were such a help to me,but I had some FANTASTIC conversations with them.

A family that has been key in our church, lost their grandfather. He had been ill with Alzheimers but they were unaware he was actually that sick. So, it was quite a surprise that he had passed away.

We have had a HUGE unspoken request for a family that we know. And, it is really just a totally shocking heart wrenching conversation that I had with this family. But, could you please pray for "Jessi " this week. Pray for Understanding, reconciliation, peace, culture shock, this family I believe is really being targetted by the Devil. Please pray that God would hold this family together and that the family would turn to HIM and seek what is best. There is going to be some real listening, understand, and compromising that will need to take place.

Then, on top of all that. The devil seemed to know Chris was away.. Because instead of life being easy things just fell apart, our car broke down, The cars at church on Sunday night all got broken into (Luckily, I left my car unlocked so there was no broken windows etc. on our car, and the list goes on., but the kids and Chris are all sick with a dry cough.

With all that said.. Would you please lift our family up in prayer and just ask for us to come to God and find rest and strength, and for us to turn all this into being a "light" for Christ in our community.

INTERNS COMING!

Praise God! Darrek and Stephanie have raised enough support for them to join us in Australia.
We have had to revamp a few things. But, God has TRULY blessed their support and we have received word that they should be arriving in October!

Pray for Chris and I as we prepare for them to come. We will be rearranging the house and moving ourselves into Brayden's bedroom and the boys will now be sharing a room, so that we can put the Thornton's and their bubby Grayson in the front bedroom of our house for the next 5 months!

Our kids are truly excited to have visitors and Chris and I are excited that God is bringing this family to help us in the efforts of planting a church here in Landsdale.

Pray that the Thornton's would receive their VISA quickly as you all know in the past this has been very hard for our family to obtain. Luckily they will be applying for a shorter visa, so we believe it should be a much quicker process.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS! GOD HAS MOVED MANY PEOPLE TO GIVE TO THE THORNTON'S AND, GOD HAS HEAR YOUR PRAYERS AND HE HAS ANSWERED THEM!!!!

Australian Father's Day!

On Satuday we celebrated Australian Father's Day. The men came to our house and had a wonderful breakfast made by Melissa as well as then they headed out for a Father, Son day on the Golf Course. Chris had a wonderful time taking Dawson for the first time and when Dawson returned you should have seen the smile on his face! He was SOOO excited for the time he had spent with his Ddddy.

God has brought three families close to us. But, God has opened a door recently for Chris to get together with the men from these families on a weekly basis and golf. Funny enough when Chris had this thought, he wasn't sure how he would fund the golfing and how it would all work out. But, God has supplied the extra money we needed for him to do 9 holes of golf each monday with these three guys! But, most importantly each week they get to discuss christian thought, and ideas, and this is the first time since we have been here that Chris has really been able to share with three non christian Men on a weekly basis the grace of Jesus Christ!

A highlight that has come out of this is, one of the guys has quit smoking and it has now been 3 weeks. But, throughout this, we believe that it has been GOD who led his heart as we had never actually talked to him about it, yet he came to us for support as his friends, and we believe that it is God who is carrying him through and we pray that Matt*** will realize the difference this time, and realize he has been able to quit this time... because we are praying for Him and that he has God helping him!

Kids Club is continuing to grow!

Kids Club has continued to grow and we have gained 7 children that are under 5! We really need more help and today I am asking that you would start praying for God to show us people that can help us with the Kids Club.

I have an idea to use the parents who are willing to stay. But, these parents are not Christians.. So, please pray that God would use us to reach these parents through Kids Club!

On a praise!!! We have had differently families volunteer each week for Snack! So, this is saving Chris and I personally money, that we were having to use each week to supply snack, but most importantly the parents are then staying and getting involved!

Makayla's Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Makayla's birthday! Was a fantastic time. We had 20 little girls and 3 boys running around our house! We invited parents to stay and had a little pop star party. It was truly a fun time of getting to know all the girls in Makayla's class as well as the mum's who stayed for the party. We were also blessed by a family in our church who brought us Dinner on Makayla's birthday so after her big party, I didn't have to cook! We were truly blessed!

As Makayla turns 7, we have so much to be grateful for! But, most importantly I praise God that she has accepted Jesus Christ as her personal saviour and that she is more than EXCITED to share every day with all of her friends that they need Jesus too!

We now have 5 kids from Makayla's class at school that come to Kid's Club. And, 6 other children from her grade (1) that come to Kids Club! Chris and I are very active at helping out in her classroom and have built relationships with all the families and parents.. It is very time consuming and lot's of work! But, these families notice a difference in our family. And, that difference is Jesus Christ!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAKAYLA!

WE LOVE YOU

and PRAISE GOD

for BLESSING our

FAMILY WITH YOU!!!!!!!!

Annual General Meeting.

On Augst 1st we had our Annual General meeting. Our D.S. flew 5 hours on an airplane to join us for this meeting. At church the Kids Club children sang a special song and Chris preached and then after the service it was a time to eat together, fellowship, and then we reflected and praised God for all he had done over the past year. As well as it was a time for us to look forward as a church and pray for God to bless where he is going to take us this year! We had the largest attendance we have ever had and the new family the Smythe's we have been asking you to pray for attended the meeting and are interested now in membership classes. God is good. this family has been attending regularly and we believe that because you have been praying, God has been moving in their hearts. a few exciting things we have to look forward to, that we approved at the meeting.
1. The church will be filing for permanent residency for Chris and I so that we do not need to keep applying for visas all the time.

2. They approved the Thornton's (BBC student) to intern under Chris.

3. We have agreed that we will organize for the entire community a Carol's by Candelight service this year. This is alot of work and will occur on the footy oval. but, the whole community will be invited to an outdoor's Christmas carol singing ut most importantly we will be sharing the true meaning of Christmas. "Carols by Candelight" are huge here in Australia. People love to come out and sing Christmas carols.

PRAY-that we will get the church on board with the carols by candelight.
PRAY- that the Thornton's will reach full support through Global PArtners to join us on the field. They need to raise $33,000.
PRAY- that we will be able to start processing the paperwork for our Permanent Residency Application soon!

School Holidays
Over the school Holidays Chris and I were blessed with the opportunity to run some family events. The first week we visited Caversham, which is a wildlife park. We had 5 families participate and it was a wonderful time to just work on building relationships.


The second week we had a movie night! Chris and I were really excited about this because the whole evening was focused around Toy Story 1. But, the evening was focused on God's idea of friendships. The children made their own pizzas, the adults had pizza and salad, and the we played fun games that focused on friendship. Chris and I were so excited because there were 24 people who attended. These are families that attend our kids club, and not our church, yet. So, we are working on building relationships and reaching out to these families.

Over the school holidays we also had two families that had babies and one family that the dad had a torn achilles and a family whose father had emergency surgery. We took meals to all of these families and the kids made cards and we have been reaching out to these families as well..

I say all this to ask you to pray for us as we are reaching out to these families. Help us to say the right words and to connect with these families on a spiritual level.

Thank you so much for your prayers, they are chaning lives.
Melissa

Western Australia Woman's Retreat

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at our Western Australia Wesleyan Woman's Retreat. We had 15 ladies who came for the whole weekend. God moved in so many ways. Two ladies and myself join on the retreat from our church plant which was very exciting. The weekend was themed around "Heart Spa" by Group. however, instead of doing small group type meetings. We actually dove into the Bible and did whole sessions on the scripture. I preached 4 times over the weekend and did small group sessions as well as we did a beyond the page scrap booking journal. Which for many of the ladies this was the first time they "scrap booked" a craft. It was an incredible time and God was there and met us as we came to Him. He moved in people lives and hearts. I could go on forever about the weekend. But, Let me just share a few thoughts with you from the weekend and what God impressed upon my heart to share with the ladies.

*Rest - Come to me all you who are weary and Burdened and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus wants us to Call on Him, Accept Him, and learn from Him.
*Reflection- Isaiah 55:1-6 Come to Him, Listen to Him,
*Renewed- Psalm 23: The Lord wants to offer us Rest. He is the Healer, He is the protector and comforter, and Encourager.
*Refreshment-John 13. Love like Jesus, Love by being Humble, Love by being a servant, and Love requires sacrifice.


Over the weekend there was tears of joy, tears of compassion, and tears of love! God moved in many people's lives.


Hear a few stories of how God moved:

There was a lady on the camp who's husband is a post man.
He has been working really hard, because his job was for two people and he
normally shared the job but he was unable to find anyone. So, he has been
working tremendous hours since February.

On the camp there was a lady who's husband had lost his job and was looking
for work! These two wives called their husbands immediately. And, the man who
needed a job started training yesterday, on Wednesday 7/15! God knew where these
woman needed to be. This was his way of providing rest to these
woman! She had come with this burden and this concern, and God met it!

We participated in a foot washing on Sunday before we served communion. I felt led to do this activity before we took communion. And, really felt like Christ wanted me to tell the ladies to LOVE like He did. Humble ourselves, serve the other woman and there was a moment quite a long one where no one was moving but then God spoke to these ladies and one at a time they would go to another lady and they would tell them what GOD had laid on their hearts to share, words of encouragement, and support, or forgiveness, and they would then go and sit in the chair and was the other's feet! It was an incredible moment. At times there would be one woman in the chair and 3-4 woman serving that lady, but passing the warm water over her feet and then the ladies taking turns rubbings the feet and really making that woman know... that they wanted to LOVE her just as Christ does.

There was one girl who could not get out of her seat, she just could not LET
anyone do such a task for her... And, she did get up and wash her mother's
feet. But, when God spoke to the mother to wash her daughter's feet. The
daughter could not let her! She was squirming, and you could see God working and then , God opened the floodgates, and the whole room was in tears as we saw her go through the emotions of what God was doing in her life! Unbelievable!

God knew there we're woman who had faced a challenging year, there was a lady whom had recently lost her baby after carrying it for 7 1/2 months, there was a mother who had been told her daughter had sickle cell anemia, ( PRAISE GOD SHE RECEIVED A REPORT THE DAY BEFORE CAMP IT WAS SOMETHING ELSE) And, the woman had been pray for a different result for two weeks!

God knew these woman we're coming broken, and hurt, and tired, and exhausted. But, There is nothing more moving than to hear woman WORSHIP, to see their LIVES being touched, to see them GROW in Love together, and to see them go DEEPER with Christ. This is what we experienced this past weekend! God was there and He met us and He has offered us Rest, Reflection, Renewal, and Refreshment! Know today as you read this... He offers all this for you too!!!!!

Thank you for your prayers. People praying for this weekend is what held me strong. As a stay at home mum, I was worried about having the time to write the sermons and to prepare the entire camp from beginning to end. And, God saw me through! But, I believe it was because you pray for us and you support us to be here to minister to the people of Western Australia!

Thank you! May God reach out and touch your life in a way this week that will remind you to find Rest in HIM! He is all that we need.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever. Psalm 23:6

An exciting day at Kids Club!

Yesterday we had 19 kids at Kids Club! It was an amazing afternoon. It was actually the last day for semester two here in Australia. Tomorrow we will be having the Awards Ceremony and I can't wait to see what new Kids Club families will attend church for the first time! Please pray with us that these families will be excited and hungry to hear what Jesus has in store for them. Chris will be sharing an evangelistic message. The whole term was on two verses.

Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

And,

For God so loved the world He gave His one and only begotten son,

that whoever believes in Him will not perish but, have Eternal Life. John 3:16.

The kids will be singing songs, sharing their memory verses for the term, and special things they really enjoyed. After the service we will be sharing dinner together. There will be 3-5 new families coming tomorrow night. Please pray that nothing would get in the way of them attending! I will follow up tomorrow with a post of a picture of them receiving their badges.

Thank you for your prayers! Melissa

Creating a PASSION for EVANGELISM

We have been focusing on the book just walk across the room for the past few weeks at church. This evening Chris shared on the Woman at the well and some points that we can learn from Jesus on how to tell people about Christ.

1. Bridge The Chasm- Be willing to talk to people different than you
2. Ask a question- Always will start a conversation
3. Practice patience- Don't be in a hurry. Take time to talk.
4. Avoid Rabbit trails- need I say more.
5. Give hope to the hopeless- Jesus can offer hope to those around you in need.

Afterwards though we did a hands on activity. We gave each family a packet of sticky notes and texters (markers) to write on the stickit notes. Then we went and stuck the notes to all the chairs. Chris had set up an extra 60 chairs in the hall. Then after people put the notes on the chairs we went aroudn prayed for those people. Makayla stayed right with me the whole time. She wrote her friends names on "HER" notes and Dawson stuck them to the chair. WE then went as a family and prayed for the chairs. I got to a chair that had "Braydens" name on it. And, Makayla says. I wrote Braydens name becuase I hope he chooses Jesus to live in his heart when he gets older. So, we sat and put Brayden in the chair and prayed for him! I praise God we have children who see the need for people to have Jesus. Yet, they have not forgotten their own little brother! It was one of those heart moving moments where you praise JESUS for all HE has done in our lives! And, let me tell you.... It is alot!!!!

Afterwards we sang Praises for all HE is going to do through us being his hands and feet. It was truly a heart moving moment.

Friday June 4th was an amazing afternoon at Kids Club. We have been talking about John 3:16 and Love and what Love is and friendship. And, we had finally made it to the week where we talk about God sending Jesus to be our best friend. And, we shared with the Kids how Jesus has died on the cross to forgive their sins and He wants to be their best friend. We focused on the verse from Rev. 3:20

"Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and

open the door, I will come in... nd we will be friends. " Revelation 3:20

And I was amazed by God! We had three children make re commitments. but, we had 6 children commit their lives to Christ for the first time! What an awesome time! God was moving in ways I had not expected. I thought if one child made a decision that afternoon that it would be awesome. But, God is good and He surprises me in ways I could have never drempt up. A boy who is typically out of control and in trouble every week, was very quiet and listening while I was speaking. I thought for the past 10 week that he had not learned anything at all at kids Club. But, he was one of the first children to raise his hand. He was so excited to accept Jesus. He is the FIRST christian in his family.

I hope you will pray with me for these children that God will SHINE through them and that their families will come to know Christ because of what God has done in their lives.

Sharing Christ with Friends

This week Makayla was invited to a birthday party. She was talking about what kind of a birthday present she was going to get. Then, she looked at me and asked if she could get her friend one of her favorite books. And, I said sure if we can find it. What one is it? Then she said "Gigi God's little princess treasury". She said that she wants her friend to know she is God's princess. I was so proud of her, what a wonderful idea! Makayla has a passion and desire to see her friends know Jesus! And, I am so proud to have a daughter who is proud of being a christian and willing to share it with everyone.

Term two of school has started here in Australia. And, along with it we have been having excellent attendance at kids club. We have been having between 12-14 kids. And, we are focusing on friendship. Please pray for the next two weeks, because we are going to have the kids focus on bringing a friend. But, als pray for Chris and I as we have been pretty overwhelmed during kids club. We have had kids from ages 3-10. And, for some reason the older kids seem to misbehave more than the younger kids. So, please help us soak kids Club in prayer. We also have had three new kids from the Easter Egg Hunt and a few more say they are going to start coming. This is fantastic news.

The church is starting this sunday a series on evangelism. We are going to focus as a church on reaching the families that attend Kids Club, but do not attend church yet. This is a huge step. Sometimes it almost feels like our church has two different churches. Becuase on fridays at kids club we have only one family that actually comes to our church, which is incredible! We are reaching families, we just need to pull them in. And, our youth group is really strong with families that attend our church.

Recently we had a new girl named Michelle come to youth group. She is quite quiet and reserved. But, as I have gotten to know her, she is an incredibly strong person. I would like you to all start praying fr Michelle .Michelle is a cancer survivor. She had brain cancer and her parents just asked me to start teaching her piano lessons as well. I ask you to pray fr her because her family is not Christian. But, I believe that God has a plan fr this family and for Michelle's life. So, please help us in praying for God to open a path for us to share Jesus with her family!

PRAISE GOD!
Chris and I have been praying for God to call others to join us here in Perth. We have plenty of work to share responsibilities with a team. And, God has answered that prayer. There is a couple from Bethany Bible College that will be joining us as soon as their support is raised for 6 months! They are partnered with Global partners just like we are but they will e coming for a short stay. The goal is for the Thornton family to arrive in September. They are actually having a baby any day now! She is full term! And, then once the baby has his shots and they have raised support and prayer partners they will be on their way. They will be doing an internship here. So, Darrek will receive college credit for his time here! But, we are so excited to have them join us! Pray that God would work through this couple that they would raise their support quickly... If any of you would like to support this family for 6 months or give a one time donation please email chris and I at georgefamilyinaustrlia@hotmail.com. We coul not be more excited! Praise God for his answers to our prayers! Chris and I have been praying for 5 years for someone to join us here in Perth. This couple will be the 1st!!! How exciting!!!

Holiday Kids Club

This week went off without any complications. We had 20 different kids come through our doors as well as 7 teen helpers and 5 adults and two babies! The kids learned to Plunge into Obedience, Worship, Courage, Faith, and Service. The kids did some awesome crafts and were really taking in and understanding what it was that we were teaching. Everyday the kids had a take home project they needed to complete to get a sticker on their "Theme Park Pass". They did what mum and dad asked the first time. They told there parents why they love Jesus and want to worship him. They went home and did something they were too scared to do,but Jesus gave them the courage. They took home to their families and invite to come to church on Sunday night, and the last day they made thank you notes and had the job of going home and serving their family. This week just flew by and it truly was a wonderful time of worship with the kids. The most interesting thing is we had 9 families come through our doors that DO NOT attend our church! These are families that we are reaching out too. Please pray that these families will come on Sunday night and that God will speak to their hearts.
Below are some pics of the week.

Girls doing a grade 1 rapid in a canoe and terrified! :)

Adventure Youth Camp
Chris and I took the teens on a 34 hour camp down south to a state forest park. Perth was hit with a really bad storm two weeks ago, and since we had the rain the water levels have been up.And, they were up high enough for us to canoe down the Murray river. We used Dunnies (out houses), slept in tents, and the teens that went had a blast. In the end we only had three come with us! But, what an opportunity for Chris and I to share our lives and build bonds with these teens. We had been studying at youth group fears! And, this camping trip was a perfect way for us to end term 1. The park also raised the fire ban so we were able to have a campfire. All of these kids had never gone camping this far out in the bush before.Here in Oz you cannot get stuff to have smores. So, Chris and I made our own Australian version and shared them with the teens. We had a quokka and also a kangaroo, visit our campsite. we HAD NO SNAKES!, which was my biggest fear. And, we had a wonderful time. I was exhausted. I feel really "OLD!" when I only get three hours of sleep!
About canoeing. We had many things we had to face while going down the river. All canoes here are made out of bendable HEAY plastic. Good thing. Because the water was Black and you could not see any rocks in the water! We did not do any grade two or three rapids. But, we did do a grade one! And, I will post the video if I can get it to upload becuase it is hilarious! Then, we had to put our canoes under a log while we climbed over it, and one spot we all had to get out and balance on a log while we put the canoe over a log that was just sticking out of the water. IT was an adventure for sure and the whole time I had brayden strapped to the front of me in a baby bjorn. So, it was quite the journey. Thank you for your prayers. Two of the teens that did go on this trip are new to the YG and it was AWESOME for Chris and I to build relationships with them. Those two teens are planning on helping us at VBS next week. So, God is moving in hearts and doing things Chris and I never expected!

Easter Egg Hunt

Thank you to everyone who prayed for the Easter Egg Hunt. It went off perfectly. We had many families come. We had over 115 people at it! Which is wonderful! The church members worked awfully hard to help put it all together. Here are a few pictures from the day. We were able to share the story of "The Three Trees" and tell people that it was a day to celebrate because Jesus is alive! A very exciting part of the Easter Egg Hunt was when I did the registrations. Becuase, I actually knew many of the families. Also, there were 5 families that came from the play group I am a part of. And, there were 5 families from Makayla's school. And, all of our kids club kids were there. And, then there were still yet about another 10 families we did not know yet! So, God is good. Thank you for your prayers. We took pictures of all the kids and people with the Easter Bunny. I am quickly trying to edit them all so that we can hand deliver them this week on School Holidays. Please pray for Chris and I as we deliver these pictures and thank the people for coming. While we are there we are going to share with them about Kids Club and ask them to come back and visit church!

Cross Neclace table grade 1-3 egg hunt group