Western New York District Camp

This Week we will be doing a few different things but all at Western New York Camp.  Chris and I will be speaking at a Best Years Fellowship lunch, teaching two seminars, doing two children's sessions and sharing in an evening service.   Pray that we will connect with Pastors and raise an awareness of the amount of support we need at the minute.  

The amount of support we need is very important!  We need to raise another 10% in faith promise this week and another 14,000 in one time donations.  Pray that we will connect with people who have a passion and a desire to see the Word of God taken to the people of Australia!

Wallace Wesleyan

Today we had the privilege of visiting Wallace Wesleyan in the Central New York District. Melissa shared with the children in Sunday School and then Chris was able to preach on Sunday morning.   We had a wonderful time visiting old and new faces.  It was truly special because we pray for this church and God has TRULY blessed them in the past three years while we have been in Australia.  We also were able to visit with our dear friends  Rev. Bill and Kathy Spencer. We all had lunch together at the church pot luck! It was really a wonderful morning. Pray that God would call this church to be a part of our team in Australia!

Eastern Hills Sunday morning was very special becuase we were able to go and share with a faith promise partner that we had never been to before on a Sunday morning.  WE got up at 5:30 am and got the kids together and headed on our way.  A very exciting moment happened on Sunday morning. Chris was offered the opportunity to share for 10 minutes and then  do the pastoral prayer. During the 1st service he really felt prompted by God to not only share what we do, but pray that God would call someone from that congregation to GO, if God called them. Immediately after the service a family came up to us and shared how they have felt called to "GO" for awhile, but were unsure of where to go. But, that their children had told them a few months ago that they really felt God wanted them in Australia. Sunday morning God spoke to these parents and has laid a burden on their heart for Australia! Pray for this family as they seek God's call and pray for us as we get together with them and share what we do in Australia. How Awesome is God! The story behind all of this is that Chris and I have been praying for God to send us some help. The work we do is VERY LONG hours and never ending! And, to have someone else come join the team in Perth Australia and help lighten the load would be a huge BLESSING!   Also want to thank a prayer partner who knows who she is. She woke up in the morning and felt God asking her to pray for our family. And, then when she got to church and found out we were there.. She was shocked. But, I believe she was praying for us as we were seeking God on what we should share and say. And, I believe her prayers impacted our family in a huge way on Sunday. After church we were invited to participate in the summer pastoral picnic. Our kids had sooo much fun!   Thank you Eastern Hills for such a FANTASTIC visit! Here is a picture oof Makayla after the picnic! She was totally drenched along with our other two kids. :)

Driving, Driving, Driving

This is what our cute kids look like in the middle of the night when they are sleeping and we are driving! To be honest, this is when our car is the quietest!

Special Visit

Today we were able to stop in and visit with Chris's aunt Betty. She has been a faithful prayer supporter and financial supporter of our time in Australia! So, it was so lovely to give her a hug and thank her for making such a difference daily in our lives in Australia! We love you Aunt Betty!

Gloversville

Tonight we had a fantastic picnic! We had a lovely time sharing with the adults and kids in Gloversville, NY.   We ate the biggest hot dogs we have ever seen. Which by the way we do not get hot dogs in Australia so this was REALLY cool to the kids.  God has truly blessed us to have this church on our team! It always amazes us that we meet people all the time, some we know and some we don't know. But, with God at the center of our conversations they are amazing, wonderful, warming, inspiring, and a complete breathe of fresh air! It was fantastic to get to have a picnic at Gloversville tonight!

What to Pray for

Prayer Requests:
1.  Pray for our family this week as we travel to Gloversville, Corinth, and Eastern Hills.
2.  Pray that we would have safe travels and that we would start to get caught up a bit on sleep.
3.  Pray for our family: We also are going away for a few days wtih Chris's family this week. Pray that we would have a wonderful time catching up with our nieces and nephews.   We will be camping in the Adirondacks. So, pray that God would bless this time with our family. 

4. Pray for the church in Australia. As we have been away now three weeks. Pray that they would be s trong and that God would bless all that they are ding and that he would guide them in all they prepare for and for all the services while we are away.

5. Continue to pray that we would pick up 14,000 / year in support in faith promise.  Pray that God would connect us with people and churches who have a passion and desire to reach the people of Australia for Christ!

6.  We heard word this morning that Melissa's Aunt has passed away. Pray for her family as the grieve the loss of her Aunt Linda.

Praises:
1. Makayla had an awesome time at Kids Camp
2. Chris was awarded his 10 years of Service Certificate for the Wesleyan Church
3. We had a week of family vacation with Melissa's extended family. It was truly special to see everyone on the wilday side of her family and we had a special memorial service for her grandmother and burial service which was truly special.
4. Praise God people have been filling out faith promise forms and signing up to be prayer partners!

Baldwinsville

Community Wesleyan in Baldwinsville

Last night after we were in Pine Meadows we hopped in the car and drove an hour south to Baldwinsville. It is always great to walk in the doors and visit with people who continuously support and pray for our family.   We had dinner with the Molinet family and it was so lovely to catch up with them and our children just ran off and played as if they had known them for forever!   It was truly a special dinner. Afterward we headed to the church for an ice cream social where chris shared what we were doing in Australia and Melissa shared with the children!  It was a very special evening. Thank you B-ville for being a part of our team and a part of our family! We are truly greatful to have you on our team!   May God bless you all as you have bless us!

Pine Meadows

The last 24 hours were super fun. When Chris and I went to Australia the first time in May 2003. We travelled with a team from IWU. On that team was a friend of ours named Matt Liddick. Today we have the privilege of sharing with him and his wife and his children and their church Pine Meadows in Altmar NY what God has done in Australia over the last 8 years!  Matt helped us do alot of the initial ground work for our church. So, it is always extra special to share What God has done with people who have been there, tasted, and seen! :)

 Pine Meadows is a super friendly church with lot's of people who have so much love! We had a fantastic morning.  Chris preached two sermons for two services and we did a Sunday school class and Melissa did Junior Church.   After Church we enjoyed lunch and riding a flying fox in the Liddicks front yard! Was a really fun afternoon.  Thank You Matt and Breanne for sharing your family and church with us!   Pray that the People of Pine Meadows will grow a passion and desire to be part of our team in Perth Australia!

Pine Meadows

Western PA Wesleyan Kids Camp

This week was very special for Makayla and for our family.On Monday Makayla had the wonderful opportunity to go to Western PA District Wesleyan Kids Camp for her first time ever.   We want to stop here and say a HUGE thank you because, not only did she get to go, but they blessed us with the wonderful gift of her going for free. God truly has blessed us.   She was able to attend camp for the whole week from Monday to Friday.
On Wednesday morning we drove 1 1/2 hours to Krislund Camp and had a wonderful day sharing with the kids of Western PA what God has called us to do in Australia and what being a missionary means and looks like. We also hiked a mountain with the kids!  I was so proud of them because this hike was HUGE! It was apparently 2 1/2 miles up and it was quite the incline!  But, we had a special day and we spent it with some awesome Kids that God has huge plans for! Our prayer is that He will guide and direct those kids to be missionaries in PA or around the world!  Thank you Western PA for sharing your awesome kids with us!

Western PA Kids Camp

Western New York District Conference

Today, we had District Conference with Western New York.  It was so special to walk in the door and be hugged and say hello to all of our fellow pastors in our district. It was also special because in the past three years we have been skyping in and saying hello, but it was extra special to be there in person. We were also able to let them all know that we were home to raise an extra 14,000 in support and hopefully God will call some of those churches who don't support us yet, to be a part of our team. Melissa really has felt unwell today.  So, pray that she would start to feel better.  After getting up at 5:30 am to go to district conference and being there all day. At 6:00pm  we met Melissa's parent on the road in Geneseo with our children.  We picked them up and headed up to the tughill region in New York to Pine Meadows Wesleyan Church! Travelling raising support is fun and rewarding, but can be very exhausting! :)

Sharing what God has called us to do! New York - Indiana-Pennsylvania!

On Saturday Chris borrowed his brothers truck and him and his nephew drove 10 hours to Marion, IN.  Chris spoke at Chapel Pike Wesleyan on Sunday morning and shared at Waterline Wesleyan in Noblesville, IN on Sunday night.   Chris said it was WONDERFUL to catch up with all the familiar faces at Chapel Pike and to share what we were doing in Australia.     On Monday evening they drove back to Noblesville, and shared at a picnic.  Pray that as we travel God would use us to speak to people's hearts. That they would have an urgency to pray and be apart of what God is doing in Australia!  

Today Chris and Brennen drove Back 10 hours to NY.   He has just arrived and we are reloading the truck and heading to PA.  In 3 hours we will be at our accommodation for tonight and tomorrow we will drive yet another 1 1/2 to share at Western PA's Kids Camp. We are excited! Pray for us that we would have a safe trip!

Good 'Ol Chambers Camp

Back in the days when I was a child I gave my heart to Jesus in a tabernacle on the grounds of Chambers Camp. It was exciting to be home in our district and share our booth with our fellow churches that support us and hopefully build some connections and bridges to new churches in our district.  We had a great time catching up with people and receiving and giving lot's of hugs with all the familiar faces.  My daughter asked many time if there was ANYBODY we didn't know.  And, the answer to that would be YES! But, our goal was to remind people about our ministry and let them know that we are faithfully serving in Australia and we hope that they will pray and join our team in Perth through their prayers. 

  On Thursday morning we were able to share a seminar.  And, w

e were truly blessed to be a part of the missions night at Chambers.  We stayed over night in a creekside cabin and Chris and I told our kids before bed time all the fun stories we had of being camp counselors,and working in the kitchen at Chambers. Those were the Good 'Ol days when we were young! 

On a side note it was a blessing for me to run into one of my previous campers. Her and her husband are in the ministry full time. And, it was TRULY special to see how God used me to touch her life when she was younger!  But, even cooler it reminded me of the future of Perth, Australia.  in a few years down the road our kids Club Kids will be the future of our church, and they will be doing minsitry full time and the number of people impacted by the LCWMC will be huge! 

Today we visited Perinton Church

This morning we shared with the Perinton Community Church in Victor what we do in Australia. Pray that this church will join our team in ministering to the people of Perth, Australia. They seemed genuinely excited in what we do, and they will be meeting in the near future to discuss picking up our family for support. Pray with us that they would have a passion and a desire for the people of Perth, Australia.

After sharing in the morning service we shared with the missions committee! The people were so friendly and we had a fantastic morning!

Thank you Perinton for letting us come share with you!

We have arrived in the USA!

Last night at 11:00pm we have arrived in Rochester, NY where we will call ourselves at home for the next 6 weeks before we return back to Australia.  

The kids could HARDLY sit the last hour flight from JFK to Rochester. Dawson was SO excited he was Jumping all over the place.   It was almost like it is in the movies. WE had just travelled over 36 hours. But, when we stepped off that plane our kids were speed walking to the baggage claim where we would see our family waiting for us! Then they just dropped the carryon's and as soon as they could see people they recognized, they were running!  full out running! They were hugging and getting kisses and their nieces and nephews had signs welcoming them home! It was truly a special moment that our kids will remember for forever.  It was truly special. We made it all the way to Rochester and only one piece of luggage was missing. So, Makayla got to go to walmart and by a pr. of jammies and a pair of shorts and a shirt, but arriving home felt fantastic!  Thank you for all your prayers for our flight. The children sat and only once did we have a moment of panic with Dawson. But, we were able to calm him down and give him some antihistamines and immediately his ears were fine again and they sat SO good on the way home!  

I will have to write one thing. When the plane took off in Australia, I looked over and not only was makayla sniffling, but her eyes were pouring out tears! And, I reached over and asked her if she was okay, and she said she would miss her friends. It was bad enough leaving the USA and crying the first hour of our flight that we would miss our family while we were away. But, now we cry going both ways!  God has definitely called us to minister to the people of Perth, Australia and we long to see them in a relationship with Jesus Christ! 6 weeks and we will be back in Oz doing what God has called us to do, bring the people of Perth, Australia into a relationship with Jesus Christ!

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!!!

Yesterday and Today have been insanely crazy! Not only are we trying to do all the work that needs to be done for the next 6 weeks, we are trying to clean our house, pack up, do our regularly daily responsibilities for Monday and Tuesday and make it to the airport in time to catch our plane!   Luckily God has placed some fantastic people in our lives who realize how much help we needed to tackle this task! The teens were over and helped make all the bed clean so if people needed a place to stay they could use our house while we were away.  And, other friends helped prepare for the Kids Club awards night. Chris was running around making sure all of our Bills were paid, and I was MADLY writing and organizing 6 Kids Club lessons for while we were away.  And, writing everything in deep detail.  Luckily we were blessed to get two parent volunteers each week, two parent helpers each week and Debbie, Pastor Phil, Bethany, Laura, Rachel and Kayla are going to run Kids Club while we are away!

The church will be filled in by Pastor Phil, Pastor Shannon and our D.S. Rev. Lindsay Cameron. Church has been moved to our house while we are away for ease of setting up responsibilities etc.

Not only do we dive back into life in Perth the day we get back, but the Women's camp is 4 days later and life will go back to crazy when we land. So, pray that We can keep things organized from the US and that everything will flow smoothly for the church in Australia while we are away.

PRAY for the people listed above that God would use them and that they would grow closer and stronger to God in stepping up and taking responsibility for the church while we are away.  

In a few minutes we will be picked up by two cars and taken to the airport!  It is a strange but exciting feeling. Our children are EXCITED they didn't sleep last night because all they envision is running off the plane and hugging their grandma and grandpa and grandma and papa! They can't wait to see their cousins and hug them and do all the fun things they have dreamed of doing over the past three years! 

We are not sleeping in anticipation of wondering how the church will hold up while we are away. But, we know that God is good and that he will use these people to carry on the good work and that all will be fine in our absence. We are also are desperately trying to connect with churches and raise ourselves back up to 100% while we are home. So, pray that God will connect us with the right people and that he will possibly even help us find someone in the US who wants to come join our team here in Perth in the future!

Term 2 Kids Club Awards Night

Dear Prayer Partners,


The Last month has been amazingly crazy, busy, wonderful and hectic, but God has been doing so many amazing things. On Sunday night we awarded 38 Kids with their new badges for term 2 of the school year. This term we were focusing on the armor of God. The children will continue to study the armor of God for a few more weeks. But, it is amazing to see what they have learned through the helmet of salvation, Breastplate of Righteousness, the belt of truth, shoes of peace and the shield of faith. We also studied the Bible verse “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” We had an amazing turn out of parents and families. There were over 62 people in attendance. We had 5 new families attend on the evening!  this alone was a huge reason for us to rejoice! The new families even stayed for dinner afterwards and had a great evening. The kids performed the skit of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. for their parents and sang three songs. It truly was a night to rejoice in all that they have learned.