Day THREE!!!

Day three of camp we were truly fully functioning at full capacity. Kids were moving, laughing, learning, and fun was being had by all. Most importantly the kids were learning even more! The cheer girls had put actions to their memory verse, and the boys and girls at soccer were coming right along! Skeeter started the day off with mentioning his friends and facebook, and who was his number 1!.   and, then later at Bible time today we gave the kids the opportunity to hear the gospel message!   Jeff shard about how God was his best friend!  And, 39!  YES 39! kids accepted  Christ!!!  It as a God moment. You could have dropped a pin in the place all eyes and ears were on Jeff.   Relationships were built and the team coaches were then able to share he colours of their bracelets and their stars.  See each day the coaches had been "awarding" The kids with stickers and stars to share with them skills about leadership, and friendship, and teamwork. But, the stars put together told the kids about the most important person ever and how they needed a relationship with Jesus.  And, without the coaches we could not have had such an impact as well as all the leaders and staff. Because each person built relationships and had shared their life with the kids up to this point! 

 

After our day, we packed up the hall quickly, loaded up our van and headed to Harrisdale. It is about a 45 minute drive from Landsdale. When we arrive we put on a soccer camp as an outreach tool for the church plant there.  They had all new people visit. And, it was great for the team to see the grass roots of where our church started. As well as get to be hand on, in the starting of the Harrisdale church.   God was good and it was awesome to see how we could impact another church with the team visiting.   After our long day, we drove back through the city to show the team the city lights and then headed home to debrief about the day, and go to bed!   We have all been getting up between 5-6 am and heading to bed about 11:00-11:30.. So, we are EXHAUSTED!!!!

Wedesday Day 2 of Camp!!!

By Day two, we had all the sign in quirks fixed, and we were a well oiled running machine~!  The kids came in got signed in, and off to a booming start we were.  This day I got to run the jump station! It was a lot of fun.. But, I am getting old!!!   I got to teach the girls important core moves and jumps that went with their chees and routines.   It was a lot of fun!!!  The sun was out and it was a bit windy... But, no rain.. So, we were able to be outside having a great time!   The Soccer kids were super excite as well, because no rain... MEANS lot's of game and skill time!   A great day was had by all.   The Bible lesson for the day was the Bible was true and it was God's instruction book to us on how to live life... It was a fantastic day, and the kids are really listening and starting to connect with their coaches, the leaders, and the church! God is moving!

First day of Camp!

This morning people were buzzing around the house as early as 5am!  We were up and getting ready to set up for camp... Sandwiches were being made, and then the hauling of all the equipment to the hall occurred!     We quickly entered and realized the city had given us the wrong keys for the facility next doors!  God is so good! And, in walked a maintenance person who was able to help us quickly get access to everywhere that was needed.     As kids arrived there was excitement, anticipation, and the room was a buzz! The Kids were so excited to put on their jerseys and cheer uniforms!   WE had four teams... The Joeys, The Skippy's, The Big Reds, and the Boomers!  Everyone was registered and in! It was a success!  And, then we were able to start our program.  Each day we started with a visit from Skeeter... (Chris... dressed up as a crazy kid who knows nothing about much!)   He did a great job breaking the atmosphere each morning and starting to get people to think about the Biblical point that was going to be taught that day!

Although we had 10 people from America and 13 volunteers and a few more from Oz.   There was heaps for everyone to be doing! The teams were between 12-17 kids each!  But, it was fantastic!  We had a bit of rain, and we were really hoping that the rest of the week would become sunny. Because it is winter here, and cold... And, wet and cold can make for some miserable kids! But, God was good and he didn't give us more than we could handle!

We broke for our first devotional time and the bible verse for the week was shared. The kids were encouraged to memorize John 3:16.  

The cheer girls started their banners and started to learn their jumps, and actions... The soccer kids started to rotate stations and learn their skills.  

At the end of the day each coach got to tell each child something they saw that they loved that day! This was a time for the kid to learn to trust them... But, also a time for the child to learn they were important and that they mattered to GOD!  and also to the coach!

DAY 1 was AWESOME!!!!!

warm-ups!

 Stretching!

 Skeeter and Pastor Jeff O'vell

Cheer Leading.. Jump and Actions Station

US TEAMS First Day in OZ

Today was spent building relationships between the Americans and the Australians.  And, doing lot's of last minute preparations.     To get to know each other we spent the morning at an Australian Petting Zoo..   The team got to meet all of our native animals, cute, slimey, furry, and weird! :)

Jeff had the special Jeff T. and Jeff O. had the special opportunity to be chosen and crack the whip! They actually didn't do too bad!    After the team saw sheep rounded up, and a sheep sheared, it was onto petting the kangaroos, and hearing about dingo's!  

After our outing we headed back to the house to put together 110 camp bags with all the goodies and jerseys! Upon sorting the cheer poms we realized that when we opened the package, they didn't automatically poof! Each strand had to be twisted by hand!  And, if we have 60 girls.... That meant we needed to do 120!   With 20 people including the guys.... this work was accomplished... But, not with out making some people EXTREMELY exhausted!!!

Upward Down Under has arrived!

Today the team arrived.  They were exhausted but super excited to be here! To be honest going to the airport was hard for me.  As I stood there and saw a family next to us hug their grandmother and tell her over and over how much they loved her.. It was a bit hard for me! As, I would have loved to have been that family... I would have loved my kids grandmothers to have gotten off that plane... Don't get me wrong.. I am EXCITED to have a team here! And, our first team ever since we came on the field 9 years ago! But, it was hard for me and I had nothing but excitement and joy in my heart the whole way to airport.  I guess you don't realize how much you miss until you see someone else experiencing that moment... But,  I looked at Chris and I saw him tell me to be strong, which made me want to be strong  for our kids.  They had made and laminated signs for the team! And, we only had to wait a  few more minutes and we were  hugging the team and telling them how glad we were they had come to Perth!

We brought them home and delivered them to the billets.   It was a joy for us to see people that are connected to our church step up and host some of the team.  We were getting 4 guys at our place! So, there will be a lot of men in our house this week!   After everyone was showered, we welcomed the team with our Sunday Service and had an Australian feast of food!   It was very YUM! (as an Aussie would say!)

Parsonage picture updates

Upward Soccer and Cheer Camp

Later today a team of 10 will meet at the Orchard Park Wesleyan Church in New York and begin their long journey to the other side of the world.  They will arrive in Perth, Australia on Sunday at noon and will hit the ground running.  Why would they travel all that way?  Because they are stepping out in faith with a willingness to be used by God to share the good news to over 100 kids and families in the Landsdale community.  There has been much planning and praying in preparation for this camp and we can't wait to see what God does through this team. 
Pray for the team as they travel and as they begin their week long ministry here in Landsdale.  Pray also for the local church here that we would be able to minister with the team and reach kids and families with the message of Christ. 

Praises and Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests Pray for the USA team to not get sick while travelling to Australia. They are travelling the 13-14th. to Oz Pray for the brickies as they lay the bricks for the parsonage! Pray God would call children to him and that we would connect with these new children in a way like never before. Pray for the parents of our regular kids club kids to grow in their faith this week. Pray for our current youth to connect with the team a build stronger relationships with Christ this week.

Praises July 5-7th was an AWESOME Women's Retreat! With many women committing to "Fix their eyes on Jesus!" The kids have done well at school as we received their 1/2 year report cards. Praise God we have families who have volunteered to host the USA team. Praise God we have 100 + kids registered for sport camp! Praise God the parsonage construction is under way

Women's Retreat!

"Fix your Eyes on Jesus!"

This was the theme of this year's Women's Retreat.  This was our 4th Women's Retreat in Western Australia.  And, these women are really starting to open up and let God use them to impact their friends and their families and they are really starting to grow a deep trust and a relationship wit God.   The picture to the left was our 2013 WW committee.   We are missing one person, Gem. But, it was Shannon, Myself, Glynis, Pella, and Elaine.  This year God used EACH of them to help with camp and many hands made light work for the first time ever! Each one of these ladies tackled, registrations, worship, decorations, welcome kits, games, you name it, they helped! I had an amazing team that let God use them!    As a result, the weekend  was an amazing weekend with 25 wonderful women. 

Juy 5-7th we went away to some cabins out in the "bush" and it was beautiful!  It was cold! But, beautiful!   God really worked on our hearts, and our minds.  It was a beautiful weekend for ladies to build relationships and Laura and Rachel's Mum,  Jo came away with us for the first time and she had an awesome time!   Last year we had 18 ladies go, so I was really excited to see that we had 7 new ladies this year!   We had 4 sessions where we did Biblical study and heard the Word of God through Annette Dobson, our Wesleyan Women director for all of Australia. And, then we had some game times, and craft times.  We recycled t-shirt scarfs and had an amazing time.  Although I was busy running the weekend and ended up having to cook three of the meals, it was quite relaxing and I felt God replenish my spirit!

Minute to win it games!

Pella, Myelf, Laura and Jo

 Caira doing the "elephant walk".

Karen and Bethany working on their picture frames.

Children's Workers Conference June 13th-16h in Melbourne

I had an amazing time connecting with children's workers across our district.  Chris and I boarded a plane and flew to Melbourne so that I could start the ground work for what is to come with Children's ministry in our district.  As I had been in contact with the pastor's and ministry workers it had become evident that we do not offer much for children and that we only "run" something if we need to. This is a big worry and fear for me, because families and children are important for our district to grow in the faith and numbers.   I wasn't really sure what God was wanting me to focus on at first but, then He just let my head RUN with stuff and He impressed on my heart 4 messages to share and IW as just blown away at how God wanted to use me to help minister to these churches that are part of our district.   Many of these people I had never met before and so I knew only one person in the room, but God was able to just open up the atmosphere and it was as if I had knows these partners for the Kingdom for forever.  

I was able to share a message that God laid on my heart about children's ministry. And, it was called, God called someone like you!  and, my sermon was basically me giving a share of the people who had impacted my life growing up and what they had done to bring me to a closer relationship with Jesus, and amazingly... NONE of them had been to Bible College, and NONE of them were pastors! and, I was able to share with them the important people of my past.  For those of you in our home church, these names might ring a bell... Luann (my mother),Dana,  Dot, Gloria, Elaine, Barb, David and Carol, Jan, John, Bill, Matt and Carman, Bob, Carol, and Sam.  There were MANY people who encouraged me in my faith and showed me something that has been important my entire "faith walk".   And, it was amazing to see these workers minds open up to the possibilities of the kind of people that can help them minister to children.  

My second message was on the foundation of our children's ministry. Making sure it is founded on the Bible and God!

My third message was on the circles of volunteers!

My 4th message was on the things we fill our ministry with our goals, desires, and passions, to see it become something that just not affects children, but impacts, families, and the church.

God really blessed me, and made me step out of my comfort zone.. I had never done something like this before, But, God knows that I can do this job, I just need to trust and rely on him, to give me all that I need. May God show me how to help minister to the children of the "Southern District ".

Melissa

Busy weekend- National Superintendent Visit!

Pray for Chris and I as we will have been away in Melbourne from Wednesday to very late Saturday night. But, on Sunday our National superintendent will be speaking at our church. Pray that we would be able to get our families out for the evening that don't normally attend church and that God would speak to their hearts!

Flying to Melbourne for District commitments

Please pray for Chris and I as we head to Melbourne to do ministry with the District.  It is a4 hour flight from Perth to Melbourne.  But, this is our district.  The Southern district covers area the size of 1/2 the united states.   As it is so far to go we are not able to take our children with us.  Pray for   Chris as he will be attending the district DBA meeting.  I will be getting to go with him to Melbourne as I am teaching a children's ministry workshop in Melbourne on Saturday for 4 hours.

1. Please pray that we would have a safe trip and that our children will be alright while we are away.

2. Pay that God would use Melissa to minister to the children's workers and that she would be able to start to cast a vision for the urgency of children's ministries in our district.  Pray that God would give her the words she needs to be speaking.

3. Pray that God would be with the DBA as they meet.

FOUNDATION!

To our surprise this morning by 9:00am  our cement pad was poured today!  That is what they call it in Australia as the foundation is not just around the edge, but it I a solid foundation everywhere, because of the sand.  
 God is working in amazing ways in our church. But, the reality of something permanent happening  is just God at work!    HOW exciting!!!! And the forecast for the week is sunshine! Pray that this would dry quickly and that we would have no rain, so we can go onto the next step in the building process.

As I was watching this foundation being poured, I couldn't help But think of the verse where it says.... God's truth stands firm like a foundation.  May God's truth always be taught out from the people who live on this foundation!    May God's word penetrate the hearts of the people Landsdale... May the families in Landsdale  come to a relationship with Jesus Christ! May this house be God's and all that happens in it, be his!

Soccer and Cheerleading Camp registrations!

Today we had registrations for Soccer and Cheer camp.. We had 24 registrations for Cheer and 29 for Soccer!!!! We are super excited. Continue to pray that God would help us to book another 20 or more for soccer at least.  WE have decided to keep registrations open, but pray that God would show us who to talk with and help us to have conversations with people that would draw them to come to this camp...

Soccer and Cheerleading Camp

This July 16-20th we have a team coming to minister here in Perth Australia from Orchard Park Wesleyan Church in NY. They are going to be running an upward soccer and cheerleading camp. We are asking everyone to pray specifically this week for the students in the Landsdale Primary School because the registration forms are going home this week with all the students.  The actual registration day for the camp is June 7th.   We handed out information on the camp at our Easter Egg Hunt, and we seem to be receiving a good sense of people who would like to attend. Please pray that God would move people to  attend and call people to volunteer to help us run a smooth and effective camp so these children can learn about Jesus Christ!

Shingles.... Prayers Needed...

Over the weekend as we were preparing for the Easter Egg Hunt, Melissa kept saying she was in severe pain in her back.  But, she just thought she had pulled a muscle running around and being so busy. But, Monday came, and although, she would put ice and heat on,  there would be no improvements. By Tuesday she could barely move and then she came up with a rash on her stomach.   She went to the Dr.'s and she has shingles... Shingles is very painful and because it is across her belly and back it is painful to sit, it is painful to stand, it is painful to lie down, so it is very hard for her to get comfortable. They have given her codeine to take away the pain but, when she takes it , she just sleeps all day.  The good news is, it is a public holiday here till Tuesday. So, pray that she can recover and be able to go back to work next week. The bad news is, the kids are home every day as well because it is a public holiday.   Pray that she would get some rest and recover. The Dr. Said it can take up to 7 weeks for pain to go away.  That is an awful long time so, Melissa is a bit nervous and worried.  So, please pray that this would  heal up quickly.  They also gave her an antibiotic to help clear up the spots.

To top it all off the kids and myself have a head cold.  So, everyone in our house is feeling a bit under the weather. Please pray that God would watch over our family and heal us!

Easter Egg Hunt

Bunny Hop!

Colouring Contest

Toddler Easter Egg Hunt

The Easter Egg Hunt was a huge success.   We had 87 kids on registration forms. And, there were another few groups of kids we saw wandering and participating that hadn't fill out forms. So, I think we probably had about 100+ kids and then their parents!  So, it was a massive group.  The day went wonderfully! Melissa shared a sermon with the kids on the verse Jesus came to seek and save the lost.   She then finished with the story of Jesus Christ raising from the dead and gave an opportunity for the kids to accept Jesus Christ as their saviour. Then we handed out "crystal" plastic crosses that were on necklaces and we bought 150 and only 30 were left! So, almost every kid took one.  We had craft stations. They made butterflies that said He has risen, Crosses and decorated them, and they made animal eggs.  We then gave out chocolate bunnies for the best colouring pictures, we had 4 different age groups, and prizes to the kids who won the bunny hop and also the egg toss.  The afternoon was fantastic and we had ordered these awesome bags from oriental and we were able to send information home this year on our church and also on the soccer/cheerleading camp we are holding in July. It was a fantastic day!   We also have seen kids wearing the crosses we gave out

 around town.. So, we feel that God did use this day to work and move in people's lives.

After the Easter Egg Hunt we had quite a few families stay for church. So, it was fantastic

Colouring Contest

Egg Hunt

Praises and Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests Pray for new families to come to our church over the next three sundays as we do a big bring a friend to church each week! Pray for Our churches Sausage Sizzle on April 6th. Pray for our Youth Camp May 1st-3rd. Pray for the churches Outreach event, the Easter Egg Hunt on 24th of March Pray for the church as we start the next phase of the house bulding and we do prestart. Where we pick colours etc.

Praises Praise God the Wesleyan Women's Italian Cooking night was a success and we have been able to secure a guest speaker for our retreat in July. Praise God we had two new families in church last week. Praise God everyone who went to family camp this year has ALREADY booked for family camp 2014!!! Praise God two new families from Landsale came on the family camp. Praise God family camp was a huge success with just over 80 of us attending

Brayden's Monkey Luau and Machine Pitch finale

Today Brayden turned 4! Can't believe time has flown by. He had his first party where he invited friends from school. The weather was fantastic and almost everyone he invited could make it. He picked a monkey luau. So, we made monkey ears and played surfing music and the kids LOVED playing musical bobs. Which is where the kids listen to music and when it stops you sit down really quick.  It was a great morning.. Then we had a family barbecue for lunch. and we ate lot's of  really yummy chunky monkey cupcakes!!  This weekend is crazy busy as we have a lot on... But, we wanted to make sure we took time out to celebrate Brayden.  He is such a hard working, fun loving, easy going kids who has lot's of friends.  He loves God with all his heart and we can't wait to see what God is going to do with this beautiful cheeky monkey!

  After the party was over we headed out to our machine pitch baseball team season  finale.  Chris has been the coach for the last 6 months and has worked really hard as well as our team manager and umpires. So, we went to a park and had a massive pizza party to celebrate the kids who play and learnt a new game really well and all the staff.  It was a fantastic day!!!

Bring a Friend to church Sunday

The next three weeks we are taking a break from the Story and focusing on Easter. Tonight we had bring a friend to church Sunday and our goal is for everyone to bring someone new each week, the next three weeks.  Tonight we had a fantastic turn out. Not one person came without bringing someone.  There were 32 people in church and they all came just for church.  In the past people come because their kids are singing or their kids are getting their kids club badges. But, tonight people purely came to hear the word of God. It was a wonderful evening of God moving in hearts and lives and we can't wait to see what God is going to do next week!