Melissa's Birthday

Today was my birthday and I felt very spoilt. I arrived at school to my friends who had flowers, and some gifts to share with me. I felt very spoilt. And, though I am a long way from my family. I felt very loved! I also got to chat with my twin sister for awhle which made my bday perfect! After playgroup a friend of mine picked me up and we went and got our nails done. It was her treat and I have only gotten them done once before... So, it was a special moment for the two of us. After all the pampering.. I taught a piano lesson and then went to dinner at Phil and Karen's! They cooked my favourite, Mexican. It was a LOVELY day! And, I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Even though we are so far away from family. God seems to surprise me with exactly the right friends who know how hard it is for me to be away from my family and they seemed to spoil me, enough to distract me from the fact that I do miss my family! On a side note. These friends are people God is calling closer and closer to him. And, although they are just doing an "act" of kindness for me. I know that God has built a relationship between us, and that through my relationship with these ladies... He is going to call them to him! How cool is that! Still can't believe I am another year older!

American Thanksgiving in Australia

We had the wonderful privilege of using thanksgiving to celebrate with the Hotchkins ( a family we spend holidays with here in Australia, they pastor the inner city church) a few days early as well as on Thanksgiving day celebrating it with a group of friends that we are VERY thankful to have here in Australia. We were blessed with a wonderful evening of sharing why we were thankful and it was a great time for us to share with them why we were so greatful for each of them. Some of them come to church and some of them we hope will come in the future. But, the evening was lovely. Everyone helped cook the meal and brought "american" dishes such as corn pudding, mashed potatoes, candied yams, green bean casserole, ham, turkey etc. It was a fantastic evening.

Combined Church Service
Today we had our combined church service.  It was really crazy busy, but it was a wonderful turn out.  we had almost 80 people there and there was representation from 4 churches!   The kids club sang and did a wonderful job!  We had a special guest speaker. Our missionary Kay Fulcher to the Solomon Islands! She is such an inspirational speaker and God used her to touch hearts in our church! Thank you for al you rprayers.  If I can get it to work I will download a video of the kids club kids singing.  

Wesleyan Women Night Out!

Tonight we had our Wesleyan Women's Night out! There were 15 ladies who came together to hear Kay (Our Missionary to the Solomn Islands) speak about the Women of the Solomn Islands. The ladies were inspired and encouraged and it was a great night also t raise some extra money to go towards our camp next year! I will post pictures as soon as I get some from one of the ladies who took them! out of the 15, 8 of the ladies were from the Landsdale church, so I was very excited witht the turn out! :)

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for our Visa.

We have been waiting for the immigration dept. to approve our "Nomination for our position" and for the immigration department to grant us a "briding visa". But, as of today November 16th, we still have not heard anything from them.  Our Visa currently runs out on the 17th at midnight.  After about 20 calls to the immigration department today.. We finally found out that if we had a "receipt" showing we had shipped our application and that it was received we are automatically granted it.   Luckily Chris kept a copy of the visa we mailed.  Because apparently the mail department is about 3-4 weeks behind. So, they may have our application, but according to their "system:" they haven't received it yet.   So, chris ran and photocpied another copy, one nighted it with a tracking number, and hopefully tomorrow we will receive word that they have it!

VISA PHYSICALS FINALIZED!!!!!
Today we FINALLY received our visa physicals back in the mail in an enclosed envelope. Now, we are not allowed to open them, but we do need to forward them onto Sydney with our VISA application today!  Chris's Physical is not with this group.. Because of his diabeties, he needs to have an appt. with a specialist and it is scheduled for next week. So, even though we paid $400 for the immigration department to look at Chris and say he is healthy. He still needs to meet with a specialist to make a final assessment of him, that it is "safe" for him to live here in Australia!   However, we will mail the rest of our physical and  Our application today and it  should get to Sydney in plenty of time!

VISA PHYSICALS!
This morning we will be getting our VISA physicals!   Pray that everything goes well and that when we are finished they HAND us our closed envelopes sealed and ready to go to the Immigration Department. As soon as we have these envelopes Chris and I can put in our Visa Application. And, we think we will be immediately "bridged" until they renew our current one! Please pray this goes smoothly!  God has so much in store here in Australia. And, we are right in the middle of the busiest time for our church! We are preparing for the Christmas Musical, and our Carols by Candlelight in the Park, and Satan is having alot of fun putting up road blocks. Pray for us that we woudl get renewed strength, and energy, and that we would see the VISA problems come to an end quickly.

Dawson's Passport!

Dawson's Passport came in, in 10 DAYS! Which we were very excited about. We were a bit concerned because CHOGM was going on in Perth. CHOGM stand for Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. It is a biennial summit meeting of the head of government from all Commonwealth countries. So alot of important people were in Perth. When Chris went into the City to get the passport. He could count 14 police officers from the second he stepped out of the car! So, needless to say Perth, was pretty much under lock down and we were very GRATEFUL they let us still come and collect the passport! God is so good! He has supplied everything so far just in time and just when we needed it!