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

Celebrating 5 Years!

Sunday night was a night for celebrations. We invited the John Wesley church to come join us as we celebrated in what God has done through the landsdale church. A 5 minute video was made with pictures sharing where God has taken us!

Our daughter Makayla and a friend Nikita opened the service with a special song called Sing Praise!

Then we had a testimony from Glynis a lady in our church. She did an awesome job! the Jist of her testimony was life is so much better, and different when you walk with the Lord. There is someone there to help you to pray to, there is someone there to share the joys and the sorrows with who loves her. She did a wonderful job!

We installed our first LAC. Local advisory committee.

We commissioned Phil and Karen Hotchkin the pastors Chris and I have been

partnering with ever since we arrived to go do another church plant south of the Perth City.

Chris preached on the Israelites and how it took them 40 years to do what they could have done in 10-11 days. And, encouraged us to follow and trust God and have a clean heart so that he can take Landsdale where he wants to take us!

Then we had dinner! What a wonderful evening!

This picture is of the 5 pastors who planted the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church. Rev. Phil Hotchkin and his wife, Young Min Yoo, and Rev.'s Chirstopher and Melissa George

God is Moving.

Last week Chris was on youtube and he watched John James testimony from the Newsboys. He commented to me "How do I get this guy to Perth!". Then on Thursday night we received an email from another youth group in the area inviting us to come to an event called BAM, The next day! And, Chris called the church to see what they were doing. ... And, they were having John James there to speak! This is totally a God thing. We quickly called everyone on Friday morning and changed youth group to an outing and went! We had all 7 kids we took make a commitment! God was there and our teens were listening. We then had the wonderful opportunity to come back to our house and talk with them all and pray. We can't wait to talk one on one with these teens and find out where God is leading them.

Today we also had 12 kids at Kids Club. So, the first day we had three, then we had 6, and this week 12! Pray that we continue to grow and that if we need help we find volunteers who are willing to join us and help at kids club. On a side note Makayla has a very good friend that has been allowed to start coming to Kids Club. And, I praise God that Makayla feels comfortable enough to invite people. And, I praise God that this door of reaching her friend for Christ has been opened.

Baptism

Today we went down to the City and one the River front we baptized to members of our congregation! This was a very exciting day for Chris and I. This is a couple who used to attend our Young Adult Bible Study in our first term here in Australia. We then went to Singapore and married them in '07, And, they recently moved back to Australia in August '09 and lived in our house till Christmas. But, the thing is that this married couple has decided to proclaim their faith in Jesus and share it with the church. They stood in the water and shared their testimonies. And, God has done soooo much in their lives! But, it was exciting for Chris and I to get to stand with them and pariticipate in their baptism.

I would like to share a bit of Graces* story with you. I am going to give her a different name. Because she comes from China. Her parents are high up in the Government and when she first went home to tell her parents she was a Christian they would not even let her bring a Bible into the house. But, it is hard for her to know that when she decided to become a Christian she turns her back on EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in her family. She has been dating a Christian for the past three years. And, her parents recently even made her sign a contract or Christmas stating she would not marry the Christian because they have spies here in Australia watching everything she does. But, she stood there in the water today and proclaimed her faith! And, she said I don't know where I will turn the only place I can turn is to God! And, that is the point of being a Christian. We must rely on God to guide us and direct us and lead us. Please, pray for her. It reminded me of what we as Americans take for granted! Becoming a Christian in America does not mean we say good bye to our family. But, in other countries and other cultures when you become a Christian you are persecuted. So, please continue to pray for Grace*!

*Name Changed for security reasons.

Church in the Park
Unfortunately we had to change our 5 year anniversary for two weeks. But, the awesome thing is that we got to have church in the park last night. WE set up two tents and had church underneath them. WE actually had quite a few people askus what we were doing. And, this may be a good opportunity for us to make more people aware of our church! But, we had a wonderful service and snag with just a guitar and we were all reminded of how nice it is to just come and worship with out all the "extra" stuff we seem to expect in church every week!

Play Group
This morning I had play group and only one mum showed up. I was a bit dissapointed. But, something cool came from it. I was sitting there talking with Daphne and found out that once she attended a play group in Zambia. She is actually from Mauritius and her husband ishere studying for college. But, I think they may have decided to stay in Australia. But, she told me that she had done a book by Rick Warren. Daphne does not attend church, and she is not a Christian. And, I was really wanting to share a devotion every week during our play group. And, she was the one I was worried about being turned off! And, next thing you know she is telling me about how she loved that play group! So, God has opened the door. Pray with me as I walk through it. Obviously since it is a play group we will do a very short "Lift up" moment from the Bible. But, pray with me as I decide what this will look like! Also, another friend of mine has decided to join, she is Catholic, but I do not know yet whethere she has accepted Christ as her saviour.

Here is a little bit of the Special that was sang on the Church Camp.

Mandurah Family Church Camp

The past four days were spent camping in 100, 102.2, 104, 102.2 degree weather. Needless to say it was like an oven! This weather in Perth is very unusual. It gets hot but not normally for a week at a time. The whole time we were gone to Gold Coast our children were enduring this weather. And, just for the record the air conditioner in our house is not working! So, it was very miserable weather to be having.

Spite the weather the camp was still a SUCCESS! We had 43 people join us between the Landsdale and John Wesley Church. There were 21 that joined us from the Landsdale church. God is good. We arrived home Thursday night from the Pastors Conference and Friday morning was a bit of a blur. We packed our bags, loaded the car. We fit everything in, but the stroller and our mattress so we took those to the other Pastors house and he put them in his trailer and away we headed down south. It was only an hour and a half drive. And, we got there and we set up our tent, and a sun shelter, and then we just relaxed until people came. As each family arrived we would help them set up their tent etc. Chris and I were incharge of planning the camp and activities, Pastor Phil did all the planning for meals and cooking. Every camper volunteered twice to help with a meal. And Pastor young was in charge of worship.

On Saturday we had a worship service. Wilson the young adult from Zimbabwe who lived with us for 15 months from 07-09 spoke. HE did a tremendous job and he has grown up SO much in the past year while we have been gone! God used him in wonderful ways. We had pool time and then we ate lunch and headed to the beach. Saturday night we went to a place called Kings Carnival and they gave us a great rate ad everyone was able to play mini golf and go on rides. On Sunday we had two church services we had extras join us just for this day that did not come on the camp. But we had two lay people in the John Wesley church share. God used Pella and Ashley in so many ways to work on people's hearts. It was truly touching and the worship was excellent. We then prayed for two families who announced they were having babies on the camp. We also were treated by a special Zimbabwean special. If you would like to see more pics check out my facebook page. But, I will post some pictures here. It was a great time of building relationships being pushed to Lean on God and make him our first love and to follow him with everything in us. I also did children's sessions. We did one where I challenged the kids to jump into obedience like the Disciples did when catching fish. The did what Jesus asked and they caught so many fish the nets were breaking. The second session I encouraged them to Jump into courage. As the disciples did when they were on the boat and Jesus quieted the seas. It was a tremendously wonderful camp. Here are three highlights I would like to share about.

1. A dear friend of mine brought her two children. She used to attend our church regularly but has not attended at all in over a year! So, we were very glad to see her come on the camp. I believe God worked on her heart pray for me as I follow up with her.

2. My best friend here who does not attend church. Had many excuses NOT to come on the camp. And, she had many things come up. But, God worked it out for her to come on the camp on Sunday afternoon and stay till Monday. She did not attend the church service. But, she talked with people and her husband was able to build some relationships. Pray for me as I follow up with her.

3. A lady in our church was touched by the African singing. It reminded her of good times and home and she had not heard our South Africans sing. And, she was truly touched. God has been providing things for Glynis that she didn't even know she really needed yet. But, I believe God touches those who follow him. And, I believe this is why Glynis is seeing God's hand in her life right now. She is a strong hold in our church. And, she is strong in her faith.

thank you for your prayers. Continue to pray for us as this month is very heavily busy with many things going on. I will post those in the prayer column. But, please remember to pray for the ministry here in Landsdale! thank you so much! May God bless you!

National Pastors Conference

After 5 1/2 hours on airplanes and 8 hours total of travel time we landed at the Gold Coast airport on the East coast. We had a short drive to Tweed Heads where we stayed in our accomodation. The accomodation was wonderful. They were self serve apartments. So, they came with clean sheets etc. And, then you had to tidy them up before you left. But, they were very nice. The first evening we started a 24 hour fast and focused on prayer for the nation. This is the first time Chris and I have gotten to see the Australian Church Pastors and Leadership as a whole. It was truly wonderful. It is a group of people who know everybody and we never saw anyone just sitting there. Everyone was talking to everyone else and it was just truly an wonderful experience. We were not left just standing there either. Many people were always introducing themselves and asking us where we were pastoring with which we loved to respond Perth!

Amidst the fasting, prayer sessions, and prayer walk. We had some wonderful speakers. The National Superintendent gave a call for us to partner with him in spreading the vision for an Undivided heart. He talked about in spiritual ways between us and God, our churches, and as a country.

A vision was given for the Australian church which now consists of 78 churches in the whole country (Which is the size of the USA) to get on board the vision of 150 churches by 2020. This means every church is to plant atleast one church in the next 10 years! This is a leap of faith. Becuase this means we need more pastors, we need more lay workers, we need more money.... But, we prayed that we would be faithful to not give silly excuses and that we would pray to God and see where it is he wants us to plant next.

We then had church planting seminars and had the Superintendent for the Solomon Islands share along with a missionary that Australia has sent out to the islands.

We called Makayla and Dawson every day in Perth and they seemed to be doing well. They had a wonderful time and when we returned asked "When do you go away again! We had alot of fun!" So, thank you for your prayers. They worked. I will admit that they did miss us! They were a bit sulky on the last day we were gone. But, they were VERY excited to pick us up at the airport for the first time ever.

One cool point I want to share with you is... not spiritual just informational. The hotel we stayed in was on the border of Queensland and New South Wales. In our hotel room we were in New South Wales. but, if we crossed the street to McDonald's we were in Queensland. Therefore there was an hour difference every time we crossed the street! How crazy would that be. So, basically if it was midnight in the hotel we could go across the street and Mcdonald's would still be open because it was only 11.

All in all the trip was wonderful and it was really a wonderful experience for us to see what we are apart of in Australia. We are just a small part in a passionate team to see the Country of Australia reached for Christ!

Thank you for all your prayers! They impacted our family over the past four days and we felt the power of your prayers! Thank you.

At youth group last night we had a follow up fun night to all the hard work the teens did for the Valentines banquet. We took them miniature golfing. Miniature golfing is hard to find here in Australia. It is not as big as in the states. But, we found a really nice course and we went and played in the dark which made it SO much more fun! But, we had a wonderful time and the teens built even better relationships. Sam came and joined us along with her younger brother TJ. We took a boys car and a girls car and unfortunately us girls did get beat by the boys. But, we are sure there might have been some card fixing happening! All in all it was a wonderful evening and we are so excited to say that on March 5th we will be kicking off the year for Youth Group and we can't wait to see what that will bring us! Keep praying for these teenagers.

-Many of them are starting this year at new schools this year

-pray for them to stand strong on their faith and belief in Jesus Christ as their personal saviour.

-Pray for them to share their faith with others!

Valentine's Banquet

Last night we had such a wonderful time. The teens pre sold tickets, and then the goal for the night was to bond the teens by serving their parents and friends. This is the second time we have done this event. It was alot of work and Chris and Mines part but, totally worth it. I gotup and started preparing food for the day at 8:00 in the morning. And, was finished just in time to serve! We had a wonderful time watching the teens build friendships and relationships. We played fun games.. The first was I love. and people had to write on a heart what they love, then the teen collected them and there were tables of four. So, then the four people had to guess who's heart was who's. The second game was a Husband and wife give answers and see how many you get correct type game. The Parents had a wonderful time! It was truly a lot of fun. What made the whole night worth it was at the end. We had a girl named Sam, this was her first time at youth. And, afterwards she asked Chris and I when the next youth meeting was.. And, said she would be there! It was all worth it, just for Sam! Thank you for your prayers. They are changing teenagers lives. I pray that god would continue to use us to impact these teenagers! Thank you for your prayers and support. here is a picture from the evening!

Primary School

The kids have started their new school year on February 1st. Dawson and Makayla are having such a great time. They are attending the Public school here in Landsdale. Many new doors have opened for us to start meeting people. Dawson is in Kindy and goes 5 days full time over a two week period. Makayla goes every day and is in grade 1.

Please pray for Makayla as she is finding it the hardest to adjust. She loves going to school and last week was sick and still wanted to go every day. But, pray for her as she meets culture shock face to face. As words are used every day she does not understand.

The very first day of school Makayla came home and told us her teacher had lost her leg because it was full of 'sin'. The teacher was meaning... It had something bad in it, cancer. But, to Makayla she came home and told us that her teacher disobeyed God and now she only has one leg. Then she asked us. So, if I am naughty is God going to take my leg too?

It was a great teaching moment for us. But, at the same time a moment of Chris and I having to let Makayla know that sometime people will use a word she does not understand. And, if they do, then she just politely asks what they are really saying.

109 Degrees!

The past three days have been VERY hot here! Because the hall where we have church has no air we moved church from the community hall to our house. And, we had an amazing service! The church is not a building but the people. The most amazing things I want to share with you is we had two new families come to our house and also we had a family that has come sporadic come and say that they have decided to come regularly to our church now. God is good! This is a praise. We had 35 people worship in our living room. It was a packed room, but God presence was there and speaking to hearts and Chris preached on Ephesians 4:15. The sermon was on having a heart that is being cultivated and growing in love.

This week Chris and I drove down south to check out the caravan park we will be having our family church camp at on Feb. 26-March 1st. The place is very nice. We stayed one night just to really get a feel for the place. I was able to book 8 campsites. So, we should be able to fit about 16 tents. And, right in the center it has a camp kitchen. So, hopefully it will not be 109 when we go camping.

Continue to pray for us as we try to reconnect with people who used to attend our church sporadic and also as we connect with new families that Keith the previous pastor has met.

I am sure most of you are aware but I would just like to ask you to pray for our missionaries in Haiti! God is good and they are all safe and protected. But, it is a big job they have ahead of them to serve all the people that are in need of medical attention and basic needs like food, water, clothing etc. So, please keep them in your prayers. You can check out their website at gpcaribeatlantic.com

Again, thank you for your prayers God is changing lives here in Perth, Australia!

Undivided Heart!

Psalm 86:11

Teach me your way, O Lord

and I will walk in your truth;

give me an undivided heart,

that I may fear your name.

We have challenged our church people to learn this verse. On Sunday we will see how many people know it. Our children have learnt it as well. But, God has really been teaching us recently that EVERYTHING comes from Him. And, we are to learn His ways so that nothing can hinder us from coming to Him. Today we had our house fumigated for spider cockroaches and all kinds of lovely mini beasts as they call them here in Oz. But, just like a spider web starts little and gets big. Chris preached on Sunday that sin can seep into our hearts and we can be unaware and it can destroy our heart and it can divide our heart. But, we in 2010 as a church in Landsdale are striving to have ONE heart that beats for the Lord. And, we are striving to have a heart that will follow, learn, grow, and serve Jesus Christ! We hope and will continue to pray that this is also your goal this year!

So, as we have continued to move in Chris has been busy setting up the church booking for our building hire of the hall, and he preached this past Sunday in our church and also the inner city church. Please keep him in your prayers as Monday he will start visiting families that have showed interested in our church but are not attending right now.

Our kids have been busy starting on Monday Vac Swim. Swimming here in Australia is VERY important. There is too much water for you to NOT know how to swim. Also, in school you are required to swim as part of school curriculum. And, Makayla had missed a year of classes. and they do this swimming called VAC swim. So, we were able to get Makayla signed up and registered. But, she goes every day for 10 days. So two weeks M-F. And, she has only done two days so far. But, she learnt the first day how to do the back stroke and yesterday free style. Dawson has just learnt how to put his face in the water and blow bubbles which is amazing considering he has only had one lesson and we almost couldn't even get him in water!

Brayden has really started to settle down. He has an appetite and he has started to put his weight back on. He can now take two steps at a time and he is really starting to settle in. He still is not sleeping well. Last night he got up 9 times in the middle of the night. So, you can pray that he will start sleeping again.

I think that is all that has happened in the last week! A praise is that Makayla got her class assignment for the year and she is in LA 7 and to top it off her best friend is in her class! This will be the first time they are in the same class. Hopefully they will be able to learn while being in the same class. But, I am glad that Makayla will not be in her class with no one she knows. Grade one is the first grade that is required in Australia. So, I think the kids go from having 3 different classes in a grade to 6. So, there are many new students to get to know! We pray that you have a blessed week and we look forward to updating you next week on what God is doing. Thank you for you continuous prayers! We know that God is moving here and that we couldn't be doing what we are doing without you! May God bless you!

Still Unpacking

As we have just been here a month it is hard to believe we are still unpacking and well packing some things up! Yesterday, I took the christmas tree down! This week seems to have flown by. For new YEars we basically stayed home and laid low. WE were hoping to have our house put together enough to have a party, but it is not there yet.
This week we spent many hours working very hard outside in the hot heat! We rented a dumpster, and all the trees in the yard had not been cut in a year. So, we trimmed, and we power washed all the winter yuck off the house, and we spent many hours trimming bushes in the back yard! Chris worked very hard and we filled half a dumpster full of trimmings and then threw out alot of our belonging that don't work anymore. We were washing windows and doing all kind of fun work. Its amazing all the little things you do to keep up a house, how you odn't seem to notice all the work you do until it isn't done for a year! Then things look pretty bad! :) The good news is the truck came and picked up the dumpster so we are done!!!! YEAH!

The bad news is, somewhere in there I hurt my back. So, you keep me in your prayers this week. I went and saw a doctor and he said I did too much little stuff all together which probably made my back go into spasms, and it is so spasmed that it is actually curving my spine. He has given me some codeine, but It did not even touch the pain, so I have not taken anymore as I am sure it is not good for Brayden to get in his system. The good news is I am starting to feel a bit better. So, hopefully I will keep improving.

Chris has started to preach a series on an Undivided heart! It is the theme for the Australian Church and we really praying that this is the year our church grows in MANY forms but most important in their passion for Jesus Christ! We are busily trying to plan the year out and had our firt meeting sunday night as we want to form and LBA.

Currently I am desperatly putting plans together for an all family church camp in Mandurah in March. I was able to book a campground and we were only able to get 9 campsites! but, I think we can house 40-50 people on those sites! so, pray that people would get excited and that the plans would start to come together for this camp!

We hope and pray that you and your family had a safe and wonderful Happy New Year! Please know that we are praying for you and praying that God's blessings would flow abundantly upon you, your family, and your church!

Happy New Year!

Anniversary

Today we celebrated out 9th Wedding anniversary. We were able to go out for lunch and Brayden slept the whole time in his stroller while we had lunch on the beach and relaxed watching people surf. It was a wonderful time. Time seems to fly. It honestly doesnt seem like it has been 9 years!

Birthdays, Birthdays, The most important Birthday of all!

On the 22nd we celebrated Chris's birthday. We spent it with our "Australian family". We had an American meal of taco salad, and a yummy white mud cake. Chris was spoilt. Everyone including myself all went together and got him a new barbecue to go on the porch. He loved it! His old one was not working anymore. So, needless to say for the rest of summer, I think Chris will be doing the cooking!

NOW to the most important

Birthday of all!

On the 24th and 25th we celebrated Christmas. Our kids sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and we told them the story of Jesus Birth. And, we told them why it was so important for Him to come! Christmas Eve we spent with friends and family that we swapped present with. Our children were spoilt and had fun in the swimming pool and eating all sorts of lollies.

On the 25th we had a Christmas service at our house. There were 18 of us that met together and we sang some carols and chris preached to all of us. It was a wonderful service and it was even more special to have it in our home. By having it in our home it meant we did not have to rent the hall and set up and tear down for church. But, with such short notice we probably could not have booked the hall anyways. But, it was a wonderful time and our church is our family here! We were spoilt by them and also by all of you our prayer partners and supporters.

THANK YOU

TO everyone who sent a special Christmas gift to us! We were blessed beyond belief. With that money we were able to get Brayden a crib and a mattress, and Dawson his big present this year was a bean bag (WHICH HE ULTIMATELY loves), and Makayla received a Disney mix max that she can listen to music in her room on it plays kind of like a CD player would. But, at least mummy and daddy can choose what music goes on there! With all the money we were given we didn't want to just buy lot's of little things. So, we went together with it all and got our family a Wii. It has been heaps of fun, but also it has been a thing that we can do as a family and it costs us nothing now to go bowling, or to play the games. So, that is exciting to know that we can do a family things and it is not going to cost us anything. Especially when it has been 105-8 here many days, it is WAY to hot to go outside. And, Brayden is still trying to adjust to the heat. So, we have been trying to keep him in as much as possible! But, thank you to everyone who spoilt us! We are truly blessed by your generosity!

Hard to believe we are REALLY HERE in Australia!

It's hard to believe we left the USA three weeks ago to come back to Australia! God has been doing so many wonderful things.



Makayla was able to participate in two weeks of school. This was a wonderful opportunity for her to reconnect with friends and also to learn the schedule of school as next year she is in grade one and will no longer be in the fenced in Kindy/PrePrimary area of the school. She will now be in the larger area of the school. She had a wonderful time and was like she had never missed a day of school. On our walk to school the first morning we had 10-12 cars drive by and yell out their window. IT's Makayla George!!!!! The children were super excited to see her, and the same for her! She could not wait to see her friends!





The church participated in a bake sale! Melissa spent two days cooked 96 shortbread trees, and 44 mixed spice cutout cookies. They took a bit of work to do the details. But, two ladies in the church made cupcakes and fudge, and another lady made fruit cakes! We sold almost EVERYTHING we had. And, the church made almost $200 from the event. But, it got our name out into the community. It was a lot of fun and a joy talking with people. Here is a picture from the evening. The shirts you see people wearing are what Chris and I gace the chuch people for christmas! We had alot of fun having them made in the USA and brought them back in a suitcase! Everyone really enjoys them! And, now when we do functions or ministries or outreach we can all look the same ane people will know, " We are the church, in Landsdale!"


Dawson had his 4th birthday. We had friends over for pizza and prezzies and ice cream and cake! We let Dawson choose two friends and their families to come over. So, he choose Cian and Callum, and then we had the pastor of the inner city church and his whole family over! We also had the couple living with us from Singapore and then a family from the church stopped in and joined us! So, it was a lovely time! He was spoilt and we are truly blessed to be able to have Dawson as part of our family! His big gift this year was a scooter we brought back in our suitcase with us! He has been riding it every day and asks all the time to go for walks. Dawson woke up and said he was TALLER by 4 feet, and everything does he says he can do better, or faster now because he is 4. He is incredibly cute in his own way. But, He was so cute opening his presents. He was TOTALLY surprised on every one. And, every toy he opened he wanted to play right away. he didn't want to open the next one! It was a wonderful evening with church family and dear friends!

As a side note: I think Dawson has found moving here hard. He asks when we will go home to see his grandma's and grandpas. Dawson loved living with his grandmas and grandpas and every morning he walks around the house asking to go see them... Pray that he will settle in. He has made a very closer relationship with Cian. And, that I think is helping relieve his anxiety of being here!


Brayden's tummy has not handled the big move very well. He has lost three pounds. But, we think he is starting to put his weight back on. He has had a runny tummy ever since we arrived. He goes through 12-15 diapers a day! And, diapers here are expensive. So, please pray that his tummy would settle down. When we first arrived anytime we went outside he cried the entire time we were out there. but, a lovely couple who are our friends who gave us a car seat for Brayden also gave us a sun covering that is upf 50. So, we have been putting that over the stroller and it has made it bearable now for him to go out. But, the 100 degree temperature days... Brayden is not comofortable in and spends most of the day crying.. So, if you could keep him in your prayers that would be great as well!


We have had three wonderful weeks of church! Chris is doing a sermon series on advent! It felt like we were home this Sunday! At first it didn't feel all so real that we were back in Australia, but slowly we are starting to feel like it is real! We are looking forward to the christmas day service. Where we will all get together on christmas and have church. This is very much an Australian thing. We do not have a christmas eve service.. But, we have a christmas day service.


We are still trying to settle our house. You could pray for this to happen. Many of our things were put in storage in a closet in our bedroom. however, we had a bad tenant that stayed here before the pastor had come and they moved all of our belongings to the back yard! So, our crib, high chair, stroller, bikes, dawson's bed.. many items sat outside all winter. Becuase then when the pastor arrived.. He thought we had put them there to stay while we were gone. So, that was a bit dissappointing to return to such a mess. And, my dining room chairs all have holes burnt in them! So, we are quickly trying to put our house back together and find things. We have yet to find the tray to the highchair or the straps. Hopefully we will find that soon, so Brayden can eat more comfortably.


Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us! this move has happened so quickly and everyone is really starting to settle. I believe it is because of your prayers. Thank you.

Fire Extinguished!
The fire in Landsdale seems to be extinguished. To make a long story short.
Friday evening a car was moving VERY quickly down the main road that borders our suburb and it blew a tire and hit an electricity pole. What should have been a simple clean up within minutes turned disastrous. We had very hot weather and westward winds. And the fire just lit up the "bush" ( Pasture like land) behind our house one street over. The thing is that we have many church people that live between us and the bush. We had 4 families that bordered the street and it took 45 fire departments on duty for three days to get it out. We had helicopters coming in to the lake across the street from our house sucking up water every few minutes to dump on the fire and usually if there is a fire the helicopters will return to the airport to refuel. But, you know a fire is bad when they brought fuel trucks RIGHT here in front of our house and refueled right here to save time! We were on standby at all hours for evacuation. If you went outside the sky was bright orange it looked seriously like our back yard was on fire. I will go take pictures to send to you. But, here is what your prayers did!

Also, the wind was blowing in the correct direction. Our God moves even the wind in the right direction! Had the wind changed directions our house would have definitely been in danger!

1) Ebert Family.-- Family in most danger. The fire stopped 1 FOOT from their yard. The firemen actually stood a meter apart putting out fire to save this families home.
2) Mahood Family- The wife of this family is the high school chaplain. Fire jumped the road and their fence 3 times! And, they were there waiting with water hoses to put it out.
3) Preston family saved
4) One family neighbours to the Ebert's. The first stopped 1 foot from their home!
5) And, most of the suburb was unaware that there was even a fire for 5 hours due to the electricity being out. Most people thought because it was such a hot day it was a normal power outage!
God is good and thank you for your prayers!
God was protecting these families, and your PRAYERS were moving the hand of God!
Thank you.

PLEASE PRAY IMMEDIATELY!
There is a bushfire less than a mile from our home. Here is the link to read about it. But, please pray for the safety of everyone in Landsdale. Last evening the sky above our house was BRIGHT orange. And, our children have been very scared. The temperature today is over 100 degrees which does not help the fire. They are flying helicopters into the lake in front of our house to suck up water to dump on the fire. But, we are unable to run our air conditioning due to the fire because if an ember flew in our air conditioner our house would start on fire! Please keep us and the community of landsdale in your prayers. Also, please note three of our families that attend our church live between the fire and us. So, they are also in danger. Thank you for your prayers!
click on the following link:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/newshome/6579006/lansdale-residents-on-standby-as-bushfire-burns/

Flying to Australia!
Thank you to everyone who prayed for our safe travel to Australia. We know that you all were praying for us!
1) WE got 4 inches of snow on the drive to the airport from Houghton-Buffallo. The roads were terrible and we fish tailed and slid through a red light and still arrived there safe and in one piece! God was good. The airport was semi open, and our plane took off. I will attach a picture to show how much snow was on our airplane when we boarded. They had to de-iced the plane 3 times before we took off! So, we had a bit of Australian weather before we even left New York because when they de-ice the plane it gets VERY HOT inside the plane. The was just a small airplane that sat 20 people!. Then we were on our way to JFK!

2) We loaded the plane at JFK. Chris sat with Dawson and I sat with Makayla and Brayden. Brayden slept the first 4 1/2 hours straight of the 12 1/2 hour flight. The kids were fantastic and we landed in Dubai!

3) Makayla was walking out of a store in Dubai and she was missed within inches of being run over by a people mover! The guy was driving over 20 miles per hour in an pedestrian area. But, she was kept safe.

4) We loaded the plane for a 10 hours flight to Perth. Everything went excellent. The kids watched many movies and the time was just incredibly relaxing even though we were EXHAUSTED!

5) The runway in Perth had a terrible side wind the pilot tried to land the plane and we got a HUGE gust of wind which knocked us off the runway. So, he had to speed up quickly and took off and we did not land the first time we tried to land in Perth. So, we circled the airport for 10 minutes. And, the pilot tried again. Second time landing successfully.

6) We got to Perth, and they lost one of our pieces of luggage. So, instead of standing in customs lines we were standing waiting to receive a lost luggage form. However, when we got the lost piece of luggage. Because we had 10 suitcases and 5 carryons, a stroller, and a car seat, and three children. They took us to the front of the line. Put all our bags on, NEVER OPENED ONE bag and away we went! INCREDIBLE!

7) We were met by three families who helped us get all of our luggage in and our children home safe.

Thank you for your prayers! They made a difference in our life while we were in such a big transition. WE can't wait to see what God is going to continue to do with your prayers!