We have been meeting weekly with some friends and doing a Bible study called Christianity Explained. It has been going fantastic, but we are down to the last week! Pray for Chris and I as we answer questions and explain what being a Christian really means. Pray that God would speak to their hearts.

2) we have had 4-5 new families to kids club AGAIN! God has just been blessing the ministries we are doing. Pray that we can keep adjusting and finding help with Kids Club and that we are effectively communicating to the children. Pray that we are making the Bible stories understandable and life changing for these children!

3) WE just finished a huge craft that took the children 6 weeks to work on! They each made a heart pillow. We have spent the past six weeks talking about How good looks at the heart. We then went deeper and talked about God Loves us no matter who we are, God wants us to Follow him, We need to have a heart that is "Right" in God's "Sight" and, when we have tough decisions we need to make then we need to ask Jesus what to do. The Kids have been thrilled and I have posted below some of the kids with their pillows.

Christianity Explained!
Praise God tonight we started our Christianity explained course for the next 5 weeks. Three parents came from kids club! We are so thrilled that they are ready to start looking into what Christianity is! And, even more thrilled that these lovey people get to come into our home and we can share with them our lives. Please pray for these people that they would see their need for Jesus and understand that they need Him as the saviour of their lives!

Wesleyan Women High Tea
On Sunday we had our first ever Wesleyan Women High Tea! It was a wonderful afternoon of really good food! a few ladies brought sandwiches, savouries and desserts! The atmosphere was fantastic! The room was full of friends and then also people building friendships! There was also a special moment for me to share with the ladies a devotional. There were 40 of us that gathered. 22 ladies and 18 children ranging from 3 little bubs to teenagers! We had some special music. The Kids Club from the Landsdale church sang "This little light of Mine!" And, then Makayla, and two of her friends Emily and Nikita sang " Friend of God" . We also had a special music number sung by some ladies from the Inner city church. They sang some in their language and some of it in English . It was beautiful. Jesus had impressed upon my heart a devotional I titled, "Rejoice and live life up, like the beautiful “Princess", you are!" from the passage
Zephaniah 3:14-17
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
14 Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem! 15 The LORD has taken away your punishment, he has turned back your enemy. The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm. 16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. 17 The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”
I brought three main points out:
1) Rejoice! You are forgiven princess! He accepts you just the way you are.
2) Rejoice! God is always with you!
3) Rejoice! He is delighted in you!

When I get picture back from the lady who took them, I will post them on here! But, thank you to everyone who prayed! I was trying to get this group of ladies together so they could mingle and get to know each other a bit. We will start advertising for camp this week! We are hoping to double our numbers this year. WE are praying for 30 ladies to join us on the Womens camp from July 15th-17th!

32 Kids at Kids club! two weeks in a row we have smashed our old time high of 25 kids at Kids Club! God is bringing more families to him and we are just amazed at what He is doing through us and in these families! God is just so AMAZING! In the pics below we are singing" Hey! Jesus Loves me and " Roof tops!"

Melissa

Today I had the opportunity to share with a lady I have barely spoken with. But, her daughter is friends with Makayla. And, today we were at the same party so I got to share with her all kinds of information about our church due to her opening the door and asking. She was VERY receptive and had HEAPS of questions. She come from a background that was not christian and was of another belief. . And, has recently decided there has to be something better out there. Please pray for this family. It is hard to choose to believe there is something more out there! But, God is a God of Love. And, pray that I am able to share His love for her and his joy for her! She is HIS daughter, pray that she would sense and understand and believe that she is a daughter of Christ and that Hehas so much more out there for her and her family! Please pray that she will come and visit Kids Club and also church.

Today was a total God day!
Today was a day that only God could orchestrate! We had 32 kids come to Kids Club! It was amazing, scary, stressful, perfect, awesome. God was there.. To hear the kids worship and praise God today was amazing! We had three new families come today and it was totally unexpected. But, God was there.. The craft we were able to work out, the snack we were able to work out, and God just amazed me. With all the staff today and extras there were 39 people in the hall, and to top it off everyone said they want to come back next week! The message at Kids Club was God looks at the heart. And, I am so glad God has given us a heart and a call to see these kids come to know who Jesus Christ is. I will record next weeks worship time and post it on here. Because To hear these kids sing "Yeah! Jesus Loves me!" Is just the sweetest sound I have ever heard. I was exhausted by the end, but so amazed by what God has in store for us.

When we finished we had kids that didn't want to go home. But, it was totally God working here today and I am sure it is because people are lifting us up in prayer and the ministry here, and the people here in Landsdale, Western Australia!!!! Praise God!

Christianity Explained!
This week Chris has been following up with people about doing a 5 week Bible study on the book Christianity Explained! So far we have two families from Kids Club that are interseted in doing it. Please pray that we would get a few more! But, this is a step in the right direction. And, we are excited that God has been speaking to these parents hearts! Pray that we would find a day of the week and time to effectively do it! And, whether we should put dinner on for all the families. It's hard to come up with something that will effectively accomodate everybody.

Coming home

This morning when I went back to the hospital, I found Chris still in a room in the emergency department. Apparently because they couldn't verify our insurance (because they didn't try), he had been left overnight. So, he was exhausted and tired. There were 23 beds next to each other with a curtain between and lights on etc. So, not really a restfull area. His specialist came in and said that if Chris's ketone levels got down to +1 they would let him come home. So, they ran new blood tests and by 1:00pm they let him come home. They never did find the infection (which is a concern) but, they said it must be a virus. So, in 10 days if he still feels ill they will run more tests. I want to thank you all for your prayers. He is suppossed to take it easy this week and rest. The church board gave him this week off. But, really that means he still has to prepare a sermon and do a few things. So, please keep him in your prayers. Again, thank you for your prayers. We greatly appreciate them!
God bless,
Melissa

Please pray for Chris this afternoon. at what would have been 6:00am your time. Chris was admitted into the hospital with mild ketoacidosis. He has been a type 1 diabetic since he was three. And, unfortunately when he gets sick, sometimes his body doesn't know how to cope. He was having chest pain, shoulder, neck, abdomen, and leg pain that was on a scale of 1-10 it was a 9. He was really struggling to make sense. And, so we went to the ER. He was taken in straight away, even though the waiting room was full. As of 1:00am tonight my time. they still did not know what was causing the infection. His white blood cell count was really high. And, they have started to bring down his sugars. Part of his sugar being high, was because he was in so much pain, he was vomiting. Pleas pray that he will rest tonight. He wasn't put no a floor yet, but I needed to come home at 1:00am because Brayden was still up crying at our friends house. Please pray that we will know how to get through this. Not, sure I can prepare a sermon in less than 48 hours with three children and a sick husband to care for. And, the family thatis our assistant D.S. is away for a wedding on the east coast. So, please pray that God will give me the guidance and strength we need to get through this. Please pray that the Dr.s will find the source of infection and that Chris will get rest and his body will start to heal. We appreciate your prayers!
In His palm,
Melissa George

Good Friday

Today we went to the Inner City Church- ( the one we used to work at.) and Melissa played the piano and we worshipped with the congregation for Good Friday. It was a good time for our children as Makayla is old enough for the first time to realize that Jesus suffered on the cross. She may have seen pictures and heard a million times. But, this was the year she realized that Jesus paid a price for her, and that it was not an easy price, but one of suffering and love for her!

Annual Easter Egg Hunt
Today was our annual Easter Egg Hunt.
It was a busy week as Chris and I had been preparing every evening after everyone went asleep. We prepared the crafts and organized food for what we were expecting was about 150 people.
Families in our church pitched in and helped. We had a sand cross necklace station, and a colouring contest station, a magnet station, and temporary christian tattoo station, jumpy castle station, and an egg decorating station, as well as the jelly bean guess where we got families information. and of course the Sausage Sizzle.

The afternoon went off without a hitch and despite the rain early in the morning the day was lovely and all three groups of kids got to do their Easter egg hunt as well as, we were able to do the egg toss. Afterwards the kids came inside and we read the Legend of the Easter Egg Hunt, and then we handed out awards. Truly was a lovely afternoon!

Straight after the Easter Egg Hunt we had our Palm Sunday Service. This was lovely because for the first time we had a few families stay from the Easter Egg Hunt! Truly an exciting moment for the families of our church who had been praying for this event! Chris's father has been here for the past two weeks and he shared from the word of God with these families. Which worked out perfect, because it allowed Chris the opportunity to meander and speak with families. And, took a lot of pressure off of him! Thanks Dad for all you did as well as Chris's Sister ran around with me collecting all the items and food, and helping organize as well!

Pray for Chris and I as we follow up with these families. And make an effort to connect them to our church and Kids Club.

You're prayers are impacting lives! Do know that God is moving here in these people. One of the families that attended our palm Sunday service has now been to church two weeks in a row! Pray that God would move in their hearts!

One of the difficulties of both Chris and I pastoring the church and always being incredibly busy on these days is watching our children. Luckily this year they had Aunt Melissa who came all the way from the USA to see them. She looked after them and they had a wonderful day!!!

Family Kids Club Day!
To close out Kids Club this term we had a family day. The Kids came after school and we had a great big party! We had a jumpy castle and every family brought snacks and it was a BEAUTIFUL afternoon of fun! Then, afterwords all the parents joined us and we had a movie night. Kids brought their chairs, and bean bags and sleeping bags and the families all brought their own dinners and we all sat around for a wonderful evening. My favourite part of the evening was sititng and chatting with the mother's. I especially got to know one of the mother's a girl who has just started coming to Kids Club for a couple of weeks. It was truly a special moment. I can't wait to see how God is going to connect and build a relationship with us and the Stamp family.

Term 1 Kids Club Awards Night

Kids Club tonight was a very rewarding evening for not just the kids, but for Chris and I . We were able to see the fruit of our hard work. We had 23 kids receive 46 badges. Not all of them were able to make the evening. But, none the less the kids shared with their families the special songs they learned as well as they received their badges. We focus this whole term on God! The Kids learnt- God created everything, God is Love, God is our friend, God is our Father, God is Holy, God is Powerful, and a few other topics about God. But, they also shared their main memory verse. Genesis 1:1. And, I was very VERY proud of them! We had a record number of Kids Club families come and we had three regular kids club families away for a wedding! So, God is moving in these families lives and pulling them closer to him! Praise God he works in even the smallest of us! Tonight I was reminded of just the fact that we ALL need to be like these children and have child like faith! For many of these families.. .Their children are the first generation Christian in their home! Praise God!

MACHINERY! ---not always helpful!

Today was a very busy day. It started off this morning with me trying to print off the badges I had created for the Awards Assembly. What I thought was going to be a VERY simple task turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. I think the devil was trying to smoosh his way into our awards evening for Kids Club. We had 23 kids who earned 46 badges! This is huge! And, God is AMAZING. But, God works in mysterious ways. With the help of a few families and getting the badges RE-printed. Praise God Chris's Dad and Sister were here and able to work the badge machine and get the badges finished in time for us to put them on the sashes and still hand them out at church on time! For some of these children it was their first time ever getting badges so it was a REALLY big deal! Praise God he looks after even the tiniest of details! PS. Chris's Dad and sister brought us this fancy machine in their luggage from the states! That is why I was a bit delayed in getting them done on time! :)

Today was an amazing day. We had three families ask us if they could purchase Bibles for their children. These families do not attend our church yet! But, they will! God is moving in their hearts! The kids have been making some fantastic Bible covers for their Bibles and I am very PROUD to say that every child in our kids Club has a Bible! And, a few parents are starting to mention that their kids want them to read them the Bible before they go to bed! This is God at work through the Kids Club Ministry we run here in Landsdale. God is hearing your prayers and moving these peoples hearts! Do be excited because this is new territory for our church and new ground. We have people eager to get their hands on the Bible God's Holy word. And, nothing speaks louder than His Word! Praise God!

This past weekend was full of 5 children's worship services, four adult worship services, and lot's of fun, activities, games and eating! All in all it was a ver busy schedule but, God was there and working in people's hearts and lives. And, God used Peter lam to speak to the campers on the weekend! Thank you for your prayers. I am going to post below some pictures and explain what people are doing in them.

Bottom Right: Phil teaching the children to play the Ukele. Top: Reciting a verse on Love for the Amazing Race. Top Right: Our tent is on the left, one of 10!

Playing games after the service. Each person would yell a letter to a word at the same time. Those in the audience would have to figure out what the word was. :)

Kids after the Chidren's worship. We focused over the weekend on God's Big Back yard. The kids learned to Serve Family, Serve Friends, Serve neighbours, Serve Community, and Serve Jesus! It was a fantastic weekend full of non stop action and was heaps of fun!

On the last evening we had turtle races. Chris and I cut wooden turtles and the kids, young adults, and adults, and families, got to design their turtles and race them. Was heaps of fun, but we were all exhausted from all the sunshine we had, had earlier in the day that we went to bed earlier.Everyone would pull on the string, and the turtles would move down the track.

God LOVES Fred!

This past weekend we had our family camp, and I will post on the family camp, But, first I want to share a story from this weekend! Fred is a young adult who attends the inner city church. Chris and I have met him a few times! And, we have had small talk in the past. But, on Saturday during the camp, we were playing "The Amazing Bible Race!" Very similar to the amazing race, just this was one that Chris and Darrek (our intern) had arranged for the families and camp attendees to participate in.

I believe some of our prayer partners we're praying for Chris and I on Saturday afternoon! Which would be very Early Saturday morning for all of our prayer partners!

About 1:00 we were to the last leg of the race, and each team had to have one member swim off shore to a pontoon "Dock" for swimming. Chris had swam out there and it was totally calm and like swimming in a pool. However, Fred jumped in the water for his team, and I was the next team up, so I (Melissa) was quick to follow him into the water. The Pontoon was probably 50 meters off shore. As I was swimming I came up and realized I couldn't see Fred in front of me anymore. I immediately stopped swimming and began treading water to look around, Fred was far to my left. He had gotten caught in the current and was being pulled out towards the mouth of the river, where the ocean and river meet.

I quickly turned an started screaming to shore, that no one else come out to the pontoon and that the current was too strong. As I looked at Fred he started to wave both his hands for help, then, one hand, and then he was starting to bob, and go under water. I all of a sudden was VERY afraid for Fred's life. And, started to swim as quickly as I could.

When I got to him he was underwater. Now, Fred is probably bigger than me, But, God is bigger than anything, and stronger than anyone and HE gave me the strength to pull Fred above water. I then continued to speak to him, and tread water for both of us, and tell him to calm down and try to float on his back, he was shaken and continued to wrestle a bit. I was "SCREAMING" to shore for help, and to a boat that was probably 10 metres away. But, the guys were just sitting there and not helping. In what seemed like forever to Fred and I , ( At moments, I was seriously afraid that I may drown as well, if no one helps... There was no way I was going to let one of our own young adults drown with out doing my VERY best, and I was more afraid of the fact that my kids were on shore watching! )

Luckily Chris saw we were in trouble, and he came out to help me pull Fred in. And, as Chris was ripping off his insulin pump, a lady on shore realized we needed help as well, and between the three of us, we were able to pull Fred to shore.

I say all this to say.. God LOVES Fred! God, was giving me the strength I needed to help Fred, I have barely had swimming lessons, let alone I have NO idea what to do to rescue someone drowning. And, God was speaking to me the whole time, telling me that HE was there, and He was going to hold, us up. In my "OWNNESS" I was afrai dand scared. But, when I was calling to God for help, He was speaking to Fred and I and telling us that we were going to be okay!

Today Fred is alive, not because of my actions, but because GOD was looking after us, and supplying us with the strength that was needed!

Fred, is going to be in Australia a bit longer. He is from Korea, and he said he will be in church worshipping God every Sunday! And, he is sooo thankful, God saved not just his physical life, but his spiritual life! Fred, had a head ache the rest of the day (probably from all the stress), and I had a belly ache from all the ocean water I swallowed. But, all in all we were totally fine!
God is good!

FAMILY CAMP

This weekend is our District Family camp! Pray for Chris and I as I have been on the organizing committee. The last 24 hours have been insanely busy! I am the camp registrar, and did all the bookings, as well as directing the Kids Program, and Chris is responsible for all the games and activities! So, it has been a crazy time for us trying to get packed up! But, the kids were up at 5:00am ready to go this morning! They are going to go to school still this morning, but at lunch we will be heading south to the campground! The kids are super excited to get to sleep in our tent for three nights. The most EXCITING NEWS about this camp, is that we have three families from our church coming! Please Pray that God would speak this weekend to the O*, G*, and M* families. These are families who attend our Kids Club, but not our church! So, we are truly excited that they will be joining us! we will Post Pictures on Monday! Thank you for you'r prayers!

As we have been asking you all to pray for Dawson, God has done some amazing improvements since his last assessment. When Dawson was tested through a private organization originally 6 months ago, we found out that he had core balance issues. However, on Monday Dawson had his assessment with the Child Development office. This is not a private, but a public office, and they found Dawson to only have some loose muscles in his hands, and they said he needs no further referrals! We also went and for the first time met the physical therapist. And, she said she felt that Dawson has tight muscles and that he just needs to stretch more in order to be able to sit still! And, that it is not a Core issue, but just a tight muscle issue! So, We are very blessed by God right now, and Dawson is doing AWESOME in his school class. He was star of the week last week, and was chosen to bring the surprise bag home, (Which you only get if he has had good behaviour!) and to top it all off, he has been chosen to be one of the kids who will "read" by the end of the year! So, I am very happy with the results of our tests on Monday, and believe God has touched Dawson's life! Thank you for all you're prayers! Dawson has been on our prayer list for a long time! And, we now feel that we are ready to have this taken off. And, we believe because of you're active prayers! God has touched our family, and specifically Dawson.

God is good!

He brought cooler temperatures, when we needed them!

God was so good to us on the day of the Red Hill Workbee! The temperature was not too warm, so we were all able to work and help accomplish all of the tasks David (Debbie's father) had wanted us to accomplish. Since we were all out there working, Great big trucks have come in and taken out the dangerous trees, and bull dozing has been occurring to clean up the ash that is covering the ground. We took down all the burnt fencing (because it had lost it's galvanization in the fire), we raked up all the debris, leaves, etc, Chris worked on taking down burnt chicken coops, (Luckily the chicken we're at debs house!) And, many other tasks. It was hard work, and boy were we all ready for a shower when we were finished. the kids were literally black from head to toe! I should have taken a picture of how dirty they were!