Adult Night OUT!

Thursday night we had our first adult night out at the church. It was alot of fun. We had 9 adults come out and join us! We went and played laser tag. It was a fun time of bonding and getting to know some people we haven't done anything with before! We played team games, and then boys vs. girls. But, all in all it was a fantastic night for us to get out without our kids. And, it was a time for Chris and I to see if we could get people out for a church event even if their KIDS were not involved. So, we were very happy that 9 of us went out for the firs time! All the adults were raving about it and had alot of fun! so, over all I think it was a success! And, a right foot forward in building relationships with the parents of the kids who attend our kids club, and church tball team!

Permanent Residency Dissapointment

Unfortunately this week we received the news that the "sponsorship" the District applied for to the Australian Embassy was denied! Now, quite commonly the first one is denied. And, it is over a very silly wording in the application. We were said to work for Global Partners but, out contract is with the Wesleyan Methodist Church of Australia. And, because the Australian Embassy didn't understand how they work together, the application has been denied for now.

This causes a bit of a problem. In the fact that the VISA we are currently on is only good for two years! Therefore, it runs out on the 17th of November. The National Church, Global Partners, and us are all working together "Hand in Hand" and think we have come up with a solution! :) So, no need to worry, just NEED TO PRAY! We actually haven't lost any sleep over this drama, and are rest assured that God knows what he is doing, and that in all the efforts that have been put in here in Australia, it will all work out, and just bring Glory to God!

Solution: The National church already holds the "SPONSORSHIP" to our VISA, so they on Monday will turn in the nomination of Chris's name. We in the mean time have applied for our Medicals, Police Clearances, and are working on figuring out how to get our FBI clearance from Australia. In the mean time, Dawson's passport expired so we had to make a special trip to the US embassy in the city of Perth, to apply for a new one. Should be here in the next week. Then, also we needed new drivers licenses they had to be valid for the next lot of our visa, and are doing all the bit and bobs on this end! Our life all of a sudden became VERY BUSY!!!

All this to say. the first appt. they could get us in for physicals is the 3rd of November. So, as soon as we have had those we can THEN apply for our VISA! this is all getting very close to the wire. Pray that nothing gets lots and everything arrives on time! It is VERY important this falls into Place..

We have planned our calendars here in Australia right through to January. God has SO much in store for the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist church. We know GOD is BIGGER THAN all f this and it will fall just according to His way! Join us in Praying that this all comes through!

George Family in Australia update video October 2011

We have designed a video you can use in church services or in Sunday school, or view for your own personal viewing. In the following video are some pictures of a "few" of the ministries we currently are doing here in Australia on top of our weekly responsibilities of pastoring the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Church, church plant.

1. Go to http://www.dropbox.com/

2. Either create an account or sign in using ours.
Username: snickergeorge24@msn.com
Password: globalpartners1

3. Open folder titled 'Georges in AUS'

4. Right Click on 'George Update 2011.wmv'
and then go to 'download file'

5. Save to your computer.

If you have any problems let us know and we will try and help you sort it out.

Christianity Explained Course finished!

This past week we finished the Christianity Explained Course! The exciting news is that three of the ladies want to go on and complete the next book, "Belonging" to the Wesleyan church! How exciting is this! We ask you to continue to pray with us for Leanne, Carolina, and Debbie!

KIDS CLUB AWARDS NIGHT
Sunday night was an awesome night for the kids to share what God has been doing in their hearts over the past 10 weeks!

They have studied different ways we can praise and Worship God.
1. Reading our Bibles
2. Praying
3. Tithing
4. Singing
5. in all that we do, day in and out.

They did a short two week session on Honouring our Father and Mother.

and, then we started a series on serving our Family, Friends, and we are going to be going on next term and continuing this study.

Three kids were given an opportunity to share what God has been doing in their hearts.

Dana shared " God wants me to do Little things with Big Love!" And, not do nothing waiting for something "BIG" to come around for me to do.

Nikita shared- That God wants us to Honour our Father and Mother all the time in everything we do, and that we need to share Jesus with them.

Holly shared- That God wants her to Praise and worship him by praying to Him. And, that God cares about everything we do, even the good and the bad days, so we should stop and pray to him and thank him for all the good, and pray for help to face the "bad" things we face.

God is working in these kids lives. They sang three songs for their parents and performed with actions. They did "Let the Praises Ring", Follow you (Hillsong), and Take it all (Hillsong). They did an awesome job and then were rewarded with their badges!

In This picture are all the delegates who flew from Western Australia! How big of a change is this! 4 pastors, Phil's wife Karen, and then delegates from our churches.

District Conference Sept 22-25

This past weekend we had the privilege of participating our district conference. Since Chris and I are the pastors of the church plant here in Western Australia we are required to attend. But, for the first time every our church sent a delegate. And, this is EXCITING! We had a women who is the head of our LAC, Glynis who was willing to come with us. Not only did she come, but she brought her son as well, which was exciting.

To make this weekend work, much planning and organizing had to go into it. School was not out yet in Western Australia so, we needed to leave our kids here, as well as it cost too much money for us to take the kids with us. We had 3 families, and "Auntie Dana" ( The other Australian pastor Perth's daughter) watch the kids over the 72 hours we were in Melbourne.

Thursday night we all went to the airport only to be delayed three hours, while they towed a plane from the international to the domestic airport, because the first plane was not big enough. :) Then we flew 4 hours and landed in Melbourne. (Australia is about the same size as the US). Then we had to be towed in Melbourne because the plane was not parked correctly! :) Then we finally were able to go get a rental car and drive 2 1/2 hours to Phillip Island where the Conference was.

District conference is Different in Australia in the fact that we did Business, on Friday afternoon and evening, then we had a worship service. Business All day Saturday with a worship service at night, and and then on Sunday we had a worship service with ordination service, and then communion. IT was a very busy weekend with heaps of things to be doing.

We actually didn't get any free time this year, as we also voted in a new DS and did some other big pieces of business.

Sunday afternoon when the conference ended, we drove back to the airport and flew home! WE were exhausted, but met lot's of lovely people and were rejoicing with everyone over what God has done in the Southern Australia District.

The Southern Australia District covers all of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and Tasmania! So, the district is over the size of 1/2 the USA!!!! That is why God has called us here to plant churches. In America we get in the car and drive 30 min. to district conference. and we are done and on our way within 4 hours.. Less time than it took us just to arrive where the conference was! God is Amazing, He is working through the South District, and people are being drawn to him here in Australia!

GIVING ERROR!

Recently we received a very dissappointing phone call from Global Partners. A Church that had been supporting us for 2 years with $300 a month, had phoned into GP. They had a new treasure and she was reading her receipt and realized that it read "George Family".
The family they were suppossed to be supporting was NOT us! For two years this church sent their money to our "MISSION" account. And, for 2 years, they thought they were supporting another family. We had phoned this church and sent thank you's. But, for some reason it never clicked that things weren't right. When GP brought this to our attention, we felt immediately the right thing needed to be done. It was one of the hardest things we have ever done. But, felt it was VERY IMPORTANT that we give back all the money to the correct family. In doing so.... We have dropped below the "dange line" in our fund account. This means that if we don't get our account above the "Danger Line" after two months, our family will have to come home from Australia and raise more support!

GP has been VERY understanding and is willing to stand with us and pray that God will bring these funds back into our account in a quickly manner. Basically it means we MUST have a month were twice as much as normal comes in! Will you pray with us, that God would speak to churches, financial partners, prayer partners, friends, and families hearts to support us in what we are doing here in Australia.

Honestly this has hit us harder than just giving back the $7200. It also meant we "LOST" a monthly partner who we believed was on our support team.

Would you join us in PRAYER?

1) Pray that we would pick up $300 more in monthly faith promise partners?

2) Pray that we would have an AWESOME month of giving and that our GP account would come back abover the "DANGER LINE"

3) Pray for Chris and I to be able to be diligent about raising support, WHILE serving God full time on the mission field. The time zones are totally different and it is not an easy task to get ahold of churches.

WE love you all greatly and covet your prayers! We believe this is a stumbling block Satan has thrown in our way! For the first time ever we have been in Australia for 22 months straight! God is moving, people are coming to Christ, the church is growing, Kids club is exploding with Kids, and we are on the verge of what God has in store for this church. SATAN knows that! OUR God is bigger, stronger, and mightier. Would you stand with us and pray for God to move in people's hearts to give to his work here in Australia, by supporting the ministry and our family.

In His Palm,
The Georges

We are STILL IN AUSTRALIA!!!!

Please pray for Chris and I as we start to phone churches and individuals and thank them for their support and remind them we are Still here in Australia serving God! This is the first time Chris and I are STILL in Australia being Global Partners Missionaries this long! We are STILL pastoring the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church Plant and being faithful to what God has called us to do! THIS IS EXCITING! :) We are so happy to be in the center of God's will for our lives. Every day we live here is a joy, honour, and blessing! We are so thankful God has called us here to teach his Word, Bring people to Christ, and bring up a generation of Adults, Children,and families who LOVE GOD with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength!

Another Busy Sunday

Today we had a really full on day. The church is sponsoring a kids tball team starting from October through to February. Chris will be the coach of the team. So, this morning we had a parent meeting to allocate responsibilities. Then the kids had two birthday parties for a family that attends our kids club.
Straight after the party we loaded up the car to head "South of the river" to a church plant in Harrisdale. Back in January we ran a kids club here and some movie nights. So, it was great to go back and see the people we had met! It was an honour and a privilege for Chris to preach down there. So, we drove 45 minutes down there, chris preached, and then we drove straight home to set up church this evening for our church!

Landsdale was very exciting tonight because we had a family attend tonight for their second week in a row. So, this was very exciting for all of us. As this week was not a "special" advertised night. It was just the "normal" us!

Christianity Explained
We have started a new session of Christianity Explained. Please pray for Carolina, and Leanne as they have committed to meeting with us every wednesday afternoon at 1:00. Pray for them to come to a point in their life where they are ready to make a decision to follow Christ! Our meeting are on Wednesday afternoon at 1:00pm. Which is 1:00am wednesday morning for you. So, if you could please pray before you go to sleep on a tuesday night for these ladies. That would be fantastic!

Brayden- Accident

For the last two days we have had Makayla on the couch with Tonsilitis. But, this evening Brayden was in the bathroom, (Suppossed to be sitting in the empty tub... waiting for his sister to get out of the shower, so we could fill the tub up) In the mean time he decided he was going to push a stool over and climb up on the counter. The only problem was, he had walked through water. So, when he got up on the counter and was making silly faces at his sister through the glass shower.. He slipped and fell into the shower, banging his he on the tiled ledge on the floor to keep the water in the shower.... Immediately he was limp, and non responsive. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes, and immediately started wimpering. But, couldn't talk, or walk, and he had a massive lump. We rushed him to the children's hospital which took him immediately through the er, and straight to a ward.

He was checked hourly to see how he progressed after his concussion. He had a hematoma on the back of his head, and they were worried about the pressureit was putting on his brain stem..

Every hour, they would take his blood pressure, check his eyes, temp, and make him walk. Funny thing is, he was so out of it, when he woke up at the 7:00am check, this was the first time he said, where am I? and noticed there was a fish above his bed, even though it had been there all night long. :)

All in all. GOD is good and he kept Brayden safe! within 24 hours you couldn't even tell anything had happened to him. He still has a massive lump, and will for a few weeks.

And, when we got home, he was straight back to climbing again! :( So, hopefuly we can make it to three without a "cast"! But, he is a very energetic two year old!!!

Thank you to everyone who was praying and keeping up with us on facebook what was happening.

A very sad day...

Today was a very sad day. Chris and I have grown very close with a family here in Lansdale. They came on our church camp, they camped with us on Melissa's bday for a night, they have spent some wonderful special days with us. They have two gorgeous children, Their youngest, Melissa prayed a blessing for when she was born, and Their oldest is going to go to school with Brayden.

I tell you all this to ask you to pray for them. Pray for their family. Today we attended her father's funeral. This was a very hard day for us. He was too young to be burying. Yet, he had been withered away by Alzheimers, blindness, and some other health issues. For the past two years he had been in the nursing home. He was a devout Catholic, but from what we were told he LOVED Jesus. As we have been by this families side. God has been nudging their hearts, and it has been a very emotional ride. But, I write all this to tell you, that if you could please, pray for this family, we would greatly appreciate it. They want to raise their children catholic, yet they still love to participate in our church family. So, what I am asking you to pray for, is that we would atleast meet the need of whether they are a Christian and know Jesus. To be honest, that is the MOST important issue. I just want them to know JESUS. They can sort out the religion stuff later. But, as of right now.. They don't go to any church, but when they do... they come to ours. I pray that our church family would meet their needs and be a help in this time of sorrow and sadness.

Busy Sundays

Today Chris preached at the John Wesley Wesleyan Methodist church in Perth for their 10:00am service. It was a fantastic time for us to catch up with families that we haven't seen in a while.
We stepped down part time working at John Wesley when we returned 22 months ago, so that we could work full time at the church plant we pastor, The Landsdale Community Church. But, we still try once every couple of months to visit and catch up with how everyone is doing. However, Pastor Phil Hotchkin is in Papau New Guinea, so Chris will be filling in this week and next at the churches he pastors.
It was a lovely service. It was a fantastic time for us to worship without us having to be leading, and Chris delivered an excellent sermon on "Living the HD life". One of the scriptures he used that spoke to me was John 10:10 10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (NIV).

After the serice in the city, we quickly prepared dinner, and snacks, and threw our games in the car, and headed to church to have a family game day and church afterwards. One of my favourite moments was playing guestures with the kids and seeing all their crazy actions!

Although we didn't have the best turnout for the games night, we did have for the first time, people text and say they weren't coming and why! There were 6 families who couldn't come,and it was very exciting to know that they cared enough that they werren't coming to let us know... God is working in these peoples lives! And, he is working through us, I am just amazing that God chooses to use me on a daily basis to share Jesus with all these families here in Australia! It is truly amazing. And, it is only possible becuase of all the people who pray for us back home, and especially possible because of those who support us!

We so appreciate you, and the impact you have had on our ministry here in Australia!

UPDATE ON DAWSON

Dawson did a full day of school today and was very chirpy when I picked him up. So, he is definitely feeling much better. His pain is MUCH lower. His blood work came back and the Dr. made an appt. to see us ( but not till friday, assume this is a good sign!) , but said the test came back negative for glandular fever. So, I think that is a good thing! :) His lymph nodes have shrunk incredibly so the antibiotic is working!!! Would like to mention though, as of Saturday morning they had not changed in size at all. But, we asked everyone to start praying. And, by noon they had shrunk incredibly! God is good and he holds Dawson in his hands!!! Thank you for all your prayers.
Melissa

Please pray for Dawson.

Will you join us in praying for Dawson? After seeing a few Dr's At PMH ( Children's hospital in perth) and an ultrasound they decided Dawson has a viral infection in his lymph nodes .This is the cause of his swollen and lumpy neck on his right side. He will take antiiotics for 2wks and then they will review. I think the antibiotics are working because his neck seems to be shrinking in size. He has some lymphs that are as big as 2x5 cms. and they should be size of a coffee bean. He is in a large amount of pain, but doesn't act sick at all. Has been complaining for three weeks his neck hurt(thought he was just sleeping weird) , but was never sick or ill and still isn't. He has been given codeine to take at night so he can sleep through the pain, because seems to hurt most when he lies down. But, today he is running around the house like a crazy boy. So, honestly he doesn't seem sick. So, please pray that the antibiotic works. Dr. has run blood tests becasue he has had sever joint pain the last three weeks which we had thought he got injured and we didn't see it,( had xray on knee and was fine) but dr. thinks this might all be related. So, pray with us for a quick recovery! Taking blood from a 5 year old boy was the worst experience I have ever lived through. We tried for an HOUR, and got no where near the chair. Then went home got Daddy and came back to the clinic. Dawson sat on Daddy's lap, and all of a sudden became a big boy! He never screamed, in fact he laughed, and it was done and over in less than 2 minutes! So, apparently Daddy is the one of us who will go with the kids from now one if they ever have to give blood! :) Thank you for your prayers! They are much appreciated.
Melissa

Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church AGM

Tonight we had our Annual General Meeting. It was a night for our church to come together and Praise God for what he has done, and look forward to what he is going to do. Our District Superintend flew 4 hours to come all the way from Melbourne which is on the east coast of Australia to join us! Crazy eh? There were not many of us at the meeting, but God was there. Chris and I were able to give our annual reports and then discuss what we were looking forward to. As a church we have decided to best way for us to continue to grow is to connect people to the body and then see God work in their hearts. Chris and I also got some time to just sit and chat with the D.S. about the church, and our family, and we filled out PDP's and did some other reporting for the district. It was a wonderful and long day! But, a productive one, as we march forward with what God has in store for the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church. I have posted below Chris and mine's letters to the Church.


Dear Church,
I have been told recently by one of our city councillors that Landsdale is set for a sharp and dramatic growth in population. It is great to be a part of a community that is going through change and growth and excitement. As I thought about that declaration I got thinking about our church. I believe that God is preparing us as His church in Landsdale for a sharp and dramatic growth in influence and witness throughout the coming months. We have had a taste of this growth with the dramatic jump in our kids club numbers and the number of families interested in who we are and what we do.
This year has been challenging and rewarding in many different ways. We have struggled to break the attendance mark but the Lord has blessed those who join in worship each week. This year marked our first attempt at the Landsdale carols in the park and the evening was enjoyed by approx. 400 of our neighbours. Our Easter egg hunt attracted about 100 kids and again was one of our greatest opportunities for outreach. Movie nights brought out many of our kids club families and we grew in our relationships together.
We had the opportunity to work with an intern as he gained experience and course credit for Bethany Bible College in Canada. With his help our youth camp was a great success and we saw 12 teens camp for 2 nights in Dwellingup.
We have been on a journey through God’s Word and have learned a lot together through our sermon series’. ‘The God you’re looking for’, ‘The Book of James’, ‘The King of Hearts’, ‘From His heart to yours’ and ‘HDLife’ are a few of the series topics that we have been through together over the past year. I trust that God has used His Word to challenge you.
It is a great time to be a part of the Landsdale Community WMC! I said a few months ago that I believe we are standing on the threshold of an amazing moving of the Holy Spirit and I believe that now more than ever. Lets continue to scatter seeds in our community and trust the Lord of the harvest to produce fruit.
Let me finish by stating that I love you and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in and through you in the coming year as together we follow Him and serve Him in our growing community.
In His Palm,


Rev. Christopher George

Dear Partners in Ministry, 4/8/2011
This past year has been an astounding year! God has done so many amazing things and shown his face in the ministry of the Landsdale Community Wesleyan Methodist Church. I am blessed to be a part of what God is doing here and honoured that he has called me to work with all you wonderful people! Every day God uses you to bless me!
As Assistant pastor this past year I have been the director for Kids Club. It has been an exciting year with us starting with 15 kids and have worked our way up to 32. We are ministering to over 45 different kids and God is doing amazing things through them. In the Semester we had two mums sign up every week for snack and for helpers. This has turned out to be amazing and God is working in these mums hearts. I am excited about the new look and the numbers of parents helping. As a result Kids Club has become financially self sufficient for snack, and we are now ready to make a kids club committee that will be responsible to the LAC. The committee will help come up with fundraisers as well as ideas for family days. But, would need LAC approval for all decisions they would like to make .This potentially could take some pressure off the general budget of the church as well as get parents more involved in our Church.
Some special highlights for the Kids Club Ministry were:
1) 10 children Accepting Christ and 6 recommitting their lives at Holiday Kids Club
2) 4 Girls sharing their testimonies at the last Kids Club Awards Night.
3) 69 people in attendance at our last kids club awards Night!
4) Our first successful fundraiser for Kids Club at the Rollerdrome in Morley.

Although, I am the children’s and worship pastor at the LCWMC, there are a few other hats I wear that God has used me in this year.
1) I served as the Wesleyan Women’s coordinator for the past year planning a High Tea and the Women’s Camp. Both were successful and wonderful times of fellowship.
2) Organized the District Family Camp this year. With over 40 people attending from various churches. The exciting part for me was that we had 23 people participate in the weekend from the Landsdale church.
As I look forward to the next year I can’t wait to see what God has in store. Every day is a brand new surprise of what God has in store for our church and our family!

Respectfully,
Rev. Melissa George

Family Fun Day/ Fundraiser

God works in just astounding ways. Chris called the local skating rink to arrange a family skate day. When he was speaking to the owner he said that he would LOVE for our church to come and he would also like to offer us a deal! Now, chris at first thought maybe he would give us a $1 off or something. But the words that came out of his mouth were totally unexpected. The owner offered us to get into the skating rink for the normal price! BUT, he would give 1/2 what everyone paid back before we even left the rink in a check! This was the first time we ever did a fundraiser for kids club. And, God blessed us... 27 people came and skated (had a bit of a drama with the time it ran into some other sports clubs games like netball!) But, most of the kids had never skated before and we had a blast hitting the floor and spending time with some families. The highlights for us for the day were

1) a family from Makayla's class came and they have NEVER even come to kids club! So, that was exciting...

2) Also, a bunch of mums were thrilled and were asking if we could do more family days! (Which we do one atleast a month... so look like they will be getting more involved in our church. God is good! :)

3) DADS came!!!!!

Pray for these families in this picture!

Womens Camp

This weekend was our Womens camp for the District. As I am the director of Wesleyan Women for Perth, me and two other ladies worked very hard the last few months to pull off this weekend. Our goals were to bring in a guest speaker, get more young adults and teenagers (14+)on the camp, and get women to stay the whole weekend. God blessed us and our preparations. We had 16 women come and stay the whole weekend. We had 4 come and stay saturday- Sunday. and 1 lady come on saturday and Sunday. We were able to bring a guest speaker in from Melbourne. Mrs. Lyn Holland. She spoke on Birthmarks and Scars and it was just an incredile weekend for us women to learn to work through the way we are and the ways God has used us, pushed us, strengthened us, and blessed us!

The worship times were wonderful and the bonding times were excellent as we did a craft of "retro clipboards", and we did a short hike along the ocean which was beautiful. Some special moments for me I will highlight below:

1. Two teenagers came with me on the weekend! God is working in their lives and they so needed this bonding time to see that Jesus is JUST as real to them and he is to us WOMEN!
2. We were able to get 5 Young Adult women on the camp this year....
3. Playing games and building relationships with the ladies.
4. the speaker fit in SO well... It was if she knew us forever!
5. For the first time we have nominated an actual Wesleyan Women for the Perth area. Therefore it will not just be me and two other ladies doing the work, but we now have a team of Women who God has called to serve him and I am SOOOO excited to see what God has in store this year for the Wesleyan Women of Perth, Australia!
6. The weekend cost the ladies ALOT $180.00/ each. But, we were still able to take a LOVE offering and give the speaker a gift for the weekend.. That is GOD moving! He is amazing and he is living in these WONDERFUL women in Australia!
Pray for them! God has big plans to use them to touch other womens lives....

Kids Club Awards Night-Term 2
Sunday night was an amazing evening as we saw God move in an amazing way! We had the most people we have ever had at church! There were 67 people in attendance. (AND, we were missing 22 kids and their families!) We came together to giveaway two new badges to the children.
They earned their family badge and also their WWJD badge. This term the kids learnt many exciting things such as:
1) Honour your Mum and Dad
2) Serve your family
3) Obey your Mum and Dad
4) God looks at the heart
5) God loves us just the way we are
6) We should follow Jesus
7) We should be "right" in God's sight
8) We should turn to Jesus when we are scared.

During church 4 girls shared their testimonies of ways they lived out their "secret missions" for the week! If I can get video of this, I will download it.. Completely amazing to hear what they said." But, the girls hearts have been changed and are wanting to live their lives every day for Jesus. Afterwards the kids shared three songs.
Into the Bible
Hey, Jesus Loves me
and Rooftops! The kids were fantastic and were so excited to sing praise and worship!
Afterwards we donned the children with their new sashes and badges! It was fantastic!
After that Chris preached a sermon on living faithful lives to God in the midst of all of the little things. It was great to be able to share that they could live lives that please the Lord and they can live on a track that leads to God's fullness for them.

After the service we shared a family meal together that everyone helped provide!
IT was truly an amazing evening! This is God's hand moving in Landsdale! And, God is drawing these people to him! Pray that we will get these parents to participate in Christianity explained!

Below are some pics!