G’day Praying Partners:
Thank you for your
prayers on our behalf. We never want to take for granted the blessings that we
enjoy because you are bringing us before the throne of grace! You faithfulness
to lift us up in prayer is appreciated more than we can say. We are living proof
that the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much!!
Last month we asked you
to pray for our fellowship together enjoying the film “Evolution vs. God”. We
all had lunch together first – Jackie called it a “soup-a-licious Sunday” –
where we enjoyed a variety of soups. Everyone appreciated the reminder that
when evolution versus God, God wins every time! If you’ve never seen the
documentary, it’s definitely worth viewing.
We have begun preparing
for our mini-show. Our church family wants to try it on a Sunday. We’re
guaranteed plenty of help that way! There’s a concern that we won’t have as
many kids because we’ve had consistently smaller groups on Saturday as opposed
to Friday, but we’re happy to give it a go to get more of our church family involved.
Please pray with us that on September 21st we would have a good
group of kids come out to hear the gospel!
This week we had a young
adult activity at a new indoor trampoline venue. As in the States, this is a
difficult group to keep on the right track spiritually and we try to schedule
opportunities every other month to give them the chance to fellowship together.
We have a real burden to see this age group stand firm spiritually and share
their faith with their peer group.
There has been an interesting
development with our ministry at the school. You may recall that a couple of
years ago the principal at the school asked Rob to pursue being the chaplain at
the school. This was a door that the Lord had opened since it was nothing we
had even thought about, let alone pursued, and just as quickly it seemed like
the door closed. The school has had 2 chaplains since then. Recently, the
principal again told Rob he wanted him to be the chaplain. The “rules” have
changed again and Rob was able to get the clearance to be the chaplain at the
school! Again, we know that this is completely from God as it was a closed door
until recently. To explain, a chaplain in a public school is not like a
chaplain in the military. Rob’s ministry is one of encouragement to children
that are struggling with various difficulties. The principal has been thrilled
with how it’s been going. This has opened so many doors for Rob at the school –
he’s been able to meet parents, meet all of the staff, minister to hurting
children, encourage students to do the right thing and even developed a great
relationship with the principal. This is one of those things that we just sit
back and marvel over what God has done! Recently a lawsuit was brought to the
Supreme Court here concerning the chaplaincy program and it was ruled
“unconstitutional”. Because of this, we know that this ministry will probably
be short-lived, but we are going to be faithful to shine God’s love as long as
He allows this to go on! We are also still doing our grand-parenting program
and enjoying every minute of it! Please pray with us that God would allow us to
demonstrate His love at the school to all those we come in contact with.
Our family time was
wonderful. We spent 3 days in the mountains – the view from the house we rented
was beautiful! Every morning we had kangaroos across the street, and Jackie’s
favourite animal visited us daily as well – the beautiful kookaburra! (the above pic was taken in our front yard) We took
our dog for a walk and found emu’s not far from where we were staying. Have we
mentioned this is a beautiful country? We reveled in God’s beautiful creation
and just enjoyed being together as a family. Please continue to pray for
Stefanie as she is still looking for a job. Tori returns to California on the
30th of August. Oh, a praise for that is we were able to combine
frequent flyer points and get her back for under $200! God is SO good! We would
appreciate your prayers as we say goodbye – again.
Our granddaughter just
returned to school. She was given a “questionnaire” to fill out – she’s 9 by the way. One of the questions was “if
you could be like any one great person, who would you choose”? Her answer? Jesus!
Our prayer is that we would all have that attitude each and every day – a desire
to be more like Jesus!
Shining the Light Down
Under,
Rob, Jackie, Stefanie and
Tori
