G’day Praying Partners:
Last month we asked you to pray for a couple of things. Our “personal”
request was that our daughter would have safety as she travelled back to
school. Tori has been in school for a couple of weeks now and we appreciate
your prayers on her behalf. It has been hard for us to have her away, but we
know that she is following God’s will and are so grateful for that. Please pray
for her as she is looking for a job on campus – and continue to pray for
Stefanie as she is still looking for employment here!
The ministry request was concerning the Mini Show – our outreach in
September. Thank you so much for your prayers – which God answered
tremendously! For those of you unfamiliar with this outreach, we do this in
conjunction with Melbourne’s Show – like a state fair. We have several
activities for the kids to do – a jumping castle, face painting, several
crafts, popcorn and this year 6 carnival games for them to play. We offer it all free of charge as a way to
present the gospel and minister to the children in our area. I shared in last
month’s update that we had decided to do it on a Sunday afternoon, but that we
were not sure how many kids would come. Our largest group of kids has always
been when we do it on Friday because on the weekends kids are involved in sport
activities. Last year, while we were on furlough, they had it on a Saturday and
only had about 25 kids attend. After much prayer, we prepared for 50 – and God
gave us a few extra! We ended up with 55 kids (only 2 from our church!) – and
even better than that, we had over 25 parents stay with their kids! Our theme
was “Superheroes”. About 30 minutes into it, we gathered the kids together and
Rob and Mick (one of our deacons) did a skit as “Flatman and Bobbin” presenting
Jesus as the greatest “Superhero”. All the kids – and parents – listened attentively. We make sure that, in addition to the prizes for playing
the games and all their crafts, the kids go home with “goody” bags that have a
children’s gospel tract in it. This year we also put in “wordless book
bracelets” with verses to explain each bead. We are so thankful for this
opportunity to share Christ with children – and their parents – who would never
step foot in a Christian church. There were so many good comments from the parents and many expressed their appreciation for all our hard work! Please pray for the many
people that heard the gospel that day – many for the first time – that it would
penetrate their hearts. It was also such a blessing to us to see our people
serving the Lord with a servant’s attitude. Everyone jumped in to lend a hand.
We have a young couple who haven’t been coming very long – they started just
before we returned from furlough. In keeping with our theme, he volunteered to
put together a costume and dress up like Captain America; they brought their
Polaroid camera so the kids could have their picture taken with him. Needless
to say, it was a BIG hit with the children! It was such an encouragement to us to see our people reaching out
into their community with the gospel!
Rob’s message Sunday, before the mini-show, was about reaching the
world together. He reminded us that the great commission is for ALL of us and
it takes ALL of us doing the work – TOGETHER! Thank you for partnering with us
financially and with your prayers as we reach out into our community in
Melbourne – we are praying for YOU as you reach out into yours. It will take
ALL of us working and praying TOGETHER to reach the WORLD!
Shining the Light Down Under,
Rob, Jackie, Stefanie, Victoria
