G’day Praying Partners:
Thank you SO much for
your prayers for the mini show! It was such an incredible blessing – I’ll fill
you in on some of the details.
We are so blessed to have
a church full of people who are willing to get involved and get their hands
dirty! The theme for this outreach was “Digging for the Truth” – the idea being
an Indiana Jones/archaeology type of day for the kids. The day began with registration.
We ended up with over 60 kids (some of them were younger and we didn’t register
them) and 25-30 parents/grandparents that stayed. At registration they received
a bag – a couple of us sewed 75 of these! They looked very much like the bag
Indiana Jones carries to put his artifacts in. The next thing they did was
decorate their bags. We had several tables set up with markers for them to
individualize their bags. After we were sure the majority of kids had
registered, we began the day with a skit. We have a young man visiting family
for a year and his passion is drama, so he wrote a skit which our young adults
performed. It clearly presented the gospel message – not just to the kids but
also to the parents. From there they were turned loose for fun! We had 7 quests
set up for them to complete – upon which they received their treasure. The
first was an obstacle course that one of our couples built. It was complete
with a giant ball that rolled down after them as they came out from a tunnel
and crossing snake and croc infested water. The second quest was learning how
to land an airplane! We had airplanes that we purchased from Oriental Trading
that they put together and landed on the landing strip. The third quest was
learning how to shoot “poison” darts. We had straws with q-tips that they had
to shoot at a target. The fourth quest was a puzzle that they had to assemble –
which when completed correctly spelled “Jesus”. The lady that ran this game had
each child read the result – it was something to see little Muslim children say
“Jesus”! The fifth quest was finding the jewel in the rocks. This turned out to
be their favourite activity - weird! I had made rocks out of coffee grounds,
sand, salt, flour and water and baked inside each one was an “emerald”. They
donned goggles and hammered until they found the jewel. The sixth quest was an
archaeological dig. In the sand pit we buried 72 eggs that had dinosaurs in
them. This turned out to be quite hysterical as the people who buried them got
a little carried away! Different people were manning this activity and at one
point I saw them down on their hands and knees digging furiously to try to find
eggs for the kids – who weren’t having much luck on their own! The last quest
was to write their name in hieroglyphics which we had posted on one of the
walls. When they completed the quests they went to the treasure chest and
received a goody bad with lots of treats plus invitations to church and a
tract. This year we also made up bags for the parents to enjoy that had tracts
and invites as well. Along with all this, we also had a jumping castle, face
painting, a snack, a paint spinning craft and 2 carnival games to play. A HUGE thank
you goes out to those who helped us provide all the toys from Oriental. At each
quest they received a different item to put in their sack – a compass,
magnifying glass, notebook, etc. My Afghani friend came and brought her 4 kids –
this is the 3rd outreach they’ve been to. She told me her son had
been up at 9:00 dressed and ready to go – the activity wasn’t until 2:30! There
are 2 other Muslim families that are “regulars” to our outreaches now – along with
a Hindu family. We are so amazed at the people God allows us to minister to.
The parents were so appreciative of the good time their kids had. Please
continue to pray for fruit. We are sowing the seeds and watering, counting on
God to bring the harvest! As missionaries, it thrills our heart to see the
people God sent us to minister to ministering to others! Thank you so much for
your prayers and support to this outreach! If you want to go to our blog
ernstfamilydownunder.blogspot.com.au, I will have some pictures posted there.
Spring has sprung here in
Melbourne. Finally it seems that we are heading towards warmer weather. Of
course, a few weeks of a hot Australian summer and we won’t be so sad to see
the winter again! October 4th is our 35th wedding
anniversary! We are taking a couple of days off and going into the city to
enjoy the “most livable city in the world”! I wish I could tell you face to
face how much we still marvel that God chose to bring us here. What an
adventure it is to follow God’s plan for our lives! We pray that each of you is
on that adventure as well – following God wherever He may lead. We can promise
one thing, it is NEVER boring!
Shining the Light Down
Under,
Rob and Jackie
