December Update

G’day Praying Partners,

Is anyone else saying “where has this month gone”? I can’t believe that Christmas is almost upon us! The month has flown by and I must apologize for not reporting earlier concerning all of my health needs. Everything is clear as far as cancer is concerned. We are praising the Lord for the good report! Thank you for your prayers on our behalf.

It has been a busy month. Let’s see if I can sum it up for you! We celebrated Thanksgiving on December 3 with some friends. It’s always a bit strange for us to just pick a day to celebrate, but we look forward to taking time to be thankful for all that God has provided – including the turkey! The school had a big carnival on the 9^th and we (church) had a booth set up with some games for the kids to play. It was another opportunity to remind people that we meet at the school. Rob and I were privileged to be invited to the year 6 dinner and graduation. These are kids that we began working with when they were in year 3 and we began our grandparenting program. It was a special blessing to us to be able to celebrate with them. Jackie always makes cupcakes for the graduating class; she brought those by the school on Thursday. It was a smaller class this year – only 92 cupcakes were needed. (Prayer meeting was at our house the night before so she had help from some of the ladies at church.) The kids were so grateful. They had graduation bears for autographing and we were surrounded by kids asking for our signature. We feel SO incredibly blessed to be used by God in the school. Jackie did get permission from the father of one of the girls she works with to continue the relationship even though she’s graduated. Please pray for wisdom for Jackie as she seeks for opportunities to share the gospel with her. This Sunday is our Carols by Candlelight service. We are praying for a full house! Last year we had close to 80 in attendance – many friends and family members and several unsaved. Pray that God would be glorified through the service. We will be having breakfast with our church family on Christmas – this is something we do every year, it just happens to fall on Sunday this year!

Christmas is a bit difficult this year – we were spoiled last year with all of our kids being with us! We pray that your Christmas will be special as you celebrate the Savior’s birth. I love the reminder that we get this time of year of just what our God was willing to do to have a relationship with us – incredible! I know that it sounds trite to say – but Jesus really IS the reason for the season! May we all take the opportunity to share His love – in practical ways – with those we meet during this special time. What better gift could we give than the gospel?

Merry Christmas to each of you – and thank you for your faithful prayers for us. May 2017 find each of us serving God wherever He has placed us!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob and Jackie

November Update

G’day Prayer Partners:

Thank you for your prayers for us this past month. It’s been a hectic few weeks and we’ve appreciated more than we can say the prayers of God’s people on our behalf.

A couple of weekends ago was our church family camp. We enjoyed a wonderful weekend away with most of our church family. We’ve had some pretty cold weather (especially since it’s supposed to be spring!), but that weekend the weather was perfect! About 2 months ago a young family from Brazil began attending our church. He speaks a bit of English, but she doesn’t speak or understand it very well. Jackie began this past week meeting with Maristela to teach her conversational English. Please pray that we can be a blessing to them and get them both to the point of being able to share the gospel in ways they will understand. If you’d like to see some pictures from family camp, I’ll put them up on our blog ernstfamilydownunder.blogspot.com.

We’ve finished up our church-wide Bible study on the book of Ephesians. It was a blessing to see so many participate and put in lots of hours studying God’s Word. It’s been exciting to see God growing our people as they study His word.

This Sunday will be exciting for us as we are having a baptism service! We have 2 adults getting baptized. One is a young man that many of you may have prayed for about 1 ½ years ago – Milos. He accepted Christ on Easter a year ago. Jackie has been discipling a lady who has been coming to church for about a year that will also be getting baptized. It’s always exciting to see believers making this commitment.

We both continue to minister at the primary school. Rob is so blessed to be able to be God’s hands and feet to the students, staff and parents. Jackie is enjoying working with the 2 Iraqi girls as well as the 2 Australian girls she’s been with for several years. In fact, these 2 graduate from year 6 this year and will go on to high school. 

We would ask you to continue to pray for Jackie’s health. She saw the oncologist on Tuesday. There was a CT scan done back in September because of some pain she was having. Although nothing showed up where the pain was concerned (which has since stopped), there was a spot on her liver that the oncologist wants to investigate further. She is having an ultrasound tomorrow. We would appreciate prayers that all will be clear.

It’s hard to believe the elections are in a week! One of the blessings of being in Australia is that we don’t get all the political adsJ We do keep up by watching Fox News – and yes, we voted. What a comfort it is to know that, as sad as the political state of America is right now, God is in control. He is working out His will and His plan and it WILL be accomplished! “Now therefore you are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God” Eph. 2:19. As you cast your vote, take comfort in remembering that this world is NOT our home – we’re just passing through!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob & Jackie

September Update

Dear Praying Friends,

Wanted to just get a quick update to let you know how the outreach on Sunday went. It is spring in Australia, but on Sunday you wouldn’t have known that! It was very cold and rainy. We had quite a few kids tell us at school that if it rained they couldn’t come (even though everything is held indoors). So we are thankful for the few that showed up. We ended up with around 40 kids and 15 adults in attendance (not counting our church family). Many of you who have prayed for this outreach through the years may recall that this is not a vacation Bible school or anything similar. It is literally an opportunity for us to be a blessing to the families at the school and in our community. At the same time in Melbourne is the Royal Melbourne Show – like our state fairs. It’s quite expensive and it’s hard for some families to be able to attend – which is how we came up with the idea of our mini show. However, we do use it as a chance to share the gospel with those who wouldn’t normally come to church. We had a “cave” theme this year – with our idea being “Jesus is the Light of the World”. Rob presented the gospel to the parents and kids in a darkened room using a “magic” trick incorporating a floating light. We wanted something that they would remember – and it worked! Even our church family thought it was awesomeJ We turned one of the rooms into a cave with glowing eyes, bats and all kinds of things. Inside was a tub of glowing rice that they dug through to find their prize – a glow in the dark bracelet. We had another free standing cave that they had to walk through and count all the glowing bugs they saw. There were 3 “touch and feel” boxes (after all, you can’t always see in a cave) where they had to stick in their hand and tell us what they felt – including a giant hairy spider and worms (cooked spaghetti). There was another box they looked in to identify cave writings on the wall, a stalagmite toss game along with several other things to do. We had a jumping castle, craft where they made a caving helmet and a photo booth which looked like they were in a cave. There were chocolate covered marshmallows decorated like bats for snacks (this and several ideas we used came from Pinterest – and all the ladies said “amen”J). Our people worked so hard and we are so proud of them! We have one new family from Brazil that jumped in and helped and couldn’t believe how much fun they had. One gentleman that recently started coming (from the Philippines) loves chess, so he set up a table to teach anyone who wanted to learn how to play – and surprisingly several kids (and adults) took advantage of it! Several of the men had a great time building the cave – and it was the hit of the day with the kids AND parents. One of the men in our church heard a Hindu mom ask her daughter as they were leaving what Rob talked to them about. She said, “Oh, Jesus is the light of the world”. Awesome! They got it! Thanks again for your prayers – we know that there are seeds being sown and although we don’t see fruit at this immediate moment, we know His Word never returns void! 

We have gotten our dining room back now that all the boxes, prizes, papers and such have been used. It's been a VERY busy couple of weeks getting prepared. And now, for some R&R in Canberra for a few daysJ

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob & Jackie

September Update

Dear Praying Partners,

I wanted to get a quick update out to ask you to be in prayer. This Sunday (18th) we will be having our Malcolm Creek Mini Show. This is usually our biggest outreach. Our theme this year is Jesus is the Light and all our activities will be cave related. If you could pray for good weather, a good turnout of kids and God to be glorified, we would appreciate it!

The Tuesday following the Mini Show Jackie will be having some medical tests done. We would appreciate prayers that all will be well. She also will be seeing the oncologist the first part of November.

We are taking a few days of R&R on that Wednesday, returning home on Saturday. We’ll be travelling to Canberra – the capital of Australia. It will be a combination late birthday for Rob/early anniversary celebrationJ And just a needed break!

We are halfway through our Bible study and our church family is truly enjoying it. We’ve been memorizing a lot of verses as well and are so proud of the hard work being put into studying God’s word. Recently we had a new family from Brazil begin worshiping with us. They have 2 small children and are new to Australia. We also have a man from the Philippines that has been coming for about a month.  Just recently Jackie’s been going to the school to work with 2 girls from Iraq, helping out with their English. One of the things that we have truly enjoyed about ministering here has been the multi cultural aspect of ministry!

“Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,” – We are praising God for His exceedingly abundant work in our lives! Thank you for being a part of that through your prayers on our behalf!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob and Jackie

August, 2016

G’day Praying Partners:

I’ll apologize at the beginning that it’s been 2 months since our last update. We are just now feeling like we’re back in the swing of “normal” life after our time back in the US. It was such a blessing to be back with family and friends. We spent a few days in California celebrating Tori’s graduation from university, then on to Houston to spend a few days with our son (who’s there working for the summer) and then to Florida for a few weeks to visit with family. We were able to see Rob’s step dad and sister – it’s been such a difficult time for them with the passing of Rob’s mom. Even though we were there for over a month, the time seemed to fly by. Thank you for your prayers as we travelled.

We’ve hit the ground running since we got back. Before we left, we hadn’t had time to get truly settled in our house, so we took some time to get that accomplished as we needed to be ready for prayer meeting and Bible studies to resume. Thank you for prayers for the thing we shared last update about our previous landlord – the case was dismissed and we will be receiving our bond back. A HUGE answer to prayer! Please be in prayer as we are beginning our men’s and ladies’ Bible studies. We will be studying the book of Ephesians together – we’re not using any “formal” study, but teaching our people how to study. Really looking forward to seeing God grow us – and unite us together as His body. We are also in the process of planning for our Mini Show outreach on September 18. Please pray for God to be glorified through all of it. Thank you for your prayers for Jackie’s health. She’s still dealing with some issues. She is scheduled for some further tests on September 20, your prayers are appreciated.

If you go to our blog ernstfamilydownunder.blogspot.com, I will post some pics from our time in the States. One of the shocks was leaving the heat of a Florida summer to return to the cold of a Melbourne winter! We did enjoy showing our Australian friend, Rob, around America – he spent 3 weeks with us. He had a great time and is looking forward to returning!

I’ve been having my quiet time in Philippians. In chapter one, verse 5 talks about Paul’s “partnership” in the gospel with the Philippians – I wrote in the margin of my Bible how much I love that idea. Partnering together for the sake of the gospel – that’s what you do when you support/pray/encourage us here in Australia! May our partnership – both on your side of the ocean and ours – bring much fruit for the kingdom of Christ!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob and Jackie Ernst

May, 2016

G’day Praying Partners,

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”  I Peter 1:7 This was a verse that spoke to me during my quiet time today. The genuineness of our faith often gets tested. These times are difficult and not ones that we would necessarily have chosen for ourselves. Sometimes we ask why? What’s the purpose? That our faith may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Christ. As our faith is tested, as trials and tribulations come our way, how we handle it, what we do with it, reveals Christ to those around us. These reminders are a comfort to us. It has been a rough first quarter for us personally. It’s been a roller coaster ride with Jackie’s health. She did see the oncologist yesterday and was given the “all clear” with the caveat that she will be seen in 6 months to check for any reoccurrence. At the end of this part of the journey, it was a hallelujah moment! During this time, as you may recall, we have moved into another house. Our new address is: 13 The Woods Blvd., Mickleham, Victoria, Australia 3064. If any of you have shifted houses recently, you will know how stressful that is, let alone with Jackie being unavailable to lend a hand (although she did try and ended up in bed for 2 days!).  The landlord from our old house is trying to keep our bond – unfairly – so that has been referred to the equivalent of small claims court here. That has been an extra financial burden, as you can imagine. Then, 2 weeks ago, we got the sad news that Rob’s mom had passed away. This was somewhat unexpected as she had told us that she was doing better. Because we already have flights booked to see our youngest daughter, Tori, graduate from college in May, we were unable to get Rob back for the funeral.  Emotionally, it’s been draining. Physically, it’s been exhausting. Spiritually, it’s been …hard to put a word there, because with everything that’s gone on, we’ve clearly seen God’s hand at work, even through the sadness and difficulty.  Stretching, that’s a good word. When you’re in ministry teaching and training others for the work, encouraging them to walk by faith, oftentimes God gives you the opportunity to practice what you preach – and I mean REALLY practice it. Our faith has been stretched this quarter, but not broken.  We know that God is doing just what He promised – completing the work He started in us!

We’ve been looking forward to our time back in the States – short as it will be. On Thursday we will leave Australia behind for California. What an incredible joy it’s going to be to see our youngest graduate from college! We will be there for a few days, then on to Texas to visit for a few days with our son, then on to Florida for a couple of weeks. We look forward to meeting the new pastor of our sending church and speaking at 2 churches – one new supporter and one that we haven’t been to in awhile. Of course, hugging our grandkids is at the top of our list as well! A special blessing is that a young man from our church here in Australia is coming with us! We are so excited about showing him some of the sights in the States. He’s never been outside of Australia and is looking forward to this trip almost as much as we are! We would appreciate your prayers as we travel around a bit.

I know that we say this often – but thank you for your prayers. We know that they have truly sustained us for the last few months. It is an honor and privilege to serve Christ together with you here in Australia!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob and Jackie

April Update

G’day Praying Partners:

I wanted to give you a quick update – even though it hasn’t been a month – because of answers to prayer since our last update!

First, Jackie’s surgery went well. She was in hospital 4 days and has been home about 10 days. Earlier this week she received a phone call from her surgeon to come in the next day because she needed to talk about pathology results. Her first words to us were “I don’t have good news” – not what we wanted to hear! There was cancer in the uterus – but none was detected in the tubes or ovaries. The surgeon feels like it has all been removed but, as she said, she is not the expert where that is concerned. Jackie’s case has been referred to a gynecology oncologist who will review it then contact her for an appointment. Our prayer, of course, is that it’s all been removed and just yearly exams will be necessary. Thank you for your prayers for healing.

Second, we found a house! Rob actually found it while Jackie was in hospital. The papers have been signed – Jackie got to take a walk through last night. We have until April 4 to get shifted into the new place and get the old place cleaned up. Rob has some men lined up to help with the move on Easter Monday. Jackie will be in a strictly supervisory role (which if you know her you know that will drive her crazy!). The house is a bit north of us – about 7 minutes up the road – and will suit our needs perfectly. Thank you for your prayers for housing.

Lastly, our Easter Eggstravaganza went really well. We had a smaller group of kids – mostly because Rob wasn’t at school the week before to promote it (had to take care of Jackie!). We reckoned that the smaller group was good to give our inexperienced “organizer” a chance to get her feet wet without too much pressure! They ended up with 40+ kids and 15+ parents. What an opportunity we have to share the gospel with people who would NEVER step in our church! Thank you for your prayers for God to be glorified!

Happy Resurrection Day! How incredible is it that we serve a Risen Saviour! We are praying that you will have many opportunities to share the Saviour with those around you.

You all will never know how much your prayers mean to us – especially with so much on our plate! At times it can feel overwhelming, but God is so good to give us that “peace that passeth all understanding” which helps us to keep going!  Thank you so much for uplifting us!

Shining the Light Down Under

Rob and Jackie

March Update

G’day Praying Partners,

This is going to be a quick update with a couple of pressing prayer needs. Jackie was called in for a follow up for her procedure and our assumption was incorrect – a pre-cancerous lesion was found on her uterine lining which is requiring a complete hysterectomy. God has opened the door for her to have the surgery on March 11 – barring any emergency that might bump her surgery. Please pray that this doesn’t happen, that the surgery goes well and that she has a quick and complete recovery. We are praising the Lord that this was found because of the diligence of the specialist that she went to early on to be determined to be “extra cautious” about everything. There have been many times along the way that an “all clear” could have been legitimately given and 2 years from now when she went in for her regular check up we would have been looking at a very different situation. God is good!

Unfortunately this means that she will be recovering when we have to move – to a house we have not yet found! This is a very pressing need as we have to be out of this house by April 4. We know that God has the perfect house all lined up for us – we just need to find it! Please be in prayer that this happens soon so we can get that settled. As you can imagine, this is a bit of a stress for us.

Lastly, our Easter outreach is scheduled for March 20.  We talked about cancelling but felt the Lord leading to press on – so that is what we are doing. Obviously Jackie won’t be there – she has handed off a “to do” list to the other ladies for the organization of the day. Please pray for kids and parents to come, the gospel to be clearly shared and lives to be impacted. Mostly pray that God would be glorified through it all!

Thank you for your faithfulness to lift us up to our sovereign God. We know that He is in control of every detail of our lives. How thankful we are to have a loving God go before us!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob & Jackie

February Update

G’day Praying Partners:

Thank you for your prayers for Jackie’s outpatient procedure – everything went well and all looks good. Unfortunately, on the afternoon we returned from it, there was a registered letter waiting for us informing us that our landlord is planning to move into the house and we have to vacate. This is very disappointing to say the least. We have until April 4 to find a new home. We’ve already begun looking but it’s pretty discouraging. Please pray with us – we know that God has the perfect place for us. We are especially disappointed to leave these neighbors behind as we’ve built some bridges with them, but God knows all that as well. Pray as well that we will have neighbors with whom we can share Christ.

We had our first ladies brunch in January. The ladies did a small study on Eve. In February we will be taking a look at Hannah. Jackie is also involved with some one on one discipleship with a new single mom to the church. Rob has 2 men involved in discipleship. It’s exciting to be carrying out this part of the Great Commission! One of our young couples has started up a young adult Bible study that is meeting weekly. We are so thankful for people stepping up to do the work of the ministry!

It’s only February and it seems like the year is already flying by! We are beginning work on our Easter Eggstravaganza which we will hold on March 20^th. Please be in prayer for this – last year we had over 100 people there, between kids and parents. As a church, we are praying about possibly starting up a weekly Bible club. We don’t want to jump ahead of what God is doing, so right now it’s just a matter of prayer. The church has such a good relationship with the school and with Rob there as chaplain, there’s lots of contact with the students, so we’re thinking it might be a good time to start one. It would take our people being on board as it has to be staffed weekly. We are waiting on God’s leading!

We have some new faces at church, which is always nice. Please continue to pray that Cornerstone Baptist Church will be a lighthouse in Craigieburn!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob & Jackie

January Update

G’day Praying Partners:

Apologies for the lateness of our update – but I think that you can understand since we have been having SO much fun with our family here! God provided in so many ways – to say that our “cup runneth over” would be putting it mildly! Our son, daughter-in-law and 2 grandkids arrived on December 12. Jackie had big plans to take pictures with her phone as they came off the plane – short-lived as she burst into tears the second she saw them! It’s hard to describe the almost surreal feeling of having them with us in Australia. That week we rode the train into the city, patted and fed kangaroos, koalas and wombats and just enjoyed spending time together. Tori arrived on December 19 – our family was complete! There was more sightseeing but the biggest blessing was just being able to wrap our arms around them and hug them anytime we wanted! Our house was crowded and noisy – and we enjoyed every moment of it! Who doesn’t enjoy being woken every morning by their grandson? Or watching as your grandkids play with your dog out in the paddock? Tori had to fly back on January 9^th to be to classes on the 11^th (she is in her last semester of university!). The kids came over on “buddy passes” from a family member which meant they flew cheap but had to fly stand-by.  This presented no problem until they tried to leave! Originally they were scheduled to leave on the first of January, but in seeing the flights fill up fast, Rob decided to drive all night and take them to Sydney (this is where Delta flies out of). After 2 days of failed attempts, they came back. Nobody was really disappointed that it meant they were with us longer! In fact, God arranged for them to be here with us until the 12^th – which meant they were here to celebrate Jackie’s birthday! They flew out to Sydney on the 12^th but couldn’t get on a flight until the 13^th. God worked a miracle, though, and got them home! One of the best things for us was having our children meet our Australian family – and visa versa. Our two worlds “collided” for a brief period and it was so awesome! As it turned out, they were with us for 4 Sunday services (Brooke, our daughter in law, has a beautiful voice and sang in 3 services).  One of the difficulties of mission’s life is that you live in two different worlds and it’s not often that the two meet. What a blessing it is that when we talk about our kids, our church family can see a face and when we talk with our kids about our church family, they, too, can picture faces.  Anyway…you can imagine that it has been an incredible month! 

A couple of updates. We had our Carols by Candlelight service on December 12^th. Originally we were scheduled to combine with our other BMM church work here, but because our kids arrived on that day, we had to switch to doing it in the morning. What a turn out we had! Our church family invited friends and family and we were full to the brim – we reckon we had over 80 here on the day! So many unsaved people came; it was such an encouragement to us to see our church family faithful to bring out their friends and family. The gospel was presented – continue to pray for fruit! From that service God brought a single mum and her autistic daughter to our church. They have been faithful coming ever since the Carols service. Please pray for wisdom as we minister to them. 

Jackie will be having some out-patient surgery on Monday, January 18. It will require anesthesia. Please pray that all goes well and that tests show everything is ok. Also, an update on Milos. His fingers are doing well – still surgery and physio and he will have limited use, but the progress is good. He proposed to one of our young ladies at church (she and Tori grew up together) so we have a wedding in our future!

As you know, it’s summer here. That means ministry slows down as the heat rises! The other day it was 108 degrees! Thankfully the heat doesn’t last more than a day or two before it cools off a bit. School is back on the 28^th which means ministry will kick back up again! Please pray as we prepare the calendar for the year. Jackie is scheduling monthly brunches with the ladies where they will be studying different women in the Bible. With school means Rob will be back being the chaplain and Jackie will be doing the grandparenting program. Pray for wisdom as we start both of these ministries back up again.

A new year means a new beginning. Another year to serve the King. Another year to think that this may be THE year, the year Christ returns! Another year to see God at work all around us – and in us – and through us! I think that’s worth looking forward to! Praying that 2016 sees us all walking closer with Him, living more in His grace and love and finding the boldness and strength to share that grace and love with those around us!

Shining the Light Down Under,

Rob and Jackie