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