G’day Praying Partners:
I can’t believe that it’s been 3 months since my last update! I truly
don’t know where the time has gone. We do apologise to those of you who are
praying faithfully and wondering just what has been happening!
As you may remember, we had lots of visitors with us in the month of June!
My sister and niece arrived about an hour later than a childhood friend and her
nephew to the Melbourne airport. It was SO exciting to have family and friends
come for their first visit to Australia! Deanna and Colton (friend and nephew)
were here for almost a week, my sister, Kim, for 3 weeks and my niece, Cassidy,
is still here with us! As you can imagine, it’s been an extremely busy – but fun
– time! We were able to show them around this beautiful area of Victoria. The
weather was good for this time of year and we were SO thankful for the time
spent together. There are some pictures on the blog if you want to see them:
ernstfamilydownunder.blogspot.com. Combined with the visitors we had in March,
it’s been a great year of blessing for us! God has been so good to encourage us
in this way.
In other praises, this past Sunday we had our 10th
anniversary celebration at Cornerstone Baptist! It’s so hard to believe that 10
years ago God began this work with 13 people in our home. It was such a
blessing to look back on all that God has done – and be challenged to look
forward to what God will do in the future! I shared with our church family that
when God called us to Australia so many years ago and we said good-bye to all
that we loved and were comfortable with, I had no idea how He would provide for
us to meet our needs in such incredible ways. We are beyond blessed and our cup
truly does run over with all that He has provided these last 10 years for the
church. We are reminded every day that this is God’s work and He accomplishes
it His way and allows us the blessing of being along for the ride – and what a
ride it has been!
Next week we begin our Bible study on the book of Philippians. We would
appreciate prayer as we study God’s Word together. The men will be meeting on
Thursday and the women on Wednesday. This is a study we’ve put together
ourselves to try to help our people study on their own. We have some new people
joining us this time and this will be their first time doing a Bible study –
very exciting!
There is a new family that has asked to join the church – this will
mean another baptism service! They are also expecting their first child any day
so we will be expanding the church in a couple of ways!
The mini show is fast approaching in September. Please be in prayer as
we begin our preparations. We are having a winter theme this year so will be
looking for activities that enhance that idea. This is always an
exciting/stressful time as we seek God’s face and pray for Him to be glorified
through all that we do.
Our church is also in the praying/planning stages to begin a youth
group and children’s program. This is a HUGE undertaking for our small church.
It’s something we’ve bathed in prayer for months now and are beginning to see
God moving in our people as far as those who want to be involved and feel God
calling them to these unique ministries. Please pray with us for God’s
direction and guidance. Our heart’s desire is to reach this community with the
gospel and we think this may be another way to accomplish that goal – but only
if it’s God’s will for us.
As we’ve begun studying Philippians, a verse reminded me of you! “I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for
you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the
first day until now;” Phil. 1:3-5. I know that many of you have prayed for us
for YEARS and we are honoured to have you as part of our ministry. Many of you
also support us financially – we wouldn’t be here without you! How awesome is
it that we can partner together in the fellowship of the gospel to proclaim God’s
grace and mercy to a lost and dying world! It’s one of the many things I love
about the Christian community: God gives
us the blessing of partnering with each other – through prayers and working
side by side – to accomplish His will in this world. What a MIGHTY God we
serve!
Shining the Light Down Under,
Rob and Jackie
