I met Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee in Australia!!!

This month Team Radiance is able to
go to an assisted living facility for elderly aboriginal people.  We were unsure what to expect because many of
these wise old souls still have distant memories of the conflict with white
people.  Their life stories are filled
with history and adventure in a world that I have only heard about in
books.  They have seen their culture and
community change right before their eyes as civilization has encroached in
everything they knew. 

Both groups relaxed after an
initial introduction and we were able to smile and laugh as we got to know each
other.  We helped a local woman put on
their weekly “church” service for the community in Kalano.  The songs we sang ranged from old hymns to
children’s classics.  The joy in their
heats came leaping out of their mouths as they sang.   We were able to sing Jesus Loves me in
English and in a local tribal dialect. 
It was such a blessing to hear these beautiful people praise God in
their own language.   Each of them were
so excited to just have someone sit with them, hold their hand, and take
interest in their lives.  We found out
that in aboriginal culture it is shameful to have a family member in a care
facility making visits few and far between. 
Many of them were alone and delighted to have someone visit them. We
will be making multiple visits per week to visit our new friends. 

When all was said and done two men
stuck around longer than the rest to hang out with our team.  Allen is unbelievably joyful and is very
skilled at leading songs for the group on his guitar.  His smile brightens up your whole heart.  Stanley has suffered from a stroke and is in
a wheelchair.  His mind is sharp, but he
has lost much of his speech.  He is able
to use some words but he mostly communicates through sign language by spelling
words out. As we spent more time with these two men Stanley began to play a
game.  He would spell the initials of a
famous character and we would have to guess who he was talking about.  His favorites were superheroes, country
western stars, and kung fu masters!  His
face lit up as we played this game with him. 
At one point he showed us his muscles and told us that he and Allen were
Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee!  Although his
speech was labored, Stanley’s sense of humor shined though.  Allen often helped us understand what he was
trying to say.  It was beautiful to see
how deep their friendship was and the joy Allen had while caring for
Stanley. 

Stanley signing to Holly and Sarah Stanley and I