Hellooooooooooooooo!!!!! So check it! We are in the Northern Territory
of Australia aka. The OUTBACK!!!! Saaaaay whaaaat? Thats right folks,
we flew into Darwin a couple of days ago and met our Awesome contact
Karl. His vision is incredible and talk about obedient to the word of
the Lord. Jesus’ final command for us:
“Therefore go and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit and teaching
them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end
of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
Karl has taken this to heart and is trying to make disciples. He
explained it as teaching others to teach others to teach others and so
on. He has specifically focus on the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, not just in the state of Queensland where he is from, but all the states of Australia.
He
gave us an orientation sitting on the floor of the airport after we
arrived at six in the morning. And hearing him talk about it really
impacted me. It gave me a drive I had never had before and the want to
press deeper in with the Lord. I sant to be abandoned and obedient like
that, but I have to get out of self before I do that, which is a most
difficult thing to do. Anyway, after a day in Darwin of preparing, we
left late afternoon to the small town of Katherine. It is about three
hours south of Darwin and very quaint. I dug it. We stayed at
a farm for a couple of days which was just do incredible. It really
is the outback and I am still stunned that God called me to be here.
During those two days we got out plans together with Karl, rented an old school Toyota Land Cruiser
(Outback Special, baby) with our housing budget because we are staying
where ever we can for free, our tents, and or the Toyota. Yeeeeeaaaaa!
We also did a little fishing and two nice sized catfish and chowed on
them. (Our food budget is tight this month, it is also very expensive in
Australia.) Those fish were a blessing for sure! Because it is rainy
season, alot of the rivers are flooded, and I mean flooded. Like where
is the road flooded. So we have to play the whole month by ear because
of the weather. Our main plan is to go to a bunch of different
Aboriginal villages and do ministry there. Our main focus in ministry
is to encourage the long term missionaries and to encourage the small
churches of the communities. We figured out that that was the least of
things we would be doing.
The last day we were in Katherine
(Sunday), we went to church in the morning at an Aboriginal village
named Walpiri. The church is run by a married couple. The Pastor and
husband, John is from California and his wife is from the Phillipines.
They are missionaries and have been running the church in that village
for three years now. Great work is going on out there! It was
interesting, as well because the church was an extremely small blue tin
building with a white cross on it. It as so cool especially seeing it
compared to the churches we have in America. We stayed for the morning
service and in fact jammed on the ukulele which was accompanied by my
teammates who are incredible vocalists. After that I shared my story
with the congregation. Aparently, the Aboriginal people especially the
men, have alcohol and drug problems. So I wanted to share my story with
them so it might impact them. That my testimony would show that God can
do anything and break you free of the chains of addiction. I am living
proof of God’s grace and mercy and his unfailing love. He lifted me up from my addictions and washed me and my shame white as snow. PRAISE THE LORD!!
Later that night we went to another village to attend church and of
course participate. We played a song again and I shared again. I think
that is very interesting I shared in front of a congregation for the
first time twice in the same day. Talk about a challenge from God. I do
believe though that my story is relevant to the lifestyles of the
Aboriginal men. I hope to share my story everywhere we go!
We then
departed Katherine to Beswick, another Aboriginal village. It is a
very big village shop and all. The people here are very nice and the
congregation of Christ followers is awesome! They meet on a covered
outdoor basketball court with a keyboard and the Holy Spirit. It is so
awesome and they worship for hours and are truly abandoned for Christ.
It was for sure an experience with them. The Holy Spirit just flows
through that place and I believe that they are going to make an impact
on this world through our Lord Jesus Christ.
We
stayed for two days. Ben and I slept in the car while the girls slept
in the women’s shelter. We did a little fishing with the locals,
worshipped our hearts out, and got chased down the roads by cows! It was
great!! Now we are taking some of the ladies from the congregation to
Katherine to get speakers for their worship. Hopefully it will be loud
enough to fill the village with songs of loudest praise so the people
are drawn to the Lord. Hopefully it will draw in the Aborignal men
especially.
Also folks, I know most of you have financially
supported me in this awesome journey and. I thank you so much and thank
God for your support. I am however short of my April 1st deadline of
$10,000. I am now at $8,585 so I am very close. I do believe that God
has called me to this trip and that I am supposed to be here. I also
have faith that he will provide in abundance as he always does. I do
need your help though to spread the word to each and everyone you know
or even don’t know. Please get the word out about God rocking the
nations! Also please pray for us and everyone on the field and even
those you don’t know yet because we are called to love everyone as God
loves us, so I am going to leave probably the most frequently heard
verse from the Bible in the language of Kriol, which is what the
Aboriginal people of Beswick speak along with English:
“God bin laigim ebribodi detmatj, en
Imbin jandim im ronwan san blanga
Dai blanga olabat, wulijim ebribodi hu
Bilib langa im garra abum det olagijawan
Laif en nomothetic dai. En mi na det san
Blanga im.”
John 3:16
Pretty cool, huh? I love all of you very much! Your prayers are needed. Thank you again for reading and supporting!
