Hello friends,family,supporters !
Once again, greetings from Australia ! I am currently hanging out in my hammock at EastGate Church in Byron Bay, and thought it would be good to send out a quick update on how we (our team/our squad/ myself) are doing in a land down under.
These past two weeks have flown by. Australia has been all around incredible. The people, the beaches, the hills, the valleys, and so much more, have constantly reminded me of the goodness of God and His beauty in all creation.
Since writing my last blog, half the squad departed 3hrs South of Byron to join another ministry with YWAM and spread the love of God in that area while the other half of the squad stayed here and continued with the work here in Byron Bay.
Our team of 7 had the opportunity to stay and continue the ministry in Byron with two other teams and we made the most out of what God had for us in this beautiful beach town.
We started by taking a day trip to a place called Nimben which is roughly a 1hr20min drive from where we were staying. The reason we went to Nimben is because it is known for its vast spirituality, it’s stance on the use of marijuana, and a popular annual festival that protests the laws on marijuana use.
Our goal as we went to Nimben was to pray over the town, connect with the locals, and bless people through a free bbq and some live worship in the park. The spiritual darkness could be felt as we walked through the stores and a heaviness could be seen on the people running them. I know that we got to bless many people during our time there but I pray that Christ followers would constantly be moving in to that area and transforming it through the love and the power of our resurrected King !
Funny side note; some of the teams went back to Nimben later that week and met a man that claimed to be the resurrected Christ. He walked around with a woman who he claimed to be his wife and she went by the name of “Mary Magdalene”. Apparently he had a few disciples and travelled the world teaching and preaching….. See Matthew 24:5 for reference.
Another cool experience we had was serving breakfast and preparing lunch for the homeless at a community centre in Byron. During this time we got to prepare food and hangout with other volunteers from the area. It was encouraging to see how many locals wanted to give back to their community through volunteering. All but one of them claimed to be Christ followers so it was fun to encourage them and share our testimonies as we worked away.
We were told before we began that we were not allowed to share about Jesus as we served at this place, but that ended up being short lived. We had lots of good conversation and I got to pray for a lady’s back pain which resulted in her being completely healed in the moment. Yay God! It’s hard to contain the love of Jesus after being radically transformed by the gospel.
I have a few prayer requests to wrap things up. Our time in Aussie Land has come to an end and we will be flying to Indonesia at 7:20 a m. I ask that you pray for a smooth transition to this new culture and that we would adapt quickly. Your support and your prayers are very much appreciated.
Thank you for tuning in to my blog. I hope to update again soon.
Ciao for now !
Tristan
