Hello everyone!  I am so sorry I haven’t been able to update or get back to you guys any sooner but internet is scarce here in the outback.  We are currently working for the Christian Outreach Center (COC) here in Darwin Australia.  The COC works with aboriginal families and is comprised of a hospital and dormitory complex.  So far we have been doing all sorts of things, from kitchen duty, demolishing buildings, planting orchards, digging through trash dumpsters and sorting out fermenting veggies that will make good pig food (Yum)! 
 
There is so much I would love to say but I will have to do it later.  In the meantime, here is a backlog of some of the blogs I have written but haven’t gotten a chance to post.  I love you guys and miss you very much! 
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Farewell New Zealand. Although we only spent a short while together, I am very sad to see you go. You showed me what it means to “walk slowly through the crowd,” and take the time to “love on” people. Just being a good listener and being willing to spend time with people can open so many doors to a person’s soul.   Throw in some generosity asking nothing in return and you can transform an anti-Christian with “heaps” of negative notions about what it means to be a Christian to a person genuinely seeking to learn more about Christ. 

We met a Maori family with around 8 kids and a predisposition against Christianity. What began as an offer to scrub their house and wash windows, turned into window games with some of the children, which eventually lead to them coming out and starting conversations with us. Ultimately, we were invited in for tea and the family came to our last big movie night event. Through seemingly small, not particularly evangelistic steps, an anti-religion family came out to a church event.

Thus, the entire family has formed a new disposition towards Christianity based simply on a few acts of demonstrating God’s love. 

        <–Random Photo of Mount Doom from Lord of the Rings
 

I was really blessed this past month. I am so thankful to Brenden and all the wonderful people we met. It was truly heart-wrenching at our goodbye celebration, but I know its just one of many similar circumstances. I am already sitting in an Airport in Brisbane, Australia waiting an entire day in the airport after my first flight was cancelled. I once again saw the gracious hospitality of a young couple, Jamie and Fran, who took in 30 backpackers for the past two nights. It still amazes me how people can be so selfless. I am continuously challenged to be a more sacrificial person and stop putting my own interests or “what’s fair” ahead of what the most Christ-like response would be. 

I leave for Darwin Australia tonight, where I will spend the next month working with Aboriginees via a church-sponsored hospital. I don’t know much, aside from that the weather will consistently be well into the 100’s with humidity in the 100’s as well. I will post as soon as I know more. In the meantime, you guys should be happy to know that I got to play with some Kangaroos!

Cheers Mates!