Playing with Aboringinal kids- The kids here are the best. Check out this face. This boy is very joyful and lively, but he slowed down for a second to let me get a quick shot up close. Some of the kids take a few minutes to warm up, but others are ready to play tag, take pictures on our cameras, and “fix” our hair when we first meet them. One resembled the little boy from the movie Australia and talked just like him! I couldn’t understand about 30% of what he was saying, but it was still awesome! The kids here have lots of challenges. The Aboriginal community has big problems with alcohol and violence. So, the kids end up getting exposed very early to alcohol and there is a lot of physical violence in the home. It’s pretty sad.
We have been to a number of church meetings in the week we’ve been here. They tend to start about 8:30 or 9:00 pm and end around midnight. The setup is a keyboard, microphones, and big speakers in someone’s front yard or a public park and there they have church. It’s pitch dark except for maybe one light shining with about a million bugs swarming it. The songs almost all have “moves” that go with them and it’s a lot of fun to participate.
My teammate photographed the woman below at when we were worshipping at Manyallaluk.
We also spent a morning at a local retirement community hanging out and worshipping with some elderly folks (my favorite!). One man, Stanley, who suffered from the effects of a stroke would sign to us initials of characters from movies he had watched and we would guess their names (CK=Clark Kent). It was so much fun!
Everyone keeps asking me to post things to pray for. So, if you are praying for this journey, please remember the people here who need to find the Lord for the first time or who need to find Him again. Also, please remember our team and our priorities so that we find time to stop and listen to God, grow with God, and experience true ministry here.
Blessings to each of you!
