Australia… I know for most people this is a destination that they have always dreamed of going to, not me. Although Australia factored in to my decision of the WR route I chose, I wanted to go more for the reason that I would be able to say I’ve been to 5 continents then for seeing the koala bears and Kangaroos (which I still haven’t seen at this point.
This month has been immensely more challenging then Malaysia. I’ve slept outside in my hammock for the past 9 days, which honestly hasn’t been bad but it’s not as nice as the air-conditioned room I had last month. We still get a tremendous amount of great food provided by the food bank making food comparable to last month, but ministry has been so entirely different.
We have been working at an aboriginal compound here in Darwin much like the Indian reservations in the US. There is a spirit of alcoholism, gambling, and just an overall loss of hope in the community. People are very friendly and are completely willing to talk to us, which has been great and has made it very easy for us to build relationships. Though it’s only been a week I feel like we have been here a month already.
One man in Particular that you can be praying for is my friend Christopher. Christopher is in his late 50’s I would assume, he has a few kids and few more grandchildren. He loves the Lord , he knows scripture very well, he loves telling bible stories, and he always is trying to tell us something about G-d. But like so many people in this community Christopher is addicted to alcohol. I’ve talked with him several times about it, he’s dumped out several bottles after we’ve talked with him about how this is hiding his light (one of his favorite stories in scriptures) but he always seem to have another bottle with him. He’s getting better though. Last time I saw him he seemed sober though he still reeked of whiskey and beer. PLEASE BE PRAYING FOR HIM!
I lead worship for a church setting for the first time last Wednesday and I’ve lead a total of 5 times since then. It’s been a challenge, I am still learning guitar so my selection for songs has been somewhat limited. There’s been moments of having to push through songs that I picked out that were probably past my skill level, not to mention the nights of having to play without being distracted by drunk men trying to play instruments behind me or pleading me to play a song themselves while we are in the middle of a song.
I am so excited to see what G-d is going to grow and challenge me in this month! He already has so much!
I should be uploading pictures on facebook soon so be sure to check that out. here is my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/zuisudramyers
