MISSION ADVENTURES!

At the Botanic Gardens

On the way to the Botanic Gardens

G’day everyone! After we arrived in Darwin things got crazily busy and we haven’t been able to post a blog .. until now! So here goes: Our 2am flight up from Melbourne was swift and smooth and we were able to rest in our nice new room for the remainder of the day. We took part in the weekly base clean-up the following day and then had a long weekend to settle in (thanks to the good ol’ Queen of England!). The Darwin YWAM base looks a lot like a youth hostel and is actually quite comfortable. It functions very much as a community, with people in charge of various departments and with rostered cooking for meals and clean-up etc. When programs like Mission Adventures or DTS (Discipleship Training School) are not being run, breakfast and lunch are DIY from the ‘help yourself fridges’. 

Before the madness of the Mission Adventures programs started in mid June, Cher and I got a chance to see the YWAM base work in fluidity and harmony. We started to get to know some of the base staff. Firstly we have Australia represented, then Canada, then USA, then New Zealand and we have a short term volunteer from South Korea. There are also some people who only board with YWAM Darwin but aren’t fully involved with their activities and programs. One, a friendly part-indigenous female missionary, we have become good friends with. We had some prayer mornings together and have been sharing thoughts and visions about serving Indigenous Australians. We went with her to a small Indigenous community near the base (One Mile Dam Community) and also prayed for a lady in hospital with her.

Soon after that we had half a plane-load of exuberant teenagers from Victoria and NSW come for the popular Mission Adventures program that YWAM is well known for. In no time we were in the midst of a demanding schedule starting at 8am often till around 10pm. Mission Adventures is like a DTS (Discipleship Training School) - both aim to give young people a chance to deepen their relationship with God and to sample an introductory mission experience. Both DTS and Mission Adventures have a training phase and an outreach phase. Except, for DTS the training and outreach phase are both about 3 months each, and for MA (Mission Adventures), it’s about 4 days training and then about a week of outreach. 

As part of MA training we had a speaker come up from YWAM Newcastle, we practiced skits and puppet shows to perform in Indigenous communities. YWAM Darwin staff also put on a passion play, re-enacting the trial and crucifixion of Jesus (they need to pin the resurrection part on too!) and we had lots of fun with games and sports! Soon teams departed for their various outreach locations. All went to Indigenous communities outside of Darwin, except for our team and one other team that went to Thailand. Our team stayed on the YWAM Darwin base as Darwin was going to be our outreach location!  

We had the opportunity to visit the nearby Bagot (Indigenous) Communtiy before we went in with our team. We ended up assisting Bagot Victory Church in conducting a funeral for a highly respected Indigenous Christian man. 500+ people came from all over the Territory and Australia for the service! We helped clean toilets, put chairs out, decorate the church, put out biscuits and drinks and had to top up the drink eskis when they were getting low. We later found out that it was the biggest funeral the Bagot church and community had ever held and that it was a small miracle that all went smoothly and harmoniously with all the different Indigenous tribes. I felt it was a witness to the love of Jesus that was displayed in the life of the recently departed man. So many people spoke highly of him, with much sincerity and emotion. It was truly a big event in the history of the community and such a privilege to be there. 

The couple that run the church are a sweet elderly couple from Melbourne and we ended up coming back a couple days later, with the MA team, to help with their Sunday night service. Our team were sent door knocking to invite community members to church and into the ‘highways and byways’ of Darwin, to invite souls thirsty for the living water of Jesus to come in and drink. A good amount turned up and for the service they screened a cartoon animation film for the kiddies and a cool documentary about a small boy who almost died in a car accident but miraculously survived and who, during a coma, went to heaven, met Jesus and saw and heard angels! (Google: The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven) At The service there were some powerful and amazing testimonies by indigenous sisters who have been set free from alcohol addiction, witchcraft, had miraculous healings and seen visions of angels! I sat next to an Indigenous man who was from Palumpa Community. He had painted a beautiful painting of Jesus which was at the church. He’s a sweet man with a wife and six children!

We were surprised to find out that there was a Christian revival in Elcho Island (NT) in the 70’s, I’m currently chasing down a book about it. We also learnt that missions and missionaries have a lot of respect in the Northern Territory because when Charles Darwin published his theories on evolution, which included the idea that Australian Aborigines were not as evolved as their white counterparts because some of their skulls were shaped differently, white Australians began killing them on an unprecedented scale .. And it turns out that missions were a place of safety and refuge for Indigenous peoples who out in the wider world were treated as sub-human.

Today we went to Bagot Community again and we used the YWAM van and did a travelling puppet show for the children, complete with free icey poles, face painting and piggy-back rides! There seems to never be a dull moment up here! So much to do and be a part of!

Thanks for all your prayers and support and thank you for tuning in to our blog and we’ll catch you next time! Oh yeah, and the theme for our Mission Adventures is ‘Expand Heaven Here’ .. so I pray where you are, whatever the circumstance, that the peace, love and joy of the Kingdom of Heaven would manifest in and around you right now!

Blessings,

L + C

p.s. Our trip to East Timor is just around the corner!! Woohoo!!

GOODBYE MELBOURNE!!

                                        

Our send-off with our Lilydale Life Team

What a whirlwind of a last few weeks it has been! Since the last blog entry I turned 32, my father timed a short visit from Sydney for the occasion. Cher and I left our jobs at Ficus Construstions, we put on a last minute garage sale, we’ve sold some things to friends, sold some things on ebay and given many things away. We’ve packed up our lives, moved out of our tranquil little flat in sunny Mentone and temporarily moved in with Cher’s folks in the Dandenong ranges (the ‘hills’), while making the last few preparations until our exodus on June 8! Hallelujah!

It’s amazing how much has happened for Cher and I here in Melbourne. I came from Sydney in September 2008 to do a 6 month Discipleship Training School with YWAM Melbourne. I didn’t know what the future held, but I was ready for it! Before our DTS went on our mission trip to Mozambique, God brought Cher and I together. Our paths formed a cross and became one and we eventually got married in January 2010. 

While in Mozambique I met a South African man at Iris ministries who played a DVD for me on his laptop. It was a unique teaching by a short Texan minister on healing, our identity in Christ as Christians and other related points. After our marriage, Cher and I pursued that teaching and have now become involved with the ministry, John G. Lake Ministries in Melbourne (www.jglm.com.au). While in Darwin, it is with JGLM and their Dominion Bible Institute that we hope to do our 1 to 2 year Bible School course by correspondence. 

Cher and I have noticed how things have fallen into place very nicely for us. Cher has had a spiritual yearning in her heart to go to East Timor since the time she was in High School and just days ago we confirmed our place in a Mission Adventures trip with YWAM Darwin to where? East Timor! From our wedding until now God’s blessings have been clearly manifest in our lives ..

The last night of our Mill Park Life Team

Years ago in acting I was always looking for an amazing script, a story that was truly worthy of being told .. I never found it. Until now. It’s the true story of how God became a man and died on a cross to reconcile a lost mankind to it’s Maker. It’s an account more than worthy of being told and I am filled with inexpressible joy at the honor and privilege of spending my life in sharing it with those who have an open heart and an open ear to receive it. And to be able do so with such a spirit filled woman at my side ..

Of course life isn’t without it’s struggles and challenges too and on top of that Jesus did promise us that we would be persecuted for our faith .. even so, our God is a mighty God and He is our fortress and protector. 

Cher and I would like to thank everyone at our old jobs at Ficus Constructions, we were blessed to work with and know all of you - and yes I will miss driving the truck. Our love goes out to all of our spiritual family at JGLM Melbourne - we have definitely started something, and that thing will not end! We are one spirit in Him! Thank you all for your words, your prayers, your support and all your encouragement. You will all be dearly and sorely missed! Many thanks to Cher’s family for putting us up (and putting up with us, ha ha) before our immanent departure. Your loving hospitality is a gift. 

Well only a couple more sleeps now and we’ll be trading ice for fire (in terms of weather and climate) and a brand new chapter in our lives will begin! Woohoo! God have your way! Your Kingdom come on earth, as it is in heaven ...

May the God of grace and of all creation bless you all richly!

L & C


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