Greetings and Acknowledgements

   

    Beloved Friends and Partners, greet you again in the name of our Saviour and Lord Jesus Christ. It continues to be our joy to keep you abreast on our ministry work because your prayers make our task possible. The Apostle Paul also found communicating with his partners vital and made sure that they were kept abreast of his work whenever possible. In his second letter to the Corinthians he states, "We do not want you to be uninformed..." 2 Cor.1:8a NIV). He saw it important because their prayers helped (v.11). Henece, you all are important to us. In this edition, we want to share briefly with you our movements, the continued visits and fellowships of God's people and the renovation of the kitchen in the mission manse here at Walgett. 

 At Bellingen in NSW

 

 

       We started the month of August travelling back home from Brisbane after attending the Darwin conference. However, we decided to spend the first week of the month visiting our friends (the Thompsons) at Bellingen near Coffs Harbour on our way back to Walgett. Our relationship with the Thompsons began at Halls Creek where we served with the Peoples' Church. They were a great help in every possible way during our stay there. Their love for the Lord is evident in their inbiased love for the Aboriginal people. They have served in the area of Age Care for the Aboriginal people for many years in the Kimberly region of Western Australia. For Kenny it was a joy to catch up with his old friends and sisters, the young Thompson girls namely, Grace and Amy. Our time with the Thompsons was refreshing and encouraging. We departed Bellingen on Friday the 6th of August and travelled to Walgett via Armidale, Tamworth, Narrabri and Wee Waa.   

 Kitchen Renovation

 

 

    In our last edition we mentioned the kitchen been renovated in our absence. Well, we arrived to a big and wonderful surprise. Our home had changed. It was as if we were in the TV reality show called "Domestic Bliss."  Amos even uttered 'are we in the right house' ha! ha! ha!  Among other improvements, a skylight was added. In addition to the kitchen renovation, the old fire place in the living room was also removed and replaced with a new one (see pictures in the Photo Album and in the PDF version of this edition).

 A brief trip to Sydney and back

 

We spent a week at Walgett after arriving back from Brisbane via Bellingen. We were on the road again on Monday the 16th of August. This time we drove to Sydeny for Doreen's medical appointment as a result of the car accident. She was referred there by the Walgett Hospital. We spent the night at Dubbo with the Coxs (our AIM Colleagues) and continued our journey into Sydney the next day. We spent the night at Bankstown with relatives.

     Doreen's appointment was on Wednesday the 18th of August at the Sydney Melanoma Unit in North Sydney.  We had to brave the busy and heavy traffic, the tollways, the tunnels and across the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge to reach our destination. We arrived back at Walgett on Friday the 20th of August in time for Doreen to vote the next day. She eventually voted and was relieved to have exercised her democratic right.

 Our Visitors for the month

 

 

 

     This month we hosted two groups of visitors at Walgett. The first group was the two Melanesian families namely, the Molis from Solomon Islands and the Dinokes from Papua New Guinea. The visit was a follow up from the first meeting at Gilgandra last month. The aim of the fellowship was to encourage one another. The families arrived on Saturday the 21st of August and on Sunday the 22nd we all went to the Indigenous Church building for worship. The buiding has been unused for quite a while. It was a sad sight when we arrived. The window glasses were smashed and broken bottles left at the entrance of the church building. The families were emotional and there were few tears at the thought of a lack of empathy and fear of God by those involved. Nevertheless, the spirit of fellowship captivated all of us and reminded us of God's faithfulness. We all enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship. Amos shared God's word and each family later shared a word of encouragement to everyone. The two families then left after lunch on Sunday.

    The second visit was from the Mantons (Uncle Terry and Aunty Olga) AIM Team Partners and Public Relations Workers for the Bimbadeen Christian Training and Conference Centre. They arrived on Thursday the 26th of August and departed the next day, i.e. Friday the 27th after a brief visit to the Indigenous Church. Please pray for the protection of the Church building as it has become a frequent target of vandalism. The fence at the back of the church building as been removed by ofenders thus giving free access to intruders.

 

                                              Kenny's Progress 

     Kenny has missed school for three weeks this month as a result of our recent travels and being sick with flu and cough. He has been insisting on going to school but we have not allowed him to do so until he recovers. However,in the absence of school he has been occupied with reading, drawing and the normal ABC educational programmes more particularly, 'Play School.' He continues to improve in his speech which makes communication with him easier.  He enjoys visitors and wants to show them his toys and books and is sad when they leave. Please pray for his recovery. Pray that his enthusiasm for school and learning will continue.