Friday Movie Night / Pizza

Well, the movie/pizza night happened. It was much different then we expected, and I don't know if we'll do it again. After cooking all day to get the pizza ready, we weren't able to start on time(which wasn't that big of a deal).
We were hoping for a good turnout, and many people had told us they were planning on coming. However, when the time came, there were over a dozen children, and only 4 adults. No men. There was one man who came early, but since the pizza wasn't ready he left and didn't come back. The movie is not meant for little children, but that was the majority of our audience. I'd love to say we switched the movie to fit the audience, but we didn't. Everyone watched "Fireproof", ate pizza and had pop.
The pizza was a success, and at times I had 7-8 kids in the kitchen "helping" me make pizza. There were a couple of older kids that really helped make the pizzas which was a blessing, but a LOT of chaos. :) Perhaps if(or when?) we do this again, we'll just serve something easy like tea and biscuits. Perhaps we'll just change the movie to something that will fit the audience next time... We'll have to see if the church ladies are interested.
Anyway, thank you for your prayers for the night, and for our family. And thank you for keeping us in your prayers. God bless!

The blessing of lice?

This past Tuesday was the 6th time since moving to Barunga to sit down with my daughter, and remove lice and nits from her hair. What a blessing. You might have just said, "EXCUSE ME? Did I just hear that right?" The nits and lice themselves are not a blessing, but the time spent with Alice was a blessing. As I was picking through her hair and combing and picking, we were able to listen to music together, and I found out she really likes the song, "Charlie Brown" (He's a clown, that Charlie Brown. He's gonna get caught, just you wait and see. "Why's everybody always picking on me?") We listened to that song several times. Alice also likes, "One-eyed, one-horned, flying purple people eater". Basically any song with the chipmunk voices on it. It made me smile.

If you think or pray for us today, the lice are gone (we hope!) and everyone is well. Today is R.I. (Religious Instruction) at the Barunga school, and Jocelyn and Queenie will be the teachers. I (Jared) get to be the ride. Pray it would go well. Thanks!

One more request for prayer: we still have not recieved the projector in the mail for the movie on Friday. Please pray it arrives! :)

God bless, Jared for all

"Prayer Adoption"

Just a quick note. As we have been settling in, and working with the church, I was thinking about how we can best continue to minister here. I had an idea... What if people from back home "adopted" a family here in Barunga who they could pray for on a regular basis? It would make the ministry a little more "real" for folks in the states, and it would be a blessing to the church here.
So, I talked with the church ladies and asked what they thought about this idea, and they said it was a good idea! Praise the Lord!
Here's how it will work:
1. Contact me for a family to pray for.
2. I will then give you the names of those folks, and prayer requests they have given me.
3. PRAY! And we can together watch how God answers, as well as build relationships with the people here.

If you're interested in "prayer adoption" just let me know. Thanks for praying about it!

God bless, Jared for all

PS Something to pray for in the immediate time being:
1. Please pray for a movie/homemade pizza night at the church here on the 25th. The church ladies will be sharing a Scripture before the movie, and then we will be watching "FireProof". It's the first time they've done something like this.
2. Please pray for me, (Jared) as I will be making the pizzas... It's going to be a blast, but a lot of work.
3. Please pray for Alice to heal up. She sprained her elbow falling off a chair on Sunday.
4. Please continue to pray for men in the church.

Praise!
1. Praise the Lord for R.I.(Religious Instruction) going very well this past week. It was the first time the ladies have taken it over. They did very well, and will be going in turns to teach each week(2 ladies at a time).
2. Praise the Lord they are very interested in reaching out to their community!

Barunga from Alice's Eyeview!

Better open the lens!!

The view from the back stairs.

Part of the Trampoline!

Shane and Don (Neighbors!)

Mr. Potato Head's Feet...

Staying Connected! (even when the power goes out!)

A self portrait of Alice... and flower necklace.

OLIE!!!

SVEN!!! (Or as people here say, "SPEN!")

A view from the side yard. No idea what that thing is, but we've used it to hang up the clothes that the neighbor kids leave behind(usually shirts). The Church is the building on the left with the white roof.

BETHANY! :)

The Bushes... Take one.

The Bushes, take 2! And the side of the house, looking toward the front.

The Cruiser according to Alice.

MOMMY! :)
The perfect way to finish "Alice's Eyeview of Barunga"

Dinner With A Wallaby in Mataranka.

Today we went to Mataranka Thermal Pool as a family. It was nice, we were the only ones there for most of the time. The kids are really getting better at swimming, especially Bethy. With the floaties, they are fearless(nearly) and Bethany even swam a short distance without them! Then it was off to the car for a dinner of PB & J and crackers—with a wallaby! He came right up to our Cruiser, and took crackers from our hands. The kids(and Cheri and me) loved it! Cheri reached out and touched it’s back, looked at me and said, “I couldn’t help it! Since it’s this close, I just had to touch it.” It figures we left the camera at home because we were “Just going to Mataranka!” Oh well.

The ride home was fun too. The rain had started to fall while we were in Maturanka, and continued all the way until we got home. (It’s still raining!) After driving through a couple of filled floodways on the way home, we have come home to no electricity. Praise God we’ve been through this before, and have flashlights/camping lantern, and a good battery for the computer! It hasn’t rained this “good” for awhile.The pictures are roads we drive through to get home, which can look like this right after (or during) a rain. The water goes up as high as my calf at times. Tonight it was about that at one spot, and another place it was only a couple inches above my ankle, so not bad. Oh the joys of “the wet!”

Praise the Lord for the LandCruiser, and four-wheel drive. At one of the floodways we met two cars who were stuck on one side because there was too much water, and they couldn't cross. Many times the water has a current, it's not just a puddle, so that makes it even more exciting! :)