40

Today was an opportunity to serve. Here's a few pics. :)




Cheri was excellent. She made 3 salads, set the food up, made sure there was food for the BBQ for me to cook up. She also made a delicious homemade peanutbutter swirl cake. She wasn't expecting 40 people, but 30. She's amazing. There was a good mix of people: YWAM team, church ladies, all the grandkids... and our family.
Everyone was well fed, and it worked out just fine. The YWAM team sang 2 Kriol Scripture songs, which I put the music to. :) The Church ladies were blessed, and it was neat to be able to open our home to them, and after they all left, we took a nap! :)
Thank you for your continual prayers for our family. You're all a big blessing.

Baptism and Communion! :)

Today has been an excellent and very encouraging day. We shared communion as a church family for the first time since moving here to Barunga (over a year ago). Then, we studied more about baptism during the service. After the service, during "hotwethataim"(the hot part of the day), we went down to the river, and 2 ladies were baptized! PRAISE THE LORD! Today has been a big blessing and encouragement to us all. Here are some pictures and a video, so you can join in and praise the Lord with us! :)

Mari(R) has had the desire to be baptized for a long time, and today was the day! :)

After the baptisms there was singing, and "brabli gudbinji"! (Very good stomachs, great joy).

The kids also seemed to enjoy it, they had a bogi(swim) after the baptisms.

After the baptism service, we came back to our house and had a BBQ and good fellowship!

Three of the ladies: Jocelyn(L front), Queenie (R Front) and Mari (middle back)

Here is Chiyo's baptism. She is the wife of Silas, Queenie's oldest son. She is also a new believer. Praise the Lord!!

Pineapple Juice and a Torn Peice of Bread

At the beginning of the Sunday service, Cheri asked Queenie if the ladies share communion, and we all agreed it was very important, but we didn't mention it after starting the Bible reading. After we had read through different sections of Job and talked, we were closing in prayer. The children often come in and out of the service since it's aimed at adults. They usually play or color a picture.

While we were praying, Alice and Bethany came in, carrying a jug of pineapple juice, and they had a plate with a torn peice of bread on it! Alice also walked around to each of us, and pressed a 5 or 10 cent coin into our hands.
She said, "This is for offering." We don't usually take offering at the church here, and it has been discussed by all the ladies. They agree it's important, but as of yet we haven't been collecting an offering. Alice caught the importance of it, and took initiative! She also realized the importance of communion for the Church, and tried to implement that as well. She couldn't find grape juice, so pineapple would do, and she opened a loaf of bread from the house, and took a slice of it to the church. What a girl! She really wanted to have communion, but we decided to wait until all of the ladies (or most of them) were able to be there. We decided to have communion this coming Sunday. Praise the Lord!

Sunday Service

Yesterday at church we had a very small group because most of the church ladies were sick and couldn't make it. :( However, it gave us time to sit and talk one on one with Queenie, whose son has cancer, and Queenie's daughter-in-law. Queenie asked us about what the Bible says about sickness, and about how we should respond, and about healing. That was a question we were able to look at in Scripture together. She said, "What about that man in the Bible who had sores all over his body?" So, we looked at Job, and did a "sprint through the book of Job". We looked at the beginning of the book, when Satan asked God if he could harm Job's family, and Job. We looked at Job's response to his suffering, we talked a bit about his 3 friends, and then we read what God's response was to Job. My prayer is that it was helpful, and encouraging to Queenie and her family. It seemed to be, as she said, "You see? This is the kind of thing people need to hear. They already know Jesus died for their sins. But if we share with them about this..." it will help them understand.

I will be working on a study of suffering, sickness, and God's purposes for them in Kriol. Please pray for me as I work through these things. I want to be a blessing to Queenie and her family, as well as others who are going through times of sickness and trial. We currently have materials about sickness and death in Kriol, so I'll be looking over those things as well. Thank you for your prayers!!

Family Fun!!

Upon returning from a weekly trip to Katherine for groceries, the real fun began! The kids wanted to show me a few things.

First, "Lolly Land"...


Check out the top of the bed...


Then we got to play Yahtzee, and Bethany WHOOPED us. She got 2 Yahtzees, AND the bonus on the top score! Alice wrote everyone's names at the top. She sounded out Cameron by herself.

It was a fun night. Weekends are a blessing. We hope you enjoy your family too!

Cheri, Cheri, ..... "How does your garden grow?"

We have officially planted a garden. We don't know what will become of it, but we prayed for it!
Here's a few pictures, and as it grows, we'll keep posting pics. :)

Alice standing next to the "big" garden!

Bethany with her friends, Paddy(Left) and Sheila (center). They are standing next to the cement double-sink-turned-planter. We have beans and peas growing there now--no veggies yet, but we've got a start!

As I was looking in the garden today (a couple of weeks after planting) here is what I saw!!Bethy's pointing at the carrot sprouts!

Now she's pointing at the Bell Pepper plant we just discovered today! :)

"Peoples Is Peoples, ya? Peoples is Peoples." Part 2

This is Jocelyn(on Left) and Rachel (R). Jocelyn is one of the main church leaders in Barunga. She was involved in the Kriol Baibul translation, and translated many of the Psalms. A couple of days ago she was helping me to translate a Bible lesson into Kriol. She's a huge blessing. The kids(Alice, Bethany and Cameron) call her "Nana Jocelyn". In the kinship system, she is my(Jared's) sister. Rachel is one of our team members (along with John and Jenna!). It has been great to get to know both of these ladies in the past year.

Margaret(center) and Queenie(right) are two of the ladies in the community who we have been getting to know better. Queenie is one of the church ladies. She is also an EXCELLENT storyteller and speaks several different languages, including English, Kriol, Maili, and Jawoyn.

Margaret is our "fearless team leader"! But we better not call her "boss"! She is a blessing and has been a help to us as we learn and adjust to the Aussie culture, and indigenous culture as well. She was involved in the Kriol Baibul translation for close to 20 years!

AND OF COURSE THE BIGININI!
In Barunga, there is never a shortage of children. Alice, Bethany and Cameron frequently have friends over. Here we had a "bigmob biginini"(large group of kids) but usually we only have "wanbala" or "dubala" at our house at a time.

If you are interested in meeting more people from this area, leave a note on this blog, or on Facebook. Thank you SO MUCH for your prayers and support as we continue to work here in Barunga and beyond. You are all a blessing to our family.

Peoples is peoples, ya? Peoples is peoples. (Part 1)

That is one of my favorite quotes from "Muppets Take Manhattan" and it brings me to my favorite part of being here in Australia: PEOPLES! We have had the opportunity to sit with and get to know many people from all over the place, from the folks in Barunga to a cowboy from Queensland. I love sitting down with people and simply hearing parts of their story, and they seem to be willing to share with me! :)



I met Kevin in Western Australia at a rodeo. He rides cutting horses. It was his first competition, and he was a bit nervous. He's originally from Queensland, and did not grow up on a farm. He just wanted to be a cowboy. He let me know how the competition works. It was neat to talk with him.

John and Esther are Korean believers who are ministering at an RV park in Kunnunurra, WA (Western Australia). They were really great with our family, and put up with my Korean (the TEENY TINY bit I know!)

John and Jenna! These two are part of the Kriol team, and they have been a huge blessing to me. They have been very understanding of the American's cultural ways, and silly personality. They are currently stationed down south in Victoria, and will be moving up here in November(hopefully!)

Ewan and his wife Cathy were an encouragement to me. He is a new believer in Weemol, a community about 4 hours drive from Barunga. He invited our team to his house to share his testimony. He was very thankful for the teaching and thanked us for giving him "tools to share his faith" with his family.

Mick-o! Mick and his family hosted our team in their backyard while we were in Weemol. He is standing next to a freshly shot bullagi (bull) which he shared with our team for several GREAT meals. He, his wife and family were a big blessing to us. As you could guess by the photo, he's got a great sense of humor, too!