Praying for our friends in India

As we hear of the horrible attacks in India we remember our friends working within that nation. Let's make sure we pray for them and hold them up before the Lord and ask for his protection and wisdom during these tumoltuos days.

"Lord, we pray for all of our friends accross the nation of India and ask that you draw near to them during this time of uncertainty. May your hand be upon them and may they continue to boldly proclaim your name to all those who would hear. In Jesus name, amen".

A wonderful view of Romanian ministry

Romania visit

Our team travelled to Galati (pronounced "Galats") and Tecuci (pronounced Tecuch) in Romania to meet with the leaders of the Emmanuel Church and their church planters. Our friendship with the people of this region began almost 12 months ago through Next level International in the UK as a partner of their church plant in Tecuci. This was our first personal meeting with the people of the church and the local church planting team. It was a very worth while time.

Our hosts took us to meet some of the local people and to hear some of their stories. Since the 1989 revolution that ousted the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu massive changes have happened in the country. There is much to praise the Lord about for these changes but along with the positive effects much negative influence also entered this liberated nation. I found this Youtube post http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfWW52lcfgc&feature=related a helpful peice of information on the history of the revolution and the events of 1989 (please note that there are some graphic scenes)

Our time in Tecuci was wonderful and the meeting we attended was fully attended. It was overwhelmng to see and hear the local people worshipping God, weeping for their town and praying for their sons and daughters. Our time also included a 2 day conference which assisted in the training of leaders within the region.

Please keep the people of Romania in your prayers as we continue to partner with them in this amazing relationship of Australians praying and supporting Romanians!

Betel Eastern Europe

Our time began in Naples, Italy where we spent a wonderful 4 days with the men of the Betel work there. The ladies traveling with us were able to spend the days with the missionary families. These were special days with friendships made and renewed.

After these 4 days the team travelled by train back to Rome where we departed for Thesalonica, Greece. The work in Greece has been faithfully serving the people for the past 6 years and the leadership team needed much encouragement. Again our ladies were able to spend time with the missionary couple and their children. These were important ministry moments.

We are currently spending our last day in Sophia, Bulgaria with the Betel family. This location has grown tremedously since I was here last in 2006. It is so encouraging to see the Betel family accross the world continue to grow.

In the morning we fly to Bucharest, Romania where we will be spending our last 4 days interacting and sharing with the church in Galati. The team have been wonderful to travel with and have all experienced a great deal of cultural sights as well as the ministry that Betel and our other friends in Eastern Europe face each day.

Thank you for your ongoing prayers and messages of encouragement. We will post some photos when we can.

My first youth camp in years!!

I've just returned from a 2 day youth camp where over 200 young people came together in a cultural exchange with various nations (I was the Aussie contingent!). We have people from Norway as well as the Vietnamese who all came together to spend time encouraging one another and seeking God together.

This was an amazing time. I am so impressed with the youth of Vietnam. Their passion and hunger for the things of God surpase the norm. It was wonderful to join in with their enthusiasm and zeal as we played together, prayed together and lived together for these 2 special days.

I will admit though - my youth leadership days were a looong time ago and these guys wore me out with their energy!!!

Sorry about the sound on this clip (I'd suggest you mute it altogether)... I was sitting right under the loud speaker and it was defeaning! But it gives you a little of a snapshot of the young people who enjoyed our time together.

Leadership training in India

Over the next few weeks a small team will be travelling to various parts of India to work with the leaders of our partners. This photo was taken during the very first worship service being held in Calcutta!

Please pray for us as we go. We will be conducting several leadership training seminars whilst we are there and we trust that God will allow us to see Holy Spirit break through's in the lives of these precious people.

Uganda - a special place (some photo's)

Bikes, Bikes, Bikes

The 2nd Watoto team has had the privelege of purchasing 20 bikes provided by the generous donations of the people at Peninsula City Church. These bikes were given to the workers and staff at the Watoto village as a means for them to come and go to work, get to other locations quickly and generally give them a means to get around.

Our team had a special hand over service and the people who received these were overjoyed!

2nd Watoto Team are at work!

The 2nd Watoto Team have arrived safely in Kamplala and have begun working on completing the houses of one of the villages.

Michael Ball (the leader of team 2) writes:

The flight out of Melbourne was delayed by approximately 4 hours. The team coped very well with this because Emirates gave each of us a $35.00 voucher to spend on food and drinks. The team quickly worked out that they should use a couple of the vouchers for food and drinks and the remaining vouchers for lollies and snacksJ

The large delay meant that we were late arriving in Dubai and that Jeff and Rhys Kollen were waiting for us for about 4hrs. The transfer to the Traders Hotel and check-in all went well and we all decided to go on the Big Bus Tour of Dubai. This included a trip to the 3rd largest shopping centre in the world. This shopping centre has a snow field in it, which is pretty impressive.

The departure from Dubai all went well and the team arrived at Entebbe at the correct time. We were met at the airport by Tim and Cheryl from the first team, Andrew our Watoto host for the trip and Arbus our driver (yes that's pronounced R-Bus).

The Guest House we are staying at is very nice. The ladies at the house have been looking after us very well and the meals have been fantastic! Our first full day in Uganda consisted of a trip to the Garden City Shopping Centre, where we changed our money and some of the team bought tinned food for our lunches. We visited the Bulrushes and were able to spend a few hours with the babies while they played outside.

Jorum is looking fantastic. What an improvement!! He can now hold his head up by himself and he just looks so much happier than during our last visit. The prone stand that the Church donated was there and he and another little girl are getting full use out of it.

After the visit to the Bulrushes the team went onto KPC for the team orientation. The team was informed of the work that KPC are currently undertaking and the goals of the church.

On Tuesday we went to the site for the first time. We got to the site at about 8:30am and had a good look around the site. Wow it has changed! There are so many new houses and a lot more local workers on-site this year. There are lots of new houses, but it seems that there are many that are not finished and lay empty. Well I guess that's why we are here! And there is plenty to be done. The house that we built last year is still empty and I found that is a little strange because others that were built later are now occupied. This is good though because it means that we will now get to finish what we started a year ago!

We found that a majority of the tools that the team in November had purchased had been well used and needed to be replaced. We made a trip to a number of local Hardware stores and supermarkets to purchase the tools and equipment we needed to get the job done properly.

Through-out the week the team has been focusing on making houses into homes and we are accomplishing that goal. I have asked Rob Verdouw to lead the team on-site and he is doing a fantastic job. We are cleaning the concrete from the floor, removing paint that has been splashed on sinks bench tops and the floor. Washing down the floors and walls until they are clean enough to move the beds into the bedrooms. We are currently focusing on completing cluster 9, next week when the group returns from the Safari we will start focusing on the next cluster of houses.

The group are all enjoying devotions each night and everyone is sharing and getting involved with group discussions and prayer.

This weekend 11 of the team is off to Paraa Lodge to enjoy the Safari and Myself and Cheryl and staying behind to spend time at the Bulrushes. It has been great spending time with the kids and there is no shortage of stories from the Bulrushes. Each and every child has a story and myself and Cheryl are looking forward to sharing some of these with you when we return.

Lets keep the team in our prayers as they complete the work!

Indian furniture teams success

The guys in India have done an awesome job over the past 3 weeks. They started with nothing and in this short time have been able to furnish a working furniture manufacturing shop with work benches and eqquipment. It is hoped that the guys have now got enough skill to begin to produce the pieces of furniture David & AJ have modelled for them.

Well done to all involved! David & AJ begin their trek home on Saturday.

Team 1 - Watoto Uganda

The March team have just returned home after a very succesful time at the Watoto Uganda villages. Our main mission is to help the Ugandan operation finsh half built houses and see them occupied as soon as possible. We've dubbed this exercise as "turning houses into homes".

Part of the time spent there is with the babies of Watoto at the Bullrushes Baby House. This is a very special time. Sleeping on the job has its rewards!!

David & AJ in India

Things are coming along really well. The guys have finished 5 tables now, most of them on their own, and they are currently making their first chest of drawers.

God is so good. The workshop is running smoothly, and the guys are using the tools well. They were trained in pairs on each stage of construction and how to use certain tools, and are now teaching each other their own specific areas. We are confident of the smooth operation of a fully fledged fine furniture factory in the near future.

It’s been fantastic sharing life with all the guys. Their hospitality has been terrific, and friendships have been established.

David and I are both well, but looking forward now to being home to share with you all.

Much love,
Aj and David.

Our young man Joram in Uganda

This is Joram, the young boy we are sponsoring through Peninsula City Church enjoying his time with Cheryl (from our team) in Uganda during their time with the Bullrushes Babies Home.

Thank you to all who generously sponsor a child through Watoto!

We're spreading further out!

Over the past few months we have been supporting several new groups as they travel to various groups of friends around the world. In March we have had Ps Ken, Graeme and Ps Don travel to Vietnam to particpate in (what is becoming a regular) training conference. This is an awesome experience and one that this team thoroughly enjoyed.






David & AJ are currently in Jodphur, India assisting the local team there to establish a furniture making factory. The generous donations collected from the people of Peninsula City Church allowed the purchase of more than $8,000 AUD worth of eqquipment to see the new venture begin.



The first peice of furniture to be produced by this new Jodphurian Furniture Team was this (as yet to be finished) side table! What a beauty!

We are really looking forward to hearing "first hand" from David & AJ when they return to tell us the wonderful things that are happening in this part of India.

We also have 2 seperate teams converging on Uganda at the moment. Team 1 has been in Uganda for almost two weeks now and our 2nd Team are preparing to depart tomorrow. david Cannon, the leader of Team 1 sent me this brief report on their time so far:

Trip is going very well, after slight communication issue when we went to Suubi and started building a classroom. At least now we have had a small part in Suubi village. We were shown the new Suubi 2 that is under construction. An additional 50 acres just down the hill from Suubi. When completed that will give Suubi 280 houses overall in both parts. We then went to Bbira and that is where we are now working. First day was ladies painting, and men working on bricking retaining walls + reinforcing form work for a house header beam. Thursday night 20th was a praise and worship meeting at KPC from 5-30 to 7.00pm.

Good Friday, 10.00am Service and communion at KPC central. Returned to KPC at night for a 3 hour, 7.00pm to 10.00pm praise and worship rally, African style, singing and Dancing, KPC hall was packed to the rafters and another 500 chairs in the car park with large screen & speakers. An unbelievable night of joyous praise, singing and dancing.

Easter Saturday, Safari group left at 4.30am. Rest of group to Bulrushes. Richard mowed lawns with Hand Mower? Cheryl, Rosalie and Judy were with the babies and I was in the laundry. They have new conditions for how volunteers work in Bulrushes now, so we were very privilidged to be able to be there. I will fill you in fully when we get back.

Easter Sunday, it was a 10.00am service in the Nelson Mandela National stadium. They were hoping for 10,000 plus, but we estimated maybee 5-6,000. Still a great crowd. Service got off to a great start and then the heavens opened up and rain and deluging rain came down. So much so that the choir and all musicians had to leave the stage as the tarp over the stand filled with water and had to be puncted to let the huge amount of water out. In the end Garry, was giving his message on stage with an assistant holding a large umbrella over him. Their was supposed to be a 1.300pm music concert, but the rain never stopped all day.

Easter Monday, saw us back at Bulrushes. All were given different jobs, and Annie spoke to me at length about the new guide lines for volunteer people. Was another great day. The ladies folded and did washing all day, I washed up an unbelievable amount of dirty dishes over 4 hours and Tim was a great resting place for some of the children. I have photos to prove it.

The safari group returned after a great weekend. Saw lots of elephant's, plus all the other animals we saw last year. Tuesday back at Bbira.Ladies painted again, and the men formed up a beam for house and made concrete and set it in. Today has been another great day at Bbira. Richard, Gavin and myself bricked in house foundations and then carried the rocks for the floor. Tim and Russel cleaned houses with brush brooms. The ladies continued on with their painting.

Tomorrow and Friday again at Bbira doing more of what we have been doing. Thank you Dinner tomorrow night at a French resturuant. Saturday we are going to the equator. Sunday will be another magical day for us all. A 10.00am service at KPC central and then at 5.00PM at KPC another African musical praise and singing. That will make 5 services at KPC for the trip. WOW. We all feel so Blessed to have been privilidged to have these praising experiences during our trip. Devotions have been good. It has seen friendships strengthened and great discussions.

A fantastic start to a new year

This Christmas saw an amazing event happen in the streets of HoCiMinh. Thousands of people came to a Christmas concert that sang out the coming of the saviour and saw over 1200 people make a decision to follow Christ!

The lighting of a cross over the gathered crowd was a truly amazing spectacle. Let us pray that this is an early indication of a flood of people coming to know Christ within the nation of Vietnam!