First Month in Melbourne
“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.” Psalm 96:3
We are rejoicing in how the Lord has been gracious to us in our transition to Australia! We have settled in and feel at home. We’re learning the public transport system and are, for the first time in our lives, commuters! It’s an adjustment to just jumping in the car and driving to campus or the city to learn about how long it will take to get to different locations, but it’s a great way to get a vision for the city and interact with locals!
On our date nights, we’ve been going to new restaurants and exploring different attractions. We went to the Royal Botanical Gardens (which is in the city & free!), a delicious fish restaurant (half price Tuesdays!), a Cricket match and Max Brenner chocolate. It’s so fun to try new places and new foods.
A few weeks ago, the other American STINTers arrived, which was great. We finally feel like a team as we’ve been meeting and praying for what the Lord would do in our lives and through our ministry this year. We’ve been meeting to plan what this year would look like for each of us. With so many people “resources” we have a lot of flexibility wiht what we can do! We will be helping to maintain movements at Melbourne Uni and RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), as well as launching movements on 5 city campuses. You know how excited we are for this type of ministry – helping students experience discipleship while keeping our eyes to the unreached fields that are ready for harvest!
We also were able to attend Student Life’s Staff Conference, called Nexus, in Queensland a few weeks ago. It was amazing to worship with Aussie missionaries and to hear the vision of Student Life Australia – a movement for every campus, the gospel for every student. We were also sobered by the fact that for all of Student Life in Australia, reaching out to there are about 100 missionaries working full-time. In the States we are blessed to have over 2,000 and our eyes were opened to see the great need for missionaries here. We are so excited to be a part of this ministry!
At the same time, we are aware of and praying for the people of Australia that have been hit hard by some disasters. Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, was hit so hard by flooding and just this week by a massive cyclone. The people of western Victoria (the state we live in but a few hours west) also experienced flooding and bush fires that are destroying home and farms. It’s quite a tragedy and we’d appreciate your prayers for this nation.
Thanks for your prayers and continued partnership in taking the gospel to the world!
Prayer Requests
- praise the Lord for our team arriving safely and finding apartments within a week – unheard of!
- pray for us to find balance in our schedules and time for ministry & family & rest
- pray for our team to continue bonding well and to be unified in the Lord as we prepare for Unis to start
- pray for wisdom in how we spend our time, and quality time with one another and good communication in our house
- pray for us & the students to walk with Jesus and keep Him at the center of our lives.