We are still hoping for a visit to the US in May/June of 2011. We feel it is important to see you again. Mikah has lived in AU longer than in the US. Their US memories are fading & we wish to remind them of many important people in their lives as well as to give thanks to so many. Please pray we are good stewards of God’s resources as we have many outlays with schooling, immigration, and a remaining plan to fix our house with at least another bedroom.
We have developed wonderful friends here & Matthew enjoys the growing transparency, trust and partnership of the pastoral team. We are nearly certain he will be asked before August to sign a new 3-4 year contract to remain at the church. For those of you who have supported us over the years, you have blessed us greatly. Your partnership has made it possible.
February 09 we applied to renew our temporary visa & received a temporary temporary visa until our permanent temporary (PT) visa arrived. Sometime later, we were notified we were in the country illegally, because they gave us the wrong temporary temporary. So, we started again & realized I could apply for a permanent resident (PR) visa so I asked the case worker & we did what we were told. July came & still no proper visa. I then discovered we did not have a PR application submitted but only an application for a temporary. So we started again for a PR & then amazingly & finally received our PT. We were told it would not be very long to receive a PR Visa. I asked how long is not too long? 5-7 months! After 8 months we were making calls and then received an apology that we “fell through the cracks” because I am not the Sr. Pastor & don’t pay enough taxes!
Well we answered these questions and now I pay more taxes! The promise I would have the PR Visa immediately upon immigration receiving the new contract apparently meant : I need to complete more work on our application, with finger prints, FBI check, character checks, renew my passport & redo Lori’s medical check up and x-rays, because they took long to process our application & these items expired. And by the way we need all our kids examined not by our GP for $60 each but by their GP for $183 each! Can you believe this is the short version of the story?
So, the good news we were hoping to pass on to everyone 5-8 months ago is still in process. Prayerfully, by Monday we will have everything in the mail and the final wait will be on.
This week Matthew received a surprise letter. He has been officially authorized as a Marriage Celebrant in Australia. Thus, he can now perform weddings. Crazy thing is even though he had his application filed, he had not taken the test! He called & told them but it’s a done deal.
(photo above by Lori Munn Photography)
Our Men’s Fellowship has been reborn! After several years of up & down events & stalling out at men’s breakfasts, Matthew asked three men to join him on a Men’s ministry team. They put a few events on the calendar & saw an immediate response. The Sunday afternoon Men’s Cricket Match in April was a big hit with over 24 men playing. People enjoyed watching the American stand baseball style & smash a few long balls before he “flied out”. He also threw some wicked “bowls” (pitches like drop balls).
This past weekend was the fathers, sons & mates Overnight fishing trip in the dunes. The thunderstorms held off & those who attended had a great time.
In a few weeks, the men will enjoy a Sunday afternoon Golf Day for "hackers & golfers". We already have plenty of men signed up. Matthew is inviting Robbie & Mark our two neighbors that are married to Lori’s friends, Karena and Maryanne. Please pray for these two couples to come to faith in Jesus through our friendship.
Our Women’s ministry is running full steam ahead. With Lori & Shirley bringing a clear focus & ministry team approach to the group we are experiencing a lot of excitement, spiritual growth, & participation. Coffee & Chat Nights are held every 4th Monday of the month. This gives women opportunities to bring friends cultivate deeper relationships. This year we added a theme to each night. Next Monday is "Making a House a Home" hosted by an interior decorator. Lori is now planning the W.O.W Retreat for the Sept. 17th weekend. Denise Glenn from www.motherwise.org will be our speaker. Her talks will be based on her book: "Restore My Heart"- God's Passionate Love for His Bride. Last year, Lori prayed for 60 ladies to attend & God provided 60! This year please join Lori in praying for 75 women to attend. Women will have an opportunity to come to faith in Christ there too.
Matthew has proposed a new Vision & Strategy for Missions. He has one for National Missions (Australia) & one for Global Missions. Because there are 80,000 university students in Perth with very little efforts to reach them, he has proposed we partner with Campus Crusade for Christ Australia to establish a ministry here in Perth with some of our University students. Please pray we see movement on this by early June. He has already planting the seeds for STM opportunities in Thailand, sharing the life of Christ at youth camps with Buddhist young people! Harvest time in Thailand!
With Global Missions the proposal includes partnering with a ministry to reach the unreached of Indonesia.
Kids are healthy. Maxwell is playing Footy. He is making sand jumps (not much dirt around) for his bike and the girls dance after school at church for $4 a lesson. We hope the girls will use it to invite their unchurched girlfriends.
Regarding schooling: It is clear we will not receive the educational assistance necessary in the public school (for special ed) & not in any Christian/ private school either. We will be checking out a Steiner school next week. An extra 10-15 minute drive to school and a big tuition bill, but we will trust the Lord to work this out too. This school approaches learning in a non-traditional format and we think it may be a better fit for our children with their needs. ( If there are any teachers that want to do a missions trip and homeschool our children, we are open to the idea!)
