Ministry Happenings...

Ministry to Men has taken off in a new direction.

It was 8 months ago, I called a few men together to discuss our "Ministry to Men". Out of that birthed a man's event almost every month starting with a Sunday afternoon Cricket match, Father/Son and Mate fishing trip, Golf Outing, and a Meat on a Spit Social.

Cricket was a blast with 24 or so men involved . I understand the highlight was how hilarious it was for most to see a Baseball player take a baseball stance and hit a few long balls before the "bowler hit the wicket" (struck me out). I then waited my turn to throw some MunnHeat (pitch) as the bowler. Humbly, I will say I gained their respect. However, I still think we should use baseball gloves over open hand catching!

I enjoyed planning the "meat on a spit" too, as the men came together for a great feast of lamb and a butt of beef cooked-up rotisserie style by a team of South African men and an Aussie. There where plenty of side dishes as well! Sixty + men cultivated relationships and responded well to two men sharing how Jesus has impacted their lives.

Then just last week about 50 men showed up to an impromptu Saturday AM “Man’s Breakfast" with a South African Evangelist/Pastor sharing about men of faith from the Scriptures. I took the opportunity to recruit men to join in "Ministry to Men" by volunteering to help lead in organized activities they themselves are interested in. We are looking forward to experiencing a greater depth of personal growth over the next few years in ministry to men.

Missions Ministry Team

I finally was able to propose a renewed vision & strategy for our Missions Ministry. Since then God has begun revealing the potential of new partnership in national and global missions.

We have begun partnering with Student Life (Campus Crusade AU’s) ministry to University students here in Perth. Without any SL staff on this side of the country, God has risen up a few students from our church to be the forerunners to this ministry among the 70,000 students. May God expand His kingdom from the labour of a few faithful students.

We have also identified a potential missionary couple to the indigenous people (Aboriginal) of AU. Lori & I were attending a denominational missions meeting to represent our church family. I saw a prayer card of a missionary couple who have recently returned to AU to carry the message of Christ to this aboriginal community. We recently shared our similar visions for the people of AU & were thrilled to discover they are known to some here and they too have adopted children. We are anticipating a meeting in December to move our partnership into action for the Lord.

We continue to keep our eyes open for opportunities to reach Muslims for Jesus in Indonesia even though God may have provided a local couple to complete that aim as well. This does seem to be a possible "crazy story of God" so we will let you know more if it develops into a partnership.

And how about this; as I proposed we bolster our Short Term Missions experiences, this past month we have been invited to partner in STM in South Africa & Zimbabwe more strategically. Hmmm. Seems God wants us to share our faith beyond our local community!

Unexpected Travel to the USA

Matthew flew to the USA on Oct 12th to visit his mother (Norma) in Placerville, CA. Norma battles with Lupus and has been struggling these past few weeks.

God's timing is always perfect in that Lori's mom and stepdad are in here in Australia visiting unil Nov. 9th. So, they are helping with the children during this time while Matthew is away until Oct 29th.

Please pray for healing for Norma and for Matthew to have a sweet time of fellowship with his family and for travel safety on the way back!

5 Months of Nothing?

Just pulled up our blog and see May was our last entry. Has nothing happened during that time? LOTS has been going on and this week Matthew will pen our ministry happenings these last months along with Praises & Prayer request. Thank you for waiting so patiently for word of what GOD is doing in our lives here in Australia.

Check back here the end of the week. Meanwhile here is a photo of our family taken in Sept for our church directory that Lori is working on.

He is wonderful and faithful,

The Munn's

Our Auntie Bev

Thank you all who prayed for our Auntie Bev. Last week she went to be with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Tomorrow (Thurs) at 1pm is her memorial service.

Please pray for our family as the children will be attending their first funeral. The children are clear about the fact that Auntie Bev is in Heaven and healthy and praising Jesus. We are so happy for her but are sad in our hearts because we will miss her dearly! Here is a photo we took with Auntie Bev just before her health started to deteriorate. We cherish our memories and look forward to the day we see her in Heaven!

USA 2011?

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.

Waiting Waiting Waiting

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.

Anyone want to get married in Australia?

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)