No kangaroos or koalas yet

Greetings from Perth!  From the land of continuing rain...the good side is that everything is green and lush, and when the sun comes out, it’s beautiful.  We are seeing some interesting wildlife;  crows that sound like a baby crying and parrots that are just flying around the treetops.

No kangaroos or koalas yet. But they do have some cool vehicles.

Our studies are going well...we didn’t think we would get marriage counseling when we came here, but out topic last week was team unity.  And when you search the scriptures about what God has to say about unity, that extends to every relationship, including marriage!  In working going over our notes and praying together, we found we were able to communicate in more concise ways than we had gotten in the habit of communicating...We had to address our tendency to be independent and withdraw from people when they offend us or we are annoyed with them.  Jesus’ last recorded prayer before we went to the cross was for our unity, that the world may know he loves them (John 17).  It was that important to him, that his people be in unity, because when we aren’t, we keep the world from seeing God’s love.  Isn’t that a major problem with how the world views the church?  They often don’t see love in us, so aren’t aware that God loves them!

Anyway...other topics...we continue to have fun with base life, it’s like being in a 250 person family, challenging at times, but if everyone is committed to walking out unity and valuing each person as important as themselves, there is harmony.  It really works!

Updates about outreach locations.  We leave toward the end of September.  Rick and I will be going first to the Kimberly’s, an outback-type place where the main population is Aboriginal people.  We have been invited to work among them for 8 weeks.  It is a three day drive and it’s going to be hot!  Maddie is going to Cambodia and Hong Kong and Cameron is going to Burma and Thailand.  Gasp, yes, our kids are going to different places!  

Well, gotta run, more coming soon!  Thank you Thank you Thank you to all who have commented on the blog, written emails or made comments on facebook.  It means so much to us to hear from home!  

Love

Rick and Gail

In the old day, my eyes used to glaze over when someone talked about Community
Development. Now a days, I am usually on the edge of my seat when someone is
talking about it. I think the difference is that now I understand that working Community
Development from a worldview is just a project, but from a Biblical worldview it can
transform not only the community and the people in it, but change it on a national level
too. 
These last couple weeks we learned about Paternalism. Thatʼs like if you just give
someone a gift you think they need, even with good intentions, they can end up being
dependent on you, and not do the things that they should be doing themselves. The
recipient doesn't grow like they should, or maybe they never really wanted the gift, but
took it anyway. This is the same for community development. There are lots of
expensive equipment scattered about the third world, that was given in good faith with
great intention, that sit idle, rusty or broken. The community remains the same, or worse
off, because they figure someone else will fix their problems. Instead of going in and
giving gifts they may not need, find out what they need by talking with them and learning
from them. Find out what their vision is. Lots of times, well meaning people who have
good goals, have their own agenda, and filter out what they donʼt want to hear. Walk
alongside people in the community, and you can learn a lot from them. You can find out
what they really need, and maybe you can help them in making it possible. They in turn
can help others in their community. You can help move them towards Godʼs intention for
their lives.
YWAM Perth is a very busy place, with packed schedules of good stuff. Monday
mornings we have base worship, Tuesdays we have some brief announcements on
events for the week and Friday nights we have an evening service open for everyone. In
between all these times are classes, work duties, intercessory prayer, worship, eating
lots of bread, meetings, homework and getting to know one another.

Since this is Winter in Perth, there is rain. It could be clear one minute and pouring
buckets of rain the next. It usually stops after a few minutes, just enough to allow you a
false sense of security as you scurry off just to get caught in it again.
Love,
Rick and Gail

Don't send mail to this address

Cam's Bday at the base.

July 18, 2011

Hello!  We are finally able to give an update...a summary of the last few weeks here in Australia....I know I said our communications would be short and sweet, but we have a couple of weeks to catch you up on!

First of all, many of you were involved in our final days in Sacramento and we again want to say thank you to all who helped -packing, cleaning, moving and storing our stuff.  Many of you helped with painting and gardening and repairs to prepare the house to sell:  a whole army of helpers that we couldn’t have finished up California life without.  Thanks to you who fed us and to the Young’s for letting us mess up their house for the last few days!  (Kevin, you are lucky you missed it!)

Our team, minus a few

The flight was long, but thankfully uneventful (except missing a connecting flight in Sydney and adding 5 hours to the journey).  Thank God, all our luggage/guitars arrived safely.

We arrived Saturday night and started school on Monday, which for the first few days was registration and tours of campus, doing logistics like registering with the gov’t to be able to work with children and get our train passes. 

Rick and I share a 3 BR, 2 bath house with 2 other young couples, one from America and one from Ethiopia.  We live about a 7 minute walk from the base.  The kids are living in their own dorms, Cameron on base with the boys and Maddie in a separate house/dorm with a bunch of girls.  We see them at meal times and here and there between classes.  They have also come over the last 2 Sundays for a big breakfast and catch-up session.

The cost of bananas

Our school, Foundations of Community Development, is preparing us to enter a community, assess needs and assist with meeting those needs, but with a perspective of moving the community and individuals toward God’s intentions.  The first week we learned about the kingdom of God, and this week about Biblical World View.  Both weeks had the dual purpose of teaching us how to look at communities and to help us see where we might need to be changed, to challenge our own development before thinking we could help anyone else.    

The content of the lectures has been very eye-opening and spiritually challenging and we have found being in YWAM again to be refreshing.  Just to be able to have the time to learn, to pray and meditate on what we are learning has been amazing and we are very thankful to be here.

We haven’t had time to see much of Australia, but we hope to start venturing around in the upcoming weeks.

At the end of September, we will go on outreach to Papua New Guinea, (PNG) and then to the Kimberley’s in northern area of Western Australia.  

The kids don’t know where their outreach will take them yet.  So for now, we are studying hard, enjoying life with our new friends and classmates, not loving that we left summer and are in winter again, but we won’t be complaining when we are spending Christmas at the beach!

We would love to hear from you, and fill you in on more specifics.  We appreciate your prayers for adjusting, learning and getting prepared for what is ahead.  Please let us know how we can pray for you, as we have lots of time for prayer these days!

With love, 

Rick and Gail
P.O. Box 8501 
Perth Business Centre
WA, 6849  Australia

First blog I have ever done

Greetings from Perth! This trip has forced us to finally explore the world of blogging!  We will usually keep our entries short and sweet.  This is really a test to see if it works and if anyone sees it!  Please comment (or whatever it is you do) if you see this!  Thanks.  More to follow.  Gail