G'day to our faithful prayer warriors,
Thank you so much for your continued prayers for us and for Living Hope Baptist Church. This past week was another Chamber of Commerce Market Day in the park. Again, we bought space to set up a stall. It was a beautiful autumn day, and we gave away over 300 bottles of water. We also had a table set up for children (pre-school age) to be able to decorate and take away a "hat" for their Easter Hat Parade during the morning festivities. It was a hit, with many children wearing their crowns for the parade. We had some great conversations with people from the area. There seemed to be a greater interest in our church this time, with several saying they would come to visit.
This week is Easter, and as we have the past two years, we're going to have an "Easter Hymn Sing" on Good Friday evening. We've sent out invitations to three sister churches, as well as to the community. Pray that we would see visitors, and also have a good attendance for Easter Sunday.
Barb was just diagnosed with strep throat (!). She's had a sore throat for nearly a week, and finally went to get it checked out. She's begun a course of antibiotics. This is a busy time, so pray that this will be cleared up quickly.
Plans are underway for our next ministry team, coming in May. This will be a team from Cedarville University Theatre Department--not to put on a performance, but to rebuild our stage in the multi-purpose building and rework the panel on the front wall of the church building. The exciting part of this is that Amy will be part of this team. She's actually coming a few days earlier than the team and, depending on whether she gets a job there for the summer, she'll stay a few days after they leave. If she doesn't get a job at Cedarville, she may stay with us for her summer break. We do pray that she can get a job there, because there would be slim to no chance of getting a job back here in Australia for those months. Pray for her as she anticipates taking two or three classes on-line over the summer.
Luke performed well on his mid-term exams for year 12. He's got just over two more terms of formal education left, graduating in September. Then beginning in October are the HSC (Higher School Certificate) exams, which are a gauge for university placement here. He still isn't sure what he'll do yet, but will most likely go to college for at least a year in the States.
Matt is continuing to attend the FOCUS Bible studies on Thursday evenings, and has had a number of opportunities to talk to international university students about the Bible and Christianity. Three students from 10/40 window countries have accepted Christ through the FOCUS outreach in March alone. We would love to see some more of these students attend our church.
Thanks again for your prayers. We would ask you to pray for our support situation. We are truly grateful that there has been a slight increase in support, as well as some generous individual one-time gifts. However, our overall support picture is well in the red. As we anticipate furlough in 2014, please be in prayer about what you might be able to do to raise our support, or to begin supporting the ministry here in Australia.
In His service,
Matt & Barb Douglas
ABWE Australia |
