Hello friends,
We had a lovely Easter celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior. Our church hosted an "Easter Hymn Sing" on Good Friday evening. We thoroughly enjoyed singing for 1-1/2 hours about the sacrifice of Christ and His victory over death!
The church kitchen is all but done. Just a few small touchup areas to finish now. Thanks to all who helped or gave to get this important project done!
We are approaching an extremely busy time:
In May:
★ Amy arrives home for a few weeks (YAY!).
★ A team from Cedarville University will be helping to rebuild the stage areas in our church.
★ We will take part in another Chamber of Commerce Market Day, where our church has reached out into the community by offering free water bottles and an activity for the children. It’s a great opportunity to talk to people and to hand out literature.
★ The annual AFBC (Australian Fellowship of Bible-believing Churches) Bible Conference will be held.
★ Barb has a Wollongong Harmony Chorus competition in Perth (like going to New York from San Francisco!) over a weekend (Matt is taking the time off and going along). This Chorus has been a great way for Barb to be able to make friendships with a variety of women, and it’s great fun, too.
★ At the end of May is the AFBC Ladies Retreat.
In June:
★ We celebrate 19 years of service in Australia.
★ Another ministry team arrives from our sending church to help with more renovations.
In July:
★ Another ministry team is expected.
Please pray for us during these busy months! We don’t just stay busy for the sake of something to do. It is our intent and motivation to be reaching out into our community, giving our church the facelift it needs to attract visitors, and being able to witness to others. Also, ministry teams are a great way of introducing young people (and sometimes older people) to the idea of missions.
Pray that we will stay healthy. Barb is getting over a throat infection, and Matt has discovered that he has weakened forearm muscles (from stress or ?) which makes any physical labor much more difficult. He's been given stretches for his hands and forearms.
Luke did well in his mid-term exams, and is looking forward to the 2-week school holiday coming up.
In His service,
Matt & Barb Douglas
ABWE Australia |
