Blog Updates

Posted on

New Year of Ministry Begins!

The colour of the sea at Ardyaloon (One Arm Point)

It is fantastic to be starting a new year of ministry settled in our new home. With the building process behind us (thanks to the many hard working volunteers), we can now focus more on the people we came here to be with.

2013 started with a morning of prayer and planning for the Kingdom Aviation Ministry (KAM) team. As the morning flew by, it became evident that the prayer needs from our many points of contact with people dotted all around the West Kimberley are growing. Each community that the KAM team visits was represented by a page of prayer points stuck on the wall. We moved around the room individually reading each one and taking time to pray.

Coming in to land at One Arm Point.

The ministry schedule for Term One looks much the same as Term Four of 2012 with the exception of more regular visits to Mowanjum.

Monday: Greg & Linda – One Arm Point (plus Yong joining us each fortnight).

Tuesday: Yong & Dave – Ngalapita & Milligidee; Greg & Linda – Mowanjum (afternoon)

Wednesday: Dave & Greg – Noonkanbah & Looma

Thursday: Yong & Dave – Yakanarrah & Djugerari; Greg & Vicki – Derby High; Greg & Linda – Mowanjum (afternoon)

Friday: Yong & Dave – Mt Barnett

Exciting news is that it looks like we have a new team member coming on board mid year! Again, stay tuned for the KAM newsletter.

Mowanjum Sign at Entrance of Community

We would appreciate prayer for safety in flying, team unity, effective ministry & God’s provision for each team member as well as the funds needed to keep the planes flying. Thank you for taking the time to read our update!

Derby, Western Australia.

 

Islands near One Arm Point

 

Student Focus @ One Arm Point

 

Posted on

Worship & Pain (a poem to describe my morning) by Linda

Awake

Stretch, exercise, decide to swim

Pool closed

Drive to jetty, listen to music

Exult, praise, worship, pray

Walk barefoot on the jetty

Take the message of Jesus – risk rejection

Pass it on to one man – acceptance

Rejoice, keep walking, pray

Feel close to Jesus

Take photo of Jesus graffiti

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walk more, feel strong breeze

Look at birds, sit down in shelter

Pray for Mum, text Mum

Express myself to friends on facebook

Get up, move on back to car

Drive back to town singing

Worship & praise, lift my heart up to God

Decide to turn onto road bordering the marsh

Looking out for people, praying

Thinking of handing out more Challenge papers

Not many people around – a few

See a lady sitting in her front yard

Wonder about stopping, keep driving

“Lord, show me what You want me to do.”

Keep driving, looking

Decide to turn around, go back to lady

Pull over when I see some people

Pray for courage as I hop out of the car

See a young woman walking towards me

Blood running down her leg

People looking on – unmoved.

I ask her what happened

Boyfriend stabbed her

She doesn’t want to go to the hospital

Just wants to go home and change her clothes

I take her “home”

Her & her father yell and swear at each other

“Don’t hang around that bloke!” he shouts

She sits, upset, bleeding

I comfort, pray, wait

She doesn’t want to go to the hospital

Wants to use bush medicine instead

The wound is very deep and open

She has scars from cutting herself all down her arm

I tell her she doesn’t need to cut herself because Jesus has already taken her punishment on the cross

She says she prays every night and confesses her sins

She says I must be an angel

Finally, she agrees to go to hospital . . .

Just another day in the life of Derby

People, crazy with alcohol, given over to self destruction

Wasted, broken, sad lives. Precious lives.

Jesus doesn’t want that for His creatures. He said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

Posted on

Ministry Report for Term One 2012

Here is a window into our ministry for First Term 2012. Praise God that He enabled us to keep well and regularly visit the six communities of One Arm Point, Ngalapita, Milligidee, Yakanarrah, Noonkanbah, Looma on a weekly basis throughout the term and keep up Student Focus at the Derby High School each Thursday lunchtime. As you can see from the photos, lots of fun was had during the Student Focus games and God’s word (including the gospel) was shared with the kids, and sometimes listening teachers. Good connections were made with both youth and adult community members. Linda visited One Arm Point most Mondays, accompanying either Paul White or Yong Kim, arriving each morning to build relationships with women and work towards establishing a regular pattern of meeting to encourage mothers in their parenting. Linda joined in with running the Student Focus program in the early afternoon, enjoying getting to know the kids and then listened in on Bible study before flying home to the family in the late afternoon. Hayley was an invaluable help in looking after (& teaching) Zac & Aaron & being “chief cook & bottlewasher” while Linda was away. Each Monday & Tuesday evening its early to bed for the Wilson family so that Greg & Linda can wake up at 3.30 am Tuesdays & Wednesdays to prepare for the day’s ministry. Greg and Yong (his ministry partner) take turns each week about either being the pilot or else preparing the devotional talk for the community kids. Greg has enjoyed getting to know some of the teachers and Indigenous adults in the community, as well as the students. A few times he has taken some of Hayley’s baking out to one of the communities on Tuesday mornings to share with and encourage a Christian principal and his wife, as well as some other staff members. This has been very much appreciated. Community life is very isolated, especially when rain cuts road access. Greg and Yong were even asked to take out some medicines from the Royal Flying Dr Society (RFDS) when the road from the “airport” to the community was too boggy for them to access with all their usual clinic equipment. (See photo below.) Once, the teacher who drove out to pick them up from the plane got well & truly bogged and had to call some other community members to come and pull his car out while Greg & Yong walked on for 20 mins to run the SF program (he was still stuck when they arrived back!). Once they were picked up by a community member whose car had obviously been used for a hunting trip the day before. There was flour all over the front seat and dash from making damper and a rifle on the console. Greg asked if it was loaded, which thankfully it wasn’t. The guys have enjoyed leading a small Bible study group in one of the communities, where a group of ladies likes to sing hymns and discuss their spiritual questions. They were also very encouraged this term when a young man told them that he had recently given his heart to the Lord, and is now leading a youth group at the church and has been reading Scripture in the school. 

Playgroup @ One Arm Point
Student Focus Watermelon Game
Devotion Time
Community member artists
Another talk
Game on the Verandah
Linda at One Arm Point
Walking down the soggy track to the community
Yong fuelling up the plane after a long day

Thursdays include a trip to the Derby High School for Linda who has been helping to run the Student Focus program there. Like all the other Student Focus programs that Kingdom Aviation run, attendance during lunch time is voluntary, which means we can have anything from two to twelve students, who come and go at will. Not everybody stays for the talk, but we have been encouraged that there has always been the ones that stay and pay attention. After this is finished, the team (including Yong’s wife Vicki, who prepares all of the materials) meets at the Kim’s home for a debrief and prayer time, ready to do it all over again the following week.

Posted on

Some Positive Observations of the Indigenous Culture

Basketball in Derby
Basketball in Derby

Having lived in Derby for the past six months, we have just begun our relationship with the Aboriginal culture, and still have a lot to learn. Often, when visitors pass through a town like Derby, they are confronted with things they don’t like, such as drunkenness, public fighting, dirtiness, neglected children. But I am noticing that this is not the overall picture. I am glad that we have the privilege of getting to mix with and befriend Aboriginal people, both here in Derby and out on the more remote communities. There are some things that I have observed which I really like or are just different from the way we do things. For instance, having two young sons (6 & 8), I’ve had the opportunity to take them along to local sports. They’ve had a short go at footy and now are getting into basketball. They way they run sports here is so different to the way its done in the city. Its more casual, more regular, and a lot less regulated. I am pretty much the only parent who brings my children, and stays to watch. The kids mostly find their own way to the footy field or rec center. They don’t have to pay, or sign any forms. They just turn up whenever they like and go when they like. They come because they want to be there, and they have a lot of fun. If someone gets hurt, they look after each other, but don’t dote. Once the tears are wiped away, the kid is usually straight back into it. They mostly have bare feet. But the thing that has impressed me the most is the inclusive spirit. Kids of all ages, from little ones up, are encouraged to join in. Our boys have never played basketball before, but both the adult leaders and the kids have encouraged them and are willing to teach them as they go along. The players that are recognised are the ones who pass the ball to the little kids and tell them how to play. And boy, can some of those younger kids play. You should see them shoot the goals from way back at the three point line!

Aaron takes a shot.

Another thing I observe is the strong link with nature that the Aboriginal people have. They prefer to sit outside to be together, rather than inside. If you run out of things to talk about,  just get them started on fishing or talking about the plants or animals in the area. There is a lot we can learn from them. When it rains in Derby, you won’t see Aboriginal people with umbrellas. If they are walking around town when the sky opens up, they’ll just keep walking.

Yes, I am looking forward to learning more from my Indigenous neighbors.

One Arm Point
Posted on

A Walk in the Park

I was shocked when she said that she was 41. “That’s younger than me! You’ve got many years ahead of you if you stop drinking.” Greg and I were on a walk around the neighbourhood at dusk when we came across a couple in the park who were drunk. The woman was distressed and called out to us to help her. As we got closer we saw she had blood running down her chin. She was upset because her husband had hit her. When Greg asked him if this was true, he offered up his lame excuse, “She’s my wife. She didn’t wake me up when I was sleeping.” She asked us to ring the police, so we did. While we were waiting, I comforted and prayed with Veronica and after a while they both started chatting. “When we get our house we’ll stop drinking,” was the drift of their talk. Some people say its futile to try and witness to a drunk person, and maybe it is, but sometimes they are more open and can take it straight when you tell them they have to stop drinking and call out to God to help them in Jesus’ name. She did that in front of us. Then showed us a photo of her adult son in her wallet, and they told us they were artists, and she does really good dot paintings.  “I told her that that is a gift that God has given her and that is what she should do. She needs to get rid of the grog and put Jesus in its place.” Then the police came and said, “Thanks. We’ve got this.” And we walked home.
Please pray with us for these people who God has created in His image and has planned so much more for them than the life they are living.
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26