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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

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. 

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.