Here at last!

Dramas, we had a few!
Just as we were leaving Woodberry, we had a slight mishap. Dennis was winding up the legs on the caravan, so we could leave, and one of the legs broke!  A quick trip off to Jayco for spare parts. While we were grateful that it happened before we left, it was rather frustrating to have to make a 40 minute trip just before pulling out the driveway.

Frustrated Dennis fixing the leg

The trip was uneventful. We stayed at Gympie with some friends and went to church with them. We ended up staying 24 hours there, so we had to keep moving fast to get to Borroloola on the Friday.

After many long hours in the car, we arrived on Thursday afternoon, half a day earlier than we planned. This was great as we had some time to be quiet and rest before setting up for the Rodeo on Saturday.

Every time we travel up and back with ministry, we lament we have to keep to a schedule. There are so many interesting places we have to pass by..... One day we will travel just for fun!

While we were traveling up here, our neighbour rang to tell us he stopped some young kids from breaking into our house. Needless this caused a bit of stress and feelings of helplessness. Jarrod, our 3rd son is home but he starts work at 3.00 pm and does not finish until around midnight. This means the house is empty when the kids are home from school.

The rodeo was a good time to catch up with people we have not seen for ages. We had a table there and shared about the 5 fish app, had phones and bibles and posters to sell. 

Stand at the Borroloola Rodeo

We have now begun the process of finding people to help with the script and recording. There are a few people we have begun to test with recording to see if they are suitable. Finding people to help with the translation work is a bit harder.

We are staying on an outstation called Wandangula.  Don't try to pronounce it as it does not sound as it is spelled.  This is where Nelita's family live.

This has been great for accommodation but not for internet.  We bought a prepaid internet, but it does not seem to work for us. It was fine at home, but does not let us do anything here. The internet at the library is $3.00 for 15 minutes. The net is so slow there that we dont use it.

I tried to upload more pictures but the net is so slow I have given up.

2 more sleeps!!

Well, we are on the final countdown. What a few weeks this has been!

Dennis has worked hard on getting the van and car ready. He spend weeks building and perfecting a drop down fridge slide for the back of the car.

Praise God for the internet and You Tube and sons to help! Dennis & Nathan built the slide for the fridge. Dennis built a frame to bolt it to and some drawers to sit beside it.

 While it was a lot of work, it was so much cheaper than buying a commercial drawer already built. It costs around $800 just for the drawer slide alone.  We paid $200 for the slides and built the frame for about $100.  The drawers are flower boxes we bought on Grumtree for $1.50 each. Not beautiful but certainly functional.

As food is so expensive the further north you travel, we found a way to cut costs. A co-worker from GRN, Helen Sadler, took Glenys to the Flemington Markets in Sydney. Together they braved the crowds and bought huge amounts of vegetables. These were taken home and dehydrated.  This will help with the food bill while away.

Helen also went the extra mile and came to our home a few days later and helped with preparing the vegies and also getting the garden ready for 9 weeks of neglect!

 Dennis does a lot of preaching at Singleton Presbyterian church. One of the parishioners gave him a 12 kg pumpkin. This was duly disected, grated, dried and then ground to make pumpkin flour. This can be made into soup, or into bread or stews as required.  The tomatoes will be used as sun dried tomatoes in oil, and added to stews, spaghetti and the like. We also dried zucchini chips, beetroot chips, grated cauliflower, capsicum and carrots. Time ran out before we were able to dry celery.

Helen's job at GRN is data entry for all the international centres of GRN. She maintains the data base and keeps everything up to date.

While she was with us, she sorted out all the data we needed to take up with us. This and a few other jobs she did while staying with us saved us a couple of days work, especially as she knows what she is doing; when we try these things, it take us much longer. By the way, all the mess on Dennis' desk is colouring in pages and pencil packs. Helen was printing them out and packing them while doing the data entry. So much work, so little time.

Thanks Helen.

Just on a lighter side, we went camping for a few days in the last school holidays. Our daughter in law, Shayna and her children came with us.
Xander was having fun with a campfire, but the smoke was getting to him. He came up with this idea!

Not sure that it worked to well, but 10 points for trying.

Dont forget to look at the prayer and praise section for current prayer points.

Recording Trip

 Dennis has finished his training on the computer programs. He now is getting some recording training.

Borroloola from the air

At last we are off to the Territory. Our dates at the moment are mid August to mid October. We will be spending time in Borroloola and Robinson River. GRN have asked us to visit some churches/communities on the way up and back.

We are looking forward to going back. This is the first time we are going by car. Usually we fly. Flying is much quicker and cheaper, but as we need to do recording and the like, and staying for a longer time, we need the car and van.

Nelita gets car sick, so she will have a fun time getting to the territory and back. Please pray for her as she finds being in the car when it is towing the van makes her quite unwell.

Tablelands Hwy

Our plans are to be there for the Borroloola Rodeo. This is a time when people from different  communities come into town. We feel this would be a good time to show people what GRN has to offer in the area of the 5Fish app, and help them to download it onto their phones.

We will set up a display at the rodeo. (Dennis will have to man it himself because Glenys LOVES watching the broncs. She will be stuck to the fence with her camera!) Not really, but she will be tempted to run away as often as possible and watch the rodeo.

The display will have some phones and SD cards for sale, along with some other items that may be of interest to the Christians there. These will include colouring in books, songs and videos. If people are willing to help with getting supplies to take up there, please let us know.

 Nelita will be given school work from her school, so she will not fall behind too much, hopefully.  For Glenys, it feels like the old days of teaching while travelling.  ..mmmmm.

Caranbirini Conservation Reserve

Some of the time we are in the Territory will be spent in Robinson River Station. We are a bit scared about driving the van  on rough corrugated roads, (approx 3 hrs from Borroloola). Fear of the unknown.

There has been a bit of a revival in Robinson, so it will be great to spend some time with the people there.

flooded road in wet season

 The next few weeks will be busy in getting the car and van ready to go away. We need to put a water tank in the van and some drawers in the back of the car. Dennis is also going to attempt to build a slide out/drop down drawer for the car fridge. That will take some time and brain power, but he feels confident that he can do it.

Glenys is getting scripts ready and organizing Dennis and frustrating him with endless lists.
Our newsletter has just been put on this blog, so feel free to download it and share with others.

Why have we not been on our blog?

Well, Everyone, we are up and running again!
Why, are you saying that?, you may ask!
Let us explain.

A couple of years ago, Newcastle had some very severe storms. Our house had some damage. One of the most significant issues we had, apart from a huge tree falling right down the middle our yard, our shed leaked and revealed some major structural problems.

This shed was used as an office as our house is very small, and there is no room for computers and printers etc inside.

We knew we would have to replace the shed in the near future as it was flooding, the walls were rotting and growing mould, the roofing material was not legal, and compromised to name a few problems.

Removing plaster and insulation

As you know, our ministry involves traveling, but also a lot of computer work. So we needed somewhere dry and not ready to fall to work in.

 Glenys' mother died, and left a small amount of money. We decided to use this money to pull down the old shed and build a new one.

Dennis was spending a lot of time at GRN office doing some training, so it was left to Glenys to pack up the old office, and prepare everything for the removal of the old shed.

Emptying shed

 Dennis would come home on the week end and we would work like mad on the big jobs. Then he would go back to Sydney for the week.

It was scary when we started to dismantle the shed and see how rotten it was. If we had not done the shed when we did, it would have fallen down in the next couple of years!

rotten beams

cracks in the concrete let water into the shed

We pulled down the shed in the wettest month of the year. 

The arrival of the shed

 

Jeff and Jarrod working on the roof

Cameron laying the concrete

We are grateful for the help of Jeff, and  Rhys who gave their time, and Cameron our neighbour who poured the cement for us.

Granddaughter Tueila & Wade the duck

At this time, Daniel & Shayna were having their third child. We were looking after the older 2
Tueila (Tutu) had a lot of fun playing in the puddles.
Wade was never far away either!








The new shed is larger than than the old one. The old one including the carport attached to the side of the shed was about 7m x 7m. The new shed is 9.5m x 7m

Jarrod & Jeff spying on the neighbours!

No show without Punch, Nellie home from school having a ride!

Frame being erected

Nathan, Daniel and Jarrod putting down the roof

Gruntly and Sam watching the work

'Why on earth would we want to have such a large shed?', you may ask.
There is a perfectly valid reason for the size, apart from Dennis having a 'dog house' to live in.

The office area we planned is the same as in the old shed. We have also planned for a small bedroom area, living area and bathroom to go in the shed.

When people come down from the NT to do work with us, there is room for them to stay and have some privacy. The kitchenette is there if they want to make their own meals and be independent.  This way people can be living and eating with us, or having some time out for themselves.

Starting to line the shed

We have worked hard to keep the costs down. The shed was new, and our neighbour laid the concrete cheaply for us on his day off.
The rest of the materials we used to finish off the shed were sourced through Gumtree.

We put in 2 sliding doors in the shed to bring some light into it. This meant we had spare corrugated iron left over, so we used that to line the inside walls of the shed. The insulation was from the old shed. Glenys had packed it up when the shed was being pulled down. We did run out before we finished but were able to get a couple of bags free on Gumtree.

The top of the dado wall was lined with reject ply wood. This is rough, but as it is a shed, it does not matter. The paint was a mis-tint from Bunnings.


There is a lot of work to do, but we are now able to work in the office part of the shed.

Dennis installing the desks

Office up and running

We are very grateful for the provision of the shed, even if it did nearly kill us trying to get it up and running. It is still a long way from finished but we now have some where to work that is dry and not ready to fall down around our ears. ( hopefully!)

We are also very thankful for the people who helped us with putting the shed together. Jeff and Rhys gave us a few days, Our sons also helped and Jay the electrician also were invaluable.

Dennis is running away!

Recordist Training 

Dennis will be going to GRN for more training. The more training and practice  he gets, the less mistakes are made on the field. This means a better product is made in a shorter time.

He will take the van to the office and live in it for the next 3 months. This means he will commute back to Newcastle for the week ends.

Please keep him in your prayers as he seeks to learn more.  Also for the men who will be teaching. It is an important job, so it must be done well.


Glenys would also value your prayers as she runs the family back in Newcastle.

Editing recordings for 5fish app

Van next to the GRN Office

Home Alone!

Simon Johnson will be one of the men teaching Dennis some recording techniques. He produced this video sharing about the work in Western Australia 

This is exciting to see what is happening in remote parts of Australia.

Cheryl

Cheryl Kidd

We have known Cheryl for many years. She was saved early on in our time at Borroloola. Her walk with the Lord has been up and down over the years. God is changing her and she continues to grow and trust God as she matures in him.

A few years ago she came down to Newcastle with us and we spent several months teaching her the scriptures and helping her with her growth. She went back to Borroloola, and has been sharing the gospel with others

Cheryl has been unwell and was sent to Darwin hospital for treatment. When patients need a repeat visit, they stay in a hostel near the hospital until they are given the all clear.  People from all over the Territory stay in the hostels

This is where Cheryl has been the last few days.  And this is where the story gets exciting!

While Cheryl has been staying in the hostel, she has been sharing the 5fish app with other patients. Several times a day, she would ring  us and ask something about the 5fish  app. A number of ladies from Elcho Island were shown the fish. They were excited, brought others to Cheryl to help with the 5fish app, who then brought others.

Finally, people were struggling with credit, so we sent them to the local shopping centre and McDonalds to use the free wifi there.

Cheryl is so excited about sharing the Bible stories with others. It is a great way to evangelize with other people.

The people Cheryl shared the 5fish app with were saying that they were going to share it with family back home. Could people come and record more stories for their families to listen to.

Please pray for the people who are listening to the 5fish app. Pray that God's word will speak to them and those around them.

Also thank God for Cheryl and her willingness to share God's story to others around her, people she never met before.

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Hard Work Ahead!

One of the problems we have with the work we do is how to combine schooling and missionary work together.

As some of you will know, we were fortunate enough to get Nelita into an IM class at Maitland last year. This is a class for children with learning difficulties. It was so good for her, and she progressed so much, even though we had to pull her out for a
couple of months to go to Victoria.

This year we are able to put her, and maybe Trevon into an Anglican school that has a special school that will continue what Nellie has been doing last year. It is called D.A.L.E.

We home schooled our kids through their schooling years, but feel that with the special needs our foster kids have, are better educated in these classes.

This limits us as to how long we can be away.

One solution we have come up with is to have people come down and stay with us. This, we feel does a few things.
One is that we are able to work with people with fewer interruptions from issues arising from living in a community.

Another is that it gives people from remote areas to be able to see Christians from other parts of the country. 
Christians around us are able to meet and share with Indigenous Christians; something that does not happen very often.

Our kids are still schooling with less interruptions.

All that being said, we are looking at a family coming down in the next few weeks.

Where do families stay when we live in such a tiny house?  Glad you asked. We are looking at rebuilding our shed. It was converted into an office, but we are pulling it down and building it a bit larger. The existing shed is not to code and dangerous.

The next few weeks are spent empyting the office, getting council approval and seeking to build the new one.

Please pray that all will go well. We have limited funds to do this and limited man power. It is a mammoth task and we would like to have it complete as soon and possible and as smoothly as possible.

We will keep you posted on the progress.