Finally, a full update!!!

First of all, we would like to say thank you to all of you who were praying for us during our time in Borroloola.
It was a time that was full of frustrations and hindrances to the work we were wanting to achieve.

If we told you in explicit detail, we would have you all in tears, so we will outline some of the problems in point form. (lol)
-we started to translate into Aboriginal English, and our translators had to leave town for several different reasons
-we were staying in an outstation called Wandangula, about 20km out of town. Our car broke down and we were stranded out there until parts could come.
-the parts took 2 weeks to come into Borroloola. Would you believe the truck broke down outside of Borroloola, and we had to wait another week on that.
-before the car broke down, we had some people lined up to record in Garrawa. We were unable to do this as we had no car to get to the people
-we moved into town while waiting for the car parts to arrive. This gave us some more ability to meet with people, but still no car.
-while in town our computers were stolen. Praise God, someone in town came to our aid and helped us find the computers...unharmed.
-Dennis caught the flu. He was bed ridden for nearly a week, and then could not talk much because of a bad cough.... still has it.
-a crisis arose in which we were closely involved. It was a very hard and sad time. This issue is still not resolved, and would value your prayers for the people of Borroloola.
-We had 2 funerals and  2 other people died. It was a sad time.

As you can see, we had quite a hard time. But we also had a lot of blessings.

Staying at Wandangula was great. This is the outstation that Nelita and Trevon's family live in.

Nelita, Nikarita, Shontah, Tainsley, Estella

 The girls are ready for the bus to take them to school in Borroloola. These girls are all sisters.

 While we were there, Nelita's eldest sister, Nerida had a baby girl, Natiah.

My new grand daughter, Nataiah and Nelita

Nelita's mother, Fiona, and granddaughter.

Nelita loved being with her family. She went to the local school with her family. Went fishing, swimming and what ever else was happening on the day.

 

 

Stand at Borroloola Rodeo

We planned our trip so we could be at the Rodeo. This is a big event on the calendar. We were able to share about the GRN resources available for people to use. We had phones, SD cards, bibles, and colour in pages to name a few things on our tables.

It was good to let people know what we were doing and how it can help people there.

Watching movies at Wandangula

 Many evenings we would set up the computer and watch movies with every one. It is a great way to share God's story through video.
Can't have a video night without  a fire and dogs. When the fire died down and only coals were left, the dogs would lie on the coals to keep warm.

Church leaders: Muldoon and Vincent

Vincent & Dennis recording

Some people have all the fun. How is the studio?

One idea we decided to try for our recordings was to have a prayer for each story. This would give people an idea of how to pray, and give them an opportunity to pray along with the person praying on the recording.

We asked Vincent if he would pray and we record him for the stories. We gave him a topic, and he prayed about that topic. The reason we chose Vincent is because God has given him a gift of prayer. When Vincent prays, you can feel God come into the room.

Several times a week Vincent and Muldoon meet together and pray for the town. These are the unsung heroes  that no one hears about.... people that God raises to pray.

Vincent did a great job. We are looking forward to putting them together with the stories.

Bush medicine

Glenys and Linda preparing the medicine

Dennis caught the flu while we were away. He developed a terrible cough. We collected some bush medicine for him. It is called (I don't know how to spell it) Dumbuumbu. We boiled the leaves into a tea. Some of the tea was drunk, just a couple of mouthfuls through the day. The rest was used to bogie (bathe) in.

We were asked to show a picture of Dennis having a bogie in the medicine. This is the best I could come up with due to censorship issues.

The bathroom door of our caravan.

We were able to do some Garrawa recordings. We had one lady and her daughter help us. Later on we had another lady come and help with the translation into Garrawa.

When we started doing Garrawa, Nancy and her daughter Cheryl were helping us. We sat down in a lovely spot beside the McArthur River under a grove of Tamarind trees. It is lovely there, shady, a breeze and the place is full of butterflies.

As time went on, and we were running out of time, some other ladies came along to support us. They caught fish while we were recording. Other  cooked damper. We had breaks to have a cuppa, and a 'feed'. We were fed with jonny cake and julbi (archer fish).

This was special. These people were not able to help with the translation, but they came and helped us in their own way.

One of our special memories of our trip there.

Cheryl, Nancy and Glenys working on Garawa

Cheryl returning with Julbi to eat

Deserted recording studio...'grub's up!'

Food- fresh fish, fresh damper, hot tea, great company!

Our studio....some people have to suffer!

We were sad to leave Borroloola. Nelita, especially was sad to say good bye to family.  The last day there, we had her extended family come and share breakfast with us.

Bacon, eggs, tomato, steak, damper and of course hot tea.

Cairo, our grandson

Cairo is the son of Nelita's sister, Delores. This means we call him grandson. Nelita calls him son. He is not 3 yet, but he can kick the football like an expert! No stopping him when he gets older.

We were asked to bring home another child.  After a lot of prayer and consideration, we added another child to our family. Her name is Estella. She is a cousin to Nelita, so Aboriginal way they call each other sister.

Estella is 9, and very sweet and very out going.

Estella on a train at Broken Hill

Estella saw her first train in Alice Spring on the way home to NSW. We came home through Broken Hill, and stopped in to a train museum. One excited girl.

Estella is attending Tarro Public School and doing well.