Upadate on Cheryl

Cheryl, Sylvester & James in hospital

 A couple of weeks ago we asked you to pray for Cheryl as she was to have a triple bypass after having a heart attack while she was with us.
We are happy to say, that she is home with us, and is getting better each day.
The doctors are happy with her progress, she is now getting impatient and wanting to do more things than she should

Cheryl home and happy

 She told us we could share a story about her....
 Dennis was sent in to take a photo of Cheryl in hospital so we could put it on the blog to ask people to pray. The photo was not that great, so he was giving the job of redoing the photo. This he did successfully.

When Glenys went in to visit, Cheryl, cautiously asked why Dennis took so any photos. Glenys explained about the blog and asking people to pray for her.

Her attitude changed dramatically. Glenys asked her a question, "Why were you worried about getting a photo done?"

After some hesitation, Cheryl said she thought we were taking photos of her because we thought she was going to die, and we wanted photos before she died!

Cheryl could not stop laughing when she knew why we wanted several different photos.  Putting photos on a blog was not nearly as dramatic as what she was thinking.

Cheryl is very aware that God was looking after her. He still has a plan for her life. She is wearing the scars on her chest as a memory of how God looked after her by having her down here close to doctors and hospitals when she needed them.

Bus Update

A big thank you to all of those who donated toward the bus. We have achieved our goal.
PTL!!!!!
Dennis spoke to the dealer and told him we had the money. Alas, the bus was not ready. All our kids were getting a bit 'stir crazy' as we did not have enough seats in our vehicles to carry every one.

Glenys said that we all needed to pray, so Sylvester said, 'Well, how about now? So we all sat around in the lounge room to ask God to help us with the bus.

The next day the dealer said we could have a lend of a bus until our bus is ready to be picked up!

We are ow driving around in a 'flash' bus, a $40,000 12 seater. It is a bit sad, because, if we have it too long, we will get used to this one, and the old 1997 one will pale in comparison.

Not really, we are so grateful for the bus, we dont mind if it is a bit old.  We did debate about putting
BLA Crew  on the side.

BLA is short for Borroloola.

Our 'gang' this week

Our youngest son, Benjamin and his family came to stay for 10 short days. So they were included in the 'gang' this week

Starting at the back row is Jai, (16), Benjamin with baby Noah (10 weeks), Max ( 2 years)Jess, James at the very back, Linda, Cheryl.
Front row, Nelita (13), Estella 10, Sylvester 11 and Nickarita, 12.


We did try to get a pic of every one in the bus, but they were not good. When we get a good photo we will post it here.

Thanks again for all who helped both with praying for it and helping with donations.

Transport

As you know, we have Cheryl, James and Sylvester down to help us with the translation and recording of Bible Stories.

When we seek to be efficient and effective, we sometimes come across problems in the execution of those plans.

Let us explain: We have found that the work we feel God has called us to do very important. While we seek to do work in remote places, there are many interruptions and hindrances to this.  Having people down here, is more efficient, (except when people have heart operations!!!!).

People are asking to come to stay with us. It is a great way for them to get intensive bible teaching while doing the recording. Teaching the bible is part of the recording process, as they need to know the Bible story to be able to tell it effectively.

This year, we will have a couple of young people boarding with us to attend school. These kids are from Borroloola. Abstudy covers their fares down here, and covers their school fees.  We decided to do this, as these kids were really trying to get an education in Borroloola. They will be attending DALE, St Phillips Christian College in Newcastle.

Our problem? Transport. Our car is not big enough, as children are a part of the package deal when we get people down here, along with our kids.

We have been praying about another vehicle for a while, and asking God what to do about it. The patrol is too expensive to run around town, and it does not have enough seats.

Dennis found a bus at a car auction a couple of weeks ago. It did not sell, so he decided to have a look at it.

When he was talking to the car dealer, it came up in conversation our reason for wanting the bus.

The dealer said he was very sympathetic to the church work, even though he is not a believer.  As the conversation continued, he mentioned a Christian he had dealt with recently and was very impressed with. It turned out this person stayed with us while he was buying the car from this dealer.

The dealer was even more excited when Dennis said that he knew the couple and knew the wife since she was very tiny.

This made the dealer very excited. He said that he wanted to help us get the best deal we could.

After some talking, he took the car off the market. He will wait until we get the money to buy it. Needless to say, we do not have any to pay for it.

1996  180,000km  13 seater   Toyota Hiace  2.4 EFI

It was suggested that we could put on the side, that the bus was provided by the company, and they would service the car free of charge for the time we had the car in our possession.  He dropped the price and offered to fix up a few things that needed attention free of charge!

Now we have the bus ready to buy. All we need is $7000 to redeem it!



Could you pray that God will raise the funds for us to purchase the bus.

We would like to give Chris Purcell at Valley Motor Auctions thanks for his help with the bus

Cheryl & James

Thank you for praying for Cheryl & James. They arrived here with us a week before Christmas. We spent Christmas together.

For those of you who do not know them, they are a couple from Borroloola. We knew Cheryl while we were in Borroloola, and have continued to work with her over the years.

James recently came to know the Lord. It was a real struggle for them to gain victory over a number of issues in their lives.

They came down to help us with translation work here in Woodberry and to gain a lot of teaching so they could go back home strong and equipped.

We have been doing 2 bible studies a day, and last week we started on the translation work to get Bible Stories recorded.

All was going well, they were getting excited about the things God was doing in their lives.

A major hiccup occurred on Friday.  Cheryl woke up with pain in her chest and arm. Glenys took her to the local hospital.

Long story short, Cheryl is now having a triple heart bypass. She had 3 blockages in her arteries. The doctors said that if she was in Borroloola, she would not have made it to hospital. God is good. He has a plan for her life.

Her recovery will be long, but we are trusting that God will heal her and restore her to full capacity soon.

Cheryl, Sylvester, (grandson) James

Please pray for Cheryl's recovery, and return to good health.
We would value our prayers for the work we will be doing in recording the Bible stories in language for the Indigenous people so hungry for God's word.