Videos

As you know we have been working on bible studies to send to people in remote areas.
It has been great having the kids with us, as they are a great source of help.

We do church at home with the kids on a Sunday night. Often we get grumbles...'Why do we need church tonight, we went this morning!'  see, they are normal kids!

We find out what works, and what doesn't in teaching methods and terminology. It gives us understanding of how they are thinking and what issues are being faces by their people.

Glenys has been experimenting with putting the visuals on the videos in a slightly different format. It has proven quite difficult as the videos have to be made in small clips and them put together in one larger video and then have the audio put onto it.

Each process is a learning curve, so not moving as quickly as we hoped it would be.

We tried to put a video clip on here to show you, but it did not work. Apparently, I can easily upload a You Tube video, but not one off my computer. This means you will have to wait until I put them on You Tube before I can show you.

We can put up some pics of the images Glenys has been working on to put in the videos.
we have been using images from Sweet Publishing
                     https://www.unfoldingword.org/sweet-publishing/genesis/ 
These images are great. They tell the story in pictures.
Sweet Publishing have their images on the net, and are available for any one to use. They are specifically designed for people to tell a story and add a narrative in their own language, then post it on the net for other people to hear the story in their own language. 

One problem we have with the images, and we have spoken to the organisations about this is the colour of the people. The bible stories took place in the Middle East. The people there are not white!

Glenys has spent many hours recolouring the images to make them more correct and acceptable to other ethnic groups.

You can see the difference between the two images.
The other problem we are struggling with is telling about God and the Bible when there are no images in this group that cover this.

Glenys has been working to use the same style in the given images to develop images to use in the videos.

An example is 'God'. Sweet publishing use images like this to show God talking to people.

The light shining is one way we can show God talking to people. To keep this uniformity, we decided to become best friends with photoshop and cut and paste images to carry this idea through the videos.

The image of Moses at Mt Sinai, is the original from the Sweet Publishing material.

 This is the new image doctored from the above image and one of God with the Hebrew below.
The Hebrew had to be taken out and a new circle of yellow was inserted.  This became the new image for God, that would be added to as the need arose.

 

When talking about different Bible covers, we used the 'God' image in the background with the various bibles on the front. This was to show that God is 'behind' the  bibles, but men made different covers with the same story inside the Bible.

This also is used for explaining how the Bible came about. We tell how God told men what to write. The usage of God behind again shows that God is there in the whole process.

Images cut and pasted to make new image telling a different part of the story.

Hopefully this shows what we are doing, and why it is taking so long. There are several thousand images that need to be coloured. Images that need to be remade to help visually tell the story better.

We are tuning the images into a 'whiteboard' format. This is what I cant get to show you on this site. If you look at:
 https://www.facebook.com/DoodlyVideo/videos/1926993680685461/?v=1926993680685461

you will see a bit of what we are trying to do.

The next process is to drop the video clips into a video editor to join all the clips to make a complete story and then put in the audio.

It is a long convoluted process without the writing of the scripts and having the scripts tested to ensure accuracy, and then have indigenous people read/listen to the scripts to re-edit so they can understand and record the story.

Please pray that God will keep us learning how to do this well, and that people may soon learn more about God and his working in their lives.

Dennis

During the holidays, Dennis started to feel unwell. When we were in Sydney, he was getting really bad. On the way home from Sydney, Glenys dropped him off at the Maitland Hospital Emergency Dept and went home with the kids.

He ended up staying the night, and the following day was operated on for a strangulated hernia.

Doesnt he look sad!!

By Tuesday he was home convalescing. This meant that he could not go to work for 2 weeks. No heavy lifting for 6 weeks. What really killed him was Glenys driving him around for 2 weeks. Whether it was her driving ability or his being reliant on another person, he would not say.

During this time he developed pain in his stomach. It turned out that the surgical area was bleeding. He had to have it drained, and may have to face surgery again to fix the problem.

Dennis has struggled with this, as he feels strongly for the inmates at jail who have had no one during this time. This is further complicated as he has training for the next 2 weeks, and will not be at Tamworth then either. It will be well over a month before he gets back to Tamworth. If he needs another operation, it may take more time.

Please pray for this, as he has now used up all his sick pay. As he is only on 3 days a week, the days off work without pay will be hard.

Kid Kapers

Oct 2019
I am always hesitant to write too much about the personal lives of the kids as the internet is not a safe place.  This is why I will share about our joint activities. Please just keep praying for them and their families.

These last school holidays were pretty busy. We planned to have a day out and then a day home, but wet weather made us keep changing our time table. All good. They had a good time.

Jumping the gun. The kids are still attending DALE school. This is Jayz's last year. He is thinking of staying with us and doing some TAFE courses. Please pray for him as he makes big decisions.

Trevon, Nickarita and Nelita getting on school bus

Jayz in purple jacket

Just a note, the obscured face is another child on the bus. Hence his face being obscured.
The 4 older kids are still going to DALE and Estella is attending Tarro Public School
Estelle was with us, but has returned home. She is back home in her community. She finished year 11 and deciding what to do next year.

We took the kids to Sydney a couple of days in the holidays. We went to the aquarium and animal park on one day

Jayz and Xander at the Wildlife Park

We obeyed and did not feed the birds at Darling Harbour!

. The second time we went, we took them on the ferries on the harbour. It is a cheap way to see the harbour, on a public transport ticket.

All the kids and the old man in the back.

Waiting for ferries is not all it is cracked up to be!!!!

I just added this pic because they all looked so bored. Not the case, but it sure looks like it!

 We took them around Myall Lakes and up to Seal Rocks and back home again. It was a great day, not to cold, but almost warm enough to swim. This was a very shallow brackish lake, so much warmer than the ocean.

Nickarita & Jayz making 'hair waves'

Of course Jayz has to have the last say!

Don't know what was happening, but makes a good photo.

 Sandboarding was also on the list. Rain stopped us spending a full day sand boarding. We snuck in some small sand hills on a fine day, but the weather stopped us from going to the HUGE hills a few days later.

The girls and Xander (grandson) went ice skating for the first time. They loved it. Nelita knew how to roller blade, so could easily swap technique that to ice, apparently. The other girls and Xander spent a deal of time on the ice, flat out! It was fun, especially for the viewers. The boys would not go, as they may have lost face falling on down on said item in front of others.

Estella and Nickarita having a go.

Nelita being not so sympathetic at the others

The AFL season has finished, but the kids asked for some training off season. We are now still going to 'training' once a week as people kindly give their time to help the kids do specialist training. Some of the other players join in with us.

Nelita and Trevon with some others training

We are trying to give the kids experiences that stay with them forever. Most are outdoors and free, as Newcastle is a great place for sea, bush, mountains, and sand hills.
They are growing in maturity, and learning to love God. It is really lovely to see them develop in many ways.

Every where we go, people tell us how much they enjoy the kids company. They are a real credit to themselves and to how God is developing them.

Please continue to pray for them and their growth and their future.

Our Kids

We are reluctant to share a lot of things about the kids over the blog. If any one is wanting to learn more about what we are doing with them, and how they are progressing, please drop us an email, phone, or send a letter.

We would love people to become more engaged with praying for them as they grow to understand more about God.



This video was shared publicly at the DALE school break up last year and is on their facebook site, so I felt we could share this with you.
  
                
https://www.facebook.com/SPCC.DALE.WARATAH/videos/737387573305254/


Some of our kids are on the video, and Trevon gives his testimony there. This was a big thing for him as he struggles to verbalize very much about different things, and to do this in front of a video camera was huge.  Hope you enjoy.

Three of the kids here have given their hearts to the Lord, and another 2 are wanting to follow God's way, but have not stepped over the final hurdle of commitment. Another is not showing much in the way of wanting to follow God or to trust him.  They all need your prayers.

Please do not think for one moment that we live in a house of perfection.  NO NO NO! It is noisy, very noisy!  We are crowed into a very small house,
ex-housing commission, so not a lot of room. Our bathroom has the shower and toilet in one room. You can imagine the knocking on doors during peak hour.. (before and after school) with 9 people living in the house.

Hair brushes get lost all the time; deodorant goes missing; clothes being worn by another person without permission ( mainly socks because their own are not washed); washing machine is always full or working,  clothes line always full.

Sounds bad!  Not really. They do work together well, and we have very few arguments. They are a real credit to themselves.

AFL takes up a lot of our time. Trevon and Nelita are looking at this for a career option. They are brother and sister. Both have a natural talent for the game.

Glenys grew up in an AFL mad home, and decided when she had her own family, it would not involve AFL. She dodged the bullet with her own children, and now is taking kids to and fro from games and training!!!!

Trevon

Trevon is now 16. He is really wanting to serve God. He is also interested in writing his own songs.
He is playing in the U17s and coaching the U9s AFL

Nelita is 14. Very active and like all the others, into every sport they can participate in.

Nickarita

Nickarita is 13. She is in the same class as Nelita in school. This is her first time in playing an organized sport. Her ambition is to be a hair dresser or beautician.

Estella

 Estella is 11. She is also a very talented sports person. Here she is playing U14's as they were short that day. Normally she plays U11's

Jayz

Jayz is 18. He was elected school captain for this year. He is playing in the seniors and at this stage, leading goal kicker for the team.

Estelle

Estelle is 20 and studying to get her year 12 certificate. She is the only one who does not play AFL, but has joined a Karate class. She is loving this. Estelle is a committed Christian young lady, and has a strong influence on the other kids in the house.



Please pray for these kids as they struggle living here in NSW. They miss their family, they are struggling with language here, school is often hard.

They are blossoming and we trust they will be strong Christians when they go home to their communities and will have a strong influence there for God.

We believe this is a very important part of our ministry and a real privilege to be involved in such a rewarding work






 

Prison Life!

We have adjusted to 'Prison Life' without out too many hassles! Glenys finds enjoyment in telling people that Dennis is in jail when they inquire where he is.

Saying good bye is now a regular occurrence, as well as saying, 'Welcome home'.
Dennis often feels guilty leaving us at home and Glenys holding the fort while he is working in Tamworth. This is his calling, so we all work according to what he does.

His work has been quite varied in the people he deals with and the types of problems he encounters.

Some people have been incarcerated because of a silly mistake, and others have been in and out numerous times.

There was one week  Dennis came home emotionally drained. It was a week of heartbreak for some of the inmates. He said there were a few just crying on his shoulder, so heart broken at the way their lives have turned out.

That week, he needed family time and 'normality' just to recenter his emotions and refresh his batteries.

When these times happen, he understands the importance of family support, pastoral support, and prayer support. Working there 5 days a week would be very taxing emotionally and spiritually.

While Dennis does a few chapel services each week, he finds that often men will call him over to the fence during exercise time and men will talk to him through the wire about issues in their lives.

Inmates are able to ask for a 'one on one' visit with Dennis. He finds these men are really serious about how to sort out the issues they are facing.

Another thing he has found really useful is sharing videos of Christian testimonies. He chooses these testimonies on a variety of topics.  They share how God has transformed their lives from despair to victory.

The men relate to this and opens up a lot of opportunities to talk.

We cannot share stories of how God is working in individual lives, as this is not allowed in his job. Dennis can only share general issues with any one as he is in a job that requires confidentiality.

What he can tell us is that these men need God so much. Some are really seeking. Some have come to know the Lord. Some use the chapel time just for a free cup of coffee and biscuit.

Please pray for these people. Some of the staff at the jail also come and share with Dennis. It is such a privilege to have a small part in the seed planting process of God's kingdom.

Dennis meets with a pastor on a regular basis to share and unload about his work. This is a requirement of the job.

newspaper

 

Your Church in Action 

 For God, nothing is ever off the radar 

April 15, 2019

Dennis Tranter is the chaplain at Tamworth prison, but it's been a winding path getting there.

Long and winding road: Tamworth's prison chaplain Dennis Tranter.

"I used to be a heavy drinker," Mr Tranter admits.

"Our local Bible Basher took me out for coffee. I responded by pouring a cup of coffee on his Bible.

But he never gave up on me. In the end I said, 'Leave me alone and I'll go to church with you.'

I intended to only go once. But these guys were different.They had a coffee shop.

I'd spend half of Sunday at the pub and then I'd go back and terrorise those guys in the coffee shop.

But nothing would offend them.

Their constant acceptance turned me towards God.

I thought, 'If I can't offend these blokes no matter how hard I try, then I reckon I can't offend God.'

That realisation did the trick.

And it's a truth that translates to the blokes in prison.

They're ordinary blokes, but they're busted and they've got no way of knowing how to fix it.

They need to hear that no matter what you've done, God still accepts you.

I'm also there for the staff.

They might be rocked by a death in custody or a hard time at home.

Any person, anywhere needs someone to talk to, and the chaplain's there.

The managers are supportive and encouraging.

They see there's a need for a chaplain.

One guy became a Christian and his cellmate saw the change that it made to him and then he started reading the Bible.

That's the thing about working for God.

There's never anything that's off the radar."

This article appeared in the Tamworth paper and The Northern Daily Leader