I am writing this from our living room back in Redding, we have been here for 3 weeks now and finally feel as though we are getting ourselves sorted out. it took a little longer to find a place than we had anticipated (sound like last year...), and the same is true for getting everything we need to set the house up. It's very basic but comfortable for another year.
Before I talk to much about what is happening here let me do a quick overview of our time in Australia.
We flew into Sydney on the June 12th and were greeted by lots of our family. (some of our friends from Taree were going to come down ti
ll they established that we landed at 6am - i can't believe they even thought about it). We spent the first week just hanging out with family.
our first night was very relaxed and lots of fun - our sister's knee got healed and she had an awesome encounter with God.
(pic on right is Lou with her 2 brothers and Mum)
We then headed up to Taree to spend some time with our friends from our Taree Baptist days. It was great, we caught up with so many friends, God did some amazing stuff in peoples' lives and we got to partner with Him - such a priviledge. We spoke at a few churches and our time at Wingham Baps went off - they'd experienced nothing like it but the leadership there are so hungry and so sensitive of leading the people gently that it went really well. So many people had major God encounters. There was heaps of inner healing ministry, the leadership team were actively giving prophetic words, and several people experienced physical healing.
(pic - 2 great friends caught lots of fish - let's just say that I took lots of photos...)
We then spent some back with family in Sydney. We spoke at the church Louise grew up in, and got to go to Dayspring with some awesome friends (shout out to Brad n Claire). We got all our visa and consulate stuff organised and tried to take that week a little slower....
We had the chance to speak at New Vine Baps in Newcastle and that was lots of fun. My Mum and step Dad came along which was cool. God gave some really clear words of knowledge (but people didn't come forward till the end of the service - I guess we have some work to do to help people feel safe and comfortable enough to actually respond to stuff in the moment - just a thought?). Lou received a prophetic word for one of the pastors and the church which was awesome - they really were encouraged. At the end of the night people had come to faith, dedicated themselves to chasing after God with everything and invited God to break into their worlds with signs and wonders. Again we just had soooo much fun.
so this is getting long....let me be quick!
We spent a week up in QLD with Lou's parents - it was great fun, very chilled and lots of time to relax (though i could have done this better - i spent too much time trying to organise stuff ready for our return - in the end it was all pointless...lol). I was "pressured" by Dad to go on rides that I don't think I would ever have done - like dropping 119m for fun....
From the Gold Coast, Lou and I went to our friends place - felt more like an international 5 star resort - just homely! We stayed there and went along to a conference that our senior pastor "BIll Johnson" was running in Brisbane. We, along with several other students were part of a ministry team and it was lots of fun. people were healed in every way. Physical, spiritual and emotional healing was an every session norm...the best part of this is that it's not about any of us, but about God and His tender heart for each person.
From there we spent a final few days with our families and then flew back to the US. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Australia. We think that God is moving in our country in mighty and powerful ways and that the church in Australia is ready for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We are really excited about it and praying into it as well.
When we arrived back in Redding we crashed at our friends place for a week whilst we were looking around. We have such great friends! We eventually found a house to rent in a really nice area and at a price we could afford (with 2 boarders). We've pained, fixed things left right and centre and started to get furniture that we didn't need last year as we lived with the most awesome family who already had everything.
(pic - our new home - at least for the next 10 months...)
Lou's parents and brother arrived just as we painted the last wall etc and then we had some great times with them checking out local forests, dams, lakes etc. Chris, Lou's youngest brother is staying to do 1st year. My younger sister arrived a few days after Lou's family to join in all the fun - she too is doing first year at Bethel.
Lou and I have been busy getting ourselves ready for school to start - just a few days now and we will be plunging into it.
- NEWS FLASH - one of our great friends back in Oz just sent us a message speaking about God's goodness and the way that He is revealing Himself to her - when we were together a few weeks back a feather floated down as we were talking about Him and His goodness. She was just doing some study and God was showing all sorts of stuff and then....you guessed it, a feather that you don't need faith to see, falls right down in front of her. Is it about the feather...Heck NO, it's about God giving little signs to show that He is near! what an awesome God we have!
Now I must go - keep your eyes out for more updates - i promise not to leave it sooo long...
love Lou n Shane
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