After prayerful consideration, I believe that it is the will of the Lord for Cyd and me to remain with the church in Cobbitty for a season and work with them toward furthering the cause of Christ in this area of Australia. 

We are presently praying about starting a series of articles in the newspaper and also praying about the best way to do mailbox drops.  Here it is legal to put tracts/articles in people’s mailboxes unless they have a “no soliciting” sign.  I have a series of articles entitled, “Search the Scriptures” that I wrote for the newspaper in Papua New Guinea and we may start with those.  Each article is several paragraphs long and the subject is the gospel, lifting up Christ and making known the sinners need of Him.  This area of Australia has had an influx of people moving in and a newspaper article would further serve to introduce the church to the community. 

The Lord provided us with a good quality used vehicle.  It is a 2002 Mazda Tribute with fairly low mileage and that we trust will serve as reliable transportation. 

We have started looking for a house to rent.  As already mentioned there has been an influx of people moving here and also because of the economy, more people are renting than purchasing their home.  Therefore rental properties are in high demand and expensive as there is a shortage of places available.  The property owners require potential occupants to first view a property and then submit an application.  Opportunities to view the property are at specific times, so that you are usually there with many other families who also need a home.  After all the applications are submitted, the property owner chooses the one that is suitable to him/her.  We are at a disadvantage having never rented before in Australia, but an application we  made on a house in Mt. Annan was accepted.  The Lord willing we should be able to move into it in mid-March. 

As soon as I get new quotes and the finances are available, I would like to get our crates shipped from the USA.  We have already arranged for the crate in Singapore to be forwarded to us and expect it to arrive in approximately 4 weeks.  Our crate in Singapore is what we had in Papua New Guinea and consists of books, bedding, dishes, etc.  The crates in the USA contain some furniture and other household items that will be needed as renting a house here in Australia is the same as renting one in the USA and does not come with furniture.

We are hopeful that the police background checks that we sent for from the United States and Papua New Guinea will arrive at any time.  After they are submitted to the Immigration Department here in Australia, the visa process will proceed. 

Our sincere thanks to you all for your continued prayers, love, encouragement, and support for the Lord’s work here in Australia and Papua New Guinea.

 

Love in Christ, Bro. Frank James

 

News From The Homefront

 

 

You Know You’re An American In Australia When....

 

---- You’re shocked that you are given a soft drink without any ice. 

----  A fun excursion for the day is to go to a visitor center.

---- The second you say “you all” you get asked which American state you’re from.

---- Though leaving a tip isn’t the custom, you feel guilty not doing so.

---- You look for ice machines before ordering a soft drink.  Did I mention ice already?

---- You have Wal Mart or Meijer withdrawal (one store that has household, clothing, and groceries).

---- People write and want to know which direction the water goes down the drain. Clockwise or counter-clockwise.

---- The thought of seeing a kangaroo or a parrot is super exciting. 

 

Observation:

 

Whoever wrote that a person is more likely to get struck by lightening than encounter a shark attack has never lived in Australia.  We’ve been here just over three months and I’ve already read about four shark attacks in the newspaper.  And not one mention of a person being struck by lightening.  J

 

Directionally Challenged:

 

If I’m walking in the USA and come up to a street, I always turn my head to the right looking for oncoming cars and then realize that I should be looking left.  Living “down under” where they drive on the opposite side of the road, this works out just fine.  Only I second guess myself and say, “Ohh, I can’t get it right on directions and we’re living in Australia now, so that probably means I should look left,” and then end up being in the same boat as in the USA. 

 

Spiders:

 

Spiders here are as big as they are in Papua New Guinea.  I know this because one day I opened the blinds to our apartment and saw a new spider web that had been woven between two trees.  The trees are about 20 feet away and there in the middle of the web was a spider that I could clearly see without my glasses.  Frank and I estimate it to be the size of the palm of our hand.  It now has a cubby full of insects captured.  At first I was enjoying seeing all the big birds that roost in the trees, but now this spider has my full attention.  I might even get on the Internet and read what it’s living habits are and how long it stays in one place.  J

 

A friend in Christ, Cyd James