The OZ oKERRance

We’ve been gone from Singapore for a month now and we are settling pretty smoothly back into life in Oz. Thank you for all your prayers!
Within the first week, we bought a car. Within the second week, Josiah started school. And by the third week we bought a house! The last part of the ‘settling-in’ jigsaw is now to find a suitable position for James. More about that in a minute…

Leaving Singapore…

Since we last wrote in about July it has been a mad rush to get lots of bits and pieces done as you would expect. Selling our house, moving households, selling the car, and then living out of a suitcase for a few months has been exhausting! But, we were so blessed in our last few weeks in Singapore to be able to spend them in the households of dear brothers and sisters in Christ - the Foos and the Divyanathans. We crowded their houses, ate their food and kept them up late – but enjoyed every minute of the fellowship we have in Jesus (we did anyway!). Through someone’s generosity, we were even able to enjoy the luxury of the Fullerton Hotel for a night in those last few weeks – awesome! NOT something we should get used to though! We were so thankful to everyone who has provided for us in the last few months both in their prayers, in giving and in their kind words. Although it is sad to leave brothers and sisters in Singapore and the ministries we have to each other, it is encouraging to know that we continue in partnership wherever we are. Thank God for all our brothers and sisters in Singapore and how he has worked in our lives over the years!

And arriving in… Wollongong!

We eventually left Singapore on the 9th September VERY early in the morning (Thank you to those weary souls who pitched up to see us off - you know who you are), and we have been at Maria’s sister’s house ever since. It was important in our minds to settle as many things as we could, as quickly as we could. Thankfully were able to do that by God’s financial provision through the generosity of brothers and sisters in the last few months. From the proceeds of the sale of our apartment in Singapore, we were able to buy a place here in Wollongong, about a 10 minute walk from Josiah’s school. We are about a 10 minute drive to wonderful beaches, so all ye Singapore city dwellers, come and visit us in the ‘Gong! We ourselves had a chance to take a break recently from all our running around and went up to the Blue Mountains. It was cold, but at the same time breathtaking.

Wollon…where?

Many of you might not know much about Wollongong so this section is to keep you up to date with about as much as we know!
Wollongong is about 1 ½ hrs south of the city of Sydney, either by car or by train and is part of the beautiful Illawara region. It is the 3rd largest city in New South Wales and 9th largest in Australia. It has pretty much always been an industrial town, coal mining and steel production being two of its biggest assets. The coast line is fantastic with excellent beaches and good rollers (for those of you who want to learn to surf!). The pace of life in Wollongong is far slower than in Sydney and the residents are really friendly too!
The demographic of Wollongong has a large proportion of immigrants from far and wide – Greece, Cyprus, Britain, Italy etc. etc. and the list goes on. Many settled in the region in the post war period, attracted by the job opportunities at the mines and at the steel works. There is also a significant multi-cultural feel to the university in Wollongong too with about 30% of students coming from overseas (China, Malaysia, Iran etc). I’ll come back to this in a minute too…

The church situation in Wollongong is pretty ‘steely’ too with a number of solid evangelical churches in the region. We haven’t yet settled on which one to go to yet (it depends on what position James gets) but we hope to in the coming week or so.

So what is James going to do?

Good question. There have a been a few positions opening in churches whilst we’ve been here (mostly Anglican), and I am still investigating one or two of those. However, very soon after arriving in Australia, the AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) offered me a position with FOCUS (FOCUS stands for Fellowship of Overseas Evangelical Christian University Students). FOCUS is a fellowship within the AFES that aims to reach out to International students (whether they be from Singapore, India, China, Malaysia etc), disciple them and train them to make Christ known in their home nations. It is a hugely worthwhile ministry and at the moment a growing ministry, particularly to those from the PRC. There are many international students who are now right on our doorstep eager to hear the truth about God. Please do pray for James as he decides whether to take this position or to pursue other possible parish positions.

Overall, thank you brothers and sisters for praying for us in our time of transition. We know our great God is behind all that we do and he is in control even of the tiniest details. And so because of that, keep praying that we keep holding on to his trustworthy word, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, as we will for you.

Josiah and Jessica

Josiah has now been at Illawarra Christian School (ICS) for a few weeks and enjoying it. His classmates gave him a very warm welcome and were very excited to have a new friend from Singapore! His second day at school took him on a Zoo excursion to Sydney which was really fun and an opportunity to get to know new friends. He loves the idea of having a packed lunch from home and seeing what ‘surprises’ Mummy puts into his lunchbox each day. Josiah is very much an outdoors person so he is enjoying the beautiful Illawarra beaches and the long bushwalks.

Jessica has been playing hard with her cousins – Rosie (who is nearly 3yrs) and Oscar (nearly 4 yrs). She is still waiting to be fully immunized before she can go into Pre-school. She is a very relational person by nature so she is really missing her friends & teachers from Singapore and talks about them often.

Thank you for your prayers for our kids, please continue to pray that they would be more settled as time passes and as routines set in – especially once we move into our new home (hopefully in 3-4 weeks time), and they get to go to school and activities on a weekly basis.

Maria’s news

God has really provided a wonderful place for our relocation back to Australia. Wollongong is a lovely city with a small town feel. We have received warm welcomes and friendly gestures along with great natural environment and no ‘QUEUE’s and hardly any traffic jams! The welcome has made adjusting back a lot easier than expected and we really thank God for that.

We have been visiting some churches and have been encouraged by their Word centred ministries. A lot of the churches in Sydney and the Illawarra have been joining together in trying to promote Gospel conversations with the communities around them by putting up banners, advertising & holding evangelistic outreach activities. Although the responses from the communities has been mixed, the churches thank God that it has created opportunities to engage others in talking about Christ. We went to a ‘Playtime service’ where they had a Circus theme. Lots of young families were invited to this Circus carnival (where lots of circus activities were set up) and it ended with a guest speaker Magician who performed amazing tricks and delivered the Gospel message at the same time! It was very encouraging to see the effort & commitment put in from a lot of members of the congregation to make the outreach happen. The good food, the craft & activities, the decorations, the dressing ups, the face painting, balloons… it transformed an ordinary church hall into an amazing Circus carnival atmosphere! This event personally challenged me of how much effort I put into making Christ known to people who don’t know Christ. Sometimes I feel that I am so busy with my own lot that I can’t possibly do that much more! But as with everything, we will make an effort and set time aside for things that we consider important.

The next month is filled with anticipation as we look forward to moving into our new home by the end of November. Do pray for godly responses during a busy time and to be able to discern what is more important at a time where there are LOTs to do. We really appreciate your care and prayers.