Our July Discipleship Training School (DTS) students came back in December from their outreach to the Kimberley region of Western Australia and Indonesia (team one), and Nepal, Thailand and Singapore (team two).
Here are two glimpses into the many things God has done during these outreaches. (Btw, Amelie, who we had mentioned in the previous article was part of team two – spot her in the photos below!).
God is at work in our Aboriginal communities.
Midway through their outreach, I had the joy to spontaneously interview Leah, who was part of team one. Her team stopped by our missions centre after their outreach in the Kimberley, in the North of Western Australia, before heading out again to Indonesia.
The first night they were back, I asked her about her highlight from their time in the Kimberley and she just bubbled over with stories of what God had been doing there! So I asked if we could sit down and do a little interview together.
One of the Aboriginal communities that Leah’s team had gone to is a community that we as a base have invested in for many years. In Australia, we must have an invitation from the community elders before we are allowed to do anything there, even just cleaning or doing maintenance work. This community was known for its hostility toward Christians and had at one point even thrown Christians out at gunpoint. For many years, we have sent teams to that general region who have prayed and served, and there is also a permanent team now, that is doing amazing work in the Aboriginal communities.
What Leah shared about this community now, after all these years, is nothing short of a miracle. Their team was not only warmly welcomed, but even invited into a family’s home! A lot of their ministry was with the children, but then they ended their time by being part of the baptism of a local family. Leah shared how connected they felt with the people in the community and what a privilege it had been to be able to be a small part of what God has been doing there over the many years.
These moments are such a joy to my heart – seeing her light up with all the things she had seen God do, but then also seeing the fruit that these teams are producing as they are building relationships, serving Aboriginal communities, and supporting and continuing ministry that has been going on for years.
Prisoners in Thailand decide to follow Jesus.
The second team from our July DTS recently arrived in Thailand, to do ministry in a leprosy village, but also to support other local ministries happening there, like the prison ministry that the local missionaries are running. During their first week, we heard that the team saw 300 inmates give their lives to Jesus after a time of ministry in their prison! I had heard that they were going to work in a prison but did not expect to hear a testimony like this. God is moving and people are so hungry to know Him and be known. Watch a short video of Saku (on Instagram), who was a part of the same team, sharing about another time when the team saw 90 women prisoners give their hearts to Jesus!
When our school teams go on outreach, wherever possible, they work together with local missionaries, churches, and ministries, so that there will be others who will continue to work with these new believers.
I hope these two little stories are an encouragement for you as we are starting into 2024. As you join in with God’s work together with us, these are also your stories and the stories of what you have invested in.