hello from malaysia

i knew full well when i landed in Kuala Lumpur, there would be no more flight to Penang. i was prepared to bus it! i have no idea what time the bus leave!
i rush straight out from the airport to central bus station... and guess what ...with out the right currency! i was a bit stuck when i needed to purchase the ticket...there was no 'plastic money' transection for this sort of business. after some running around i managed to find an auto teller that accept my bank card.
at home phone kept ringging and people asked where i want to go and what i want to do. it is a good idea not to have a mobile phone.
anyway, at the moment i am at my cousin's . meet my cousins ...phaik lee on my left and lee phing on my right
we are about to go out, lots of eating to do

This week on the Strath Women's team...
Girls group sleep over went fantastic with a trip into the city then me and the girls sleeping in the lounge room, waking up at 3am to have some good chats. All fun and games until someone loses some sleep... Rachel bounded home this week with the exciting news of getting a regular babysitting job with just the right hours for her. We're all still trying to figure out how to live without Tab, how to balance mission and jobs as she is away and will probably be gone for longer than expected. We all appreciate your prayers for the team and Tab in Ballarat as we all do what God has called us to do at this time.

Praise Points:
Rachel has got a job that suits her well and that she enjoys.
Girls group is going really great and the relationships are deepening.
Work is settling down into a good rhythm.
Rachel gets to go to Broken Hill for a good holiday.
Li Yean to Brueni soon!!

Prayer points:
Pray that Rachel has a good time and rest in Broken Hill.
Pray for a good transistion peroid with all the comings and goings
Pray that we all find a good balance
Pray for Mandie as she is left behind for a little while to hold the fort
Pray that we can take the girls group relationships a bit further.
Pray for Tab as she is still in Ballarat and it looks like she wil there for a longer period of time than expected.
Pray that Li Yean has wisdom to lead and make decisions with the new team dynamics.

Thanks for your support

Mandie

Strathalbyn Women's team
21 South Terrace
Strathalbyn SA
5255
ph: 08 8536 2817

Where is Tab???

Ok, in answer to your question. I'm in Ballarat. Hang on a minute... why is a Strath girl in Ballarat? Well, I'm on team there... but not on the Ballarat team. Confused yet??

Here's the story. I'm a Ballarat girl in that I was born and raised withinan hour of Ballarat my whole life, so it's my hometown. Its also where my family live. At the momnet my faily are going thru a bit of bad stuff. My mum has a mental illness which has been at crisis point for the past few years. The rest of my siblings are here, at home, and they're finding it heaps tough. They're tired and worn out. So I'm in Ballarat to help out basically, and give as much suport as possible, and to bring the life of the Kingdom of God into their lives. To show that God IS Good despite the apparent evidance otherwise.

So I'm on "special mission" for a time. I don't know how long that time will be. Mum's pretty out of it at the moment, and it looks like a really long road to wholeness, and she's not enirely sure she even wants to go there. I'm sad to be away from team - the place I've wanted to be for ages, and felt so at home in. However I know that this is the mission God has given me for today.

I'm sharing this because I beg you to pray with me for this family. Pray for healing of mum's mind, and for a willingness to live. Pray for a healing of a lifetime of wounds each of my siblings have to deal with, and above all, please pray that each of them come to know the goodness and reality of our God.

It's Easter Sunday today and I think we all truly want to live the life that Christ has called us to. On Friday night we went to the German arms hotel in Hahndorf for our last dinner with Tab for awhile. She left Saturday morning with her sister Hope for Ballarat. It was a sudden change for team. Tab has gone home for awhile to help out her family while her mother is ill. On Thursday night we had a passover dinner with our next door nieghbours and the Aitchisons. Everyone had a great time eating traditional foods and remembering the passover story.

Praise God:
That Li Yean is going to Brunei for a three week Holiday!
Rachel is getting engaged. (Just joking, thanks Mandie, he he he)
Girls group is going really well with natural friendship
For the receptivity we have experienced with the friendships in town.

Please Pray:
For Tab as she lives in Ballarat for awhile, that she can do well there and that team unity will not be effected but grow stronger.
That Li Yean can be sensitive to her brother and his family while she is with them.
That we will work out the team dynamics now in terms of work and mission.
That Mandie's work will settle into a routine.

Thanks for your prayers

Li Yean asked me to make her an earflap beanie. So I did. Doesn't she look cute??????

I have really enjoyed the theology studies that are lead, via video, by Paul Roe. Here is an extract from CS Lewis that I really enjoyed reading in the studies.

'In a way I quite understand why some people are put off by Theology. I remember once when I had been giving a talk to the R.A.F., and old hard-bitten officer got up and said "I've no use for all that stuff. But mind you, I'm a religious man too. I know there's a God. I've felt Him: out alone in the desert at night: the tremendous mystery. And that's just why I don't believe all your neat little dogmas and formulas about Him. To anyone who's met the real thing they all seem so petty and pedantic and unreal!"

Now in a sense I quite agreed with that man. I think he had probably had a real experience of God in the desert. And when he turned from that experience to the Christian creeds, I think he really was turning from something real to something less real. In the same way, if a man looked at the Atlantic from the beach, and then goes and looks at a map of the Atlantic, he also will be turning from something real to something less real: turning from real waves to a bit of coloured paper. But here comes the point.

The map is admittedly only coloured paper, but there are two things you have to remember about it. In the first place it is based on what hundreds of thousands of people have found out by sailing the real Atlantic. In that way it has behind it masses of experience just as real as the one you could have from the beach; only, while yours would be a single glimpse, the map fits all those different experiences together. In the second place, if you want to go anywhere the map is absolutely necessary. As long as you are content with walks on the beach, your own glimpses are far more fun than looking at a map. But the map is going to be more use than walks on the beach if you want to get to America.'

(CS Lewis - Mere Christianity)

I'd like to hear what you think about what Lewis had to say.

Here is our latest prayer update

This morning Li Yean and Mandie got up at 5:30am to pick Tab up from the bus stop. It was cold and dark. Niether of us spoke very much. Tab was sitting at the bus stop waiting for us for about half an hour after a long bus trip and even longer week. We went to McDonalds for breakfast as our family fun day. I got to chat to a girl that I'll soon be working with. We came home and had worship. Tab read out Romans 12, remembering that each and every moment of our lives is an act of worship. This is what God has called us to.


Praise points:
^Mandie has been able to talk to a few interested people about Cornerstone through her work training.
^Praise God that we are able to have Li Yean's bosses over for dinner tonight
^Thank God that the Christian school is really excited about having us help in there school
^Matt, Tab and Li Yean met with local youth group leader to discuss about going into the public high school to have disscussion groups, praise God for this opportunity.
^Praise God for Mandie's new job that officially starts on thursday

Prayer points:
^Please pray for Tab as she has just come back from an emotionally draining week in Ballarat
^Please pray for wisdom as we try and balance the load of work and mission between us all.
^Please pray that the transition will go smoothly with all the work changes going on
^Please pray that we beter work as a team while going through this difficult period, pray that God will use it to make us each like Himself.

Thank you so much for your prayers, they do not go un-noticed. Please send us your prayer requests also. We would love to be hearing from you!