Church Picnic and the OKIE invasion of Australia

Hi everyone!
We just had another holiday here on Friday -Anzac Day. It's like Veterans day in the states and it is in remembrance of soldiers defending their country. The churches in the state in Australia have a big annual picnic on Anzac day where people come from nearly every congregation (even Canberra, which isn't in this state but is at least 3 hours away). It's a lovely time where people catch up with old friends, meet new ones, and especially report on the work their congregations are doing. They share ideas for spreading the news of Jesus, they share news of current needs and prayer requests, and I found it really interesting to get to hear about all the other congregations and the ministry here.

Instead of being in the Christian majority here (like in the Bible belt) I suddenly find myself in a country where missionaries are sent to work. I had some really interesting conversations about this with a member of the church here who has seen many mission students come and go over the years. It's really a new perspective to hear about mission trips and AIM students and all from the other side of the fence.

And some of the best news (for me anyhow) is that there are quite a few OKIES here doing mission work in the church. Can you believe it? Not just Americans, people whose parents live in Broken Arrow and such! There is apparently a big link between Australia and Oklahoma Christian, through a program called Helpers in Missions (HIM). As this program just developed within the last 10 years (while I was buried in my own schooling out of state), I never really heard of it before I came over. Some professors now at OC used to live and work in Australia and apparently do a pretty thorough job of preparing students to come and live over here for 2 years and work in the ministry. The program doesn't just send people to Australia, but some other places too. (Some great people from my own church back home are apparently in this program in England -The Perrys!)

Small world. Two more girls are coming over in August from OC to help with our church directly, and the congregation couldn't be happier. As one of the smaller congregations I don't think they often have the same resources. Everyone is so pleased they are coming that they all make it sound like they will be here in two weeks! :) I can't wait to meet them and buy them a Dr. Pepper as they settle in.

So anyhow, I had a lovely weekend and met some more nice people my age (okay, so most of them are a few years younger -I found out they know my best friends younger siblings). It was nice to talk with other people who have just made the same move as us. We compared Visa stories and and had loads to talk about. Hopefully I can help some of them through hurdles I faced here already.

Hope you all are having a lovely day. It's sunny and lunchtime so I'm going to walk to the shops and get something to eat, and probably walk my dogs. It's been raining here lots lately and they're going a bit stir crazy without the exercise they are used to.

Cheers!