Brooke's Australia Adventure Update - Autumn 2015, May 4, 2015

Brooke’s Australia Adventure Update – Autumn 2015, May 4, 2015

Greetings friends,

Well the summer is finally over here and autumn has officially come, complete with lots of rain and storms (even some flooding), cooler temperatures (finally) and the changing colours of leaves. Looking around the world news of late with earthquakes in various locations (particularly in Nepal) and other natural disasters, we realise how blessed we are to have weathered our storms here unscathed. It has been a good few months having Brendan around more, as this is the first time in four years he isn’t out a night studying, but he’s switched that for joining a local soccer club in Parramatta, something he has wanted to do for many years. Life has seen a good rhythm of work and preparation for what is to come and time seems to be flying. I’ve become a bit obsessed in the past month with trying to cull/downsize our possessions and have become something of an e-Bay entrepreneur (according to Brendan).

Luke 10:1-7
“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.  He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.  Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.  Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’  If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you.  Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.”

The pregnancy continues to progress well as I am 24 weeks today, so 16 weeks give or take to go until we meet the newest Filipovski (due on the 23^rd of August). Unfortunately I have gotten carpal tunnel syndrome again (as I suffered with Jeremiah’s pregnancy) and at only week 16 – so I’m back to wearing my Robo-Cop style wrist guards to bed and shaking my hands at to relieve the pain when typing or even cutting up the kids food becomes too painful. But on the whole, all is good and I am so grateful the baby and I are healthy. God is so good!

Young Life in Ryde has had a good start to the year with a steady stream of teenagers attending club and a few new regulars coming along. I’m very pleased to announce we have a new female leader, Becki, who is a real answer to prayer in her maturity and love of Christ and desire to serve. We’ve not been able to find a replacement for my position yet, but have launched a second round of advertising that will close on the 12^th of May and we pray will have the right applicant beginning to work alongside me by the beginning of June. I’d love for you to be praying for the leader God would have next for Young Life Ryde.

Young Life Sydney joined with other Young Life areas in Bathurst, Canberra and Dubbo to go on a waterskiing camping trip with Ski Mission in March which, although very wet and cold, offered up some great bonding opportunities with teens and leaders alike. There were over 50 of us gathered and truly huddling together, and laughing at crazy games and antics of silly leaders. Choosing to remain in the mud all together creates memories that a gorgeous weather weekend might not have had. I always love looking at the stars when you leave the city light pollution behind and having the chance to have meaningful Jesus conversations with young people when their mobile phones have lost reception and there’s no way to charge their batteries any way.

At club this year we’ve also launched the Alpha Film Series (www.youthalphafilmseries.com) to help share the gospel fortnightly during the talk portion of club. These videos are specifically aimed at teenagers and are created by the same Alpha Christian course that over 24 million people have taken worldwide to explore Christianity. The film series runs for approximately 18 minutes and has a few portions of the video where questions are asked and answered first in voxpop style where many different people in different cities around the world answer the question and then we pause the video so the young people can discuss in our group. There are 12 films in all and so far we’ve seen 5 of them and they’ve allowed for some great thoughts and beliefs to come forward in the group, as well as good teaching to happen.

Jeremiah 20:9
“But if I say, “I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name,” his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”

Recently I have also been working on our plans to help start Young Life in the Former Yugolsav Republic of Macedonia. My plan is to start as the Area Manager in the capital of Macedonia, which is called Skopje. The aim is to develop a local and sustainable ministry in Skopje and then to hopefully expand outwards as God leads and opportunities open up. I will remain employed by Young Life Australia but will also come under the authority of Young Life International (Mid-Europe Region).I My direct bosses will be in the Czech Republic and Germany, so not quite as direct as sharing an office with the CEO of Young Life Australia, but the great thing is the closest new Young Life office has been established in Sofia, Bulgaria – so only a two and half hour drive from Skopje. It has been really amazing to see how the Lord has gone before us into this region of the world and prepared hearts too. It is so exciting to be continuing to mentor and serve young people and prayerfully lead them to Jesus. This groundbreaking and forerunning role is one that really gets me feeling the passion of the Lord in my heart, but I’d be lying to say I’m not also a bit daunted by what we are stepping into. I had a dream the other night that I was in Europe speaking with another ex-pat missionary about their experience of leaving everything behind to follow the call of the Lord. Their comment to me was an old expression, “How do you eat an elephant?” My response came, “One bite at a time.” When I feel overwhelmed, all I have to remember is that I have one day at a time to make decisions about what next to sell, give away, or prepare my heart for and as long as I am faithful to make those choices as they come, God will not overwhelm me. It is a huge task, but He has promised that He will not give us more than we can handle.

I’ve begun to work on the budget and the next several months will begin to fundraise to help raise that with the expectation that when I finish maternity leave at the end of this year, I will begin that work in January 2016. If you are interested in hearing more about this role, or would be interested to be a part of the team of prayer supporters and/or financial investors in this Kingdom work for Macedonia, please write to me and I’ll add you to our list when I begin this next phase.

Echoes of Eternity devotion for May 1^st
“Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getting understanding. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Proverbs 3:13,17

“Walk in My ways today, My child. My ways are ways of blessedness and peace. Mine is a safe way-surrounded by all the protection you need from the enemy.
Leave to me the concerns about the future – your future and that of those you love. The future is in My hands, and you can safely entrust it to Me.
Redeem the time. The days are short and much has been wasted in your past years. But it is enough – and I will be with you to claim the present for My purposes. Be of good cheer!”

These past few months have also meant a few wonderful family celebrations. Jeremiah and Christabelle were christened on the 15^th February in the Macedonian Orthodox Church, St Mary’s in Broadmeadow, where Brendan and I were married. It was a lovely celebration of faith and a time for the family to gather and enjoy fellowship, dancing and the culture of the Macedonian side of the family. We held a reception in the Macedonian cultural hall and it was great to meet the sweet people who helped put on the day for us and see many extended family we haven’t seen for quite a while. Brendan found himself feeling very proud on the day and overwhelmed and God was present in all of the festivities. We also celebrated Brendan’s father’s 60^th birthday with a special trip with the family up to Queensland on a surprise family holiday. It was his wish for everyone to have some time together and it was wonderful for our children to get to play with their cousins. The food was lovely and it was a meaningful time to celebrate both Zivko and Brendan’s sister, Angela’s, birthdays. It’s so important to make memories like this as we know leaving Australia we aren’t sure how long we’ll be gone or how often we’ll be back. We also were able to spend the Easter long-weekend with the family and enjoyed a relaxing time of board games and reading. We also got to splash around in a kayak. Although there were days of solid rain we also got a few last glimpses of summer.

Our little family of 4 (plus baby bump) was also able to get away for my birthday weekend in February with our last camping trip of the season to a gorgeous beach-side spot in Jervis Bay called Green Patch. This is an amazing spot where kangaroos jump past your tent site, the sand is powder-white and the water crystal clear water. I got to try paddle-boarding for the first time discovered a new found fun hobby I hope to indulge in, in years to come.

A last great family time in the past few months was getting to see some of my side of the family, the first family we’ve seen for almost two years. My dear Aunt Donna (my mom’s sister) and Uncle Bill flew all the way Down Under to say hello and take a tour of Australia and New Zealand. We enjoyed a full and fun two days with them showing them our favourite spots in the Blue Mountains and Hunter Valley wineries. It was a real treat to have them here and made distance from my family that little bit easier.

The last great event of our past few months has been C3 Presence Conference for our church movement. Again, this event was held in the Darling Harbour area of Sydney at the QANTAS Credit Union Arena (formerly the Entertainment Centre) and for the first time, I was able to attend every session. Jeremiah was old enough to enter the pre-school room which meant I was able to be more present during the sessions. Sometimes Christabelle would sleep during worship or have a nap in the afternoon session, but when she was active, we would head to the parent’s room, and the great thing was there were 6-8 other families from our church there with kids CC could play with and I could sit and enjoy the live feed of the sermons with. Presence Conference is always a great time to soak in worship and lay down your cares at the feet of Jesus. It was also great hearing from world-class speakers. This year the line-up included Steven Furtick, Steven Rodriguez and Daniel Kolenda, as well as Phil and Chris Pringle and worship by Darlene Zchech and Israel Houghton. One of the best times was hanging out with another family from C3 Silverwater, the Evans’ – their two girls are almost the same age as our kiddos – and we shared almost every break and dinner together. I’ve so appreciated the way God gave us a local church home this past year and the way we’ve been able to connect so deeply in such a short time. It was wonderful that Brendan was able to come a few nights of the conference as well.

“The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized within the lifetime of the opportunity.”
– Daniel Kolenda quoting evangelist Leonard Ravenhill

So, as I close, I’m reminded just to share how much we are enjoying this season with Jeremiah and Christabelle. They really are the best of friends and have so much fun playing together. They’ve started kindergym this term, which is like gymnastics for toddlers. They both love the trampolines and the free play trying all the equipment. CC loves to dance around the house saying she is a dancing fairy and JJ has discovered the joy of his soft toys, taking his monkey Sam Sam with him almost everywhere. It has been fun to see the way CC has become so mothering of her dolls and other babies we see, she especially is excited about the new baby on the way.

Thank you for journeying with us and for your prayers for us in this season. 

 Blessings and love, Brooke