What did we do the last week of October?

We alsmost ended going to hospital with Aron on Sundaynight. In the afternoon he did not feel well and got a rash. It got really worse in the evening, itchy and red patches over his whole body and so for a moment we didn't know what to do. We called a Maf family in Yirkala, (she was a nurse). We decided not to go to hospital, we prayed for Aron and also we had some good cream.
Aron and I(Adriana) had a bad night from it all. The next morning it was already better. He still had the rash, so I decided to go to the clinic in Yirkala, just to get to hear what it could be. We thought it was from playing in the bushes and he had touched a plant. He hasn't played the bush drum anymore. At the end of the day it was almost gone, thank God!



This is the banana plantage 300 meters from our home.
On Monday Naomi started her first job at the banana plantation. She is really excited to have her own little job! She is working with her 2 friends, Patricia and Rebeca. Every monday from 4 to 5 pm. When it gets bussier, Aron can come too.

Eric went flying on Monday and Tuesday. right hand seated. He got to see a lot of new places and was really excited. But the next day ,they had to stop him again, because his licenses was declined. there was missing 1 thing, and he had to apply for it again. It can take up to 6 weeks again, Please pray for this mather that it will come through soon and Eric can go on with what the Lord has in store for him. In the meantime he is helping in the Maf Hangar, which he really likes too. Also he is helping with maintanance on Maf houses. There is so much work to do...but not enough hands.

This is the same for bringing the gospel and disciple the Yolnu people here in Arnhemland.
But 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 harvestfields. Luke 10:2
We prayed this morning especially for this in church. It was a great time of Worship and prayer. Gerard and Kevin were with us. They shared their testomony. They went by car through Arnhemland to bring the Good news of Jesus Christ and to pray with people for Salvation and healing and for disciple them. But two is not enough. God need more people like them!

Today we did a nice Yirrkala beach walk.There were even sand dunes!!

I thought it was time to start clean the windows after being here for 4 weeks...this was only from one window and it took me an hour! I took all the little louvre windows out and clean the screen and everything...I haven't done all the windows yet, but decided to leave the glass louvres in. And cleaning with my Enjo is fantastic, I don't need cleaning products anymore but only water.

Other things that happened: Ruben had his first haircut done by my self. I cut all his curls:(

Because of the heat he was so itchy in his neck, that I decided to get rid of his curls. Sorry there is no photo yet.

On Saturday early morning Naomi, Aron and me went to 3 garagesales and picked up some good things. One of the things was a little bike for Ruben. But coming home Lois thought she could have a turn and off she went without training wheels!! She is feeling a big girl now!

In the afternoon we had the 3 kids from the other homeschooling family over.

The heat is really building up now, it's getting hotter and hotter. Today we had to walk to church in the heat. We still haven't got a car ourselves. We pray for Gods provision, He knows what we need and when. We thanked God that we still could go to church although we had to walk through the heat. We thanked God that we could worship Him with others!!

Friday morning we were sitting on the table doing our homeschoolwork. When the kids looked outside, they saw fish laying at the neighbours, so we got curious and put away the books and walked to the neighbours. We asked them if we could have a look how they prepare and cook it. And we were welcome. So they invited us to come and sit on the blankets.We only couldn't stand the green tree ants. But we wouldn't have miss this opportunity!! It was great. They caught 2 Baramundi fish and made a fire in the ground put the fish on it and then stones and then bark and on top of it sand and let it cook for an hour.

We picked up a loaf of bread at home that we could share with them and while we were waiting we had some lovely conversations. Also I could share the story of Jesus sharing the bread and the fish. It was a God given moment. We pray that they will get hungry for the bread of life!

Naomi with her new friends(from left to right:
Naomi, Rebecca, Patricia)

Ruben with Michelle

Oma had given us a nice gift, to have lunch together at Gove house. This is the place where the miners are getting fed.We can go there between 12 and 1 and for 14 an adult and 11 a child, Lois and Ruben free. And you can eat as many and as much as you like.And go for seconds and for thirds! Of course the children love this!

Happy Birthday Oma!!

This morning we woke up at 6.30, because of the yolgnu kids playing the drums. At morning tea Aron went to see them and had a turn on a self made drum from his yolgnu friends.
Aron invited them to church, and for lunch with us, they had a fantastic time.The teacher of the kids was in church aswell and she came up to me and said she prayed for a year for friends for these kids!
The tears welled up in my eyes....Thank God for this miracle and keep praying for these kids! For the love we can share with them.

This is what all happened the second week:

Today Monday the 17th, we had Cultural orientation. And Paul who did it has got an little joey, 6 months old. He found it left alone and took it home to take care for, once its strong and big enough it will go back into nature.

Our kids made new friends. One Yolnu boy stood at our fence and asked for a mango from our garden. We invited him over and he played really well with Aron and Mathew.
Naomi found 2 friends aswell, Rebekkah(12) and Patricia(14) and went to youth group in town with them.
We also made friends with another homeschooling family(6 kids), who are living in Yirrkala. The kids can go on really well with each other and have lots of fun. Last Friday Adriana and Naomi took care of 3 of them, so that their mum, Kath could organize the last schoolterm. Naomi baked little cupcakes with them and we made dinner for them. It was great to help this family.

Naomi wants to be a hairdresser, and cut Eric, Aron and Adriana's hair. She did so well!!

The neighbour dog got 9 puppies, one of them died. The children are in charge of taking care of the mum dog. And soon they are aloud to hold the puppies.
Exciting!

Yeah...the crates arrived last Wednesday! We were all so happy and the children played a long time with their 'new'toys.












This is what the Yolnu people do, washing themselves at the fire tap in front of our house.

And our kids are soon Yolnu aswell...refreshing themselves on a hot day!

We can make fires as many as we like!!

We had so much fun gardening and burning the old leaves, we put marshmallows on a stick and sausages on Arons new barbeque, We had a great time together!

Tuesday the 11th of October, we went for the afternoon to town, to do groceries and swimming.

When we came home, Eric had the bad news that Yolnu kids had been in our home and taken some stuff. Some stuff had been found. One of the thing was Naomis camera. And when she looked on it, she saw pictures of yolnu kids in our house!! This was hilirious!! We all had a big laugh. Funny naughty kids. Its not nice to no that people have been in your house and have gone through your stuff but we didn't make a big deal from it and forgive and bless and pray for them. This has helped us a lot.

Eric is still not flying, as he is waiting for his Australian licences. He is working in the hangar, which he is enjoying aswell. In the meantime he is studying a lot for his flying.

We are settling in really well and enjoying living in Yirrkala. The heat is a real chalange, but we try as much as we can, to stay calm. Last Saturday, it was hot and everyone was tired and started picking on each other. We all went early to bed. Sunday was much better.

Arriving in Arnhemland!!

Our new home in Yirrkala, 17 km away from
Nhulungbuy town.

We were all so excited to see our new home. And it looked already really "gezellig"! We rearranged the bedrooms, so that the girls have the biggest one. We made up the beds to make it our own.

As you can see on the photos it is the end of the dry season. Our garden looks like a sandpit! We are already busy trying to get some grass by sprinkling it.

This is the our street, called the Maf row.
There are 7 more houses with Maf people in it.

Our back garden and deck. The kids love it already, with the treehut and the little boat, which is a sandpit. They play lots of pirategames in it.They dress them selves as pirates, its great to watch them.

The swimmingpool in Nhulungbuy. Our new homechurch in Yirrkala. We have to

drive home if we need to go to the toilet.

We went to Shady Beach, 300 meters down the road from us, beautiful beaches, but we have to be really carefull for the crocodiles and for the box jelly fish.

We found a nice save puddle to wet each other. On the photo is Lisa Curan, a Maf pilot. She took us up there with her dog Kato.

We haven't much toys for Ruben with us, so just make things up for him. He loves playing with cups and spoons and water, and its a nice temperature for it.

It is already really hot, and this is just the beginning of it!
Just doing nothing and the sweat is dripping down our back.
Its not wise especially in this weather to upset yourself, but just stay calm.
When we arrived we didn't have a phone and internet connection, also Eric's cellphone didn't connect. So I found that a little bit hard. Not to have any contact with outside. But after a week I started enjoying it. Its quite peacefull not to have to work on the computer. And just enjoying each others company. Playing games and reading a book. We still don't have a connection, but we have a internet stick. So we
can do little things on it.

Every Tuesday evenings Maf is organizing together with some Christian Yolnu people(Aboriginals) Kidsclub. This is an outreach program.

We went for the first time. We all have been looking forward to join this for a long time.

It was great! Peter and Tina, our Neighbours
turned the music on with loudspeakers into Yirrkala, so that every one can hear that there is Kidsclub. Than they play games, cricket and socker. If there are enough children they will start with singing and dancing. And Peter shared his testomony and gave the children also
the opportunity to choose for God.

And there was a sausage sizle, which everyone really appreciate. After all the children left we prayed for them with the the Yolnu women. This was our first meeting with the Yolnu people.

It was such an encouragement to meet them and pray with them for their children to lift them up to the Lord!

When we were finished, one lady called me Yapa, which means, sister.