Noosh Time

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Noosh News : February 07

Dear Friend

Imagine seeing God's undeniable hand at work directly in your own life and knowing that He has everything under his control…

February 2007 has been an exciting month for me. I arrived back from Adelaide and had six days to rest and catch up with friends before I flew to Melbourne on Friday, 9th to attend the Global Action Orientation ("GAO") week.

I stayed with my school friend, Lyn in the heart of St Kilda, which was fabulous fun! Lyn took me up the Mornington Peninsula to a beautiful winery called "Red Hill Estate" and we visited her sister Kerryn, Rowan and her adorable niece, Tara. The next day, we walked around the annual St Kilda festival - lots of bands, activities and much festivity to enjoy!

GAO started on the Monday at the OM Head Office. Negotiating Melbourne traffic in Lyn's brand new car was scary enough, not to mention having to dodge those tricky trams!! Thankfully, I travelled safely throughout the week and had a great time at GAO! Every morning began with devotions from different speakers and they really focused our attention on God. My favourite devotion was on Spiritual Warfare with the following main points:

* Mission must be undertaken in God's strength & power
* We ignore God's spiritual protection at our own peril
* Spiritual forces can only be engaged with spiritual weapons and repelled with spiritual protection
* Our most dangerous enemies are those we can't see and those we don't know
* The best form of spiritual protection against spiritual attack is to live a life closely connected to God



All the other sessions were highly informative and it was really interesting to learn more about how everything operates nationally and internationally. I was really impressed with the comprehensive training we received and the useful tools we were provided with to assist us in progressing our vision and mission. It was also great to meet the staff at Head Office and other people who are considering different mission opportunities.

I really love God's sense of humour and the way that he is teaching me to trust him 100% for everything in my life. He knew that one of my biggest fears regarding becoming a missionary was that my financial situation would be sorted out. So when I discovered that things were not quite what they seemed in relation to undertaking work at the NSW Office, I suffered my first minor miscarriage of vision and was suddenly left with the dilemma of having to find paid work until I left for the ship. I remained calm and collected despite some initial stress and prayed up a storm to God for guidance, direction and assistance!

On my return to Sydney, I made a decision that on approval of my application, I would join the Ship in August this year instead of Jan 08. I plan to leave on 2 July to visit my family in South Africa and spend two weeks in the UK. If my place on the Ship is confirmed, I will go to the Global Orientation ("GO") Conference in The Netherlands, before joining the ship.




These decisions meant that I had to find paid work for four months in the interim and this is when God stepped in. On the Monday after I got back, I sent an email to three friends asking if they knew of any short-term contract opportunities. Every advert in the recruitment websites was asking for a minimum of six months. However, one additional email, a phone call and one interview later, I had secured a four month contract working in rehab with flexible hours and time frames and at a rate of pay equivalent to my GIO job!! I start work on Monday, 5 March. Again, I was reminded that God is in control of everything!!

Brenda, the leader of the MCC in Adelaide stayed for 2 nights and we went into the city to see the spectacle of the Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth 2 passing each other in the harbour. It was quite incredible to be part of such an historical moment and I got really excited about seeing such majestic ships. We also caught up with Sandra and Rhyne, other MCC members, and had a great time!

God has been so good to me in bringing me to my knees in dependence upon Him for everything, particularly in the area of my finances. I praise God for everyone that has pledged to support me and partner with me in this exciting journey of faith, trials, obedience and trust.

I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ. (Philemon 1:4-6)

Praise & Prayer Focus

Please take a minute of your time to lift up these praise & prayer points on my behalf. Thank you for your prayers!

* Praise God for his goodness, for his efforts in daily refining my character and for securing this 4-month contract to provide for my financial needs whilst I am in Sydney

* Praise God that GAO was informative and a confirmation of where He wants me to serve

* Praise God for Kirsten who has offered to be my Financial Manager and has helped me with my budget!

* Pray that God will continue to raise up committed prayer supporters and people to serve as part of my sending cell

* Pray that I will find the right storage options for all my stuff and that I will be focused, organised and diligent as I prepare to pack up my life's belongings for 2 years.

* Pray that God will continue to speak to the hearts of people who are willing to provide financial support as His Spirit leads them and that I will be humble in accepting their pledges

Food For The Soul

2 Corinthians 8:3-5 - Sacrificial Giving

Proverbs 30:8 - Balanced Measure of Daily Bread

2 Peter 1:3-11 - Making One's Calling & Election Sure

Financial & Prayerful Support

If you are interested in partnering with me either financially or prayerfully, my prayer cards are in the process of being printed and will hopefully be available very soon. I would love to send you a copy to put on your fridge as a reminder to pray for me.

I thank God that He has been clearly working in my life and I pray that you will be encouraged and challenged to seek to know Him more.

God Bless You

Vanoosh :o)

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