LEARNING THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE IN THE NAVAJO NATION

I just spent the last two days trying to say one of the most beautiful words in the Navajo language, Yá'át'ééh.

     It didn't work, at least to the point of fluidity.

     Yá'át'ééh is the Navajo word for "hello." Traditionally, Yá'át'ééh is used as a greeting or an expression of kindness and love towards another person.

     Though I never mastered the word (at least to my liking), I must say that through the course of my two days with people from the Navajo nation, I did feel expressions of kindness and charity, bringing back memories of my childhood.

     Growing up in New Mexico in the United States, I had many Native American friends, many of which were Navajo. I had my first taste of the Navajo culture through my neighbors, school buddies, and their families.
    In an article first published by Assist News Service, BRIAN NIXON talks about his visit to the Navajo nation... | more... |

IMPACTING YOUNG LIVES THROUGH SCHOOL CHAPLAINCY IN QUEENSLAND

One young person who recently stole my heart was a boy called Stew. Stew is from a single parent family and lives in a poor area.  His dad is dying of cancer, and as he has no brothers or sisters, his dad is all he’s got in the world.

     He’s a tough little guy who was once full of anger - one of our leaders had to shadow him throughout a recent camp to stop him punching walls.

     During a ‘God Spot’ at the camp, there was lots of noise from the band and laughing and singing.

     Suddenly Stew walked across the room and put his arm on my shoulder. It’s hard to explain what happened next, but I knew after all the hours spent in my room talking, crying and sharing, Stew was beginning to lay down his pain.
    On Monday, 15th October, Scripture Union Queensland (SU Qld) will hold its annual Frontline Appeal to raise funds to support school chaplaincy and at risk youth at the Brisbane Convention Centre. Here, in edited versions of speeches they will present on the night, SHAYNE FRASER, Maroochydore State Primary School chaplain, and JENNY DOBBIN, former high school chaplain and now SU Qld's Brisbane North District coordinator, share some of their experiences working with school children...  | more... |

WHY A NURSE FROM SYDNEY HOPES HER LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN AFTER WORKING IN WEST AFRICA

“I pray that I will never be the same again,” says Sarah Creighton, an Illawong nurse who worships with St Paul’s Anglican Church, at Menai in southwest Sydney, returning from 12 months service as a volunteer nurse with the international charity Mercy Ships in West Africa.

     “You cannot see what I have been privileged to witness during the past year and not be touched. You cannot sit with patients who haven’t even been touched for years and have them thank you for that touch without yourself being broken. Or sit with a woman whom no one will go near, because she has been incontinent since childbirth, and see her respond to the healing touch of doctors and nurses.”

     Ms Creighton’s calling by God to become a nurse in Africa came when she was 17. Two years ago she heard the challenge to full time mission work and knew it was time to go.
      Sarah Creighton tells AMOS BENNETT how working with Mercy Ships in West Africa changed her life... | more... |

'STEPPING OUT OF THE BOAT' IN BALI
At the beginning of this year, my family returned from a short-term mission trip to Singaraja, northern Bali. Our role for six months was mainly centred around tutoring English and computers to 36 children at the Lion King Orphanage, Singaraja. With two primary school children of our own, my husband and I for once really “stepped out of the boat” , set up home in a district of northern Bali quite alien to our comfortable, loveable Australia and took on the home-schooling of our children. Our job involved setting up a classroom at the orphanage with computers and a library, and basically putting together learning programs appropriate for tutoring children from primary school age through to university students.
      So why am I writing this, some may already be asking? It’s not the first time and it’s not the last time that a family should do this, after all. Our hope is that others will be inspired to ‘step out of the boat’ also when prompted. I’m the first to admit it was a bit scary initially but then so was the Big Dipper at Luna Park when I was five years old and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
      DEB MACKIE reflects on her family's short-term mission in a Balinese orphanage... | more... |

A WEEK ON BOARD THE MERCY SHIPS
"I am on duty. The rest of the deck department are not needed onboard while the ship is in port, and away building an orphanage just out of town. There are about 60 children in this place, run by a remarkable woman known as ‘Mama Victoria’. Each Friday we have been building a new roof on the church, and putting up concrete walls for some new dormitories. The children are so happy, even though they have nothing.”

      Long-term volunteers serving with Mercy Ships, John and Lee-Anne Borrow, of Sydney, work on board the hospital ship Anastasis with their five-month-old son, Timmy.

      So, what is life onboard like for such a family, one of a number of such families living onboard and seeking to follow the example of Jesus in bringing hope and healing to the world’s poor? | more... |

MOBILISING FOR MISSION?

    "The recent Asian tsunamis focused world attention on Asia. Nearly all of the people affected were non-Christians, and the great majority were unevangelized (particularly those in Aceh, Indonesia). Compassion was stirred like never before, and enormous amounts of money have been raised.

        While not denying the enormous need represented by the tsunami crisis, I would like to take at least one reality-check to point out what many have probably been waiting for me to point out: more unevangelized people die every month than did in one day in December 2004, and get far less attention".

     "Missions mobiliser" MAURICE ANTONELLI says the money and prayer, while important, are only part of the answer when it comes to world evangelisation...  | more... |

IT'S A SWAN'S LIFE IN CHILE
     6:45am
More reliable than any alarm clock, Lachlan, 4, and Annabelle, 2, come bursting into our room: Annabelle for a compulsory cuddle; Lachlan to show us a piece of his train track. I throw open the curtains and am reminded why I love living in Santiago - the majestic snow-glazed Andes rise 3000 metres, just outside our window!

     8:30am
After breakfast (Cornflakes, what else?), I walk 20 minutes to the metro station. There is frost on the ground, and I pass school children smoking to keep warm, street dogs scrounging rubbish for food, and the poor scrounging rubbish for cardboard to sell. I still can’t comprehend how they survive.

    Life is never dull for Australians Tim and Sally Swan, who have shifted their kids and possessions to Chile to serve with CMS (the Church Missionary Society) in the capital, Santiago. Here is a snapshot of a day in the life of the Swans as recorded by TIM SWAN... | more... |

STEPH WOOLLARD, 20, writes of her involvement with the Oaktree Foundation... | more... |

SONJA FRISCHKNECHT shares about her involvement with Mercy Ships... | more... |

LEANNE GRAY writes of her involvement with the Pakpingjai Home Development Project in northern Thailand... | more... |

JANNAH GRAY writes about Christian Surfers' involvement at the Rip Curl Pro, held over Easter at Bells Beach in Victoria... | more... |

  DAVID FREEMAN writes of his involvement with the Bible Society's annual event, Bike for Bibles... | more... |

GLYNIS ROBB writes of her and her husband John’s involvement with the Mission to Seafarers... | more... |