Dear friends,
Since we have last written we have sent out financial assistance to several individuals on properties and stations, and several more to local churches for then to distribute to those in hard places due to the drought.
We have had rain. And where I live, that means that it is green again. But that is not the end of a drought. Even in places where there has been rain, many still struggle with the results of the dry where crops have not come at the right time and rain has still not fallen.
Please keep these folks in your prayers.
Thanks to your generosity, we are sending more financial assistance so that local churches can put together Christmas hampers and continue to support those in hard times. Thank you – your generosity means that they can show Jesus’ love to these folk.
An update from Gunnedah (from a couple of weeks ago… sorry for the delay!)
From Lyle Sims: “Things are looking greener here now since we’ve had some storm rain. I believe that Summer crop farmers will try to sow on the moisture they have, and while cattle will take a while yet to have grass long enough to sustain them without supplementary feed, especially on land that was totally without any ground cover of old grass, I think people can see that there might be some respite. That’s not to say that people don’t still need plenty of follow up rain otherwise the tiny shoots will frizzle away to nothing in the summer heat. Also, financially people will still be a number of months before they can hope for any real income coming in. But I think we can praise the Lord that either we are moving out of drought, or at least have been given a ‘breather’.”
And from David & Gae from PIM
“Yesterday we returned from another patrol in our area, NW NSW and it continues to look grim. While there has been some small showers, they have been very scattered and short-lived. Most of the good rain fell east of Walgett which is still at least 100km from our area. People are looking tired and many animals are looking poor. The heat is increasing with most last week above 30 degrees.
Despite that, people are still happy to see us although their ‘sit down’ time is less. We often help out with the jobs to give a hand and have more time with them.”
Please continue to pray:
- That God would send rain where it is needed to allow crops and animals to thrive
- That God would sustain his people as they seek to care for those around them
- That God would open the hearts of people to hear the good news of Jesus, and that there would be people in the right place at the right time to speak that news into their lives
- That God’s people would keep turning to him, finding peace and comfort in the knowledge that he is in control
- That as Christmas approaches communities would hear the good news of Jesus birth, even amid the stress of the drought, and turn to God
Thank you for your partnership in prayer.
Kind regards,
Liz