Hello friends,
Thank you for your wonderful support! I have enough support to stay through the RIDE event on August 21 and will be continuing my role with refugees, volunteer care and planning for the event up until then! Hooray and praise God Almighty! Thank you to all of you who are supporting me through prayer, funding and letters. I booked my tickets to arrive home in Minnesota a week or two after the event.
As for what’s happening for me in June…Winter is here! That’s right, in Australia the seasons are opposite. The temperature inside is often similar to the temperature outside (usually mid 40s to low 60s in Fahrenheit). I now know how to start a fire in the actual fire place (no electric fire switches here) and also truly appreciate my electric blanket. There is not much for central heating in Australia as they usually only get down to 32 degrees F (0 degrees C).
This month has been busy, continuing to work with refugees and on volunteer care! One of the highlights was visiting a new family with my co-worker Linda (far left in the photo). They are a Muslim family and we brought them a welcome package which is a laundry basket filled with food and some basics as they transition in to Australia and some blankets. We also brought some blankets for them.
We accidentally packed a kid’s blanket with Thomas the Tank Engine on it for this visit because we had forgotten the kids were all teenagers. Upon arriving we found out the youngest child had intellectual and physical disabilities and despite this was a very happy kid who smiled and laughed upon seeing us.
Linda pulled out the kid’s blanket to get to the other blankets underneath and then paused. “You know, maybe S would like this.”
Linda unfolded it out and S smiled happily and giggled away! I got to watch his face as Linda laid the blanket on him and it was one of the sweetest moments I’ve been a part of while on the Sydney Refugee Team. It certainly wasn’t an accident for God that we packed the blanket.
Another highlight was attending a High Tea with my refugee friends at a local church. We got to hear testimonies from some of the church ladies and color (as pictured). I also got the opportunity to answer some questions about Jesus from one of the kids at the event.
The decorations were beautiful.
Additionally this month, we had a lovely weekend away with our refugee families, where we got to talk about Jesus in small groups, sing and do some fun activities, such canoeing and archery, in a peaceful place called Teen Ranch.
The singing was beautifully done in multiple languages, switching between English, Persian and Arabic.
Thank you to those who are supporting this ministry in prayer! The weekend was lovely and the month was fruitful.
Praises:
- The weekend away went quite well
- The transition to living with a new family has been smooth
- For the Jesus-focused conversations at the weekend away
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for Muslims during Ramadan
- Please pray I will seek God above all else
- Please pray the RIDE event goes great
Blessings,
Oksana
The top photo is of my team members!
From left back row: Linda, Fiona, me, Sarah, Caroline, Karl, Linda, Abby, Rod, Andrew. Front: Andrew and Janice (lots of double names)!
Imperfect Christian Woman 