We just need wisdom in who to take him to for surgery, how we are going to pay for it and a quick recovery for him.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Russ & Cathy

Especially when the culture and theology come together. We hope that this is so the kids can reach more kids for Christ!

Back story: Caroline has come to enjoy having a meat pie for breakfast or lunch regularly. It is truly an Australian food and she loves them. Yummy.

So, while she was in Sunday School the other day, the teacher was teaching the kids a rhyme. It was to help them to remember the 10 plagues in Egypt in the book of Exodus. 

Here is how it went…

Teacher:

Water to blood

Frogs in the mud

Gnats and flies

Livestock dies

Caroline:

…and they are they are made into pies!

You have to love it when theology, culture and the mind of a child come together.

Well done,Caroline. Praise God.

Well, it is the 22nd of May and we are still here praising the Lord.  Thank you for your continual support and for your prayers. I wanted to take the time to get you all up to speed on what has been happening over the past month in our lives.

“God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world” – CS Lewis

It has been one of the most fruitful times and one of the most challenging times for us, since being on the mission field. The Lord has provided in mighty ways, we have seen salvations, I have been able to do my first baptism and the opportunities to speak around Sydney have been non-stop since the beginning of the year. Thanks for the constant prayer cover and we hope you are able to celebrate with us in all that the Lord has done.

School: Since the beginning of the year, the kids have started to attend Australian Christian College. It has been a blessing, but quite a change from homeschooling. The school has been great in helping Cathy and the kids to transition to the school atmosphere. The biggest challenge was the travel, Cathy was having to commute to the school each day for the kids.

Home: We decided to find a home closer to the school. Also, close to a train line for my work in the city. Part out of necessity, our rental home was being sold and we had to find a new place. The rental market is only 1% of the Sydney housing market, making it very challenging to find a home we could afford and that would fit our family. It took three months to find the house. (I will not go into all of the details, but at many homes viewings there were 50-100 people to see the house) At the end of March, The Lord provided a new home and we were planning to move in at the beginning of April. It is a lovely house, smaller, but meets all of our needs and we are able to serve effectively here.

Robbery: The weekend before the move, I was planning to preach at a sister church. We went to bed on Saturday night and during the night thieves broke into our home (while we were sleeping) and stole all of our computer, phones, bags (which contained our ids, money, etc.) and even my sermon. Feeling very violated and without many options, the Lord provided, but we needed to get our lives back in order. We only had a few days to move, but no immediate means of paying for a truck. We started moving the house, one van load at a time. It took many kilometres, but by the end of the week we were able to do get the move done. (We did eventually get some bank cards toward the end of the week and were able to secure a moving truck for the large items.) Fortunately, we were insured and the majority of items were replaced.

Van: A week later, as Cathy was coming home from setting up for an outreach event at church, the van broke down. Looking back, it is amazing that the van made it this far with all that it had gone through over the last few months. It broke down on a Friday night. No mechanics open until Monday in Australia. At 1am in the morning on Saturday, I sent out a brief prayer request. Within minutes, one of our supporting churches had offered to pay for a hire car for us until we were able to get the van fixed. Once we secured a van, we were still able to go the outreach on Saturday and I was able to preach on Sunday. We sent out a request to our supporters and WOW the Lord provided mightily. It was overwhelming and we hope you know how thankful we are for all of the responses. All the costs of the van were covered by the donations.

We are currently driving our faithful van and we are praising the Lord for the opportunity to serve.

Once again, thank you for your generosity and assistance with this process.

The Lord has been teaching us quite a bit about ourselves and Himself throughout this process.

1. He is in control, even when we do not understand.
2. We need to allow others to serve and learn through our situations.
3. To rely on Him completely.
4. He works through our good and bad times to speak to us and others.

Prayer requests:

• John Series ar Glorious Hope Baptist- Five Speakers on different areas of the Gospel According to John
• Planning for the team from First Family Church
• Challenges and growth of the work at City Bible Forum – We would be able to secure the right panelists and speakers for the weekly talks
• Aussie dollar ,it is strong (30year high)and the US dollar is weak. Puts a challenge on the finances

Thanks for your continued support and prayers.

The Adventure Continues…

Russ & Cathy Matthews

The kids started attending Australian Christian College (college is the term for primary & high school in Australia) this year.

Serviettes: A tradition that my Mum used to do for my brother & I, was to write a note on my serviettes (napkin in Australian) in my Speed Racer (or was it Fat Albert) lunch box. If anyone saw it while I was at school, I would act like the note was not cool, but I will admit I looked forward to her words during the day. So, I thought I would do that for our kids. Something simple, but a message, from their Dad,  to encourage them during the day. One day after school, I tried to use the serviette  to clean Caroline’s face, because I saw that it was still in her lunchbox. A look of terror went over her face and tears started to form. Ahh…What had I done to cause the waterworks? (I am pretty hopeless when it comes to understanding the hearts of girls, sometimes) Later that night, Cathy explained the reaction to me. Caroline saved all of the napkins, because Daddy had written messages to her. She has all of the napkins stashed away in her little corner of special things. This explained why I am sternly reminded if I ever forget to write her a message. Also, I pity the person who touches the serviettes or tries to ‘recycle’ them. She loves getting the message from Dad and she cherishes the notes. (Please do not send me any messages on idols, she is five!) Children always are great for lessons in life and it continues to  amaze me how we can learn something from the devotion and love of a five year old.

I would be going too far to compare my messages on serviettes to the Word of God. Yet, the Bible is the Father’s message to us. Do we treat His message to us with this level of devotion? I was taken back with the impact that this simple action by Caroline had on me and my response to God’s Word. I do my devotions, I study the bible daily and I seek out good bible teachers to study under. Yet, do I look for His message with this fervor? Do my actions on responding to His message to me, show the same level of conviction? All of these are rather self-examining questions and to my shame the answer would have to be, ‘no’.  Thanks to Caroline and the gift she is to us, I have learned to love the Lord’s Word with a new vigger and I saw again why we are asked to have a child-like faith.

Panel + Series:

We started a new method of reaching out to  the communities around Sydney. Prior to every series at City Bible Forum we have been coordinating The Panel. It is a panel of three ‘experts’ on a topic from different positions. They come in for the lunch time and discuss/debate a topic and then open the floor for questions form the audience.

We have had two panels and they have met with Standing Room Only. Great discussion and questions. Also, it has translated to increased attendance at our lunch time meetings. We are meeting new people, especially non-believers, who are coming along to hear what our speakers have to say from the Bible.

If you would like to watch the videos, be part of the discussion or see the images from the panels go to City Bible Forum, Sydney. The two panels that have commenced, Imagine no religion…would we be better off? and Crossing Over… Is there anything after this life?

CBF Afterwork:

We have been looking for options to consider people coming together for a potential church plant. Afterwork is one of those considerations. We have contacted people who are seeking to know more about the bible and Jesus. They are not currently connected to a church and are looking for further study or just getting started. So, we are currently meeting with a group of about 15+ people on Wednesday nights. Please pray for the growth and fruit from this ministry.

Glorious Hope Baptist Church:

Peaks and valleys – We started this year with the hiring of a youth pastor and the youth group was quite excited about the consistency of good Bible teaching and fellowship. Unfortunately, the young man had to resign due to family issues a couple weeks into the term. So, the kids have acted well to the situation, but we could use your prayers on this issue.

School:

The kids are getting adjusted to school. Rebeca & Hope are getting adjusted to the rigors of year 11. It is very intense compared to homeschooling, but they do love the friendships they are making. They are a blessing to the school and the teachers do appreciate them in class. Josh seems to have a good ‘band of brothers’ in his classmates. School is challenging, but he is excelling in Mandarin (Chinese) and Art. Also, he placed second in swimming (50 M Freestyle) and cross country (2km run) and qualified for zone. Caroline, as the principal stated, could be left alone with the class and could teach it for the day. She loves school, her teachers and all of her classmates. She is ‘tutoring’ some of the other little girls in her class. (Yet she thinks the word tutor is a funny sounding word, ‘tooter’… must get it from her uncle)

House:

The house we rent is on the market for sale and we are looking to move closer to the school. The rental market is less than 1% of the housing market in Sydney. Needless to say, it is quite competitive. We could use your prayers. We need a house for ministry, that fits out family and that we can afford.

Well that is the info on the Matthews for now. Thanks for all of your prayers and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Keep glorifying the Lord.

The adventure continues…

Russ, Cathy, Becca, Hope, Joshua & Caroline

Thanks for your prayers and questions about our various ministries & our life in Australia. It has been a busy couple of weeks in Sydney and we wanted to get you up to speed on all that is happening.

Panel + Series: At City Bible Forum we have looked at trying a new format for our talk series each week.

Format: Each month the Forum would begin with a Talking Point issue. We would have a panel of 3-4 ‘experts’ on the various topics. Then from the panel, the following weeks would be a series answering many of the discussion points from a Biblical perspective.

Imagine series: Panel discussion would utilise the lyrics from the John Lennon song and discuss the idea Imagine there was no religion- would we be better off? Then Al Stewart would do a series for three weeks on the Biblical perspective of these implications based in the New Testament. Our panelists are Dr. John Dickson (Biblical historian), Jane Caro (Writer/Atheist) , Dr Tanveer Ahmed (Writer /Clinical Psychiatrist), Simon Smart (Director of the Centre for Public Christianity) & Antony Leowenstein (Jewish- Atheist / Writer). Find out more on our website: City Bible Forum

Results: We had both panel discussions and it was exciting to see rooms with standing room only and an approximate attendance of 300 people. All of the details can be seen on our Facebook page City Bible Forum, Sydney. If you would like to dialogue with our panelists on the topics, please write in on the Discussion boards. You will have pictures, audio, and discussions on Facebook site, video of the events should be added after Wednesday.

School: The kids started their school year (Our school year starts in January, at the end of our summer) at the Australian Christian College (College is the name for primary & high school in Australia). There are many changes and challenges going from home schooling, but they are adapting to the home work and classroom setting. They enjoy the school, their new friends, sport and many of their teachers. Pray that their transition goes well and they continue to serve our Lord and Savour in all they are doing.

Youth: Glorious Hope Baptist hired a new youth pastor this year, Rubin Noel. The kids are excited about his leadership and input. He looks to be a good addition to our church family. Pray for him as he teaches through James this term.

House: We are looking to find a house closer to the school and on a train line. Pray we can find the ideal house for us to serve in ministry and will be closer to the school.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

The adventure continues…

The Matthews Family

We wanted to update you on Caroline’s doctor’s appt. with the pediatric cardiologist. If you remember last year, Caroline had been diagnosed with a development of tissue on one of the valves of her heart. It causes a slight leakage or murmur in her heart. The specialists at the time stated there was no concern at that time and we would need to come in for an evaluation each year. If there is any growth, she would need to have surgery.

Come to find out this condition only occurs in approx. 2% of people and usually needs surgery. Our cardiologist has had to operate on all of her patients that have this condition in the past.

It has been a year since Caroline was diagnosed with this condition. She has not had any ill effects since the diagnosis. She was a champion at the doctor this week. After looking at her heart, the cardiologist saw no growth in the tissue and did not see the need for surgery at this time. Caroline even said, “I like going to the doctor, ” as we left the office. What a trooper. We will need to go back for another evaluation in 12 months. Thanks for your prayers.

School

A big day for all on Monday, all of the kids start school at the Australian Christian College (Colleges are the schools prior to University in Australia) Yes, our school year starts in January, after summer in Australia. Quite an adjustment from homeschooling for Cathy and the kids. Please be praying they all adjust well to the transition.

Panel + Series

City Bible Forum is changing the format for the Forums for 2011. It is exciting changes, but not without its challenges. We would appreciate your prayers for it. Details about City Bible Forum at www.citybibleforum.org

Format: Each month the Forum would begin with a Talking Point issue. We would have a panel of 3-4 ‘experts’ on the various topics. Then from the panel, the following weeks would be a series answering many of the discussion points from a Biblical perspective.

eg: Imagine series: Panel discussion would utilise the lyrics from the John Lennon song and discuss the idea Imagine there was no religion, God, heaven or hell… Then Al Stewart would do a series for three weeks on the Biblical perspective of these implications based in the New Testament. Our panelists are Dr. John Dickson (biblical historian), Jane Caro (Writer/Athiest) & Dr Tanveer Ahmed (Writer /Clinical Psychiatrist/ Moderate Muslim).

Panel format: Three to four individuals would be willing to discuss their view on the topic. It is not a debate, but an interactive discussion with a moderator and the audience. We would have key people set in the audience who have a specific view on this topic to set in motion the conversation. We are following the model of SBS ‘INSIGHT’ for the format. Time: 1:10-1:50 (Wednesdays and Thursdays) First week of each month.

Panelists: We would like the panel to be a mix of differing view points. We have a mixed audience of approximately 200+ each week. The experts we are contacting are not desiring to recruit for their own cause, but willing to intellectually discuss their view with an audience and others in a panel atmosphere.

Panel and series topics: Imagine no religion, Crossing Over: Is there anything after this life?, Why do we do what we do? Analysing the Human Condition, 2012 and end times: A look at the book of Revelation and others. All will follow with a series based on a biblical perspective of the topic.

We would appreciate your prayers for this format change and that many non-Christians would come to hear the panel and the series.

Thanks for your support and prayers.

The adventure continues…

The Matthews Family

Her actual condition is called sub-aeortic membrane. It is very, very mild at this time and is in no way dangerous or threatening and therefore there is no need to do any procedures any time soon. She will need to have once or twice yearly heart checks to make sure the condition hasn’t worsened. There is no time frame on how quickly this could change, but based on the fact that it has only progressed very slowly in her almost 5 years, we don’t foresee sudden changes occuring. This most likely will need to be dealt with at some point in her life, and the only way to deal with this is through open heart surgery. But the good news is, this is one of the simplest and easiest procedures that is done.

So that sums up today’s doctor’s appointment. Again, we thank you so much for keeping us and especially Caroline in your thoughts and prayers. We will definitely let you know of any future changes or needs in this specific area.

I’ll finish with a beautiful Bible passage that really blessed me:
“For You formed my inward pars; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.” Psalm 139:13-14

Rejoicing,
Cathy for all

We have that appointment on Tuesday, 9 March.  At this time, Caroline can continue life as normal, but it is something that will have to be followed up. We are thankful for the country we live in and the opportunity to get this checked. We trust the Lord will use this situation for His glory. We will  keep you posted. We would appreciate your prayers for Caroline.

We appreciate your support and prayers,

Russ & Cathy

Caroline was just diagnosed with whooping cough. It is an epidemic in Australia, about 30% of the population has contracted the cough. Some of our friends have contracted the WC and been out of commission for months. Caroline has to be in quarantine for five days. We actually will have to be in contact with the Australian Health Dept. Fortunately she has a very mild strain and the only real symptom is a terrible cough that tears through her whole body when it happens. Otherwise she’s her happy little self. Still it means we’ve all been exposed and we’re all on a course of antibiotics and in lockdown mode until those are done. Changed the weekend schedule, but thankfully Caroline is doing well. The weather is unseasonably hot, like a furnace with temps in the 40′s (100-105 F) and with no a/c it makes things a bit uncomfortable. So we’re sweating it out here in the house.

Some people had heard the news through different contacts. We just wanted to clarify the situation for everyone. So, she is doing well, it was caught early and thank you for your prayers.

The adventure continues…
Cathy