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Published: July 16th 2014
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"Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4 : 13
Friday 11th July was another cold morning. We headed off to St Clements and met Revd. Ken at the Vicarage before heading across the road to the Church hall. St Clements are looking to start a Christian Resource centre 'Jacobs Well'. It is planned to open the centre after Church on Sundays and after the Monday morning 10.00am service. The centre will sell books, a variety of greeting cards and also act as a drop in centre with tea and coffee. It will fill a need in the Yass area. So we would ask you to include St Clements in your prayers.
It's is one of those God-incidences that we should be here in Yass with a task for 'Jacobs Well' because when we were in Albrighton one of the last things we were involved in was Women’s World Day of Prayer where we read the story of Jesus and the Samaritan Woman, Evelyn read the part of the Samaritan women and Jess the part of Jesus.
The task we will
be doing for St Clements is sanding down the outside of a book cupboard plus sanding down the inside of the doors ready for painting. The cupboard will be used to house books in 'Jacobs Well' that will be sold on consignment.
So today it was on with our work gear and dusk masks and into the sanding. After about 4 hours we called it a day as we were covered from head to foot with dust and had completed sanding down the outside of the two doors.
Saturday 12th July is 75 days since we left Traralgon to start our BCA Nomad Journey. Thanks to God for this fantastic opportunity.
We were back at St Clements Church hall ready to put in a good couple of hours work and finish the cupboard. After 4 hours we had achieved our aim including cleaning up the entrance hall from all the dust we had created.
We think
Sunday 13th July was the coldest morning we have encountered so far in our Journey of Faith, including our 6 months in the UK. The temperature was -4 degrees so ice on the windows of the caravan and car. We
headed off to attend the 10.00am Holy Communion Family Service at St Clements. The service was attended by approx. 35 people and conducted by the Revd. Judy Heggart who is the Anglican Community Priest here in Yass. We had met Judy on Saturday when she came to the hall to say hello. Seems one of the caravan residence that we had been talking to about BCA does odd jobs for Judy at here B & B. He mentioned that we were in Yass and working at the church hall. In small communities word soon gets around.
It was a great family service which followed the Anglican Liturgy but with modern hymns. Revd. Judy had described the service to us as Holy Communion but with drums. Music was provided by 2 guitarists 3 singers and a drummer who happened to be Helena Painting of BCA fame (is there no end to this lady's gifts from God to the Church). Revd. Judy asked Helena to introduce us and then we were asked to say what work we were doing with BCA.
After the service of course was the traditional morning tea which gave us an opportunity to talk with the
congregation. One member was interested in what we had been doing with BCA as he and his wife were looking at undertaking a trip around Australia and had thought of linking it with some BCA Nomad work. However he was not sure they had any skills that could be used. It was good to be able to talk about what gifts we used that we never knew we had and that everyone has the gift of fellowship to use and share.
After morning tea we met Helena at a local cafe for lunch. Another opportunity to talk to this very special lady. We were joined at lunch by a friend of Helena's who was a member of the Yass Pentecostal Church. He is part of a Ministry to people in outlying areas in the Philippines. Great to hear his stories of taking the name of Jesus to people who have never heard of God.
We do get to meet some very special and inspirational people on this journey. God continues to feed us with his word.
Monday 14th July was the coldest night/morning we had experienced for a long long time. The pipes at the caravan park
were frozen so to was the water hose to the caravan, so no running water to the caravan. Last night we lost power to the caravan and our portable heater decided to pack up. We awoke to ice outside and inside the caravan. But we survived; people suffer far more than we had to. We did however have hot showers and the day was clear and sunny.
We attended the 10.00am Holy Communion service at St Clements which was similar to the Holy Trinity third Thursday service mainly for elderly members of the congregation, was attended by approx. 20 people. It was a traditional service with traditional hymns and Holy Communion was given to the congregation while they sat in the pews. At the start of the service Revd. Ken introduced us and at the end of the service we were invited to the front and Revd. Ken prayed for us and for our continuing safe journey. Very Special.
After the service was of course the traditional morning tea which we were assured was the best morning tea in Yass, and this was not wrong,
YUM. We were able to talk to members of the congregation many of
whom had travelled around Australia in a caravan and some had been BCA Nomads.
Revd. Ken's wife Lynette invited us to lunch where we shared a great meal of hot soup & Damper, great on such a cold day. We also shared a great afternoon of fellowship and discussion on a wide range of topics.
Sometimes we have to ask what we have done for God to put us in such special company all of which expands our knowledge of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Tuesday 15th July and it was off to Holbrook, at least the night and the morning had been overcast so not as cold. We headed off in drizzly rain to drive the 200klms to Holbrook. We stopped at Gundagai for a well deserved coffee and a chance to see where "The Dog Sits on the Tuckerbox 9 miles from Gundagai' inspired by a bullock driver's poem,
Bullocky Bill, which celebrates the life of an allegorical driver's dog that loyally guarded the man's tucker box (Australian slang for lunch box). We arrived safe and sound and checked into the Holbrook Motor Village for two nights. The village offers large powered drive through
St Clements Yass NSW
Hand Made Crotchet Rugs both colourful and useful in the winter caravan sites.
After a night of heavy rain we woke to a clear and sunny day and much warmer than Yass or Goulburn. We headed off to St Pauls Anglican Church for the 9.30am Wednesday Holy Communion service and an opportunity to meet the Revd. James Coats who is at Holbrook as a BCA Affiliate.
The service was held in the Church reception hall and was attended by 7 members of the congregation. It was a great service, any chance to praise the Lord is always a great opportunity, with traditional hymns accompanied by a piano and a sermon that centred on small church congregations becoming great church congregations. In our travels we have been fortunate to attend many services with small but great congregations.
After the service we of course had morning tea which was an opportunity to talk to the congregation, give out some Bob Collie prayer sticks and then be given a tour and history of St Pauls including a mention of their Royal guests The Prince & Princess of Wales.
After Church we were taken to the Op Shop which is two shops in the main street, one for general Op Shop
goods including clothes and one just for furniture. It was also our main reason for being in Holbrook and that was the delivery of the two large bags of clothes from St Georges in Gerringong. Task now completed. It was also a great opportunity to talk to the Op Shop helper’s one whose farm including house had been destroyed during the January bush fires. We met the Wednesday Op Shop coordinator, Hope who said there was another lady Faith and we know the church dispenses Charity!!!
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