Sunday School -Libbys' group

Moses and the burning bush.....Lets find out how God spoke to Moses, and how much Moses didn't want to do what God asked him to do. But God would provide him with all he needed.

There are about 60 kids each week at Sunday school...They stay in for the first 1/2 hour of church and then go off to their groups....To learn and hear Gods word.

Zac Lukins holding Laces at church

Hanging out with some teenagers at church, Zac (Lukins) holding me, he has been living in France since he was 4. Happy to speak and read in two languages...French or English. There is a good group of young people at church, most of the musicians who played for church this day were between 15-20 years old.

Ready in Xaviers' top left pocket

Here I am, Sunday morning, at church, just before Xavier preaches hanging out of his coat pocket. The Lukins are the pastoral family at a church here in France and want more people to hear about Jesus. They have been at this church for just over a year, but have been in France since 1998. There are people from all over the world here in this congregation. Especially many folk from The Congo, Togo, Cameroon, Haiti and other African countries. Also some French people.

they have arrived at the Lukins in France

After some time in Florence with the Lubbocks, the shoe laces came via the post to France, Viry Chatillon. It is a southern suburb of Paris.

Guess who's in FRANCE

Guess who made it to France?? The shoelaces. Its very exciting that the shoelaces have now arrived in France with The Lukins! We will soon be hearing all about their lives in France. Keep posted!! And welcome Lukins to the chain of Missionaries!!

NETs laptops & jesus all about life

HI THERE!!

I just wanted to bring something to your attention.. NETs are low on laptops, laptops are important because they have no other ways of doing college work or getting information down. What's NETs?? If you dont know its a college for christian people learning to preach the gospel. So if you have a second hand laptop you can give it to me (or find away to give it to my family) and we will fix it up so it works and send it to NETs in Namibia. If you have read earlier posts there is a family, the Gillhams working with NETs to help in the college. Thanks for you help and if you have any questions about this or anything, please email me at claire.hirons@hotmail.com

JESUS ALL ABOUT LIFE.

just would like to say i am ver proud at how well jesus all about life is doing. I went on a road trip recently with some of my family and even in victoria they had banners and posters. Its so great.

I would really like to see how this website is doing so please if you have questions or anything email me.

Thanks. :)

Camping holiday

After the dust settled on moving house, we went on holiday. Umm, well, they went on holiday and I stayed behind to mind the house! Boring. Here's the car packed so full that the kids couldn't see each other or their Mum and Dad. Can you see anyone in there? And the other photos speak for themselves...all the rock stars on holiday. Lucky them ;-)

Looking from the front door

Here we all are together. Ezekiel, Jemima, me, Matilda in the pram and Oscar. The door behind us is the Lubbock's front door. Then in the next photo you can see the street behind us with another row of houses on the other side. So you step out their door and almost into the street. Before they do that the Lubbock children have a good look around in case there are scooters cruising the footpath instead of the road!

New house

You can't see much of it here, but the Lubbocks moved house on July 31. But the picture tells it all. Look at me! Just left lying around the floor. And to think of all that dust and dirt. I need to go back to the pool with Oscar. It was so chaotic that they let me fall into little Matilda's hands! The house is back in the city of Florence, much closer now to the university faculties, school and old friends. Right where the Lubbocks need to be.

Summer time

The school break for Summer is around three months long. (University stops for around that time too as the students do exams and have a holiday). That's because there are hardly any long holidays through the year. This Summer the kids went swimming on Saturday mornings. Here are some shots when they took me along one time. Pool looks nice, hey? And how about those cute kids (Ezekiel, Oscar, Jemima). Hmmm, I was happy to be close to them, but not THIS close (to Oscar)! One of the funniest things was watching Oscar doing forward somersaults into the pool. He would say, 'Watch me. I'm doing a ball' and then do a perfect roll in.

Where are the Italians?

But where are all the Italians? Most of the students were already on holiday. So I couldn't meet them. And the truth is that there are only 0.02 percent of Italian who go to evangelical churches. However, I did get the chance to know Andrea Giorgi at a meeting for a Florence-wide youth event called Kaleo. Andrea's a Florentine guy who follows Jesus. Now he's getting a new Christian church started just outside the city. They meet in a Socialist social club. There are more and more people coming all the time, especially Italians who haven't been told much about God or Jesus from the Bible. Andrea's got heaps of energy and love for Jesus, and loads of gel in his hair!

The Gruppi Biblici Universitari

Another person Andrew gets to meet with is the President of the Gruppi Biblici Universitari national board. Hmmm, sounds pretty important! Nice shots of me, hey? Oh, yeah, that's the prez, Johan (Giovanni) Soderkvist. Strange kind of name for an Italian. Well, actually, he's Swedish. Johan has grown up in Italy because his parents came here as missionaries. He works as a software engineer, and volunteers as GBU President. His job is to help Andrew and the other staff in other parts of Italy to keep helping students tell their friends that Jesus is risen and is the Lord of eternal life. Not always easy because most people don't want to hear.

Emanuel-Investigating Jesus

Later the same day we met up with Emanuel. He's from Peru. Emanuel comes along to the Economics Bible Study. Even though he knows a lot about the Bible, he's not 100 per cent sure about why he needs to let Jesus be the boss of his life. When he meets with Andrew they've been reading through the Gospel of Mark together. Wow, the Jesus they were reading about together in the Bible is amazing. Pretty different to what most people think. I'm glad they let me listen in...'cause everybody knows a shoelace can't read.

Neti-the cheeky Albanian

OK. Here we go. Like I said before, I've been here in Italy a while now. So we're doing a bit of backtracking. You can see me in the picture here with Andrew (right) and Neti at the start of the Summer (June). We had a great time catching up with Neti. He's an Albanian student studying at the University of Florence. Andrew's been meeting with him right from the start of their time in Florence. Neti has grown a lot as a follower of Jesus Christ. He's also one of the most consistent and faithful members of the Economics Faculty Bible Study group. And one of the cheekiest...you can kind of see in the photo. Pray he'd keep telling his friends about Jesus.

More photos

Just thought I'd throw in some more photos for you all. I saw this scooter overloaded with water. Glad it was him driving and not me! And then there was this double-decker bus. Not really a Florence thing. But you can see a picture of the cathedral on the side. Will try and get you a real shot another day.

I'm alive

Hi everyone. You might have thought I was lost in the mail on my world trip. But no, I’m alright. I've been in Italy now for a while. Church Missionary Society missionary Andrew Lubbock has been carrying me with him as he rides around Florence. He meets with university students to talk with them about Jesus Christ. Here are some pictures of what we've seen. You can see me on the handlebars of his bike; a local bike rack; and a builder's van (not the kind of thing you see an Aussie tradie in!) I'll write again tomorrow to start telling you about the people we meet.

ITALY

The shoelaces have landed in ITALY!! Its very exciting, just waiting for a blog to be posted.

Next week im standing up in front of the whole high school (yikes) and telling them about this website. Im pretty nervous but glad i can tell people about it. Well i hope we get a reply from the Lubbock's in italy soon :D

Claire :)

Church Camp

Just thought i should post a quick blog on MEC's Church Camp which was totally awesome!! The talent night was so funny. I loved Brad and his group singing their song about the 5 constipated men of the bible. *will have to find that clip and post it so u can watch* Kids groups were great and lots of fun. Went down to the beach that was so fun.  I'm not sure about the adults but I'm sure they learnt lots and had fun with their groups. Food was YUMMY and the giant swing and climbing walls were a blast. Can't wait until next year. kudos to Brad and his group by the way :P

The most embarassing day of my life

So here I am - at the NETS graduation. What an exciting day for everyone. Simon has been working hard to make it all run well. He and I arrive early. there is lots to be done. but you will never guess what happens before the big moment arrives... I am getting ahead of myself.





NETS has 2 groups of graduates, one from the residential course and one from the distance courses. On the Left are the Diploma and degree student from the residential program. On the right is the CMS bursar Risto Haipinge.

Here is the whole group along with the lecturers - it was a great celebration, with lots of smiling faces. But do you want to know what I was doing during the whole service...

Simon, in all the busyness, forgot his belt. So instead of pride of place to watch the show...this is where I spent the day - oh how embarrassing. Well at least I got to be useful in Africa???? I wonder where I will be off to next.

On the Road

I got out of town this weekend and we headed up to a refugee camp called Osire. It is about 4 hours from Windhoek. We went to the graduation ceremony at a small Bible college there. Here is a photo of Simon speaking at the ceremony - i am on his wrist I think!- and also a photo of all the graduates. It is great to be a part of people's celebrations.

Next stop was a bit of a look around NETS. The Gillhams are here in Namibia to work at NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological College) Simon is the academic dean as well as a full time lecturer. This is his desk - covered in lots of important papers! They are building a new library at NETS. the old one is very small and will be used as a class room as soon as the new building is finished. There is enough money to start the library - but still not enough to finish it.

I am learning lots!!

Hi there!! I am sorry it has been so long. I have been learning about computers in Africa. The Gillham's computer has been a 'little troublesome' but there is no use complaining :). So let me back track and tell you what I have been up to, before I get to the most embarrassing day of my life (oh how I try to forget!).






I was privileged to be able to go to a real Zambian bridal shower - I thought you would prefer pictures of the wonderful dresses to ones of me!! The singing and dancing was amazing, it went for hours as everyone bought a present and one at a time danced up to the 'bride to be' and explained how the present is used. Yes Margie danced too - sorry I didn't have a video!!







This is me at a Chinese restaurant - we went out with Willem Henry who is the head of distance Education at NETS, and his wife Diteke and Faith Blake from CMS. There was lots of serious talk about the need for people to teach the bible in Rural areas of Namibia, and also lots of yummy food!!







Faith Blake stayed for 3 days (someone from CMS visits every missionary on location once a year - just to check everything is going OK) and this is us saying goodbye at the airport! I have discovered Namibian Missionaries drive to the airport often!!

My first day in Africa!!!

Wow! what a long and dark trip, but here I am in Sunny Namibia.

I had a great first day. The photo is of me at an English class. These men and women are studying theology at a place called Namibian Evangelical Theological Seminary (I prefer NETS). There are 17 languages spoken in Namibia so they study in the common language - English. Margie Gillham is helping them with their English so they can study the Bible more effectively. These students are from 4 different Namibian language groups as well as Lesotho and DR Congo.

In the afternoon I went with Noah to a birthday party at a game park. He did go off horse riding without me (I think I would like horse riding!), but here is a photo of one of the animals we saw, it's a Kudu.

Madelon went off to her youth group at night, it is run by some Texan missionaries. Some things here in Namibia are just like Maitland, and other things are very different. I wonder where they will take me next?...

The Day the Shoelaces went to the Cafe

This week Claire gave me (Kath, her mum) the shoelaces to wear to Maitland Alive where the women at Maitland Evangelical Church put on a cafe for the parents.  Each day I interviewed someone from our church who had come to put their faith in Jesus.  They all had very different beginnings but will all, I trust, share the same home in heaven with Jesus.

We had a lot of fun and had a few tears when we heard their stories, we drank a lot of coffee and made some good crafts.  We have a few women who came to church on Sunday after the cafe who are thinking about coming to church with us this year.  We had a lot of good feedback and some good chats with women.  

Please pray for these women that they will find a home with us at MEC and that we will show Christ's love and care to them.

Kath

Entry 2 Claire

Entry 2

Maitland Alive was a big hit.

Lost of people came, and everyone had a great time.

The girl (Chantel) i told you about, i believe she became a christian. She now knows what God has done and hopefully will continue to trust in God. Please pray for her, she will need help to read her bible and find a church or youth group.

Plus it was a great time to be reminded of what God has done for us.

Thanx for reading,

Dory, God Bless

Entry.1 (Claire)

Entry 1

Today was the first day of Maitland Alive.

Lots of people came. This year  more kids came than any other year. 

I met a girl who had never been to maitland alive before, please pray for her. This could be a great event for her. For lots of people as well. I dont know a lot about what's happening with the adult but ill get mum to write some stuff in when she gets the chance.

The bible time is great too, today was about our relationship with God, how we should treat Him and that He is the real God. We read Acts 17. verses 16 to 34 (the end of chapter 17)

Please take the time to read it for yourself and talk to people if you have questions. Or even e-mail me at claire.hirons@hotmail.com

Im happy to help. :)

Dory, God Bless

P.s Please follow this blog by clicking the link on the home page. Thanks.

Tomorrow!!

We start tomorrow. I have my shoelaces ready to go. Tomorrow is Maitland Alive and i cant wait to see what happense. Its very exciting. ill take my shoelaces tomorrow. ill take some pics and post them here. photos on maitland alive, the shoelaces, and what we are doing. I really hope you learn from this.

Dory, God Bless

Getting Ready

Hey, thanx for having a look at my site.

Please continue to visit here regularly. Starting Monday 12th, i will be putting in entries. After a month, i send the shoelaces to another missionary family which will put in their entries about what they have done while wearing the shoelaces. Ex. Going to church and what we have learned, what we have preached and what events we have attended. Please read about the thing Missionaries go through, our troubles, our hopes and our success!

Thanx for your support.

Dory, God Bless