God is so good! We are getting ready to head into winter here. That is good and bad; winter means cooler days and a break from the heat, but it means heaps of rain. The weather here in April and May is similar to Indiana.
God gave us two baptisms in March: Zac, a 23-year-old married man, and Susan, a mid-life farmer’s wife. What a blessing!
We had our first Good Friday service, and it was well attended. Laura got to run Junior Church for that service and for Easter. Also on Easter Sunday, we started our move to Warragul, which helped us start saving on fuel and rent. Our new address is 133 Burke Street, Warragul, VIC 3820. My wife and I are praising God, and hopefully we will be able to stay in this house for three or four years. The people here in Warragul are excited to see that we live locally now, and Laura is excited because we have almost moved out of the boxes!
We have noticed here in Gippsland, the area Warragul is in, that the majority of the people say that they know God. I would agree that most of them do have a head knowledge of God, but very few have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Out soul winning, people are friendlier than in the city, but trying to get them to talk about Christ or spiritual things is just as difficult. Just last week I was talking to a “bloke,” a man named Trevor. He was about 56 years old and wouldn’t look me in the eyes. He just said he had given up on God years ago, which was extremely sad because his father, who was probably in his 80s, wanted to receive the Gospel tract that I had for them. I told Trevor if he ever needed someone to talk to, to please give me a call. A lot of Aussies are suspicious of American missionaries because we have a reputation of never staying long. I hope that over time, we will dispel this reputation for Americans.
The train system here is amazing. While riding the train, we saw two young ladies saved a few weeks ago. Mel and Shea live closer to Brother Abrell now, and I am praying the Lord will lead them to get into his church.
Please continue to pray that God would soften the hearts of the people in Gippsland; pray that we would see more souls saved and more converts baptized. Please pray for more workers in the church and more visitors. We will be praying for America in the upcoming election.
Sincerely,
Ron Back
Missionary in Australia
133 Burke St., Warragul, VIC 3820