For those of you keeping up with us in real time on our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/LefeverFamilyMissionsAdventures), you already know that the ministry opportunities continue to grow and bear fruit. It has been exciting and life changing for the team to watch God move in amazing ways. At first it seemed like we were just working on a variety of unrelated things, but the Lord has been showing us how he is working behind the scenes to bring everything together in ways that only he could do. We are seeing people that we meet during street ministry on subsequent occasions, which is amazing in itself given that there are close to 1.5 million people in the city! We've also watched as seemingly simple acts of kindness, like handing out water or flowers has opened doors for very deep conversations. In all of these interactions, we have been able to share God's love practically and when possible, share our testimonies and personal understanding of the gospel. As a result, we have been able to make some deep connections in a short time and are seeing lives transformed!
Just one example that I am excited to share with you is the story of a man called Richard, whose family moved here to Adelaide 20 years ago from Czechoslovakia. We met Richard a few weeks ago and in this short time has become a dear friend and brother. I share his story because it exemplifies the extravagance with which God works to bring his children back to him and the amazing way that he uses his people and circumstances to do this:
We met Richard during street ministry one night early in our outreach. The team went out that night praying that God would show us people who really needed prayer and encouragement. We passed by Richard huddled in a door frame, dazed from drinking heavily and afraid for his safety after being robbed and other tough experiences on the streets at night. We learned more about Richards life and struggles during later encounters, but at this time we just visited with him, encouraged him to not give up and pursue God and also prayed for healing, as his ankle had been injured during a fight and was making walking difficult. He was noticeably brighter when we left, mainly because we had taken the time to sit and talk with him and had prayed for him. Before leaving we shared information about the Salvation Army shelter with him and invited him to meet us there on a Saturday night when we worked there.
After not seeing Richard for two weeks, one of our team members called to check in on him. He sounded much better than when we'd last met and agreed to let us meet him at the park near where he was sleeping. We took him some food, talked with him for a while and learned that his ankle was no longer giving him trouble! While he was still on the streets, he had moved out to a park outside of the city center and was working on getting a place to live. We felt we should spend more time with him, so we invited him to help us pick up some donations for Salvos. We ate a meal at a diner together and heard more of his story. We learned that several months earlier, Richard had a good job in Melbourne and was living a "good life". After being made "redundant" and losing his job, Richard returned home to Adelaide, began using heroin and quickly blew through a large sum of money and ended up in a serious vehicle accident. After almost seven days in a coma, Richards kidneys, liver and lungs failed. However, with only four hours left before the doctors were scheduled to pull him off of life support, he awoke free from heroin and speaking of seeing a vision of heaven! Richard had a number of health complications as a result of the coma, including diabetes and an enlarged heart. Much to the amazement of his doctors, the diabetes disappeared after 24 hours and other than needing medicine to help reduce the swelling in his heart he was healthy and left the hospital.
While this was an amazing experience, there were more issues in Richard's life and within 3 weeks he was kicked out of his home due to a fight with his father that had turned violent and landed him in a prison cell for two nights. With no where else to go after being released, Richard began living on the streets and drinking heavily. After living on the streets for 6 weeks, Richard wanted to return but did not believe that his father would accept him as every call home ended in shouting. We encouraged him to contact his parents again and prayed with him that they would be reconciled. Less than 24 hours later, we received a text from Richard that he was at his parents house and that his father had invited him to eat with them! While the night with his parents had gone well, he returned to the park that night because he was struggling with their request that he enter a detox program before coming home. We encouraged him to follow his parents wishes and prayed for him that he would have the strength to complete the program. He agreed to give it a go and so the next day we dropped him off at a government run detox facility in Adelaide.
Five days later, Richard was joining us at Salvos to help pick up donations and minister to poor and needy people on the street! He is continually talking about the way the Lord has intervened in his life and knows there are greater purposes for him; in fact, he is already developing ideas for reaching out to the youth on the streets here in Adelaide. Life is certainly not easy, as Richard has to deal with the repercussions of his poor choices, but he is fighting to stay sober, he is working to make things right with the law and his family and is studying to get a project management certificate so that he can find work and live on his own. God is still working to bring other strong christians to come along side Richard to support him in his journey; just a week ago we we happened to be introduced to a man who migrated to Adelaide with his wife from Czechoslovakia have been praying to connect with new christians from their homeland that they could support and mentor. We connected Richard with them, he is staying with them now and they have committed to loving him back to health! The Lord obviously has great plans for Richard and it's been a pleasure to be a small part of them.
(L to R, Nicolai, Matt, Richard, Matthanja, Carl)
While Richard's story is certainly the most dramatic of those we've met, there were many others that God connected us with to encourage and pray with and several whose lives were changed tangibly. We've seen healings, we've seen people that had turned cold to God warmed again and we've seen people come back to us to learn more about God and what they need to do find him. In each case, God used different members of the team and different circumstances and methods, but in each it was clear that God was already working in their life and that our interaction was simply a physical way to remind them he was there and cared about them. This has been a key learning for me, as I've often had the mistaken impression that all of the pressure was on me to go out there and do something and hope that God showed up and that people were receptive. Instead what I see is that God is the one doing the work - he is leading us to people that need his love and we are simply coming alongside to help him. In a way, it's very similar to our children helping us around the house. For those of you with children, you will appreciate this analogy as often it is the parents that are really doing the work, but it teaches our children to participate and brings them joy to be a part of the work.
This has been an exciting and rewarding adventure for each of the families on our team. Our goal was simply to be available and do whatever God led us to share his love and help people in their journey with God. We have been truly blessed to see what God is doing here in Adelaide and feel privileged that he would give us the honor of joining with him in this work. On a personal level, God has shown me that he has a much greater purpose for his children here on earth that just living a "normal life" and that while we are but weak vessels, he can do many great things through us if we are only willing to lay down our lives for his way. As a family, we are finding it hard to leave here as it has been so rewarding but are looking forward to continuing in this journey wherever that may lead! Until next time, blessings and peace to each of you and heartfelt thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging words throughout our trip.
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