G'day KC

Last night I went to Life group and Peter Lerner shared his testimony, which was absolutely amazing. He told us how his parents made the decision to migrate to Israel to embrace their Jewish heritage when he was about 12. That decision involved incredible sacrifice. They gave up everything and moved into an area filled with people who persecuted them with such animosity because they were the only white American Jews present. He personally had his skull fractured, shoulder dislocated, limbs and fingers broken, face bashed, etc... and no one in authority sought justice for them because they were Jews.

The legal and government systems were corrupt and prejudiced and crazy laws made it mandatory for him to be in school, but then if they were Jewish and in school, then the parents faced imprisonment. He and his brother and sister went through absolute nightmare experiences. As part of the Israel system, he had to serve in the military and there 25 of his Jewish friends were murdered in horrific ways. He was wounded numerous times and suffered from a burst eardrum. Oh my goodness. I was overwhelmed with the intensity of his testimony.

One thing that really touched me is how his wife had a dream in which she saw him two years before she met him and God had told her that was her husband. It reminded me of the dream I had in Track 1 where I saw a guy who i'm guessing was the guy God has chosen for me to marry. I have thought about his sweet face a lot. How long must I wait for God's timing to manifest? Could he really be back in Perth? I am not sure whether I wrote it down but days ago in my morning prayer session with Ondrea, I had this weird impression that the guy I will eventually marry is an engineer. I remember years ago thinking how cool it would be to marry an engineer.

What really impressed on me was that Peter, after all the chronic suffering and pain and loss he has endured, can smile and tell of God's goodness and favor in his life. His wife, Amy, is beautiful and has a very sweet personality. Wow, God is just amazing.

I am really grateful that I was ultimately placed in this home group as opposed to Michael's home group because the one guy I thought was so cold and unfriendly in Track 1, turned into Peter - the one guy I feel the most common ground with. We are the same age. We have equivalent qualifications (well he is a vet doctor, but we have studied a lot of the same subjects). We have both had horrific upbringings. We both look healthy and full of life and vitality, despite the horrors of our past. We both love God in a way that only someone who has endured numerous battles can do so.

We share the same dislike of the Forerunner Partnership Development (FPD) mentality and agree that the majority of people we are in fellowship with now who call themselves "intercessory missionaries" are not worth sowing our hard-earned finances into. It's not that we don't agree with supporting missions - it's more that we see no fruit. A lot have not applied themselves at all - they have no qualifications and are lazy and yet expect others to pay their way. I was actually quite amused when he leaned over and said something like "I study for eight years to get my qualifications. I work a hard 14hr day in a stressful environment. I have a sore back because of the work I have done and you expect me to pay for you to laze around the coffee shop at IHOP and drink coffee". Sadly, it is true. A lot of the "students" here do just that! We both feel somewhat uncomfortable sitting in a room full of people who are looking at us as potential partners when we don't believe in them or see their fruit!

There are definitely some who are worthy of sowing into, but quite honestly, I would rather sow into North Korea missions or Exodus Cry or something I can honestly say is doing something productive.

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Feeling really run down today. I think the early morning prayer sessions are awesome, but the lack of sleep seems to be taking it's toll on me. This morning was our 16th consecutive praying in tongues sesh.

For lunch I went home and made pasta. That made me feel better. Then when I got to the prayer room, Andrea met me and said we had the FPD meeting at 1.00pm today, instead of on Friday. No one else got the message in time so we were the only two interns that attended. During the meeting, my throat started getting sore and I could feel my body becoming ill. After the meeting I went straight home and started the recovery process. Thank God I found some antibiotics Julz gave me to bring to KC. I thought I had consumed everything she gave me, but I have one last box.

The FPD meeting today was led by Ken Mitchell and his wife also joined us. They have the most amazing home - a super pretty little cottage-like home filled with collector's item antiques presented like a display home on two levels (including the basement). They have even converted their garage into a spare room.

I was blown away with the amount of effort and care they had put into creating the most beautiful home I have seen in Kansas City. Ken shared his extremely clever strategy for acquiring and maintaining partners - he hand writes ten postcards every day and prays over every piece of correspondence he writes and receives when he goes to the prayer room. He said out of curiosity and interest he would like to exchange postcards with me once a month when I return to Australia to have the international contribution to his life. He also has people he writes to regularly in Hong Kong, New Zealand and I think he said in Thailand. I think he's come the closest out of everyone to possibly getting me to partner with him. I like his personal touch. He actually makes all his own postcards out of photos, scanned books, pictures, etc.. whatever it is he can get his hands on! What a clever old man.