First stop on outreach: Palm Island

I recently wrote explaining the need of $600 to go on outreach. A large part of the money was donated 2 days before we left, and I received the last amount just a few days ago! Everything is paid off for the next 2 months and the Lord came through again. Thank you all that gave and/or prayed with me.

I have been in Palm Island for the last 12 days. By Australians standards, this is a forsaken place. If you want to come to this island, you have to be invited. Palm Island is the largest Aboriginal community in the world. It is like stepping into a third world country, wild horses and children play in the ocean. The Great Barrier Reef comes right up to the edge of the island. This is truly a beautiful island, but this place is plagued by alcohol, violence and injustices. We learned as we hopped off the ferry there was a threat that there may be another riot against the white police officers. Two years ago, an aboriginal man was killed while in custody and a coronary report (re-valuation of the case) was going to be released in just two days. But the beautiful thing was that the churches were coming together to pray for unity. On the night that the report was released, the churches gathered and let there grievances go, by throwing flowers into the water as an offering to God, for peace. The island was peaceful instead of burning a police building down and chasing the white people from the island, like the last riot.
Our group did a lot of cleaning the naborhood and working at the PCYC (kids center).

Another women on my team and I volunteered almost everyday in the drug treatment center, sharing my story with the patients there. The Lord used me to bring hope to a few of the girls and salvation for one of the men. My heart broke for them, and the bondage they were living under. But the Lord gave me the key, a story of how he released me from the same bondage. I saw a reflection of me years ago in their eyes. One of the women on our team who is from Palm Island decided to stay on with the rehab clinic after we left. She will continue to work with a new youth program. It is so funny how we are all really the same, the only difference is culture and skin color.
A part of my heart will be left in this place and with the beautiful brown faces of Palm Island.

“They will be called the Holy People, the redeemed of the Lord; and you will be called Sought After, the City No Longer Deserted. “ –Isaiah 62: 12