January & February Update

It's not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? - Henry David Thoreau

Life has been so hectic that we have had to combine our January and February updates. The past two months have been full of significant transitions, big emotions and big adjustments. While these have all been good things, change is hard, and growing pains accompany it. Since joining the staff at Teen Missions Int’l Australia (TMIA), Mark and I have taken on the role of program coordinators.

We have been tasked with starting a Bible School from scratch (which will begin next January), heading up fundraising efforts (grant writing, etc.), marketing/promotional campaigns, and assisting to ensure the organization functions daily.

January

After arriving in Australia on January 4th, we have slowly begun to make things feel like home. We purchased a car, decorated our new living space and were warmly welcomed by the staff here on base (six staff on base, including us). We were grateful for two weeks to get settled in, adjusted to the new time zone, and get back on our feet, ready to serve.

If you are unfamiliar with our ministry (or need a reminder), our primary ministry at TMIA is in sending out young people from across Australia and New Zealand on 6-week mission trips over the summer holidays, training them in a range of skills over our 10-day Boot Camp here in QLD, nurturing/disciplining them as they go out onto the field for 3-4 weeks with there respective teams(Thailand, New Zealand and Injinoo), and then equipping them to return home through our debrief time.

On January 14th, the summer teams began flying back into the country, where we greeted them and prepared a few days to debrief the teenagers and leaders. If you have done any cross-cultural mission work, you will know how important it is to assimilate back into the culture. After such a life-changing experience on the field, the students need to be eased back into their "normal" worlds of living in order to know how to respond and move forward. Debrief is a crucial part of our ministry!

It was a great time to catch up with old friends (who were all a part of the Bible school with us back in 2014; now we have families!) and hear about the amazing stories from all the teams.

Look how far we've come!

February

While January was slow(er), we hit the ground running in February, finding our footing in our role as Program Coordinators. We are a small staff, so we have had our hands in almost every department (finance, marketing, communications, admin, website design, etc.).

A significant undertaking of our role has been in producing a year-long Bible College (diploma program). TMIA is a missionary sending organization, so this will be the school's focus: to train and equip students for full-time cross-cultural ministry.

We are eager about the possibilities for partnerships with more prominent schools in helping to provide curriculum, resources and accreditation for our program (This is a major prayer point).

Finally, a large part of Lily's work in February has been preparing next year's summer mission teams. Check out the website to see her fantastic work! (teenmissions.com.au)

Household Update

George started primary school (aka Elementary). His love for learning has grown so much. His favorite day is Tuesdays when his class has swimming lessons. He loves that we now live in the woods, which means it gets very dark, and he sees many stars at night. He still wants to be an astronaut when he grows up. He misses Nini and Papa most of all and has learned how big our world is through this move.

Lia began Kindergarten, which is her favorite thing about Australia. She loves that our neighbors' kids are always ready to play and misses her cousins and Chicago friends.

Maeva is on the move, not yet into everything, but excited to explore the world on her terms. This is both exciting to see her develop, and honestly, I am a little terrified of the idea of having two babies into everything. If anyone has any tips on baby-proofing, please send them my way.

For the moment, Simon is our chill man. He is definitely the spectator of our family, who is always ready to laugh and chuckle at the crazy happenings in the household.

Mark has been in heaven with all the open space and land. He spends most of his free time in the new hanging garden in our backyard. We have both been particularly homesick, missing our special friends and family in Chicago and Mississippi.

Holy Ground and Sacred Spaces

The older I get the more I come to realize how important space is in living the Christian life. The life of faith cannot be lived in general or by abstractions. It is of body and soul. Growth and decay; redemption and salvation...played out in real-time and space. I do not have the gift of levitation; I am grounded to people and environments that have shaped me and shown me the meaning of love and sacrifice.

God is not an abstraction or an idea. He has entered into our world in a time and a place as a burning bush on Mount Horeb, on a morning stroll through the Garden with Adam and Eve, in a vivid dream to Joseph and most evidently in the life of Jesus. Psalm 139 says that God is in all places at all times and yet still present with me and you right now. This is not a thought, but a reality. Grounded in real places and moments in history. We are a part of that history.

All these great spiritual realities that we cannot see take shape on familiar ground that we can touch, taste, feel, hear and see; place gathers stories, relationships and memories.

I came to Teen Missions Australia back in the summer (American summer; Aussie winter) of 2014 as a boy, wandering, eager for answers and to understand my place in the world.

The space and place of TMIA became just as important for me in orienting me to the land of the living as theology and the Bible did. The landscape is unforgettable. It borders Tewantin National Park, which features a diverse range of landscapes, including rolling hills, dense rainforests, and stands of towering gum trees.

This new world, in all of its obscurities, strange accents and beauty, shocked me. My expectations of what the Christian life should look like had been rooted in a rural, southern, middle-class, white, American context. Go to church, follow the rules (do your best), be a man of your word, pray before meals and bed, respect the man upstairs, etc. (Everybody was expected to live to these standards; not that any of these virtues are bad, but this is what I thought being a Christian meant.) Then, I met a quiet girl with long, curly black hair, whose Christian experience was much different than mine. In her world, it was not the norm to be Christian. In fact, in most circumstances, she was a social outcast because of her faith. Living out her faith was much more costly than anything I had ever experienced. And this was not unique to her, but the story of many of the new friends I would encounter at the place of TMIA. It was not the organization or the institution that brought these newfound revelations but real people in time and space, loving God moment by moment.

To be honest, for most of my life, I resented my home, which seemed to blur the lines between culture and Christianity. But, I was wrong. The “culture” and “place” was much easier to blame instead of addressing my own issues with contentment and rebellion.

Now that I am back in this sacred space, where I found my faith and calling into ministry, I am beginning to cherish my homes (Mississippi and Chicago) more and more. For here in these sacred spaces, I think of the unconditional love of family, rooted in a home and nurtured by gospel principles; I think of pain but also healing. I think of death but also life. I think of heartache but also agape love...The Gospel.

Prayer Requests

Please remember us in your prayers, particularly for

• sleep (moving has really thrown the kids sleeping off)

• wisdom and patience in parenting

• Mark has two upcoming trips in March and April to New Zealand and the Solomon Islands. These trips are related to his visa and mission trip logistics for our summer team program

• We are also in the process of working on Bible School accreditation. Please pray that God would provide (set a reminder in your calendar to pray specifically on March 20th).
  

Regular Modes of Communication

Moving forward, Mark and I will be doing our regular monthly updates and have set up Whatsapp and Marcopolo for better communication. We no longer have our old cell numbers. So, if you have the capacity to set up a Whatsapp account, we could find you and communicate there. We miss communicating with you all regularly! We are so grateful to have community with us on this journey in ministry and look forward to sharing it will y'all.

You are in our prayers and hearts. Until next time may God's grace and peace keep you.

Love,

The Creekmore's