Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. - DA p. 195

Two weeks ago, we began our journey by travelling through heavy smoke from the Central Coast area, down to our destination in Mernda. Though some of us may have felt a little bit sick from breathing the murky air, we didn't let that stop us from heading out on the doors the very next day.

We canvassed for two days before heading off to Abide for their annual Abide Family Camp, where we enjoyed a five-day weekend of messages from Randy Skeete and Tony Rykers. We were also given the priviledge of sharing testimonies from the last few weeks of the program to help inspire other young people to try the canvassing work.

At the end of the camp, with the team newly inspired to continue digging into God's Word, the new week began with a few new faces joining us from Abide and the Craigieburn church.

Sabbath was spent at Warburton church where we took the full service as well as an afternoon service full of testimonies. We then split into two groups, one group heading up Mt Donna Buang for the sunset, and the other driving to the Sequoia forest to take a relaxing walk through the tall trees.

With our final week of canvassing spread before us, it's incredible to see the work God has already done through our time here.

Be encouraged by the many testimonies from the past two weeks!

I met a young man with Josh this afternoon.

“I don’t believe in God,” he told me after I asked about his spiritual background.

“Alright, no worries,” I said.

He looked middle eastern, so I asked him where he’s from, and he told me he was from Iraq.

“That’s so cool!” I said, “Let me guess, you don’t believe in God because you don’t see much evidence?”

“Yeah that’s right.”

“You’re probably going through so much and you have questions like, ‘where is God in the midst of my problems?’”

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“I understand you,” I told him, “and you know how I understand you? About four years ago I was like that too, that was my life. I was broken. I didn’t want to hear anything about God. I grew up in a country faced with genocide. I was broken and I hated God.”

I handed him The Great Controversy.

“This book changed my life,” I said, “and that’s why I do what I do, it eliminated my dark life.”

He didn’t say anything, so I continued.

“Brother, this book tells you about your great grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar! He is in this book, you need to read about him. You need to read about how your country was prophesied about in the Bible! If you read Daniel chapter 2 you’ll be blown away! You need to learn about how your great grandfather was converted, you need to have the same experience!”

“At the end of the day though, I can’t force you to do anything, but it’s your choice,” I said to him, “Brother, which one of these books would you like?”

“I want The Great Controversy,” he said without hesitation.

I praise God he took that book!

- Geoffrey 

It was Will’s first time out canvassing and we met a man in the morning. He’s a New Zealander who has been here for six years.

"I’ve been praying and wanting to find a church to go to,” he tells us after we find out he’s a Christian.

I think he used to go to the Mormon church while he was growing up. We had a great chat, and I showed him all the books.

“I don’t have any money, I just moved in with my partner and we’re pretty strapped for money,” he said.

“That’s alright, I want to leave you with this one,” I told him, handing him the small Great Controversy, “I just really want you to have that.”

After, I asked him if we could have a prayer together, so he invited us inside and we had a prayer in the loungeroom.

He really appreciated that, he loved it.

“Message me through the details for the church, I’ll definitely make it out there,” he kept repeating, “I don’t work Friday or Saturday so I’ll definitely be able to come, just shoot me through the message.”

He was really keen.

“I don’t mind trying any church out,” he said, “I’ll know by even just seeing the people, I’ll get the vibe if it’s the right one.”

Hopefully he’ll get the right vibe! It sounded like he’ll be there this Sabbath.

It was a really good experience!

- Andy 

I was canvassing with Gladys. We met an elderly couple who didn’t seem too interested at the beginning, but we just continued talking to them.

“You’re Christians?” Gladys asked when she saw a picture of Jesus on their wall.

We handed the husband The Great Controversy and started to tell him all about it and mentioned the $25 deal of getting Wholesome Homemade with any other reading book.

The lady wanted that deal, so she grabbed the money and chose Peace Above the Storm with Wholesome Homemade. But then the husband came out with $20 of his own money.

“I’ll get whatever you want to give me,” he said to us.

We straight away handed him The Great Controversy and Lessons of Love.

It was my very first four-book-set!

- Abbie 

The first person I met on the doors seemed pretty interested in the health books I presented, particularly Plants that Heal.

She was telling me about the different courses she was looking into to become a naturopath, and thought it was strange that I appeared with a book about plants and herbs that heal.

Her daughter was a vegan, so she wanted all three of the health books I showed her, Foods that Heal, Plants that Heal and Wholesome Homemade.

I showed her The Great Controversy and Health and Peace, she skimmed through and discovered Christian themes and was turned off, so I gave her a rough estimate of the health books she wanted.

When she went and got the money, she came back out and mentioned she had a lot of books she wanted to read. She purchased them for her daughter but hadn’t gotten around to giving them to her, but they were under her bed and she was wanting to read them.

She couldn’t name them, so I started listing a few authors that I knew from my life before I found God, just to see if I could name the book, and I guessed the name correctly.

That built a rapport and we started talking about yoga and meditation, and I shared how I used to be a part of that lifestyle in a vain attempt to achieve some kind of enlightenment and peace in this world.

We spoke about religion, and how to find peace in this world. While we were talking, I was trying to figure out how to squeeze the message books in.

“These are gifts from me to you,” I said to her, “I’ve read the books that you mentioned you’re going to read, and sure, they have some sort of truth, but not the whole picture. I assure you these books have changed my life, they have a wholistic picture of truth and health, and give you the whole picture of Who God is.”

Praise God she took all five! I just walked away and praised God! I prayed that I would be able to get 10 books out today and God gave me 11.

- Steven 

I made a bit of a mistake today. I was going around the block, halfway through it, Greta got dropped off with me, and I just completely lost my bearings, and I ended up re-canvassing my own block!

I don’t know how, it just did not even occur to me, I even saw doorcards! I started in the middle of the street on one side of the block, and I came around the whole block and I just kept going.

“That’s funny. That’s weird.” I thought when I saw the first doorcard, so I just skipped the house.

Next house, some guys rocked up in a van and I canvassed them, leaving them with a small Steps to Christ. Their door had already had a doorcard as well.

“Okay… this is getting really weird… someone must have already done this before," I thought, but I kept going.

I knocked on the door of the next house, there was no doorcard so I must have already canvassed the lady because I could hear her inside, but she was taking a long time getting to the door.

Out of the corner of my eye this young man was coming into the driveway and putting something in the bin. So, I beelined towards him.

I showed him The Great Controversy straight away, didn’t even bother with the other books.

“What books do you like to read?” I asked.

“History books,” he said.

“Perfect! You’ll love this one!” I said.

He was super keen, he gave me $5, and he got The Great Controversy and was so thankful.

I praise God for His timing, because if I hadn’t of redone the block, he never would have gotten The Great Controversy, and if I was a second earlier or a moment too late he would have been inside and I would have spoken to his mum again instead.

- Rachael 

About midday I knocked on someone’s door, but nobody seemed to be home, so I put a doorcard in and kept moving. I had knocked on a couple of other doors, when I looked back and saw a little girl who had run out on the front lawn and was looking at me suspiciously.

So, I finished talking to the person I was with at the door, and I went back down there and knocked on the door again. The little girl came out and I asked if her mum, or dad or older brother were home. But her older sister came to the door, she was about 17.

Previously I had been getting really high donations for the little Steps to Christ, and I knew that God had wanted me to give a book to somebody.

So, I canvassed all the books to her.

“Which ones interested you the most?” I asked.

I kind of figured she wouldn’t have the money for the books, I was willing to give her anything God impressed me to give to her.

“I love history,” she told me, after she chose The Great Controversy.

So, I explained more about the book and gave it to her as a gift. She was almost in tears.

“Thank you so much for coming back!” she told me at the end.

- Bailey 

It's exciting to see so many new faces join our team to give their time for God's mission. People we only met a few days ago have now joined our team to share beautiful, truth filled books with those we meet, it's exciting to think of the influence this time will be to those who not only receive the books but share them as well!

We have our final week canvassing in the Craigieburn area before us. Please continue to pray for us as we begin our last full week of canvassing for the program!