Global interaction
New partners in the purposes of God What prompts a young married couple to leave their roles as supervising minister and qualified linguist to travel to Australia? They talk about God’s call and their response to go wherever he wants them to go. Maz and Esther have had a few surprises since moving to Australia. ‘It was hard for Ruatpuia, our eight month old son, when we arrived at Brisbane International Airport. He had to sit in a special child seat in Geoff Cramb’s car. He has never been separated from his mother before. He was not happy. Maybe he is a bit more used to that now.’ Another very surprising thing was to see people smoking in public. People smoke in Mizoram but not in public. It has also been hard for them to adjust to a lifestyle where people make appointments to visit. They are used to lots of people ‘dropping in’ on each other all the time. Nonetheless, they have found Australians to be very friendly. They have also discovered that Australians love to shorten people’s names. ‘Maz’ and ‘Puia’ are suggestions to help us out! The family is in Brisbane to prepare to go to South East Asia with Global Interaction, the Baptist cross-cultural agency. The City Tabernacle Baptist Church has provided a local church home and an inner city apartment for them.
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Their home area is Mizoram a province in North East India. There is a high Christian population there with a concern to share the good news of Jesus with those who have not heard. The Australian Government has approved the family’s residence here for no longer than 12 months. During this time they need to raise partners to assist them to go to South East Asia where they will join a team of Australians. Partnering with Indians in the purposes of God in South East Asia is a new venture for Queensland Baptists. I encourage Queensland Baptists, local churches and individuals, to take a new step in cross-cultural work by hearing their story and partnering with them. Our goal is to have their partnership team in place by the end of November; so far they have about 20% of what is needed. For further information and to invite Maz and Esther to local groups, contact the Global Interaction Queensland office, ph 3354 5603, email qld@globalinteraction.org.au. Geoff Cramb Global Interaction State Director