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| Autumn - winter 2009 |
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Apologies for the long gap
between newsletters but these last five months have been our busiest to
date! |
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Australia!
It is no secret that we love Australia. This
was our fifth visit in six years.
I developed a very heavy cold days before we flew
out to Perth on July 31st. We stopped for a few hours en
route at Hong Kong in the middle of the swine flu panic and the airport
had many men in masks checking people's temperatures for any signs of
the pandemic. I was concerned lest my sneezing, coughing, slight
temperature and runny nose would end up putting me in quarantine, but I
was ok to travel on. Travelling while ill is no fun!
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When we arrived at Ellel
Springhill, some 40 minutes drive outside Perth, it took me several
days before I was well enough to start work, but Ellel Directors Paul
and Diane Watson looked after us well. The weather was terrible
(we wanted sun), but the farmers on the Men of God course left
us in no doubt that they appreciated the rain. They said each
raindrop was like a 20 cent coin falling from heaven! Northern
Ireland should be very wealthy by that standard. |
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Father heart of God. August 7 - 9
The first weekend course was the ever popular Father
heart of God. With 75 beautiful acres of landscape it is superb location.
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The one
session teaching based on Romans 1:20 outside in the 75 acres of
bush land during the Father heart of God |
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Men of God. August 4 - 6
Only committed men come to these courses, all
with a hunger to be the best for God that they can be. The
course is very male-issue orientated and very challenging. These
Australian men were not found wanting when it came to taking
ownership of their 'offices' of responsibility such as father,
husband, son, employer/employee etc. |
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| Next we flew to Sydney on August 17, and then to
the beautiful Ellel
Gilbulla for two weekend seminars. Here's
a beautiful rainbow that covered Gilbulla early one morning while we
were there.. |
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Reclaiming the ground. August 21 - 23
I had taught this subject several years ago before but only
as part of a two week course sharing the teaching with Peter
Horrobin and Alistair Petrie.
It was challenging to put a new
nine session course together on this little understood subject.
My first set of student notes ran to 40 pages and it was quite a
task to cut them back to manageable size!
Amazingly the
course was
fully booked up well before the event,
Several weeks later I had this encouraging
testimony emailed to me.. |
."One thing I have to say is that I've been
listening to Reclaiming the Ground by Ken Symington. The weirdest things
happened. I had a gnome that my sister brought over to our house from
England. We found it one night walking back from a little English pub.
After listening to 5 of the CDs and also talking to my wife, I destroyed
it, repented and confessed the guilt of it being stolen and an ungodly
item on our property. We've had no birds in our garden for several
years, possibly since the gnome was brought over from the UK, and yet
since doing it I noticed several different types of birds, magpies,
cockatoos and others landing on the grass, eating and generally hanging
around. I am just blown away at this whole event. If I hadn't experience
it myself I wouldn't have believed it" |
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Around the campfire! Ellel
Gilbulla director Paul Ryan organised a men's hour around a
campfire on Monday evening. It was an opportunity for the young
men on team to ask any questions they wanted to. Some of the
questions were quite challenging. It was only afterwards,
as I reflected on this event, that I realised it was an
essential thing for young people seeking to grow in the Lord,
but wrestling with many issues, to be able to ask questions in a
safe and informal event. Linda and I will be returning in
February 2010 to work exclusively with 18-35 year olds for a week at an
event called 'Quiver' |
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One of the delegates
blessed me by presenting me with an imaginary 'Honorary
Certificate of Australian Citizenship'!! It read as
follows..
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Honorary
Certificate of Australian Citizenship
Kenneth
Symington |
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Having purchased
extensive amounts of R.M Williams products, befriended
and helped countless Australian citizens, and having
learnt how to refer to Sulphur Crested Cockatoos as
'Cockies', I a minister for our Lord Jesus Christ, and
sovereign to this nation, hereby grant this honorary
Certificate of Australian Citizenship to the above named
person who is an Honorary Australian Citizen on and
after 24th August 2009 |
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issued by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ in
accordance with Ephesians 2:19 |
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Signed: Damien
Armstrong
Fair
Dinkum True Blue Aussie Mate and Minister for our Lord
Jesus Christ |
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| Associated Counsellors Training Day. August 25
Some 60-70 Ellel associate counsellors gathered for a days training
and the subject was 'When your faith is rocked' This proved to be
a very timely three session teaching in today's environment when
Christianity is very much under continual media attack. |
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In the few days between courses we were
treated to a few days at the beach house belonging to our
longstanding friends Max and Morna (worship leaders) The area is some 4 hours from
Sydney and in their winter time, almost empty of people.
The beaches were as from an advert and my
biggest joy was making friends with the wildlife on their
balcony in the mornings. This is a rainbow Lorikeet, now
one of the stars on the
photography web site. |
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| Father heart of God. August 28 - 30
Again this weekend course was fully booked. In fact it
was so full that it presented a problem when it came to ministry
time! Those who have attended this course know that the
last session is where people are invited to come forward and
spend time in Father God's Presence either sitting, kneeling or
lying down. With so many people there was simply no room
in the hall. |
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| Linda came up with the
creative answer. This is Australia, it is warm outside,
and beautiful. Where better to spend time in God's Presence?
It worked wonderfully well. One person wrote a two page letter
to me telling how she met with Father God in real terms for the
first time as she sat well away from the teaching hall.
This was how she summed up her experience. |
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| "..I love the unexpected way the Father
met with me. I had a clear interaction with God the Father. It was
delightful to discover that He speaks my language. I guess He would,
after all, He created me! I have also noticed a difference in the weeks
following the weekend. I have been reading through the Gospel of John,
and noticed that all the passages I have been underlining, relate to the
Father! I am suddenly hungry to know more about Him." |
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| A man wrote to the Ellel Director saying..
"Ken said several times at the Father Heart of God that it may take
people several weeks before they discovered a difference in their
relationship with God. Once again I thought I’ve heard this too many
times and gave it no credence. I guess you can understand why; but also
since that weekend there has been an increasing awareness of a Fatherly
protection over me, I am also sensing for the first time His
overwhelming grace and kindness like I’ve never experience before. It’s
all quiet supernaturally profound, I’m able to be more emotionally
present to my wife, find it easier to hug and give her emotional food
(if you know what I mean) it’s all just the work of a Dad you’ve been
trying to get me to connect with for several years. Please share this
with the team and Ken if you think it will bless them" |
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| A month with our daughter! Our
daughter married the son of the former directors of Ellel Springhill in
August 2008 and they moved to live in Australia in Spring 2009, so it
was with great excitement that we flew out from Sydney on August 31st to
spend a full month with them. And what an amazing month it was!
God is so good. She has settled well into her new country and enjoyed
showing us around. Linda and I had our 30th wedding anniversary
while we were there but no chance to celebrate it due to the previous
month's schedule. However God had other ideas!
Courtesy of a very generous couple who attended the The
reclaiming the ground seminar Linda and I had the privilege of spending
a full week at a beautiful beach house at Byron Bay, Australia's most
easterly point. To say that it is beautiful is an understatement.
It is stunningly beautiful! We had the most relaxing wonderful
week we can remember for years. And as for a place to take
photographs!!.. here are a sample from the photography web
site. |
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Finally, on September 30 we flew home after two
wonderful months in Australia.
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Lifeline Recovery weekend October 8 - 11 For several years,
accompanied by team members, I have been leading these weekends
for the men coming out of serious drug addiction. This
time, because we needed a rest between countries (!) the team
took the weekend without me and did brilliantly. Many have
developed into very good teachers as well as prayer ministry
leaders. Here they are with some of the 'lads' |
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September 1 - 2 Cri team members
Anne Galway, Mollie Regan and Simon Rowland had also spent two
days at the Lifeline Recovery Centre outside Dundalk teaching
and ministering to men who were developing in their faith. |
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Omagh Ladies day.
September 19 |
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As most of the world
know, the worst atrocity of the Northern Ireland
troubles occurred on
Saturday August 15th 1998 in the town of Omagh when
29 people died and hundreds were horribly injured
physically and emotionally. The scars are still
being dealt with by the people of the area.
On September 19th CRi ministry leader
Anne Galway was invited to talk to ladies of the area.
She spoke on forgiveness. With her were team members
Mollie Regan, Heather McQueen and Julie Rowland
who gave testimony of how her life changed forever when
she finally forgave the person who had virtually kicked
her husband to death during a naval training exercise.
It is an incredible story that touched many hearts and
paved the way for vital ministry at the end. We
still get feedback from that event. It was mentioned
favourably from the pulpit at one of the Omagh churches. |
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Anne Galway |
(Note:
Julie's husband Simon was remarkably healed by God after
many terrible years of brain damage from the incident,
and has now been a prayer ministry leader with us for
five years) |
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Hungary |
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| Less than two weeks after leaving Australia we
were arriving at Budapest for a five day teaching trip on behalf of
Ellel Hungary, and my dear friend Tamas Kovacs. Our ministry prayer
coordinator Mollie Regan accompanied us on this trip. |
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Men of God. October 15 -
16 I taught the Men of God seminar for two
evenings from 6 - 9. The two nights were videoed using two video
cameras and will be shown on Hungarian cable TV on their
religious channel. The turn out was regarded as good by
Hungarian standards and the feedback was very encouraging
indeed. |
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God. Saturday 17th This was a full days
teaching targeted at those who have been saved for some
time but have become 'stuck' The Presence of God
was very real, especially during the afternoon session
on 'when your faith is rocked' Sometimes it
is just wonderful to meet and savour the spirit and
character of a true man of God. The father of Ellel
Centre Director (Tamas) is such a man. A Pastor of great
integrity. Although he cannot speak English and I
certainly cannot speak Hungarian we managed to
communicate well through his daughter. We have a lot in
common and the bond that was established during
our
first visit is still as strong as ever. On the
last evening we had the privilege of dining out with the
Directors of Ellel East, Otto and Sharon Bixler, and
also with Sharon for lunch the next day. |
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CRi's 10th anniversary
Yes the team have been together for a decade of faithful service.
We had a lovely evening at a Belfast Hotel where Walter Galway was given
a gift to mark his 70th birthday and Linda and I were given gifts from
the team as a thank you. Two of our longstanding co-workers from
Southern Ireland came up to join us for the evening. It is the greatest
privilege to lead such a team of genuine faithful people who love and
serve the Lord with a passion. I could not imagine life without them. |
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Sweden and Lapland |
| Just eight days after arriving back from Hungary
Linda and I were off to Sweden for the second visit of the year. This
time we were going for two weeks. One week to be at the Ellel Sweden
base at the beautiful Kaffala area and another week in Lapland in the
north of Sweden. It turned out to be one of the most enjoyable
trips of the year. |
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All Ellel translators are of
the highest standard which makes teaching abroad easy. First
prize though I think would have to go to Ellel Sweden director
Goran Andersson. We're like twins! [short
video] |
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| Father heart of God. October 29 - November 1
The courses at Kaffala start on a Thursday evening and run through
to Sunday lunch time, so they are one day longer than the normal.
Although more tiring, when there is translation involved it works out
well as there is time to include most of the normal content (Translation
cuts the time in half) |
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| During this event our attention was drawn to one
particular lady, and after talking to her for an hour after the course
had finished Linda and I had the great privilege of leading her to
salvation. Nothing beats that! When we arrived home there
was an email from the lady saying.."Just want to say thank you for a
tough and lovely weekend. I could never dream of how free i could feel
inside. thank you!!" |
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| I don't know why, but I have
always wanted to go to Lapland! It was a two day
drive from Kaffala (mid Sweden) to Fredreika in Lapland.
We asked Goran to stop the car and take this photo
of Linda and I about to enter Lapland. |
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The first
winter snow fell an hour after we arrived in
Fredreika (pop: circa 250) At 8 am the
next morning we were in a winter wonderland and
loving every minute of it! |
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| Within a few hours of arriving,
and following a fellowship meal, we were in personal
ministry. Linda especially put in quite a lot of
ministry time. I did a two hour teaching on Godly order
to the small group of Christians who run the healing
centre Fredreika. |
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| Langviksmon (long-viks-mon) |
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After a few days later we
motored back out of Lapland to a village called Langviksmon.
Although a small, very quiet place it has superb church
facilities. Again it was wonderful to hear that there would be a
full house (100 people) for most of the weekend. As well as teaching Linda
was involved in more personal ministry and carried a real
anointing in these sessions. |
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| I was very touched by the
Pastor's heart for this area. Following a leading from
the Lord he goes up to the hillside every week to blow a
type of shofar over the area.
He has written to everyone in the
village to advise them of what he is doing and why.
We went with him on our last day
and we were very touched by his actions. |
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We were treated for a
few hours on Sunday afternoon to a somewhat rushed visit
to a
family's wooden cabin, well hidden in the wilderness and
set beside a frozen lake. It was just as
lonely a place as you could imagine, and we both fell in love
with it.
We've been promised a night or two
to ourselves in it if we are able to return!
This photo shows the cabin owner
(centre) and the Pastor. |
There were many requests by the Pastor and
others for us to return as soon as possible. We will see if that
can be arranged though the coming year's calendar is already
almost 100% filled. We were blessed!
One
lady emailed us a week later saying.. "I am so grateful for
the message You gave us last weekend about "Father God" as our
Daddy. The illustrations in films Saturday evening from the
sports area were most touching. Thank You so much for those. I
will never forget it"
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On Sunday morning we spent two hours with Peig and Joy catching up on life. As I talked with them it suddenly dawned on me that because of these two 'unknown' ladies initial invitation, many hundreds of lives in Southern Ireland have been touched by the gospel.
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Annual prayer ministry
school |
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| Every year, starting mid
October, we hold an annual prayer ministry school in the large
home where we meet as a team for weekly training and fellowship.
This year however I felt that we were to expand the course
numerically and in quality. We took the decision to hire an
outside location and include quite a few full day Saturday
workshops as well as the weekly training nights. This has
become our biggest and best school yet with people willing to
drive for up to two hours each way for a few hours training. The
team did a wonderful job while Linda and I were travelling. This
photo shows one of the all day Saturday workshops. People come from FOURTEEN towns some travelling two hours each way! |
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| Ongoing
work: A prayer ministry
team goes to Green Pastures Church in Ballymena every Thursday
to train and to minister to their rapidly growing congregation
(can be up to 1000 at services) We have been doing this since
the church opened some three years ago. There is also ongoing
prayer ministry appointments with individuals week in and week
out at our home ministry base and in team member's homes.
Plus regular team training nights which are now into their
eleventh year Not counting Linda or I, six of our team
have been with us for ten years. Others between three and six
years. The oldest two are in their eighties and the
youngest two in their early twenties. There is quite a spread of
ages and denominations. Without them only a fraction of
the work would be achieved. |
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| Future plans:
In early January I will be doing three
days of teaching at a discipleship school attached to Green
Pastures in Ballymena. There will also be weekends for Lifeline
Recovery in January and February. Linda and I will travel
(God willing) to Australia again in February. Plans are
underway for visits to England, Sweden, Germany, Australia again and Malaysia between now and August. |
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| Thankfulness: I thank God for His absolute
faithfulness. I thank Linda and the family for their unwavering
support and encouragement. I thank the team he has brought
around me for their unflinching dedication and love. I thank those who silently
support us in so many ways. You know who you are. |
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