Just when I thought I was getting used to it being 2026, now I have to get used to the fact that it’s already March – for another week. Then there’s getting used to carpooling or just not going somewhere, due to fuel prices: so many things to get my head around, but my favourite is rain and seeing green grass again. (Some of you will know a wonderful poem called “Said Hanrahan,” by John O’Brien. Please look it up if your teachers didn’t bring you this essential piece of Australiana.) We’re living it, and loving it, rooned and all.
Anyway, for all the bizarre and balmy changes in the world, there’s some splendid continuity too. More people are enjoying our fresh produce and friendships in the community are developing. As well as locals collecting veggies, we’ve been running a stall at the Yackandandah Market each month. That Y word is the town in which our Church meets, and so in partnership with our Church, we’re meeting locals at the market. It’s a wonderful way to connect with people and turn our garden produce into cash. The watermelon crop was stunning this year, with hundreds of kilos bringing joy and refreshment to many.
There have been a steady stream of visitors whose helping hands have boosted productivity as we move towards our goal of upgrading the Granya property. A couple of South Australians who did The Maker Heals with us in November 2025 came and helped renovate a room and some gardens. Pastor Kim, who runs The Maker Heals every month at his sanitarium in South Korea, spent a fortnight here strengthening our planning. Simon Jacob and Daryn Nixon are a couple of less exotic locals, but the progress they’re making on the shed is tremendous. One drives over an hour to be here, and the other pops in after a busy day teaching at our high school in Albury. It is marvelous to see posts up and with a working bee this weekend, we hope to have trusses atop those posts shortly. Then it should be well on the way.
If you are interested in volunteering here, get in touch and I’m sure we can arrange something. Whether you have trade skills or a willingness to work in the garden or grounds, you would be most welcome. We’ve also been really heartened to hear a few people say they’re setting up a small regular payment to our organisation. Without us being able to sit outside your local shopping centre and sign you up, this really would be a tremendous blessing to us as we get established. If enough supporters gave just $20 a week or $50 a month, we’d be able to afford some basics that we are scraping around to pay for or just doing without: room upgrades, a van and a trailer, plus the slab, cladding and a fireplace for the shed. We are not aiming for a luxurious missionary training centre, and like Moses with the Tabernacle in Exodus, we’ll call the giving to a halt when we’ve been given too much.
Giving to the School Building Fund is tax deductible. Visit our donation page for bank details or to make an online donation. If being asked for donations offends you, sorry to mention it, but it’s a reality for us at this stage. This place will become sustainable, and a lot of people are working very hard, on fumes, to keep it afloat. If you can help, that’d be terrific.
The long-awaited Medical Missionary Training School is starting in about 100 days, which is incredible when you consider how long this organisation has been hoping to reboot it. We’re happy with the number of people who have inquired about being the first students – and excitingly, they’re not all school leaving aged. Some of you will know the story of pioneer Adventist missionary Abram La Rue, whose successful career was launched at the age of 60: when the official Church and colleges told the old sailor he was too old to retrain and learn a new language, he just shrugged and went anyway. His ministry in maritime hubs of Honolulu and Hong Kong was very effective for over a decade, and we are excited to think that another Abram La Rue might arise.
The course will run from July 6 to December 6, and students will learn about the gospel and health, and how to share both effectively. Rather than learning totally from books, we’ll balance the classroom time with work in the garden, kitchen, shed and grounds, which should produce well-rounded and capable graduates. They’ll also be working for our side hustle industry as a way to make the whole training centre viable. Through November, our students will put their acquired knowledge and skills into practice by running The Maker Heals programs.
That means we’re planning to increase our output with The Maker Heals. We have seen wonderful results with people growing spiritually and improving their health every time we run the program. We are about to start promoting it a lot more and we are looking for more keen participants. So please keep us in your prayers. Pray for the right mix of incoming students, for our teachers, and for the Holy Spirit to energise the campus with the godly atmosphere that will make it all click. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram if you do those things. And I’m sure you know people who would be interested in doing The Maker Heals program or being part of our training school pilot. Please let them know what we’re doing here.
