Eleven people from The Wave Church in Ocean Grove and Church By The Bay in Portarlington recently travelled to the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands (APY Lands), in the far north of South Australia and the southern Northern Territory. Their two-week mission trip began with a simple desire to encourage Anangu communities, share Bible resources and support local churches and leaders. But for Zarah Krivan, who was part of the team, the journey became much more than an opportunity to serve. As plans changed and unexpected encounters unfolded, God challenged her understanding of mission and taught her what it means to rely completely on him.
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I didn’t go into the APY lands with any kind of “saviour complex”. I had previously lived and worked out at Mutitjulu (near Uluru) so I was well aware that the communities we were about to visit had a lot to offer us. My thoughts were to simply encourage people and deliver resources, which we did… but the growth I experienced personally, did come as a wonderful surprise!
The purpose of our trip was to deliver and sell translated resources from the Bible Society Australia to Anangu people and show them how to use these resources in their everyday lives. We travelled up in 4 cars with the intention of splitting up into two groups to reach as many communities as possible. We were to travel into the far south corner of WA and then finish the trip coming into the Northern Territory and 3 days at Uluru. But God had other plans. Day two of our trip, without any warning, one of our cars that was towing a caravan of food and equipment had its back-left wheel and rim blow off, whilst driving 110kph on the Stuart Hwy, 50kms south of Coober Pedy. This was incredibly scary but praise God for his protection, as no one was hurt. As we know, God works in miraculous ways, and out of this tragedy the tow-truck driver gave his life to Jesus on the drive back into town after chatting with Dave, the driver of the damaged vehicle! We saw God at work throughout our trip. We had plans, but God compelled us again and again to go after his lost sheep.
Since we were down one vehicle, we travelled as a group instead of splitting into two, which ended up being an incredible blessing. We delivered resources in Mimili and Kaltjiti (Fregon) and were asked by the community to stay longer as their church had closed down and they had no pastor. We encouraged the community to continue to read their bibles and gave them examples of how to run small bible studies themselves. We stayed 3 days in Amata, where people were hungry for the Word, and again, we ran bible studies with the crew we met and encouraged them to continue. Each time we were asked to pray for someone, we led them back to the Word and asked them to pray for us also, constantly encouraging that it’s God’s Holy Spirit that does the work and we ALL have access to Him.
It was wonderful to connect with locals and share in everyday life. Some of our team joined a hunting group and brought back meat to share with community members that were doing it tough. We also met two of the wonderful translating team, Juliata and Muna, which was such a blessing to put names to faces of people we had been praying for. Reuben, a community leader in Amata, said, “Why is the church sending so many people overseas on mission, when their own people right here in Australia need them?” This certainly hit hard in my heart.
Whilst in Amata, we felt the doors were closed to going West. After prayer we sensed God was asking us to go meet locals at a big footy game near Uluru, then continue on to bless the Pastor there, before returning to Fregon. Our trip was completely modified overnight! We travelled toward Uluru, praying about permit complications that could have prevented us entering the community. Then, I ran into an old friend, Renee Kulitja. She found a way to contact Pastor Andrew at Mutitjulu, who came to meet us and take a few of our team into the community. We prayed over his church and for his people. We also prayed for Andrew himself and sang “The Blessing” over him – a memory I will personally never forget.
After the footy match we returned south to Fregon, where stories of the Lord’s work were endless. Carmen and Keiran warmly welcomed us there. We did church every night, built relationships with the locals, collected honey ants and witchetty grubs, and ran simple reproducible Discovery Bible Studies that locals could continue to use.
Along the journey, we were able to catch up with 5 ladies working on the enormous task of translating the bible. It was incredible to hear firsthand how God had been speaking to them personally about each Old Testament story and how it relates to Jesus. Their love for God’s Word was contagious. We pray that God would continue to “make the way straight” so they can finish this life-changing work.
It was also such a blessing to pray for the Anangu people and have them pray for us. I had expected some pushback or resistance, but they were incredibly open, and it made me wonder how many other people I had unintentionally disqualified because I thought they wouldn’t be open to prayer? In the end, it doesn’t matter if they say yes or no, I should simply offer it, because having God in our lives is such an amazing gift to offer someone.
Another learning for me during our trip was this shift to a TOTAL reliance on God. Living simply without the noise of modern society, forces this type of reliance. I also learned that God has an answer to every problem. It was something our leader, The Wave Pastor Stu Jamieson, stressed from the first meeting before our trip. We can’t grasp the complexities of what each community is facing, so it is not our job to give advice (as well-meaning as it may be, this can sometimes be harmful rather than helpful). Instead, we give the Word of God and then ask how this applies to their specific situation. This strong focus on prayer and God’s will has had a profound effect on me, and on my family since returning home. THIS is how I face each problem in my life now.
I will never forget the people we met, the testimonies of healing and miracles, and the generosity we experienced on our trip. I learnt that living comfortably can be distracting but if we simply take the time to pray, read God’s word and listen, we will see that God has an answer to absolutely everything