January - March 2011

Volume 17.1

Australian Qirittian Histion

T3m ^ Oawp

2011 Furlough
Thursday, January 6th, 2011 RE: 2011 Yates Family Furlough
To all of our brothers and sisters in Christ,

Every three years or so we schedule a furlough, a short visit we take to the U.S. to visit family and friends and report to our supporting churches and individuals. The (North American) summer of 2011 is when our next furlough is scheduled. However, the Global Financial Crisis and the sinking U.S. Dollar have taken a toll on the funds we have available. As we write this newsletter, we want to make you aware of the difficult finan
cial situation that we face.

Put simply, we do not have enough funds in our account to pay for our next furlough. Until we are able to raise the required funds, we will not be able to take the trip and will be delayed until the funds are provided. As you can imagine, this puts an incredible amount of stress on our family as we look forward each furlough to re-connecting with grandparents, parents, brothers/sisters, nieces/nephews, etc. We also look forward to sharing with our supporters about the things that have been accomplished in Australia for the Lord's King
dom.

On the following pages we outline where the Mission's finances stand, how we got here, and a plan to pro vide not only for this furlough, but for future furloughs. Please take a moment to read, pray and consider how you or your church might be able to help bring us back for our scheduled furlough this year. Finally, we want to express that we have wonderful individual and church financial supporters. Incredibly, not one of our regular financial supporters has decreased their giving during this very difficult financial cli mate, and many of them have increased their giving! We thank God every time we think of how each one of you makes it possible for us to continue working in the Lord's Kingdom Down Under! God bless you for your
faithfulness!

We hope to see each of you very soon. We would like to begin scheduling church visits for 2011, so please contact us ASAP if you would like us share about what the Lord is doing in His Church in Australia. As always, please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
In His Grace,
Tim & Dawn

January - March 2011

Ournew monthly budget appears to the right. It reflects afal

ling US Dollar, a cost-of-living in Australia that is 40-60% than in the US, and housing costs that are 5 to 6 times what they are in most of our supporting states. Below our monthly budget is a snapshot of our finances. It has been our practice over the past 15 years to keep a bank balance that is twice that of our monthly budget. As you can see, we are on
target with that and have remained in the black over the years thanks to God's provision and the faithfulness of our supporting
churches and individuals. Auto:

2011 ACM Monthly Budget

iAccounting Fees
Fuel

^ $200.00
! $150.00 $100.00 $60.00 ; $100.00

!Insurance

Registration
Sen/ice

The estimated cost of furlough, however, is about $12,000, of which $8,000 is for tickets alone. We find that we can usually
count on "love offerings" and other various gifts to help make up the difference if we're a little short of that target when we begin. But you can see that this amount would leave us with less than one month of income at the moment. Though our expenses in Australia are obviously less while we're not here, they are still significant. Bills and ongoing payments will still arrive, as many of you know! We estimate that we could begin to purchase tickets and make

Bank Charges Furlough Fund

Health Insurance

] $50.00
$280.00 $280.00 $2,500.00 $35.00
ii50.00

Housing Allowance
Life Insurance

Mission Registration Fees

solid plans if we were to raise the price of our tickets soon ($8000).
Until we are able to do that, it seems like bad stewardship to take the risk of arriving to the US on furlough with no way to pay our furlough expenses! Of course, we still need to raise our monthly support by at least

Office Expenses Printing/Newsletter Superannuation Telephone

Utilities ^

$200.00 1 $90.00 ; $600.00 $200.00 $280.00

Salary

1^,900.00
$30.00
$8,105.00

Work Funds (supplies/materials)

TOTAL !

$200/month to achieve our budget goal for 2011 and beyond. We

believe that the Lord will enable us to do this, but we cannot do it

without being available to speak to churches and individuals about it personally. It seems we are in an inevitable loop... we cannot go on furlough until we have the funds, but we cannot have more funding until we go on furlough! Thus, our appeal to you. If you or your church would like to help us with funding for our upcoming furlough, please contact us using ACM name and address on the back of this newsletter. Thank you!

Bank Balance on 12/31/09 Bank Balance on 12/31/10 Estinnated Cost of Furlough: 2010 Budget (from 2008) 2010 Monthly Income Ave.:

$18,445.93 $17,803.98 $12,000.00 $ 7,806.00 $ 7,844.00

This table shows how the US budget has been adjusted over several years to compensate for the falling US Dollar. Generally our income has exceeded our budget. But as the value of the dollar has dropped, so has the extra income that is usually available for our furlough expenses. In 2008, the budget was raised to $6245 to compensate for a 33%

drop in the exchange rate. In 2011, we must raise the budget to $8105 to compensate for another 25% drop in value,
to provide a buffer for any future drop in value, and to begin providing the extra funds needed for future furloughs.

Original Furlough Year

US Budget
Aussie Dollar
Amount 2005 4360.00

Ending
Aussie Dollar
Amount

Loss in

Aussie Dollars

Change in Exchange

Per Month

(per US$)
20 cents

7266.00

5450.00

- $1816.00

(Oct, 2002)
2008 6245.00 7806.00

(June, 2005)
6245.00

- $1561.00

20 cents

(Oct, 2008)
2011 8105.00 8105.00

(Jan, 2011)
1.00

January - March 2011

We also need a vehicle for travelling while on furlough. Manyof you know
that the van we rented in 2008 was
somewhat unreliable. Because we

Page 3

don't want to go through that again, we won't rent again from that mis sions agency. If you or someone you know 1 vehicle we could rent/use for a few weeks this summer, 36 let us know ASAP I We would be very grateful!

This past year was full of ups and downs,

m and many manv new and great experiences! exoeriences! We
are so thankful to the Lord and his faithfulness!

From Dawn

We are also so very thankful for each of our subporters, who enable us to stay in Australia and

;; iKb

serve the Lord here. We have had many great

opportunities the past few months to get involved alongside the school community! It has been very exciting to be able to establish such a great relationship with the school as a ^anniiv
As volunteers the school we were invited

nflRL
w .

wlS
~

to help with the school musical. Tim was volved in lighting and sound, while I helped with stage makeup. Later, we were invited to set up a table to
the Northlakes the local on the

school grounds. We handed out 'free stuff and had a "lolly" jar guess competition. I did some Christmas face painting alongside the teachers while Tim and the girls, along with the Branham family manned the table. During the carols, Tim gave a Christmas mes sage, Lauren sang a solo item and Anna danced with her dance group in another item. There were well over 2000 people in attendance and it was a really great night and really great to be involved! The church was also able to provide gift hampers to three needy families in the school. With the principal's help we were able to get these parcels together and deliver them before Christmas. Little by little, we are shining our light! /

9m

f/i

'

Our girls finished another year of school in ToptoBottom:TimwittiottierteacheriatttieSchooncripturedirlitiTias Program; Oawn

face painting at ttie Community Caroh; banning tiie (hurch table at ttie (oiDntunity Carols.

Mission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxvine, TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

Auttraiian Giri^tian Hilon fnn, Dawn, Lauren, Leah SAnna Yam P.O. Box 1^25 5Coromandel (ove Knoxville, TN Cameron Parii, NSW 2285

Return Service Requested

Pf]one:%25i-i^()5 Robin tueiinkrry,

Forwarding Agent

Atiitralia

Phone: 6i-2-4()65-^5S0 emaii: ozyat@gniaiLcoin

internet: auiiiethriitian.com

Fa(ebool(: Tim Tatei or Dawn yatei

January - March 2011

Page 4

<1

Lto R: Lauren in her "Formal" dress; Anna and her School (o-Captain; Leah enjoying the Community Carols with her best friend.
December. Lauren graduated from year 10 and had a ceremony (as is tradition here), as well as her'year 10 formal'(prom). Leah finished year 7 and is lool<ing for ward to year 8. Anna finished year 5 and became school captain (like class president but for the whole school) for next year. She was voted in by the teachers and fellow students, so it was quite an
honor for her and us! We were

tra funds for Christmas!!! We are

very grateful and the Lord's provi sions through His Church! Now as we enter into the new year, we will be praying and planning for this year and what programs and activities we can get started, practically, as a small church! Please continue to keep us and the Branham family in your prayers as we work together to
reach this community! It is not always easy and we depend on the Lord every day to guide us

The Last Word...

I was very grateful to be able to

very proud as
called out! We had

her name was

houseful at

attend this year's National Mis sionary Convention, thanks to frequent flyer miles. I met many wonderful people, re-connected with good friends and had a won derful visit with my mother for Thanksgiving... the first Thanks giving I've spent with her for 15 years! Please continue to pray for the ministry, our upcoming furlough
and the future of the church

another

Christmas time, with Aussies, Americans, and South Africans represented. It was quite a feast! Thank you to all who gave ex

and help us to be content. Lord willing, we will be able to share more with you this year on fur lough, which we are very much looking forward to!

here. See you soon I

April - June 2011

Volume 17.2

Australian (hrittian nission

Hm ^ Oawn iyiass^onailes

Coming Your Way Soon

ooks like our

itf
a,4.
f|1 I

'2011 furlough Is a go! We've had

an amazing re sponse to our last newsletter, and
since we're not all

Once found tickets price,

after

we finally the right at the right the total

taxes and

fees was $8230! Isn't God great!?

That means that

the way there yet, we hope it keeps going!

We estimate

we already have $15 toward the

rest of our fur

that

about

lough expenses!
We're so

$12,000 is needed
to cover our whole

thankful, too, that

the First Christian

furlough, but the

minimum amount we need for airline

tickets

has

been

It
Top to Bottom: A ^mlly photo with (hlhiro SHinano, our Japanese exchange :lian;enijenn. Mtm.

Church

of Union-

^ville, Missouri has

^vans available to us for use on our furlough. As many of you might remember, we
had a terrible time with the van

provided by the generous response of churches

and individuals. In fact, over HALF
of what has been raised so far has

one of their

come from individuals. And HALF

of the total raised has been pro

vided here in Australia!

It wasn't until we had enough funds that we started to really search for airline tickets. By the time we were searching, we had $8245 in the account.
Anchor Christian Church Chester Christian Church

that we rented last furlough, so having a reliable and FREE vehicle brings us a lot of peace-of-mind! On that subject, we could still use some help to get
the van to and from Mis-

jl^souri to Indianapolis. As it
^^was going to cost us much
^3 more to fly into St. Louis, we

$120.00 $1000.00 $1000.00 $1000.00

Q opted to route to Indianapolis instead, since it's closer f t p our supporting churches.

Greenwood Cliristian Church Woodlawn Christian Church

US Individuals

Australian Individuals

$1125.00 $4000.00

Now we just have to come up

with a plan to get the van

April - June 2011

JULY :

Page 2

12
PA 19 PA

13
PA 20 PA

14
PA 21 PA

15
PA 22 VA

16
PA 23 TN

17
PA 24 TN

18
PA 25 TN

10
TN 17 IN

il
IN 18

12
IN 19

13
IN 20

14
IN 21

15
IN 22

16
IN 23

Fly
Home!

26
TN

127
TN

28
TN

29
TN I

24 ,31, 125

26

27

28

29

30

22

Central Christian, Ocala, FL

25
29

First Christian, Macclenny, FL

First Christian, Titusville, FL

1 5 8 12

Bethany Christian, Indy, IN Greenwood Christian, Canton, OH Anchor Christian, Rochester, NY First Church of Christ, Ahoona, PA

Gap Creek Christian, Knoxville, TN

First Christian, Roswell, GA Franklin Christian, Franklin, TN New Hope Chr., Washington, IN First Christian, Sullivan, IN

22
26

First Christian, Abingdon, VA

Wcodlawn Christian, Knoxville, TN Englewood Chr., Englewood, TN

In late March, the Australian

Dollar hit an all-time high of US $1.05. That means that for the first time in history, every US Dollar receives only 95 Austra lian cents! j
from St. Louis to Indianapolis on May 19th, and back to St. Louis again on July 18th. If you would like to help us out by taking one or both trips, we would very much appreciate it! Otherwise, Tim will have to fly to/from St. Louis and travel 4
hours back while the rest of the

ing is scheduled to be completed some time in May (before we leave, we hope). Once it is handed over, the City Council will begin installing the equipment
such as desks, chairs, audio-visual,
etc.

now, but judging by the response, it probably won't stay that way!
In March we held our first Fri

Installation of the equipment

should take another month or

two before it is ready for occu pancy. The leasing body will then move in, which will take another
few weeks and then the center

day night group and had 12 in at tendance. By April's meeting, we had 16 young people buzzing around the school hall! Keep praying that we'll keep reaching young people for Christ! In our first year, we averaged right around 20 in our regular
church attendance. In the first

can be available for rent.

family waits! It's something that CAN be done... but it's very diffi cult. Please contact us if you or someone you know can help us
with this.

(ommynity (enter Update

As we've mentioned many times before, we're awaiting the completion of the new commu nity centre that will. Lord willing,
be our new church home. Build-

We expect that we may move into the center as early as August, but it may be as late as the end of the year! Time tables don't seem to mean much to those supervis ing the project, so we're prepar ing for the worst and hoping and praying for the best!

quarter of 2011, we're averaging nearly 30! That's not bad consid ering the average church size in
Australia is 50!

Of course, we're not trying to be average, so keep praying as we

prepare to re-launch the church in the new Community Centre!

Because we will be in the US on

In Other News...
We're very excited to say that we've started a new Youth Group
at the Northlakes church! Our

furlough from May to late-July, we've decided to skip our regu

lar newsletter for the 3rd Quar
ter. The news will be much

program is only once a month for

more interesting In person!

April - June 2011

1 '

Page 3

^^^have had quite an adventure! We cele

brated the one year anniversary of the Northlakes Christian Church in February, started our

first youth group, had many guests come and go, including two Japanese exchange students in March, and had a whirlwind of activity in April leading up to the end of term 1 at
school!

The highlight of this past quarter would have to be hosting two beautiful 14 year old girls from Kessanuma Japan, Chi and Hina. Leah's school hosts students every year and asked for host families to keep the students. There were 25 Japanese students needing
host families.
Si

I figured it would not be a big deai, since we are used to having people stay with us; the only difference was that these two girls did not speak English. The earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on their first weekend with usi Needless to say, it was not the experience that we, the other host families, or the stu dents expected! The center of the disaster was in their city and, as you can imagine with such a traumatic event, the language barrier made things quite difficult. However, when the time came to send them home, we were able to provide blankets, sleeping bags, warm clothing and
essentials. Some area businesses also do

nated warm clothing for all of the students to

take home and the airline allowed an extra

^1^

bag per person free of charge for the return

trip.

After waiting quite a while to hear any news we finally received a letter from one of our girls, Chi. Praise the Lord, she is safe at home with her family! Please keep praying for Hina as we are still waiting to hear from
her.

The girls have had a busy start to the school year. Lauren has had several performances with stage band and choir for special events in

Top to Bottom: Lauren shows off her m T plate as aLeamer-Driver; Leah with Chi
S Hina making cookies; Anna performing her role as kliooi Captain at an assembly.

IVIission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxville.TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

P.O. Box 1^115

Knoxn!le,Til

ipawn.uiiren, Leah SAnna yam j Coromandel (ove (ameron Park, tiiW 22^5
Auttralia i

Return Service Requested

Phone: S65-isi-i5i]5
Robin IJaeiinberry,

Phone: 61-2-4^65-^550 ' email: ozyatei@pajUoni

internet: autiiediriitian.tom Facebook: TimyateiorDawnlfatei

April - June 2011

Page 4

Lto R: Leal) trying on Oij'j tuditional dri; Lauren performj with the school Stage Band; Anna SLauren with frlendi at Youth Group.
the community, and she got her learner's license. Leah graduated to being a teenager and received a principals award and doing very well in her studies. Anna per formed in her dance group, was Involved in many public speaking assemblies with school, sang spe cial items for special events, went to Canberra (Australia's capitol), and attended a 'young leaders day' in Sydney. As for me, I've been busy with church things, volunteering at the girl's schools as well as keeping the house and family running. I recently got voted-in as the sec retary for the P&C (like PTA) at Anna's school. It is a great oppor
tunity to get even more involved with the parents, as most of our roles so far have been getting
involved with the teachers and students at the school.

a whole family, so we feel very

blessed that It has worked out for
us to come.

I am very excited for our upcom ing adventure around the US once again. After last furlough and the "saga" with the van, I
wasn't sure I ever wanted to re

turn I But, alas, I am ready and willing! It is always such a bless ing to see how the Lord provides through his people. Thank you to all of you who continue to give to support us in the work here, as well as all of you who gave spe cifically for our furlough. This will most likely be our last furlough as

We look forward to sharing with you all the wonderful things that are taking place around here! We always iook forward to visiting and being encouraged by you as well! If we are in your area and you would like to get together, please don't hesitate to
contact usi We would love to

catch up with as many of you as possible! See you very soon! With much love,

October - December 2011

Volume 17.4

Thanks for the Visit!

isiting our friends and family like sleeping

Dolar
I Each I month

That would be easier if the ex

change rate for the U.S.

I wasn't

I so poor.

I we bring I in just
about dol
lar for dol lar what it
costs us to

operate in very time

consuming. tion, but This year was no exception, squeezing what usually y takes three months into only ily two months proved to be fairly diffi iriy diffinot cult! Unfortunately, we were vere not able to visit every one of our church supporters, and i there were many individual supporters pporters that we were not able to catch up
with as well.

Hie thrte girh wttli Dawn't (tad in Poiniylvania, ttie jamilywitti Tm'\ honi in Florida
in your own bed after a long trip away. Thanks to so many of you that made our furlough possible. As
we mentioned in our last news-

MBinRoridal,, J If

you would like to

help us cover the outstanding debt of our furlough expenses, o please contact us using our details attheer at the end of the newsletter.
We wouldn't w have been able to

letter, we were able to afford to

travel to America because of the

travel to see anyone on furlough if

it hadn't hadn' been for the generous it supply o of a van by the First Chris Chi tian Church of Unionville, IVIissouri. Roger Crawford and his family were w especially generous in both arr arranging for us to borrow the van, and getting it to Indian apolis (over (c 7 hours driving for them) and ai arranging for it to be picked u up at the end of our trav els. What Wl a privilege It is to en counter so many dedicated peo pie ple who work behind the scenes intheLo in the Lord's Kingdom!

generosity of those in the U.S. and Australia alike. It's a good feeling
to know that the work in Australia

On the bright side, our jr family seemed much more comfortable ifortable with our only being gone le those two months. As happy as s we are to see everyone in our journeys, ourneys. the last few weeks of a a threemonth furlough are pretty ty tough to handle! That must be; a good sign that we all consider Australia Australia to be our home. There's nothing

has grown to the point where they can match the generosity we've always seen from our U.S. support base! That said, furlough expenses have still hit our general account fairly hard. We're still about

$3000 short of covering our 2011

fully, which means that the genera! account has had to cover it.

October - December 2011

Qockwijefnim left: Tim. Lir

Page 2
and ourWy; Me Comniitmentatcainpithe "Free Indeed" logo and
banner.

E' very October long-weekend

J{as it's known in the state of New South Wales) we trek up Into the foothills of the Great Dividing Range of eastern Australia to par ticipate In our annual Quest Camp. This year, the theme of our camp was "Free Indeed,"
based on John 8:36.

Camp, which has either held steady or increased in numbers each year since it's beginning. Both the camp and the Quest
events that occur throughout the

Please check out our new

website pictured below. We're anxious to start moving our communications to the digital world. It's a great way to keep

year have been a critical part of

the Christian journey of young people in our region.

more up-to-date and will save us

a lot of postage in the future. Stop by and drop us a line!

Tim and

Lisa Jones travelled

You can download

from the Washington, D.C. area for Tim to be our main speaker.
Tim is a Creative Arts minister and
used his skills as a comedian and

newsletters,
write us an

artist to bring a brand new impact

to our camp.

email, read
about the latest news and even check out

Lisa is also a gifted speaker and shared with Tim in ministry during
the weekend. Both Tim and Lisa

the time
and weath er in New
Com nifciIIH if 11 ml iHr<l i [ m

addressed tough Issues that teens and young adults face In today's
world.

castle on

This was the fifth year of Quest

October - December 2011

Page 3

We finally took the keys to

the brand new "Cameron

Park Community Centre," the building that will. Lord willing, be the permanent home of the
Northlakes Christian Church.

And what a building it is! We now have a separate room for

the children, an outdoor BBQ. ar ea, full air conditioning and

heating (something we didn't

have at the school) and more. Moving from the local school
was a difficult decision to make.

We have created so many good relationships there and ifs al ways difficult to move from where you started out, but one Sunday in the new building was enough to encourage us that this was the right move! Our strategy for the first Sun day was fairly low-key. Over the past year, the core group of the church has really grown together quite well. Wefeltthat we need ed our church to settle in and get
used to the new location and

new facilities before venturing into too much hype in the com munity. We have already had new visi tors at our new location, though! Without spending one dollar on advertisements, we have re ceived a lot of publicity. The management of the center has freely promoted our church, in

v-A

Sb

tainly provides! In the coming weeks our new

cluding having our promotional

materials available at the desk,

our poster up on the notice board, advertising our church on the new TVs throughout the cen
ter and even 9 mentioning our
church as one of the first occu

signs and promotional materials will be printed up and our efforts

to let the community know we're here will begin in earnest. Please pray that the communi ty continues to hear about our new church, and more im portantly, please pray that our
church continues to tell the com

Many thanks to Larry Jamison and the GTO Evangelizing Association

for their contribution of $ 1500 for tlie launch of our church in the new com

pants at the grand opening. We

even received a call from one of

our friends that they heard our

church advertised on the local

munity center! Funds that will cer tainly be put to good use!

secular radio station!

God cer

munity about Jesus Christ!

Mission Services 2004 E. Magnolia Ave.

Knoxville, TN 37917

Non Profit Org. U.S. Postage Paid

Knoxville, TN
Permit #374

Box Kn
m

Leah Anna Yatet indelCove

Return Service Requested

1M228S

iaiLcom
istianiom

FaceM

ftorDawnYate(

October - December 2011

Page 4
did they serve!) I would have to say that was a huge highlight for us personally as a family! It seems like we are always saying this, but we really enjoy having
visitors from the US!

Witli so many things going

on at the moment, it is
sometimes hard to sit down and

from Dawn

sort through the events in an co herent way! We really enjoyed our time travelling around the US this past summer! Thank you to all of you who fed us, met with us, housed us, pampered us and just shared
with us while we were there! We

them. She is very missions mind ed and loves serving people. An na still enjoys her dancing and has become our "crafty" one. She is always making or sewing some thing. She definitely did not in
herit this from her mother!

With the end of year fast ap proaching, I must say I am very

much looking forward to two of

the girls (Anna and Leah) being at the same school beginning next year. It has been quite a chal lenge keeping up with three
different schools.

As a family, we have been en joying the new church work very much! Though it is a bit daunting at times, we just try to focus on
the Lord and what HE can do. We

all agreed that even though it was

rushed and we wished we had

The girls have all just begun

their last term of school for the

more time in certain places, it was the most enjoyable furlough we have had as a family! We are
just so grateful that the Lord
worked it out for us to make the

trip and grateful for all of His

blessings along the way! Camp is always a highlight of our year! This year was no excep tion, The youth, as well as adults were all challenged to live in the freedom Christ gives! We were also very encouraged by Tim and Lisa Jones' visit. Though they came to serve at camp (and boy

year. Lauren has already begun year 12, Leah will begin year 9, and Anna, year 7. They are all blossoming into beautiful young ladies and each unique in her own way! Lauren has been doing much more driving as of late, and getting more confident. She still enjoys singing and performing whenever she has the opportuni ty. Leah has made a lot of new
friends and continues to reach
out to her friends and witness to

continue to try to be a light in our community and serve where we can. With new homes still being built and new families moving in so rapidly, there are so many op portunities in front of us! Thank you to those of you who have loved and supported us over the years! (November will be 13
years since our arrival down un

der) We appreciate you all very much! Please continue to pray for us as we will continue to pray for
you! In His Love,

"f