Our Amazing God

Wed, 19 May 2010 12:30:05 +1000

Marysville Community Church
The Marysville Community Church (formerly Marysville Christian Fellowship) venue was burnt down and there was nowhere to meet. The El Kanah Board believed God was directing it to offer the car park to house a temporary church, and within a short space of time the church was up and ready to go, complete with a Drop In Coffee Shop and El Kanah office.We have much to praise God for and be thankful as God brought people who we did not even know to renovate two portables which made a very comfortable venue. The Mount Evelyn Reformed Church played a big part in this as they worked very hard on the renovation and supplied the funds which were given by the members of the Reformed Churches from all over Australia. Other churches and individuals got involved and indeed a very special place of worship evolved. One church even gave us a toilet and shower block before we even knew the church was to be erected. God met our needs in advance! The Coffee Shop has opened its doors to the community and Christian City Church Whitehorse donated an espresso machine which has been very much appreciated. The church is open to various events and is soon hosting a morning tea to raise funds for the Cancer Council. God wanted this church to be re-established and thus it has come into being.The members have a passion to share God’s love with the many hurting individuals in the area who are still very much suffering from the effects of the horrendous bushfire.

El Kanah Chapel
A priority of the Board was the rebuilding of the Chapel. It was always a very special holy place and many people frequented it to seek and praise God. OM Australia launched a world wide appeal for El Kanah through its supporters and from the considerable funds raised the Chapel is now in the process of being rebuilt. At the same time Churches of Christ NSW also made a sizeable donation towards the rebuilding and are sending teams of builders down to erect the Chapel which will have the walls and roof erected shortly. We have also had Victorian people involved in doing some building work, and David Perry, Property Development Officer (retired) of the Salvation Army has done a great deal in bringing this together in addition to other building works on site. So God has been so good in providing all these wonderful people to restore our beautiful Chapel. It won’t look quite the same and is well over twice the size holding 50 people, but we know it will be beautiful situated in the same spot with the same beautiful views ready to give our God all the glory He so greatly deserves.

Our Miracle Cottage
Our little cottage needed a lot of work to make it liveable and Geoff Jarvis and his team from Belgrave South Baptist Church came up very quickly after the fires and erected the car port and worked inside to make it habitable. Phillip Maxwell, a long time El Kanah volunteer, spent many hours also working on the interior of the cottage. We are so grateful to all these people because they made our cottage not only habitable but also a real joy to live in.

The Cottage Extension
The Mount Evelyn Reformed Church once more approached us and said they would like to give El Kanah a gift. This was to buy the materials and build the extension to our little cottage which would include a counselling room. The extension has just been finished and counselling is once more taking place at El Kanah. Arthur Bouma from the church has worked non stop in building this fantastic extension together with one of our staff members who has also made a very valuable contribution. In addition working parties have come from the church to clear the land, there has been so much to do. The Mount Evelyn Reformed Church has also been a wonderful encouragement to us. In the very beginning they advised that God had led them to support El Kanah. We are so very grateful to Arthur and his church and the wider Reformed Church, they have taken us under their wing and have been used by God in many ways to supply our needs. We have indeed been richly blessed.

El Kanah Guest House
We are very excited to advise that the Planning Application has been submitted to the Murrindindi Shire for approval and the expected rebuilding of the Guest House/Retreat Centre will commence in September this year. Expected completion is in September 2011 when we will have the grand opening!
As you will see from the photos the design of the new El Kanah is reminiscent of what it was before. This design was kept simply because the old building worked extremely well with regard to the efficient running of the Guest House. There will not be as many bedrooms, 23 rather than 30, however, the bedrooms will be more spacious and each one will have its own en suite. The new El Kanah will be situated on exactly the same spot as previously and will take up approximately the same amount of room. There will be some added features such as a lift, open air dining deck and balconies off the bedrooms. We want it to be a beautiful building because El Kanah means ‘God’s Possession’ so it should be nothing less.

Other Helpers
God brought to El Kanah our architects for the Chapel and Guest House without any request from us. They have both done wonderful designs for the Chapel and Guest House. Not long after the fires a small group of people with much expertise came together to be part of an Advisory Board for El Kanah. They gave us very wise counsel until we reached the point of handing the reconstruction process of the Guest House to a Project Management Company who are doing an excellent job. are very grateful to all these people for volunteering their time and the sound advice they gave us.Many working groups have visited El Kanah since the fires and thankfully they are still coming as there is still much to do. We would like to express our grateful thanks to them and also to our faithful staff, local volunteers and those who have come from afar, who are a wonderful support to us.

Your Prayers
The re-building of El Kanah is a costly affair (especially with all the new fire regulations) and we are relying totally on God to provide the shortfall from the insurance payout that will be needed to complete Stages 2 and 3 of the building and the fitting out of some of the rooms. We also have to survive financially until El Kanah re-opens its doors, because in the meantime we have no income to support us. Obviously we are doing our part in applying for grants and the Salvation Army amongst others have been very generous in their donations. Unfortunately El Kanah has not been eligible for any of the Bush Fire funds from the Red Cross as we are a ‘not for profit’ organisation and registered charity and this has disqualified us from receiving money from that fund. We would ask for your prayers that God indeed will continue to meet our financial and other needs so that El Kanah will once more be open not only to accommodate individuals, families and groups, but to continue to help those who need support. The El Kanah Board has received a clear call from God to rebuild El Kanah. To date He has blessed us abundantly with caring people and funds and we believe He will continue to do this. Hallelujah.

El Kanah Marysville – More than a Guest House

El Kanah is a ‘not for profit’ organisation and registered charity. It is a perfect place for refuge and restoration and there are many people who come through its doors for that purpose. It was built in the early 1930’s and is a restored Tudor Guest House and still retains much of its original charm with adzed beams, bay windows, timber floors and large open fireplaces. It is situated on 7 acres in a beautiful environment, surrounded by magnificent scenery.
One of El Kanah’s main aims is to provide a place of belonging, a place where people can feel safe and enjoy the peace and tranquility that El Kanah provides. Not to exclude people from enjoying El Kanah, it offers subsidized and low priced accommodation, some examples:

• Disadvantaged families
• Families visit El Kanah throughout the year
• Family camps
• Single Mums and their children
• YMCA Family Services – Sole Parents and children camps
• Multiple Births Family camps
• Secondary College (children from abused backgrounds Retreat)
• Youth Groups
• Disabled Groups
• A refuge for those in distress offering a time of rest and relaxation
• Retreats for the Elderly
• Singles’ Retreats
• Retreats for wounded women
• Proposed Retreat for wounded men
• Proposed Retreat for Father/Son and Mother/Daughter
• Prayer and Fasting

El Kanah also offers a Counselling Centre providing professional counselling at heavily subsidized rates for its residents and the community.
In addition, Marriage Education programs are run at El Kanah for Engaged and Courting Couples and also for Married Couples. Marriage counselling supports these programs if required.
Various groups, such as church, walking, photography, etc., run their own activities. We also have private guests coming for holidays.
Everyone at El Kanah are volunteers. We have been involved for almost thirty years and now live at the property 4 + days a week. We, together with 3 other Directors, direct El Kanah. We are a Christian organisation that offers care, support and warm hospitality to all who enter our doors regardless of religion or nationality. At present we rely on donations and funds from private guests to maintain El Kanah and its assistance to other.
The Work for the Dole scheme has been very successful. The tennis and multi purpose courts have been restored and will be open not only to El Kanah residents but the community. This project has served a joint purpose in not only restoring the courts but teaching many new skills to the participants who have been enthusiastic and a real pleasure for us to have on site.
Vera and Peter Gill
(A paper saved from the fire giving information about El Kanah)

Our little miracle cottage

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 23:55:43 +1100

Our little wooden cottage, with wooden verandahs back and front, had been delivered amidst great excitement, to El Kanah’s site the week before the fires. Sitting on a hill between El Kanah and ESA, with many burnt trees closeby, it was inconceivable that it would survive, but it did!

The night before the Lord had given us a Bible verse: I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you (John 14-18). In the moment of seeing the picture of our cottage, overlooking the ruins of El Kanah and ESA, we were greatly comforted and knew that Jesus had come to us through our humble little cottage. He was with us and He gave us great hope for the future – we knew we needed to rebuild. Hallelujah!

Vera and Peter Gill

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Our Amazing God

Our little miracle cottage