I am so grateful and thankful for all the wonderful things God has done for me and my family. I’m so thankful to God for the change he has brought in my life.

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I arrived to Australia in September 2007 on a student visa and my wife Dally and daughter Nikita joined me in April 2008. I was initially following banking and finance at Holmesglen. Later I found out that there is no scope if I continue following the same subject for permanent residence. There was a demand for chefs and hair dressers at that time and I decided to change my subject to culinary cookery. When I found out from the college about changing subjects I was told that there were no more vacant positions in the class for the next semester.

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During that time we have moved from Bundoora to Springvale and one day I met Pastor David at Springvale Market and Pastor recognized me as we have known Pastor David and Liz for a long time as we were in Australia 15 years ago on student visas. Dally’s cousin Barathi and her family introduced us to Pastor David and took us to Pastor David’s church. Even then 15 years ago Pastor David and Liz has helped us so much as our daughter was just born and we were here as overseas students and was facing a challenging time. I still remember how Pastor used to come to our home in his red car and deliver foodstuff for us. Unfortunately due to financial difficulties we had to go back to Sri Lanka in 1997 and after 10 years I returned back to Australia. After meeting Pastor David at the Springvale Market he invited me to church. Thank you Pastor David and Liz for all the support you’ve given us with food prayers and love.

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After finding out that I’m not able to change my subject to Culinary Cookery I was very upset as I knew I was going to waste another semester following a subject which was not going to serve my purpose. My wife Dally usually writes down things she wants to pray on and she keeps it in her bible. The favours she had written down was

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• Pray for our permanent residence

• Pray for a good job for me (dally)

• Pray for a high school for Nikita which we could afford

• Pray for a house which we could afford
   

And the recent favour which was added to her list was Pray for Shane to be able to change his course to Culinary Cookery.

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Out of these five she had ticked off two. The Lord helped us find a good house in Springvale which we could afford and Nikita was enrolled to Killester College and the school offered us a discount of $7,000. Nikita’s school fees were brought down from $12,000 to $5,000 a year as she was considered as an overseas student.

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After a month or two I went back to the school office and inquired about any vacant positions available on culinary cookery and was advised that there was just one vacant position and the office advised me to enrol immediately. My wife ticked off the third favour the Lord has granted.

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Last year in June Dally was offered a job at Telstra as a Complaints Case Manager and she was able to tick off the fourth favour the Lord has granted.

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In November 2011 I was offered employment in Tasmania as the Chef at Campbell Town Hotel. I want to thank and praise God for this job opportunity. I then applied for the permanent residence and left for Tasmania. Dally and Nikita joined me in December.

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On 15th March 2012 Dally ticked off the last favour written on her list. We were granted visas for permanent residence.

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Thank and praise you Lord for everything. The Lord has given us the strength to face the challenges which came our way. He has kept us safe under his wings and protected us. God will never let us down when we put our trust in him.

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Shane