By Mary-Grace

Thanks for all your support.  We've both been in the haze of sickness on and off for a few weeks, but we know that despite how we feel, God is always working his purposes out, and he doesn't need us, but graciously uses our weak efforts. We've been reflecting on God's goodness in our training over the last 2 years, as we think forward to the future. We are thinking hard about how we use these skills in service over the next couple of years, whilst we hope to be further trained in knowing, loving and serving (a lifetime pursuit, I know, but thinking particularly about Bible college). I'm also thinking hard about knowledge management. I used to work in the area...one of those 6 month job placements in 2002. I want to make sure that all that I've learned I can share with others, through forums, common ownership of files, personal conversations, and how I use my skills in the future.

So, next Thursday, we're having a ISM morning training, where all local students involved in the international student ministry can shar, pray and be trained particularly for this minstry. Pray that God would really use this to help us be initiative taking, risk taking, loving and sensitive as we seek to share Jesus and our lives. Pray that God would build the international student ministry for his glory!

Just yesterday, I was talking to a Christian Korean guy - he's been in the country 1 week, and came along to our Bible study group. His English is poor, but pray that we were able to encourage him and build him up in Christ. We were looking at Colossians 3 - thinking about our new identity in Jesus...

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory..."

He was so nervous, but managed to understand the change based on some fantastic diagrams, and analogies about taking off old clothes and putting on new clothes.

Here's some of the questions that were asked by the others in the group:  How can we have died with Christ? Hasn't he died instead of us? I'm alive now, how is my life hidden? How is Christ my life?

Because their grasp on English is developing, it really makes us think hard about what the Bible says. Praise God for that. But it was so encouraging to see them wrestle to understand the Bible.

I'm very thankful to my assistant leader, who prepared a summary of the events of the Bible - creation, sin and it's consequences, Jesus' life, death and resurrection, Jesus' return and the last days, what it means to live now in repentence and faith. We plan to refer to this overview each study, to help them see where in God's story we are, and what events it looks back on and looks forward to. This is how we helped them find the answers to their questions, by looking at the framework. Please pray for God to be continuing to work in them so they can read God's word without feeling completely confused. Thank God he has brought my entire group to faith in Jesus.

Toby beat me to posting!

Anyway, just love to let you know about 1 or 2 people in my life you can pray for.  We've had 3 weeks back at uni this semester...I started a God's World (investigating Christianity course) in week 1. There were 3 of us. Week 2 they asked another friend, so there was 4. Last week another 3 friends came - there were 7. There are another 2 joining us this week...and I wouldn't be suprised if God brought along the whole friendship group...they're a bunch of double degree engineers who are high achievers (sounds like me when I was at uni). They're all Asian-Australians. God seems to bring me into relationship with these people so regularly for which I am grateful. Pray for the Christians in this group to remain faithful! And pray that God will continue to change the  hearts and minds of the not-yet-Christians coming along. Praise God.

It's also been really encouraging to see the girls who were investigating Christianity last semester join small groups, and really grow in their new-found faith even in the last couple of weeks. They've all signed up to do the Leading People to Christ evangelism course and are loving the challenge of understanding the gospel more fully and thinking hard about how to use their friendships to talk about Jesus. One of the people in my God's World course currently is friends with them, and I'm sure God is using the change in their lives to help him consider the climas God has on him. Please pray for these lovely girls, that nothing will snatch them from whole-heartedly following and loving Jesus.

THanks for your prayers...you are just as important in God's work on campus as the role we play...never underestimate the effective prayer of God's saints...thanks guys

Hello all...we've had wonderfully refreshing holidays. We did the Sydney tourist thing...the powerhouse museum, the maritime musuem, the art gallery - I think my favourites were the giant steam engine and the submarine. I can thoroughly recommend these places for holiday visits.

We also went up to a friend's parents farm...I like to fool myself that I'm a country girl...but I am so so not. We went for a walk in the bush for about 1/2 hr...I keep sliding down the hill (it was muddy!) and Toby came back with 7 ticks! Ooops. But God also used the holidays to teach us a lot about ourselves, particularly some inadequacies in how we have been relating to each other. We're thankful to God and are striving to put changes in place.

And hello - it's one week till AnCon! How did that happen?  We're busy writing seminars, we spent today training the review group leaders, and we have meetings to prepare for next semester this week. It's an exciting time.

Please pray that God would use AnCon for his glory as we learn about the Resurrection. You can even come along yourself on Wednesday night, 7.30pm at the Tops Conference Centre (stanwell tops) to see what God is doing.  We'd love to see you there.

God bless

MG

I've just been reflecting on what it means to be honest to God...I've been reading some really helpful books...and writing a seminar...

Here's the blurb advertising it -

Honest to God: Are we really living out our faith?
Do you find yourself knowing the good you should do and fail to do it?
Do you know the gospel, have even done LPC, but struggle to remain sexually pure?
Do lies slip off your tongue like water?
Are your quiet times a pretense, a mere ticking off a to-do list?
Is being a Christian just something you do around other Christians?
Do you know plenty of information about God but don't feel as though you know him?
Come along as we get real with God, real with each other and make real commitments for change.

I'm excited about addressing this in my own life - spending more time in reflection and prayer, attempting to be more real and honest with others in my ups and downs in the Christian life.

Please pray for myself and those I'll be ministering to - that God's Spirit will make us people who love God and our neighbour with all our hearts, minds, strength and everything in us.

Ta.

Just for your info, this is the blurb for Toby's seminar:

History or Mystery? Does the New Testament record what really happened in the first century?
It is essential for Christianity that events recorded in the pages of the Bible did actually take place. How far can we trust the apostles and how much has what they wrote been distorted over time?
Who decided which writings are God-inspired scriptures and which are not? Come on an adventure into the past and find out how historical your Bible really is.

Yep - uni has finished for the semester...and the students are busy studying for their exams.

It's been a great semester. A few things to pray for at the moment:

• Give thanks for my God's World course that finished this week. The three girls coming said that they really understood what being a Christian is now and want to live God's way. They have all come from nominal religious backgrounds, and so see this point as a recommittment of what they never understood previously. Praise God for his divine intersections that led to this group forming and the awesome relationships built, not just between us but with God. They're all coming to Annual Conference, so pray that it'll be a time of great growth for them.


• ACES has decided that we will start 2 new small groups next semester, so we've been asking more people to train in leadership. Thank God for the growth that has led to this and for the leaders, many who are lacking confidence. Pray that God will grow them and always remind them that he will equip them for his work. Give God great thanks for the 1st semester of having assistant leaders in ACES and the way people have grown through this! What an investment for the growth of God's church now and into the future!


• On the staff end of things, thank God that we have a new administrator! And continue to pray especially for our senior staff who really do stretch themselves, that they would be relieved of some of the workload as the new administrator gets a handle on things. Pray for rest for them at some point over the next few weeks, especially those with young children.


• I was just having a chat with another Howie and they were struggling to make ends meet, and just that day, God had provided them with some one-off work to help them. Thanks for your prayers and support - God does provide for all our needs, whether we are in plenty or in want. Thank God for the Christian community.


• Thank God for our good health, a great place to live and for your support! What a blessing it is to be able to serve others from a full-tank. Please pray that we would be able to be generous.


• Pray for Ecos, that more people would come to Annual Conference and be built up in Christ and into the Ecos community!


• Thank God for ISM this semester. There will be 5 or 6 of them at Annual Conference. Pray for wisdom as we prepare review material for them especially. Pray for creativity as the ISM planning team meets for an all day meeting on 10 July.

A lot of people have been recently asking us what we are doing next year...and as I think about that I'm sad, sad because I really believe in the ministry I'm doing and love it. I love all the people I spend my days with. This is the best 'job' I've ever had. It has it's moments, but what better time spent than encouraging and building up God's people and sharing him with those who seek for him.

Anyway, back to the question...Toby's really keen to do some more computer work - he does this so much in his spare time and he knows God has given him a passion in systems thinking for a reason. And I am behind him 100%! We also have a heart for international students, for evangelism and just want to spend more time sharing our lives and the good news about Jesus with people. As we reflect on the things that excite us about our ministry, evangelism is always at the top of our list. We are still chatting to lots of different people about us and missionary work. So we are considering some sort of Bible college training next year.

But that is more of a 'sharing our thoughts' rather than a clear plan. Keep asking us
Also, reflecting on the last 18 months I have learnt so much about God, people, me. I have learnt that God is good, that I need to keep learning, that God has gifted me in connecting with people, that when I am bold God uses that, that God's power is displayed in my weakness, that God saves, that I really enjoy communicating clear truths to people (and I can be succinct at times!), that God cares more about my trust in him than my accomplishments. I've learnt the power of teamwork, the importance of honesty, the effectiveness of prayer.

So keep persisting in prayer, for all the saints, for us to be "opening our mouths boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel" (Paul's request whilst he was locked up for this very behaviour).

Love youse all.

This is a ic of all of us who came to weekend away  -  we looked at Ezekiel together!


We had a ball on weekend away at Loftus! Here's my co-worker Roger!

Hello readers!

I'm reflecting on our evangelism on campus...because it's easy to get stuck in maintenance mode, where all we do is maintain current ministries. This last week has been Jesus week (as Toby said) and it's been an opportunity for people to invite their not yet Christian friends along to hear about why you'd be mad to avoid or ignore Jesus...quite controversial, but particularly challenging, as Ian Powell spoke from the story of the paralysed man coming through a hole in the roof in front of Jesus and him identifying that his sins needed forgiving as more significant than him being able to walk again! The ACES crew are planning on starting up a God's World course for people's friends who want to find out more and discuss Christianity further. Please pray that this'll happen, and God will use our efforts for his glory.

Also, at the moment, I have been meeting up with a girl I met in o-week. She was a spoc girl (working for the union in welcoming people to the uni) an I was asking people if they wanted to study the bible whilst they were at uni...we were both probably wondering what we were doing on such a quiet (and I mean QUIET) gate - for those of you who know the uni - we were on the Holme footbridge. It's dead during o-week because the first years don't know about it yet. Anyway, God always puts you somewhere for a reason, and we ended up chatting for a while, then we swapped details, then I invited her to a God's World course (6 weeks that takes you through the Bible: 1) this is God's World - the First (and Good) Days of our World 2) Dark Days - Sin and Evil and Satan and Suffering 3) Jesus,Saviour of the World 4) Last Days - Jesus, the Lord will return to Judge - destroy evil (incl evil ppl) and make this world right! 5) Today - will you turn to Jesus?). Anyway, her and her friend have really been the only regulars...they have come every week, rain, hail or shine, even when they've stayed up all night doing assignments, they haven't bailed! It's been such a pleasure to discuss God with them, and they are both really thinking about Jesus in a way they haven't before. Please pray for them, that they will come to faith in Christ.

I've also been trying to train some people in evangelism (now EU runs a course to help people do this but I have realised that seniors who have done this course are still freaked out by evangelism) and especially challenging them in their relationships and also doing some walk-upevangelism with me. Now, I'm sure Satan is hard at work making sure this falls off my radar or it falls off the radar of those I am encouraging, so please pray! People seem to forget or are sick every time so far we plan to do walk up evangelism. Please pray for us! And please pray for the people that God will lead us to.

Another part of evangelism for us is ISM...the international students group...now I know you all enjoyed the FLOOD article about International students, and boy, this is an exciting opportunity! It grew heaps and now is shrinking as people are stressed about exams (imagine doing exams in a country where you've only just started to get a grasp on the language! Exams in English are scary enough!) SO, three things to pray for...that people will continue to come (thank God that the people coming regularly are almost Christian or new Christians!) and pray for the committee as we seek to encourage and plan for relationship based ministry and recruiting a solid core of 'ministers' (students who commit to these international students, and do so as their PRIMARY way of serving in the EU). It's been a real blessing to meet with the Christian international students and encourage them in a weekly bible study group. Two things to pray for here: 1) Thanking God that many are learning how to read and understand the Bible for themselves for the very first time! They find this very exciting 2) Please pray for some key Christian international students who don't yet see the value in Bible study (in most Asian cultures, the emphasis is on rote learning from the teacher, who knows everything, so a lecture is more appealing than a small group bible study - and most of them don't have tutorials in their subjects either! But I think they need to not just learn facts, but understand and own their learning...you need to do both!), that they would come along.
On a completely different note, at the moment, Toby and I are reading through numbers...you really need a good bible map otherwise you get completely lost So I'v just printed one out to use in my exodus journeys! Keep praying that we would continue to delight in learning from God's Word so we would love our lord and saviour more and more!

Hey guys

It's great to find people reading our page. It's slightly anonymous though, since I'm not sure who you are.  Love to hear back from you all sometime.

Anyway, a few things are happening for me at the moment.

The biggest is that I had my wisdom teeth out yesterday, and am sleeping, and aching a lot. I'm praying that I'll be back on board Monday or Tuesday. I'm very thankful to God that I haven't felt lonely or crazy...you see, Toby's away with the science students this weekend (yes - we forgot to compare diaries when I booked the teeth removal!) and I would normally really feel lonely, even if I was able to hang out with other people. And so far, I'm not. Fantastic.

Another thing I keep having to pull myself up on at the moment is comparing myself to others. It is very tempting to be assessing your ministry by looking at others, especially when they're good at what they do. But the only one who I seek to please is God, and he is the only one in whom I find my value...and when God's Spirit reminds me of that, I find freedom and creativity, rather than angst and competitiveness. I was reading about workaholism in the career section of the Herald today. And the key issue the lady identified was finding recognition and meaning in your workplace success that drives workaholics. Please pray that God would keep me (and you) from that. I'm glad that God has given Toby one of those unique personalities that doesn't worry about what other's think. It's of great encouragment to me.

As one of the senior staff at uni once said - all we do is for an audience of 1-God.

Last weekend I was away with the Econimcs and ACES gang for the weekend and we got stuck into Ezekiel...it was brilliant. I really felt like people desired to get into the Bible and really love and serve each other more.  Many people were struck particularly by the second talk, which dwelt on the attitude of the King of Tyre (Ezekiel 27) - he boasted in his achievements. And God took those blessings away...and then what? Our hope and meaning is to be found in the only true and living God. He is God, we are not, we are his creation, and now lovingly adopted into his family through Christ.

Hi guys

A few people have asked us how we're going with our fundraising this year, so here's a brief update:

Total cost to employ us: $35,640

Our target to raise : $31,695

(This includes 75% of the total cost + a shortfall from last year + some administrator costs)

What God has already provided from you guys: $30,105

That's 95% there! Thanks so much.

P.S. Generally supporting the EU grads fund goes towards administration and 25% of our (all staff) income.

Well, Katoomba was great - one of the speakers talked about divine intersections...the fact that we have God's Words and our lives intersect with others each day and we have the opoportunity to share Christ...and that "Hello, my name is Mary-Grace" is the best opener for sharing Jesus.

Anyway, it's my birthday coming up, and Tobes and I went to the local Italian that's just opened up. When we first got there, we were the only customers and they were trying to impress us . Whilst we were eating a family came in and sat next to us...and they were pretty chatty. Lovely. But it just felt like a comfy family atmosphere...we all lived 5 mins walk from each other. Anyway, after we all got to know each other a bit, they said they had some international students staying with them...homestay. And one of them would love a 1+ hr a week English tutor/someone to chat to...and the 'dad' asked Toby if he'd like to do it. Now, life is busy, but we said we'd think about it, but it really seems like a divine intersection...this guy follows Allah, has been in Oz for 2 months and this family is really open to talking about Jesus...wow.

Please pray that we would make a good decision and that we would continue to be open to God's divine intersections in our lives.

God bless this Easter

I haven't told you guys much about ACES yet, but I will...there are about 45-50 people involved in our Asian-Australian Christian EU group (ACES used to stand for Australian-Chinese Evangelical Students - but there's Korean, Jap, Viet etc students, so the name had to change).

We are having our social this Thu night...should be a blast...and we're recruiting heaps of ppl for our combined Ecos/ACES weekend away in a couple of weeks...

Just one story - there's a girl in my ACES group, and I really felt like she was opening up to me (she's in first year). She admitted to me why she came to the group (mixed motives) - and wanted to change her attitude so that she could come to concentrate and learn from God's word...she really wants to learn so the particular week she felt really distracted she came to two of my small groups! I would find it boring being in my group twice but she seems to have really enjoyed getting into God's word...and after all, that's what I'm doing...not pointing to myself, I'm not a 'guru'...BUT I POINT TO JESUS!

Keep praying for my ACES groups, especially my Monday crew...many of them are first years. I really want to help them grow in Jesus and come to trust him more and more this year. Please pray for them with me! Thank God that the assistant leaders are gold and there are some other great senior students in the group.

This week the guys in Ecos have banded together to run a stall...I'm amazed that it has come together...definitely my co-worker's hard work!

We have students rostered on for 2-3 hours mid-morning Tues, Wed, Thu - we'll have a table with information outside the economics building. The aim is to get people thinking about Jesus in the Economics faculty. We'll also be advertising the EU-wide think week talks - designed to make people think

And to top it all off, a mass of students have put together a testimony booklet, explaining how Jesus has changed their life! I'm so excited...because stories are interesting, relevant, and people can't refute them in this post-modern world.

I'm just praying that people will read them and be touched and come one step closer to a relationship with Jesus! Woohoo!

They are such encouraging stories - I can't post them up but please let me know if you want me to email / send you a copy...it'll also help you to get to know some of the awesome students I get to work with.

P.S. Update on Ecos 1st year bible study groups...we had 25 at our groups last week! Praise God!

Also, here's some of us finishing the Walk 4 Bibles on Sat...please sponsor us, so we can send more Bibles to our family in China.

There were 12 of us all up at our first year Economics small group last Tuesday. Now you might not think that's a lot of people, but when I tell you that last year we had one Economics first year group with about 5-7 of us, and this massive group is one of 3 first year groups, then you'll be excited.

Numbers are fickle, but I am so thankful to God that he has provided these wonderful  first years. Please join with myself and the Economics student leaders in praying that these first years will grow in their knowledge and love for our Lord Jesus...please also pray that God will use them to impact their faculty so many more students, many of them focused on career, many of them international students, will hear of Jesus' claim on their money, career, live and love. Please pray that many would come to trust Jesus.

Please keep letting us know how we can pray for you!

Last weekend was a baptism for Yi...a girl who came along to ISM last year and became a Christian.

It was such a joy to see her confess her faith in Jesus her Lord.

Hope you enjoy the photos. Please continue to pray for her to grow as a Christian.

Yi and I after the baptism



Yi being baptised