Friday, November 17, 2006
Salvation Report
Today at Model Farms, Diana sensed something was up with one particular student in the class that had just finished, was about to tell Daniel he should talk to the student, but when she looked over at Daniel, he was already walking over to the kid. The holy spirit was moving today.
The conversation was light-hearted at first, talking about surfing and the like, but then the student mentioned how he didn't feel like his life had any purpose, and Daniel shared how he'd found purpose in his own life through Jesus.
Daniel prayed with the student, and although the student didn't say anything out loud as they prayed, afterwards he shared with Daniel, "I feel warmth in my heart" in his Australian accent.
The conversation was light-hearted at first, talking about surfing and the like, but then the student mentioned how he didn't feel like his life had any purpose, and Daniel shared how he'd found purpose in his own life through Jesus.
Daniel prayed with the student, and although the student didn't say anything out loud as they prayed, afterwards he shared with Daniel, "I feel warmth in my heart" in his Australian accent.
Scripture Class
One of the opportunities that we have been presented with is teaching in the scripture class at Model Farms High School. It is about 15 minutes drive from the church so the cars we've been lent have been a huge blessing in getting to and from the school. Chris Haines, the scripture teacher is enjoying having us here and looks as though we may be able to continue to teach in the scripture class every school day for the rest of our trip, so we will all be polished public speakers by the time we get home.
We've been sending teams of two to four people per period, depending on what else is going on during the day and how many periods of scripture class there are. In the schools here, high schools are students from grades 7 to 12. However, some of the older kids are taking exams right now, so we've mostly been in 7th to 9th grade classes. The schedule is on a two-week rotation, with only two periods of scripture during each two week period. Each day there are different amounts of scripture classes, some days its only two, other days there are six. All in all, Chris estimates that he teaches about 600 kids, so this means there is a lot of different kids we will have the opportunity to interact with.
In addition to sharing bible passages, in the past couple days at the school, we've spent class time introducing who we are, answering questions, and sharing testimonies. In some classes we've also had time to do a devotional lesson such as "Who is driving the bus in your life" or one of the interactive message-driven activities we learned from Steve Gonzoles. The class is mostly taught topically, so soon we will be moving into sharing topical lessons to the classes.
The students are very excited to meet us and think our "accents" are really funny, and enjoy asking us to say words like "aluminum" in our american accents. They also are amused how we say trunk instead of boot for the compartment of the car where you stow your luggage. They had a lot of questions about america, ranging from whether we lived in "ghettos" to whether everything they saw on the OC about America is real.
Our team is already starting to build relationships with individual kids. One girl asked Diana after class how she had started her relationship with God. Another girl approached me (Jessica) in the hallway to say that she really appreciated how vulnerable we'd been in sharing about ourselves the day before. These kids are listening to what we have to say, and the more we put ourselves out there where we can interact with them, the more we can build relationships and have opportunities to individually impact their eternities.
Many of the kids taking scripture class are only doing so because their parents thought it would be a good idea, though others already have a relationship with Jesus, and are involved in youth groups at their home churches or the christian club at school.
God has also been opening up other doors into other schools as well, One of those doors is a 90 minute assembly next week, and if they are impressed with that, that could potentially open further doors at that school to speak in classes.
We've been sending teams of two to four people per period, depending on what else is going on during the day and how many periods of scripture class there are. In the schools here, high schools are students from grades 7 to 12. However, some of the older kids are taking exams right now, so we've mostly been in 7th to 9th grade classes. The schedule is on a two-week rotation, with only two periods of scripture during each two week period. Each day there are different amounts of scripture classes, some days its only two, other days there are six. All in all, Chris estimates that he teaches about 600 kids, so this means there is a lot of different kids we will have the opportunity to interact with.
In addition to sharing bible passages, in the past couple days at the school, we've spent class time introducing who we are, answering questions, and sharing testimonies. In some classes we've also had time to do a devotional lesson such as "Who is driving the bus in your life" or one of the interactive message-driven activities we learned from Steve Gonzoles. The class is mostly taught topically, so soon we will be moving into sharing topical lessons to the classes.
The students are very excited to meet us and think our "accents" are really funny, and enjoy asking us to say words like "aluminum" in our american accents. They also are amused how we say trunk instead of boot for the compartment of the car where you stow your luggage. They had a lot of questions about america, ranging from whether we lived in "ghettos" to whether everything they saw on the OC about America is real.
Our team is already starting to build relationships with individual kids. One girl asked Diana after class how she had started her relationship with God. Another girl approached me (Jessica) in the hallway to say that she really appreciated how vulnerable we'd been in sharing about ourselves the day before. These kids are listening to what we have to say, and the more we put ourselves out there where we can interact with them, the more we can build relationships and have opportunities to individually impact their eternities.
Many of the kids taking scripture class are only doing so because their parents thought it would be a good idea, though others already have a relationship with Jesus, and are involved in youth groups at their home churches or the christian club at school.
God has also been opening up other doors into other schools as well, One of those doors is a 90 minute assembly next week, and if they are impressed with that, that could potentially open further doors at that school to speak in classes.
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Introducing Our Team Members
Daniel Daniel is a magnet for kids, they are naturally drawn with curiosity to his curly red hair. And then after seeing how well he relates to them, they are drawn into the message of the gospel. A recent high school graduate, he relates easily to the kids. He grew up in a Christian home, but only recently came to truly understand in his heart who Jesus is, and is now growing a lot in effectively conveying the gospel. |
Chris Chris spearheaded the efforts of making Australia one of the internship destinations, and was later unanimously elected team leader. Having lived in Australia for two and a half years, he really has a heart for the youth here. Chris's background is in sports marketing, and when he's not busy preaching the gospel, he enjoys spending time with friends & family. He has a lot of experience speaking in schools that he gained on our mission trip to Poland last semester, and the rest of the team hopes to glean insight from his experience on the missions field. |
Diana Diana has a heart for discipleship, and is always keeping an open eye for opportunities God presents. She knows how to brew a good cup of coffee, but has talent also in sales and measuring for home remodels--she's very organized and is always well-dressed. She says she's shy in front of people, but every time she speaks in front of a classroom they are captivated hearing how God has changed her life for the better, and comes across confidently. She has a heart for prayer and acute sense of the spiritual needs of our teammates and when spiritual evil needs rebuking. |
Lia Lia has a natural knack for shopping and happening to have exactly what you need at the right moment, often times something she picked up thinking "this looks useful" without knowing in advance what it would be useful for. Lia has a true servants heart and overflows with Christ-like love. She misses her husband very much, but has confidence that God always does amazing things when they are seperated for a time. Perhaps God will use her loving relationship with her husband to help her minister to other women about godly marriages. She loves small childen and is looking forward to helping out with the children's ministry at the church. |
John John keeps things real for the team. He loves sports, and will be heading up any sports outreaches we do in Australia. He misses his wife and thirteen year old son, but without whom he probably wouldn't be here. They encouraged him to go and even filled out the visa application for him so he wouldn't have any trouble getting in the country with his Liberian passport. John has a lot of experience from his job coordinating major events, that we hope to draw from for our ministry efforts. He is our barbeque grill master, and doesn't complain about the work no matter how challenging (like cleaning these windows at the church). |
Jessica Jessica is usually cited as the "techie" of the group, she writes the blog and set up the email list for our team. She had been working as a software engineer for two and a half years before starting the School of Evangelism and has been blessed by God to continue there part-time through school. Her heart for ministry is missions--she was involved in the Missions Ministry at the Rock church for a year and a half before going on her first mission trip (to Poland with the School of Evangelism) but has now been to five different countries in the past seven months, and is excited about getting more involved in a leadership role in the ministry in the future. |
Tanya Tanya is full of spunk and personality, and has a definite gift of administration among many other spiritual gifts. She took a big step of faith coming all the way from Massachusetts to come to the School of Evangelism, having bought a one way ticket, not even knowning yet whether her application was accepted. She has a background in biology, and is fascinated with and enjoys all areas of ministry and hoping that this trip will show her what area of ministry to focus on when she gets back. She's already involved in the prayer ministry, but many other ministries interest her as well. |
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Internet Problems
Apologies for not updating sooner. We've been having trouble with our internet connection at our host home. The internet there works for accessing the internet, but has been refusing to send emails or update the blog (details for the techies: trouble with the post form action).
But to summarize what we tried to post earlier unsuccessfully, we spent the last two days planning what is upcoming and discussing our expectations for the trip and getting an orientation at the church. Today we are breaking up into three teams. Two of the teams will be going into schools to teach lessons, and one team will be blessing a new mom from the church.
We are adjusting quickly to the time-change. Our host families are each perfect matches. Doors are opening to go into schools. Just yesterday a new door opened for us to give a 90 minute assembly at a school, in addition to the two schools (a primary school 2nd and 6th grade, and a high school scripture class) we will be speaking at today. Continue to pray the speaking opportunities God has given us will reach people with the hope in Jesus Christ, and for more doors to open!
As far as transportation, a solution is working itself out, as a couple of the families have spare vehicles they are willing to lend us. Driving is an ideal solution since we are staying in the suburbs where the public transportation is limited, and our destinations scattered. But as you are probably aware, in Australia they drive on the left side of the road, which is a bit of an adjustment for us. So please keep in your prayers that this would come naturally to us, that we'd have wisdom in deciding who should be our drivers, that those who drive would be confident in their ability to navigate the Australian roads safely, and of course that the Lord would send his angels out to protect us and keep us out of harm's way.
Prayer Requests:
* Team Unity
* Open Doors to speaking in Schools
* Divine inspiration of what to speak
* Safe Driving
* Logistics would be worked out supernaturally
But to summarize what we tried to post earlier unsuccessfully, we spent the last two days planning what is upcoming and discussing our expectations for the trip and getting an orientation at the church. Today we are breaking up into three teams. Two of the teams will be going into schools to teach lessons, and one team will be blessing a new mom from the church.
We are adjusting quickly to the time-change. Our host families are each perfect matches. Doors are opening to go into schools. Just yesterday a new door opened for us to give a 90 minute assembly at a school, in addition to the two schools (a primary school 2nd and 6th grade, and a high school scripture class) we will be speaking at today. Continue to pray the speaking opportunities God has given us will reach people with the hope in Jesus Christ, and for more doors to open!
As far as transportation, a solution is working itself out, as a couple of the families have spare vehicles they are willing to lend us. Driving is an ideal solution since we are staying in the suburbs where the public transportation is limited, and our destinations scattered. But as you are probably aware, in Australia they drive on the left side of the road, which is a bit of an adjustment for us. So please keep in your prayers that this would come naturally to us, that we'd have wisdom in deciding who should be our drivers, that those who drive would be confident in their ability to navigate the Australian roads safely, and of course that the Lord would send his angels out to protect us and keep us out of harm's way.
Prayer Requests:
* Team Unity
* Open Doors to speaking in Schools
* Divine inspiration of what to speak
* Safe Driving
* Logistics would be worked out supernaturally
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Sunday Night Church Service
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Team Australia Has Arrived
G'Day Friends, Family and Prayer Warriors,
This is Team Australia checking in for our first update to let you know that we have arrived in Sydney safely. The Lord has blessed us every step of the way here. We didn't have any hassles with customs or lost luggage. Our fourteen and a half hour flight (LAX to Sydney via Qantas Airlines) was smooth and comfortable, we were all able to get a good night's rest. No lost luggage to report, nor any hassles with customs or the TSA. We were all in agreement that this was one of the most pleasant economy class international flights we've had. Praise God for his protection and mercy!
We were a bit concerned that fitting our baggage in the van taking us to LAX (Thank you Michelle!!) or station wagons in Sydney might pose a challenge, but the Lord worked it out perfectly so that everything just fit exactly just right in the space available each step of the journey.
We were greeted at the airport with a warm welcome from Ross, the coordinator from Calvary Chapel, who arranged our lodging (which is quite comfortable beyond what we expected as well!). We were treated to snags (like sausage hotdogs), salads, chips, and watermelon.
We were taken straight to the church without so much as a shower or change of clothes for a meet and greet authentic Australian Barbe. It was wonderful to begin building relationships with our brothers and sisters down-under. We also got to meet Des Daniels, the pastor, and many other wonderful individuals from the church who we will be working with over the next five weeks. We are safe and in good hands!
God Bless everyone back home who helped us prepare to teach and with general preparations for our trip!
Current prayer requests:
This is Team Australia checking in for our first update to let you know that we have arrived in Sydney safely. The Lord has blessed us every step of the way here. We didn't have any hassles with customs or lost luggage. Our fourteen and a half hour flight (LAX to Sydney via Qantas Airlines) was smooth and comfortable, we were all able to get a good night's rest. No lost luggage to report, nor any hassles with customs or the TSA. We were all in agreement that this was one of the most pleasant economy class international flights we've had. Praise God for his protection and mercy!
We were a bit concerned that fitting our baggage in the van taking us to LAX (Thank you Michelle!!) or station wagons in Sydney might pose a challenge, but the Lord worked it out perfectly so that everything just fit exactly just right in the space available each step of the journey.We were greeted at the airport with a warm welcome from Ross, the coordinator from Calvary Chapel, who arranged our lodging (which is quite comfortable beyond what we expected as well!). We were treated to snags (like sausage hotdogs), salads, chips, and watermelon.We were taken straight to the church without so much as a shower or change of clothes for a meet and greet authentic Australian Barbe. It was wonderful to begin building relationships with our brothers and sisters down-under. We also got to meet Des Daniels, the pastor, and many other wonderful individuals from the church who we will be working with over the next five weeks. We are safe and in good hands!God Bless everyone back home who helped us prepare to teach and with general preparations for our trip!
Current prayer requests:
- Adjusting to the time-difference, that we may be ready to jump into ministry rather than fighting jet-lag.
- opportunities for speaking in multiple schools, evangelism, prayer, meeting other christians
- transportation (Sydney is a very large spread out city, and we are staying in the suburbs. We'd like to bless others by supporting their needs, but some amount of that is dependent on appropriate transportation being available)
