Today was a great day! A bunch of us from NCS were on campus today chatting to new students, helping them find their feet, giving them free food and letting them know about the Bible Talks, the Light House Walk and (more importantly) Jesus.
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We had heaps of students sign up to find out more about NCS and Jesus and stacks of them had no Christian background at all. Praise God!
And this is just day 1!!!
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Please pray for
- continued energy for us
- continued good weather
- many more chances to speak about Jesus.
O’Week day 1
Hello from India
Hey guys,
Just wanted to let you know we’re having a ball in India. We love the people and are very encouraged by their love of Jesus and his word.
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Pete, Krysia and Steve are doing a great job and we’re having fun while working hard with them. Pete and Steve did a great job of giving their lectures. They were nervous but spoke clearly and confidently. We were proud of them. Krysia is doing really well at building relationships with the women. One is taking her and Jen sari shopping tomorrow!
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Earlier today we finished our first training conference (Ephesians) with about 100 Indian pastors and Christian leaders. It has been encouraging to hear stories of how they have taught other PTC courses to fellow Indians. The main translator from the course will be teaching it later this year in the north of India. And our friend George (his real name is Tarun, but we spent the first 24 hours calling him George by accident – we blame Babel!) is also teaching courses to youth.
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Please pray for our week ahead. We are tired, battling colds, and still have a lot to prepare. We will be teaching Old Testament in Bangalore.
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God bless,
Jen & Martin.
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photo credit: Swami Stream
O’Week
Steve and I just spent the last few hours dreaming and scheming and laying plans for O’Week.
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It’s going to be a fun week!
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We’ve got BBQ’s Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, we’ll be giving out business cards like there’s no tomorrow, there’ll be so many conversations that you could literally drown in them…. And not to mention the Light House Walk on Thursday night at the Train Sheds.
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We hope you’re getting excited about welcoming stacks of new students to Newcastle Uni, we certainly are!
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Why not take a minute now to pray for the incoming students?
Pray that’ll enjoy starting Uni and make good friends quickly.
Pray that we’ll get to meet them during O’Week
And pray that God will give us words to speak and will help us make them feel welcome.
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photo credit: Lyndi&Jason
NCSers going to India
Dear NCS,
A new university year is about to hit us once more!
But before then… five NCSers are flying to India for two weeks to train pastors (6th-20th February).
We want to let you know so you can partner us in this exciting work.
WHAT WE’LL BE DOING
We are going in partnership with India Gospel League. This organisation is doing amazing things in India – particularly in the area of Church Planting (1000s of churches a year!!). That means there are thousands of pastors who are eager for more theological training to help them teach their churches.
In our first week in India the team will be training pastors in Salem from the book of Ephesians. Martin will be doing the majority of the lectures with 2 of our students teaching one unit each as well. We will all be involved in leading small discussion groups that are based around the lectures. The second week will be spent in Bangalore and we will be teaching the first five books of the Old Testament 1.
We are all feeling pretty excited but also working pretty hard to get our preparation completed.
PRAYER POINTS
* For Martin: pray that God will help him to complete all the work that he needs to do for India, pray that it will not be a burden for him! Pray that his lectures will be clear and concise and he will teach the Indian people faithfully.
* Pray that Martin and Jen will lead the team well, and that we would all work well together.
* Pray for the people in India that they will come prepared to listen, learn and take what they hear back to their churches. Ask as well that God will protect the Indian Christians from persecution and from any forces that are trying to stop the spread of the gospel.
* Pray for Peter and Steve who both have some lectures to give and devotions to prepare.
* Pray for our health – we are a little nervous about the prospect of gastro away from the comforts of home.
* Please pray that we would be sensitive to cultural differences, humble and dependent on God in everything.
* Ask God that we will be an encouragment to the people and they will encourage us but most of all that Christ is preached faithfully and that people mature or come to know him!!
Thank you so much for your prayerful support of us.
We look forward to seeing you in O-week or back at uni!
God bless,
Martin, Jen, Peter, Steve and Krysia.
