This will be the last blog post for a couple of weeks as the whole school is about to move out into the wider community to serve in various ways. One team is heading south to work with the Anglican Church in Nowra and the other team is going to Sydney to serve with the Salvation Army and their street ministry.
So here’s a run down of some of the highlights over the last week. First up, our lecturer this week was Satish John, the Director of Torchbearers in India. The students were very impressed by his stories as he expounded on ‘The Servanthood of the Believer.’ This timing of these lectures was perfect – the week before heading out for Prac Week.
Here’s a few alternative stories; some of the girls went over to the Briars for a coffee and they got the giggles when then saw an elderly lady fall asleep on the sofa – Kelsy said, ‘You could see right up her nose!’ All the students enjoyed our Thursday morning breakfast as we had porridge for the first time this autumn (fall). We also had lots of other goodies like dates, yoghurt, sultanas and a fruit platter as we broke up into our Prac Week teams to enjoy a time of bonding! Oh yes, and how could I forget, we have three new additions to the school – three miniature ponies grazing in our paddocks – they are a great hit with the students, especially the girls! And for the guys, the latest update is that Thane and Cade have changed the name of their car from Thade to M – if you want to know what ask them on the i58 page on facebook.
Talking to the students, the highlight of the week was most definitely going to Sydney to help the Salvation Army collect for the Red Shield Appeal. We left at 7.30 in the morning in the pouring rain, wondering if we would ever return the same, when suddenly as we passed Campbelltown the sun began to shine brilliantly. What a perfect day! We arrived at the Street Level Church to be given our uniforms, (something like a red pinafore with the Salvos’ logo), and then sent out into teams of about six. We had one of our SN@CERS, Zac Barr join us, to help collect all the money. We started around 9.30 and went straight through until 4.30. Once we had finished, the Salvos estimated that we had collected $12,000 - $15,000, not bad for a whole day’s work. I have to say, I was very proud of the students who went – they worked very hard and as well as collecting so much money they also had great team work and enjoyed themselves heaps.
Well, tonight is SN@C, the last for a couple of weeks so we are expecting a huge crowd. The team have been working hard, as usual, ready to make an impact with the gospel message on all who come.
Oh, just one last piece of news. Following the huge success of the Hong Kong Mission Trip we have decided to go again in September. I am so excited about this and am looking forward to what God will teach us as we step out to put our faith into action to build into the lives of the poor.
Well, until I write again, enjoy wonderful times with Jesus,
STEVE aka WOODSEY
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
EVERY WEEK IS A BIG WEEK!
Hi everyone! Sometimes I wonder what I might write the following week, then when Thursday comes there’s so much that’s happened in this wonderful community at school that I have to think about what to include! Sometimes we get great surprises like this week when Rod came to visit. He is our former Property Manager who I wrote about a while ago who sadly lost his wife Elizabeth and two sons, James and Matthew to the Victorian bush fires in Marysville. As he and his wife met here he wanted to come back to relive some wonderful memories and shed some tears as part of his grieving. He shared with the students on Thursday morning and it was an awesome testimony of how Jesus has personally walked with him through his “Job” experience without being bitter and instead being filled with the joy of the Lord – truly remarkable.
And on to something completely different! Last Friday the guys discovered the sauna on campus and totally got into putting new life into it. So on Saturday evening the fire was stoked and the steam came pouring out! All the guys enjoyed one of the best experiences of a sauna they have ever had. And tonight, which is our regular ‘Guy’s night’, (where one of them shares on a topic of the day and then we break up into prayer triplets), we are going to hold in the sauna – different for sure and lots of fun! It’ll be the first time that we’ve been so clean as we start our prayer triplets!!!
Last week our principal, Neil, taught on the ‘Life of David’ and the students just loved it. So this week the Bible Studies, which are presented by the students in their respective family group, were based on themes from that teaching. Our students gave great presentations which built up each family – they are growing so much that it seems easy to do all these things that last term seemed so difficult!
And now onto this weekend, which is a little special. One family group will be taking a hike to the Blue Mountains and then a whole bus load will go to the Acer Arena to watch an AFL game. The students and sooo excited about that!!! Also, on Sunday I will be taking some students to Narrabeem Baptist Church to give a special presentation. Alyssa and Jordan will sing three songs as part of the service and at the end we will have a chance to chat with the people about Torchbearers. We have also been invited out to lunch – how cool is that!
Then it’s back to school in time to practise for another SN@C. Alyssa and Jordan are leading the worship on Sunday so they will be relying on Jesus for lots of strength!
Yesterday our secretary, Katie, went off to Germany to be at the wedding of two of our former students, one of whom she mentored while she was here for a year. We love being part of the lives of the friends we make here and it is such a privilege to be invited to so many weddings even if we can’t go to all of them. We send our love and God’s blessings on Sam and Damaris and they look forward to their BIG day.
And lastly, I spoke to Keith this week, he’s the American former student who created the i58 website, and we are planning lots of new things for the website – so be excited lots of good things are being planned especially for you!
All in all another BIG week at school where our students are continually being stretched to grow – how awesome is that!
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
STEVE aka WOODSEY
And on to something completely different! Last Friday the guys discovered the sauna on campus and totally got into putting new life into it. So on Saturday evening the fire was stoked and the steam came pouring out! All the guys enjoyed one of the best experiences of a sauna they have ever had. And tonight, which is our regular ‘Guy’s night’, (where one of them shares on a topic of the day and then we break up into prayer triplets), we are going to hold in the sauna – different for sure and lots of fun! It’ll be the first time that we’ve been so clean as we start our prayer triplets!!!
Last week our principal, Neil, taught on the ‘Life of David’ and the students just loved it. So this week the Bible Studies, which are presented by the students in their respective family group, were based on themes from that teaching. Our students gave great presentations which built up each family – they are growing so much that it seems easy to do all these things that last term seemed so difficult!
And now onto this weekend, which is a little special. One family group will be taking a hike to the Blue Mountains and then a whole bus load will go to the Acer Arena to watch an AFL game. The students and sooo excited about that!!! Also, on Sunday I will be taking some students to Narrabeem Baptist Church to give a special presentation. Alyssa and Jordan will sing three songs as part of the service and at the end we will have a chance to chat with the people about Torchbearers. We have also been invited out to lunch – how cool is that!
Then it’s back to school in time to practise for another SN@C. Alyssa and Jordan are leading the worship on Sunday so they will be relying on Jesus for lots of strength!
Yesterday our secretary, Katie, went off to Germany to be at the wedding of two of our former students, one of whom she mentored while she was here for a year. We love being part of the lives of the friends we make here and it is such a privilege to be invited to so many weddings even if we can’t go to all of them. We send our love and God’s blessings on Sam and Damaris and they look forward to their BIG day.
And lastly, I spoke to Keith this week, he’s the American former student who created the i58 website, and we are planning lots of new things for the website – so be excited lots of good things are being planned especially for you!
All in all another BIG week at school where our students are continually being stretched to grow – how awesome is that!
HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
STEVE aka WOODSEY
Saturday, May 9, 2009
BACK IN ACTION
Well, the term is well underway. All the students have settled back after their mid term break and are now preparing to go on Prac Week in just over two weeks. Haven’t written the blog since returning from Hong Kong as there’s a been quite a lot of things to catch up with. The Hong Kong Mission Trip Report is now complete and I’ll attach it at the end of this blog – it was truly a life transforming experience.
First up, though, have to say that we loved hearing each other’s stories of how God had been so faithful to the whole student body during two week break. Our God is truly an AWESOME God! Stephen was the only student who didn’t come back as he was dealing with a family issue over the break. We hope to see him return to school any week now. We are in touch with him and he is doing well and missing us!
Traditionally, on the first Friday back we have a Guy’s Night and a Girl’s Night. This term the girls opted for a night in watching a movie while the guys made the most of our new student Jon’s help to stay in Sydney at the Marriott. It was quite a treat and brought home our love of saunas. As I write this the guys have just had their first sauna on campus by resurrecting the sauna at the back of the hay shed - how good is that! This week’s guy’s group will be led by Cade – in the sauna – and I’m sure he’ll give us something to sweat about!
Getting back to the more serious stuff, our focus is now moving onto Prac Week. We have two teams; one will be going to work with the Salvation Army in Sydney serving the poor while the other will go to the Anglican Church in Nowra and serve all kinds of church ministries and build up relationship with the youth.
We hope that as we step our to serve we might attract many young Australians to take time out here at Torchbearers to be built up in the knowledge, experience of serving and relationship with Jesus - it's such a great place to grow.
Our SN@Cs, (Sunday Night @ Capers) have been going from strength to strength. Last week week had 60 from the community join us for a great presentation sharing all about New Life in Jesus. This week the theme is Grace, Mercy and Justice. The large number of local people who now come is a great testimony of the incredibly creative ways in which the students work to make these SN@Cs happen combined with a GREAT commitment. Well done all the students!!!!!!!!!
Well now its time to post the HK update. Hope you’ve enjoyed the latest from us and are inspired by all what God is doing in our lives. Catch you all next week.
STEVE
HONG KONG MISSION TRIP APRIL 2009
Well, we’re back and we had the most amazing time. Here are some quotes from the guys:
Carl “I’d never before experienced God work so much in my life”
Jess “The Lord really opened my eyes to His grace”
Tony “Hearing God speak so clearly was amazing”
As trip leader these quotes are a reward in itself but to have witnessed these guys serve the Lord and be used in such strategic ways will always be a source of encouragement to me. Enthusiasm was something that just burst out of these guys. It was like from the moment they met the community in New Boy House they had a passion to share the love of Christ with them. This came out in such a variety of ways; playing games, sport, going on recreation, doing housework, worshipping together, praying for each other and just plain hanging out. And all this without being able to speak Cantonese! How does this happen? Well, as Jess said, there was a lot of grace around. Not even language prevented them from serving with all their hearts.
For me, going back again is a huge privilege. I’m able to reconnect with many
people, (both helpers and brothers), and show that the love we come to share is ongoing. It’s interesting that our guys experienced so much of the love of our Father through everyone in the New Boy House community.
I’d like to share a few stories and then move on to some of the challenges, highlights and effects of this ministry on us now that we are back at school.
First up, here’s the incredible story of an Aussie guy, (former addict who loved Jesus), who had gone to NBH to find new life. We pick up his story on our first day. He had been there for a few weeks and was quite unsettled and wanted to go back to Australia. He found us being there quite an encouragement. As we built a relationship with him and talked life into him he gradually peeled back and with the help and encouragement of everyone else he let Jesus do a mighty work in his life. He had had quite a troubled past and had an issue of not being able to forgive his father. As the days rolled by he said he was ready to forgive and the ensuing prayer session led to an amazing revelation of Jesus ‘taking out the thorn in his heart’ which had been the cause of so much pain. It led to a total transformation in this young man’s countenance and a new passion in his heart to stay and learn how to help others with similar problems. Praise God!
Our ‘Western Food Night’ was quite the event. We decided to cook Kentucky Style Chicken with chips, ketchup and bread and butter. We ordered the food from the market a few days in advance and got some good deals, after all we were cooking for over 100 people! We had two woks and about four hours to pull off this amazing feat! It started with a surprise – we couldn’t tell what temperature the oil was at in the wok so when we put in the chicken the next thing we knew was a thick black fog everywhere.
The brothers, who had put their trust in us came running out as though the house was on fire!! From that moment on we had all the best cooks there, ready at hand to help with anything – how marvellous! Together we cooked 360 pieces of chicken, 150 potatoes worth of chips and buttered ten loaves of bread! The meal was served with Coke and followed by ice-cream. The whole night was a HUGE success and a terrific memory of the Lord’s blessing.
In all we did we made friendships, some very close indeed. Oddly, Jess and Tony made particular friends with the older guys and Carl and I made close friends with the younger guys. We all miss our new found friends and the good times that we shared with them.
Our guys were well prepared for living in a new culture and responding to the work. One of our challenges was to meet up every day as we were split up into two teams. This mostly worked during the lunch break when we could share a Mars bar and pray for each other. These times were so encouraging. It was a little tough for Tony as he really struggled with the Chinese food even though he could eat the rice. Often after breakfast he and Jess would slip round the back of the house to eat a chocolate bar for lots of energy. One of the helpers asked to see if they had a smoking problem!!
One highlight of the trip was the worship sessions (twice a day in NBH). With about 40 guys singing with all their hearts to the rhythm of the guitar, it was quite an overwhelming experience. God showed up in power and we always had such beautiful times of prayer where a lot of the brothers would be healed. Indeed, when we were at the Drug Addict’s meeting the Lord revealed He was there to heal the sick and one crippled lady stood up and danced before us completely healed! I particularly liked going on the street one night to feed the poor. We went to the ‘church’ under a flyover where over 200 people gathered. They sang worship songs, prayed for each other’s needs and were then given rice boxes.
Now we are back at school we are full of the joy of the Lord. We have shared our stories with many groups and know that we have truly touched lives. We are more aware of God’s presence in our own lives and are responding to what He is doing to allow us to grow into the likeness of his Son Jesus Christ.
From the stories that we’ve shared there is a great interest for another trip to NBH this year – for that we’ll just have to see what the Lord has for us.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped us financially and prayerfully. We left a gift of $12,000AU for St Stephen’s Society’s new buildings project. Jackie was surprised and delighted and sent her heartfelt thanks to all of us who contributed to make the New Boy House community thrive.
STEVE WOODS April 2009
First up, though, have to say that we loved hearing each other’s stories of how God had been so faithful to the whole student body during two week break. Our God is truly an AWESOME God! Stephen was the only student who didn’t come back as he was dealing with a family issue over the break. We hope to see him return to school any week now. We are in touch with him and he is doing well and missing us!
Traditionally, on the first Friday back we have a Guy’s Night and a Girl’s Night. This term the girls opted for a night in watching a movie while the guys made the most of our new student Jon’s help to stay in Sydney at the Marriott. It was quite a treat and brought home our love of saunas. As I write this the guys have just had their first sauna on campus by resurrecting the sauna at the back of the hay shed - how good is that! This week’s guy’s group will be led by Cade – in the sauna – and I’m sure he’ll give us something to sweat about!
Getting back to the more serious stuff, our focus is now moving onto Prac Week. We have two teams; one will be going to work with the Salvation Army in Sydney serving the poor while the other will go to the Anglican Church in Nowra and serve all kinds of church ministries and build up relationship with the youth.
We hope that as we step our to serve we might attract many young Australians to take time out here at Torchbearers to be built up in the knowledge, experience of serving and relationship with Jesus - it's such a great place to grow.
Our SN@Cs, (Sunday Night @ Capers) have been going from strength to strength. Last week week had 60 from the community join us for a great presentation sharing all about New Life in Jesus. This week the theme is Grace, Mercy and Justice. The large number of local people who now come is a great testimony of the incredibly creative ways in which the students work to make these SN@Cs happen combined with a GREAT commitment. Well done all the students!!!!!!!!!
Well now its time to post the HK update. Hope you’ve enjoyed the latest from us and are inspired by all what God is doing in our lives. Catch you all next week.
STEVE
HONG KONG MISSION TRIP APRIL 2009
Well, we’re back and we had the most amazing time. Here are some quotes from the guys:
Carl “I’d never before experienced God work so much in my life”
Jess “The Lord really opened my eyes to His grace”
Tony “Hearing God speak so clearly was amazing”
As trip leader these quotes are a reward in itself but to have witnessed these guys serve the Lord and be used in such strategic ways will always be a source of encouragement to me. Enthusiasm was something that just burst out of these guys. It was like from the moment they met the community in New Boy House they had a passion to share the love of Christ with them. This came out in such a variety of ways; playing games, sport, going on recreation, doing housework, worshipping together, praying for each other and just plain hanging out. And all this without being able to speak Cantonese! How does this happen? Well, as Jess said, there was a lot of grace around. Not even language prevented them from serving with all their hearts.
For me, going back again is a huge privilege. I’m able to reconnect with many
people, (both helpers and brothers), and show that the love we come to share is ongoing. It’s interesting that our guys experienced so much of the love of our Father through everyone in the New Boy House community.
I’d like to share a few stories and then move on to some of the challenges, highlights and effects of this ministry on us now that we are back at school.
First up, here’s the incredible story of an Aussie guy, (former addict who loved Jesus), who had gone to NBH to find new life. We pick up his story on our first day. He had been there for a few weeks and was quite unsettled and wanted to go back to Australia. He found us being there quite an encouragement. As we built a relationship with him and talked life into him he gradually peeled back and with the help and encouragement of everyone else he let Jesus do a mighty work in his life. He had had quite a troubled past and had an issue of not being able to forgive his father. As the days rolled by he said he was ready to forgive and the ensuing prayer session led to an amazing revelation of Jesus ‘taking out the thorn in his heart’ which had been the cause of so much pain. It led to a total transformation in this young man’s countenance and a new passion in his heart to stay and learn how to help others with similar problems. Praise God!
Our ‘Western Food Night’ was quite the event. We decided to cook Kentucky Style Chicken with chips, ketchup and bread and butter. We ordered the food from the market a few days in advance and got some good deals, after all we were cooking for over 100 people! We had two woks and about four hours to pull off this amazing feat! It started with a surprise – we couldn’t tell what temperature the oil was at in the wok so when we put in the chicken the next thing we knew was a thick black fog everywhere.
The brothers, who had put their trust in us came running out as though the house was on fire!! From that moment on we had all the best cooks there, ready at hand to help with anything – how marvellous! Together we cooked 360 pieces of chicken, 150 potatoes worth of chips and buttered ten loaves of bread! The meal was served with Coke and followed by ice-cream. The whole night was a HUGE success and a terrific memory of the Lord’s blessing.
In all we did we made friendships, some very close indeed. Oddly, Jess and Tony made particular friends with the older guys and Carl and I made close friends with the younger guys. We all miss our new found friends and the good times that we shared with them.
Our guys were well prepared for living in a new culture and responding to the work. One of our challenges was to meet up every day as we were split up into two teams. This mostly worked during the lunch break when we could share a Mars bar and pray for each other. These times were so encouraging. It was a little tough for Tony as he really struggled with the Chinese food even though he could eat the rice. Often after breakfast he and Jess would slip round the back of the house to eat a chocolate bar for lots of energy. One of the helpers asked to see if they had a smoking problem!!
One highlight of the trip was the worship sessions (twice a day in NBH). With about 40 guys singing with all their hearts to the rhythm of the guitar, it was quite an overwhelming experience. God showed up in power and we always had such beautiful times of prayer where a lot of the brothers would be healed. Indeed, when we were at the Drug Addict’s meeting the Lord revealed He was there to heal the sick and one crippled lady stood up and danced before us completely healed! I particularly liked going on the street one night to feed the poor. We went to the ‘church’ under a flyover where over 200 people gathered. They sang worship songs, prayed for each other’s needs and were then given rice boxes.
Now we are back at school we are full of the joy of the Lord. We have shared our stories with many groups and know that we have truly touched lives. We are more aware of God’s presence in our own lives and are responding to what He is doing to allow us to grow into the likeness of his Son Jesus Christ.
From the stories that we’ve shared there is a great interest for another trip to NBH this year – for that we’ll just have to see what the Lord has for us.
We are so grateful to everyone who helped us financially and prayerfully. We left a gift of $12,000AU for St Stephen’s Society’s new buildings project. Jackie was surprised and delighted and sent her heartfelt thanks to all of us who contributed to make the New Boy House community thrive.
STEVE WOODS April 2009
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