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