I've neglected this blog quite a bit lately...sorry! It's hard to get back into writing once you stop. Writing's never been one of my strong points. Esp now when I have to write thousands of words for essays at college. Eek! It's almost like torture for me!

Easter holidays was pretty good for me. I got a lil' bit done the first week before I went to camp. Camp was excellent. I did indeed catch up with some of my old Sunday School kids. It's only been two years, but they've all grown and changed in so many ways. I spent most of my time with the boys, and it was good to be able to hang out with them and not be their teacher anymore. And it was encouraging to see some of them serving now in ministry, some even co-leading Bible studies.

My seminar went pretty well too (from my perspective anyways). People were interested and had lots of questions to ask. I think they got the main idea I was trying to get across to them. The talks from Ephesians were clear too and The food and sleep was decent. But after coming back I've been feeling quite lethargic and unmotivated to work. :(

<< Thank God for the rest over the holidays and for the enjoyable time at church camp. Pray that I can get back into the mood to study. >>

I've got a few essays to work on at the moment and we are starting our Romans studies this Fri at EYF. I've got a talk to prepare for next Fri and the South region SCCCA training day is coming up on 15th May. It's a bit mind boggling at the moment. I'm struggling a bit with it, but just keeping my head above water...

<< Pray that I can continue to enjoy what I am learning at college and to enjoying serving people in ministry. >>

Back into the full swing of things...for a week anyways. I didn't do as much work as I had hoped to do last week. But then again, no one ever does. At least I got one essay finished. Had a Greek quiz today and then an ethics quiz tomorrow. After that, I gotta get stuck into my Mark exegesis essay.

We only have lectures for this week, and then we're off on holidays for Easter! Woo hoo! I guess it'll be more like a working holiday, since there's a fair few assessments to get stuck into. And I'll be away at the WS church camp over the long weekend. Other than running a seminar on apologetics (ie answering tough questions about Christianity), it should be a pretty good relaxing time. I especially look forward to catching up with some of the kids I used to teach back in 2000 and 2001.

<< Thank God for Research Week and being able to have time to knock over some assessments. Pray that I can continue to be disciplined over the Easter break. Pray also for my seminar at church camp and pray that I can have a good time to relax and to catch up with people.>>

As usual, Easter is a good time to reachout to friends with the news of the gospel. At church, the Simply Christianity course is coming up to its last week this Friday. I don't know what kind of response to expect from them. But timed nicely together is 2 other evangelistic events right after its conclusion. First up we have the "Trial of Jesus" on 4th April. The church will be set up like a court room and the case is "Is Jesus dead?" Basically we want to show people that there is credible evidence for the resurrection of Christ, and to invite each person to make a decision about it. Then the following week, we have a person from Jews for Jesus coming to speak on the significance of the resurrection for a Jewish Christan.

<< Please pray that all these various events will be able to present the gospel well and encourage people to see the truth and importance of the resurrection. Pray that the hearts of non-Christians will be challenged to respond to this truth rather than just acknowledging (or even rejecting) it. >>

Tomorrow night, I'll also be having dinner with a bunch of high school friends whom I haven't seen for ages. It'll be interesting to see their response when they find out I'm at Bible college. None of them are Christians as far as I know, though one of them has been interested for some time but not willing to make a committment yet. Most are nominal Catholics, quite intelligent (ie 95+ for TER/UAI), career orientiated, and generally uninterested in religious things. But I hope that I can use Easter and Bible college to bring Jesus up in conversation and to challenge them as well.

<< Please pray that God may open opportunities for me to tell the gospel to my friends. Pray that I may be bold and not shy away from the topic of Jesus. Pray that I can be a good witness to them, and that they will be interested in talking about it. >>

By now, all of you should have received my latest newsletter. If not, let me know and I'll send it again. It's actually quite hard to send bulk emails, 'cause there's all these restrictions as to how big your email can be and how many people to send it to at one time. I don't know how spammers manage it!?!

I'm starting to cope a bit better with time here at college now. Not quite there yet, but I'm not procrastinating as much and I'm starting to make use of the small blocks of time. There's regular stream of assessments due now (average of one a week), and I really gotta get stuck into them. At the same time, I don't want to have my head stuck in a book all the time. I need to be spending time with people and serving and encouraging them.

Next week is Research Week - which means that there will be no lectures on and we can focus on getting some of those assignments done. Well, that's the idea anyways...Let's just hope I don't waste it!

<< Thank God that I'm slowly adjusting to college life and improving in my time management. Pray that I can be disciplined next week and use my time well to complete my essays. Pray also that I can be continually spending personal time with God in my quiet times. Pray especially that I will be able to keep building relationships with my the staff and with fellow students and not be forever hidden in my room. >>

An update on the Simply Christianity course I'm running at EYF. Tomorrow will be the 3rd week of the course. So far, we've had 2 non-Christians who've come both weeks, and 3 who have come for only one of the two weeks. Hopefully we'll have all 5 of them this time. A pat on the back for those who've been bold enough to invite their friends. =)

Generally, I think it's going ok. It's always hard to tell with a new group. People are a bit shy and awkward. And they hardly ever (or never) go to church. They all have fairly different backgrounds. They don't seem to have a lot of questions at this stage, which I don't know if it's a good or bad thing. But at least they don't seem to have a lot of pre-conceived ideas and are pretty open to the material I present to them. But I do hope that they are understanding it all and that God will use it to change their hearts.

This week we're looking at Jesus' mission - to seek and save the lost.

<< Praise God for these people who've turned up to learn about Jesus. Pray that I can be clear and faithful in explaining the gospel, and that God will move them to be challenged and in reponse turn and accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. >>

It's towards the end of week 3 here at college. Assessments are starting to pile up now and my schedule is filling up with stuff. I've started a new section on the left with some of the upcoming stuff so you can pray for me.

<< Give thanks to our God that I am really enjoying my time at SMBC. Pray that as I start to write essays and do exams that this will not become an academic exericse but instead a life changing one as God's Word lives in me. >>

Every year, SMBC is involved with a number of different missions around Australia and even overseas. Just found out that I'll be involved with a large mission in Nowra in September. I have no idea what the place is like and what we'll be doing, but I look forward to getting to know my team of 20 and working together for the gospel.

<< Pray that I can get to know the people on my mission team and that we can work well together. Pray for the lost in Nowra that God may prepare their hearts now so that they will be ready to receive the good news of our Lord Jesus christ. >>

At church we are starting a 5 week Simply Christianity course this Friday! It's a very exciting time for EYF as it is the follow up to our first outreach event a few months ago. I'll be leading the non-Christian group while Jeremy leads the Christian in doing some training for evangelism.

<< Please pray for the hearts of the non-Christians as they come to know Jesus through the Gospel of Luke. Pray that they will be teachable and will ask good questions. And pray for me too that I may teach the Word of God faithfully and clearly so that these non-Chrsitians will have an opportunity to understand and respond to the gospel. >>

As expected, it's been a hectic week! With church ministries and college lectures & assessments, I hardly have time for anything else right now.

Thanks to everyone who've asked me how I'm going and have been praying for me. You have been an invaluable source of encouragement. I'm enjoying everything so far and staying awake in lectures! :P But I just need to organise my time a bit better and prioritise things.

Especially with my church ministries as well. It's still kinda the start of term so there's a few Bible studies & related stuff I gotta sort out. And in particular I'm trying to do more personal ministry with the leaders, but it's much harder to find a time that works well with my college timetable and is good for them too.

And I haven't even made a start on my newsletter yet! Ack! >:(

<< Thank God for my faithful brothers and sisters who are in partnership in the gospel with me. Please pray for strength and wisdom as I try to manage my time and work load. Pray also for my relationships with people at church that I won't be too focused on things to do and end up neglecting them. >>

And just a gentle reminder: if you've been reading this blog but you haven't been praying for me - please pray for me! I need God's help! :)

One of the worst thing about adjusting to college life must be the internet - or there lackof. It's quite expensive and slow compared, of course, to the unlimited cable that I've been used to. So I'm afraid that updates on this blog, plus replies to any emails might be a bit slow. :(

But other than that, college hasn't been too bad. Believe it or not, we had our first assessment on Monday (yesterday) already worth 5%. It has been most intensive learning NT Greek the past 4 days. We crammed about 6 weeks of work into 4 days. I *think* I understand most of the ideas, but just have a lot of vocab (nouns, verbs and adjectives) and stuff to learn.

Been meeting lots of people as well, and basically forgetting everything due to sheer volume. So everytime I talk to people, we all have to introduce ourselves again. But I think I'm starting to match names to faces now at least.

This week will be a bit more laid back, doing just orientation and things. But I think I'm going to keep working hard on the Greek so I can be ready to go when lectures start next week. So as usual, not much rest of me.

I've met the rest of my housemates, and they're all pretty easy to get along with. In particular, John is an overseas student from Korea here to learn English for the purpose of further theological studies. Very friendly and polite guy. I should have no problems getting along with all of them. Unfortunately, we rotate every 6 or 12 months, and so I'm most likely going to move come June (which is actually only 4 months away - drats!). But that just means more opportunity to get to know the other fellas.

Anyways, they say time is money, and this internet at college is costing me. I'll really really try to update at least every fornight, or even every week. But please keep praying for me!!

<< Thank God for the great housemates and for the many great people I've met over this past week. Pray that as I learn Greek and other subjects that it will not be purely a academic exercise, but that it will be a life changing experience as I get to know God more through His Word and as I fellowship with those around me. >>

Bye bye Wongside and hello SMBC!

I've been spending the last 2 days packing and moving into my new home at SMBC. I was expecting to move into a little room shared with another person. But instead, I'm living in one of the houses owned by SMBC with 3 other guys. I haven't met my new housemates yet, but I must say, it's very much like Brightside all over again.

The house is a little bit old, but all the bedrooms have been renovated and looks pretty good. Except for the kitchen and bathroom which is a bit old. But I guess you can't expect to have everything. I've got a living-room-turned-bedroom and it's almost 3 times my bedroom in Wongside! =) We've all been provided a nice wardrobe, book shelf, desk & chair, and bed and mattress. Everything's in pretty good condition. No old saggy beds or decrepid furniture.

Nice.

Tomorrow I'll be starting my first day of New Testament greek. Looking forward to finally starting college so that I can get some routine back into my life.

<< Thank God for my new home and for the providing such a nice place. Pray that as I get started at college that I can settle into the place and get a routine going so that I can be an effective and effecient servant for God. >>

Last night us guys spent a bit of time sharing and praying, which was a very nice gesture. These guys have been my family for the past 3 years and they've been very generous and encouraging to me. It's been a great time living with them and getting to know them and I'm sure I'll be back to visit often (like those who've gone before me :P).

<< Thank God for the providing these guys in my life and the way in which they've served and supported me. Pray that Wongside will continue to be a place of ministry where the people and the house can be used to bring glory to God. >>

I'll miss you guys! :'|