International Student Ministry
Several of the STINTers on our team are working a few days with the International Student ministry of Student Life in Melbourne. Jessamyn, whom Maria is developing, disciples several women from China and also meets with non Christian women and takes them through a course about Jesus called “Christianity Explained” (CE for short). Recently, Jayee, a student from China, was randomly approached by a woman giving out gospel tracts in Melbourne Central (a shopping area & train station in the Central Business District in the City). Jayee felt pursued because this was the second person God had brought into her life to love her and to share the gospel with her! Jayee called one of the only Christians she knows, Uting, also from China, to tell her about the woman and to ask if she could take her to church because she wanted to know more about this God who loves her. Uting brought Jayee to church and also told her about CE with Jessamyn, which she was excited to participate in, where she’s hearing the gospel every week! Uting has been involved with ISM for a little bit and was recently challenged to begin being disicpled and multiplying herself by discipling others. While she was timid that she could do it well, she became confident as Jessamyn coached her. Here, she took the initiative to multiply herself and now we believe Jayee will soon come into the family of Christ because she knows that God is pursuing her! It’s so exciting to see 2 Timothy 2:2 really worked out here: “and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” One other note about internationals we’ve learned this week is that in Melbourne there are over 170 languages spoken and you can visit some 3,000 different ethnic restaurants. Talk about reaching the world in one city!
ConneXions Camp
A few weekends ago, we had another camp for students involved in SL called ConneXions Camp that one of our STINT teammates planned! It was for all SL students in Victoria (the state we live in) and about 100 students came. The speaker talked about idols in our lives and how to identify them and how to deal with them. It was a great time of being taught in the Word and connecting with students and missionaries that we usually don’t get to see. Some of the students from our City Centre movements brought non Christian friends and they were definitely challenged to open their hearts to Jesus. We ended the weekend by committing to fast together in community to serve notice to our idols, that we were no longer going to let them rule our lives and that instead we are going to submit to God and keep Him first in our lives. We broke the fast on campus with students on Monday and it was a really powerful time to talk about what God had been doing as we sacrificed things we love to connect with the One we love! Please keep praying for the missionaries and students, that we’d continue having open ears and hearts to know what idols are in our lives and what next steps are for us in battling them.
We’ve Moved!
We moved a few weeks ago and were so awed by how the Lord provided for us! There are more details on our website, as well as lots of photos of all that God provided for us through our local church!
Prayer Requests
- praise the Lord for graciously meeting our needs for furnishing our new flat!
- pray for our team to be known as a team who encourages one another in the Lord.
- pray for wisdom for Jason as he edits his book.
- pray for us & the students to walk with Jesus and keep Him at the center of our lives.
