oKERRances

2011-04-17T02:53:00.000-07:00

The Okerrance (Jan - March, 2011)

Hello!

We do hope you are all keeping well. It’s been some time since the last oKerrance, so we have much to catch up on.

Ending Well

We shall start at the end…of 2010 that is.

2010 ended with the FOCUS Christmas carols. This is an annual event held at the university where we have a chance to openly proclaim the Gospel in a open air setting. We had about 150 people come, and they enjoyed dinner, a short kids talk, and of course many carols sung in different languages. This year, Jesus was testified to in song in Swahili, Indonesian, Korean, Mandarin, Vietnamese and of course, English! There was a short talk about why Jesus came into the world and many expressed an interest to either be involved in small groups, or to investigate more about the truth. We had

really great fun.

At the end of each year, the AFES (Australian Fellowship of International Students) hold an annual training event called the NTE (the National Training Event). This conference for students across the land (and also those from different lands!), trains them in different areas of theological thinking, be it from strand 1 groups which teach basic skills in learning to read the bible, to strand 4 groups that teach the meaning and implications of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Over 1200 students came to NTE 2010, and we were greatly blessed to hear the book of 2 Timothy exposited by Don Carson. I ran a FOCUS strand group and it was really encouraging to see so many overseas students from across different parts of Australia really enthusiastic and enjoying learning how to read the bible.

Following NTE, we have the great privilege of going out in teams on mission to different parts of Australia. This year, I lead a team to Wilde Street, Maroubra (South East Sydney). We had about 10 FOCUS students from Wollongong this year on mission, and they all really enjoyed the experience of learning to share their faith, both in song at shopping centres (Singing Christmas carols), in testimony (at various events) and in speaking to people on the streets.

Sadness and Joy

Of course, as the year draws to a close, many of our international students need to return home, either for a short while on holiday, but also for good. Having been in this ministry for just a year, I had not had the experience of seeing many of those we have come to know and love in Christ, return home. There are many who come through the doors of FOCUS, and a number who stay to find out more. We had a number of students who became Christians last year and it was a great joy to see them established in the faith, albeit for only a short period in some cases. Two of those were Lany and Charlie.

Charlie returned home to Korea in February and Lany to China. It was amazing to see these two grow exponentially in their faith and biblical understanding in such a short time. The danger of course is that as they return home, that growth is stunted or even stops as the pressure of work or family life gets on top of them. However, as far as we know, both Charlie and Lany continue on in the Lord, facing the trials that are so real for them. We learnt 1 Peter 2:21-25 this year at our NTE strand groups, so our prayer is that they too would continue to entrust themselves to the Lord in the face of abuse, ridicule or just being ‘different’, just as our Lord did. Perhaps you could pray that for them too?

Holidays

We never feel as though December is a holiday for some reason! Josiah’s birthday (18^th Dec) followed James’ time away at NTE and mission (2^nd-12^th Dec). This in turn is followed by all the Christmas preparations. We had Christmas with Maria’s father and her sister’s family this year, followed by Boxing day with many of the FOCUS students who had not returned to their home countries. 23 people turned up for a time of Turkey, Christmas puddings and games. By the end of December we were ready for a break which we had in the Blue Mountains with Maria’s sister’s family. Both Josiah and Jessica had an awesome time with their cousins, whilst their parents got to enjoy couple’s evenings out to dinner!

We also had the great joy of seeing old friends over the break. The Divyanathans from Singapore visited us in mid December, and we were able to show them a bit of what Wollongong has to offer, as well as to catch up and enjoy Colin Buchanan ‘live’ together (a Kid’s Christian song writer and performer). If you are ever in Sydney, do come and see us, as we always enjoy visitors.

January was less frantic overall, but still busy –

we got to go to New Zealand! We have good friends in Wellington and so we had a great 10 days both catching up with them and visiting parts of the North Island. We were so blessed to have accommodation organised for us, as well as enjoying the culinary delights of New Zealand together! Thank God with us for the opportunity to catch up with friends over December and January and to get a chance to have an affordable holiday away.

And… the beginning of ‘11

As usual the beginning of the academic year is full on. It is a really important time for us, to be out there on the walkways of the university letting overseas students, both new and old alike, know about FOCUS – who we are, what we do and what we believe.

This year we were invited to be included in the international clubs and Societies stores during International enrolment. This was a great way of advertising ourselves, and there was lots of interest.

We held a ‘Welcome to Wollongong’ seminar for arriving students, which aimed to inform internationals about what to expect as a student arriving in a new country, an introduction to Australian culture, and experiences of some seasoned internationals students.

They were invited along to our Welcome dinner, and about 60 turned up for our opening meeting. In the opening few weeks of term, numbers of international students coming to hear the good news has been encouraging, not just in Wollongong, but all over Australia. Since then we have been averaging over 50 on Thursdays, with many newcomers returning and eager to study the bible in small groups, and that is SO encouraging. Do thank God for this increase in numbers across the country and pray that there would be a real repentance and faith in those who stay. Pray too for us as a staff team who have the joy of keeping up with so many! We have been looking at the first four chapters of John’s Gospel this first half of term and plan to look at Genesis 1-11 in the second half of semester.

This year, Jerry Lee has joined the FOCUS UoW staff as a ministry trainee, and seems to have settled well. Thank God for that. Please pray for him and me as I train him on a weekly basis, as Jerry is the first ‘official’ trainee on staff that I have trained before. Pray also for me as I make a very tentative start in learning to speak Mandarin… Yes, its finally happening!

Here are a number of other things that we would love you to pray for over the coming weeks,

· Mid Semester FOCUS fun day – Nowra Wildlife Park followed by dinner and talk. Pray that FOCUS folks would invite their friends and that the Gospel would be explained on that day.

· Our short break away in Sydney in mid- April – that we would have refreshing and fun time as a family.

· My Sermon series in the book of Genesis – that I would preach faithfully and clearly and that many would see the impact that Genesis has on life.

· Our annual ‘Meaning of Easter’ Dinner – that many would want to come and find out the meaning of this time of year.

And the Family

Jessica has started Kindergarten this year! (For our overseas friends, this means the start of 'big' school - going from 9am-325pm 4days a week in the first term and then 5days from second term onwards!) After a reticent start in her class, she is getting more used to it now and is doing well in her reading. She is also fully into her dancing now, with two lessons a week, and soon to be performing at four local dance competitions throughout the year!

Josiah has just finished his cricket season, and has thoroughly enjoyed the time over the summer. He was one of the most effective bowlers this year in the under 10’s. As I have mentioned before, he supports the Australian Cricket team and so it has been quite a subdued summer. For me on the other hand, who supports England, its been quite a good summer. The less said about that over here, the better…

Over to Maria!

Hi everyone, as you read from the above we started this year running and have been on a fast jog since – but it has been wonderfully paced out with rest & refreshment points! This year -although busy, I have been enjoying a more healthy balance of work & much needed exercise and time out.

In this oKerrance, I would like to share with you some of the things that refresh me and bless me!

Enjoying beautiful Wollongong

Walking soon becomes a lovely joy when you have scenery that takes your breath away each time. Although the sight & sound of water have a calming effect on my mind it also always reminds me of the awesomeness of the One who created it. ‘The sea’ in the Bible is often linked to the idea of chaos and havoc, and yet we know the One who has ultimate control over it and can calm it with a word. What a great priviledge! It takes the fear out of things we cannot control and enables us to enjoy that which He has created. I have been thankful that I am only 10mins away from a getaway if I need a walk, somewhere peaceful to read or a place for quiet reflection. Thank God for giving us good things to enjoy!

Enjoying another’s gifting - Books

I have always enjoyed books because we can share in the gift of insight and of the experiences that God has given to the writer. It is a great blessing that God has given us brothers & sisters who build us up in this way. Two books which I have read recently and have been blessed by is Feminine Appeal – Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife & Mother, by Carolyn Mahaney and Did I kiss Marriage goodbye? – Trusting God with a hope deferred, by Carolyn McCulley.

Feminine Appeal was a great model of Titus 2. Carolyn as an older woman shares her wealth of experiences & teaches us from Titus 2 of how we can be Titus 2 women! – Whether you are single or married. It’s like having an older woman by our side, guiding teaching & encouraging us to aspire to God’s created purposes for us. I felt rebuked at many points of the book, and my prayer is to give it a second reading and pray through the things that I need to change.

Did I kiss marriage goodbye is a book written by a single lady who struggles with her singleness but very helpfully suggests godly ways to respond to the gift that God has given her. I, having been married for nearly 12 years, have lost touch with a lot of the real struggles that our single sisters face and of how we can be intentionally helpful towards our sisters. Reading the book gave me real insights into practical ways of how we can affirm their singleness and encourage them to live out their gifts. Please pray that I will be sensitive & caring & more intentional in my prayers for my sisters, and that my speech would reflect my belief in God’s good purpose for their singleness. As I was reading, God brought to my mind lots of my current single friends who already use their singleness for God. I felt encouraged in heart & for them I gave great thanks to God!

Enjoying relationships & fellowship

I have been truly blessed with having so many sisters in Christ around me that I can chat with, pray with and read the bible with! This year, I have had the privilege of spending more time with 3-4 ladies on a regular basis. I am always encouraged when we share our lives, pray for each other and remind each other of our status in Christ. I was particularly encouraged by Kate, who asked to meet up shortly after she gave birth to her second child – we have been meeting together regularly to read through the book of Proverbs and enjoying it. Please give thanks to God with me for Jessamy, Belinda, Liz & Kate! Pray that I can be an encouragement to them as they have been to me.

Another highlight in terms of relationship and fellowship is the start of a new church bible study group at our home on Tuesday nights. We have had a steady commitment of 8-10 people come every week, and I have been blessed by their contribution and commitment to the group. We are slowly getting to know one another, please pray that as we grow together we would continue to support each other & to reach out to those around us.

A Winter’s End oKerrance

2010-10-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

We hope this latest Okerrance finds you well – it is Spring in Australia, and we are glad to be through the ‘cold’ months of winter in more ways than one. We have now been here almost exactly one year, and it has flown by!

We are writing this ‘okerrance’ (Our newsletter name) just prior to our Annual supporters dinner. A yearly event that aims to update all who have been involved in supporting Gospel work at Wollongong University - either in prayer or financially - and that includes you! So we want to say thank you to everyone for praying and supporting us even from overseas. There are great needs that I will highlight later on the financial front, but first lets update you what’s been happening here,…

At FOCUS… As mentioned in our July FOCUS snapshot*, we continue to give thanks to God for the many international students who attended the Mid Year Conference (MYC) this year on the ‘Cross of Christ’. Some non Christian students who attended were deeply impacted by the message of the Cross, and were moved to consider becoming Christians. They are currently looking into what it means to make that commitment, so do pray that as they investigate the claims and work of Jesus, the Spirit would convince them the truth about Christ. We thank God too, that some of the other students were very challenged by the implications of the Cross, compelling them towards change and in some cases to recommit their lives to Jesus.

(*FOCUS snapshot is a brief email sent out more regularly to update you on the news at FOCUS, Wollongong. Please email jimazkerr@gmail.com if you would like to receive this.)

Fun at MYC

Good News! Since our last newsletter, we have also been privileged to see a number of people turn to Christ at FOCUS! One man I have been reading the bible with since July, turned to Christ in August this year (Yuxiang). Praise God. As with all new converts, please do pray for him. He is a PhD student supported by both his parents and a scholarship, so the pressures on him to do well are great (like many international students who come overseas to study). Pray that he will learn to prioritise following Jesus with these pressures. Pray also that as he returns to China for a break, that he will make a stand for Jesus and have opportunities to witness Christ to his family. We also have had two other Chinese girls and one Korean Man confess Jesus as Lord! Thank God for his saving Grace and pray that God would root all of these young believers in the word of truth and that they would stand firm as they face new challenges in their situation. There are also a number of others coming to FOCUS who are very close to committing themselves to Jesus, so pray that the Lord will open their eyes to see and believe in the one and only Lord and Saviour.

As I approach the end of the first year at FOCUS, I have appreciated more and more the work that has gone on here over the years. We have such a unique opportunity here in Australia to proclaim Christ to all nations freely, and especially as they gather in one place at our universities nationwide. So many internationals have come to Christ, out of the pressure cooker environments of their family homes, and societies that are not as open to the Gospel. That’s what makes this ministry so worthwhile so thank you for your partnership over the years with those who have been involved in faithful proclamation.

A typical night at FOCUS

Personal Work… It has been a joy to be able to meet up with four men on a one to one basis at the moment - a Chinese National, an Indian, a Hong Kong Chinese, and an Australian! One of those men is Jerry from Hong Kong, and we are so glad that he has decided to join the Wollongong FOCUS staff next year as an apprentice. Please pray in thanking God that since coming to Wollongong about 5 years ago, he has become a Christian, and now come to the point where he wants to spend time reaching out and building up students in Christ. Pray also that appropriate finances will be raised so he can join us!

Give thanks to God that a number of the Australian students (from the Evangelical Christian Union (ECU) at Wollongong University), have been meeting one to one regularly with some of the Internationals to read the bible. Most of these International students are not Christians, so pray that God would be gracious and open their hearts & minds. Pray too, that the Christianity Explained group led by one of the Australian ECU students and myself, will seek to be faithful to explain Jesus clearly and faithfully to around 3-4 students who want to get to grips with who God is and what Jesus has done. We are encouraged by the interest, so pray that these students would turn back to him as they consider the evidence.

Preaching Work… I have just finished a stretch of 7 sermons in 8 weeks which has been tiring but enjoyable. At the beginning of the term, we covered a series on ‘Knowing God’ as an introduction to Christianity for a number of new students joining FOCUS at the start of semester. We finished off Mark 1-8 after that, and now we are moving into 2 Cor 1-7 territory! I also preached at a guest service at the local Baptist church towards the beginning of September, do pray that those newcomers who might have never heard the Gospel before, were challenged to consider the warning about ‘all kinds of Greed’ that Jesus gives (Luke 12:13-21).

Persian Work… God continues to amaze us, as we have had several people from an Iranian background visit FOCUS this year. What we are finding, is that there is real genuine interest from Iranians to find out more about Jesus (not just students). This so exciting and there seems to be a real window of opportunity for us to reach out to them, so please pray, pray, pray(!) that God would give us great wisdom and sensitivity to reach out to those who are interested to know more.

Personally (James)…

In our last Okerrance, I (James) mentioned that I wanted to talk to someone regarding my own anxiety, and thank God, I got a chance to do that through some kind referrals. I found out that I was in the highly anxious, moderately depressed range. I mentioned in our last oKerrance that I had been struggling to settle in Wollongong, and this shed a lot of light on the reason why I was feeling the way I was. I think a lot of my character / personality flaws have been there for a while, but only surfaced more severely in our moving here. I think I also was grieving moving from Singapore, leaving behind friends and ministry networks that we had established over the last 13 years. I don’t think I was expecting that, nor did I have time to think about this when we first arrived because there were so many changes going on. Maria, on the other hand, was enjoying being back here, among a supportive environment, and was frustrated and upset that I could not settle, especially since we had moved so that she could get more support!

With all this being said, I think we are coming through the worst of the ‘fog’ we have been going through, and it has enabled Maria and I to work at our marriage in the ways we need to, and for me to address the issues that need to be addressed. At the end of the day, we are all weak, and its only because of God’s Grace and his strengthening that any of us persevere. I thank God that he has given me a godly wife who has persevered in doing what is right over the last few months, even though it has been hard for her to understand and accept the issues about me! Keep praying for us!

Finances… As many of you will already know, the organization I work for (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) needs its staff to raise funds for the work on campus. I started this year with about 50% of the total required committed (A$ 60k per annum). I had hoped that this amount, along with the number of supporters, would rise steadily this year. Whilst we are thankful to God for those of you who have committed to support us, our overall support has lagged significantly behind over the year. We are looking to find 50 supporters giving AUD $100 per month to cover all our costs, but currently, we are only hitting about 60% of the amount we need to raise, with a projected shortfall at the end of the year of about AUD $18k. If you are in position to be able to support us in the work of the Gospel at FOCUS, Wollongong, we would love to hear from you! You can download an AFES supporters form at

http://www.afes.org.au/_donate/?sessid=02c79eea98eb8433824a67ab8f3e9fa4.

Alternatively, if you are in Singapore or want to remain anonymous about giving, then please do contact Lee Kengyi (kengyi@gmail.com), who is our funds co-ordinator in Singapore. Having said that, we are very thankful for your partnership, not just financially, but in prayer as well. We can plant, and others water, but it is God who makes the seed grow. Keep praying that much fruit would be born in Wollongong for his Glory.

Updates on the rest of the Kerr household

Jessica

Our little artist

Bikeriding

Our little ‘chilli padi’ (small & harmless looking but packs a powerful punch!) is blossoming into a big ‘chilli padi’!! Jessica is a cheerful bubbly soul, ever so full of energetic enthusiasm & determination. Jessica LOVES pre-school as it is her chance to socialise and ‘mother’ some of the other kids around her. Jessica LOVES anything arty or crafty – she is constantly drawing, cutting, sticking and gluing. Mummy, Daddy, Josiah & Fluffy (pet rabbit) features most in her drawings and paintings. Jessica LOVES physical activities – ballet, jazz, gym, playground challenges, swimming, scootering, bike riding, roller skating & ice skating. AND best of all, Jessica LOVES learning about JESUS!! It has been wonderful to hear her recounting what she has learnt from the bible at home/church/school and to see her inquiring mind at work. She is beginning to link ideas together and asks very perceptive questions about what she has learnt. I have felt so blessed to have this opportunity where She is asking the questions & attentively listening to the answers! She even reminds us to read the bible to her every night. Please join with me to thank GOD for all that Jessica is and mostly for creating faith in her little heart. Do pray that she will continue to seek out who God is & love Him for herself.

Ice Skating

Josiah

Jos loves dogs!

Books, cricket, soccer, NRL (Rugby League), pokemon card games & star wars wii - sound like a typical list of interests for a boy turning 9 this year?! You bet! Together with all his academic achievements in school, Josiah is also very proud to be only less than 10cm away of being the same height as mummy and also the tallest child in his year 3 class! On our home days, he enjoys following Daddy around the house helping with manly chores of taking things apart, putting things together and fixing things. The rest of the time, he loves being outdoors in the sun and the wind. He hopes to save up enough money to visit his friend Jordon in New York one day, and often recall with fond memories his best friend Nicholas, who lives in Singapore.

Josiah & James

Recently, James & I have been discussing what areas of interest we should encourage Josiah to pursue – and also been casually asking Josiah what he would like to do when he grows up. Would he be interested in being a Vet since he loved animals, or something related to computers since he loved staring into screens?! ‘I don’t know’ seems to be the general answer – understandably. However, one night as I was putting him to bed and praying with him, out of the blue he said “Mummy, I know what I really want to do when I grow up – I want to travel around and tell people about Jesus!” Which mother’s heart would not be warmed in hearing these words! These will be memories I will treasure- ones which show a growing understanding of God’s words in my children’s lives and their blossoming relationship with God. Do give thanks with me!

Maria: Reflection of the 3 ‘R’s

James preaching at Deb & Ansen's wedding.

Relaxation

We had the great privilege to go back to Singapore for a quick visit & for James to preach at Deborah & Ansen’s wedding in July. Due to our short stay, our schedules were packed tightly so that we could make the most of our trip. However, having been in Wollongong for 10 months and having gotten used to the slower more relaxed pace – the contrast with Singapore’s pace became much more evident. When we were living in Singapore we knew we were busy, but being busy all the time just became a way of life. Being busy is not a bad thing (we are commanded not to be idle but to work), but busyness can get in the way of many good things – eg. time to sit back and reflect on God’s word and what it means to our everyday lives, time for others – really listening & understanding rather than ‘doing’ or ‘solving’ or ‘organising’, time to rest & enjoy the many good things & relationships that God has given us. We knew all these things in theory, but sometimes it takes coming out of a situation to really notice that we haven’t been doing those things well. Personally, its been a good time of reflecting and learning not to feel guilty about having time-out and to feel the spiritual benefits of a physically healthier mind and body. However, do pray with me that the urgency of the last days will always be on my mind so that I don’t get too comfortable in the ‘good’ life in Australia.

Next to the exciting event of the wedding, was the privilege of becoming godparents to little Nate! We were surprised and honoured to be asked by Steph & David, please pray that we would have the discipline to pray constantly for Nate, Steph & David even tho we are physically far away!

David, Steph & Nate!

Relationships

As many of you know, we have not been successful in staying in one place for more than 3 or 4 years! In the past 11 years, we have moved homes 7 times, moved countries 3 times, changed churches 5 times & James has had 4 different jobs! You must think we are either very fickle minded or we can’t keep still. The good news is – we are neither! We just didn’t know that that was what God had in mind for us! Needless to say, with every change comes the challenge of making new friendships and saying good-bye to old ones... however, we draw a lot of comfort knowing that we will see our brothers & sisters again when we return to our Father’s home! In the meantime, you remain dear to us & we are always so happy to hear your news!

God has blessed us tremendously in supplying us with a loving church family in our latest move here to Wollongong. We are still getting to know many of our brothers and sisters, do pray with us that relationships will continue to deepen in our bible study groups, in Sunday gatherings, having meals together and other various meet ups.

I have had the privilege of some ‘instant’ relationships with some sisters (ones where you just get on after a few conversations even tho we are so different & have not met each other before). And sadly, just when we are just getting to know each other better, they are saying their good-byes to me as God leads them elsewhere. It is strange to be the one staying when I have been accustomed to being the one leaving! But its been very good to be standing on the ‘other’ side, helps me to appreciate the ‘loss’ a lot more.

Resources

‘Rich’ is how I would describe the amazing resources and training that is available to us here in Australia. If you were a Christian conference junkie, you could possibly go to at least 1 major conference/retreat/church camp, a few seminars/workshops/women’s or men’s event a month every month of the year! We are so blessed to have so many able teachers of God’s word to equip us in every good work in Christ. The flip side of having such richness is that we tend to take it for granted (‘its always going to be there!’) and become lazy in our own study of God’s Word ourselves (‘Wow, these teachers are so much more gifted than me! I will just listen to another sermon rather than wrestle with the passages myself.’).

This past year, I have been able to attend a few women’s day conferences such as Equip & Women’s day (organised by the Baptist church), our church weekend away & a ‘Trellis and the Vine’ workshop. It is so great to spend a chunk of time- uncluttered by my daily concerns- being taught and having the time to reflect upon what we have learnt. I always come away feeling that I need more time to think through the implications of what I have learnt and how I could apply it to my daily attitudes and concerns. But as I reflect back, sadly as usual, I get zapped right back to ‘normal life’ and the impact of those teaching days are not as sustained as I would like – so that begs the question – “Am I being too Busy again!?”

Pray that I will put in motion both the disciplines of the study of God’s Word for myself and the discipline to think of how it should make my life different and set-apart.

[Thanks for reading this extra long oKERRance, till the next time- keep in Jesus! : ) ]

A Learning Okerrance

2010-06-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

What has been happening in the lives of the Kerr’s over the last 3-4 months? Well, since we last wrote, we have settled down into more of a routine following the Christmas period. Jessica started at the Illawarra Christian School Prep school two days a week, which she is loving; Josiah is the same – enjoying the slower pace of school work. Cricket has given way to football for the winter months and he has a match every Saturday morning for the next 18 weeks or so! He is beginning to show promise in a ball winning mid field position – in other words his big size is good at getting in the way of the opposition! Jessica has flourished in her ballet classes, and will be performing soon! Maria has been beginning to build deeper relationships with some at church and she is enjoying the Women on Wednesday (WOW) group that has been looking at the Moore College Correspondence Course on Mark’s Gospel this past term.

James’ FOCUS on learning

Learning for me that is! People have been asking me how I have been settling in at FOCUS this year. And whilst I have often given the answer with what we have been doing and what we have been teaching, the truth is, I am the one who has been learning the most. The first four months have been packed full of good stuff. When we last wrote, I was planning the year at FOCUS and still finding my footing. Well, you might not be surprised to know that I am still finding my footing! I have much to learn about International work and how to best reach out to a wide variety of peoples from different countries. I find preaching to a group that is really diverse, challenging, mainly because there is no homogeneity in the group we speak to. Chinese, Papua New Guinean, Indian, Vietnamese with a spattering of local students who help out at FOCUS (which the staff deeply appreciate!). A large number who do visit us on Thursday nights are not Christians as well, so the level at which we pitch our talks and teach is always a challenge! Do pray for me especially, as I learn how to communicate the Gospel simply and clearly to the students with such a wide range of backgrounds.

Having said that, do praise God for this wonderful opportunity that we have at FOCUS, to preach the Gospel boldly and faithfully into the lives of believers and unbelievers alike. There is still a lot of interest by students from China to know Jesus, and that happens at both the smaller group level (we carry out Christianity Explained classes) and at the individual level (a number of the staff are meeting with those interested to find out more in one to one regular meetings). Pray for all those we have been meeting with this semester – that the Holy Spirit would convict them of the truth about Jesus, sin and judgment! One man from China I have been meeting with has been interested in Christian things for a while now, but unfortunately he is moving away from Wollongong soon. Please could you pray specifically for him, that the distractions of relationships and the world would not crowd out his enthusiasm to know Christ. Pray also for another from China who has been coming to our bible study group this semester - that although he is there for friendships and to practice his English (not uncommon at FOCUS), that somehow our witness to the word and our Christian lives would leave a deep impact on him.

To help us build relationships with the students (and to help them build relationships with each other), we meet together before our FOCUS meeting to have a meal together. This has been a terrific way of getting to understand how each student ticks, and how they stand with God and Jesus. We titled this gathering time as ‘Table Talk’, appropriately, because we try and centre our conversation on the main theme of the talk that evening. So far, table talk has been going well, so pray that God uses that time to build relationships with a view to sharing the Gospel. We also had FOCUS fun days to the Blue Mountains during the Easter break, which gave FOCUS regulars a chance to invite friends along and for their friends to get involved in real fellowship – I even had a chance to give a Sermonette on the Mount! To follow that up, we had a FOCUS games day and dinner which was well attended by Christian and non- Christian alike.

For those of you interested about my week you can take a look below. For those who are not interested, you can shift your eyes to the next paragraph! I have three staff meetings a week (of various kinds!), a bible study group, a Christianity Explained group, Small group leader’s training, helper’s training and of course, our main FOCUS meeting on Thursday evening. The rest of the time I have left is in preparation and one to one work! I will update you on individual aspects of the work through our FOCUS Foto snapshots I hope to be sending out every month from now on.

However, and more importantly, its not just about the ministry at FOCUS that I have been learning about over these last few months. I have also been learning about me in so many ways, not least my own weakness and failings through my own sinfulness as a husband and as a father. As many of you know, I am a fairly anxious person and this can be quite a challenge to cope with in ministry, which in turn can have a knock on effect to relationships and especially our marriage. In moving again, and changing jobs etc, you will always expect additional stressors to come. This has made me anxious unfortunately, and I don’t think I have coped with them that well. Its only now I am realizing that I need to address this issue, so do pray for me as I speak to the right people about how best to address it. Pray for me as a husband too that I will not be distracted or negligent towards Maria (whether by stress or anxiety), and that I will learn to love and to cherish Maria more and more, as Christ loved his own body, the church.

Over to Maria

Magnolia - I became an aunt for the 5th time when my new niece Magnolia Grace Finley arrived end of January. Its really lovely to be able to enjoy a baby without the sleep deprivation and the demands of a newborn. Being an aunt is a bit like being a grandparent. You enjoy all the perks of having a cute little bub to play with without all the hard work! Magnolia is now coming to 4 months old and looks very much like her older brother Oscar. Please thank God with us for creating another precious little life.

Making splashes – For those of you who have been praying for & asking after my health, thank you! God has been very gracious in the area of my health since arriving back in Australia. The reoccurring infections seemed to have come to a halt. I have also committed to doing aqua aerobics twice a week and have been amazed at how much it helps my energy levels. Please thank God for restoring my health and the opportunity to do regular exercise.

Friends & family – Arriving in Wollongong is like arriving home even though I have never lived in Wollongong before. We are so grateful for the church family here, it makes settling in and deepening relationships so much easier. I look forward to Women on Wednesdays (bible study group) and to our weekly gathering on Sunday mornings. At WOW, I have been challenged to think again about what following Jesus – discipleship – means to me at this point in life. Please thank God for the new family He has provided for us here, and pray with me to think through and to commit to changing areas of my life that needs changing as I follow Jesus.

FOCUS – Although I have little day to day involvement with the overseas students at FOCUS, I have had opportunities to build relationships through hosting meals, joining in the socials (recently to the Blue Mountains) and sometimes attending night church. I am especially enjoying getting to know one Singaporean lady – Xinyi - who attends FOCUS. Do pray for the students who are far away from home and missing family and familiar things. Pray especially that the time they have at FOCUS will help them Know God and to put their trust in Him.

Singlish weekend - One of the highlights in the month of May was when we had friends from Singapore visit & stay with us! We were especially touched that although two of our friends were actually on honeymoon, that they still took the time to come and see us! It was a great time of renewing our friendships in Christ and catching up with news and updates of our family in Christ back in Singapore. Thanking God for the oneness that we have in Christ and for faithful servants of the Gospel in Singapore. Please pray that the Gospel continues to gather people under the headship of Christ in Singapore.

The 2010 New Year Okerrance!

2010-01-20T03:24:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

Well its just under three months since our last update – THREE months already! At least an attempt at keeping up with you quarterly is not too awry! We trust that you are remaining faithful in Christ as this New Year begins, whatever your circumstances, and that Christ is proclaimed through word and deed in your lives.

When we last wrote we had only been in Australia for about six weeks and we were deciding what to do about work. As most of you know, we decided to commit to FOCUS AFES, beginning 2010, and James is now in the midst of preparing the plan for the year! Do pray for James for wisdom and sensitivity to suit the yearly plan to those we are ministering to. It is quite a different environment, different students and different team to be doing ministry amongst this year, so there are many changes to cope with for James. The only constant of course, is the living and enduring word of God that will not change or pass away! Pray that James will remain faithful in life and doctrine amid the changes.

Much of the last few months have been spent doing our level best to settle into our new home in fixing, repairing, buying, organizing, etc before work and school start in 2010! We feel as though we now need a holiday again, but of course it’s time to start work! James’ parents have been in Australia since the end of November last year, so we spent Christmas with them. It was nice to spend some of the Christmas period with Maria’s sister’s family for the first time too.

FOCUSsing in

I am only just getting started at FOCUS and having only visited the Thursday weekly meetings twice last year, I am still orientating myself to the people and environment at Wollongong University. Still, in that time, I have had the great joy of sharing the Gospel with nearly every International student I have met. Most are from China, and most have a genuine interest to investigate just who this man Jesus is as they have the opportunity to investigate God. After about 15 minutes of chatting with one of these students about all sorts of things during a thanksgiving dinner, he turned to me unprompted and said, ‘does Jesus judge people’. I sat there in stunned silence thinking, ‘I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it! how often do I get an opportunity like this? No prompting, no need to ‘turn’ the conversation towards the Gospel.’ Amazing as that was to me then, I have been here a few months now, and having spoken to past and present staff, I’ve realized this happens nearly every week. This is the value of the FOCUS work. Pray that this window of opportunity to reach out to other nationals will bear fruit as they come to hear of Christ the Lord and Saviour! At the moment FOCUS has an Indonesian fellowship, a Mandarin fellowship, an Indian fellowship and an English speaking group. We also have Japanese speakers at FOCUS, so they can always have a Japanese fellowship when the need arises!

I am so blessed to be amongst a godly team of people this year at FOCUS. Matthew Meek is my supervisor, he being the FOCUS national director (overseeing the FOCUS work across the country). He has been with FOCUS for over ten years, and I am looking forward to learning loads from him. I am also full of joy to have another co-worker, John Baird. John is one of the ministry trainees at Wollongong University, serving at FOCUS on a full time basis this year and it is great to have him around. We are also very blessed to have a female FOCUS ministry trainee, Phuong. Phuong is from Vietnam, but was converted and has grown as a Christian here in Wollongong. Please do pray for us as a team, that we will grow in love and service of each other, as we love and serve the students, especially since nearly all of us are new this year. Many of the team have moved on since last year, leaving gaping holes. But, God is sovereign so pray that he will use us to serve his Kingdom faithfully.

At the moment, we are in the throes of identifying and training students to take on the roles of leadership at FOCUS. With so many International students here for such a short time (perhaps on average 2 years), and leaving to return home or move onto other parts of Australia, this makes the task quite tough! International students find it tough to find work in Wollongong, due to the difficult economic environment down here. Humanly speaking, this process is important, and takes lots of time thinking through and prayer. We need to choose the right people from a biblical stand point, so please do pray that as far a possible we will be faithful, and that God will intervene if we are making the wrong choices. We thank God for the many volunteers (both students and workers alike) who have given time to serve at FOCUS in both big and small ways. Keep praying that our Lord will provide student servants for this ministry who can stay around Wollongong long enough to facilitate stability in the leadership.

I look forward to reporting more about FOCUS in the coming months, so watch this space. We will let you know how things are going…

Maria

The last move of 2009!

After 6 weeks of great generosity & patience from my sister’s family in housing us, the Jacaranda trees were swaying their goodbyes to us as we vacated Jacaranda Ave. The noise levels went down a few notches in the lovely suburb of Figtree and a whirlwind of activity & noise descended upon Cordeaux, the next suburb down. Our new neighours were regularly greeted with “Excuse me! Whats your name? My name is Jessica!” as our little girl shouted with excitement across the yard.

Our humble abode

The whirlwind continued - unpacking, shifting, cleaning, sorting, washing, shopping, doing admin and running errands through the months of November and December 09. Although the lists of jobs & boxes are still staring at us, the calm has arrived and we are 90% settled into the lovely home that God has provided for us. We are very thankful to God for a place which is close to family and schools, and big enough to be able to host visiting guests!

James’ parents were our very first visiting house guests shortly after we moved in. This year marks the first year both James & I could spend the Christmas season with family from both sides of the family! December was also a month packed full of family birthdays, so lots of celebrating and eating. Although busy, it was nice that we could end our year on the beach and watched a beautiful display of fireworks by Wollongong Harbour – the first time of its kind in Wollongong! 2009 was indeed a very memorable & busy year for us.

Boxing Day with Kerrs & Finleys

I am entering 2010 with a lot of excitement for the year ahead. I am looking forward to forming new relationships both with overseas students at FOCUS and also with members of St Michael’s Cathedral Wollongong. I will also look forward to the arrival of a new niece/nephew in the next week and the lovely opportunity to be geographically closer to my sister & her family. Due to our different ministry commitments, circumstances and geographical locations the past 15 years, we have not been able to support each other in practical ways. So it is really nice to have the opportunity to do so now.

Please join me in giving thanks to God for all the above. We are so grateful that He provided abundantly every step of the way. Pray also that in the year ahead, we will seize opportunities in our relationships with those whom we come into contact with.

Josiah

Moving and Grooving with Fluffy!

The last school term of 2009 was a very active one for Josiah. Dancing practice for a ‘Moove & Groove’ event, twice a week after school sports of soccer and basketball, a 2 week intensive swimming programme AND Saturday morning cricket! This will probably not be a typical term for Josiah, but it certainly helped him eat like a horse & sleep like a baby. He loves being able to do so much sport, and is especially taken with the game of Cricket.

Jos grooving away

Jos' 8th B'day

Josiah has also been asking persistently for a pet, specifically for a dog. We finally gave in to the pet idea but negotiated a dwarf rabbit instead. So for Josiah’s 8th birthday, Fluffy the rabbit joined our family.

Fluffy

Jessica

Theres no place like home…

Jess with cousin Rosie

It took Jessica a longer time to settle as she had to wait for all her immunizations to be administered before she could enroll into pre-school. She finally started school in October, two days a week. It is now 3 months into her new school and she is starting to enjoy it a lot more.

She is also a very ‘homely’ girl, she loves being at home and playing with all her toys. So after moving in & being reunited with all her usual belongings, it made her feel a lot more settled and secure. She is now enjoying her own PINK room and hopes to have her cousin Rosie to sleep over soon.

Just before we left Singapore, Jessica showed an exponential interest in swimming. So we decided to seize the moment and found a lesson she could join. To our great surprise, she was swimming confidently by the third lesson! She continues to swim every week and is making good progress.

Jessica the Rocket

Thank you for all your prayers for our kids in settling into their new home, surrounding and routines. Their moods improved leaps and bounds when we finally moved into our own home. They are also having A LOT of fun here with so many community programmes/ initiatives towards children and their growth. As I am writing this, Josiah is enjoying a Mecanno building workshop organized by the local library.

Please continue to pray that they will learn more about Jesus every day, commit to Him and submit under His authority in their lives. Pray too that we as parents will commit to being godly examples daily.

The OZ oKERRance

2009-10-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

We’ve been gone from Singapore for a month now and we are settling pretty smoothly back into life in Oz. Thank you for all your prayers!
Within the first week, we bought a car. Within the second week, Josiah started school. And by the third week we bought a house! The last part of the ‘settling-in’ jigsaw is now to find a suitable position for James. More about that in a minute…

Leaving Singapore…

Since we last wrote in about July it has been a mad rush to get lots of bits and pieces done as you would expect. Selling our house, moving households, selling the car, and then living out of a suitcase for a few months has been exhausting! But, we were so blessed in our last few weeks in Singapore to be able to spend them in the households of dear brothers and sisters in Christ - the Foos and the Divyanathans. We crowded their houses, ate their food and kept them up late – but enjoyed every minute of the fellowship we have in Jesus (we did anyway!). Through someone’s generosity, we were even able to enjoy the luxury of the Fullerton Hotel for a night in those last few weeks – awesome! NOT something we should get used to though! We were so thankful to everyone who has provided for us in the last few months both in their prayers, in giving and in their kind words. Although it is sad to leave brothers and sisters in Singapore and the ministries we have to each other, it is encouraging to know that we continue in partnership wherever we are. Thank God for all our brothers and sisters in Singapore and how he has worked in our lives over the years!

And arriving in… Wollongong!

We eventually left Singapore on the 9th September VERY early in the morning (Thank you to those weary souls who pitched up to see us off - you know who you are), and we have been at Maria’s sister’s house ever since. It was important in our minds to settle as many things as we could, as quickly as we could. Thankfully were able to do that by God’s financial provision through the generosity of brothers and sisters in the last few months. From the proceeds of the sale of our apartment in Singapore, we were able to buy a place here in Wollongong, about a 10 minute walk from Josiah’s school. We are about a 10 minute drive to wonderful beaches, so all ye Singapore city dwellers, come and visit us in the ‘Gong! We ourselves had a chance to take a break recently from all our running around and went up to the Blue Mountains. It was cold, but at the same time breathtaking.

Wollon…where?

Many of you might not know much about Wollongong so this section is to keep you up to date with about as much as we know!
Wollongong is about 1 ½ hrs south of the city of Sydney, either by car or by train and is part of the beautiful Illawara region. It is the 3rd largest city in New South Wales and 9th largest in Australia. It has pretty much always been an industrial town, coal mining and steel production being two of its biggest assets. The coast line is fantastic with excellent beaches and good rollers (for those of you who want to learn to surf!). The pace of life in Wollongong is far slower than in Sydney and the residents are really friendly too!
The demographic of Wollongong has a large proportion of immigrants from far and wide – Greece, Cyprus, Britain, Italy etc. etc. and the list goes on. Many settled in the region in the post war period, attracted by the job opportunities at the mines and at the steel works. There is also a significant multi-cultural feel to the university in Wollongong too with about 30% of students coming from overseas (China, Malaysia, Iran etc). I’ll come back to this in a minute too…

The church situation in Wollongong is pretty ‘steely’ too with a number of solid evangelical churches in the region. We haven’t yet settled on which one to go to yet (it depends on what position James gets) but we hope to in the coming week or so.

So what is James going to do?

Good question. There have a been a few positions opening in churches whilst we’ve been here (mostly Anglican), and I am still investigating one or two of those. However, very soon after arriving in Australia, the AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students) offered me a position with FOCUS (FOCUS stands for Fellowship of Overseas Evangelical Christian University Students). FOCUS is a fellowship within the AFES that aims to reach out to International students (whether they be from Singapore, India, China, Malaysia etc), disciple them and train them to make Christ known in their home nations. It is a hugely worthwhile ministry and at the moment a growing ministry, particularly to those from the PRC. There are many international students who are now right on our doorstep eager to hear the truth about God. Please do pray for James as he decides whether to take this position or to pursue other possible parish positions.

Overall, thank you brothers and sisters for praying for us in our time of transition. We know our great God is behind all that we do and he is in control even of the tiniest details. And so because of that, keep praying that we keep holding on to his trustworthy word, wherever we are and whatever we are doing, as we will for you.

Josiah and Jessica

Josiah has now been at Illawarra Christian School (ICS) for a few weeks and enjoying it. His classmates gave him a very warm welcome and were very excited to have a new friend from Singapore! His second day at school took him on a Zoo excursion to Sydney which was really fun and an opportunity to get to know new friends. He loves the idea of having a packed lunch from home and seeing what ‘surprises’ Mummy puts into his lunchbox each day. Josiah is very much an outdoors person so he is enjoying the beautiful Illawarra beaches and the long bushwalks.

Jessica has been playing hard with her cousins – Rosie (who is nearly 3yrs) and Oscar (nearly 4 yrs). She is still waiting to be fully immunized before she can go into Pre-school. She is a very relational person by nature so she is really missing her friends & teachers from Singapore and talks about them often.

Thank you for your prayers for our kids, please continue to pray that they would be more settled as time passes and as routines set in – especially once we move into our new home (hopefully in 3-4 weeks time), and they get to go to school and activities on a weekly basis.

Maria’s news

God has really provided a wonderful place for our relocation back to Australia. Wollongong is a lovely city with a small town feel. We have received warm welcomes and friendly gestures along with great natural environment and no ‘QUEUE’s and hardly any traffic jams! The welcome has made adjusting back a lot easier than expected and we really thank God for that.

We have been visiting some churches and have been encouraged by their Word centred ministries. A lot of the churches in Sydney and the Illawarra have been joining together in trying to promote Gospel conversations with the communities around them by putting up banners, advertising & holding evangelistic outreach activities. Although the responses from the communities has been mixed, the churches thank God that it has created opportunities to engage others in talking about Christ. We went to a ‘Playtime service’ where they had a Circus theme. Lots of young families were invited to this Circus carnival (where lots of circus activities were set up) and it ended with a guest speaker Magician who performed amazing tricks and delivered the Gospel message at the same time! It was very encouraging to see the effort & commitment put in from a lot of members of the congregation to make the outreach happen. The good food, the craft & activities, the decorations, the dressing ups, the face painting, balloons… it transformed an ordinary church hall into an amazing Circus carnival atmosphere! This event personally challenged me of how much effort I put into making Christ known to people who don’t know Christ. Sometimes I feel that I am so busy with my own lot that I can’t possibly do that much more! But as with everything, we will make an effort and set time aside for things that we consider important.

The next month is filled with anticipation as we look forward to moving into our new home by the end of November. Do pray for godly responses during a busy time and to be able to discern what is more important at a time where there are LOTs to do. We really appreciate your care and prayers.

2009-07-08T00:17:00.001-07:00

Mid yearly Okerrance (or thereabouts)

Dear Friends,

We want to begin this update by thanking all of you who have been actively supporting this Gospel ministry at SMUCF, whether in prayer or financially over the last three years. Your generosity in both these areas is much appreciated. We haven’t been in touch for quite a while, and thought it about time to update you.

Picture (right) - James with some SMU Graduates from CF

As many of you already know, we have been making plans to move on from the SMUCF position here in Singapore. It was not a decision that we wanted to make, but after many months of considering and praying, and with all things considered, we made the decision to move back to Australia to be closer to Maria’s sister in Wollongong, Australia. This news may come as a surprise to some of you – if it does, apologies for not having contacted you sooner to let you know. We will only be too happy to share why we have decided to move back if you want to know more.

As it stands, our moving date will be 9th September 09– only two months from now. We have sold our apartment here in Singapore already, and are actively looking for accommodation in Wollongong as well as a ministry position for James. There are positions open in Wollongong, so its just whether James will be the right ‘fit’ for the positions that are going. Please do keep us in prayer so that we can settle swiftly by finding accommodation and a suitable position. We are also in the process of organizing ourselves for the move back to Australia, so do just pray that serving Jesus and the Gospel would continue to be our priority for the next two months. Pray that James would keep focused on the task of establishing the students in a firm relationship with Jesus and that the transition of staff workers would go well.

The first half of the year has seen a slight improvement in Maria’s health, as she has tried to cut back on some ministry commitments and the stress of teaching Josiah Chinese! Praise God for that, but do keep praying for her and the kids’ health. Pray that Maria can get the right help for her health and that the stresses that exasperate her condition will be seen to as well. As is usual with most parents with young children, we both have been struggling with sleep depravation, with a spate of sicknesses and Jessica’s ‘monsters’ that scour her room at night (apparently). Jessica even managed to end up in Hospital with suspected H1N1 flu when we returned from Australia recently, but it turned out to be common virus!

Picture (left)- Jessica with cousin Rosie

Picture (right)- Josiah with cousin Oscar

Josiah continues to keep up at School and has started to take an interest in football. I (James) am trying to convince him that Manchester United is NOT the team to be supporting, but to stick with tradition and root for Tottenham – our family club. I can see some friction developing between us if he continues to go down that path… :) Despite the many friends he has here, he is looking forward now to the move back to Australia. He saw his school when we were there recently and the appeal of more out doors activities was evident. Pray that Josiah can settle quickly and adapt to his new environment.

We are pretty sure that you might have questions for us, so we thought of some that you might ask…

‘As you move away from Singapore, who will be taking over the position at SMUCF?’

Well, in this interim period our dear brother Denesh Divyanathan (who recently returned from studying in the States) will be covering for me whilst we look for a suitable replacement. We hope to bring on perhaps two associate staff workers in the next year, who will be trained under Denesh to carry on the valuable work there. This is in the pipeline but is in no way concrete yet. Do pray for Denesh, that God would give them strength to continue the work at SMU even with all his other ministry commitments and that we can find a more long term replacement.

What has been going on SMUCF for the last six months?

Well, following our return from the UK during Christmas, we started the term with a two week series on ‘Finding God’s Will for my Life’. Not only was this that the students might grow in their knowledge of the Word and to learn how to make godly decisions, but also to prepare us for the evangelistic talk that was taking place in week 3 – God’s plan is to bring all things under Christ, whether in judgement or salvation. At the talk, I preached from Luke 12 and we had a good number of non-believers come. Several indicated that they would like to get to know Jesus more and were followed up. Having the talk at one of the university cafes helped, since many associated the evening with a relaxed environment. For the rest of the term, we got stuck into the first 18 chapters of Exodus which was a great time of learning as we learnt the Gospel afresh in the Old Testament.

And the programme for this summer?

This year has seen Mark’s Gospel continue to be taught by some faithful graduates keen to see SMUCF go from strength to strength under God. We have had a large number of newcomers come to the Mark studies, including many non Christians thankfully. Praise God that the students continue to be enthusiastic to bring along their non-believing friends. Pray that as they find out more about Jesus the Holy Spirit would work to bring them to repentance and faith. Many seniors and graduates continue to come back to learn more deeply about God’s mercy and power in the book of Romans over the summer as well. Both the Romans and Mark studies are designed as 26 week courses, the first half covered on Tuesday, and the second half on Thursdays. Pray that we would all be challenged to rejoice in God’s Grace, and be challenged to live lives worthy of the Gospel in response.

I guess one of the most critical aspects of the Summer, is the planning for next year. We are so glad that nine students stepped forward to join EXCO which will allow us to be more flexible and far reaching in the work that we are doing. We are in the midst of discussing why we do what we do at CF and adjusting schedules and structures where and when they are not serving the Gospel. Denesh has been in the midst of all this and in the planning for next year. Pray that as a team they can carry on the work of proclamation faithfully and unashamedly, continuing to be shining lights in a dark world.

Now that you’re leaving, does that mean the end of the ‘Okerrance’ as we know it?

Simply put, no. We will of course continue to keep you updated even after we leave Singapore. Wherever we end up, we will keep needing your prayer and support. And we will keep telling you what prayer and support we need!

Can we come and visit you in Australia?

We will be in Wollongong! (One & half hours drive from Sydney airport)

Once we have settled somewhere, we would love you to come and visit. We are hoping to get a place big enough so that we can at least have visitors this time! But before we go, I am sure that many of you might have more questions, so please do write to us. Until then, Keep On, Keeping On.

A Christmas Okerrance

2008-12-14T05:58:00.000-08:00

Greetings to everyone! We thought it about time to get another Okerrance to you before the Christmas holidays to update you what has been happening with us since we last wrote (a long time ago… Ahem).

We are in the throes of the final weeks of term as I write this, and it has been an exhausting time for us over the last 6 months or so. When I last wrote, it was just before the summer, and I was looking forward to the summer bible studies in both the books of Mark and Romans at the CF, as well as our leader’s training. The summer is also a time to plan and prepare for the following year. However, things didn’t go quite as smoothly as we planned over the summer because I got a bit burnt out and sick. I had committed to a number of outside speaking engagements for the holidays to keep me busy and sharp, but I don’t think I realized how much I needed a break by the end of term! Maria has had a tough time with reoccurring bacterial infections and her health, ever since returning to Singapore (I’ll let her fill you in on that in a minute). I have therefore been spending a considerable amount of time looking after both her and the children, as well as trying to continue the work at SMUCF. So, by the end of June, although I had completed those outside engagements, and many of the students had gone away for their holidays, I still felt as though the fuel gauge was running on empty and damage had already been done to the engine! This meant that both preparations and the amount of discipling I could do over the summer and into this first term have been severely hindered as I tried to recover from my exhaustion. I am feeling better now, but my doctor said I will need perhaps up to 6 months of cutting back on how much I am able to do. Please do pray with me in this, that our Loving Lord will restore both Maria’s and my health.

Now, having said all that, we do have much to give thanks for at SMUCF, because the work has been ongoing, even though I have been limited!

At our Freshman’s orientation camp in July this year, there was an extremely enthusiastic bunch of freshers who came to see what we get up to at CF. I gave four talks from the book of Colossians, and many of them were encouraged to come back and hear the word some more (which they have). We followed through with a series of talks on 2 Peter, with ‘the knowledge that matters’ being our central theme over the first half of term. Since then, I have been doing a four talk series entitled ‘knowing God’, of course stressing that unless God makes himself known to us, then we can’t possibly know him! Whilst I have been giving those talks, the bible study groups have been training in the use of ‘2 Ways to live’, which has challenged some to think more about evangelism, but has encouraged others to know the Gospel that they believe in better! We have recently had one of our three camps for the year – the December Bible Camp – and we are really glad to have Andrew Cheah (another Moore College Graduate and now at St Mary’s Anglican Cathedral in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), speak on ‘Sin: How bad can it be?’ Pray that the we will all understand both ourselves better, and our great God who has acted mercifully in the Gospel towards us.

Not that numbers are a reliable indication on how the work is going at the CF, but we were encouraged and thankful to see the average attendance for the first half of term at 90+, keen to get stuck into studying the scriptures. Since the second half of term, that figure fell to about 60+, with increased academic rigour amongst other things causing the fallout. We have been very thankful that the students continue to bring their friends along to our evangelistic lunchtime talks that we had in weeks 10 & 11. We decided upon a ‘If I were God’ series at the start of the year for our evangelistic lunchtime talks. Christopher Ash (director of Cornhill training course in the UK) did a talk on ‘If I were God, I wouldn’t allow all this suffering’. We had about 6-10 newcomers, many of who had not heard the Gospel before. And the following week I did a talk entitled ‘If I were God, everyone would know who I am’, with a similar number not yet confessing the faith. On this occasion some with different faiths heard the good news, and have since been in follow up conversations and studies learning more about Jesus. Please do pray with us that they might repent and believe that Jesus is the Lord, the only way, truth and the life!

Thank you for keeping up with us, and praying for this very precious work.

Maria’s update

Greetings! Below is an attempt to give you a brief overview of the past half year!

Health
Just prior to writing our last newsletter, I had not been in good shape physically for quite a period of time – tiredness, lethargy, monthly re-occurring sicknesses – I often felt so weak that I had to stay in bed. After a thorough checkup, found out that it could have been a re-occurring bladder infection & that my stress levels were way too high. So naturally, I was hoping to concentrate on managing my stress levels & concentrate on getting back to health in the months that followed. However the month of April brought the full spectrum of emotions as we confronted news of pregnancy & then news of miscarriage. At the time, the knowledge that our God is good & is unchanging in both good times & bad times is always a comfort to me, but what I struggled with most was trusting God regarding my poor health over the long period of time. Being sick & weak, not only could I not help serve my family, I also was hindering James’ ability to do SMU work & to rest. It has been indeed a very testing time for me, but God has His purposes & they are good. (If you would like to chat more with me regarding this, I would be happy to.)

Thank God for kind & generous doctor friends in Christ who helped me through this period, please continue to pray for improvements in my health so I can continue to serve God in roles given to me.

Josiah
Even though primary one has been tough & full of school work, exams, assessments and so on, Josiah has been enjoying new friendships at school. When school ended in November, he was thrilled to have the chance to celebrate his birthday early with his school friends at an indoor playground nearby.

above left - Jos & some school friends at his party

below right - Jess enjoying the company of her two cousins from Australia

Jessica
Jessica is into all things pink & girly. Ballet, fairies, princesses, dress-ups, you name it, she likes it! She has been whirling & twirling away in our living room, asking for ballet lessons. She still thinks her brother is Number One, and is his greatest Fan!

Thank God for bringing the kids through the past year, helping them grow up physically, emotionally & mentally. Please pray that they would grow in understanding of the love of our Saviour.

SMU girls
Have really enjoyed keeping up & praying with some of the female graduates & students this past half year, they have all been a real encouragement to me in wanting to see their friends grow up in knowledge of Christ & in love for each other. Before school started in August, we also managed to go through with the female co-leaders a series of seven studies to help with knowing & explaining the Gospel & with what Gospel living looks like.

Thank God that He who started the good work in these girls will Himself carry it through to completion. Praise God for their growth & their enthusiasm!

Generous Gift
We have also been very thankful to generous brothers & sisters in Christ who contributed to the gift of a car for our use. We managed to purchase a car in September & it has been a tremendous practical help to us as a family.

Please join us in thanking our generous God for the generous hearts in God’s household.

A Rare oKerrence

2008-04-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hello! We trust that this latest oKerrance finds you well. It about 4 months since we last wrote, so the attempt to keep up our news every two months has failed miserably. As a result, we have a lot of news in this letter, which we will try and keep abbreviated!

As you may have read in our last newsletter, it was a great privilege to be able to visit South Africa with James’ family in December last year, and which was kindly paid for by them. We all had a great time, travelling within the Western Cape Provence. The scenery was spectacular, as was, of course, the wildlife. It was a real eye opener for us to see the polarity between the poverty of the townships and the wealth of the suburbs in Cape Town. Pray for that country that the Good news of the Lord Jesus would continue to grow as it has been doing, and that justice and mercy would prevail.

This coming June sees us take some leave to visit Batam (Indonesia) for our annual ORPC church camp and Malaysia (for a week long family break). Pray that we will be challenged and refreshed to serve our Lord Jesus ever more fervently as we do what we do this Summer.

The Labour that springs from Love at SMUCF (1 Thess 1:3)

We have just finished our corporate meetings for this year at the CF (which will start again in August), although that doesn’t mean we will stop meeting over the Summer! As you may vaguely remember in our last update and the calendar of events, we had a five week series on Love, Sex & Marriage in January - February, which was (of course!) well attended. This gave me an opportunity to tackle this topic in depth, spelling out the Biblical truths and the practical implications for the student’s lives. It spurred on many conversations and it was encouraging to see the students thinking through the issues. Give thanks that many were challenged to think through implications, and pray that the word that was preached is imprinted on their hearts.

The day after Valentine’s Day saw the CF hold an evangelistic dinner at ‘Surf and Turf’ in the Funan Centre (an IT mall here in Singapore). The event went off well, with the talk provocatively titled, ‘Freedom for Sex’, which followed on from our series on Love, sex and marriage.

We were very glad to have Richard Chin, the national director of Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students join us to give the talk, and a number of people expressed an interest to find out more about Christianity. We have since begun a group for those interested to find out more about Jesus Christ, through the ‘Christianity Explored’ series in Mark’s Gospel. A number of international students are attending the course so please do pray for both the teachers (to proclaim clearly the Truth) and for those students (local and international) who do not yet know the Lord, that they would come to understand, know and believe in Jesus.

Following the busyness of the opening two months, we have been studying 1 Thessalonians (our series was entitled, ‘Turn, Serve & Wait’). Its an encouraging letter, challenging us to ‘Keep on Keeping on’ in faith, love and Hope in readiness for Jesus’ return. Pray for the students who are graduating, that they will persevere in their desire to serve Christ at a time when their focus on the return of Christ can be lost by the worries of the world, either as they look for prestigious jobs or are become obsessed with success.

Below are some things to be praying for as we enter into the mid year holidays,

*Pray for those who have been attending the ‘Christianity Explored’ Group

*April Bible Camp – ‘How to be a fool’: Studies from 1 Cor 1-4, challenging us to the heart of ministry and life (21st- 24th April. Speaker: Foo Yuk Yee)

*Annual General Meeting – pray as we vote in our new EXCO – that we would be faithful and responsible to the Biblical truths regarding who we should vote for and why (26th April).

*Pray for our Potential leader’s training, that those invited would be challenged to understand, and live biblically as well as be trained to present the truth clearly in their teaching (May – June).

*Summertime Mark Bible Studies (Tuesday & Thursday evenings)

*Summertime Romans Studies (Tuesday evenings)

*Pray for the planning and organization of the Freshman Orientation Camp, as well as the planning for the year with the new EXCO (June / July)

*And lastly, pray for me (James) that I would be faithful, bold and clear in preaching and teaching at various youth fellowships and churches over the summer and at SMUCF.

From Maria,…

New things for the New Year

Whats new?

Josiah & Jessica starting Primary 1/pre-nursery at schools that are new to them, new teachers, new classmates, new schedules & routines, new school bus rides, new swimming class, new uniforms, new books, new bag, new shoes,…etc etc

I thought both Josiah & Jessica would be overwhelmed by it all, but it turns out that to get on top of all their ins & outs, all the scheduling & logistics & administration, I was more overwhelmed than they were! I think it took me a good month into the year to think through how I could juggle Jos’ timing with Jess’ timing, when I could do… when I could go… when I could bring… when I could attend…

Although overwhelming to start, this year’s schedules has seen a lot of answered prayers from last year.

Please join me in praise & thanksgiving to our Lord for the below!

Praise God that this year’s schedule allows me to have a 2 hour break during weekday lunchtimes to pray, to read & meditate on the bible, to prepare studies & some days to exercise & grocery shop! It’s a much needed time for me, a nice break since Jessica was born!

Praise God too that the timing allows me to join a bible study group which consists mostly of stay-home ministry mums. Although our kids are around, we are still able to get through our bible study & to pray & support one another. This group has been a real blessing to me, after having felt rather isolated for the past 2 years.

Praise God that both Josiah & Jessica have settled into their school & routines happily. Jessica took 3 weeks to ‘let go’ of me, but now she asks for school everyday!

Josiah (18th Dec 2001)

Josiah had a smashing time holidaying with his grandparents & aunty in South Africa last December. He loves the sand & the sea, he loves seeing & interacting with lots of different animals, and he loves the fact that there are more people (besides mummy & daddy) to spend time talking to & doing things with. He even got the chance to celebrate his birthday together with grandma!

Thank God for the continuing relationship building with his grandparents & aunty & a safe & fun holiday for Josiah.

Josiah is enjoying Primary 1 so far. He was happy that his friend Nicholas was going to be in the same school as him, & he was happy his Chinese teacher took time in the beginning to explained things to him in English when he did not understand what was going on. His favourite subject is PE (Physical education) & he looks forward to Recess (half an hour’s break) at 3pm. He gets on the school bus at 1130am for 1230pm start at school, & he returns home at 7pm. School has been good for him as there is routine & predictability & a good outlet for his youthful energies! He will have exams coming up in April-May period, which means more hard work will be needed in the study of the Chinese language.

Thank God that Josiah is enjoying school, please pray that he will be more motivated in things that require more hard work when he grows in the knowledge of Jesus.

Jessica (5th Aug 2005)

Jessica works on ‘trust’ when it comes to adults. As a baby, she would only be held by anyone who ‘fed’ her - she trusted them as they looked after her need for food. Growing up, building trust took more than just giving her food. It meant playing alongside her, talking to her, dressing her, & doing just about everything with her. So naturally, having been away from grandparents & aunties, it took her a while to trust them last December. It took about 2 & a half weeks of staying under the same roof to ‘warm up’ to them & by the time she was happy to be with them alone, it was time for us to leave! Similarly with pre-nursery school, 3 weeks were needed for her to trust her teachers. But once you are on her ‘good side’, you will be able to enjoy lots of affection & lovely smiles. Needless to say, mummy gets lots of hugs & kisses along with lots of ‘I want Mummy’s echoing in the background on most days!

Thank God that as a result of a good transition into pre-nursery school, Jessica has also been able to go to Kids’ church by herself, freeing mummy & daddy to listen to Sunday sermons together after 2 long years!

Thank You for your Support

SMUCF is completely independent and self supported. If you are able to be involved in our work in giving financially either to us individually or the organization, please do contact Lee Keng Yi at (65) 97692360 or at kengyi@gmail.com . Thanks : )

Another oKerrence!

2007-11-06T03:51:00.000-08:00

Its about two months since we last wrote (or thereabouts!) and we have had the joy of getting in touch with a number of old friends through ‘facebook’. Its great to be back in touch after all these years and getting to know what you are doing. We’ve found ourselves dealing with the usual rounds of sicknesses over the last couple of months, although there was a six week stretch where we were bug free for a while! Through all of it we continue to rejoice at the undeserved Grace that has been shown to us through Jesus, who has paid the price for our sin. Please do continue to uphold us in prayer, that individually and as a family we would learn to serve and honour the Lord and that both Josiah and Jessica would grow up to know him day by day.

We are off to South Africa in December, to meet James’ family. We are greatly looking forward to the trip, spending the most time in the Southern Cape. Please pray for a refreshing time, and also to take every opportunity to honour God in our lives, whether in word or deed. Pray for safety and health in a country which hasn’t had a great record recently.

The Ongoing work at SMU

Since last time we wrote, our term has started and in fact has almost finished! We are into week 11 out of 15 and we have much to give thanks for.

Our first three weeks was spent looking at the first four chapters of the Gospel of John. The aim of this was to introduce Jesus to any non Christians who were there and his claim to eternal life and secondly to challenge those who knew Christ to live for him. We had about 80+ people come for the first week, mostly to check out SMUCF and our activities. Traditionally, numbers settle about 30+ - 40 in a our larger meetings (60-70 in our bible studies) as the busyness of Uni life eats into the student’s free time (and believe me it is unbelievably busy!).

Following those opening three weeks, we began on the book of James and have been slowly moving our way through ever since. It has been a great challenge to all of us, to live single-mindedly for God, listening to his Wisdom, especially in an environment that screams out the world’s. Most of us have come to realize the plague of ‘double-mindedness’ that James speaks about – the selfish ambition and passions that covets and despises and leads us to ‘Spiritual Adultery’. It has lead all of us to examine our own lives once again. At the same time, we all continue to be amazed by the Grace that God gives in actually giving us a chance to ‘humble’ ourselves before him and humbly accept the implanted word. Whilst he makes his wrath known, he is a generous God, full of Love and Mercy!
Please do pray that the precious truths that we have all been learning will continue to work and energise our lives to be lived in loving obedience to him. SMU is a place where the societal values and Singaporean hopes and dreams are exaggerated, and the Gospel quite often cuts radically across those norms. Give thanks too, that this year we have an enthusiastic bunch of freshers who have been keen and consistent in coming along, boosting our numbers to 50+ on average, even in the busy weeks!

I am involved in reading the bible or other relevant books with a number of the students on a one to one basis. This has been a great source of encouragement to me as we read and pray and see their lives challenged and transformed by the power of the Gospel. Please do pray that we will continue to encourage each other and spur one another on to love and good deeds.

Over the last few weeks, we have been having our Thursday Lunchtime talks, where we can invite our non-believing friends along to hear the Truth. Normally, we have a series of three talks, normally from one of the four Gospels so that we can present a picture of who Christ is and what he has come to do. This series was entitled ‘The Great Big Heart of the Father’ and was faithfully expounded by Rev Philip Sinden from St George’s Anglican Church in Tanglin. He spoke from Luke 15; 23 & 24 about God’s Grace, why Jesus had to die and the ‘good news for the world’. Do give thanks for those who have come along to hear of God’s grace and especially those who have come back and have begun to be involved in evangelistic bible studies. We had hoped to make our advertisement for these events more ‘wide’ but we face significant restrictions in how and when we can advertise our activities at SMU. Both distributing flyers, advertising by poster and mass emailing are not allowed, leaving us dependent on personal invitations (which is of course is still fundamental to his ‘work’). Our advertisement for our freshman’s camp in the freshman’s orientation booklet was also excluded this year making it hard to get the word out about us. But, as is so often the case when we think this will be a hindrance, God has continued his work on campus. Please pray that whatever our circumstances, we will continue to acknowledge that he makes it grow, and so live humbly and dependently on him. At the same time pray that we might continue to be bold in reaching out to our friends whatever the restrictions or circumstances.

Lastly do remember us this December as we hold the December Bible Retreat. This year, we are looking at the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Rev David Burke from Orchard Road Presbyterian Church will be giving the talks. Pray that as we study the Scriptures, we might be clearer on this topic and any misunderstandings or error will be corrected. Please pray too, that as we fellowship around his word, that we might grow in love and service of each other. Here is a diary of events for the coming weeks and the rest of the school year (finishing in April) so that you have an idea of what is going on in the coming months and to be praying for us. We will remind you of what’s happening as we keep going with our updates.

November, 2007

Finishing off James: ‘Get Real’ Evangelistic Lunchtime talk follow up and Bible Studies
University Exams (26th-30th)

December, 2007

December Bible Retreat: Getting a Grip on the Holy Spirit? (4th-7th)
South Africa (7th -2nd Jan)

January, 2008

Topical Series: Love, Sex & Marriage in a Confused World (8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th, 5th Feb)

February, 2008

Evangelistic Event: ‘Liberated for sex’, Richard Chin, AFES (15th, set to coincide with Valentine’s Day)
Follow up from ‘Liberated for sex’
1 Thessalonians: Tentatively ‘Final Destination’ (19th Feb- 8th April)
SMUCF Membership Class / Fun Day

March, 2008

Evangelistic Lunchtime Talks: TBD (4th, 11th & 18th)
Lunchtime Talk Follow Up

April, 2008

April Bible Retreat (TBD)

May – July

RML Mark
RML Romans

The Ongoing work at the Kerr’s household

One of the on-going work for me as a mother is to constantly think through what Christian mothering/parenting means as the kids go through various stages of growth & responds according to their little own personalities. Included in the battle is dealing with my own sinfulness first as I face the challenges with my kids.

Please pray that I will constantly ask God for His wisdom & to trust in that wisdom by ‘applying’ it.

I enjoy reading Christian books. I enjoy being able to resource someone else’s brains on their insights & thoughts on particular topics. One of the books I have read recently is Women’s Ministry in the Local Church.** It came about when one of the female students at SMUCF suggested reading it together as she wanted to discuss the book with someone. It was a beneficial read. It reminded us clearly from the bible of the God-given roles of women & how specific women’s ministry is important to teach & apply those roles. It also helped us think through Titus 2 practically, particularly of how we can be teaching the younger generation of women – both in truth & works. Given the phase of life I am in at the moment (as a mother of young kids) it is hard to be very active in ‘official’ ministry. However, it was also the right time to read this book as it keeps me focused & alert in my role as a woman & mother. To be able to think through appropriate responses to situations that I face in these roles so that I can hopefully pass on what I have learnt to the younger generation as I go along.

Please pray that I will continue to take hold of the role that God has given me. I do find it very difficult most times, but rewarding too as I look back on what He has taught me thus far.

** By J. Ligon Duncan & Susan Hunt

Josiah (18th Dec 2001)

Time has flown. Josiah has just had his ‘graduation’ ceremony cum musical a week ago. Graduating from Kindergarten and onto Primary 1 next year! (Yes, unbelievably, they have graduation from Kindergarten) He had the opportunity to be the narrator for his school’s Noah’s Ark musical. The weeks prior to the musical he came down with a virus which caused him to lose his voice & after regaining it to enter into fits of coughs when he tried to use his voice! But thankfully, he recovered in time & was able to narrate clearly despite the blocked nose. He was encouraged to work hard at it as it was ‘his’ opportunity to tell others what God did in the account of Noah. It was encouraging to see him work hard as a result.

Please continue to pray for Josiah’s growth in the Lord & for his love & understanding to increase.

Thank you for your prayers regarding schooling for Jos next year. God has answered our prayers & Josiah was offered a place in a nearby Christian school.

Please join us in thanksgiving to God in His provision of schooling for Josiah.

Jessica (5th Aug 2005)

Fun & exciting things in the life of the parents of a 2 year old are simply seeing them grow & achieve certain milestones. It has been fun to hear Jessica progress in her speech since her second birthday. The ability to communicate better also seems a little surreal at times because it makes you feel like you have a real 2 way relationship going now. Of course you will have to really listen carefully, otherwise you might confuse ‘Tee Vee’ with ‘Wee wee’, or ‘sleep’ with ‘sweet’, or ‘bird’ with ‘bread’ etc. She calls all mothers ‘mummy’ & all kids ‘babies’. When asked what colour mummy’s hair is, the answer is ‘green’. When asked how old Jess is, the answer is ‘2’, jos is ‘3’, mama is ‘4’ & dada is ‘6’.

Another recent highlight is her speed in being potty-trained! James managed to get her pretty much doing all her business in the potty in just one afternoon! So, mummy is happy.

Please join us in praising God for being the creator of our little kids - weird, wonderful & challenging all at the same time!

Thank You for your Support
SMUCF is completely independent and self supported. If you are able to be involved in our work in giving financially either to us individually or the organization, please do contact Lee Keng Yi at kengyi@gmail.com

A Brief History of the Kerr’s…2006-2007

2007-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

“Anyone heard from James and Maria lately?”

It’s perhaps a question that you have been asking. Or perhaps you haven’t! Perhaps you already know, but have not heard any word from us for the last two years! There is of course never any excuse for not communicating earlier, so all we can say is sorry. It’s only now, after a year into our new job, that we feel ready to actually get a regular news update and prayer letter to you all. It’s long overdue, but here we go…

An overview of the Kerr’s Time (well sort of)…

Many of you wouldn’t have heard from us since we were in Sydney. We graduated from Moore Theological College at the end of 2005, with uncertainties over our future. We considered staying in Australia and finding a ministry position there, but after various options were considered, we returned to Singapore, having been offered a job back here with the Singapore Management University Christian Fellowship (SMUCF).

We arrived in Singapore in early Feb 2006 for a friend’s wedding and were soon applying for the relevant visas for employment back in Singapore! Even though it was a fairly quick decision to return, it took at least 5-6 months for everything to be settled. We saw the rising costs of accommodation here in Singapore (especially rentals) so we decided to buy an apartment. Extra stressors!

Since then (around June, 2006) James has been busy trying to find his footing with the teaching and preaching schedule at SMUCF, and Maria has been trying to find her place in a society which does not really support stay-at-home mums. More from her about that in a while…

James and the Work at SMUCF

SMUCF is an independent organization registered with the Singapore Registry of Societies. That simply means it is an organization that has the freedom to meet publicly and legally and can operate independently. We are one of the two Christian organisations that are allowed to ‘officially’ meet on Campus. In its short history, beginning in 2000 when the University was established, a very strong evangelical foundation has been laid. It was conceived independently from other campus Christian organizations and is still that way today.

Our aim very much stems from Paul’s conviction in Colossians 1:28, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” The foundation of the ministry is therefore the proclamation of the Word of God. My role in particular is to do just that, so that the students will understand, live and proclaim the Gospel.

For me personally, the first year has felt like a whirlwind. My schedule is centred around the main teaching slots at SMU. On Tuesday evenings, we have evening Bible Studies where the students meet in their small groups. We then have a corporate meeting in a larger group so that we can meet together and sing and pray and listen to his word (which I have the responsibility to expound every week). On Thursday evenings, there is leader’s training, where the student leaders will be trained to understand and apply the Word for the sake of their groups. They may have additional topical and theological issues to think through at that time. Again, my responsibilities are to teach and disciple. Part of that involves training in evangelism (Normally 2 Ways to Live), how to think Theologically about Music, Relationships, Assurance, Money, Work and all sorts of other hot topics! We do a Mark’s Gospel Summer School, where we use ‘Read Mark Learn’ - a 26 week Bible Study Series in Mark’s Gospel produced by St Helen’s Church Bishopsgate, London.

As a new element last year, we introduced Thursday Lunchtime talks into the timetable. These were designed so that the students could have an opportunity to bring their friends to hear the Gospel. And finally, we have three camps per year, of which I normally am involved in teaching at the Freshman’s orientation camp. I will try and engage other like minded ministers to give the main talks at the other two (December and April).

Beginning this year, we have been invited to be involved in an International Student Ministry, in conjunction with other churches in the vicinity of the Campus. We are currently in a planning stage at the moment, but we see it as an opportunity to reach out to those from China, India, Myanmar and the surrounding region. Please pray for our direction in this ministry and the enthusiasm of the students to reach out to those who don’t yet know Jesus.

Please do remember us in prayer for the work at SMUCF…

§ Give thanks for the short number of years of faithful Gospel ministry at SMU and the way it has been used to reach out to Non Christians, and build up the Christian students. Please pray that we will remain faithful to the Gospel and its pure proclamation.

§ Pray for the continuing maturity of the CF members, especially in their home church environments where there may not be a solid Biblical Ministry. Pray for them as they take a stand for the Gospel and the Word of God.

§ Thank God for the word that was preached at a recent evangelistic dinner held in a restaurant at Old Parliament House. Pray for those who responded and would like to know more, that God would soften their hearts to receive Christ. Please pray for the ongoing enthusiasm of the students to invite their friends to our various evangelistic dinners and talks (We’ll update you as they happen!).

§ Pray for the upcoming International Students work at SMU. Pray that we would find opportunities to build relationships with the students from overseas and that opportunities would arise to tell them about the hope that we have.

§ Pray for the upcoming term and our study in the book of James. Pray that the students would humble themselves daily before God and submit to his will as they read and obey his word.

Maria

Singapore’s economic success thrives largely on their ‘human’ resource. As a result, not only are they encouraging more births, but they also encourage mothers to go back to work shortly after giving birth. Children are cared for by grandparents, maids or placed into childcare from 7am-7pm.

Do pray for me - being a stay-home mum in Singapore has many challenges. They range from the small task of grocery shopping, to bigger issues of support & isolation. The help that I once enjoyed such as a use of a car, longer hours of school for Josiah & having easy access to other stay-home mums are no longer readily available.

On the upside, I have been greatly encouraged and enjoyed the weekly sermons at our church. In addition I have been meeting up regularly with some of the students in a 121 capacity, as well as looking for some mutual encouragement from other ladies.

Picture (left) - Josiah & Jessica @ the playground
Josiah

Josiah is currently in K2 (Kindergarten 2), next year he will move to Primary 1. We learnt that registering for P1 is a hot topic amongst parents. Education is perceived as fundamental to kids’ success in the future, so getting into the ‘right’ school is vital. To secure a spot in an envied school might involve relocation near the school or hours of volunteer work.

Being non-PRs we understandably get last choice in choosing schools but our hope & prayer is that the school will firstly be close in distance, secondly for the teachers to genuinely care for the kids & help them learn in a not so pressured environment.

In K2 school is 3 hours consisting mostly of classroom work in English, Mandarin & Math. Coming into this environment takes a lot of getting used to. It does mean that Josiah has less friends to hang out & play with (a lot of them have other enrichment programs or tuitions to attend) & of course more work to do. (especially in learning mandarin!)

Jessica

Jessica has just turned 2 (5th August)! You know what they say about the terrible… oh, I mean terrific 2s! ;-) Jessica adores her brother, she mimics everything he does - she almost idolizes him! Her latest obsessions are ‘Bob the Builder’ & ‘Thomas & Friends’.

In the area of health, Jess has been sick every month since Jan 2007- averaging about 2 times a month. As a result, our family has been sick a lot due to the ‘sharing’ effect. So, please pray for health & strength for us all.

Do drop Maria an email (mazkerr@gmail.com) or look her up on Facebook if you would like to chat or for more details/photos of the kids. She would be more than happy to reply when she gets a chance!