Pray for Million Dollar Point

We have just finished the first week of classes. Glen is teaching Luke-
Acts and Joshua-1 Kings and is loving it so far. It is especially good
just reading the Bible with the students and helping them to
understand what it means.

Last night we met with the students we are mentoring to talk about the
next field experience weekend. A lot of our time was spent sharing
our thoughts and feelings about the church we are working with at
Million Dollar Point. We have now visited three times and it is clear
that the students are feeling disappointment with the situation. The
church is very weak with little ministry happening, and it is becoming
clear to us that the community has a lot of trouble and tension and
probably most people are not Christians.

This has been a huge realization for the students since Vanuatu is
considered a "Christian" country and normally people here just think
of everyone as Christian. The students are realizing that this is not
the case, and that most other villages are like Million Dollar Point.

We would really appreciate your prayer over these matters. Pray that
the students would see the situation in a way that is realistic and
like the way God sees it. Pray that their disappointment will turn to
prayer and desire to preach the Gospel and do all they can to see
people here saved. Pray that as we visit on 5th-7th September we will
be able to encourage the church leaders to carry out faithful ministry
and that we will have opportunities to share the Gospel with people in
the Village. Pray for Glen as he leads the Bible Study on Saturday
morning, John as he preaches on Sunday, the women as they lead a Bible
Study on Sunday afternoon, and all of the students as they do
visitation and talk with people over the whole weekend.

Glen will then travel to Australia on Sunday afternoon for one week to
attend a course on Acts. Pray that this will be a fruitful and
encouraging time and that it will help him to teach well when he
returns to Talua. Pray for Rachael and the children as they remain at
Talua for the week.

Field Experience at Million Dollar Point

Field Experience will go ahead this weekend. Please pray that nothing
will hinder the trip!

On Saturday night Glen will lead a Bible Study on Hebrews 11. The
passage is a strong encouragement to trust that God will do what he
has promised, even though we don't see it yet with our eyes. On
Saturday morning Joel will preach on Luke 15, focusing especially on
the joy over sinners who repent. Do we have a love for sinners and joy
over their repentance like our heavenly father does? On Sunday
afternoon Rachael, Susan and Liness will lead a women's Bible study on
the death of Jesus in Mark's Gospel. At the same time the others will
do visitation around the community.

Please pray for all these activities over the next few days.

Field Experience cancelled

We are all much healthier now; thanks for your prayers. We have also been able to eat more meat/protein now that the fridge is working and we think this may be giving us more strength.  We certainly give thanks to God for the fridge!!!

Unfortunately on Thursday Talua decided to cancel field experience this weekend because exams are on during the next week. This sort of thing happens a lot over here. People do not plan ahead and tend to make a lot of last minute decisions, which makes good preparation difficult.  We have been here several years now and are more used to this, but we still find it frustrating.  

We want to teach the students to prepare well when they teach God's Word and so we had already met several times with the students in our group to prepare for the weekend. This means that the students shared our frustration and disappointment. It has helped them to see that the reason we plan ahead is so that we can prepare well, and that last minute changes create disappointment when preparation is done well.  So we can give thanks for the way God has taught and challenged us, even through the disappointment.

The students in our group have decided that they want to go next weekend when exams are over. This is also a great encouragement, as the initiative for this came from the students rather than us or the school.  Please pray for the students as they do exams this week, and then for our field experience group as we go out next weekend.