World Changers  Issue 6   November '99

So… what happened last time?

Some friends from my church, St James Croydon, performed a puppet show in the Auburn Park. Many Muslim families came down with their kids to watch the show. We mingled with the crowd speaking to many parents after the show. I spoke with one Syrian man who showed a lot of openness to finding out more about Jesus and getting an Arabic bible. Kathryn Howes spoke to an Iraqi lady who wanted to learn to speak English better and learn more about Jesus. Kathryn gave her an Arabic Jesus film and the following Wednesday we visited her home. Her husband told us that she had prayed the prayer found at the end of the video to receive Christ into her life! He said one night after watching it she started crying out in her sleep “Jesus, why did you have to die? Why?”
 
Please pray for the lady and her husband. I’ll leave them unnamed for obvious reasons. Her husband shows a deep respect for Jesus but fails to make the personal connection of accepting Jesus into his own life.

It will be a long process now as Kathryn meets with the wife and she comes to understand what being a follower of Jesus means. At the moment it is too big a step for her to think of herself not as a Muslim. Because Islam does pay lip service to the true prophets and Jesus, it is possible to make a gradual change.

Would you like to be involved in leading someone to Christ like that? Come along next time!

CAR TROUBLES PAY OFF
I was hit recently by a succession of fines. A speed camera $180 fine for doing 79 in a 60 zone in a place I’ve never heard of before and $61 for ‘obstructing a pedestrian walkway’ from parking in a driveway. One late rainy evening recently I compounded all these car costs by parking too close to the curb and deflating my tyre. I was not a happy chappie. I left changing the tyre until the morning, praying “God, I’m not saying you cause all these bad things to happen, but I know that you say that in all things you work for the good of those who love you (Rom 8:28). This has really upset me now, so I just pray you can bring something good out of it.”

In the morning as I was changing the tyre, my neighbour Mario (see last newsletter) came out of his house to help me. We got talking again and I was able to invite him to my church, to which he is now regularly coming. It has been a long time since Mario has been coming to church anywhere, so I thank God for using me to put him back in a Christian environment.

What a lesson huh? To trust God with my bad circumstances to make something good from them. I tend to forget how powerful prayer is. I only prayed once over my situation but sometimes I pray for an issue for months before seeing an answer. I’m tempted to think I need to clock up a certain number of prayer hours before God will hear me, but then something like this happens. I may need to persevere in my prayers, but I also need to have confidence in the fact that God hears me every single time I pray.

CATCHUP WITH AJ
On Sunday, November the 21st, I’d like to invite you to come visit my house in Summerhill for lunch. I would like to catch up with you in person, we could discuss in more detail what has been happening in your and my life, and we will spend some time committing issues in our lives to prayer. I want to experiment with this idea as one way to keep in regular contact with you and a way we can get together to pray.

AGAPE PROJECT

There is an old belief held at Sydney Uni that warns if you haven’t started studying before the Jacaranda tree in the main quad has blossomed, then you can expect to fail your exams.

The Jacaranda tree has well and truly blossomed. University is coming to a close for the year. Study vacation has begun and exams are just around the corner. So what happens when University ends? Do us campus workers take a long holiday?

Ha, fat chance! From late November we all get involved in running short-term mission projects for the students. Sydney University alone has seven people going on missions this summer. I won’t be going back to the Middle East this year as my big sister Catherine is getting married in December but I will be involved in the Agape project. Agape is a mission within the Sydney immigrant communities in Auburn and Flemington. Many students who went to the Middle East last year are electing for the cheaper Agape project this year. Be praying for our preparations for the project and that we’ll have many exciting stories to report afterwards.
 

Ronald has an evangelistic   tract shared with him by a   student on last year’s   Agape project.

 

PRAYER POINTS
PRAISE:
* For Iraqi lady who recently placed her trust in Christ
* The huge interest in Summer projects this year by students

PRAYER:
* The many contacts that come out of Auburn, that they may all come to place their faith in what Christ has done on their behalf
* Preparation for Agape, both administrative and that God would be preparing the hearts of those we will meet.
* For the staff and students going to Asia, Middle-East and Europe on project.
 
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