19 November, 2012

Holidays begin

Hi everyone,

We've come through the exam tunnel and emerged on the other side, blinking like a newborn cub at the sight of the bright yellow ball in the sky, clearing off our desks in the aftermath of the study-bomb explosion and taking a deep breath before our rollercoaster spills over the edge of another thrilling height.

01 November, 2012

Swot vac week!

A very quick update because there's not much else happening at the moment except:

STUDY FOR EXAMS!

Next week, Stephen and I each have three exams.

Tuesday AM: New Testament 502 (Acts & the Epistles & Pastoral Letters)
Wednesday AM: Early Church History (Stephen) Foundational Christian Beliefs (Sarah)
Thursday AM: Old Testament 502 (Prophets and Writings)

Prayers are much appreciated!
Particularly for:


  • Diligence and discipline in using the time we have to study hard.
  • That what we study would sink down from our brains into our hearts.
  • That we would look past exams and trust that God will use this knowledge for his purposes later on in ministry.

Thanks for your thoughts and support this year!

22 October, 2012

Final week of Semester 2 begins


Hi everyone!

I'ts time for another post as we ponder WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE???

The last two weekends have been quite full  for both of us, and we're just trying to catch our breath (literally; we have colds and Stephen has lost his voice.)

What have we been up to? Well, I'm glad you asked....

On Friday 12 October we drove to Adelaide. We left so early that we were in Horsham by 10.20am. The advantage of this was that we could have breakfast....and by the time we finished, the lunch menu was up. Hello, chicken nuggets! Anyway....we got to Adelaide safely, staying with Sarah's parents.

On Saturday was the occasion for which we drove over: attending our friends' wedding  (congratulations Nicole and Scott!). Stephen was MC at the reception, receiving lots of compliments for his work, including encouragement to go into radio! We also presented two songs for Nicole and Scott during the reception, which was a privilege to do.



On Sunday we highly enjoyed making a surprise visit to Trinity Bay and our hearts were well and truly warmed by the loving reception from our church family there. The afternoon was a good chance to relax, catch up with the minister, John, and then spend time with our god daughter, Adele.

All too soon, we had to leave on the Monday and swung into Coburg around 9.30pm. The next day Stephen had his New Testament lecture in the morning.

The week flew by with the usual lectures, singing at chapel on Thursday morning and learning more about Jesus, the early church and the gospel for battler culture.

The weekend just gone was yet another full one.

On Saturday we enjoyed a lovely lunch with Stephen's Grandma for the special occasion of her 90th birthday! She especially enjoyed meeting Hamish, one of Stephen's favourite puppets - becoming quite cheeky with him!


We then drove from Port Melbourne to Blackburn for a singing practice with our acapella quartet and then onto Scotch College in Hawthorn, for what might be the highlight of my year: the Stuart Townend concert. 

Stuey (as I affectionately call him) is one of my favourite Christian congregational song writers. His melodies are easily sung and quick to learn and the lyrics are just beautiful. He’s well known for How Deep the Father’s Love, In Christ Alone, Speak O Lord, etc. We’ve enjoyed listening to his latest album The Journey  for quite awhile, and it was a joy to hear some of these rousing songs played life. We were also particularly blessed to hear pieces from his band members, notably Mark Edwards, an incredible jazz pianist and Julian Ferraretto, violin.


Finally, yesterday our acapella group sang at a concert in Sunbury, organised by Stephen's mum to raise money for the chaplains who work at Sunbury schools. We were the 'guest artists' to the main performers - the Melbourne Male Voice Praise Choir. It was very much the 'pleasant Sunday afternoon' kind of affair, and the songs we presented were much appreciated.

Which brings me today! This the first day of Sarah's last week at Ridley, and Stephen's last week of Semester 2. We have 4 lectures left, Sarah has 3000 words to write, and Stephen has 2400. Next week will be Swot Vac: hitting the books hard to study for exams, followed by exam week. We each have three to write.


There's lots to pray for!

Please praise God with us for:
- A safe and lovely trip to Adelaide, being able to catch up with friends and be encouraged by our Trinity Bay church community
- The time we've had to study together at Ridley. It's been a unique year to be together so often and so involved in each other's days. I don't think we'll ever do anything quite like it again.
- Continued settling into and growing involvement with St Jude's Parkville, and ongoing relationship building that's happening.

Please pray with us for:
- Healing from our colds and coughs! And a return to full voice for Stephen.
- Hearts and minds that will study well and ingest our learning well enough to regurgitate it for exams, and that we'd be equipped for ministry though it.



- Sarah, as she sends out letters to potential supporters for her AFES apprenticeship next year at RMIT University.

08 October, 2012

NTE leading....excitement builds!

(entire post by Sarah.)

This evening we had a meeting in preparation for NTE 2012. (8 - 12 December)

NTE is a 5 day National Training Event for University students who are involved with Christian Union groups on campuses all around Australia.

This will be the first time Stephen and I will attend, and we're going as Strand Group leaders

Strand Groups are like a bible study group - but on spiritual steroids...in a good way!! We get to dig deep into God's Word with the students. Not only are we teaching them what the Bible says, but we will be teaching them how to work it out for themselves. A great skill for every Christian!

Specifically, we'll look at a passage from the Old Testament - Micah 5:1-5. We'll place it into context, of Micah, the Old Testament, and the Bible as a whole, and the students will also get to practice writing a talk based on this passage.

I'm personally excited about the context part. This year in our studies at Ridley, Stephen and I have both done Introduction to the Old Testament. It's a part (a big part!) of the Bible I really wasn't that familiar with. I knew the main stories from Sunday School (but always forgot who begat who), I could find a Psalm to suit my prayer at the time, Proverbs had some pithy words of wisdom and that was about it. Prophets? Who could ever understand those big chunks of text - apart from Isaiah, which had those verses about Jesus. And Jonah was a good story. Same with Esther (but since it doesn't even mention God, what's it doing there?).

Now, I'm not saying I am now an Old Testament expert after one and a half semesters! But I certainly have been equipped and taught the great Big Picture of the Bible, the central themes of the Pentateuch, how we can read Psalms, Proverbs and the Prophets and, I think perhaps most importantly, appreciating the text in its context for what it is, rather than rushing to find Jesus in every passage.

And this is what I'm excited to teach the students who will be in our Strand Group. The beauty of the overarching "Drama of Scripture" - God's Story of his Promises to his chosen People of a Place and Blessing and a Relationship with Him. It is a beautiful drama, rich in theology, that shows God's continual faithfulness and redeeming love for his People - sinful though they are.

There's lots to pray as we prepare for NTE...for Stephen and my own preparation, to think of creative and engaging ways to teach and empower the students, for a gracious and humble heart, to be models of Christian love, showing fruits of the Spirit and a godly character. Please pray with us as we prepare.

02 October, 2012

Alive & kicking

Hello friends, and Welcome to October!

It has been a rather long time since I last wrote. Please accept my humble on-my-knees-with-puppy-dog-eyes plea for your forgiveness!

So, of course, this is going to be a longer post. But I'll break it up with some photos because pictures are pretty and some people's attention spans are shor---oooooh look, a butterfly!

Ahem. Right. Anyways....since we last wrote...

Mid-Semester break
Yes, the last post was just after the break ended. But it was a great time, so I thought I'd pluck out a few highlights.

1. Philip Island
We spent three days on a holiday house at Philip Island with about 10 other Ridley friends (and their friends). It was a great time to get to know them better, enjoy the freezing, wild, wintery weather of the Island and pretend we were having an 'overseas holiday'. 



On the beach (note; only one person in shorts. Yes. He swam.)

Sensibly, we did not swim. Note my extreme coverage of clothing.

2. A house to ourselves & lots of games!
Our housemates enjoyed a real overseas holiday to Europe while we hung around home, and enjoyed playing copious rounds of a game called Carcasonne


It's addictive. A new map every time!

3. A trip 'home' (Adelaide)
We hit the road in the last week of June to enjoy some time with family and friends in Adelaide. We were the first ever guests at my parents' (Sarah's) lovely new house in Lobethal. They'd only moved the furniture on the day we drove over! Ask Sarah how impressed she was when, due to the lack of side gates at the time, she had to chase the dog after letting it out the backyard.....!! We got to spend time at Lobethal Lutheran Church (Sarah's previous church) as well as making it to both AM & PM services at Trinity Bay. 


The dog. Who ran away. He is looking at my unimpressed face.

4. Running a holiday club - together!!!
We spent 4 mornings during July running a Holiday Club program at Wattle Park (in Melbourne's Eastern suburbs). Believe it or not, this was the first time Stephen and I had worked together on such a project, so it's probably a very good thing we were doing the Marriage Course at the same time!! (It's all good!). I (Sarah) really enjoyed seeing Stephen in his element, surrounded by energetic, active children, and teaching them about God's love for them. We had a 'rock music' theme (gosh, music and ministry? That's not us at all!!) and told the children about David's story in the Bible. My comment by the end of the week was, 'I'm so glad children's ministry is YOUR gifting, honey! I'll do it again with you.....in year's time!!!). 
Famous last words.... we are going to run another beach mission in January together....

Marriage Course
During July and August, Stephen and I attended St Jude's Carlton every Tuesday evening to go through a Marriage Course. It's called 'The Marriage Course'. Ingeniously titled, isn't it? 
It was a brilliant. We enjoyed having a night out together, complete with nibbles, drinks and delectable desserts. But, more importantly, the way the Course is designed meant that we were given practical tools and exercises to communicate about various aspects of marriage. We highly recommend it!
I also wrote an article about the course for the St Jude's newspaper as well - you can read it online here.
This was us 4.5 years ago. A happy day. Still married!

Made Good
During August, I worked with Ridley College to help present Made Good, which was a series of talks by John Dickson, aimed at non-Christians, about different issues in life. It was a challenge to fit this work in with College, but I made it! The talks went very well and were very well received. The part I most enjoyed was setting up the website (do click on the link...it's a cool site!) and the part I learned the most from was going through Melbourne Uni, and the CBD, asking people questions for a vox pop, that was used in a video for introducing the topic for each talk. If you'd like to listen to the talks, click here. The Thursday night talk is an excellent example of how to approach homosexuality from a compassionate, Christian perspective. 

Puppet workshops and seminars
Stephen has done a couple of seminars and workshops during the year, teaching people how to use puppets for children's ministry. One for St Alfred's, Blackburn, one for a Children's Ministry conference and for Ridley College's Children & Youth Ministry Training Day. He'll also be running a children's ministry workshop for NTE 2012 (see the write up here). 


College
A reminder of our subjects: 

Sarah
New Testament introduction (part 2)
Old Testament introduction (part 2)
Intro to Theology
Gospel, Church and Australian Culture

My favourite subject this semester (sorry to any lecturers who are reading this!) would be the Gospel, Church & Australian Culture subject. It's been a fascinating and challenging look at what is the good news of Jesus to our 21st Century Australian context, and how do we communicate it to the various subcultures we live in? I've been challenged to consider how I live out this good news in my life, and our church community, to also be able to better articulate what the good news of Jesus means to us today.

I (Sarah) also wrote an article for the quarterly Ridley Report. It's an interview with an Old Testament classmate who runs a mixed martial arts gym, which is also his ministry. It's on page 3, under the 'Ministry and Training' section.  Click here to read it.

Stephen
New Testament introduction (part 2)
Old Testament introduction (part 2)
Early Church History
Youth Ministry

You read correctly - no Greek anymore...until next year! After trying Greek at Melbourne School of Theology and discovering that it was a completely different method of learning than he was used to, we decided that, with no financial loss, we would put Greek on hold and pick it up again next year. He has already completed Greek A, and just needs to complete Greek B. At Ridley, Greek B is spread over two semesters.


Stephen and I have also been leading our Chapel band this Semester, which has been good fun.


Church
We've feel we've really settled into Parkville St Jude's, and last Sunday (30 September), I even led the service for the first time. I've also been meeting regularly with the church's pastoral care worker, Deb, for prayer and encouragement, which is great. 

At the end of August, the congregation had a Camp, held at Mt Eliza. We went along for the Saturday and Sunday, and, as camps always are, it was a great time of getting to know people better and spend more time with our home group. The guest speaker, Charlie Fletcher, (who lectures part time at Ridley) spoke from Ecclesiastes. It was interesting to study a book that I find is a bit too easy to ignore sometimes! 

As part of his Youth Ministry subject, Stephen has been attending the St Jude's Youth Group on Friday nights (as a leader, not a youth...) and he also organised their camp which happened on 21-23 September.  

2013

Sarah - AFES

Next year, I (Sarah) have applied, and been accepted, to do an apprenticeship with the Christian Union at RMIT Melbourne, through AFES. I've been meeting with Steve and Heather, the senior staff workers, and am in the process of putting together a letter which will be sent to both inform family and friends about what this will look like, and to raise funds for my position. I need to raise about $27,000.  

Stephen - more study

Stephen will be continuing his Masters at Ridley and is currently considering which subjects he'll be doing. (Well...once his church history essay is completed and handed up tomorrow, then the consideration will commence!!)

So, after all this....there is obviously MUCH to praise God for, and needs to bring to Him. 

Praise God with us for...
- Sustaining us both through a challenging, tiring, but very edifying Semester 2 of College.
- Support from our family and friends as we study together and seek to serve God in ministry.
- The faculty and staff of Ridley, for their faithful teaching and service.
- For a loving and harmonious living situation, for no hassles with our landlord (he's quite nice, actually!) and for continuing friendship with Chris and Gill

Pray with us for...
- Safe travels next weekend, when we head back to Adelaide for a friend's wedding
- Continued concentration for the last few weeks of this Semester  (4 weeks to go) and for our exams
- That Centrelink would reinstate our rent allowance quickly and with minimal bureaucratic fuss (we believe in praying for miracles)
- For Sarah as she approaches people to ask for prayer and financial support for next year
- For wisdom for Stephen, to work out the subjects he'll study next year

We do get out occasionally....a day at Sovereign Hill was a great way to spend time with Stephen's parents for Father's Day.

20 July, 2012

Passed!!

Good evening, my fair blog readers.

This blog brings us to the beginning of our final week of holidays before Semester 2 at Ridley begins.

We've had a blissful 5 weeks off so far, and have managed to find great ways to use it, including a trip to Philip Island with classmates, a road trip to Adelaide, and running a holiday program from kids at Wattle Park (eastern suburbs of Melbourne).

The best news of today is: We Passed Semester 1!!

This is great encouragement to both of us as we head into Semester 2, knowing a little more what to expect, and at the same time, knowing it might possibly get insanely busy!

This Semester our subjects are:

Stephen
New Testament introduction (part 2)
Old Testament introduction (part 2)
Early Church History
Greek

Sarah
New Testament introduction (part 2)
Old Testament introduction (part 2)
Intro to Theology
Gospel, Church and Australian Culture


As you can see, in a change from last Semester, we now only share 2/4 subjects - instead of 3. Sarah's Theology subject is specially tailored for Grad Dip students, because it assumes that they will not be studying any further and aims to give a broad overview of theological issues, etc.

Stephen has decided to enrol in Greek B at Melbourne School of Theology. This is for a few reasons, but mostly, will allow him to go over material he has learned, to consolidate it, and still be able to finish Greek by the end of the year.

News on Sarah's front is regarding decisions for 2013....(me speaking now!) I have found the subject matter that I have been learning to be life-changing, having deepened my faith and understanding of God, and would love to put this new-found knowledge to use in some way. During a subject last semester, we were assigned the task of putting together a 3-5 year plan for the future in regards to ministry. In thinking about this, and coupled with my enthusiasm for what I'm learning, and my desire to pass it on/use it in some way, I decided that I would like to do a practical apprenticeship in an area of ministry to see if this would be a possible future occupation for me. So, I've been speaking to campus directors at various university campuses around Melbourne to pursue the possibility of a 2 year traineeship with AFES (Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students). The talks have been great, and I've got one more to go before I decide which campus to do the traineeship.

These traineeship positions require self-funding, so expect to hear more about that in future blog posts - for now, please see the prayer points below related to this exciting development!

In other news, we've both secured some form of paid employment. Stephen is working casually at the local Video Ezy (yay! cheap movies!) and Sarah is doing some marketing work for the Melbourne Mission Week in September. This income has actually been very helpful in getting us through some of the extra spending that holidays bring, as well as every day bills and expenses.

Also, this week, we begin a Marriage Course being held at St Jude's on Tuesday nights for the next 2 months. No need to panic - things are fine! But we thought this would be a great opportunity to have a marriage 'tune-up' and reminder about the important ways to look after our marriage, so that we love each other fully and glorify God in our relationship.

And now for the most important part of this blog!

Please praise God with us for:
- Academic success in Semester 1 (passing!) and, more importantly, the knowledge we've gained, and opportunities to use this knowledge.
- The long but productive break from study that we've both enjoyed.
- Safe travel during the breaks
- His daily provision of everything that we need!

Please pray with us for:
- Wisdom and direction for Sarah, as she makes ministry plans for next year
- Focus in Semester 2, as we will be busier than the first semester, but with equal amounts of study to be done!
- Stephen's continual learning of Greek, that this knowledge would sink in and he would gain confidence by switching to MST for this subject.


 

08 June, 2012

Exams done!!

Thanks for your prayers and support over the last two weeks, as Stephen and I have been studying for and writing exams.

The official season ended at 12pm today when I, Sarah, finished my exam for the Fourth Gospel subject.

We're pretty tired, but pleased to have gotten through, and even more pleased that we learned stuff - moreso, God taught us stuff! Now to make sure it sinks past our shoulders and into our hearts, that's the main thing!!

I'll probably do a more detailed post tomorrow (would love to share some stuff I learned!) but for now, here is a picture of a happy post-exam face:


03 June, 2012

Exam Week Starts Now!

Dear friends,

The week has arrived. Exams!
All the learning, studying and discussion over the last 12 weeks culminates in this week.

Those of you on Facebook would already know this, from the astronomical rise in the number of inane procrastinative and study-related status which spewed forth from our profiles. For this, we are kind of sorry.

With the aid of a study scheduler that has been 80% successfull, and 95% effective for Sarah, and desire to learn and pass for Stephen, we've spent a solid 7 days holed up at home/in the library, consolidating what we learned.

I (Sarah) can only speak for myself, but I think this status says it all;
Feeling mildly prepared. Not under prepared. Not over prepared. Not quite adequately prepared. Just mildly prepared for now.
Our exam schedule is thus:


Tuesday: New Testament (Stephen and Sarah).
10am-12pm: 3 questions.

Wednesday: Evangelism (Stephen and Sarah)
9.30am - 12.45pm: Oral presentation & written questions.

Thursday: Old Testament (Stephen and Sarah)
10am - 12pm: Three questions.

Friday: Gospel of John (Sarah)
10am - 12pm: 2 exegesis + 1 theological question.

Please pray for:
Good health
Clear thinking
A good memory!
Remembering that the goal is to transform our hearts, and equip us for ministry, rather than feel puffed up with knowledge and pride!
We'd love to pass....really!!

Thank you for all your support and prayers through this Semester. We're so pleased to have made it this far, and amazed at all that God is teaching us through our short time at Ridley so far, and looking forward to more (after a holiday of course!!). 

Some pictorial evidence of the effect of exams....

Everything seems ok....

Oops...hit a roadblock that can only be solved by getting REALLY close to the text...

Nothing to worry about here folks, just studying away...

Wait...what....they start the day after tomorrow???!!!
 

17 May, 2012

May May May

Hello our bloggity blog friends!

We hope you're all keeping warm and well as winter well and truly winds its way into our midst.

A lot can happen in a month! And here's where it's at:

Ridley
It's a pointy end of semester, having just completed week 11/12!
Tomorrow, Sarah has her final classes for Gospel of John and then we roll into our final week of Semester 1, 2012.
Following this is a week of SWOT VAC for some mad exam revision time, after which come the EXAMS. As you may have already guessed, this is a big prayer point! But more on those later (just to keep the suspense going....)

Apart from classes, Stephen and I have continued to be involved in other ways at Ridley. Most notably at the moment is Stephen's role on the Ridley Student Committee (RSC) as First Year Rep and Social organising person. He's organised a 'Studying Well Encouragement Lunch' for during swot week, as well as a 'Celebrate End of Exams' with a night at a local pub (which also has karaoke. But that's totally unrelated...).

Sarah is currently tossing up whether to do four subjects next semester...or three. Another prayer point for the list! One of the considerations is the workload. Being the possibly only year I'll spend at Ridley (unless God opens other doors), I really want to make the most of what I'm learning, and enjoy time and space for it to sink in. Cutting back to three subjects may be a solution to ensuring this happens. But on the other hand, there is a tidy 'finality' to finishing the Grad Dip in a year and not having any further subjects to do... If anyone reading has wisdom, please do leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Church
Last blog, we talked about how we were finding our time at St Jude's, Carlton. Since then, we have visited their church plant which meets at Ridley, St Jude's Parkville. Of the two times we've attended so far, we have found the community to be very warm and friendly, and have felt that this church seems to be a natural fit for us. Of course, there are plenty of families around - many with very young children - which means there is opportunity for growth in the children's ministry. Being a church plant, there are also many opportunities to serve as needed.

Other
We had a wonderful time in Adelaide on the mid-semester break, and while the time was busy catching up and travelling from one end of Adelaide to the other some days (literally! Hallett Cove to Andrews Farm!) we so enjoyed being in what I call the prettiest city we know!

Not long after that, Stephen celebrated his 29th birthday on 28 April. We spent the day at the Ridley graduation ceremony - not ours! We were invited to play/sing in the band. It was also the debut performance of our acapella quartet, and our performance was warmly received! Following graduation we enjoyed dinner with Stephen's family at a family favourite restaurant - Lazy Moe's.

Our house-sharing situation continues to be a great one, and we're really enjoying getting to know Chris and Gill better, being on the receiving end of their culinary flair and having good chat when there's procrastination in the air!

Until recently we had a visitor staying in our home....of the small, furry and squeaky variety. Yes! A mouse! This update from Chris and Gill's blog shows the announcement of its arrival (http://www.porterblepeople.com/2012/04/cold-weather-sets-in/) while this one describes its defeat, at the hands (or should I say the feet?) of Chris' well-timed kick - http://www.porterblepeople.com/2012/05/vermin/. We're glad to have such brave and valiant housemates.

A few weeks ago Sarah also enjoyed an afternoon at the netball with the Urmston girls (plus Chris, Ellice's husband). The game was close the whole way through, and the buzz of the crowd when the Melbourne girls got in front in the last 30 seconds was amazing! 

Finally, and certainly not leastly, Stephen and I were overjoyed to meet our niece, Emily Patricia Cowl, who was born to Ellice and Chris, on the afternoon of 16 May, 2012. We were so privileged to be able to see her and mum and dad just a few hours after she was born. I may have shed a tear or two upon seeing this gorgeous newborn. We praise God for a safe delivery, for the health of Emily, and pray for the speedy recovery of Ellice, and for both Ellice and Chris as they adjust to their new 'normal' - being parents!

Please praise God with us for;
- making it this far during Semester! The wonderful friends we've made at Ridley and the encouragement we receive there.
- Ridley College, and its commitment to encouraging students to be formed by God's word, both in head and heart.
- Emily Cowl's arrival into this world, for the staff at the hospital who delivered her, the support of Chris (husband) and Chrissy (sister) of Ellice, and celebrating the joy of new life.
- Mutually enjoyed living arrangements with Chris and Gill, and their friendship.

Please pray with us for;
- Exam preparation. Pray that we would use the time we have wisely and God would calm our hearts and help us to revise what we've learned.
- Starting to attend St Jude's at Parkville, that we may serve the community, and fit in quickly.
- Ridley College, new staff are sought and other staff are farewelled.
- For wisdom for Sarah, to decide on how many subjects to enrol in next semester.


06 April, 2012

An update of late proportions. Introducing; April Update!

Dear friends,
We come before you to humbly confess that we have been negligent. We have failed to love you through communicating via this blog as we should have. Accept our confession and grant us the reprieve of your reading eyes, thoughts and prayers once again.

Whew! With that out of the way (we really are sorry about the delay!) let's get on with the task and share with you where things are at.

Ridley
Can you believe that we have already had 7 weeks of class? Insane!
In that 7 weeks we have written and submitted our essays for our New Testament class, and I, Sarah, have also written and handed up an exegesis essay for my Gospel of John class - focussing on ch13:5-15 (the footwashing). Now, our attention turns to yet another essay, this time for Old Testament, which is due on 19 April.

We are still loving being at Ridley and being a part of the community within.

One of my favourite times of day is Wednesday lunchtime. There's no officially 'community lunch' in the dining hall, like there is on Tuesday and Thursdays. But, head into the Student Lounge, and it's hard to get a seat at the table, because of the great bunch of (mainly) first years, who sit down and chat and reflect. It's really wonderful.
Recently, one of our classmates organised an afternoon picnic across the road at a park. It was very casual, but a very fun time of relaxing and chilling out over food, on a picnic blanket, enjoying the delicious weather that Melbourne has been offering to us (thanks God!).

Another highlight was the recent Chapel service, held in 'hip hop' style. Every Tue-Thur, the College community meets from 9.50am - 10.50am for a Chapel service. There is a group of students doing a subject called 'Christian Worship'. Every so often, they take control of Wednesday's chapel service, at do the service in a particular style, or with a particular theme. Congregational singing was replaced with congregational rapping, and 'Amen' was replaced with 'Word!', among other things. It was good to try something different!

We've also been getting to know some of our classmates over meals, which I have now dubbed 'Friday Friendship Meals'. What better thing to do on a Friday night than to relax over food, and get to know people better, and maybe even play a board game or something. I'm hoping it's a tradition we'll definitely continue!

Church
We have been attending St Jude's church, in Carlton, the 11am service, since we moved to Melbourne. We're keen to get to know people, have been attending a fortnightly homegroup and at the moment are considering how we might serve the congregation in the near future.
As great as the people at St Jude's are, we are finding the transition somewhat difficult. We blame Trinity Bay for this, in every good way! Our time at the Bay was very special, and we were very quickly integrated into the congregation, and from very early on, we had a wonderful sense of belonging, and of community. We got to know people over shared meals after the service and other mid-week activities. One factor for this was that, when we entered the community, Stephen had a role on staff, and a special one at that, of directing the learning times for the children. In that sense, there's a natural progression of integration. The other factor, we believe, is that the people at the Bay had been well-trained for a culture of welcome, particularly of hospitality, and this shone through.
St Jude's is a very differently shaped community and church. I'm being careful not to compare, or hold one congregation up and better than the other - naturally human bias will make this impossible, so I do acknowledge it. But I believe that it's because we had such an amazing experience at the Bay, that there is some difficulty, on our part, to grow to love St Jude's, as we did the Bay. The integration is far far slower than we would like, and this is really causing us to struggle. For this reason, please keep us in your prayers especially on this point, as we accept God's timing and wait upon him.

Other
God has been incredibly gracious to us, in making this transition so smooth. We feel privileged to be living where we are (Coburg), sharing with great housemates, being set apart from full time work for awhile to be able to study, and getting to know people in this city.

It's great to be close to Stephen's family, and exciting times are just around the corner, with our niece/nephew due on 2 May! Ellice (Stephen's sister) and Chris had a baby shower a couple Sundays ago, and I (Sarah), had a great time attending, participating in the games, and staring at Ellice's gorgeous belly, in awe that we'll soon be meeting this new life within. Amazing.

As I write this, I'm sitting in the campervan at Belgrave Heights, at their annual Easter Convention. This is a convention that has shaped and formed Stephen's faith and growth in knowledge and love of God, as his family would come up every year for Easter and Christmas. I love sharing in this tradition, and the fact that we're now only 50 minutes away (not 7 hours!). The teaching here is excellent, thought and heart provoking, the singing is hearty and heartfelt and the surroundings tranquil (if not a wee bit breezy today!!), and a great time to unwind and focus our thoughts on Jesus, this Good Friday.

On Easter Sunday, we will jump in the car and be on our way to Adelaide of a week-long getaway and reunion with my family, our church family and other friends.

Ps - when I'm back in reach of a PC, I'll post some photos as well, for those of you for whom this block of text really was a block to push through! And, pictures are more fun, anyway!

Please pray with us for;
- Continued diligence in completing assignments, whilst keeping up with the ongoing reading and requirements.
- Stephen, to work out a good study routine, and be able to focus on his study for appropriate lengths of time.
- Sarah, as she considers, in light of what she's learning, how she might continue to serve God next year, and whether investigations into full time ministry, of some sort, could be on the cards.
- Continued faith and trust in God and his provision, to follow his lead one step at a time.
- Patience with church, and community, and that God would show us what we are to do.

Please praise God with us for;
- His care for us over the semester so far, that we have been able to learn, listen, and complete assignments on time!
- The joy and privilege of being close to Stephen's family, and for the impending arrival of our niece/nephew.
- The gift of his Son, who so loved the world that rebelled against him, that he made the ultimate sacrifice for sins, that we, along with all of God's creation, could be redeemed into a loving relationship with our Heavenly Father.
- The caring staff at Ridley, and the community, in which we feel so blessed to be a part of, and the work God is doing in people's hearts and minds through the College.

10 March, 2012

Marching on....

Dear friends,

Here we are, at the start, nearing the middle, of March.

Study
For Stephen and I, it's the end of Week 3 of College. (Excepting the three weeks of intensive Greek Stephen has already completed).

Our first assignment, an essay for New Testament will be due on a couple of short weeks. (Hence why I'm now writing a blog post. What better way to procrastinate let the creative juices flow?).


On Monday Stephen sat his Greek exam (end of Semester 1 exam). Thanks for those who have been able to pray for him. He's been working hard, and we're delighted that his efforts have paid off - he passed, and passed very well!

On Friday and Saturday last week I (Sarah) had classes for my fourth subject - Gospel of John. The class ran from 9am - 5pm on both days. I have another two weekends like that. The course shape is called an 'extensive', so rather than weekly classes, or three weeks of one subject, it's spread out through the semester. While I came home utterly zonked on Saturday evening, it was a good way to soak up the subject matter and get some good theological and exegetical discussions going. (See, I'm at College, I can use those big words now!!)

On a personal reflection note - Sarah - while I didn't come into study with a particular ministry goal, I'm absolutely loving what I'm learning. I'm also appreciating more fully what a unique opportunity this is, to spend 12 months devoted to learning more about God's Word. I'm somewhat surprised at just how excited I am. I don't think I was expecting to love it this much - but I do. And thank God for that!

Church
We started home groups a couple of weeks ago. As the group meets fortnightly, we're looking to join another group in the alternate weeks as well, to ensure we have weekly fellowship and encouragement, and get to know more people from the 11am congregation.

General
The biggest news so far is that Centrelink have approved our applications and, praise God, we have received our first payment. Sarah's payments have begun straight away; Stephen's are subject to a waiting period. But at least we now have money for rent! Always a good thing.

Again, feeling the sting of being far away from close friends and family is going to be a recurrent theme. On of Sarah's close friends celebrated her engagement last Saturday night, and it was hard to miss that.

Please praise God for:
- Provision of Centrelink payments.
- What he is teaching us through our classes at Ridley and the richness of this learning.
- Sarah's enjoyment and excitement at learning big words, and what God has to teach her through them!
- Continuing integration into St Jude's community.

Prayer points:
- Diligence with study, especially for planning essays and exams.
- Comfort in times when we miss family and friends, and some of the important occasions in life we can't be there for.
- Making a decision about home group, that God would make it clear to us where to go.

20 February, 2012

Mid Feb update

Dear friends,

Well, time keeps flying by. 20 Feb has arrived and with it, the start of semester one at Ridley.

So, what have we been up to?

Church
On 12 February, we were officially welcomed to the 11am community at St Jude's. It was actually nice to be pointed out as 'newbies', as it afforded people the opportunity to come up and have the 'so, you're new!' conversations. The service was followed by lunch on Lygon St, where we enjoyed getting to know more people.

Connected to this, we attended out first home group on Thursday night (16th). It's a young adult (or young adult at heart) group and we spent the time sharing dinner and getting to know each other. Of course, this couldn't happen without the good old 'Two Truths and a Lie' game. I found it more fun to think up three lies, personally!! This home group meets fortnightly, so this Thursday we'll attend another homegroup to be part of in the alternate weeks.

Ridley
While today marks the first day of Semester One, it also marks the end of the Greek A Intensive, which Stephen had been doing. He still has a couple of classes before a end of 'semester' test on Monday 5 March. This is a big prayer point, especially as he now needs to juggle 3 other subjects and still keep his Greek practice going daily.

For this semester, Stephen's subjects are; Greek, Old Testament, New Testament & Evangelism & Ministry Foundations.

Sarah is doing Old Testament, New Testament, Evangelism & Ministry Foundations and a Gospel of John extensive. Extensives are held over 3 weekends.

We have also just come back from Launch Camp, where ourselves and 70 other students + faculty spent time meeting each other, sharing meals, and hearing talks from the faculty about what we can expect at Ridley and some of its values and aims.

It was a fantastic time, in the beautiful setting of Upper Plenty Conference Centre. We did laugh that we ended up sharing, not just the same lodge, but WALL as our housemates. Clearly God wants us to get to know each other quite well!!

We're so pleased about what we heard on the weekend. The returning students were very generous in their praise of the College, in particular, the emphasis that's placed on community life and the integration between academic studies and personal transformation. We're excited about what God is going to teach us through our subjects and look forward to experiencing and contributing to the community life at Ridley through Chapel and shared lunches, prayer triplets and other student activities.

General
Overall we're settling in well. I (Sarah) have enjoyed filling in for Stephen's sister's netball team and having time to organise the house and write blog posts! But also very much looking forward to my first class tomorrow!!

On another note, we had to resubmit some paperwork to Centrelink after it apparently appeared in a black hole. This has further delayed the outcome of our application for financial support for another 2 weeks. We'd like to think we're reasonably patient people and this is certainly testing that belief!!

Please praise God for:
- Settling in well to St Jude's community, enjoying home group and meeting new people.
- The values of Ridley College, the excellent launch camp and our excitement to begin full semester together.
- This opportunity to spend time getting immersed in God's Word, studying it and allowing it to transform our lives.

Prayer points:
- Stephen's Greek exam on Monday 5 March.
- Patience with Centrelink!
- Diligence with study, especially for planning essays and exams.

09 February, 2012

Hard copy update at your request

Good evening!

We've just finished putting together a newsletter to summarise our time here so far.

If you're lucky enough to attend Trinity Bay Church, hard copies will be available this Sunday (12 Feb).

Note, it doesn't really contain much new information other than extensive contact details.

Here's the obvious question 'But why, Sarah, when we've so diligently followed each and every update, would you ask us to hate nature and kills trees, to print out this newsletter?'

Fair point. It's just that, with a blog, you don't get to draw a mustache on Sarah's face and give Stephen funny glasses. But you also can't put it on your fridge or the back of your toilet door as a reminder to pray for us (or emergency loo paper, when times are tough).


A picture of the aforementioned newsletter is below. We can send you the file so you can have your very own copy. Just email Sarah (sarahDOTurmston87ATgmailDOTcom). With all the free time she currently has, you'll probably get it within the next 10 minutes.


08 February, 2012

Feb update

Hi friends!

Sorry it's been so long between posts. The chief staff writer of the blog has been mildly distracted by her own blog...

Since we last communicated, Stephen started Greek and is halfway through his second (out of three) weeks already. A major praise point is that he's been able to get through the work quite well, receiving great marks for his tests and is studying very hard.

Today we had our enrolment! This procedure took a little while, but a very valuable part of it was the opportunity to sit down with a faculty member to talk over subject choices so they could offer input and guidance. Followed closely by chatting with members from the student committee about our involvement on campus while we study.


Now that have our student cards, it all feels a little official. We're particularly proud of Stephen's photo. I'm not sure that such 'come hither' eyes have ever before been witnessed on a student, or will since....


Ridley...where I can stare you down in a student card...


As for me (Sarah), my time has been ridiculously relaxing, keeping up with housework and trying to keep focussed on tasks that need to completed. I'm really enjoying the close proximity of the shops, the local fruit n veg shops & butchers, and having some alone time.


We've been attending St Jude's (3 weeks now) in Carlton. This Sunday we'll be introduced as 'newbies', which I'm sure will assist with the 'getting to know everyone' process. We're also going to attend our first small group next Thursday evening.


It's hard to hear about things that are happening in Adelaide and not being there sometimes. A good friend of Sarah's got engaged last weekend, which was very exciting. We Skyped with friends and got to see their beautiful daughter looking so grown up! Seeing photos of the youth group on Facebook and hearing about the new venue for Church is wonderful. Just strange not to be there. And each Sunday is a bit of a reminder of the people we miss at the Bay. Knowing God's got us sorted is helpful. But, while we're still getting into the swing of things over here, it's still feels a bit like being away from home!


Which moves us on to prayer points...


Praise points:
 - That Stephen is actually enjoying Greek and doing well at it.
 - We're officially enrolled, accepted and all engines are set to go for our year of study together at Ridley.
 - The house is going really well and we're getting along great with our housemates.


Prayer points:
 - that we'd continue to be rooted in the Word of God and devoting time every day to prayer and reading our Bibles, making it a top priority.
 - For the remainder of the Greek course for Stephen, that he would continue to be able to soak up new concepts and work diligently.
 - For our application to Centrelink for Youth Allowance/Austudy (submitted last Monday, they have up to 28 days to get it through)
- To be able to connect quickly with people at church and study, and build a strong friendship base.

28 January, 2012

Photographical content

Ignoring the fun play with mirrors...note the CityLink e-tag! I guess we're pretty much "real" Melbournians now.

Our first tram ride into the city. Once we worked out how to insert the ticket (with some help from a friendly local), it was a smooth ride.

We saw Sherlock Holmes movie. It was very good. Quaintest cinema ever (next to Lobethal)!

The documentary we watched on our wedding anniversary. Fantastic story about how Kevin loved puppets from a young age and managed to meet Jim Henson and eventually work for and with him. Brilliant.

The rest of January...

Greetings, friends!

It's been a busy couple of weeks for us Urmstons.

One of the main appointments was our interviews with the Ridley faculty. Stephen and I were interviewed separately. It was a good time, good conversation. The staff laid out the expectations of the College (such as getting involved) and we got to talk through things like subject choices.

Stephen begins his Greek intensive classes on Monday, and has started his preparation - learning the alphabet. The intensive runs for 2.5 weeks and squeezes a semester's worth of learning into that short time. This means the rest of the course can be spread over 2 semesters. Please pray for Stephen in his preparation and learning that the information would soak in quickly, and he'd be able to pick it up well.

Last Sunday we attended St Jude's in Carlton. The service was fine and we met some lovely people. It was an interesting experience, to go to church again as a 'newbie', be introduced to people and accustom ourselves to a different space. We'll be back again tomorrow at the 11am service. At the moment, it seems this is where we'll call our church home. We've tossed up about spending more time visiting different churches vs 'settling'. Our priority at this time is to plug into a community, join a small group as quickly as we can and feel 'at home'.

On Thursday, while everyone celebrated Australia, we celebrated 4 years of marriage! It was a great day. We went to our favourite place in the city - ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) and watched a documentary about Kevin Clash (who operates Elmo and is now director of Sesame St). Followed that with dinner at Brunswick and then back home to watch the tennis!

And finally, due to her love of words and reviewing each day in detail, Sarah has started her own blog! You can read it here: http://sarahurmston.wordpress.com/

Even more finally, here are our prayer and praise points:

Praise points:
- Family! We're enjoying regular catch ups with Stephen's sisters and parents. Sarah's also enjoying staying connected via SMS to her mum over their love of tennis.


 - That the application with Ridley is proceeding smoothly

- We enjoyed our visit to St Jude's and can see ourselves settling in there

Prayer points
-  For our application to Centrelink....just need to drop in some final documentation on Monday and then it all remains with them.
 - For Stephen as he begins the Greek intensive
- For Sarah, that she'd be productive at home, while Stephen is studying!

18 January, 2012

Some photos

Life's sometimes more interesting with pictures. So here are a few from this week (10-18 January).
From the drinks fridge at Blockbuster, Sunbury. South Australians will be able to tell what's different (yep, avoiding the word 'wrong') about this picture...

We started with a kitchen full of boxes. A near insurmountable task!

But we did overcome the boxes and, with a bit of help from our friends at Ikea, have a great cooking & eating room.
We're still trying to work out where the plate from the microwave has gone though. We'll keep you updated on the mystery as it unfolds...

Unfortunately, we did suffer a couple of casualties.

But God has a sense of humour.

One of the boxes that contained mugs had a terrific gash in its side. Fearing the worst, we opened it up. Fortunately, all mugs made from delicate, easily breakable material (like most mugs) were fine.

The plastic Australia cup, however, is another story...


Australi works for me. Anyone else for Australi as the new name for our great nation??







Guess you can't win them all!!

And the unpacking goes on (like the beat)

So it's January 18th. And a lot has happened in a week.

Praise God the unpacking of the container proceeded uneventfully. We had some great help from friends and family. The meal that Zelma (Stephen's mum) had prepared was much appreciated. While the container took 4 days to pack, it only took 2.5 hours to unpack - and 2.5 hours for the beautiful new house to look like a bomb loaded with boxes hit it!

The house itself: is an older style 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, with a private lounge/study downstairs as well. It's located in Coburg, not far from Sydney Road. We are sharing the house with another couple, Chris and Gill Porter, who have also moved across from Adelaide to study at Ridley College. God has really blessed us with a house that is more than sufficient for our needs. At this stage, it looks like there will be enough room for everyone to spread out and have their own space as needed.

Since that day of unpacking the container, a lot more unpacking has been happening. This has also involved several trips to Ikea, a visit to Costco, strolls along Sydney Road and time figuring out what we need to be prepared for College.

Just for fun - our housemate Chris put together a time-lapse video of the unpacking of the container. Enjoy in 1:18 what took us 2:30:00 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHU5cjp6CLQ

We also enjoyed a late Urmston family Christmas at Ellice's house (Stephen's sister) on Saturday evening, which was a great chance to catch up with everyone and marvel at Ellice's gorgeous pregnant belly! We're looking forward to welcoming our first niece/nephew in the first week of May!!

We got an exciting phone call yesterday from Ridley, to confirm our interview times (Monday next week). This is nearing the final step in the application process, which will be good to take.
Down to business this week, making the move seem more real, will be changing our licences to Victorian ones, swapping the number plates, joining up with RAA and other things like that. A big prayer point at the moment is going through the process of organising Youth Allowance (Sarah) and Austudy (Stephen) payments. Centrelink can be an unwieldy beast, so we pray that God will go before us and give us patience to work with the system! Edit: Having been on hold for 20 mins to ask a question, this prayer is more pertinent than ever!!

Praise points:
- That we've been able to settle in well and house God has provided is amazing
- For minimal breakages in the move (and nothing that mattered, anyway!)
- For the continued support of family and friends

Prayer points
- That we continue to put God first in our lives, and rely on him for everything we need
- Still to find a church home to settle into quickly. Feeling a bit 'loose' at the moment, with fewer local connections
- For our application to Ridley to go through successfully
- For our application to Centrelink to be successful and be as smooth as possible

10 January, 2012

Leaving...and arriving!

Hi everyone,

We've arrived!

We left Lobethal (from Sarah's parent's house) at roughly 10am, and with a quick stop in Mt Barker to pick up the all important car charger for the phone, were on our way (with one very full car!).

The trip was very smooth, and by 5.30pm (Adelaide time) we had arrive in Sunbury at Stephen's parent's house.

It's a very strange feeling to be staying here and yet not be on holidays (well, not officially). Like a strange time warp, waiting for something to begin (cue West Side Story's 'Something's Coming'....)

Tomorrow sees us unpacking the container, so we'll probably post pics and more info on Thursday.

For now, I hope this'll be tradition, I'll leave you with some prayer and praise points:

Praise points:
- For safe, uneventful travel.
- For the amazing fuel economy of our car! (700km on 42 litres!!).
- That God continues to sustain us and is always moving before us.
- For the volunteers helping us unpack the container tomorrow.

Prayer points:
- That the unpacking of the container would flow smoothly.
- If things are broken, Sarah wouldn't be too disappointed (and take it as a reminder that this world and its material possessions are but temporary!!)
- That we would settle quickly into our new home and be able to find a church home quickly.


Photo: This is how you play tetris with cars. Thanks to Dad Lieschke for lending his handy spatial eye to get it all to fit! We love wagons...