Hi All,
Since the beginning of the year we’ve had a relaxing holiday and now we’re back into things in Bidwill. 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year for us with plenty of new people and new opportunities. On some Thursday nights this year Katie and I be joining along with a ministry called WIN (Women In Need). WIN basically involves driving around streets (usually in factory areas) where sex workers look for work and stopping to chat and have a coffee and see if we can help with anything. The team we are going out with has been doing WIN for a number of years and although we’ve only been out once so far, we could tell it was something we’d like to support.

Katie has started teaching English with Sudanese women at Mamre House with the Mamre Refugee Program and she is also spending time with the Sudanese community at an English class in Mt Druitt on Saturdays. Katie has befriended a bunch of Sudanese women and their kids and even got us invited to a Sudanese wedding last weekend. At the wedding we felt privileged as we were the only white people among about 600 Sudanese. Katie spent the day before the wedding with the grooms family getting henna tattoo which is slowly fading from her hands.

I have getting involved with a Kids Club which focuses on fun and intentional discipleship on Wednesday evenings. About 40 local kids attend and it’s going to be a great way to keep building relationships with the kids and their parents. I am also going to be involved in supporting a Learning Ground program for primary aged kids. The Learning Ground is an alternative indigenous education program and the primary aged program will run on Wednesday during school hours. I’m also continuing to visit Cobham Juvenile Remand Center and it has been really great to get back in there spending time with the boys. There are quite a number from our local area in Cobham at the moment so please pray for us as we try to connect with them when they make it back to the ‘outside’. My passion for Burma is always with me and always growing. This year on the 14th of March is the Global Day of Prayer for Burma. I am organising an event in western Sydney but if anyone wants to organise a prayer event in another part of Sydney that morning that would be great.

This week our house has gone from a house of 3 to a house of 5. The first to move in was Jarrod, a Submerge student this year. He’s 26 and works part time as one of the preaching pastors at Dural Baptist Church where he’s worked full time for that past few years. The other new guest is a 14 yr old Indigenous guy who needs somewhere to stay for a while. He comes from a family of 6 kids and mum needed a bit of a break from him. He’s going to be staying at our place on weeknights and returning home (a couple of streets away) on weekends. He likes to roam the streets at night and was chased last night by a gang who wanted his fancy scooter with its pink grip tape and purple wheels. I think he outran them but hopefully he will learn the lesson that 14 yr old kids shouldn’t roam the streets late at night.

Thank God for
Katie’s involvement with the Sudanese community. Especially for being invited to a wedding and special celebrations the day before with the family of the bride.
3 new people joining our team to do the Submerge course
New opportunities this year
That we have started to feel more settled and at home

Prayer Points
For our involvement with the Women In Need (WIN) program – particularly that we’d start to form relationships with some of the women and that we’d know how to fit it into our routine as it finishes around 1am
That Katie can continue to deepen relationships with Sudanese friends
For connecting with Cobham boys both in prison and on ‘the outside’
For the kids club Matt does, especially on knowing how to do intentional discipleship stuff
Families suffering from alcoholism, domestic violence, substance abuse and addictions
We’d like to start some Bible studies and groups with locals this year
For healing in a couple of key relationships among our neighbours that are strained at the moment
Pray for Katie and I as we learn to have a healthy marriage and take care of ourselves in a pressured environment
For the young guy who is staying with us at the moment – that he can have great mentors and opportunities to grow at this critical time in his life and for his mum who is struggling to know how best to get him through the next while. Please also pray that he comes home on time because he has a habit of roaming the streets ’til the am part of the night.