Wednesday October 19th 2011

Today a dear friend and sister passed away in the early hours of the morning. She had been a consistent particpant in the Thursday Bible discussions before being taken ill.
Please pray for her grieveing family. She will be dearly missed.
She has now gone home to be with the Lord who has kept her faithful through many years and trials.
'Blessed be the name of the Lord'
Michael

Sunday 16th October

Hi all,
On Sunday I was called into hospital to see a woman who had been regularly coming to Thursday meetings until she began having heart problems. Since then she has been in and out of hospital last week she went to see her doctor for her heart and in the process of visiting the doctor broke her hip. Hence she went back into hospital but with her bad heart it looks like she is unlikely to recover from the operation. On Sunday her son called me in as they were turning off life support to her. All her family was there and obviously were upset I stayed there for some time and prayed for them and prayed with her. She is now on morphine only and receiving palliative care.
Please pray for her and especially her family as this could possibly be a prolonged process. She is a faithful woman that God has kept in his flock for many years. She has a good knowledge of the Bible and I and others will miss her greatly. She enjoyed Thursdays and the camps at our Church and was looking forward to return to another camp until illness took control.
God bless her and keep her. I think this week will be a tough week.
Please pray for her and her family
Thanks
Michael

Thursday 13th October

Hi all,

Thanks for your prayers

Thursday went well with Derek leading the study which gave me a much appreciated and needed breather. Attendance was good with 16 people attending. This did not include the helpers I had today which I was grateful for. Ann and another friend of mine from another church came to visit which was very encouraging to me. Thanks Debbie!

Two people could not stay for the study today. One of the two is regular and the other I have also known for a long time but does not come often on Thursday but says they will be back next week.

The person who can be a handful during discussion was reasonably co operative but if you could continue to pray for him each week that would be great.

I also a visited a lady who most of the Thursday group knows. She is in hospital. I visited her yesterday she is not doing very well. Another two ladies who regular came on Thursdays are both not well and are both still in hospital. One has a bad heart but has now also broken her hip. Please pray for the three of them.

Thanks again

Michael

Church Camp 2011

Hi all,

Thank you for your prayers for the weekend.

As expected two people pulled out from coming on the Friday we were to leave for the Church camp. However in hind site this was a blessing in disguise. As the weekend proved to be very full and tiring with the 5 people I did manage to get there.

Overall the weekend went reasonably well. However there were many tense moments and one bad situation did develop. As used to dealing with these problems as I am something will always develop which I had not thought of before , as was the case the past weekend.

God was gracious with the organising people of the camp being very understanding and helpful to the people whom I brought along.

God also provided people qat the camp like my wife , Derek and a few others to make the group feel welcome.

For me again it is a reminder that matching our actions to our belief is always hard. The challenge to love unconditionally and continuously is even harder.

The camp and weekend is over and whilst a lot of effort has transpired the task to continue to witness, encourage and teach people about Jesus continues.

Please continue to pray for the group on Thursdays and the people we meet with and interact with on Tuesday nights

Thanks Michael

Thursday 6th October

Hi all,

Thanks for your prayers.Today 10 people attended Bible discussion not including myself and helper Derrick.

The Bible discussion went reasonably smoothly with people participating.

Please pray for one guy who normally attends and can be disruptive to the group. He was not there today pray that God might work in him to help him to be not so disruptive and disagreeable. However this is part of the response the gospel brings. Please pray that I will have presence of mind and wisdom to deal with these situations.

Pray also for the Church camp which I am taking 6 people hopefully tomorrow to the camp.

My car broke down this afternoon and so I had to stay at Church for quite a while waiting for the NRMA. During that time I met a couple of other guys on the street one of whom was supposedly coming to the camp as well but now is no longer coming as I have found out. Please pray for him he needs a lot of prayer.

Please pray for this weekend as I endeavour to take people from the Thursday group to the camp and hopefully integrate them into a chinese upper middle class environment.

Thanks Michael