Conversations have been the order of the day for us in Penrith. Last night St. Stephen’s held a ‘men and meat’ night, with a BBQ dinner and a talk from a local butcher about different cuts of meat. This talk was followed up by a Bible talk from 4th year student Mike Leite, who challenged the men present to take Jesus up on his offer of friendship with God.
Martin had a conversation with two Iranian men, both of whom have moved to Australia (and Penrith) in the last few years. Both men have been coming along to St. Stephen’s ESL classes, where they met, and bonded over being able to speak Farsi! One parishioner who helps with ESL has been sharing with them both through meals in his home, which has deeply affected them, and they are both interested in coming along to church.
Excitingly, one of them filled out a card after Mike’s talk saying he had joined in Mike’s prayer to accept Jesus’ offer of friendship with God! Pray for him and for his friend, that God might work in them both by His Spirit to teach them about Jesus, that they might start coming along to church, and that the church might love and care for them well.
Friday also saw a small number of our team engage in some walk-up evangelism, with limited success. While the conversations were brief, some questions and objections to Christian faith were answered, and two copies of Luke’s Gospel were handed out. Pray that they may not stay unread, but that those who received them might open them, and encounter the true & living God in its pages.
At the second preschool fun morning the following day, a woman walked past who had been thinking of getting in touch with a church to help her understand the Bible. Of course, we were happy to oblige!
A school excursion also stopped by. They’d been learning about the ANZACs at Penrith’s poppy-filled memorial garden, and our face painters did a wonderful job of adding poppies to their smiling faces.
In addition, a Muslim woman who we met the day before came back and joined in the ESL class, and is keen to stay connected. Praise God for, once more, answering our prayers more expediently than we could ever have imagined!
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