Friday 31 July 2009

Us with our neighbours on their 20th wedding anniversary

Prayer letter, August 09

Dear Friends,

We send you greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus.

Praise

Praise the Lord with us for all His help in the past few months. Once the semester ended, David was able to concentrate more on his studies and completed his dissertation. Thank you for praying him through this process. We each taught an exhausting three week intensive module for the part-time students, managed to finish our marking and then enjoyed a few days rest in Jos in May and in July which has helped to recover our strength.

Challenges

More challenges are ahead as we prepare for the new semester beginning 17th August. Two new staff members have been appointed and it’s likely that there will be more staff changes by the end of the year. Please pray for the new staff as they adjust to their roles and for the rest of us as we adjust to a new dynamic.
Both David and I have been given new courses to teach. I will teach Old Testament Introduction and David will teach Acts and Pauline Epistles. Preparation for these and our regular courses will keep us busy.
David is back in the Registrar’s office and is happy that his predecessor left everything up to date. Pray for strength and wisdom for David as he is once again fully involved in administration.

Parents’ anniversary

Praise the Lord for David’s parents who will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in September. We plan to be with the family for that special event and will spend three weeks’ leave in NI. Pray for us as we have extra classes to compensate for those we will miss and also that we have special times with our families during our break.

Thank you for your involvement in this ministry through your prayers and financial support. Second Timothy 2:21 is the denomination’s theme for the year. Let’s pray we will be useful to God as we live for Him.

Thanks for your prayers.


Debbie and David Colvin

SIM-UK, Wetheringsett Manor, Wetheringsett, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 5QX
SIM-UK Irish Office, Unit 1, Ravenhill Business Park, Ravenhill Road, Belfast BT6 8AW

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Update for July

Dear friends,

Greetings from Kagoro.

Many thanks for your prayers for the programme in Kaduna. We praise the Lord for safety in travel and help for David as he preached twice on Sunday. We had good times of fellowship with our friends there as well as the chance to see some of our former students who are pastoring in that part of the city. On our way back we were able to call with another former student who is serving as an associate pastor in a town about forty minutes from Kaduna. It's an encouragement to see these young men engaged in ministry and we feel privileged to have had some input into their development. Thank you for your part in this process as you continue to pray for us.

We are so thankful that David has finished his dissertation and sent off the final copy. Thank you for your faithfulness in prayer during this time of study. While this brings great relief to David, more responsibilities await as on the twentieth of July he will be back in the Registrar's office. The teacher who took over when we left in 2007 has been granted study leave to do his Ph.D. Please pray that there would be a good handover and that David would also work well with a different secretary. David also has a lot of marking to complete after spending so much time working on his dissertation.

The first week of our intensive teaching module went well although it's more tiring. Having classes on the same subject each day sharpens our focus and means we move at a faster pace. Many of the students are serving as pastors while they study part-time. We will finish our teaching on 10th July and have a bit of time to do the marking before the new semester begins in mid- August.

There have been a number of changes in key administrative positions in the seminary. Please pray for us and the other staff as we adjust to these changes.

The rains have not been as heavy as usual for this time of year but when they come we are glad of the drop in temperature. We feel cold when it's 22 degrees centigrade!

I was teaching Jeremiah last week and was challenged by his commitment to the message he was given in spite of the opposition he faced. Pray that we would all love the word of God as passionately as Jeremiah (Jer 20:9).

Yours in Christ,

Debbie and David