AWA Christmas 2012 www

Prayer Groups	Family Care Group	Children's Ministry Groups
Prayer	Ramsbottom Clan	SUNZ information

"When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together."

Robert Fulghum in All I Really Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten

   I have started my letter with another quote from Robert Fulghum's book (If you haven't read it, you really need too.) as this quote is very apt for my past month. Watch out in traffic; well I was watching out but the person behind me didn't realise I had stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross at the pedestrian crossing. The result is a severely dented rear end of the Scripture Union vehicle. As this goes to press I am waiting to hear if it will be written off or repaired.
   Hold hands; there have been times as I have been coughing my way through a night or have been driving home after a half day of work where I felt like needed more than a hand to hold but someone to prop me up. I have had a month of bronchitis including nearly three weeks of antibiotics to get rid of it. As this goes to press I still have a bit of a cough and my sinuses are now giving me grief. Please pray for healing as I rest.
   Stick together; I have taken snapshots of some of the groups I have done things with as I have gone about my work this month. So what follows is a little insight into these wonderful groups of people. I want to start by voicing my thanks to a group I don't have a snapshot of and some of whom I have never met; who give financially to support me in the work I do. I am humbled by all the people who responded to the appeal to increase support as my support level had dropped.

Prayer Groups

    This is the North Shore prayer group that I joined for their last meeting of the year. They meet regularly once a month to pray for the ministry of SUNZ. It was privilege to share with them some answers to prayer as well as prayer needs for the summer. I left encouraged and inspired knowing that this group would continue praying for us.
    They are one of a number of groups that meets all over New Zealand to pray for the work of Scripture Union. I know that without the prayers of many in New Zealand and around the world, my role would be just me doing my thing rather than a calling to do God's work.
    One of my most frequent prayers is to thanks God for the many people who pray for me and the ministry.

Family Care Group

Once a month, since the Breakaway camp, I have been part of a dedicated group of people with the desire to input into the lives of children of prisoners. We have a great time eating dinner together and then playing some fun games with a short time of opening of the Bible to end. It has been hard work but seeing their facing change from a scowl to a smile as they walk in and see leaders they enjoy and trust has made it all worth it. In some ways I have the easy job running the programme. Roger the Prison Fellowship Family Care staff worker works with families between these events sometimes under very sad and challenging circumstances.

Children's Ministry Groups

Above is a of enthusiastic group of Bible in Schools and Children's ministry leaders who joined Paul and I for a day of training. And below is another group of wonderful people who do Bible in Schools in five schools in two days each week. I went along to run the Christmas assemblies for them. As I thought about these groups I realised that over 800 children a week hear the stories of the Bible each week as a result of their work.

Prayer

Sat 22 December to Wed 2 January
On holiday.
Fri 11 to Sun 13 January
Training for with the Wellington SUPAkidz camp team. Please pray that through the training God will prepare us for the week ahead.
Mon 14 to Fri 18 January
Team leading the Wellington SUPAkidz camp. Pray for safety, fun and for children to experience God's love and learn more about Him.
Mon 21 to Mon 28 January
On holiday on the Coromandel Peninsula.

Please pray for SUPAkidz Camps

Wellington 14 to 18 January Auckland 20 to 24 January

Please pray for myself and Raewyn Rowney as we prepare for and run the camp in Wellington.
And pray for Annette Osborne and Jess Dowden as they prepare for and run the camp in Auckland.
Both camps are not yet full and we still need a few more leaders. Please pray that leaders will be raised up and that churches will see the opportunities for training, leadership and sharing of faith in a fun and safe environment.

Next year we are having our usual 3 WAY2GO training events but with an added bonus of an evening session at the Auckland and Wellington events in partnership with New Wine. I am responsible for the Auckland event so please pray as I finalise people to write workshops, to run workshops and a team to run the event. We are looking for a pack down team next year too.

Ramsbottom Clan

No comments from the boys this letter as they have been far too busy doing stuff to write comments. What stuff, you may ask? Well let me tell you. James has ended his first year of high school with numerous events, award ceremonies, and sports matches right to the end. He is loving being on holiday while the rest of the family continues to work. Chris and Thomas have continued to love BMX and as a result we have done road trips to Whangarei, Cambridge and Tauranga to compete. We have travelled as a group of five, with a friend and his son. Thanks Bruce for doing a lot of the driving. Both James and Chris are catching up to me in height, which isn't hard, but is a reminder of changes in life.