Volume 1, Issue 2

News From Australia

March 2, 2010

Praises and Prayer: Grady Toews

 Praise for the success of O Week
 Prayer that those involved with
Student Life (Missionaries and
Students) would fully rely on
the Holy Spirit for wisdom and
strength during each follow-up
phone call and appointment
 Students to be willing and avail-
able to meet up with someone
from Student Life
 Students’ hearts to be open:
—For Nonbelievers to be
brought closer to Jesus, and
those that are ready would
accept Jesus
—Believing students to see the
need to bring their peers to
Christ and make time to get
involved and grow in their
walks with God
Aussie Words
G’Day: Good day
Mate: Friend (I have heard both “G-
day and Mate used liberally; however,
never together)
Newie: Newcastle
Can’t be bothered: Another way of
saying, “I didn’t want to do it.” Basi-
cally, it’s a way of saying, “I was too
lazy to do it.”
Orientation Week
Orientation Week is over,
and what a week it was! We
spent the week having stu-
dents fill out a “quick quiz
for a Chupa-chup.” In
American English this
means “survey for a sucker
(or a lolly-pop).” The “quiz”
consisted of 3 questions
gauging student’s aware-
ness of Student Life as well
as their interest in spiritual
things. The idea behind the
quizzes was to gather con-
tact information from those
interested in order to call
them to meet up later. We
did 1465 surveys total, of
which 615 surveys have
some sort of follow up in-
volved! Praise God for
Chupa-chups!
We are a small and new min-
istry, so during O Week, we
experimented with having
different socials throughout
the week in attempt to min-
Student Life 2010 Team. Left to right, Back:
Kara, Shawn, Paul, Grady Front: Stacey,
Heather, and Nick (Photo courtesy of 3.5
year old Evie Mitchell)
ister to students relationally.
Tuesday we played Ultimate
Frisbee and Thursday we
hosted a barbeque and game
night. (No, I have never
heard anyone say, “throw
another shrimp on the bar-
bie”). The turnout wasn’t
very good for Frisbee, but we
had fun nonetheless. We
had a better turnout for
the barbeque with 6 stu-
dents. That doesn’t sound
like many, but most re-
turning students don’t go
to O Week. Part of the
experiment was also figur-
ing out locations and tim-
ing of the events. Most
first year students live off
campus with their parents
and commute to campus.
This makes it a challenge to
plan where and when to host
different events, Bible stud-
ies, and meetings.

Ute: A car/pickup. They used to have

A New Year at the University of Newcastle
something similar in the U.S., but they
are still widely popular in Australia,
Students have returned from new things or just getting in- time for you to pray for the
especially Newcastle.
their summer breaks. Classes volved in groups during that ministry here, it is now.
began yesterday (March 1). We time. After even 3 weeks or a
are spending the majority of our month, the tone has been set for
Contact Info
time following up with the stu- the year and it is tough to break
Address: dents who filled out the quick out of that routine. Thank you
29 Compton Street
quizzes or doing walk-up evan- all so much for your prayers
gelism with new students. The and encouragement. I cannot
North Lambton NSW 2299
first three or so weeks on cam- stress how incredibly crucial
Australia
pus are the most critical to a your prayers are for these next
Email: grady.toews@gmail.com
first-year student’s year. They several weeks. If there is any
grady.toews@uscm.org Bar Beach in Newcastle at low tide
are so much more open to trying
Blog: www.gradyt.blogspot.com
Phone : 011 61 468 642 092