What follows here is a slightly edited version of a letter I sent out about a month ago.
 |
| This is a scan of the bookmark I included in the letter I sent out. |
This current semester is my last semester at Cedarville University! God has used this place and the people here to guide and shape me to be more like Him, and I look forward to see what he has in store for me after graduation. But in between me and graduation sits about five research papers, around 20 novels, and a senior English presentation. As of right now, there are only 64 days until graduation! At the moment, I’m still not completely sure where God is leading me next, but I’ll likely start with a summer job so I can start paying off my college loans. After that, I would like to get a job in my field and perhaps one day live and work in England for a couple years. It is also a dream of mine to one day study for a couple semesters at Oxford while staying at C. S. Lewis' house!
This semester at Cedarville I’ve been given the opportunity by the Global Outreach Department here to minister to the homeless in New York City during spring break. Tomorrow morning a team of seven people (myself included) the team and I will drive to northern New Jersey where we will be staying. Our ministry will be based out of Hawthorne Gospel Church, the church my dad grew up with. The church is about half an hour away from the parsonage where my family and I lived until I was nine, before we moved to California. The church is also only about 15 minutes from one of my friend's houses and is also fairly close to where my Uncle and Aunt live.
Our trip is only a week long, but it will certainly be a
busy one, and we will need a lot of prayer. We’ll spend most of the time
ministering to the homeless at New York City Rescue Mission (located in Manhattan I believe), but we'll also minister to the youth at Hawthorne Gospel Church one night there as well. I’m still not completely
sure of all that I’ll be doing specifically in these places, but I believe God will use
this time to work in the lives of the people of New York, as well as my own
life. While the team and I are in New York and New Jersey this week be praying for safety for all of us. Pray that none of
us will get lost, as I am often prone to do, and pray that we have safe
travels. Pray also that God will work through us and in us as we do His work in
the city. Pray that God will work in the hearts of the people we interact with,
including each other on the team. I would also appreciate prayer for me
specifically that I would be able to take my mind off my busy semester during
the trip. This semester is shaping up to be the hardest one I’ve had this
year at Cedarville, so actually if you could pray for that as well I would very
grateful. Maybe just pray for me to stay motivated and focused to get
everything done, because I’m getting very anxious to be done with school. Your prayerful support is greatly needed and greatly
appreciated for the success of this trip.
I will try to post a couple updates on here during the trip if I have time; but if not I'll definitely be posting something about the trip once I'm back here. I'll also try to send out report letters to those people who received my first letter as well; I just hope I don’t get too swamped with papers and reading once I get back.
Thank you again for your support, and may God bless you!
In Christ,
Michael J. Newman
