Great (but crazy) times in Perth

Worshipping on the beach in Busselton, WA during Bible Reading Away Weekend.

Well it's been quite some time since I posted anything on here, so I figured I would post a quick update to let you all know how I've been doing.

For those who don't know, after having a couple weeks home during the holidays I left and moved to Perth, Australia to staff the Bible Core Course to train to lead the course in Oxford, New Zealand for the next 3 years.

So far, things have been awesome, but incredibly busy here in Perth. We have a class of 7 students with 3 staff. We are currently in week 9 of 12 and have read through the entire bible except for the prophets and have studied Acts, Philemon, John, Hebrews, 1 Peter, Romans and we're just starting Revelation. It's been interesting because the BCC is very different from the School of Biblical Studies that I did in Taiwan, so it's been a learning experience in many ways, but God has been faithful to help me through it and to teach me how to staff a school and how to teach our students and share what He's taught me.

I was able to teach 1 Peter in week 6, which was absolutely amazing. Teaching a book was a bit of a scary experience for me, but God really taught me a lot through it and did an amazing job teaching the book through me. He definitely was with me as I prepared and showed me the message that He wanted to share with me and the students and even gave me some awesome insights and reminded me of my own experiences while I taught so that I could share them with the students. Overall, it was an amazing experience, and I am excited to do more teaching over the next 3 years. I will also be teaching Esther in a couple weeks, which I'm a little nervous about, but I know that God will be faithful again to help me through that as well. It's a very different book from 1 Peter, but it is a great book with an awesome story of God's providence and His sovereignty that I am excited to really dig into deeper than I ever have before.

Another interesting part of the staffing experience is grading. After staffing for 8 weeks I definitely have a lot more respect for my SBS staff because grading is a lot of work. It's also been a learning experience for me, but I've enjoyed it and it's awesome to see God moving in the lives of my students and really brings a greater understanding of what we're studying. It also has shown me how much I care for my students and how much I want to see them succeed, which was something I never really thought about before becoming staff.

Overall, my experience in Perth has been amazing. It will definitely be a lot harder than I ever expected to leave here because I have really become a part of the family that they have here, more so than I thought I would. It has become another home for me, and it also helps that it is absolutely beautiful here! I went out to Freemantle this weekend for the first time, and it is amazing. The beaches that we have around here combined with the weather really make this an amazing place to live. God has definitely been amazing spoiling me by sending me here for a short season. He definitely is an amazing God who really does give us the desires of our hearts as we follow Him and trust Him. He continues to blow me away around ever turn, and I am so thankful that I am following Him with my life. It really is a privilege to be living my life this way and being able to study His Word for the last year and for the next 3 years, and I am so thankful for all your prayers and support that helps make it possible for me to do this.

I will be here for another month and a bit, returning home for about a month on April 9. I hope that I will be able to connect with many of you while I'm home, so please, if you're in London area and are free to grab a coffee while I'm home, send me a message on facebook or an email at stelps1@gmail.com and we'll set something up.

I will also be sending out a newsletter soon with some updated support information (I can finally give out tax receipts!!!), so if you would like to receive that please send me a message on FB or an email or comment on this post with your email address and I'll add you to my mailing list.

Hope you are all doing great!! God bless you all. Love ya.