Dear friends,

I’d like to let you know what the Steeles have been doing. I’ve recently been focusing on off-campus work: phoning and visiting graduates and interns, and trying to catch with people that I haven’t spoken to for quite a while. It’s been encouraging that most people have been glad to stay in touch with FME and to continue supporting our work.

Location, location, location

I can’t believe we moved back into our mostly renovated house over a year ago. Now the builder has gone, we have to spray glyphosate around (we used to be able to rely on him to kill everything, even the weeds). Sandra is relieved that I’ve now finally installed a clothesline. There are lots of little jobs to do, but what house doesn’t come with its own list? We renovated so that Sandra’s mum could live with us, and she moved in six months ago.

A woman’s work…

Sandra has continued working as a vet 1½ days a week this year, along with lots of voluntary work for the school and running the house. There are also many doctors visits with Sandra’s mum, Jean, who has been having chemotherapy again for some liver mets of her bowel cancer. Thankfully, it’s now completed and she tolerated it very well.

Child’s play

Praise God our children are thriving and enjoying school. Cate is in Yr 5, Ellie in Yr 3 and Julia in Yr 1. We’re starting the ‘children shuttling’ stage. After-school hockey is our Term 4 sport, along with swimming, now it’s warmer. Our church has a fantastic Sunday school, which has been a great blessing, and the girls enjoy the time they get to study the Bible with their teachers and friends. This year there have been a lot of school events (its 25th anniversary), so tiredness is a challenge, and the unrelenting flow of homework – I’m sure I didn’t get that much. We value your prayers.

David Steele

Rob and Christina Brooks have come a long way to study medicine – and to join Christians in Dentistry and Medicine (CiDM) at Sydney Uni. In November last year they were still in Canada, and Rob surprised Christina by secretly travelling six hours by train to Montreal and proposing to her.

Christina Chang

Christina was born and grew up on the west coat of Canada in Vancouver. Her family have been long involved in Christianity, stretching back to missionary days in Taiwan. After ‘an epiphany’ in her church youth group, she started reading the Bible for herself, and when she started uni she got involved with the Navigators. She first met Rob when they were both studying Life Sciences at Queen’s University, in Kingston, Ontario.

Rob Brooks

Rob grew up as a Christian in Kemptville, Ontario, just south of Ottawa, with ‘born again’ parents. A turning point in his life was at 16, when he surprised his brother and friends by going down to the front at a Christian youth rally to make a recommitment of his faith. At uni he was also involved with Christian groups.

Changing directions

2005 was an eventful year: Rob and Christina started going out, Rob’s mother died in July and then both started post-grad degrees in different cities. After Chris had started a nursing degree, she was accepted into medicine at Sydney Uni. Meanwhile, Rob had started medicine in Canada.

Sydney

Christina was looking for a Christian group when she arrived in Sydney in February and heard the lecture-shout done by the CiDM leader, Dave Moore. ‘I didn’t really catch what he said, but I managed to find CiDM on the web later, and went to meet them. The first time I went no one was there. I was really disappointed, but I tried again and the next time I met David Steele and all the others.’ After Easter, Christina returned to Canada to get married, and brought Rob back with her! He then decided to try something unheard of and managed to transfer into medicine at Sydney Uni (he was studying at McMaster Uni, which pioneered the problem-based approach to medical education that Sydney uses).

Thriving in a new place

Rob and Christina have found CiDM a great help in making the transition to a new country. ‘We only know medical students and it was great to find that some of them were Christian. David also helped us find a church – we didn’t know where to look at first.’ Please pray that Rob and Christina’s marriage will be blessed, that they will be able to manage the large tuition fees and that they will be firmly established in their faith over next three years in Sydney.

David Steele