Greetings from Quebec!

As we write this update the snow covers the ground. The cold season is beginning. But our hearts are warm with joy and expectation for discovering more of God!

What has God done?

The School of Biblical Studies (SBS)

The five students that started the school have been doing a fabulous job of studying God’s word. They have learned the Inductive Bible Study method that we have taught them and they are digging into the Bible with intentionality and perseverance. This has truly been a special group!

Based on Rob’s work on his master’s thesis, we designed an assignment that helps the students to intentionally observe God in the book that they are studying. The assignment is called “There you are!” and the students say this about it:

“It’s super cool to see the diversity of God’s character and it also has challenged me to grow my idea of him based on some of the ways [the authors] describe God.”

“Being able to see the consistent character of God throughout every book we have studied has helped me understand biblically who God is.”

“It helped me to see what God is doing in the book, to discover the truths about God and who he is. To know God personally and not what I had learned about him from someone else.”- translated from French student comment

If you want to peek into our classroom, you can watch…
Rob’s teaching on Mark 13
Cy’s teaching on Galatians

Rob finished his thesis!

With God’s help, Rob submitted his thesis with the following title: “Imitators imitate the God they see in action” on November 15th. The thesis explores how the observation of God’s actions (as described by the use of verbs) in the Bible empowers disciples to imitate God. He had to create a poster of his thesis for his graduation in Kona, Hawaii. We share it with you below:

If you’d like to read his thesis, you can download a copy of it: DOWNLOAD THESIS. This has been a culmination of much recent study, but also a combination of many lessons learned and ideas explored throughout our decades of journeying with God.

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What is God doing?

God is serving the French through our school

When we first decided to do our part to help get a French language SBS started, we didn’t know how we were going to do it. But God has been faithful to take our “Yes” and fill in the gaps. We have been so blessed by many translators for each of the teachings, for the tests, and for the general communication. It’s a joy to journey with our two French speaking students as they discover the greatness of our God in the Scriptures!

God is transforming individuals

At this school, we’ve implemented a slightly different personal application process for the Inductive Bible Study. The students are really learning through it:

“I like how the application gives me a chance to hear the voice of God over my situation. Often when analyzing our lives it’s far too easy to become obsessive or overly critical or want to pile on a list of ‘self-help’ strategies. But hearing the Holy Spirit always soothes me.”

“I am thrilled that it’s not just doing the homework but I can see every week that there are changes in my life especially by putting the timeless truths into practice.” – translated from French student comment

“Being able to ensure my behaviour reflects the biblical principles that we are reading about helps keep me accountable and allows me to grow in a practical way.”

Rob is graduating his masters program

God has provided for our whole family to attend Rob’s graduation. He’ll be defending his thesis with an oral presentation before faculty and finally graduate on Dec 1st. We’re all excited about this because it’s been a 2 year investment for all of us.

Both Elias and Rob are involved in minor hockey

Elias is playing his first year of ice hockey (one of his dreams come true). The team needed an extra coach, so Rob volunteered. It’s a great way to engage in the community and positively influence the lives of young people in Quebec. The team is part bilingual, part French-only, and part English-only. Let’s just say that it’s a great place to practice our French language!

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How we can partner with God?

PRAY for the School of Biblical Studies

Please pray for our students: Komla, Maxime, Isabel, Seth, and Lauren.
Pray for our staff: Rob, Cy, Anne, and Walter
Pray for continued outside support of translators
Pray that we continue to find joy in discovering and imitating God!

Personal Prayer Requests

• French Language Acquisition: while it has been a bigger challenge than we originally thought, we are progressing in our French. We could really use the prayer, though. It’s definitely not easy.
• Financial support: God has been so faithful to provide for us and we will always look to Him as our Provider. At the same time, he told us to make our requests known to Him. We ask that you would pray with us to see more regular monthly supporters.
• Wisdom and love as teachers and leaders: We want to walk in truth and grace like Jesus did. Pray that we would be filled with His Spirit so that we can do that in His power (for apart from Him we can do nothing).
• Health: each one of us (and those we work with) have been affected by the seemingly endless rounds of viruses and sicknesses this season. Pray that we would be healed and protected from future illness.