date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 17:29:42 +0100
from: Tim Mitchell <tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk>
subject: Update from Tim and Suzanne
to: Suzanne Mitchell <suzanne@suzannemitchell.freeserve.co.uk>

Dear all,

This is a start-up message to an email list I have set up for regular
updates from Suzanne and myself, mostly on Tuesdays. If you do not wish to
receive these updates, or if anyone else wishes to receive them, email me at
any time.

If you have not already done so, please note our revised contact details:
18a Beech Lane, Guildford, GU2 4ES
07906 922 489 (Tim)
07963 989 389 (Suzanne)
mitchelltd@nofreelunch.freeserve.co.uk
suzanne@suzannemitchell.freeserve.co.uk

Last week Suzanne and I moved down from Norwich to Guildford and began to
settle in. This week we are gradually taking up the work with Friends
International. Suzanne is working mostly with Ruth Archer, who works with
the families of international students. I am working mostly with Chris Webb,
who works with the international students themselves. There are three main
areas for which we need prayer at the moment.

1. Home. We are renting rooms in the house of a FI supporter. We have a
bedroom, sitting-room and bathroom of our own. We share a kitchen. We have
brought down lots of our own things from Norwich, and we are trying to make
this feel like our home for six months. We want to make this a secure base
from which we can reach out to international students, and make them feel at
home. 

2. Personal. This is not the task-based work that we are used to, but
relationship-based work. This means that the boundaries between work and
rest are much fuzzier. Time is often spent least profitably in meetings or
in business-like conversations, and most profitably in building
relationships. These things mean that we have to be careful not to fill up
our diaries with meetings and tasks, and be flexible enough to adjust to the
times that the students are available. We also need to ensure that we are
allowing enough time to rest and unwind. So we are feeling our way into a
regular pattern of living from day to day and week to week.

3. Relationships. We only have six months, so we are particularly dependent
on the Lord leading us to the right people quickly, building trust with
them, giving us frequent opportunities to spend time with them, and enabling
fruitful relationships to develop.

But telling you all this doesn't really give you a feel for what the work is
like, so let me tell you a story...
____________

Today I walked into the FI office on campus at 12.45. Chris had just
finished his preparation for the Bible study. While we chatted the first
student arrived, Frank. He is a Chinese student who is just coming to the
end of his PhD in economics and has found a job with the accountants KPMG.
He has been coming to FI events and Bible studies for years, but he has
never shown anything more than intellectual interest.

We moved into the room next door and talked while we waited for the others.
Chun, Brittany and Tulip soon arrived - all Chinese too - and a couple of
helpers. After we had made the tea (English style!) we sat down and began
the Bible study. The group is going through the Gospel of John using a
series of questions devised by a FI worker with a Chinese wife. So the
questions and references are in both English and Chinese.

At the end of the study Chris asked whether any of the international
students had anything on their minds at the moment. Each of them mentioned
their family back in China. So as we prayed about what we had read from
John, we prayed too for their families - for their health and for them to
meet Jesus.

Before the students drifted away, we told them about some of the social
events coming up. These will be opportunities not only to spend more time
with them, but to also meet the international friends they will bring along.
These four students have homes on the opposite side of the world and will be
returning to a country in which it is difficult to find a good job if you
are a Christian. None of them are Christians, but week by week we have the
opportunity to talk to them about Christ.

yours in Him
Tim
____________________________________
Dr. T. D. Mitchell --- 07906 922 489
tim.mitchell@surrey.ac.uk

