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from the
Missions Committee
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NAME: BANNISTER, Tim and
Diane
COUNTRY: Kenya
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. Praise that Paul
Richardson, a 13-year-old boy who was in a terrible accident, is
home from hospital and doing well. There was some brain stem
involvement, as well as multiple
fractures. His speech
is still not very clear, and he is still having some difficulty swallowing, but
progress
is seen almost daily. 2. Praise that the
school choirs and bands had the opportunity to witness to a
large audience at concerts in two shopping malls in Nairobi. 3. Praise
that Anthony Njenga, a little boy
with HIV AIDS, is
responding extremely well to anti-retroviral medication. Three months ago, he
could
barely walk 10 metres without stopping to catch
his breath. Three days ago, he ran about 20 metres
alongside my car to welcome me to the children's home where he lives.
The change in his appearance and
personality is
unbelievable. 4. Praise God for R., an RVA student, has just left Islam to
become a
Christian.
PRAYER
ITEMS: 1. Pray for Kenya as national elections approach (Dec. 27). Pray that
the man of
God's choosing would win the election. 2.
Pray for the victims of the hotel bombing last week in Kenya.
3. Pray that R. will grow in Christian faith, and pray that his Moslem
family will see Christ in him and
want the same faith
for themselves. 4. Pray for the children at Alpha Joy Children's Care
Home, that they
will experience the love of Christ very
intensively this Christmas. 5. Pray that those who heard the Gospel
message during the school Christmas concerts will respond to
it, and that they will give their hearts and
lives to
Jesus Christ.
**************************************
NAME: FRIESEN,
Dianne
COUNTRY: CAMEROON
PRAISE ITEMS: God
has done a marvelous thing among the Moloko. You have been praying for
a
long time for unity among the Moloko towards working
together to translate the Bible, for stability and
encouragement for Pastor Abraham and his family. Well, the
translation committee has really come
alive lately and
is uniting the Moloko churches towards supporting translators, and involving all
the major
denominations in Moloko. Pastor Abraham
has recently renewed his commitment to work towards this
goal. I thank God for doing this - it could only be Him! My church
is planning to send a mission team in
late February to
help me build my house among the Moloko (when the Starrs come back next year, I
will
need my own house, and it needs to be built this
dry season - you can't make mud bricks in the rain!) It
will be a real encouragement for me and the Moloko to see them.
PRAYER ITEMS: I am feeling very alone with my
colleagues all away on furlough, and with so much
happening in the project. I still don't know where to build my house - I
need to live where I will work in
translation, and with
no translators chosen yet, I can't tell where I will need to live. But God
knows.
***************************************
NAME: GROVE, Dan, Melody, Caleb, Sam, and
Anna COUNTRY: CAMEROON,
AFRICA
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. Good progress in
language learning. We are thankful for Pastor Joseph who has
been coming four times weekly to our house to help us get started on
learning the language. Some of the
sounds are tricky,
and it still feels very strange to reproduce them but over time, we become
more
accustomed to them. Dan is finding that he
recognizes sections of conversation when listening to others
talking. We were able to greet the people we met in the village. Many
responded with laughter and a few
with astonishment.
The language committee completed the necessary work to prepare them for the
next
course which is being held this week. This one
deals with tone. There are many words in the language
which sounds exactly the same except for how high or low the word or a
part of it is said. Caleb and Sam
learned one that
means fishing rod or nobleman, depending on the tone. 2. We are thankful
for safety on
the roads and in our home. This past
weekend, we visited another village four hours from us where six of
our colleagues work. So far this "thief season", the quarter
where we live has been quiet. The children
enjoyed
going to the village with us, and are excited about moving there soon. 3.
Homeschooling has
gone quite well this month. The kids
are getting excited as Christmas approaches. We leave the end of the
week for Yaounde, for their Christmas session of school (FES)
December 9-20. We'll stay there for
Christmas, and then
spend 7 days camping at the beach with several other families. 4. Dan has
met with
the District Officer and others under him for
the area that includes Bambalang. This man is a Christian
who wants to see God's Word transform the lives of the people. We are
thankful for the contacts we've
made with pastors and
leaders in the area. 5. Praise God for a group of Bambalang believers here
in
Bamenda who meet biweekly to pray for their people
and for Bible translation in their language.
PRAYER
ITEMS: 1. We've made three trips to the village this month, looking
for housing. Some
houses were run down, one was still
being built, and four could be made ready for us to move in early
January. None are ideal, either in their location or else in
their size and layout. We need God's guidance
as we
make this decision. 2. Pray for Mary, a member of the language committee,
to find work here in
Bamenda. She lives and teaches in
Yaounde, but this makes it too difficult for her to meet regularly with
the rest of the committee. She would like to be close to the
others who are working on the language. 3.
There are
many in the village who used to attend one of the churches there, but have
turned back to the
traditional religion, worshipping
spirits and ancestors. Please pray that they will return to the truth. 4.
Pray for our protection from any attacks of the evil one as we
move to the village. 5. Pray for safety and
good health
for us. 6. Pray that we will be an encouragement to the missionaries from
several missions
who have had to flee fighting in
Central African Republic and are staying in the mission's housing in
Yaounde. 6. Pray for us, that no matter where we are, we will
be used by God to spread His light and His
love. Thank
you for your faithfulness in prayer. It is a great source of encouragement to us
to know that so
many are praying for the needs that we
have and rejoicing with us in what God is doing. We wish you are
joyful Christmas season.
************************************
NAME:
SOWDEN,
Dorothy
COUNTRY: MOZAMBIQUE, Beira
PRAISE ITEMS:
My brothers Norm, Carl and I have one special praise item: We thank the Lord for
the
lives of our parents. They are now together
in Glory. On Friday afternoon November 29 at New Life
Community Baptist Church in Duncan, B. C. we joined family and friends
for a memorial service to
celebrate the life of our
mother, Gwen Holden.
***************************************
ASIA
NAME: BUSTIN, Darrell and Laura
Lee
COUNTRY: Indonesia
PRAISE ITEMS: We
have completed Unit 1 of language study in Indonesian and are working on Unit
2.
Our family has been quite healthy apart from basic
colds and 'flu. Darrell has been able to become part of
a worship team at the International Church we are attending.
PRAYER ITEMS: For continued strength to learn the
language--for Darrell to understand the "stream"
of
words as it is said to him and for Laura Lee to not be shy to talk to
people. That we are a "light"
shining for Jesus
in our kampung neighbourhood. That our first Christmas as a family away
from our
families in Canada would go well.
***************************************
NAME: DYCK, Bill, Janice, Jonathan,
Marigan
COUNTRY: Indonesia
PRAISE ITEMS:
1. Praise God that Jonathan is back to his normal self again after having
dengue
fever. He was very tired for a while and
slept a lot both day and night, something that he never does. He
is getting caught up on the schoolwork he missed during that
time. 2. Praise God for a good semester at
STK. We had our semester closing and Christmas celebration last
Friday. So the campus is quiet again
for a while
as most of the students have gone to their places of service in the villages and
towns of West
Kalimantan. They will be back again
on January 20th when the next semester begins.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. Pray for Bill as he speaks at
various Christmas celebrations in West Kalimantan
and
in East Kalimantan. Bill and Janice will be going to Balikpapan on Dec.
11th to speak at the
international church as well as at
the Indonesian Baptist Church in Balikpapan and the church in
Samarinda. We are looking forward to a good visit with Johnny and
Paige as well. Jonathan and
Marigan will be going
up to Serukam to stay with their friends for that week. 2. Pray for
Marigan. Last
Saturday she fainted while walking
to the kitchen table and fell over on her back on the hard tile floor.
She is still feeling the effects of that fall. Her head,
back and neck hurt. It's almost as if she got a bit of
whiplash. We're not sure why she fainted but will get that checked
out in Serukam next week. She says
she still
feels dizzy a lot when she walks around. 3. Pray for Janice as she speaks
to about 250 ladies here
in Pontianak on Wednesday,
Dec. 4. The KGBI ladies from all over West Kalimantan are coming
to
Pontianak to celebrate the Women's Day of Prayer and
also Christmas together. A lot of these ladies have
never been to Pontianak before and it should be fun to take them to the
shopping mall in the afternoon and
watch them try out
the escalator (something they've never seen before). There are services
planned for the
morning and the evening.
*********************************************
NAME: NEILY,
Darlene COUNTRY: Thailand
PRAISE ITEMS:1. A new
English teacher is in the process of
registering to come join our
team here , we are thankful for his
decision to come and pray that the
process is smooth in
Visa's
etc. 2. On Dec. 8 we have 11
students poised to be Baptized, many
have studied here for
a
few years and this is a wonderful
testimony to all those involved in
ministry at SCA.
PRAYER ITEMS:
1. On Christmas day our school
has been asked to send a group out
to
another school to give
a presentation of Christmas. They are
willing that it include the gospel
message. This is perhaps the
first time they will ever hear
the Word... we are amazed at this
opportunity. The English department is
helping and some students will present
a skit and songs.
Response from our students has been
good and they are eager to
participate...they like to get off
campus, pray that this will be
a good experience in evangelism for
them.
*********************************************
NAME: SARMA, David and
Chinni
COUNTRY: Visakhapatnam- India
PRAISE ITEMS: 1.Praise God for His help during our visit to
Mizoram and the enriching experiences
that our team (30
members) had during the last 15 days. We praise God for the travel mercies,
good
health and the enriching fellowship we had with
our brothers and sisters in the Baptist Church of
Mizoram. 2. Praise God for the Pastors and Spouses workshop that
Ron, Sharon, Babu Rao and
Ratnavathi conducted in
Sompet from 19th to 21st.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1.Please
pray for the Health Volunteers Workshop that Jasmine and Gnanasundari
will be conducting in Serango from 16th to 20th, and Animators
workshop that I plan to do with them
during those
days. 2. Our second son Saranya will be leaving for Mauritius on 3rd. We
thank God that he
could spend a month with us. Please
pray for his travel. He is hoping to find a new job there. 3.Ron,
Sharon, Babu Rao and Ratnavathi, and Chinni will be conducting
two workshops for the Pastors and their
spouses during
December 2nd till 7th, in the south of Andhra. Please pray for the
workshops.
*************************************
EUROPE and MIDDLE EAST
NAME: CARTER, Jeff, Deann and
Zachary COUNTRY:
Prague, Czech Republic
PRAISE ITEMS: 1) We
just got back from having to leave the country for a week to obtain
another
VISA. Praise God that we were able to
secure another 90 day VISA! We are still in process for the long
term VISA which still will still take several months to
process. 2) Praise God for a great visit with Pastor
Jerzy Rogaczewski in Poland and with the members of the
Katowice Baptist church. Jeff preached in the
morning
service and then met with 28 youth and leaders from the church afterwards.
Praise God for the
significant relationship are being
built with a very established partner of CBM. 3) Zachary got his
first
report card and we are pleased to announce that
he has done well! We are pretty proud parents and are
thrilled that he is fitting in so well in school and enjoying it.
In fact when he comes home from school he
wants to play
pretend school and be the teacher!
PRAYER ITEMS:
1) We will be returning to Poland in December to meet with the General
Secretary of
the Baptist Union, who is also on the
executive of the EBF youth council to discuss strategy and the
proposal being made in January to the EBF youth council. We will
also have a quick visit to
Katowice again to introduce
Deann and Zachary to the church as they could not come due to illness
last
month. 2) Prayer for our families this month
as we head into Christmas and this will be our first
Christmas not with them. We are thankful for Terry and Heather
Smith who will be visiting us following
Christmas for a
few days with their family. 3) Prayer for Jeff as he finishes up a chapter
that he is
writing for a new youth ministry book being
published in Canada. The deadline is the end of December
which also runs into Deann and Jeff's final exam in their beginner Czech
course which they write on the
9th.
*************************************
NAME: FORD,
Christine
COUNTRY: Canada, with trips to the Arab world
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. Praise God for his redemption of the
murder of Bonnie Witherall, who was
a missionary with
OM in Sidon, Lebanon with her husband Garry, on November 21. Garry
continues to
witness to God's help in proclaiming
forgiveness to the murderers of his wife.
PRAYER
ITEMS: 1. Pray that Garry's message of forgiveness will be
widely known and that people
will look to God to help
them to forgive. 2. Pray that God would continue to redeem the death
of Bonnie
Witherall. 3. Pray for courage
for the missionary community in Lebanon and throughout the Levant and
the Middle East, following Bonnie's shooting death. May
God give them opportunities to share about
sacrifice
and the perfect sacrifice for our sins, Jesus Christ.
*************************************
NAME: MALCOLM, Brian and Lynda (Denis, Rachael and
Gina)
COUNTRY: ALBANIA
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. We
are thankful for the way the Lord has taken care of our children's
schooling
needs wherever we have been. We are
particularly thankful for the teachers that have come to Albania to
serve the Lord in teaching missionary children. We are
thankful for Julia Naugle, Denis' grade 5 teacher,
Tricia Steeper, Rachael's grade 4 teacher and Gina's grade 3 teacher,
and for Lawana Patton, the
Kindergarten teacher and
School Administrator. 2. As the poor Canadian ambassadors that we
are, we
are thankful for the warmer weather and the
more consistent electricity this year than last year. We are
thankful not only because of our personal comfort but also because the
more consistent electricity means
that things are also
changing in Albania for Albanians. It may only be one item, but it is an
example that
the government is working on improving the
infrastructure and that life will be better for Albanians in
this ex-communist country. We are thankful that these little signs
of improvement encourage the
Albanians that staying and
working in their country is an option. Pray that the Albanian
Christians
living outside of the country would see the
improvements, recognize the opportunity and return to Albania
to help support the work of the church.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. Pray for the Baptist Church in the
city of Lezhe, an hours drive northwest of
Tirana. The church has been renting facilities on Saturday each
week in a poor gypsy neighbourhood in
the city and
having a children's program. The church wants to be able to rent the
facility for the whole
week and have a kindergarten, a
literacy program for children and adults, and parenting courses for the
adults. The church wants to help the gypsy community to
be able to read and write so that they can get
the
training that will allow them to be employed. Pray for the church and
their pastor, Mondi, as they
design a community project
together with the gypsy community. Pray that the project would be a
visible
sign of God's love for the gypsy community and
that the hearts of the gypsies would be touched by Christ.
2. Pray for the Christians of Albania during this Christmas
season. Albania, being a predominantly
Muslim country
and an ex-communist country, has little knowledge of the Christmas
message. Pray that
the Christmas celebration of
new life and hope would be heard in this country amidst all the
commercial
messages that obscure the real meaning of
Christmas. Pray that Albanian Christians would hold to
Christmas traditions that speak more of Christ's coming than of the
invasion of western commercialism.
***************************************
SOUTH AMERICA
NAME: CASTELLON, Pablo and June, Eliana &
Arturo
COUNTRY: Bolivia
PRAISE ITEMS: We have settled
back into Bolivia and ministry at the Vinto Baptist Church and
Carachipampa Christian school which is celebrating it's 75th.
Anniversary this week. Eliana is in grade
10 at CCS and
Arturo in grade 9. Pablo got a clean bill of health at his 3 month checkup with
a specialist
here. He was also able to form a
friendship with the specialist and witness to him.
PRAYER ITEMS: Pray for Pablo as he pastors, June as school nurse,
wife and mother and Eliana and
Arturo as students. Pray
for a 15 year old in our church named Helen who has serious problems.
***************************************
NAME: CHEVELDAYOFF, Laurence and Kathy
COUNTRY: BRAZIL, Sao Paulo city: Heliopolis slum; Church
planting/Social
Action. ABC Assoc. of Baptist Churches;
Social Action promoters.
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. For
the Route team completing it's first ministry with Pr. Devanir in the city
of
Conchas. They leave behind many memories and new
friends. We had an afternoon of evaluation and the
team
feels the work is meeting their expectations. 2. For the wonderful and
safe time we had with our son
Les and his family in Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida. A lot of work was done and no accidents !! 3. For Les
and
his family -- ALL involved in the BIG Christmas
Pageant with their church First Baptist. There will be 19
performances and over 65,000 tickets have been sold already. 4. For
Gedaias and Luciano who did a
GREAT job at the Baptist
Center during our 5 weeks in the USA. 5. For our house -- ALL was well
during our absence !!!
PRAYER
ITEMS: 1. For the CBM Route team (Claire Thomson, Shawn Durette, David
Nightingale and
Ashley Pohl) as they are NOW in
Brasilia with Joyce Hancock and will be ministering there till mid Jan.
2003. 2. For the Chevys as they have their 'plates; full
of things to do until the Baptist Center goes into
it's
summer 'mode' of operations. Holidays here for school children are from mid Dec.
till early Feb. of the
next year. 3. For the
preschools as they close this weekend (Dec. 6-8), especially for their
graduation
ceremonies. 4. For the Baptist Center
executive staff as we begin looking at 2003 --there are personell to
replace and new ones to find. 5. For the BAPTIST CENTER'S
RETREAT: Dec. 11 - 13th. We will have
about 20 people
taking part. This is the Christmas year end party for all. 6. For the Ft.
Lauderdale First
Baptist church in it's Christmas
pageant mode. A number of performances have already taken place, with
a total of 19 total between Nov. 29th and Dec. 15th. Last year
nearly 400 people indicated they wanted a
personal
relationship with Jesus. 7. For the GAME team as all of us continue to help
churches as they
invite us to help them in areas of
ministry they consider needs upgrading and being more effective.
8. For the Chevys for continued good health and personal
safety. Crime and violence in Sao Paulo
continues to
expand. 9. For the Chevys and ALL their children and their children. It was
pointed
out to us that the forces of darkness and not
happy about what the ministry is accomplishing in Heliopolis
and area -- so -- attacks are coming upon various families of the
Chevys.
**************************************
NAME: CHIM, Paul and
Grace COUNTRY:
Panama
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. For God’s calling
to serve as missionaries in Panama. 2. For NYCBC's vision and
commitment in sending us to Panama for the sake of the
spreading the Gospel. 3. For the joint
participation of Chinese Baptist Churches in the Greater Toronto
area. 4. For our sending mission
agency,
Canadian Baptist Ministries , which has accepted us as missionaries and provided
us with
guidance and care.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. That we can have a spirit of power,
of love and of self-discipline, to do our best to
present ourselves to God approved ,workers who do not need to be
ashamed. 2. Rental and registration
process of
the Gospel Centre. 3. Spanish language study. 4. health and
safety. 5. planning of
pre-evangelistic
activities , and that the Chinese in Panama will have a heart for the
Gospel.
***************************************
NAME: HANCOCK,
Joyce
COUNTRY: BRAZIL, Brasília
PRAISE
ITEMS: 1. Praise the Lord for a smooth transition of coordinators at
Ministério SERVO.
Matildes began at the beginning of
November and Lourdes will continue to help as she has time as a
volunteer. 2. Praise Him also for increased interest in supporting SERVO
financially. It happens slowly
but there is
progress.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. Pray for the young
people on the ROUTE team who will be helping SERVO for the
next six weeks. Pray for their witness among the youth, that they
will encourage each one to live
according to God's
Word. 2. Pray for Mário, one of our boys, who has been admitted to the
hospital
for psychiatric care. He was doing very
well until recently when he seems to be in regression and
suffering many of the disturbances he had when he first came to
SERVO. Pray for total release
spiritually.
**************************************
NAME: JANKE, Pat and Terry
PRAISE
ITEMS: 1. We cherish the many opportunities to see Bolivia. In October we
drove a Canadian
Baptist Volunteer team (Glen Acres
Church) into the “Yungas” (Jungle) - one of Bolivia’s most
spectacular areas. The death defying heights that we drove just a few
feet away from were sheer terror, but
awesome. We would
love to see our home church (FBC, Thunder Bay) join in a similar project…
hint,
hint. 2. During our October break we had an
opportunity to visit the Cochabamba Jungle called
“Chapare”. We visited a wildlife reserve that is similar to The African
Lion Safari in Cambridge, except
here you walk through.
Our encounter with some bold monkeys (thieves) was rather terrifying. In
an
attempt to take a picture of a monkey on Terry’s
shoulder, one nasty monkey jumped on Emily and bit her
hand. Needless to say we aren’t as amused by these playful animals
anymore. Emily is almost finished her
five rabies
shots. 3. Another exciting moment happened one evening when our stove somehow
began
leaking propane. Not aware of this, I went to
light the oven, and it exploded. By the grace of God alone, I
remained almost totally unscathed. I lost all my facial hair except my
eyebrows. It was quite cheap
electrolysis. Five windows
were shattered and the boom shook the entire house. I am so thankful for
God’s
faithfulness and His protection.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. We continue to ask for prayer concerning our
language learning. At the beginning,
when we first
arrived, there were less expectations, and we were just glad to carry on small
talk, but
now it is frustrating at times to know what
you want to say, and not be able to express it. 2. We enjoy a
Bible Study with our fellow Canadian Baptists here in
Cochabamba once a week. We value the unity we
have and
ask for prayer that it would be maintained for the sake of the Lord’s Name and
His ministry.
Please continue to lift up Judy Shierman,
who is still in a hospital in Victoria. Doctors have not
yet determined the cause of her illness. Pray also for Dennis and the
boys who are here in
Bolivia presently. 3. Terry meets
weekly with a young man from England who found the Lord here in
Bolivia and is now involved in a ministry to street kids. Pray for their
time going through the Gospel of
Matthew as Rob
prepares for Baptism. 4. We are rather concerned about the level of
Spiritual life among
the Youth Groups here. Emily
attends two groups each week, and is not expected to bring her Bible to
either. The leaders are good Christian folk who have a heart
for youth, but seem to place a low priority on
God’s
Word. 5. In a general way, we can see that the Baptist Churches in Bolivia are
quite similar to
many of the same in Canada. They are
in need of a real Holy Spirit renewal which will break up the
ground of tradition and plant the fresh seed of hunger after God. Pray
that God would be pleased to use us
in this process,
and that our own lives would reflect such an ongoing renewal of faith.
*******************************************
NAME: JANZEN, Karl &
Kathy
COUNTRY: BRAZIL
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. We are
nearing the end of over 25 years of missionary service in Brazil. Praise
God
for all these years of physical protection and
spiritual blessings. 2. Praise God for the 32 students who
will be graduating on Dec. 05 from the Baptist Faculty in
Brasilia, where Karl will be the graduating class
"patron", and for the 18 students who will be graduating on Dec. 07 from
the Baptist Seminary in
Dourados, where Karl will be
the graduation ceremony speaker.
PRAYER
ITEMS: 1. Pray for Karl & Kathy as well as their son Doug and his
wife Jill with their 3 little
girls, as they are busy
teaching, grading, etc., besides packing for their return to Canada on Dec.
13.
2. Pray for a safe trip back to Canada; the first
225 km will be by mini-bus, the rest by plane. 3. Pray for
many new students to be called of God to come and study at the seminary
in Dourados next year. 4. Pray
that the Lord will send
new teachers to take the places of Karl, Kathy and Doug. Karl & Doug
alone
taught 33% of all the Theological Faculty classes
and Kathy has carried almost half of the advanced music
classes in the Music Department.
******************************************
NAME: LOH, John and
Karen
COUNTRY: Venezuela
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. Praise
the Lord for the 2nd Tuesday Fellowship, attendance : 56+, over half
of
them young people, and for the participation
of the "leaders" of the future. 2. For a blessed visit
to
Canada for John, 2 days with Nat in TO plus 5
meetings with different people, Ruth Brown/B Clark, and
future possible candidate for mission service. 3. a wonderful learning
experience in the 1st
CCCOWE-Canada conference,
Vancouver, BC. my part was on mission and I had many chances to
share
with interested parties. 4. Nat is
adjusting well, still struggling to keep the grades up and a
more
permanent "home" church and Youth group.
PRAYER ITEMS: 1. For our future as we are
"hearing" many voices from the north and as our role is
expending outside of Venezuela. 2.Christmas program for the
2 churches, Caracas & Brquisimeto.
3. For the
country, VENEZUELA, as riots, uncertainty, strikes, marches are
almost day-to-day things. 4.
We are organizing a
short term team to Guayaquil, Ecuador Feb, 2003. Pray that God will
provide the
right people.
************************************
NAME: MATTHEWS,
Brenda
COUNTRY: Venezuela
PRAISE ITEMS: For
my return after furlough, for the renewing of my rent contract, for a
smooth entry
into new responsibilities in the
TEAM-Venezuela office, for ministry opportunities in a new church plant.
PRAYER ITEMS: For the Lord's will to be done in
the political/economical situation in Venezuela, for
safety as the tension and crime increases, for opportunities to share
the true meaning of Christmas -
especially at the
closing English club meetings, Dec. 5 and 12, and at our church dinner, Dec.
14.
************************************
NAME: PASSI, Don &
Ruth
COUNTRY: CHILE, Santiago (Youth/Community Ministry)
PRAISE ITEMS: 1. Thank God for giving Jack and I an excellent
trip to La Plata, Argentina, to visit
colabourers
there. 2. Thank God for a good start to a university ministry in La Plata after
two years of
initiative by a young staff couple and 4
young single Americans. 3. Dan and Diane Travis (senior staff
leaders) are the catalyst behind this new campus initiative. Thank
God that they are seeing fruit after
many difficult
years.
PRAYER ITEMS: Please pray the
following for the "Campus Ministry in Argentina": 1. The 4
American singles are now completing their two year assignment
and returning to the States. Silvana,
Paula, Nico, Barbi and Danny (Argentines; young disciples) are
assuming leadership for the campus
ministry. PRAY
that they will continue to put down roots into Christ, and grow in their desire
to reach
their Argentine friends with the gospel. 2.
PRAY that Alex and Kathryn (young American staff couple in
La Plata) will be able to "bond relationally" with these Argentine
believers and continue to disciple them.
3. PRAY that
these young Argentine disciples will become the foundation of many generations
of
Argentine believers. 4. PRAY that Dan and Diane
(senior staff leaders) will have wisdom in facilitating
the development of the campus ministry
Please
pray the following for the "Community House Church Ministry in Argentina":
1. Some families
are experiencing significant financial
difficulties due to the economic crisis in Argentina. PRAY that
Luis-Carlos & Maria-Rosa, Emilio & Liliana, Luis-Maria
& Maria-Elena will deepen in their faith and
character as a result of this "refining process". 2. PRAY that these
couples will reach into their spheres of
influence and
impact their peers with the gospel of Christ.
Please
pray the following for the "Church Discipleship Ministry in Argentina": 1.
PRAY for God's
empowerment for Martin & Claudia in
leading the discipleship ministry to local churches. 2. Flor
(Argentine; disciple) has a lot of capacity and desire to
disciple other young women, but doesn't seem to
know
what is her "best fit". PRAY that Flor will have wisdom to know whether
she fits best in a
traditional local church or in the
informal house church movement so that she can focus her efforts and
multiply her impact. 3. PRAY for adequate funding for
Hector (Argentine) & Elena (Russian) so they can
return to Siberia next February and continue their ministry of
discipleship within the Baptist churches
there.
***************************************
NORTH AMERICA
NAME: DESMARAIS, Dietrich and
Edith COUNTRY:
CANADA
PRAISE and PRAYER ITEMS:
1. We are very thankful for Robert and Elizabeth Lumke who have
now moved from Wpg. to minister with us at BAF. As many
of you know Elizabeth is David and Kathy
Phillips
daughter. Please pray for them as they settle in and discover the
tasks God has for them here.
They found an apartment
near our home so we can spend more time with them. 2. On Dec. 8th we will
be
having our first youth service at BAF.
This service is a joint effort with Youth for Christ. We are
planning our annual Christmas dinner on Dec. 22nd. We
are planning for 300 people . Pray for a depth
of awareness of who Jesus is in the lives of the people,
especially to the ones from the community living
around
the church who might never hear the message otherwise. 3. Pray for
Camillia, who is in the
hospital with pneumonia. 4.
Continue to pray for the health center to proceed. We have interviewed
4
consultants so far and have one more to go. We
want the consultant to embrace the vision and have a
heart for the people. We are excited to have James home this
Christmas. He has been on staff at YWAM
in
Calgary since August. He has decided not to go to Thailand. He
wants to help out in the ministry at
BAF as well as
proceed with a career of which he is not certain yet. Other
than battling colds, our family
is doing well.
Thank you all for your prayers and support.
****************************************
On a personal note, We would like to
extend Christmas greetings to you all.
God’s Blessings
for a Merry Christmas. May the Prince of Peace reign in your hearts throughout
the
coming year.
Thanks for praying !!!