Stories from NV missionaries in the Arabian Peninsula, Brooks & Mariane

Story 1:
Our Lebanese / Palestinian neighbors lost both of their parents last year, within 4 months of one another.  While the 3 brothers are hardly ever at home, Mariane has been able to visit the 2 sisters regularly.  February 15 would have been their mother’s birthday, and Mariane had made them a card with Psalm 139 in Arabic.  The same evening after they received the card, they came to visit.  They were so excited about the verses they’d read, saying they had never read anything like them before (this didn’t surprise us, of course).  Mariane told them where the verses came from and showed them the Arabic Bible.  They pored over it and hardly looked up. When Mariane saw their hesitancy in giving it back, she offered to let them keep it.  They couldn’t contain their joy, and went happily home with their newfound treasure!  Mariane will be helping one of them with English in the days to come.
Story 2:
Across the street from us lives a family of Iranian background, although they have been citizens of this country now for many years.  About 2 years ago, the old father, who had many children by several wives, died.  His daughter had worked at our hospital for a year, but resigned and married before his death.  Just recently, when Mariane was discussing the Bible with the mother, it came out that the daughter had received a Bible during her year at the hospital.  In fact, the mother shared that she’d read to her from it, and she said that it was very beautiful!  We had no idea she’d heard anything of the Gospel before that day.  Mariane continues to visit her weekly. 
Story 3:
Just last week, a man from a government office stopped by my (Brooks) work office to chat a moment while his mother was seeing a doctor.  After only a few minutes, he asked completely out of the blue if I had a Gospel!  I was able to arrange for him to take several copies of Scripture and commentary with him, along with the Jesus film on DVD.  In addition, I had an opportunity to explain why there are different translations, and why there are 4 different Gospel accounts.  He went away happy with his find, and encouraged me to visit him in his office sometime soon.
Story 4:
I (Brooks) recently attended a President’s Day gala sponsored by the American Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the capital city.  While there, a man from New York, divorced and a newcomer to the UAE, walked up and struck up a conversation.  During the course of our conversation about the future and world events, he was very captivated when I told him that I trusted the Lord with my future and therefore could experience peace.  He was so open afterward, that he willingly allowed me to get him in touch with believers from the church in Abu Dhabi. Today I wrote to tell him that I’d given his number to the pastor, and his response was:  “This is a great coincidence, yesterday I was going to call you to say that it was a real pleasure to meet you at the reception, and ask you for the address/telephone number for the Church.  I just opened my emails and it was a great surprise when I saw your email there.  That is a good sign.  Please let me know if there is any telephone number that I can contact the Pastor.  I believe that I really need it.  Thank you so much for your attention.”

 

 

The Faithfulness of God

In the new year of 2003, Robert and I knew God had laid his hand on our lives. We were in Guatemala…a tour, a vacation, a chance to visit our daughter Julianna who was there studying Spanish and on a Significant Spiritual God driven journey of her own. We spent a life altering day with her and a Guatemalan gentleman she had met, touring the local area where she lived.  He told us stories of the work of God in this region…of peoples lives being changed, of poverty and of hope and the power of the Lord in this place.  As we drove through the Guatemalan towns, stopped and were introduced to different folks and heard their stories, something was at work inside of us, something we had never felt before, something powerful and overwhelming and not all together familiar or comfortable. Only towards the end of that memorable day, back in our hotel room did I realize the significance of our outing. We were in a state of agitation, trying to articulate and make some sense of what had just happened. Something had happened! I was overwhelmed, as I had been all day in the beat up Volkswagen van we had been driven around in. As he paced back and forth Robert finally blurted out ” I think we’ve met God today!” And I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was the truth. I realized that what we had felt that day…this Oh so powerful sense of SOMETHING! was the Spirit of God! It was my first such experience. Two days later on a beautiful sun filled afternoon at the beach we almost died in the ocean. We were literally pulled out of the treacherous waters by the hand of God and then watched helplessly as two of our companions on this trip were dragged into the sea where they did die. We were stunned and tried to reason through the fact that we had survived. Why were WE chosen to live that day?

To Robert it was very clear. We were somehow going to take our little student sponsorship program down to Guatemala. We saw VERY clearly on this first journey into a so-called third world country that we had been given MUCH in the way of finances and things and opportunities and started to think differently as to what we wanted to do with all that had been given us. This is how Global Shore began. We had a farming business. It was thriving…growing…we acknowledged God’s blessing in this and that He had a purpose other than for ourselves in this blessing.
For some months I lived in this high of knowing that we had been given our lives and something significant to do with them. We were renovating the ARK and I enjoyed being a part of that, thanking God for my life, His hand on it. I felt an incredible joy. And then something began to change inside of me. A heaviness, a darkness and a fear crept in. I struggled to maintain my elation and enthusiasm. I became physically very tired.  I worked in the office of our company and remember the day confessing to the others that each day seemed just as bad or worse than the day before. I lost my joy in doing everything. I became fearful and easily overwhelmed by anything out of the ordinary, anything new. At one point suffered a physical breakdown and slept for weeks trying to get the strength and the courage to get out of bed and face life. I withdrew from people and left the church we had been attending. I had been a worship leader and drove away one evening after our weekly practice and knew I would never go back. In my darkest moments I believed that the wrong persons had died that day at the ocean… wondered why I was still alive. I felt like a failure as I just barely got through each day. In the better days I was able to do what had to be done, my job at the office, being part of the students’ lives that came each summer. I loved those students and yet always felt unworthy and unable to be a significant part of Global Shore. I was easily distraught and overcome and exhausted. I told people I was just not an adventurer or a traveller and every subsequent trip to Central America was very stressful and difficult for me. Had Julianna not been living there I would not have gone back at all.

Perhaps this was Post Traumatic Stress. Some would call this Depression. And some have called this Oppression. Throughout these four years there was always hope. I knew about God and I knew what He said. I grew up in the church and had been a part of a Christian community all of my life. Throughout this dark era of my life I had a sense of God and even though I could not put together this terrible weight I carried…my lose of joy…the lose of my entire life it seemed…I had this sense of God..this hunger I could not articulate.  I was often alone because I had withdrawn from anything social, and so I went into Gods word and I read and read as never before and I underlined and journalled. I was in Psalms and the Old Testament and I read everything there was about desert experiences because I felt that described so clearly where I was at the time. I cried out to God often, without words, without sound, without thought. It was a time of silence. There was silence in my heart and because I often withdrew from interaction with others there was silence in my life. There was a silence in our marriage because I had held back from everything that we had started out so enthusiastically to do together. I had pulled away. God did not come and rescue me. Yet still I somehow knew he had not abandoned me.
I had been trying to deal with different physical ailments during this time and had been suffering with eczema on and off. During the winter of 2007/2008 this flared up with a vengeance and most of my body was covered with a terrible mass of itching oozing erupted skin. My body reacted to this trauma with shakes and chills and I was incapacitated and I was alone and I was terrified. I had encouraged Robert to go on a hunting trip that had been planned a year before and then I had called several friends that I had not talked to for a long time to tell them I was sick hoping for some comfort as I lay in front of my little fire place in agony, trying to keep warm. But I was alone. No one came. It was the end And cried out “Oh God! I cannot live like this…I cannot live like this any more!” I knew about Job. I knew why he wanted to die. I’d been abandoned.
But my Faithful Friend Jesus sent someone to rescue me that day!  My sister Norma called. She had been worried about me and had made emergency arrangements to take me to naturopath I had begun to see. She came the next day and bundled me up into her vehicle turned the heat on high and we listened to music and cried together and then we laughed. She stopped and got some take out Thai soup and we sat in her truck parked to face the warmth of the sun and I was given hope that day. And if that day my body did not, my heart did begin to heal. And God was good! He had sent an angel to minister to me.
Last summer arrived with a new group of students. There was something different about last summer, about the dynamics of this group. God was arranging and providing. It was a summer of healing in many ways for me. I was stronger and I felt more alive than I had for years. I wanted to be with people and enjoyed relationship with the students and with God and had energy again. During the teams stay in Guatemala they sent stories and pictures and experiences back to us here and as I read and listened, my heart was pierced through. I have no other way of describing this. God’s Spirit was running through their lives in powerful ways and I was filled as never before with a yearning for God. More of God! These amazing young people came back full of the Spirit of God and a great longing filled me as they shared their stories and we prayed for each other. And I experienced the Power of the Comforter as he fell upon me. I wept in great brokenness and amazing release and laughed with unbounded joy, REAL GOD JOY!! UNTIL MY STOMACH ACHED! It was a turning point. Something had turned completely around in my heart.
A month and a half later, Robert and I travelled into Guatemala again. This time to be with Jules at the birth of their second daughter. And that was exciting, but there was an incredible change in how I was going and THAT was off the charts exciting. I was going with a complete and absolute YES! to God. Whatever He wanted me to experience, I wanted that. Whatever He wanted me to be, to do, to become a part of, that is what I wanted. “I say YES Jesus! I say YES!”  And God met me with joy and with gifts and with power…power to break away all that had held me for so long. Since then we have been back again on a leadership tour and God just poured out Himself on us in fellowship and in gifts of healing and prophesy and Joy in life and living and in adventure. WOW!! Is God not faithful!? Yes and full of healing and power and forgiveness. For years I have held Him at arms length and not trusted and I come back finally, with my yes, and He throws a party!!
You can imagine the healing that has happened in our marriage, in our business and our relationships there. The most precious and powerful times we have are when we get together once a week and pray. This has changed the dynamics of our ministry. We are weak and then God is faithful and strong beyond what we ever imagined. I keep on asking that God open the eyes of my heart, that I might see and hear what he has to say.  And He does!! This is the faithfulness of God!
Carolyn
Global Shore Opportunities

 

 

 

The Promises of God

I was being driven to London Airport on a very icy winter’s morning. Being late already, my driver was caught in parking lot traffic. I jumped out of the car, said goodbye to Dorothy, sprinted as best as I could to the terminal and presented my ticket to the Airline Agent who was unsympathetic with my plight. In fact he rather sternly stated the obvious,“You’re late and the Captain has started his engines. You will need to wait and fly another day!”  I then thought, “What can I do? I have my host Missionaries waiting in Bombay for me” and the agent was not in the mood to be persuaded.

Standing there, I recalled the importance of the promises of God. In particular I recalled the Apostle Paul’s word of encouragement to the Corinthians: “We demolish argument and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Under my breath, I prayed a prayer that this promise in 2 Cor.10:3-5 would be fulfilled. To my amazement, the Agent who had turned the other way, suddenly turned to face me!  With a smile on his face, he said, “give me your ticket again, I will call the pilot and will personally escort you through Customs and Immigration to get you on this flight!” So my journey to India began.

Now, hear the rest of the Story: Little did I know that in a matter of days, I would travel by river boat to a remote Village unreachable by vehicle and be invited to share the Gospel with the Chief Landowner and her people which numbered some 300.  Over half of the Villagers came to Christ that day! Today, there is a Church there that bears testimony to the Living God! Mark 16:20.

Elgin & Dorothy Taylor

 

 

A Special Day

God is a connector of dots!  So often in my life I have seen him take seemingly unrelated experiences and weave them together.  Such was the blessing I experienced this summer.  For years I’ve felt drawn to Thailand.  I remember researching Thailand as a teenager and was intrigued by MBMSI’s Team 2000 when they left for their adventure.  The Tsunami in 2004 heightened my interest and through the years God has continually had me “run into” people who have travelled there, people who have adopted Thai children and missionaries who serve there.  Thailand made “my bucket list” as a place I definitely wanted to see in my lifetime. 

When Northview hosted a Compassion Canada sponsorship drive in 2009, I was drawn to one particular card on the table – the picture and story of little Suchada Phae Po.  Suchada lives in the hills of Thailand with her family and I was very excited to become this little four year old’s sponsor.  A relationship was started as I began writing to her and so enjoyed receiving letters from her father along with pictures she had drawn.  I never would have dreamt that less than a year after beginning sponsorship, God would open the door for me to travel to Thailand and meet her.  In July 2009, I travelled along with Northview’s Mission Commission on a visioning trip to Thailand. 

Suchada and her family of four live out in the hills of Thailand.  Little Suchada, along with her aunt and a Compassion Thailand staff member travelled four hours on a bus to Chiang Mai.  It was the first time she left her village, the first time she stayed in a hotel, the first time she ate in a restaurant and the first time she saw a supermarket.  Her eyes were big with wonder!  The morning after they arrived, we were to meet.  I’m not sure who was more nervous – her or me!  It was with great joy that I packed up a pink backpack laden with activities and gifts for her that morning.  I could hardly wait to give it to her.
We arrived at the hotel and waited for Suchada to come down.  I will never forget the first time I saw her.  She was shy and I was choking back tears as I saw this precious little girl!  The shyness melted and it did not take long for us to sit and color and play with the doll activity set that I had brought along.  She was particularly thrilled with a set of plastic beaded necklaces, and carefully extracted the purple strings to put on, laying aside the green and yellow ones.  Pink and purple are her favorite colors!  She drew me a picture of the two of us.  We played with a bouncy ball outside and she gradually warmed up to this very tall stranger with whom it was so hard to communicate.  She started smiling and sitting with me.

We headed to the Chiang Mai zoo where she desperately wanted to see the pandas.  That would have been my display of choice as well!  As we got off the train, she took my hand and we walked together to the Panda habitat where we watched the pandas eat and saw a newly born baby.  Then it was off to the Aquarium.  This is where Suchada really came alive and her personality started to emerge as she ran from display to display, pointing out fish and motioning for me to lift her to see the higher tanks.  Without words, we had fast become friends.  Our time together that day ended with a lunch picked by her – noodles, orange pop and ice cream!  By the time we crawled back into our songtaew ( truck taxi), Suchada was tuckered out and quickly fell asleep, awakening only for a goodbye hug. 

I will never forget that day in Thailand and imagine she too went home with stories of her adventure.  Visiting Thailand was a dream come true!  Spending that time with that very special girl has brought much joy and made writing to and praying for Suchada all the more meaningful. 

 

 

Hope, A Bus Ticket and a Pocket Watch

Dear Friends and Supporters;
Praise God for His healing power in the lives of hurting children!  We continue to be in awe of the transformation we are seeing in our ALH children’s lives and in our community through their witness and presence in the schools!
In the last month, Joon, a 14 year old boy in our boys home, brought two friends from school to our Ang Sila church to receive Christ!  They both gave testimony that it was Joon’s life and persistant evangelizing that drew them to the love of Jesus.  Please keep praying for our bold preachers!

Below is the story of our newest boy.  Please pray for “Little Golf.”  Thank you for your steady and faithful prayers for our children and the church plants here!

“Little Golf” is 13 years old.  His parents both died of AIDS.  His aunt let him live in her home, but her new alcoholic husband was beating Golf.  Golf’s cousins would not let him sit at the table and eat with them, but would throw his food down to him on the floor like a dog.  When the aunt left for work in the morning, she locked the door and Golf would stay outside roaming the village and highways until she came home at 8 pm at night.  No money, no food, no friends, no schooling, no medication for his tiny HIV+ body.

We heard Golf’s story, and started preparing to have him come live in our third ALH home this October.  Golf and his aunt came to Chonburi three times to meet our doctor and have his blood tested to check his CD4 count and his viral load.  Golf begged to stay with P Ganiga and the ALH boys everytime they prepared to go back to the Isaan area.  Our hearts wanted him to stay, yet we are committed to keeping our homes to 6 children in a home.

On Aug. 21st at 8pm, our neighbor at the boys home, called us to say that a small boy was sitting outside our gate.  We were all at church, and he was sitting alone in the dark.  When we rushed home and first saw Golf, we were speechless.  He was covered in a very serious rash over all his body.  His lips were black and he was severely dehydrated; his body was swollen and bruised from a beating from his aunt.  He had no money on him, and had taken the four hour bus ride on his own.  It is a miracle that he found his way to us unharmed.  We would not send him back, so Little Golf had found a home.  Finally.

Three weeks ago at church, Golf walked forward to receive Christ.  The body of Christ at Ang Sila church surrounded him and laid hands on his broken and scarred body and welcomed him into a new life with Christ, and into the family of God.  Last week, the Ang Sila Church hosted a prayer team for a day.  They came to pray for our church and the fishing village and our orphanage.  One man, when he saw Little Golf, heard the Lord say to him that “This is MY time for this boy.  His time has come to be blessed and transformed by Me.”  The man felt that God wanted him to give Golf his watch.  He reached in his pocket and gave Golf his own, beautiful pocket watch.  Golf was shocked.  He had never received such a special and expensive gift.  This man did not know Golf was one of our ALH kids, and had no idea how this small heirloom revealed the Father Heart of God and His provision and care for Golf. Since the watch incident, Golf is walking around with a lilt in his step; a permanent smile on his face and the knowledge that he has a Heavenly Father who is watching over him!

Thank you for your prayers and support, we are constantly astounded at the things God is doing here!

Karen and Ricky Sanchez
Aree, Tassanee, Sierra, McKenna

 

Maikel’s Story

It was 2002 and our 10th Bible delivery trip into Cuba, which we affectionately call Paradise Island. On our previous trips we had worked mainly in the city of Santiago de Cuba and further to the west in Las Tunas. This year we asked our longtime and dear friends Keila and Abraham if there was a pastor in the nearby mountains that we could visit. Immediately Abraham brightened and exclaimed, “Yes! I know someone!” Our team began to prepare for the upcoming visit. Having few details of this family, we packed our bags with a variety of clothing and medicines. We bought soap, rice, beans, cooking oil, and some canned meat. We were looking forward to meeting this new pastor who worked in a difficult and more restricted area of the mountainous region north of Santiago.

Out team found Pastor Maikel, his wife Ania, and their three children in a small run down building with a seriously sagging roof and termite eaten walls. It was partitioned in half. One side was used for their living quarters and the other side was left empty and used for church meetings. There were a few wooden benches and a small lectern. An old broken piano was by the wall and a guitar with only four strings. They were cautious of us at first since they seldom, if ever, received foreign visitors. We tried to be especially kind and gracious, mindful of their difficult situation. Pastors working in this area and having a visit from foreign tourists could result in criminal charges of “Counter-revolutionary activities.” Our interpreter, Keila, explained that we had come to bring a few items of help and to pray with them.

After visiting a little while, our team was lead into a dimly lit bedroom to unload what seemed to us to be a pitifully small amount of supplies. As the gifts were laid out on their bed, Maikel was grateful but quiet. Next George explained to him that we would leave some financial support so that he would not have the burden of caring for the needs of his family and thus concentrate more fully on pastoring…. And one more thing, George explained, we also had a new mountain bike which would assist him to visit his cell groups and to travel for food supplies.

The room was dim, and Maikel was quiet. He started to shake a bit and we wondered in the darkness if he was about to shout for joy or to laugh in happiness. We couldn’t tell. Then he fell to his knees and began to cry and say, “Surely God has not forgotten me!” Our team stood motionless, we were stunned. Our few small gifts had such an impact on this dear family’s life. Maikel now knew in a tangible way that God was with him. Previous to our arrival Maikel had feelings of loneliness and of abandonment. Now he knew beyond any doubt that God had heard his prayers, seen his needs, and sent help. Our team left that day very humbled. If we ever doubted that our few small gifts were too small or unnecessary to give away…. we were wrong.

In the years that have followed, God has used us to meet the needs of pastors living in similar situations.  One such pastor is Pastor Blanco. During our first meeting, after we had distributed our food and gifts and explained to him that he would receive ongoing financial help during the year, he explained to our team that he had prayed for over six years, asking God to send help. Again we were humbled and wondered why it had taken us so long to come. Our few small gifts do as much to encourage their souls and spirits as they do to meet the daily physical needs of a family.
We are reminded by Jesus in Mathew 25, “what ever you do to the least of these my brothers, you do it unto me.”

In His Service
Madeline and George Harrison

 

 

Grace

This summer I had one of those experiences that continues to roll around in my head reminding me of the grace of God. It happened as I was privileged to be part of a small group of Canadians that went as guests of Compassion Canada to the country of El Salvador. There we observed and experienced the incredible work that they are doing there working with children to eradicate poverty and share with them the good news of Christ.

My wife and I decided that as part of the trip we would sponsor a child that lived in El Salvador through Compassion. When I was there – I was given a pile of pictures to look at from which I would choose our child to sponsor. I had given some thought in advance to this decision - I didn’t want to choose a child because he or she was cute. But how do you pick one?

I decided I would take the first one presented to me – well at least the first boy. Having raised only girls - I found this to be particularly good. Turns out the boy we would sponsor was an eight-year-old child whose mother had died about one year ago from a tragic accident. He had no father in his life and was being raised by his grandmother. He had been waiting for a sponsor for about a one loooong year.

I am told that little A could hardly contain himself when he got the news that not only did he now have a sponsor but that he would have an opportunity to meet that sponsor. We would spend a day with each other at a children’s museum in just two days. The night before A begged his grandmother not to let him sleep in. He was afraid that he would miss the bus that was taking him into town. Excited would be an understatement.

What does it feel like for young boy who has no man in this life to mentor him or care for him to suddenly have a stranger commit to investing into his life? What does it feel like for sponsor to personally meet the child he or she wants to bless?

As arranged by Compassion, when I arrived at the museum and got off my bus, A was waiting with his grandmother and an interpreter to meet me. Words can’t fully express the joy I experienced at that moment and over the next few hours. At one point, we were in a dimly lit planetarium room of the museum and as they were talking about the formation of constellations and stars projected on the ceiling I looked over and saw young A lying beside me on the floor gazing at the ceiling in wonder. The interpreter was trying to whisper to me a translation of what our host was saying about the stars - but I began to drift in my thinking – overwhelmed really – and as I looked at A, I fought back the tears. I saw in him a picture of God’s grace in my own life. The reality is - my life mirrors his – seemingly without hope - but somehow God, who knows me, knows you (just like the stars whom He calls by name) reached down to save me and pour out his blessing upon me (and you). “This,” I thought, “this is what grace is like.”

Pastor Tim Klassen

 

Summer Blessings

Earlier this year our summer was booked full with canoe trips but one by one the groups cancelled.  The Lord led us to working with the kids camps here at the Timber Bay Bible Center.  Three weeks packed full of activities and energetic kids.  Through all of the activities and fun, God was at work drawing these young guys and girls to Himself.  At the last chapel time of the second week there weren’t enough Bibles to give away to all of the kids who had received Christ.  Every week we were privileged to have good talks with many kids, one who received Christ in our home.  Watching God move in the counselors’ lives was fascinating.  These young volunteers crossed many barriers in coming here and God blessed and grew them. 

This summer, we’ve also seen some special plans unfold.  Our church has had a desire to build a church building on the Montreal Lake reserve.  We had set a starting date of July 1, 2009 and had met and prayed about it often.  While we were doing this, Northern Canada Evangelical Mission (NCEM), owner and operators of the Bible Center were making plans to transfer ownership of the facility.  NCEM no longer had staff or vision for the center and was looking for another Christian ministry organization to use it.  Years ago, this facility housed First Nations children in a residential school situation.  The children lived here at “the home” and attended public school down the road.  One of those kids was our pastor.  Here he received much…salvation and also hurt.  Fifteen years ago, Northern Canada Evangelical Mission took ownership of the place and ran Bible based programs. When looking for another organization to use it, not much response was received, so our church considered submitting a proposal to operate the facility. We did and the proposal was received warmly.  Our church (in complete unity) has decided to put our energy into using the facility as our meeting place and as a Christian ministry center.  The transfer will take place in September, 2009.  We have postponed our plan to build on reserve for now.  So, instead of a church building we have a whole center!!  We have many in our church with incredible vision and energy and look forward to all God has in store for our fellowship and this place.  Our pastor is directing the facility he attended as a child.  Is that grace or what?  Many people of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation attended this place as children and now are coming back…to church and to the Lord.  We believe God will continue to bless many people and use the center for His glory.  We are honoured to be here at this time!

Ben & Nikki Clarke
North America Indigenous Ministries
Timber bay, Saskatchewan

 

Cyrus Center

Ernie arrived at Cyrus Centre asking us what we were about and after explaining it to him he said “well I’m a homeless youth, so I guess I can come here”.
Ernie started coming in daily and each time he came he allowed us a little more inside his world.  He had a family locally but had been fighting with his parents and one day after a heated exchange he ran off. At first Ernie was able to stay with friends (couch surfing) but in short order the friends ran out so he ended up on the streets.  Once there he started using drugs (crystal meth) - this allowed him to fend off hunger and sleep and the longer he was away from home the higher, wider and deeper the walls became that separated him from his family.

At Cyrus Center, I along with other staff, were able to talk with him while he came in for something to eat or just to get warm.  It was during these times that we were able to discuss his family, his relationship with his earthly father and introduce him to his Heavenly Father.  Ernie ended up going for Drug Counselling and we were able to restore the family.  This is where the story becomes even more exciting! On Christmas Eve 2006 Ernie was at church with my wife Kristin and I. Ernie accepted Jesus as his personal Lord and Saviour! Praise God!  Two and a half months later Ernie was baptized, the following month he went on a short term missions trip and on Easter, Ernie led his parents and sister to the Lord!

The Lord has touched many lives at Cyrus Centre and has revealed Himself to us in so many ways.  We are so blessed to be a part of this Ministry right here in Abbotsford.

Les Talvio
Cyrus Center

The Word of God - A Light Shining in a Dark Place

A few months ago I had 3 men come to me at the Chapel in Mission Institution asking if I knew of any place where they could take some correspondence Bible Studies.  They were looking for something deeper than the basic ones that some prison ministries offer.  I was able to connect them with Summit Pacific College in Clayburn, which offers a Degree Program (30 courses) by correspondence.  However, the courses cost $500 each, and these men make $6.90/day at their jobs in prison.  Word got around to family, friends, and chapel volunteers that these guys wanted to start this Distance Education program from SPC, and some money came in to help them take the first step toward fulfilling their dreams.  (Do the Math!  It will cost about $15,000 in total per person over several years to complete a basic bachelor’s degree in this program!  But we serve a big God!) 

Last week the 3 new prison Bible School students (whose jobs in the prison are to work as Chapel assistants) were all excited (and quite nervous!) because they were ready to write their midterm exams for their first course - The Pentateuch.  Sitting at 3 tables in different corners of the chapel, they wrote their 3-hour mid-term.  What a joy it is to see them so motivated and digging deeply into the Word.  The next course they plan on taking is The Gospels as long as funds continue to come in.  There are now 2 other inmates who are very keen to start these courses if God provides the needed funds.  I have worked with the BC Mennonite Brethren Office to establish a “Prison Ministry Trust Fund” into which tax deductible donations can be made by individuals or groups who would like to help these men.

Imagine, God preparing preachers in prison!  Your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.

Tom Rathjen
Protestant Chaplain
Mission Federal Institution
Mission B.C.

 

From Kona, Hawaii

The DTS’s (Discipleship Training School) from Maui and Honolulu are meeting in Kona this week. We are having a gathering where we do a corporate week of lecture. This week we have a speaker from the Bethel school of supernatural ministry speaking, so he does a lot of healing and prophetic work. Today he got some words from God about people that need healing. He called out about 10 different sicknesses and physical ailments. We saw most of them receive healing, but the most miraculous one of them all was one of my students who was getting prayed for because she has dyslexia, and as soon as she started to get prayed for she was instantly healed! She read a paragraph of the Bible faster than she has ever read something before. It was a full blown miracle. Miraculous things still happen. We just need to step out in faith and go for it. We can’t be afraid to fail!

Justin Pauls

 

God’s Provision

The first we heard of the problems was when we started receiving emails from several of our friends asking if we were ok.  We were at our annual Proclaim Gathering in Germany, and at first I just thought the messages were a mistake, but then I thought I should do some checking to see if I was missing something.  I’m sure that there are times when seeing the name of the city you are living in appear on the front page of CNN can be a great thing, but when the other words in the headline are “riots” or “violence” it doesn’t exactly provoke a warm, fuzzy feeling. 

After the initial shock, we immediately prepared and sent out an email letting everyone know that we were all right.  Then I started reading the news articles about what was happening.  We wondered if the street where we lived would be touched by these problems and whether we would still find our house intact when we got home.  I recognized descriptions of some of the buildings that had been attacked and burnt.  We phoned our neighbours and were relieved to hear that our street had not had any incidents, and that our house seemed untouched.  The next thought I had was how this will change things in our city.  No doubt for the next days, weeks or even months there will be an increased police presence, investigations, and, hopefully arrests as the perpetrators of these crimes are caught and arrested.  These events are sure to cause anxiety and fear especially on the part of those who live in the areas most affected.  We wondered what kind of response we, as believers, could bring to the residents of our city.  I wrote some emails to some of the pastors I knew in the area asking if they had thought of something, suggesting that at least we meet for prayer, and offering whatever help or assistance they required.  It could be that these events cause people to realize that they are not in control of their surroundings nor their destiny and some may turn to the one who IS in control of these things.

We chose to travel home after the conference so as to arrive while it was still daylight as our neighbour had said that the police start heavier patrols in the evenings, a helicopter with a searchlight starts circling overhead and it’s in the evening that things start to happen.  We were relieved to find that our house was still standing and had not been vandalized.  Driving around the city, we were surprised by how normal things looked only four days after the riots that made international news.  There were several shops that had wood in place of windows, but most of the main street looked fine, with lots of people out shopping as normal. It was only when we drove around the rest of the city, and especially through the rougher sections of town that we saw the burnt out police station, library, car dealership and started noticing the many spots on the pavement where you could see the outline of burned-out cars.  The total for the damage caused must run into the millions of dollars and reminded me of photos I’ve seen from Iraq after a suicide bombing.

We have not received any response from our emails to our fellow pastors, but then things might have been a little too hectic when we wrote for people to consider possible responses.  We are still hopeful that something in these events will cause changes in the hearts of people here.  In our Ecouen church service the Sunday after our return we discussed these things and prayed together about the situation.  On the other hand, it occurred to us that even before these events, we were living in a war zone.  All around us, the enemy is instilling fear, anger, distrust, or worse, complacency and apathy.  Our struggle is not with a physical enemy, but even more dangerous, a spiritual one.  The events of this past month made us think about how we would react if our earthly possessions were damaged or destroyed, but these things will eventually be destroyed, damaged or worn out anyway.  How do we react in the face of a possible loss of eternal consequence?  What’s more serious, to lose a house or to lose the possibility of an eternity spent with God?  But this is exactly the battle that rages unseen all around us. 

When these events happened, people were quick to react, especially after what had happened in 2005.  Huge numbers of police were mobilized, the press reported everything, the government issued statements, and the president of the country came to visit the area and talk to the parents of the two boys whose death seemed to spark so much anger.  How do we react in the face of the possibility of our neighbours or friends losing everything, not just their houses, but their souls, to an even more vicious and evil enemy? 

So in the end, there is something positive for us in all this.  It may provide some more openness in talking about things of eternal significance with our neighbours and others in this city.  And we need to be alert in prayer, strengthened in the Word and prepared to communicate the eternal hope that we have when times become difficult.
Thanks for praying!

Russ and Marj Speiser
France

The Love of the Father

The group that came from Cornerstone Church in Saskatoon last fall, came with a variety of gifts and talents which they offered in service to Macau. Some were involved in renovations at the church and others in home repairs. Some did blood pressure checks on the street, some decorated the children’s area in the church while others handed out Bibles to China tourists.

If you are a talented artist however, what do you offer? Upon hearing that Ray Friesen was a talented artist I challenged him to help me with my Sunday sermon. The topic for the morning was “The Love of the Father” as seen in the parable of The Lost Son. I asked Ray if he would be willing to paint a picture during the morning service that would represent the love of the Father as portrayed in the parable. Ray was more than willing even though he shared later that it was one of the most challenging things he had ever done. As I spoke of the love of the Father, Ray painted a picture of the father embracing his son upon his return. It was meaningful to hear the word of God spoken as well as see it visually in the painted picture. It was what happened after the service however that caused the message to really hit home.  Paul Ng, a member of Macau Mennonite, got up at the end of the service to share. He shared how the story of The Lost Son reminded him of himself and how real the love of the Father was as he was received into the family of God. He said the message that morning had once again reminded him of God’s grace in his life. Then it got really interesting! Paul asked if Bill Guenther, the leader of the Canadian group, would be willing to come to the front and embrace him just as the father was embracing his son in the picture that was painted. Bill was more than willing and Paul asked if someone could take his picture so that he could put it up as a continual reminder of what God the Father had done for him. As I held back the tears, I realized that God’s word for us that morning, “The Love of the Father”, had been confirmed over and over again. Today the painted picture hangs in a prominent place at the front of the church as a reminder to all of God’s unconditional love to us. A picture is worth … well a lot, when God uses it!

Tim Buhler
Macau

Global Connections

The best part [of Global Connections] was engaging with the kids…the interaction with them was the best we’ve had. I have to tell you my “highlight” of the weekend. Saturday night a class of 10 year olds came through. I asked them if any of them could speak another language and several began saying “hola” and other foreign greetings. Then I asked if anyone knew how many languages there were in the world. Their answers ranged from 36 to ‘one million thousand.’ I told them that I would whisper the answer to them so they needed to come in close. They pressed in and when I said “6,000” they gasped. Then, in a whisper, I told them the sad news that only half of them had been written down, which meant that half of the languages didn’t have any books for the people to read in their language. “So guess what book none of those people have?” I asked. “The Bible” was their answer. A couple of them looked pretty shaken by this realization, especially one young boy. I pointed to the picture on our display of the university students at CanIL who were learning how to write down a language that has never yet been written so that these people groups could get the Bible in their language. “Isn’t that a great way to spend your life?” I pressed, “giving the Bible to people who don’t yet have it?”  Then the group moved off to the next missionary. However the boy split away from the group and came back. He looked up at me with huge inquiring eyes and said, “Tell me more about this.”  I looked into his face and said, “You like languages don’t you?” “Yes” was his answer.  I pointed to the photo of one of our grads, Danny Foster, and told him the story that when Danny was twelve years old he had a desire to one day translate the Word of God into a yet unwritten language and just last year Danny began writing the very first verse of scripture in a language in Tanzania, Africa, that had never had any of the Bible written down yet and he was so excited to see that he was finally doing what he had wanted to do since he was twelve. So I asked this young boy, “Do you think you would like to translate the Bible into another language some day?” He shook his head affirmatively. I gave him a bookmark and told him to keep it in his Bible and every night as he read the Word to look at the bookmark and ask God to direct him so that he would know if this is what God would want him to do with his life. I told him to look for us again next year. He put the book mark into his Bible, said thank you and ran off to join his class. Wow, I was so pumped!!!!

- Gloria Fama