Stranger at my door!

30 Nov 2011

What would you do if a stranger knocked on your door and insisted on coming in? Read the story of someone from a terrorist group, desperate to be made right with God.

Story from Peru... It was just another ordinary day in the small Andean town where I worked. It was mid-day and someone was knocking at the door impatiently. 

When I opened it there was a middle aged man very happy to find someone at home. He was desperate to talk to someone and I was the  third missionary he had tried to find that day. Normally with a stranger I would talk with them at the door but, he insisted that he come in and kept looking over his shoulder.  Finally I gave in, only because I felt God telling me to and because my roommate was home.

He said his name was Daniel and that he was with a leftist political group (considered by most as a terrorist organisation) and that he had come to confess. That information immediately put me on edge and I thought, “oh no what have I done letting this dangerous man into my house.” I tried to push back the fears and scary thoughts that were crowding into my brain and remember that I was here to serve the Lord and that He was with me.

He said he was tired of doing bad things and that he wanted to confess to God and receive salvation from all his sins. “WOW”, I thought, “most of the work is done.” He then proceeded to share all that he had been involved in and done. It  all just came pouring out of him with great sobs and regret. His stories were chilling and very hard to hear. At times I wanted to run crying from the room but instead, I sat there and listened in silence.

The whole ordeal took close to three hours as he had a lot to download and we spent a very long time in prayer afterwards. I remember him saying, “I know God can forgive me of these horrible sins.” “Do you believe God has forgiven me?” I spend a long time reassuring him of what his new reality would be like and what his tasks were from now on.

I remember him finally standing up and saying he had peace to start his new life with God now. He gave me a big hug and that was the last I ever saw of him. He was running away to another country that night to start afresh.Never have I witnessed someone so desperately seeking restoration with God and wanting a true relationship with Him. It was an incredible insight into how big God’s grace and mercy really is. Daniel’s salvation was a true miracle.

Afterwards, I felt very privileged to have been God’s instrument that day. I am forever changed. Even now, years later, whenever the door bell rings my first thought is “is it another person in need of God?

Please pray for Daniel and the rest of the people who have been involved in this horrible group. Pray that they too may find new life and come to know the God of grace and mercy.

(Names have been changed to protect anonymity. Image from of sixninepixels /FreeDigitalPhotos.net )

GOSPEL INTO AFRICA - Ministry Startup

30 Nov 2011

It is truly such an enormous privilege to be part of God's Kingdom as a result of the Amazing Grace - Jesus Christ. What a huge task we Christians have to take this wonderful message of Hope, salvation, redemption, restoration to the ends of the world! Without Jesus, none of this would have been possible and life would have been totally meaningless.

We have established the administrative basis for this new ministry and now comes the task of making it happen. Jesus gave the vision, and this is where FAITH kicks in big time :) - knowing what God's plan is through His Word, understanding and believing that it is within His Will. His command to all believers is to GO and make disciples, baptize and teach them... to plant churches (Matt 28:18 - 20).

We believe that God will not only build this house, but also bless it with His protection and favor! Therefore we will move forward in anticipation of the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

We are now contacting Christian  organizations, believers, churches and businesses all over the world to partner with us so that this vision can be made possible. We place all our trust and belief in the Holy Spirit for God to supernaturally raise this ministry into being!

The following partnerships are important to us:

-          Prayer warriors

-          Managing and guiding the ministry

-          Funding or financing

-          Participating in the mission program

-          Technical / building support

-          Training and sound equipment

Many other partnering opportunities not mentioned above will develop over time.

For more information visit our web site, especially our "Partner" page. Otherwise feel free to E-mail us with any questions, thoughts, suggestions you would like to raise.

December's Update

29 Nov 2011

Hi everyone,

If you didn't get a copy of our quarterly newsletter, just drop us an email and we'll get a copy for you - it's got some interesting bits and pieces in it.

Here are some prayer points for the next month or so - not sure how much you'll hear from us til the end of January as we're looking forward to a holiday.

1.  Praise the Lord for a successful Missionary for a Weekend in November, the weekend ran smoothly and the participants were challenged about their role in cross cultural mission.  One of the participants will join one of our Asian fields for 12 months next year.


2. Jan's trip to Perth went well, she was able to meet with each of our mobilisers there and reflect on their last year of ministry and look to next year and what they hope to achieve.

3.  Pray for Jan as she leads her last playgroup on December 1st, that she will finish well and have a good chance to share with the ladies.

4. Pray for Sean as he runs another Missionary for a Weekend 2nd-4th December, this is for a group from Dubbo, pray that they will really be challenged about coming out of their comfort zone and be able to talk and share with people of other cultures.

5.  Jan will be involved with the WEC board meetings from 7th-9th December, pray that we will have wisdom and clarity from the Lord to move forward in the decisions we need to make.

6. Pray for safe travel to Adelaide for Christmas 22nd-23rd December as we will be driving over.

7. Pray for a good break over January as we take time out as a family, please pray for physical and spiritual refreshing for the year to come.

CHÁ GURUÉ:

26 Nov 2011

Gurué is one of the principle towns located in the centre of the Zambezia Province of Mozambique. The town is also centrally located with respect to the northern Mozambique region i.e. north of the Zambezi River, as well as access to all the areas of the this northern region, including into Zimbabwe, Malawi and Tanzania.

Gurué is located in a mountainous part of the province which has its own microclimate very suitable for the growth of tea upon which the town economy is largely based. As a fast developing town Gurué offers good infrastructure.

OBJECTIVES:

26 Nov 2011

In partnership with and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, there are two main objectives to this ministry:

o   To establish a centre in Chá Gurué, Zambezia Province, Mozambique where local men and women will be trained up as evangelists and missionaries before being released into the surrounding districts and further into Mozambique. This would require the establishment of an institution for bible-based learning in order to equip the prospective Jesus workers for evangelism, discipleship and church planting. The process of equipping can be undertaken at various levels, but such that workers for Christ can be sent out in order to spread the Gospel.

This training and equipping can be structured from basic Jesus Workers to more advanced missionaries capable of discipling believers and planting churches.

o   To establish a church in Chá Gurué which would comprise of a facility for community worship, but primarily consisting of a network of Jesus centred house churches. Once this concept has been developed and functioning in Gurué, to start spreading it to neighbouring towns and even countries.

There is already a huge complex available for this project with excellent infrastructure, workshop facilities, etc. It is an old disused tea factory which has been stripped down. The basic structure is still excellent, but would require upgrading to comply with the needs as it has been standing empty for some time.

Time and relationships

15 Nov 2011

So far this new week has not gone as planned, but, hey! that's life in the fast ministry lane!!

Monday is my early morning walk with another mum - this is a relationship-building time as well as valuable exercise!

Mid-morning I'm usually on the phone to a far away 30ish year old who used to be in our youth group at our first church. She drifted away from the faith but has made a fabulous come-back (thanks in part to a zealous Jehovah's Witness!) and because she knows me, she asked if we could 'meet' regularly to discuss the Bible. The hour long session lasted for 3 hours this time! We are using Rick Warren's book to re-centre on the essentials, but after our chapter, I asked if she had anything else on her mind. Well, did she ever !!! Partner relationship & dealing with a stepson teenager. I'm so grateful to have done lots of reading and reflecting on these subjects, as well as studying them in my Christian Counselling course this year.

Monday afternoon's English lesson put off to Thursday afternoon. Replaced by watching Alpha France's new DVD collection for The Marriage Course with my hubby. Brought back memories of the course we did at St Hilary's Kew when in Oz in 2005. We are excited by this tool and eager to get it up and going. It's slow to get organised because other activities are more urgent.

 

Tuesday morning is usually supposed to be an hour set aside for the prayer triplet. This turned into an all-morning session as we poured out our different concerns about .... you guessed it! Relationships! This time it included family and church. An important airing of ideas, but a feeling of frustration because we are not sure the church community will reflect the same energy and innovativeness.

Supposed to go to the new manse to work on redecorating but was so late for lunch and had to share with husband what was discussed the morning (as regards the church, not the private side). So finished admin stuff, emails and did some taping for an elderly couple Pascal will visit.

4pm expecting a call from another pastor to discuss someone I'm following who has psychological problems. Ended up being late taking my daughter to music after that. But met up with a couple of women involved in organizing the World Day of Prayer in March, so had an impromptu meeting in the street.

What will tomorrow bring ? I admit that I like the lack of routine, the adaptability of being a missionary who can organize her own time around family and people, the unexpectedness of each day's events. I believe the Lord is in all this as I commit each day to Him. In any case, I rely on Him because I know He has a bird's-eye view of everything.

I do sleep very well at night too !

How do we get home?

10 Nov 2011

If you need help - an entire bus load of people may have a (loud) discussion about the best way for you to get home.

Arequipa CombiOur local buses

Samuel and I needed to catch a bus home. We are slowly working out how to get about on the buses. There is no website that you can go to and find bus routes and I'm not aware of a map either. Good thing it's not hard to just ask for help. I flagged down several buses till I found one that said they were going near our home. The conductor let us know that the bus would get us much closer to our place but we'd probably have to catch a second bus to get to home.

Someone, seeing I was carrying a baby, offered a seat to me. As we got close to where I'd have to hop off the conductor called to the driver and asked about the best way for me to get home. On hearing this, the bus began to bustle with energetic conversation. Several offered their ideas - from this intersection you can catch this bus that takes you close to home. There were disagreements and few more ideas were thrown around loudly. I couldn't follow everything with my limited Spanish but I could see that they were trying to help me. Soon they agreed I could get off near a particular shop where it would be quicker to just walk home - it would be just 5 blocks. I knew where I was and it was really quite a quick walk home from here. I said gracias to everyone and hopped off. What a great trip!

Easy to carry Samuel around in what Peruvians call a "kangaroo". Normally he's in front of me so this makes more sense. This photos was taken a long way from home.

Have you had an experience where a group of strangers helped you?

Four Fantastic Friendly Prayer Points For You

07 Nov 2011

1)  Praise the Lord that Clarissa's stress test went well last month, we are now waiting to hear the results from her cardiologist and then one more test before she can get the all clear.

2) Jan is going to Perth on Wednesday (9th -13th) for a few days to visit our mobilisers there, to encourage them and share in their ministry there.  Pray for safe travel and a good time with our mobilisers, and for Sean and the girls at home.  This is the first time that it is Jan travelling and Sean at home with the girls, so a change in roles for us both.

3) Pray for Sean as he facilitates a Missionary for a Weekend 11-13th  (while Jan is away), we have 5 participants so far, please pray that they will be challenged about sharing Jesus with people from other backgrounds over the weekend and in the future.

4) On the 15th Sean and or Jan are going to share at Capernwray Bible college in Moss Vale (an 1 1/2 out of Sydney), pray that we will be able to challenge the students about their place in missions.

Thankyou so much for your prayers,

Jan and Sean

Need that Like a Hole in the Head

04 Nov 2011

A doorway at just the wrong height.

Thousands of years from now, if the end of the world doesn't come first, scientists will be examining the heads of male foreigners in Peru, and discover that they have bony callouses on the tops of their heads. What were they there for? Beauty? An advantage in head-butting competitions? They will unlikely decipher that we foreigners are just a tiny bit too tall for the local construction. Nebraskans, the progeny of the hardy stock of tall Scandanavians that immigrated in the early 1900s, are tall. I'm not. But in Peru I'm the spiker and blocker on the volleyball team, and the one they ask to hang balloons at the kids' school. Because of this, I've hit my head countless times on city bus doors, concrete beams, even a cactus in the roof of a village house to keep people off of it. (Maybe that's why my memory isn't like it used to be?) One of our new missionaries, David Jeyachandran, is from Australia. He's pretty tall by any measures, which is why less than 1 minute after I said to his wife, "At least I don't have any medical emergencies at this team meeting", he hit his head on the gate, lacerating his scalp. Luckily, our team meeting was at the Reuters' house, who are two of our missionary nurses from Germany. They had suture and needle-drivers, and for about $5 at the local pharmacy, I bought some lidocaine, sterile gloves and needles. With many helping hands we had him sewed up in no time.

In our administrative roles, I think it is normal for doctors to question if they are doing what God has called us to do. He continually sends patients to our door to help us practice what we spent years training to do.

Serving with you,

Allen & Amy

Allen, Dorothee and Amy attending to David's scalp laceration

All Saints Day

01 Nov 2011

Today is a public holiday in France.

.All over France families are gathering together to visit the tombs of their dear departed. They clean the graves and place chrysanthamems to decorate them. Many attend special masses or pay the priest to pray especially for their deceased relative in order to ensure their soul enters Heaven. Even though the majority are not practising this is an important moment for French families.

We Evangelicals don't agree with this doctrine. We believe the Bible teaches that we are faced with a choice in the here and now. As Moses said to the Hebrews in the desert :"The LORD has placed a choice before you. Life or death. Choose life!" (Deuteronomy). Having no opinion is the same as not choosing God.

8 of our teenagers including our 2 sons were presented with this choice this weekend. Our Union of Churches organizes a special 4 day camp for the teens of our Union and this year 250 young people heard messages on "Stop doubting, start believing!" mixed with social and sporting activities. We are so grateful for the effort that goes into these occasions - it really helps our young people meet with like-minded youth and to hear the Good News in a different way. We praise God that most of our 8 made a first commitment to God or a renewed commitment.

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