East Asia - Part 3

Wednesday: Today we had a little time off to go shopping which is a totally different experience to shopping at home. I think it is fair to say some of the team thoroughly enjoyed the cramped market, the shouts of the stall-holders and their grabbing our arms to get us to stop, while others were much less enthusiastic and overwhelmed by the experience. Needless to say we haggled with the vendors and went through the routine of

“Where you from?”

“What you want?”

“I give you best friend price”

“How much you give me?”

“You cannot be serious”,

“You killing me”,

“Give me a little more, just a little more”

“ I not make any money at this price”

“OK, but you not tell anyone I give you this price”

Everyone managed to find something before heading to McDonalds for lunch then back to campus to meet with our new student friends to share more Good News. The response has been amazing! We feel the love and support of everyone back home and can’t wait to be able to share more fully the things we have seen Dad do here.

East Asia - Part 2

Tuesday – After the “party” Monday evening, five of the students texted to ask if they could come with us to The Wall. They asked their English professor to be excused from class to spend the day with their new American friends. Fortunately the professor understands the Good News and readily agreed. What a marvelous time we had sharing together on the bus for over 3 hours, and of course enjoying one of the seven great wonders of the world. The clear blue sky and the snow on the mountains just shouted how awesome Dad is. Please be thinking about the students who came with us.

Last night we hosted another party, and as we waited for our guests to arrive the students who spent the day with us appeared with gifts of local candy and treats as a thank you. We were so touched by their kindness. Once again another fun evening was capped by sharing Good News, and two more people accepting it.

Dad is really busy here! Thanks for remembering us.

East Asia - Part 1

Hello everyone, I spoke with David this morning on the phone and they have experienced a miraculous movement of God in East Asia - below is the report that he emailed me yesterday (notice that because of security concerns they cannot use spiritual language, so you have to read between the lines!!! Keep them in your prayers!!

Monday – today we met with people from the company then went out on to campus for lunch. The students are so friendly, and were keen to hear what we had to say. We invited 3 students to join us for a “party” last night. They turned up along with 10 other students from the guest lecture on Sunday. It was a great time of sharing, and a couple of students were personally moved by the Good News.

We made plans to spend more time one-on-one with some of the students through the course of the week. Tonight the second group of students from Sunday are coming over. Dad is definitely moving on this campus. It is so great to see!

Thanks for thinking of us.

Greetings from East Asia

We're coming to the end of Day One here, and what an amazing day it has been! We woke up to snow falling which it continued to do all day. We began with worship at an International Fellowship; joining brothers and sisters from around the world. The word was brought by an American who has been serving in Kazakhstan for over 10 years.

Lunch was a sumptuous feast of various local dishes for the outrageous sum of $49 for 12 of us.

The highlight of the day however was delivering the children's books gifted by our friends at FBC. We will try to post some pictures so yo can see the smiles of the children as they opened book after book. In one day we more than tripled the number of English books they had in the library.

THANK YOU so much to everyone who gave books!

From the library we headed back to campus where 100+ students turned out on a cold winter Sunday evening to hear a guest lecture on "The Five Dysfunctions of A Team". At the end of the lecture we had opportunity to invite students to one of the informal evening get togethers we are hosting Mon - Thu. Forty of the students signed up and so we will have one-on-one opportunity to share the Good News with them. Please ask Dad that they would respond positively to the Good News.

We're Home

We wrapped up the week in Lytle on Thursday by finishing day 4 of our Sports Camp in the morning.  A total of 5 kids accepted Christ this week during our camp, along with one adult who prayed to receive Christ on Monday.  Praise God for those lives changed forever.  Those kids that attended who were already believers got some tools to share their faith with others.  On Thursday afternoon, our kids got the opportunity to go swimming while we cleaned the church and got things put back together in the classrooms we were painting this week.  The kitchen remodel crew finished up all they had to do for the week and the church is well on their way to having a brand new kitchen.  On Thursday night we hosted an award night for the kids who were in Sports Camp, giving each child an award and a Bible.  We served free hot dogs, snow cones and nachos to kids and parents and had an opportunity to share Christ with that group.  After we cleaned and packed the trailer, the members from FBC Lytle joined with our group for a brief time of encouragement as well as the sharing of the Lord's Supper.  It was a sweet fellowship between these two bodies of believers.  

We hope you will continue to hear more stories from the individuals and families that went on this trip and we will try and post more pictures in the coming days.  Please pray for FBC Lytle as they have the task of following up with the families who attended the camp this week and discipling the kids who have accepted Christ.  Thank you for praying for our team.  We are changed because of the work God has allowed us to be a part of for His kindgdom's sake.  We pray for more opportunity to continue serving Him.  Blessings!

Sports Camp Days 2 and 3

Tuesday and Wednesday have both been great days.  Tuesday we had our second day of Sports Camp and had more kids than the first day - 94 kids.  The kids all seemed to have a good time even though it has been very hot - we have a good crew from FBC Lytle keeping our water jugs full of cold water and ice.  The kids get a break every day with craft/snack time and Bible story time to sit and rest but most importantly hear God's good news.  Tuesday afternoon was the second day of painting in the afternoon.  We were able to complete painting 5 classrooms with all our adult and kid helpers.  The kitchen remodel has been happening every day and that crew has worked hard painting and setting cabinets.  We ended Tuesday night with a fish fry (thanks to the Lee and Dimarzio families - yum) and the kids got to blow off some steam with a water balloon fight.  We are all exhausted by the end of the day!

Wednesday was day 3 of Sports Camp.  We had a few more kids than Tuesday - 96 kids.  Each day the campers have been learning about the colors of the wordless book.  Gold for heaven, Black for sin, Red for the blood of Christ shed for you, White because Jesus' blood makes us clean, Green for growth and Blue for baptism.  Through today we have covered gold and black but today we went over red and white.  We presented the gospel completely today and 3 kids have accepted Christ.  Some knew the stories and understood but you can see the Spirit working in others who don't know Christ as their Savior.  Our coaches and kids have been encouraging the campers and listening to them, taking every opportunity to share the truth.  We pray we will see more fruit and praise God for the ones today who have accepted Christ.  We had free family day this afternoon and it was a much needed break for our families!! 

Please pray for our team.  Tomorrow is our final day of Sports camp.  Pray for opportunities to keep sharing God's good news with those who are at camp (both kids and adults).  Also, tomorrow night from 6 to 8 p.m., we will be hosting a cook out in the park for the kids and parents who attended this week.  We will give out awards to our campers but most importantly, we will be sharing the gospel with these families.  Pray that more will come to know Christ as their Savior.  Pray for FBC Lytle as they follow up with all these families.  Pray also for our team as they finish up the kitchen remodel and in the afternoon as we clean and put the church back together after the painting we have done - we will have a short time to complete this and will all need an extra boost of energy to get it done.  Thank you for praying for us and checking in on what God is doing here.  I'm sure we will compile alot pictures over the next few weeks and hope to post a lot of them here.  Keep checking.  We will try and post tomorrow night if we get the opportunity so you will know how we finished up the week. 

Sport Camp Day 1

Today was the first day of our Sports Camp in the city park.  We had 86 kids from the community attend.  They participated in various sports - football, basketball, soccer, cheerleading and baseball.  Pastor Grady, the pastor at FBC Lytle, had the opportunity to share Christ with one of the dads at the camp and he accepted Christ today!  All the children that came to the camp experienced the love of Christ first hand as they learned about their sport, did a craft and heard about Jesus from our kids and adults.  We were so proud of our Prosper kids - they all worked really hard today and were true servants.  The kitchen remodel at the church began this morning as well with that team. They also got an amazing amount of work done on that very large project.  We will post before and after pictures some time later in the week.  Those guys are working very hard all day on getting that done for the church.  

In the afternoon, we focused on painting several classrooms at the church.  Our kids got right in there and we got several rooms primed to finish up tomorrow.  After dinner, many of the kids and some adults played a game of kickball with some families from FBC Lytle.  We are all exhausted tonight but it was a GREAT day and we look forward to what God will do tomorrow as we serve Him by serving the kids He has brought our way.  Keep praying for us - for spiritual eyes and ears to be obedient to what God says.  Pray for us to have good rest as well as for our health and safety.