Nairobi, Kenya Missions Update 4

Jesus Atencio has returned from his two week mission trip to nairobi and has provided us with these photgraphs. Praise God that he was used and blessed of the Lord!

Nairobi, Kenya Missions Trip – Update 3

From: Jesus Atencio jesus.atencio@yahoo.com>
Date: August 19, 2006
Subject: Mission Trip Nairobi, Kenya 2006

Jambo,
 
Yesu ni bwana! It means Jesus is Lord in Swahili…. Amen!
 
The Lord is pouring blessings and rewards of the Kingdom of Heaven now on earth. How wonderful, awesome and beautiful it is working for the Lord. Today we had the last lesson at VBS and the kids love it. We finished teaching the Jonah story and we went over the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. The entire class of 8-9 years old kids wanted to received Christ as their Lord. It was so beautiful how some kids seem to pray to God and meant it that they wanted receive Christ in their lives.
 
After we came back back from lunch we visited a family of 5 kids whose grandmother was taking care of them. We listened to her condition and we prayed for her leg injury and her situation with the kids.
 
Later in the afternoon we had a farewell party or program where the orphanage went out of their way to treat us with cookies and candy. Also, they danced and sang some songs for us including several speeches from the faculty. We were so grateful and the kids were so happy and they shook our hands goodbye. They really touched my heart.
 
We only have a few more days to go amd a lot of work ahead of us, visiting families, evangelizing on the streets, working in the church, and visiting another orphanage.
 
Please keep praying for us and may the Lord light our path.
 
God bless you!
 
Jesus A. Atencio
 
 
 

Nairobi, Kenya Missions Trip – Update 2

From: Jesus Atencio jesus.atencio@yahoo.com>
Date: August 16, 2006 2:24:56 PM EDT
Subject: Mission Trip Nairobi, Kenya 08-16-2006

Yanbo,

That is hello in Swahily. Well, yes… I am learning a lot of Swahili in order to open doors here in Nairobi.  I have been blessed so much every day and I noticed the Lord is changing and molding my heart every day. What a blessing that is. Also, I noticed the Lord pointing my heart on different ministries. I just need to keep praying so the Lord and Holy Spirit direct me on the work set out for me.

We have been visiting families, blessing them with food, getting to know them, and praying for them. Also, we have been working with an orphanage called S.O.D.A. (Support Orphans and Destitute Academy). We have been teaching VBS for over 200 children. They are a bunch of little angels.
 
The gave a devotional this last Tuesday morning and I night I gave a class on Romans 10. I was told they were edify. May God be the glory.
 
Making a lot of friends here. Looking forward to share some pictures with you as soon as I get back.

I am looking forward for another great week working with the Lord and a great team of great guys.

May God bless you so much,

Jesus A. Atencio

CCK Church Plant: CC Rio de Janeiro

Here is the latest news from CC Rio de Janeiro, a new church that CCK helped plant. Click article to enlarge.

Middle East Colleagues Vandalized

We have included an article from a colleague of ours who the CCK Holyland Outreach Team had the pleasure of working with this summer. Due to security issues, names or locations will not be mentioned other than what is included in the article. Please pray for this situation.

Nairobi, Kenya Mission Trip – Update 1

August 14th, 2006 Monday

Hi there,

This is a quick email just to let you know that we have a great and loving God and He is doing a wonderful work here in Nairobi, Kenya. It is hard to put in just in a few words and sometimes I feel overwell with the heart that the Nairobi people love God.

I am writing from a computer from one of the leaders here and we are really busy. Every minutes of the day and night we are doing something people are giving their lives to the Lord daily.

I will love to tell you more, but I have to run for a prayer group.

Love,

Jesus A. Atencio

Nairobi, Kenya Missions trip 8/10/06

Jesus Atencio, one of our brothers here at Calvary Chapel, is leaving today for Nairobi, Kenya. Here is an email received from him asking for prayer. We will also post his daily schedule.

Please keep me and the team in your prayers… Specially for this coming Tuesday since I am leading the morning Devotional and that same night I am leading bible study. That all the work that we are going to be doing will not be us, but the Lord and the Holy Spirit working in us and through us.
 
Have a wonderful and blessed day!
 
Your brother in Christ,
 
Jesus A.
7:30pm for the airport

Hurricane Relief Update

Hi Everyone,

May we first thank you all for your collective support with the ongoing work in BSL. Eleven months later we can all look back and simply conclude, “IT IS THE LORD”

As most of you know by now we are in the process of moving the operation from the ball field to the new location. The most current pictures of the new property are now posted on the CCR site.

We wanted to take this time to answer some of your questions and to give you the details what the future holds for this work.

First
We are going to have a dinner banquet at the new location on Wed. night August 23rd. This will be a night were we will look back together on what God has done. We are inviting BSL city officials, residents and the many volunteers from around the country that have participated in this work. We need people to serve at this banquet and we need some worship bands as well.

We are asking all the key leaders and senior pastors that are unable to attend to try and make a short video addressing the BSL community and send it to CCLH by the end of next week.
If you are interested in going please contact Keri or Tony at CCLH ASAP.

Secondly
In order to finish well we need to:
– Finish clean up on the ball field.
– Complete some finishing touches on the new property.
– Prep work for the banquet on Wednesday August 23rd.
– Schedule drivers to drive back several vehicles to California.

We believe we can accomplish this with around 15 -20 more people per week for the next 4 weeks.
The dates for laborers
(Aug 1-8) (Aug 7-14) (Aug 14-21) (Aug 22-24 – Banquet help)

The dates for drivers
Aug 21 – 27

Thirdly
We have 25-35 residents showing up to the church services. We are no longer serving them physical food, only the more important Word of God. Many of you have asked who is going to shepherd this flock. Well, we have prayed for quite some time about this and it looks like God has placed a burden on the heart of Frank Griffin from Baton Rouge. Frank and his wife Teri have been driving out over the last few Sundays and have recently stated that they feel a calling and are willing to take a step of faith and make the drive until God says otherwise.

Fourthly
We believe God has organized a relief ministry through this endeavor. We are bringing a number of the vehicles and trailers back to California to prepare for the next disaster God leads us to. We are currently looking for a place that we can store all of the equipment for future use.

Most of this information will be posted on the CCR web site by days end tomorrow. If you have any questions please feel free to call Tony Leach or Keri Whitley at the CCLH office. Once again time is short so all prompt responses are deeply appreciated.

Blessings,
Calvary Chapel Relief Team

John Bonner with an update from Lima, Peru

This week, our YSOM kids will be returning home. As Rick Heilman pointed out, “they are an ‘All-Star’ youth group!” They have been here for nearly six weeks, and have done so much!

They started with week long “boot-camp” here in Lima, where they studied the Scriptures, took a Spanish class, learned dramas, face painting, figure balloon sculpturing and clown ministry for their times of outreach.

From Lima, they traveled to Huanuco where they did evangelism in the Andean highlands. The sweltering jungle city of Atalaya was the next stop, before heading north to Cajamarca where they worked on the ground floor of a church plant. Then they went beyond the border into Ecuador where they did outreach with our sister church in Cuenca.

It has been a full six weeks, and they are going home excited for all that God did in and through them!

If you know a young person who might want to participate next Summer in our YSOM program, please pass the brochure on to them so they can consider it in prayer. Or pass the information on to a youth leader at your church. And thank you for praying for this program!

Finally, click on the following link and watch the PowerPoint presentation on Psalm 83 and join King David in his prayer for our beloved nation of Israel.

Click here: A Christian Witness – A P

Shalom and God bless,

Middle East Perspectives

Israel and the Middle East has always been in the news, more so recently. There’s a war going on. We asked veteren Middle East missionaries Josh and Arlene to write a short article concerning these matters. You’ll find it below.

Also, may I encourage you click here and download the teaching entitled “Signs of the Times” (Tape Number OBB454).

Please feel free to chime in and post any comments on your perspective.

A Different Perspective
Oh the Joy of settling for “Peace which transcends all understanding”! After ten years of serving as missionaries in the Middle East, we are not sure if we have really ever experienced that kind of peace. Like most 21st Century Believers, we have to have the Word of God lined up in perfect order with world events before we can confidently share our perspectives. And in as much as this may be considered appropriate thinking it really does not have much to do with the information Jesus gives us in Matthew 24:14. These are the days when God seem to be bringing history to its conclusion; and if you are like us, you are probably glued to Ezekiel 38 and lining everything in perfect order with the reality of world events especially what’s happening in the Middle East.

We have however given much thought and prayer to this as it is so easy to go off on political and “end time” rabbit paths. And what we have realized is, that more than 400 years after Ezekiel’s prophecies were recorded, Jesus had an in depth discourse with His disciples in Matthew 24. These guys had much the same concerns as we are having. However, Jesus’ concern was that we would not be deceived but that we should endure faithfully to the end as the Gospel is preached to the whole world. No one excluded! As believers in the West we have to be careful where and on what we focus our concerns. It may be worth our while to keep Jesus’ perspective while experiencing His peace, which transcends all understanding. His concern was for the lost in all nations, forgetting about boundaries and politics. Concerning the end time, He purposefully did not give us a time just a mandate “to endure to the end until the Gospel is preached to all the world as a witness to all the nations”.

We are blessed to have close friends and colleagues in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon, Christians, Muslims and Jews. We have seen them caught in the middle of a chess match played by governments who use real people for pawns. The pawns on all sides never get a chance to call the next move; they are just pushed around until one day they fall. Jesus’ concern was what happens when they fall. Where will they go, heaven or hell? Who will take care of the widows and children left behind? In the meantime we are called to be a light and make disciples, not to be political and spiritual analysts. It’s a hard call, but one we must give much thought to if we want to faithfully endure to the end. We have included a short letter from our Lebanese colleagues and missionaries to their own people. There is not a hint of hatred or prejudice for or against Israel, Hezbollah, America, Syria or anyone else. It speaks volumes of their spirit and obedience to God’s Word during these difficult and confusing times.

Dear Josh & Arlene,

Thank you for your prayers and thoughts for us. It is really a blessing to know friends are standing with us in this mad war. We don’t sit in front of the TV all day anymore. Our ministry to the refugees is going really well. (though the need  is so huge, we have been focusing on one school ministering to almost 200 people but there are almost 750 thousand refugees). So far, we have 34 families but more arrived this afternoon.

I’m happy to say that other people and churches are getting involved in different schools. I have been invited to help start a program in a new place. We continue to take daily with us (food, fruits, toiletries…) in addition to doing a kids program.

I’m so thankful how till now how the Lord himself has been sending us helpers every day and more are on the way. The Lord is Good.

Much love and many blessings.

[names omitted for security reasons]