Behold, we have arrived!
We met up at Calvary Chapel Kendall, Friday at about 10:30 am. We made sure that everything was in order, CCk looked like Grand Central Station, everyone on staff was running around doing last minute errands for us. Thanks guys, we really appreciate it! Didio, the Singles Ministry Pastor, spoke a blessing over us and shared Psalm 103.
Dear friends,
Since early May, we’ve been focusing mainly on this year’s summer programme, a highlight of the year. Right now, it would be hard to find anyone at Beit Al Liqa’ who’s not busy preparing for our activities offered to young and old alike during the three-month summer holiday.
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Greetings from Africa…(right now I am in Tanzania instead of Kenya!!)
Language School
I am in Arusha, Tanzania for Swahili language study. The beginning Swahili course that I am attending provides the foundation for learning Swahili – using a variety of classroom, discussion, and excursion experiences. I have been here for almost 3 weeks and have learned many things. However, I must say I am still a long way away from being able to communicate effectively in Swahili! I will return for an intermediate course after practicing what I have learned for four to six months. Last week, our class took an outing to the market to practice our Swahili and our bargaining skills. You will see from the pictures below that it is a little different from shopping at Kroger!! There seemed to be a common reaction from the Tanzanians who were gracious enough to listen patiently to my broken and imperfect language……LAUGHTER!! It was quite fun actually and every little bit of practice helps build confidence…..well sort of!
Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement to us and the pastors. We marvel at the protection and grace God has shown to us in the midst of very unusual times. We finished Bible School last Saturday with no incidents regarding the ongoing violence…only to find out the slum erupted again an hour after we left, and a 200+ police force imposed a curfew that lasted several days. 5 more severed heads were found in another slum the next day. Last week at rush hour downtown, two men attempted to board an- airport-bound transport with a big bag full of explosives, only to be turned away because the bus was full. The bomb then exploded as the bus pulled away. Miraculously, only one bystander was killed and 9 wounded in what otherwise would have been an intended catastrophe. The violence has abated in the last few days, and all of our ministry events continue…including final exams this week. Thank you again for your faithful prayers and the Lord’s faithful protection. May the Lord bless you for your kindness toward us and the pastors.
Paul & Marcia
Thank you for your continued prayers, support and encouragement to us and the pastors. We are requesting your prayers and intercession for a specific situation. In the past 48 hours, there have been 34 people murdered in gang violence in the Mathare slum. A massive police/military response has prompted even more violent reprisals, including the torture and beheading of several policemen. It is now spreading to the Kibera slum, with more murders just discovered today. The ministry operates Bible Schools in these two very slums. This gang is deeply rooted in witchcraft, and violence too gruesome to discuss. We have Bible School on Saturday and a special day of ministry to the pastors wives on Sunday, both in Mathare. Please just pray for our many pastors who live in these slums…and for all involved, including the salvation of these gang members.
God bless you and thank you!
Paul & Marcia
Dear friends!
Spring is the most beautiful season in our country. When we recently had the opportunity to go on a day trip to Jordan , this fact was especially visible. The otherwise barren hills of Judea were covered by a green veil, the Jordan valley was strewn with colorful flowers and the fields right and left of the paths were in full bloom. Amazing colors and lush green as far as the eye could see. That one day out in nature did us a world of good! In our small Province of Bethlehem , we see little of this. Here, more and more buildings are erected, so before long there will be no more greenery to be seen. No wonder, though, since the population is rapidly increasing within the borders of our so-called security wall. Four years ago, the population in the Province of Bethlehem was 153,000. Today we have 178,000 residents.
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The Lord told me that she would come back.
This is what stuck with me about his testimony. This Muslim man, in this middle eastern country, had a few dreams about Jesus, so then he sought out some Christians that he knew and decided to give his life to the Lord. It’s that simple, but what about his wife? When she found out that he left Islam and gave his life to the Lord she immediately left him.
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Following The Lord’s Lead In Cambridge…
After three months here in Cambridge, we are seeing the Lord enlarge our hearts and expand our perspective. We are seeing fruit in the lives of those that we have been ministering to and we are connecting with more and more people. Mark has almost read the first five books of the Bible and is starting to share his faith with others. We were also blessed with our first visitor from the US here in March, when Pastor Bill Beckelman from New Jersey came to encourage us and help us with projects in our home…including our messy garage!
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Pray for us as a short term missions team comes into my city for a couple of days and we do an outreach tonight.
“Hey you should listen to this Ravi Zacharias teaching on atheism, he’s also got a good one on Buddhism.”
I looked at my friend and said, “Bro, I’m going to an Islamic country, there are no Buddhists or atheists there, just Muslims, I don’t need that.”
Well, tonight I really could’ve used these materials. I found myself at an far left wing magazine company today, which happens to have a lounge right below it where they have a bar, screen movies, and just hang out. I went there with a couple of ministers, one local, the other a foreigner. We were having a nice little chat when I got nosey and started overhearing the conversation from the group next to me, they were talking about religions, and they were really mixing biblical Christianity up with some weird things, so i decided to jump into the conversation. After just a few minutes into the discussion I was in shock, I couldn’t believe my ears. Even though I was speaking to two foreigners and three Muslims, this conversation was one that you would expect to hear in a University in the Northeast United States or something.
None of them are believers, they’re not Muslims, they’re no Jews, they’re not Christians, they’re atheists with Buddhists and Marxists tendencies. The Americans I can understand, but how can these three locals fall into that stuff? That I don’t know, but needless to say, we had an extremely interesting conversation, it lasted a couple hours, Even though we all got into it, it was always respectful and we ended friendly. But I gotta say, this is the last place that i would expect to have the conversation, I also couldn’t help but feel that even though I think we won the argument, we definitely didn’t win the people, I’m not even sure if we brought them closer or not.
