Sunday, July 8, 2012

Prayer Requests

Our Stint teammate and friend, Rett, found out that his mom's leukemia is back in full force and final stages.  The last round of chemo was not effective.  He is resigning from his Stint year and going home to be with his family.  We are so sad for him, his mom, his family, and sad to see him go.  Please pray for God's peace that passes all understanding, and for His love and mercy to be lavished upon Rett and his family.  Pray for miraculous healing for Rett's mom, and peace for her as well.  Rett will be leaving next Saturday. Please pray for this final week he is here as he wraps up loose ends and says goodbye- that he would know he is loved and have closure as he goes.

Our team is going through quite a transition right now, as our newest Stint member, Kate, just arrived, Rett is unexpectedly leaving, and summer project (37 U.S. staff and students-including Christian's brother, Bobby and sister in law Alexandra) is here for 5 weeks.  So many emotions all wrapped up together! Please pray for our team in this transition- that we would love each other well and communicate clearly.  We've had a great first week of project!  We were in a low income area helping a church with "holiday club", which is like a VBS.  Last Sunday we were told to go and "hand out flyers" to invite kids to the holiday club.  When we arrived, we were following a marching band and were parading through town handing out flyers!  It worked!  Over the course of the week, the number of kids coming went from 110 to over 300!  They are all from impoverished homes where both parents have to work and only make less than $1/hr, and alcohol abuse is common.  Though exhausting, it was impactful and fulfilling to help feed these children not only physically (holiday club lunch was the only meal most of the kids would get each day), but spiritually and emotionally by loving them and sharing how much Jesus loves them too!  Christian shared with one 10 year old boy, Deveroix, at lunch one day.  Deveroix said he would pray that night, and the next day he was so excited to tell Christian that he invited Christ into his life!  It was heartbreaking to know the situations these kids would go home to, but encouraging to play at least a small part in loving and feeding them throughout the week.  Hope penetrates through circumstances in Christ alone.

Next week we will be serving in another township, and then the summer project will join us in sharing the gospel on campus when school resumes July 16th.  Please pray for God's continued protection and leading each day!

Thank you for your prayers!

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