~Missionary Prayer Focus - Feb. 1st - Feb. 14th, 2011

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Prayer Focus for Tuesday, February 1, 2011: Lionel and Johanna Dabbs (Singapore)

Prayer Focus for Wednesday, February 2, 2011: Joe and Fanny Cooney (Ireland)

Prayer Focus for Thursday, February 3, 2011: Oscar and Erin Rodrigues (Portugal)

Prayer Focus for Friday, February 4, 2011: Joseph and Cassandra Landaw (Trinidad and Tobago)

Prayer Focus for Saturday, February 5, 2011: Paul and Darla Brochu (France)

Prayer Focus for Sunday, February 6, 2011: Tremayne and Vicki Simoneaux (Zimbabwe/Malawi/Mozambique/Regional Children’s Ministries, Africa)

Prayer Focus for Monday, February 7, 2011: Kevin and Lolita Vacca (Philippine Islands)

Prayer Focus for Tuesday, February 8, 2011: David and Angela Doan (Japan / Vietnam)

Prayer Focus for Wednesday, February 9, 2011: Alan and Valerie Demos (Germany)

Prayer Focus for Thursday, February 10, 2011: Leonard and Ping-Lan Richardson (Taiwan)

Prayer Focus for Friday, February 11, 2011: Randy and Carolyn Adams (Togo / Benin / Gabon)

Prayer Focus for Saturday, February 12, 2011: Steven and Danita Drost (Mexico)

Prayer Focus for Sunday, February 13, 2011: Ron and Terry Brian (Haiti)

Prayer Focus for Monday, February 14, 2011: David and Alice Kline (Lesotho)

Prayer Focus for Monday, February 14, 2011: All French-speaking nations (Official language)

1. Belgium

2. Benin
3. Burkina

4. Burundi
5. Cameroon

6. Canada

7. Central African Republic

8. Chad

9. Comoros

10. Congo

11. Congo, Democratic Republic of

12. Cote d'Ivoire

13. Djibouti

14. France

15. Gabon

16. Guinea

17. Haiti

18. Luxembourg

19. Madagascar

20. Mali

21. Monaco

22. Niger

23. Rwanda

24. Senegal

25. Seychelles

Please continue to PRAY for our missionaries around the world and the countries in which they labor.

~Uganda General Conference Report Jan. 27th -30th, 2011

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Dear Partners and Friends,


We greet you from beautiful Uganda, the "Pearl of Africa"

General Conference 2011 just finished yesterday, and what a conference!

We want to Thank God for all his Blessings and those who made the Conference such a success.

There were many difficulties to try and bring confusion; such as; no electricity, losing city water, crowded conditions and many other minor situations, BUT through it all, there were just minor complaints and even then, they apologized and said they enjoyed the conference very much.

We want to THANK our General Superintendent David Benard for coming all the way to Uganda. He suffered through the loss of his luggage, going without water, without hot water (as our water line broke in our house and flooded some rooms) but through it ALL (all the choirs and singing / worship), he did such a great job of teaching and preaching to bring the Church to a greater place of maturity and a mighty move of the deep spiritual things of God. We were also privileged to have Bro and Sis Crumpacker (Kenya & East Africa AC) with us and Bro and Sis Johnson (Rwanda) who visited on Saturday night.

General Conference is a meeting of our Pastors and Leaders, (it is not an evangelistic outreach to the community); there were 68 people filled with the Holy Ghost, 22 baptized in Jesus Name, including nine Trinitarian pastors. There were six pastors who were restored to the UACU and 502 registered leaders.

I am continually amazed and in awe of the moving of the Holy Ghost in the Church. I see such great things happening. Men, who have struggled to stand on the Doctrine, become strong and fearless. Men who have been tempted to seek for worldly prosperity dedicate their lives in a mighty ways. The Church is maturing and being sensitive to the moving of the Lord.

Pastors from all parts of Uganda came; from the West Nile, far to the north; from Juba, Sudan, from Kisoro at the corner of Rwanda and Congo in the southwest; from Karamajong, far to the Northeast, from Kenya, from MT. Elgon and Lake Victoria and Congo Borders. It was a moving spiritual time of Unity and Maturity for the Church. Lira Church brought three Choirs, their Sunday School Choir, their Youth Choir and their Ladies Choir. The Rwenzori Region brought three choirs; the Regional Youth, the Top Hill Kassekere Choir and the Karonga Choir. Mt. Elgon brought their choir, for the first time. Lake Victoria brought their choir, West Nile, Kasese and Kisoro brought their Choirs. Truly it was a “Celebration” of mighty worship in the Lord! You might not know, but each one of these Choirs sang in their own languages. From English, Swahili, Luganda and too many tribal languages to mention.

I am thankful that nine new pastors where baptized in Jesus Name. They have applied for license and are joining the UACU. Several more were willing to be baptized, but wanted to inform their leaders in their old organization that they are resigning their churches and joining the UACU and starting new churches in the Oneness Doctrine.

The United Apostolic Church of Uganda is continuing to grow and experience a great move of God. Through the Pastoral Survey and the reports of the Presbyters (for those churches who were not in attendance) 4,427 received the Holy Ghost in 2010 and 4,130 where baptized in Jesus Name.

Philip and Twyla Tolstad, Uganda

 
 
 
 

~Courtesy Is Kindness in Action

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As a society we have become almost obsessed with identifying and asserting our rights – to think, say, and do what we want. That's not surprising, given the history of our country and the prominent role the Constitution and Bill of Rights have played in shaping our culture.

We have a right to be unkind, thoughtless, and disrespectful – but it isn't right.

Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out, "Life is short but there is always time for courtesy."

The idea is to act in ways that make the people we are dealing with feel valued. Courtesy is kindness in action.

It starts with good manners – saying please, thank you, and excuse me. But real courtesy involves more thoughtful ways of showing respect. Courtesy is a form of kindness.

It matters how we address people and how we greet them, as well as how we eat, talk, and cough in their presence.

Courtesy involves remembering important occasions, buying thoughtful gifts, and sending personal thank-you notes.

Making people feel important is part of courtesy, so it's important to remember that whether or not people remember what we say or do, they do remember how we made them feel.

Make eye contact, truly listen, and show genuine interest in the lives of others by asking them questions and remembering their answers. A good start is to keep in mind H. Jackson Brown's insight: "Everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something."

Always be kinder than necessary because you can never be too kind.


from http://www.charactercounts.org/

~Belize Prayer Partner Update - 1st Quarter of 2011

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Greetings to you from the deputation trail! I trust you have all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season with your families and a happy new year.


Let me catch you up on a few happenings in Belize....

During the year of 2010 we saw many good things taking place. We have now been able to begin a regular Preaching Point in Belmopan, the capital city of Belize. We have also been able to reach out into other nearby communities of the Corozal District with regular services as well. There have been some baptisms that have taken place, but I don't yet have the number of how many. We are so thankful for this. We have tried for a long time to get something started in this area, with little success. However, with our God, nothing is impossible, and His timing is always perfect.

We have continued our outreach among the children of Belize City. At our yearly Children's Crusade, there was over 100 children in attendance, most of whom had never been in service with us before!

I appreciate your continued prayers for all of our efforts in the country of Belize.

At the end of October, Hurricane Richard struck Belize. This was not a very big hurricane, but with Belize City being below sea level, it doesn't take much force to do a lot of damage. We did see damage to the roof of our Bible School. Because the rain was constant and heavy for about a week, this result in some damage to the walls in a couple of the classrooms. There was also damage to the roof of our church in Belize City as well. We would appreciate your prayers in this matter. We still need to finish the repairs to the Bible School, but there are no funds. Also, the church in Belize City is still in need of funds to repair their roof. Our God is able to provide. Thank you for praying.

If anyone feels to give to help with the repairs to the Bible School or the Belize City church, you may send your donation to the Foreign Missions Division using the following account numbers:

     -Bible School - Account # 103.FA.033215.22.2208._.926

     -Church - Account # 103.FA.033215.21.2121._.926

Let me say thank you for your prayers for me. Deputation is long, but it is slowly coming along. At the present, I still lack about 23% of my budget. Thank you for praying and believing with me that this will come much sooner than the projected date of November, 2011. I desperately need to be back in Belize before the years end. HE is able to make that happen!

You may not have know it, but the Lord has used your prayers to sustain me in many trying times. In July, and again just 3 weeks ago, I was able to be with my Dad as he was having cornea transplant surgeries. I am so happy to report to you that he now has 20/30 vision in his left eye from the first surgery, and the right eye is continuing to improve every day! He has gone from being legally blind from birth to 20/20 vision because of the miraculous touch of God, to being diagnosed with a genetic disease that began to cloud his vision and brought on horrendous migraine headaches, to once again his sight improving on a daily basis and no headaches! We believe that as his eyes continue to improve, so will his sight. Thank you for believing for this with us.

Just a couple of weeks ago as I left Mississippi to return to deputation, I was involved in a minor traffic accident while in Oklahoma. I was not harmed in any way, but my vehicle did have a bit of damage. At the moment, I am still waiting to get my car out of the shop and start traveling again. If you would help me pray about this, I'd be grateful. There have been a few little problems in the repairs. I was told today that possibly on Thursday this week the work will be completed. Please help me pray that I will be able to pick up my car no later than Wednesday this week.

This may seem like a minor thing, but really, our God is interested in all aspects of our life no matter how minor they may be. I know that the accident could have been worse, but because someone prayed -- it wasn't! Just this past week someone informed me that on a particular day as they were driving down the road, I came to their mind. With that came a strong impression to pray for me. They pulled over to the side of the road and began to pray. Putting times together, we discovered that it was the same time that I had this little accident! Yes, HE is interested in us!

You, my Prayer Partners, prayed for me last winter when I had to travel in the north in places where there is always snow. Do you remember, I asked you to pray because I just don't know how to drive in snow (none of that stuff in Belize and extremely little in Mississippi). You prayed and even though there was snow before and after I arrived in different places, I never saw any snow. Would you please pray those prayers again. I am once again headed to places where snow (and mountains) is likely.

Thank you for all of your prayers for this missionary and for the country of Belize.

Blessings!

Amy M. Sawyer
Missionary to Belize

~Bihar, India Crusade Report/James Corbin family

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January 21, 2011

Dear Partners-in-Missions,


Praise the Lord!


We greet you in the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ and pray that this email finds you blessed of the Lord! The Lord has been so very good to our family and the work of the Lord in Bangladesh and India and we are blessed!


The Lord moved in a mighty way during the Bihar, India Crusade and the following is a report of how the crusade went;

On January 13, 2011 I was blessed to be able to fly from Dhaka, Bangladesh to Kolkata, India and meet up with the ministry there. After a quick nights rest and a three hour delay of our morning flight Rev. Daniel Darlong and I finally arrived in the town of Patna, Bihar, India. We were graciously received by two of our brothers there and then traveled to the hotel for rest, fellowship and refreshing.


On January 15, 2011, we took a 45 minute drive out to a town in the countryside, crossing over the river Ganges, where the crusade would be held. People began to arrive from all over the immediate areas and for this first day of services it is estimated that at least 400 people were present. The Lord moved on me to preach on the miracle working power of the name of Jesus Christ. As the Lord began to move in and during the preaching of HIS Word, faith began to increase in the hearts of the believers and those who were so desperately in need of a miracle from the Lord! As soon as the call was given to come forward for healing and a miracle from the Lord and as the Ministry TEAM began to lay hands on the sick and pray in Jesus name, the Lord began to move in a great and mighty way! After a short time of praying for the sick people began to testify about receiving their healing from the Lord. 66 people raised their hands testifying that the Lord had healed their bodies in Jesus name. Towards the close of this crusade service I asked those in attendance to bring those who were sick and afflicted to the next day’s crusade service and that the Lord would heal, deliver and fill them with His Holy Spirit. During the afternoon service there was a special baptismal service in Jesus name.


On January 16, 2011, we took the 45 minute drive to the crusade grounds again with great and high expectations from the Lord!

~Missionary Prayer Focus - Jan. 19th - Jan. 31st, 2011

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Prayer Focus for Wednesday, January 19, 2011: Aslam and Toy Malik (Pakistan)

Prayer Focus for Thursday, January 20, 2011: Peter and Robin Gration (Papua New Guinea)

Prayer Focus for Friday, January 21, 2011: Adam and Maya Hunley (International Ministries)

Prayer Focus for Saturday, January 22, 2011: Devin and Brandi Doyle (Grenada / Windward Islands)

Prayer Focus for Sunday, January 23, 2011: Scott and Nicole Carpenter (Russia / Kazakhstan)

Prayer Focus for Monday, January 24, 2011: Jared and Kimberly Staten (Rep. of Georgia)

Prayer Focus for Tuesday, January 25, 2011: Bernard and Shelley Suppan (Austria)

Prayer Focus for Wednesday, January 26, 2011: Curtis and Amanda Scott (Pakistan)

Prayer Focus for Thursday, January 27, 2011: Cynthia White (International Ministries)

Prayer Focus for Friday, January 28, 2011: Mike and Jill Patterson (Romania / Bulgaria)

Prayer Focus for Saturday, January 29, 2011: Michael and Ivonne Walmer (Uruguay)

Prayer Focus for Sunday, January 30, 2011: Darry and Kathy Crossley (RD, South America)

Prayer Focus for Monday, January 31, 2011: Bennie and Theresa DeMerchant (Brazil)

Please continue to PRAY for our Missionaries around the world.