Friday, October 23, 2009

"Man Your Battle Stations"

San Ramon

mountain view from Berlin

a little bit closer...

Look closely for San Ramon's central Catholic church


Club de Niños


Elbow Tag Portraits


Geovany, ???, Juan Diego - Tatiana and Indira


Daniel, Erica Naomi & Devin - Luis Alonso & Kaybel


Mare & teenager Marjori - Josh, Linda & Naomi - Dayana & Rebeca


After two months of meeting with the children on Saturday mornings, we had one of our first memorable battles in the Spirit. Despite our preparation of song, games, Bible story and crafts, the morning seemed to be extremely chaotic. The children weren't interested in the games or the Bible story, my Spanish felt like it was submerged and my daughter Naomi was all over the board emotionally.



Why do we give Satan all the credit for this confusion?
Jon's message to the children was about repentance.



Why would Satan steal this particular seed from the gospel sowing at Club de
Niños? I believe he could turn the children's hearts to Christ for the wrong reason and they would "accept Jesus into their hearts" without recognizing their sin and turning from it. (a.k.a. - they would be commonly referred to as false converts. Listen or read Ray Comfort's message about false conversions).

Therefore, my beloved support team, let us resolve to pray fervently for Club de Niños. Here are some suggestions:
  • Take time out of your Saturday morning to pray for Club de Niños - we are on Central Standard Time, but an hour behind because we don't use daylight savings time. We meet with the kids from roughly 10 AM to Noon.
  • Pray through the children by name as they are listed in several pictures on the blog.
  • Pray for Jon to preach effectively to the children in Spanish and for the leaders to be bold in reaching out to the kids regardless of their level of Spanish.
  • Pray that God would cleanse and prepare the leader's hearts before they go into "battle" and that they would have a keen eye out for the warfare.
PRAYER NEEDS:
  • We are praying about attending the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference 2010. The cost of the conference would be $580 for the entire family (this includes room and board for four for four days). Rough idea on tickets for four to the Los Angeles are around $300 a piece.

  • A good Christian friend asked us to help coordinate a child/youth outreach with their church. Jon is planning to meet with the pastors soon, but our friend Shirley thought we could help after what she has seen at Club de Niños. Financially the church is just getting by and doesn't have the money to arrange an outreach. Would you consider sending support specifically for this event?

  • Please pray for our friend Shirley's family. We know her because her husband and brother-in-law raise the sheep on the property we live on and she is an English teacher. Her youngest, Indira, attends Club de Niños, and has an interest in the Lord, but her teenage daughter Valeria and her husband show little interest. Pray for her family's salvation.

  • With Wayne & Brooke out of town for the IBS seminars, Jon has had a lot of opportunites to teach and lead worship. Pray for our English studies through Ephesians and Hebrews. (A few other families regularly attend, including some non-Christians). We've also started to have a Sunday School time with the classic curriculum from our home church.

  • Mare and I are excited about our daughters, but they are quite the handful. Pray for the girls discipline and spiritual growth.

  • Pray for the Wisconsin Missions team coming in January. Ask the Lord to bless the preparation and logistics in WI and CR and to call individuals to go and to provide for the short-term missions team to come.

  • Today marks the one month left marker for Jon's classes at Colegio Bilingue San Ramon. Contine to pray for endurance and boldness to proclaim the gospel. Jon has been asking some good/ provocative questions for discussion, such as: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" and "If you were to die today, what do you think would happen to you?". Leave a comment if you have any other good questions.

  • As always Satan wants to destroy the home front before we even leave the house to enter the battle field. Continue to pray for our marriage and harmony in our relationship with our in-laws.

  • Need any help directing your prayers? Here is a link to a great "How to Pray for Missionaries" resource.
As always: your prayers and support are deeply appreciated. Bless You!


Brincolandia

"Jumping Land" - local amusement warehouse




Best Buddies - Naomi and Dylan

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