February 17, 2008
"When led by the Spirit, the child of God must be as ready to wait as to go, as prepared to be silent as to speak." —Lewis Sperry Chafer
Answers to Prayer
Last Sunday, Jesus honored the mother of His birth, providing for her care. Jesus honored His church with His holiness, praising strengths and revealing weakness, then provided all that is needed to please Him.
Claudia Umlor didn't make it to Thursday. Scarlet(t?) Imelda was born Monday afternoon, February 11th, weighing 8 pounds and 20 inches long. Best of all, Scarlet(t?) is healthy and did not need to be taken to a neo-natal care unit.
The funeral for Kwan Jun started Monday evening. Tuesday morning was the final service and burial. Pastor Yoon presented the gospel that Mr. Jun had placed his hope in. We don't sorrow as those who have no hope. Pray as the family and the church grieves and finds their comfort in Jesus Christ.
Wanda Peek was given a better report last week than she has had in a while. Her cancer has not grown and with a few alterations, she may be able to drive some and stay at home if she wants.
Pam Ozmon had her gallbladder surgery Friday. Shirley and Loren were able to be with her and now Pam and Shirley are recuperating together.
After many months of resolving conflicts and waiting, Pam Holmberg will begin receiving her Social Security and according to God's typical pattern, not a moment too soon!
Requests for Prayer
Our military continues to work tirelessly, often in dangerous areas. Be diligent in praying for their physical and spiritual well-being as well as support from home for the completion of their mission.
- Marvin Funkhouser—deployed to Iraq for 18 months
- Coleen—a friend of Woody and Barbara Blalock
- Tony Loving—flying troops in and out of various areas
- Bryan Miller—in Guam, will be in Iraq soon
- Chris Shelton—deployed to Iraq
- Jeremy Mullens—deployed to Iraq
- Sam Im
- Steven Henning
- Kevin Nicholas
- Jorge Avalos
- Ryan Bareng
- Kenneth Miller—National Guard unit in Iraq
- Jeremy Peters—currently in Iraq
- Jeremy Thomas—currently in basic training
- Matt Thomas—currently stationed in Chicago
Khara Covington's friend, Sally, was killed in an auto accident last week. Would you remember Sally's husband and family in prayer?
Walter Barrette had surgery Monday to remove two golf ball sized tumors. Pray these are benign and that Walter heals quickly.
The funeral for Bob Mankin's wife, Karen, will be Friday, February 22nd, 1 PM at Acheson and Graham Garden of Prayer (7944 Magnolia Ave. Riverside; (951-688-1221). Following this service, there will be a Celebration of Life at Victoria Country Club (2521Arroyo Drive Riverside; 951-683-5323).
Linda Covington's brother-in-law, Rocky, had a massive heart attack and went into a coma. Pray for Rocky and Linda's sister, Carol.
Judy (Mike and Berniece Cosgrove's friend) is home from the hospital. Her family has decided she needs to be in assisted living or a rest home.
Art and Carol Mead's daughter, Julie, had gall bladder surgery Friday. Pray as she heals.
Happy Birthday!
February 17, Rachel Holeman
February 19, Don Kiser
February 21, Robyn Siemsen
February 21, Beatriz Kiser
February 22, Arvalee Palmer
February 22, James Jepsen
Happy Anniversary!
February 19, Woody and Barbara Blalock
Hear God's Word Expositionally
Browse the audio sermons preached by Pastor Rigsby (or download for later listening).
Provision for His Mother | John 19:26-27
Jesus honors the mother of His birth, providing for her care. Is Mary still the mother of Jesus? Listen now.
The Things Which Are, Part II | Revelation 2:8-29
The churches at Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira give us an understanding of Jesus Christ and reveal our condition without Him. Listen now.
Read the Bible Carefully
The first half of February is now history. Are you nearly finished with Numbers? Before the month is over we will have read Deuteronomy, too. You can pace yourself at about 3 chapters per day or read a larger section in fewer days. Don't forget to include at least 3 of the Psalms and 1 chapter in Proverbs each week.
The suggested 2008 Bible reading guide (1 page) can be downloaded here.
Use the Internet Constructively
The Sustainer of Presidents
In 1789, George Washington addressed the legislators and citizens gathered in New York City to celebrate his installation as the first president of the United States. In this first inaugural address, he said; [Finish this article].
"Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man."
The Kisers
Sunday afternoon
LAST THURSDAY NIGHT EDNA AND I WERE IN A TERRIBLE WRECK THAT SAVED MY LIFE!
That may sound very contradictory to you; but, it is true. Rom 8:28 has been our life verse since our marriage 54 years ago. On the rain slick roads of Tijuana we were hit in the rear by a speeding car that did not even apply his brakes. Our suburban lunged forward, did a half turn and slammed into a concrete wall. The air bags did not deploy and we realized were injured, Edna worse than I.
The Mexican ambulance arrived in less than 5 minutes and we were stablized and taken to the border about a mile away and American 911 was called. They arrived more than 30 minutes later.
Due to Edna's trauma we were transported to UCSD Medical Center where they have the best trauma center in the city of San Diego. A cardiologist was immediately called for me.
ALTHOUGH no one outside the family knew, I had been in the ER several times recently with a high potassium count that was affecting my heart. I had been told the one kidney I have was failing and so was my heart.
I accepted what they told me. However, in the E.R. the cardiologist immediately took me off of two of my 10 medications and told me they were not only counter-indicated but also worked against each other. All the neucular tests, MRIs, echo-cardiograms showed my heart was actually very strong and by 36 hours off those two meds my potassium returned to normal and my heart did the same. So, the wreck had saved my life, because if I had stayed on those meds much longer there would have been permanent damage. Thank God for the wreck.
BUT, Edna is a different story. Although I am out of the hospital and my injuries are healing, she is facing at least two surgeries. PLEASE pray for my dear wife. She has really maintained a sweet attitude. But, she only rests because of the heavy pain-killers she is being given. She has always been by my side and it hurts me so much to see her suffering. When they gave her the results of my tests she said to the nurses, "Praise God! I was so worried about him!
PRAY FOR US. There is also some wonderfully heart-breaking news about some new kids in the Ranch; but that will have to wait.
Monday afternoon update:
Dearest Friends,
I (Bro. Don)am doing better every day since stopping the medication. Wonderful day Sunday with 3 adults saved! I was able to preach, even with my sore tongue — you know me, I had plenty of tongue left even after it being cut! Edna really needs your prayers, as she will have to have surgery on her hips socket, which will be very extensive. Keep her in prayer, as she is in a lot of pain.
Thanks to those of you who have called, asking what you could do to help. With the holiday weekend, we haven't been able to really work with the insurance company, so we are still virtually car-less. The only financial need that we have at this time is to set up the travel trailer at the San Diego trailer park to be near the hospital. The cost is $700.00, which puts a terrific strain on our budget. If you could help with any of this, it would certainly be appreciated. Either call me at 619-952-5916 or email me if you can help.
If you would like to send Edna a card while she is at the hospital, address it as follows: Edna Kiser, University of California, San Diego Medical Center, Hillcrest Facility, 200 W. Arbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92103. She will be moved to a different room after surgery, so the room number can be added by the staff once it reaches the Medical Center. Cards would be much better than phone calls to her while she is in the hospital at this time.
God is Good - this is our first serious accident on the mission field in 30 years! How can we complain?
In Christ,
Bro. Don and the Kiser Family
Baja, Mexico
Sue Watt
What a joy to receive so many Christmas cards, letters, and photos. Even though many people only write once a year I consider these relationships very precious. I remember the sweet times we had together and wish I had time to write each of you a long personal letter.
My original plans were to teach Susan during her vacation from the university, but I have only seen her a few times. The change of plans came about when her husband decided to come for a month. He has bought her a car so she is practicing her driving. She passed the written test, but it took her four tries to pass the road test. In a few weeks she will begin the prerequisite classes for the nursing program at the community college. She did so well in the Mathematics and Chemistry tests that she will not have to take those classes! Harry has adjusted so well to America. He wants to eat pizza all the time!
Nam Hee continues to be very interested in the Bible. We covered the lesson on the Law today. I am trying to keep the lessons moving at a good pace because Nam Hee and her family may be moving out of the area. Her husband has graduated so he is looking for work. Her husband asked me to look over his thesis. I had never done anything like this, and I hope I am never asked to again! It was about 120 pages of extremely technical language. The paper was about the difficulty of comparing satellite photos of the environment in light of the advance technology of the newer equipment. I was able to make corrections on each page, adding the word "the" to many sentences, rearranging some sentences, and using more formal English in a few places (for example the more formal word "eliminate" instead of "get rid of"). Please pray for Nam Hee to understand salvation. We will soon be starting on the life of Christ.
Michiyo is my new student. She is from Japan. Her husband works at the University. They have two adorable boys ages two and three. Even though she has been here for five years her English is limited. When people come to this country they have many things to learn. For example, she thought she needed a social security card to be allowed to have a library card. I was surprised at our first class when she almost cried; she was so happy to have a friend. She said she is thrilled to have someone to answer her many questions about America. She is also full of questions about the Bible. She went to a Christian pre-school in Japan and remembers a little of the stories she heard there.
Recently I finished reading a book called Spiritual Secrets of George Muller. I have read it several times over the past 15 years. Here are some encouraging thoughts taken from several places in the book.
"Above all things see to it that your souls are happy in the Lord. Day by day seek to make this the most important business of your life. But in what way shall we attain to this settled happiness of soul? How shall we learn to enjoy god? This happiness is obtained through the study of the Holy Scriptures. I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed, and that thus, by means of the Word of God, whilst meditation on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord."
The other day I made a list of about 12 verses to meditate on. Most of them had to do with increasing in the knowledge of God and His glory. Here are two that would make great prayer requests for you and me.
God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: (2 Peter 1:2-3).
Another verse that impressed me was Paul's exhortation to Timothy to "give attendance to reading." Susan and I have started to read through the Gospel of John when we get together.
Please pray I will have wisdom in use of time in all area of my life. I can always use prayer for my health. These last months have had ups and downs in how well I have felt. I was not able to keep up with all the December mail. Thank you for praying.
Thank you so much for your faithful support and your sacrificial giving to give so much at Christmas. I don't have words to express how much it means to have you behind me all these years!
Love in Christ,
Sue Watt
International Student Ministry
Byron & Robyn Siemsen
Dear Friends and Family,
Robyn is allowing me, Byron, to have the pleasure of writing you all this month. Here it goes!
About a year ago we were up in Cottage Grove, Oregon, for our wedding. We had the honor of having many of you there as well. Another honor was having Robyn's Uncle Larry and my 104-year-old Grandpa Peters officiate. There were many others who chipped in to make our day extra special as well. Thank you!
After the wedding we honeymooned in Bend, Oregon, and traveled down through Northern California along the coast to our little apartment. There it was that I carried Robyn over the threshold of our new apartment, and we began our new life in South Central Los Angeles together.
What a joy it has been this past year enjoying life with Robyn as she has made our little apartment a home. It is a home of warm meals, music, laughter, and the joys of getting to know each other. Of course, it is amazing what marriage teaches a person about himself!
Robyn often has the young people whom she works with over to hang out and talk about what is happening in their lives. It is exciting, too, to be able to live right above the apartment of the pastor for Iglesia Sembrando una Esperanza. We have been able to interact more with him and his family and encourage him in his work with the church. They have been wonderful friends to Robyn and me as well. But the distance of our apartment from where I work and our conflicting work schedules add to the challenges of ministry.
I am still working at Evangelical Christian Credit Union (ECCU) to help us better afford my studies at Talbot Seminary. I will be returning to school this following semester after a year off to have more time at home during our first year of marriage. Being financially able to leave ECCU to work more with World Impact and still be able to go to school is becoming more feasible. It is envisioned that I will be functioning in a church-relations role with World Impact. Robyn and I are looking forward eagerly to ministering more side-by-side.
We thank you for how you support us in your prayers and financially. If you are ever in the Los Angeles area, please come visit.
Cling to the King!
Byron and Robyn SiemsenWorld Impact, Los Angeles
Richard & Ellen Hayes
To our Friends at Bell Gardens,
We want you to know how much we appreciate your prayers and generous financial support. The Lord has blessed our ministry and family and we thank you.
Christina and Katie returned to Biola on January 27th. It was hard to say goodbye. We had about two inches of snow so Carrie had the day off school.
Please be in prayer as the winter men and women's Bible study begins.
In His love,
Richard & Ellen Hayes
Village Missions, Edgewood, Washington
Chuck & Stacie Sneesby
[Continued from last week]
February 2008
Greetings to you all in the most wondrous Name of our Risen King—JESUS!
Where we are:
BENJAMIN and CHARIS:
1) Are doing GREAT. We are so thankful to see them so at home, here. Running in the gulleys (the narrow alleyways in which we live), playing with the neighborhood kids. Venturing out more and more on their own, and finding "their place" in this place and, Benjamin is growing in his Hindi, which is so fun.
* God has really given them, Benjamin especially at this point, a welcoming and generous heart—as our home is a place where so many kids congregate, we are very thankful to see the way they USUALLY give of their toys and books, mommy's attention, and special snacks. Benjamin LOVES to bake things with mommy and then distribute them to the neighbors—all on his own. It really is sweet!
I'm sure you parents who are reading this can relate, but we so rejoice to see the way God is using them to be such a sweet and fragrant blessing to our friends and neighbors and unto Him to see their own "little" relationship with Him coming forth and growing. Thanks be unto HIM, that's for sure!
A VERY SPECIAL "REPORT"/PRAYER REQUEST:
We have a friend here in Varanasi who is a SADHU. This is a person, who in the Hindu culture has taken steps to turn away from worldly things, and seek first and foremost the things of God. They, within the Hindu culture, are revered as holy men. Our friend, Sadhu, is a disciple of Christ, with a passion and such a tender anointing to share our Lord and His truth within a Hindu context to Hindu people.
We have asked him if he would be willing to come to our house and lead a Satsang (literal meaning, "gathering around the truth") to the people of our neighborhood, and he is very excited to do so. We haven't set a date for this, but hope to do it within the next 3 weeks. The Satsang would include the singing of Bhajans (traditional Indian style singing—kind of a call and response), and then Sadhu would share some truth of our Lord through a story.
Please pray for this. We are excited at the thought of it, excited to open our home to the sharing of Christ to our neighbors, in a very culturally relevant way.
But we want to be sensitive to the Lord's timing. So please pray that if this is too soon—if God is not the one leading the timing of this—that we would not have a peace to go forward with it. Also, pray for our landlord and his family, as well as the neighbors, that those whose hearts have been stirred by the Lord, would come.
We want this time of sharing to be a bridge, not a brick in a wall, to Christ's truth being brought to this community. Please pray for His anointing, His preparing, and His timing.
OTHER PRAYER REQUESTS:
1) The last 2 months of the SHS. For the students' ability to listen to God's call for the how's and where's of His ministry through them.
2) For future students of the language team that chuck is a part of. Right now there are no potential students, but we trust that the right people will come as He calls them.
3) For our home as a place of refreshing and warmth to ALL who enter. That His presence would be tangible, and His joy real.
4) For our volunteering with the train station ministry—for the kids to be sensitive, and protected—they will be SUCH a novelty to the children their this can be difficult for our children, all the touching and crowding. So pray that we would adjust into this ministry together—not sacrificing the joy of our children, but helping them grow through something that will be different for them.
5) For our family. God's grace to continue to draw us together, and for us to continue to press into Him for understanding, good communication, love, and joy.
6) For the "upcoming" Satsang, as above.
Thank you so much for standing with us so faithfully and generously. We are grateful to every touch of the Lord that we have experienced through so many loving hearts and hands. Thank you!
We look forward to hearing from you. We are always encouraged by your e-mails and words of encouragement. And we love to share more about our lives, as your questions are sent our way.
Blessings, in Christ's most blessed Name!
Chuck and Stacie SneesbyYWAM, India
"The future is as bright as the promises of God."
Still the same
Hello Everyone,
A birth. A funeral. A flood. A reunion. These all added up to not getting "Day 3" of the Israel report completely finished this week. Day 1 is still available, as is Day 2.
You read about Chuck and Claudia Umlor's baby being born and Mr. Jun's funeral. The "flood" was a toilet that transformed into a continual geyser, which filled what became the beautiful ceramic lake! The lake was drained and the geyser has been replaced. The reunion was with the students that traveled to Israel in January. You just can't get enough of a good thing with the people of that group. Next week, I'll be back on track and Day 3 should be ready then!
A lot of people think that reading the book of Leviticus is boring (especially since we don't understand the practice of the offerings and feasts that were given to the Hebrew people). At some point last week, I was beginning to think that reading the book of Numbers was depressing. I was in that long section which covers chapters 10 to 25 and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. Instead of telling me all the things I wanted to know, we are told about multiple failures. Reading this book would be completely depressing if God did not intervene to rescue Israel (while at the same time judging their sin).
On their way to Kadesh, the people complained about their circumstances and the food. Moses complained about his life as the sole "judge" of the friction among the people. Then, Aaron and Miriam rebel against Moses' leadership. God sent quail then killed many with a plague while they were still chewing the meat. Miriam became a leper then was restored after Moses prayed. God provided additional judges to help Moses.
At Kadesh twelve were sent to spy out the land. After hearing their report, Israel rebels against God, ten of the spies die immediately. God judges Israel to wander and die. The people change their mind and more die while fighting the Amalekites.
Somewhere in the wilderness, Korah stirs up a rebellion against Moses and Aaron. Korah and 250 others are judged by God. Korah and nearly all of his family die when the earth opened up and swallowed them alive. Fire runs through the camp to kill the men who rebelled with Korah. God demonstrates that Aaron's line is His choice for the priesthood by causing only his rod to bud, bloom, blossom and yield almonds in a single night.
On their way to Moab, the people complain again about water. God tells Moses to speak to the rock. Moses hits it instead. God gives the water but Moses will not enter the promised land. After a victory over the Canaanites, the nation again complains. God judges the people with venomous serpents then provides relief by looking at the serpent Moses made out of bronze. The king of Moab, Balak, wants to put a hex on Israel, so he hires Balaam. Balaam tries his best four times, but can't. It must have been the ultimate insult that Balaam was lectured by his donkey. How does Israel respond? They join Moab in worshipping their god, Baal-Peor. God calls it harlotry and sends another plague. When Phinehas responds by running a spear through Zimri and Cozbi, the Israelite man and the Midianite woman, God stops the plague, but not until another 24,000 die.
The message comes through loud and clear. God's people would be tested to prove whether their faith was true or false. When they acted in faith they obeyed God. When they acted in disbelief, they disobeyed God and He would discipline them. Regardless of how His people responded, God always remained faithful to His promise. What is most depressing is that "we" are no different than the people of Israel. On the other hand, what is most encouraging is that God is still the same, yesterday, today, and forever.
