April 13, 2008
Photographic Memory
The cast and others of the Korean youth group sing a closing song after the presentation of their drama at a "Café Night" in April.
"The world measures greatness by money, or eloquence, or intellectual skill, or even by prowess on the field of battle. But here is the Lord's standard: 'Whosoever shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven' (Matthew 18:4)." —J.H. Jowett
Answers to Prayer
Praise the Lord for God's blessing last Sunday in the Word preached and the fellowship with brothers and sisters in the Lord's Supper.
Wanda Peek was able to have her chemotherapy this week (after missing the last time because of unbalanced blood tests). Ask God to keep the usual discomforts that follow these treatments to a minimum (or less…).
Jonathan Lopez is happy to report an answer to prayer! He applied for and has been hired to work at Men's Wearhouse!
Maybe it is not what we would call "an answer to prayer," however, at Prayer Meeting last Wednesday evening each of the ladies were presented a "for-no-reason" orchid specially grown and prepared by James Jepsen. Not wanting to play favorites, James also brought some homemade chocolate chip cookies for everyone. You just never know what is going to happen around here! Thank you, James. Thank You, Lord for creating beautiful flowers and the coco bean, among other delights. Thank You, Lord for giving us friends with whom to share these blessings!
Requests for Prayer
Bob Nicholas was delighted to pass the word on from his brother that Kevin Nicholas has returned from his tour of duty in Iraq. Bob's brother and nephew especially expressed their thanks to you for praying during this last year.
- 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
Last week Chuck and Claudia Umlor and their girls were all ill. LIttle Scarlett was being reated for bronchitis. Pray that all of them will be healthy quickly.
Shawn and Marissa Sammartano left Friday for a week long conference in the Mid-West. Pray that the Bible teaching they receive will be an encouragement.
Gloria Ozmon had knee surgery last Thursday, April 10. Twelve years ago she had a knee replacement. Now there was a need for a "revision" (which seems to mean that the surgeon wouldn't know what was needed until after surgery began. However, the process of recovery and therapy will be about the same. Keep Gloria in your prayers. (1865 W University Heights Dr N / Flagstaff, AZ 86001).
Tuesday, April 15 your taxes are due. But would you make prayer for the Talbot Chapel that day a higher priority? The Rigsbys will be presenting a report of the trip to Israel in January. Several of the students who were part of the travels will participate in this service, too.
Woody and Barbara Blalock will be headed to the west coast around the end of April and possibly visiting here the first part of May.
Happy Birthday!
17, Dennis Vanderwall
25, Peggy Mann
27, Ann Koutsikides
Hear God's Word Expositionally
Browse the audio sermons preached by Pastor Rigsby (or download for later listening).
Victory Over Disobedience | Romans 6:12-23
What do we learn about God from the story of Jonah? Shawn Sammartano is a student at Talbot School of Theology. This was the first time Shawn has preached God's Word at Bell Gardens Baptist. Listen now.
The Great Tribulation Begins | Revelation 8
At the beginning of the second half of the Tribulation ecological disaster abounds. Listen now.
Read the Bible Carefully
During the next three months our Bible reading centers in Hebrew History, from Joshua to Esther. Up first, in April we'll read Joshua (24), Judges (21), Ruth (4), I Samuel (31), and II Samuel (24). The chapter totals are listed to help set a pace. Remember to include 3 Psalms and 1 chapter from Proverbs each week.
The suggested 2008 Bible reading guide (1 page) can be downloaded here.
Use the Internet Constructively
The Remedy of Self-Sacrificing Service: The Ministry of Susannah Spurgeon
"Charles Spurgeon was only nineteen years old when he was called to be the pastor of the New Park Street Chapel, the church Susannah Thompson attended occasionally with friends. She was singularly unimpressed when she first heard him preach. The eloquence and powerful sermons of the "boy preacher" were the talk of London, but all Susannah could see was a country bumpkin with a bad haircut, a ridiculous blue polka dot handkerchief and a black silk cravat that was much too large to be in style." [Finish this article].
"No resurrection, no Christianity."
Sue Watt
April 12, 2008
It has been awhile since I have sent you any news by e-mail. I sent out a printed letter but some of you may not be on that list. Today I updated all the e-mail address changes and added a few new people. If you are new to my list and do not want to receive my letters please let me know.
Since my last newsletter, I have made encouraging progress in developing visual aids for teaching the Bible lessons. I am also making good progress on the lessons themselves. I am glad this did not happen sooner because teaching from just my notes has given me valuable experience. I am hoping I will soon make significant progress on the written lessons.
Susan and Harry are both very busy with school. Harry was able to transfer to a better school which is a challenge to him. Susan is sometimes encouraged about her pre-nursing courses, other times she finds it difficult and upsetting. She is learning to depend on the Lord in this. This is a real encouragement to me as this is specific answer to my prayer for her. After the spring semester she will have a short break before her summer class starts. Please pray she will see the need to take time for Bible study; she has been too busy this semester to meet with me.
Nam Hee continues to be interested in the Word. We are about halfway through the life of Christ. Please continue to pray for her understanding of salvation. Her husband was impressed with her Bible knowledge when the priest at their Korean church asked the group a Bible question and she answered. Please pray about their visa. Her husband has graduated and has a job, but now their permission to stay in America is uncertain because of some new American government rules.
My new Japanese student could not meet with me for about 6 weeks because she was sick. Then one day she called and said, 'I am flying to Japan tomorrow.' So now she is seeing a doctor in Japan. Her in-laws have come to take care of their two pre-school boys. I trust we will continue our classes when she returns in several months.
Sue Watt
International Student Ministry
The Kisers
April 8, 2008
This past Sunday was our time change here in MX. (We're a month behind you up there in Gringolandia.) But, man did God ever bless! Although some of our people were late because of moving their clocks BACK instead of forward we still had GREAT services in all of our works. There were two highlights: first, Rosarito had their second highest attendance this year AND baptized 4 (two men and two teenage boys). The other highlight was that the new mission just below Rosarito that is held in the front yard of a family there had their 5th service last Friday and I (Bro. Don) was thrilled to see 26 people sitting outside singing and listening to the Gospel. People were going down the street, stopping to listen and neighbors were coming out of their houses listening. It looks as if we need to hunt for a piece of land there and plant a church.
But, FIRST, we MUST get that roof on the main church there. The people are praying hard for this; but so far we haven't had any donations for that purpose yet. PLEASE, keep praying with us about this need. We still believe prayer works.
In Christ,
Bro. Don and the Kiser Family
Baja, Mexico
Steve & Eida Irwin
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
SLR Team Meetings
Please pray for Steve, who will be flying to Florida this coming Sunday for the annual meetings of the Spanish Language Resources team. It's always encouraging to look back and see how far God has brought us over the past 12 months, then to turn our focus on planning out the next year of work.
New translation projects are always being proposed to us, each one of them a valuable resource for our Latin American partners in cross-cultural church planting. But we need to be careful to balance the urgency of the new proposals against the ever-growing pile of semi-completed projects already on our desks. (I'm sure you've dealt with that struggle yourselves.)
Please pray for wisdom as we set priorities.
¿Why Spanish resource materials?
We're attaching a colorful letter from Alberto and Nancy González, a Colombian missionary family who are avid users of the Spanish resource materials we translate. We've mentioned them to you before; Nancy suffers from Krohn's disease, but by God's grace, they haven't let it discourage them from making disciples and expanding the borders of the gospel among the Guahibo tribal reservations of the Colombian plains.
When they asked us the favor of translating their newsletter for their stateside supporters, I was so impressed by it, that I wanted to share it with you. Check it out.
Family news
We are happy to report that Eida's foot is improving. True to form, she's been a model patient, assiduously following the doctor's instructions and doing her therapy. She's been rewarded by graduating from wearing the heavy "boot" to a lighter brace.
We enjoyed a lovely visit from Steve's parents who spent a week with us over Easter. They went on to spend a week with each of Steve's sisters, Victoria and Sandy, and returned home to San Jose safe and sound just a couple of days ago.
Thank you so much for your prayers and financial partnership. May God bless and keep you and supply all your needs abundantly,
Steve & Eida Irwin
New Tribes Mission,
Personal Website at NTM
Spanish Language Resources (SLR)
Doug & Bev Croot
April 10, 2008
Dear praying friends,
Greetings from Cairns. Doug and I continue to thank the Lord for His grace and strength. February/March was a pretty 'rough' stretch, with Doug suffering from multiple side effects of the Prednisone. Slowly, he was being weaned off the medication, and was beginning to feel 'human' again, but then, the weekend before last, by the time he got down to 10mg daily, he was losing his eye-sight.
He went to the Optometrist, right next door, who noticed, that there are new bleeds in the eye, and more swelling, hence the poor sight. He was referred to the Ophthalmologist yet again, who said there was a need for Doug to return to high doses of Prednisone. At first, Doug was quite 'down' about the whole thing, but after 24 hours of increased medication, his eye sight improved, as did his energy, and he is 'feeling' pretty 'spry'!
Having been down the path recently, and knowing what can happen while on the medication, we are better prepared, and know what to expect. The Lord will give grace and strength day by day, He has promised.
Late April, Doug and I will be travelling to Perth, and having the opportunity to meet our new grandson, and spend some time with the other grandchildren that live in the West, and also take some time for R and R. We thank the Lord for His undertaking, and supplying, and thank the Lord for each one of you.
Your friendship and prayers are a great encouragement to us.
Doug & Bev Croot
New Tribes Mission,
"The fault finder will find faults even in Paradise."
Short and shorter
Hello Everyone,
What has happened to those Israel stories? I'm glad you asked! My attention has been temporarily focused on preparing the slides for Talbot's chapel on Tuesday, April 15, where the students will report on their trip. Of course, it is some of those same slides that will be used on the DVD we're preparing and will eventually show at a church service here.
Here's another thousand words…
At the Garden Tomb (Gordon's Calvary) in Jerusalem, Israel.
