Youth Workers Mission Trip - Tanzania

The Tanzania Youth Workers Mission trip will be leaving Wednesday, Aug. 2^nd. Please pray for the eleven workers who travel to share the Gospel.

We will be going there both to share about Jesus and to learn as well. These students have been learning testimonies and songs in Swahili. We will be practicing wordless skits about Jesus, and showing the Jesus film and The Passion of Christ. We will be traveling to remote areas without electricity and limited roads.

As for the learning side of things, we will be studying how Jesus did ministry and relating that to youth ministry. Studying about Jesus in Africa will allow us to see His life from a perspective that is closer to how He lived. It will force us to focus on the essentials of ministry rather than all of the distractions of our culture. We will be learning from the life of Christ as well as the life of the Tanzanians who are very hospitable, humble, and peaceful. They put the priorities on people rather than projects and they trust in God because it is essential for their daily life.

Please pray for:

Ben Jore, Jared Langness,Jesse Long, Jordan Langness, Sarah Rolf, Emily Walker, Heather Koller, Tracy Clark, Matt Nelson, Nate Nash, Kayla Russum, Andrew Olson and Kevin Olson.

Two New Missionaries Commissioned

The farmers in the Midwest are experience a severe drought. They are praying for rain to bring new life to the parched soil.

The AFLC has gone through a drought. It has been over a decade since the last missionary was commissioned. This year at the Annual Conference the drought ended as God called two missionary families and we commissioned them for work on foreign fields. It is our prayer that God would allow them to pour out their lives as a sacrifice bringing new life to the parched hearts of the people around them.

The Nate Jores were commissioned and will serve as AFLC missionaries in Uganda.

The Tomasz Chmiels were commissioned and will be on loan to Eastern European Mission Network. They will serve in Ukraine.

News Editor Out of Touch

I have to write and apoligize. I have been traveling for many weeks now and have a number of missions news items to share with you.

Unfortunatly, my travel has prevented me from having a constant internet connection. In the coming days I will be sharing these with you.

Children's Ministry Continues in Jerez, Mexico

We sent the FLY team off a couple weeks ago after a great time with them. We’re thankful to God for their ministry both to us and to the people in our community. Through their ministry we met four new kids in our clubs and would ask that you please pray for these new contacts, that Satan would not be able to rob the seed that was sown in their hearts. And would you also pray that the regular kids would grow in their faith as a result of the FLY team’s ministry.

We’re grateful to God also for your prayers regarding the kids in our youth group. In these last two weeks we found two of our youth group members who were in crisis situations and from whom we had been disconnected. One of them still seems to have a hard heart; the other seems to have a broken and disillusioned heart. But we’re grateful to be back in touch with both of them and we’re able to pick one of them up for youth events.

This last year the kids in our youth group have been pummeled by trials and temptations. Here’s a quick summary of what’s been going on among them: one of them escaped from a desperate home situation and is now in a convent in northern Mexico; another escaped from a desperate home situation and is now living on self-support and not wanting to come to church or youth group; another’s father had to flee Jerez because he killed a man and is charged with manslaughter. This particular youth is now living with a grandmother here in town and is battling despair; another is pregnant out of wedlock; several have parents who are openly unfaithful to their spouses and the effects on their kids are obvious; another left our youth group and is now a teacher at the Catholic church her family attends; another is still having surgeries as a result of an accident in which a hand was cut off in a meat-grinder. On the bright side, we had a fun “swearing in” ceremony last week where we recognized several new kids into the group who have attended the Kid’s Clubs or Sunday school classes regularly. And we’re very grateful to God for the open door He’s given us with four of the youth who are not allowed to come to our church but their parents let them meet with the youth group in our garage. So we are keenly aware of our inabilities to meet the challenges with our own strength and we are more keenly aware of our complete dependence upon our faithful Father in heaven who loves all of these young people more than we can possibly begin to love them. We are so dependent on your intercession for us as well! Thank you so much for your help in this ministry through your prayers.

In Christ,
Todd Schierkolk