Check out the latest newsletter from the Nate Jores. It has some cute pictures of their new baby and encouraging news about the work. Just click on the picture on the right and you'll go right to it.
All our missionary news letters are in PDF format to make them easy to read.
Sam, Evan, Matthew, Josiah and Lydia arrived safely in Brazil. Things are going well. Lydia and Matt were able to share their testimonies last night. Sam has asked we pray for a lady named, Marcia, who has pigworm in her brain. Her condition is very serious.
Rachel Menge has a web site describing the missions trip and updates on what they are doing. You can go to it by clicking on the photo or going to http://www.xanga.com/studentmissionsbrazil .
The AFLC Youth Department also has a web site where prayer needs for the trip are posted. You can see these prayer needs at http://www.aflc.org/youth/events/student-missions/sm-prayerneeds .
Yesterday afternoon I received a phone call from William, our pastor here in Jinja (on the left in the picture). He works as a teacher at a Secondary School here in Jinja. "Are you in town?" he asked me.
"Yes," I replied.
"Two of our students have been attacked by the demons."
"Should I come there?"
"Yes."
I found myself on the way to help two student who had been "attacked by the demons." I was a representative of the Kingdom of Light who had been called to come and help two who were prisoners of Darkness. I know that the Bible says that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Jesus and that in the name of Jesus, His followers also cast out demons. But this was real life! This is 2008! I will admit being a bit nervous as I stepped through the gate onto the campus.
I was directed to a building that was being used as a girls dormitory. I'm guessing there were about 25 bunk beds in the room. I saw a crowd of about twenty people in a circle. As I approached, I saw a girl who was maybe 16 years old writhing on the ground. I had never before seen a person completely out of control and not in his right mind. It was quite similar to how it is described in the Bible in Luke 9:42, "Even while the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground in a convulsion."
Before I arrived the demon had been speaking through the girl and saying many terrible things. The demon said that he had sent the girl to that school to kill another one of the students and to make another one go mad. She had been sent to poison another. The demon said there was witchcraft hidden on the school grounds in three locations. The demon in the second girl (who had already been delivered by the time I arrived) had said that he was going to kill the girl herself.
I stood there for several minutes taking in what was before me. Pastor William was standing over the girl with one foot on either side of her waist to keep her somewhat steady, but her whole body was convulsing. Some of the other believing students had gathered around her and were praying at the top of their voices demanding the demon to go. They had been there for over two hours. "What should I do?" I wondered. I just began to pray out loud, but quietly. "Holy Spirit of God, please come and fill this place. I command all powers of darkness to leave this place in the Name of Jesus." The demon left. The girl sat up. She was Sharon again. Her friends hugged her. Others began challenging the students to live prayerful lives and to accept Christ.
I had a chance to speak to the students gathered around, and to Sharon. I told them the story of how Jesus cast out the demon from the boy in Luke 9. I encouraged them to believe in Jesus and repent of their sins. I led them in a prayer of cleansing over the dormitory and the whole campus. It was a powerful moment as the situation had made hard hearts ready to listen.
Thank you so much for your prayers! The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost!
Nate
p.s. The family is doing very well. We hope to get a prayer letter out next week with more updates.
"Prayer is the nearest approach to God and the highest enjoyment of Him that we are capable of in this life." William Law
Thank you all for praying as I led and preached at Triumph Free Lutheran the 6th and the 20th. Pastor Ted and his wife Carla returned last night after a good long and well deserved vacation.
I am teaching on discipleship at the mission to the people that come from Nogales Mexico for food and clothing. The subject for this week (Thursday) was Baptism. Elicia came foreword after and said she wanted to learn more. She said she lives in Buenos Aires (were our church is located), so I told her about ours and invited her to come on Sundays and Wednesdays. What a joy to see here yesterday in Church.
We went to do our Bible study with Antonio last week, he was late, so we visited with his brother Raul who said because of his brother Antonio he was trying to get free of drugs. He is now 20 days off of them (I believe crystal methadone), yet he continues to drink. We had a good opportunity to share the Gospel with him. Now we need prayer that he would trust and receive Jesus. We'll see them again on Wednesday.
We finish our last class tonight to become foster parents. We need to begin to pray now that God would use us to minister to these kids and their parents here in Nogales.
The picture is Gracie and a neighbor friend Alfonso. Gracie asks for prayer for him and his family to become believers.
Thank you all for joining us in the "nearest approach" and the "highest enjoyment" this life has to offer... prayer to our Heavenly Father.
Your fellow workers,
Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie Jackson
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
A youth missions team left today, July 22 to minister in Brazil. The team is lead by Sam Menge (center). Students are Matthew Jordan, Evan Prachar, Josiah Nelson and Lydia Berger. They will be in Brazil for the next 21 days.
Please pray that God gives them a humble, learners spirit and that He will use them greatly.
We just came back home from our last doctor appointment. Miriam’s ultrasound result was good (cysts are almost completely gone) so that means we will be leaving Minnesota next Tuesday (July 29th)!!!! In just 8 days….We are very excited about this! Of course, leaving is bittersweet in the sense that it is always sad to say good-byes to friends and it is hard to leave a home congregation that is so loving and nurturing. But we know that Ukraine is where we are supposed to be and that’s why we are very excited to get back there soon!
We were able to take a week of vacation last week. Our friends let us use their lake cabin near Crosslake, MN. What a blessing! We loved every minute of our week up there. This is our favorite picture but you can see more pictures at http://www.chmiels.com/vacation/
We would like to ask you to pray for safe travel for us. Miriam will need to get a shot of Lovenox couple hours before our flight to prevent blood clots. We still need to find someone to help us with that. It is something you should be able to do yourself (esp. if you need this shot more often), but this is our first time so it will be a lot easier to ask someone who knows what they are doing .
Also, please pray for our Ukrainian visa situation. Our Ukrainian visa expires in October 2008. To renew your visa, you have to go to a Ukrainian consulate outside of Ukraine (we would need to travel to either Poland or the Czech Republic). We think it would be much better to renew our visa now, when traveling through Prague, than to finally get to Ukraine only to leave again two months later. But in order to be able to apply for our new visa, we need certain documents from the Lutheran Church in Ukraine. So far nobody was able to get those documents for us. So please pray that if it be God’s will for us to take care of the new visa now, pray that either our pastor in Lviv or the Lutheran Church headquarters in Odesa would be able to come up with the right documents soon.
Thank you so much! God bless you!
Tomasz and Miriam
The Steve Kvale's are AFLC Missionaries on loan to Wycliffe Bible Translators. The new Kvale Connection is hot off the press. Check it out by clicking on the picture at the right.
Greetings in Christ!
PRAISE is continually on our lips for:
· Safe travels over the last 2500 miles! We were getting a bit embarrassed as our car got louder in MI and the wearing out muffler made it’s presence known, but Jason thought it was cool to rumble! J
· God provided the exact amount needed for this repair in anonymous gifts last week! As we travel,
· God continues to add to our prayer partner team. Even one time when we stopped at a service station for a break, the attendant sensed our work to be for the Lord and she said, “What is your name? I want to pray for you.” We thank our Heavenly Father for whom He has called to partner with us in prayer. We are more and more mindful that it must be prayer covering this journey in obedience to His call.
· Doors continue to open and we are willing to walk through. Thank you so much for your prayers with us! We are at 55%!
Please PRAY for:
· Continued safe journeys, health, and peace as our adversary is working harder to discourage and distract us. We refuse to be discouraged because God is the God of all hope!
· Our new set of unknowns as God reveals His perfect plan for our assignment location. Pray that through the response of people receiving our latest newsletter this month God would reveal His affirming direction regarding assignment location and
· to reach our deadline/goal of being at 100% support by September/October of this year. Only 45% to go! Wycliffe Core Value #1 – “Believe God for the Impossible.”
· God’s blessings on the phone calling Steve does daily to get reconnected in current relationships and to establish new ones as the Lord leads and grows our ministry team.
· We keep our eyes on Jesus as we again decrease hours at Steve’s job effective August 1st and increase hours to focus on ministry. We take this step of faith as medical insurance will increase and we’ll continue to cover Jason’s orthodontist progress, etc. We are thankful God takes us step by step and we can learn more and more about what it means to trust and depend on God.
Again, please know that you are also in our prayers, and if you share your prayer requests with us too, we can pray more specifically! Bless you!
In Christ, Steve & Glenda Kvale & family
What a blessing to be back in the U.S.!! In fact, my travel from Kilimanjaro to Amsterdam on the 3rd as well as the final leg arriving in Seattle on the afternoon of the 4th went so smoothly that I was actually slightly ahead of schedule and had no problem making it to the Arlington 4th of July parade and then to the fireworks later on. God bless America!!
Our final days in Tanzania before coming home went smoothly. The graduation on June 29th was a blessing with many people attending. God also gave us safe travel on our motorcycles the following day to Arusha where we had just enough time to tie up some loose ends and finish our preparations and arrangements for being away from there for these next couple months.
Already, my time here has been busy but a huge blessing as well. It has been so good to see many of you and I look forward to seeing as many of the rest of you as possible before it is time for me to return to Tanzania. Part of the reason I am writing is to give you all a basic idea of what my schedule is looking like for the next couple months in case there are either presentations you would be interested in attending or open dates that you or your church would be interested in filling. Currently, I anticipate the following:
While I have not yet purchased the ticket for my return to Tanzania, it seems most likely that I will fly out of Seattle sometime around the end of September. As I have mentioned in previous updates, Waama Bible College will not begin classes again for the new school year until the second week of October but we anticipate returning somewhat early so that we have time to renew our residency permits, and take care of other formalities. Thank you so much for your ongoing prayers even as we are here in the U.S. Somehow, life never seems to slow down but it is certain that the preparation, rest, and support we will gain in these next couple months are of critical importance for success of our coming year of ministry. Thank you so much for your part. I do have a phone during this time. Feel free to call me at 425.737.8270.
God bless you all.
In Christ,
Jesse
All the email for the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations will be down for maintenance on Thursday, July 10. Emails will be stored and delivered as soon as the maintenance is completed. Emails for World Missions can be sent to delpaflc@msn.com on July 10.
June 29th marked the end of our second school year in Tanzania as we graduated the 42 students we taught this past year. It was a wonderful, God-centered celebration. The day after that, Jesse and I left for Arusha for a couple days of "down time". After saying goodbye to a number of our friends there, we departed the country for summer break.
Jesse left for Washington state and will stay in the US for the whole 3-month summer break. After a 64.5 hour trip, I finally arrived in Brazil. I am visiting my parents and younger brother and will be here for about 1.5 months of summer vacation. I will then head to Uganda for a month or so where I will work with my brother Nate on a curriculum he is developing for training pastors. We are also planning on doing some Jesus Film showings.
A special thanks to all of you who pray for me and support the ministry.
Your part in this work is indispensable. I was reminded the other day of just how important your prayers are - Jesse, myself, and three of our friends were taking a motorcycle trip to visit a missionary friend of ours. The lead motorcycle (driven by Eivind - an MAF pilot) was cruising along when a bike suddenly cut in front of him causing a crash.
Thankfully we weren't going fast and Eivind had full protective gear, including a helmet. The bicyclist escaped with a decent gash in his forehead and some bumps and bruises, but Eivend wasn't so lucky. When he fell, he hit his helmet on a rock and was knocked unconscious for about
4-5 minutes. After regaining consciousness he was very confused and didn't even start speaking for about 3 hours. The next morning he was doing much better but was flown to Nairobi, Kenya for further observation and tests. He is still there and is continuing well towards a full recovery. Who knows how many times we could have just as easily hit a motorcycle. We will never know this side of glory how many potential accidents were avoided because of your prayers. Thanks for praying and please continue to pray for Eivind as he recovers.
God bless you,
Ben
The new book Missionary Chronicles is now available from Ambassador Publications. The book is a great tool for family devotions as Pastor Kevin Olson describes below. It provides a direct connection between the reader and our AFLC missionaries. You can order the book from Ambassador Publications by calling 763-545-5631.
Our family has been going through the Missionary Chronicles book for family devotions. It has been interesting, encouraging and an unexpected tool for evangelism. This past week my daughter had a friend stay over night. The mission story that we read for the night described using the “Wordless Book” to share the gospel with children in India. As we read the story, we were sharing the gospel with my daughter’s friend at the same time.
If you haven’t ordered a copy of the book yet, do so. Read the wonderful works that the Lord has been doing through the people in the AFLC. Read about the many parts of the world that the Lord has been reaching into, but read it to hear the Lord speak to you and your calling in life as well.
Pastor Kevin Olson
"Activity is often at the expense of more solid, useful elements, and generally to the total neglect of prayer. To be too busy with God's work to commune with God, to be busy with doing church work without taking time to talk to God about His work, is the highway to backsliding, and many people have walked therein to the hurt of their immortal souls." E. M. Bounds
Wow, what a word! Let us seek Jesus and pray together brethren.
On Sunday while we were having a Bible study out in the front yard of Fransisco's house, his ten year old daughter (who has been coming regularly to Sunday School) identified a man walking down the street as the one who "put his hand on me and asked me to come with him to his house." So Fransisco called the police and they quickly came and picked him up. It seems other girls are afraid of him as well.
We finally got a chance to share the Gospel with Carina's husband Juan. She has come to church a time or two, their children more often. But we have wanted to share with Juan and finally did.
Pray for Omar who's mind is pretty messed up from drugs, he listens ok, but comes up with some pretty "off-the-wall" comments. God is doing a work in these people at the mission. But we need prayer.
I've been asked to help Pastor Ted Kennedy at Triumph Free Lutheran Church here in Nogales this Sunday, as well as on the 20th. So I'll have a pretty busy day Sunday going from Triumph to Buenos Aires then on to Mascareñas.
Thank you all for joining with us in the "more solid, useful elements" of "talking to God about His work." Your fellow workers,
Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie Jackson
"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8
The World Missions Committee has prayerfully sought God's direction and have set six priorities as visions and goals for the future. They include:
A brief explanation of the six priorities will appear here, one per day over the next six days. A more complete description can be found on our website by clicking on the photo above.
The World Missions Committee has prayerfully sought God's direction and have set six priorities as visions and goals for the future. They include:
A brief explanation of the six priorities will appear here, one per day over the next six days. A mobe found on our website by clicking on the photo above.
re complete description can
The World Missions Committee has prayerfully sought God's direction and have set six priorities as visions and goals for the future. They include:
A brief explanation of the six priorities will appear here, one per day over the next six days. A more complete description can be found on our website by clicking on the photo above.
The World Missions Committee has prayerfully sought God's direction and have set six priorities as visions and goals for the future. They include:
A brief explanation of the six priorities will appear here, one per day over the next six days. A more complete description can be found on our website by clicking on the photo above.
