Laura Redman & Kari Gudim Going to Ecuador

On May 19th, two rather inexperienced college girls are going to take a leap of faith into the mission field! Laura Redman and Kari Gudim will be going to Cuenca, Ecuador for five weeks.

We will be staying with Pastor and Mrs. Ulloa, the parents of AFLBS student Ruth Ulloa, a good friend of ours. Nearly a year ago they invited us to visit and spend time teaching English at one of the schools, discipling some of the youth, and trusting God to direct.

Laura has never been on a mission trip, I've only been on one, and neither of us have much experience with Spanish and no experience with teaching English. Despite all of this, we are thrilled about this poortunity to join God's work in Ecuador!

We would like to ask you to join us in prayer as we set off on this adventure of following God. Our prayer requests include:

• safe travel
• wisdom as we help teach and disciple
• the formation of friendships
• understanding of Spanish
• discernment to see other ways that we can serve our brothers and sisters in Ecuador

We know that without prayer and God's support, nothing we do will last for eternity, so thank you for brining us before the Throne of God.

We will be keeping a blog updated as much as possible while we are there. You can find it at www.LauraandKari.blogspot.com. Feel free to leave us comments too!

God bless you all!

Kari Gudim

Team of Five Going to Uganda

A group of five young adults will be traveling to Uganda on June 21 to July 20 to show the Jesus Film and evangelize under the guidance of Nate Jore. The group consists of Justin Strand, Sam and Rachel Mange, Joe Faldet and Micah Berger (not shown).

Ben Jore and Jesse Long will join the team from Tanzania where they have been showing the film on weekends.

Saturday, June 2 has been designated as a day for fasting and prayer for this campaign. We know prayer is vital because of the spiritual opposition that is sure to accompany this film showing. The plans are coming together well so far. Please pray for the team from the States and Tanzania who are preparing to assist in this campaign and who will be arriving in just a month.

"We will bury you within 10 days..."

"Bless the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits..."

Hello dear friends,

Thank you for blessing us with your prayers. We have all been healthy now for the past couple of weeks. The Lord has been faithful. We have recently become aware of some difficult situations around us. The Devil is busy doing his work of stealing, killing, and destroying, and we need your continued prayers to stand against him.

• One young man, a member of our church, is in need of our prayers. He was informed by members of his clan that the demons had selected him to come back to the village and serve full-time in the shrines. They said that the demons had selected him even before he was born and that now it was time for him to fulfill his role. He refused, saying that now he is following the Lord and is free from that bondage. They responded that the demons would come and kill him. "We will bury you within 10 days," they told him. He is not worried because he is confident in the Lord's power over darkness. However, he has been experiencing a lot of spiritual oppression since they came to him.

• A neighbor girl who frequently comes over to play with our boys and to help Rhoda in the kitchen was raped this past week. She is twelve years old and has had to go to the hospital since the incident. Sin is so ugly.

• Another neighbor woman confided to us this weekend that her husband beats her and is "very dangerous." He does not work so she has been trying to provide for the needs of her family but is struggling to make enough money to pay for her kids' education.

• The lady that has lived on our compound and helped Rhoda with housecleaning since shortly after we arrived in November just moved out this past week. She left us with many unanswered questions and concerns, and we were hurt by her deceitfulness to us. We all loved and trusted her and are saddened by her leaving. She just came to the Lord in January, and we are praying, first of all, that her commitment to follow Jesus was real, and if so, that she would stand strong in her young faith as she goes now to live with Muslim family members.

• The "Jinja for Jesus Crusade" just completed here. It sounds wonderful, but the "heavily annointed woman of God" leading it preaches a message that is purely health, wealth, and prosperity. It is so blatant that people are invited to come and receive prayer only after giving money. Benny Hinn was also just here this past weekend announcing, "come and receive your miracle... you will not leave empty-handed." There is a real battle for the truth. The great majority of churches are moving in the direction of prosperity theology. I am thankful that our churches have not gone after that, but we are still concerned that this false teaching here in Uganda is spreading.

• Please join us in prayer for the Jesus Film Campaign we are holding that will run from June 27 - July 15. We have designated Saturday, June 2 as a day for fasting and prayer for this campaign. We know prayer is vital because of the spiritual opposition that is sure to accompany this film showing. The plans are coming together well so far. Please pray for the team from the States and Tanzania who are preparing to assist in this campaign and who will be arriving here in just a month.

Thank you to all who have let us know you are praying for Rhoda's Sunday School kids since we mentioned them in our last prayer update. We have attached a couple pictures of a few of the regulars.

Thank you for standing with us!

In Him, Nate, Rhoda, Elijah, & Judah

Stephanie Nelson to Minister in Nepal

My name is Stephanie Nelson, daughter of Randy Nelson, the pastor of Lisbon Bethlehem Lutheran Church in IL.

After going on a week-long mission trip with my youth group last summer, God made it clear that He had more mission work planned for me. Over the last eight months He guided me as I made the decision to spend this summer serving Him in Nepal, a small country between China and India. I will be going with a group of other teenagers from across the nation from June 23 - August 1 through Royal Servants International. We will spend time doing lots of street ministry and evangelism, as well as volunteering in an orphanage, sharing the love of Jesus with isolated leper colonies, and various other service projects. I am so incredibly thankful that God has provided me with this opportunity; I cannot wait to go share Jesus with the people of Nepal! Though at times it can be overwhelming, it is so encouraging to know that Jesus will go with me everywhere; He'll never leave my side. And this promise is for all of us! May the Lord continue to bless each of you as you support His work!

Thank you for this opportunity to share; it's always exciting to talk about how God is working!

Stephanie Nelson

Couples Retreat at the ARCA

This weekend, May 18-20, the ARCA is hosting a couples retreat for the married couples in our churches. We are expecting 25-30 couples. There is a real need to strengthen marriages and families so that the work of the church can go forward.

We appreciate your prayers for us as we teach and share from God’s Word. Pray for open hearts, willingness to make changes to improve relationships, and growth in fellowship between the participants. Next week we’ll let you know how things went.

Rain is predicted for 5 days now. We are in the midst of remodeling the ARCA kitchen and the roof is not finished yet, so this presents a few challenges.

“Blessed are all who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways.” Ps. 128:1

Investing in lives for the glory of God,

Paul and Becky Abel

Prayer Requests from Nate Jore

Listed below are a couple of prayer requests from Nate Jore

• We are seriously looking into a vehicle that we could purchase as soon as the end of this week. It is a 1990 Nissan Terrano and would be the kind of vehicle we would need to get back into the bush. Please pray for the Lord’s will to be done; for an open door or a closed one.

• I would like to designate Saturday, June 2 as a day for fasting and prayer for the Uganda Jesus Film Campaign. Ben and Jesse’s latest updates have reminded me of the spiritual opposition that is likely to accompany such a mission and that we need to do battle on our knees. We will be having a pastor’s meeting that day from this end and will commit that time to prayer. I would encourage praying for each showing in each village as well as all the preparation details from the US team, Ben and Jesse, the pastors on the ground, and me overseeing the campaign.

Thanks for praying,
Nate

News from Darwin Jacksons

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:26,27

"...prayer is partnership with God in His planet-sized purposes, and includes the 'all things' beside, as an important detail of the whole." S.D. Gordon

Mary, Mary Ann's mom is doing pretty well considering she has been given only a few more months to live. She is able to walk now from that fall she had. She was up for most of the day the other day cooking, visiting and just enjoying life. My girls are doing good. We miss one another, but are very thankful they can spend this precious time with Mary.

My little brother Lenny has been spending a lot of time with Gracie, as well as visiting Mary Ann and her mom. My brother isn't a Christian yet, but is coming very close. He even took his family to church last Sunday (which is a huge step for him). Please pray for him and his family to come to Jesus soon. They are actually on-the-road right now as they are taking their oldest daughter April to her grandparents in Pensilvania. She has been really giving them a hard time lately (not going to school, staying out all night, maybe drugs, hitting mom and sister) and have decided it's best if she leave for awhile.

I visit Calvary Free Lutheran Church in Everett WA. this Sunday. The time I spent with Atonement Free Lutheran sparked practical talks later on how to practically implement evangelism locally as well as "partnership with God in His planet-sized purposes." I'm also mentoring a brother at our home congregation (Elim Free Lutheran) in evangelism a couple of times each week. Pray for us as we make visits in the neighborhood.

Praise the Lord that as we partner with God to "make disciples of all nations", we can receive His peace as we bring the details of our daily needs as well. I praise God for you as well for partnering with us in prayer.

Your fellow workers,
Darwin, Mary Ann and Gracie Jackson

Update from Jesse Long

We took this picture during a recent weekend of ministry in the village of Donya. It is of the father of one of our students. I just thought you might enjoy how photogenic he is. It was one of those days we felt like we were living inside National Geographic.

Thank you for your prayers on my behalf as I was in Arusha. The week ended up going different than we had hoped but we were able to finally get the speaker fixed on Friday and still do Jesus Film showings in three different locations that weekend. We have been encouraged in a new way to pray that God would protect all our equipment and allow it to function well for a long time to come.

I would also like to ask prayer for a student of ours whose name is Paulo. I think I mentioned him to some of you a couple months ago because I was amazed that he was here at school even though his wife was at home having their fifth baby. Several weeks ago we actually had the opportunity to make a trip with Paulo to see his village, do a film showing at his church, and meet his family. We even got to hold his new little baby!! Well, on Tuesday morning this past week, Paulo came to our door to get some help with bus money to go home. He had just received a call from someone back in his village informing him that his new baby had just died. They said the baby was being spoon-fed milk by the mother and apparently it went down the “wrong pipe” causing it to stop breathing and ultimately pass away. Pray for all involved in the situation: siblings, parents, extended family, church members, and neighbors. It seemed like Paulo was taking it ok but I’m sure that when we saw him (within 15 minutes of getting the news) he had not even had time to comprehend the reality of the situation completely. We pray comfort for all and that God would somehow work good – as only He can – even through this bad situation.

Please continue to pray for all of our weekend ministry opportunities. It is often easy to get frustrated or to feel like there is no visible fruit, but we know there is – why else would the Enemy be trying to put up so many obstacles (equipment failures, competing groups, delayed transportation, etc.)? Furthermore, we received some wonderful encouragement during one of our most recent film showings. The student whose home congregation we were visiting explained that it was actually at a Jesus Film showing just like the one he was now helping to host that he had been saved! How exciting to see this man (who had stumbled in as a drunk those eight years ago) now standing before 750+ people to preach the Gospel! He will be returning as lay pastor of that church after his June 24th graduation here at Waama. God is working and building His Church…even in the most unexpected ways.

One final prayer request: Please pray that God would protect and even multiply the crops here at Waama. We have been receiving a lot of rain in recent days and at this point in the year rain can actually damage and even destroy the corn crop.

Thank you all for your faithfulness. May God continue to richly bless you as you serve Him in your assigned mission field.

In Him,

Jesse

Prayer Request from Dan Giles

Could you pray for Samuel, an eight-year old boy in our church, who was bitten by a poisonous Brown Recluse spider a few days ago and is in the hospital here in Jerez?

A Dream Come True - History of the ARCA

"He who promised is faithful." Heb. 10:23b

Paul and Becky Abel have always enjoyed working with youth, especially in a camp setting. They dreamed of one day having a camp of their own. In July of 1991, Paul eyed an advertisement for a farm for sale outside of the city. The ad mentioned a beautiful property with electricity, city water, phone, bus service, two small houses and a large rabbit barn. The following day they took a leisurely drive away from the busy city to a rural area with rolling hills and small farms. The property was picturesque and the view spectacular as they enjoyed taking a look at the little wooden cabin and small caretaker's cabin before touring the "eyesore" on the property - a large concrete rabbit barn - 160 ft. X 30 ft. As the real estate agent tried to take attention away from the barn, Paul and Becky were already imagining how the building could easily be transformed into a retreat center with dorms at each end and a chapel and dining hall in the middle. There was plenty of space for ball fields and woods galore for hiking on the 21-acre property. What a find! Only one problem - no money!

As they drove back to the city the agent explored their financial resources and soon discovered that the only remote possibility of closing a deal would be dependent on the sale of their home in the city. An hour later the agent appeared on their doorstep with the couple who owned the farm. After a quick tour of the house and property the husband consulted with his wife and promptly asked if the Abels would be willing to trade their home in the city for the farm. By the end of the afternoon the Abels were proud owners of a beautiful farm. Only God can orchestrate circumstances in such perfect precision!

Paul and Becky are very thankful for friends who loaned them funds to add on to the little house on the farm and six months later in January 1992 they moved to the country. They donated seven acres of land and the big concrete rabbit barn to the Free Lutheran work and established a non-profit organization called the ARCA. ARCA stands for Acampamento e Retiro Cristão da Associação which means Christian Camp and Retreat Center of the Association. The simple word "arca" in Portuguese means "ark" and is descriptive of the large camp building set into the wooded hillside. As God was faithful to Noah and all His people throughout history, He has been faithful in providing for all the needs of this developing ministry. During that first year the Lord moved in the hearts of many to miraculously provide for the transformation of the rabbit barn into a camp building. Donations and volunteers appeared regularly to complete the rustic camp building in time for a Free Lutheran Youth Convention in September 1992. 200 people gathered to praise God for His faithfulness in making a dream come true.

Since that first retreat many improvements have been made on the camp and several church groups have enjoyed the blessing of spending time at the retreat center. Thousands of lives are touched through this ministry every year as people get away from the distractions and busyness of everyday life and are immersed in the beauty of God's creation and in the teaching of His Word. The camp is fully equipped to host 120 people comfortably. It is used several times a year for Free Lutheran camps and retreats for children, teens, couples, and families. The remaining weekends are available for other evangelical churches to rent the facilities. As the Word of God is preached and taught souls have come into the Kingdom, and men and women have been called into deeper commitment to Jesus, and some have gone into full-time ministry.

Missionaries Paul and Becky Abel manage the camp as part of their church-planting ministry. The ARCA is a faith project, maintained by rental fees and volunteer contributions. The beautiful grounds and facilities are a testimony of His provision through many generous groups and individuals. In recent years a gymnasium was built which has increased the outreach of the camp ministry. A Brazilian couple, Carlos and Yara, work alongside the Abels in this ministry.

What began as a place to multiply rabbits became a place to multiply souls for the kingdom of God. Praise God who gives the increase! The ARCA continues to depend on the promise from God's Word which they have chosen as a theme verse – “He who promised is faithful.” Hebrew 10:23b Dreams (according to God’s will) really do come true!

Jesus Film Shown to Large Crowds in Tanzania

We got started right away with our village ministry for this term the weekend of April 20-22. It was a wonderful weekend during which we were able to show the Jesus Film in two different villages and participate in 2 different Sunday services. Between the two showings, we estimate around twelve-hundred people were in attendance. Most of these were not a regular part of their local church. The showings were not without their challenges, however.. At the bigger of the two showings (attended by over 750 people), another religious group was having some sort of “special meetings” at the school which was right next to the church. Unfortunately, rather than being willing to peacefully co-exist, they seemed to be more interested in trying to compete. They not only aimed their speaker in our direction but turned it up as loud as they possibly could. They even had people at the back of our group trying to get people to come instead to their meeting. For as loud as they were being you would have thought they had an attendance of several hundred, too, but it was actually only about 50-60. There was really nothing we could do except pray…which we did more than we ever have before. We trust, despite the distraction, that God’s Word was heard and will have an impact. Please continue to pray for us each weekend. We have seen more struggles, complications, and technical difficulties in recent weeks than ever before.

In fact, this past weekend (April 27-29), we were in the village of Donya. During those days we estimate a total attendance of about 1300! Unfortunately, on Friday about 20 minutes into our first showing, our speaker started doing some scratching and cutting out. We were able to finish and then used some of the local church’s equipment the second night. However, now I am in Arusha getting our speaker fixed at the shop we purchased it from. We decided that Ben would stay back to teach the classes during these days and I would go get this taken care of. Fixing it as soon as possible was absolutely critical as we have many village film showings scheduled in the next couple weeks…the first two being this Friday/Saturday.

Plans continue to be laid for the Uganda Evangelistic campaign we will be participating in after Waama’s June 24^th graduation. Please continue to hold this time up in prayer. Pray not only for the preparations that Ben and I are making at this time but also for Nate and Rhoda who are heading up the work in Uganda as well as 5 others who will be coming from the States to help with the campaign (June 24-July 17).

Beyond these specific things, we praise God for His overall provision and protection which we experience on a daily basis. With the many kilometers we travel across poor roads, and the food we eat in these different villages, it really is a testimony to God’s faithfulness that we have never had any major incidences. A small reminder came last term during one of our showings. After setting up, our driver parked the car right next to an 8-foot hole (neither Ben or I knew it was there). I have no idea what it was for…there is a lot of random stuff like that around here (I’m mostly just glad it was not a hole for waste). Anyway, we had walked past it several times in the dark and during the showing Ben and I were resting in the truck. When it was nearing the end, we climbed out of the truck and were going to get ready for the closing. As I climbed out and stepped back to let Ben climb out, I fell right into this hole (!) and twisted my knee. Thankfully, over the past month and a half, it has almost completely healed and we praise God for that little reminder of His protection at times when we don’t even realize it! OK…well I don’t know why I thought to tell that story right now…sorry.

Keep the prayers coming! We need them every day. Thank you again for your part and I look forward to seeing many of you in July/August!

In Him,

Jesse Long

Darwin Jacksons on Furlough

"God hold us to that which drew us first, when the Cross was the attraction, and we wanted nothing else."

Amy Carmichael

Amy prayed that prayer when she overheard some first-class passengers on a ship comment that a missionary has "a very good time," in other words, they've got it easy.

We had great fellowship with our new friends at Grace Free Lutheran in Vally City North Dakota. We left that afternoon to make our way to Washington. We made it as far as Dickinson Montana. There we learned that Mary Ann's mom had fallen and sprained her foot so that she couldn't walk, on top of the news that she has cancer. So I put the girls on a plane the next afternoon (which was no small miracle) from Dickinson to San Diego so that they could take care of her, and I kept driving to WA. Pray that Mary Ann and Gracie will have God's peace, wisdom and grace to minister and be ministered to as they help there in San Diego.

I have spent the week so far getting reacquainted with lots of dear brethren that we've known since we came to Christ in 1989. They have treated me like a king, with food, lodging, even the keys to their car if I so need. Washington is all a-bloom with leaves and flowers, sooooo soft on the eyes. A super contrast to that of Mexico's dusty brown trash infested cement covered environment we become accustomed to. It would be easy to seek "the good life" of all this beauty and friendship. So, I can relate to Amy's prayer, "God hold us to that which drew us first."

I'll be at Atonement Free Lutheran Church in Arlington tomorrow for their annual mission fair. Do pray God has His way amongst us, and that many would be "attracted to the Cross, and want nothing else."

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

Prayer Requests from Todd Schierkolk

Dear praying friends,

Would you please pray for Yovana again. She is the six-year-old girl who has a bad heart. She already had surgery once but it apparently did not accomplish what it was supposed to. She is currently back in Mexico City for more tests to see if she’ll need to undergo another surgery. Yovana comes to our Tuesday Kid’s Club. Her cousins bring her in a stroller.

Would you also pray for Karla (5th grade) and her brother, Brian (1st grade). They also come to the Tuesday club. Their father was killed when something spooked the horse he was on and fell on top of him. In the attached picture, Karla is in the pink, blue and white striped sweater and her little brother is standing right in front of her in the two-toned blue hooded sweatshirt.

Please pray for my family, too. We’ve had an inordinate number of illnesses in these past 4 months among the 5 of us Schierkolks. And also for Dan and Debbie as they travel back to Jerez after their 8-month deputation in the United States.

Thanks so much,

Todd Schierkolk

Chmiels in Czeck Republic

In our last email update we wrote to you about our time in Ukraine. But the pictureis not from Ukraine. As some of you know we had to come to the Czech Republic (where our citizenship is) to take care of some paperwork – Miriam’s name was still Miriam Novotna on all her Czech documents, Tomasz needed a new passport, our Czech driver’s licenses are expiring soon etc. But we are also using this as an opportunity to spend a little bit of time with our families, visit the churches where we grew up, and reconnect with some of our friends.

But even though we are enjoying our time in Prague (Prague is beautiful! Come visit!!) and other parts of the Czech Republic, we are eager to be in Ukraine soon. We study Ukrainian every day and we hope to permanently move to L’viv at the end of next month. Please pray that God would clearly guide us in this move. We would, for example, like to buy some furniture for our new apartment in IKEA in Poland and we even have a guy who is willing to bring it for us to L’viv but we are still trying to figure out what exactly is the correct and legal way to do this. From what we know we should somehow be able to get the Polish taxes back in order to be able to pay the tax in Ukraine. But so far all we hear is that most people just pay something to the customs officers at the border and they let them go without doing it the “official way.” But we really want to do it the right way. We know there is a lot of corruption in Ukraine and we do not want to add to it in any way.

Another thing that you can pray for is our visa interview at the US embassy here in Prague on May 10 (Tomasz’s birthday ☺ ). As you probably remember we applied for our new US visa when we were still in the States but the case was pending and pending so this March we left for Europe without it. We need our US visa to be able to be employed by our American mission organization and also to be able to come back to the States on furloughs. So please pray that if it be God’s will that we would get this visa without any problems.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and your friendship!

Tomasz and Miriam

Pastor Prabhudas Has Surgery

Pastor Prabhudas, from India was finally able to have open heart surgery. From all reports the surgery was a success and he is doing well. You may remember that Pastor Prabhudas has needed this surgery for some time and had even gone in to the hospital to have it only to be sent back home. Praise God that he has been able to have the surgery.

Passion Play at the ARCA

The church in Bateias presented the Passion Play at the ARCA on three consecutive nights. The Lord answered our prayers and disregarded the weather report for rain, blessing us with clear skies each night.




This is the fourth year we have presented the reenactment of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. New scenes were added this year and Andrew re-recorded all the sound tracks. He is pictured above in his light and sound booth. Matthew did a fine job as the Apostle John and even led a real mule in the Triumphal Entry scene. The play was presented to about 1000 people this year and we pray that all who attended have been impacted by the message. MTI students Brent and Wade were with us to help out during the weekend as well.

Becky Abel

Update from Ben Jore

Life has continued to go very well here in Tanzania. The second term here at Waama finished a week before Easter. It was a very good, but long semester. Both Jesse and I were exhausted by the end. We had shown the Jesus Film at a different place almost every weekend. We took the first week of our Easter Break to do two Jesus Film showings. One was a regular multi-village trip. The other was at a region-wide Youth Rally. Jesse and I were also given the sermon slot in the opening session. We taught about 800 youth the Roman's Road. It was a nice way to finish out the term.

We then had about a week of Easter Break left. We decided that we should go to Zanzibar. It was a good choice. The warm, blue-green ocean, white-sand beaches, the palm trees, and a couple rented motorcycles proved to be therapeutic. It was a much needed chance to get away and recoup. We came back to Waama, ready to tackle our third and final term. Classes were supposed to start on April 17, but by the 20th, only 10 of the 45 students had returned from Easter Break. We still don't have all the students back as of the 23rd, but we have started classes none-the-less. We have a very busy schedule again this term. All of our weekends are booked, most with Jesus Film trips. We are also teaching full-time during the week. This term we are teaching I Timothy, Daniel, Computer, English, Guitar, and Keyboard.

Jesse and I are also looking forward to this summer. We have been invited to go to Uganda for 3.5 weeks for a Jesus Film showing campaign. We will be working with my brother, Nate, and his family and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Uganda. A team of 5 from the US will be coming over for that time and we are hoping to show the Jesus Film about 20 times during that trip! We are excited to see what the Lord will do through that ministry.

Thanks to all for your prayers! Just a couple of days ago we heard a story that again reminded us of God's hand of protection over us. One of our coworkers had traveled to Arusha (nearest big city which we visit frequently) to buy a solar panel. The morning after he arrived, he went to the store. On the way, he was robbed at gunpoint. When he reported it to the police, they said that he was lucky to come out alive as a couple of people were shot and killed during a robbery the day before. Who knows how many times your prayers have spared us from unknown dangers.

God bless you,

Ben

Update from the ARCA

In the beginning of March we held an 8-day tent Evangelism campaign in a village between Bateias and Campo Largo. Paul’s folks were the motivation behind this outreach and we are happy to report of several decisions for Christ and new people coming to church. The person that stands out in my mind is a man named Antonio who gave his heart to the Lord during the special meetings. Antonio had been an alcoholic for many years. He has not had a drop to drink since his decision during the campaign and is so thrilled to come to church and be a part of his new family!

Andrew was a great help during the week of meetings. He recorded an announcement and went around the neighborhood inviting people to come to the meetings using a loudspeaker mounted on the pickup. He made another recording to invite people to the Passion Play for Easter weekend. Presently Andrew is helping with another evangelism campaign in Londrina with his grandparents, John and Ruby Abel.

Check out Lumppio's Newsletter

Tom and Lidia Lumppio are graduates of AFLBS and the Ministry Training Institute oof AFLBS. They are missionaries with World Mission Prayer League stationed in Mexico.

You can find read their newsletter by clicking on the link below. To view it just click on the link and then click on April 07.
http://groups.google.com/group/from-the-branches

Do you know of other AFLC members who are missionaries? We would love to tell their story on our News and Prayer Page. Just send us the news and a picture or two.

Judah's Turn

We appreciate all your prayers for Elijah last week! His fever broke on Thursday night & he's been regaining his strength ever since. Today he was back to his usual energetic self which was wonderful. He didn't break out in a rash after his fever broke, so we've ruled out Roseola as the virus he had. We're sure it was a virus, but not sure which virus it was. We are thankful it wasn't malaria.

Elijah has been learning to share, but we were hoping he wouldn't share his sick germs with his little brother. Unfortunately, Judah came down with it yesterday. His fevers haven't been as high yet as Elijah's were, and we're praying that he won't be hit as hard as Elijah was. We gave him a malaria test this morning to rule that out & thankfully it was negative. We'd appreciate your prayers as he battles whatever this is.

Nate spent the night in a village a few hours away this past Saturday night and then preached the following morning at our church in Nairika. There were 120 people there & half of them were kids! (most of the churches average less than 20 per Sunday) There were also 11 baptisms that morning - 8 kids & 3 adults. It was exciting for Nate to see the spiritual hunger amongst the people there.

Thank you for your prayers!

Nate, Rhoda, Elijah & Judah

Waama Starts Third Term

Greetings from the beautiful campus of Waama Bible College! Easter break is over and it is time for the third and final term for this school year to begin. Since I last wrote, much has happened…

• By way of progress on the campus, the well is not only completely dug but has even been constructed and is ready for the pump to be set!! Due to some recent special gifts, progress is also being made on the new library, bathrooms, etc.
  
• The weekend before Easter we made our trip to the region of Katesh as planned to do a couple Jesus Film showings. That weekend, our total attendance was around 650 people. That Sunday (Palm Sunday) we attended the central church for that district as they were hosting a choir competition. Upon our arrival, we were made Judges rather than just attendees!! That was a little nerve-racking. See our blog for more pictures (www.benandjesse.blogspot.com).
• The youth Easter conference the following week was also a blessing. Despite the fact that our evening film showing was rained out, the opening service which was held inside was a blessing with over 800 youth. Ben and I were the main speakers. We presented the “Romans Road” method of evangelism.
• That Saturday was a BIG DAY. My sister, Anna, and her fiancé, Dary Fink, were married in Washington D.C. at 11am!! Thank you so much for your prayers on their behalf. Great strides continue to be made in his health and they are both doing very well.
• That was also the day that Ben and I began our Easter break. It was good to see Christy and spend Easter Sunday at an international church in Arusha…singing English hymns. On Monday, Ben and I continued on to Dar Es Salaam where we were able to secure our Tanzanian Tax Identification Numbers. On Tuesday, we took a 2 hour, express-ferry ride out to Zanzibar. It was a wonderful place to spend about 4 days of our Easter break. Mostly we just rested but we were also able to check out some dolphins, go snorkeling, run around the island on some rented motorcycles, etc. It is another one of God’s blessings for something like that to be in our backyard when people from all over the world pay thousands of dollars to have the same experience. Soon, there will be pictures of all this on the blog, too.
• Now we are back at Waama. Students are arriving today and they hope to start classes up already tomorrow. We are excited about all that the next couple months will hold: Our Bible classes this term are Daniel and Galatians; weekends will be full of village ministry trips; and much planning is going into the Uganda Jesus Film trip which will follow graduation in late June and proceed travel to the States. Pray for Ben as he also considers going to the States during the same time to see his parents who will be on furlough from Brazil and his oldest brother who will also be on furlough from the mission field in Papua New Guinea.

There is always more that could be said but I am really trying to be more brief this time than the last couple emails. God bless you all for the blessing you are to my life through your prayers, letters, encouragement, and support in other ways.

In Christ,

Jesse Long

You Must See Keinanen's Video Report on Uganda

For the last time concerning our time in Uganda, Greetings.

We would like to give you a quick update. We have been back home from Uganda for 17 days. In those 17 days we have often asked ourselves if we had even gone to Africa. It seemed like such a blur to us. We still find it very hard to express what we experienced. There are no words that will serve justice. Often we have found ourselves 'speechless.' People have come up to us and asked us how our trip was. We give them this blank smile, as if searching for a word, but can't find it. Pastor Jonathan has described it best in this way: It is like asking a married couple how 'married' life is, at the reception of their wedding. Our trip was great!, but I do not now why - it just was! To me that speaks great volume to God's greatness. He does things that we cannot describe. So we must go out and experience that ourselves. Kelly and I are glad we had that opporunity. For those that have been on short term missions, you know what I am talking about.

Again, thank you for your prayers. We are getting back up to 100% healthy again. I was sick with some digestive problems, flu-like symptoms, and head-aches. Kelly has been unable to sleep. We think that is due to her malaria medication. We only have one more week of that.

If you have 15 minutes in your day, and you would like to get somewhat of an idea of what we did over there, check out this video: www.makikalem.net/uganda/Uganda_overview.WMV. I trust you will enjoy it! We look forward to sharing more personal stories as time goes on.

Thanks again for partnering with us!

Daniel & for Kelly too

Jonathan Abel's Coming Home on Furlough

“And I have declared unto them Thy name and will declare it: that the love wherewith Thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them.”

John 17:26

Dear Friends,

Greetings to you from Maringá, City of Song (Cidade Canção)! It is with singing that we Praise our Father who has blessed us here. Since we came to Maringa in October of 2004, we met as a church in our home until last September. We were then offered the free use of an English school and have been enjoying meeting there. However, the school is already getting too small for us and we are seriously praying and looking for a property or place to buy for a permanent church. We have seen our people grow in the Lord and prosper in their lives.

Our church celebrated Good Friday (with Communion) and Easter with breakfast and a special service in our home. A Japanese couple, one of our city’s many Japanese decendents with Budhist’ beliefs and traditions came to church. We have been trying to reach them for Jesus. The message of hope through Jesus’ cross was clearly laid out. Please pray for Holy Spirit to work in this couple so they can be set free from their strong beliefs in reincarnation and be trully saved!

Another man, Paulo, came too. He recently had his leg amputated and needs the Lord! Pray for his salvation as well!

We will be taking a short furlough (June – Sept.). We plan to attend the Annual Conference, FLY, camps, and etc. We hope to see many of you. Our kids are very excited to be able to see their special friends back home. Our schedule is still being worked out, please check with World Missions for details.

If there is one message we always wish to convey to you all is: please remember us in your prayers! We treasure this and your friendship and your news!

With a song of thanksgiving in our hearts,

Jonathan, Tamba, April, Tommy & Michelle Abel

Not Malaria - Continue to Pray

Thank you for praying & for sending us so many encouraging emails.

Turns out that Elijah does not have malaria! His fever has stayed consistently high these last few days, only going down when we've given him medicine. His temp got up to 104.8 under his arm last night which was concerning.

The missionary nurse, Evelyn, who has been helping us took Elijah and me to the clinic again this morning to run a few more tests. She thought it might be some kind of bacterial infection but wanted to make sure before putting him on antibiotics. Everything looked normal, so she concluded that it's simply a virus that needs to run its course. She suspects roseola, but we won't know for a few days since a rash typically breaks out after 4-5 days of high fever.

I don't think we'd be as concerned about a high fever in our boys if we were in the States, but being that we're in a country where there are myriads of serious illnesses and diseases floating around, we're a bit more alert to the potential dangers.

Please continue to pray! Please pray not only that Elijah would recover and heal soon, but that we wouldn't give in to fear. As we said before, it is a great comfort to know that God is in control.

In Him,

Rhoda & the boys

Pray for Elijah Jore - Malaria??

Happy Easter, dear friends & family,

Just wanted to ask you all to pray for Elijah. I (Rhoda) took him into the clinic this morning for a malaria test because he'd had a high fever since the night before. He tested positive so they prescribed some medication for him to take over the next 4 days. Nate called while I was there saying he thought Judah might also have it as he was running a fever.

He was scheduled to preach this morning, so I called a friend to come & stay with Elijah at the house while I took Judah in. I got tested as well just in case, but our tests both came back negative. Elijah's fever steadily got higher as the day progressed, despite our giving him his 1st dosage of medicine, as well as acetaminophen. When his temp got up to 104 under his arm, I called another missionary in town who's a nurse asking her advice. She came over promptly with a home malaria test kit, ibuprofen & juice. She tested Elijah again & it came out negative. She then checked his ears & throat & they were both a bit pink so she wondered if he simply had some kind of viral infection that needed to run its course. She recommended staying on the malaria medication just in case her test wasn't showing positive because he was in the early stages of it. She said to call her again if his fever continues to stay high or if he begins to complain of a sore throat.

Regardless of what he has, would you pray for him? He's had some pretty low moments today, but has been a trooper. We hate to see our little guy suffer, but we take comfort in the fact that God is in control. We'll keep you posted.

Thanks for standing with us.

In Him,

Rhoda & the boys

Introducing New Missionary Candidate - Justo Pillman

The World Missions Committee has accepted Justo Pillman as a missionary candidate with AFLC World Missions. Justo is the son of Pastor Paul and Josie Pillman. The Pillmans were missionaries in Ecuador with World Mission Prayer League. Justo grew up in Ecuador and speaks Spanish as well as English.

Justo is currently employed as an electrical engineer and desires to be a lay missionary, possibly in a tentmaking role. He is open to the Lord's leading as to the field in which he would work.

Becoming missions candidate is one of the first steps in being accepted and called as a missionary. A number of things are yet to be determined before Justo would receive a call and be commissioned. Those would include the question of whether or not he will be in a tentmaking role and where he would serve. Be in prayer for Justo and the World Missions Committee that they will be sensitive to God's leading in these matters.