Kids’ Club II (Video)
Here’s a video of July’s second kids’ club. Thanks so much to those of you who prayed! I really felt the Lord used your prayers on the last day.
Ministry glimpses
If you’d like to pray for kids’ club tomorrow…
I recorded this audio post about the kids’ club in the van, so excuse the background noise. You’ll be able to hear the siren from the gas truck (just stop the truck if your house needs gas) and later on briefly the clanging bell of the garbage truck (time to take out your garbage – don’t forget to tip the garbage man!).
Anyway, listen for news about the week and a prayer request for tomorrow morning.
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Gospel, gunshots, tumours, dog bites, and more to ponder and pray about
Here are a few bits of current news. Some of it is too current for the prayer requests page (which I only update once a month roughly), so I’m stopping by to give you a summary:
- Men’s Day – or, part of a day. Today I’ll be heading down the hill a little ways to get together with some of the men from our church. We would appreciate your prayers for the growth of the men in our church (including me, of course!). I’ll be over there around 2pm local time for the afternoon/evening.
- Dog bite – On Thursday (19 Jul) Caleb (14), a part of the Downs family was bitten by a dog. Apparently he was walking by some teenagers that were sitting there with a dog, and the dog just latched onto his arm in a split second. The actual damage wasn’t bad, but it ripped his shirt and did break the skin. He went to the hospital for shots, and now they’re looking for the dog to see if it had its shots. So far, Caleb seems to be fine.
- Reaching children – This week two "summer missionaries", two Mexican teens, will be coming to our church to do a kids’ club. We’re hoping that the momentum will continue to build from last weeks’ club. Between the youth events and children’s events last week, I heard that about 80 people heard the Gospel. Lord willing we’ll be able to help a little this week. Read more about the previous kids’ club at the O’Brien’s site here, or see a quick video of the kids’ club a week ago Wednesday here. Read a brief explanation of the summer missionaries program here.
- Summer interns – Bill and Alyssa, summer interns, left last week after a week of language school. Now Crystal and Sara (did I spell that right?) are here now and for the next two weeks, sharing and learning at the university and beyond.
- Brain tumour – Some of you read our earlier entry (or email update) about Kaitlyn, the little girl who had the primary brain tumour. Kaitlyn is part of a missionary family from the USA. There’s lots of good news there – first, it looks like the tumour was non-cancerous. Second, it looks like they got it all in the surgery. However, she’s really had a struggle with all the surgeries, with the strong medication she’s been on, and all the other factors that go along with being in a strange place and going through a traumatic situation. You can read more on Kaitlyn Contreras’ website. The family could use your prayers more than ever.
- Kenya and Sudan – Shari’s sister Amy is scheduled to arrive in Sudan on Tuesday (24 Jul). She’s still in Nairobi, Kenya. She sent some of her belongings on ahead in a truck. The truck was stopped by bandits, and one of the drivers was shot. As far as they know the items in the truck are still there, but I think the tires were shot out and the truck was impounded. The driver is alive, and improving, but in intensive care. We’d appreciate your prayers for him, and all the complications involved in travelling to Sudan. Amy will be travelling over the next few days. Visit Amy’s website here.
- Preparing for a big change – This week we’ll be focusing on getting the kids ready for school. For example, we need to get uniforms, several books, and roughly 35 other different items (many of them we haven’t even translated yet to know what they are!) (Edit: That’s 35 things for just one kid – and there are different things for each child. Yikes!). We’re also working on arranging book shipments from Canada (mostly) for the English/Canadian portion of the kids’ schooling. This isn’t a small task!
- More praise – By the way, there’s a lot to praise the Lord for too. We’ve had some interesting opportunities to share at school (as have the summer interns). We also have enjoyed some good times with friends from the church, and we look forward to more. That’s how we help each other grow in the Lord! Also, after seeing our pledged support level drop significantly, we got an email from someone who wants to start supporting us financially on a regular basis, so the trend is upward once again (current financial stats here). God is working in the dramatic, and in the mundane. Praise the Lord!
Quick video of the kids’ club…
On Wednesday I was able to visit the kids’ club put on by the team from Arlington, Texas, USA. Here’s a quick look at the club. We’re thankful to the Lord for each child that heard about Him this week! Hopefully some will be back at the kids’ club that will be held next week…
July. Crazy, man.
Just a little video blog about July. Just a note – when you see the sports club, you’re just seeing a few of the girls play (guys and girls were switching off). Today they had a lot more people – I think there were … I forget already … 10 or 20 guys there that participated and heard the Gospel. Praise the Lord!
Canada Day 2007
Here’s a video of our el DÃa de Canadá party. It went well (I enjoyed it, anyway). The weather was fantastic – it was cool and it didn’t rain. It rained in the morning, which was a little unusual, but it held off for the afternoon. It would have been tricky cramming that many people in our house, so it was nice to have the yard. So thanks for your prayers!
We had pancakes and Canadian maple syrup, sausages, moose and maple shaped JELLO Jigglers, maple leaf cookies, and lots more. We did a guys vs girls Canada quiz (I think I’ll post it later so you can try), the kids coloured and played with red play dough, and we watched Mexico smash Ecuador in the American Cup soccer match (hey, we’re still in Mexico after all!).