Delores Woods – July 2010

Dear Ones in our Wonderful MESSIAH,

Greetings from Mayville, NY.

Thank you for praying. Thank you for giving.

These have been busy days as I have gone through the 24 note books of plastic sheet slide holders, my parents had in a barrel here in Mayville. Most of the note books were very full of plastic holders. Each plastic holds 20 slides. It has also been a time of many memories as I have viewed the slides of places we lived in the USA while my parents were raising support to go to Brazil, the trip on the ocean liner the SS Brazil and our arrival there. I praise GOD for the experience I had of helping in street meetings and then teaching the children’s Sunday School class as my Parents began the First Baptist Church of Sao Bernardo. What great memories of the meetings in our home for Jewish People. I have been able to organize the slides in chronological order. Many slides are being taken back to the Churches for their history.

It has been great to look back and see what GOD has done. The memory of Benedito’s salvation and the transformation in his life is still very vivid in my memory. God used this in my life and showed me not only the great need people have of salvation but what HE is able to do in a person’s life.

I am in the process of reading Dad and Mom’s news letters. These have been so very helpful as to dates of the organization of the 4 Churches and the Jewish ministry they began. I am copying some of them so that this information is on record. I still have to go back to the slides and see if there are duplicates. It has definitely been a larger project than I imagined.

I was able to share a little of this history at Sherman Baptist Church in Sherman, NY in their evening Service, July 11th. They supported my Parents for many years and are Dan and Val’s supporters now.

Now it is time to digitalize. My nephew Michail and brother-in-law Bill (Jeanette’s husband) are being a real help in this.

Praise the LORD Dan and Val shall be leaving for Brazil the 5th of August. Please pray for the LORD to provide the rest of their monthly support, outfit and passage. The Bet Sar Shalom members are truly rejoicing. So are we.

Dan and Val’s 16 yr. old son Danny, studied French in the Chautauqua Lake High School here in Mayville. He received a 100 on his New York State regents exam. He was given a full Scholarship to study French in Jonquiere, Quebec, Canada. He finishes his course the 6th of August. The Friends who are picking him up will take him to Niagara Falls,NY on the 10th of August. I am delaying my flight plans to accompany Danny back to Sao Paulo, Brazil. We leave at 5:11 PM, August 11th, on Delta from Buffalo, NY with a stop at the JFK airport in New York City and on to Sao Paulo leaving JFK 9:45 PM.

Delaying my flight has given me a few extra days to work on the history project a little more and hopefully finish what I need for for Baptist Mid Mission’s South Region of Brazil history of Sao Paulo. This will also give me some time with my sisters Jeanette Brumfield (in Niagara Falls, where I’ll be staying) and Barbara Quick (who lives near her) and a possible visit with my brother Paul and wife Marjean.

Please pray as I learn to digitalize these slides and use the machine purchased for this purpose. I am also writing the story of my parents for the necessary information to be on the DVD.

Remembering what GOD has done, has given a renewed desire to see what GOD is going to do at Bet Sar Shalom and in reaching Brazilians for HIM.

Thank you,
Serving HIM with you,

Delores Woods

Matthews – June 2010

Why Australian Citizenship? Top five questions asked in Australia

We became citizens of Australia on Tuesday 29 June, 2010. We will be dual citizens of Australia and the US. Many have asked why we went to the effort. We were permanent residents and did not have to become citizens to do work here in Sydney. It is a valid question, but all it does is open a series of other questions that will lead to the answer of the ‘Why’ of citizenship. So I will leave it to answering some of the top questions asked by people who hear our ‘funny’ accent. We get asked these questions weekly and, yes, they do asked very bluntly.

Question 1: Are you Canadian?
Cathy & I grew up in Maryland & Iowa and we do have a ‘softer accent’ than our friends from other areas of the US, but that is not where the question is based. Most Australians experience this,when asking someone from the North America about their accent. Canadians get quite offended if asked if they are from the US and Americans do not get offended either way. Americans just tend to be louder and verbose in their clarification of their country of origin. So, the safe call for most Australians is to ask ‘Are you from Canada?’

Question 2: What are you doing here?
Ah, the beauty of the accent. We are able to get into a gospel conversation without even having to ask any questions ourselves. We do not call ourselves missionaries here (sounds too Mormon-like), but as ‘ministry workers’ we get to share the reason for living here and the work we do in Sydney. We are able to share the name of Jesus and the work He can have in the lives of the people we come in contact with in the city. What a gift this silly accent provides for us to share the Gospel. God has a plan.

Question 3: Which country do you like more?
A very wise woman gave us advice on how to steer this potentially loaded question out of dangerous waters. The standard and genuine answer to this question would be, “Which do I like more? How do you choose? It is like picking which of our children I love more. I love all of our children equally for their unique qualities and unconditionally.” The same could be said about Australia & the US. We love them both equally.

Question 4: When are you leaving?
Finally, the answer to the question of our citizenship. Depending on how people respond to the first three questions, we could take this question in different ways. Generally, it is in reference that Americans do not immigrate. Americans represent the smallest immigrant population in Australia. Most Aussies are used to their American friends moving back to the US eventually. Our answer can now be, we are citizens. We are ‘all in’ and committed to being here as long as the Lord wants us to be here. If you study James’ epistle, it is foolish to commit beyond the will of God. So, if he wants us here for the rest of our days, we are committed to being here. Also, it does communicate commitment to our friends in Australia. We love this country and look forward to seeing how the Lord will use us here, even to the end of our days.

Question 5: How do you like our football?
Australia is a sport crazy nation and it has four codes of football. Rugby, Rugby League, Australian Rules Football & Soccer. This question is another potential challenge, depending on the state you are living. First pitfall for most Americans is to rave about NFL. There are pockets of people who like grid iron, but generally the only time people care about NFL is around Super Bowl time. Our response comes from a love for two of the codes, they are more exciting and faster than NFL. We started as Rugby League fans (Rabbitohs are my team – I will tell you that story someday) which is a NSW and Queensland code. Then Josh started playing AFL two years ago and we all have become hooked. So, we cheer for Josh’s team, the Southwest Tigers and for the professional team, the Sydney Swans. Like food, sport is a great way to reach into the hearts of people and see what they are most passionate about, then we can begin to share about the passion in our lives, Jesus Christ. Also, it is great fun to watch the various codes of footy. Go Rabbitohs, So Swans, Go God. Not necessarily in that order.

There are more things to share, but I will leave that to another day.

Hope this answers the questions about our citizenship in Australia & a fun cultural education.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. Oi,Oi, Oi! (If you do not understand the cheer, ask us about it when we come to a church near you.)

The ‘Aussie’ adventure continues…

Russ, Cathy, Becca, Hope, Joshua & Caroline

Matthews – June 2010

Further questions about furlough

We have had questions a few things for furlough.
*We will be in Iowa from 13 August to 5 November. This is the time we will need a van.
*We have a housesitter while we are away.
*If you want to send money to ABWE for our trip, mark it as ‘furlough’ money.

Thanks for the prayers and questions…
Russ

Matthews – June 2010

Quick furlough update

Thank you for all of your prayers, things are getting close and final preparations are underway.

Praises: We had a generous gift given to us to pay for a van to travel across from Maryland to Iowa. Thanks!

We will be sworn in as Australian Citizens on 29 June.

Prayer requests:
A van while we are in Iowa (13 August – 5 November)

Australian Passports get processed prior to leaving

Funds for our travels across US.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. We are looking forward to seeing our friends & family in the US.

The adventure continues…
Russ Matthews

Bair – June 2010

Prayer Requests:
1. Trying to find a house to rent… not much luck so far. Pray that God leads us to the right house. We need a place that will fit our family needs and be in a good location for ministry.
2. Language school ends mid-September. It has been long and difficult but the end is insight (barely). Pray that we finish strong and keep our sanity. We are REALLY excited to get fully involved in church ministry down here.

Kristi Walker – May 2010

“It’s a Wonderful Life”

…and not because things go the way we want, but because we are loved by God!

In my last update, I asked you to pray for several things. I want to update you on a few of those requests.

Help with the youth ministry
I asked you to pray that Richard & Julia Rudolph might be able to come back to Berlin and help me temporarily with the teens if it’s God’s will. Apparently, it’s not God’s will for them at this time. I’m trusting God with this answer, knowing that His ways are higher than mine!

Specific teenagers
I also asked you to pray for three specific teenagers.
- A young man named Lukas accepted Christ a month ago. He is sharing his testimony in youth group this Saturday! This is always a big step for a kid and I’m excited for him to have this experience.
- Lawrence is the teen boy who accepted Christ this past summer and is now undergoing a crisis of faith. He is still struggling. Please keep praying! God is obviously at work.
- Please continue also praying for Negin. God has not yet given us an assurance of her present spiritual state. Her mom (an unbeliever) is attending our ladies Bible study tomorrow morning. Perhaps God will work in another family member’s heart, making living for Christ easier for Negin . . . If you want to pray BIG, ask God to save this entire family. How amazing would it be to see a family of Iranian Muslims come to Christ!

Answered prayer!
Another request I gave you was for my parents’ trip to Berlin. As many of you know, they faced many hurdles getting here due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland which closed all of Europe’s airspace for several days. We believe it was a miraculous answer to prayer that my parents were on the very first international flight into Berlin’s Tegel Airport once the airways reopened.

God had big plans for my parents once they arrived. My dad taught a week-long youth ministry course at Word of Life Germany and then a city-wide youth leader training seminar. It’s so cool to see God use my dad to inspire youth workers internationally! His passion for the next generation is contagious.

My mom spoke at our annual ladies’ retreat and 2 women accepted Christ as Savior! Praise God with us for the salvations of Justina (from Ghana) and Chantall (from South Africa)!

Unexpected Blessing
This past Monday, I hailed a taxi to take me to the airport to pick up a BBC student coming over on a missions trip. The taxi driver and I had a 30-minute conversation in English on the way to the airport. He told me that he and his wife want to improve their English for an upcoming vacation to Florida. I invited him to attend our church to speak English with people and listen to an English sermon. This excited him greatly. He let me out at the airport promising me that he and his wife would be there Sunday. AND THEY WERE!!!! This Sunday, my taxi driver and his wife attended CrossWay. J It was so exciting to see them there. Pray for Thomas and Ilona (pronounced E-lona). I doubt they are believers. They also expressed interest in possibly attending an adult Bible study. Life’s greatest blessings are unexpected.

Salvations
God has given our church the opportunity of seeing 4 people come to Christ in the last 4 months: Anna (from Milan, Italy), Lukas (half German, half American), Justina (from Ghana) and Chantall (from South Africa). I also had an opportunity last week to take a 13-year-old girl out to lunch and talk with her about salvation. She told me she’s ready to accept Christ. I felt she may need a little more time, so I asked her to read the first three chapters of John and find the answer to the question Nicodemus asked Jesus in chapter three. She is meeting with another youth leader this week for a follow-up conversation. Pray for Arielle’s salvation. She is “1/3 German, 1/3 American and 1/3 Lebanese” (her words). She speaks Arabic at home. It’s so amazing to minister in a place with people from all over the world!

Finally, please continue praying for Sheldon Markel as he raises support with EBM to come help with the youth ministry in 2011. I’m personally very excited about getting him over here to bring in some new creativity and energy.

It’s a wonderful Life – an abundant Life!

- Kristi

Up-coming Events
Here are a few upcoming events to keep in mind as you pray for the ministry in Berlin:
June 5 CrossWay Church voting on deacons (first time ever!)
June 19 Final youth event/outreach before summer break
July 19-23 English-speaking Day Camp (for children)
July 26-30 Teen Camp

*The attached pictures are of 1) the attendees at the youth leader training seminar my dad spoke at, and 2) my mom sitting with ladies from Ghana, Italy, Honduras and the Philippines at our ladies’ retreat.

Togo Team Update – April 18th

Here is the audio from Sunday Night’s Togo update.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 7:27 — 3.4MB)

Bair – April 2010

We just want to send a quick prayer request update for you all. We will be sending a more detailed video update soon, we promise!

As many of you know, we invited a friend of ours, Julia Seagrist, to come down here for a year with the ABWE AMP program to help care for our kids while we are in language school. Last week, after some severe abdomen pain and eventually yellow eyes, we learned that she passed a gall bladder stone. Not only that, but it was discovered that she still has 30 or more stones in her gall bladder! After many exams and blood tests, it has been determined that removing the gall bladder is the best action at this point. So, Julia is scheduled for gall bladder surgery on Tuesday morning, April 20, at 10:30 am.

We are very comfortable and confident with the doctor that God has provided to do the surgery. He was the on-call doctor at the ER we went to last Friday night and it “just so happens” that he specializes in gall bladders!! God is so good, isn’t he?

We are asking for you to pray for several things related to all of this:

1. Julia has one more blood test that needs to show improvement in some liver enzymes on Saturday. Please pray the results are good or we will have to move the surgery.

2. Teresa needs some extra energy because the same day Julia has surgery, the boys MK teacher Carol is having surgery. So, Teresa will be homeschooling them for a few days in the midst of spending time at the hospital, caring for Julia, and doing language school. (Please pray for Carol too! She’s having surgery on her esophagus valve.)

3. Most importantly, pray for a smooth surgery Tuesday morning and a smooth recovery following.

Thanks so much for all your prayers. We will let you know how everything goes!

Serving God in Brasil,

Lucas and Teresa Bair

UPDATE: Julia’s surgery went well and she is back home with the Bair’s recovering.

Togo Team Pictures

Picture Slideshow of the Togo Team including a prayer service and send off.

Togo Team Update – April 14th

We have heard from both our Togo teams, the Larson’s in the South and the construction team in the North. Their updates are below.

Update from Abe and the team building the Wendell Kempton Memorial Hospital in the North.

Today they were eating lunch under a very large shade tree. (It sounds like it could be the only shade tree!) He said they are all doing well but it’s so hot. They are working very hard building the wall around the complex. They’re hauling everything by hand and laying the rebar so tomorrow they can pour cement. The electricity has been going out a lot so sleeping has been pretty miserable. Yesterday the temperature in the house was 105 degrees when they got home from work! One of the generators was out in the village which makes it very difficult to get their generator going. He also said after dinner last night the wind picked up and it started to rain. So they climbed up on the roof and got soaked! He said it was AWESOME!! So very refreshing! Praise the Lord for that blessing!

Update from Chuck and Donna Larson at the Karolyn Kempton Hospital in the South.

Donna and I arrived safely at the Karolyn Kempton Hospital (called HBB in Togo) on Sunday after splitting off from our SBC construction team in Lome. When we arrived there had been a fight in a local village with machete and gunshot wounds so Chuck got a quick indoctrination into ER medicine at the hospital before we could even unpack. Monday was also a blur as the hospital was very full and everyone was busy with much activity. Today was a little slower medically so Chuck was able to see a few patients with just an interpreter in the clinic and has admitted a couple patients to the hospital. Some of the medicine is the same as the US (hypertension, impotence, abdominal pain) but there is a lot of malaria and sickle cell anemia and a lot of pediatric cases in the hospital (thankfully Dr. Ebersole the pediatrician takes care of the kids). The next week will be filled with more clinic work, rounds at the hospital, some nights on-call, and whatever else they want Chuck to do. Chuck hopes to do an endoscopy test on Wednesday using the equipment here – it should be a hoot.

Donna has helped care for an abandoned baby in the hospital and accompanied some kids to The Mercy Ship in Lome today who had surgery. We have not been bored. There are a lot of people here – at least a dozen other short term doctors and nurses – so everyone is very busy. We do not know if we will get to Mango or not as of today. Time will tell.

We have witnessed good fellowship among the missionaries, witnessing and presenting the gospel in the clinic, and encouraging/singing in the hospital. We suspect everyday will be busy and full. It is hot, but bearable here in the South. We hear the guys in the north do not have a generator and are hot. We are praying for them daily.

Thanks for praying for them. As you can tell they are serving with excellence. Saylorville is very well represented.

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