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Refined Clay In Central Asia

One month ago, I arrived back to my cosy mountain home with my two little boys and my amazing husband, Jono. I was relieved to be finally back, but I couldn’t manage to conjure up any excitement for being here. I sat in a chair, immobile and unmotivated to figure out what to have for dinner or to help the boys rediscover all the toys and books they’d missed while we’d been gone for the last few weeks. I didn’t recognise myself. I definitely did not want to talk to any of my neighbours or...

AT THE PAPUAN COALFACE

Living in this fallen world, we all have stress. It may be in the home, the workplace or within the community. So why are missionaries so in need of our prayers and support? I experienced the stress of leaving all I knew, when emigrating from the city of Toronto to small-town New Zealand in my late teens. I felt that some of my roots had been ripped out, but within months, was getting used to the different culture, climate and vocabulary, had settled into a like-minded church and was making new ...

JARS OF CLAY

One of my favourite T-shirts is ‘The many moods of a (Star Wars) stormtrooper’. ‘Angry’, ‘Happy’, ‘Sad’, ‘Sleepy’, ‘Confused’, ‘Cheerful’, ‘Frustrated’, ‘Excited’, ‘Proud’ — different captions under the very same photo of a stormtrooper’s clearly emotionless headgear. It’s true though — behind a mask, how can you tell how a person really feels?One of my favourite T-shirts is ‘The many moods of a (Star Wars) stormtrooper’. ‘Angry’, ‘Happy�...

YARACAL AND BEYOND

Thank you for your prayers for us and the work in this part of the vineyard.Thank you for your prayers for us and the work in this part of the vineyard.A year has passed since changing our place of residence from El Mene to Yaracal. That is only eleven kilometres, but Yaracal is a largish town, mainly supported by some small cheese factories. The work here dates back to February 1964 when visiting brethren commenced gospel meetings and a Sunday School work. We have been busy over the years, cont...

25 Years On

It is nearly 25 years since Alan left full-time employment to concentrate fully on the Lord’s work. A letter of commendation from Southport Assembly was also sent to Tidings, now called Serving Together, who published it.It is nearly 25 years since Alan left full-time employment to concentrate fully on the Lord’s work. A letter of commendation from Southport Assembly was also sent to Tidings, now called Serving Together, who published it.The verse on our Prayer Card is Psalm 116 v.12: “Wha...

A Different Season

Life has its different seasons. This past 18 months has been a different season for me. I rarely spend much time in one place, and finding myself in Tasmania caring for my elderly Mum has been a different experience. One of the blessings of living in a country like Australia is the support given to the elderly in terms of respite and home services. My Mum has been happy to take ‘mini holidays’ in respite, and this has given me the opportunity, from time to time, to drop by the Bible School i...

A Day in our Lives in Spain

Beaches, river, land — what do they all have in common?Ribadeo is on the northern holiday coast of Galicia, where there are many beautiful beaches, including one called Los Catedrales (The Cathedrals), which attracted over 250,000 sightseers this summer. Even though there are some ongoing attempts to begin new churches in different towns, there are still many medium-size towns like Ribadeo, Barreiros, and Foz that have no established evangelical church. But going back to almost 100 years ago, ...

A Day in our Lives in PNG

The first thing I would like to say is “Thank You” to all the other missionaries that have contributed their ‘A Day In The Life’. I have enjoyed reading them all and in turn praying for you. But now it is our turn. Janet and I have three specific ministries: medical care, adult literacy and Bible teaching. These three are what keep us busy, and most of our days revolve around these. To set the scene, our location is in the middle of a small remote island of PNG. It is very much a bush lo...

Behind the Boerewors Curtain

A Day in our Lives in South Africa Most days, we are up before the sun. Most days, we are up before the sun.Sometimes, it is the local ‘recycling guys’ who are our (not-so-appreciated) alarm clock. They sleep down by the river, a few blocks from our house, and eke out a tiny living by collecting tin cans, plastic bottles and scraps of cardboard which they fish out of dustbins, dumpsters and storm-water drains around the city. It takes many kilograms of trash to make a buck, so, wit...

NECESSARY CHANGES

The Bet-Sean Home for Aged Believers that has functioned in Santa Rosa de Cabal, Colombia, during the last 27 years, was closed on January 17, 2018. We are deeply grateful to the Lord for His faithful care and provision through the generosity of the Lord’s people during this long period.There are three reasons for the Committee’s decision at this time:1. The reduced number of residents (six) over several months and the absence of needy aged believers soliciting admission to the home during t...

The Year In Review

The last 12 months have held many changes for us! We have had two months in Australia visiting churches and family. We returned to Timor-Leste to new roles for us all. Jason has become the Country Director for MAF Timor-Leste, which has decreased his time in  the plane somewhat, but has increased his responsibilities significantly. Organising clearance papers for customs, visas, the recovering of the hangar roof, and a million other details like this are now his concern. He oversees three i...

Building Disciples

Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.’One of the things that we are focussing on at the moment is the application of these verses in the lives of ourselves, those we work with and those to whom we minister. God’s people have been joined together forever through the blood of Jesus and this should be honoured in and through our lives. So, in the relationships between fellow wor...

Today's Challenge

A Christian who had just arrived in a free country after suffering years of persecution in his own was appalled at the seeming casual commitment to Jesus Christ from the strong materialistic contamination taking place in the lives of Christians there. So he spoke out strongly and somewhat bitterly. Sometime later he returned to visit that same friend to whom he had spoken so bluntly.He asked if his friend remembered what he had said and the bitterness of his criticism. The friend remembered. The...

A day in the LIFE

In year nine at school, I read ‘One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich’ by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, about a day in 1951 of a Russian prisoner in one of Stalin’s gulags. Many, if not most, of those imprisoned in remote labour camps were political dissidents, foreigners, or people who held beliefs (including religious) that were contrary to the Soviet regime. In such a harsh environment, a hidden scrap of bread, extra rations, or a piece of metal — things critical for survival in horren...

A Day in the Life of Allison

Books and papers are filled with words. Just as with spoken words, you have to listen to them to understand them. I often tell my students to listen to the words when they read a book and to imagine the author speaking directly to them. This attitude has always helped me, especially when the words are difficult to understand. Today is Wednesday. I always try to begin my day with the Word of God, but I am not always successful, especially if I sleep in. However, today I managed to wake up early. ...

A Day in the Life of David & Mary

The alarm breaks the silence at 4:45 am. Mary rolls over and pulls up the sheet as she has been up till 10:30 – 11 pm the night before preparing the lessons for the next day. I bound out of bed, wash my face, thank the Lord for another new day and praise him for His protection in the night hours. When I talk about such blessings they are genuine. Our two dogs hold back the thieves at our house in Katutwa St — but at Mkushi Rd house there are no dogs, and just last week we lost a bike, a ...

A Day in the Life of David & Tina

Mondays are good! On Mondays we get to eat Nutella for breakfast! It’s a small incentive, but it attempts to get the kids excited about getting out of bed on a Monday morning. My alarm goes off at 6 o’clock and I (Tina) stumble down the stairs to get out all the breakfast stuff. The light in the office is on. David is usually awake much earlier than I am. He likes the quiet to read his Bible and pray. The girls are always awake and downstairs first. Today Vanessa’s parents, who have been v...

A Day in the Life of Doug & Faye

How does one write about a day? Which day should we choose? Most days seem to follow a regular pattern, but then the Scripture says “we don’t know what a day may bring forth”. Many a day has started with planned activities only to be completely changed and turned upside down by unexpected events such as sudden sickness, someone going missing and a search being organized, and at other times there may be tragic circumstances such as accidents and drownings. So I guess we will have to choose ...

A Day in the Life of the Joneses

What is life as a missionary really like? That was one of my big questions as I set out on a short-term mission trip to Mexico ten years ago. I had many preconceived ideas: hunger, sleepless nights, reused teabags, danger at every turn, shirts and ties — the list goes on. But as I stepped out in faith on that first trip, God surprised me. It wasn’t what I sacrificed that was the big thing in missions, but the delight and joy of serving Jesus Christ with all that I am. The main thing that...

A Day in the Life of the Lawrences

As with all our lives, the events of the day ahead are unknown to us, but thankfully they are known to our Heavenly Father, so we can confidently face the day, putting it into trustworthy hands. In Bunkeya, our rising and morning chores are routine as they are for most of us. A typical day begins with lighting the mbabula (a small charcoal burning fire box) to boil water for a cuppa and for washing up. Porridge cooks on our two-burner gas stove. We share brekky at our little kitchen bench facing...

A Day in the Life Of The McKenzies

7:00am An urgent text message comes in from Mihail, the director of the Betel work in a closed country in Central Asia. “Please pray for Sasha, the men’s house leader in ________. Three days ago he left the house to do an errand and has disappeared. His family have not heard from him and his room is how he left it. All his clothes are in the wardrobe. He is not answering his phone. It all points to a kidnapping, which is common is this country, where people are seized off the street and forc...

A Day in the Life of The WEEKES

There are many singular days we could focus on, as there are many aspects to our ministry here in France: days spent with campers and colleagues during our camps (about two to three months/year), days spent alone or with a co-worker building or fixing things around camp (about four months/year), or days spent working at the resort alongside people who don’t know or who have never heard the truth about Jesus (about five months/year). While our favourite thing to do is have conversations with pe...

Blessed Finish To 2017

“Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting, he who goes to and fro weeping carrying his bag of seed shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.” — Psalm 126:5-6 The end of the year of 2017 was very full of activities as we in the Jardim Santana Church celebrated the 500 years of the Protestant Reformation during the entire month of October. Each Sunday there was a speaker from church teaching on a different part of the Reformation to the ent...

Busy Time At Burketown

Greetings in the Lord’s name from Burketown in North Queensland. This time of the year (Christmas — New Year holidays), we are usually confined to work around here as travel can be upset by rain and flooded rivers. I have done some maintenance on the vehicle and around the house, but the biggest work I was able to complete was putting some 4,000 of our photos from 1973 to 2000 on computer — I went to insanity and back getting this done! I have given a number of USB sticks to people...

Change

Change: we hate it, we love it, we want it, we do not want it. However we feel about it, change is an inevitable part of life. Right now in the DR of Congo, most people want political change. The president has overstayed his welcome and the country sometimes grumbles, sometimes shouts, for wanted change. There have been marches in the cities that have turned into ugly riots and senseless looting. The currency has changed in value: over the past 18 months, we have gone from a stable 900 francs to...