Marriage, Honeymoon, and Southeast Asia

By Bryn:

           The recent days have had few significant time markers for me. I thought, therefore, that it would a great time to kick off my update.  This was the second week of mine and Courtney’s marriage. We already feel so incredibly blessed by God and from the encouragement that has come from our supporters. I was humbled to see many people supporting us at the wedding and realize the amount of people lifting us up in prayer. That means more to me and Courtney than we can say.
           I also my first opportunity to attend a worship service as a husband. What a blessing it is to worship the Triune God – perfect in His independence and His unity – with my wife, knowing that our relationship is now my top ministry responsibility. This is going to require a radical paradigm shift in so many areas from last year, yet I couldn’t be more excited to make them as I strive to love Courtney as Christ loves His church.

           Our current circumstances, of course, are not the easiest of ways to start our marriage. It is a time of intense transition.  I’m finding that this transition time is somewhat welcome. I’m gaining an abundance of wisdom from God – wisdom that gives me perspective about this past year and also offers foresight into the year to come. Though Courtney and I have a pretty active travel schedule for the next month, I’m finally able to take a break from what was an incredibly intense first year of teaching and live out the Scripture: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength” (Isaiah 30:15).
           Speaking of our schedule, the other significant time marker is that tomorrow Courtney and I will be traveling to Southaven, Mississippi for NICS’s Pre-Field Orientation. I’m looking forward to being back and connecting with contacts in other schools and leaders of our organization. It’s also going to be good to make connections with the experiences I had at BAIS and to support Courtney as she takes a lot of this information in for the first time. Please be in prayer for me as I am one of two people in charge of leading music during the next two weeks.
           The next update should come at the end of July after Courtney and I are back in Southeast Asia. We’re excited to submit and serve the One, True God – Yahweh, our ever-faithful and merciful Father. We hope you’re excited to continue following the journey through these updates, and we appreciate your continued prayers.

Support Those Going to Mexico!

A team from TSC leaves for Mexico July 1st.  Keep updated by reading this blog and continue to pray for them as they serve!

tscstudentmazatlan.blogspot.com

Update From Las Vegas

Here is an update on what God has allowed Turning Point Experience to accomplish over the last 34 months.

(1) TPE's cell phone app is now being used to help parents and students in 34 countries with thousands of downloads. Constantly we hear from parents and youth that are being helped with resources and the scriptures offered to change their lives. 

(2) The "The S.P.I.R.I.T." (Suppression-Prevention-Intervention-Referral-Intelligence-Tool) software project is in the final stages of development and will begin it's pilot on July 1st. This software will be used by multiple organizations in the area and because of this there are more than 350,000 students being impacted from this project. The system will connect hurting teens to available local help and chaplains/mentors in dealing with teen issues through this hand-held cell phone device. The system will also follow-up on every teen entered into the system to make sure they receive the help they need.

 
(3) Last, TPE has been given the open invitation to host one weekend service per month inside two different Nevada's Youth Correctional Facilities. They are allowing us to present the full Gospel message and give an altar call inside these youth prisons. This is an incredible harvest field as we will be assisting these youth transition into the community after they serve their time by connecting them to a Christian mentor, church and school. This is important in leading kids to Christ and being directly involved in their lives.  Last Saturday, we had over 1/3 of the inmates make a decision for Christ and now we are going to disciple them and get them connected into a local church as they are released from prison by using the Spirit System.

  

Guatemala Blogs

Here are the links for the blogs for each Guatemala team in July. They will be uploading pictures and blogging every night.

Team 1: Thompson Station
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team1/

Team 2: Brentwood Baptist
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team2/

Team 3: 1st Baptist Nashville
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011team3/

Clean Water Team
http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/community-development-mission/jul2011cleanwater/

During the week of your team, this link will be on the home page as well – http://www.theshalomfoundation.org/

We will also be keeping facebook updated
Www.facebook.com/shalomfoundation

How Will You Change The World?

Many lives are being impacted by those working in East Africa.  Watch this short documentary to see how Project 61 and other organizations are impacting lives and learn more about getting involved.  http://vimeo.com/22937650

Volunteer Opportunities At The World Café

This is a great opportunity to raise funds for missions, especially for those who make a long term commitment to serve.  This year one family has raised over $770.00 in six months.   Another group of three raised over $900.00!  If interested here are the times:

Five volunteer opportunities in the World Café on Sunday Mornings:

·         1 opportunity for 8:00 – 9:30

·         3 opportunities for 9:30 – 10:45

·         1 opportunity for 10:45 – 12:15

(The World Cafe is in the Equipping Center Building at Thompson Station Church.
Breakfast available every Sunday!)

Bibles For Russia

One of  the Perspectives speakers from this past spring, Alfred McCroskey, helps to lead an organization entitled “Bibles for Russia.” He has a son, Mark, with a ministry to orphans and street children in Russia.  He just left for 2 months to help the local workers with summer camps.  A child can go to camp for just $10.

There is a website, www.biblesforrussia.org, that tells more about the various aspects of their ministries.  They take about 3 teams a year to different places in the former Soviet Union.  

The address for any contributions is:  Bibles for Russia, P.O. Box 69, Florence, AL 35631-9969.  Be sure to indicate it's for the orphan/children's ministry.

Project 61 Prayer Requests

By Alicia Jordan 

1.  The kids return from school at the end of the month.  Please pray for all of the kids as these next few months are going to be an adjustment for them and their families.  Please pray for the teams that will be coming to spend time with them this summer, that it is a time of growth in their relationship with Christ above all else.  If you sponsor a child, please pray for them as often as you can during these next few months.

2.  Corey and Sumer are moving to a new house soon; please pray for this transition as it comes during a busy season for them.  They are supposed to sign a contract this week!

3.  Corey and Sumer are applying for work permits at the end of the month, pray that we find favor and that the process is quick and easy.

4.  Pray for a girl named Heaven who recently came to America.  Pray for the doctors and that she will get the treatment that she needs.

5.  Wendemneh, one of the sponsored children, has been having a rough time. I know this sounds crazy but we are convinced that he probably has a demon and is dealing with some serious spiritual warfare. His behavior is significantly worse when he drinks. The last episode he was laying on the ground turning in circles and making crazy noises and his eyes were rolled back. His mother has possibly been involved in some serious spiritual stuff and worshiping of trees etc. PLEASE pray for him. Wendemneh has said "something bad is inside of me, like Satan." I said "what do you want to do about that Wendemneh," and he said go to church and change his life. I got Pastor Antenah to talk to him and they are going to meet every day so Pastor Antenah can begin sharing the gospel with him. Please believe with us that this young man will hear and receive!! 

New Facilities

by Joe Pacheco

We are now having services in our new facility. You will see that it is not all complete but we are happy to be there. We finished our last march around the property divided in generations from young children first, the youth second, and the adults last. At the finish I climbed up the prayer tower and blew the shofar and everyone shouted. It was an awesome moment of joy and dancing. We are already receiving new people from the neighborhood. This last Sunday I was able to dedicate my granddaughter to the Lord.  Athena is the first child of my generations to be dedicated in the new church.  It is exciting to see my son being raised up in the church and now my grandchild. We greatly appreciate your prayers and support.

(Joe Pacheco is one of our TSC-sponsored missionaries through the GOCTW Offering. TSC teams have also participated in part of the building of the church you see in the pictures above in the Mazatlan area.)

Easter Update

By Steve and Shari - Tucson, AZ 

Wow!  Praise the Lord!  What a great Resurrection Sunday the Lord gave us at Grace Fellowship as we gathered, as you did, to celebrate a living hope in our risen Savior!  The last count that I heard for our attendance was 223. It was a beautiful resurrection Sunday and we saw several people respond to the Gospel.  One of those who prayed to receive Christ was a friend of mine and fellow football coach. Please pray for us as we will be following up with these new believers over the next few weeks.  We also celebrated the ordinance of believer's baptism, which always has special significance on Resurrection Sunday!

Narrow Is The Gate

Branden and Annie - Central Asia May Update

(TSC supports the work of Branden and Annie through GOCTW offerings and will be sending its first team in 2011! For more info on how to join this team, go to http://www.goctw.org/.

Real Expectations

“For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:14)

Wow, this verse has carried us many days since we last wrote. Our goal as we said in our last letter was that our team would give five hundred students an opportunity to hear the gospel before the end of the semester. Annie and I personally had several opportunities this semester to share. Annie shared with thirty eight students and I shared with thirty four.

We are very thankful that twenty nine came to faith, but it showed us the reality of this verse that the gate is small and the way is narrow and real expectations are that few will find it. Even though it is so hard to see students reject this, we continue to spend time with them if they want to be with us and come to our classes and student meetings.

Another time Annie and the girls were planning a time to bring in a local cosmetologist to share about make-up. Afterwards they would share about the more important topic: inner beauty. Annie took the stage and shared about how important inner beauty is and Father’s love. Two girls kept interrupting.   One kept talking about her viewpoint of the topic and was not giving Annie an opportunity to share what was fully on her heart so girls could hear this important message. Annie came home and said how hard it was because of these two girls. You just never know how God is moving; the very next day some of the staff girls followed up with these two girls and both of them came to faith and are really walking in a relationship with our Father.

Our plans for the summer

Next week we leave for a southern city of our country. There we will have a week of seminary classes. We are required to continue our education and have requirements to fulfill in order to stay on staff. Our organization brings in a teacher for that time and we have exams at the end of the classes.

Our student center is finally finished and we will be preparing to open it in July! Right now we are meeting and discussing how to use this new tool to gather students for the fall semester. We will also be giving aid to the families left without homes from the war last June.

We want to end by saying thank you for your continued support as we work together and these stories couldn’t happen without your support

Marked Hands

By Wade Bartlett

God has marked every one of us.  He does this as a personal reminder of his love for us.   God chose to mark his own Son's hands.  But why?  Does he do it so we will recognize Jesus in heaven?   Did God do it for Jesus' disciples?  Thomas could not believe in the resurrection until he physically saw and touched the marks in Jesus' hands.  James was a pillar for Jesus only after he saw him alive after the resurrection.  God gave us his laws through Moses, and then sent his Son to not only teach, but be sacrificed as the perfect lamb across the alter of atonement for our sins.  He was marked, and killed, in order to make us holy in God's eyes.

He marked my hands over 2 weeks ago on a mission trip.   I was humbled enough to be God's hands for him in Nicaragua.  In turn, he marked my hands with blisters and scars as a permanent reminder of God's love for me.   The wounds have yet to heal, but do I want them to.   When I rub my hands together, I feel Christ's suffering for me, and for those, who do not know him.   Jesus' marks were not healed through the resurrection.   Do I want mine to heal?  Should we ever want God's marks to heal?  God made a commitment to me on a Cross and I made a commitment to him in prayer and baptism.   Only through Christ's marks, can we come to God.   So I ask again, do I want my hands to heal.  I say no.  Remind me daily Oh Lord to never forget the love you have for me.  You allowed a sinner to go and be your hands and feet in a far away land.   Scar my hands forever, if it is what I need as a constant reminder to live for you.

(In May, TSC sent a team of guys to build a Bible Institute. They finished in 3 days. TSC has partnered with Chosen Children Ministries since 1999 to share the Gospel in Nicaragua, and will continue to do so by sending a team in Fall 2011, through the GOCTW offering which provided over $10k for trip costs and construction, and by sponsoring kids individually who need our help.)

For Lack of Knowledge the Children Perish

By Pastor Duane Murray

Recently I was allowed to go teach English at a school where hundreds of children are lacking the relationships they need.  Elementary age children throughout East Asia are sent to school to live at this school during the week and then they go home on the weekend.  We heard it is simply another way that the government tries to minimize the family.  They want the people to see the government and not the family as their provider.  It broke our hearts to see children this age living away from their mothers and fathers.  

While in East Asia we also ran health checks in a different village.   In this village, over half of the 30+ children we checked were malnourished.  Most of these were girls.  It wasn’t for lack of access to nutritious foods.  The parents just didn’t know what a balanced diet included and how it affected the children. 

Community Transformation Training in villages like this is a strategy that overseas workers are using to demonstrate value and build trust so that they can earn the right to share the Gospel. On the follow-up visit to the village, the local believers will go house to house checking the childrens’ health stats and the parents’ implementation of what they were taught.   During these visits the team will share that they are followers of Christ and offer to pray with the family.  Opportunities to share the gospel often result from these follow-ups.  The next steps involve training a team to teach the rest of the community.  Elements of the gospel are also included as the community training is taking place.  

The Lord is using this strategy to reach the people of East Asia, but there are still thousands of people in this area who have never had an opportunity to hear the Good News.   Pray for endurance for those working in this area, but also pray for the next generation of children.  Pray for the Lord to raise up believers and leaders so they will no longer perish. 

(TSC is in partnership with East Asia, and will send 5 teams in 2011. Be praying for our teams and the work they contribute to this effort!)

Forever Changed

By Andrew Holt

In December and March I had the opportunity to go and serve the people of Haiti.  For almost a year I had heard of the devastation from the earthquake, but it was so much different when I was standing in the middle of the devastation.   Driving through the streets and seeing not only destroyed homes but realizing that each home represented a family who no longer had a home, and probably had little hope of getting a new one.  However when you look in the eyes of the people there is hope, believers in Haiti believe that revival is coming to their nation as do I.  The entire time I was in Haiti I could sense the LORD saying that HE wanted HIS people to return to HIS arms.  While playing with children and walking through orphanages I could feel the LORD’s hand on them.  These children are the future of Haiti, and I believe they will be an army that brings revival to their country.  My life was forever changed by this trip, and I believe GOD has put Haiti on my heart for a reason.  I pray that by reading this you begin to ask the LORD what HE would have you do for the people of Haiti.

(TSC supports our work in Haiti through the GOCTW offering and also by supporting MMDR. Find out more about how to help at http://www.mmdr.org/)

Being Blessed in the Process. . .

By Robin Spychalski

In January of this year I went to East Africa with a Project 61 team.  This was my first mission trip.  Over the last four years the Lord has shown my husband and I the importance of missions and has made it clear for us to be a part of taking the gospel around the world.  In April of 2010, with the Lord’s direction, my husband and I decided to sponsor a young girl through P61 and by June I knew the Lord was calling me to go. To be honest, agreeing with the Lord that I should go 8,000 miles away was very hard for me.  Actually, the hardest part of my journey to East Africa was actually answering the call - being obedient and saying “yes”.  Leaving my family seemed beyond my ability.  And beyond my ability it was… but not beyond His!

The trip itself had so many amazing moments for me.  Like meeting the beautiful, young girl my family gets to sponsor.  To see first- hand how she has hope, loves her school and knows and loves Jesus!  Or, sitting inside the amphitheater with the boarding school kids and in spite of a language barrier be able to worship the same Savior through old gospel hymns.  I remember watching the beauty of that- Africans and Americans, young and old and thinking this is a glimpse of what heaven will be like when every tribe and every tongue comes together to worship our king!  Also, a moment of understanding first-hand the scripture in James 2:5 "Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?"  Wow! The people of Korah and the church leadership is so rich in faith!  According to worldly standards those people have nothing.  And yet, I found myself wanting what they have- a rich, deep faith.

If the God of the universe is requesting your presence to be a part of changing lives- say YES!  Say it with excitement, with courage, and with an understanding that our God is trustworthy and faithful.  It will be a journey you will not want to miss!  And when you think you are there to bless others you will see that our amazing God is blessing you in the process. 

(For more information on how you can join a TSC mission team, go to http://www.goctw.org/, and check out the Missions at a Glance page for all future trips. All work done in East Africa is supported by the GOCTW yearly offering, which aids in providing food, supporting and sending workers, and whatever else is needed to minister to the community there.)

Mobile Medical Disaster Relief Team Needs Items Donated

An MMDR Team leaves on Saturday, June 25th for Ghana.  They will hold medical clinics on remote islands in the Lake Volta region where an estimated 7000 slave children reside.  On their last mission in April, they were able to aid in the release of 6 children. In addition to the medical clinics, they will hold workshops on how to make fuel efficient, low smoke cook stoves and initiate a clean water project on one island. Please pray for this team of 19 as they travel and work.  

We are collecting gifts to take back to the Village of Life Children's home in Kete Krachi, Ghana.  There are 28 children (20 from 13-18 yrs old, and eight (8) 5-7 yr olds).  If you would like to donate any of these items, please bring them to Mobile Medical Disaster Relief (833-3002) by June 23rd.

·  Inexpensive, waterproof digital watches

·  Paperback books (classics and easy readers, some children's books)

·  Bibles and Bible story books

·  Silly Banz (those colorful rubber bands that are in shapes.)

·  Under Armor Shirts (for the workers)

·  New Testaments

·  Soccer Balls

·  Bike Pumps