Metropolitan Missionaries

Requests sent August 27, 2008

1.     Continue to pray for Dorthe, Sam and myself.
Sam leaves for a long week break this Friday. I will be covering some of her responsibilities as well as teach next week on writing prayer letters. Pray for my preparations for teaching the last two weeks of Institute – I am substituting for another teacher who lost all his notes and visuals when his computer crashed. (There is a lot of work to do on the sketchy notes & PowerPoint I have been given to work with)

2.     Pray for God to raise up new teachers with experience in the different areas of training for our Leadership Training Institutes. (There are several subjects where the present teachers will be retiring and replacements are needed.)

3.     Pray for the students as they get back into the routine of classes and duties. They are making progress – There has been a big change in group dynamics as well with 4 new students joining the group and 7 of the original group who left.

4.     Pray for the 8 children and Moira and Kajsa who are looking after them during class time. Our two Finnish boys are being home schooled by their mother during these last weeks. Keep on praying for wisdom, stamina and great joy in these last 4 weeks of ministry.

5.     Pray for our Finnish family – Vesa and Anne with their two boys Marcus and Joona – their car has some major mechanical problems. (praise God that a local mechanic was able to help at a price that was much less than expected) In less than 4 weeks they hope to drive back to Finland where they will also be looking for a place to live. (To come here they moved out of the house they were renting and placed all their things in storage)Pray that they know God’s peace has they wait on His answers. (They are looking into a couple of possibilities they found on the internet – in answer to your prayers! They have been looking for several weeks and this week was the first that they found any possibilities) They thank you for your prayers!

Mark & Diane Stratmeyer
The Navigators
Stories from Spain to stir Prayer
Prayer Points: August 2008
-Please pray for our HOMEwork; that in each home we’d be able to share encouragement that we have received from God & help our hosts look past the details of life to the one who promised to prepare a home for us. J & R don’t know Jesus yet, so ask that we’d be alert to the Spirit at work in their lives.
-Thank God for answering! Each visit resulted in mutual encouragement.
- Pray that Marcio & Alessandra would feel at home in Spain, and that this “accident” would result in good.
- This summer we’ve spent much time in homes - here in Porriño, with friends near the beach, or as far as away as Italy. We’ve talked about trivialities, and we’ve talked about life issues. Please pray that each of these conversations would be used by God’s Spirit as He interacts with each person.
- In September, my brother Neil Stratmeyer will marry Carol Chadwick in Florida. We’re delighted! Please pray for them as they begin life and a home together, and that the marriage would celebrate new life in Jesus.
- Please pray for wisdom for Diane and me to focus on God’s priorities & initiatives for us this fall. We want to continue to help create atmospheres where people feel safe to open up about their lives.
- Pray for Rose (senior at Cornell) Rob (soph at Syracuse), David & Kevin (here in Spain) for protection and to grow this year in knowing Jesus, and loving people.
- THANK God that our home is with Jesus- and he is getting it ready.

“Home” in Castilla

We tried to send this note ‘home’ to you-all earlier, but ran into problems. We’d like to resend it & include comments on the outcome.
—–
This weekend Diane and I, with David & Kevin, will travel to Valladolid and Salamanca in the heart of Castilla (Castile) to visit with couples in a sort of “homecoming”. Diane spent a significant month with Javier & Rosa in Salamanca learning Spanish back in 1990, and I spent 3 years (’81-’84) in Valladolid living with students and encouraging them to consider Jesus.
Now, the Blanch family living near us in Santiago has moved to Valladolid (the dampness here activated their allergies terribly- they’ve seen a difference in less than 2 weeks). We’ll bring along a drill and help them advance their “homecoming” by making a just-rented apartment feel more like home.
Then we’ll visit Marcio and Alessandra and their 2 girls in Salamanca. They just arrived in Spain from Brazil where they have been working with the Navigators. He will be taking classes towards a doctorate as they engage students around them. Their move to Spain has taken nearly 10 years to finally happen, and we’re delighted they’re here. To welcome them, Craig and I drove to Madrid last month to meet their plane and help them through their first days in Salamanca. Now they have an apartment and the beginnings of a new home in Spain, and we’d like to see them and encourage them however we can.
Afterwards we’ll drive across the city to spend 2 days with Javier & Rosa and their girls in their home. They are very welcoming hosts and have organized a ‘reunion’ with us and Kent & Pili from Madrid (he came to Spain with the Navigators like I did to work with students - and married and stayed). We’ll spend all Saturday together getting caught up since it’s been quite awhile since we were all together.
We’ll let you know how it went when we get home.
Mark & Diane
——
Update on the visit:
God answered prayer, though not completely as expected. After good visits with the Blanches and Marcio & Alessandra, we were finishing our ‘reunion’ at Javi & Rosa’s when Marcio called; their little girl Luisa had fallen in the park and broken her arm at the elbow, and was to be operated on. “Could you come?”  Of course, right now!!  They didn’t know anyone else in the city and were grateful we were still there. So we left the boys and zipped to the hospital and stayed with them as surrogate family. Later we brought their other daughter Julia back with us to Javi & Rosa’s for the rest of the night. In the morning Luisa had a clean white cast on her arm and the start of a smile on her face when we finally started for home in Galicia.
Thank you so much for your prayer and support that enable us to call Spain “home” and be used by God in his process of reaching people with the good news of the Kingdom. May God help you (and us) hear his Word and put it into practice so that our lives are built on the Rock, not sand.

NOTE: We’re using a new way of sending these emails. If you have any problems, suggestions or ideas for change, please let us know. Thanks.

The year was 1978 and I was an out of shape seminary student in Dallas, Texas. I had all sorts of excuses for not having an exercise program. That changed after the Boston Marathon that spring. One of my classmates finished second in that race, training on a world-class level while taking the same grueling course load I faced. The next week I bought my first pair of running shoes, and I have been running consistently since then. Several times through the years I have tried to train for running a marathon and have never quite gotten there. Injuries or life circumstances stopped me short of the goal. But the desire never left. Last spring, our church had an emphasis on making a difference among the poor, the downcast, the sick, and the abused who are far too numerous in our hurting world. Two of our pastors got up one Sunday in their running gear and challenged us to join them in running the Chicago Marathon as part of Team World Vision, raising funds for a project in Zambia, Africa. Lynn looked at me and echoed what I was already thinking, “You should do that.”

So I along with several others from our church will join with about 1000 others who will run with our World Vision shirts on display, each of us knowing that we are making a difference in the lives of the poorest of the poor in a place far away geographically but near to our hearts- and near to the heart of God.  Here I am in my shirt, intentionally bright so the thousands of spectators will see me coming! On the back it says, “26.2 For Africa”

The training so far is going great and I am well beyond where I have ever made it before in my attempts to prepare for the 26.2 miles. After I finished a 15 mile run last Saturday, I decided that I will be able to go the distance, barring injury, and it is time to let others know what I am doing, to see if God might prompt some of you to sponsor me as I run.

Please pray:

1. That I can stay free of injury and complete the race on October 12.
2. That God will guide the conversations I have with people who see that I am running for World Vision.
3. That God will use Team World Vision to raise an abundance of funds that will make a difference in Africa.
4. For Ryan Hall, Olympic marathoner (you can see him race in Beijing on Saturday evening), who is a Christ follower and a part of Team World Vision. He will be here to run in the Chicago race.

I’ll send an update to let you know how I do-with pictures as I run through the historic neighborhoods of Chicago.

Running the race with endurance,    Tom

Dear Friends,

We need your Prayers! Prayer! All the more now than before!

We are just one week away from our pastors’ conference but we are in pain today because of what is happening in the state of Orissa.

Persecution broke out on the Church at the Khandamal district in Orissa. One of our churches was completed broken. There was a bomb blast and three churches and one orphanage building were damaged. Many of our pastors’ houses were broken down and they have gone under hiding into the forest. There is continuous rain and they have no shelter or food to survive.  Situation in this district is becoming very tensed and is painful to hear the troubles that the Church is facing right now.

Just this afternoon one of our students got the news that his house is completely broken and vandalized. He does not know where his parents are.

Knees needed!

* Pray for peace in the district.
* Pray for the Church in Orissa.
* Pray for the protection of pastors, church planters and their families.
* Pray for the protection of all the believers.
* Pray for the intervention of the Government to restore peace.
* Pray for provision of food and shelter.
* Pray for the children who are traumatized because of the violence.

Friends, will you please pray for these brothers and their families. We truly want them to join us for the pastors conference so that we can minister to them. They were just coming out of the shock and depression they experienced last December. Again they are facing such a traumatic situation. We are looking forward for them to come for the conference, so that we can pray with them, listen to them, help them process their pain and encourage them with God’s Word and promises.

Your servant in the mission,

Dr. Paul (Bobby) Gupta

1.     Continue to pray for Dorthe, Sam and myself.  Sam leaves for a long week starting next week. I will be covering some of her responsibilities as well as teach next week on writing prayer letters.
2.     One of our summer teachers will not be returning next year. Please pray that God provide someone to teach her 20 hour subject on Child Study in the summer.
3.     The students just finished a practical week, where they led a camp for 30 USA Military kids whose families are stationed in Germany. Praise God for the changes He is making in these young lives and pray that they will “Dare to be like Daniel” in their lives and witness. Pray for the students as they get back into the routine of classes and duties. These last weeks of training focus on their role as a leader in children’s work, building a ministry and training others to join in the evangelization of children.
4.     We now have 9 children and Moira and Kajsa are looking after them during class time.
They had a great time at camp with the American Kids and several have really grown in their ability to speak English. Our two Finnish boys are being home schooled by their mother during these last weeks. Keep on praying for wisdom, stamina and great joy in these last 5 weeks of ministry.
5.     Pray for our Finnish family – Vesa and Anne with their two boys Marcus and Joona –  their car has some major mechanical problems. In less than 5 weeks they hope to drive back to Finland where they will also be looking for a place to live. (To come here they moved out of the house they were renting and placed all their things in storage)Pray that they know God’s peace has they wait on His answers.

Click the link to Read Scott’s August Prayer Letter.

Brinson Prayer Letter - August 2008

Dear Friends,

Greetings to you in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Its celebration time again at HBI! Celebrating God’s faithfulness in enabling the ministries of HBI to join Him in fulfilling His mission in India! Our pastors’ conference is coming up in September and we want you to be part of what the Lord is doing through these simple barefoot church planters.

Before I give you all the details of our pastors conference and our invitation for you to invest in this conference, I want to share with you something very exciting that God did among an unreached people group called “Irulas”.  The term Irular is derived from the word “irul”, meaning darkness.

We identified this people group about 9 years ago and placed a cross cultural team to work among them.  Initially, they went through rejections and discouragements. As the Irulas were uneducated, following ancient customs, believing in mantras and sorceries, it was difficult to connect with them and communicate to them.  God gave our cross cultural team a break through by learning to sing songs in Irula language and participated in their celebration.

Our team also noticed many children were not sent to school. So they started a primary School, after obtaining permission from the Village Head. This helped our missionary couple to build bridges with the parents. Secondly, they found out there was no medical facility and they helped the people with medical camps and rendering first aid.

The Irulas were touched by their love &care and started to connect with them. They began to share their problems such as poverty, curses, witchcraft and sickness to the cross cultural team who prayed for them and counseled them. A Tailoring School too was started for the economic development of the women.  This was a huge success as many women made use of the facility and developed their skills.

Difficulties like travelling long distance, climbing mountains, oppositions from the anti Christian movements and the threat of wild animals did not hinder the team. Their commitment and desire to see the Irulas come to know our Lord paved the way when the Lord opened the door to conduct meetings at homes of the Irulas. It was fascinating to watch the Irulas trickle in for the meetings and within a short period they had about 25 families worshipping the Living God.

Praise God! The Mission work that was initiated among the Irula people group almost 9 years ago, resulted in developing four indigenous evangelists to work among their own people! 2,000 children have heard the gospel! 50 families have accepted Christ and among them 10 families were baptized! 5 worshipping communities emerged among the Irula people group! This is simply God’s doing and its marvelous in our eyes!

Friends, God is at work in India especially among unreached peoples and truly God is using the simple barefoot church planters to touch the lives of thousands of people. Just in the last 12 months, we praise God that He enabled our mission to plant 414 new churches that means more than one church a day! We also praise God 218,248 people heard and responded to the Gospel! 54,008 people accepted Christ as their personal savior, out of which 49,410 were discipled and added to the church.  Hallelujah!

Once a year we bring all our village church planters and pastors to HBI campus to rejoice with them for all the wonderful things God has done through the ministries of HBI, envision them, equip and skill them to move forward in fulfilling God’s mission in India.

Our 2008 pastors’ conference is scheduled from 1st to 6th of September 2008 and the theme of our conference is “Radiating Christ… Reaching our neighbors… Rebuilding lives…” We have invited our village church planters, evangelists, pastors, Bible women and our students to the pastors conference.  We will have a total of 800 participants.

This year our emphasis is on reaching neighbors!  India is the second largest muslim nation in the world and 11% of our 1.2 billion people are followers of Allah.  We have two special resource persons to help us understand the need and challenge in reaching our neighbors and how should we be prepared and committed to stay focused on reaching them for Christ.

Friends, first of all we want you to please begin praying for the conference at least once a week. Pray for the planning, the conference teachers, speakers and the participants. Please pray that every one that participates in the conference will gain an understanding and passion to reach our neighbors. Pray for the finances needed for the conference. Your prayers make a significant difference.

The total need of the conference is $32,000. On an average it costs only $40 to bring an indigenous pastor from the mission field, provide board and lodge and train him for 6 days in the conference.  God has already provided us $8,000/- We just need the balance $24,000/-

You can sponsor 1 pastor, 5 pastors, 10 pastors or more, that will make an incredible impact in the lives of these simple grass root village pastors to be envisioned and equipped to serve the Lord effectively.  Or you can sponsor a meal for the participants which costs $800/- or you can sponsor travel cost of ten church planters on an average of $400.  If you are unable to release the resources immediately but will make a commitment to send it to us, it will help us move forward in making effective decisions towards the conference.

Please consider the opportunity you have to invest in the kingdom by equipping these simple grass root church planters whom God is using to build His church but desperately need training. Know that every dollar you invest will multiply in seeing people reached with the Gospel, churches planted, and unreached people  discipled and equipped for Christ.

Please send in your gifts designating to “Pastors conference 2008″ and mail it to “HBI Global Partners, P.O. Box 584, Forest, VA 24551″. You can also visit our website www.globalpartners.org and donate online.

We want to thank you for allowing us to share the opportunity of joining our Lord who is at work in India and seeing India discipled for Christ.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Praying for you and may the Lord bless you.

Your servant in the mission,

Dr. Paul (Bobby) Gupta
President
HBI Global Partners
P.O. Box 584
Forest, VA 24551
www.globalpartners.org

Dears,
We are thankful of your fervent faithful prayers and support, we
appreciate it too much. We are feeling that there are people who pray
and care of us. Our favorite verse is true for us Isaiah 41.10. We
have experienced great thing during July, the starting of sport
ministry in Ambohimangakely and the change of price of all things here
because of the price of the petrol. the change of climax suddenly hot
suddenly cold, also the challenge of lack of materials and financial,
we realize that we really are  in mission. During July some couple
days we had just only lunch, some only dinner but God is holding us by
His almighty hands every day facing challenges He provides food and
money. We are proud being MBC family we are feeling supported,
protected, loved and cared, if not…?
We appreciate what you have done too much.

Our main ministry is Sports but we have ministry among poor people too:
We would like to focus on the First Thing First, to emphasize the
important thing in Evangelism as we start the Sport ministry in
Ambohimangakely we are going step by step Evangelism which means we
are doing good explanation and emphasize each step of Evangelism,
explaning the 4 steps of it, to make sure that kids would understand
their decision before the Lord and His Words, we are now on the 4th
step, about to appeal kids to commmit, give their life to Jesus
We have four leaders who are ready to receive the fruits after the
appeal, they are my disciples.
the community appreciate what we are doing for their kids, some
parents have been contacted to join our Board of Direction.

I have just visited one poor family during July ( see in attached)
because I focused more to the sports. In September according our plan
we will do more evangelism among them.

We are now still in house-hunting, think you too much for your
prayers. We could not find out yet house fitting to our ministry and
budget.

My family is doing well thank the Lord !
Now my lips is getting wrong because I am doing big physical effort
because I am participating to the National basketball Championship
with Veteran during this week.  Thank you for your prayer.

PRAYER REQUEST:
Praise the Lord for the starting of the Sports MInistry in Ambohimangakely
Praise the Lord for the Board of Direction of ISO Madagascar is set.
Praise the Lord for our health
Praise the Lord for His marvellous Provision, food and financial. Alleluia !
Pray for our spiritual, physical health (my lips)
our couple unity, children educations,
Our ministries with ISO, with our church, and with poor people.
Pray for basketballs, we have but two for 25 kids, we need 10
Pray for Computer, laptop, vehicle and house for office and to live.

Eph 6.18

Thank you too much !
blessings
Njaka and Domoina

Dear Friends,

Please thank God with us for:

1) Jonathan’s experience as a summer missionary,
teaching children in four different towns.  He
returned encouraged and more mature.  We see God’s
hand in his life.  Jonathan even had a chance to give
a devotional to a church during the preaching time.
Thank God for your prayers for him!

2) the church’s VBS and two kids clubs held the week
prior to the VBS (in July).  Sixty kids including some
youth prayed to receive Christ as did 12 adults during
the visitation following the clubs/VBS.  Thank God for
your prayers!

Please ask God for:

1) continued growth and maturity for Jonathan.  He
will be taking more of a role as a leader in the youth
group in the church and, Lord willing, this will be
his last year of homeschooling.

2) prayerful and patient follow-up of the people who
made decisions for Christ during the kid’s clubs and
the VBS.  Please also pray the adults will respond
positively to Jesus.

3) our road trip to Nicaragua.  We will be driving
through Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.  Lord
willing, we leave Monday morning early the 11th of
August and return the 26th or 27th.  As you know,
Karla grew up in Chinandega, Nicaragua and lived there
for nearly 17 years.  It has been nearly 25 years
since she was there.  This is her first time back
since she left and for the rest of us, the first time
we’ve ever been in Nicaragua.  Please pray for the
following regarding this trip:

a) safe travel with God’s protection,
b) wisdom in driving and interacting with people on
the way and upon arrival in Chinandega, Nicaragua.
c) that we would be an excellent witness as most of
Karla’s extended family that live there do not know
Jesus or are not walking in the faith.
d) for our health.

Thank you so much for your prayers!  With love, Chuck,
Karla and kids

Dear Friends,
Den is doing fairly well despite chemo every other week. We thank the Lord for His goodness. Thank you again for your requests to God on his behalf.
One by one I had both cataracts removed and replaced with implants, so I see quite well; the sky is a lovely blue!  And now I only need reading glasses.
Den would like to spend a week in Guatemala, so we have plans to fly there after a wedding shower here in Oklahoma for Carol and Neil on the 10th of August. We value your prayers on Den’s behalf that he will be well enough to attend and enjoy Neil and Carol’s wedding in Pensacola, Florida, September 20th.
Our Guatemalan co-workers Mariano and Maria Paula are expecting the birth of their 3rd child about August 15th. We’re glad Maria’s mother, a mid-wife, plans to visit them at the seminary in Chimaltenango where Mariano is a student.  Please pray for a safe delivery for mother and baby.
Mariano is nearing the end of his studies, his thesis has been accepted, but there is much to do before he can graduate in October with his Master’s degree. He has continued to find time to make two week-end visits per month to Huehuetenango to record radio programs with José.  The Radio Committee is now asking listeners to respond with comments, prayer and financial support. Please pray with us that the listeners will encourage the committee in this way.
We are thankful that Mariano has agreed to direct the Vacation Bible School in Concepción Huista again this year. The dates are Nov. 17-22. We would be greatly blessed to receive special offerings sent to Cignet, Inc. for the VBS. Your prayers for the children are so important, that the Word would take root in their hearts to draw them into the arms of their Shepherd.
Mariano is extremely busy, he and his family need to visit their own families before his teaching engagement during the month of December in a Bible School in the town of San Rafael.  Then they will move to the town of Soloma where he will commence a pastorate ministry in January, 2009.
We continue to pray that Mariano will be able to help us with Old Testament translation work in the future. We thank God for him and Maria Paula as we see God using them to bear fruit in His Kingdom.
Rejoicing in Him,
Den and Jean Stratmeyer