WeLoveGod RallysPublic Newsletters: hope4kyiv (LUMglobal)LUMglobal #087 ---- 1/23/10

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LUMglobal #087 ---- 1/23/10

#1 · January 23, 2010, 11:59 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on January 23, 2010, 11:59 pm
Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

          Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

               Life Unlimited Ministries

      "Touching Nations Here and There"

                      Number 087

            January/February, 2010

Dear Friends, Family, and In-Pact Partners:

What an amazing and unexpectedly busy time these past two months have been . . . filled with wonderful holiday experiences and surprising developments. It's hard to believe we have journeyed into our 54th year of ministry, 51st year of marriage, and 30th year of vocational evangelism and missions. And, as the old southern Gospel song says, "[We] wouldn't take nothin' for [our] journey now." If you look at the rest of the lyrics, probably Gaither's great song fits us better ---- "The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He Grows"

    "Since [we] started for the kingdom,

     Since [our lives] He controls.

     Since {we] gave [our hearts] to Jesus,

     The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows."

    "The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows.

    The more that [we] love Him, more love He bestows.

    Each day is like heaven, [our hearts overflow!]

    The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows."

One of our greatest joys is in knowing that you have journeyed with us on all or part of that pilgrimage. We can't imagine the travel without you, and we praise God for you.

As you recall from our last "official" letter, we announced that we were going to try sending a letter out only once every other month. So, this is our first attempt to do that. We'll continue doing so unless/until we feel the need to return to monthly. With major changes and focus shifts in our ministry, we feel this is a better use of our resources. We hope you don't mind. But, as during these past two months, we'll send out special notes as needed.

Updates:

+ Except for about 60 deck screws waiting to be driven, and the steps to be completed, the deck and walkway project is complete. We're waiting for warmer weather to finish that project with matching steps along the front of the revamped deck and a flagstone step in front of the new section to tie everything together. Then it's off to other interior and garage projects. And, there's nothing like having breakfast every day in our last Summer's project . . . the spectacular sun room with 270 degree view.



+ We're still enjoying the wildlife as snow comes and goes. Birds are aflutter everywhere and all day long. Squirrels constantly try to invade the bird feeders, and since so much bird seed lands on the ground, deer sneak in at night, and skittish sharp-eyed turkey come in droves out of the trees into the yard to feast on what the birds and squirrels don't get. If we allowed it, these wonderful creatures would eat us out of house and home. As you can tell, Bob especially loves to take pictures of our "wild life" . . . and that's about as wild as it gets for the two of us . . . that and falling asleep watching the afternoon or evening news. {;-)



+ Our Christmas time was wonderful in spite of not having some of our family with us. Debbie and her three, along with Bob's and Cheri's five didn't come, but we still had a great time with Cindy, Kevin, and Christopher, with Cheri and Bob, and with Deanna, Jim, Michael and JoyLinn. It was a special time of fellowship, eating wonderful food including the girls' famous candy and pies and Jo Ann's home made rolls. It was one of the most relaxing Christmas's we've had as our kids came and went.

One of the special moments was when Bob broke Christmas tradition and read the Christmas story himself instead of having one of the grandkids. He read from the 1575 Geneva Bible translation, the very translation the Pilgrims brought with them when they landed in America at Plymouth and Jamestown. For some reason, perhaps because of the conditions of our nation, it seemed to have special meaning.

+ We have seen further reduction in our financial support as our one remaining church had to discontinue their support after several years because of their missions giving policy. We praise God for them and for the faithfulness in encouraging us. We also lost a dear friend to death, another family who could no longer support us because of some family developments, and two other families who had to reduce their support because of unexpected financial burdens they incurred in recent months. However, we've not missed a meal, and we know that whatever God calls His people to do, He also supplies the resources for the task. We are not disappointed in those friends, but rather disappointed For them as they have had to do something they really didn't want to do.

+ We continue serving the FBC in Osceola, MO, as interim pastor. It has been one of the most delightful and blessed interim's we've ever had as we share our love and hearts with this small group of bruised and weary people. Bob preaches pertinent messages on Sunday mornings, teaches on related topics Sunday evening in the Fellowship Hall, and leads a brief Bible study on prayer Wednesday evenings followed by a time of prayer. It seems that each week the joy, love, and hope all increase. You can actually see it in the eyes of the people. It's a wonderful experience. The Pastor Search Committee and most of the members have made it clear that they want us for a long time, and they have no desire to seriously pursue a permanent pastor until the Lord shows them it is time. That's fine with us, because they have given us freedom to travel, conduct meetings, and do mission trips as needed. Most of all, we delight in sharing the Word with them as they gladly receive it.



The church built a new building about three years ago because the old facility downtown was beyond safe repair. Not long after that, the difficulties began. One day, though, the new sanctuary will be filled with excited people, and we think that will be soon. Attendance has already doubled since late November. One of our most enjoyable ministries is to have Jo Ann filling in at the piano while the church is without a regular pianist. She now has her own "praise band" ---- Tammy on flute, R.A. on tenor saxophone, and Dick on Baritone. What is interesting is that R.A. is in his 70's and hard of hearing, and Dick is 90, nearly blind, and plays by ear. But, what a joyful sound they make! The pic above right was taken on Dick's 90th birthday when all the families in the church made him a beautiful quilt with hand-designed segments depicting some aspect of his life. He's on the extreme left of the pic.

+ Jo Ann's battle with her foot continues, but has been diagnosed ---- a torn ligament on the heel and a bone spur on the outer instep. She's been to the doctor twice, and essentially is doing everything the doctor has required including wearing special wraps around her feet and doing exercises.

+ We both now have Skype accounts with webcam. Bob's name is lifeunlimited01. Jo Ann's is tolliver.j. We'd love to talk with anyone who also has Skype. E-mail us so we can coordinate a good time to talk, and send us your Skype "handle". Bob also has a Facebook account that he checks occasionally. It is simply lifeunlimited@pobox.com; that should get him. Jo Ann doesn't have one yet, and after hearing some of the horror stories about Facebook, isn't to keen on the idea of opening one.

Farsi Ministry:

God continues blessing the Farsi work in Kyiv and the other cities. Here are excerpts from "M's" latest report we received this past Friday:

We praise the Lord for another year He granted us and we are excited about the doors of opportunity He is going to open so we could serve Him here in [city ] in fresh ways. We rejoice with you that we are a small part of His awesome plan for the salvation of the lost around us.

Ira and I brought up the idea of "Good News Packages" in our International church . . . make packages containing 3 candies, a nice card with an evangelistic message on one side, and a verse from the Bible on the other side, and another card with an invitation to our International church on one side and the calendar of 2010 on the other. We then would wrap all these items in a beautiful wrapping paper in the same of a candy. The original plan was to make 500 of those packages . . . It was a tedious job to wrap them, but we had more than 12 members of our church helping . . .

We had mapped out the hostel where students of linguistic university live, and before Christmas, six of us went to hand out the packages . . . It was so good to have the new Iranian believer, "B", who had believed about 3 or 4 months ago helping us . . . We totally gave out around 285 packages in that hostel. Students were very receptive. They were very glad that someone has come to give them a gift in Christmas season. While giving a gift to a student, she asked me, "Is this gift really for me? Is it for free? You mean you came all the way here to give me a gift for Christmas?" . . . And then she added that her father had never done such a thing for her, and I saw the tears in her eyes.

And I believe that's the kind of a thing we need to be looking for. To minister to the lost in way that they could see the love of Christ in a tangible way. Ira and I are now praying and thinking about a large project for the entire 2010 . . . to make around 5,000 of those packages, and hand out in about 13 to 15 hostels where all English speaking students live on special occasions like Feb 14th, March 8th, April 1st, and so on. . . . I'm going to present it to the other member of Leadership team . . . so be praying about this project and those students who have received the packages.

We've been blessed beyond words in our Farsi ministry lately. For about a year, we have been thinking and praying to buy a guitar . . . so we would be able to take it to other cities and use it in different locations for our ministry. . . . Few days ago we received an answer to our prayer and a Ukrainian brother in our International church offered us to buy his very nice acoustic guitar with a pick-up . . . along with an awesome guitar case . . . for as little as $130. To buy those items in Kiev would have cost us around $850. So we praise the Lord for this wonderful gift. We can now play worship songs in Farsi as we travel to other cities and minister to other brothers.

Well, that was not all. The Lord has heard your prayers and has come to our help regarding a flat in Kiev. If you recall from my last prayer request, we asked you to pray for a flat in Kiev so that we could gather Iranians in different days and have ministry. A mission organization from Germany ahs agreed to help us with that. Our dear Iranian friend from Germany has talked to that organization and they have appointed a Ukrainian pastor in Kiev to help us with all the steps of renting flat. The only problem is that . . . [he] has been very sick lately, spending most of his time in intensive care unit dealing with his heart problem . . . pray for "Viktor", the Ukrainian pastor, so the Lord would touch his body.

Our Thursday night Bible studies run an average of 10 to 12 . . . and we enjoy the fellowship as well as the Bible study through the Gospel of John. God has blessed us with a new believer who is a great cook as well, so we enjoy Persian food as we gather. . . . "F" and I have started a discipleship program . . . where we share what the Lord opens to us with each other, and eventually share it with two of our Farsi church members who are relative new to faith in Christ. We encourage them to read as well and share what they have on their hearts with us and with others. We then meet for "Big Mac Bible study fellowship" at McDonalds . . . F" and I can see the effectiveness of this kinds of fellowships, and how it influences new believers' lives. The interesting thing is that one of our new believer brothers shares what he learns in these meetings with two or three of his friends in Iran through Internet.

At the end, we would like to deeply thank you for all your love, encouragement, and support you bring to us. We are blessed to know you as our friends, Kingdom partners, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Our prayer is that this year be a year of new opportunities for serving our Savior. We appreciate all the prayer support and we ask you to continue lifting us up before the throne of our Father.

We know you are always amazed and thrilled at their reports of how God is using them. Incidentally, we are in the process of raising more finances for their support, and will be sending money to them in the next week or two. Please consider sharing something with them, especially in light of their ministry expansion and the arrival of their baby, something "M" failed to mention . . . Ira is due to deliver their baby son on or around February 27th (which is also Jo Ann's birthday), so we look forward to that report.

Upcoming Events:

We are super excited about four ministry developments already in process:

+ 1. This coming Monday morning (Jan 25th), Bob will sing and Jo Ann will accompany him at the annual State Evangelism Conference in Branson, MO. This is the first time in nearly two years since we've done anything like this, so pray for us! We're really looking forward to the conference, and are anxious to reconnect with more friends we haven't seen for several years.

+ 2. Next Friday, January 29th, is special for two reasons. First, it is our 51st wedding anniversary, and it is also the beginning of a project we've been working on for more than a year . . . an International Bible study via Skype Video on the internet!!! We are so very excited that this is finally happening. Currently we have people in the U.S., Ukraine, Thailand, Sweden, and Finland participating in a live conference-call-type Bible study. Finding a good time has been a challenge because of the time zones. So, we'll lead it from here somewhere around 11:00 am our time, where it will be 6:00 pm in Finland and Sweden, 7:00 pm in Ukraine, and Midnight in Bangkok! Can you imagine such a thing??? Praise God for modern technology. We hope the group will grow and that we can continue discipling and mentoring believers around the world.

+ 3. Things are coming together for our trip to Cuba. We are scheduled to leave around March 12th via Cancun (we can't fly directly there from America since the State Department won't allow that), arriving in Havana on March 14th. We will lead two separate conferences, one in Havana and another in a nearby city, in which we will minister to around 250 to 300 pastors and other church leaders. Simultaneously Jo Ann and the other two ladies will minister to an equal number of pastors' wives and other women. Then the two of us will stay over a couple of extra days and speak in our Tania's home church in Havana, returning to the States around the 23rd or 24th of March. Bob will celebrate his 72nd birthday in Havana on the 19th.

Most of our financial needs for this trip have been miraculously covered through three generous gifts, and we thank and praise the Lord for that . . . but we still need a few hundred dollars to finish things up and also make it possible for us to take some much needed resources to the believers there.

+ 4. While it is still some time away, we are also scheduled to do a Bible conference in April in a central Missouri town. We'll be meeting with the pastor of that church this week at the Evangelism Conference, and will have more details after that.

+ The next three months carry three important dates for ---- Jan 29th, our 51st wedding anniversary, Feb 27th, Jo Ann's nineteenth birthday [ [;-) ], and March 19th, Bob's 72nd birthday. Seems like time keeps marching on.

+ Another things we've wanted to do ever since our return to the States is to have a student Bible study and discipleship group on campus at SBU. Bob put his name in the pot for adjunct teaching at the school, but has never been approached about filling some vacant slots. But, he has been thinking again very recently about talking with the University Ministries' Director about a possible weekly evening Bible study.

Prayer Requests:

+ Pray for all of the above upcoming events, that God will work in powerful ways in and through them all.

+ Pray for "M" and Ira that their financial needs will be met, that the work will continue to grow, and that the birth of their son will be free from complications.

+ Pray that our monthly financial shortfall will be covered by increased supporters. We're currently running about $500 per month below where we really need to be.

+ Pray for the church where we're currently ministering, that wounds will be healed, relationships restored, love rekindled, fellowship strengthened, and vision renewed. These are wonderful people who are moving from discouragement to hope . . . from sadness to joy . . . from grieving to gladness.

+ Pray for the situation in Haiti. One of our former colleagues with whom we went to missionary training in 2002 are in Florida right now to pick up a Haitian orphan they are trying to adopt. Pray for them as well.

+ Pray for the people in Cuba that their hearts will be prepared for our ministry. Pray for the three couples (Richard and Stephanie Blake, Hilton and Alice Jo Olive, and us) that we will be adequately prepared and endued with wisdom, insight, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray that all travel plans can be arranged successfully, and that all finances are provided.

Finally:

As we review this letter, we find that we might be better off writing monthly rather than making semi-monthly letters so much longer. We'll see. Anyhow, we again are reminded of what an important role you play in our ministry, and we continue thanking the Lord often for your prayer, your encouragement, and the financial support of a number of key families. We are more grateful for you than we can adequately express, and we thank the Lord for you. Please drop us a note from time to time.

--
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Posted by: lifeunlimited <lifeunlimited@...>

Monthly Praise and Prayer Letter Of

Bob and Jo Ann Tolliver

Life Unlimited Ministries

"Touching Nations Here and There"

Number 087

January/February, 2010

Dear Friends, Family, and In-Pact Partners:

What an amazing and unexpectedly busy time these past two months have been . . . filled with wonderful holiday experiences and surprising developments. It's hard to believe we have journeyed into our 54th year of ministry, 51st year of marriage, and 30th year of vocational evangelism and missions. And, as the old southern Gospel song says, "[We] wouldn't take nothin' for [our] journey now." If you look at the rest of the lyrics, probably Gaither's great song fits us better ---- "The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He Grows"

"Since [we] started for the kingdom,

Since [our lives] He controls.

Since {we] gave [our hearts] to Jesus,

The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows."

"The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows.

The more that [we] love Him, more love He bestows.

Each day is like heaven, [our hearts overflow!]

The longer [we] serve Him, the sweeter He grows."

One of our greatest joys is in knowing that you have journeyed with us on all or part of that pilgrimage. We can't imagine the travel without you, and we praise God for you.

As you recall from our last "official" letter, we announced that we were going to try sending a letter out only once every other month. So, this is our first attempt to do that. We'll continue doing so unless/until we feel the need to return to monthly. With major changes and focus shifts in our ministry, we feel this is a better use of our resources. We hope you don't mind. But, as during these past two months, we'll send out special notes as needed.

Updates:

+ Except for about 60 deck screws waiting to be driven, and the steps to be completed, the deck and walkway project is complete. We're waiting for warmer weather to finish that project with matching steps along the front of the revamped deck and a flagstone step in front of the new section to tie everything together. Then it's off to other interior and garage projects. And, there's nothing like having breakfast every day in our last Summer's project . . . the spectacular sun room with 270 degree view.

+ We're still enjoying the wildlife as snow comes and goes. Birds are aflutter everywhere and all day long. Squirrels constantly try to invade the bird feeders, and since so much bird seed lands on the ground, deer sneak in at night, and skittish sharp-eyed turkey come in droves out of the trees into the yard to feast on what the birds and squirrels don't get. If we allowed it, these wonderful creatures would eat us out of house and home. As you can tell, Bob especially loves to take pictures of our "wild life" . . . and that's about as wild as it gets for the two of us . . . that and falling asleep watching the afternoon or evening news. {;-)

+ Our Christmas time was wonderful in spite of not having some of our family with us. Debbie and her three, along with Bob's and Cheri's five didn't come, but we still had a great time with Cindy, Kevin, and Christopher, with Cheri and Bob, and with Deanna, Jim, Michael and JoyLinn. It was a special time of fellowship, eating wonderful food including the girls' famous candy and pies and Jo Ann's home made rolls. It was one of the most relaxing Christmas's we've had as our kids came and went.

One of the special moments was when Bob broke Christmas tradition and read the Christmas story himself instead of having one of the grandkids. He read from the 1575 Geneva Bible translation, the very translation the Pilgrims brought with them when they landed in America at Plymouth and Jamestown. For some reason, perhaps because of the conditions of our nation, it seemed to have special meaning.

+ We have seen further reduction in our financial support as our one remaining church had to discontinue their support after several years because of their missions giving policy. We praise God for them and for the faithfulness in encouraging us. We also lost a dear friend to death, another family who could no longer support us because of some family developments, and two other families who had to reduce their support because of unexpected financial burdens they incurred in recent months. However, we've not missed a meal, and we know that whatever God calls His people to do, He also supplies the resources for the task. We are not disappointed in those friends, but rather disappointed For them as they have had to do something they really didn't want to do.

+ We continue serving the FBC in Osceola, MO, as interim pastor. It has been one of the most delightful and blessed interim's we've ever had as we share our love and hearts with this small group of bruised and weary people. Bob preaches pertinent messages on Sunday mornings, teaches on related topics Sunday evening in the Fellowship Hall, and leads a brief Bible study on prayer Wednesday evenings followed by a time of prayer. It seems that each week the joy, love, and hope all increase. You can actually see it in the eyes of the people. It's a wonderful experience. The Pastor Search Committee and most of the members have made it clear that they want us for a long time, and they have no desire to seriously pursue a permanent pastor until the Lord shows them it is time. That's fine with us, because they have given us freedom to travel, conduct meetings, and do mission trips as needed. Most of all, we delight in sharing the Word with them as they gladly receive it.

The church built a new building about three years ago because the old facility downtown was beyond safe repair. Not long after that, the difficulties began. One day, though, the new sanctuary will be filled with excited people, and we think that will be soon. Attendance has already doubled since late November. One of our most enjoyable ministries is to have Jo Ann filling in at the piano while the church is without a regular pianist. She now has her own "praise band" ---- Tammy on flute, R.A. on tenor saxophone, and Dick on Baritone. What is interesting is that R.A. is in his 70's and hard of hearing, and Dick is 90, nearly blind, and plays by ear. But, what a joyful sound they make! The pic above right was taken on Dick's 90th birthday when all the families in the church made him a beautiful quilt with hand-designed segments depicting some aspect of his life. He's on the extreme left of the pic.

+ Jo Ann's battle with her foot continues, but has been diagnosed ---- a torn ligament on the heel and a bone spur on the outer instep. She's been to the doctor twice, and essentially is doing everything the doctor has required including wearing special wraps around her feet and doing exercises.

+ We both now have Skype accounts with webcam. Bob's name is lifeunlimited01. Jo Ann's is tolliver.j. We'd love to talk with anyone who also has Skype. E-mail us so we can coordinate a good time to talk, and send us your Skype "handle". Bob also has a Facebook account that he checks occasionally. It is simply lifeunlimited@pobox.com; that should get him. Jo Ann doesn't have one yet, and after hearing some of the horror stories about Facebook, isn't to keen on the idea of opening one.

Farsi Ministry:

God continues blessing the Farsi work in Kyiv and the other cities. Here are excerpts from "M's" latest report we received this past Friday:

We praise the Lord for another year He granted us and we are excited about the doors of opportunity He is going to open so we could serve Him here in [city ] in fresh ways. We rejoice with you that we are a small part of His awesome plan for the salvation of the lost around us.

Ira and I brought up the idea of "Good News Packages" in our International church . . . make packages containing 3 candies, a nice card with an evangelistic message on one side, and a verse from the Bible on the other side, and another card with an invitation to our International church on one side and the calendar of 2010 on the other. We then would wrap all these items in a beautiful wrapping paper in the same of a candy. The original plan was to make 500 of those packages . . . It was a tedious job to wrap them, but we had more than 12 members of our church helping . . .

We had mapped out the hostel where students of linguistic university live, and before Christmas, six of us went to hand out the packages . . . It was so good to have the new Iranian believer, "B", who had believed about 3 or 4 months ago helping us . . . We totally gave out around 285 packages in that hostel. Students were very receptive. They were very glad that someone has come to give them a gift in Christmas season. While giving a gift to a student, she asked me, "Is this gift really for me? Is it for free? You mean you came all the way here to give me a gift for Christmas?" . . . And then she added that her father had never done such a thing for her, and I saw the tears in her eyes.

And I believe that's the kind of a thing we need to be looking for. To minister to the lost in way that they could see the love of Christ in a tangible way. Ira and I are now praying and thinking about a large project for the entire 2010 . . . to make around 5,000 of those packages, and hand out in about 13 to 15 hostels where all English speaking students live on special occasions like Feb 14th, March 8th, April 1st, and so on. . . . I'm going to present it to the other member of Leadership team . . . so be praying about this project and those students who have received the packages.

We've been blessed beyond words in our Farsi ministry lately. For about a year, we have been thinking and praying to buy a guitar . . . so we would be able to take it to other cities and use it in different locations for our ministry. . . . Few days ago we received an answer to our prayer and a Ukrainian brother in our International church offered us to buy his very nice acoustic guitar with a pick-up . . . along with an awesome guitar case . . . for as little as $130. To buy those items in Kiev would have cost us around $850. So we praise the Lord for this wonderful gift. We can now play worship songs in Farsi as we travel to other cities and minister to other brothers.

Well, that was not all. The Lord has heard your prayers and has come to our help regarding a flat in Kiev. If you recall from my last prayer request, we asked you to pray for a flat in Kiev so that we could gather Iranians in different days and have ministry. A mission organization from Germany ahs agreed to help us with that. Our dear Iranian friend from Germany has talked to that organization and they have appointed a Ukrainian pastor in Kiev to help us with all the steps of renting flat. The only problem is that . . . [he] has been very sick lately, spending most of his time in intensive care unit dealing with his heart problem . . . pray for "Viktor", the Ukrainian pastor, so the Lord would touch his body.

Our Thursday night Bible studies run an average of 10 to 12 . . . and we enjoy the fellowship as well as the Bible study through the Gospel of John. God has blessed us with a new believer who is a great cook as well, so we enjoy Persian food as we gather. . . . "F" and I have started a discipleship program . . . where we share what the Lord opens to us with each other, and eventually share it with two of our Farsi church members who are relative new to faith in Christ. We encourage them to read as well and share what they have on their hearts with us and with others. We then meet for "Big Mac Bible study fellowship" at McDonalds . . . F" and I can see the effectiveness of this kinds of fellowships, and how it influences new believers' lives. The interesting thing is that one of our new believer brothers shares what he learns in these meetings with two or three of his friends in Iran through Internet.

At the end, we would like to deeply thank you for all your love, encouragement, and support you bring to us. We are blessed to know you as our friends, Kingdom partners, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Our prayer is that this year be a year of new opportunities for serving our Savior. We appreciate all the prayer support and we ask you to continue lifting us up before the throne of our Father.

We know you are always amazed and thrilled at their reports of how God is using them. Incidentally, we are in the process of raising more finances for their support, and will be sending money to them in the next week or two. Please consider sharing something with them, especially in light of their ministry expansion and the arrival of their baby, something "M" failed to mention . . . Ira is due to deliver their baby son on or around February 27th (which is also Jo Ann's birthday), so we look forward to that report.

Upcoming Events:

We are super excited about four ministry developments already in process:

+ 1. This coming Monday morning (Jan 25th), Bob will sing and Jo Ann will accompany him at the annual State Evangelism Conference in Branson, MO. This is the first time in nearly two years since we've done anything like this, so pray for us! We're really looking forward to the conference, and are anxious to reconnect with more friends we haven't seen for several years.

+ 2. Next Friday, January 29th, is special for two reasons. First, it is our 51st wedding anniversary, and it is also the beginning of a project we've been working on for more than a year . . . an International Bible study via Skype Video on the internet!!! We are so very excited that this is finally happening. Currently we have people in the U.S., Ukraine, Thailand, Sweden, and Finland participating in a live conference-call-type Bible study. Finding a good time has been a challenge because of the time zones. So, we'll lead it from here somewhere around 11:00 am our time, where it will be 6:00 pm in Finland and Sweden, 7:00 pm in Ukraine, and Midnight in Bangkok! Can you imagine such a thing??? Praise God for modern technology. We hope the group will grow and that we can continue discipling and mentoring believers around the world.

+ 3. Things are coming together for our trip to Cuba. We are scheduled to leave around March 12th via Cancun (we can't fly directly there from America since the State Department won't allow that), arriving in Havana on March 14th. We will lead two separate conferences, one in Havana and another in a nearby city, in which we will minister to around 250 to 300 pastors and other church leaders. Simultaneously Jo Ann and the other two ladies will minister to an equal number of pastors' wives and other women. Then the two of us will stay over a couple of extra days and speak in our Tania's home church in Havana, returning to the States around the 23rd or 24th of March. Bob will celebrate his 72nd birthday in Havana on the 19th.

Most of our financial needs for this trip have been miraculously covered through three generous gifts, and we thank and praise the Lord for that . . . but we still need a few hundred dollars to finish things up and also make it possible for us to take some much needed resources to the believers there.

+ 4. While it is still some time away, we are also scheduled to do a Bible conference in April in a central Missouri town. We'll be meeting with the pastor of that church this week at the Evangelism Conference, and will have more details after that.

+ The next three months carry three important dates for ---- Jan 29th, our 51st wedding anniversary, Feb 27th, Jo Ann's nineteenth birthday [ [;-) ], and March 19th, Bob's 72nd birthday. Seems like time keeps marching on.

+ Another things we've wanted to do ever since our return to the States is to have a student Bible study and discipleship group on campus at SBU. Bob put his name in the pot for adjunct teaching at the school, but has never been approached about filling some vacant slots. But, he has been thinking again very recently about talking with the University Ministries' Director about a possible weekly evening Bible study.

Prayer Requests:

+ Pray for all of the above upcoming events, that God will work in powerful ways in and through them all.

+ Pray for "M" and Ira that their financial needs will be met, that the work will continue to grow, and that the birth of their son will be free from complications.

+ Pray that our monthly financial shortfall will be covered by increased supporters. We're currently running about $500 per month below where we really need to be.

+ Pray for the church where we're currently ministering, that wounds will be healed, relationships restored, love rekindled, fellowship strengthened, and vision renewed. These are wonderful people who are moving from discouragement to hope . . . from sadness to joy . . . from grieving to gladness.

+ Pray for the situation in Haiti. One of our former colleagues with whom we went to missionary training in 2002 are in Florida right now to pick up a Haitian orphan they are trying to adopt. Pray for them as well.

+ Pray for the people in Cuba that their hearts will be prepared for our ministry. Pray for the three couples (Richard and Stephanie Blake, Hilton and Alice Jo Olive, and us) that we will be adequately prepared and endued with wisdom, insight, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Pray that all travel plans can be arranged successfully, and that all finances are provided.

Finally:

As we review this letter, we find that we might be better off writing monthly rather than making semi-monthly letters so much longer. We'll see. Anyhow, we again are reminded of what an important role you play in our ministry, and we continue thanking the Lord often for your prayer, your encouragement, and the financial support of a number of key families. We are more grateful for you than we can adequately express, and we thank the Lord for you. Please drop us a note from time to time.

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