Praise and Prayer for June 19, 2009

Despite some bugs going around, we are thankful to the Lord for the good health that He has given our family at this time. Although some of our faithful choir members have been sick before and since Sunday, we had a very good turnout for the choir’s final ministry of the school year. It has been encouraging to see the way God blessed this group of people as they have learned to be more committed to this ministry. There were quite a few Central Africans in church Sunday morning, some for the first time, including several we had never met before. Our Sunday school classes were full, and the children were excited as we introduced the two new songs that Jessica Lunde prepared on song cards. Teachers need the Lord’s wisdom in dealing with behavioral problems that can disrupt good listeners.

There were 19 at the Sango service Sunday afternoon, the largest group we’ve had in months. For some it was their first time, though there were at least 7 absent. Six of those present were kids, so as I spoke to the adults, Cherith worked with the children. We are realizing more and more the need to begin a children’s ministry for these children attending our Sango services. With the potential growth we are seeing, it is not hard to imagine needing to move our meeting to the auditorium downstairs when we start up the Sango services next Fall. We have our final Sango service with evangelistic emphasis on June 28 before summer schedules and traveling begins. The Lord continues to impress on us the spiritual needs of Central Africans in France. We are experiencing some of the great but rare benefits that belong to Central Africans with different ethnic backgrounds (in comparison with most other African countries). As they unite in worship and Bible study, they are able to use one African dialect, the Sango language, which functions as the mother tongue for the majority of the people in CAR.

Praise for:
- the good attendance in SS and in the French and Sango services, with several Central Africans that have started attending.
- the fellowship and encouragement for the ladies that attended the Scrapbooking Outreach last Saturday.
- good progress with paper work.

Pray for:
- the ongoing contact that we are having with people through Adrianna’s school.
- visitors to the French and Sango service to return and for God’s Word and His Spirit to convict hearts.
- further opportunities to witness and be a light in this spiritually dark country.
- Shipment for the Sango hymnal as the containers going to CAR are all full.