Kristi Walker – May 2010
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
...and not because things go the way we want, but because we are loved by God!
In my last update, I asked you to pray for several things. I want to update you on a few of those requests.
Help with the youth ministry
I asked you to pray that Richard & Julia Rudolph might be able to come back to Berlin and help me temporarily with the teens if it’s God’s will. Apparently, it’s not God’s will for them at this time. I’m trusting God with this answer, knowing that His ways are higher than mine!
Specific teenagers
I also asked you to pray for three specific teenagers.
- A young man named Lukas accepted Christ a month ago. He is sharing his testimony in youth group this Saturday! This is always a big step for a kid and I’m excited for him to have this experience.
- Lawrence is the teen boy who accepted Christ this past summer and is now undergoing a crisis of faith. He is still struggling. Please keep praying! God is obviously at work.
- Please continue also praying for Negin. God has not yet given us an assurance of her present spiritual state. Her mom (an unbeliever) is attending our ladies Bible study tomorrow morning. Perhaps God will work in another family member’s heart, making living for Christ easier for Negin . . . If you want to pray BIG, ask God to save this entire family. How amazing would it be to see a family of Iranian Muslims come to Christ!
Answered prayer!
Another request I gave you was for my parents’ trip to Berlin. As many of you know, they faced many hurdles getting here due to a volcanic eruption in Iceland which closed all of Europe’s airspace for several days. We believe it was a miraculous answer to prayer that my parents were on the very first international flight into Berlin’s Tegel Airport once the airways reopened.
God had big plans for my parents once they arrived. My dad taught a week-long youth ministry course at Word of Life Germany and then a city-wide youth leader training seminar. It’s so cool to see God use my dad to inspire youth workers internationally! His passion for the next generation is contagious.
My mom spoke at our annual ladies’ retreat and 2 women accepted Christ as Savior! Praise God with us for the salvations of Justina (from Ghana) and Chantall (from South Africa)!
Unexpected Blessing
This past Monday, I hailed a taxi to take me to the airport to pick up a BBC student coming over on a missions trip. The taxi driver and I had a 30-minute conversation in English on the way to the airport. He told me that he and his wife want to improve their English for an upcoming vacation to Florida. I invited him to attend our church to speak English with people and listen to an English sermon. This excited him greatly. He let me out at the airport promising me that he and his wife would be there Sunday. AND THEY WERE!!!! This Sunday, my taxi driver and his wife attended CrossWay. J It was so exciting to see them there. Pray for Thomas and Ilona (pronounced E-lona). I doubt they are believers. They also expressed interest in possibly attending an adult Bible study. Life’s greatest blessings are unexpected.
Salvations
God has given our church the opportunity of seeing 4 people come to Christ in the last 4 months: Anna (from Milan, Italy), Lukas (half German, half American), Justina (from Ghana) and Chantall (from South Africa). I also had an opportunity last week to take a 13-year-old girl out to lunch and talk with her about salvation. She told me she’s ready to accept Christ. I felt she may need a little more time, so I asked her to read the first three chapters of John and find the answer to the question Nicodemus asked Jesus in chapter three. She is meeting with another youth leader this week for a follow-up conversation. Pray for Arielle’s salvation. She is “1/3 German, 1/3 American and 1/3 Lebanese” (her words). She speaks Arabic at home. It’s so amazing to minister in a place with people from all over the world!
Finally, please continue praying for Sheldon Markel as he raises support with EBM to come help with the youth ministry in 2011. I’m personally very excited about getting him over here to bring in some new creativity and energy.
It’s a wonderful Life – an abundant Life!
- Kristi
Up-coming Events
Here are a few upcoming events to keep in mind as you pray for the ministry in Berlin:
June 5 CrossWay Church voting on deacons (first time ever!)
June 19 Final youth event/outreach before summer break
July 19-23 English-speaking Day Camp (for children)
July 26-30 Teen Camp
*The attached pictures are of 1) the attendees at the youth leader training seminar my dad spoke at, and 2) my mom sitting with ladies from Ghana, Italy, Honduras and the Philippines at our ladies' retreat.
Jeanette Castleberry's Visitation and Funeral
Jeanette Castleberry's visitation and funeral are scheduled for this Monday, May 3rd at SBC. There will be a public visitation from 10:00am-11:00am immediately followed by the funeral at 11:00am. There will then be a lunch served at 11:45am, again here at the church. The family will then leave for a private burial at 1:00pm. Please continue in prayer for Doug, Nathaniel and their family throughout the weekend.
We will be live streaming the service at http://www.saylorvillechurch.com/live
Togo Team Update – April 14th
We have heard from both our Togo teams, the Larson's in the South and the construction team in the North. Their updates are below.
Update from Abe and the team building the Wendell Kempton Memorial Hospital in the North.
Today they were eating lunch under a very large shade tree. (It sounds like it could be the only shade tree!) He said they are all doing well but it's so hot. They are working very hard building the wall around the complex. They're hauling everything by hand and laying the rebar so tomorrow they can pour cement. The electricity has been going out a lot so sleeping has been pretty miserable. Yesterday the temperature in the house was 105 degrees when they got home from work! One of the generators was out in the village which makes it very difficult to get their generator going. He also said after dinner last night the wind picked up and it started to rain. So they climbed up on the roof and got soaked! He said it was AWESOME!! So very refreshing! Praise the Lord for that blessing!
Update from Chuck and Donna Larson at the Karolyn Kempton Hospital in the South.
Donna and I arrived safely at the Karolyn Kempton Hospital (called HBB in Togo) on Sunday after splitting off from our SBC construction team in Lome. When we arrived there had been a fight in a local village with machete and gunshot wounds so Chuck got a quick indoctrination into ER medicine at the hospital before we could even unpack. Monday was also a blur as the hospital was very full and everyone was busy with much activity. Today was a little slower medically so Chuck was able to see a few patients with just an interpreter in the clinic and has admitted a couple patients to the hospital. Some of the medicine is the same as the US (hypertension, impotence, abdominal pain) but there is a lot of malaria and sickle cell anemia and a lot of pediatric cases in the hospital (thankfully Dr. Ebersole the pediatrician takes care of the kids). The next week will be filled with more clinic work, rounds at the hospital, some nights on-call, and whatever else they want Chuck to do. Chuck hopes to do an endoscopy test on Wednesday using the equipment here - it should be a hoot.
Donna has helped care for an abandoned baby in the hospital and accompanied some kids to The Mercy Ship in Lome today who had surgery. We have not been bored. There are a lot of people here - at least a dozen other short term doctors and nurses - so everyone is very busy. We do not know if we will get to Mango or not as of today. Time will tell.
We have witnessed good fellowship among the missionaries, witnessing and presenting the gospel in the clinic, and encouraging/singing in the hospital. We suspect everyday will be busy and full. It is hot, but bearable here in the South. We hear the guys in the north do not have a generator and are hot. We are praying for them daily.
Thanks for praying for them. As you can tell they are serving with excellence. Saylorville is very well represented.
New "Good News" Video
We've recorded a new video of Pastor Pat explaining the Good News. It will always be available under the About section of our website.
Togo Team Update - April 11th
The following is an update from Jessie Miller:
Abe called to let us know they made it to Mango in about 9 1/2 hours. The trip was extremely hot. Air in van only worked part of the time. The roads were better than expected but the drivers were dangerous! They had dinner with the missionaries at the guest house and then joined them for their church service there. While in the service the electricity went out, thus went the fans! It took a while to get the generator going so they could have some air circulation. He said he was standing on the porch out back and there are nicer houses than he expected around them. Outside of the village there are many more grass huts. They start work early tomorrow morning and he said it is beastly hot. They are all just dripping with sweat! One of the air condtioners is out in their bedroom so pray that they could get it fixed! They are all tired but ready to get to work he said. Found out Tylers' suitcase with tools in it was lost. Praise the Lord not his clothes!!