Middle East Missionary Update

First day of class on our training center project. A major milestone for us! Praise the Lord.
"And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
Jonah 4:11

Grace United,
In these last months, the word the Lord has been reminding me of is the last verse of the book of the Prophet Jonah. “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” After the murder of our worker friend in November, we experienced the best and worst of the local culture. We had people helping us without asking for anything in return; seeing people's love for our friend demonstrating affection and admiration for him; understanding and support from our employees; in short, people doing everything they could for the well-being of our friend's family and ours. On the other hand, unfortunately, we suffered from people taking advantage of the situation, cheating, blackmailing, and manipulating and we saw corruption at all levels. There were days when we were excited saying in our hearts: "yes, it's worth it". And other times were so outraged that we desired to sit and wait for God to judge them, just like Jonah.

God has not given up on this nation, this city, and its people. His mercy for me is the same as He has for them. Even if in my eyes my sins are of minor importance, my sins as theirs are a dirty rag in the eyes of the Lord. And wouldn't my sins be even a greater offense, since I know the truth and the Holy Spirit dwells in me? Why would God not have mercy on them? Sadly, each one has suffered directly and indirectly because of sin in the world, which is why we are here. We are on a rescue mission, and our message is at the same time a message of Salvation and condemnation to this world. During the time that God allows us to live here, we are a light in a world in darkness. Calling everyone to receive the wonderful gift of our Lord Jesus.

Changes, Grief and Joy
First, we want to praise the Lord for you and your support during this difficult time. Thank you for every thought and prayer for us and the bereaved family.  Especially for all the gifts we have received, we wouldn't be able to continue here, without your support. Forgive us for the lack of communication. We have been trying to send more news since the end of November but we just have been swamped with everything we needed to do in these last 3 months.

It has been three months since our friend passed away, and though it is still recent, it seems that ages have passed, so much has changed in the country that we are still adapting to this new reality. Especially since October when the militias controlled by the neighboring country took over the government. Because our training center serves foreigners and we are under the same NGO as our friend, this forced us to take extra precautions for our safety and our team's. First, we moved to a safer part of town in a gated community of buildings that has 24-hour security. We've moved Thomas to another school again and hope to move the training center to a new location on this side of the river. It was difficult to have to make decisions quickly, which affected us on several levels, and significantly increased our monthly expenses.
 
By God's grace, we were blessed with generous gifts that helped us with the cost of moving and other costs we had during this time. Thomas' new school was a blessing, we tried the last school for 2 months and together with the school's coordination we saw that it wasn't going to work. The school's expectation was for Thomas to be literate in Arabic by the age of 5. They were frustrated and Thomas was suffering. We moved him to an International school in English next to our apartment and to the glory of God he now has friends, is learning to read, and is excited to go to school every day.

We decided not to close the training center during this time of transition. God gave us committed employees, and even when we were busy sorting things out for the move they continued to produce the material and we praise the Lord that we were finally able to start classes at the end of January! A Taiwanese couple (our brothers in Christ) have really enjoyed the classes and it's been great to see their progress. We can also praise the Lord for the opportunities we have had with our employees, one of them asked for a Bible, and we were able to explain the Good News clearly to two of them. It is worth it! Jesus is worthy!

Something that was also very difficult happened last month is that we lost two dear friends in Brazil. People who shone the light of Jesus and are now with Him. We pray for the families and that God will continue to comfort us all.

Our team member Savannah was out of the country when everything happened due to her visa renewal,  her process was delayed multiple times, but we praise God that it has been approved and she returned to the country on Monday! We also have a new team member (Denise) arriving soon, she is waiting on her visa approval. The couple who came to visit (Michael and Hannah) and Abbie who visited last year will be coming in September. We are enthusiastic that soon we will have a full team again. The harvest is ready, but the workers are few! We keep praying for more workers for this harvest, we need help!

In our new apartment, Carol already had the privilege of meeting two neighbors who gave their phone numbers and even had tea together. We pray that we will meet more of the residents in the apartment complex and have the opportunity to share the Good News with them.


We Need Your Help

As part of our new season of life, our costs raised considerably. We have been paying the cost of the training center project with our personal funds, but unfortunately, we can't keep absorbing the costs as our personal costs also got higher.

As we see this challenge we also see that God called us to be a Bridge so many more workers can come to the region and share the Good News. And the training center is how this will be possible, so we trust He has a way to make this happen.

Right now we are short on human and financial resources. We need people to come to work specifically in the training center. Also, because our teachers need to spend a significant amount of their hours developing the material for the Arabic course we will need soon to hire more teachers so we can provide classes for the people coming.

We brought the five loaves of bread and two fishes and we trust God will multiply.

Would you consider helping us?
Supporting us financially, even if it's just for a season or one time.
Consider coming to our country for a season to work in the training center.
Presenting our project to churches and people who may be interested in seeing the Kingdom expanding to this country.
 
If you desire more information, especially if you want to share this challenge with others, please send us an email and we can send you the training center project in detail. We are also available to explain more in a Zoom call.

Still, at the old house, Thomas already started classes in the new school in November.

For the first time, we decided to have a pet. She has been a great support for our family. And unlike the other country we lived in here, many locals like dogs.

We made a surprise breakfast at the office for Rafael's birthday.

Our move was the most difficult to date. We lived in an apartment at the back of a house and we were very happy there. Thomas has suffered a lot when we left, but he is now happy in our new home.

Going out in the park near our new home with our local friends!

As soon as we moved we were able to receive this beloved couple who are getting ready to join our team this year.

Thanksgiving

1. Our friend's family has received great support back home and they have also left a wonderful testimony in the country.
2. For our new apartment.
3. For Savannah's visa.
4. More people joining our team.
5. For the visit of our business coach this week. He is helping us in setting up the project of the training center.
6. For the opportunity to share the Good News openly with our employees.
7. For our general health, we feel the Lord carrying us during this season.

Prayer Request

1. For our health, Carol has been suffering from gastrointestinal problems. We also need prayer for our emotional and spiritual lives.
2. For Thomas at his new school. So he continues to develop and make new friends.
3. For funds for the training center, we are waiting for a response from a project that we applied to be able to continue offering classes.
4. For our work, before everything happened we were already under significant stress and it just has become harder, we need His strength.
5. For our employees that the Lord will give them dreams and visions. And also they will keep asking questions about the Word! Especially for the lady who has asked for the Bible that she starts reading it.
6. For the completion of the packing/moving of the stuff from our friend's house. We have supported the widow through this process.
7. For the new friends we are making, may the Lord begin to reveal himself to them, giving us opportunities to share about Lord with them.