SGWM Weekly Prayer Update

This prayer request came from good friend Rob Douglass:

Rob and Heidi Douglass

Prayer Requests

There has been a steady flow of bus bombings in various areas of Colombo. Twenty people were killed this past week. Please pray for our safety while driving and for peace to come to Sri Lanka.

We had a new American couple join our fellowship in our home this past Saturday. We are thankful for our new friendship with them. Their names are Scott and Sarah and they work with World Vision. Pray for the Bible study to continue to grow and for believers to grow in their faith.

Our friends from Pakistan were denied refugee status by the Sri Lankan government and they were given two months to leave the country. They are devastated and fearful of what may happen if they return to Pakistan. (They had to flee due to religious persecution.) Please pray the Lord directs them and provides for their family to leave the country and protect their lives if they choose to return to Pakistan.

The children's church that Heidi leads in our home on Thursdays has grown to over 20 kids! Several unsaved children are coming as well. Pray that God's Word would be planted in these young hearts and those who do not yet know the Lord would give their lives to Him.

Pray for the students in the Bible College to grow in their love for the Lord and the knowledge of His Word. Pray for God to empower me during my times of preparation and teaching.

Thank you!
Pastor Rob and Heidi Douglass and family

Midwife on a Mission!: Surprise! Surprise!

I've written about Stephanie in the past. She's with Shepherd's Staff, too.I went through missions training with her. She is over in the Philippines working as a missionary midwife... 

Last week.... sorry so late in blogging.... a classmate caught "surprise twins"! Here is a picture of me holding them. The story goes that this young lady came in fully and pushing... she made it to the bed and shortly thereafter birthed her first little girl. But something was amiss.... the mother' fundal height was 37 (considered large in this country) but the little girl was small (only 5 lbs). They noticed the fundus was still pretty large and so they checked for heart tones and what do you know another little one was still inside!

No one knew she was carrying twins. She had never had an ultrasound (not routinely done for cost reasons). Her sister was born a few minutes later. Both of them were born head first (PTL!) which is perfect because we have not done the lesson on breech deliveries yet. The second twin was IUGR (or growth restricted) due to a smaller umbilical cord and only weighed a little more than 3 lbs. So in this picture as i am holding them, i only have an 8 lb baby in my arms! The mother didn't do so well in the postpartum period. She went into shock due to the blood loss and was transported to the hospital after vomiting several times. She had to have a blood transfusion and yet she couldn't take her twins with her! They were so small they would run the risk of getting ill. But God is an amazing provider! The classmate who caught the babies is a breastfeeding mother herself and she and her husband loved on these twins for about a week while their mother recuperated. She took them to see their mother everyday and helped them to establish solid breastfeeding patterns!

They sure can eat!

But my classmate was definitely tired at the end of it all.... tandem feedings, midnight feedings, three babies at her breast continually (for she still breast feeds her youngest!) and an assignment to complete on top of it all! She just gave the babies back last night! Please pray that they will grow up strong and that their family can afford two of everything when they only planned for one! :-)

The first little girl is named Shweety (but we called her Bean Sprout) weighed 5 lbs at birth The second tiny girl is named Cutie (but we called her Sweet Pea) weighed 3 lbs at birth

Midwife on a Mission!: Surprise! Surprise!

The Mattfelds

The Mattfelds are Shepherd's Staff missionaries down in Mexico.

Change of Plans from For the Sake of the Name by The Mattfelds For anyone out there who reads this, I want to make an attempt to keep more regular in posting. I have been slow to get on board with this whole blogging thing but realize that it is a good way to keep many people updated at once.

After much prayer and discussion, we decided three days before the La Barra trip that I should stay behind. While I wanted to return, the reality that my shoulder is not healing well and the thought of leaving the family behind yet again set in. After discussing with the leadership here, it seemed wise to skip this trip and prepare for an upcoming trip to Oaxaca next month. That trip will be to the Coicoyan people in western Oaxaca, a least-reached group that To Every Tribe Ministries has adopted. More on that trip as it approaches.

As for the team now down in La Barra - please pray as they are facing much opposition. Several of the leading men are threatening the two known believers and have told the TETM team that they are to leave by Saturday or they will be run out of the village. Pray for wisdom for the leadership of the team. Pray that they will know when to take a stand for the gospel and when to pull stakes, shake the dust from their sandals and leave. (And the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought...)

[One of the believers in La Barra and her family. Please pray for endurance and wisdom.]

Often what we use to measure success or failure is quite different than God's measure. In all we do, however, we can be sure that God is ALWAYS working ALL THINGS together for good for those who love Him, for those who have been called according to His purpose. That promise has quieted my heart more than once and I am sure that this is not the last time. We, as Christ's disciples, know that we will have enemies and opposition from all sides if we desire to live godly lives (the promise of 2 Timothy 3.12). But will they successfully be against us? No, for if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect?

No one. Not finally. Not decisively.

More than conquerors with you,
paul

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Guest Blogger: Trip Kimball - Thinking, seeing and going beyond the boundaries which so often hem us in with world missions

ALL Nations... March 27, 2008 05:46 by Admin Recently, I've been reading through the Psalms in my devotions and noticed the recurring phrase "all nations." In fact, this phrase is found in many places throughout the Scripture. So, I wonder, why does it typically seem like a somewhat strange idea to preach the Gospel to all nations, and go out into all nations?

I say this because it seems that more and more, the idea of going out to all nations, especially long-term, is becoming less and less of a concern with many churches. This is simply my own personal observation, but having been a long-term missionary overseas, and having been back in my own home-culture for a couple years now, this is how it seems. In fact, at times, when I mention the great need in the world for missionaries, especially in the area of equipping and training national leaders, I get the sense from some people that I'm trying to put them on a "guilt-trip." Of course, if that were the case, I would be putting my ownself under the same, supposed guilt trip since I'm not overseas now. I would like to be in many ways, but that's not what the Lord seems to have for me (us) at this time.

It isn't about guilt or "shoulda/oughtas", it's about reality. There really is a tremendous need for long-term missionaries who are capable, gifted and called to equip and train national leaders. So often it seems the focus is on evangelism, church planting and mercy or relief ministry. Those are all good and needed, but the greater need, in terms of an overall long-reaching view, is training national leaders in pretty much every nation other than the US or maybe North America (Canada).

How I long to see a "revival" of concern, a burden for the lost beyond our national borders for reaching those in ALL nations!

Trip Kimball - Thinking, seeing and going beyond the boundaries which so often hem us in with world missions

Doctor Blogger Missionaries

For several months, now, I've been following the blog posts of Dr's. Scott and Jennifer Myhre. I found their blog during a random blog search while they were ministering and doctoring their way through an Ebola outbreak in their part of Uganda.

In their most recent post, two child patients personify both the joy and tragedy of ministry. A child lost; a child helped. Read Beads Over Blood and then subscribe to their blog's rss feed. It's real life drama.

Technorati Tags: Uganda,missions,Myhre,medical missions