Current Prayers & Praise 2008
Current Praise and Prayer List
November 03, 2008
Hallelujah!
The past two weeks have certainly seen a lot of reaping going on. Bob S., Len, and Brian were teaching in the villages in the early afternoons then Larry would go out late afternoon and teach and preach an evangelistic Crusade at night. There were many decisions and the teaching was enjoyed by all.
One story about that, and this could have happened everyday but on the last day especially, the folks were encouraged to go out and invite others to come to the Crusade that night. Well, it seems the ladies took that very seriously and went door to door gathering others to come with them. There were many that came and many decisions made. Praise God.
Lane and Seth were with the rest of the team for some of the time and continued with the Seedlings for part of the time. What a joy they were.
Now the team has all moved on to their various places. All left Saturday except Len and Lane who got to stay and be with us for the Regional Rally. Lane and Seth decorated the Training Hall for us with their balloon animals. It was pretty cool.
And what a Rally it was! I have waited to write this e-mail because I just have not been able to find the words to describe how God is working in the lives of these children. I am torn between trying to express it by jubilating and shouting from the rooftops with fireworks going all over all the place! or just falling on my face before God because of seeing too much of His Glory!
To refresh what we do… the children each study the 150 or so questions and compete at zone level. The 1st & 2nd place winners of each zone come to the Regional Rally. For tie-breakers they were to start at John 12:1 and go until they could say no more and we have winner.
They arrive on Friday and spend the night, hanging out, playing games, watching the Gospel of John film and sitting in small groups studying as hard as they can. This is for the contestants, their Club Leaders, Club Helpers and Zone Leaders. We had about 85 total that spent the night.
Saturday, we began the day with breakfast at 6AM and then setting up the Training Hall to try to hold the 38 children, 2 from each of the 19 zones in the Tamale Region, all of the club leaders, helpers, zone leaders and assorted guests. After the rally there is food and we fed 297 people!!!! Next year we will probably have to move it outside because absolutely NOT ONE MORE PERSON would have fit in that room! Praise God the electricity stayed on and the fans worked.
At 9 AM we were ready to begin, but the radio station that was to record it was not here. So Bob, always the resourceful person, set up a recorder with the tape so we could record the Rally and give the station our tape. (He is so smart – a wife’s perspective)
We now begin! The children did so well answering the questions. We lost about 5 during the first 3 rounds. The rest are now in the tie breakers rounds and at the end of each round, if they have not answered a question or said the verse properly, they are eliminated.
So each round we lost a few and the others kept on going. With every answer, the excitement was mounting! All of the questions were answered with ease. Then we began on the verses. Lost several in the first tie breaker round but most hung in for a few more rounds. Finally, we were down to 4… then 3.
Now they are scrambling to see which of them will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd. One boy finally could not say his verse, then the girl could not say hers but the other guy was successful so he took home the 1st place prize of a bicycle and a Dagbani Bible! The competition went on between the other two until we had the 2nd place and 3rd place.
By the time it was all finished, the children had answered more than 150 questions and recited all 50 verses of John Chapter 12 and 20 verses of Chapter 13!!!! Can you imagine being able to quote on demand over 70 verses in a competition????? How amazing God is to be putting His word into their minds and hearts!!!
Now, as we close out our final week here for this year, we are once again facing mixed emotions. It will be great to see everyone and visit with many of you. But it is going to be hard to give Seth back to his parents. However, I think they are ready and he is ready. After talking to them yesterday, He said he thinks they are really ready to see him because he couldn’t count the number of times they told him how much they loved him yesterday on the phone!
This week is turning out to be pretty full so please pray for us as we pack in the middle of all of it. We were blessed to be able to attend the ‘Outdooring’ (naming ceremony) of Emmanuel’s new daughter today. Her name is Jessica which, according to the Pastor, means ‘God is watching’. He then did a wonderful sermon on each of our responsibilities to oversee children, no matter who they belong to.
Please pray for Esther John as she has just spent almost a week in the hospital for high blood pressure. They thought they were going to have to take the baby, but they managed to get her blood pressure down enough to send her home with strict orders to stay in bed. Her baby is due at the end of November.
And a reminder, if we are going to be able to come to your church to speak, please let us know so we can get the date on the calendar. And a date for you to put on your calendar is Saturday, December 6 at 6PM! That is when we will have our Celebration Dinner. It will once again be at the Southeastern Association Office in New Albany. We will be having a silent auction so please try to attend and find a good buy!
One other reminder, please verify that you have changed our e-mail address to bob@seedministry.com. We no longer subscribe to the Africa On Line address. If you have sent something and not received a reply, please resend it. Thanks.
Reaping in joy,
-Bob & Bonnie
Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy
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