Monday, June 28, 2010

Luke & Kelly Lyons

ortigas

Greetings from Manila!

The thermometer outside says the temperature is in the 90's but the 'feels like' temperature is in the 100's, with 80-90% percent humidity! We have arrived in muggy Manila Philippines and are excited to be here, temperature aside. We have only been here a short while and already we are jumping in with a full schedule and exciting things lined up. Here are a few things that have already recently happened and are upcoming:

Camp Victory Day
Last June 4th, we celebrated with over 300 people who volunteered at camp this year. 300 volunteers who have committed from 1-2 days all the way to several months on end to serve at camp. We had several people tell stories of how previous camps have drastically changed their life. One young man was saved at our camp back in 2001, he now is a pastor at one of our church plants and a speaker at our camps.

Our Summer interns are here, we will have 5 interns this summer, each of whom will be exposed to life as a missionary and our ministry. These young men and women are already involved in many aspects of our ministry.

June 19th we had our NFD (Non Facility Dependant) Church rally. This is where we invite anyone and everyone who is interested in a new up and coming church plant to hear our vision, goals, and where the next 3 church plants will begin this year.

We have several mission trip groups set to arrive over the next several weeks. One group, -Clear Vision Drama- arrived late Saturday night and already performed in 3 services before Sunday was through. They are a blessing to us and work great alongside our Drama teams here on the ground.

Luke has already had meetings with leaders to continue to build our network of small groups. Growing that through strengthening existing groups and starting new ones.

Luke & ScottScott has been adjusting nicely. Although he has been very clear that it is hotter and more humid than we as parents let on. Overall he is doing great.

Thank you for your prayers and support as we transition and move to the Philippines!

Luke, Kelly & Scott Lyons

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

News from Africa

Dear Brothers and Sisters and Prayer Warriors,

Greetings in the wonderful name of the Lord. Thank you all so much for all the prayers that have reached Heavens gates and came down and wrapped us in His Peace and Grace. Becky sends her love and appreciation as well.

Well here goes: the surgery that was scheduled for June 7th was moved up because I went into congestive heart failure. They put me in with a different doctor who specializes in valve replacements. What a coincidence! They replaced my valve and one of the arteries that had most of my stents. After surgery, I was bleeding and almost had to go in again, but the prayers of God's people made a difference. When I came out of surgery, they found a huge sport on one of my kidneys. I told the doctor it was from a bout of Black Water Fever I had in 2000. He said he had never heard of such a thing and wanted more tests. After more tests came back and said it was scar tissue from something that happened long ago, and once again I told him about Africa, this time he listened. He said I should keep close watch on it in the future. Then he said I needed a pace maker put in so that was done as well. When they released me to go home, they had my left arm in a sling and my elbow swelled up twice its size. I went in for a weekly checkup and mentioned it and they did an ultrasound and found blood clots in my arm, so I was back in the hospital again. I am now at home giving myself shots everyday to get my blood regulated.

This time it may take just a bit longer for rehab, but I already feel better, my breathing is just wonderful now and hopefully when I am stronger this can help me prolong the ministry God has called me to. God is so good. Some lessons learned: Going through something like this without the Lord has got to be just miserable. I felt as if I was in the arms of Jesus the whole time. Even though there is pain, there is still peace. God's grace is sufficient. All the opportunities for witnessing was a blessing. One of the men took home a tract I gave him and led his son to the Lord. There are so many other stories as well.

The work in Africa is going well. A 40ft. container will be shipped any day full of supplies. Thank you for all your support in helping in this effort. Remember we have our annual Bible Conference in the "bush" this August. We need help to feed all the people. Just $1 can feed someone for 7 days. We are expecting around 1500 ids for VBS and over 5000 adults. We have a team of doctors coming over led by Dr. Jim Elias. They will bring in so many more people as they set up the clinic right next to the tabernacle. Please pray about helping with this.

Once again and as always, thank you for all your prayers and support. To God be the glory. We love each of you.

In Jesus Name,
Bobby and Becky Bonner

Thursday, June 10, 2010

European Update

Dear Friends and Supporters,



God has recently encouraged my heart with 2 Corinthians 4:7 "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." It is so easy for us to take the glory for what we have accomplished, but as I read this verse I am again reminded that we are just earthen vessels (Crackpots, or pots with cracks) easily broken and very fragile. But God has chosen to place the gospel treasure in people like us in order that He will get all the glory for anything that we have done and are doing. God delights in manifesting His great POWER through these jars of clay. One great Bible Teacher of our time points out that when God wanted to communicate His message, He didn't go to the elite of Egypt, Greece, Rome, or even to the elite of Israel. Where did He go? He went to the shores of Galilee and found a bunch of fishermen.



This Bible teacher continues by saying: "He passed by Herodotus the historian, Socrates and Plato the philosophers, Hippocrates the father of medicine, Euclid the mathematician, Archimedes the father of mechanics, Hipparchus the astronomer, Cicero the orator and Virgil the poet. He chose a little hunchback Jew (Paul) with a deformed face without great oratorical abilities. He put in that little clay pot the priceless treasure and is still doing it today."



I just finished reading a book written by one of our dear friends from our time at Briercrest Bible Collage, Murray Carter. Just a farm boy from Western Canada, but God used him to start one of the great church movements in India and then moved him to Italy in his latter years. God is still using earthen vessels today. How do I know that? He is still using us and we are so thankful for the privilege of being used by God.



January and February were very busy months for us. Gregor Breier, our German Concert Pianist, was here again in March. We were so thankful for the response of the people even in the midst of this financial crisis here in USA. We are now planning our next tours with Gregor as well as meetings that we will be having in Pennsylvania and Connecticut during July and August. The tour with Gregor in October will take us through the New England states as well as northern New York State.



We are still battling this cancerous tumor in Betts' chest area and would ask for special prayer on May 25th by her next examination. If her tumor markings have not gone down through the heavy medicine, we will have to do something else. We are not sure what our doctor will suggest this time. As you probably have concluded, we are just earthen vessels with all kinds of cracks. In the midst of this all, we have such a deep desire that God will use us for His Glory. Thank you for your prayers. I trust that you will be blessed as you read the reports of our leaders in Europe. We are especially happy for the work in Hungary which will be celebrating their 20th anniversary on the 14 and 15th of this month. Looking back to the beginnings of this great work, I still marvel at the way God was able to use this vessel of clay even before the wall, dividing Eastern and Western Europe, came down. To God be all the glory!



Italy also celebrated their 25th anniversary the beginning of this year with meetings all over that great country with Dr. Joe Jordan and our director Marion Portillo. They are in the process of buying a camp property right now and have a matching fund of $150,000. If we can help them in any way right now, we can double our money.



Thank you again for your faithful support and prayers for all of our leaders and their staff in Europe and Africa.



Our love and prayers,

Bob & Betts Parschauer

Word of Life European Representative



European Update



Austria

Herwig and Claudia Lamb are holding meetings all over Austria in churches, ministering in song and Word. Herwig will hold seminars at the large Youth Conference, May 21-24th weekend. About 500 youth will be present. Dr. Klaus Eickhoff will be invited for two homiletics seminars to be held at our center in Villach the first weekend in June. This is for pastors in their area. Willy and Tania have planned 4 weekend camps and are praying for young people and children from the village area to attend. Herwig will be traveling to Berlin in June to teach the book of Revelation to our students at the Esra Training school. Please pray for our team in Austria.

-Andy Wenzel



Bulgaria

The Bible Club Ministry continues to grow and it is such a blessing to bless the churches with our Bible Club programs. We will be in Ukraine from May 14-16th for the annual missionary conference with some of our youth from Bulgaria. Pray for decisions that will be eternal during that time. Our summer children and teenager camps are planned for July 18-August 1. Pray especially for preparation of the counselors.

-Sergii and Tania Tyshchenko



Czech Republic

We praise God for what He has done in our three winter camps this year. Many got saved and some are now coming to our Bible Club in Brno. We have linked up with a Baptist church in that city and have seen great growth, in numbers as well as spirituality. We began a few months ago with 7 teens coming and it has now grown to 7. These teens are on fire for God and are witnessing in their school as well as memorizing Bible verses and doing their quiet time. God is at work1

-Rich and Alissa Hood



France

On May 24th, a missions reality group of BI students are coming from Quebec Canada, to work with our French team. We will be holding our 3rd Superbowl event just before they come on Saturday, May 22nd. Our family day at the camp grounds will happen on June 27th. The Ecouen (Paris) Center has been open since mid-January and is a huge blessing, functioning as a Word of Life Christian Retreat Center. Our camp season from July 4th to August 7th will host 5 sessions of teenagers. We need your prayers. We have also started an important expansion phase at the Camp Property and will need teams of workers this fall to help us build.

-Rob Stetson



Germany

While this report is being written, our team, along with students from Bibelschule Brake, is on the road with the musical, "The Revelation." They will be in halls and city auditoriums all over the country again this year. During the last 20 years, 150,000 people have experienced "The Revelation" just in German Speaking Europe. Hundreds have received Christ. Larry and Joy Locken will be doing a tour throughout Germany from September 22 until October 10th with our second and third generation music teams and leaders in Germany. Pray that this will again be used to lead many to Christ and that our German staff will be greatly encouraged. The youth camps are already almost all booked out for the coming summer. Pray for a great harvest of souls. Pray for the Bible Institute in Berlin, the Children's' camps and musicals (the "Christmas Joy" tour with Alex Lombardi was a great success), the brass concerts, the music seminars, the family camps, and the many other daily activities.

-Amy and Esther Wenzel



Kenya

This past December was one of the greatest camp months that we have ever experienced with over 2000 campers in attendance just in that month in Nairobi, Mombasa and seven additional locations in Kenya. What a joy to see many come to Christ in these satellite camps. We were in Western Kenya in Oyugis; Northern Kenya Marsabit; Eastern Kanya in Kitui, Machakos and Mwea as well as the slums outside of Nairobi. Since December, we have been very involved with our 21 Bible School Students. What a joy to see them develop as they minister in schools and churches on the weekends. Our new hall is finally finished for which we praise the Lord! Thank you to all of you who have helped us financially with this great project. We just had a very bad wind storm in Kenya a couple days ago and three of our buildings in Mombasa lost their roofs.



Uganda

Thomas Obunde, a young man who was led to Christ through our work in Kenya, went to WOLBI in USA and is now leading this great work in Uganda. God gave us a wonderful property in Kampala that is being used to win literally hundreds of young people to Christ. David Baguma has been given the responsibility to coordinate the University ministries in this country. He took a group of University students recently to Mombasa in Kenya where he was able to really impact their lives. He has asked us to pray that God will raise up future leaders from these students. You will hear more about this work in the future. They are not only holding camps in Kampala, but also in the war torn Northern region of Uganda

-Bob Parschauer



Hungary

As is happening all over Word of Life in Europe a new generation of leadership is being trained. One of those leaders is Gabor Csikos. He was raised in a Godly Hungarian home and attended our camp for the first time in 1991. He dedicated his life to the Lord at a Word of Life Euro Youth conference in Germany in 1994, went to our Bible Institute and after graduation joined our staff. Pray for Gabor and his wife Tunde as they take on more and more leadership rolls in Hungary. In February this year we had great winter camps in Hungary and Poland. The Born Again to a Living Hope Drama tour in April took us to many schools and churches in Hungary, Transylvania and Romania. Several great Bible teachers were guest professors at our Bible Institute this year. Dr. Jimmy DeYoung taught prophesy, Dr. Kalman Meszaros taught Church History, and Dr. Michael Glenhorn taught Apologetics.



We also had 30 2nd year BI students from USA doing a missions reality course in Hungary in March this year

-Alex and Pam Konya



Serbia

Preparations are being made for our camps in this country again. Please be in prayer for our leaders there and especially for the counselors, some who will come from our Bible Institute in Hungary

-Alex



Italy

We celebrated the last 25 years of ministry with activities all over Italy with our Director Joe Jordan. We began March 4th in Mirano in the province of Venice and from there to the Island of Sardina, then to the city of Alghero, on to Rome and teh city of Vasto where the camp property is that we are looking to the Lord to give to us. We again celebrated in Fano on March 20-21 and also in Lagnano March 26-28. What a wonderful month of celebrations we had. Thank you for all your prayers and support over the years. Many came to Christ during these celebrations. Praise the Lord.

-Mario and Norma Portillo



Lithuania

God has given us a new addition to our family and little Sophia has been a real door opener for us to talk to the doctor's and nurses about what we are doing and relate to them that we are here to tell the people of the Baltic countries about Christ. That spring we organized evangelistic seminars to teach personal evangelism. We now have a small team of about 10 youth from our local Bible club who are going with us onto the streets to do personal evangelism. These young people are between the ages of 17 and 23 years of age. It is just incredible to see the change in the spiritual life of a young person when he goes out to share his or her faith in this way. We see some great leaders for the future developing before our eyes. Ana Laura's ladies Bible study had also become a real hit. The girls are growing every week. We are now advertising for the summer camps and have already rented a camp property for these summer camps. Thank you for your prayers.

-Michai and Ana Laura Bucur



Poland

Our biggest conference ever! Some were turned away from our Winter Camp and conference for lack of room. A wonderful group of Bible School students from our Hungarian BI were here to assist us in this great conference on prayer. Four young people accepted Christ and all were truly blessed. Our living room was over crowded again with 49 people at our leaders weekend. These are Bible Club leaders learning new ways to reach the youth of Poland with the Gospel. We are also praying that the dollar keep rising in value towards the Euro so that we will have funds to renovate our new property when we move in, possibly in August.

-Tim and Virginia Good



Portugal

On May 1st, we had a great Sports Marathon on our property with many decisions for Christ. Our yearly Bible Club Leadership Training Conference with Mike Calhoun happened on May 14-15th. What a joy to see the response of our club leaders. The annual Family Day is coming up with Joe and Melva Jordan on June 3. Just a few more weeks and our July and August camps will begin. Thank you for your prayers for all of these activities. God has been so good to us.

-David and Pat West



Romania

We are so thankful for the great ministry of the last few weeks. Our team just returned from an evangelistic outreach. Over 1700 youth were reached in schools and jails. Many have been saved and are requesting Bible Courses and New Testaments. During our sports marathon with 16 teams participating, 18 youth made a decision to receive Christ into their lives. Please be in prayer for those new Christians. We are now in the process of preparing for the summer camps. We will have camps in Romania, Greece, and Turkey. Please continue to pray for the support of our team leaders in Turkey and Greece, that they will soon have their full support. Our leader from Greece will be traveling with Bob Parschauer and Gregor Breier on a tour throughout New England, New York State, and Pennsylvania in October this year.

-Juan and Kim Silas



Spain

We are so happy that God had at last sent us a new family to join our staff in Spain. Sergio and Noemi Martinez have moved to Spain to work into a leadership position in this country. Sergio is a great spiritual leader who has been working in Portugal the last few years. Sergio will jump right into the ministry here because he already knows the language. Would you pray for this family as they transition to this country? Pray also for their much needed support. Thank you for praying for our work here with the church, Bible clubs and camps.

-Beto and Crystal Tarasiuk



Ukraine

This year has been very busy. We ended 2009 and started 2010 with a Christmas tour that literally went to every part of Ukraine. We started in Central Ukraine, from there to the Eastern part and then to Crimea in the south and the tour ended in Western Ukraine in the Carpathian Mts. Many came to Christ! In March, our missionaries, Matias and Sergei, went to Kazakhstan for a tour with the Baptist Union there. They travelled 4700 Km and preached 20 times in two evangelistic campaigns. The doors are open in Kazakhstan and they are begging us to come and start Word of Life there full time. Meanwhile, with our BI students, every Friday and Monday, we present the born again to a living hope in high schools and every Saturday and Sunday we are on the streets of Kiev, doing open air evangelism. Many, many are coming to Christ every week. In April, we hosted the missions reality students from WOLBI in New York. Please pray for the preparations of the summer camps which will be held in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan this year.

-Jorge and Laura Radziwiluk



United Kingdom

Cherri and I returned home after a week of intense ministry in Northern Ireland to find out that our neighbor had an extra ticket to a football game and I went. The next morning, a couple walked into our church service, the woman a Christian, the man unsaved. He seldom came to church, that this Sunday he did. He was also at the game the night before and saw me there. When he found out that we were cheering for the same team he said he would listen to my message. That morning, he got saved. What a joy it is for Cherri and me to see our associate staff at work all over this country. God is using them in personal witness, in our discipleship program, in our camps, in the public school ministries, and in their home churches.

-Dave and Cheri Kelso

Prayer Requests
  • Pray for the youth of Austria
  • For the young people of Bulgaria who went to the Missionary Conf. in Ukraine
  • For the Bible Club ministry in Brno, Czech-Republic
  • For the "Revelation Tour" that many would come to know Christ.
  • Pray for the young people taking evangelistic seminars in Lithuania
  • For the Bible Institute students in Kenya and funds for storm repairs
  • For Gabor and Tunde Csikos in Hungary for wisdom and spiritual insight
  • Pray for the dollar to raise towards the Euro in Poland
  • Pray for the Annual Family Day coming up in France on June 3rd
  • Pray for the many new believers in Romania, to be established in the faith
  • Pray for support for our new teams in Turkey and Greece
  • Pray for Sergio and Nancy Martinez as they move to Spain
  • Pray for the associated staff in the United Kingdom