*Pray for Jeff & Mary Baldwin (GEM in Greece) as Greece is experiencing massive strikes due to parliament attempting more austerity measures in dealing with their financial woes. The country seems to be at a standstill in many ways. Jeff recently read an article indicating that 90% of analysts predict that Greece will go bankrupt before March. Pray for these difficult times and that spiritual lessons will be learned. Encourage them at: Jeffrey.baldwin@gemission.org.
*Curt & Karen Cole (HCJB in CO) ask for prayer as they spend most of November in Ghana, West Africa, overseeing international leadership meetings. Karen will be leading the leaders’ wives in times of reflection and encouragement, and Curt will be leading strategic planning and oversight. Praise God for a recent survey that shows 1.75 million weekly listeners to HCJB Global’s Arabic media streams that target North Africa and the Middle East. God is speaking to the hearts of people through the recent and ongoing turmoil there.
*Pray for T. & L. S. (Asia). Their biggest need is the ongoing challenge of the kids’ school. They still are not in the building and hope to finish in the next couple of weeks. The big prayer request now is favor for the “permission to occupy” that could take many months to get. Pray for God to work so that they could have school by January. Pray for their aviation training project in SE Asia. They have been granted permission and will start a 1 yr. ground training course in the next month. Pray for more staff and wisdom, as they design the curriculum for this project.
*Pray for Dick & Vicki Gascho (GEM in CO). GEM’s internationalization partnerships are moving fast. Each week internationals have moved into the process. Pray for Dick & Vicki as they scramble to arrange the best orientation and training for these newest European missionaries. As they seek to be “missional people” in the environment where God has put them, pray for wisdom as Dick has taken on a role in serving on their home owners’ association board. Pray for good connections this month as they are in MI to participate in a missions conference and visit with partners, relatives and friends.
*Brian & Meghan Meyers (pre-field w/WorldVenture for Mozambique) have decided to delay their departure date for Mozambique until late spring in order to maintain some stability for the whole family and welcome a baby daughter in Feb., 2012. The 3 girls are thriving at SCS and are finally receiving some much needed structure and stability, while being challenged academically and spiritually. Brian is keeping up his medical “chops” working in the ER in downtown Detroit. God has provided financing for a home in Beira, and they’ve made an offer on a house close to the medical school where he will teach. Pray for Brian as he returns to Mozambique in December to re-connect with students and ministry partners and to facilitate the process of the home purchase. Pray for their continued financial support raising—at about 85%. Consider inviting this delightful family to share in your care group or ABF – email: meganbrianmeyers@gmail.com.
*Pray for Evan & Carrie Parks (SEND in Hungary), as Carrie begins leading an evangelistic Bible study for young Hungarian mothers. None of the ladies who are in the study are believers. Pray for Evan as he trains pastors and missionaries how to provide care, counsel and encouragement to others. He will be speaking at a health conference in Budapest for Christian doctors and church leaders. He has also been asked to speak to a group of doctors and their patients about how to face difficult problems and the meaning of life.
*Rick & Karen Smith (former SIM missionaries in Burkina Faso) made a trip in Sept. back to Burkina Faso for 2 weeks of teaching at the Good Shepherd Bible School. They were impressed by the progress the students have made in their ability to study and use the things they are learning. Rick taught on various cults and religions present in Burkina and Karen met with the ladies for a class on the Biblical view of women. Pray for Asatu and Idrissa who have lost 3 of their 6 children and their oldest is severely handicapped. Asatu has difficulty engaging because she doesn’t read. Pray that the Smith’s former colleague will be able to help Asatu with literacy and that she will be diligent and disciplined to work hard to learn. Pray for Abdulay and Sumayila as they take on challenges of leadership at the school—for continued strength and wisdom as they teach and oversee operations. Pray for qualified teachers to be found that could teach one class/year. These students have 1 more yr. of study to complete the Bible school program. The next cycle begins Aug., 2013. The hope is to double the capacity for students to enroll which means building more student housing. Pray that the Lord will provide the funds to add another building to the campus. For more details, visit the website: http://fulanibibleschool.burkinafaso.sim.org.