Missionary Letters

Patton prayer update

2009-07-23T15:55:00.000-07:00

July 23, 2009

Dear Praying Friends:

Thanks for your faithful prayers. We depend on them!

Liz’s girls: When Brenda Browning left for the USA in 1998, Liz started a teenage club for girls. She was strict and demanded seriousness. Although a number of girls attended the club, seven really bonded together. One eventually left the group, but another younger girl ended up taking her place. Liz taught them for years, had special outings, and especially spoke about purity until marriage. We bought purity rings for each of the girls and they signed a pledge that they would hold themselves morally pure until marriage to a Christian man. The idea is to give the purity ring to her husband at her wedding. We even had the parents come for a special time with them, explaining the promise. With one young lady who had no saved parents, we served as her parents. The young girls are not so young any more. The youngest is now 19, and the majority in their early 20's. The club has not met for 2-3 years, but the bonding continues, and we have had something each year for them.

This year, one girl, Ricarda Ajeremi, is marrying one of our young preachers, Kenneth Pinas. Liz decided to have an overnight time at our home. Each of the families gave permission. Their usual comment was: “Na joe meisje” (She’s your daughter...) She made pizza and a cake for the occasion, and they cooked special food together. They saw a Christian video. Liz had a special lesson with them. She had also arranged for each of the girls to bring a surprise small shower gift for Ricarda. All seven packed into our back bedroom which has four bunk beds. They went to church with us the following morning. We have been pleased to see the spiritual growth in the young ladies. They have their struggles, but so do we all. The girls had a great time. Their only complaint was that it ended too soon.

One special request for prayer: Reasonably priced housing is very difficult to find in Paramaribo. Kenneth Pinas arranged to take over an apartment from his brother-in-law, who just completed building his house. However, the minor repairs that were to be done have not been completed, and the renter will not allow them to use the apartment until things are completed. Would you join us in prayer for the right solution to their need for housing. They will be married next week, Saturday, August 1^st.

Commentary: I was able to finish the revision of the New Testament commentary this week, and send it to my sister-in-law, Joanna Tsuyuki. I had found a number of corrections, revisions, etc that needed to be done. I hope to work on the Old Testament gradually in the future. Please pray for the Lord’s help for Joanna’s typesetting and formatting, as well as First Bible, who will be printing the book. We pray that it will be a blessing and help, and will be well used here in Suriname.

Special treat: This last week, our mango trees just started producing, and pineapples have been plentiful and very good. So two of our favorite tropical fruit the same week - mangoes and pineapple!

Preparing for the USA: Now that we are less than two weeks from departure, both Liz and I are working hard to prepare for the USA. Between arranging for finances, supplies, caring for the house, etc. here, and preparing for lessons and the schedule in the USA, this is a busy time. Reviewing some of the lessons I will be teaching has been very good for me! There is quite a bit of material on why things go slowly in third world countries, being patient, being adaptable, and recognizing that accepting the need of independence takes time. Hmmm.... physician, heal thyself.... I laughed a number of times at myself during my study time!

Bible Institutes: Both Bible Institutes are finished for the year. We have a number of persons who will be taking the regular Bible Institute by correspondence at this time. I have been very pleased with the Advanced Bible Institute. The materials are pretty much at the same level as in the USA, and our students have all done very well. No one failed; the lowest grade was 79% and the highest 98%, with most in the high 80's or low 90's. They have studied faithfully, and I am looking forward to next year’s classes starting in November 2009.

Prayer requests:

1. Our spiritual growth

2. Health and strength for the tasks at hand, especially at this busy time

3. Completion of various things to be done before leaving for the USA

4. Souls saved and discipled

5. Wedding blessings next week

6. Housing situation for Kenneth Pinas and bride-to-be Ricarda Ajeremi

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname, South America

urgent prayer reguest

2009-07-21T06:28:00.000-07:00

I received this from a Hungarian Pastor friend today, Paul

Dear Brethren,

Please pray for a sick child named Aaron Lenart! Aaron's mom and dad are members of our church.

Aaron is about one and a half year old. He got into the hospital about nine days ago with diarrhea and throw ups.

The doctors were guessing a summer infection.

Unfortunately after nine days he is still in bad condition and no improvement in his condition!

Thank you! Brother Zsolt

(mickeys-in-kenya) Mickey update from Kenya

2009-07-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

Dear praying friends,

We arrived in Kenya on January 1, 1998 with much excitement, knowing we were about to embark on an adventure of serving the Lord in the land of our calling. We understood that there were going to be up and down times, times of great difficulty and times of great blessing. Throughout our time in Kenya we have indeed found this to be true. There have been times that only the will and calling of God were our sustaining power. There have also been times that we have been blessed beyond measure.

It is difficult to categorize the many blessings we have seen, but I believe we have just experienced what has been to this date the greatest blessing of our time in Kenya. I came to Kenya with many dreams and goals about what I believe God could accomplish. We are thankful that we have already seen some of these accomplished. However, I never even began to consider what God has begun to do here.

On the 1st of July, we officially began the Congo ministry out of the Grace Bible Baptist Church of Nakuru, Kenya. We took three survey trips to the Congo to lay the ground work in preparation for the beginning of this ministry. We are rotating our men into the Congo two at a time as we pray for God to call some permanently to that land. Imagine, Kenyan believers are leaving the comforts of their home and going to a land that is war torn, dangerous, and has been in the grips of Satan for many years. They are doing it because they have realized their responsibility to reach this world with the gospel.

The response in the Congo so far has been fantastic. There were 46 people in church last Sunday and in the first two weeks 15 people have accepted Christ! Please pray as we begin the Bible Baptist Church of Uvira and as we endeavor to lay a strong foundation so that it can be a strong church for the glory of God. I will be leaving on Friday and travelling to meet the men in the Congo. We will be having teaching times with the new believers and also conducting the first baptism service on Sunday.

In other areas of ministry, we continue to remain busy especially as we prepare everything for our upcoming furlough. The Grace Bible Baptist Church continues to move forward with many salvations and baptisms. We have been averaging over 500 in church and had nearly 600 in attendance last Sunday.

We are in the midst of preparing for our next Bible College session that will be meeting in August. We are thankful for this ministry as we have had the privilege of training and preparing hundreds for the Lord's work. It is a great joy to watch as people take what they were taught in college and apply it both to their lives and to their ministries.

During this coming week please remember the following areas in prayer:

Safety as I travel to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Pastor Mike Njoroge and brother Joshua Muturi as the serve in the Congo. (picture at end of email)
My family as they remain in Kenya.
Preparations for upcoming Bible College session.
Furlough preparations.

We are deeply indebted to each of you because of your prayers for our family and ministry

His for Kenya,

Robert Mickey Jr. and family

Pastor Mike Njoroge and brother Joshua Muturi

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Patton prayer update

2009-07-14T08:16:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friends:

The wonders of technology: Yesterday, our oldest granddaughter Mindi Ramsey was married. That’s right, it was on Monday morning. The bride was beautiful. The groom was both proud and nervous. The weather was perfect. The bride and groom wanted a small family wedding in a chapel in Chicago, and then had the reception at our daughter Becky and Ernie’s home in Griffeth, Indiana. Everyone at the wedding came to the reception, and had a good time eating as well as visiting. So our congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. J.O. Anderson. They will be taking a week’s honeymoon in a trailer in Kentucky before returning to Chicago. J.O. is finishing college and working in maintenance. Mindi is working as a physical fitness trainer in a retirement home after having finished her college degree.

We were sorry not to be able to attend since we are here in Suriname. But within a few hours, we had over 80 pictures of the wedding in our computer! How we are spoiled. The “old time” missionaries would not hear from family sometimes for weeks or months. It was still weeks delay when we arrived in 1986. We thank the Lord for better communications now. And with Skype, it is possible to talk via computer for a reasonable price even from Suriname!

Technology problem: However, we would ask for prayer. We are being continually blocked by comcast although we have reported to them, and also to our server here. It is annoying as most of our family is on comcast, and a number of churches as well. We have our quarterly mission letter to e-mail out, but have been waiting to see if we can get the block lifted.

A neat delivery: Liz went to the Post office for a package today, and then walked to Koyeba, our Bush-Negro broadcasting station not too far away. She dropped off two CD’s in mp3 format for our 15 minute and 30 minute broadcasts while we will be on mini-furlough in the USA. She gave them to a young lady who it turns out had come to our main church when younger. She called her mother to receive the CDs. As Liz talked with her and gave her a tract and a New Testament, she was delighted to receive them, especially the New Testament. Liz then presented the gospel to her. No one came into the office to disturb them, and the lady not only understood, but she prayed herself to receive the Lord. We pray that she will start attending church soon.

Sunday services: I preached on what the Bible teaches us about church organization and responsibilities. I had had excellent calling on Saturday, with two men making professions, and had hoped to see them on Sunday. They did not come, but one of our new ladies who has been coming faithfully brought her husband, who made a profession with one of our young preachers right after the service.

Independence steps: We completed an important step in our statutes last Saturday, but it is apparent that we will not have time to complete the necessary steps to incorporate the statutes, print them, and present them to the congregation before our departure August 4^th. I would be happy to see the church continue the work in our absence and send the necessary paperwork to the government, but we will see if they are willing when we are absent.

Commentary: After completing the translation of the Bible, I wrote commentaries and printed them loose leaf. Now we are working on having them professionally printed some 10 years later. I have been revising the New Testament. I am glad for the opportunity to do so. There were a number of errors in the comments that needed to be corrected, as well as some typos. So far, I have completed to the end of 1 Corinthians. I would like to put introductions in before each book as well. Target date for completion is the end of July. Then the information will be in the hands of Liz’s sister, Joanna Tsuyuki, who will do the typesetting.

Prayer requests:

1. Our own spiritual growth and prayer life

2. Strength and health for the tasks to which the Lord has called us

3. Wisdom to know exactly how best to use our time for maximum results for Him

4. Souls saved and discipled

5. Growth in all the churches

6. One of our preachers really needs a better paying job. He has applied many places. Could you join us in prayer for a solution to his need?

7. Independence of the churches

8. Completion of the commentaries

9. Completion of the two Bible Institutes. They have final exams next week.

10. Comcast to remove its block on our server

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

Gods love

2009-07-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

Been thinking about Gods love for me all week and enjoying His presence much while we continue on in the things that we have learned and been assured of.

Continue is a great subject in the Bible. God says to continue in his love, word, grace, faith, goodness, doctrine, prayer, brotherly love, the Son and the Father. Sure am glad we can do all through Christ, (because he loves us) More than conquerors! Fight valiantly for our saviour, amen.

Having another yard sale (trying to thin out all the excess) we have met many neighbors and planted some seed, please pray for God to work in their hearts of their need of salvation. We had two ladies visit Wednesday from passing out scriptures with invitations Saturday in Zalau, pray for souls to be saved and surrender to serve.

The Gypsies of (Pear-a-chay) want us to use the church building in the village so we met with a Romanian pastor in Simleu who turned the work over to them, (since then, their pastor and deacons left the country for work) and he is going to talk with the man responsible who is in a nursing home. I have learned to dislike stepping into others works but my heart goes out to them and they love hearing the truth of the word of God.

God still has work to do! Now is not the time to get lazy or too busy with the things of the world. Get busy for God in his Love.

Talked with the kids in the children's home about Gods love, and asked one 10 year old boy if anyone loved him? He said no. Then I asked if he believed I loved him? He said yes. God says a lot about our love for each other, people see.

This world needs love. God is love. I'm still trying to learn to love and fail in many ways, like love your enemies including the ones who run you off the road with their excellent driving skills.

Spend your days thinking of the Lords love for you, He should be our first love. Paul

Patton prayer update

2009-07-02T19:27:00.000-07:00

July 2, 2009

Dear Prayer Partner:

Once again, we cannot thank you enough for your prayer support that makes the ministry here in Suriname possible.

“Zo sterk ben ik!”� (That’s how strong I am).� One week ago, I witnessed to a man with gold chains and gave him a tract.� He showed that he was OK with God because he had a gold cross with a figure of Christ on it.� I wanted to follow up.� He waved at me as he drove home while I was doing my daily three mile walk.� So I ran to him and asked if he read the tract.� “Yes” he answered.� Did you understand?� “Oh, I understood everything perfectly.� That’s because I have gone to church.� I am this strong”.� At that, he displayed his right calf with a tatoo of the head of Christ on it!� I was able to show him that no church can take us to heaven, but only Christ. Then I did have a chance to go clearly through the plan of salvation after giving my personal testimony.� I showed him that first, before salvation, I too trusted church attendance, baptism, and a good life (he really could not say that).�

After presenting the plan of salvation, I challenged him.� Have you done that?� “No, I have not come so far...”� Well, I told him, that is the difference between heaven and hell, between being saved and lost, and challenged him to personally receive Christ. �I continue to pray for him, and that the convicting of the word of God will bring him to salvation.� It is so sad to see religion immunize people against true belief.

Challenges getting to church: There are two main bridges across a canal that cuts much of Paramaribo in two.� We are on one side, and all our churches on the other side.� One of the bridges was found to be defective.� They decided to repair it four weekends on Saturday afternoon through Sunday night.� Liz and I were able to each get home in the afternoon as there were police directing traffic.� We headed back to church at 10 pm for our monthly night prayer meeting.� Just after getting started going to the church, we got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam.� We moved only two car lengths in about 30 minutes.� I found a way out of the jam and headed back home.� The leader of the prayer session later had to cancel our meeting when he was unable to get there either.� It had taken his wife well over an hour to get home, and it would be worse retracing his steps. I found out later that another fellow had picked up a sick father about 20 minutes farther from our church and was stuck in traffic for four hours that night.

Sunday morning, we left at 7:30 for church.� Although traffic was heavier than normal, at that early hour, we arrived without difficulty.� Coming out of church was a different story.� A Chinese firm has been hired to repave much of the streets of the city.� They had done some repairs already on the main road to the church, but this morning, while we were in church, they had moved heavy digging equipment and dug a deep hole across the front of the side street connecting the church with the main road.� It looked like we were trapped.� However, there was a small area that had not been dug yet.� One deacon with a pickup had his left front wheel drop in the hole, and the whole truck tilted.� Several young men jumped on the right rear of the truck to drop the wheel back on the ground, and others lifted up the front left and pushed back.� He was able to reverse, move a little to the side (there is a gutter on the other side), and then slide by.� We all followed behind him and got on the bumpy main road, and then out of the neighborhood.� We were grateful to arrive home.�� By the following day, the entire area had been dug out, filled back with fill dirt and then with some gravel so that we were able to get back into church for our Bible Institute on Monday night.

A blessing and a big challenge: About nine months ago, I had discussed the possibility of publishing a two (or possibly three) volume set of Bible plus commentary.� I had already made the commentaries several years ago when I was completing the translation work.� However, nine loose-leaf volumes 8 � by 11 inches are not really conducive to ready use.� Yesterday, I received contact from one of our supporting churches concerning printing the commentaries.� Details about finances are not completed yet, but it looks like it will be financially possible.� I was also concerned about not only checking the materials for accuracy and spelling, but also formatting.� Today my sister-in-law Joanna Tsuyuki, who had done the layout for the Bible, offered to do all the formatting - what a huge relief.� My head was already swimming thinking about learning to make DVD’s with a Mac computer system later this summer.� This is a tremendous blessing.

Prayer requests:

1.�� Our spiritual growth.� I would particularly ask for prayer for seeing our own prayer life develop better.� I have been working on material on prayer for the last month.� The material has been working on me too!

2.�� Physical and mental strength for the tasks at hand

3.�� In our churches: unity, soulwinning, growth

4.�� Independence of the churches

5.�� Completion of the Bible Institutes - both courses finish this week except for final exams.� We will resume this November on our return.

6.�� Commentary: That is will be useful, accurate, spiritually challenging and used if this is indeed the will of the Lord, which we believe it is.� If not, may the Lord block the project.

7.�� Preparation for the USA mini-furlough

In Him and Content:

Bob and� Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

Patton prayer update

2009-06-25T15:44:00.001-07:00

June 25, 2009

Dear Praying Friend:

A change in focus: One of Liz’s ladies whom she has counseled has major problems with her son’s family in her own property. But she is learning to put the Lord first, and reach out to others. We mentioned two weeks ago about her sister who received the Lord. Today we went with her to see a lady across her street. She has begun to bring some of the children, now numbering as many as six from her street. One mother visited twice Sunday evening. Today we went together to visit her, and she also prayed receiving Christ as savior. It is amazing that as we reach out to others, God makes our own troubles seem so much easier to bear. Liz’s lady is growing spiritually.

Modern morality: I walk three miles per morning daily, and Liz often accompanies me for two miles four times weekly. There are quite a few vacation houses where we walk in one kilometer loop five times. One house had a man driving in casual clothes arriving about 6:30 AM daily. We wondered - does he stay at a girlfriend and drive home? Does he work at night and change clothes? Liz got a Dutch and English tract out for him, and as he drove into his driveway, I ran to give him the tract. I asked him if he was coming from work. “No,” he said. “I am on vacation from Holland, and I visit my girlfriend every night, but she is a police woman and has to be at work at 7 AM. So I drop her off and drive home.”

I had just handed him the tracts, telling him that they were God’s word, and were from our church. As we came back from walking to the end of the street, he was without his shirt and had three or four thick gold necklaces around his neck. He was putting out the garbage. When he saw me, he ran over and proudly showed me his gold image of Christ on a cross which hung from one necklace. No shame. He seemed to think: “I’m OK because I am religious, and wear a cross with Christ on it.” Welcome to the new morality - or is it the old immorality? We pray that the Word of God will do its work in his heart.

Marriage information: We continue to get good feedback from our marriage seminar last week. It so happens that the subject this week and next on our advanced Bible Institute is on the family: man-woman relationships, the “man of one wife”, the ministry of marriage, and child rearing. We pray that these lessons will not only be a blessing, but result in more Biblical marriages as well.

Studying prayer: I continue to find concentrated study on prayer is changing my own prayer life, and is a real challenge. I pray that we will be able to help our people here, and also challenge others in the USA toward prayer for worldwide missions as well as revival, and for our work here, while we are there for a mini-furlough. We know that much of the results of our ministry here is because of your prayers for us.

Prayer requests:

1. Our own spiritual growth

2. Our health and strength for the tasks, and knowing proper priorities of what to do

3. Souls saved and discipled

4. Independence of the churches

5. Spiritual growth in our churches

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

blessed

2009-06-21T21:11:00.001-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

1 Corinthians 2:3 And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

Blessed at a special meeting last week in Hungary with Walter Stevens, God just loved me so. I lost control of my nerves and tears and asked the Lord later why sometimes I fall apart and this verse come, so I pray if you have seen me weak, fearful and trembling you would know my greatest joy is to talk about Jesus, but the strength to do it, to plow on only comes from Him.

There should be places in everyone's lives where you have special times with God. Others may be in the same place at the same time but not in the presence of our saviour the same way. I pray you have a life changing meeting this week, Remember the times that God called you, times He led you, blessed you, times He held you and comforted like only He can.

We are somewhat moved, so much to do and we are all sore but survivingJ. Services have been fine and the children's home has thinned out much this summer but my greatest heartache is Alex is moving back to stay with his mother and build a house. 4 years of sowing and watering together, always a true friend and he has been loyal to us, and to the truth of Gods great salvation. We will miss him so much.

And last I heard about an opportunity to go to Turkey, I would go in a second if God would let me, maybe you or someone you know will… blessed paul

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Would you consider blessing the next generations of believers in an entire country?
The country who blessed you in the first century sending the first missionaries…
That's what we are doing through the "English Bible Club" of Istanbul! It is a Christian School Program for the children of Turkish converts who face much persecution in this country

The English Club – Istanbul
Serving the children of Turkish Christian families since 2005
A Year-Round Christian School Program for Children and Youth

In addition to an academic education, we work to teach the children the character of Christ through the Word; trusting that the
Holy Spirit will shape their lives until the cross is formed in them and they become the pillars of the church of tomorrow.

We are looking urgently for teachers for the 2009-2010 school year.
If you would like to experience missions in a short term, are retired, or would take a sabbatical year, or even several years…
We need at least 6 new teachers, ready to come by the end of August 2009, to be able to continue with such a wonderful ministry!

What do I need to be a teacher?
•    Be fluent in English and take a short training course at the beginning of September.
•    Love children and have a heart for missions
•    Be willing to spend a year of full time ministry in Turkey.
•    Be able to raise your own support (with $800/month you have enough, because we can place you in a Turkish Christian home!

Please contact us ASAP! Thanks in advance,

English Club Coordinators: beryl11148@gmail.com, romaorma@hotmail.com

Patton prayer update

2009-06-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

21 June, 2009

Dear Praying Friends:

When we had our 50^th anniversary, we had three goals.� First, that the Lord would be glorified in the anniversary.� Second, that we would be able to celebrate with joy with our people.� Third, that our marriage would be a challenge and encouragement to our people.� God answered all three prayers.

Marriage seminar: Yesterday our own people organized a marriage seminar from 5 pm to 9 pm.� We began with a handicap.� As we drove to church, the street to the church was completely blocked.� The road is being torn up and repaired.� We drove around the entire area and parked elsewhere.� The first part of the seminar was with three speakers.� The first two speakers were preachers from two of our churches, Winston Zeeman and Kenneth Domini, who spoke on the customs of the Bush Negros formerly and now, and compared them with what the Bible says.� I was the third speaker, and spoke briefly on Western culture and how it has changed over the last 50 years.� I showed how the culture of the west today is often in great conflict with what the Bible teaches in terms of the roles of man and woman, the commitment to marriage, raising children, etc.�

Our goal has always been and still is to reorient our marriage customs to fit with Biblical truth.� This is particularly complex in Bush Negro society.� First, it is a matriarchial society - family lines including inheritance and responsibilities, pass through the woman’s side of the family.� Thus the husband is sidelined in many ways, and children often relate to the mother’s brother more than the father.� If there is a “divorce”, the woman returns to her family with the children, and the man’s family divide all the man’s goods, leaving the woman without support.� There are many other customs.� However, as the culture has become modern, some of the good ways of the old culture are under attack.� Immorality is far worse than before.� Respect for the adults is often not present.� Children are often on their own, and do whatever they want.�

In addition, the old ways were completely tied with witchcraft.� Before a cultural marriage, whiskey is poured out to the dead ancestors, who are informed of the marriage.� Many of the rites of passage - becoming a real man or woman - are tied to witchcraft, as is birth.� So our people have much to contend with.� Not only is there a clash between the “old” and “new” ways, but also between the believers and the unbelievers in the family.� I am so proud that our people are actually willing to look at these issues more seriously now with the goal of applying what the Bible teaches - a step that I suspect many in the USA will not take as our own Western culture becomes increasingly heathen.

Virtually all our serious young people plan to have a “lanti trow” (government wedding).� A number of older individuals also are getting legally married through the government.� We strongly encourage this, which gives stability to the marriage and protects the wife in particular.� Many of the heathen do not want their family to marry legally, as they lose power and also the inheritance from the husband.

We finished with a DVD which illustrated many of the points that were already made.� I was concerned that many would not understand because it was in English.� That was an unnecessary concern.� So many watch TV in English that they really followed well.� I believe that we need a more detailed seminar in the future to address many of the issues involved.� At any rate, the seminar exceeded my expectations.� We estimated about 130 or so teenagers and adults in attendance.

Special prayer requests:

Some may remember about 4 �� years ago, a young lady was in process of setting up her marriage when she received a package from Holland.� She thought it was a wedding present.� Instead, it was hashish which a family member tried to smuggle to her brother.� She was arrested and held for a few weeks hoping to catch the guilty party.� Fortunately she was released without charges against her and the wedding went on without problems.

However, we found out later that an old man done witchcraft to her for reasons unknown.� He told the family that she would never bear a child.� And indeed she did not become pregnant.� Later investigation found a problem in her fallopian tubes.�� One tube was successfully opened, and she became pregnant.� I was so excited for her.� But at three months, she lost that pregnancy.� She is now four months pregnant again.� Our prayer team has set up a special schedule of fasting and prayer on a regular basis until her delivery.� Would you join us in prayer for her?� “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places”: Ephesians 6:12�� I can assure you that her entire heathen family is watching to see the outcome.

Other news:�� We are approaching the end of the school year here, as well as completing the two Bible Institutes over the next few weeks.� We are excited about a wedding between one of our young pastors, Kenneth Pinas, and Ricarda Ajeremi, a fine young lady in the church.� Liz is busy starting to arrange for financial coverage of the ministries when we are in the USA.

Prayer requests:

1.�� Our own spiritual growth

2.�� Our health and strength for the tasks, and knowing proper priorities of what to do

3.�� Souls saved and discipled

4.�� Independence of the churches

5.�� Spiritual growth in our churches

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

Patton prayer update

2009-06-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

June 12, 2009

Dear Praying Friends:

Thank you so much for your prayer support. Because of your support in prayer, we can see progress here in Suriname. We are partners together.

A soulwinning gift from the Lord: In Suriname, we have some “die-hard” members of the EBG church. (Evangelical Broeder’s Gemeente, otherwise known as Moravians). This church was the first in Suriname, and initially were Bible believers and strongly evangelistic. The same liberalism which effected most mainline denominations in Europe and the USA also effected them. I would consider the majority of both pastors and members unsaved, with some wonderful exceptions. However, many are of the mind: Once an EBG, always an EBG.

Liz has been working especially with some women in the church. One has a sister who fit into the above category. However, she has been impressed with the change in of her saved sister, and has wanted to meet us recently, though she had been very negative before. I started thinking about how do build bridges for a good relationship. I asked myself how to approach her in soulwinning. Normally I bring my big Bible with me and a soulwinning chart. After all, I am Dominee (pastor), and people are not surprised. However, I decided to take a lower key approach to her. Both Liz and I prayed for days that her heart would be open, and that the god of this world, who blinds the eyes of the unsaved, would be bound.

So with anticipation and mixed emotions, we drove to her home yesterday with her saved sister. After a little small talk, she sat up and said: “I am waiting for the message Dominee Patton is going to bring me.” I almost fell off the chair. It turns out that she has been listening to both our radio and TV programs for some time. So I gave my testimony first of how I was saved. I too had thought that my good works would take me to heaven. Thus I could relate to her background. Then I explained how the Lord worked in my life to reveal my need of Him. I spoke about the need of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and not just a religious ceremonial performance. Then I was able to go in detail through God’s plan of salvation.

It was a joy to hear her prayer asking the Lord to forgive her sins and come into her life. We were able to encourage her in Christian growth as well. But the biggest joy was to see her sister take her Bible and counsel her with appropriate verses about a question she had about praying. We pray that we will see this lady and perhaps her daughter and granddaughter, who stay with her, attend church in the future.

Marriage customs: In many ways, the Bush Negro culture is against the Biblical pattern of marriage (so is modern Western society as we become increasingly secular and pagan). We have seen this problem for a long time. But now our own people are voicing the same story. After our 50^th wedding anniversary, one of the things we were hoping to do was to have a marriage seminar. The Lord worked above our hopes. Our own people are organizing it next week on Saturday. There will be two men speaking on the Bush-Negro culture as it is today. They asked me to speak a bit on western culture - primarily to show that the Bible is above all cultures. We western missionaries can be blinded by our own worldview to think that westernism = Christianity. This is absolutely untrue, and we are moving farther and farther away from what the Bible teaches as we secularize. Then we will show what the Bible says about a variety of topics.

We are thrilled that after preaching and teaching these truths for years, we are seeing fruit. We are thrilled that our people have taken the initiative, and are willing and wanting to put Biblical truth before their old customs. We hope that this will be the beginning of changes in the family structure among our believers. It will be a tough fight, because the culture is set against Biblical truths in this area, and family really does not want their members to get married in the church and through the government legal channels, because this diminshes the power of the rest of the family. We do see a number of our couples married legally trying to apply Biblical principles. Please pray that the Word of God will come out clearly. Pray that the god of this world who blinds from the glorious gospel will be bound. And pray that those attending will be willing to live Biblically.

Change in format: A few persons have requested that we do not include the PDF attachment when we send the prayer letter. Others have asked us to be certain to use the PDF form. If you would prefer not to receive the attachment, would you please let me know? I will try to get you in a couple distribution lists which will not include the attachment, and remove your name from our distribution lists. Please be patient. We have about 450 names to sort through on our distribution lists, and they are not totally alphabetical, so it takes time to find names to remove.

Prayer requests:

1. Our spiritual growth - I would ask for special prayer for growth in prayer itself

2. Our health and strength for the task. This week we both had good reports from a urologist, and last week, I had a good report from my cardiologist here

3. Souls saved and discipled

4. Independence of the churches

5. Spiritual growth as well as outreach in the churches

6. Special seminar on marriage next week

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

report

2009-06-16T16:49:00.001-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

Psalms 139:10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.

I love following God! You never know what a day may bring forth but with his hand upon you all is well and we have such safety and surety in such a messed up world.

We had like 35 in service this morning and best of all God came and spoke to our hearts, Jesus is our high priest, the head of the church and our shepherd today, tomorrow and forever! Alex had 18 in our old 9 passenger van, Louis had 6 in the little 4 passenger Matiz and we had 8 in ours. (Seriously considering just starting a work in the village that has opened up to us so.)

We looked at houses to rent yesterday and found a man (Gabriel) who built 8 new ones in a gated community wanting 500 to 800 Euro a month, met after church and explained our situation briefly and our desire for the largest house, he stopped me and said no need for anymore information and the rent would only be 400 euro for the best, (my eyes got real big) and we could take anything from the others to accommodate it and move in right away. I explained not having rent money till July and he said no problem the first month is free, I stood speechless.

When so many things go wrong and can be such a battle this is such a blessing to our family. Every need supplied! Paul

Patton prayer update

2009-06-16T16:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friend:

We are so grateful for your prayers. Today you will see one reason why.

An incredible answer to prayer: A few weeks ago, we asked prayer for a young man who is very active in our church. One day he suddenly had severe headache followed by a seizure. Workup included a lumbar puncture and an MRI scan. There was no evidence of infection, but a mass in his left occipital lobe of the brain. This correlated very well with his continued complaint of not seeing well from either eye in the right field of vision. My “doctor mind” said - probably brain tumor. A good chance that it will be incurable. The doctors decided to plan a brain biopsy, but because of the risks involved, they wanted a second MRI scan in three weeks before the surgery. We prayed. You prayed. Three separate times our church prayer team met at his home for concerted prayer. After the MRI scan, the neurologist could no longer find a lesion. The lesion had been clear to him, the patient, and the family on the first scan. Nothing on the second scan. Perplexed, he told them to return in a week after he consulted with his other collegues. A week later he has no surgery, no restrictions, and is back at work and school. They will repeat a scan in another three months. We praise the Lord for His answer to prayer, and pray that the witness of the family will speak to the heart of the doctors.

We have seen several remarkable answers to prayer over the last months. Would you join us in praying especially for unity in the leadership, moving ahead to independence of the churches, and outreach with more souls saved and discipled?

Liz’s ladies: Liz has been helping three ladies with very different problems. One widow has one of her two son and family living on the same property. He has a mental problem following a civil war when he was a soldier. Both he and his wife are often verbally abusive and create major problems. One young woman lost her mother and then a full term pregancy within a month. Her husband was without a job for several months, and then had work which was inadequate to support the family. She was hospitalized with a major nervous breakdown. One young unmarried woman has had major family problems, a disappointing situation with a younger sister she was counseling, and failed to pass at school. She looks at us like spiritual parents. In each case, recently Liz has been using some material sent by a good friend from the USA. The idea is to study the Bible with emphasis on God’s character, His love for us, and His ability to handle our problems. The emphasis is not only to know about God, but know Him personally. Liz is pleased to see spiritual growth in all three ladies. We would appreciate your prayers there as well.

Church: In conjunction with the Advanced Bible Institute emphasis on the spirit-filled walk, I preached on the same subject last week. It seemed to be well received.

Doctor visit: My cardiologist in Suriname is very personable. I have been witnessing to him each time I am there. He still cannot understand why I don’t think that all his good works are enough to guarantee him a trip to heaven. He doesn’t grasp the holiness of God and the depth of depravity in our old nature. He is interested, but his busy clinic does not give time for a real discussion. He took my telephone number and said that he would call me for a “deep discussion.” Please pray for the God of this world, which blinds the eyes of the unsaved, would be bound, and that his eyes would be open to the glorious gospel of the Lord.

Prayer requests:

1. Continued health and strength for the work

2. Our spiritual growth in Him - that He will be our life

3. Growth in the churches - souls saved and discipled

4. Independence of the churches

5. Bible Institutes - understanding and life-changing effects

In Him and Content:

Bob & Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

P.S. Several major are blocking our server, Telesur. Please pray that the block would be lifted. Perhaps many will not receive this letter.

Patton prayer update

2009-05-30T12:15:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friends:

The big day: Last night, Liz and I celebrated our 50^th wedding anniversary at our church. I did very little of the work except to show up. Liz did a number of things at home with the family. Kim and Ethan were up at 4:00 am to come to the city with the entire family. They had several things which they needed to take care of before the service.

The actual service began about 7 pm until 9:30 and then a reception followed. By 10:30 most people were headed home. There was quite a bit of congregational singing (I was able to choose some of my favorites a few weeks ago). There were several special songs by individuals or groups. Caleb Champlin (our grandson) played two specials on the piano. Ethan, our son-in-law, preached an excellent sermon on the family and wove in a salvation invitation as well. His total command of Sranantongo makes it a joy for our people to listen to him. He was born and raised here in Suriname. He also understands the culture very well, and made a number of telling observations which the entire congregation clearly understood even as they were laughing with him. Liz and I renewed our vows before the congregation as well. I had translated basic vows into Sranantongo a number of years ago. In 1959 at age 21, I would not have dreamed that I would be repeating our vows in Sranantongo fifty years later.

All in all, it was a wonderful time. Three ladies from the church called us forward and put traditional dress on us - especially focusing on Liz. The Bush Negroes have a cultural custom to give a “pangi” (a sort of wrap around skirt, often decorated) to a young woman when she is ready for marriage. Usually it is an aunt of the girl who does so. So it was interesting to do this at a 50^th wedding anniversary. The four churches gave us a lovely crystal plaque with our names and the wedding date inscribed, with the names of all four churches. Everyone had a bit of cake and other snack food and soft drinks before heading home. Our people showed real love - which we feel for them too.

When we arrived home, we had another big surprise. As we went into our bedroom, the bed was covered with a beautiful quilt which Kim had made. The theme was from 1 Corinthians 13 with the characteristics of love placed there. Also a good friend from the USA had made a very unique wall hanging of cloth with pictures of our family. We were thrilled and touched. It was a work of love and will be cherished as a family heirloom.

We have also received a number of personal notes and gifts from family, friends and churches. Thank you so much. We used some to arrange a video to be taken last night. We hope that it will give little insight into the ministry here as well as bring back fond memories.

God opens doors to hearts: We try to remember to be soul-sensitive regardless of circumstances. We were called into a family situation for counseling. While there, we met the wife of a young man from the family. It was really not appropriate to talk with her in what was a very emotionally laden situation, but two days later, we were able to go back and see her pray to receive Christ. Her husband has heard the gospel and prayed before. But as we were about to leave, he asked me to speak more with him about the Lord.

He had not seemed really serious about serving the Lord, and works seeking gold in the interior. His hair is in dreadlocks, which here is often a sign that the man is Rastiferian (a cult common in the Caribbean), though he denied that he was. He prayed again to receive the Lord after very careful explanation. It is difficult to know what really transpires here sometimes. Some will pray just because they think that this will please you, and they do not understand. We try to be very clear, but there are language and cultural factors which sometimes play a role. We do pray that he will show real growth now in the Lord.

Bible Institute: I have really enjoyed working on the Advanced Bible Institute. We just began Module 3, and will be focusing on Christian growth, and especially the spirit filled walk. The material is not new to our people. But it seems that we may not be spiritually ready to hear and apply Biblical truth. I will be preaching on the same subject after seeing positive response from the students.

We Bible believers trust the Lord totally for salvation from the penalty of sin in our lives, and also for eventually living free from sin in heaven. But what about the power to live an overcoming life in the very presence of sin around us here on earth? It is so exciting that our salvation is complete and that we have all things in Christ. So I will be trying my best to show that to our people tomorrow again by word - but also will be lived out in my life. I would cherish your prayers to that end.

Prayer requests:

1. Continued health and strength for the work

2. Our spiritual growth in Him - that He will be our life

3. Growth in the churches - souls saved and discipled

4. Independence of the churches

5. Bible Institutes - understanding and life-changing effects

In Him and Content:

Bob & Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

Patton prayer update

2009-05-22T08:17:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friends:

We want to thank our many friends for their condolences on the death of my mother. Many contacted us both in the USA and also here in Suriname. My mother’s funeral was yesterday, and by all reports it went well. My brother Richard sang and played the piano. My sister-in-law Kaye read notes from the family. There was a good attendance, with a number of people coming from outside Waverly, Ohio. My niece flew in from Washington area. My daughter Cathy drove down from Michigan with her son Bryce. Cathy brought family pictures and made a display for the service. Good friends the Abels came from Columbus as well as other friends of my brother. Good friends the Duffys also came. We want to thank the folks from Waverly Baptist Temple, where we attend when in Waverly, for coming as well. A special note of appreciation goes to Pastor Rick Goodman, and also to our friends Jack and Sandy Hanes, where we stay when in Waverly. The Presbyterian church where Mom attended for over 30 years held the service and a luncheon following. We were sorry not to be present, but very grateful for the love shown by so many.

A special soulwinning day: The Lord Himself also consoled us by blessing in a special way while soulwinning yesterday. A lady recently saved is 7 months pregnant and has some medical problems. In the past, she had used witchcraft, but now as a believer, she wanted to be free from such things. On occasion, we have gone to help the family remove witchcraft items and throw them away. I should mention that not infrequently, missionaries have had major spiritual problems when they looked at witchcraft as just superstition. They would bring such artifacts home, or use them for display at mission conferences. The Bible is very clear. All such items should be destroyed. The Israelites were not even to use the gold, silver or precious stones from idols, but totally destroy them.

So we went and prayed with the woman. While praying in the house and removing various items, I met her step-mother, an elderly Bush Negro lady. Normally such individuals are very resistant to the gospel. I was also concerned that she would not understand me. Her daughter-in-law sat down near us, but left when she saw that her mother was clearly understanding. The Lord worked in a marvelous way, and she prayed to receive the Lord. During that time, Liz had the opportunity of leading a boy to the Lord. We packed up the items which the lady had personally. But her husband also had a number of items, and we wanted his permission to remove them as well. He was still at work.

So we went down the street to visit her husband’s sister, who was also recently saved in our church. There we met a number of her children, either teenagers or adults. We had the privilege of seeing four young women also pray to receive the Lord. When we returned to the first lady’s home, her husband was waiting for us. He had come to church several times, but there was a real question whether he understood salvation. This time, he understood clearly and accepted the Lord. He helped us pack up his own witchcraft items, so we had two sacks full which we loaded into the back of our car. We drove to a large drainage ditch en route home and threw away the items into the water. We thank the Lord for His graciousness on the same day as the funeral.

Other church news - We continue to have good attendances, especially Sunday mornings. The Advanced Bible Institute completed their second module last Tuesday, and the regular Bible Institute will complete theirs this week. The third module will take us nearly until our departure for the USA.

We continue to see slow progress in working toward church independence. I anticipate that the other churches will be adding Sunny Point to the list of independent churches. At the moment, Sunny Point is actually under Efraimzegen church.

I recently compled Module 4 for the Advanced Bible Institute, and am working on Module 5. We are waiting for the repair of the Mac computer. The repair shop said it is doing “something strange...” When it is repaired, I can continue to learn about making DVDs of the Bible Institute lessons.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work

2. Our spiritual growth

3. Continued spiritual growth in the churches

4. Souls saved and discipled

5. Radio & TV ministries to be effective

6. Continued impact of the Bible Institutes

7. Independence of the churches

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

prayer letter

2009-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

THE PIERUCKI FAMILY APRIL & MAY

IN EASTERN EUROPE PRAYER LETTER

Dear praying friends;

Colossians 3:23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

It makes a difference in everything we do if we do it for Jesus and not for men. If we could all keep that before us all the time it would help us to do more with a right heart, amen.

The Hotel Banquet room in Zalau went well for 2 months and had visitors almost every service from several villages also, and we went around and put Bibles in many area hotels as a witness to the truth and an invitation to our services to our new building. Our first service we were blessed with 11 Hungarians, 6 Gypsies, 6 Polish (us) and 1 Romanian. Last Sunday 5 returned but Wednesday it was just Louis, Alex and our family.

The last two weeks we have been busy cleaning, painting everything between services and planning ways to publish Gods word abundantly. The street traffic is intense and everyone that walks by is very curious. We plan on replaceable scripture signs in our picture windows and a free scripture and tract table on the sidewalk to start. Pray for open doors to the buildings as we start to visit the thousands of apartments around us with invitations and John and Romans. Please pray God would build a good church here. My greatest desire is to see many saved and hungry to be taught Gods word.

We have paid for 150 bibles; pray everything goes well with the printing as we eagerly wait to have them! Passing out John and Romans goes very well in Zalau for a city and we found several new markets we went to, we need to take more Hungarian ones in this part of Romania because we always run out quick.

Pray we find a nice place to live because our water went bad (killed the grass in the yard) and we have spent over $1000 extra this month trying to get it usable. I've done all the work connecting a second well and installing a softener system but this place needs a proper deep well, new septic system and it's so cold in the winter, this place is not worth all the extra sickness we endure.

Visiting gypsy villages we found one that the Baptist church was locked up because they left for charismatic teachings but another one was locked up because the Pastor and deacons left the country for work. Several from this village have come to our services for several months, one man (William) whom testifies proper faith desired us to start having services in his home. His sister in-law Teresa was glued to the message and received Christ! but pray for his brother Victor, his wife Melinda, and so many who have been taught works their whole life. His mother had 11 children, over 40 grandkids and has wished God to give me everlasting life the last several times she has heard me speak. Here I really understand God saying they hear but understand not.

Pray they understand with their heart,

Paul Pierucki

Sent and supported through: Sturgis Baptist Church

CP19 Simleu Sivaniei P.O.Box 844 Sturgis MI.

Jud:Salaj 455300 www.Jesusisworthy.com 49091

Romania

Patton prayer update

2009-05-18T08:47:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friends:

Update on my mother, Marjory Patton.� For those who may not remember, my mother had been in a retirement village nearly 38 years.� After the death of my father December 31, 1999, she moved from a small apartment to a single room where she received meals and assisted care.� She was transferred to an Alzheimer’s unit about a year and a half ago.� She had really done quite well there, though she has not usually recognized family or friends by name during that time.� When she was still lucid, she voiced several times to several of us in 2006 and 2007 that she did not know why the Lord had not taken her to be with Himself.

About a month or so ago, she fell, breaking a hip and shoulder.� Initially she tolerated surgery well.� She seemed to be making some progress in rehabilitation, which is remarkable at 93 years of age.� However, she deteriorated over the last two weeks, became incoherent, began losing a lot of weight, and hardly was eating or drinking.� Hospice care was arranged for her.� She lapsed into a coma, stopped eating or drinking and passed peacefully into the presence of the Lord Sunday afternoon, May 17^th, 2009.

We appreciate many who prayed for her peaceful departure to be with the Lord.� We want to express our special thanks to my brother Richard and sister-in-law Kaye for their love, concern and repeated five hour trips to see Mom.� We also thank my son-in-law Paul and daughter Cathy for their 7 hour trip last week to see Mom Patton again, as well as the many times they stopped to see her en route to their trailer in Kentucky.�� Thanks also to our daughter Becky who made trips to see Grandma and called her regularly on the phone even when Mom no longer recognized who she was talking to.� Our other two children, Kim, who is a missionary in Suriname, and Marc, who is a missionary in Hungary, also visited Mom when they were in the USA

We expect that they will hold a memorial service in her memory later this week at the Presbyterian Church in Waverly, Ohio, where she and dad had been members for many years.� Actually Mom and Dad had arranged for their funerals some time before my father died nearly 10 years ago.� The few family belongings which she still had have already been distributed to the family.�

We sorrow that Mom is not with us here on earth, but rejoice that she is with the Lord and freed of the shackles of sickness, especially these last two years.� It is the end of an era in our family.� She is the last surviving member of her generation, and we are now the “oldest generation.”� We have discussed with the family that we believe it is best for us to remain here on the field.�� We would like to be there, but want to use the Lord’s money in the best way.� When my Dad died, we went back to support Mom.� But this time, there is no one who needs that kind of support.� We would appreciate your continued prayers for the family as they work out the details of the memorial service.�� We would appreciate your prayers as we continue the work here.�� I will enclose a note that I am sending for her memorial service.

One of the difficult things in missionary service is leaving family behind.� We are grateful that we have been able to see my mother each time we have returned home for a mini-furlough, and even for 3 weeks when I was recovering from my heart attack in 2005.� However, each time we leave, we realize that we may be saying our last goodby.� That was especially true last year.� We pray that we will be a good testimony to our people here in Suriname during this time.� With modern transportation, communication with e-mail and international telephones, etc. our situation is so much easier than those of the missionaries a century ago.

Prayer requests:

1.�� Health and strength for the work here

2.�� Spiritual growth

3.�� The arrangements following the homegoing of Mom Patton

4.�� Our testimony here in Suriname

5.�� The continuation of the work here in Suriname

I am enclosing a note which I sent to be read at my mother’s funeral.

A Tribute to Mother

The facts are easy to record: Marjory Maude Patton.� Born October 10, 1915 of Herman and Maude Walker.� Died May 17, 2009 age 93.� She is survived by two sons, five grandchildren, and 17 great-grandchildren.� But those facts hardly give a picture of Mom Patton.

I wonder what people thought when the handsome young minister started dating a 17 year old vivacious girl more than 10 years his junior!� Would they believe that they would have 62 years of happy marriage?� Following three years courtship, my mother left her nursing training a year early for marriage.� The studious pastor took 22 books on his honeymoon!� But my mother, with a laugh, said that he never opened one of them.� Dad continued as a pastor in Green Island, New York.� I was born about 2 � years later, and at age 3, in 1941, we went to China as missionaries.

But then testing came.� We were moved to the Philippine Islands because of the war.� We were captured by the Japanese army and spent 3 1/3 years in a POW camp.� For a full two years the family was apart, and my mother and father only talked as they were in the chow lines for men and women.�� The last year, families were permitted to reunite.� But I never remember feeling alone or abandoned during that entire time.� Both parents were respected in the camp.� My mother was always upbeat and encouraged others.� We were released by MacArthur’s returning troups.�� Two weeks later, my brother was born by emergency Caesarian section for placenta previa (a life-threating condition) while the Japanese were still shelling the hospital.� Who would think that my mother, whose health was precarious, would live another 64 years to age 93?

The next 25 years or so were spent raising a family as the wife of a pastor, moving every few years to a new location.� When Dad Patton retired at age 67 to Bristol Village, she was only 55 years old.� At that time, the apartments, Pavilion and skilled care were not available, and her nursing skills were in demand.� She was known and loved by many.� As Dad aged, they eventually moved into an apartment for 6 years until his death December 31, 1999.� After a time, she relocated in the Pavilion, and then for the last 1 � years in Memory Garden.

I am certain that my mother’s belief in the Lord, and her acceptance of Him as savior sustained her during the trials of the 3 year in a POW camp.� Her relationship with the Lord continued throughout life.� But it was a special blessing to see her grow spiritually during the time when her health and memory declined.� She had known the Lord as her savior from sins and as her companion.� But in the last years, she learned to depend on Him completely.� When she misplaced things, she would pray to the Lord, and then find what she had lost.� She grew closer to Him as the power and sustainer of her life.� She had always had a sweet disposition, but as her health and memory declined, she maintained her sweetness, truly manifesting the fruit of the Spirit in her life.� As with Paul, she could say: II Kor. 12:9-10 And He (the Lord) said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness.� Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.� Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

Mom, we will miss you.� But we are glad you are reunited with loved ones, and with the Lord.� We pray that many will be touched by the testimony of your life, and come to accept the Lord as savior, but also make that total commitment to Him as truly our life.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname, South America

Missionary Marathon - Rodney Ruppel

2009-05-14T10:24:00.001-07:00

Dr. Voegtlin,

Do you have the e-mail address for Missionary Rodney Ruppel in Cambodia for use in our Missionary Marathon in July?
Sincerely,
Jon Neubauer
Administrator, FBC student blog

fbcfreshmen.wordpress.com

(mickeys-in-kenya) Hello from Kenya

2009-05-10T14:08:00.000-07:00

Hello from Kenya,

I have not written in a while but it certainly has not been because of the lack of anything to write about. My infrequent

updates are because of busyness, internet trouble and laziness. Probably mostly laziness. :)

We had a great session in the Rift Valley Baptist College during the month of April. Our attendance was a little bit down due to some trouble in a couple of the churches but we still had 79 students. We taught eight different courses between the English and Swahili classes. A typical day saw me teaching the whole day between the hours of 7 am and 9 pm. The weeks are long when college is in session but the fruit and blessings are bountiful. My wife, Wendy, taught a class for the ladies only and it was a smashing success. It was her first time to do it and if you know my wife at all you know how nervous and scared she was. The unanimous testimony of the ladies is we want more. The best part was she had a great time doing it. She can now see better why I enjoy it so much when the college is in session and I am teaching.

I also had the privilege to again teach a class two weeks ago in the Lake Victoria Baptist College of Mwanza, Tanzania. I taught the book of Acts and again was impressed with the quality of students in the college. The only problem was all the teaching had to be in Swahili and I think I am just now getting over the headache it caused me :) A big thank you to brother Greg Wagoner for the privilege of participating in his college session.

I am writing this while I am in Nairobi. Tomorrow morning I will again leave for another trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Two of our pastors from the Grace Bible Baptist Church, Isaac Mungai and Mike Njoroge left yesterday and I will be meeting them at the border of Burundi and the Congo tomorrow. We will then cross the border and go to the town of Uvira that sits on the very northwest side of Lake Tanginyika. Our desire on this trip is to finishing laying the groundwork so that we can begin sending men into the Congo on a full time basis sometime in June. The two most important things we wish to accomplish on this trip is #1 to meet with our lawyer who is handling our paper work, immigration issues and representing us to the government. We wish to have everything in order so that there is no problems while our men are living in the country. There are also a number of other important issues to discuss with him. #2 we need to rent a house for our men to live that will be within our budget. Our housing budget is $100 a month unless the house is also big enough to begin holding services then we would be able to go a little bit higher.

We are entering a part of the world that is in constant turmoil and is in reality a war zone. We are told through United Nation statistics that in the last few years there have been over 1 million slaughtered in genocide and war in the area we will be staying. I have personally heard the horror stories on how the rivers ran with blood and the crocodiles bloated themselves as they feasted on the bodies of those butchered. When we were in Uvira in late February we watched as the Congolese army found rebel gorillas hiding near the town, they arrested, stripped and then frog marched them to the army jail. A short while after we returned to Kenya the gorilla army invaded the town, shot the place up and broke out over 500 of their men from the army jails. There were a number of innocent civilians killed in the raid. There are two U.N bases built near the town to help keep the peace and they have helped some but not always enough.

We believe God has prepared our people for this awesome task of taking the gospel to these needy people. I cannot begin to explain the oppression that I begin to immediately feel when crossing the border into this neglected part of the world. Satan almost had me convinced during my first trip to the Congo that we could not do what God was leading us to do. I did not know how we could deal with the horror of the atrocities visited on these people and effectively build a church amongst them. I thought there must be some people much more qualified then us to do what it seemed God was wanting us to attempt. But through prayer and earnestly seeking God we are convinced that all that has happened to our people through the years and culminating in the election violence last year was preparation for this ministry.

Please remember us in prayer this week. Please remember our families that we leave behind in Kenya. I thank God for my godly wife who is willing to hold down the fort, deal with all the pressures of living in Africa and is willing without complaint to allow her husband to do what God has called him to do. God has also given us some national believers that have literally adopted us into their families and watch out for us as if we were their own family. It seems that this term God has been expanding our area of influence and has taken me away from the house for weeks at a time. I could never do that without a wife who was willing to trust God in ALL things. Wendy God be with you and I LOVE YOU! By the way Happy Mothers Day.

If you happen to be signed up with TWITTER you can get regular daily updates while we are in the Congo. I should be able to send them out by text message. If you would like to add us to your account so you can more effectively pray for us my user name is kenyanakuru or you can find me through my name- Robert Mickey Jr.

May God bless you and thank you in advance for your prayers.

His for Kenya,

Robert Mickey Jr. and family

report

2009-05-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Paul met Jesus and was converted against his former will. I have asked God why don't you knock people off their horse today and speak to them so they can be saved and the Lord assures me he does, He confronted me one day long ago. The pricks are Gods Spirit speaking to our heart about the truth of sin, of righteousness and judgment. God wants all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He is working still and men are striving with God.

Last few weeks have been so busy, friends from England stayed with us passing out a lot of scriptures, got the old van running and brought new visitors in our services. Our water turned real bad and been working on wells and pumps all week. I'm probably the only person in Romania that has been a Culligan man so next week it's a search for softeners.

We took possession of our building Friday and cleaned, prepared with 28 chairs for services tomorrow and have been told we will have 10 extra souls at least, pray for some to cry out "what must I do to be saved!"

Please pray for Josiah Herring, a friend's son who has a brain tumor. They are church planters in Idaho and his grandpa led me to the Lord when Jesus knocked me off my horse.

Pray for people to stop resisting the Holy Ghost, told a old gypsy friend yesterday that he needs to quit being religious and just trust Christ. Some people God has given over and will not prick their heart anymore. If you are putting God off you are making the most tragic choice for eternity, surrender like Paul did.

"Ye must be born again" Jesus said it, not man Paul

Patton prayer update

2009-05-01T09:26:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friend:

Update on Mrs. Patton: I just spoke with my brother and sister-in-law.� They had made a special trip to see my mother.� My mother, who fell and broke a hip and shoulder at age 93, has deteriorated dramatically in the last two weeks.� She is hardly eating or drinking, continues to be confused (she fell in the Alzheimer’s unit), and her weight has dropped to 96 pounds (9 pounds in two weeks).� She can stand but not walk.� Fortunately she has no pain, occasionally responds, but sleeps about 90 percent of the time.� The team caring for her is recommending the skilled care unit and hospice.� When she was lucid a few years ago, she had expressed the desire to be with the Lord.� It would appear that she will receive her wish.� We would appreciate your prayers.

No “poeroe blaka” in our church!�� Our people, the Bush Negroes of Suriname, were basically animists before increasing numbers have become Christians.� They have a great fear of death.� First, they don’t ask “how did this person die” but “why did this person die?”� They seek the answer from witchdoctors, or sometimes persons with a “winti” - an evil spirit.� There is a great fear that unless the death is properly handled, the spirit of the departed can return and take revenge on those still alive.� So deaths are handled elaborately.

The entire clan often participates in “dede oso.”� This includes ceremonies, offerings to the departed spirit, inviting the spirits of departed ancestors to join in eating food placed for them (trowe njanjan), pouring out libations of water or alcohol (trowe watra), and many other ceremonies.� I have heard the elders standing at a grave of the departed and stating that they had no intent of evil, etc.� There are other ceremonies which others can describe in much greater detail about how the families try to decide who is responsible for the death of the individual.� (People don’t just die - there has to be some reason).�

They then place at least one person in a formal mourning period.� If there is a surviving spouse, that is usually the individual.� This person has all sorts of restrictions.� He or she must wear certain clothes and head-dress indicating that they are in mourning.� They must remain quiet, not spend a lot of time laughing, etc.� They have a special stool on which they sit - no one else.� And they are not to sit on regular seats.� The stool usually has a white cloth tied around it which was obtained off the covering of the coffin when the clan “said goodby” to the departed.� The person may have to wear some of the intimate underclothing of the departed.� He or she must put a bit of their food on the floor or ground to share with the departed spouse, as well as drinks.� They call this period “blaka” (an appropriate name!).�� At the end of the time determined by the family of the departed, then they have a feast and remove the restrictions, which they call “poeroe blaka”.� They have traditionally had ceremonies at the burial, one week later, six weeks later, and then a final ceremony about 6-9 months later.� It is difficult for persons during this period to participate in church, especially if they have not previously attended but now want to accept the Lord.

When we deal with the culture, we do not want to perpetuate heathen customs.� However, it may be helpful to have certain Christian services to replace those of the heathen when we bury our believers.� They need extra support during the time of loss.� So we work hard to help our Christian believers avoid “blaka.”� We have a burial fund which helps cover the costs of burial, which normally would come from donations of the entire clan.� If the heathen pay for the burial, they expect to control the manner of burial too, including their heathen ceremonies.� Thus our people can have a Christian burial without being dependent upon the funds from heathen relatives. Usually the clan make some donations and cover some of the costs.� We try to explain to the unsaved relatives that we are not afraid of the spirit of the departed coming back as an evil spirit to torment the family.� The departed believer is “absent from the body but present with the Lord.”� So what do we do?

We normally try to have the entire burial process in our hands.� We have services before burial, including the wake the night before burial.� We bury without any of the heathen practices.� We do have a Christian service after one week and six weeks to substitute for the heathen services.� We have some food, singing, preaching, and testimonies during these services.� We also encourage the church family to visit the surviving spouse or relatives and pray with them.� We work to give spiritual support to the surviving spouse during a period of about 6 months, and then have a special service with prayer thanking the Lord for His assistance during the mourning period.� Of course, the heathen members of the family are welcome to come, but not to try to do their heathen practices in our midst.� Sometimes, they will have a separate service elsewhere to “do their thing.”�

I was very pleased this week by our service completing the mourning period for a man in his early 60s from the Winti Wai church.� His wife died unexpectedly, leaving him to care for two young girls about 8 and 6 years old.� We used our usual midweek prayer service at the main church.� Winston Zeeman did an excellent job - gave an excellent sermon on the resurrection of the dead, and a very clear invitation for salvation at the end.� Our music leader and choir also did well, as did the ladies who served coffee and soft drinks and some sandwiches afterwards to the 200 or so in attendance from all four churches.� The service was about 1 � hours long, but our people enjoy getting together so much that most of the people did not leave until about an hour or so later.� So - no “ poeroe blaka” for us because we don’t put persons in “blaka.”� As I mentioned, we must sorrow, because the pain of parting is present even though we know that we will be reunited later.� But we must not sorrow as those who have no hope.� We would appreciate your prayers for this man in his continued adjustment to caring for his family without the assistance of a wife.

It is sometimes difficult to provide a Christian alternative to certain heathen practices.� However, I find it good that the church as well as the family does work at supporting the surviving spouse.� Often in the USA, after the bustle of the funeral, a few days later the grieving survivors are pretty much alone.� We do our best to use the positive aspects of the culture in a Christian framework.� We do not want to leave a vacuum where they will be pulled back into the heathen practices from which Christ made them free.� They are under tremendous pressure from family.

I would ask also for prayers for two other individuals:

1.�� The wife of one of our preachers in training went into labor at 34 weeks, losing a lot of amnionic fluid.� She has not gone into labor on bedrest, and fluid loss is much less.� They are hoping to wait another week plus until she is at 37 weeks and then induce her.

2.�� A 20 year old student had some sort of seizure, and MRI scans show a lesion in the occipital lobe of the brain.� They plan to repeat the MRI scan, but may need to operate.� The lesion has affected part of his field of vision.� I am concerned about a possible brain tumor...

Prayer requests:

1.�� Health and strength for the work

2.�� Our spiritual growth

3.�� Soulwinning and discipling believers

4.�� Independence of the 4 churches

5.�� Bible Institutes - another correspondence student begins next week

6. �� Continuing to learn Final Cut 4 and starting producing DVDs

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Ruppel Report

2009-04-27T18:45:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since you have seen this subject on an email. Please forgive me.

Monday evening I had the opportunity to give the Gospel to a “General” in the police force. He is in charge of the police academy. Another missionary, Wayne Snyder, set up the meeting, and we had dinner together. Before I could even start, he was asking questions about Christ. I ate very little (believe it or not) because I was explaining about the Bible, God’s Holiness, Love, and Justness. Please pray for General Chantol and his associate Reaksa. They both showed great interest. Pray for them both to have their eyes opened, be convicted of sin, and repent (turn from idols to the true and living God). Pray also for them to be open to listening to more of God’s Word and even come to church.

Also, please pray for our relationship with the government. We have a new head of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Mun Kun, and he is changing everything. He is requiring more reporting from the missionaries and the churches, but he is also making the religious policies more clear. This clarity could help prevent individual local officials from oppressing churches based on their own prejudice. This clarity could also go the other way and cause more oppression country wide. It is still too early to tell. Please pray for this situation and for Baptist missionaries here to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves.

Thank you for your prayers,

Rodney Ruppel

Patton prayer update

2009-04-26T14:06:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friend:

The Real Party: We found out that our neighbor’s party last week was really giving a children’s party a chance to use their location.� By the way, it stopped at 9:30 p.m.� We were personally invited to the real party which started last night with a church service.� Since we have been working on building a good relationship with our neighbors, we felt that we should attend.� Every year we have taken baked goods there as well as tracts. The wife, who is 60 today, is the Suriname Ambassador to Brazil.� Her husband is a former minister of one of the government ministries (I think trade and industry) and works part time in Brazil as well.� They came back to Suriname for the occasion, and all four children came from the USA, England and, I believe, Belgium as well.�

I had witnessed to the husband, who is a very serious church attender, but according to his own words is not yet “born again.”� We have not had a chance to talk in detail with his wife.� However, it is typical in Suriname to have a service on a “bigi jari” - special birthdays divided by 5 - like 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, etc.� Hers was to be held the night before her actual birthday and to extend after 12 o’clock.� They call it “owroe jari” - the old year preparing for the new.� The Ambassador herself invited us to the church service, and mentioned that it would be quiet and peaceful.� She told Liz that she had invited about 200 guests to the party today with dancing and food, and seemed instinctively to know that we would not be comfortable coming.� She was so right!

The service was by the EBG pastor (Evangelical Brothers Church, or Moravians).� The Moravians arose under the leadership of Count Zinzendorf in Germany as a pietistic movement within the Lutherans.� Later they separated from the Lutherans.� The original Moravians were very serious about prayer and holy living.� They had a 24/7 prayer meeting that lasted 100 years without interruption!� They had the highest percentage of missionaries of any church group in the world!� Although they were a small group, they dominated world missions for a period of time.� One of the first places they came was Suriname in about 1735.� The original pastors did preach the gospel.� Like the Lutherans, they hold to baptismal regeneration.� Many of the original pastors were saved men, but the group went liberal as did most main-line denominations.� At present there are only a minority of true believing pastors.� (It seems that even when we win our own generation, we must be careful to continue for the generations to come - both here in Suriname, and in the USA.)

I had been praying for an opportunity for witness.� Liz bought a birthday card and enclosed several tracts. The pastor in charge introduced himself, said that he had see me on TV several times, and asked if I would pray.� I said “Yes, as long as I can pray in Sranantongo.”� “No problem”.� We sang songs.� We listened to the day-texts from the EBG church.� He preached from the text in John 10 over the good shepherd knowing His sheep, etc.� What a wide open door for the gospel, but we never heard it clearly presented.� Fortunately, the dominee (pastor) spoke his Dutch very clearly and we could understand him.� The service resembled those from our days in a liberal unsaved church.� “God has blessed you richly, sister,� primarily because you have been good and followed Him” - but nothing about salvation by faith.� Finally after about 1 � hours, he asked me to pray a “fiery prayer.”

I began by mentioning that I would speak in Sranantongo, because God would understand my poor Dutch, but perhaps no one else would.� They laughed.� Then I mentioned that I love birthdays so much that I have two of them.� I am 71, but I am 35, and further, I have two daughters who are older than I am.� By now, the people were listening.� Then I said that my first birth was physical, and brought me to earth to live, but one day I will have to leave.� But my second birth was spiritual, and brought me into the family of God, and gave me eternal life.� I very briefly outlined the Romans Road to salvation.� I gave my testimony, that I had to stop trusting my baptism, my church membership, my confirmation, and had to personally receive Jesus as Lord.� Then I prayed for the Lord’s blessing on the wife and family, and that anyone who had only one birthday would make the step to be certain of two.� Some were quiet.� Some said a vigorous “Amen.” Pray with us that although the time was short (certainly less than 5 minutes,� perhaps less than 3), there would be fruit that would remain.

Today they are having the “real celebration” with feasting and dancing starting at 6 pm.� Praise the Lord that we will be most of the time at our Efraimzegen church where I will be preaching.

Final cut express 4: Jonathan Champlin and family returned to the USA for furlough last Tuesday.� He brought the Mac computer back from Moengo.� We had bought it with funds from a church gift several years ago, along with a camera and other equipment to make TV programs.� Jonathan has replaced Bob Rasmussen, and has been making our TV broadcasting programs.� Fortunately we are quite far ahead on broadcasts.� If necessary, we will repeat a few broadcasts until his return.

Since Tuesday I have been working through a book on Final Cut Express, the program we have been using.� I am slowly learning the techniques which I will need to be able to put our new Advanced Bible Institute program on DVD.� We have two correspondence students now, and hope to have many more in the near future.� Please pray for me to grasp what I need to know.� A group is donating a PowerMac laptop which will permit me to both record and produce DVD’s in the future.� Ask the Lord to open my understanding.

50 years marriage: In a month, Lord willing, we will celebrate our 50^th wedding anniversary here on May 30th.� We will have a thanksgiving service at the main church with all four churches participating.� Twenty-three of those 50 years have been here in Suriname, and an additional 5 years were in Liberia, West Africa.� Today I preached primarily from Ephesians 5:22-33 over the relationship of man and wife.� The next time I preach Sunday morning in two weeks, I hope to preach on Ephesians 6:1-4 over raising children.� The Bible standards are clear.� We as Christians need to hold them, and we aren’t doing very well.

Prayer requests:

1.�� Health and strength for the work

2.�� Our spiritual growth

3.�� Soulwinning and discipling believers

4.�� Independence of the 4 churches

5.�� Bible Institutes

6. �� Learning Final Cut 4 and starting producing DVDs

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Patton prayer update

2009-04-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friend:

“I told my husband this morning I wanted to get saved. I have wanted to for a long time, but I didn’t know how.” C.A., a 21 year old mother of two, apparently came to our Bible club and church when she was 13 years old, but never received Christ. Looking at the deteriorating world situation, she wanted to be saved. When we did not find the lady we were looking for across the street, we went to see the younger sister of CA, hoping to talk to her mother. Her mother was not there. C.A. came out to us with a big smile, and was wide open for the gospel. What a joy to see her receive the Lord. Before we went soulwinning, we had asked the Lord to lead us to someone to get saved. He answered our prayer.

Later while visiting a another new lady from the interior, we spoke with her shy 9 year old daughter. We rejoiced that one of our faithful Sunday school workers, Natalie Talea, had already led her to the Lord.

Good Friday and Easter Sunday we had very good services with a number of visitors. Kalow Palata preached about the necessity of the cross on Good Friday. On Sunday, I preached on “both aspects of salvation.” Often we so concentrate on the payment for our sins that we neglect to preach about Christ’s gift of righteousness, and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Often we rejoice that our past sins are covered, and that in the future we will go to heaven, but neglect the fact that we can live today with victory over sin through the indwelling Christ... Christ in us.

We also had two young mothers and a young woman baptized by Eduard Akoeba - another blessing. We were pleased to see very good attendance for both services, especially Easter Sunday. It was an answer to prayer - we had our day of fasting and prayer on Saturday. Suriname has been experiencing spiritual apathy and poor attendance at church services in recent years. We were pleased to be an exception.

One of the “blessings” of Suriname is hearing our neighbors’ birthday parties. Since they are usually held in the open, the loudspeakers are blaring and the ground shaking. It is part of the culture, and you don’t complain. Typically they begin around 10 pm and go till 2-3 in the morning. Today next door our neighbor’ celebration began before 6 pm. They have children present, so there is hope for sleep later. But the loudspeakers blast right into our house, especially into the bedroom. Oh well, you are only 60 years old once.

Wandel march: A 45 year old tradition is a four day parade the Wednesday - Saturday after Easter. It is a big thing. This year over 4000 are participating. Some groups just wear matching t-shirts and slacks, etc. but some go all out with costumes. The classic one for ladies is the koto-misi dress... They are very pretty, very decent, and very Suriname. This was how the slave ladies dressed up 150 years ago. The groups walk through different streets each day. Yesterday, they walked 23 km! (About 13 miles). They normally begin about 4 pm and we heard them return in the distance until well after 11 pm. Today we crossed their path while soulwinning after 6 pm and saw a few groups. They looked pretty weary! Some groups come from other caribbean countries to participate.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work

2. Our spiritual growth

3. Soulwinning and discipling believers

4. Independence of the 4 churches

5. Bible Institute growth (they had a week vacation)

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

report

2009-04-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

Luke 24:31-32 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Had a wonderful service last week and looked at the fact that true Christians do not just say Jesus is risen, He has opened our eyes! We know him! Once you caught just a glimpse of him you are saved forever. The scriptures are alive and burn in your heart, and in verse 36 his first words are peace be unto you so only meeting him will bring true peace. Don't you just love knowing Jesus!

Easter is this Sunday in Romania and they have services Monday and Tuesday too, I tell them I celebrate his birth and resurrection all the time and go to church all the time too. But it is a good time for sowing the word of God so we went to many markets in several cities this week and passed out John and Romans.

One man was obsessed with why? When faith started in Europe, said we should bring money instead and we have people asking for clothes, jobs, and other things. Many ask what religion? Just so they have a motive to reject and we just talk about knowing and following Christ. Jesus is not religion, He is alive but how many people call themselves a Christian and have never met him?

We have been rebuked for just giving out New Testaments and told it's is also a sin to change the name of Christ from the old orthodox spelling, then usually someone wants to carry on about the Sabbath and the law and I found an easy way to stop that foolishness is by asking them if they tithe. Ah, we are all guilty and need Christ to save us from our sins and death. Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Jesus saves! Just like to shout it out. Pray for people to be saved. Paul

(mickeys-in-kenya) 9 April 09- Update from Kenya

2009-04-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Hello from Kenya,

It rained three days last week and we were beginning to think that the rainy season was upon us but unfortunately as quick as the rain started it ended. We have now gone another week without rain. In normal circumstances many would have already planted their crops.

I have just about finished getting all of the material ready for the Bible College that will be meeting next week. We again look forward to a good turnout of men and women from many places in Kenya. Wendy will for the first time begin teaching classes with the ladies during this term and I am sure she would appreciate your prayers.

We have now finished four months in our missions giving year at the Grace Bible Baptist Church. We started the Faith Promise Missions program almost ten years ago desiring to see the Kenyans do their part to reach people all over the world with the gospel. I was told by some not to waste my time as the people were just to poor to give to missions, they would never even be able to pay a pastor so why expect them to have something to give to missions. Those were not very encouraging words to a new missionary that had come to Kenya believing God could do a work amongst these people.

Maybe I was just a little stubborn or maybe some of the things I have been taught through the years just could not be ignored. We started a missions program and yes it began slow but year after year the people gave a little more and their faith began to grow. As the missions offering grew so did the tithes enabling the church to do more. About three years ago some people really began to understand Faith Promise Giving and the missions program really began to accelerate. The excitement of giving to missions began to spread to more and more people. They began giving in a way that it humbled me at their sacrifice.

During these first four months of this missions year the giving has abounded. Each month they have given more then the month before. The missions goal was set at 190,000/- (about $3,000) or a little more than 15,000/- (about $250) a month. So far this year they have averaged 23,000/- a month a pace that will put them at over 270,000/- (Over $4000) for the year. The economy is bad here like it is all over the world but they have not allowed that to keep them from giving their money to missions. This last month the total missions and tithes were over $1,000. Now that may not sound like much by American standards but imagine how much it is to the average Kenyan who lives on $350 in one YEAR.

It really goes without saying but of course the regular giving has grown right along with the missions giving. I was told ten years ago that I should not expect the people here to ever be able to take care of their pastor. I am glad God is bigger and much more powerful then human reasoning. Not only are they paying a national pastor a full time salary they are also paying two other pastors a full time salary. Yes three Kenyan men paid a fulltime salary entirely by the giving of one Kenyan church.

We are rejoicing in God's goodness. It is only God that can so thoroughly change the lives of people. If God can do this in one church we know He can do it in churches all over Kenya and Africa.

We continue to schedule meetings for our furlough from this October-March. We appreciate those who have contacted us about reporting to your church. God has brought us and our people through the fiery furnace this past year and it has gone a long way in purifying us all for His work. We would love to share with you how out of the ashes of the election violence God has matured a people to do a work for Him.

If you would like us to come by your church sometime during the months of October 09- March 10 and give a report and/or present the mission field of Kenya then please send me an email at rawtokenya@gmail.com We would love to hear from you.

Thank you again for your prayers on behalf of the Mickey family and the people of Kenya,

His for Kenya,

Robert Mickey Jr. and family

Patton prayer update

2009-04-09T06:11:00.000-07:00

Dear Prayer Partner:

We were overwhelmed with notes about praying for my Mom. Here’s an update.

Update Marjory Patton: She had a total hip replacement last week and apparently sailed through surgery without problems. Her right arm and shoulder have been immobilized by velcro splints holding her arm to her side. This weekend she was discharged from the hospital and sent to the rehabilitation center, but rehabilitation may be slow because of limitations from her shoulder. I was wrong in stating her right hip had been broken previously. It was her left hip - so now she has a prosthesis on the left and a total replacement on the right.

They say that as you age, your basic personality comes out as your defenses are weakened by age. Fortunately, Mom has always been an upbeat person, even when she was a young woman in concentration camp during World War II. We have noticed her sweet behavior at the retirement center, and how the nurses like caring for her. My sister-in-law mentioned two incidents last week. A nurse came to give her a pain shot. She responded: “O dear, I don’t have money right now, but I will be sure to pay you...” Then later, she was heard talking to herself: “If you had only used your walker, then this would not have happened. And she answered herself back: But if you had called for help after I fell, then I would not have lain so long on the floor....” Again, we so appreciate your prayers. It appears that the Lord will have Mom stay with us here on earth a bit longer.

Meeting with Ricanau Mofo men: One of our leaders at Sunny Point, Mejo Banwarie, was concerned that his father had no real back-up at the church in Ricanau Mofo, as the men lacked training. His father requested help. Two weeks ago, a team of men from our churches went to Ricanau Mofo to speak with the men there concerning our Bible Institute and further working together. For those who may not know, Darrell Champlin began work in Suriname at Ricanau Mofo in 1965 and trained a number of nationals. The work was turned over to the nationals three years ago. The pastor, Abana Banwarie, came to the city with four of his key young men. They attended both our basic and advanced Bible Institute classes, and met again with a team of our men. They will be following the first Bible Institute, and have decided that they will plan on requiring their leadership to complete the Institute to function as leaders. When I spoke with Br. Abana today, he asked for twenty books in addition to the 15 which they already have. So we are encouraged.

Fiftieth anniversary: Liz and I will be married 50 years, Lord willing, on May 30^th. We wanted any celebration to be God-honoring and to encourage strong families in our church membership. This is a “big deal” for our entire church family, and they want everything to go well. We had a preliminary meeting last Thursday to see what we will do. We felt that our 50^th is really not something which we can go off and do what we want, but we do have a responsibility to the church, and pray that the Lord will truly bless the occasion. We are looking at renewing our vows, and inviting any of the married persons in the church to join us. We also hope to have a special evening program perhaps two or three weeks before which will encourage our married couples as well as six engaged couples in the four churches.

Distribution of Sranantongo materials: Our good friend Steve Guiamo has placed much of our Sranantongo materials in his bookstore to sell. He expects that there will not be a rush on the materials, but there will be an increased demand as people from the interior see what we have available. Dutch is the language of education, but in the interior, many speak only Sranantongo or very limited Dutch.

Advanced Bible Institute: I am finding the materials presented very challenging, and so are our students. Last night, I completed the history of missions, including the beginning here in Suriname, and started teaching about the importance of world view and attitude in development and independence of the churches. The concept of one’s worldview and its influence is new to them, and I will have to slow down a bit, but trust it will prove helpful.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work

2. Our spiritual growth

3. My mother’s health and recovery

4. Bible Institutes, including work in the interior

5. Souls saved and discipled

6. Independence of the churches

In Him and Content:

Bob & Liz Patton

Postbus 2923

Paramaribo, Suriname

South America

bobpatton@sr.net

011-597-532205

report

2009-04-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

World report with

the Word and Work

Philippians 4:14 Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction.

Communication is important, it is the first step to start a relationship and the more done with love the better the relationship. There are many different ways to communicate and we all need this especially with God. Praying always is a good way to get through a day.

Services have been good in the hotel the first month with a few visitors every time, men from two villages want us to come have services so we start one this Thursday and looking forward to our own building next month.

Went to a Independent Baptist meeting last week, 2^nd time since coming to Romania in 2003 and had a really nice time, very encouraging to meet Romanians walking in the truth and we went to a seminar in Hungry the week before and had a great time there too plus started passing out scriptures in new markets besides Zalau every week when we can.

Please be in prayer for the Herring family, their 4 year old son Josiah has a tumor in his brain and surgery could be the next step. Jason and Suzy's fathers are church planters and so are they in the northwest. On facebook I saw their prayer group go from a few to over 700 last week then over 1,400 from Sunday and now over 2,000. People care, prayer makes a difference and God uses facebook even.

I know Jason is a man of God and they have a strong love for the Lord, while our hearts pray for them I keep looking at all the lost and confused around us, so blind and deceived while the world spins more and more away from God and any respect for His word, His names, His people. How we need to pray. I want to see Him save some souls! Heaven bound, paul

Special Update 2

2009-04-04T20:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

I apologize for not keeping you better informed of what was going on
with me and my mother but I left in such a hurry to get to her that I
failed to insure that my laptop had my email program and settings
installed. Consequently it did not and I have had to way to update
everyone until now.

Let me first thank you all for your prayers for me and my family. They
have helped me tremendously.

Well, I got the call from my sister last Thursday around 4:00 PM. She
told me that my mom did not wake up that morning and that the hospice
nurse said that she was "actively dieing." With in an hour and a half
we were on the road and drive all night and arrived at my mom's place 18
hours later. When we arrived the whole family was there, my dad (my
parents have been separated for many years), my two sisters, and my
brother. My mom was not in a coma but she was incognizant. I let her
know that I was there and I sat with her while the family explained all
that was going on.

I stayed by her side day and night along with my brother and sisters and
we cared for her 24/7 until she left this world on April 1st at 8:41
PM. I was never able to speak to her with my mouth but I was able to
speak to her through prayer. It was the most intense spiritual encounter
of my life. She had her eyes open some in the beginning and one day she
even tried to say something and gave us a smile! After that her eyes
were mainly closed except for one day when they were wide open and you
could tell she was searching for something. I had been sitting on the
edge of her bed holding her hand and praying for some time that morning.
I went upstairs to brush my teeth and freshen up some and while I was
brushing I was attacked spiritually. Satan started throwing all these
thoughts at me of how it was not right of God to send you half way
around the world while your family needs you. This intensified for a
little bit until I had had enough and I told Satan that under no
circumstances would I curse God and instead I praised Him for the
opportunity to serve Him in Belarus.

When I got back to my mothers side I started to pray more earnestly than
at any time in my life. First, I asked the Lord to put a hedge of
protection around my mom so that I could reach out to her in prayer and
Satan would not hinder either of us. Then I reached out to my mom (in
prayer) and asked her if she remembered the times that she had been
witnessed to and her spirit or the Spirit confirmed that she did. Then I
just witnessed to her again in prayer until I felt a peace that came
over me and I knew that one way or another it was over. I do not know if
my mom trusted Christ at that time but I do know that I was able to
reach her and she was afforded another opportunity to be saved. From
that time on it was more about making her comfortable and wanting to see
her let go because she was in a lot of pain and discomfort.

All the time I spent with my dad, and my brother and sisters helped to
bring us closer together as a family and break down a lot of walls that
have been between us. I did not know how opposed they were until I asked
about the funeral arrangements. My mother had taken care of all the
details for her funeral service and her cremation. I was not allowed to
preach but the priest did allow me to speak for a few minutes. While I
was greatly disappointed and burdened about that I know that I will
have opportunity in the future to tell my family about Christ because of
how things went this past week.

I would appreciate your continued prayer for my unsaved family.

I have lost some use of my left arm and leg through all of this and I am
pretty weak. I feel like I have nothing left in me and yet there is so
much more to do. Praise God for that peace and grace that only He can
supply. Please pray that I can get the needed strength to take a short
trip to Belarus and take care of business. I must do that so that I can
return and start my treatments. Once the treatments are over I will have
six months of therapy before we can get back to Belarus. I have set a
goal to motivate myself when therapy time comes, because that is always
the tough part. I told my self that I would treat myself to a sky dive
when I have successfully completed therapy. I have always wanted to jump
out of a plane and pull that rip cord and I found a place not far from
here that does that!

May God find us on our knees and in His Word so that he can use us while
we are on our feet and in the world.

Brother Rene' & Family

Patton special prayer request

2009-04-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Dear Friend:

Today I ask special prayer for my mother, Marjory Patton. She is 93 years old, and has been in the Alzheimer’s unit in Waverly, Ohio for the last year plus. Apparently she tried to walk without her walker or cane. When she failed to come to supper, the nursing staff went to her room, where she had closed the door, and found her on the floor. She fractured her right hip, which already had been broken about 15 years ago. She also fractured her right shoulder. Complicating the situation, she is on plavix for ministrokes, and thus has a bleeding tendency which lasts for several days after stopping medication.

My mother and father went as missionaries to China just before World War II when I was three years old. We were moved to the Philippine Islands, but captured by the Japanese forces and placed for 3 years plus in a prisoner-of-war camp. Because of my mother’s health, they were unable to return, and my father was a pastor in a number of small towns over the next 30 years. He retired to a retirement village when he was 67 and Mom was 56. They were in their own home for over 20 years, and then moved to a two bedroom apartment. Dad finally died at age 94 on December 31, 1999. After a few additional years, mother moved to a one-bedroom apartment with complete meals. A bit over a year ago, as her memory continued to deteriorate, she was moved to the Alzheimer’s unit, where she has done well until this fall occurred. She is the longest time resident at the retirement village at present - about 38 years since 1971!

Mom is saved and when her memory was better, mentioned that she was ready to be with the Lord. We are praying that His will will be done. We would hate to see her totally infirm, struggling with bedsores, etc and unable to think clearly. My brother and sister-in-law drove to see Mom right after the fall; they live about 4-5 hours away. To my surprise, Mom immediately recognized my brother by name. She has not really recognized any of the family for over a year now. She will be undergoing a total hip replacement today as there is no other reasonable option surgically, and she cannot be left as she is in constant pain. The surgeon will treat the shoulder with a hanging cast, I believe, but did not want to submit her to two operations simultaneously at her age. Surgery is scheduled today at noon.

So we would appreciate your prayers that the Lord’s will be done, and that He would be glorified. Thanks for joining us in prayer. I will write another regular letter at a later date.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname, South America

011-597-532205

Patton prayer update

2009-03-28T19:52:00.000-07:00

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Dear Praying Friend:

Exercise soulwinning: I walk three miles briskly early each morning except Sundays. Liz usually walks two miles with me four days a week. We often meet a man riding a bike to care for an empty house and feed the guard dogs there. Last week I encouraged our people to look for all sorts of opportunities to reach the lost, so I determined after prayer to speak with him on Monday. Walking by, I called to him, and he came outside the gate and listened to my testimony and the gospel. To my surprise, he was wide open to receive the Lord and prayed to do so. A day later I gave him a Sranantongo New Testament, and spoke to him again today. He promised to visit our church tomorrow.

Today Liz and I walked together by a man working on a deep hole in a driveway where the cover of a drainage gutter had broken. Again I felt I should speak to him. So I walked home with Liz, got a New Testament and a tract, and gave it to him. He was Catholic in background, as was the first man, and also unsaved. He took the Bible, listened to my testimony and the gospel, and was not ready to make a decision, but promised to come visit the church next week. I pray that the Lord will continue to make me sensitive to those openings which He arranges. Liz has been very faithful in giving out tracts, talking with people in stores, banks, for many years.

Birthday opportunities: A widow and faithful member of the church had her 60^th birthday. She is a close friend of Liz, who has counseled with her many times. Liz brought her a cake and some food, as well as a Bible. When we were to pray, she asked her son, who is unsaved, to join us. Liz had spoken to him in detail about salvation before and he “prayed” with me once before. I mentioned to the son that we as Christians have two birthdays - one when we are born physically, and one when we are born spiritually. I told him that my two daughters are actually a little older than I am (they were saved a few months before me when we were in Liberia, West Africa). Again, I mentioned that the first birth brings us on earth and gives us an earthly family, but the second birth allows us to go to heaven, and gives us a huge eternal family of brothers and sisters for ever. We then prayed for the woman, for God’s blessing on her, and for her son to come into God’s family. He promised to come to church - but no definite time.

Teaching ministries: The Bible Institutes are both going along, and the team which went to Ricanau Mofo a week ago indicated that a number of men there are interested in Bible lessons through the Bible Institute. I had already given Abana material but they need help using it. I believe that they will send a small delegation next week to see the lessons as well as discuss how we can help them.

This week in our advanced Bible Institute, I gave a short but very detailed outline of the theology of missions. I was really encouraged by one student who is now praying that the Lord will enable her to be more effective in soulwinning.

Distribution of discipleship materials: Br. Steve Guiamo, head of the Baptist bookstore, is interested in selling a number of our Sranantongo materials. We would be delighted to see them reach more people.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work

2. Our own spiritual growth

3. Independence of the churches

4. Continued soulwinning and discipleship

5. Bible Institutes growth and effectiveness

In Him and Content:

Bob & Liz Patton

Special update

2009-03-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord,

I just received word from my sister that my mom did not wake up this
morning and that she is what the doctors are calling "actively dying."
We are packing now and will be leaving as soon as we can to try and get
to my mom before it is eternally too late. Please pray for her soul and
for the rest of my unsaved family and for grace from above for me to
preach her funeral.

Brother Rene'

Rene' Update

2009-03-26T06:38:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

Attached is the letter that I sent out to our supporting churches
notifying them that after much prayer and counsel we know it to be God's
will for me to get some special treatments from VA that will require a
one year medical leave. This was a very difficult decision to make but
one I am confident in.

I have arranged to be able to take a two week trip to Belarus early next
month before I start the treatments so that I can make sure that the
ministry details have been addressed.

When you read the letter you will see how God has wonderfully provided
so that the ministry and project will continue to move forward with the
governments blessing while I take these treatments. The end result will
be that I will be able to serve better and longer in Belarus when this
is said and done and the ministry will not suffer one bit.

Please pray for me, when I start these treatments I will get very sick
and remain sick for at least six months. Then I will start therapy
again and slowly get my self back to being able to minister on the field
again.

Pray that our prayer support and financial support is not severely
weakened so that we will not have to raise a bunch of new support when
this is over and further delay our return.

Pray for Brother Schrock as he takes charge of the ranch project for the
next year and invests his ministry time and money into moving things
along. Pray for Brother Vladimir as he continues to hold down the fort
at the Minsk church and tries to get them into their church building.
They have been working on the roof all this past week and plan to have
it finished by mid-April Lord.

lastly, continue to pray for my Mom's salvation. My two oldest are not
far from her at New England Baptist College, and they will be visiting
her this weekend Lord willing.

May God find us on our knees and in His Word so as to use us while we
are on our feet and in the world.

Brother Rene' & Family

Patton prayer update

2009-03-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

Dear Praying Friend:

God does hear prayer: Two weeks ago, the leadership asked my to take leadership in soulwinning. I preached last Sunday morning on soulwinning. Wednesday night I preached again on soulwinning when the preacher who was scheduled could not come. I encouraged our members to give themselves totally to God, and to ask God to use them. But I want to be an example to our people, and thank the Lord for blessing.

Last Saturday, Liz and I went to see a leader from Winti Wai who is now nearly blind from glaucoma which was discovered late. His medication schedule prevents him from coming to church, and we went to pray with him. After we were done praying, I was about to leave, but Liz asked the wife about the spiritual situation of their grandchildren. She called the children. Three young people came in, and I spoke in detail about salvation. Both grandchildren stated clearly that they had accepted the Lord, but were not faithful at church any more. We encouraged them to live out their faith and attend church with their grandmother. The third young girl, however, a neighbor girl, recognized that she was unsaved and prayed to receive Christ.

This Thursday, Liz and I had two places to visit. First, we wanted to pray with a young woman who was celebrating her 25^th birthday and had a number of family problems. Her brother had come to church with her years ago, and had made a profession. However, at age 20, he was no longer coming or living for the Lord. I had prayed to be able to meet him, and there he was. He sat down and listened thoughtfully and respectfully. He said that he had prayed a prayer but never received the Lord. Sadly, he was not ready to do so, but we encouraged him to make the right decision.

Then we went to see a lady recovering from a cataract operation. Her home was flooded, and she was staying in a home where her brother-in-law lived. I had spoken to the brother-in-law many times in the past, and I believe that he prayed with me once, but never came to church. However, there were also three teenage girls present, and so I spoke with them in detail. They had never really been confronted with the gospel, and after finishing, all three prayed to receive Christ. Furthermore, the man, now 60 years old, also prayed with them, though I had not directly spoken with him. It is always difficult to know what really transpires in the heart of an individual spiritually, but we pray that they will have truly received the Lord, and will come to church and grow. I also pray that the Lord will make me very sensitive to His leading, and always to trust in the power of His word.

Bible Institute:

We started our second module of the basic Bible Institute last Monday night, and gave the test on the advanced Bible Institute first module Tuesday night. All the students in the advanced course did extremely well. I have been very pleased how well they have grasped the principles of leadership. After the exam, they stayed around talking to each other. It is a great opportunity for the leaders of the four churches to meet together. After we packed up, Liz and I headed home with them still enjoying visiting with each other. That is always a joy to see.

The response to the leadership material has been so great that I am going to try to preserve them for the future. I will also be working on a set of DVD’s for the material in about a month or so.

Your prayer support needed:

Steve Guiamo, our Suriname Bible distributor, runs the Baptist book store in town. He has just finished clearing an area in his store for Sranantongo materials. He wants to develop a center for Sranantongo Bible materials to sell, especially for those coming from the interior who are not comfortable in Dutch. The materials which we translated are abundant. We have at least eight discipleship courses of one sort or another. Steve also completed our first Bible Institute and is taking the advanced course. He is extremely active in his independent Baptist Church as well as helping coordinate work in the interior.

However, we have had two problems. First, the printing of the materials is not professional. I had done them in our office with our Duplo printer. Secondly, a number of people in our churches have started the course and never returned materials so that many books have been lost. We are praying for the right decision to be made concerning how the books should be printed, as well as a system to assure that people who borrow them return them. Also we pray that the printed materials would sell in the store so that many others would use them. Would you join us in prayer?

God’s protection:

Two weeks ago, when Liz drove our 16 year old Toyota 10 seater van to church, it lost power part way as she was climbing the bridge over a canal. What a situation. She lost her wipers, her power windows, and was in a traffic jam both ways on the bridge. She managed to creep to the church and park the van safely. When I arrived for a meeting, it would not start. A friend charged the battery the next day, and it started immediately and we drove home without problems. The van had had an accident nearly two years ago which sprung the door a bit, and it apparently does not fit well. Sometimes small lights come on in the side doors even with the door closed. I removed the bulbs, and thus far the van continues to start. We hope that this is the answer, but the van has had lots of electrical problems in the past ever since we bought it second-hand almost 9 years ago. Thank the Lord for getting her safely to the church.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work

2. Our spiritual growth

3. Soulwinning outreach through the church

4. Bible Institutes

5. Printing Sranantongo materials

6. Independence of the churches

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

P.S. We just got word that one of our faithful pastors, Russell Boersma, went home to the Lord today after a battle with cancer. He had rallied enough to go to his church last Sunday morning with help, to thank the church, encourage the people, and resign as pastor. He was a great example of a selfless servant leader who loved the Lord and lived for Him. I know that the family would appreciate your prayers. He is the pastor who donated a kidney a few years back. Before he was settled in the area, three of his children stayed in our home for a number of weeks about 25 years ago so they could begin the Christian school year on schedule. We will all miss him.

prayer letter

2009-03-19T11:22:00.001-07:00

We had our 1st two visitors Wednesday night! Paul

THE PIERUCKI FAMILY FEBURARY & MARCH

IN EASTERN EUROPE PRAYER LETTER

Dear praying friends;

Titus 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

Been studying the return of our saviour and know it is a great focus in the New Testament. This subject for one like me who had no hope, no future for so long but now is the most touching thought in my heart. The glorious future we have! (This flesh and world we know, all the sorrow, sad things… the burdens gone forever) Folks! This is not religion, this is God's word.

Rented a storefront in Zalau by the hospital but the owner did not finish a contract with someone else so we have to wait till May to start using it, then I remembered how many churches started in Hotel banquet rooms so we found a beautiful one for 10 euro an hour and have been having services there. This works in the States but I don't think anyone has tried it here. Please pray for people to come.

It has been very rainy but we have been out putting up flyers, handing out scriptures with invitations and advertising. Doing what we can, always amazed at peoples desire thinking money will make them happy and how they will go to great lengths to get it but most will never have what some do and the ones who have much are not really satisfied. Real love, joy and peace are fruit of the Spirit of God and come only though faith in Jesus Christ. What we do sowing and watering the word of God is more important than any other work on this earth. Your faith has to be in what he says for you to be content.

Family is doing fine always trying to get school work accomplished and our oldest Seth stayed in the States when we returned last May, pray for him.

The program at the orphanage is going very well and it's good to hear the children quoting verses, some of the new ones have been shy but are warming up and now want to hang on us all the time. Louis, Alex and our family are blessed every time and we pray the children's lives will be transformed because of God's care. We don't know what they have been through and deal with daily.

A church in Iowa sent $1,200 for bibles and a few friends gave $100 each. They are going to cost around $10 a piece and I hope to have at least 200 for Zalau. Let me be clear the Romanian bible was critical text and an Independent Baptist Church in Cluj and many others who helped did a received text translation that we have used and supported all along.

There are those who oppose but look at our web site, for years we've had a comparison listed and can assure you that even the "Baptist" in Romania teach baptismal regeneration and you can lose your salvation because the corruption of their bible. Eighteen years ago when we started investing money in Ministries in Romania someone said their bible was a mess, but you can't take away what they got. So today my question is… Why not give them a good one? It's true I'm a failure in language but I do know my shepherds voice, and know he desires Romanians to hear and follow him not man. If we would listen to Jesus he would remove our doubts, fears and confusion the devil loves us to be filled with. Are you sure what you believe is right?

So blessed to have the faith,

Paul Pierucki Sent and supported through: Sturgis Baptist Church

CP19 Simleu Sivaniei P.O.Box 844 Sturgis MI.

Jud:Salaj 455300 www.Jesusisworthy.com 49091

Romania

Rene' Update

2009-03-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord,

March 8th is a special day in Belarus. It is "Women's Day" and
celebrated by everyone. The church always has a banquet to honor the
ladies who come and to have another opportunity to give them the gospel.
Vladimir said it went well, numbers were down, but the spirit was good
and the Word was received well.

Please pray for brother Vladimir and his wife Olya. They were called
into the office of "Ideology" recently for handing out tracts and
witnessing to folks. He went with his Bible under his arm and a prayer
in his heart. For an hour and a half they insulted, yelled at and
threatened with jail. Vladimir loves his country and desires to see it
experience revival, something we have been praying for for ten years,
and he is not one to be bullied when it comes to his right as a citizen
to carry out the great commission. When they asked him by what
authority he was doing all this he placed His Bible on the officers
desk and said, "By the authority of the Word of God." That was not very
well received as you can imagine.

We have all been called in and yelled at from time to time so it is not
a real huge situation but one that needs our prayers. Pray for Vladimir
and his wife Olya to have wisdom and for God to calm down the department
of Ideology.

The weather is getting better over there and thanks to a gift of $600
that Vladimir was given by my home churches retired pastor they will be
able to shingle the roof of the church in Minsk this month!

In closing I would also ask for a serious effort to pray for my mother.
My sister called and informed me that she has just entered home hospice
and has been given 6 months let to live. No one I have ever known
growing up in New Hampshire is saved and that includes all of my
immediate family. I have witnessed to her in the past and she has a
tract that I have made her promise to keep and read , so pray that she
will repent of her sins and call upon the name of the Lord before it is
eternally to late. Pray for God's timing in all this so that I can see
her and witness to her again. I have never experienced a burden like
this one before. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it.

May God find us on our knees and in His Word so as to use us while we
are on our feet and in the world.

Brother Rene' & Family

Patton prayer update

2009-03-12T16:50:00.001-07:00

Dear Praying Friends:

“Cold wave” hits Suriname: “It’s freezing” said Liz after a cold shower (we do not have hot water). She was right, of course. I checked the thermometer - 75 degrees Farenheit. Of course, feeling cold is relative. But after 23 years in Suriname, 75 degrees feels cold. We didn’t need the fan and even slept under the bedspread.

We have had a lot of rain. I had thought the rainy season was at an end. But: Sunday till Monday night - about 4 inches. Tuesday through Wednesday - another 3-4 inches. Our street flooded, and I missed my three mile walk for the first time since returning to Suriname last fall. Tuesday’s paper had pictures - 3 boys laughing and paddling down a street in a plastic raft; men picking up some extra cash by pushing stalled cars through the water; a bus plowing through about 18 inches of water. Tuesday night I had a meeting. The street to the church was about 2/3 under water, and some areas getting there were more than a foot deep.

Monday night, we cancelled Bible Institute for the first time this year, and I believe the second time in 18 years of the Institute. Paramaribo is built on what was swamp, and many housing areas back onto swamp. Our students are widely scattered through the city area. One of our preachers used to feel the kaiman (small alligator species - seldom bigger than 6-7 feet, usually much smaller) hit the underside of his house that was built up on supports. A few years ago, Liz walked by a 10 foot anaconda that one man had pulled out of the drainage ditch and killed with a machete. Some have had similar snakes in their yard, or crossing flooded streets. Even after three days, many homes are still sitting with standing water, some inside the house. Many streets are still flooded, as well as a number of schools. Thus I thought it best with widespread flooding to wait until next Monday to begin the new teaching module.

Soulwinning in English: We are so accustomed to soulwin in Sranantongo that it is now difficult to switch gears to English. A Guyanese family has been coming to the church - their 19 year old daughter was recently saved and baptized. The mother is married to a Surinamer and speaks fluent Sranantongo, as does her daughter. The mother had a sister visit from London, and came to church on Sunday although the sister did not understand Sranantongo. When we drove through some flooding to her house, we met both her sister and brother-in-law. We had not only an excellent visit but also a wonderful opportunity both to give my testimony and to present the gospel in detail. The sister had been saved years ago in Guyana. Her husband is unsaved, but now knows it, and will be thinking. Liz had brought a John-Romans in English along with an assortment of Engish tracts which he promised to study. We believe that one day he too will trust Christ as savior.

Schedule completed: Thank you for praying for my schedule for the three months in the USA. It was pretty much completed this week. We will be in six Bible colleges to teach or preach in chapel. We will be giving two week block courses in two schools. I am excited and looking forward to the challenge. We will also be in 11 non-supporting churches, mostly churches where we have never been before. We pray that we might be an encouragement to the pastors and their church, and to spur on efforts in missions.

Bible Institutes: The basic Bible Institute will begin the second of three modules next Monday, and the advanced Bible students will be taking their first module exam for the advanced Institute on Tuesday. We have been very pleased with the response to the advanced Bible Institute, and I am looking forward to teaching some new material on the call to missions.

Evangelism: At the request of the leadership, I have been asked to strengthen our soulwinning program. Please pray for me and for the church as well to be effective in expanding our outreach.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work

2. Our spiritual growth

3. The Bible Institutes to raise up more and stronger leaders for the churches

4. Independence of the churches

5. Soulwinning - more participation, more effective in reaching the lost

6. A number of our supporting pastors have major problems - health, church problems, family health situations, etc. Join us in praying for them. God knows their names.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Rodney Ruppel just joined Plaxo

2009-03-10T06:41:00.000-07:00

Hey Jeff,

We wanted to let you know that Rodney Ruppel just joined Plaxo.

Rodney's in your address book and if you both connect, you can:
- View Rodney's profile,
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To connect with Rodney, go to:
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You can also connect with Annette Voegtlin, David Bottrell, Debbie Whitecar or see other people you may know

Thanks,
The Pulse Team

Patton prayer update

2009-03-05T18:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Praying Friends:

God’s provision: For weeks, I have struggled trying to make DVDs of our new Advanced Bible Institute with only limited success. I asked you to pray. This weekend, a friend wrote asking if equipment would help. I knew that the Mac computer system is much better for this work, but also expensive. I even looked at some laptop computers, but questioned spending that much money. I prayed that the Lord would make His will clear. The friend wrote back before I had answered in detail, showing me an ideal Macbook Pro laptop. It would be a Sunday school project. We are thrilled. Pray that I will be able to learn the use of the computer and the programs to edit the DVDs. We will probably use Final Cut, which Bob Rasmussen and Jonathan Champlin mastered, but I haven’t. Pray that we will be able to produce a quality program. We have had real interest in the advanced Bible Institute training. Two of our young preachers cannot attend classes because of their evening school, and are taking it by correspondence. Good DVDs would allow it to be used appropriately by more folks.

Interesting soulwinning lessons: A 17 year old young lady asked to be baptized Sunday. Liz and I visited her this afternoon. When I first spoke to them, she claimed to be saved. Her aunt sat by her, and said she was not. I presented salvation carefully in detail. When I asked where they were in terms of salvation, it turned out that the young lady was not saved, and prayed to receive Christ. Her aunt, it turned out, was saved at a Pentecostal church in French Guyana a number of years ago, baptized, but then got discouraged and stopped going to church. We encouraged her to restore her fellowship with the Lord and get active in church. You never know if someone is saved without checking.

We also visited a lady whom I have prayed for several weeks. She is a niece of one of our faithful ladies. Her five month old daughter has a large congenital diaphragmatic hernia with some of the liver in the chest. The doctors have arranged to send her to Columbia where they are better equipped to operate. Fortunately, the child has markedly improved over the past few weeks. This lady was also ready to accept the Lord. We pray especially for her trip to a Spanish speaking country with her baby, and that surgery will be successful. We pray that the lady will grow in the Lord.

A new “preacher boy.” Mejo Banwarie asked to give some messages on Wednesday night service at Sunny Point. I spoke with Kenneth Domini, who is in charge of Sunny Point. Br. Mejo has been his “right hand man”. Both of us asked Br. Mejo if he believed the Lord was calling him to preach, and he answered in the affirmative. We presented his request the leadership of all the churches, who were delighted to welcome him into our preaching training group. He is already participating on both our first Bible Institute, which he had begun but not finished. I had encouraged him to also participate in the Advanced Bible Institute when I saw his interest and talent. I will be meeting with him each Monday before Bible Institute to help him with messages and pray with him. Please pray for the Lord’s hand on Br. Mejo Banwarie.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and safety in the ministry

2. Our spiritual growth and insight

3. Unity and true revival among our people

4. Souls saved and disciples built up in the faith

5. Independence for the churches - we continue to creep ahead in the statutes. Pray for continued progress, and also patience for me.

6. Our schedule in the USA. Our schedule is now basically complete for colleges. We will be teaching block courses in 2 schools and classes and/or chapel in 6 others. We are still working on a few openings in churches. Pray that we will be effective in ministering both in churches and colleges.

7. Continued support in a time of economic difficulties. Some of our churches are experiencing difficulties.

8. Training Br. Mejo and for the Lord to raise up other men as well.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Rene' Update

2009-03-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

We want to praise God for His grace and His help in getting me back to a
more stable health position. I came real close to another stroke but
instead I have turned the corner and have come to a place where I feel
better than I have since any time after my stroke. All of my test
results are better than any time after stroke as well. Some permanent
damage has been done but nothing I can't live with. They have started me
on a new electromagnetic therapy that has helped tons. I can not tell
you how much I appreciate not being so sick, it really wears on you
after a while. However, I am determined to not give in or give up.

As I have been reporting in the past everything continues to move
forward in Belarus. I am sure that you, like me, desire for it to move
at a faster pace but that never happens in Belarus. We are waiting on
paperwork and this is how it works. They make you wait in hopes of
receiving a bribe from you to make it go faster. Then when you don't pay
the bribe they drag their feet that much more and then when they see
they are not going to get the bribe they finish it. We are at the point
where they know they are not getting the bribe so something should start
to move in the near future.

My pastor's boy Andrew is doing better! Please continue to pray for him
the tumor is shrinking!!

The most unusual thing happened last Sunday at a supporting church of
ours in Texas. We consider this church our "home church away from our
home church" because we are so close to all the members. It is a
military church just outside of Fort Hood Texas where I was stationed
and saved almost 20 years ago. I went to war and back with these guys.
Last time we were down in Texas, I meet a man that was attending the
church, he was an officer, a brilliant guy, strong Christian with a
great testimony and great family. He was deployed to Iraq while we were
there and I had the honor of praying over him with the rest of the men
in the last service before he left. He returned from Iraq not that long
ago and was sining a special this past Sunday morning and during the
special he suffered a massive heart attack and went home to be with the
Lord. Please pray for the White family and Charity Baptist Church of
Killeen, Texas as they deal with this unusual situation.

Thank you all very much for your prayers for Belarus, Andrew and my
health. Keep praying so we can keep moving forward.

May the Lord find us on our knees and in His Word so as to use us while
we are on our feet and in the world.

Brother Rene' & Family

(mickeys-in-kenya) Congo Trip

2009-03-04T05:06:00.000-08:00

Hello from Kenya,

Last Saturday I left Nakuru, accompanied by two Kenyan pastors, for a survey trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The purpose of this trip was to lay the groundwork for some of our men to go to the Congo later this year to start churches. This was my second time to the Congo, last September I went on my initial trip accompanied by a pastor from the U.S. and one from Canada.

Sunday I preached in the Cornerstone Baptist Church, Kigali Rwanda. To the best of my knowledge it is the only Independent Baptist Church in all of Rwanda. I was able to share with them some of what happened in Kenya last year as they were very interested because of going through a similar thing in 95 but to a much, much greater extent. There were about one million people killed in their genocide. During their trouble there were no churches that stood for what is right and sadly many of them butchered those who sought refuge from them. The stories and testimonies from Kenya of churches and pastors standing was touching to the people with many of them showing visible signs of emotion. During the invitation four adults trusted Christ. A member of the church, named January, introduced himself to me after the service telling me that the place we were going was his hometown and he had been praying for five years that someone would go there and start a Baptist Church. He fled the area when the war started and had not been back since. He still had two sisters and numerous friends that live in the town. He said the Lord touched his heart during the message and he believed he was to accompany us into the Congo and serve us on our trip. I spoke to his pastor who gave a big endorsement to him and it was decided he would accompany us on this trip. I cannot begin to explain the help that he was to us from beginning to end. He proved himself to be a doctrinal sound, wise servant of God. He was an angel sent from God to minister to us. Through January we were able to learn much culturally, historically and spiritually concerning the area of the Congo that we are targeting. Time and time again God has prepared things ahead of time for us as we reach out to this neglected corner of the dark continent.

As we continued our trip on Monday we finally made it to the Congo around 6:00 pm. To our surprise there were a group of 25 men waiting for us at our hotel welcoming us into the country and wanting to know when we could begin teaching them. These were some of the men we met and taught during our last trip to the Congo. We made arrangements to meet with them on Wednesday. While on the bus traveling through Burundi we were in a horrific accident as the bus hit a little girl of about three years old. I was sitting directly behind the driver and he did all he could to avoid her. He was speeding a little but the girl stepped right in front of the bus. There was a sickening thud as she was hit and her little body went flying through the air. Fortunately there were police in the vicinity, if not the driver probably would have been lynched by the mob that quickly assembled. We were delayed for some hours and after the driver paid a number of bribes we were back on our way.

We met with the group of men on Wednesday, in all about 33. We taught lessons on Salvation, Eternal Security, and Baptism. We also left other lessons for them to do that we will discuss with them on our next trip. All of these men have expressed deep interest in a church being started. Many of them probably are not truly saved but we must wait for the Holy Spirit to convict them.

We were able to accomplish much of what we needed to on this trip although we were not able to meet with our lawyer to get our questions answered regarding some immigration issues. We were able to meet with the area chief (government representative) and he was very happy that we were planning to come and start a church. We were also able to confirm that we indeed have been registered with the government and are officially permitted to actively minister in the name of the yet to be started church. We spent a lot of time confirming the prices of goods and the cost of living.

We plan to travel back to Uvira, DRC in about a month. At that time we are hoping to find housing and a place to begin the church. Our tentative plans at this time are to have a permanent presence in Uvira during the month of June. Please keep this a matter of prayer. The Grace Bible Baptist Church of Nakuru, Kenya is stepping out by faith, believing that God is leading and we know that where He leads, He will provide. I am not sure if anything of this magnitude has ever been attempted by a church here in Kenya and our desire as always is to glorify God and be an example that others can follow. I will give more details concerning this new ministry to this desperately needed area of the world in the coming weeks and months.

A big thanks for all who prayed for me while I was in the Congo and for my family as I was away.

His for Kenya,

Robert Mickey Jr. and family

Men being taught in the DR Congo

Patton prayer update

2009-02-27T12:38:00.001-08:00

Dear Prayer Partner:

Thanks for your faithful prayer support. We do see victories here as we work and pray together with you. This weekend we had the joy of seeing an additional four persons baptized. I was particularly delighted to see the husband of a lady who was baptized come to church, albeit near the end of the service. This worked out fine, as we have a separate baptismal service at the end of our regular service, so he arrived in time to see his wife baptized. Kenneth Pinas, one of our preachers, spent a long time talking with him afterwards. Apparently he had been saved already, but not attending church. We pray that he will plug in.. I will include a couple pictures:

Liz and I went to the home of a young lady who was baptized last week. Her aunt had expressed interest in hearing about salvation one week ago, but asked us to return. She was not present, but we had the opportunity to see two young teenage boys pray to receive Christ. Afterwards, we visited another family who had missed a few weeks of church to encourage them. We then stopped to see a lady who had attended our church as a young child when we began 22 years ago. We had often taken her home from church along with three sisters. To our delight, her husband was wide open to the gospel. I had spoken to him about a year ago, but he had not been as receptive. Today he seemed eager to accept the Lord. Those soulwinning times are a great blessing.

Also, a lady stopped Liz as we were walking between visits. She had come to our church many years ago, but since had received Christ along with a number of her family. We have seen a real change in the number of Bush Negroes saved during our 23 years here, not only through our church but other churches as well. Still the majority are bound by satan, and we long to see a true revival break out.

Still DVD problems: Jonathan Champlin stopped here on Saturday to help with our DVD recording problems, but we still have not really solved the problem of a reliable way to make DVD’s. Please continue to pray with us. I struggled today also with setting up a database form for the Bible Institute, which promply disappeared into cyberspace. Technology is great when you can use it effectively, but can demand a lot of time and effort too.

Where is God? Two young women in our church are struggling with problems which continue to plague them. Both ask: “where is God?” In both cases, they believe that they have tried to serve the Lord with their entire heart. One has really lost heart, and the other continues in her faith, but with difficulty. I will be preaching on Psalm 73 this Sunday, where the psalmist struggles with the fact that life is not always “fair” from the human point of view. Please join us in prayer for these ladies to emerge victorious.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work

2. Our continued spiritual growth. We continue to pray for true revival.

3. The items listed above, including the two ladies struggling with their faith.

4. Growth spiritually as well as numerically in our people

5. Progress toward independence. We have several questions which we will address in the leadership tomorrow night.

6. Solving some of the technical problems.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

answers

2009-02-27T11:37:00.001-08:00

Nehemiah 1:4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

Blessed to hear Jim Pranger in Hungary speak on this last week and I kept thinking how God seen and his heart was affected already and then a man saw and was broken. What do we see, and are we affected by what is around us?

Thank you so much for all the response and prayer, the owner's spirit changed and he contacted us asking what we want. The clothing store gave him a 60 day verbal notice in Dec. but deny it now and there contract requires 60 days so we agreed to wait for the building till May.

We have been building a friendship with another family who are remodeling their basement (it has an outside entrance) downtown on a main road and I believe God did not want me to move on so fast away from this prospect of location but maybe even more this family so we have a meeting set for Monday. Pray for George and his family.

Ended the winter Church program at the children's home with about 30 of them and God blessed. They were very attentive and several made professions of faith. We agreed to do one every ¼ or season so this will be a year around ministry and I believe the most important thing that could be in each one of their lives. Church is the lifeline to our relationship to God and His purpose. Thanks again for you friendship and prayers. Wanting to be lined up with our Fathers eyes and heart, Paul

please pray

2009-02-25T03:35:00.001-08:00

1 Thessalonians 5:25 Brethren, pray for us.

Seems many things you do here take so much longer and by the time it happens you rejoice it even did but frustrated it became so complicated.

We signed a one year contract and paid 3 months advance for a storefront in Zalau but now the owner tells us the clothing store that is there offered him more money to keep the building.

We were suppose to get the keys Friday or Saturday and I don't know if you ever dealt with a business man like this but please pray for him and his wife. They need salvation, and we sure would like to have this building.

Thanks Paul

[GraceWorldView] The Grace World View - Somolia

2009-02-24T17:44:00.001-08:00

The Grace World View - Somolia

The Grace World View is a ministry of The King's Chapel, West Chester, Ohio USA

Somalia

by Brad Garrison

Somalia is a tragic land of anarchy and poverty. Islam dominates. The
few Somalis who are Christians live in constant fear of discovery and
execution.

Somalia is located on the eastern coast of Africa. It is located to the
east of Ethiopia and Kenya. It is located south Yemen across the Gulf
of Arden. The land is primarily desert.

An estimated 9.5 million people live in Somalia, but precise numbers are
difficult to obtain. Almost all of the people are native Somalis. Many
have fled to neighboring countries and live as refugees.

There is practically no formal economy in Somalia. Years of war, civil
unrest, and drought have left the people in dire poverty. Most are
completely dependent on foreign food aid to survive, but warlords
control the flow of food to the people.

Somalia was controlled by Great Britain and Italy until granted
independence in 1960. Somalia passed through a series of governments.
The last effective government fell in 1991. Since then Somalia has been
divided into tribal groups ruled by warlords. The UN and US attempted
to intervene in the mid-1990's but failed to restore order. Since then
Somalia has gone through numerous governments and international
interventions, but still the country remains in turmoil. Radical
Islamists and terrorists operate freely in the country. Piracy of ships
off the coast is common.

Christians are very few in number - perhaps a few hundred. They must
meet in secret for fear of execution. Pray for them in these very
trying circumstances.

Missions work has always been difficult in Somalia. The last
missionaries were forced to leave in 1974. Pray that the day may come
soon when Christian workers can again enter the country.

There are over 3 million Somali refugees in other countries. Pray for
efforts to meet their physical needs and reach them with the gospel.

A Bible translation is available in the Somali language. Christian
radio broadcasts are also available in Somali. Pray that these may be
used to reach many in Somalia.

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Hello from Kenya

2009-02-21T04:13:00.001-08:00

Hello from Kenya,

We are all doing well and are continually thankful for the prayers of God's people.

I am leaving today for a one week trip that will take me through the countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo and back again. Sunday I will be preaching in Kigali, Rwanda. I will be accompanied by two of our pastors, Isaac Mungai and Mike Njoroge. The purpose of this trip is to do a complete survey in the Congo so that we can begin putting some men into the country on a permanent basis in the next few months. It is our desire to see the churches in Kenya bind together in a missions endeavor both physically and financially so that they can have a greater part in doing their part of reaching the world with the great commission. We will be surveying the town of UVIRA.

Please pray for us as Eastern Congo has been in perpetual war for the last few years and recently there was another outbreak. We will be travelling through some very tough areas and your prayers will be greatly appreciated. Also pray for Wendy and the kids while I am gone. I should return in a weeks time.

His for Kenya,

Robert and family

Patton prayer update

2009-02-19T19:19:00.001-08:00

Dear Prayer Partner:

“Relax your feet” the nurse said in Dutch. “My feet are relaxed, but my heart is not,” I replied. The nurse laughed. A few weeks ago, I requested prayer for my voice in these updates. Finally I went to my friend the pulmonary specialist because the ENT doctor was out of country. “Do you want me to check it out by bronchoscopy?” he asked. “You make the decision. You were my teacher” (I taught him in medical training 22 years earlier) “But you are my doctor” I replied. Two days later I arrived fasting for a bronchoscopy. It was not a pleasant experience, but the results were normal, and I was both relieved and delighted. One problem as a doctor is knowing too much about possible complications. After a clean bill of health, I will just be careful to use our wireless microphone while teaching and keep taking my allergy meds.

A real bonus was another chance to talk with my doctor friend about the Lord. He is the only one of my former doctor collegues who I have seen accept the Lord, though I spoke with a number of them about salvation. For the last 10 years, he has attended a liberal church. His growth has been limited. This week, I was able to give him a book about Christian growth, and we continue to pray for him (I have prayed for him for a number of years), as well as for salvation for his wife. As Paul said in I Corinthians 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called (and not many physicians, unfortunately...) One of our young preachers who was his patient also witnessed to him on a number of occasions before his death about 10 years ago.

Baptisms: We were blessed with five baptisms last Sunday morning, and one lady asked to postpone hers one week. After I had preached on baptism two weeks ago and church membership this week, we were blessed to see at least two other teenagers ask for baptism. Liz and I went to a 17 year old girl’s home today. She had made a profession about five years ago in a group of young people sitting in front of a neighbor’s home. The neighbor lady has since died, but now this teenager asked to get baptized. When we spoke with her today, she gave a clear testimony of salvation and life change five years ago, but then drifted away. We were pleased to see her mother also make a profession. She seemed to understand very clearly. Her younger 15 year old sister who has started coming to our youth group also made a profession.

Prayer: Normally our nationals preach every Wednesday, and I preach Sunday alternating between morning and evening services. The two weeks when I preach in the morning service, I will preach at Winti Wai once a month, and Efraimzegen once a month. I would really like to preach more often at the main church, but we are in the phase of nationalization. The national preachers must have a chance to preach to the congregations too. This Wednesday night, I had a chance to preach in place of our oldest national pastor at the main church. Kalow Palata was injured while in the army, and is now on partial disability. His back hurt so much that he could not preach. Please remember him is prayer, along with his entire family.

We also spent time praying with the wife of our other national pastors. She has had major trials and difficulties, and that family needs plenty of prayer too. I have been impressed that the Lord has especially blessed as the church has been more faithful and serious in praying for each other.

The advanced Bible Institute continues to go well except for the DVD recordings. I had so many problems this week that I gave up trying to make a recording either live during the lesson, or separately afterwards. Please pray about what we should do. I would like to see the materials available for correspondence and for preserving the information. Three young preachers cannot attend but want the lessons, and they are more effective on DVD. Howerver, I don’t want to lose my sanity working out a reliable method.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work

2. Spiritual growth and insight

3. Training nationals and independence of the churches

4. Two meetings over the next two weeks

5. Some scheduling still incomplete for our time in the USA

6. Baptisms this Sunday

7. Unity and spiritual growth in the leadership

8. A number of personal problems in some of our leaders families

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

report

2009-02-19T07:33:00.001-08:00

World report with

the Word and Work

Psalms 150:2 Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness.

It's good to have Psalm 150 just Spirit running down inside of you while your life runs all over the psalms from day to day and that is how I have been the last few weeks.

We signed a contract for the building in Zalau!!! And will start services March 1^st with much prayer. (Everyone is very excited and preparing) It is across from the hospital on a main road in the midst of a multitude of apt. buildings and hundreds walk by daily. I plan scripture verses for our picture windows and everyone will know we preach and teach the word of God.

Got our mini van back! There was 6 hours of debate between the insurance and the dealership after I was told we were all set. It was a $3700 bill and a $15 hubcap was missing the dealer said the insurance refused to pay. Under the door was all scratched still and they told me a dog did it J. Stuff like this just makes you walk away laughing after such a fun day.

Had 4 people respond to buy 10 bibles for $100 for Romanians to have a Romanian Bible that reads like the KJV. I know 2 gave the money and I pray to raise 10% of the 20,000 needed to print. Beams (Baptist Printers in the States) are going to print too! But that will take a while so pray the large print will be done this summer here. Pray some churches will be able to help also.

We had 12 kids do their memory verses last week and appreciate prayer for the children's home for most of the workers are orthodox. We pray they see what Gods grace truly is.

Signed up to facebook to see my daughter Shannon's photo's and got flooded with friends and people wrote who I have not heard from in years. 2^nd term in the field has been great but for the lonely this is the cure. Just so busy right now to respond, but please know I'm thankful.

Been plumbing a missionaries house the past few days and we have got several feet of snow which shoveling a ¼ mile hill down a mountain has been rough on Louis, Alex and I. Someone could make a fortune with a personal plow truck in Romania. Thankful I can still shovel snow! Praise ye the Lord! Paul

Rene Update

2009-02-18T06:44:00.001-08:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord,

We received an email from Belarus that blessed our hearts and wanted to
share it as our update. The English is not perfect (mine is not much
better as you all know) and we did not correct it so that you could get
the ethnic feel of it. Vera is a founding member of the church in
Dzerzhinsk and one of it's most fervent soul winning members. She has
witnessed and prayed for her family for eight years.

Hello Shelley,

I so want to share with you this joy. Last January I went to my homeland
in Russia. Still in November I so wanted to go for my grandma's birthday
- January 15 was her 90th birthday. But this seemed problematic to me as
far as traveling there - how to get my vacation from work... But God
took care of it; everything went just great. I was there for six days
and they were full of meetings...
I spent much time with my grandmother. She kept talking about her life
story.

I also met with my school mates. They all got together for my sake. We
haven't seen each other for 28 years. Also met with my close friends who
I went to a med school with - haven't seen them for 23 years.

All in all grandma's birthday went great. We made a huge table of food.
I did games, it was funny and interesting...

But the main thing after that before my departure was that when I was
with my grandma alone and we talked about God and I offered my grandma
to pray a repenter prayer. She wanted and she did pray like a child -
simply and sincerely. I explained to her later that she needs to read
the Bible and pray. She understood everything. Before that she told me
she was afraid of dying, but now when we read Rev.20-22 she felt peace.
Thus, from my blood relatives my grandmother Tanya got saved!
I'm very happy and thankful to God.

I want to thank you all, especially you Shelley. I know that you've
prayed for all of my relatives and for my grandmother as well.
Thank you very much!

I love you so much, pray for you. We miss you so-so-so much and are
waiting for you.

Vera Gordina.

Please continue to pray for Andrew my Pastors son with the brain tumor
and pray for me as well. I need my health to improve so that we van
return when the documentation has been approved by the Government.

May God find us on our knees and in His Word so as to use us while we
are on our feet and in the world.

Brother Rene' & Family

Patton prayer update

2009-02-13T11:46:00.001-08:00

Dear Prayer Partner:

We want to thank you personally for praying for both us and our ministry.

Sunny Point Anniversary: Five inches of rain fell in 20 hours. Roads were flooded; the street leading to the main church was 3/4 under water when we arrived for the prayer time before our morning service. We stayed through the singing service at 9:00 am, and at 9:30 we headed to Sunny Point for the 10 AM service. When we arrived and parked, water was streaming across the dirt road from the houses on the right, which seemed about 6 inches higher than on the left. The back porch area of the house where the church meets was about half under water. The side leading to the church was ankle deep. Kenneth Domini, the acting pastor, and one of the men appeared in work clothes carrying a fifteen foot long piece of telephone pole. Splash! Into the water it went, followed by a second and third piece, and a few stones making a temporary footpath. We pushed the water out of the porch.

The service started an hour late, but went well. Despite continued rain, most of the regular attenders came. After the music portion, I preached on the church of Phillipi: a miraculous vision, a miraculous beginning, and miraculous generosity. We are gratified to see Sunny Point come together as a unified church, and we pray that they will soon be an independent church with eventually their own building, and not using an extended porch of a member. Recently, after many years of legal problems, it is now possible for our people in Sunny Point to buy and own their own homes. We are most grateful. After the service, we had cake, snacks and soft drinks for their sixth anniversary.

Continued growth: This coming week, we will begin giving our advanced Bible Institute also by correspondence. Some of our young preachers cannot attend because of their evening school schedule. Our DVD’s are not as professional as those done by Bob Rasmussen, but I believe that they are usable. We pray that the lessons will not only teach our leadership new material, but help them develop as leaders.

Immediate plans:

Tomorrow we have an evening program for our preachers. Two weeks later, the leadership will be meeting concerning independence. We will discuss two important issues: first, the question of Sunny Point’s status (it is now under Efraimzegen church), and second, the structure of the leadership administration within the churches. Then one week later, we will proceed in developing leadership programs at the main church. We would appreciate prayer.

We also have several candidates for baptism this Sunday morning. I plan to preach on church membership - rights and responsibilities.

Prayer requests:

1. Strength and health for the work

2. Spiritual growth and power in prayer

3. The evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives, and in the churches

4. Forthcoming baptisms

5. Forthcoming meetings

6. Independence and growth in the churches

7. Growth in the Bible Institutes

8. God’s blessing on outreach programs, including radio and TV

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname, South America

Rene' Update

2009-02-10T10:46:00.001-08:00

Greetings in the name of our Lord!

I would ask you to please be in special prayer for Andrew, my Pastor's
son, who has been battling a brain tumor for over a year now. He is not
doing well at all and we need to pray for God's intervention and for the
grace that is needed for my pastor's family.

The church in Dzerzhinsky celebrated it's 9th anniversary this past
week. Brother Schrock reported that they had a great service with many
visitors in attendance, to whom the Gospel was clearly preached. Brother
Vladimir had the church in Minsk come and celebrate and worship together
with them. What a blessing it is to see God's work go forward year
after year in such difficult circumstances.

A lot of work has been accomplished for the Bible institute building and
we are getting closer to seeing it completely ready for it's purpose of
training future Pastors. If you remember months back I reported that
the government agreed to move the electrical poles to facilitate the
future barn and free up the arena area for the ranch. Almost four months
later and we are really close to finishing up, (this is normal for
Belarus) just last week they came and ran the main cable to the
institute building and installed the new meters and electrical boxes. We
will soon have a circuit-breaker system that is grounded instead of the
ungrounded fuse system we have had all along. With this in place we will
be able to have all the future buildings up to modern code as well.

This is very exciting for us because we can not start the ranch project
until we see the basics accomplished. This puts us right on tract for
being to be able to start the ranch project in the spring as planned!

Continue to pray for the paperwork that we need before we can get our
visas. Just like the electrical work all things move pretty slow in Belarus.

Lastly, please pray for my continued health needs. While I have had some
relief of late from my cluster migraines on a day to day bases I am
experiencing a particularly intense and serious attack at present. This
puts me at risk right now for another stroke.

We remain confident of my health improving, realizing it will be gradual
and that I may experience some set backs. We also remain confident that
the paperwork will be approved in His time and that we will return to
Belarus accordingly. While last week would have been the right time for
us we must simply trust and use this time to prepare as best as possible.

May God find us on our knees and in His Word so as to use us while we
are on our feet and in the world.

The Rene's

Patton prayer update

2009-02-07T15:19:00.001-08:00

Dear Prayer Partner:

Thanks so much for your prayers for our ministry here. It is neat to see answers come.

Wedding: It was a lovely wedding. And a most interesting story is behind it. About thirty years ago, two Bush Negro lady friends decided that if one had a boy and the other a girl, that they would promise have them marry. In due time, one had a boy, and the other a girl. The mother of the boy eventually was saved, and later much of her family accepted the Lord. But the boy, now a young man, remained unsaved. In order to go further in school, the girl came to the city to live with an unsaved aunt, the older sister of our strongest pastor in the interior. Her uncle was saved, then eventually the aunt, and the young lady accepted the Lord. Virtually the whole family were saved and baptized. She started to grow in the Lord.

At the appropriate age, the two families arranged for the young man and girl to marry in the cultural fashion. I was horrified, as this was truly an “unequally yoked situation.” While the family decision was far from ideal, God intervened. The young lady became even stronger now that she was living with her husband close to the church. He began to attend. The young men reached out to him, and soon he accepted the Lord and was baptized. A few months ago, he approached me about having a legal marriage through the government and a church blessing. We were delighted to be able to do so yesterday. One of our assistant pastors, John Naingie conducted the basic service, I preached and did the vows, and another assistant pastor, Eduard Akoeba was the “master of ceremonies” at the reception. I would estimate about 300 persons attended, including many family members from the interior. We pray for a long life with the Lord’s blessing!

Other blessings:

To each his own: Traditionally in Suriname, your birthday is a “big thing”. Often you don’t work, and in the old times, you had a big feast for your family and friends. But I decided to treat myself - not by taking the day off, but by preaching the morning service (on baptism) at the main church, and on the life of Gideon in the evening service. We were blessed to see folks accept the Lord at the morning service, and will have a baptismal service next week.

Some of the young ladies asked Liz and myself what we were going to do for my birthday... meaning what sort of treat. Fortunately, the children’s church workers were selling all kinds of food that day to help cover some of the costs for children’s camp in April. So Liz baked cupcakes as a donation, and gave some money out to a few people to buy things as well.

Geslaagd! (Finished!) We wrote about a young preacher and his wife who had lost two pregnancies, but finally delivered successfully a few months ago. She was a student at the University. To actually get your diploma, you need endurance as well as smarts. There are certain faculty members who seem to delight in holding students back. (Even our preacher in the USA who is second in charge of the US embassy was held up by certain faculty members.) She had a final exam corrected only several months after she had done it, only to be told she did not pass, but received no information on why she did not pass or what to correct. And if you challenge the issue, you may have even more problems. But she finally passed her thesis and received her degree this last week (basically equivalent of a masters)! We praise the Lord!

Bible Institute:

When we first came to Suriname, I remember meeting church members from other churches who were university students, and I prayed that I might have such students to challenge actually in our church. When we began, we had none, but now have a number either in the University or equivalent, with a few actually graduating.

I have really enjoyed teaching the students, especially the advanced course. It is proving a huge amount of work, but challenging. Thank the Lord that Liz is fully involved in helping me. It is a true team effort. She baked cupcakes again Monday and Tuesday for the classes. They also had soft drinks. After the Tuesday night class, you would have thought we were at a birthday celebration rather than a class. By the way, we continue to have some technical problems with our computers, and would appreciate your prayers that they would be fixed.

Sunny Point: Tomorrow Liz and I will go to Sunny Point, where I will bring the message. We are also bringing some cakes and soft drinks, as it is their sixth anniversary. We thank the Lord for the growth we see there. We pray for a strong national church, and for them to have their own building in the future.

Prayer requests:

1. Our own spiritual growth

2. Our health and strength for the work

3. The Bible Institutes to truly prove a blessing

4. Strong, unified national leadership

5. Bible Institutes

6. Solution to technical computer problems

7. Scheduling. Most of our scheduling is complete, but we await hearing from one school and also a number of churches for possible meetings to challenge in missions.

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname

printing bibles

2009-02-06T07:37:00.000-08:00

World report with

the Word and Work

1 Peter 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

This is what God said, you must be born again to see the kingdom of God so you need to trust, put your faith in Jesus Christ according to the promises in the word of God for this spiritual birth, God says so! The only one who cannot lie and changes not.

To clarify our prayer letter the main Romanian translation is equal to an NIV and is missing the deity of Christ, promises of having salvation now, teaches baptism and works for salvation and twist many doctrines. I can assure you it has caused much confusion and deception in this land so full of people.

So for several years we have used and supported a TR translation being done that is right for the Romanians to be saved and serve God. Think of 2^nd Timothy 2:15 and 3:16, these verses were not even translated properly. This country needs Bible believing churches so they need a bible and this summer there will be the first 2,000 finished Bibles printed in Cluj for $10 a piece.

Several of the missionaries are asking if a church could purchase 10 bibles and between us the funds should come together. If you would like to help at all in any way please let me know by email or a note with our support by June.

This Bible will make a difference; it is the word of God that makes the difference for us all. It is the only true authority on earth that all are accountable too.

Found a great storefront on a main road by the hospital and 1000�s of Apt. houses in Zalau for 300 euro a month, they heard (English) and are trying to raise the price, pray God rebukes this greed and our Van�s repaired but the insurance company hasn�t approved the bill yet??? So we wait. Blessed Paul

Ruppel Report

2009-02-03T05:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you SO much for your prayers on behalf of Srey Kuech! I was able to have a nice visit and do some discipleship with her this week. She is so burdened for her husband’s salvation. We talked about how a Christian wife can bring her husband to the Lord. She was hoping she could just tell him to do it and he would! J Wouldn’t that be nice? We also talked about baptism. I realized on Sunday that she hadn’t understood everything I said about it, however! (That language barrier still gets in the way sometimes!) She had also heard rumors about baptism from some unsaved Cambodian people. She came to church this Sunday thinking we would tell her she HAD to get baptized. She was going to do it, but she wasn’t sure she would survive. She heard that sometimes the pastor holds you under the water so long that you drown! She was quite frightened all during the Sunday service thinking about her chance of survival! JBecause of all that, I’m afraid she didn’t get much out of the sermon! I didn’t know about all this until her sister-in-law told me after taking her home Sunday morning. Of course, Sopiep explained to her that she was a bit confused about the whole thing! At least she DID understand that baptism does not save you. She is sure of her salvation. She also understood that the water does not wash away our sins – the blood of Christ did that already. She knew baptism was a form of obedience to Christ and a way to show people we are not ashamed to be His child. I just forgot to mention we would not drown her! She even asked Sopiep how many hours the baptism would take! J Hopefully, she will get baptized soon without all the fear that would have been involved this past Sunday. Continue to pray for her as she grows in her Christian life and as she strives to be a good testimony to her husband.

One of our adult ladies talked to Rodney this week about nightmares she has been having every night. She cried as she told him that demons were telling her she must stop following Christ. The Devil is trying to make her believe that she will not be able to make money and take care of her family unless she “comes back to His side.” Sakeun had terrible nightmares before her salvation also. After she accepted Christ and began spending time in His Word and in church the nightmares went away. She was SO excited. She told everyone about it. However, over the past several months she has not been faithful in her church attendance or in her Bible reading. We know that the Devil loves to go after the weak members of the flock. Rodney explained this to her and helped her get a book of the Bible printed in larger type. (She has problems with her eyes and gave up Bible reading because it was too difficult to see the words.) Sakeun also faces much persecution at home. Her family does not understand why she gave up “the religion of her country” and they give her a very hard time about it. Rodney has tried to give the Gospel to her husband, but he is always “too busy.” Pray that Sakeun will be strengthened in her Christian walk and that she will be able to withstand “the fiery darts of the Devil.” Also, pray for her husband’s salvation. It is SO exciting to see entire families serving the Lord together.

Many of you have prayed for the salvation of Song, the witchdoctor, for MANy years. He still continues to resist the Lord and serve demons. Every time we think his heart is softening, it grows harder. PLEASE don’t stop praying! Nobody can force him to accept Christ, but the Lord can bring things into his life to make him see his need for Christ. His wife and children still faithfully serve the Lord in spite of persecution and beatings. Sua married Ron Smith and they are missionaries here in Cambodia. They have a Children’s Bible Club in Chba Ampeu – about 30 minutes away from us. Sua’s brother and sisters help in that ministry every Sunday. Sung and Sieng also help teach in a school Ron and Sua have started at the same location. They are teaching Khmer literacy and simple mathematics to children who have not had the opportunity to attend school. These girls also teach the Sunday morning Junior Church at New Hope. (our church in Phnom Penh) I have never forgotten the day these young girls begged me to keep praying for their dad. We were at their home while he was possessed. Unbeknownst to us, these girls had not eaten in several days because their dad would not allow them to eat “his” food. That day, he had a table full of food sitting on the balcony at their home. He told them if they would stop following Christ they would have all they could ever want to eat. He yelled and yelled at them. He pushed them over beside Rodney and I. (God’s side, where there was no food) Toward the end, he pointed at each of them and said, “Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit, I see the Holy Spirit with you!” When it was all over the girls went inside the house with tears streaming down their faces. I followed them inside and asked if they were ok. I wanted to comfort them and let them know they didn’t need to be embarrassed about my husband and I witnessing what had happened. They started crying even harder and said, “Teacher, we are not crying for ourselves. We are crying because we are afraid you will be angry with our dad and stop praying for him!” WOW! All of this to say… even if we no longer mention this man in every report, he still needs your prayers. His wife and children never cease praying for him. Will you continue to pray also?

Your prayers have accomplished SO much in the country of Cambodia, but there is so much more to be done! Please pray that our family will be faithful to Him and to the calling God has given us! Pray that Rodney and I will be good missionaries but also good parents! Ryan, Blake, and Rhadee are such a blessing to us. They serve alongside us in most every area of our ministry. We pray that God would be real in their lives and that they would know how to follow His leading.

Serving Him in Cambodia,

Becky Ruppel

The Grace World View - Solomon Islands

2009-02-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

The Grace World View - Solomon Islands

The Grace World View is a ministry of The King's Chapel, West Chester, Ohio USA

Solomon Islands
by Brad Garrison

Recent conflict in the Solomon Islands has pushed the nation to the
brink of anarchy. Yet the Lord has blessed the islands with a large
number of believers.

The Solomon Islands are located in the south Pacific to the east of
Papua New Guinea. The best known of the Solomons is Guadalcanal.

Approximately 500,000 people live on the Solomon Islands. Nearly 100
different ethnic groups are present on the islands speaking over 60
different languages.

Though blessed with natural resources, most of the people rely on
subsistence agriculture and fishing to survive. Continued civil
disorder has prevented economic improvement.

The UK established a protectorate over the islands in 1890. The islands
were overrun by the Japanese during World War II. Bloody fighting was
required to free them. The Solomon Islands were granted independence in
1978. A parliamentary democracy was established, but government
corruption led to revolt and civil war. In 2003, the Prime Minister
asked Australia to intervene. The multinational force remains in place
today and has been largely effective in quelling the violence. The
constitution provides for freedom of religion.

The Anglican Church is the largest group with over 35% of the
population. There is also a large evangelical presence on the islands.
One third of the people are classified as evangelical. Growth has been
dramatic in the past but has leveled off in recent years.

Pray that peace and stability may be restored to the islands. Pray that
Christians may have a large role in the reconciliation process and the
establishment of a viable government.

Pray for training of native pastors. There is a shortage of good Bible
schools to train men aspiring to the ministry. Pray as well that the
churches would develop their vision for foreign missions.

The local religions have largely faded, but there are still pockets that
have not been reached with the gospel. Pray for efforts to reach these
groups.

Bible translation is still a real need. Local organizations have taken
on this burden. Pray for the works currently underway. Pray for the
ability to print and distribute Bibles throughout the islands.

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Patton prayer update

2009-01-29T19:35:00.001-08:00

Dear Praying Friends:

Thanks so much for praying. We count on it.

Bible Institutes: Unbelievably still growing! I was certain that we had come to a stopping point in the two Bible Institutes, but not so... First, an additional student asked to be permitted to join in each program - the advanced program, the regular program, and also the correspondence program. Second, the pastor of the church in Ricanau Mofo in the interior called asking to start the program at their church. This Wednesday, I provided him with DVD’s, textbooks and correction papers for 15 students. So we are most grateful to see the expansion of the work, especially seeing the work move to the interior thanks to the DVD’s.

I believe that we finally have a workable solution to make DVDs also for the new Bible Institute. By adjusting the computer to use a simpler background, simpler colors, and no animation, we are now able to record the DVDs “on line.” This Tuesday at the class, a pesky dog in the church property added his barks to the sound, but it is tolerable for now. We continue to pray for a solution so that I can edit the DVDs a bit more professionally, but the material is now being saved and ready for duplication.

Church: Sunday morning, we were surprised by Michiel Raafenberg, who was saved, called and trained here as a preacher. He is now second in charge of the Suriname Embassy in Washington, D.C. He surprised his mother for her 75^th anniversary, and surprised us too. I asked him to preach in my place Sunday night. It was interesting. He spoke about our being ambassadors for the country of heaven, and our responsibilities (2 Corinthians 5:14 ff) to represent our true country to bring honor to the Lord. I believe that the Lord uses our unique backgrounds to see the truth of His word in light of our work, culture, experiences, etc. I often see illustrations from my medical background when I am preparing messages.

Soulwinning: He was John Setoe’s “brother” as well as technically his cousin. They were raised in the same family and as they say, “we ate from one plate.” John Setoe is perhaps our strongest believer and most effective preacher in the interior, and yet his “brother” (cousin) was unsaved and resistant. John went with Brother Amafo to speak with him a week ago, and last Sunday he approached me about being baptized. When Liz and I went to their home today, he gave an extremely clear testimony of seeing the enormity of his sin and how he has placed everything in the hands of the savior. He is already seeing God answer his prayer about his need for work. He has made it clear that he is finished with all sorts of “famiri fanowdoe,” meaning that he is finished with witchcraft. During that visit, his 18 year old daughter was sweetly saved. We also spoke with two younger children whose understanding is not yet really clear.

Baptism: We hope to have a baptismal service very soon. I am planning on preaching on baptism again this Sunday, as there are a number of persons who need to be baptized, and we want to make certain that they clearly understand what they are doing. Many in Suriname still cling to baptismal regeneration. It is sometimes difficult to get them to realize that baptism does not make you saved, but is an open witness that you have been saved. We would appreciate your prayers for that service.

Please continue to pray as we work on the church organization and independence.

Prayer requests:

1. Health and strength for the work

2. Safety driving

3. Spiritual growth

4. Bible Institutes - especially to develop and strengthen national leaders

5. Saving materials on DVD for the future

6. Souls saved, baptized and discipled

7. Strengthening of the national churches

8. Scheduling for this fall

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname since 1986

prayer letter

2009-01-29T08:57:00.001-08:00

THE PIERUCKI FAMILY December & January

IN EASTERN EUROPE prayer letter

Dear praying friends,

Mark 8:18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not remember?

This text was to the disciples on provision. What do you see, hear and remember? God will provide for you.

Pray you all remember all the good God did last year. Souls saved, friends and family getting right with God, seed sown and God glorified.

We are so thankful He raised our support and brought us back to Romania, gave us new ministries and sowing fields, new friends to fellowship with and many precious memories of His provision, goodness and grace. I love His loving kindness!

None of us see the amount of Gods daily care in our lives and His workings toward us and through us, you have no idea how much God uses you daily. Everything counts and we are very excited about what God will do this year!

We took a trip to Austria to visit Dora who was saved years ago in Nasaud then to Germany for Thanksgiving with the Thornsley�s (still enjoying their church�s food gifts) and met many missionaries from all over Europe there and at Rhein River Baptist Church�s missionary retreat. Blessed to preach at several churches too.

The Gypsy church in Dersida is regrouping now that their pastor has retuned and we have had many contacts from some newspaper and cable ads all over our county.

Several prospects for a building to start meeting in Zalau and several prospects for salvation too. Please pray for the teachers at the orphanage as we started a JR. church there in December and one is very close to salvation. Of course pray for the kids as it is a challenge having 6 year olds up to 18 together for games, singing and bible lessons but we have had some great services and continue to wrestle with principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places here in Romania.

Been cold here too and we learned this big house has no insulation, burnt up all or wood so we got ten tons of coal, the truck was so old he dumped it at the bottom of our hill so we brought it up by hand in our old van (every time used it needs much repair but glad we still have it) and learned to burn it. Do you remember fun with coal?

Paula had an accident with our new mini van, everyone is OK but it is at the dealership being repaired. We are thankful to hear from you, your prayer request and praises, cards and emails edify us.

Pray God would build a church in Zalau, this will be our focus right now. Thank you for giving to the Lord, remember it changes all of our lives and so many others. If you are not involved in mission giving in some way, you can start for there is so much need all around the world. Every church and place needs more labourers so give yourself while you can.

They will print the first complete Bible here this summer for $20,000 and I have always known this is Romania�s greatest need. We have people ask us for whole ones weekly, and I do not like giving them an NIV so I will give to give, Amen! Spend and be spent for Jesus.

Toiling on!

Paul Pierucki Skype# 269-467-0133 Sent and Supported through

C.P.19 Simleu Silvaniei Sturgis Baptist Church

Jud:Salaj 455300 www.Jesusisworthy.com P.O.Box 844

Romania Sturgis MI. 49091

Patton prayer update

2009-01-23T16:29:00.001-08:00

January 23, 2008

Dear Praying Friends:

Thanks so much for your faithful prayers. It is exciting to see how God answers them.

Bible Institutes: Unbelievable. We are still getting new students, but now they will have to wait until the next module comes. We have ended up with just under 40 students in the first Bible Institute, where we only had two returning students from our own church, but now have many. We also have 24 students in the advanced Bible Institute program. For the first time, we have students from Sunny Point in both Bible Institutes.

Both lessons seem to be going fine. The first Bible Institute is a bit difficult at first, especially in the initial section where we look at creation and the flood, and go over much scientific materials of an apologetics nature showing how science itself is totally compatible with the Bible. For those with a weak background in science, it is tough, but I love it! I have to be careful to “keep it simple” and remember most don’t have my scientific background. Next week we begin with the life of the patriarchs, and the students will probably breathe a sigh of relief!

A number of persons have asked about how we are going to preserve the materials from the second Bible Institute. Our regular TV broadcasts take me about 2-3 hours to prepare and record four lessons, and probably twice that for Jonathan Champlin to make four 15 minute broadcasts of TV quality. Now I am generating about 2 hours of material, and there is no way that he and I could maintain that amount of time investment. However, his son Matthew wrote me from college about it, offering to help. While writing, a computer teacher “just happened by” and mentioned a program, Faststone Capture. Another person had mentioned using a program in the computer, and another to burn the DVD.

The first time I tried to do it live last Tuesday night, it was a disaster. However, it looks like the programs will work, actually with my older laptop which I use to make radio programs already. We will know next week. I am excited. This will allow me to record the program live, do a little bit of editing, and burn it on a DVD. Then it would resemble our program Bob Rasmussen did before he left for the first Bible Institute. Then the materials would be preserved, could be used by others in the interior, etc. It might also be feasible to do the same thing in the USA when teaching block courses.

I have had a problem with my voice doing so much teaching and preaching, and have been getting hoarse sometimes. It is aggravated by allergies here. I am trying to resurrect a wireless microphone hooked into our PA system to help reduce pushing my voice, and if that fails, to seek another solution with perhaps a small portable PA system which I could use. Would you join us in prayer for a solution to my problem?

Once again, I thank the Lord for Liz, who is making a huge difference by her total support of the program, doing corrections, giving encouragement, etc.

Scheduling: Thanks again for praying. A couple opportunities came this week, and it is possible that we may be able to have a third block course this year. As soon as the school schedule is settled, then we will be better able to schedule our churches as well.

Soulwinning: Once again, the Lord shows Himself faithful if we will only be faithful. It was another “one of those days.” The first young lady we went to see is in the interior. Then we went to see a widow and pray with her, as she has had a lot of problems in the neighborhood. We then decided to see one of the ladies from our Efraimzegen church who lives nearby. We met her daughter-in-law, who was unsaved, and from the interior. As we were getting into the plan of salvation, a driver from the interior arrived and took her up the street to where her elderly mother was being dropped off . The road was too muddy to drive, and she needed help walking. I thought that this might be the end of our conversation, but the lady returned after we helped her mother inside the house. Several children crowded around also to see the illustration we use. She followed very well and was a heart prepared to make a decision. I also spoke to two sons, age 12 and 11, who also wanted to make a decision but did not really clearly understand salvation yet. I asked them all to come to Efraimzegen church on Sunday, where we will have others speak to the young boys again in more detail.

Independence: We made a few important improvements in the statutes which we hope to see implemented soon. One suggestion would be a great help to me personally in preparing the nationals to move ahead in responsibilities at the main church. We also need to strengthen our whole administrative system. We will meet again a week from Saturday and would appreciate your continued prayer.

Prayer requests:

1. Safety, health and strength for the work

2. Our personal spiritual growth

3. Outreach of the churches through soulwinning and discipleship

4. Bible Institutes - including recording live, and my voice problems

5. Progress on independence

In Him and Content:

Bob and Liz Patton

Missionaries to Suriname since 1986

Ruppel Report

2009-01-20T04:43:00.001-08:00

Dear Praying Friends,

“As cold waters to thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.” (Proverbs 25:25) The salvation of a soul is always good news! It was just a couple months ago that we asked you to pray for Srey Kuech’s salvation. Since that time her life has been miserable. She is just 16 years old. She is married to a drug addict that does not love her. He was basically forced into marriage with her because she was pregnant. Supposedly, this marriage was going to help both of these young people grow up and fix all their problems! She was supposed to find joy and peace in this marriage. Nothing could be farther from reality! We, as Christians, know that peace and joy come only from the Lord Jesus Christ. Srey Kuech was searching for SOMETHING. She was even interested in Christ, but her husband and brother-in-law did not want her attending church or learning more about Christ. Finally, not finding what she was looking for, Srey Kueh tried to take her own life. It was just a few days before Christmas that we were called to the hospital. She had decided life was not worth living and had swallowed a bottle of pills. At the hospital we were unable to communicate clearly with her because of the drugs. We asked the Lord to give us another opportunity to witness to her and He answered our prayer. We have been to her home many times, but we were never able to speak with her one on one. About a week after she returned home I headed to her house. On the way I prayed that the Lord would give me the opportunity to talk to her ALONE. I must admit, my prayer was not a prayer of faith. I knew it would not happen. Thank God for answering my prayer even though it was not a prayer of faith! For the first time ever, I found her in a room alone! The only other person at home was taking a shower. I have NO DOUBT God arranged this. I was able to share the Gospel with her again and she was ready to accept it! It was a thrill to see her bow her head and ask Christ to save her. The following day Srey Kuech and her husband moved to a provincial area to be near her parents. I sent a Bible with her and prayed that God would work in her heart. Just a couple of weeks later they moved back to Phnom Penh! Pray for us as we try to disciple Srey Kuech and as we try to get her involved in church. Pray also for her husband, Seyha, to accept Christ. He attended our church as a child, but his father forced him to stop coming. Pray that the Lord would guide him back to church also. We know only God can change the lives of this young couple.

The Christmas season was very special for us this year. My parents were able to be here with us! They were able to be involved in all our family and church Christmas activities. They attended our church’s Christmas play. Although they were not able to understand what was being said, it was a blessing to have them here to see the wonderful people God has given us share the Christmas story with neighbors and friends. I am sure they also enjoyed seeing our three children take part in the Khmer Christmas play! J They helped us cut out, bake, and decorate 700 Christmas cookies to give out to people attending the Christmas play. (Of course, some of our church people helped with this also.) My dad had the opportunity to preach at our church in Phnom Penh as well as in two village ministries our people have started. His messages were a blessing to us all and I know the people were a blessing to him as well. My mom had the opportunity to give a devotional to a group of missionary ladies that got together for a cookie exchange. It was SO much fun to have my parents here ministering and serving along side us! I wish they could be here all the time! J On the less spiritual side, it was just fun to share family time with them – making gingerbread houses, opening gifts, going to markets, talking, playing games, riding tuk-tuks, sharing Cambodian food with them and having Mom make American food for us J…. The list could go on and on! I thank God for the people who made it possible for my parents to be here with us.

Just a few days after my parents’ departure, our church hosted a marriage conference. It was such a special day! Rodney, Sakaun, and I had the opportunity to teach many Christian couples from several different churches. I was quite nervous, but God took the fear away and made it a very enjoyable and memorable experience. We had separate sessions for married men, married women, and singles. We also had a session all together. We played games and just enjoyed strengthening our marriages together and encouraging those who are not yet married to develop strong marriages in the future. Marriage is WONDERFUL when God is in the center of it!

EVERYTHING is wonderful when God is in the center of it – Christmas, family, conferences, and CHANGED LIVES!

Thank you SO much for your continued prayers on our behalf!

Serving HIM in Cambodia,

Becky Ruppel