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Edition Issue 27 Let’s Fish Bible Fellowship Churches sharing resources to evangelize the world. A place for the exchange of ideas on short term missions projects and local outreach. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
All responses can be sent to office@bfcbom.org
Current and past issues can be found on the web at: www.bfcbom.org look in “Mission Events” then Let’s Fish
Greetings from Allentown!
1. Journal 2. Feed Back 3. Another Journal Entry 4. Trips in the works (updated weekly) 5. Special Training 6. Final Thought
If you are a regular reader of Let’s Fish, you know that I have been advocating journal writing while on a missions trip. God teaches you so many lessons, you see so much, you meet so many people, and you would never be able to keep all of this information in your memory. It is after you get home that your journal takes on a special significance as you reread all that you learned and saw. There is however a tremendous value in taking the time to process a day on paper prior to going to bed.
Here is this week’s entry from Rebecca Zurbrick home from Panama:
August 2003 I am writing to you to let you know that I have arrived home safely from Panama and had the best time of my life. I was hoping that I would loose my passport so that I would have to stay longer!! In only a month, I was able experience and see more than is imaginable, and at the same time grow so much closer to God.
During the month of July, I lived with Jim and Emily Gordley (missionaries from Calvary Monument Bible Church, Paradise, PA). Each day began about 5:50 am. Emily and I would walk each morning with some of the neighbors. We would spend time talking and visiting with the neighbors. Many times the houses we saw were only two small rooms for a family of five or more. The houses were made out of cinder blocks, cement floors and tin roofs with bars on every window and door. Also everyone had at least one dog to guard their house.
Each morning was our time for work (except for Sunday when we would gather in the neighbors house for church). Some days our work would include: mowing the grass, squeezing lemons, slicing pineapples, picking cherries, typing songs for Emily into the computer, cleaning, making handouts for Sunday School, doing laundry, etc. Then in the afternoon, many children would come to read books, sing songs, practice their mathematics with flash cards, play soccer, go to the shopping centers, color, practice piano, pump up their bike tires, etc. Each day was filled with lots of excitement!!
Also I had the privilege to go and see the Panama Canal, Old Panama, and Panama City. There is so much U.S. history in Panama because of the U.S. basically controlling the Panama Canal for 100 years. The Canal was incredible!
One weekend I lived with a Christian lady named Raquel. She has an apartment on the backend of the church in the ghetto. She is the guard and custodian of the church. I really enjoyed my time with her. She knew a little English, but we spoke Spanish the whole time. That was a challenge for me!! But I was blessed and got to teach her Sunday School class an English song! That was fun!! My Spanish improved a lot during my stay with Raquel.
So what did God teach me during my time in Panama? Well, let me tell you that it is quite difficult to explain everything that God has taught me. First of all, I will never be able to look at life the same again. I am now able to realize how blessed I am to have a Christian family, clothes and shoes to wear, a nice house, a good school, money to buy food, etc., the list goes on and on. I was able to learn more about what it means to be church planters (Jim and Emily are church planters in Panama). I was able to realize how important relationships are with people. Also that leading by example can be more effective than words. They watched every move that we made!!! I realized that I have a lot of studying ahead of me in order to know the Bible and be able to teach it correctly and effectively. There is a great need for male leaders in the churches and for the Bible to be taught correctly to people. I was able to see the need for the Gospel not only in Panama but also realizing that there is a great need for the Gospel in the U.S.A. I realized that in our churches we need to be outwardly focused, in the sense that we need to be reaching out and sharing the Gospel to everyone that we meet. Our churches should be growing because of the spread of the Gospel and salvation. We have a huge missions field with tons of people in the U.S.A. that don’t know Jesus. Have we told them the Good News yet? What are we waiting for? I have felt the urgency and the need for Jesus to be told to everyone and for it to be lived out in my life each moment of my day. I was able to put things into perspective in my life to see what things really are important to me. But before I can go tell the whole world about Jesus, I have learned that I need to be dedicated in spending time in God’s Word through studying it and applying it to my life each day. I also need to be praying and seeking the Lord for where He is going to lead me so that I may be obedient to His will for my life. I have learned how essential it is to be surrounded in prayer and to bring everything before the Lord in prayer, because I know that God DOES answer prayer!!!
As many of you also know, this time was a time to seek the Lord to know if missions is really where He is calling me and also to have an idea what I should major in for college. Well, I definitely believe that God is calling me to missions. Whether that is in a Spanish-speaking country, some other country or in the U.S. I don’t know, but I do know, that I am a missionary for the Lord Jesus no matter where I go or how old I am. For college, I definitely want to go to a Bible College and begin studying the Word. I am very eager to study God’s Word in-depth. I still don’t have a clue what to major in, but I have a heart’s desire to be involved in church planting and evangelism.
Please pray for the Panamanians to except the Gospel and share it with their neighbors and friends. Please pray for male leadership in the home and in the church. Please pray for Jim and Emily as they reach out to their neighbors with the love of Jesus and demonstrate how Jesus tells us to live our lives. Also pray for them as they make decisions regarding their ministry in Panama. Please pray for me as I continue to seek the Lord about where I should go to college and what I should major in. Also pray that I would use my money wisely, because I do not want to come out of college with major debt loads. Please pray that the Lord will continue to lead and guide me through my life and that I will seek Him with all of my heart and be obedient to His calling…wherever, whenever, or however that may be. Serving Him as a missionary in Lampeter, Pray for Panamá Rebecca Zurbrick
Dear Dana,
Hi, my name is Brianne Riley and I helped direct Good News in the Park for GBFC of Reading this summer. Pastor Clyde asked if I was interested in writing a short summary about what went on. I would love to do this but am wondering if it is too late at this point. So please let me know if you would still like to hear about it for LET'S FISH and I will send it off to you ASAP. Also, if I do make a write-up for it, do I intorduce myself in the paragraph or just sign it at the bottom?
I look forward to hearing from you.
in Him, Brianne
(Yes Brianne we want your report. And YES to anyone else with the same question!!!)
Dear Dana, Is BOM planning to provide transportation to Urbana. My girls are very interested in going and we want to check out travel options. Thanks. Dick (No the BOM can not provide transportation because we do not at this time have an adult driver. If someone is interested in driving a group of BFC young people to URBANA, please contact me immediately!!!! We will attempt to keep carpooling information available. REMEMBER if you plan to attend URBANA, there is a substantial savings by registering before August 31. You can register online at www.URBANA.org.
Write me. I love e-mail!
Greetings from home sweet home.
We are back on American soil... Always nice to be home, but I would be lying to you if I told you that it was not some sort of letdown to leave two weeks of ministry behind and return to "the grind." Of course, your job is just a place where you do ministry, as is your home, neighborhood and places you frequent. But it is always hard to come home. And this time it is no different.
We had a blessed two weeks of ministry together in Ukraine. Thanks again so much for praying! I know I wrote my last message on Wednesday. But so much has happened since then that I thought it only appropriate to fill you in on some of the details. Jason Krute did an excellent job of presenting the Gospel on Thursday morning to the older kids. The Theater Team presented the Gospel to the younger kids at the same time. The last day of camp is always special, but having the opportunity to see kids come to know Christ, that is extra special and just adds to the excitement!
Every single one of the kids in the older group stood up and expressed interest in making Jesus Christ the most important part of their life. As I have said before, only God knows the heart of each individual. But rest assured that many of the 45 kids in that older group accepted Christ that day. That is AWESOME! That was the sweetness of the day...new life! As was savoring the 4 days we had together. Then came the bitter part...saying Good-Bye. Saying Good-Bye is never easy. But it was so great to see how we had connected with kids and how God had allowed us to form so quick and so strong a bond! Thank you, Lord! Please pray that the Lord would put people in their paths to encourage and challenge them in their walk with Him.
Thursday afternoon we went to an orphanage where the Theater Team put on a program and we had a chance to give gifts and interact with the kids. It is always so hard to walk away from there and not have 2-3 kids in a bag to take home:) They are so precious and it just rips your heart out to know these kids are in this orphanage because their parents abused them in some capacity:(
The basketball team then went to the park in the center of town with the youth group from GreenWay and handed out close to 2,000 invitations to the Thursday night Youth Group / Club they have every week. It was so great to see a number of those same people show up at 6pm for the program! The Theater Team did much of the program like a youth group event and over 200 people hung in there for 2 1/2 + hours! And even though it was about 200 degrees on the 4th floor of this building, people stuck it out and really enjoyed it! It was such a fantastic time as we saw many kids from camp come as well as players from the teams we played against at night. It was a powerful evening! Please be in prayer for Andre (youth pastor from GreenWay) as he follows up with the people that came that night for the first time! I know that I am anxious to see how many of those kids from camp and from the teams will go back this coming Thursday.
It took us 45 minutes to leave the program that night because we spent much of the time saying Good-Bye and getting email addresses, etc. It was a special night and so hard to leave. I was just so amazed at the number of people that showed up that evening! God is going to do something special with that!
Friday was a free day...so we saw a museum in the morning and went to a spot about 25 minutes outside of Vinnytsia that is believed to be one of Hitler's bunkers from WWII. Hard to tell exactly what was there, but rest assured that the monument to the 14,000 people killed by the Nazis between 1941-1943 that sits a few hundred yards away stands tall. Hard to imagine that kind of suffering!
John McIntosh and I had the privilege of being on the radio live for 30 minutes at 10:30am. The radio station is piped into every home and office in the city daily. And we had the chance to explain why we were in Vinnytsia and our mission for Christ. It was great! The Lord really blessed our time there with great media exposure from TV to newspapers to the radio.
Friday night was a free night as we had our last group TEAM TIME and had an opportunity to share some of our experiences and the life-lessons God was teaching us on the trip. It is always so neat to see how God impacts and blesses us when we are willing to serve Him and open ourselves up to serve others. A common expression was: "I came here to bless and to serve, and I feel like I was the one being served and truly blessed!" Praise the Lord for His work in our lives as much as His work through us in others' lives.
We then headed to McDonald's with our translators for one last dessert together. They were a great group and really did a fantastic job of breaking down the language barrier for us. But they were great people that love the Lord! After getting home it was time to pack as we had an early morning and a LONG day in front of us...
Saturday came quickly and early and was accompanied by a 6:30am wake-up call and a 5-hour drive to the airport on the other side of Kiev. We dropped John of in Zhitomir on the way by and got to the airport at 1pm, just in time to fight the crowds and check in for our 3:10pm flight to Paris. The 4-hour flight was smooth even after a lengthy delay in Kiev and we arrived in Paris a little after 6pm. Praise the Lord we could check our bags all the way through the Newark and not have to drag them downtown to our hotel. That was a HUGE answer to prayer! So we took the train to what we thought was a station near our hotel. But it ended up being about a 30-minute walk to our hotel in the Latin quarter. But hey, we were in Paris:)
We went down to the University sector of Paris, which was a great idea! It must have been a great idea because thousands of others had the same idea. After a hearty meal we began our one-night tour of Paris at 10pm. Needless to say, it was going to be a quick tour and a much-walking tour. But we managed to see the Louve Museum, Notre Dame cathedral, Arc d' Triunf, Concorde Plaza, Eiffel Tower, etc. By 1:15am we had seen most everything to see, and oh, how beautiful it was! Now, getting to bed at 3am and getting up at 6am to head back to the airport was not so beautiful, but it was all well worth it!
Our 8 1/2-hour flight arrived about 45 minutes late and so we got back to Emmaus a bit late, but all in all it was a very smooth two-day return trip. Praise the Lord for safety and for all of our bags arriving safely!
But most of all, thank the Lord for His faithfulness in a FANTASTIC two-week trip to Ukraine. And thanks again for your thoughts and prayers while we were gone. We were truly blessed to have you as a part of our team!
In Christ, Chico Schlonecker
4. Trips in the works (updated weekly)
The Board of Missions is keeping statistics of all short term missionary trips (both by teams and individuals). As you can see the 2003 trips are quickly coming to an end. Please register your 2004 trips as soon as they materialize. WHO, WHAT, CHURCH, MISSIONARY, COUNTRY, and DATE. Contact: office@bfcbom.org
Aug. 30 - Dec. 1 Pastor Carl & Charlene Cassel in Kenya, Carl to teach at Moffat College of Bible and Charlene, hostess at Kijabe Motel. Trips highlighted need our prayer support RIGHT NOW!
September 18- 29 Royersford Barnabas Team to visit with the Moyer's in France and with Rick Erb in the Ukraine. September 19- 29 Royersford Work Team to put roof on Church building in Palowice, Poland. Sep. 26-Oct. 11 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) Oct. 9 - 17; work trip to Guatemala (Mi Refugio). Building skills sought. Several from the BFC mid-Hudson churches are planning to go -- elder Hans Waldvogel (Faith BFC, Holmes, NY) is the contact person hwaldvog@jhmc.org October date to be determined Cedar Crest to Kosovo Work and ministry.
The term Olympiad was used to
denote the time period that elapsed between Olympic games. It was the time to
get ready, an opportunity for serious training.
BACK TO SCHOOL!
Many of the regular readership of Let’s Fish are now sharpening their pencils for another year of study. High school, college or post college, make every effort to be keenly aware of God’s calling for your life. Choose courses that will enhance that calling. I can give you no advice better than that which Paul gave to Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.”
A reminder to all of you who have finished formal education: do not allow the pursuit of education to ever end. Always keep learning. Keep reading. Stay in God’s Word. Be mentored by others. Know God’s calling for you and single-mindedly pursue it!
There is a sense that we are all beginning a new school year. Let’s hit the books!
IF you desire a weekend retreat geared towards the study of knowing God’s will for your life, I personally invite you to the BOM RWR at Pinebrook on November 14-16.
Most of all, Keep Fishing!
Blessings, Dana
Reminder
November 14-16 BOM Missions RWR This annual work/study weekend sponsored by the BOM is for high school and post high school young people serious about knowing God’s will for their life and the possibility of career missions. This weekend fills up quickly so register early by e-mail to office@bfcbom.org. Name, age, church, e-mail and snail mail address, and phone # required. Registrations are already coming in! Don’t miss out!
September September 19 Short Term Debriefing Round-up December 27- January 1 Urbana
A cooperative effort of the churches of the BFC to win the world for Christ Your response is always welcome at: office@bfcbom.org 610 398-8776
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