BRUBACHER, JENN (Listowel, YFC) PRAISE: The new covid restrictions once again allowed us to connect with students in creative, new ways. We had online baking nights, went on walks with students and had drop-in sledding. It was fantastic to connect with students outside of our regular program times. I am thankful for our amazing volunteer team; it was a gift to reconnect with them after the holidays. Our staff team is hoping to expand in the next few months! PRAY: My involvement in the high school has stalled as covid continues to affect our community. Pray for patience and wisdom as I navigate the next few weeks and covid restrictions change again. Pray for teachers, staff, students and parents as students enter the second semester. Pray for HopeLinks, the new warming centre in Listowel that will provide laundry facilities, showers and hot meals for those who need it.
Phil & Andrea - February 2022
BAUMAN, PHIL & ANDREA (Canada, International roles with SIM) PRAISE: For new team leaders arriving in a Middle East country. That there are new workers arriving in the Middle East in Feb & March. That friends who moved country to escape hardship have been granted a work permit in their new country. That each member of our immediate family has stayed healthy, including Cara in residence. PRAY: For both of us to stay healthy and safe over the next month as we will be travelling to 4 countries. Specifically pray that we will stay COVID free. That we can listen well to colleagues and have the discernment to know when to share the right information at the right time. That we can keep in front of regular work as well as COVID requirements as we travel. That everything works smoothly for the 3 online 'cafes' Andrea is hosting while we are travelling. For wisdom for Andrea as she deals with a difficult personnel situation. For clear direction for a young Canadian couple who have just done a vision trip to the Middle East. For Cara as she waits to hear back the results of co-op job interviews. That Liam will have full-time job opportunities that he can apply to.
Charlotte Martin - Power to Change
Wallenstein, happy new year to you! I hope your 2022 is off to a good start. My 2022 has been rather uneventful so far, and I am thankful for a quiet start to the year. I have been enjoying time to organize myself and make plans for the year ahead.
Here's how you can join me in prayer at the start of a new year.
MISSION TRIPS
1. We have 45 students in the process of applying for May 2022 mission trips, but very few applications have been submitted. Pray that more students would finish and submit their applications by the January 31st deadline. Pray also for more men to apply for mission trips.
2. We have national mission trips planned for Edmonton, Montreal, and Guelph. Pray that each of these trips would be full with 10+ students each.
3. Our international mission trips are planned for Desert Rain, Vietnam, and Japan. Currently none of these countries have their borders open to us. Pray that borders would open and stay open. Pray for wisdom to know how to adjust plans as necessary.
TEAMS OVERSEAS
4. We had to cancel a care trip scheduled this month to our team in Thailand. Pray for the team's encouragement, perseverance, and peace of heart. Pray also for wisdom to know if we should reschedule the trip for later in the spring.
THE WORLD
5. From January 17 - February 6 we are praying for every country in the world. Go to p2c.sh/prayfortheworld, choose a country to pray for and join us!
Thank you for praying for my care trip to North Africa in November. Highlights from the trip were:
Catching up with some P2C alumni serving with another organization.
Hearing the full stories of the two students who made decisions to follow Jesus this past year.
Having fun with our team there and getting to know the kids on the team.
Tea with some local believers who led a house church (it was only my second time talking with local believers).
Pictures from my Trip:
Picture 1: Travel in Covid times.
Picture 2: Dinner with the whole team including kids.
Picture 3: Pottery making for team fun.
Picture 4: Baskets at the market.
Picture at the top: The market alleys.
Ray & Carol Jones
Dear family and friends,
We didn’t send out a Christmas Letter this year so I thought I would send one now and wish you all a very Happy New Year!
The festivities, fun, food and all that goes with it, are over for another year. The weeks and even months of planning, shopping and anticipation seem to come and go with lightning speed! Every Christmas we hear various ideas on what Christmas is really about: ‘It’s about the children;’ ‘it’s about families;’ ‘It’s about getting together with family and friends; ’’Singing carols....’ etc. Millions have sung “born to raise the sons of earth, born to give us second birth” and the beautiful “Silent Night,” with the words “the dawn of redeeming grace” but have no understanding of the meaning, or of the One, to Whom they refer.
Let’s be honest! For many this is no more than Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings. Christ has so little to do with it that He has even been dropped from the name in favour of “Xmas”.
Christians, those who having realized that they are lost sinners and have trusted Christ as their personal Saviour, see Christmas as the time that God sent His own beloved Son to save us from our sins and give us an eternal home!
The real difference is that one day soon the Lord will return for those who truly believe to take them to the place that He has prepared for them. Those who simply pay ‘lip service’ to Christmas but don’t really believe in Him will be left to face eternity without Christ.
But thankfully the real ‘reason for the season’ is still very much alive, isn’t He?
We are now once again in the grip of a ‘bleak midwinter where frosty winds make moan’ and lots of us join them!
I turned eighty in August and Carol tried to catch me up in January, but only reached seventy-nine. Despite having passed our ‘sell by’ and ‘best before’ dates, we’re both doing OK generally. Carol still struggles the health concerns that have plagued her for many years but she still presses on. So far we have avoided Covid but Gareth and some of his family in Arizona were caught by it! Thankfuly not seriously! I am still very busy with preaching on Sundays, guelphbiblecc.com, meeting one on one, etc., etc. The Lord continues to lead, guide and provide and we have much to be thankful for.
I want to get over to England and to the US, but for now we’re avoiding too much exposure to the virus.
We are so very, very thankful for all our dear family and friends that have been such a blessing to us over the years. Quite a few we have lost contact with for various reasons, but still very precious. We would love to see you all in person but that looks less likely for a while. One thing we do know is that we will meet all who have trusted the Lord as personal Saviour in heaven one day!
We would love to hear from you, and these days it can be ‘face to face’ of course.
With warmest love,
Ray and Carol
487 Whitelaw Rd.
Guelph, Ontario,
Canada N1K 1E7
Home: 1-519-767-3335
Cell: 1-519-716-1405
Russ & Meredith Martin
What will 2022 look like?
Video (4 minutes) - What’s coming over the horizon in 2022…
Dear WBC Friends,
We are anticipating God working in our family and ministry in 2022. The above video captures in 4 minutes what we think God might have in store for us in 2022, as well as a little glimpse into what life is like for us and our kids at the moment. (We shot the above video for Wallenstein Bible Chapel, one of our supporting churches and wanted to share it with you.)
-- BONUS --
Here are two additional videos that share our plans for 2022. We find washing dishes, cleaning toilets, running errands or commute times are the perfect time to engage with content like the ones linked below. (By the way, Russ almost always listens at 2x speed.)
1. A Vision for the 21st Century World (13 minutes)
Michael Oh, Lausanne Movement CEO, shares about how the body of Christ is being prepared for what the world will be like in 2050.
One of Russ' major projects (Michael describes at 2:25) is a digital global platform for the connecting and the collaborating of the disciple-making ministry of the 99 percent. The 99 percent are those in the church who are not ministers or missionaries but want to be deeply involved in God's global mission for his church.
2. God's Call for Indigitous (29 minutes)
Russ shares about the 2022 plans for Indigitous, the network where he serves as Managing Director. We are trusting God for a global network of innovators that are equipped to bring the gospel where it needs to go with the same ambition Paul had in Romans 15 - to have the name of Christ heard where it has never been heard (watch at 15:40). There's also an acronym, BCE/III/JPR/TTV, that we invite you to join us in praying for (17:40).
-- END BONUS --
WBC Friends, we are so glad to be journeying together into 2022. Thank you for your friendship and your partnership in leading the next generation of digital missions.
Photos below:
A. Bubble tea break after some family fun
B. Christmas gifts and cookies (!) from Canada arrived in 2 weeks
C. One of Gwen's Christmas presents was a date at the Cat Cafe
