Charlotte Martin - Power to Change

September Happenings

One of my highlights this month has been opening my team's check-in chat every morning and reading about my teammate Hope's (front middle of the picture above) on campus activities. Hope works with international students in Ottawa as well as leading our Vietnam partnership for global missions. Here are snippets from what she shared the first week of September:

TUESDAY - Yesterday while welcoming [students] on campus, a student stopped at the booth. She was asking for directions and I was sure I knew her . . . and indeed it was a student from China that I had journeyed with from 2017-2020. She had suffered a lot of mental health issues and has done online classes off and on for the past 4 years, but now she is back for her final year. It was a great reunion. She said to me "Hope, we must get together because I really want to share everything that happened." 

WEDNESDAY - Yesterday's highlight was meeting a Uyghur from Northwest China - her family has been in Canada for 3 years. She wants to get coffee. Another highlight was meeting some Afghan women!  On the way to my car I was in tears of thankfulness. In [God’s] mercy He has brought those Unreached People Groups to Canada and to my city!

THURSDAY - Heading to campus soon to welcome students. Yesterday's highlight - I had some good conversations with some guys from Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.

I echo Hope's thankfulness that God is bringing the nations to Canada and I invite you to join me in praying for international students. Pray that they would find community and that they would have opportunities to learn about Jesus.

Another September highlight - we have 7 mission trips for 2025 confirmed with two more pending. We hosted a staff mission trip info session yesterday and received this response: 

“Thanks for the great info session today. I watched it with my wife and kids. We are praying where God might lead us. It was very visionary and makes us want to go!” 

It’s inspiring to see God stirring in entire families to join him on mission! Liza, thanks so much for your partnership that gives P2C staff and students the opportunity to engage in God's global work.

Off to Korea

As I type this I am at the airport waiting for my flight to Seoul, South Korea to attend the Fourth Lausanne Congress (Sep 21-30). This is a gathering of Christian leaders from around the world to coordinate and collaborate in order to increase effectiveness in advancing the gospel worldwide.

I am still in need of $1100 to cover the cost of flights for this gathering. If you feel God nudging you to give to this expense you can donate online at p2c.sh/charlotte or by calling 1.855.722.4483. Thank you so much for your prayerful consideration.

How to pray for my time in Seoul:

• That I would know how to contribute well and wouldn’t be shy

• For inspiring interactions and conversations

• That God would work in my life through this conference

Excited to serve Him, 

Charlotte

J&R K - South Asia

Dear Praying Family & Friends,
Thank you for remembering us in your prayers as we start off our 3rd year at Hebron School! Here are a few ways you can pray this month.

• PRAY for our eldest as he continues to settle into life at college on the other side of the ocean from us. He is--so far--very much enjoying his program, the school, students and campus life at Heritage College.

• PRAY for the Alternative Service that has kicked off here this month. The first few sessions we are exploring the purpose of church. What is it? Why do we participate in it? What are God's thoughts on it? And what should it mean to us? May our new batch of Year 10s coming in feel free to explore their questions on faith and Christianity.

• PRAY for J as he has a very full teaching load this year. He is also on his third year of his teacher training course. Pray for good time management, enthusiasm in the busyness, and that he'd be able to stay on top of curriculum development and maintain healthy disciplines of rest & work.

• PRAISE for all the new staff who have joined the school again this year. Especially for new staff to support the Alt Service & Cycling Club for which we are very grateful.

• PRAISE for our son settling in well in Canada. We're so thankful for the support of family nearby and for the small, family-like atmosphere of Heritage College.

• PRAISE for a number of students entering into their last year with whom we've been able to develop close relationships. May Jesus use this year and our ongoing relationships to bless, encourage, & love these kids who come from difficult home situations.  

• PRAISE for 40 years of life for R this month! We are blessed to be in a loving, supportive community and thankful for health & strength to continue to serve the Lord in South Asia.

Top Left: The first Cycle Club ride of the year.
Top Right: Students hard at work learning AutoCAD skills.
Bottom Left: The workshop is organized for the start of another year!
Bottom Right: Fabulous Forty!

Phil & Andrea Bauman - SIM

Feeling at home...September 15 2024

Thank you for your prayers for us over the last couple of weeks. 
We have thoroughly enjoyed being 'home' in Ghana. It is hard to believe that we have been gone more than 5 years.

The following are some things for prayer in the coming weeks:

• We praise God for the opportunity to be back in Ghana and see friends and colleagues. (The picture above is with current and former staff of SIM Ghana).

• Praise God for great board meetings. SIM has a very engaged and encouraging board that is a joy to work with. Pray for Phil and the leadership team as they work on the things the Board has endorsed.

• Tomorrow we part ways. Pray for Andrea as she heads home to Canada and for Phil as he goes to Ethiopia to contribute to a church leaders conference. Following a few days in Ethiopia, Phil carries on to South Korea to participate in the Lausanne Congress.

• Continue to pray for our kids, for Kieran and Mackenzie as they enjoy parenting, for Liam and Meridith as they progress in their marriage and for Cara as she settles into life and studies in Toronto.

Thanks for praying for us
Phil & Andrea

Russ & Meredith Martin - Singapore

Praying for Martins @ Congress

Your prayers are needed and will make a massive difference in the next 21 days. The Fourth Lausanne Congress is about to happen and we're serving at the core of the leadership team.

Our theme: Let the Church declare and display Christ together.

In 12 days we will:
Welcome 5,000 participants from 200+ countries to Korea and 1,000+ participants to a virtual experience.
Lead a team of 200+ volunteers.
Guide and facilitate all the creative, digital, marketing, commuications and IT touchpoints participants will experience.

It's a massive effort and needs a massive amount of prayer.

Please pray:
That our kids would be safe and thrive in their school routine at home with a family friend for 15 days while we are gone.
 For our physical strength and energy. We are working long days leading and collaborating with teams around the globe.
For logistical arrangements as a significant number of participants have not reported their flight details, are still waiting for a visa or fundraising their fees.
For the Congress Virtual Experience (VX) as Russ' team tries something new and there are hurdles to overcome.
That indeed the global Church would declare and display Christ as we seek to partner in God's global mission.

In 21 days, everything will be wrapped up and participants launched into a fresh season of ministy.

We couldn't be in this without your faithful prayer and financial support.

A few snapshots from the last month:
1. Start of a new school year.
2. Learning how to tie a tie. Wyatt must wear a tie at his new school.
3. Mid-autumn festival at Gardens by the Bay.

Raul & Jessenia Espinoza - Guayaquil, Ecuador

Espinozas in Ecuador

Dear Wallenstein family,

Greetings from the equator!

We have a calendar in our kitchen which has a monthly focus on a different aspect of God's faithfulness. May was “God is faithful in my family” and June was “God is faithful in my sickness”. We have appreciated these reminders in these last months that have introduced new changes into our family routine and where we went through many weeks where someone in our family was sick.

May is the beginning of the school year in Guayaquil and Hope of Bastion students entered their school in crisp new uniforms and discovered some of the warmest classrooms now had air-conditioning! Everyone is thrilled. We hope to get all the classrooms furnished with air-conditioners as funds come in. 

We made the decision to put Tiago in a pre-school and Danilo in a day-care in the mornings. God led us to schools that have been a good fit for them and fill their social cups. Unfortunately, it took a couple of months for all of our immune systems to adjust and we went through a season where someone in our family was always sick. Though it was never anything very serious, it was draining. Thankfully, we seem to be out of that period for now and feel we are finding our feet.

This new routine has allowed Jessenia to become more involved in the sponsorship office again at the school and she has enjoyed personal contact with people there again. The school year has been going very well. The school recently had a “Sexual Purity Week”, and various couples from the church, including ourselves,  ran workshops with different grades. We pray the students would remember what they learned and that this generation of students would decide to make decisions that go against popular culture.

Youth group also started a new season of weekly meetings (during the “summer” break our meetings were more irregular) and we are pleased to see many students from the school. One of our youth leaders is now the Christian education teacher for junior high and he has made it his goal to encourage the students to come out on Saturdays, and it appears to be working! It is a comfort to know that these youth are getting spiritual instruction during the week at school and not just during their 2 hours at youth group. We pray many of them would take advantage of this and it would make a lasting impact on their life decisions.

Currently we are gearing up to travel to Canada for a month and a half visit. We are looking forward to spending time with Jessenia’s elderly grandmother and reconnecting with our family, friends and church back home. Thank you for your continued prayers for us as a family and the ministry here.

The Espinozas (Raul, Jessenia, Tiago and Danilo)

Prayer requests:

• For organization as we get ready to travel to Canada.

• That our boys would stay in good health and continue to enjoy their schools.

• For our Salvadorian missionary friends as they move back to El Salvador after completing their time in Ecuador with us.

• That the spiritual seeds planted in the youth and with the students at Hope of Bastion would take root and yield fruit in their lives.

• One of our youth leaders lost her grandmother recently and her family is showing spiritual interest. Please pray that the loss of this dearly loved lady would be the catalyst needed for the family to turn to Christ.