Thursday, January 29, 2009

blech

Please pray for my health. On Monday evening, my throat was feeling a little sore or scratchy. It got a little worse Tuesday, and by yesterday, it was affecting how much I wanted to talk. Yesterday congestion started as well, so it seems to be a full blown cold. Pray that it won't progress any further and that I could get appropriate rest to get over it. Pray for a balance of relying on God's strength to power through to still meet with people and of recognizing and taking opportunities that he's giving me for rest and recovery. Pray that I'd be relying on him and seeking him in all cases.

Monday, January 26, 2009

Follow Up

Please Pray for:
Follow up: I'm finally just going to do it. I've got an appointment for tomorrow morning (Tuesday) with a student named Jorge who I was hoping to follow up with as Christmas break started. He felt sick that day and didn't make it, and I've finally managed to set up tomorrow to talk to him. I originally told him I'd like to hear about his church background and I pray for the opportunity to take the resulting conversation deeper to really talk about the character of God and knowing him. I texted another student, Rafa, to see if I could talk to him on Friday, but I have not heard back from him. Pray that God would be at work in both of their lives and hearts, and that he'd use my intentionality in seeking them out to bring about his transformation.

Please continue to pray for:
Follow up: Even as I feel like I'm finally at least making a start, there's part of me that still doesn't feel like I know what I'm doing and is a little afraid that I'll somehow screw it up and botch this person's chance at being drawn to a real life changing relationship with Christ. That's silly because it's the Holy Spirit that is at work in them and in me, and it's not my job to make any change happen, but I guess I sometimes get concerned that I'll get too caught up in trying to be systematic and will fail to care enough. Enough for what is a good question, the most obvious seeming answer being to cause the change, which gets me right back to needing to remember it's ultimately God at work and not me. I guess ultimately that's a request that I care for the people that I meet like Christ cares for them, and that I wouldn't see them as a bullet point on a to-do list, or simply another task as part of my job.
Wart remains: I still haven't gotten to the doctor to have the is-it-scar-tissue-or-is-it-wart-making-a-come-back spot on my knuckle looked at. Continued prayer for healing would be appreciated.
Congreso: Having worked on a few things in preparation for Congreso today, it has reentered my mind that prayer for God to provide our every need for Congreso is really important. Pray for him to provide so much that all students could go free of charge and experience 100% gracia 100% gratis (100% grace 100% free). Please also join me in consistently praying for over 60 students to go to this year's Congreso from Valencia.

Praise God:
Movement meeting: It went well, did not go too long, and we got some good feedback from students as well as getting a general idea of what events we'll be doing this semester. That was good for both us and the students to have.
Discipleship: Even though I didn't feel like I had really good direction going into my discipleship meetings last week, I came out of the week feeling like I all the meetings went really well. I felt like I had relevant things to speak into the guys' lives even though I hadn't necessarily planned them, and that all parties walked away edified.
Safe travel: Sarah's parents got here fine. It appears they are enjoying their time here. If you can pray for their safe travel home on Friday, that would be appreciated.

Monday, January 19, 2009

Thursday movement meeting and other details

Please pray for:

Movement meeting: Thursday we'll be getting together with the students to talk about a concept of "transformational community" and how we really want to see one develop this semester. We'll also be talking about some specific events we're hoping to see and how we hope they'll help toward that goal. Please pray for focus and clarity in communication. Meetings with students that focused on the movement as whole have in the past had a propensity for tangents that prolong meetings and distract from the original purpose. Pray that God's direction would really be presented and that students would be excited to get on board with it.

Discipleship: I've got meetings this week with my disciples, but I've been wondering a little bit about what exact ground I should be covering with them. Pray for continued guidance and discernment and attentiveness to areas where I can help foster growth.

Wart remains: I had a wart frozen off several times in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving. On my last visit to the dermatologist, it seemed that the wart was dead and all that remained left to do was allow time for full healing. It's now been two months, and I'm beginning to wonder if the skin on the affected knuckle looks funny because it is scar tissue or because the wart is returning. I had hoped to finally return to the doctor today to have it looked at, but I didn't make it and probably won't have time until next Monday. Pray that it really is just scar tissue and that it continues healing and start looking less suspicious.

Safe travel: My teammmate Sarah's parents are coming down to visit for a week, arriving this Friday. Pray that they'd have safe travel, a quick recuperation from the time in transit, and an enjoyable stay.

Monday, January 12, 2009

Call it a new year's resolution

Please pray for:

Consistency in communication: Sometime in the last couple months, I sat down to think about goals I want to pursue, things that I want to be true in my life. One of those is being in better communication with people. That means taking the time to call friends at home, but it also means being more consistent to post prayer requests here. With the new schedule that we've set up, I think I can be consistent with posting on Mondays. Now I have a day to post regularly. Pray that I'd stick to it.

The schedule: we made several adjustments to our weekly schedule over the break, but I think it will be good for us. It reflects realities of Venezuela, and gives us a better flexibility in the afternoon, and much fewer evenings dominated by language lessons. It even factors in time to work on things ahead of time, so definitely pray that I utilize that well (old procrastinating habits from college die hard...). Also, this week is a little topsy turvy with our team leaders coming back midway through the week from a retreat, moving our staff meeting and rearranging a few schedule elements. Pray for their safe travel and for smooth schedule rearranging.

Praise God for:
Our internet: Having not posted in a while, I see the last post was about the internet. I think we got it about a week and a half later. I recall it being something like November 12th because I think I remember it still possible to consider it a gift to correspond to my birthday on the 11th.

I'll leave it at that for now. Hopefully more next Monday if not sooner.