July 2011 prayer letter

THE NICODEMUS PROJECT, GUATEMALA CITY
JULY 2011

Thank you for praying faithfully these past few months for the OGM (Occasional General Meeting) of IMB personnel from Central America, the Caribbean, and parts of Europe June 11-17.  Ellis and Judy say that they thank God for what He did through the meeting as there was good fellowship, good worship, and lots of learning opportunities.  One of the statements which was made was “Ministry without prayers is like driving a car without wheels”…An interesting statement to think about…

Praise God that during this meeting George and Helen Hardeman received their service pins for 40 years of service with the IMB! 

  

Friday, July 1:  Richard Cook is finishing up his week of teaching intensive classes in Honduras.  Pray for him and the other teachers as they return to Guatemala.  Pray for the students who were in the class as they return to their homes.  Pray that they would have the resources, wisdom and time needed to complete the work for the classes.

Saturday July 2: The meeting with Dr. Sanchez, the author of The Gospel in the Rosary, was well attended last month.  There were over 40 there with the majority being members of the four cell groups.  Dr. Sanchez gave a very clear message about the authority of the Bible and the need to study it as well as the need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  When asked why the assumption of Mary into heaven and her coronation as queen of heaven were not included in the book, he was able to give the history of these dogmas while explaining that they are not supported by the Bible.  Pray that each one will continue to faithfully do their Bible study and will come to a saving relationship with Jesus.

Sunday, July 3: George has been extremely busy trying to help the families leaving the country for one reason or another to get their packing and crating done, arrange for getting their household goods moved to another house, in the case of the Millers and take care of the details for caring for the homes of those who will be gone.  Added to that, he has the stress of new reporting forms for the IMB, which are requiring extra time to learn.  Then the Mission messenger, who does many “standing-in-line” things like renewing the car registration papers for another year, was told that the person with the power of attorney has to do it though the messenger has always done it in previous years.  Please pray that all this stress won’t adversely affect George’s health.  Pray that he will be able to walk out of the office at the end of the day feeling he has accomplished something instead of frustrated that for each three steps forward he seems to slide two back.

Monday, July 4: The Hardemans’ son Daniel and his family arrived June 26.  He will be here two weeks but Nikki, Natalie and Liam will stay for a month.  Pray for safe travel as the Hardemans show them different parts of the country.  Thank the Lord that they can visit.  Pray for good health for all.

Tuesday, July 5: Students are returning to university classes today after a month’s break.  Pray for Carol as she begins meeting again with the small group at Valley University.  Pray for Carol and Hector as they look for activities to offer at another university.  Pray that more students would be interested in participating in small groups and/or activities, which Carol is able to offer the students.

Wednesday, July 6: Happy Birthday George Hardeman!  May you have a blessed day filled with family and chocolate and chocolate and chocolate! "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago." (Ephesians 2:10, NLT)

Thursday, July 7: Pray for Alejandro Majano, one of our pastors and professor at the seminary in Guatemala.  He was diagnosed recently with one non-functioning kidney and the other is in danger of failing.  He has begun dialysis at home, four times a day.  He and his wife were planning to move to Belize in January to plant Spanish-speaking and to coordinate a seminary extension there, but that won't be possible now.  Pray that they and the doctors would have wisdom about continuing treatment.

Friday, July 8: Ellis and Judy Leagans have the joy of a visit from their daughter Andrea, son-in-law Matthew, and grandchildren Michael and Juliana the first week of July.  Praise God for the family time, which they will have together.  Pray for them as they travel to different parts of Guatemala.

Saturday, July 9: The Wednesday cell group has grown this year to 5 with the interest in the Rosario.  Please pray for continued interest as we finish that and start a study on Hebrews.  Also pray for the cell group, which is meeting at Manuel and Siomara’s house.  Pray for them as they select the studies, which they want to do.  Pray for a unity among their group and in the small groups, which are meeting each week.

Sunday, July 10: The Hands on program is a program where college students from the US can go to different parts of the world and serve as missionaries for 4 months.  Carol Wilkinson has put in a request for two Hands on students to come in January 2012.  As students look at the choices for the opportunities throughout the world, pray that they would go to where God would guide them.  Pray for Carol as she works on logistics, strategy and all that is entailed in possibly hosting the Hands On students.

Monday, July 11: Praise the Lord that Helen was able to finish her Greek course work for second trimester.  She should be getting in the assignments that she had the students do in the Biblical Financial Principles class this month.  Pray for her as she grades these and returns them.  She was also able to get a few more of the cell study guides written for Hebrews.  Continue praying that she will be able to get a few more done before going to the States for the wedding in August.

Tuesday, July 12: Pray for the trustees of the IMB.  Two members of the trustees attended the OGM in June.  It was great to hear that the trustees voted and decided to send different trustees to different parts of the world to attend various IMB meetings (such as OGM) where missionaries were gathered.  Pray for them as they make important decisions in their meetings.  Praise God that they took the time to come to the meeting and fellowshipped with us.

Wednesday, July 13: One of Carol’s contacts is no longer working at Valley University.  However it should not effect the open invitation to bring teams in to minister to the students.  Pray that Carol would be able to meet more faculty and staff at the universities who would be interested in the ministry.  Pray for E, her main contact at the Valley University, pray that they would continue to have a good working relationship. 

Thursday, July 14: Thank you for your prayers last month for Margaret King and George’s father.  Margaret has made enough progress in her treatment to return home.  Continue to pray for her as she undergoes chemo and radiation treatment and physical therapy that she will make steady progress.  George’s father came through the hip replacement surgery fine and is in physical therapy.  Pray for him as he completes it and returns home.  Pray for wise decisions related to his further treatment and that he will be faithful to do his exercises

Friday, July 15: Praise God that Judy Leagan’s mother Ava Halbert celebrated her 99th birthday on June 23.  Earlier in the year we asked for prayer support for her health – although she still struggles with back pain, she has improved a lot and is hoping to make it okay by herself at home again. 
 

Saturday, July 16: Just before the meeting with Dr. Sanchez, Ana, one of the women from the Monday night cell group, was sitting in one of the plastic chairs when it suddenly collapsed.  It gave her quite a scare.  After the meeting, relatives who were there took her to the hospital for an X-ray and found a bone was broken in her foot.  The church felt responsible and voted to give her an offering to help her with her expenses.  Manuel and Siomara took it by after church the next Sunday and had prayer with her.  Two weeks later, she called Siomara on Saturday evening to see if they would pass by for her and take her to church as she can’t drive until her foot heals.  Pray that the Lord will use this unfortunate event to draw her closer to himself and to the church.

Sunday, July 17: Continue to pray for Manuel as he works fulltime and also is pastor of Impacto Biblico Church.  Pray that he would have time to prepare each week for the services yet also have time to complete his job responsibilities and spend time with his family.  Pray for he and his family and their lives. 

Monday, July 18: Pray for Alberto from the Monday group at the Hardemans’.  We feel he is beginning to feel the tug of the Holy Spirit to put his faith in Christ.  He shared with Dr. Sanchez that he’d once “prayed the prayer” with someone who passed by their house witnessing, but that he’d only done it to get rid of her and now realized that it was not sincere.  Pray that he will take this leap of faith and become a great spiritual leader in his family with his adult sons and their families.  

Tuesday, July 19: At the monthly book club, which Carol attends, a statement was made about the “cosmic connections in the universe”.  In the eyes of Christians, we would call these connections, God connections.  Pray for Carol to have opportunities to share more with these ladies about her belief in the one true God of the universe.  Pray that God would help her to have opportunities to share the ladies in a one on one setting or however God allows.

Wednesday, July 20: The 3 x 3 activity of the Impacto Biblico Church has been a big success so far.  Each group of three family units got together for an activity last month and thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship and getting to know each other better.  Also, one of the ladies of the church organized a dinner to celebrate Father’s Day.  Pray that we would not be satisfied with just loving and ministering to each other but would reach out into the community and begin to bring others in.

Thursday, July 21: Max and Julie Kent and their two children will be finishing up their two years in Guatemala the end of this month and will be returning to the States.  Pray for them as they look for another place of service.  Jim and Carol McGriff will be retiring after nearly 30 years in Kekchi work.  Keith and Penny Stamps will be transferring to Mexico.  Pray for each of these families as they face major changes in their lives.  The Carothers and Miller families also are beginning their 6-month stateside ministry.

Friday, July 22: Pray that Impacto Biblico Church will find a speaker to have another opportunity for all the cell groups to come together for a meeting like the one they had with Daniel Sanchez.  As stated earlier it was a well-attended event, which the people enjoyed and in which the people were challenged as they heard God’s word from Daniel. Pray for the church leaders to have wisdom about the speaker who will come.

Saturday, July 23: Richard Cook would like prayer for all of the "connecting" which he is doing with seminaries in Central America and in the United States.  He is going to El Salvador and to Tegucigalpa, Honduras the last week of July to meet leadership in those places and to see what their plans and needs are, and to see how he can help them reach their goals and meet their needs.  He'll especially be gathering information to share with seminaries in the US in order to facilitate connections and partnerships between the seminaries.

Sunday, July 24: Because of travel schedules this month and next, the two Bible studies at the Hardemans’ will not be meeting regularly.  Pray for those who are attending that they will not stop reading and studying their Bible while we are gone.  Thank the Lord for their desire to study.

Monday, July 25: The cell groups at the Hardemans’ have gotten into the Hebrews study.  Nearly everyone admits that he/she has never even read the book of Hebrews but is fascinated by the truths we are finding there.  Pray that it will challenge them to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of the faith.  Pray that as the Hebrews believers were challenged to put away and not turn back to their old traditions and rituals, they would, also, realize how this applies to them and extra-biblical practices that they have followed all their lives.

Tuesday, July 26: Pray for Sharon and Carol as they would both like other opportunities to share in a Bible Study.  Pray for God to open doors for them.  Pray for contacts they will make to begin these groups.  Pray for the ones that God desires to be in these studies, pray that their hearts would be open to Him and the study opportunities.

Wednesday, July 27: Pray for a member of one of the cell groups who has a daughter who is suffering from depression.  Pray for Sharon as she reaches out to this member.  Pray that the daughter would find her peace and comfort in Christ alone. Pray that each one of us would find our peace and comfort in Christ alone.

Thursday, July 28: Thank the Lord for the place He has opened up for Grant and Rebecca to live after their wedding.  Their desire was to live outside of the seminary housing so as to have more contact with the people in the community, and that is just what the Lord gave them and at almost the same rent.  They will not be able to move in until the first of August.  Continue to pray for them as they make final plans for their August 12^th wedding. 

Friday, July 29: Praise God for the idea of the 3x3 plan, which He gave to Manuel and Siomara.  Pray for them as they continue to lead the church and look for other activities to begin in the church.  Pray that God will give other ideas.  Pray that the church members would reach out to their neighbors and invite others to church.

Saturday, July 30: Richard Cook plans to go to Panama later this year or early next year to see about their seminary program and to lead a conference which he has been invited to lead.  Later on he expects to follow up on contacts with leaders in Belize, Southern Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.  Pray for Richard as he keeps contact with different people in different countries.  Pray that he would have good connections with people in Central America.  Pray for him as he makes travel plans and travels to the different countries.

Sunday, July 31: As it is the last day of the month, pray for the Cooks, Hardemans, Leagans, Carol, Manuel and Siomara and each member of the Nicodemus Team as they make plans for August and for the coming months.  Pray for potential teams, which will come and share in the ministry in Guatemala.  Pray that each one of the team members will have a strong sense of God’s leading.  Praise God that He is faithful and they can rest upon the promise that He who called you is faithful and He will do it.

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