Funeral for Sudanese man

Hi all, please pray for me as I go to a funeral for a Sudanese man on Sunday evening.  They are holding it in the Platform, because they could find no other venue.  They have asked me to pray.  Ezra, the man who contacted me, has lost three family members in very short time.

Email from Leonard in Burundi

Dear Pastor Mike ,I hope your family and the church are fine. I am very pleased to get this opportunity of writing to   you again. First of all, I address you my apologies  for having delayed to reply. My younger son was very sick and I was obliged to stay in country side.Pastor Alexis was very sick too.Praise God because both of them are now recovered.I pray you not to worry about the three donations usage.All what you sent to us have been affected to the church projects except a half of the third donation which was invested to the kiln business. Be aware that  till now 1,5 Million Bu frs are available here and around  fifty thousand bricks equivalent to 750 thousand Bu frs are ready to be sold .The later is expected as a global profit of the business.We have also the bees herding for honey production equivalent to 400 thousand Bu frs.Concerning an Anglican pastor close to the Anglican Bishop; I will chat wth him and tell you the result.
Thank you again for planning this fourth donation.We are very pleased of it too. Welcome.
I am in Bujumbura city now;I leave on 29th October 2010 ;I come back in two weeks to see my theses superviser.

Email from Burundi

Hello Pastor Mike;


I am glad to have this occasion for another talk.I hope you are well with your family and church.I want to express my thanks to Jesus because things are going well now.The electoral period is almost finished and killings are stopped;only some arrestations of journalists are still observed.The security is getting better in general.I also say thank you for the comforting message you sent to us through my requests.Concerning the trip program:some church leaders are just informed of it;before March 2O1O ;the bishop will write a letter to invite you.The Kiln Business has started and pastor Alexis is now selling the bricks.I passed some days without being near the native country to mean that I do not have details on me.still;I am in Buja city heading my native province.After three weeks ;if God wishes;I will be in Buja again to communicate with you what will be going on.we have a National Crusade from 26 to 29 August 2010. Have our best regards to your collegues. yours warmly Leonard.

A good thing happened today

I met an old acquaintance called Binga.  He has 8 kids if I recall rightly.  They're not at church anymore, but he's thinking about letting us pick them up and bring them to our church.
Please pray that would be the case.

Letter from Burundi - bad news of escalating tension

                          Dear Pastor Mike,
Have our warm greetings.Thanks a lot for the visit planning.We pray for the program to
be accomplished next year as you suggested it.This year, the security in our coutry is getting worse and worse.The ruling party CNDD FDD conjointly with the National Electoral commission are accused of being involved in the theft of the first scrutin done on 24th,May 2O1O.
Therefore,strikes,killings,violences and arrestations are increasing.
By the way, let me ask you few questions:
   Are Pastors or Christians allowed to attend political activities?
   May I get some Biblical references to support my understanding?
The answers could help me to solve some problemes and probably help others to
manage this electoral period.
We will tell you the situation at the end of each scrutin.we have 5 and the last one is
scheduled on October 2O1O.Concerning the donations usages,I am waiting for the recapitulations from pastor Alexis.Good bye.
                    Give our regards to your church

Encouraging kids church comment

Hi all,
It was great to hear Ally speak about kids' church on the way home last Sunday.  She said that for the first time Chanceline decided that she would listen and take part in the activities in kids' church.  Ally said it was really obvious how much of the bible (how many sung bible verses) the kids know.  So Ally said to Chanceline, 'Once you've been here a while, you can know the bible like they do.  Wouldn't that be great?'  Chanceline agreed.

Ally was encouraged too that when the kids were asked, 'So what sins did Jesus do when he was on earth?', the kids were shocked.... They protested strongly against the question, and some could even explain what the consequences would have been if Jesus had sinned - he could not have died for our sins.

This is a such a key part of our ministry, and I was encouraged by these stories.  Please keep praying for both kids and youth church.  There's a youth church event on tonight.  Please pray it will go well.

Core group minutes

St. Barnabas Core Group Meeting - seconds
28.4.2010

Attended: Lynn, Heather, Pauline, Katrina, Ben, Mike
Apologies: Bosco is sore from soccer but clean.
Jeffrey – at home doing his homework
Leanne

Isaiah 29,30. On plans.
God makes the plans. He is sovereign. 

Giving Group meeting planned to happen before Core meeting, but due to lack of attendance it is postponed. Only conclusion is that we will probably accept Alex’s recommendation that we will support a different church for a while other than Bosco’s church. 

Update from Mike:
Christine Lee’s funeral today.
Continuuing to evangelise at the TAFE. Particularly speaking with Robert.
We are doing well with our giving to churches in Burundi. Mike reminded from 1 Corinthians 16 that it was quite common to support churches in other places.
Ian McDonald from St.George’s Magill going to visit Elizabeth and shoot some video to help Magill people get more insight into our church. 
Claude and Bosco have become Australian Citizens. Mike went to Claude’s service, but we did not know about Bosco’s. 

Involvement at church:
Morning Tea roster, some of the ladies.
Get morning tea boxes out on Saturday setup.
Heather to ask Esperance to help with morning tea each week. 

Church pot luck lunch – 30^th May, after church. Ben to organize and promote so people understand how it works and encourage people to bring something. 
Ally to promote the Watoto childrens choir performance at Elizabeth Church of Christ on 4^th June. Inviting people to meet at 6:30pm to then go in and sit together for 7pm performance.  
Next meeting to talk about future plans. 
Finished at 9:15pm.