[Beens Prayer Partners] update

Dear friends,                                                                                                March 27th, 2007

 

We trust you are doing well.  Thank you so much for your partnership with us – we appreciate you greatly!

 

Praises:

• Patty's internship went very well and she greatly enjoyed her time here.  She managed to teach some ladies, observe a nutrition/nursing center out of town, attend church, and visit around Nampula.  She currently is in process of flying back to the States so please remember her in her travels and as she reports to churches and processes the next steps she should take.
• The renewal/retreat I (Robin) was able to attend in Kenya was absolutely wonderful!!  I'd gone with 3 rather large expectations and the Lord surpassed each of those desires.  I'm very excited about the convictions/impressions the Lord placed on my heart during that time and came away quite refreshed.  Travel went well on all points (and visas didn't cost as much as anticipated) and Dan and the kids did great at home!
• We've all stayed healthy (for the most part) this month. 

 

 

Prayer Requests:

• Our car has been having problems over the last couple of weeks.  In anticipation of travel we had the fuel filter changed 2 wks ago.  We're not sure if they accidently dumped sand down the line when changing it or if the filter they put on was bad however in 2 wks we've had to have the car towed twice (from out of town both times) and have had it worked on once in the meantime.  It seems to be running fine at the moment but . . . . pray that the sand is now out of the line so we won't have more problems.
• The above request is extra important as tomorrow we are leaving to head over to Malawi for the GNFA annual retreat.  The retreat itself doesn't start until next wk however considering all the car problems we've had we figured we needed to travel with colleagues so if we break down then we have someone around who can help out and those wanting to break the trip up into two days are leaving out tomorrow.  Please pray for our travel; we'll drive 6 hrs tomorrow and 4 on Thursday.  We'll stay in Blantyre for a couple days waiting for the retreat to begin but hopefully we can get into a mechanic that can handle the electronic components of our car.  Pray for our return travel on April 6th/7th.
• Pray we'll have a good team meeting with lots of agreement and unity in thought!

 

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.  Blessings on you all!

Robin & Dan

[Beens Prayer Partners] news and request

Dear friends,

First of all, we wanted to share a joy with you - we now have high
speed internet!!! Yeah - no more connecting at 29 or 33! And this
means if you have a picture you'd like to share with us then it is
much easier for us to receive. The only thing we ask is please
continue our rule of "no forwards". Also FYI - due to now not
needing the phone for dial-up purposes we have turned in our house
phone and so, for those of you who kept our number handy, we no
longer have the 26240050 number. If you ever need to call us you may
reach us on our cell phones 258-82-389-3899 (Dan's) and
258-82-389-3902 (Robin's).

As for the request - this past Monday we took our intern to a nearby
town, Manapo to view a work there and were planning on then visiting
teammates until we needed to pick her up on Wed. Well along the way
(after dropping Patty off) we had car problems and ended up turning
around to come home and then ended up being towed as it was. The
problem is basically there's a bunch of sand in the fuel line. We'd
had the fuel filter changed the Saturday before (and it was full!)
and apparently it wasn't changed carefully and a bunch of that sand
ended up in the hoses and such. The aviation mechanic here visiting
MAF missionaries was able to pull off the fuel line and blow it out
and clean out the 2nd internal filter. The car was then running,
though he did say the injectors still seem to be dirty and we will
have to get those (and the fuel pump) cleaned eventually (which can
only be done in S.A.). Anyway things were good to go, until today
the car has started acting up again - same issue. Dan has taken the
car back in and he'll re-clean the hose. Anyway, our request is this
- please pray that cleaning out the hose would work this time for a
longer period of time so we could delay a trip to S.A for a bit. Our
mission (GNFA) retreat is the 1st wk of April and we'd really like to
go (it's not mandatory) but if the car keeps on like this we may need
to take it south instead of going to the retreat.

Thanks for your partnership!

Blessings,
Robin and Dan

[Beens Prayer Partners] March letter

Dear friends,                                                                                         March 7th, 2007

 

Thanks for standing in the gap on our behalf.  Thank you for your prayers, your encouraging words, letters and e-mails; we appreciate all of it.

 

Life hasn’t slowed down much over the past month: colds among family members continued, we’ve slowly been having parts of the house painted and been battling the ants/termites which are trying to build nests inside our home – climbing out the miniscule cracks between the floor and wall and creating trails or mounds up the wall.  Asher and Josiah both started attending a Portuguese speaking preschool/kindergarten 3 days/week, Dan has made visits to Netia and taught his normal classes/discipleship times and he and Shawn continue to work on plans for the internship program which is slated to begin this upcoming June!  God is good.  Not only does he give us endurance for all these things but joy (most days) as well.

 

 

Praises:

• Robin’s case of shingles cleared up (rather quickly for shingles) and both she and Esperansa managed to survive the cold-turkey weaning process.
• Dan and Karunia’s trip to S. Africa went well.  They were delayed a bit on the return, however finally made it home.  The doctor was pleased that her vision itself has improved, though she will need to have surgery sometime this year to help repair the muscle contributing to her lazy eye.  She was diagnosed with scoliosis which we need to have looked into but we’re thankful that at least there is medical care available – even if it is far away.
• Malcolm and JB Russell are two people living in SA who have a real heart and passion to assist missionaries and works going on in Mozambique.  Anyway we’ve had some run around with trying to speak with a Dr. in SA regarding Karunia’s scoliosis.  Currently she has an appointment for the end of this month but our desire was to send the x-rays down and get an opinion on whether she needed to be seen now or if the appointment could wait a few months so that Lord willing, we could go down then and get eye surgery, scoliosis appointments, etc. done all in one trip and not have to make so many trips down.  Well JB and Malcolm have stepped in and are going to pick up the x-rays which we’re sending down tomorrow on the MAF shuttle and will hand carry them to a doctor they know to help get this sorted out.  We’re very thankful for their assistance in this matter.
• Both Asher and Josiah tested positive for malaria in February but we praise the Lord that both were extremely mild cases and they hardly even slowed down in their play!
• Dan’s weekend classes began and he currently has 11 students taking the class on evangelism (a method very different than what most of them are used to).  We’re thankful for the interest so many have to learn and are excited to see how this new, slower, more thorough model of evangelism will affect work and ministry here!
• Patty Maddux, our intern arrived safely on Thursday, Feb. 27^th.  Her luggage had been delayed a day due to a snow induced flight alteration in the States, but thankfully the luggage (which included computers for us) made it safely as well!
• Praise the Lord with us for his continual provision and sustaining grace.

 

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for Patty (our intern) as she adjusts to life here in Mozambique.  Pray she’d recover from the cold/bronchitis she arrived with, that the time here would allow her to clearly see opportunities for ministry, and that the Lord would guide her as to whether he’d have her return for full-time service.  Pray for her return to the States on the 26^th – 28^th of this month.
• On March 9^th Dan, Gito, and Patty will be traveling to Netia – pray for safety in travel and that teaching times would go well. 
• Dan has signed up for a short session of further language study (to improve on some “problem” areas).  Pray these study times would further improve his Portuguese.
• Robin has received an opportunity to attend a “Come Before Winter” spiritual renewal retreat during the wk of March 17 – 24^th.  Pray for safety in travel and she and another GNFA wife fly to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and then drive with others over to Kenya.  Pray the retreat would be a great time of spiritual renewal, of sharing with other women in ministry, and just a time of refreshing.  Pray for Dan as he takes care of the kids during her absence!
• Continue to pray for weekend classes, for individual discipleship times and for Dan and Shawn as they lay out plans for the internship program to begin in June.
• Pray for Daniel and Melissa Maddux as they are currently support raising with the hope of arriving to join our team here in Nampula by the end of this year.
• Pray for those in central/southern Mozambique who were effected by the cyclone which hit in late February.
•  

Thanks so much for your prayers and support.  Blessings on you all!

Robin & Dan