[Beens Prayer Partners] May's prayer letter

Dear friends,                                                                                                April 28th, 2007

 

We pray you are each doing well and enjoying the spring weather we assume you're experiencing.  We are good and in the opposite manner are beginning to enjoy the cooler temperatures that accompany our approaching winter.

 

April was a very full month indeed with many blessings and opportunities.

 

Praises:

·      First of all, the GNFA mission retreat in Malawi earlier this month was wonderful!  We so much enjoyed getting to see colleagues (many of whom we see only at this meeting once a year), to have some good fellowship time with them, to catch up on how various ministries are running and finally to have good business meetings.

·      We're so grateful that we left early for the retreat so we could travel with colleagues!  On day two of travel we did break down and had to be towed 60 kms to the border town.  Another provision of the Lord is that we found a mechanic there who could repair the car just enough that we could drive over the border on our own.  Apparently if we'd been towed over the border then customs would have made it a point to remember us coming back through and would have charged us major taxes on the repair work we'd had done!

·      We found a mechanic in Blantyre who was able to solidly repair our car (had to replace the fuel pump) and it has since then been driving wonderfully!

·      Also while waiting in Blantyre we discovered a great Eye hospital and a pediatric focused orthopedic hospital.  What a blessing this is as we can transfer all our medical care (including the eye surgery Karunia needs and any treatment for her neck condition/scoliosis) to Malawi instead of S. Africa which will mean huge savings in both time and money for all future medical trips since it is so much closer!

·      Our teammates, the Michaels, watched the kids last Sunday night so Dan and I could have a date.  We had a great time & were able to talk and share and strategize about many things.

·      We have visitors from our sending church in Wood River, IL coming this upcoming week to visit us and to see/share in our ministry.  Later in June we'll be receiving a group from another supporting church in Glasgow, KY.  We're so excited to have these partnerships extend to another dimension!

·      Rejoice with us as we celebrate Josiah's 6th birthday on the 17th of this month!

·      Dan has started watching the kids one afternoon a week so I (Robin) can have that time to visit with various Mozambican women in their homes.  This is such a blessing for me as it fosters stronger relationship between myself and the women here.

Prayer Requests:

·      Please pray for traveling mercies for Darin Trent and Walter McCaslin.  They'll leave the States on May 1st to arrive here in Nampula the morning of May 3rd.  They'll then be traveling May 13-15th on their return.  Also please pray for the times they'll be teaching while here in Mozambique, for the adjustment to the time difference, for their health and simply for their visit to be a blessing to those here (us and the nationals) but also for they themselves. 

·      May 9th, Dan, Walter and Darin will be traveling to Netia for teaching time.

·      May 10th-11th will be the 2 day per month class for men from the bush.  Please pray both these times go well.

·      Pray for the group coming from Glenview Christian in Glasgow as they work to make/finalize plans for coming to see us. 

·      We are planning to begin "bonding" this month in Netia.  By "bonding" I mean we'll load up the family and the tent to go stay in the village with the people there.  The purpose of these bonding times is to identify more with the people, to strengthen friendships/relationships, and to gain broader cultural insights.  Please pray for us as we begin doing this.  We're very excited about it, however it will be a big adjustment, for the kids especially (sleeping in tents, outdoor latrines, new noises, etc).  This month we'll be bonding on the 19th-20th.

·      Pray for wisdom for Dan and I as we begin laying out guidelines and such for the training/development farm we'll be implementing (along with the Gardners) in the upcoming months.

·      Pray for the internship program we're hoping to start soon.  From the standpoint of teaching-preparedness, both Dan and Shawn are feeling ready (fairly), however the internship program is to be self funding through the association and therefore we're at a waiting phase as the renovations/additions to the center have to be completed so that space can be rented out to generate the income necessary to support these families.  Building can be slow and rather frustrating so please pray progress would be fairly quick so the program can get started.

·      Pray for our continued health.

 

 

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

Robin & Dan

[Beens Prayer Partners] announcement

Dear friends,

Just wanted to let you know that there are now bunches of new photos
on our website (www.mozambiquemessages.com). Hit the photos link and
that will bring you to the new set of pictures. What you will see
immediately is one set of pictures "Common and Interesting Sights"
with lots of pics there, but notice at the top are other links which
will take you to 4 other categories of pictures. Have fun browsing.
I think if you sit the slide show button it will show pictures a bit
larger and individually as well - you'll just need to arrow through
to get things to move.

Thanks for your prayers and support. Hopefully this will let you
"see" a bit of our life.

Blessings,
Robin

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PrayerPartners mailing list
PrayerPartners@mozambiquemessages.com
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[Beens Prayer Partners] We're home

Dear friends,

Just wanted to let you know we've arrived some safely. We left on
March 29th with mission mates from Montepuez, the Rollands. Our GNFA
retreat was to run April 4-6 however due to all the car problems we'd
been having we needed to head out with another family who was willing
to tow us should it be necessary. Our 1st day of travel went fine,
however on the 2nd day the car died 60 kms from the Malawian border.
The Rollands towed us that final stretch and thankfully we found a
mechanic in the small town there who was able to clean out the fuel
line enough that we could drive on our own through the border and on
to Blantyre (town in Malawi).

In Blantyre we got the car into the dealership and they managed to
get things repaired (which meant replacing the fuel pump!), though it
did take several days.

While in Blantyre we encountered 2 other blessings. 1st of all there
is a Lion's Eye institute. Dan went to check it out and to inquire
as to whether they could handle not only the eye surgery which
Karunia needs sometime this year but also on-going eye check-ups.
Not only can they do it but in late June/early July there's a team of
doctors coming over from Glasgow (Scotland) to do specific training/
teaching to doctors here on this surgery procedure and they need
patients to do the surgery on! 2nd of all, the CURE hospital is in
Blantyre. This is specifically an orthopedic hospital, primarily
focused in pediatrics. Dan got Karunia in there for an initial visit
with a doctor regarding her scoliosis diagnosis, etc. He was
extremely pleased with the doctor and we'll follow up on things here
in June/July when we return for her eye visit/surgery.

The advantage of moving our medical care to Blantyre, Malawi is that
we're talking a 10-13 hr drive (do-able in 1 or 2 days) versus the 4
day drive to S. Africa or the expensive flight south. That makes the
trip itself much, much cheaper (and doesn't require the same length
of time away from home). Also the cost of the medical care itself is
also quite a bit cheaper. We're excited about the Lord's provision
in these matters.

Do keep praying about Karunia's neck/back issues specifically. The
doctor there has requested we get him the 2 sets of x-rays we already
have and when we go in June he'll run a 3rd set to do overall
comparisons. He does feel all the curvature is in her neck and
therefore it may not be scoliosis itself but rather the congenital
neck condition aggrivating the curve of the spine in her neck. We'll
see how things transpire but once he can view the x-rays and see
whether there is any bone misformation then we'll know whether to
treat for scoliosis or whether to focus on the neck condition and
treatment of it first.

The team retreat was very nice & we enjoyed the break from routine,
the fellowship with mission mates (from all 4 locations in Moz), and
the policy/business mtgs themselves went really well!!! We're
grateful we made it there and were able to participate.

Thanks for your prayers regarding our trip, for our travel, etc.
Though we did have car trouble we're grateful for our teammates who
helped us out and that we were able to get it taken care of in Malawi
which has saved us a trip to S. Africa in a car that wasn't very
reliable.

Blessings,
Robin